[brumcg]

Kitchen Sink Part 2: Good Stuff!

For the first time ever... we got to ride in the front cab of the Monorail! On our last day, to get to our 8:05 ADR's at CP, we had to take the Resort loop boat to the Contemporary and then either walk or monorail to MK. I completely geeked out.

I love 9 year olds imagination. Mo is always weaving tales... At some point she realized that ducks were everywhere, and she started telling us that this duck, "Carol", was following her everywhere. Her husband "Cedar" would sometimes be with her, and sometimes there were other henchmen (henchducks?). What a great way to pass the time and keep things light.

Tables in Wonderland - which we bought on 3/20 - expires on 4/30/2010. What?!?! That's a great surprise as we won't have to renew the AP that we needed for our next trip (although I need to check on the rules/details).

Getting to ropedrops rocks! With the crowds, it was great to get so much accomplished in the first few hours. Our afternoon/evening trips were much less productive.

Sandy (hater of Rock-n-Roller Coaster) rode Everest and loved it! She agreed with my description of Everest as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on steroids.

Maura (hater of thrill rides) rode Tower of Terror and loved it! Now, let's see if she rides it next time.

[WishUponAStar]

I absolutely appreciate your restaurant reviews. I feel like we don't see them presented as often like you did; complete review w/ratings, all in one post. I am so happy when someone takes the time to do that.

Haha, I agree about buffet bacon. ODD stuff. I crave bacon sometimes & NEVER keep it in the house 'cause that would just be dangerous but I generally loath buffet bacon. I was the real stuff, cooked well. It's always SOOO hard & brown, even at Disney.

Love to see some pics! I appreciate your analytical nature but it's way too verbal for me, I need some visual supports.

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by brumcg

For the first time in my 10 trips, I visited Guest Relations. I completely realize that their goal is to make the complaint go away, but I needed to voice it. We didn't want anything other than to be heard, but the CM - very, very nice and agreed with everything we said even pointing out to us that we were describing "line jumping" - gave us fast passes to Tower of Terror and promised to call the TSM CM's.

Well that was very kind, I am glad you were given some FPs for voicing your concerns. Awesome CM.

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by brumcg

Getting to ropedrops rocks! With the crowds, it was great to get so much accomplished in the first few hours. Our afternoon/evening trips were much less productive.

This is how we operate on our trips & it works nicely. You can get SOOOO much done at opening and it's refreshing to get out there early & start the day. We are both naturally early risers, thank goodness, but we LITERALLY basically spend the hours between noon through about 4pm back at our resort, catch dinner & go back into the parks at night.

[WishUponAStar]

OK, I have a question. I read somewhere, I think it may have been in the restaurant reviews that you guys didn't eat many counter service meals b/c you'd eat breakfast at the resort, just snack, & then eat a nice dinner. Now, was this at Roaring Forks every morning? How was breakfast there? What kind of stuff did you guys get for breakfast?

We usually eat a quick banana & yogurt or something in our villa and then we are STARVING for counter service lunch by 10:30 am 'cause we're out walking so much in the early morning! I wonder if we tried the same thing you guys did if we'd hold out better all afternoon.

[brumcg]

Kitchen Sink Part 3: Disney's Magical Express and Resort Checkout

We did DME in the first month that it was in operation, and they screwed up our return so bad (with the assistance of the WL staff) that we called Quicksilver to take us to the airport.

Frankly, though, we haven't had the best luck with Quicksilver. On our 2007 trip, we had the same driver there and back. I'll be nice, and I'll just say that we had a clash of personalities with her. I vowed to give DME another chance.

On our arrival, there was one queue that was lined up. Yep, ours. Everyone else was walking right on the busses. When we finally got on ours, we waited 15-20 minutes; a total of 4 more people got on the bus. From landing to resort (we were the first stop) it was 95 minutes. On the plus side, I did like that we didn't have to interact with anyone and I liked the video stuff. Oh, yeah... and it's free!

On the return, our bus was about 15 minutes late... combined with the advice to arrive 15 minutes early meant we waited 30 minutes. Then we stopped at two resorts (the final boarders couldn't sit together... some had little kids); the bus was completely filled. It was a good 85 minute trip back. On the plus side, the driver did a trivia contest and the video helped pass the time. Oh, yeah... it's free!

We'll do DME again with our expectations in the right place.

Resort airline check-in was awesome - with one huge exception. Normally, I handle the boarding passes and passports for the entire family. For some reason this time, while in the security line, my wife suggested that we pass them out. Wow... I'm glad we did. We had 2 boarding passes for Mo and none for Mags; I hadn't noticed. So we bailed out of line and checked in Mags (she was, in fact, NOT checked in). Learn from me... check your return documents!

[brumcg]

Originally Posted by WishUponAStar

OK, I have a question. I read somewhere, I think it may have been in the restaurant reviews that you guys didn't eat many counter service meals b/c you'd eat breakfast at the resort, just snack, & then eat a nice dinner. Now, was this at Roaring Forks every morning? How was breakfast there? What kind of stuff did you guys get for breakfast?

On further review...

We did do 2 table service breakfasts and 2 lunches (and dinners also on those days), so that does help to account for some of the "lunch" gaps.

Breakfast was mostly cereal (specifically Raisin Bran ) or bagels in the room before we left.

We did one true counter service lunch at Roaring Forks.

I grabbed a muffin (blueberry - pretty tasty) one morning at RR for breakfast, but I didn't check to see what else they had.

I'm trying to remember what we grabbed in the parks; I know a turkey leg happened and the trips to Casey's for hot dogs only. Except for snacky things - of which there were definitely several - that's about it.

I remember this being the same way in 2007 when we were on the DDP and ended up using up our CS credits just to use them up.

Bruce

[DisneyTeacher]

Welcome back, Bruce. I loved your trip report, your reviews are wonderful. Your restaurant reviews are the best, the detail is perfect.

I'm glad you don't have to wait 2 years to go back, that's a long wait.

[vthokiegirl]

Great TR...Thanks for the ratings of the restaurants really liked that!

[iluvwdw]

Great report!!! I LOVE the Mickey Rating Scale! I am going to use this in the future. My kids would LOVE getting involved too!!!

[frquarter]

Hello,,Same here we have gone to WDW straight 5 years...this year is a break because the schools and university has differnet spring breaks...we go as a family of 18 and stay 2 weeks..every year.....(in tears.. not this year)...there will be an extra next year it will be 19....we stay at french quarter port orleans...we have such a wonderful time and i still havent visited everything but we do the same routine every year eat at the same places and do adds every year...soarin is the best ...cant do space mountain...and use fast pass most of the time....love the french pavilion...those napoleans are fantastic...mexicos churros are also good...germany has a great bratwurst.....and chef mickeys ...etc restaurants are all good....well it will be 350 days and we will be back in 2010....come 2011..going for christmas and new years my 50th wedding anniversary....LOVE DISNEY

[brumcg]

Kitchen Trip Part 4: Um... everything else...

Forgot that we got to see Remy at Chefs de France. Really kind of strange... They bring him around to tables and you get no more than a 30 second look before he's covered back up and taken to the next table. I was so busy trying to get a pic that I really didn't get to see him. Sandy was very impressed.

We always seem to deal with flu, strep, or something similar on our trips. The good news was that we had none of this, but Sandy had a trio of physical injuries. She suffers from plantar fasciitis, has a bum knee from her teenage years, and has a history of getting blisters. All three came together on this trip. Still, she forged ahead. I'm just not sure what to say about the blisters; she had no problems in 2007 and used the same brand/style of shoes & socks.

Weather was great. 70's as a high, high 50's as a low. No rain. The end of the week warmed up to the mid-80's.

I had completely forgotten about the Disney Time Warp. I was stunned how fast time went, and I was constantly saying "No way it's x o'clock."

Our return flight had turbulence the entire way, and my wife has a terror of flying. They literally threw peanuts at us as the attendants had to be seatbelted in most of the trip. As we landed, the pilot literally said "Whew! We've landed!" and apologized for "what we did to you in the cabin."

Lesson learned: We had several ADR's scheduled in the PM at Epcot. That didn't work out too great as it added a ton of walking, and we really didn't have time to accomplish much.

I had my first ever interaction in a 'show.' The mime guy in Italy does a bit with kids tossing a ball into a net that he holds, and he catches everything they throw at him. Then he picks an adult to do it, but he backs up and doesn't move his basket. Yeah, that was me. I missed my first shot - the long one - by inches. The next two... as he moved closer and closer... were miserable as I realized the pressure was on. On the fourth, he moved very close and gave me a smaller "kids" ball. Sigh. Then, the rest of the show he kept referring to my ineptitude. I loved it.

Whew. I think that's all that I remember right now. I'll be back with some pics and anything else that I remember. Thanks for reading... and the kind words.

Bruce

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by brumcg

Kitchen Trip Part 4: Um... everything else...

Forgot that we got to see Remy at Chefs de France. Really kind of strange... They bring him around to tables and you get no more than a 30 second look before he's covered back up and taken to the next table. I was so busy trying to get a pic that I really didn't get to see him. Sandy was very impressed.

I hope your picture turned out, I would love to see it.

Originally Posted by brumcg

We always seem to deal with flu, strep, or something similar on our trips. The good news was that we had none of this, but Sandy had a trio of physical injuries. She suffers from plantar fasciitis, has a bum knee from her teenage years, and has a history of getting blisters. All three came together on this trip. Still, she forged ahead. I'm just not sure what to say about the blisters; she had no problems in 2007 and used the same brand/style of shoes & socks.

Ouch, I've done Disney with blisters and it's NOT fun. Twice I've had a liller blister and every step hurts. I've also had Plantar fasctitis and it also hurts to take every step, I can't imagine the two together at WDW with all that walking. My DH did a lot of work on my feet and after a couple of months it was gone and hasn't come back. I was pregnant when it started and lasted for many months after my son was born. Lots of painful stretching.

Originally Posted by brumcg

I had completely forgotten about the Disney Time Warp. I was stunned how fast time went, and I was constantly saying "No way it's x o'clock."

Isn't it amazing how slow time goes before your trip and how fast it flies by when you're AT WDW. Even our longer trips seem to be over in a blink of an eye.

Originally Posted by brumcg

Our return flight had turbulence the entire way, and my wife has a terror of flying. They literally threw peanuts at us as the attendents had to be seatbelted in most of the trip. As we landed, the pilot literally said "Whew! We've landed!" and apologized for "what we did to you in the cabin."

Our last flight home was that way for at least the first half. I hate flying and was sure we were going to crash. Even my DH was a bit nervous and that never happens. I'm always happy when we land and know were safe. I used to love to fly but have come to really fear it. Last Christmas we took off in fog so thick we couldn't see a thing, that was scary.

Originally Posted by brumcg

Lesson learned: We had several ADR's scheduled in the PM at Epcot. That didn't work out too great as it added a ton of walking, and we really didn't have time to accomplish much.

We're taking a short 4 day tri this summer and I'm thinking about only one or two ARDs so we don't waste too much time going to and from ADRs.

Originally Posted by brumcg

I had my first ever interaction in a 'show.' The mime guy in Italy does a bit with kids tossing a ball into a net that he holds, and he catches everything they throw at him. Then he picks an adult to do it, but he backs up and doesn't move his basket. Yeah, that was me. I missed my first shot - the long one - by inches. The next two... as he move closer and closer... were miserable as I realized the pressure was on. On the fourth, he moved very close and gave me a smaller "kids" ball. Sigh. Then, the rest of the show he kept referring to my ineptitude. I loved it.

Was this in WS at Epcot?

Originally Posted by brumcg

Whew. I think that's all that I remember right now. I'll be back with some pics and anything else that I remember. Thanks for reading... and the kind words.

Great report Bruce, I always enjoy your reports and this was no exception.

[brumcg]

Originally Posted by DisneyTeacher

Was this in WS at Epcot?

Yes, at the Italy pavilion. I called him a "mime" but that's not quite correct. He didn't speak but rather used a whistle for communicating.

Also I forgot to mention the crowds. On Friday in the afternoon at Epcot, Soarin' was a 110 minute wait.

Bruce

[Dana]

Bruce -
As always, I very much enjoyed your report. I am so happy that you had a wonderful time over all and the little bumps in the road didn't really interrupt your magic.

Thanks for reporting!