I'm Going Away... FOREVER! Oh, Great! Could You Get Me a Sandwich?? - updated 6/23!

[baseballmickey]

We eventually forced ourselves to leave the balcony. We could have enjoyed that view for hours more, but we were hungry and we knew we'd be back to our room later. We got changed so we could get food and hit up the pool.

This was the view of the BLT pool from a window down the hall as we went to the elevator. This was the only view we ever got of that pool.



BLT doesn't really have it's own dining options, so we headed down and then over to the Contemporary where we got seats near the pool and the Sand Bar, which has some basic offerings.

I got the 1/3 angus burger and fries (with bacon, of course!):

This is the kind of burger I would expect to get at any counter service location in WDW. It's not going to garner any awards, but it certainly hit the spot.

Lisa chose the turkey BLT (which also has bacon):

Again, not going to blow you away, but it looks decent and fresh. Lisa was satisfied.

We were paying out of pocket for food this trip. At one point in the planning process we went through our meals and actually looked up menus and tried to add up what it would cost, then compare it to the dining plan/TIW options. In the end, it looked like a wash with the dining plan, and we weren't eating at enough TIW locations to justify it. So we opted to do cash for food. I had also considered purchasing gift cards in advance and using those to save a little money, but I started collecting them too late and couldn't buy enough. The gift cards went toward the cruise and the remainder went toward souvenirs.




After eating, we relocated to the pool and got our swim on. Bella's never had swimming lessons, and she's had some success using swimmies or other flotation devices. I was pleased to see they had life jackets for guests to use at the pool. Bella was more than willing to wear one, and that meant I could concentrate on Jackson and not have to worry as much about Bella.

Jackson enjoyed pushing my head into the water. He got a kick out of that. He did it once or twice himself, but mostly he would just grab the back of my head and push my face into the pool.

There was some poolside entertainment with CMs doing trivia, music, and dancing. We tried to convince Bella to dance, but she was too shy. Before too long, it was time to get out of the pool and go change so we could partake of another resort activity. Bella was upset at leaving the pool, and issued what was to be her vacation mantra. "Uhhhhahhuhhhh" I swear, we would be sick of hearing that out of her mouth very soon.



We went back to the room and changed into some dry clothes, took the bridge across to the CR, and browsed the gift shop. Jackson saw a large Mickey:

This of course, was nothing compared to the large Mickey he'd be seeing tomorrow. And separating him from this Mickey would prove to be a lot easier as well. After browsing, we headed downstairs and back outside for some fun with marshmallows...

A CM loaded with giant sticks and jumbo marshmallows was there with a small crowd when we arrived. The fire was already going and all we had to do was pick a stick and marshmallow, and toast them up. Bella loved it, and Jackson, well, he just liked running up and down the sand.

the twilight made for some good picture taking conditions.

the walkway between CR and BLT, as viewed from the little beach area where we had our marshamallow roast.




Next we headed back up inside CR to grab some real dessert. Marshmallows are nice and all, but not a worthy dessert for what was coming. You see, we had to make up for the fact that in 2010, we had booked the Wishes dessert party on our arrival day, but because we never made it to WDW that day, we missed out. It was time to make up for that.

I browsed the gift shop while Lisa went to hit up Contempo Cafe for cupcakes.

I also stepped outside to the observation area to take in the view. I never knew they had a small amount of seats out there for watching fireworks. We didn't need to worry about that, though. We had our own VIP spot waiting for us.

The sun was setting on our first day, and it was time to head back to our room:

In the room, we got settled, enjoyed our cupcakes with a nighttime view of MK.

We were able to watch the Water Pageant while we waited for Wishes to begin.

We tuned the TV to the channel for the music for Wishes, and we got set up to watch. From the angle we had, the fireworks actually appear over Space Mountain, and we had to make sure we were on the left half of our balcony to make sure we saw it all. Still a great view. This was one of the better shots I was able to get:

Wishes over, we got the kids in bed followed suit shortly after. We had to be up early for Day 2.

I think you will all agree that this trip was off to a fantastic start. This was hands down the best first day we've ever had at WDW.

 

[dhorner233]

Wow! Lots to absorb there! You are going to run in a marathon!?! Wow! Good luck with that! How many miles is 5K?

The snow shots were cool! So pretty in the park!! Thanks for sharing!

Loved the view of the pool from your room! You have a great view!! The BLT/CR look like a lot of fun!

And - you are already going back this summer!?! Lots of great memories for the family!

 

[declansdad]

Great shots! Looks like it was a pretty fun day.

 

[eandesmom]

Fun updates! What a lot of snow. We haven't had squat here so far. Peanut butter cup season that's pretty funny! But I know the feeling. RunDisney huh? Some other DISdads inspiring that one? I swear the more I read the more I think huh....that could be fun. And then I wake up and regain my sanity. A spousal gauntlet can be pretty motivating though!

Your vacation plans look great, love AKV and Vero! We just booked (rebooked) 2014 as well on the cruise front, we will see if it comes to pass.

It does seem like a pretty darn perfect first day, gotta love cupcakes on your own balcony with the water parade and fireworks. Really doesn't get much better than that. Someday I will stay there and see.

 

[amandaw]

WOW! That snow! Very pretty pictures but I'm glad to be seeing it via my computer and not in person.

Good for you on the weight loss! You can definitely doing it! My DH & I are trying to lose weight for our upcoming cruise and are using MyFitnessPal on our phones as well. I'm about halfway to my cruise goal!

Looks like y'all had some fun pool time!

 

[baseballmickey]

Wow! Lots to absorb there! You are going to run in a marathon!?! Wow! Good luck with that! How many miles is 5K?

The snow shots were cool! So pretty in the park!! Thanks for sharing!

Loved the view of the pool from your room! You have a great view!! The BLT/CR look like a lot of fun!

And - you are already going back this summer!?! Lots of great memories for the family!

A 5K is just over 3 miles. I think it is 3.1 miles to be exact. My plan right now is to run a 5K in March and another in April. Then I will try for a 10K (6.2 miles) in the summer. If that goes well, I will look to double that to a half marathon in the fall, and if that happens, I may decide to do the full marathon in WDW in January. I think registration will be in the early fall, so I guess we'll see how things are going then.

the snow is central park was beautiful. I could have spent all day there and I wish I had brought my camera instead of just having my phone. Funny how snow in the park looks so nice and that same snow on my sidewalk is a pain in my !!

LOVED our short stay at BLT! definitely need to get a longer stay there in the future.

Very excited about our upcoming trip!! A trip every year! We are becoming a poster-family for DVC!

Great shots! Looks like it was a pretty fun day.

It was. thanks!

Fun updates! What a lot of snow. We haven't had squat here so far. Peanut butter cup season that's pretty funny! But I know the feeling. RunDisney huh? Some other DISdads inspiring that one? I swear the more I read the more I think huh....that could be fun. And then I wake up and regain my sanity. A spousal gauntlet can be pretty motivating though!

Your vacation plans look great, love AKV and Vero! We just booked (rebooked) 2014 as well on the cruise front, we will see if it comes to pass.

It does seem like a pretty darn perfect first day, gotta love cupcakes on your own balcony with the water parade and fireworks. Really doesn't get much better than that. Someday I will stay there and see.

Yes, I am inspired by the DisDads to run. I've always wanted to run the NYC marathon, but running at WDW seems to have me more motivated. If Lisa told me I could go to WDW if I jumped off a bridge, I'd consider that.

very excited about AKL and Vero. 2014 cruise seems far away, but got to start getting payments in for that as well. In some ways it's good to have all these plans laid out. In other ways it's a bit stressful.

WOW! That snow! Very pretty pictures but I'm glad to be seeing it via my computer and not in person.

Good for you on the weight loss! You can definitely doing it! My DH & I are trying to lose weight for our upcoming cruise and are using MyFitnessPal on our phones as well. I'm about halfway to my cruise goal!

Looks like y'all had some fun pool time!

I love the MyFitnessPal app. I neglected logging my food this week, but will weigh in tomorrow and get back on track. I think the running will save me from having screwed up too badly. Glad to hear it is working for you as well! Keep it up!!

 

[eandesmom]

Yes, I am inspired by the DisDads to run. I've always wanted to run the NYC marathon, but running at WDW seems to have me more motivated. If Lisa told me I could go to WDW if I jumped off a bridge, I'd consider that.

very excited about AKL and Vero. 2014 cruise seems far away, but got to start getting payments in for that as well. In some ways it's good to have all these plans laid out. In other ways it's a bit stressful.

I love the MyFitnessPal app. I neglected logging my food this week, but will weigh in tomorrow and get back on track. I think the running will save me from having screwed up too badly. Glad to hear it is working for you as well! Keep it up!!

My fitness pal is great! I used it solid from last April till our July trip and them again after and had great results. I've tapered off since I hit my goal but did recently log in a full week just to make sure things were staying on track.

We had AKV and Vero as part of last years trip, they were wonderful

 

[afwdwfan]

That looks like just an awesome day to relax and get into the spirit of being at Disney World!!! I love the resort activities like the marshmallow roasting that they have to make for a low key, but fun time.

I really like your idea to just have your own private Wishes dessert party in the room. I can't think of a better way to end the day!

 

[baseballmickey]

My fitness pal is great! I used it solid from last April till our July trip and them again after and had great results. I've tapered off since I hit my goal but did recently log in a full week just to make sure things were staying on track.

We had AKV and Vero as part of last years trip, they were wonderful

That reminds me that I have to go back and get caught up on your TR as part of my research for this next trip!!

That looks like just an awesome day to relax and get into the spirit of being at Disney World!!! I love the resort activities like the marshmallow roasting that they have to make for a low key, but fun time.

I really like your idea to just have your own private Wishes dessert party in the room. I can't think of a better way to end the day!

We are definitely park people. But we do enjoy some resort time. Ideally, we would like to work in a couple of non-park days during a trip. Doesn't always work out that way, but it would be nice.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Your Pictures are BREATHTAKING!!! I'd kill for that view!

this PTR is turning into the book i was wishing for!!!

 

[SusieBea]

 

[baseballmickey]

Your Pictures are BREATHTAKING!!! I'd kill for that view!

this PTR is turning into the book i was wishing for!!!

See, your patience is paying off!! Thanks for hanging in there!!

Welcome aboard!!

 

[baseballmickey]

Time to update. Seems like I say this every night, but more often than not, something gets in the way. What can you do?

So, how are things going with us? Well, since you asked lmao, I'll give you the rundown.


Plans are still in place for our summer trip. We've added a couple of ADRs, one for WDW and 2 for Vero. I suppose at Vero they're known simply as 'reservations'. At WDW we added a breakfast at CRT on the same day we have dinner at BOG. That day happens to be our actual wedding anniversary, so we'll be celebrating by eating in two different castles! At Vero we made reservations for their character breakfast and their pirate night dinner. That should be fun.



The losing weight thing is not going well so far. I could blame it on the fact that our bathroom scale is broken (the other day it told me I weighed 1 lb.) But more likely it's because I'm still eating junk food and drinking soda. I should probably just go cold turkey on those things... maybe if I get this update done. I think I need the sugar to power through. On the bright side, I haven't been gaining anything, I think. Hard to tell when the scale is so unreliable.

In related news, I am still running. I've fallen a little behind the schedule I was following. Every time I miss a run I just push it back to the next day, or on occasion, two days. So right now I'm going to be running a workout on wednesday that I should have done sunday. Is that a big deal?? probably not. I think I am in good position to run my first 5k race on March 23rd, and I've got my sights set on a 10k race in May.


Some germs came and went through the house again. Lisa and Jackson got the worst of it. Bella brushed it off, and I seemed to have escaped with just a stuffy nose. I'll probably be sick as a dog tomorrow for saying that.



So now we come to the big anti-climactic reveal behind the title of our life update... Yes, Lisa and I would like to announce that we are the proud parents of a...

BLOG.​

That's right. A Blog. I know that an actual baby or a pet would have been more exciting. But in some ways, this project will be much like a child or a pet. It will require our attention on a daily basis. It will probably frustrate us on more than one occasion. And I am sure there will be times when Lisa and I will be in disagreement over how to properly handle our new 'baby'.

How did this come about? Well, the way I remember it was that one day Lisa said to me, "I want to start a blog." She has a lot of ideas in her head and she wanted an outlet for them. I supported her 100% and said go for it! So she did, and as of yet, not much has become of it. She may have finally decided on a name, but it hasn't really gotten off the ground.

While Lisa was laboring to get her blog going, I took inspiration from her and decided to create my own little outlet where I could get whatever it was on my mind out into the open. Mine would be mainly my thoughts on everything in the world, inspired mostly by facebook posts I read from my crazy friends. I've written a grand total of 1 post on that blog in over a month. (I do have about 10 drafts I have been working on, but unfinished)

So... it looked like neither one of us had the blogging gene. Lisa was struggling with the technical side and getting her layout straight, while I was floundering with focus and direction.

One day, Lisa says to me that she had been reading a blog about Disney and she thought that the author was all wrong about the subject of that particular post. "Well, everyone is entitled to their opinions," I said. Lisa replied, "We've been to Disney more times than a lot of people, we know a lot too. We should have a blog!" My initial reaction was, "yeah, cause that's been working out well for both of us." But we had fun with the hypothetical... it became a running topic of conversation. What would we call it? what would it be about? how would it be different from others?

Pretty soon, I came to realize that, at least for me, what I was missing in my personal blog attempt I had at my fingertips in Lisa. She's organized. She's my focus! And I think I can say on Lisa's behalf that I provide her with help on the technical side of things. I'm good with computers and figuring out things, so having me handle the layout and web issues would be less stress for her... So before long we hit upon a name. We had laid out a plan for themed topics by day (which a lot of blogs do, but we figured we'd have our own spin on it). And that is how we started...





I feel like Willy Wonka telling you this, but the picture is clickable. Go ahead, click it. The shnozberries taste like shnozberries!

Oh, and tell me what you think of our logo. I spent a few hours on that the other night.

And this is a link to...
Our Facebook Page

Twitter, Pinterest, and a photo account will follow... eventually.


We published our first post very quietly on Monday. We did a second on Tuesday and let a few people know about it. After I get done with updating the TR here, I'll turn my attention to finishing up Wednesday's post. I hope you will all take a look and let us know what you think. I have no idea where this will take us, if anywhere. I just know that I am excited about it. I love it because it is something I can do with Lisa. I feel like outside of the kids and planning our vacation, we don't get to do a lot together. This little project has reminded me how much she complements me. What I was struggling with alone, she has helped me realize.



Alright... enough with the Sappy-McSapperson and shameless plugs. Time to get back to the matter at hand. We've got our first full day of Magic to tell you about!!

 

[dhorner233]

Only had time for a glance but, looks great! You and your DH are very talented! I like the logo

 

[baseballmickey]

A couple of things I neglected to mention about our first day:

1. My allergies were acting up. I know for a fact it was my allergies because I said I wasn't going to get sick on this trip. Especially not after what we went through the trip before. So it was definitely allergies. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


2. Because of said allergies, I had to purchase some medication from the gift shop/general store in CR. While we were in there, we were browsing the souvenirs and there was a young girl who was looking at the same rack as me. She shouted over to her mother to come look at something. It was a magnet that had characters on it and the number 12. "Why 12?" the girl asks her mother. "Obviously it is for a 12 year old. I'm not sure why they don't have any other ages. They seem to have a lot of things for 12 year olds, but no other ages. That's stupid."


Yep. That's stupid alright.


3. Prior to watching "Wishes" from our balcony, we got our first glimpse of the short-lived "Magic, Memories, and You" show. I just wanted to mention that it was pretty cool to watch that from our balcony as well, and I was looking forward to seeing it up close when we went to the MK. We obviously couldn't see any of the photos that were projected onto the castle, but the whole castle effects looked awesome!

I've been meaning to upload the video of both MM&Y and Wishes that I took from the balcony, but I need to dub in the music first. Otherwise, you'll hear the chatterbox that is Bella asking her millions of questions throughout. I'll get to that soon, I hope.


4. I overlooked a picture. It got shuffled around in our album, so it wasn't in order and I skipped it. Right after we checked into BLT and were walking over to our room, we paused to get our first family pic of the trip at this really cool mickey sculpture behind the CR.

Now... the next morning we woke bright and early. We had reservations for breakfast. 180 days earlier, I had made our breakfast reservation for 8am. Sometime between then and leaving for our trip, I called Disney to alter that reservation by pushing it up to 7:30am. That meant we had to get up even earlier for breakfast, but the payoff I was hoping to get from it was being able to catch the Welcome Show at MK for the first time EVER!

Good Morning Magic Kingdom!!

The little monkey is up and ready to go! (although still in his PJs)

Up and dressed, we went down the hallway to catch the elevator. I snapped this quick pic of the sun rising over Bay Lake.

Across the bridge to the CR, pausing to get this pic of another view of MK.

Someone was very excited to be going to see Mickey at breakfast!

I Want to take a moment to point out something that was a subject of confusion on more than one occasion. The skyway bridge connects BLT and CR, but on different floors. In CR, it connects at the 4th floor. At BLT, it connects at the 5th floor. So you can imagine if you are going back and forth between and you take the elevator to the wrong floor, and come out and be completely confused when you don't see the bridge. It happened to me a couple of times.


So, up a floor to the monorail and we stood clear of the doors for the very first time on this trip, and were on our way to breakfast.

Bella being extra careful.

The girls:

The Monkey:

Jackson is playing with one of his first souvenirs of the trip. Mater and 'Queen would go with us everywhere.


A short ride and once more standing clear of the doors brought us to our destination: The Polynesian Resort where we would be dining at 'Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast.

In the lobby I had to make a quick stop to get our Photopass+ lanyard and card. The way we figured, it would be worth the extra money for the "+" part of it because we were doing enough character dining where they would charge us extra for the picture. This was one of them, so I wanted to make sure I got the pass so we would get our picture package.

We were there so early the photopass wasn't actually open yet, but the CM was kind enough to help me out and get me setup anyway!

Photopass in hand, we checked in and got our family picture taken before entering the restaurant. The CM checking us in noted the green mickey heads I had attached to my backpack.

I had made these, printed them out, laminated them, and attached them to the zippers on the new backpack I had purchased to be our "park bag". The CM saw them and asked, "DISBoards?".

I said, "Yes, yes we are."

I was very pleased they got noticed. That would prove to be the one and only time anyone ever mentioned them.

There was also this one on the bag:

Nobody ever mentioned that one either.


Anyway, back to the picture, which came out like this:

and I've cropped it down to just us.

and you can see that we've all gotten lei'd and are very happy... except Mr. Jackson. I think he's upset that he hasn't seen proof that there is actually going to be food here. He didn't want his lei, and he wasn't going to smile.

Lisa and Bella look nice in their leis, and I pretty much look like a dork. But I didn't know this because I couldn't see myself. I thought I was festive and I decided to stay festive all day.

Our table was ready and we were ushered in to be seated. I, for one, was very excited. I couldn't wait to dig in. We'd eaten at 'Ohana before, and all I could remember were those fantastic potatoes.

They were as good as I remembered. I took this shot almost right after the food arrived and the potatoes are almost all gone.

Some of these are actually frame grabs off my video camera. I was having issues with my photographic equipment. A few months earlier, my D40 got dropped and the built-in flash no longer worked. Inside pictures like here at breakdfast, especially so incredibly back-lit, just weren't going to happen. It was a paper-weight and we had to rely on Lisa's camera and my video camera.

Anyway, the food was as good as we remembered, and I made sure I loaded up on the fabulous Passion Fruit/Orange/Guava Juice.

Oh, and some best friends came by to say "Aloha!" but I don't have much more room left in this post for pictures... so hang in there and I'll post them presently.

 

[baseballmickey]

Here are the pics from breakfast.

Both times we've eaten here, our table has been on the aisle. Which is great for the parade and makes you feel like you have a little extra room, but it puts everyone's seats in positions where they are back-lit from the windows. Makes for some less than stellar pics. A better photographer could handle it, i'm sure, but we did what we could with what we had to work with.


As you can see, Bella's very happy to see Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. On the other hand, Jackson seems more interested in his food. He seemed more interested in the characters when they were at other tables across the room. Lisa and I were a little disappointed that he wasn't more excited. It lowered our expectations for how he would react to meeting the characters in the parks.


'Ohana was a great start to the day, despite Jackson's lack of enthusiasm. We were all full from eating, and it was time to catch the monorail to head over to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[wiigirl]

Breakfast looked like so much fun!

 

[baseballmickey]

Only had time for a glance but, looks great! You and your DH are very talented! I like the logo

Thank you! How's everything on the WITW thread? We're about to get to where I start taking pictures for that thread... got to get back over there so I can post them.

Breakfast looked like so much fun!

It was! Thank you.

 

[kimbo0569]

2. Because of said allergies, I had to purchase some medication from the gift shop/general store in CR. While we were in there, we were browsing the souvenirs and there was a young girl who was looking at the same rack as me. She shouted over to her mother to come look at something. It was a magnet that had characters on it and the number 12. "Why 12?" the girl asks her mother. "Obviously it is for a 12 year old. I'm not sure why they don't have any other ages. They seem to have a lot of things for 12 year olds, but no other ages. That's stupid."


Yep. That's stupid alright.


I literally laughed out loud on this one.....

 

[amandaw]

I'll have to go check out the new blog!

Looks like y'all were off to a great start that day! I love the picture of Jackson pulling back from Stitch!