tinker-kyle
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
wednesday 2/16
we wake up at 6:30am
open the curtains and its ... not raining!!!
today was suppose to be torrential rains ... i'm very happy its not but really beginning to think CA weather people are looney ... we check out the news storm has stalled in the pacific and taking longer than expect ... rain forecast for this evening.
hubby and kid run out for a quick swim at cove pool
we decide we're in need of a hot breakfast coz the cold and not new york bagels are getting to us ... i whip out my handy dandy coupon booklet and we choose rainforest cafe b/c we have coupon for free kids meal (i really had fun with this coupon booklet it was part of you wdtc package and had some really good deals)
breakfast at rainforest was really good!!! and kid who had been to rainforest several times before the age of three (in florida and NY) did not remember it at all ... she loved it ... you should have seen her jump when the "storm" hit inside the restaurant. kid and hubby had combo breakfast platter (hers was kids menu size) and i had oatmeal/fruit combo ... with lots of brown sugar. breakfast was about $25. and service was very good
we take monorail to DL ... hubby has a little panic attack b/c it was 10:07am and ohimygod ... the park has opened without us!!!
frst ride matterhorn with about a ten minute wait
then tea cups with no wait ... alice and mad rabbit jumped on at the last minute ... didnt ride with us but it was still cute to see them.
finally get over to small world ... some reason we kept putting this one off
saw the 11am clock show ... loved it! DL's small world is hard to compare with wdw small world ... i think i liked DL's better its longer and more elaborate inside (and we found the goat!!! hubby and i have been looking for mtn goat at wdw small world for 6 years coz in 1998 we went to DL for a day on a business trip always thought the goat was at wdw and have been wondering were it went - forgot we even rode small world on that trip!) anyway one thing that is definitely better at wdw is the way the scenes are staged (hard to explain) but basically the boat at wdw sits in a lot more water and stages are above water level and fyurther back ... at DL boat is on a narrow water track and you can see floor below on either side of water track ... very picky on my part. cant wait to see wdw's renovated small world ... someone said that they are putting in clock show - that'd be great!
we hit a few fantasyland rides ... mr. toad, snowwhite (same as wdw), pinocchio, carousel ... its about 11-11:30 now and the sun is shining and the sky is blue and clear ... and we're lugging about ponchos. kid is complaining that she forgot sunglasses and i've begun to worry about "the scar" (in sept ... kid rode her bicycle into a parked car and cracked her forehead againist bike handlebars which resulted in a gash over her eyebrow deep enough for three layers of stiches from a plastic surgeon (yes she was wearing a helmet -- it was a freak accident) so now while i remembered to slab on some sunscreen on the scar this am its still an awful lot of sun on this sorta still pink and fresh skin and thus begins the great tinkerbell hat hunt of 2005. oh it starts innocently enough "lets buy you a hat to cover up the scar - would you like a DL hat" "yes! great! can it be tinkerbell" "of course" so we're in fanatsyland we head right to the princess shop in the castle -- one tinkerbell baseball cap (nah - not this one) okay welll daddy wants to see abe lincoln we'll check out the emporium on main st ... there are literally six floppy tinkerbell hats in the emporium that for some reason dont quite meet the criteria (frustrating all of us) kid now explains she saw hat with all the princesses plus tinkerbell in the DLH gift show ... i remember that hat but it was a TODDLER hat and not going to fit on this seven year old even with her smallish head ... she (of course) does not believe me. me (of course) is not going back to gift shop at the hotel and also if we wait until later its going to be raining and she wont even need a hat then ... aggh!
CM recommends hat shop next to abe so off we go ... same selection and no toddler hat to prove me right ... hubby's done with this and heads off to abe by himself. we continue to browse the hats in hat shop as if something is going to magically appear ... but its disney so guess what something does magically appear ... a family comes in to buy their little girl a princess hat and to my daughter's great surprise this shop can put your name on your hat!!! seizing the moment i explain that in order to get your name on it it has to be a hat from this shop-- finally she picks the lavender tinkerbell bucket hat which was the one i had in mind all along (hurray success!) we hurry to catch up with daddy at abe and join him just as he's entering main theatre ... only about 6 other people in the place. abe was interesting i liked the haircut part gave me shivers ... was happy that gettysburg address was not as long as i expected. we exit and are happy with the hat success and the beautiful day ... we decide to take my new favorite ride "the omnibus" back to the castle as we approach mickey and minnie appear and scurry up to the top ... and we three are able to join them ... top gets loaded pretty fast after that. mickey and minnie pose for pix and then away we go ... its like being in a mini-parade driver is honking and people are waving at mickey and minnie ... the castle is cute and pink and the sky is blue and cloudless-- its a great trip!
after bus ... we head over to pirates and then to our 1:10 BB PS
i check in a few minutes before one and ask for water seat ... told 20-40 wait for water table ... we decide to wait ... overhear that BB is taking walk-ins ... park is more crowded than yesterday but crowds are still light ... our table is ready in literally less than 10 minutes (i'm not complaining) seat was great and food was so much better than expected ... i continued to be wishy washy about the monte cristo (didnt really sound like something i'd enjoy, but BB was ~famous~ for it) i eventually opted for the crabcakes and what crabcakes they were --- excellent excellent excellent --- definitely would have them again. hubby had jambayla which he said was really good and kid had pasta with butter ... we split an order of fried calamari which also was very good (fried clamari is one of kids favorite foods) we were full after lunch and decided to forgo dessert ... though kids meal include mickey jello head. we're not a big jello-loving family but we all took a bite coz it was there.
hubby grabbed a FP for IJ while kid and i checked out the tarzan treehouse again ... we noticed it was almost time for snow white show so we hurried over there ... as we walked i remembered that i ahd special preffered seating tix as part of the wdtc package ... we enter theatre at right about 2:20 and show starts in 10 minutes ... cm explains that preffered seating seats are "released" at 2:15 ... no biggie ... the place has plenty of good seats and we end up in the third row slight to the right of the stage... show is very good and sweet and well done.
after snow white ... kid wants to see toontown ... she says shes hot and tired which is why i was surprised that she picked goofy's bounce house to jump around in ... but it revives her. while shes bouncing we remember the indy FPs (time frame was 3:30 to 4:30) and its not yet 4pm ... heading thru fantasyland we see a short line for casy jr. which we havent gone on yet ... we figure we have enough time still so we stop for casey ... now this is a very slow loading ride ... despite short line we have to wait until the third train ... though first choice is an animal cage car kid is happy with getting the caboose ... this was a nice relaxing ride and even had a nice cool breeze.
we head over to indy -- planning on putting kid "on the box" again. At indy CM tells us we dont need our FPs (stand by is 20 minutes) we get on stand by line and realize immediately that this is crazy ... we may not "need" FPs but we "have" FPs so we turn around and ask again ... cms says he thought we were asking if we should "get" FPs ... he lets us thru FP line. kid sits on the box again while we ride its her and somebodys very elderly grandma in a wheelchair waiting next to the cm station -- they wave us bye -- i enjoyed indy much better this time (probably coz i'd gotten over most of the bad mother guilt)
after we all exit indy ... we treat ourselves to cotton candy which i promptly drop on the ground while unwrapping (my family turned on me like a pack of wolves "how could you!") dont panic -- we were still standing at the cotton candy cart CM had a new one ready to go before i even picked the first one up from the ground ... that was so nice!!
we eat our candy and head to tomorrowland ... decided to skip star tours
did it a bunch at mgm last year ... makes hubby clastrophobic and me a little woozy ... we get FPs for autopia
headed over to "honey i shrunk ..." and had about a ten minute wait til next show... we thought the fan effect was off in the beginning coz the wdw verision is definitely "windier" but otherwise the same ... i think this show is getting tired and beginning to pale in comparision to "its tough to be a bug" and especially "spectomagic" which is spectacular ... i wonder how long until disney decides to update.
we try to use our FPs for autotopia ... but FP line is "not open" "huh?"
we're told to "save them for souvniers" ... we wait about 15 minutes ... i know FP would have only saved us 5 minutes ... but still we had them we should have been able to use them.... kid rides with her dad this time ... gets off saying that i'm much better to drive with coz "daddy always tells me what to do" its the control freak in him ... cant even help himself ... first of all she drives fine and second of all its ON A TRACK ... leave the poor kid alone ... i very much enjoyed the peaceful ness of driving by myself on this ride ... its getting dark and late ... and the crankiness is setting in ... we decide on one more ride - our favorite BTMRR ... and yeah! only a 10 minute wait ... we all love this ride ... and everyone is over their little snits by the end (actually even before )... we walk out main street and stop to get a huge waffle cone of toll house chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream ... yum!
its about 7pm and we've been in the park since 10am ... we peek into world of disney but no one's that into shopping.... we stop at croc's to get a kids meal and a burger which we eat in the room.
when we're sorta relaxing after dinner ... hubby notices something small and white under kids bed ... he reaches down and picks up a pill ... definitely Rx and definitely not ours ... yikes! has this been there since monday when we checked in? so much for room being clean ... i bring it down to front desk ... i'm not one to rant and rave ... and i couldnt even fake it ... kid was way old enough to know better, and to know what medicine is enough to respect it, and hey she wont even take it when i want her to .... so i just brought it down and asked for a manager and explained what i found and why this was really not good ... manager (anny) was politely concerned and told me she would have housekeeping manager call me ... end of story i thought
phone was ringing when i walked back into the room ... housekeeping manager was in full panic mode "where's the pill now?" "where did you find it?" "do you need a new room?" "do you want someone to re-clean yor room?" ... we were totally fine with room and didnt want to change and honestly except for pill (big exception i know) room was clean ... she thanked us a million times ... and offered us a free character breakfast (which i quickly took her up on) we talked a bit more ... she promised breakfast vouchers would be at front desk in the am. after we hung up i immediately made PS for goofy's for 7:50 the next am ... found out later voucher were also good at storytellers and PCH grill but she had said "breakfast at goofy's" and i didnt want to eat at 12noon (thur was our last park day)
regarding the pill ... i was really glad ther were no little kids in that room ... but parents remember to check when you check into a hotel room. we like to think we would have checked if kid was still a toddler ... but just check, okay? oh ... and this is what really irked me about the whole thing ... be careful with your drugs and if you drop one get down and look for it ... i mean i know it was an accident but still ... look hard, okay? (FYI we later found out it was an ambian sleeping pill)
after some debate about "to swim or not to swim" ... with no swimming winning ... we're all asleep by 9pm.
and no (X@!*#X -it) we did NOT remember to enjoy the pixie dust wallpaper when we turned out the lights its coz we always fall asleep with the TV on ...
didnt even bother to watch the weather ... so happy we made through three days without a single raindrop...
we wake up at 6:30am
open the curtains and its ... not raining!!!
today was suppose to be torrential rains ... i'm very happy its not but really beginning to think CA weather people are looney ... we check out the news storm has stalled in the pacific and taking longer than expect ... rain forecast for this evening.
hubby and kid run out for a quick swim at cove pool
we decide we're in need of a hot breakfast coz the cold and not new york bagels are getting to us ... i whip out my handy dandy coupon booklet and we choose rainforest cafe b/c we have coupon for free kids meal (i really had fun with this coupon booklet it was part of you wdtc package and had some really good deals)
breakfast at rainforest was really good!!! and kid who had been to rainforest several times before the age of three (in florida and NY) did not remember it at all ... she loved it ... you should have seen her jump when the "storm" hit inside the restaurant. kid and hubby had combo breakfast platter (hers was kids menu size) and i had oatmeal/fruit combo ... with lots of brown sugar. breakfast was about $25. and service was very good
we take monorail to DL ... hubby has a little panic attack b/c it was 10:07am and ohimygod ... the park has opened without us!!!
frst ride matterhorn with about a ten minute wait
then tea cups with no wait ... alice and mad rabbit jumped on at the last minute ... didnt ride with us but it was still cute to see them.
finally get over to small world ... some reason we kept putting this one off
saw the 11am clock show ... loved it! DL's small world is hard to compare with wdw small world ... i think i liked DL's better its longer and more elaborate inside (and we found the goat!!! hubby and i have been looking for mtn goat at wdw small world for 6 years coz in 1998 we went to DL for a day on a business trip always thought the goat was at wdw and have been wondering were it went - forgot we even rode small world on that trip!) anyway one thing that is definitely better at wdw is the way the scenes are staged (hard to explain) but basically the boat at wdw sits in a lot more water and stages are above water level and fyurther back ... at DL boat is on a narrow water track and you can see floor below on either side of water track ... very picky on my part. cant wait to see wdw's renovated small world ... someone said that they are putting in clock show - that'd be great!
we hit a few fantasyland rides ... mr. toad, snowwhite (same as wdw), pinocchio, carousel ... its about 11-11:30 now and the sun is shining and the sky is blue and clear ... and we're lugging about ponchos. kid is complaining that she forgot sunglasses and i've begun to worry about "the scar" (in sept ... kid rode her bicycle into a parked car and cracked her forehead againist bike handlebars which resulted in a gash over her eyebrow deep enough for three layers of stiches from a plastic surgeon (yes she was wearing a helmet -- it was a freak accident) so now while i remembered to slab on some sunscreen on the scar this am its still an awful lot of sun on this sorta still pink and fresh skin and thus begins the great tinkerbell hat hunt of 2005. oh it starts innocently enough "lets buy you a hat to cover up the scar - would you like a DL hat" "yes! great! can it be tinkerbell" "of course" so we're in fanatsyland we head right to the princess shop in the castle -- one tinkerbell baseball cap (nah - not this one) okay welll daddy wants to see abe lincoln we'll check out the emporium on main st ... there are literally six floppy tinkerbell hats in the emporium that for some reason dont quite meet the criteria (frustrating all of us) kid now explains she saw hat with all the princesses plus tinkerbell in the DLH gift show ... i remember that hat but it was a TODDLER hat and not going to fit on this seven year old even with her smallish head ... she (of course) does not believe me. me (of course) is not going back to gift shop at the hotel and also if we wait until later its going to be raining and she wont even need a hat then ... aggh!
CM recommends hat shop next to abe so off we go ... same selection and no toddler hat to prove me right ... hubby's done with this and heads off to abe by himself. we continue to browse the hats in hat shop as if something is going to magically appear ... but its disney so guess what something does magically appear ... a family comes in to buy their little girl a princess hat and to my daughter's great surprise this shop can put your name on your hat!!! seizing the moment i explain that in order to get your name on it it has to be a hat from this shop-- finally she picks the lavender tinkerbell bucket hat which was the one i had in mind all along (hurray success!) we hurry to catch up with daddy at abe and join him just as he's entering main theatre ... only about 6 other people in the place. abe was interesting i liked the haircut part gave me shivers ... was happy that gettysburg address was not as long as i expected. we exit and are happy with the hat success and the beautiful day ... we decide to take my new favorite ride "the omnibus" back to the castle as we approach mickey and minnie appear and scurry up to the top ... and we three are able to join them ... top gets loaded pretty fast after that. mickey and minnie pose for pix and then away we go ... its like being in a mini-parade driver is honking and people are waving at mickey and minnie ... the castle is cute and pink and the sky is blue and cloudless-- its a great trip!
after bus ... we head over to pirates and then to our 1:10 BB PS
i check in a few minutes before one and ask for water seat ... told 20-40 wait for water table ... we decide to wait ... overhear that BB is taking walk-ins ... park is more crowded than yesterday but crowds are still light ... our table is ready in literally less than 10 minutes (i'm not complaining) seat was great and food was so much better than expected ... i continued to be wishy washy about the monte cristo (didnt really sound like something i'd enjoy, but BB was ~famous~ for it) i eventually opted for the crabcakes and what crabcakes they were --- excellent excellent excellent --- definitely would have them again. hubby had jambayla which he said was really good and kid had pasta with butter ... we split an order of fried calamari which also was very good (fried clamari is one of kids favorite foods) we were full after lunch and decided to forgo dessert ... though kids meal include mickey jello head. we're not a big jello-loving family but we all took a bite coz it was there.
hubby grabbed a FP for IJ while kid and i checked out the tarzan treehouse again ... we noticed it was almost time for snow white show so we hurried over there ... as we walked i remembered that i ahd special preffered seating tix as part of the wdtc package ... we enter theatre at right about 2:20 and show starts in 10 minutes ... cm explains that preffered seating seats are "released" at 2:15 ... no biggie ... the place has plenty of good seats and we end up in the third row slight to the right of the stage... show is very good and sweet and well done.
after snow white ... kid wants to see toontown ... she says shes hot and tired which is why i was surprised that she picked goofy's bounce house to jump around in ... but it revives her. while shes bouncing we remember the indy FPs (time frame was 3:30 to 4:30) and its not yet 4pm ... heading thru fantasyland we see a short line for casy jr. which we havent gone on yet ... we figure we have enough time still so we stop for casey ... now this is a very slow loading ride ... despite short line we have to wait until the third train ... though first choice is an animal cage car kid is happy with getting the caboose ... this was a nice relaxing ride and even had a nice cool breeze.
we head over to indy -- planning on putting kid "on the box" again. At indy CM tells us we dont need our FPs (stand by is 20 minutes) we get on stand by line and realize immediately that this is crazy ... we may not "need" FPs but we "have" FPs so we turn around and ask again ... cms says he thought we were asking if we should "get" FPs ... he lets us thru FP line. kid sits on the box again while we ride its her and somebodys very elderly grandma in a wheelchair waiting next to the cm station -- they wave us bye -- i enjoyed indy much better this time (probably coz i'd gotten over most of the bad mother guilt)
after we all exit indy ... we treat ourselves to cotton candy which i promptly drop on the ground while unwrapping (my family turned on me like a pack of wolves "how could you!") dont panic -- we were still standing at the cotton candy cart CM had a new one ready to go before i even picked the first one up from the ground ... that was so nice!!
we eat our candy and head to tomorrowland ... decided to skip star tours
did it a bunch at mgm last year ... makes hubby clastrophobic and me a little woozy ... we get FPs for autopia
headed over to "honey i shrunk ..." and had about a ten minute wait til next show... we thought the fan effect was off in the beginning coz the wdw verision is definitely "windier" but otherwise the same ... i think this show is getting tired and beginning to pale in comparision to "its tough to be a bug" and especially "spectomagic" which is spectacular ... i wonder how long until disney decides to update.
we try to use our FPs for autotopia ... but FP line is "not open" "huh?"
we're told to "save them for souvniers" ... we wait about 15 minutes ... i know FP would have only saved us 5 minutes ... but still we had them we should have been able to use them.... kid rides with her dad this time ... gets off saying that i'm much better to drive with coz "daddy always tells me what to do" its the control freak in him ... cant even help himself ... first of all she drives fine and second of all its ON A TRACK ... leave the poor kid alone ... i very much enjoyed the peaceful ness of driving by myself on this ride ... its getting dark and late ... and the crankiness is setting in ... we decide on one more ride - our favorite BTMRR ... and yeah! only a 10 minute wait ... we all love this ride ... and everyone is over their little snits by the end (actually even before )... we walk out main street and stop to get a huge waffle cone of toll house chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream ... yum!
its about 7pm and we've been in the park since 10am ... we peek into world of disney but no one's that into shopping.... we stop at croc's to get a kids meal and a burger which we eat in the room.
when we're sorta relaxing after dinner ... hubby notices something small and white under kids bed ... he reaches down and picks up a pill ... definitely Rx and definitely not ours ... yikes! has this been there since monday when we checked in? so much for room being clean ... i bring it down to front desk ... i'm not one to rant and rave ... and i couldnt even fake it ... kid was way old enough to know better, and to know what medicine is enough to respect it, and hey she wont even take it when i want her to .... so i just brought it down and asked for a manager and explained what i found and why this was really not good ... manager (anny) was politely concerned and told me she would have housekeeping manager call me ... end of story i thought
phone was ringing when i walked back into the room ... housekeeping manager was in full panic mode "where's the pill now?" "where did you find it?" "do you need a new room?" "do you want someone to re-clean yor room?" ... we were totally fine with room and didnt want to change and honestly except for pill (big exception i know) room was clean ... she thanked us a million times ... and offered us a free character breakfast (which i quickly took her up on) we talked a bit more ... she promised breakfast vouchers would be at front desk in the am. after we hung up i immediately made PS for goofy's for 7:50 the next am ... found out later voucher were also good at storytellers and PCH grill but she had said "breakfast at goofy's" and i didnt want to eat at 12noon (thur was our last park day)
regarding the pill ... i was really glad ther were no little kids in that room ... but parents remember to check when you check into a hotel room. we like to think we would have checked if kid was still a toddler ... but just check, okay? oh ... and this is what really irked me about the whole thing ... be careful with your drugs and if you drop one get down and look for it ... i mean i know it was an accident but still ... look hard, okay? (FYI we later found out it was an ambian sleeping pill)
after some debate about "to swim or not to swim" ... with no swimming winning ... we're all asleep by 9pm.
and no (X@!*#X -it) we did NOT remember to enjoy the pixie dust wallpaper when we turned out the lights its coz we always fall asleep with the TV on ...
didnt even bother to watch the weather ... so happy we made through three days without a single raindrop...
