Amy and F1gment take on Thanksgiving 2011

[Amy]

Ok, yup, I know who Michael W. Smith is...I just couldn't for the life of me remember who it was. That is probably why I went down there to take his picture, I used to listen to some of his music while I was in school

[cy1229]

Ok, yup, I know who Michael W. Smith is...I just couldn't for the life of me remember who it was. That is probably why I went down there to take his picture, I used to listen to some of his music while I was in school

I'm actually more of a fan of his most recent work. Oh, say, "Freedom" and later. But I do own all of his albums. Every. Single. One.

[Amy]

November 30, 2011 ~ Day 14
Today we had our voucher for Planet Hollywood to use so we headed out about 9 am for DTD and the Marketplace.

No boring bathroom selfies for this cute little Animal


Up and out early enough to catch the dew on the poinsettias


Mom and I decided to cobble together our own breakfast. She went to Wolfgang Puck’s and ordered a waffle and I went on down to Earl of Sandwich and picked up a breakfast sandwich. I brought the sandwich back to WP and we cut each in half and shared. I haven’t included many food photos so I will share this breakfast ~ enjoy! We really need to remember to mention Figment’s allergies at each meal ~ she is allergic to strawberries so I am sure we did some fancy cutting of this waffle.



We wandered through the World of Disney again
Duffy






and then made our way down through Pleasure Island and the West Side.
We decided on cheese manicotti from Planet Hollywood and got it to go because it was so beautiful and sunny outside. It was ok, but with it only costing $2 after the PH voucher it was a very inexpensive meal!



I love palm trees ~ they are so tropical!


STOP!!!!


.....ok, GO!!!


For my VM loving friends




Figment sitting pretty on the bus



We lucked out with a bus pulling in just after we arrived at the bus stop around 1 pm. We headed back to the hotel to drop off our few purchases and grab a drink in our refillable mugs. If the mugs weren’t included in the free dining plan we had, I doubt we would even bother with them. Mom’s morning coffee probably doesn’t add up to how expensive the mugs are, and we just aren’t at the hotel during the times the drink station is open.

We headed back out to EPCOT after our quick drink and went directly to the Disney Visa picture spot. Today we had our picture taken with Mickey and Pluto


I took a quick spin on Sum of All Thrills, and then we headed off to Universe of Energy.
Ahhhh, as if the Florida humidity wasn’t bad enough but it was so inviting ~ nice and misty! Bad for the hair, lovely for the temperature Here is an example of how to utilize the mister...


Another (reluctant) good user of the mister...


Bad utilization of the climbing structure mister!


The ride vehicles were moving so fast they are a blur


Ellen must have also made good use of the mister station!


So pretty at night, so run-down looking during the day


We picked up our pictures and then took another spin on Spaceship Earth
Practicing for Cali ~ hope we get there in 2013 (dun, dun, dun, a bit of foreshadowing as this trip and report obviously is from 2011)


We headed toward Journey into Imagination...with a side trip through the gift shop to check for a new Figment shirt for Figment. Notice Figment’s proper two finger CM point?!





All for me?


What do you mean this size is the only one we can afford?!


I asked the CM if they had any Jack Skellington pins and she dumped them out and helped us look through them.



We wandered over to the jumping fountains and I took some pictures of Figment there. There was a little girl and her father waiting on a bench and the little girl would just giggle when the water would jump over Mom. It was really sweet.


We had dinner at the land. Three guesses what I had for desert....if you guessed

You win!! Absolutely nothing! My love for these should be pretty well known around these parts by now Well, if we ever find ourselves at the park together, and you are the winner, I will share buy you a brick!


We hadn’t watched the Circle of Life movie for a long time so we decided to catch that on our way out of the pavilion.

Nighttime look at the one tile that is different on the opposite sides of the entrance mosaic.



We decided to take a spin on the monorail ~ and they let us stay on for the round trip, but we had to exit and come back around and back through security because we had a backpack and purse with us.



Figment was a bit cold


Never get tired of seeing the beautiful Spaceship Earth all lit up at night!




Must have been prepping for an event, or maybe there were just people in the corporate lounge this evening.

Tonight was an early night with us getting back just a little after 9.
I went to the front desk to get our ME all set up as we hadn’t gotten our info for the morning yet. Turns out the problem was the fact that they had transferred us from the Music to Sports at the start of the trip and the information hadn’t transferred over. Once we got that straightened out I used the arcade card that had come with our hotel package. 100 points played one game that netted me 10 tickets. I picked out 10 tiny erasers at the gift desk and asked the CM if Figment and I were the easiest customers of the day. He laughed and said sure! He then told us about the little girl who had picked out all her gifts with her tickets and had 166 points left. So she chose 166 erasers with those points and he had to count them all out!

Goodnight park, goodnight moon...

[boilerbabe]

Bravo Amy!!! Loved all of your pics! Thank you for sharing!!!

[Amy]

Bravo Amy!!! Loved all of your pics! Thank you for sharing!!!

Thanks I have one more lonely little day to go...

[boilerbabe]

Bravo Amy!!! Loved all of your pics! Thank you for sharing!!!

Thanks I have one more lonely little day to go...

Patiently waiting!!!

[Amy]

Bravo Amy!!! Loved all of your pics! Thank you for sharing!!!

Thanks I have one more lonely little day to go...

Patiently waiting!!!

I still have 5 or 6 days...no rush

[wewantsdaredhead]

I agree with several other posters---most of your pics are amazing! The DAK pics in particular.

I almost hate to admit that this TR has been worth the wait (...because I wouldn't want to encourage such behavior for any upcoming trips--ahem)

[Amy]

I agree with several other posters---most of your pics are amazing! The DAK pics in particular.

I almost hate to admit that this TR has been worth the wait (...because I wouldn't want to encourage such behavior for any upcoming trips--ahem)

Thanks! I will try to do better after DL. I know there are several people who would like to see the Club 33 pictures so I will do my best

[boilerbabe]

I agree with several other posters---most of your pics are amazing! The DAK pics in particular.

I almost hate to admit that this TR has been worth the wait (...because I wouldn't want to encourage such behavior for any upcoming trips--ahem)

Thanks! I will try to do better after DL. I know there are several people who would like to see the Club 33 pictures so I will do my best

ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!

[Amy]

WDW ~ Day 15 ~ December 1, 2011

I know I can’t really complain, as it is the 15th day, but it always a sad day on departure day
Arranged the baggage payment over the phone in the morning, and the ME papers were on the ground in front of our door this morning

I couldn’t get a drink as the machine said my days had expired. The cashier gave me a paper cup to use

Took my computer down to the secure check in and found out what the luggage CMs wanted for a treat. They are always so happy to be brought something. Everyone wanted rice krispie treats ~ guys and gals after my own heart!

Off to the MK a little before10. Only time for one attraction.

This time at the security checkpoint, the security guard rezipped our bags after he checked them. I mentioned that was so kind and he was the first and only to have done so. He said he has heard from management also that he is the only CM who does so, but he feels it is a good idea so people can keep moving directly away from the tables instead of trying to balance and zip or simply stop. He also loved my mesh backpack.

If we only have time for one attraction, we generally choose the Haunted Mansion




The steamboat was particularly pretty on this last morning ~

I bought the treats for the luggage check CMs at the confectionary.


I also found my Beaker hat in the hat shop. I asked about Kermit but they said they only had Beaker. That worked out well because I had really wanted the Beaker hat, but was told earlier in the week they didn’t have anymore.

We exited the Magic Kingdom at 11 and waited a long time for bus. It was really only about 13 minutes, but it felt longer. The poor bus driver was having a bad day because his previous trip was to the Contemporary with folks who were late for their ressies and they took it out on him. I offered him one of the chocolate bars I had just bought in the confectionary shop but he said me smiling and being nice was more than enough to make his day better!

Love these little epiphytes all over the trees outside the Magic Kingdom!


We got back to the food court about 12 with just enough time for us to grab lunch. The CMs were busy talking and really didn’t seem to want to wait on us. It ended up we only had one lunch left on our meal plan instead of the two it showed on our last receipt so I kept the one Mom had wanted and they took my lunch and I suppose threw it away. I suppose I could have purchased my meal but I had been figuring on that last meal on the meal plan. I checked with the concierge and they said it sometimes takes the system a few days to catch up to the correct number. Guess we will have to keep better count ourselves next time. While Mom was eating, you could tell from her body language and her face the CM was busy griping and complaining to the other CM and looking our way. She had a super sour face and her arms were crossed. Oh well, I suppose they have a lot of people trying to bilk the system on their last day for an extra meal

Mom’s lunch


My lunch


We headed out to the ME stop and waited...and waited...and waited... and the bus simply never came. It ended up that they never did switch the pick up from Music to Sports so they ended up calling a taxi. The drive back to the airport was filed with heavy traffic.

While I was waiting, I was good and didn’t climb...


Bye, bye WDW


The plane on the way home was full! I thought the Coke tasted better in Atlanta airport ~ must have been super fresh We had a smaller plane on the last leg back home, which was not as full and the gate attendants were very nice. The flight attendant on board reminded me of a jungle cruise skipper and even had the 2 finger point. I had to ask when she came back our way because I heard her tell the guy across from us that had ordered a drink and asked how much it was. Her reply sounded so much like a skipper to me ~ $7 all day, every day, all night every night. She didn’t seem to know what the jungle cruise was but said she had just come back to work after taking a cruise 2 weeks earlier so she might have still been on vacation time.




We arrived back in South Bend where it ended up another airline had taken Delta’s gate wheelchair. The employees were mad because evidently this happens quite often. We had to wait for someone to go find one, and by the time we got back to baggage claim our bags weren’t there anymore There was no one at the Delta desk because they were helping with the next flight. It was almost 2 hours after we landed until we got our bags ~ grrrrr!

And there you have it folks, the ending to the trip report you have been waiting patiently for since the end of 2011. Thanks for taking the time to slog through my memories and photos. I can guarantee a fresh trip report within a few weeks from me...but this time from DL!

[boilerbabe]

BRAVO Amy!!! I enjoyed everyday of your report! Although I'm sorry you did not get your last lunch! They could have just given it to you, geez! That's is weet you buy the CM's in luggage a treat! I am embarassed to say I have never thought of doing that!

Looking forward to more of you DL report! I am going to start mine today!

[Amy]

BRAVO Amy!!! I enjoyed everyday of your report! Although I'm sorry you did not get your last lunch! They could have just given it to you, geez! That's is weet you buy the CM's in luggage a treat! I am embarassed to say I have never thought of doing that!

Looking forward to more of you DL report! I am going to start mine today!

Thanks! I look back now and wonder why I just didn't pay for the lunch, but I suppose I was just a little shocked at thinking I had that remaining meal credit that evidently wasn't there that I didn't even think about paying with a card or cash

[boilerbabe]

I probably would have done the same Amy! You have something set in your mind and then you're in such shock it didn't work the way it was supposed to?! It's like you have to prove a point! It made sense at the time! That is usually what happens to me!

[Goofyfan]

Love hearing all the stories and seeing the photo's. Kind of makes you feel that you are there also.