26 March 2015

I wish I May I Wish WE DID! - Day 5 - Shops, Shirts & Shrimp

9th November 2014

I woke up at 4am to the sound of rain and forced myself to go back to sleep, hoping that it would be gone by the morning. Today was to be Oliver's Unbirthday, and a day I had been planning since last year; a day of swimming at Blizzard Beach and dinner at Chef Mickey's in the evening. If there was one day I didn't want rain, It was today.

I woke again at 7am and could still hear the superfluous sound of pattering on palm leaves and the dins as it hit the guttering outside of our room. I went out onto the balcony with my fingers crossed, hoping it was lawnmowers or something else, but my heart sank when I saw the heavy rain through the still-darkness.

We got up, showered and dressed and Daniel, Sam and Sarah came into our room for breakfast of tea, coffee, cereals and toast. We looked at our itinerary and decided that we would just swap day 5 with day 9 which was to be a shopping day. The rain did die down a bit and the kids were playing out on the balcony. I went out with them to take some photos and spotted a turtle in the lake. They all had fun throwing bits of toast for him until I told them to stop in case it attracted alligators! Paul also said that he saw a huge rat behind the bushes out the front the previous night when he went out for a cigarette. No more toast for the turtle girls! This really made me uneasy and I said he should have reported it, but I'm not sure if he ever did.

We all left the villa at about 9:30am. I'm not sure if I mentioned on Day 1 (it's so long since I wrote it and I haven't got time to go back and look so apologies if I'm repeating myself again!), but when I had my package delivery from Carrie, there was a mix up and I received someone else parcel by mistake. It was quickly rectified with a few emails and Carrie told me to leave it at Hospitality House for her to pick up that afternoon, so that was our first port of call this morning.

We managed to find our way Premium outlets on International Drive with the help of the map on Daniel's phone. We'd given up with the Sat Nav at this point. I don't think there were too many wrong turns. If there was, I didn't make a note of them so it can't have been that bad

We visited Disney Character Warehouse where I bought:

A car window decal for Paul (my other car is a monorail) $2.99
A 4x6 wooden photo frame $9.99
A photo album (the same as I bought in 2012) $12.99
and I donated a dollar to the wildlife trust for $1 - how can you say no to those sweet old ladies who work in there?
Total $28.66 incl. tax.

Paul bought a nice coffee mug $5.99 and Oliver got some sour cherry balls for $4.95.
Total with tax: $11.66

Next up was Skechers where we took advantage of the Buy one get one half price offer. We bought
Go walk 2 trainers for me
Twinkletoes Shuffles for Amelia
Lite Dreamz for Amelia
And some Citywalk's for Paul
TOTAL including tax: $155.98

Unfortunately Oliver was at a difficult size (6.5 UK) and they didn't stock it in the boys or mens section! How pants is that? I went in Journeys to see if they had anything for him but there was nothing he liked and I also wanted some Uggs, but they weren't that much cheaper than over here so I ended up leaving them. We looked in a few other places but didn't buy anything. Sam bought a nice handbag, but I think that was about it.

We were getting hungry now go we went back to the car and drove to Mall at Millenia. There was about an hours wait for a table and the kids were getting grouchy, so we decided to get take out cheesecake and have something more substantial to eat at the food court. I was a bit overwhelmed with so many choices and really couldn't decide which one to have, so I said I'd just have a bit of Oliver and Paul's. Oliver had a slice of Oreo Dream Extreme ($7.95) and Paul had a slice of Vanilla Bean ($7.50). We paid and then had to wait on the other side for them to be packaged up to take away. In which time I did what most women do and changed my mind! I ordered a slice of Fresh Strawberry ($7.95).

We waked through the mall towards the food court. The decorations were all up and it looked very festive and twinkly.


We settled on Gourmet Grill to eat.


Paul and I both had bacon cheese burgers, Oliver had a hot dog combo and Amelia had a kids hotdog with extra cheese (sorry, no pics!). Total: $34.06 including tax. It was quite nice. Nothing to write home about, just a typical burger place. My back was in agony though and I was glad of the sit down.

We didn't particularly want to buy anything but Dan and Sam wanted to look for the new Surface in the Microsoft store, so we arranged to meet them outside at 2:30pm. We had a look around Macy's but didn't buy anything. My Mum asked me to get her the big box of Estee Lauder make-up that you get cheap when you buy a fragrance if it was cheaper in Florida than it is in the UK. I couldn't get a signal on my phone to call her so I took some snaps for her to see if she wanted it and we would come back another day if she did. For those of you ladies interested ….




We sat outside on the wall and waited for the others for ages. Paul didn't want to walk down one end of the mall only to come back again, and I was in so much pain now with my back that I was quite happy to do this! I was feeling pretty fed up. The kids had fun running about and actually played nicely together with no arguing which made a pleasant change


With the arrival of Sam and Daniel, we made our way back to OKW and chilled out for a bit. I took some painkillers and unpacked all of our shopping haul…


…and Oliver proceeded to tell us all about the "anaconda" he'd just left in the toilet! Such a disgusting boy! I'm sure you all wanted to know about that

We had tea and a bit of our cheesecakes. It was sooooo nice, but very filling. Oliver and I put the rest of ours in the fridge while Paul polished his off. This was Oliver's…


We got changed and ready to go out. We still had our ADR at Chef Mickey's despite the rest of Oliver's Unbirthday being put on hold. Finally it was time to get out the matching Mickey shirts! Paul had been waiting for this day for months! Lol. Amelia couldn't stop laughing when she realised she was wearing the same as daddy and Oliver and I think Oliver was slightly mortified when he saw Paul come out the bedroom wearing the same shirt. Lol. I don’t think Daniel and Sam saw the funny side though.

We all got in the car and drove to the Transportation and Ticket Centre (TTC) and then caught a smelly resort monorail to the Contemporary. The whole time we were in Disney, the monorails stank of pee. Not sure what it was. I hope they sort it out though!

We checked in at Chef mickeys and was given a pager so we sat down for a bit by the window. I know people rave about the Contemporary, but I just wasn't feeling it. The monorail coming and going every few minutes was really noisy and kind of vibrated in my head if that makes sense. It would put me off of staying there. I'm hoping they have sound-proof rooms otherwise I'd never get any sleep!

We were called after a few minutes and went up and had a memory maker photo taken.


We were then shown to our table and ordered drinks. We were told the characters would be here very soon, so we quickly grabbed some food for the kids and got back to the table just in time for Mickey.


The rest of us each went up and got food from the buffet. There was carved beef and turkey, mashed potatoes, delicious bread rolls, a salad bar where I filled up on shrimp ( I looooove shrimp!), loads of stuff really. I would say it was 'just OK'. Not memorable enough for me to actually remember what else I ate. It was nice enough but I'm not in a hurry to go back. The characters were good though and they all had their chef outfits on. After Mickey came Goofy..


…and then Minnie…


Excellent photography there Paul! Well done!

Next was Donald…


And lastly Pluto…


When we'd finished dinner we all had desserts. I'm pretty sure the kids all had ice cream with lots of toppings. Paul and I just had a few of these...


The two at the back were delicious!

Paul scanned his magic band to pay the bill which would have been $205.00! Thank heavens for the dining plan!

Just as we got up to leave, all the characters came out and started dancing about and twirling their napkins around. The kids loved it (Oliver sat it out )


We made our way out and caught the monorail to Magic Kingdom.


It looked very festive and the castle looked beautiful all lit up. My photos don’t do it justice. I couldn't capture it properly.




The electrical parade was due to start soon, so we got in position outside the gates by the Harmony Barber shop where the floats would come out. Paul asked Daniel if he would mind if the kids watched it with them while we quickly went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as our freebie fast passes from when Splash Mountain broke down were going to expire tonight. Amelia had fallen asleep in her pushchair and slept through whole thing!

Paul and I speed-walked up main street via the Emporium where I bought a hooded top I had my eye on. It was freezing tonight and I had forgotten my cardigan. It didn't really go with the dress I was wearing but at least I was warm!

We went in BTMRR. Just as it did the first little drop I felt something go in my back. I was terrified I was going to end up paralysed or something. I've never had it happen to me before. Despite that though, BTMRR was amazing! A totally different ride experience in the dark. We practically ran back as the parade had started and we wanted to catch some of it, but by the time we got back to the entrance it was over

We retraced our steps back up Main street again, having a few memory maker photos taken on the way.


Me and my boys


Paul got a coffee and two hot chocolates for Oliver and I from main St bakery (aka Starbucks). We were unsure where the Wishes preferred seating was now that they'd changed it to a FP+ attraction. For some reason I thought it had moved. We asked a CM on the bridge to Tomorrowland who didn't have a clue, so we walked back towards the rose garden and asked there and they ushered us in quickly after scanning our bands. They were very official looking I thought, like security guards in dark uniforms and there were loads of them!

The rose garden had a fantastic view, despite the tree being a little obstructive.


Amelia was still fast asleep in her pushchair and didn't even stir when Paul took her out. We all sat on the grass together and it was just so lovely being out of the crowds in our own little secluded area. There were only a handful of other people in there.

Amelia woke up just before Celebrate the Magic started. She really enjoyed it, although she kept saying it was really loud.

And then one of highlights of the holiday happened. As the Wishes music started and the little girl started singing "Starlight, Starbright…", Amelia said to Paul "That's what Mummy sings to me at bedtime". He nearly cried and I did as soon as he told me! It was such a magical moment being there with my family in the rose garden watching my favourite show. I'm not ashamed to admit always cry watching wishes and tonight was no exception (I'm such a loser! Lol)!




Pretty poor on the photo department I'm afraid.

As we were sitting there watching the fireworks, half way through, several people tried to climb the fence into the garden! Now I realised why the official looking CM's were there. One of them went over and moved them along straight away.

Sarah was asleep afterwards and had slept through the whole thing. She and Amelia must have been on a nap rota! We took the shuttle back to the TTC. We arrived at the car park and as I stepped off and put my foot down on the tarmac, my back felt like it was breaking. Like a disc in my spine had slipped again. If I was on my own I would have cried It was the most excruciating pain. I practically tip toed back to the car holding back the tears as it hurt so much to walk.

We got back to the resort, I took some painkillers, got the kids to bed and went straight to bed ourselves.

TOMORROW: A Perfectly Princess Day


24 March 2015

Day 4 - Crowds, Characters and Chaos - Epcot,

We didn't have any breakfast plans this morning. Daniel and Sam had an ADR at Ohana at 8am, and were off out first thing. We took a more leisurely approach, but were still up, showered/bathed and dressed and outside the villa at 8:54am just as the bus to Epcot drove away from the bus stop. Ah crap! I took a couple of snaps of the kids outside of our block and we took a slow walk over and waited for the next one.


Paul wanted to leave Amelia's pushchair behind today as she had become lazy and wanted to sit in it all the time. We had been waiting a few minutes when I suggested to him that we had better take it as we were going to be out until this evening, and would be doing a LOT of waking today. There were a few people waiting for the bus, so he quickly ran back to our villa, grabbed it and got back just as the next bus pulled up. I don't think we ever waited more than 10 minutes for a bus all holiday and the bus stop was right by our block on Old Turtle pond Road which was very convenient.

We arrived at Epcot, went through bag check and then up to the entrance where we scanned our magic bands and went in. I think Oliver's worked first time today!

We went straight to Fountain View (AKA Starbucks) which was very busy. We queued for absolutely ages. Artisan breakfast sandwiches were our breakfast of choice this morning - Bon Gouda (cheese and ham) all round with tea, coffee, milk and apple juice for Oliver and Amelia. They were delicious! I thought it was going to be too big for Amelia, but she ate every bit! It was 9:51am now (going by the date on my photos!) and we were all really hungry at this point, so they went down very well. We sat on a bench under Spaceship Earth and it was nice just chilling out, eating without rushing around to be anywhere. I'm afraid I can't remember how much this came to as the receipt just has zeros as the price, but we used 4 QS credits.


Excuse the bite mark! I couldn't wait!

Our first Fast pass was for Soarin' between 10:10 - 11:10am so we made our way over there after breakfast. I absolutely loved it! But the others didn't share my enthusiasm unfortunately. Amelia cried and kept saying she was falling, Oliver kept saying afterwards that he was petrified he was going to fall (it's not real kids!) And Paul said he didn't get it and was expecting it to be better. So I guess I'll be riding solo next time!

Next up was The Seas with Nemo which we all enjoyed, and we spent some time afterwards looking at the fish, turtles, dolphins, etc.




We left the fishes and made our way to the Character Spot and arrived outside at 11:50 just as Daniel, Sam and Sarah were going in! Talk about a small world! We all went in and met the gang together..




As we got to Minnie, Mickey came over holding a plush Mickey and Minnie wedding toy and gave it to Minnie and they shared a kiss and a cuddle. It was so sweet!


I seem to remember there being a lot more characters on our last trip in 2012, and the location had changed this time too. Now it's just Mickey, Goofy and Minnie at the Character Spot.

We all had ADR's this evening at different restaurants, so we arranged a time and place to meet up afterwards, then went our separate ways. Daniel and Sam went for their next fast pass and we made our way towards World showcase via Mouse Gear where Amelia spent her daily allowance on:

Duffy bandits for her magic band $6.96
A Princess Pin $9.95
and a postcard. $1.95
TOTAL $20.08 including tax.

I also bought:
A 2014 postcard $1.95
A polka dot converse shoe pin $9.95
A Tinkerbell 2014 pin for my Mum $9.95
Minnie Pow! Pin $7.95
TOTAL $31.74 INCL TAX.

Oliver hadn't bought anything so far. I think he wanted to save it.

The Food and Wine Festival was in full swing and it was SO busy.


The plan was to walk over to International Gateway, through to the Boardwalk and then on to Fantasia Gardens mini golf. But before we'd even got to Canada, Paul started moaning about where we were going to eat. I was happy to just eat wherever we happened to be around 1pm, but Paul needed a plan, so we decided we'd do a detour to France via Canada…










And the United Kingdom…


The kids started the Kidcot Funstop, but never did collect all the countries.


We had some lovely photopass photos taken here. I love the ones of the kids.






I never anticipated just how busy Epcot would be during the food and Wine Festival but boy were we in for a shock! It was heaving! It was horrible not being able to walk without brushing arms with strangers and it took forever to get over to France! I was relieved when we reached Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie a lot later than planned at 2pm. The queue was long, but went quite quickly and we all ordered baguettes - ham and cheese for the kids and I, and Paul had chicken salad.

Unfortunately there were no tables and chairs left, so we had to stand at one of those high tables which I detest. Who invented them? They're rubbish for families with small children. Amelia couldn't reach, so she had to sit in her pushchair (thank goodness we brought it!), but she seemed quite happy sitting there eating her way through a whole baguette! She certainly had an appetite today! My back was killing me, and I kept having to bend over to relieve it a bit. I would have killed for a chair! Paul finished his lunch and took Amelia to the toilet. I think he must have queued for about 30 minutes! It was so chaotic and busy that I didn't take any photos I'm afraid, but the baguettes were really nice. We will definitely go back again on future trips when it's not as busy.

Had to get a photo of Paul outside "his" restaurant!


This is how busy it was!


We made our way out of the chaos and went to get a boat to the Boardwalk but it was just pulling away. I spoke to a CM who told us that Fantasia Gardens wasn't that far so we walked … and walked….and walked. It was bit of a trek! It was a good job there were some nice views. And it was so quiet! So nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of Epcot. I love the Boardwalk..








We passed the swan and Dolphin too which looked lovely. It was even quieter there and we only saw one other person.




We passed a play park which Amelia wanted to go in, but we told her we'd go on the way back. It felt like we'd walked miles and my back was in agony by this point. As we reached the road I found a bench and just had to sit down. I was doubled over. I have a curved spine and usually suffer after prolonged walking/standing. Usually if I bend forward it stops the pain. But it didn't this time. We were so close and I could see Fantasia Gardens across the road. After 2 minutes we carried on. There was another family two in front of us who were taking forever. I don't know what they were talking about, but I think they were having some kind of problem. The lady behind them, and in front of us turned around and told us she couldn't wait any longer and gave us a family pass for a free game. We thanked her and about 10 more minutes later someone else came and served us - only to tell us there was a 55 minute wait! It was getting on a bit for time now and we had an ADR at Garden Grill booked for 5:15pm, so we gave it a miss. We were all so disappointed. We'd walked all that way for nothing. As we back walked out, we spotted the lady who gave us the pass, so I gave it back to her. We decided as we'd came so far, Paul would take Oliver in the arcade for a bit, and I said I'd take Amelia to the park we'd passed on the way. So that's what we did.

Amelia enjoyed the park. There were some great slides… all except this one which makes absolutely no sense! Her legs just butted each section on the way down! Obviously designed by the same person who invented tall tables with no chairs




The static on the slide on the end was great!


Paul and Oliver came back and Oliver took advantage of the empty hammock.


We headed back to Epcot - this time on a friendship boat from the Boardwalk. We couldn't walk anymore!

We went round to the right, past Morrocco and Japan and watched this for a while…


And then we fought our way through this lot until we reached Germany.


With so much further to go, we decided to catch the boat from Germany to Mexico. As we sailed across, they were opening the drawbridge ready to bring out the illuminations floats.

As we walked towards the Showcase Plaza we saw Duffy in his meet and greet area and just had to wait to see him as Amelia was wearing the Duffy dress that I made her The queue wasn't too long, but we'd only waited a couple of minutes before he decided to go on his 'wonder break' and it was another 10 minutes before he came back. It was worth the wait though. Duffy was full of love. He stroked Amelia's dress and told her he loved her by drawing a big heart in the air with his paws. Here's a video Paul took on his phone. I don't know what Facebook does to iPhone videos but the quality is shocking. Paul says to ignore his voice at the end!

 
Our 5:15pm ADR at Garden Grill was fast approaching, so we hot-footed it over to The Land and checked in at the desk.


They gave us a pager and I took Amelia to the restrooms while Paul and Oliver waited with it. It was going off just as we came out. Not long to wait at all! We were shown to a table on the outside, facing the viewing windows. Our server, Barry, was lovely and explained how the restaurant revolves, and how it was all we could eat - he would bring out our food, but we could ask for more at any time if we wanted anything.


We had barely sat down before Mickey came round. It was a bit of a rush to get our autograph books out! Amelia was just getting hers ready when Mickey came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She got the surprise of her life when she turned around! I wish I had videoed it! Our server was at the table taking our drinks orders and Amelia couldn't decide what she wanted to drink so the server asked mickey to decide for her


Next up was Chip who also came up behind Amelia and flicked her pigtails! She loved him.




Then soon after Dale came over…




And then Pluto which was a nice surprise as I didn't realise he was at the Garden Grill.


I think pretty much all of the characters came over before our food was brought out which was good as we could eat without being interrupted half way through.

The food was delicious. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, so you'll have to make do with a few stock ones I borrowed…

First up was a basket of warm bread with orange blossom honey butter. It was delicious! I could have eaten the whole basket . This came with a bowl of "Living with the Land" farmers salad.
Then came a long plate filed with char-grilled fillet of beef, roasted turkey breast, salmon, garden vegetables, buttermilk mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.


Amelia was given a plate of chicken tenders, with a bowl of macaroni cheese, fries and broccoli florets on the side. She didn't really like any of it, and just picked at ours. I think Oliver ate most of hers which our server found amusing and asked if he wanted him to bring him his own plate to which he declined.


Everything was cooked to perfection. It was soooo nice and made a nice change to the usual theme park menus. For dessert we had a skillet of berry cobbler with vanilla bean whipped cream which was amazing, but we couldn't eat much as we were so full.


Amelia was brought out some of these cupcake cones with crisp pearls and he gave us extras for Oliver. She didn't want these either though which was unlike her! She usually takes after me with her sweet tooth.


We got the bill which came to $155.45 including tax, but not including tip. But of course, we used 4 TS credits making it free On the bill it says 3 adult Harvest Feasts $125.97 and 1 KM combo platter $19.99 - I'm assuming that was Amelia's chicken tenders, fries and macaroni cheese. $20 is an awful lot for that and if I had paid out of pocket for it, I would have been most upset. Especially as she didn't touch it!

Just as we got up to leave, Pluto was doing the rounds again and he waved goodbye and gave Oliver a high five.

Sam, Daniel and Sarah were eating at Coral Reef tonight so we arranged to meet them at The Land sign after dinner. Sam text me to say they were almost finished just as the heavens opened and it started pouring down. We ran down the path a bit and stood under the monorail track and waited for them. They arrived shortly after and w decided we'd take a drive up to Premium Outlets.

Oliver bought two Vinylmations from the character warehouse ($3.99 and $7.98) and donated $1 and received a Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Button as a thank you, I bought a wooden photo frame ($7.99). And Amelia bought a goofy and a splash mountain pin for $3.99 each.

The girls were getting tired so we headed back to OKW via Walgreens. Sam had a really nasty cold sore so needed something for it. We also bought some bread, orange juice, water, milk, some yellow note pads for my dad (he bought loads in 2012 and uses them for work. You can't get them in the UK and he had just run out before we came on holiday), some after bite for all the mosquito bites we were getting and some S'mores goldfish! (my favourite! )


We went back and got the kids to bed and had a look at all of our purchases, and had tea and goldfish on the balcony and went to bed around 11pm.