Spending Our Inheritance with Our Parents

[NaCler]

I can't speak for everyone else, but I am really enjoying your report, cy. You have definitely convinced me to do Boma's next trip. Even if it means eating there alone and catching up with the family later. I'm glad you at least got a chance to meet Soarin, even if it was a brief meet-up.

Love the action shots of ToT, RnRC and EE.

I would choose the Nemo show over FOTLK any day. While it is a good show, it just doesn't compare in my book.

I'm sorry about Sulley. It sucks that you couldn't get better information to get to see him. We'll have to have a Sub meet-up with them the next time you can get down here. Since they have a new movie coming out, I don't see them leaving anytime soon.

[Amy]

Ack ~ I almost missed day 5!
Looks like another great day. Too bad about Sulley. That is odd that the CM was so short with you.
The attraction photos look very nice. Did your friend laugh at your RnR one? And that is a very nice photo of y'all at dinner glad you managed to sit still enough for a photo!
I'm with you on the design of DHS, especially the backlot streets of New York. There are some dead ends and weird turns that can be very confusing back there. That is the only park where I sometimes get a bit turned around.

[cy1229]

We gave Julie her photo Sunday night when she and her family came over for dinner. She loved it! Now she wants to make it a tradition, that any time they or we go on RnR we make the "Julie" face.

I have 4 little ones of the same shot that would probably scan really nicely but I have this thing about copying copyrighted photographs. Maybe Wiz can tell me if that violates the copyright on the image.

Glad you guys are enjoying the trip report! I'll try to get our final day at WDW finished up. I edited the photos but haven't uploaded them to Photobucket so it'll have to wait until Thursday at the earliest. Want to finish editing my beach photos then I can add that, too. Gotta tell ya, ending a trip to WDW with a day at the beach was FANTASTIC. I really miss the water.

Stay tuned...

[cy1229]

Good Trip Report, Day Six: A Last Day, A Hot Day, A Busy Day

After two consecutive days of sleeping in, we got up pretty early and were to the Magic Kingdom by 9:45. We MUST end our trip with a little time at the MK. It's mandatory. Unfortunately, my stepdad couldn't join us this day. We had spent all week receiving phone calls and other updates from my stepsister about Grandpa. He had been in the hospital after a series of dizzy spells, and long story short is that Paul decided he needed to leave Florida on Friday rather than stay the weekend with us at the beach so he could go home and look after his parents. So, he spent our last day at Disney in the condo making phone calls, flight rearrangements, etc. My sister got up super early and went to MK with her kids and our mom for Extra Magic Hours, but discovered that only Tomorrowland was open. When we met them, we had a snack at the Main Street Bakery and I tried to get some pictures for a panoramic of Main Street. The problem is that even though I stayed in the same place, the scores of people did not, so Photoshop was unable to merge them and I'm just not skilled enough at PS yet to be able to do it myself. Anyway, here are a couple of them:











After snacks, Stephanie took her two kids over to Frontierland for a last fling on Splash Mountain. The rest of us meandered toward the hub. I decided I wanted a new photo of us in front of the castle. I took a test shot. My girls love each other SO MUCH.



Then Mom took our camera and took a couple of us.



I wasn't really mad. Mom isn't too sure about using my camera so she took a little while before she snapped the button.

We asked a Photopass photographer to snap a pic of all of us. I think this is one of the nicest things about being at Disney.



Last, longing look at Tomorrowland, which is becoming my favorite place to just hang:



Then it was time to take in some attractions. First up was Hall of Presidents. Mom and I really like it, and it was pretty low-key. After that I took a few photographs and then we got Dole Whips.





OMG DOLE WHIPS!!!



So, I can't believe all that I've been missing all these years. This was my first DW and I really liked it!!! We hung around Adventureland for a little bit, people watching. I snapped a few photos.



When we were finished here, we meandered back to Main Street, and bid a fond farewell to the MK. I did get a parting shot of MS from the train station, though, and like what I got.



We took the boat over to the TTC, and wanted to hop a bus to DHS so I could get my photo with Sulley. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER, we abandoned that idea and just decided to take the monorail to Epcot. So, I never did get my photo with Sulley. NaCler, I'm going to have to take you up on that meet-up revolving around Sulley. How can we merge Sulley, Subsonic mayhem, and beer? Sounds like a recipe for FUN.

Arriving at Epcot, two things struck me. (1) I was hot. (2) My feet hate me. We stopped for a photo in front of SpShEarth



We boarded a boat across the World Showcase Lagoon to Morocco for lunch. REALLY liked this lunch! Not sure Jeff loved it. Meghan and I did, though. At this point, Paul joined us (yay!) having completed all of his arrangements, and had lunch with us. We wandered over to the USA pavilion and decided to watch American Adventure. I really liked this, but I have to wonder why on EARTH they built a 1,000 seat theater!!! Isn't that just a tad presumptuous?

Then it was a little shopping in Italy:



At this point, I got really hot. We decided to stay inside as much as possible. The Maelstrom had been closed earlier, but luckily it reopened so we headed over there, and then did some more shopping. Meghan looks good in antlers, don't you think?



After a little shopping and a minor meltdown on my part, we headed to our ADR at the San Angel. I think I was just overheated and dehydrated. I got some water in me and being inside helped. I felt bad that I had kind of "lost it" and snotted at my family our last day at WDW. But we could relax a little waiting.



Ellie has a book with her almost everywhere she goes. We had a good dinner. Not fantastic, but definitely good. From there we headed to China to shop. The family headed to France to do some last shopping, and Jeff and I took Ellie and Christian to the north side of the lagoon to wait for everyone.

We took the monorails back to BLT and headed off to dreamland for the last time before we checked out. The next morning we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Paul couldn't join us because his flight left too early, so it was just Mom and her kids and grandkids for breakfast. Here are some photos from our farewell breakfast:







Jeff LOVES Goofy. I don't think Goofy knew how to handle this.









After breakfast we packed up our stuff and had it all ready to go. We headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping. I picked up a GREAT messenger bag that I'm now using for my computer bag:



We got our stuff from BLT, bid a fond farewell to WDW, and headed over to Cocoa Beach for a couple nights and a day of sunburned beach frolicking.

[Amy]

Oh, the last day at WDW Always so bittersweet.
Love seeing the fall decorations up. Don't think we have ever been there at that time of year.
I love the "test" photo of the girls. I'm sure they were just playing around, but it makes for a great photo
So you liked the Dole Whip huh? Well, I guess we can still be friends anyway
You got some great photos of the kids at Chef Mickeys! What did you think of the food? Was the monorail already running when you were eating? That always seemed like that would be a fun part of eating there.
Looking forward to the beach scenes, but sad to leave Disney behind....it's always nice to do something extra while we are in Florida, but I generally end up thinking that I would have rather spent a few extra days at WDW

[cy1229]

Oh, the last day at WDW Always so bittersweet.
Love seeing the fall decorations up. Don't think we have ever been there at that time of year.
I love the "test" photo of the girls. I'm sure they were just playing around, but it makes for a great photo
So you liked the Dole Whip huh? Well, I guess we can still be friends anyway
You got some great photos of the kids at Chef Mickeys! What did you think of the food? Was the monorail already running when you were eating? That always seemed like that would be a fun part of eating there.
Looking forward to the beach scenes, but sad to leave Disney behind....it's always nice to do something extra while we are in Florida, but I generally end up thinking that I would have rather spent a few extra days at WDW

The monorail is really not at all obtrusive or obvious in the Contemporary. I mean, you hear it, but it doesn't totally announce its presence. So that's pretty cool, yes, but it's not as big a deal as one might expect. The noise of Chef Mickey's made the monorail unnoticeable.

I was not at all impressed with Chef Mickey's. The food was good but not great, and I felt like we were somewhat rushed through. The service wasn't the greatest, either, compared to other places we've eaten. Just gave more fuel to my argument that the dining experience plays second fiddle to the character presence. This is the second time we've eaten a character breakfast on our last day and I don't think I'll vote for a third time. We're kind of like cousininmiami, over and done with the little kid stuff.

Going to the beach was ideal because it was just one day, really (two nights) and it was a good chance to decompress.

[Amy]

...I was not at all impressed with Chef Mickey's. The food was good but not great, and I felt like we were somewhat rushed through. The service wasn't the greatest, either, compared to other places we've eaten. Just gave more fuel to my argument that the dining experience plays second fiddle to the character presence. This is the second time we've eaten a character breakfast on our last day and I don't think I'll vote for a third time. We're kind of like cousininmiami, over and done with the little kid stuff.
Going to the beach was ideal because it was just one day, really (two nights) and it was a good chance to decompress.

Even though the kids look great in the character photos, I'm guessing your niece was the only one truly excited to see the characters at breakfast. That is probably nice if you can move on to more grown-up venues and enjoy better food minus the characters. No offense to anyone that likes the character meals, they've just never been our thing.
Decompress ~ on vacation? Hmmm, what's that?!

[cy1229]

...I was not at all impressed with Chef Mickey's. The food was good but not great, and I felt like we were somewhat rushed through. The service wasn't the greatest, either, compared to other places we've eaten. Just gave more fuel to my argument that the dining experience plays second fiddle to the character presence. This is the second time we've eaten a character breakfast on our last day and I don't think I'll vote for a third time. We're kind of like cousininmiami, over and done with the little kid stuff.
Going to the beach was ideal because it was just one day, really (two nights) and it was a good chance to decompress.

Even though the kids look great in the character photos, I'm guessing your niece was the only one truly excited to see the characters at breakfast. That is probably nice if you can move on to more grown-up venues and enjoy better food minus the characters. No offense to anyone that likes the character meals, they've just never been our thing.
Decompress ~ on vacation? Hmmm, what's that?!

Hah the funny thing is, Kate, being almost painfully shy, was least excited to see the characters. In fact, Donald came to our table, and almost nobody noticed at first. I think we got like one photo, and not a very good one at that. It explains why you always see Kate tucked under Meghan's arm - Kate and Meghan have been inseparable since Kate had the capacity to remember us from visit to visit. Meghan called Kate her "Klingon Cousin" because Kate would cling to her so.

[Amy]

...I was not at all impressed with Chef Mickey's. The food was good but not great, and I felt like we were somewhat rushed through. The service wasn't the greatest, either, compared to other places we've eaten. Just gave more fuel to my argument that the dining experience plays second fiddle to the character presence. This is the second time we've eaten a character breakfast on our last day and I don't think I'll vote for a third time. We're kind of like cousininmiami, over and done with the little kid stuff.
Going to the beach was ideal because it was just one day, really (two nights) and it was a good chance to decompress.

Even though the kids look great in the character photos, I'm guessing your niece was the only one truly excited to see the characters at breakfast. That is probably nice if you can move on to more grown-up venues and enjoy better food minus the characters. No offense to anyone that likes the character meals, they've just never been our thing.
Decompress ~ on vacation? Hmmm, what's that?!

Hah the funny thing is, Kate, being almost painfully shy, was least excited to see the characters. In fact, Donald came to our table, and almost nobody noticed at first. I think we got like one photo, and not a very good one at that. It explains why you always see Kate tucked under Meghan's arm - Kate and Meghan have been inseparable since Kate had the capacity to remember us from visit to visit. Meghan called Kate her "Klingon Cousin" because Kate would cling to her so.

Spock would be proud to have such a pretty little girl attributed to the Klingons! (He was a Klingon right? I'm a little out of touch with the Star Trek world)

[cy1229]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

[dstrawn9889]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

the Khitomer (QI'tomer in Klingon) Accords was the treaty ending the aggression b/t the Federation and the Klingon Empire, in 2293 {Stardate 9521.6 was the Stardate the mission officially was logged into the ENTERPRISE Captains' Log...}

not the only trekkie in the panel

[Amy]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

the Khitomer (QI'tomer in Klingon) Accords was the treaty ending the aggression b/t the Federation and the Klingon Empire, in 2293 {Stardate 9521.6 was the Stardate the mission officially was logged into the ENTERPRISE Captains' Log...}

not the only trekkie in the panel

O...k....Yeah, never saw the Next Generation at all. Either way, your niece is a cutie

[cy1229]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

the Khitomer (QI'tomer in Klingon) Accords was the treaty ending the aggression b/t the Federation and the Klingon Empire, in 2293 {Stardate 9521.6 was the Stardate the mission officially was logged into the ENTERPRISE Captains' Log...}

not the only trekkie in the panel

LOVE THIS DSTRAWN!!!

[dstrawn9889]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

the Khitomer (QI'tomer in Klingon) Accords was the treaty ending the aggression b/t the Federation and the Klingon Empire, in 2293 {Stardate 9521.6 was the Stardate the mission officially was logged into the ENTERPRISE Captains' Log...}

not the only trekkie in the panel

O...k....Yeah, never saw the Next Generation at all. Either way, your niece is a cutie

Next Generation?

[Amy]

No, Spock was Vulcan. Warf, from the Next Generation series, was a Klingon. The Klingons were the mortal enemies of the Federation until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Wow, what a nerd statement that just was.

the Khitomer (QI'tomer in Klingon) Accords was the treaty ending the aggression b/t the Federation and the Klingon Empire, in 2293 {Stardate 9521.6 was the Stardate the mission officially was logged into the ENTERPRISE Captains' Log...}

not the only trekkie in the panel

O...k....Yeah, never saw the Next Generation at all. Either way, your niece is a cutie

Next Generation?

That's what cy1229 said...wasn't the tv show called Star Trek:The Next Generation? I've never seen it, but I see it when flipping through the late night channels sometimes.