SSRMonkey and Koala's Excellent Adventures. Live at SSR 3/16/13-3/23/13.

[mecllap]

Love the pics from the fairy tent -- you've inspired this Grandma, too. I'm getting ready to put in a butterfly garden -- think I'll also make it a fairy garden (I used to make fairy houses when I was little -- time to try it again for my second childhood!). Still loving your TR's.

 

[SSRmonkey]

It's another beautiful day here. It's about 79 degrees and a little cloudy. That makes for perfect weather.

This morning we went to MK and headed right to BTMRR. We got FP just in case, and then did a walk on. We even got the first row! It was awesome. I was almost able to catch a possum, but the train turned too fast.

After that, we went over to Pirates, but it wasn't open. Bummer. So we headed to HM. I volunteered to be the 1000th ghost, but after reviewing the application, I realized that the menu there isn't the best. And they don't offer healthcare. So I passed. Anyone who is thinking of volunteering better read the fine print. Wouldn't I have made an awesome hitchhiking ghost?

After that, we went over to Pooh for some bouncin' with Tigger.

This is what I looked like when I was eating the rice krispie treat with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff last night.

We walked over to Laugh Floor, but there was a big line so we decided we would try that later. Besides, I need some time to work on my jokes.

Back to Pirates so Koala could practice his pirate voice..."Dead Men Tell No Tales"...once he hears that, that's pretty much all he says the rest of the day. I keep telling him, "Dead Koala's can't say anything." It doesn't have the same ring to it, but it gets the point across.

We were really hungry then so we decided to head out and get some lunch. Now we are off to do some adventuring in the Greater Orlando area. I'll let you know what exciting things we find!

 

[Chellymouse]

Looks like you're having an awesome trip! Still cold with freezing rain up here! I'm sure the cats giving you the paw are somehow related to your evil cat Chloe! Love all the pics! We will be there the last week of F&G fest and the first weekend of SWW so hopefully most of the displays will still be up! Hope you had a fun afternoon! How's dad's knee holding up? Now I have to go buy some PB and krispie treats! Hope your paws weren't too sticky!

 

[ccigliano]

So glad to see you guys again. I love your trip reports. Here is hoping for sunny and 80 for the next few days. Have a great trip!

 

[SSRmonkey]

Thanks, everybody for following along with me. It's nice to have so many friends out there in the big, not so blue world.

You guys are right, I think Chloe and those cats are somehow in cahoots. Chloe is like Levi in the Amish Mafia. Minus the Cadillac of course.

Chellymouse, Dad's knee is ok, thanks for asking. He's been taking a lot of Tylenol. I guess that's the only thing he can take since it's so close to his surgery. We've been walking at a slower pace than usual, but that's ok. I don't get as sea sick in the bag that way. I can't wait for your TR from SWW (a.k.a. Squatch Walking Weekend)!

 

[SSRmonkey]

Who's bright idea was it to go "adventuring" into the Greater Orlando Area? I can't believe we made it back alive. There were several parts of town that I'm sure I saw on episodes of Cops. Not to mention that we passed the Sherrif's station (twice) and a big correctional facility alarmingly close to the Mall at Millenia area. So here's what happened...

Things started out fine when we went to Edwin Watts golf to pick these up...

I'm super excited to go to the Arnold Palmer Invitational practice round tomorrow. I'm hoping to see Phil and Tiger (I will take plenty of hand sanitizer 'cause you never know where he's been), and of course, Bubba Watson. If you haven't seen his latest YouTube video with Rickie Fowler and a couple other guys, check this out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiiOqybRvsM

I'm gonna button up...I'm gonna button up... Ok, you get the point.

So then we had this great idea to go to a store that we heard about that sells retired Disney memorabilia. Umm...think "Hoarders, Disney edition"... In the words of Charles Barkley, it was "turrible". If we would have been driving a Honda, I'm sure that our car would have been in pieces by the time we got out with all the chop shops that were in the same "business park". And I think they were giving someone cement shoes in the gravel pit. I'll stick to checking their stuff out online.

After that we headed back through the 'hood, past too many pawn shops to count, and a long strip of auto dealers. Just past that hot mess we saw this...

I know this is hard to read...it says "Always Giving a Service to Remember." That plus a casket for $2995. What a screamin' deal.

Then we passed the bridal store with a puppy store in the basement suspiciously close to a lot of Chinese restaurants. Enough said.

We were on our way to a cake supply store because Koala has been helping Mom make some special cakes. We heard about this place on the Internet, but had no idea what we would have to experience to get there. It turned out to be awesome and now Koala will stop whining about not being able to find edible glitter to put on top of his ponds on golf course cakes. He says it makes the water look so much more realistic.

On the way back, after checking the door locks 20 or so times, we spotted this.

The billboard on the back of the bus said that the Titanic experience is now sponsored by Carnival. Just kidding. Too soon?

We finally got back to civilization and did some outlet mall shopping tonight. I was really hoping to get a Slap Chop or a ShamWow, but I had to settle for eating some of the cake supplies Mom bought earlier in the day. Koala wondered why I was sparkling all night...don't tell him I ate his edible glitter.

I am going to be a grumpy monkey in the morning if I don't go to bed. Dad is making us get up at 6am (on vacation!!) to go catch a Tiger by his toe. And yes, I'm going to make him holla before I let him go. Unless Lyndsey Vonn is there. She scares me. At least I should be able to outrun her with her recent knee problem.

 

[Cee]

Nothing beats a ShamWOW.

 

[SSRmonkey]

I haven't been up that early since...well, ok, since last Friday when we left home. Word on the street is that if you want to see Tiger at these golf tournaments, you should be there early. Apparently early is 7am. And apparently Mom and Dad didn't think about the fact that the sun isn't up yet at 7am. We drove on the course to get to the parking area. That was fun until we narrowly avoided a bunker. It came out of nowhere. Anyway, we got to walk the Bay Hill course before sunrise. It was actually pretty nice to meander around.

Unfortunately, Tiger, Phil and Bubba didn't show up before we left, but I got some nice shots of the course as we were walking around.

Brandt Snedeker

The grandstands at 18.

Koala created a distraction while I tried to steal this. I was going to take it to one of the pawn shops I saw yesterday. Just before I was going to try to take it, I realized I just put suncreen on and my paws were to slippery to get a good grip. Maybe tomorrow...

I am totally going to try to get a pair of these pants...

Keegan Bradley

How is this relevant? Maybe an inflatable Arnold Palmer (the person or the drink) would be better.

We got hungry and left to get some food around 11am. I was able to get Brandt and Keegan to sign my flag. I hope to get some more autographs tomorrow.

When we got back, we headed to the pool and did some laundry. Now my socks are clean!

Tonight we may head to DTD since we haven't spent much time there yet. I'll keep you posted!

 

[Chellymouse]

Thanks, everybody for following along with me. It's nice to have so many friends out there in the big, not so blue world.

You guys are right, I think Chloe and those cats are somehow in cahoots. Chloe is like Levi in the Amish Mafia. Minus the Cadillac of course.

Chellymouse, Dad's knee is ok, thanks for asking. He's been taking a lot of Tylenol. I guess that's the only thing he can take since it's so close to his surgery. We've been walking at a slower pace than usual, but that's ok. I don't get as sea sick in the bag that way. I can't wait for your TR from SWW (a.k.a. Squatch Walking Weekend)!

LOL! Squatch Walking Weekend...I love it!! Good to hear dad's knee is holding up! Your poor parents...I would hate to see you sea sick in the bag! Well, you and Koala too, of course! It's also a bonus "bottomless pit" excursion with F&G having food and beverage offerings! Hope your parents let you try a rum dole whip!

 

[Chellymouse]

Wow did you ever find the 'hood! Your pics are just plain scary! Glad you made it back safely. If Koala finds out you ate his edible glitter, I found a link on Amazon...you could buy him some for his next birthday! The golf course looks beautiful! Hopefully you get a pawful of Tiger tomorrow (and get into lawful trouble trying to take an extra souvenier home!)

 

[SSRmonkey]

We had a nice little evening. First stop, Buffalo Wild Wings for some first dinner. The plan was to get a couple of wings for Dad and a side salad for Mom and then go to Paradisio 37 for some mac and cheese bites.

After BWW, we headed to the Mall at Millenia to see if Penny was working at the Cheesecake Factory. *Knock knock knock, Penny* She wasn't there. Koala was really disappointed. After some window shopping we headed to DTD to see what was going on.

On our way, we passed one of Koala's favorite stores, Lightbulbs Unlimited. There's a new store right next door, Zombie Survival/Army Navy Surplus. I thought I better check it out while Koala was looking at lightbulbs. By the way, there are NOT unlimited lightbulbs in Lightbulbs Unlimited. In the Zombie store, I learned that you are not supposed to run. That just makes them more mad...

Once we got out of there, we got to DTD. I don't know what was going on tonight but there were a ton of people everywhere! We parked at the West Side and walked down to the Marketplace. Lucky for me, there was a dance party going on. I pulled off an epic win due to my awesome dancing skills. After I signed some autographs, my security team (Koala) got me out of there.

Paradisio 37 was too busy, so we decided to get an apple pie pretzel at Wetzel's instead. It was really tasty.

Right outside Wetzel's, a didgeridoo player was having his own little concert. I broke out my dancing skills again and won a free CD! Dad thinks that didgeridoos are just about as annoying as bagpipes, so I donated my CD to an unsuspecting family. They have no idea what they are in for when they pop that in to the CD player in the minivan.

After my winning evening, we came back to ride the carousel.

On the way back to the room I found what I thought was the lead singer from Toad the Wet Sprocket. He's a little shorter than I thought he would be. Dad said that wasn't him, but I don't believe him...

It's time to turn in early again. Tiger tees off at 7:30am, so we have to get there to stake out a good viewing area! After we're done at the golf tournament, we are probably going to head to Epcot for the evening.

Sweet dreams!

 

[Disney Princess]

What a productive day! I can't believe you ventured back to Mall at Millennia since it was so close to the 'hood you found yesterday. I am sorry you were unable to see Penny at Cheesecake Factory.

The golf course looks beautiful. I could stand to see some green here at home. I have spring fever!

Congratulations on winning your CD because of your dance moves. Sorry dad didn't let you keep it. I hope you and Koala sleep well.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

Weekend at Bernie's pot man was hilarious!

Also, Lindsay Vonn scares me too.

Loving your report!

 

[Harlemgirl720]

I almost missed your TR. Glad you and the family made it to WDW safely. Love the pics. I will miss the F&G this year. Going down in June for a few days and then in November for the last weekend of the F&W.


Golf course is beautiful.

 

[SSRmonkey]

We got up sooooo early again today, but it was totally worth it. Until the thunderstorm came along and there was a 2.5 hour lightning delay!

The day started out a little chilly, but it was pleasant outside. This is the view from the third hole. We camped out right by the green so we could see the players go from hole three to the fourth hole.

First up was Tiger's group. They were just able to finish the third hole before the lightning delay happened. Tiger is way taller in person than he looks on TV.

Right after this, Tiger and the rest of his group piled into the evacuation cars they park on the course. I couldn't believe my eyes when Tiger climbed into what I thought was an Escalade. Upon further inspection, it turned out it's a new GMC model called Alimony. I hear they are very expensive and that they they are supposed to last a long time. He was in the upgraded CS package which has apparently some nice additions for kids.

I'm actually kinda glad it rained...while we were waiting for Tiger, I told Mom and Dad that I was going to the bathroom, but I got distracted by a bunker on the way. I made an awesome sand castle, but my paw prints were all over that thing. I would have gotten caught for sure, but Mother Nature has my back and cleaned up the crime scene for me.

Once the sky cleared up, we headed back to the third hole because Koala's favorite was coming through next, Bubba Watson. It took forever for the golfers to get back on the course. And that made it very hard for me to resist picking up this sign and walking while Dad played the course. Good thing he didn't have his clubs.

I learned from the guy that really does carry this sign that you have to stretch thoroughly before setting out on the course. Apparently carrying a sign around all day is very taxing. You have to incorporate yoga poses and stretch using a tree to make sure you don't get injured. I think the guy was taking himself way too seriously.

Koala was hoping Bubba would have worn his overalls to match Koala's today, but I guess that's frowned upon at Bay Hill.

Next up, Rickie Fowler. I love his argyle. It occured to me that it would be awesome to have someone carry your stuff around for you all day and hand you whatever you need whenever you want it. Then I realized that Dad is my caddy. He doesn't just carry my stuff around, he carries me too. Awesome. I give him 15% of my earnings too. And that equates to about...$0.

After Bubba's round, he stopped to sign autographs. He signed my flag for me, how nice! This picture is right after he signed. Pay close attention to the people in the background...

A scratch or a pick?

This is how Koala hoped Bubba would show up today...

We had been there for a really long time and decided it was time to head out. We ran in to Ricky again on the way out. This guy needs a haircut!

After some lunch we came back and took a nap to recover from our early morning.

Tonight we will head to Epcot and try to get a ride in on Soarin and if we are lucky, TT.

 

[Chellymouse]

Love the "Tiger evac vehicle" That's funny! Definitely a pick....there was no scratching on that one! Glad you didn't get caught building sandcastles in the bunker. I would have paid good money to see you in that dance contest! I would have cheered you on! Good work with the CD...some family probably thinks you were "sharing the magic" Hope you have a good time at Epcot tonight!

 

[mecllap]

Great trifecta at the golf course!!! Dad takes great photos. The Golf channel gurus were predicting Sergio and Keegan as possibles for winners. Last year was my first trip to a pro tournament (for practice rounds) -- it was a blast. Next year the PGA is right near my sister's house in Pinehurst so we're going to try to go to the whole thing!!! Really looking forward to that. Love Koala's overalls and your C&D shirt. Did you see Capt. Hook at F&G at Epcot?

 

[SSRmonkey]

I forgot a couple things from the golf course today...I think that Rickie Fowler stepped in Squatch scat. He was really trying to get it out of his shoes. It smells so bad that his caddy can't even stand it.

There was a Red Bull helicopter flying around the course today. I thought Red Bull gave you wings...not rotor blades...

We had a good time at Epcot tonight, but didn't stay too long because there was more rain coming. We headed to TT first and built our own cars. Koala and Mom's car beat Dad and I. That's ok, they need to win one now and then. Here's their design...

After a quick stop at Club Cool, we headed to Soarin. The wait was posted at 45 minutes and it was pretty spot on. Thank goodness for games on iPhones!

When we got out of there it was starting to rain, so we headed back to the car and thought we would head to Paradisio 37 for some dinner. There was a 45 minute wait there too, but we waited it out. It was so yummy!!!

Next to Wetzel's Pretzels, mac and cheese bites are my favorite way to carb load.

Koala had a little too much to drink and thought if he put a leaf on his head it would make it less obvious that he was a little tipsy. It didn't work. That plus the conversation he was carrying on with the horse pillow didn't help.

Tomorrow we are headed to DHS in the morning for some TSM! I can't wait. I'll be stretching my paws out all night!

 

[SSRmonkey]

mecllap: Thanks, Mom was actually on camera duty the last couple of days. That way Dad could watch more closely. I'm hoping Tiger pulls off a win this weekend. As much as I tease, I really do like him. I'm sure you will have a great time at your sister's house. Things move a little more quickly when you are watching golf on the golf channel, but it's definitely cool to see people up close.

I didn't see Captain Hook yet, but I did see Tow Mater!

 

[SSRmonkey]

We started our day at DHS. it turned into a beautiful day here, but started out a little chilly at around 55 degrees. Great jeans and sweatshirts weather.

I thought it would be busier at DHS today, but it wasn't bad. We got in a few minutes early and headed right to TSM. We got FP first and then hopped in line. We were though in about 15 minutes. Dad got the high score in our vehicle, 191,200, not too shabby!

We haven't been on the backlot tour for a really long time and it was open so we thought we would check it out.

This is a prop from Pirates of the Carribean. I wish I would have brought my eye patch and pirate hair. My sharky shirt is just not very intimidating.

I'm really excited to see this movie in a couple months.

I couldn't figure out where to get inside the dragon head.

Side saddle is the only way to go when you are riding a golden horse.

You never know when you might need a spare set...

Yep, I'm Facebooking.

This is not a good picture of me, but I want to make one of these for the backyard.

We had to get back in the bag for a little bit because we were too cold.

The next time I fly, I'm taking this...

After the tour, we walked over toward the Streets of America and we ran into Sully and Mike!

Koala was a little star stuck. Until Sully tried to walk away with him. Then he started screaming "Stranger Danger!" just like Mom and Dad taught him.

The most important part of this sign is the not eating the soap part. But why do they make soap smell so good??

I want to be a team leader someday. As long as my team consists of Koala and my evil cat Chloe.

We headed back to use our FP at TSM. Mom got the high score that time, 195,900! That may be her best score ever. She was very focused today!

We decided then it was time for lunch so we headed to Earl. Dad had the Hawaiian today and Mom had another grilled cheese. She's kind of a creature of habit!

We're going to head to Beaches and Cream soon for some ice cream and then to Epcot for a couple of hours this evening. I'm hoping to get some great evening pictures of the flowers.