I Can't See a Thing and Tiger Lady, Oh My! A Nov Mother & Daughter TR Update 5/7

[PhoenixStrength]

Did the CMs at the Pick a Pearl not tell you that you can exchange your pearl for a smaller one that they already have picked? They have extras under the counter that you could have swapped yours for so you could get the Cinderella cage or a ring you liked. Or did you just want to keep your pearl?? In either case, if you do it again and the pearl you get is too big they do let you get a smaller one instead so you can do the setting you want. They'd rather switch it out so you buy a setting than walk away!

I can't stay in the store in Italy long either. Strong perfume smells aggrevate my asthma.

 

[KatMark]

I'm sorry I fell an update behind before todays. And I'm probably all over the place in comments and in no order.

I wonder if the ladies with the tigers was the "doll lady" from the Grand Floridian? Or someone like her?

I love the hidden Mickey you spotted in Canada.

LOVE that lunch you had in United Kingdom...a favorite of ours.

I have YET to see the candy lady in Japan.

I'm sorry you couldn't get the setting you wanted for your pearl because it was too big. That is another thing I have NOT done yet.

I prefer the Grand Mariner slush over the Grey Goose one.

I'm with you...I can't walk through those stores like Italy because the smell gives me a severe headache.

Can't wait to hear where you are going for dinner.

 

[katt789]

The fish and chip shop has got to be my favorite qs place in WS, they're so freaking tasty! And I much prefer to sit around by where the band plays versus down by the water! Lol.

Wow...tiger lady...just wow....some of the stuff you see at Disney sometimes is definitely odd...

Sucks that the cm at the fountain was so rude, I love that pp spot and hope to get some dance pictures there next trip! Maybe I'll actually remember this time! Lawl.

I've always wanted to do pick a pearl, and with the cinderella setting but I had no idea they could get to big, bummer that that happened, but at least you got something out of it, right?

I definitely know the crabby feelign through WS, I hit a point that I'm just like "I'm done, let's nap." Or something, which, depending on the group of people, either turns into "let's go to MK" or "Let's just drink" Baha! It does make Epcot more entertaining when you're drunk little cucumbers!

 

[Pluto0809]

Did the CMs at the Pick a Pearl not tell you that you can exchange your pearl for a smaller one that they already have picked? They have extras under the counter that you could have swapped yours for so you could get the Cinderella cage or a ring you liked. Or did you just want to keep your pearl?? In either case, if you do it again and the pearl you get is too big they do let you get a smaller one instead so you can do the setting you want. They'd rather switch it out so you buy a setting than walk away!

I can't stay in the store in Italy long either. Strong perfume smells aggrevate my asthma.

You know I think in the back of my mind I did know that they would switch the pearls. But I think I was a bit possessive of "my" pearl. I'm probably going to take my extra one back next January and have Mom help me pick something for it.

I'm sorry I fell an update behind before todays. And I'm probably all over the place in comments and in no order.

No problem, I get behind all the time! I'm trying to speed this one up a bit because I need to start the one from a few weeks ago plus I want to start a PTR for my October trip.

I wonder if the ladies with the tigers was the "doll lady" from the Grand Floridian? Or someone like her?

I've never heard of the doll lady?

I love the hidden Mickey you spotted in Canada.

That one was fun to look for because it was so hard to find.

LOVE that lunch you had in United Kingdom...a favorite of ours.

That was the first time I'd eaten there but it certainly won't be the last.

I have YET to see the candy lady in Japan.

Definitely take the time to stop if you get the chance. She was really interesting to watch.

I'm sorry you couldn't get the setting you wanted for your pearl because it was too big. That is another thing I have NOT done yet.

I was disappointed but I will get that necklace eventually! It's so much fun to pick that I'll probably end up doing that every trip now.

I prefer the Grand Mariner slush over the Grey Goose one.

I did like the Grand Mariner at the beginning. It just go so sweet towards the end.

I'm with you...I can't walk through those stores like Italy because the smell gives me a severe headache.

The smell is so powerful in there I don't know how the CMs can stand it.

Can't wait to hear where you are going for dinner.

That's in the next update. I'm probably not going to get to it till Thursday though. I'm out of the office tomorrow in a class.

The fish and chip shop has got to be my favorite qs place in WS, they're so freaking tasty! And I much prefer to sit around by where the band plays versus down by the water! Lol.

That was the first time I've had them and I will definitely be going back. I have a feeling I will end up there in Oct while DH gets something from the Mexico CS.

Wow...tiger lady...just wow....some of the stuff you see at Disney sometimes is definitely odd...

She was certainly odd. I love people watching at Disney.

Sucks that the cm at the fountain was so rude, I love that pp spot and hope to get some dance pictures there next trip! Maybe I'll actually remember this time! Lawl.

I could not believe how rude she was. At least she was the only rude CM we encountered the whole week. Hopefully she won't be there when you go to get the dance pictures.

I've always wanted to do pick a pearl, and with the cinderella setting but I had no idea they could get to big, bummer that that happened, but at least you got something out of it, right?

Yep, I got a very pretty necklace. I'm going to post all of my souvenirs at the end of the TR.

I definitely know the crabby feelign through WS, I hit a point that I'm just like "I'm done, let's nap." Or something, which, depending on the group of people, either turns into "let's go to MK" or "Let's just drink" Baha! It does make Epcot more entertaining when you're drunk little cucumbers!

Unfortunately I think Epcot is now my least favorite of the parks. I barely spent any time there two weeks ago and I wasn't sad at all. I rarely buy anything in the World Showcase stores and since I'm a picky eater and not much of a drinker, the food doesn't do much for me.

 

[Pluto0809]

I started the TR for my trip a few weeks ago. Here's a link if you would like to follow along:

Did I Hear That Right? A Solo Adventure at WDW

 

[Pluto0809]

Before I start this installment, a few updates on other stuff I've got going.

1. I had the MRI on my hip yesterday. It was not a fun experience! I had no problem with the size, I'm not claustrophobic but they had me in the machine for over an hour. I was so cramped and sore from holding still for that long that I could barely get off the table! And the contrast gave me a nasty headache and made me nauseous for the rest of the day. I won't get the results till next Wednesday when I visit the doctor again.

2. My October trip is booked! We were going to stay at POR but with the prospects of free dining looking slim, I decided to move us to a value. I gave DH the choice between POP and AOA. I was not surprised at all when he picked POP. He loves everything 80s so we will be requesting that section. As much as I want to stay at AOA, I'm fine with POP since I'm more likely to get some kind of discount there.

3. My 2014 trip has been moved from the end of January to Feb 8 - 14, 2014. The reason for this move is because my cousin has decided to get married at Disney while we are there! I promise to take lots of pictures for everyone's enjoyment.

On with the TR......................

We headed out of Germany and walked through the Outpost area where we browsed the stores there a little bit and I stopped to take a picture of one of the fireworks barges used for IllumiNations. That’s a lot of fire power.

We got to China and stopped and debated a minute about going to see the movie. It was another one I’ve never seen. Since it had no seats and you had to stand for the movie, we decided to skip. I love this picture I took. If it wasn’t for the Kodak sign, you could almost believe it was taken in China:

One more picture of China then we moved on without going into any stores:

We headed over to Norway and I wanted to ride Maelstrom but the wait time was 40 minutes. That was going to be cutting it too close to our ADR time plus as much as I like the ride, it’s not worth a 40 minute wait. We stopped into the bakery but only looked again due to it being so close to dinner. I took a few pictures and we moved on to Mexico:

When we got to Mexico we realized we just missed the Christmas Storytellers. They were just wrapping up as we got there:

We headed into the temple:

And since there was no line, we headed onto the Gran Fiesta Tour:

I still hadn’t figured out my camera in the dark so no pictures from the ride. We enjoyed our little tour although I was distracted by the lady in front of me breast feeding her baby. I had a good view of side you know what the whole boat ride.

After our exciting boat ride, we shopped for a bit in the marketplace. I bought a bottle of hot sauce to take home to DH. He loves hot sauces and had the whole bottle gone in less than a week after I got home.

It was getting close to our ADR time and we had to get all the way back to France so we headed out of Mexico. We decided to save our feet a bit and take a boat back across to France. I really liked these Poinsettia “bushes”:

A shot of the Christmas tree from the back side:

Here comes our boat:

Norway at dusk:

I took a picture of this little duck because I wanted to figure out what kind he was. I never did do that (oh Stephanie, can you help?):

The boat ride was pleasent, the captain talked about each country as we passed it. I'm not sure that would be the most exciting job at Disney. I wondered how many times a day he gave the same speech. So where were we headed for dinner?

We checked in a little early and were seated pretty quickly. I have in my notes that we really liked the bread but I don’t seem to have a picture of it. Mom decided to order off of the fixed price menu so she started off with Lobster Bisque:

She got Salmon with Mashed Potatoes for her entrée:

I got Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Broccoli:

Mom said her Lobster Bisque was excellent but once again the Salmon was slightly overcooked and the mashed potatoes cold. She decided that Disney doesn’t know how to cook Salmon. Mine was ok. The Chicken was slightly dry and there was nothing special about the potatoes. I didn’t eat the broccoli because don’t like it.

Dessert was better. Mom got Crème Brule:

And I got Chocolate Mousse:

They were both yummy. Over all the meal was ok. Not one of the best we had that week but I think we would go back.

While we were eating, we both started coughing. It was becoming apparent why we were feeling so run down. It was about 8 pm when we finished with dinner and we were both done for the night. There was never any thought of staying to see IllumiNations.

We did make a quick stop on the way out in Canada to pick up a souvenir for DH. I had texted him during dinner and he wanted a Maple Leafs shirt.

As we walked through Future World, I took two very bad pictures, one of the Christmas tree and one of Spaceship Earth. I thought about not even posting them, but this installment is kind of short on pictures so here you go:

We also stopped at the Pin Station because I spotted the pin board out. There were actually three Pluto pins that I wanted but I’m such a stickler for rules, I just traded for two. Mom asked me why I wasn’t getting the third one and I said I was only allowed two. So right in front of the CM she said “give me one of your pins, I’ll trade for it”. I thought for sure we would get in trouble because the CM knew that the third pin was really for me but she just smiled and handed it to Mom.

We headed out to the buses after that. I don’t have anything in my notes as to how fast we caught the bus but we never waited more than 10 minutes for one the whole week. I’m guessing it was pretty fast because we were back in our room and in bed by 9:30 pm.

Up Next: Wild Africa Trek from the Other Side

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I took a picture of this little duck because I wanted to figure out what kind he was. I never did do that (oh Stephanie, can you help?):

An American Coot!

Congrats to your cousin that she is getting married at Disney in February!

Your dinner looks good, sorry it didn't taste as good as it looked.

I hope you felt better after leaving Epcot and getting sleep!

 

[katt789]

MRI?! Somehow I completely missed that, hopefully everything’s okay!

Don’t give up hope on free dining!! I’m checking nearly everyday even though I know it won’t be announced til like, May at the earliest! I know the second half of my Sept trip last year was booked in like, June, and I was able to get free dining for it, I’m continuing to hold out!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH DISNEY WEDDING!!!!!!! I’m dying. I will have one one day….

Wow that’s a lot of fireworks! Wait….fourty minutes?! AHAHA..WHAT?! Aw man, I feel the “too close to dinner” thing, I wanted to give school bread another chance this trip but we were really only in Norway right before and after dinner. Thinking about it now I guess I could have brought it home and had it for breakfast the next day *sigh*

I have to agree that Chefs wasn’t the greatest. Luckily we got to see Remy, and there were some super cute cms working there, ahahah, but the food quality, not the greatest!

Awesome that you got all three Pluto pins!

 

[Pluto0809]

An American Coot!

Congrats to your cousin that she is getting married at Disney in February!

Your dinner looks good, sorry it didn't taste as good as it looked.

I hope you felt better after leaving Epcot and getting sleep!

Thanks for the bird ID! I'm excited for the wedding. She's going to get married at Sea Breeze Point at the Boardwalk. She hasn't picked a place for the reception yet.

It did look good. I was talking to Mom tonight and told her what I wrote today. She was like, "that meal was so disappointing, but I liked my dessert".

MRI?! Somehow I completely missed that, hopefully everything’s okay!

Remember I couldn't dance at Disney because my hip was hurting? By the time I got back home, I could barely walk. So the MRI is to figure out what's going on. I go back to the specialist on Wednesday for the results.

Don’t give up hope on free dining!! I’m checking nearly everyday even though I know it won’t be announced til like, May at the earliest! I know the second half of my Sept trip last year was booked in like, June, and I was able to get free dining for it, I’m continuing to hold out!

I'm not, I'll upgrade to POR if free dining comes out.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH DISNEY WEDDING!!!!!!! I’m dying. I will have one one day….

I am really excited for her! We texted all day about it today. She picked Sea Breeze Point at the Boardwalk for the ceremony. Still deciding on the reception.

Wow that’s a lot of fireworks! Wait….fourty minutes?! AHAHA..WHAT?! Aw man, I feel the “too close to dinner” thing, I wanted to give school bread another chance this trip but we were really only in Norway right before and after dinner. Thinking about it now I guess I could have brought it home and had it for breakfast the next day *sigh*

Yep, 40 minutes for Maelstrom. I couldn't imagine waiting that long for it! I really wanted a piece of the Chocolate Mousse cake from the Norway Bakery. I went back this last trip and they didn't have it.

I have to agree that Chefs wasn’t the greatest. Luckily we got to see Remy, and there were some super cute cms working there, ahahah, but the food quality, not the greatest!

Yeah, it just wasn't what we were hoping for. And our waiter was female so I didn't have any eye candy to make up for the so so food. We were also there too late for Remy, he only is out from noon to 5 pm.

Awesome that you got all three Pluto pins!

I was excited to get three. I ended up with nine I think for the whole week. I'm going to post pictures of all of them at the end of the TR.

 

[cheekypoppins]

ooohhh I had missed more than I thought and i'm not surprised at all by Tiger lady there are some interesting people that head to our world some on a regular basis like The teddy bear lady at the grand floridian,a man completely covered in pins including hanging down from his hat n a fully covered vest,A man that makes his own disney related dolls and a woman who frequents Dhs and is obsessed with star wars( I think she even changed her name legally) I've run into a few from time to time some are completely harmless,some lead me to believe that there is more going on ,but thats the great thing about WDW is that it's for everyone and part of the magic is being able to let loose.
also If i'm around n still functional( although i might be old hairy n useless by then) when i'm a senior citizen I think i'll do silly things on purpose just to get a reaction outta people.

 

[ronnmel]

A wedding in Disney, how exciting!!!! That is an excellent reason to postpone a trip.

 

[Pluto0809]

ooohhh I had missed more than I thought and i'm not surprised at all by Tiger lady there are some interesting people that head to our world some on a regular basis like The teddy bear lady at the grand floridian,a man completely covered in pins including hanging down from his hat n a fully covered vest,A man that makes his own disney related dolls and a woman who frequents Dhs and is obsessed with star wars( I think she even changed her name legally) I've run into a few from time to time some are completely harmless,some lead me to believe that there is more going on ,but thats the great thing about WDW is that it's for everyone and part of the magic is being able to let loose.
also If i'm around n still functional( although i might be old hairy n useless by then) when i'm a senior citizen I think i'll do silly things on purpose just to get a reaction outta people.

It is fun to people watch at Disney. I can definitely see you being goofy on purpose!

A wedding in Disney, how exciting!!!! That is an excellent reason to postpone a trip.

I am very excited for her! I was shocked this weekend when she told me it would cost $900 to have one character at the wedding for 3 hours. My brother said he would dress up as Captain Hook for her and only charge $200. Not sure why he choose Captain Hook?

 

[ronnmel]

I am very excited for her! I was shocked this weekend when she told me it would cost $900 to have one character at the wedding for 3 hours. My brother said he would dress up as Captain Hook for her and only charge $200. Not sure why he choose Captain Hook?

Captain Hook! It's crazy how expensive having a character come to the wedding, but at the same time it's so cool!

 

[KatMark]

I have no idea how I missed an update.

I hope you got good news at the doctor today.

What fun...a Disney wedding.

I loved those Poinsetta plants in Epcot.

We enjoyed our lunch at Chefs; Andrew and Des raved about that Lobster soup. I don't eat salmon, but Andy does, but I can't recall what he had that day (I think maybe the Mac & Cheese).

Good for your mom getting that third pin for you.

 

[Pluto0809]

Captain Hook! It's crazy how expensive having a character come to the wedding, but at the same time it's so cool!

It is crazy! I'm not sure if she is going to get a character or not. I'm sure she looked into because she already has three kids. Two are her Fiance's (his first wife was killed in a car accident) and the third one is both of theirs.

I have no idea how I missed an update.

I hope you got good news at the doctor today.

What fun...a Disney wedding.

I loved those Poinsetta plants in Epcot.

We enjoyed our lunch at Chefs; Andrew and Des raved about that Lobster soup. I don't eat salmon, but Andy does, but I can't recall what he had that day (I think maybe the Mac & Cheese).

Good for your mom getting that third pin for you.

I am really excited about the wedding. I think it's going to be an awesome Disney experience.

We were disappointed with Chefs but I think I will end up trying it again someday. Mom and I were both feeling lousy so I don't know how much that affected the meal.

I'm going to update on my hip in the next post.

 

[Pluto0809]

So I went back to the specialist today and..... still no answers.

The MRI still didn't give enough detail so the hip specialist is sending me to a bone specialist. I need to make an appointment but am waiting to talk to my boss first and she's not in today. The bone specialist is in downtown Atlanta so I'm probably going to have to take at least a half day off of work for that appointment. The hip specialist mentioned more test such as a bone scan or CT scan. I'm not looking forward to that!

I was hoping to get an update done today but I've been swamped at work this week. I should be caught up enough to do one tomorrow.

 

[KatMark]

So I went back to the specialist today and..... still no answers.

The MRI still didn't give enough detail so the hip specialist is sending me to a bone specialist. I need to make an appointment but am waiting to talk to my boss first and she's not in today. The bone specialist is in downtown Atlanta so I'm probably going to have to take at least a half day off of work for that appointment. The hip specialist mentioned more test such as a bone scan or CT scan. I'm not looking forward to that!

I was hoping to get an update done today but I've been swamped at work this week. I should be caught up enough to do one tomorrow.

I'm sorry you still have no answers. That is the most annoying part...not knowing.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

So I went back to the specialist today and..... still no answers.

The MRI still didn't give enough detail so the hip specialist is sending me to a bone specialist. I need to make an appointment but am waiting to talk to my boss first and she's not in today. The bone specialist is in downtown Atlanta so I'm probably going to have to take at least a half day off of work for that appointment. The hip specialist mentioned more test such as a bone scan or CT scan. I'm not looking forward to that!

I was hoping to get an update done today but I've been swamped at work this week. I should be caught up enough to do one tomorrow.

No answers is the worst to some degree, as you just don't know what to think and your imagination can take over. I've gotten a CT scan on my head before, wasn't bad at all. I hope you can see the specialist soon and get answers to what is wrong.

 

[Pluto0809]

I'm sorry you still have no answers. That is the most annoying part...not knowing.

No answers is the worst to some degree, as you just don't know what to think and your imagination can take over. I've gotten a CT scan on my head before, wasn't bad at all. I hope you can see the specialist soon and get answers to what is wrong.

Thanks guys! This is so frustrating, I just want some answers.

 

[Pluto0809]

We woke up this morning at 6:30 am but were very slow getting ready. It wasn't the best morning as we both woke up coughing and with sore throats. Also, I opened the door to find this:

Yep, the dreaded DME envelope. I opened it to discover that Mom was on it but I was not. They always seem to mess it up when you are on different flights. So I got on the phone to straighten everything out. It took a little bit because we were on different flights but I wanted us both on the same bus. I finished up but would still have to go to the Concierge to get a new ticket printed.

We headed over to Center Towne to get some breakfast. We both had items to return, Minnie Mouse change purse for Mom and Haunted Mansion T-shirt for me, so we did that first. It ended up taking a while because I had used a Gift Card to purchase my t-shirt. Apparently, when you return something at Disney that was purchased with a gift card, the money goes back on that card. I had been destroying the gift cards as I used them up so a manager had to come and do an override. He was able to put a credit on one of my credit cards for the return. So if you use a lot of gift cards, make sure you keep them in case you need to return something.

Then we got breakfast. All I have written in my journal is "the usual" so I'm guessing it was a bagel and banana for me and coffee and a muffin for Mom. I have no photographic evidence of this though.

We decided to walk back to Jamaica to catch the bus because that stop was always less crowded and most of the buses stopped there first so you could get a seat much easier. We were on the bus by 9:30 and to the Animal Kingdom by 10 am. We walked straight back and got in line for the Safari. The wait time said 20 minutes but I think we only waited about 15. I took some pictures in the line:

Not sure what that second one was supposed to be. It was kind of creepy looking.

There are some Crested Cranes and Turtles in an enclosure next to the line. I had never seen them there before because I had done FP the last two trips:

The next picture has a back story, again from my Honeymoon. When we were there in 1998, AK had just opened. The entire Asia section was still under construction. The wait time for the Safari was about an hour since there wasn't much else to do in the park at that time. While waiting, I took a picture of an overhead sign. This was unusual because I still had a camera that used film so I only took pictures of really important stuff. Very different from today when you can take thousands at a time with a digital camera. I'm guessing that we were getting bored in the line and I was looking for stuff to do. Anyway, I decided to take another picture of the sign when I found it again.

Thrilling, I know.

Mom and I got on the Safari and I decided to try to take pictures of the Wild Africa Trek from the other side. This first one though is of a Rhino. I'm thinking that most people wont be to spot him unless I pointed it out. It's really just his butt and he's lying down.

Here's a zoomed in shot to help you out:

Here's the area above the Hippos where we hung out. We were attached to the silver pole and could pretty much go right up to the edge and lean over:

And a couple of Hippo shots for good measure:

A few Pelicans (Stephanie if I get any names wrong, please correct me, thanks):

A shot of one of the bridges from below:

Another bridge and the spot where we hung over the Crocs:

And here are some Crocs:

One more shot of the bridges:

Continued In Next Post