The Life and Times of Tonya2426 . . .

Tonya Goes To Hawaii - Aloha Honolulu!!!

2012-01-25T03:12:00.008-05:00

We are finally in Hawaii!!! This has been the longest day of my life - especially because of the 5 extra hours added due to the time change. We've been up since 4:30 a.m. EST and although the clock now says 7:30 p.m. our bodies know it is 12:30 a.m. (In case you don't want to do the math, we have now been up for 20 hours straight.) Even though exhausted, I am still chanting my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. But that is all about to change.

We get off the plane and follow all the other people to baggage claim. Unbeknownst to us, baggage claim is a long walk outside and we didn't get a wheelchair for Dad. He was a trooper though and we slowly made our way to claim our bags. Is it just me or is it REALLY humid out here? None of the guide books said anything about humidity this time of year. Maybe I am just feeling it since we are not in tropical clothing yet. Although I feel sweat trickling down my back, I am still whispering my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good.

We finally make it to the baggage claim area where we find Dad a bench. I send Mom off to to find out where the Thrifty rental counter is and I stand by waiting for our luggage. Guess which bag is one of the first on the carousel? Yep, the carry on bag we had to check in Charlotte. Mom was shocked but pleased. I even overheard another woman say as my suitcase came around that it was really cute luggage. And she was right. I do have cute luggage.

See for yourself how cute it is

But it is cursed luggage!! Read on to see why.

Before I knew it the carousel of luggage had stopped and there was no more luggage!!! Where the *@#$ is the rest of my luggage?!?!? You have got to be kidding me!!! There is another guy waiting also. We both look at each other with a knowing look as we move reluctantly toward the luggage claims office. Screw the mantra!! I am tired and hungry and sweaty. At this point I was just trying to remember that I was from the South and brought up to be a lady and to not swear in front of my parents.

Mom joins me in line while we wait our turn to ask where the @#$% our luggage is. We start to look for our luggage claim tickets. And we look and we look and we look. We basically unpack both of our purses and totes looking for the stupid little pieces of paper but the only thing we come up with is our receipt for the payment of our checked bags. All the while we are searching, Mom tells me that she has found no Thrifty rental car counter or any directions to Thrifty in the airport. ~~This is when I take a deep cleansing breath.~~ I pull out our car rental information in my handy dandy travel binder and ask Mom to call the phone number and find out where we are supposed to go. She gets to the third prompt and gives up in frustration.

Finally, it is our turn at the baggage claim counter. The baggage guy asks for our luggage claim tickets. We tell him we don't have those and the only thing the woman gave us this morning was the receipt for the bag check fee so we show him our flight information. He punches a few keys on the computer and says he can't really do anything since we don't have the luggage claim tickets. We again tell him we never got them. ~~Take another deep cleansing breath.~~ He is very confused that we booked on United but took US Air and ended up on a Continental flight that was actually a United flight number. We tell him our flight information again and he is still confused. ~~Another deep cleansing breath.~~ I even show him all of our flight reservation information and he is still confused. ~~Big deep cleansing breath.~~ At last the other baggage guy steps in and within a minute finds our luggage in the the system and that it is still in San Fransisco. He tells us it will be on the next flight tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. ~~Take a smaller deep cleansing breath.~~ 1:20 p.m.? Really? There isn't another flight into Honolulu from San Francisco before that? Apparently not. But at least we know where our luggage is and when it will arrive.

Now it is time to find Thrifty so we can get out rental car. I start the process of trying to get a real live person on the phone to tell us where to go. After a few minutes of being on hold, I get to speak to someone who tells me to find an airport house phone and dial #11 and they will tell me what to do. So we find a phone and dial #11. Presto! We have to walk outside to the median and catch a shuttle. Would it kill them to just put up a freaking sign??? Or at the very least tell you this little bit of information on your reservation???

We find the rental car shuttle location after a bit of obstinacy on Dad's part. I am almost thankful we don't have luggage at this point because we are all about to explode from exhaustion and frustration. And thank the good Lord for air conditioning on the shuttle bus. Who knew Honolulu would be so humid at 9:00 at night. (Yes, it is 1 1/2 hours later and we are just leaving the airport.)

In just a few minutes we are at Thrify and all checked in since I signed up for the Blue Chip program - thanks cruisecritic.com for the tip. Our Jeep Liberty was ready and waiting for us and Hero (yes, his name was Hero) was very helpful in giving us directions and telling us they would be happy to take us to the Port on Saturday after we dropped off the car. While I was checking in, Mom even met a nice family who was going to Disney's Aulani Resort - which is where we are staying post-cruise. They saw my Mickey luggage tag on our carry on bag. Although exhausted and hungry and without any clothing or toiletries, things are beginning to look up. In fact, it isn't even as humid anymore.

Next stop - Hale Koa!!

Tonya Goes To Hawaii - Are We There Yet?

2012-01-14T21:50:00.001-05:00

When I left you, we were still on the flight from hell. There wasn't anything wrong with the flight but it is simply a commentary on the state of air travel - translation: it sucks to fly these days. Planes are crowded, seats are smaller than ever, and you don't get any services other than a cup of water or Diet Coke. Sure the airlines offer you their version of an overpriced Lunchable to purchase but that isn't enough to keep people happy. In fact, I totally understand the people who go "crazy" on a flight and have to be escorted off by a federal Marshall - if you are even a little bit mentally disturbed, a cross country flight with no peanuts or leg room will certainly put you over the edge.

Let me jump off my soap box for now and get back to my trip report.

I forgot to mention that since we were late boarding our flight in Charlotte they made us check our carry on suitcase saying there was no overhead bin space available. I didn't put up a fuss though since I was still chanting my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. Mom wasn't chanting my mantra and was insistent that we were never going to see the suit case again. I assured her that wasn't true but on her last trip she was forced to check her carry on suitcase and the suitcase didn't quite make it to its final destination in a timely manner so Mom was a little paranoid.

Needless to say, when we got on the plane there was plenty of overhead bin space if the flight attendants had simply moved a few things one way or the other. Pure and simple - they were lazy!!! I normally fly Delta and those flight attendants are almost always trying to squeeze in another bag in those poor overhead bins. (Just another reason I don't like US Air.)

Sorry. I am jumping back off my soap box, again.

Finally the trip from hell touched down in lovely San Francisco. And I have never been so happy to be off an airplane. I felt like I was free from the confines of a clown car at the circus and if I wasn't weighed down with carry on bags I just know I would have spread my arms and twirled around singing songs from The Sound of Music. It was a glorious feeling, my friend.

When we got off the plane in San Francisco for a 4 hour layover and our first mission was to get something to eat. Dad was thrilled to be free and decided he would like stretch his legs and to walk some. Who am I to question? So we start down the terminal where we finally find Go Bistro Asian Fusion Bar & Grill with a free table. So we grab it. It wasn't the greatest food I have ever eaten but it tasted delicious and rejuvenated all of our spirits for our final leg of the trip.

The only problem with our rejuvenated spirits was that Dad's legs were not rejuvenated and he just couldn't walk anymore - and according to the map of SFO I pulled up on the ipad while we ate (because there really weren't any signs on how to get to other terminals) we had quite a trek ahead of us. So Mom and I trek back to our original gate and ask for wheelchair assistance. Trying to explain to the gate person that we had come in on a flight an hour earlier and the person who needed assistance was not at the gate and that we were changing airlines was a challenge but we finally got all got on the same channel and someone was called.

Who showed up was little tiny old Filipino man. When we explained that we were going to Continental he sort of got this OMG look in his eye since that was about 1.5 miles away. SFO is not like any other airport I have been in. If you have to change terminals you have to go out of a secured area and trudge over to the new terminal and go through security again. But the little tiny old Filipino man was not deterrent in the least.

This is what our trek looked like:

We landed at #1. Walked to #2 where we ate. Then Mom and I walked back to #1 where we waited for our little tiny old Filipino wheelchair driver. Then the three of us walked back to #2 where we picked up Dad. And then we trudged over to #3. We definitely got our exercise and so did our little tiny old Filipino wheelchair driver. Needless to say, we tipped our little tiny old Filipino wheelchair driver well and relaxed at our gate for just under an hour while we waited to board our final jet plane to Hawaii. Some people may have thought we were crazy for having a 4 hour layover but we needed almost every minute of it just to eat and get to our next gate.

Before we knew it we were boarding our Continental wide bodied jet destined for Honolulu. The plane was GIANT compared to our last flight. There was Hawaiian music playing softly in the background as we boarded and the flight attendants all had flowers in their hair. (Well, not the male flight attendants but the females did.) There was even an in flight entertainment system!!!! Woohooo!!!!

I was so excited about the entertainment system that I took a picture of my screen

All of the passengers finished boarding and we realized that the flight was only about 2/3 full. Score!!!! We quickly spread out. Dad was in two seats by himself and Mom and I were sharing the three seats in the middle by ourselves. It was glorious!! I kid you not. It was glorious - except for the man in front of me who had his seat back so I could barely move forward. Even though it was now 15 hours into our trip I was still chanting my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good.

Before we knew it the plane was pushing back from the gate and we were airborne. Mom and I finally figured out how to watch a movie and decided on Monsters Inc. I love Boo! She is so cute. At some point Mom's movie switched to Spanish for a few minutes. It made us laugh.

Eventually Mom went to sleep on Dad and I laid down on my three seats. I didn't sleep but it was nice to be horizontal for a change. I turned all three seat back screens so I could watch the plane's progress. I find it fascinating that it can be -59 degrees Fahrenheit outside and nothing freezes on the wings. Fascinating!

Next thing I knew the little plane on the screen was approaching land. Land ho!!! It was just after 7 p.m. Hawaii time so it was dark but the lights of Honolulu are beautiful.

20 hours after I had woken up that morning and we finally made it! And I was still chanting my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. In no time at all we had gathered all of our stuff and deplaned. Aloha, Hawaii!!!

Tonya Goes To Hawaii - Time to Jet!

2012-01-12T23:14:00.012-05:00

Is it really 4:30 a.m.???? I check my phone and yes that is the correct time. Why do I torture myself with morning flights? I should know better since I am most certainly "not a morning person" but I am going to Hawaii so I "jump" out of bed and start getting ready and finish packing. Mom, of course, is already up and in the shower since she is most certainly a "morning person" while Dad is still in bed because I had to inherit my morning tendencies from someone.

Before we knew it it was 5:30 a.m. and my sister arrived at the house to take us to the airport. Please take note that I was the only traveler ready on time. My family and friends have this notion that since I am not a morning person that I can't be ready on time. But contrary to their assumptions, if I am given a time to be ready, I am always ready. I will give my Mom a little slack in this area since she was trying to get Dad on the move and that can be like herding cats but Dad gets no leeway here at all. He was late!!!

After the cat herding was done, we arrive at the airport with plenty of time. We get dropped off at the curb, say our good byes to my sister, and we manage to schlep our bags to the US Air kiosk. The only problem is that we are actually booked through United so we can't use the kiosk so the airline guy shows us the line to wait in for check in. (United doesn't actually fly in and out of the Augusta airport but books flights through US Air so there is no United desk at the airport.) After a few minutes it is our turn and we schlep our bags up to the desk. The airline lady begins checking us in while I start to do a preemptive weigh in of our bags. All the bags are under the 50 lb weigh limit but mine. Over by 1.5 lbs ***sigh*** How do they expect me to pack for almost 2 weeks and not go over 50 lbs??? I quickly unzip my suitcase but am perplexed as to what to take out and shove in my already full carry on. After some quick thinking I grab my fleece jacket and a hoodie. I don't really think those are going to weigh 1.5 lbs but I do another weigh in of my bag and low and behold I am now under by 0.5 lbs. Who knew a little fleece and a hood would weigh 2 lbs?!?!?

Meanwhile, the airline lady is still trying to check us in. They are having computer problems and she can't log in so she tries another computer. Thankfully she gets logged in and finds our reservation. She even found Mom on the reservation which made Mom happy since she wasn't on the online check-in last night. The airline lady is very nice and even tries to get us seats together on the plane. Hold on there, nice airline lady!!! Don't go rearranging our seats now!!! It took me a long time to figure out our seat assignments since Mom, Dad, and I all prefer aisle seats but still wanted to be close to each other. Luckily she doesn't succeed in any rearranging before we set her straight.

The nice airline lady was very proud of herself when she informed us that she only charged each of us for one bag so we paid $25/bag instead of $35 for one of the bags. Say what?!?!? Why would you even think that charging 3 people checking in with 3 bags as if 1 of the people didn't have a bag and 1 person had 2 bags was a good idea???? Like I said she was a nice lady but it was early so I am going to chalk it up to that. (((shaking my head still to this day))) The nice airline lady hands me our receipts for our baggage fees and our boarding passes and we are all set.

Have I mentioned that I have a love/hate relationship with US Air that doesn't include the love part of the relationship? There was an incident about 17 years ago that I still hold a grudge about and will not fly on US Air if I can help it. And the only reason I am tolerating this trip on US Air is that we actually booked through United so in my head it isn't as if I am flying on US Air. It is complicated.

We made it past the nice airline lady only to wait in line at security. We got behind a family of 5 who apparently had never flown before and was not aware of any carry on restrictions or security procedures. No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. (It is early in the day and this is still my mantra.) It is finally our turn to go through security so we start the great unpacking. First there is my laptop that has to be taken out. Then there is Dad's CPAP machine. Then there is my carry on and Dad's carry on and my purse and my shoes and my jacket - all the while Mom is taking care of her own stuff while Dad is explaining to the TSA person that they should just pull him aside now because his two replaced knees and titanium hip will just cause the machine to go crazy. Then to top it off, Mom gets chosen to be patted down. Apparently she hadn't heard any of the TSA pat down stories and was quite surprised when the lady TSA agent felt her up AND molested her. It was funny to hear her tell us about her big surprise. :)

The Augusta airport is nice but small so there is only one concession stand. The plan was to grab a quick muffin at the airport and get something more substantial when we get to Charlotte. The first glitch in the plan is that the concession stand was out of muffins or any other appropriate breakfast snack. So I did the only thing I could do and shared my breakfast of champions (i.e. pop tart) with Dad. The second glitch in the plan is that Charlotte was fogged in and our flight was delayed taking off and we already had a somewhat tight connection if we have to change terminals.

We arrive in Charlotte with about 30 minutes until our flight finishes boarding. And guess what?? We have to change terminals. UGH!!!! We flag down one of the shuttle carts since Dad can't walk long distances. The problem with the Charlotte airport is that the shuttle carts can only go so far before you have to get out and get Dad into a wheelchair, take an elevator up to the next terminal, and wait for another shuttle cart. Once we get up to the next terminal, Mom and I quickly flag down another shuttle cart heading to our terminal. There is one other lady on it that Mom starts talking to and lamenting our situation about how we are going to miss our flight and this and that. I am still saying my mantra - No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. Somehow or another - either from Mom's lamenting or divine intervention - the lady tells the driver to take us to our gate first. Wooohooo!!! We make our flight!!! But we don't get to grab anything to eat.

One thing I have learned about any flight over an hour is to have something with you to eat. I had mentioned to Mom earlier in the week about my life lesson learned the hard way and she sort of agreed with me but I could tell that she was dismissive of my life lesson. I however always try to learn from past experiences and therefore made turkey sandwiches the night before we left and froze them so they would stay cold until we needed them. And need them we did!!!! By now it was 10 a.m. and we have been up almost 6 hours with only a pop tart amongst us. As soon as the airplane got horizontal in the air I whipped out the sandwiches. Mom was now thankful that I had learned from past experience.

According to our itinerary, the flight from Charlotte to San Francisco is 5 hours and 50 minutes. The flight from Charlotte to San Francisco was packed. The flight from Charlotte to San Francisco was like a sardine can with wings. It was a 3X3 plane - 3 seats on each side of the aisle. I am seated on the aisle on my row with the window seat taken by a nice young woman who is in medical school at Duke on her way to interview at a hospital in San Francisco for a internship and a nice young man who was a Bolivian soccer player on vacation in the middle seat. Those two mostly chatted with each other but I listened. Okay, I eaves dropped but it was a sardine can in the sky what else could I do? Occasionally I joined in the conversation here and there but I have never been one to be a chatterer on a plane. As far as seat companions go they were good and entertaining to overhear.

The flight was sooooooo boring though. There was no in flight movie, no peanuts or pretzels, and no room to move since the beverage cart or the trash cart was in the aisle every chance it could get. I tried to read but I was so uncomfortable it was hard to concentrate. I tried to listen to my ipod but that didn't entertain me either. I read the guide book on Hawaii we brought along and found a tips so that was good. Mom and I did a crossword puzzle. Between the two of us we can usually get most of the puzzle done before we resort to looking at the answers. I watched the girl caty corner to me work on her pysics paper on her lap top and then reading on her Kindle in some Asian language. (Actually is was interesting to watch her. When we first boarded she was eating an ice cream cone in the weirdest way. It was sort of gross - nibble nibble on the cone and lick lick on the ice cream and repeat over and over again.) It was also irritating that the pilot never turned the seat belt sign off. I get the whole turbulence thing and safety first. But come on!!! 5 hours and 50 minutes crammed in like sardines!!! After a while people just ignored the seat belt sign and got up to go to the bathroom and roam the aisles. Ohh!! Did I mention that it was really warm on the plane also?

One bright note is that I did happen to notice the snow capped Rocky Mountains out the window about 4 hours into the flight. It was a very pretty sight. I always like spotting things from 30,000 feet - it makes me feel geographically knowledgeable in some small way.

All in all this was the flight from hell and nothing really bad happened. It gives me a new found respect for those people who get stuck on those flights that are on the tarmac for hours on end.

The journey continues . . .

Tonya Goes To Hawaii - It's Almost Time to Jet

2012-01-05T20:15:00.019-05:00

It is almost December 15th!!!! So much still to do.

But wait a minute! I need to take a quick trip to Disney World before I get my Aloha on. Don't worry, my mother already called me crazy. I have spent the same weekend at Disney World for the last four years and I had friends going the same time and an Annual Pass burning a hole in my pocket. What was I supposed to do but arrange to take Brody Baby to Casa Edwards (his hunting trainer's house) a few days early and take a detour to Orlando for some holiday fun.

Oh and I still need to get a hair cut. I simply can't go to Hawaii without a trim. Thankfully my hair stylist of over 20 years fits me in. Thanks, Julie!

Hmmmm, what else needs to be done besides packing? LAUNDRY!! I have to do laundry! I am going away for two weeks and I will need clean underwear (and t-shirts and capris and a hoodie at the very minimum.)

What am I supposed to do with all these papers we need for the trip? There is flight information, cruise paperwork, hotel reservations, rental car reservations, event information, and restaurant tickets - oh my!!! Me thinks a quick trip to Staples before I go to the drug store to pick up my prescriptions is in order.

Look what I found at Staples. It works perfectly for the million pieces of paper I need a moments notice. A Staples Presentation Binder. www.staples.com/Staples-Presentation-Binder-24-Sleeve-Capacity-White/product_463364

And did I mention that I made a little trip art for Carol's Hawaiian Adventure?

What else? Guess I should check in for our flights tomorrow. We booked our flights through United but our flights are with US Air and Continental and it won't let me prepay the baggage fees and Mom's not showing up when I print off the online check in. Hmmmmm, this is a little glitch in the process but what am I gonna do about it now? Well, I look back and see that she is on the original flight reservation so I opt to just figure it out at the airport in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now that I am all organized I am ready to pack and it is before midnight. So far off to a great start, right? Maybe I can actually get a few hours of sleep before my sister shows up at 5:30 am to take us to the airport.

Tonya Goes to Hawaii - The Planning Continues

2012-01-04T00:05:00.005-05:00

Where are we going to eat? What do we want to see and do? Should we rent a car? What is the ship like? Hawaii might be the 50th state but it is almost like going to a foreign country. So much planning - so little time!!

As the planning continues, I decided a good place to start would be cruisecritic.com in order to read some reviews of the ship and the itinerary. The reviews for Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America are all over the board. Some people thought it was the best cruise they have ever been on and others thought it was the worst. Some loved the food yet others thought it was inedible. But the one thing everyone agreed about were that the cabins on the Pride of America were tinyyyyy. (EGADS!!!) All this resulted in me managing my expectations but hoping for the best.

The unique thing about the Pride of America is that is registered as an American ship. Apparently this is the only cruise ship that is registered in the United States. With a US registry, the crew must either be US citizens or have green cards which decreases the work force considerably. It also means that everyone makes at least minimum wage and they all speak English (95% as a first language). Some reviewers also suggested that the US work eligibility requirement resulted in a less than stellar service (which I found to be insulting to Americans but that is just me.)

Have you ever noticed that when you are shopping for a new car you suddenly notice the car you are considering all over the place? Well, the same phenomenon happens when you are planning a trip to Hawaii!!! Every time I turned on the television, the food channel was mentioning food from Hawaii. So, I started making notes. One restaurant we wanted to try was Hank's Haute Dogs. I began to follow Hank's on Twitter. Hank happened to retweet a few things that led me to other things. All this following of tweets led me to find thepigandthelady.com and streetgrindz.com. You'll hear about those places in later entries. ;)

(I also found a lot of good ideas for activities and shopping on livingsocial.com.)

One thing that was settled early on in our planning was that Dad was not going to be taking a ride in a helicopter. He was adamant about it. Apparently he had enough of helicopters when he was in the Army and was having nothing to do with them ever again. He still wanted to see the lava flows though. Hmmmmm. That creates a little bit of a problem. Stay tuned for how this turns out.

After reading more reviews on cruisecritic.com it became apparent that a rental car was going to be essential. Most people recommended Thrifty and to become a Blue Chip Member. So, I signed up and began making reservations. I booked a car for pre and post cruise and in almost every port we stopped in. My theory being I could always cancel the reservation but it was better to have a ressie than not have one. I did some comparison of rental pricing and Thrifty was competitive.

My biggest shock was the price of the car rental of the pre and post cruise reservations. Pre-cruise the car cost $45/day (12/15-12/17) but post-cruise (12/24-12/27) the car cost $179/day. What the tarnation?!?!?! Welcome to Hawaii!!! We actually saw a newspaper headline while were were there that said that rental car prices increase an average of 197% over the Christmas holiday. (It seems that the two busiest weeks in Hawaii are over Christmas and New Years.)

I kept getting emails from Norwegian Cruise Line about booking excursions but I was reluctant to book them. Many reviewers suggested that you could do any excursion that the ship offered on your own and save a lot of money. Sounds like a plan!!! I was also reluctant to make too many plans in advance because I wasn't sure what my father would be able to do (he has a few mobility issues) or want to do and I didn't want to over tax my mother either. We had talked about doing the sunrise over the crater and ride the bike down the mountain tour but that sounds better in theory than in reality. (There is the whole having to be there before sunrise thing.) Soooo, no excursions were booked.

Other than trying to figure out what to pack, most of the planning for Carol's Hawaiian Adventure are complete. (I named the trip Carol's Hawaiian Adventure since this trip was all started because of mom.)

Tonya Goes To Hawaii - The Back Story and the Planning Begins

2012-01-03T22:00:00.007-05:00

It has always been a dream of my mother's to go to Hawaii. She must have seen movies and pictures as a child and always imagined herself sitting on a beach under a palm tree while the sun shines and the surfers surf. Not a bad dream to have, right?

The only problem was my father didn't really have a desire to go, so her dream of seeing the 50th State was pushed to the back burner. But as time has gone by and no one was getting any younger or healthier, my father announced one day last July that they were going Hawaii for Christmas and that I was coming along so that mom would have someone to do things with. (His idea of a vacation is to sit on a lounge chair and read a book in between naps.) Hmmmm. A free trip to Hawaii or spend Christmas by myself. That is a tough decision. I AM GOING TO HAWAII!!!

Now the tough decisions have to be made. Should we island hop or cruise? How long should we go for? What do we actually want to see while we are there? Will this be an adventure trip or a relaxing trip? What is the weather like in Hawaii over Christmas? Is it warm enough to swim? How many vowels does the Hawaiian language have? Should we rent a car while we are there? Will Mom eat Spam while we are there? Where will Brody Baby spend his holiday? The choices are endless!!!

The first thing Mom and I did (because Dad is not the planner on this adventure - only the payer) was to buy a couple of guide books. After reading said guide books, we were almost as confused as before. But eventually we sorted out that we should cruise and treat the ship as a floating hotel since this would be our first time in Hawaii. So I emailed our handy dandy travel agent (Tracy Whipple at travelonadream.com) and booked the cruise. One decision done!

The next decision is to decide when to arrive in Hawaii and when to leave. Mom decided that we should arrive 2 days early and spend 3 days after the cruise. But where should we stay? Since Dad spent his 20 years in the Army, we checked out if Hale Koa (the military resort on Waikiki) was available. Low and behold it was available pre-cruise but not available post-cruise. Hmmmm, one more decision to make!!! Wait a minute!!! Disney Vacation Club just opened up Aulani!!! So I find a friend with points to rent and we make a reservation. Two decisions done!

Now, how are we going to get there? Fly of course - but getting my mother to make a decision on flights is a chore. (Sorry Mom but it is true. But I still love you.) Mom still thinks that it is 1995 and that the price of flights will keep dropping until two weeks before the flight. I know this isn't true but she never believes me. Tsk tsk tsk. And then Dad insists that he wants a direct flight from Atlanta and we will drive to Atlanta. (This always sounds good until you are on your way home and have to drive over 2 hours after a long trip.) So I do the only sensible thing and set up a few kayak.com alerts on flights so I can watch the pricing. Finally I find what I think are decent flights at a good price and get everyone on board with the plan. Three decisions done!

Three decisions down and a hundred more to go. Stay tuned!!!

Resolutions Lost - Another New Year's Resolution down the drain!

2011-11-03T22:18:00.004-04:00

Yes, once again I have failed miserably with my New Year Resolution. This year one of my resolutions was to post on a regular basis. Have I? Obviously not. But the year is not over so I am not a total failure yet!!! (My eternal optimism knows no boundaries.)

What am I going to post about for the rest of the year? For starters, I plan on chronicling a fabulous Christmas vacation I have planned with my parents to Hawaii!!! I am very excited since I never really thought I would ever go to Hawaii. There is so much to plan since this could be a once in a lifetime trip - hopefully not but you just never know. It is like learning a different language even though we are technically not leaving the States. My uber planner is having a field day and I am loving it.

So stay tuned for so much more on Tonya Goes to Hawaii. (I watched Gidget Goes to Hawaii and it inspired me - sort of.)

Has It Worked???

2011-01-25T19:25:00.007-05:00

I've been getting asked a lot lately if "it" has worked? By "it" I mean my gluten free eating experiment. And the answer is yes, it has worked.

I started back in May with my experiment of trying to eat gluten free. (And I say try because it is not always easy.) After eight weeks of being diligent about not eating gluten, I then ate gluten for a three weeks - which thankfully was over my birthday so I got to eat birthday cake!!! The result was that gluten in my diet makes a difference. I don't feel as bloated or gassy.

Do I have Celiac Disease? I don't know. There are some recent studies that show some evidence that there is a relationship between Celiac Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease since both are auto-immune diseases. Since I have been trying to eliminate gluten from my diet the tests for Celiac wouldn't be conclusive. And if I do have Celiac, all the doctors would do would be to tell me to not eat gluten. So this will be a lifestyle change by my own accord. Thankfully I don't get "sick" from gluten, I am just calling it a gluten intolerance for now.

As I mentioned, not eating gluten is not easy for a carb loving girl!!! I love bread!!! I love cake!!! I love doughnuts!!! And although you can have gluten free baked goods - most are not worth eating. (But I have not given up my quest!!! I will find gluten free bread that is squishy and chewy and delicious if it is the last thing I do. Be damned the laws of nature!!!! My baking prowess will overcome!!!) But I have found some baked goods that are worth eating albeit not as good as the gluten filled variety so my sanity is intact.

Will I ever eat gluten again? Yes!!! My general rule is to not eat gluten except when I am traveling and for special occasions. Why traveling? Have you tried to go through the McDonald's drive-thru and eat a salad while you try to drive down I-95 at 70 m.p.h.? I didn't think so. And as you know, I don't like to be the only kid at the birthday party without cake.

So, there you have it. My experiment proved to me that gluten is bad for my already faulty digestive track and I will try to not eat it. Although some days I am sure I will say "screw it" and eat a doughnut!!! A girl can only be good for so long before she needs a good pastry.

I'd Rather Wear Fur than Eat Naked Nuggets Again!!

2010-08-23T18:11:00.013-04:00

So I'm at the grocery store looking in the health food section for gluten free products and there is this granola looking chick next to me. You know the kind of girl who has that flowing naturally curly hair and sun-kissed cheeks while wearing carefree clothes that scream "I am healthy and don't have a care in the world!!" I pick up a package of non-breaded chicken nuggets and Granola Girl tells me I have to try the Blue Ribbon Restaurants Gluten-Free Naked Chicken Nuggets because they are the best. She even said she would eat the whole package in one sitting. I think to myself "if you can't trust a granola girl in the health food section then who can you trust" so I toss the package in my cart with high hopes.

At $5.99 a package (about 26 nuggets) these gluten-free, antibiotic-free, hormone-free chicken nuggets should be good right? Wrong!!!! They were bland and tasteless and not even "real" chicken!!! The nuggets are compressed chicken that were spongy at best and only had the painted on grill marks on one side of the nugget. Making gluten free chicken nuggets shouldn't be rocket science. You cut up some chicken and cook it. But Naked Nuggets make it complicated and bad. These things were really bad and if I never eat another Naked Nugget I will die happy.

I was really disappointed and confused since Granola Girl gave me her stamp of approval. Even after reading all the rave reviews on the Internet about these naked nuggets I was even more confused. How could people actually think these things tasted good? Has the world really given up their taste buds for convenience? For $5.99, I will save my money and cut up a chicken breast and saute it up in a pan.

"Mom, please don't ever make me come back here again."

2010-07-01T22:59:00.010-04:00

I usually enjoy trying out new restaurants but for some reason I wasn't especially excited to have dinner at Hibachi Grill, Augusta's newest buffet restaurant. The reason may be that tacky all you can eat buffets just aren't my thing. Does that make me a food snob?

As I have said before, I don't think of myself as a food snob. I love McDonald's and macaroni and cheese from the box. I even think Papa John's is good pizza. And after having dinner tonight with my parents at Hibachi Grill, I can say with all confidence that I am not a food snob but I do like food that is good.

When Dad first suggested that we go to Hibachi Grill for dinner, Mom didn't think I would be able to find anything to eat that was gluten free. I assured her that there would be something for me to eat since I can usually find something at any restaurant I go to even given my aversions to fish, mushrooms, raisins, and cauliflower. And I am usually okay with just mediocre food if it is cheap enough.

Hibachi Grill is in an older strip mall in Augusta. It is a large restaurant that was trying for an Asian feel in its decor. It succeeded - if you like tacky lacquered decorations mixed with standard industrial buffet equipment. But the corrugated boxes of fortune cookies stacked underneath the bug zapper really made the atmosphere along with the requisite fountain in the foyer. (Isn't it a health code violation to have a bug zapper above tables of diners?)

The actual buffets were full of a wide variety of food - most of which I could not eat since it was either breaded and fried or covered in some sort of sauce which looked like it contained soy sauce. (One of the main ingredients in soy sauce is wheat so it is a big no-no for a gluten free diet.) I did manage to find some rice, mashed potatoes, and some "premium" steak which turned out to be pot roast. The "steak" was fine. It was tender and while it didn't have much flavor it was tasty enough.

I began to look around the restaurant while Dad was still perusing the buffets while Mom and I were already seated. The other diners were from a large cross section of society. I leaned over to her and said "please don't make me come here again." She rolled her eyes and chuckled. Hmmmm, maybe I am not a food snob but I might just be a snob in general. :) (Don't judge me.)

After finishing my first plate, I went back up to see what else I could find. I found some french fries, a stuffed baked potato, sauteed green beans, and some pork loin. What I really wanted was the yeast rolls drenched in melted butter, but I was good and stuck to what was on my plate. The french fries turned out to be under cooked. It takes a lot for me to not eat french fries but after one bite I was not interested in eating another one. Not only were they undercooked but they were very cold and over salted. The stuffed baked potato was simply half of a half way done microwaved potato topped with cheese, bacon bits and scallions. It was not good. The green beans were a tad greasy but were still crisp and green so I enjoyed those. In my book, there is nothing worse than an overcooked vegetable. The pork loin had a decent flavor but it was over cooked so it was very tough.

Since we are less than two weeks away from out trip to Disney World, I have Disney dining on the brain. I have been researching about gluten free dining in the parks and resorts and know how careful Disney is with special dietary requests. So, midway through my tough pork loin I leaned over to my mom and said "if this was Disney World, the chef would have come out and walked me through the entire buffet and told me what I could eat and what I couldn't eat." I knew that was not going to happen at this restaurant so I didn't even mention my dietary restriction. But I can see now why having gluten free friendly restaurants is so important. It was very difficult to even know what I could eat. If I was a person who got sick from eating gluten I would not have even tried to eat at this restaurant or any other buffet. It was just too hard to know what to eat and that isn't even taking into consideration the threat of cross contamination of food items from utensils.

For dessert, I did find some tapioca pudding and some ice cream. It is hard to mess up opening up a tub and setting it out on a buffet so both the pudding and the ice cream were fine.

Dad seemed to enjoy his meal. Mom tolerated hers, as did I. The bill for three of us with two drinks was $38.11. Gluten free issues aside, I can see why this restaurant is popular - people like cheap food. But should people really have to sacrifice good food for cheap food? Does it really cost any more to cook food properly than to cook it improperly?

Adventures in Brownies - Take 3

2010-06-26T20:32:00.021-04:00

Since I have been avoiding the grocery store lately, I am out of most of my snack foods and have been pantry surfing in between meals with no success. There is however that third box of gluten free brownies that needed to be made. So, I made them to see if they would satisfy my cravings for junk food.

The Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix was simple to make - just add melted butter and eggs but no water. Most regular brownie mixes require that you add oil, eggs and water. I was confused with this but went with it. The batter ended up being more like a dough, similar to the Pamela's Products Chocolate Brownie Mix I previously made.

One thing I have noticed about gluten free flours is that they are very, very fine. So fine that when I poured the mix into the bowl you could see the sugar crystals in the brownie mix which is something you don't notice in regular brownie mixes. Being a curious person by nature, I really need Alton Brown to do a show on gluten free baking so I can understand the science behind all of this. I am not understanding the why and how of gluten free baked goods.

The results: These brownies were pretty good. They had a nice chocolate flavor and were fudgie and moist with no unpleasant aftertaste at all. Are they as good as regular brownies? No. Are they a pretty good substitute so I am not "only the kid at the party without cake"? Yes.

I did notice that if you rolled the brownie around on your tongue it was a bit grainy. But if you didn't roll it around on your tongue you don't notice it. So, I will refrain from rolling the brownie around on my tongue in the future.

Another thing I noticed was this brownie was a tad bit sweeter than a regular brownie. And although I don't typically like nuts in my brownies, I think that if you added some walnuts to this mix the sweetness might be cut a little and make a pretty good brownie.

All in all, I am pleased. In fact I am so pleased, I think I may go eat another brownie. :)

Movie and a Pizza???

2010-06-25T00:21:00.021-04:00

One thing I have discovered on my gluten free journey so far is that eating gluten free is easier when I at my house and not having to orient my family that I am eating gluten free and I can't eat like I have for the last forty two years. The old saying holds true: you can't teach a old dog new tricks. (Not that I am calling my parents old.) ;)

While visiting my parents recently, Mom and I went to a late matinee showing of Letters to Juliet. (It was a good "chick flick" by the way.") As we left the theater about 6:15 p.m., Mom and I briefly discussed what to eat for dinner. We didn't make a decision, which was a good thing because when we walked in to the house Dad announced that he had ordered pizza for dinner. My reaction was not a happy reaction but more of a "what are you thinking? I can't eat pizza" reaction. Thankfully, I had been to the grocery store and happened to pick up a frozen gluten free pizza. Dinner was saved!!!!

So, I opened the freezer and turned on the oven to cook my Gluten Free & FABULOUS Pepperoni Pizza. Quite honestly, that is quite the name to live up to so I was hoping for something really good especially since it was $7.99 and only 8 inches.

I followed the directions exactly - heated the oven, removed the plastic and cardboard round, put the pizza directly on the oven rack, and waited the allotted cooking time. By this time, the pizza delivery guy had arrived and I was really craving some "real" pizza". Part of my brain said "just a little piece of pepperoni won't hurt" but the other part of my brain won out and I waited patiently for my gluten free pizza to finish cooking. But the pizza didn't really want to brown up in the middle and I was afraid it was going to burn so I pulled it out.

The results: It was okay. I'm not really that picky about my pizza - I think Papa John's is good, so I am certainly not a pizza snob. The Gluten Free & FABULOUS Pepperoni Pizza reminded me of a frozen pizza you eat in college when you have run out of money but with a thinner crust. Since it didn't really brown up in the middle of the pizza the center was a little gummy but it didn't have any aftertaste or strange texture. The pepperoni were good and there was more cheese than I expected.

All in all it was fine and I wasn't "only kid at the party without cake" but for $7.99 it could have been better. In the future, I will look for other brands of gluten free pizza or just make the crust myself when I HAVE to have pizza. I've seen frozen gluten free pizza crusts at the grocery store so I might try those but that also requires that I would need all of the other ingredients which might be a problem for my recent habit of avoiding the grocery store at all cost. Sad but true.

Mmmmmm, Brownies - Or Not???

2010-06-09T14:18:00.024-04:00

I love brownies and am known for making fabulous brownies. The secret is the pan you use for baking them and blending at least two different kinds of chocolate for a smoother chocolate taste. But brownies are made with wheat flour which means they are not gluten free. :( There are however gluten free brownie mixes. Woohooo!!!!

My entire family had a Mother's Day Cook-Out at my sister's house to celebrate what a wonderful mother we have. I was in charge of the salad and dessert so I thought I would make my "world famous" brownie ice cream sandwiches. What could be better than sitting by the pool and eating brownies and ice cream without any utensils?

The day before the party, I made the regular brownies for the family but tried out two different gluten free mixes for me so I wouldn't be "the only kid at the party without cake". I hate being left out. :)

The first mix was Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix. It is readily available in the health food section of the grocery store and was between $5-$6. Sort of expensive but for an occasional treat it seems reasonable.

It was easy enough to make. You added the normal brownie mix ingredients: egg, warm water, melted butter. And like the Betty Crocker Gluten Free cake mix you had to add vanilla - which isn't typical in regular brownie mixes.

The results: They were moist but cakier than I like my brownies. At first bite, I thought "hmmmm, these are pretty good" but after I swallowed that bite the aftertaste started. It wasn't good. It was like having a chocolate chemical residue in the back of your mouth. And I wasn't the only one who thought this - both my Mom and Dad tried these and cringed at the taste.

The second mix I made was Pamela's Products Chocolate Brownie Mix. It was about a little less than the Bob's Red Mill mix and is also readily available.

You had to add an egg, water, and oil to the mix. There were several different versions on the back of this mix to make it fudgier or cakier or dairy free. I just went with the regular version. The brownie batter wasn't really a batter though - more like a dough that I had to spread out in the pan with a little bit of force. Normal brownie mix usually just spreads out on it's own- it was odd.

Also, this mix only made a pan of 9x9 instead of 9x13. So, it is a bit expensive.

The results: These were fudgie but also inedible. There was a grainy texture and also had this smell that reminded me of carob. (Remember when protein bars first came out and they used carob for the coating. I couldn't stand carob then and I can't stand it now.) I took one bite and spit it out. My Dad tried to eat this brownie and even heated it up in the microwave which usually solves most baked goods problems - it didn't help. We ended up all laughing about all of the faces we made.

As it turned out, I didn't get any of my brownie ice cream sandwiches at our Mother's Day Cook-Out because both brownie mixes weren't worth eating. I was "the only kid at the party without cake". In the end, this is what happened to both batches of brownies -

I haven't given up on having gluten free brownies though. At this very moment, there is a box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix in my pantry just waiting to be made. Maybe the third time will be the charm. What can I say, I am an optimist. :)

Let Them Eat Cake!!

2010-06-04T01:08:00.009-04:00

Cake!!!! I've always loved cake. I love to bake it and decorate it and eat it. Cake is what you eat when you are celebrating. I like all kinds of cake. Cake is good and something that doesn't fit into a gluten free diet all that easily.

Once I made the decision to "go gluten free", I thought about all the things I would have to give up and cake was on the list - or maybe not. Strolling down the grocery store aisle, I happened to find that Betty Crocker makes a gluten free cake mix. Wooohoo!!!! I never noticed it before but in my new gluten free state of mind I see it and my heart was filled with joy. Of course the cake mix is twice as much as a normal cake mix and only makes half as much as a normal cake mix but it is still cake and that is something to be happy about.
Once home, I happily get out the ingredients and mixed up my new found cake mix and waited until it came out of the oven. It was easy enough to make - like any other cake mix except that you had to add vanilla in addition to the butter, water and eggs. After it cooled, I frosted it with some chocolate frosting.

The Verdict: it was okay. It certainly looked like regular cake and was moist. I am sort of a cake snob since I am baker and come from a long line of excellent bakers in the family so I might be too harsh a critic though. It did have a slightly different taste to it that I couldn't place and was a little dense. I am guessing that has to do with using rice flour and potato starch instead of wheat flour. It wasn't dense like a pound cake but wasn't light and fluffy like a normal cake.

Normally, I would have snacked on the cake for a few days but after a couple pieces of this cake I wasn't all that interested in it any more and threw it out. This was my first adventure in a gluten free product and I was pleasantly surprised but a little disappointed. I was surprised that the cake was edible but was disappointed that it wasn't as good as regular cake. In my heart, I was hoping that I would be eating cake that was just as good as a regular box cake.

I happened to find the same cake mix at Big Lots the other day so I bought it to give it another try. As I have been eating more gluten free products, I have decided to not anticipate them to be like regular food and to judge them as what they are and not in comparison to gluten food because gluten free food will never be exactly like gluten food.

In hindsight, this cake was probably better than other mixes. And it is nice to have an alternative to being the only kid not having birthday cake at the party.

Next up - brownies!!!

Why Gluten-Free?

2010-05-29T14:26:00.006-04:00

I've been lazy about going to the grocery store over the past few months. One of the joys of living alone is you can eat whatever and whenever you want. That means you don't have to have conventional meals at conventional times. Sometimes it was cheese and crackers for dinner and sometimes it was a bowl of buttered noodles for breakfast - and no one complains that there isn't meat and veggies or that you are eating lunch at 3 o'clock.

The problem with being lazy about grocery shopping is that you eventually run out of things to eat and have to resort to eating the staples in your pantry. In my case, that means I eventually eat rice and scrambled eggs for a few days and then I only grocery shop when I have run out of Diet Coke. (Don't judge me - sometimes it is nice to be irresponsible in a few areas of your life.)

During those periods of rice filled meals, I noticed that I didn't feel as bloated as I normally did and I liked it. After I would go the grocery store and start eating like I normally would (bread, pasta, crackers, etc...) I would feel bloated again. I especially noticed it after my trip to California where I ate all the good stuff you normally eat on vacation - pastries for breakfast, burgers for lunch and dessert at dinner. Let's just say that the seat belt on the plane ride home let me know just how bloated I was. It doesn't take being a genius to figure that there might be a connection between what I was eating and how I was feeling. So, I thought I would look into a gluten free diet.

What is gluten? Basically gluten is wheat, barley and rye. Sounds easy enough to eliminate, right? Wrong!!! Gluten is in a lot of prepared foods in the form of stabilizers, thickeners, and coloring. You also have to be careful about the ingredients in medications. There is also the question of whether the food has been processed in a plant that also processes wheat - like oats. So it isn't as easy as it sounds. And don't even get me started on what to order when you are traveling and want to go through a McDonald's drive-thru.

Stay tuned for my first adventure in gluten free baking.

I'm Back!!!

2010-05-28T14:55:00.003-04:00

One of my New Years resolutions was to start posting again - so here I am!!! I have missed not writing but have been lazy about it. It is curious that it is so easy in life to just find something else to do to occupy your time and avoid something you actually like to do.

There are two things I am very excited about sharing with you. The first is a trip my Mom and I took to California on an Adventures by Disney trip. We went to Hollywood and Disneyland. It was a great trip and I can't wait to relieve all the special (and not so special) moments. The other thing is that I am trying to go Gluten-Free. After the California trip I decided it was time to see if I actually had an intolerance to gluten that was causing some of my digestion problems - so I am exploring the world of gluten-free. It isn't always easy but I think you will find some of my adventures in the special diet area of life humorous.

It's good to be back!!! Can't wait to start sharing my life with you again. :)

Twilight and Walmart on Thanksgiving Eve

2008-11-27T01:18:00.007-05:00

It's Thanksgiving Eve and I made the trek to Augusta for turkey with the family. I've been sucked (no pun intended) into the Twilight frenzy and decided to go see the 10 p.m. movie so I could have all of Thanksgiving day free to smell turducken cooking through the house. (Don't even ask about the turducken - I am going with the flow this year.)

Since I have already decided that after reading Twilight and Midnight Sun twice that maybe dating a vampire might be sort of exciting, it was time to see if Edward Cullen is really as "hot" as all the teenager girls think he is. And I have to say he is pretty darn "hot".

What can I say? I am a teenage girl at heart.

So, after the movie I decided to go to Walmart to get the last two books in the Twilight saga so I could read as I smelled the turducken cooking. (Don't even get me started about the turducken. Not sure what Mom and Dad were thinking? lol) I wasn't sure if Walmart would be open on Thanksgiving Eve but it was.

I parked in between entrances #2 and #3 of the store and went into #3.

Of course Walmart didn't have the books. Ugh!!! I need to find the next books so I can get my Edward fix!!!!

But I managed to find a few things I had to have. The only open registers were near the #2 entrance of the store.

The line was excruciatingly long - long enough for me to pretend that the very pale check-out clerk was a vampire and she was actually smelling all of our blood which is why she was taking so long. (I told you I had been sucked into the Twilight frenzy.)

Anyway, I finally pay and go to leave toward the #2 doors when I am told that #2 is closed and I would have to leave out of the #3 doors. So, I trudge past the 30 empty registers to the #3 doors.

Why in the world would a store only have registers open near the #2 doors but make you leave out of #3 doors. It makes no sense to me, at all. And I still don't have my books!!!!

Day 5 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-07-16T00:47:00.004-04:00

Day 5 - One Last Chance To Shop!!

It was time to face reality that our time at Disney World was over. We reluctantly woke up and had the last of our yogurt parfaits. It didn't take us long be ready to leave since we had pretty much packed the night before. I called down to the valet stand to retrieve the car and we made the dreaded walk to the elevators and through the lobby with our luggage dutifully rolling behind us.

We gave the Swan lobby one more gaze as we left the building to find our car ready and waiting for us. With the car loaded, we got under way but not to I-4. I made a detour to Downtown Disney. Mom was still talking about the LEGO watch she had seen Soarin' Joe wearing so I told her since it was only 9:00 a.m. and we were way ahead of schedule we were stopping to find that watch. And amazingly Mom agreed to my plan. Of course what could she do since I was driving.

Since it was so early, we got a front row parking place at Downtown Disney. We were walking to the LEGO Imagination Center when I couldn't remember if I had locked the car. Don't you hate it when that happens. It's like when you can't remember if you turned off the clothes iron. So I turned around and went back to make sure I had locked the car. I think I did actually lock it but I pressed the lock button on the key fob a good bit just to make sure - especially since the car was full of all of our luggage.

We finally made it to the LEGO Imagination Center where a nice lady asked us if she could help us. Mom said she was looking for a LEGO watch but the woman said they didn't have any in stock right now but that she could order one for us. We both shrugged and said okay. The LEGO lady went online and ordered it for Mom and it arrived a few days later. They didn't even charge for shipping and handling. Mom loves the watch and wears it all the time which I am sure drives Dad crazy since he just bought her a really expensive watch earlier this year.

This is the infamous watch:
http://shop.lego.com/product/?p=W341&LangId=2057&ShipTo=US

Flat Brody even got into the action when he met the LEGO dogs at Downtown Disney.

After our little detour we made our way to I-4 through Hotel Plaza. Whenever I see the Hotel Plaza hotels I am always amazed that I don't try to stay at some of them - the hotel rates seem reasonable and if you already have a car it is probably more convenient than some of the Disney hotels. I need to make a mental note about this.

Another Mom and Me tradition is that we like to stop in at DSW Shoes while we are in Orlando. If I had to choose between Disney and shoes which I loved more, I might have to say shoes. I know - heresy!!! DSW is a shoe Mecca and we pass right by it on our way home. This trip I only bought a pair of sneakers but Mom bought a few pair of dress shoes. When I was working in an office I would have bought a few pair of black pumps along with my sneakers but since I work from home now I was good - especially since the last thing I need is ANOTHER pair of black pumps.

We had an uneventful trip home except for our lunch stop. We stopped at a Wendy's in St. Mary's, GA. As soon as we walked in Mom said I think we have been here before and I think this is restaurant I wrote to complain to Wendy's headquarters about. I couldn't remember if it was indeed the dreaded Wendy's but we were already in line so we waited and waited and waited. It had been about 10 minutes and we hadn't moved. We finally decided that we would never get those 10 minutes back and we should just cut bait and move on to the Burger King next door. All that agrivation for a cheeseburger and fries. I will definitely remember to bypass this Wendy's the next time I am in St. Mary's, GA.

We made it back to the Savannah airport parking garage where Mom and I said our good byes. We had a wonderful time and did a lot of things we hadn't done before. And I loved having Flat Brody along for the ride. It was so fun to all of a sudden think "this would be a great Flat Brody picture." It certainly added a new fun element to our Disney adventures.

Finishing up a Disney trip is always bitter sweet. I am sad to leave Disney World but I am always thrilled to be home and see Real Brody. I do miss him when I am gone - he is just so darn cute.

Flat Brody is glad to make it back home to his spot on the couch.

And I was glad to be home because I was getting really sick. My throat was killing me and I was starting to cough. And things got worse before they got better. But me being sick after a Disney World trip seems to be par for the course. After our October 2007 Mom and Me trip I was sick for about a two weeks with a dreadful sinus infection that took two courses of antibiotics to clear up and after my December 2007 solo trip I was sick for a week with a terrible flu like illness where I was so sick I was unable to pick up Brody from the kennel. Not sure why I keep getting sick because I am really careful to wash my hands a lot and use hand sanitizer. I think it has to do with not getting enough rest and staying in hotel rooms for too long. But I am determined not to get sick on my next trip - so say a pray for me.

What ever happened to Flat Brody you ask? Well, you remember in my first post when I said that Real Brody was a dog who liked to chew. Yep, you guessed it - Real Brody chewed on Flat Brody to entertain himself one evening. It is my own fault though because I had left Flat Brody on the coffee table for a few days and it was just too much for Real Brody to take and he had to give in to his inner chewer. I should have known better.

Real Brody causes injuries to Flat Brody.

So, I made a new Flat Brody tonight for my next trip to Disney World - which happens to start tomorrow. Woohooo!!! But the fact of the matter is I haven't finished packing and it is already after midnight and I still have to break the news to Real Brody that he has to go to puppy camp tomorrow while his alter ego gets to go to Disney World. Life is so unfair!!!

Thanks so much for following along on Flat Brody's DIS Unplugged Pick-A-Number Mom and Me Trip. I've enjoyed pretending to be a writer and hope I brought a little Disney fun to your life.

Day 4, Part 2 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-07-15T02:54:00.006-04:00

Day 4, Part 2 –Our Final Dining Decisions

After our ferry ride to the TTC, we found the bus stop for MGM. There isn’t a formal queue and there weren’t many people waiting so we found a spot on a bench and relaxed as we waited for the bus. And then it happened. About 50 teenage cheerleaders showed up just as the bus pulled up. Of course they were the first ones on the bus and I began to worry that we wouldn’t even make it on the bus let alone find a seat. In a matter of seconds I went from not a care in the world to worrying if we were going to even get on the bus. It was sort of like being on Stitch’s Great Escape - sort of fun but not really.

We did make it on the bus and Mom actually got a seat and I stood next to her. Of course all of the cheerleaders were sitting while all of the elderly passengers were standing. Don’t parents teach their children about giving up seats to the elderly anymore? Maybe since public transportation isn’t the norm anymore and manners are a lost art - like eating Moroccan food in an upright position.

After settling in for our trip to MGM, I asked Mom the dreaded question "what are we going to do for dinner?" After mentally walking our way through the Park and thinking about our choices, Mom wondered if I thought we could get in to one of the table service restaurants. I didn’t see why not so I whipped out my mobile phone and dialed the number. Mom was perplexed that I knew the Disney World dining reservations phone number by heart. Do you think I spend too much time DISsing?

After getting through all of the phone prompts, I was speaking to a Reservationist without even being on hold. I asked her if there were any tables for 2 at MGM for around 6 p.m. At first she said Mamma Melrose’s and Hollywood & Vine and I relayed this information to Mom while explaining what type of food each restaurant served. When the Reservationist all of a sudden said there was an opening at 6:20 at The Hollywood Brown Derby. Wooohooo!!! I quickly exclaimed "we’ll take it!" My lucky panties were still working since we scored a 6:20 p.m. reservation at 5:20 p.m. Chalk one up for not making ADR’s at 180 days out.

The Reservationist took all of my relevant information and then wanted to give me the reservation number. I told her I couldn’t really write down the number since I was standing on a Disney bus on the way to MGM and didn’t have a pen handy. She laughed and said we didn’t really need it and to enjoy our meal. I assured her we would.

After entering MGM we still had forty minutes before our Brown Derby reservation so we thought we would try to do The Animation Academy before dinner. But my lucky panties failed me because the doors had just closed as we walked up. Hmmmm, guess we need to go to Plan B.

Always being on my toes, Plan B quickly became a tour of Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. During our Future World tour, our tour guide Janet had told us some to look for Walt’s desk and the ash tray on it. This was the desk Walt used in his office at the Walt Disney Studios and just about the only place you will find any indication that Walt Disney smoked. It made me sad to think of all the people who have died a premature death because of smoking. And if you have never seen the movie at the end of One Man’s Dream you make sure you put it on your must do list - it is a great history lesson on Walt and gives you some insights to his genius.

It was about 6 o’clock by now so we decided to check in for our dinner a little early. And we were seated within a few minutes. We weren’t seated in one of the booths but had a nice table for two towards the back of the restaurant.

Flat Brody was impressed by all of the caricatures at The Hollywood Brown Derby

We studied the menu and the wine list. We wavered on the food choices a bit but quickly decided on our wine choices - Mom decided on the Eroica Reisling and I decided on the MacMurray Ranch Pinot Gris. Except they no longer had my wine choice. Now what do I do.? After drinking too much Chardonnay in the 90's I am not a fan of it much any more and there weren’t that many more white wines to choose from and red wine doesn’t like me anymore. But our wonderful waitress took matters in to her capable hands and brought a few bottles for me to sample. I eventually decided on one but I have no idea what it is now - the receipt abbreviates it as Kim Craw Svb. No idea what that stands for but it went well with my meal.

Mom and I decided to split the Market Greens Salad with asparagus, tomato grapes, candied pecans, Midnight Moon goat cheese and Cabernet vinaigrette. This is what is left of my salad when I remembered to take a picture.

Mom ordered the Pan-Fried Halibut with yellow squash, haricots verts, Roma tomato preserve, and citrus juices

Flat Brody enjoyed my Roasted Sterling Silver Pork Rib Chop with mustard spaetzle, white cheddar, rainbow chard, vinegar onions, and pan juices

Dinner was very nice and the service was great. I had hoped to have enough room to finally try the famous Grapefruit Cake but once again I had no room for dessert right after my meal. Some day I will just go to Disney World and only eat desserts. A girl can dream, can’t she?

After dinner we stopped by the bathroom and let me tell you that Playhouse Disney has ruined the Brown Derby bathroom. Smelly!!! It isn’t a large bathroom and it used to be a hidden oasis to freshen up in but not anymore!! Having diapers changed right where you walk in and you almost run into the changing table doesn’t make for a pleasant experience. They really need to add another bathroom in that area to handle all the smelly diaper changes. I am definitely going to have scope out a new bathroom oasis. I like a little peace and quiet when I tinkle, after all.

Since we missed The Animation Academy earlier we decided to try again. I was really excited that I converted Mom to being an amateur animator. It was hard to believe that she hadn’t even wanted to do it the other day and now she was asking to do it. We had a little wait before the next session so we took a seat on the padded benches where Mom promptly closed her eyes and went to sleep. (She is such a light weight when it comes to drinking wine - and we only had one glass with dinner.)

I woke Mom up when it was time to go in and we got to drawing right away. And once again we had a good time drawing - Goofy this time.

Flat Brody meets my version of Goofy. He was happy to meet a fellow canine.

Mom and I then strolled over to see Muppet Vision 3-D. I just love the Muppets so we try to always see my felt covered friends while at MGM. I think my love of the Muppets must stem from growing up watching Sesame Street. They should do another Muppet movie. I would pay to see Kermit singing another song about being green. But I digress - we liked Muppet Vision 3-D as much as the first time we saw it. I think Fozzy is my favorite but you have to love Sam Eagle too. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't pick a favorite - it would be like picking one child over another.

On the way to Muppet Vision 3-D we noticed cheerleaders everywhere. It was like they had invaded MGM. We even saw a cheerleading squad from Japan. I know - who knew the Japanese were cheerleaders??? To be perfectly honest - there is nothing more irritating to me than large groups of cheerleaders who are pumped full of adrenaline and sugar after a competition. It almost makes me want to yell "WHO CARES!!! AND WIPE THAT GLITTER OFF YOUR FACE!!" I try to be understanding since my niece is a competitive cheerleader but I can only take a little bit of all of that frenzied energy at a time and this was putting me over the edge.

Actually I was probably just irritated because I was starting to feel poorly. I actually woke up this morning with a sore throat. It wasn’t all that bad and seemed to be under control with Tylenol. But as the evening went on my throat seemed to be getting worse. At this point I hadn’t really put two and two together but I seem to get sick every time I go to Disney World - more on that in the next installment.

Okay, back to our last evening at Disney World.

We still hadn’t ridden Tower of Terror and I still had the Fastpasses from the other day. I know there is a date on them but I have heard on more than several occasions that the Fastpass dates weren’t really enforced so I thought it was worth a shot. It’s not like they would hit me for trying.

So we walked back down Sunset Boulevard to finally ride a thrill ride this trip. As we approached the Hotel’s gate it was just like deja vu all over again - the Fastpass line AND the Standby line were all the way at the gate. UGH!!! It was just not in the cards for me to be thrill seeker this trip. I didn’t ride a single roller coaster or even Tower of Terror. I must be getting old because I didn’t really care though - although I did mind missing Tower of Terror because that is a Mom and Me trip tradition. Oh well, guess that means we just have to plan another trip.

After being disappointed, we walked back up Sunset Boulevard fighting our way through all of the cheerleaders - Fantasmic had just let out. It was definitely time to indulge in a Mickey Bar. It had been 4 days at Disney World and I needed a premium ice cream bar - and my throat was killing me. The Mickey Bar helped things immensely - physically and emotionally. Of course I had to sit down to eat the Mickey Bar or else I would have had chocolate all over my shirt.

On the way out of MGM we decided it was such a nice evening that we would walk back to the Swan - but only after I elicited a promise from Mom that she would basically stroll and not race walk . The evenings in April are nice because it cools down - unlike July and August. It is very dark at night on this path though. Not sure I would want to take this walk by myself at night since it isn’t a very busy path. And of course we played Beat the Boat. But this time it was a tie - the boat docked just as we arrived at the Swan. Guess all of my strolling slowed us down.

We straggled up to our room and settled in to our Heavenly Beds for one last night. Isn’t the last night of your trip so depressing? The worst part is having to pack - and realizing how much money you spent on "stuff".

Next Installment - One Last Chance at Shopping.

Day 4, Part 1 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-07-09T23:49:00.009-04:00

Day 4, Part 1 –TMI on the bus to the MK

After two non-stop days, Mom and I decided to sleep in and get a late start. It was a nice change of pace after two days of being up and at Parks before the rope dropped. And of course the Boardwalk Bakery muffin we picked up the night before was a nice addition to our yogurt parfaits.

I lazed about while Mom got ready and then she went and checked out the hotel and spa while I got ready. All in all, a very relaxing way to start the day. It was just what my tired feet needed - time propped up on a Heavenly Bed.

We left the room about 11:30 a.m. to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom. It didn’t take long to arrive at the Swan but it was almost full when it arrived. I never really figured out the bus routes for the Epcot hotels since the buses we took never repeated the same pattern. I guess that just means I will have to return to investigate further. My curious mind needs to know!!!!

Since the bus was crowded, Mom and I were relegated to standing in between all the strollers crowding the aisle. I don’t know what the solution to the stroller/bus crowding problem is but I do know that strollers are cumbersome and aren’t fun for the stroller holder or the stroller neighbor.

Okay, so we are on the bus on the way to the Magic Kingdom and we’re standing next to this large Italian looking family that based upon their accents were probably from the New York area. From my perspective, it looked like a Mom and Dad had taken two of their adult daughters with their husbands and all of their children. But apparently one daughter and her family were not able to attend the family trip to Disney World.

As it turns out one of the son-in-laws was talking (loudly) with the patriarch of the family about one of the other son-in-laws and all of his business dealings. It seems that the SIL in attendance did not think that the absent SIL would be able to afford his mortgage payment since he over paid for the house and that the boat that was just purchased was stepping way above his means. I ended up knowing more about this family and their finances than I know about my own affairs. I don’t really understand why people need to discuss these types of things loudly amongst total strangers. It wasn’t like any of us were impressed or even cared. A little discretion goes a long way. This was definitely under the category of TMI - too much information.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at noon, so there were no lines at the security bag check. And the park didn’t seem all that crowded. Once again the Crowd Calendar at www.touringplans.com was correct and Saturday is a good day for visiting the Magic Kingdom.

As we walked through Town Square we saw Jiminy Cricket and had to snap a few pictures.

Of course our pin shopping wasn’t over so we stopped in at Uptown Jewelers to see if there were any pins we hadn’t seen yet. And actually we found a few we just couldn’t live without. But is our pin shopping over? Hmmmm, you can never be sure.

We had missed Adventureland earlier in our trip so we started our tour there. Don’t you just love the tropical drum music as you pass over the bridge - it just makes want to stop and do the hula. (Thankfully for the other guests I have not done any hulas - but you never know when I might.)

We didn’t really have any plans as we walked through Adventureland but when we saw that The Enchanted Tiki Room was just starting we took the opportunity to indulge ourselves. I know there is a lot of debate about the merits of the new version of the Tiki Room versus the original version but I enjoy the new version. It still has the charm of the original version but has the named characters that younger generations can relate to. And besides, it is a good way to get out of the sun for a few minutes. Besides, who doesn’t love a chanting tiki god amongst singing flowers.

Argggghhh! Of course Flat Brody wanted to see Pirates of the Carribean but we only took a picture this trip. Flat Brody will have to wait a few more days to see all of the pirate booty.

As we entered Frontierland, we caught the tale end of Woody’s Round Up.

We didn’t catch any of the performance but it looked it would have been cute. Maybe we will be lucky enough to catch it on our next visit.
Mom had never been to Tom Sawyer Island so we decided to check it off the list and take the raft over to explore. It always seems to be a classic Magic Kingdom thing to do since it has been around so long and often overlooked by those thrill seeking park guests. I had forgotten that the raft drivers really have to pilot the rafts - there is no ride track. Which made me wonder where the life jackets were? Does the Coast Guard check up on the Rivers of America vessels? My inquiring mind needs to know.

Flat Brody on the raft to Tom Sawyer Island.

Although only about 1 o’clock, I told Mom about the hidden paint brushes just in case we were lucky enough to spot one. You never know - there could have been one that was missed. But there weren’t any missed paint brushes this time.
We explored Fort Langhorn first and even shot the rifles from the turrets. You really need to be nimble though because some of the stairs wells were really tight and steep. After fighting off the "Injuns", we took a break to watch the action on the Rivers of America.

Flat Brody waving from Tom Sawyer Island to the passing Ferry Boat.

Flat Brody wishing he was riding on Big Thunder Mountain.

We then ventured on to explore the caves. I forgot how small those caves are. If you are the least bit claustrophobic you should avoid them at all costs because they are tight and narrow. I am getting a little panicky just thinking about it.

Mom and I also had a good time on the barrel bridge but I think we had a bit too much fun since our shoes got a little wet. I am glad I had on my quick drying Crocs. I don’t ever recall getting my feet wet before. Hmmmm. But since our feet were wet, we took the time to sit in a rocking chair at Aunt Polly’s to air dry our toesies. It is a great spot to sit and get a good glimpse of the river boats and a unique view of The Haunted Mansion.

After making the return raft trip we moseyed over to Liberty Square to get some American history at the Hall of Presidents. Alas, our timing was off since the doors to the theater had just closed as we walked up. But it was getting sort of late, so we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants in Disney World, the Columbia Harbour House. Mmmmm, if I close my eyes I can taste the french fries right now.

Since it was a later lunch the lines to order weren’t very long but I had Mom go stake our our table. There were plenty of tables but I love the tables upstairs that overlook Fantasyland. Since there are only a couple of them you have to have your lucky panties on to get one. But today I must have had them on because when I walked upstairs with our food Mom was sitting at "my" table. I did a little inner dance of joy - since I was carrying a tray of food and drinks I thought it best to not dance with abandon.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of our food. But I had the Chicken Breast Nuggets and Mom had the kid’s Garden Salad with Chicken. (I shared my fries with Mom.) I do have to say that I prefer the Chicken Strips better than the Nuggets - I like more chicken than breading. What can I say, I like to save room for the french fries.

After enjoying our lunch at our favorite restaurant at our favorite table, we ventured back to The Hall of Presidents. We still had our lucky panties on because we caught the very next show.

Flat Brody feeling presidential at the Hall of Presidents

I know some people don’t like The Hall of Presidents or just use it to go to take a nap but I find it very interesting and patriotic. I love history so it fills a need for me. I suppose most children are probably bored out of my mind when they get dragged into The Hall of Presidents but I recall always loving it as a child. And who doesn’t love an opportunity to buy a bunch of presidential pencils and dolls at the end of the show.

We ventured to Fantasyland next but still didn’t ride "it’s a small world". Not sure why we skipped over it because it is a ride that makes me happy. Call me crazy but I could be stuck on it for hours and still enjoy singing along. I know - call me crazy!!!

But we stopped in at Mickey’s PhilharMagic which was basically a walk on - guess our lucky panties were still working. Seeing PhilharMagic always makes me want to get out all of my Disney movies and watch them again - but they are all on VHS and I don’t even have a VCR hooked up anymore. I might have to invest in some Disney DVD’s - it would certainly be easier than trying to work a VCR.

After dutifully returning our 3-D glasses , we stopped in at Tinker Bell’s Treasures to browse all the cute and pretty girly stuff - every once in a while you have to satisfy the girly girl in you or she will explode. As we left the shop we ran in to Cinderella’s Step Sisters.

Of course we couldn’t be in the Magic Kingdom and not try our hands at Buzz again. Besides I had to regain the Mom and Me Buzz Champion title back from Mom after her win earlier in the trip. But when we arrived at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin there was a 40 minute wait posted so we got Fastpasses with a return time at 3:05 p.m.

Since we had some time to kill we thought we would take another trip on the People Mover (a.k.a. Tomorrowland Transit Authority). So we walked over but there was a Cast Member roping off the escalator to the platform. It was broken!!!! UGH!!!! Thankfully Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was right there or we might have had to resort to seeing Stitch’s Great Escape! - and that would have been tragic.

Carousel of Progress was as it usually is - outdated in the modern scene and charming as always with everything else. I love seeing all of the old kitchens. Mom felt very nostalgic to see the kitchen from the 50's.

Afterwards we still had a few minutes to burn before our Fastpass time for our Buzz Lightyear rematch so we decided to sit down in the Galaxy Palace Theater and listen to a high school choir that was singing The Lion King songs. They were very good and a very large choir. I can’t really remember where they were from though, since we missed their introduction. I felt bad for them though because the theater was practically empty and it was obvious they had worked very hard on their songs - and probably had a lot of carwashes to pay for the trip. At least they can always say they performed at Walt Disney World.

On our way to Buzz, Flat Brody decided to stalk the Tomorrowland ducks.
Although an upland bird dog and not a water fowl dog, Real Brody does like to point at any bird given the chance so I though I would indulge Flat Brody since I was missing Real Brody at this point in the trip.

We made it on to Buzz in no time flat with our trusty Fastpasses. And I am happy to report I am the reigning Mom and Me Buzz Champion once again. But I will say that Mom’s laser gun wasn’t working properly because she only scored 2700 points - which is was too low for even Mom on a bad day. I am sure a rematch will be called for later this week.

It was getting to be early evening so we decided to make our way out of the Magic Kingdom. But before we got out of the Park we were approached by one of the survey taker people. In all of my trips to Disney World (and I have lost count of my trips) I have never been asked to do one of the surveys, so of course I said yes. She ushered us to this little area of City Hall with a few laptops where I sat down and answered some questions about my dining experience in the Park that day. Overall I rated our meal as very good but did suggest that paying over $2 for a fountain soft drink was too much. And I also said they should bring back the chicken strips and the Monte Cristo sandwich. I miss that sandwich!!!!! I was the one thing I looked forward to eating at Disney World when I was a child. ***sigh*** Sometimes change just sucks.

Since we weren’t going back to our hotel but instead going to MGM we decided to take the Ferry Boat to the TTC. After many trips on the Ferry Boats when leaving the Magic Kingdom I have decided that if you see the Ferry Boat at the dock then you don’t need to rush because you won’t make it. Instead you should only rush to the loading dock if you see the Ferry Boat approaching the dock. (Those are my words of wisdom for the day.)

Flat Brody anticipating his first Ferry Boat ride.

Next Installment - Our Final Dining Decisions

Day 3, Part 5 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-07-04T14:13:00.007-04:00

Day 3, Part 5 – Smoke (Among Other Things) Gets In My Eyes!!!

After a quick refresh break at the Swan, Mom and I walked over to Epcot for the remainder of the evening. I love staying in a hotel that is close enough to walk to the Parks!!! And the walk gave us enough time to discuss where we wanted to eat for dinner - which can be a problem for Mom and me.

As we were leaving the Swan we noticed that there were lots of conventioneers around but we didn't think too much about it. You can always tell people at Disney World for a meeting/convention - they are the people not wearing baseball hats and t-shirts and Crocs or having any fun. I've been to a meeting at Disney World and it was WAY too hard for me to go to the sessions when I knew that the Parks were so close. It was like showing a child their birthday cake and telling them they can't have any cake until they sit still for 6 hours - sheer torture!!!!!

We made it to the International Gate of Epcot and realized that Mom had never gone in to Epcot through this gate - so we accomplished another first!!! After much deliberation, Mom and I decided to check out the Tangeirine Cafe in the Morocco pavilion for dinner. We had never eaten there before so it would be another first for both of us.

As we strolled through France towards our dinner of couscous and kabobs I spied the delightful little kiosk that sells those sumptuously yummy Grey Goose slushies. I looked longingly as we passed by and was tempted to stop but thought that it would be a nice after Illuminations drink so I'll wait. And since the last time I had a Grey Goose slushie was on an empty stomach and it went immediately to my head so I knew that dinner should come first.

We arrived in Morocco and checked out the Tangeirine Cafe's menu to make sure we both found something we wanted to eat. We both approved so we got in line - the line that way out the door and well into the courtyard. I don't think I have ever seen the World Showcase so busy! It was as if all of the attractions were broken and everyone was milling around the Promenade with no place to go. One thing was certain, Spring Break certainly wasn't over.

Finally at the point of almost ordering, Mom gave me instructions on what to order for her and she went to find us a table. She stalked tables while I navigated the ordering process. Actually the ordering process went smoothly but the pick up process was somewhat hampered by a man who just didn't quite understand that his kids' Disney Dining Plan children's meal included both carrots and applesauce and that he didn't have to choose. I think the Cast Member's Moroccan accent was throwing the dad off because the poor Moroccan Cast Member was having a difficult time explaining it to him. Eventually the dad gave up understanding and just went along with it - which meant that I finally got our Moroccan feast.

Mom found us two chairs at the counter area which faces the kitchen. It took some squeezing around chairs for me to get to my seat since there was a table right behind us with an older couple waiting for their daughter to join them. Mom and I both ordered the Mediterranean Wrap. Mom got the lamb and I got the chicken and they were good - messy but good. The wraps were both served with couscous salad and lentil salad - both of these were surprisingly nice.

But the most "entertaining" thing about our meal was the table behind us. This was the table with the older couple and daughter. The daughter sat down with all the food shortly after I sat down. I was happily eating my Wrap and drinking my beer when I heard this chomping and snorting sound. I stopped and wondered what it was but didn't hear it again so I went back to eating. But there was the noises again. So I put my fork down and looked around. And what I saw would make Emily Post come back from the grave and write another etiquette book. It was the daughter (about 50 years old) behind us laying on the table and shoveling the food into her mouth while making away grunts and groans. She didn't just have her arm on the table, she had her head on the table next to her plate!!! It was the most horrific thing I have seen in a long time. It was like a car accident and I just had to keep looking. At some point I think I was actually staring because I was so amazed that someone could be so lacking in table manners. It was truly unappetizing so Mom and I quickly finished up and moved on.

Our goal was to find the Guest Relations Cast Member in front of Italy holding a clipboard with our names on it so we could be VIP's again. Of course we decided to take a bathroom break - well because of my rule - so we stopped of in America by the Liberty Inn. There were lots of people in the facilities - lots of people in non-Disney like clothing and with name tags on. Hmmmm, what are these Convention People doing in Epcot? They are supposed to stay at the hotels!!! No mind though.

We fought our way through the ever increasing crowds to Italy. We located what appeared to be our Illuminations VIP viewing location. But there was no plaid vest clad Cast Member - only officious looking Cast Members in blue oxford shirts. Hmmmmm, no mind though. I approached the officious Cast Members but before I could even get to them an overly zealous oxford clad Cast Member came at me with the speed of a super hero asking if she could help me (in a rather nasty tone I might add.) I got the impression that she thought I was a terrorist who had an evil plan to get in a VIP area without authorization so I could spoil Illuminations for all of Epcot to make small children cry - an evil plan indeed. I explained to her that we were trying to locate our VIP viewing area for the Undiscovered Future World Tour from earlier today. The overly zealous Cast Member didn't have any idea what I was talking about but thankfully a more peaceful loving Cast Member overheard and said she thought that had been moved to the United Kingdom. HUH?!?!?! We had just come from there!!!!

Okay, change in plans. It was 8:47 p.m. at this point and we needed to get to the other side of World Showcase. It was time to let my inner Disney commando come out and play!!! Mom and I quickly got our butts in gear and got moving. But wait a minute - what is in front of us? There was a wall of conventioneers flooding the area in front of The American Adventure and each and everyone of them had on flashing Mickey ears. And they were tipsy from their dinner in America. Lord, help me!!!

Mom knows my plan without even having to ask - she has seen the look in my eye and knew I was in the zone and to let me work my magic. We had fireworks to see from a VIP location after all and I was not going to miss it just because of some drunk flashing eared conventioneers. So, I take the lead and Mom stealthy follows. I bob and weave like a ninja through the throngs of blinking ears and Mom keeps up like a trooper. It was mayhem. As we passed through France, I only had a moment to longingly look at the Grey Goose slushie booth with disappointment knowing that any chance of a frozen bit of heaven was now gone. But we made it to the UK in record time. My work was done.

We located the plaid clad Guest Relations CM with only minutes to spare. Our VIP viewing area was just before the Yorkshire County Fish Shop - basically on the other side of the Rose & Crown outside dining area. A nice location to view Illuminations. We were right next to Lower Terrace of the United Kingdom. And guess who was using the Lower Terrace? Nope, not the conventioneers - the wedding we saw earlier in the day at the Yacht Club. They were having an Illuminations Dessert Reception. It looked like a lovely wedding - although I questioned the bride's choice in dress but if it made her happy then okay by me. But who was using the Upper Terrace of the United Kingdom you ask? Yep, the conventioneers with those silly blinking Mickey ears.

The wedding reception from earlier in the day.

Sorry I missed the bride and groom in the picture - I was still catching my breath after exercising my ninja skills to get to our new location in time.

Flat Brody enjoying the wedding festivities.Another bad picture but it's Flat Brody so I couldn't resist!!!

The poor bride and groom didn't really get to enjoy any of Illuminations though because the photographer had them busy taking pictures the whole time. At least they have the memories saved for posterity sake.

Illuminations started and everything was going fine except for the wind was blowing the smoke right towards the United Kingdom. No problemo, right. It's only a little bit of smoke. Well, it was no problem until a piece of fireworks debris got in my eye. And it hurt!!! It was singed pyrotechnics after all. After having no luck of getting the debris out of my eye I resorted to flushing my eye out with my bottled water. Ahhhh, sweet relief - except now my shirt was really wet and I had no more water to drink. Oh well, at least I could see enough to continue taking really bad digital pictures.

Illuminations pictures - I was experimenting with all of the different camera settings. Eventually I just went back to the automatic setting which seemed to work best.

As soon as Illuminations finished I suggested that we go to Beaches & Cream for ice cream since we were right at the International Gate and we could probably beat some of the crowd. Mom concurred and off we went.

We were really in the mood for a No Way Jose so sitting inside seemed like the way to go. Except when we inquired about the wait, the Beaches & Cream Hostess said it would be 45 minutes - even though the restaurant was only half full. Hmmmm, must be a long list of people waiting for big tables. But 45 minutes was way too long to wait for ice cream so we decided to just get regular take our sundaes.

After figuring out the system for the take out line - one line is for ordering and one line is for picking up - we got in the ordering line. The ordering line was about 5 groups long - you can't really say 5 people long because it is hard to tell how many people are actually with each group. (It's complicated ordering ice cream these days, my friends!!) When we got to the cashier we were informed that there was no more hot fudge. WHAT!?!?!?! Okay, on to Plan B. I wanted caramel but they only had butterscotch so I finally decided on chocolate sauce on vanilla ice cream and Mom ordered marshmallow cream on chocolate ice cream. And off to the pick up line I went while Mom went to find a table by the pool.

The pick up line was out the door but seemed to be moving a little. I finally made it inside the building while I occupied my waiting time by noticing that no one had been seated in the restaurant and the restaurant was now almost empty. I was confused but was too tired to figure out the absurdity of the situation.

After about another 5 minutes I got to the front of the pick up line where I could see the person making the sundaes. I saw her making a sundae with vanilla ice cream and marshmallow but I didn't say anything because it could have been for someone else. I wasn't privy to the inner workings of Beaches & Cream after all. And then she looked at the ticket and noticed it was supposed to be chocolate ice cream - so she threw the almost finished sundae away. I cringed. All of that good ice cream gone when all she had to do was ask me and I would have taken that one and she could have made another one for Mom. But it happened so fast that I just watched and thought of all the wonderfully empty calories just thrown away. ***sigh***

Finally I had our ice cream sundaes and I located Mom by the pool. Ahhhh, sweet frozen bliss. The sundaes were huge!!! And before I knew it I remembered Flat Brody and his love of ice cream.

Flat Brody enjoying some of my half eaten sundae from Beaches & Cream

And then the most amazing thing happened, Mom asked me more about Disnay Vacation Club ownership. YES!!!! My evil unorganized plan was working. So I tried to explain about the points and all the different resorts and how it was different from ordinary timeshares and that you could buy resale points instead of points directly from DVC. She pretty much got it and just then Dad called and Mom even mentioned it to Dad. Who knew I was such a good salesperson. My little plan was working better than I could have imagined. I knew to bring my plan home all I needed to do was talk about how wonderful owning DVC points would be for the grandchildren. Mom loves to swim with her grandkids and since we were sitting right by Stormalong Bay I knew this would make a huge impact. (Wow, I am really good at this.)

With our ice cream finished, it was time to walk back to the Swan - which we did via the Boardwalk. As we strolled along we walked through ESPN Zone to check out the restaurant for future meal purposes. It is a really happening place - lots of people enjoying themselves. And of course we had to look at the ESPN gift shop. They had lots of great stuff to buy but we refrained from indulging. But I did press a penny for my collection. I'm such a big spender.

As we were walking by the bakery, I decided that we needed a little treat for breakfast and ordered 2 muffins for the morning. It was time to treat ourselves to more than yogurt parfaits after all. You can only be so good on vacation before you have to be a little bad.

Next Installment - TMI on a Bus

Day 3, Part 4 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-07-02T02:42:00.010-04:00

Day 3, Part 4 – Mom Cries "No, No, No, No, No!!!"

Upon arriving at Animal Kingdom we did the only sensible thing and grabbed a Times Guide. It was just as I suspected, there were only a few Festival of the Lion King shows left in the day and we would have to run to catch the next one. So we decided to make our way over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek and see Simba sing at the last show of the day.

It was almost parade time but not close enough that the street had been closed. (Although I think at AK the streets are probably better classified as paths.) Since people were waiting behind the ropes so the paths were fairly clear and we made it to Asia in no time flat.

As we approached the Jungle Trek we watched all the people just getting off Kali River Rapids that were SOAKED. I have been one of those people and it isn’t much fun especially when you are wearing a white t-shirt. I felt like I was on Spring Break and in a wet t-shirt contest with out the benefit of tequila shots. Now I use a poncho on the Kali River and enjoy myself much more. But I digress.

We found the Trek which isn’t always the easiest. You really have to be looking for it or you won’t find it which suits me fine - it keeps people out. I am not sure why I love the Maharajah Jungle Trek so much. I rarely ever go on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail so I think it must be the tigers. Which surprises me since I am NOT a cat person.

We saw the Komodo dragon first.

I’m just glad that thing was on the other side of the railing. I imagine his bite is worse than his bark.

I was being brave today and we stopped to see the fruit bats. Sometimes I avoid them since they can be creepy. I’ve seen these before but I don’t think I have ever seen more at one time. Every available wire was covered by an upside down bat. I am just glad these bats liked fruit and not human blood because they are huge. I wasn't brave enought to take any pictures though.

Flat Brody was very interested in the tigers - although I think he was a little frightened since these cats were bigger than the ones he usually chases on our walks.

On our way out we saw the monkeys. I've never seen them so playful as they were today.

Aren't the mom and baby so cute?

We started to walk back towards FOTLK by Expedition Everest since the parade was still going on. We had plenty of time before the next show so I decided to let my thrill seeker out to play and got in the single rider line for EE. Mom was going to do a little browsing.

I was in line for about 5 minutes when I just couldn’t take it anymore and got out of line. The line was slow moving and there were three young teenagers behind me. It took me about 3 minutes of their incessant babbling chatter to get irritated and after five minutes I thought I was going to throttle them if I had to hear another second of it. It was all "OMG", "like I know" - ugh, I can’t even go on or my blood pressure will get too high. I felt like I was having to listen to Valley girls on speed. It was just too much for my adult brain to take and my sanity was not worth a ride on EE. I have since decided that parents must build up a tolerance to this kind of thing starting at the birth of the child so that they are immune to the incessant babbling chatter when their children become teenagers. Next time I will be prepared and bring my ipod.

It took me a few minutes to find Mom since she wasn’t expecting me for another 15 minutes. She hadn’t bought anything since common sense won out and she decided that she didn’t really need a Yeti plush animal. Maybe next trip she will indulge herself and come home with a white furry monster toy.

We strolled over to DinoLand, U.S.A. and had no intentions of riding anything. We were on our way to see flying monkeys and hear Simba sing after all. But wouldn’t you know, my thrill seeker self was still out and about and there was no wait for Primeval Whirl. Zero, none, zilch, na da, no people in line!!!!! How could I resist!!!!!! Other than Tower of Terror, Primeval Whirl is the only "thrill" ride I can get Mom on. So I checked the time to see if we had 3 minutes to spare. We did! So I grabbed Mom’s arm and said let’s go!!!

Every time we ride Primeval Whirl Mom has the same reaction. When we get to the spinning part, she closes her eyes, holds on tight and yells "No, No, No, No, No, No, No!!!" over and over again until the spinning stops. Of course to be fair, I have the same reaction to her reaction each time - I laugh. I can’t help it, it’s funny. It isn’t like she doesn’t know it isn’t coming - she can see it coming and we have ridden it together at least 6 times. It’s just an endearing Mom thing.

Flat Brody really enjoyed Primeval Whirl

We finally made it to the Festival of the Lion King. (It is a long trek to get there!!!) We were seated in the Lion section which is always fun - I always feel sorry for the Warthog section (who wants to snort when you can roar). And then I saw them! The cheerleaders! They were coming in the theater in droves. Where were they before? How could I have missed them? What is going on? A little voice inside my head said "Oh, this could be bad!!!"

As it turn out, it was World Cheerleading Championship at Disney World this week (which I knew about but everyone on the Boards said you won’t even notice they are there) and the competition was over for the day (or at least some of it was.) My niece Skatie is a cheerleader and I have never really understood all the various cheerleading competitions but apparently this is for the creme de la creme of cheerleaders. Skatie will be old enough next year so who knows maybe I will be back at Disney World some April hanging out with the cheering crowd.

As we sat there, nothing was happening and it was after time for the show to start. And then there was an announcement. Now, I’ve been to Disney World enough to know that announcements are never a good thing. This one said the show was going to be another 5 minutes due to technical difficulties. Hmmmm, this is not looking good - but I was patient.

Thankfully my patience paid off and the show went on. It is such a good show. And for some reason I got really weepy. Not sure why - maybe dust got in my eyes? Yeah that’s it - dust.

Flat Brody loved FOTLK
Okay, so it is a bad picture. I haven’t figured out the indoor dark setting for my camera yet and I didn’t want to leave out a Flat Brody picture.

After the show we stopped in at Island Mercantile to do some more pin shopping. We got some pins for Dad. But Mom and I also snagged the last two AK 10th Anniversary Annual Passholder Exclusive pins left. We were very excited.
In our excitement, we also decided we were a bit peckish so we stopped at a cart and got frozen bananas to snack on as we strolled out of Animal Kingdom. (It wasn’t ice cream but I can’t eat a Mickey bar and walk at the same time. The chocolate cracks and falls all over me and makes a mess.)

On our way out we saw a Cast Member collecting all of the birds that were in The Oasis. She was trying to wrangle a parrot off his perch but the parrot was having no part of this. She would try then step back and then try again. It took about 10 minutes before the parrot finally cooperated. The parrot wrangler was very patient. But there was this idiot guy who walked by and kept yelling for the parrot to talk. Everyone watching the parrot and the wrangler just sort of looked at him like he was stupid. And then when the guy walked off he called the bird dumb since he wouldn’t talk. A perfect example of a smart bird and a dumb man.

We got to the buses and only had to wait a few minutes. (I think I am a bus person after all!!!) As we were sitting there some cute little girls commented on the Jibbitz in my Crocs. The family was English but lived in Spain and very friendly. We talked about our favorite characters and our favorite rides and whether they had met Mickey yet. I even got to tell them some helpful hints on how to enjoy Disney World better. Nothing earth shattering - wake up call from Mickey on speaker phone, don’t miss this show, ask to ride in the front of the monorail - that kind of stuff. But it makes me happy to spread the magic. Isn't that what it's all about?

Next Installment - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

Day 3, Part 3 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-29T00:08:00.007-04:00

Day 3, Part 3 – Ohhhh, Look Big Towels!!!!

As we walked back to the car we actually had to search a little bit for it. We took a walkway back that took us to the middle of the parking lot so we couldn’t see the row numbers. Hmmmmm, what to do?!?! Well, in a pinch when finding your car you can always rely on a car’s automatic trunk/door release on the key chain. And that is what we did - we looked for the car with the back door going up and down until we spotted it. What can I say - if you can’t use technology to your advantage what good is it?

(And as it turned out anyways, Mom and I had remembered different row numbers when we arrived that morning so we would have had to search either way. )

Back in the car we quickly found our way to the Swan Resort. I can hear you now asking "did she get lost this time?" And the answer would be nope, not this time. I knew it was just around the bend and let my navigational skills do the rest.

The next big decision was whether we would valet park or not valet park? Since I was driving and getting on the hungry cranky side of things I opted to valet park and not really giving Mom a choice in the matter even though it was her car. Some things in life are just worth the price and valet parking is one of those things, especially when you are getting hungry and cranky.

The valet quickly had our car unloaded and all of our various bags on a cart as we made our way inside. Ahhhhh, quiet elegance. Afer a few busy days at Disney World a little luxury was just what I needed. We found the registration desk and there was no line at all. A nice young man checked us in quickly. (You know you are old when you call a man in his 20's a nice young man.) Of course I was a little apprehensive checking in because this was the part of the trip that I had won on the DIS Unplugged Podcast and I didn’t have a confirmation number for the reservation since I didn't make the reservation. It was just the uber-planner in me itching to come out and play. But everything was as if I had made the reservation myself and went smoothly.

I didn’t remember to bring my newly acquired Starwoods Rewards number but I had just gotten an email from them on my mobile phone so I looked up the number and gave it to the clerk!!! Woohooo - a free Swan stay and rewards points to boot!!!! All was right with the world.

With room number in hand, we found the elevator and made our way to Room 420 East. We opened the door and this is what we saw
(Actually, the picture was taken after I moved our bags off the bed. Some picture moments have to be recreated for Trip Report purposes you know.)

And then we checked out the view
Not an Epcot view but nice all the same.

And then there was a knock on the door. It was the Bellman with our luggage. That was really fast. We only had enough time to fall on to the Heavenly Beds and appreciate their luxury and there our luggage was. I could get used to having people be at my beckon call.

The Bellman was very nice and efficient. He chatted while he brought in our bags and even turned on all of the lights to make sure they were working. This may seem odd but I have been in hotel rooms where a light bulb has been burned out and it is a pain to get another light bulb for some reason in most hotels. It must be a union thing or something and only maintenance can change a lightbulb and not housekeeping.

Flat Brody really enjoyed the Heavenly Bed.

More room pictures:

But enough about the room, we had lunch to eat and Animal Kingdom to see, so I decided to tinkle before we left - you know the rule - do it while you get the chance. And that was when I really realized I wasn’t at a value hotel anymore - BIG TOWELS!!!!

It was then that I decided I prefer deluxe hotels to value hotels because a deluxe hotel has better towels. It was like an epiphany and my inner girly girl came out - especially when I saw the wonderful smelling Bath & Body Works products on the bathroom counter top. Now don’t get me wrong, the value hotels are nice. But after a few days a girl needs some decent products and a towel that covers her butt. It is just the laws of girly girlness. And if the towels and product weren’t enough, there was a wall mounted magnified make up mirror in the bathroom. ***HALLELUJAH*** It is just a crying shame we didn’t have time to enjoy the spa.

Okay, back to the real world. It was time for lunch and it was time to introduce Mom to the joys of Beaches & Cream. I was determined to eat both lunch and ice cream this time. It is a challenge for me to have room after a meal for dessert. I always think I will but never do. It is a curse because I love dessert and cheeseburgers. Since I follow tradition and eat my meal first dessert usually falls by the wayside. Some day I will eat dessert first!!!!

We decided to walk over to Beaches & Cream from the Swan. It was a nice afternoon and it would give me another opportunity to put my "evil" DVC plan in to action. ***Insert evil laugh*** And I got to show Mom how fabulous the Stormalong Bay area is - another part of the master plan to get to go to Disney World more often.

We had seen the Boardwalk area the night before while we waited for our table at Big River Grille & Bar so we opted to walk around the Yacht Club way. There was lots of hubbub going on because they were setting up for a big wedding. It was out on the lawn facing Crescent Lake. (Just remember this wedding for later in the evening.)

We made it to Beaches & Cream and guess what? We only had to wait a minute for our seats. They didn’t even give us a pager. We were seated at the counter which suited us just fine since we got to watch them make ice cream sundaes - only making my desire for a No Way Jose sundae more palatable. Mom even said the Milky Way Sundae sounded really good.

Mom and I both ordered cheeseburgers but Mom got the fruit instead of fries. But now that I think about it, maybe Mom ordered a hamburger to save the calories by going cheeseless - she’s got Weight Watchers on the brain even on vacation. I think I even told our waitress that we wanted ice cream for dessert. Alas, that was not to be our fate.

It took about 15 minutes to get our food and it was just as yummy as I had remembered. Nice and juicy - well that may be grease but who cares, I am on vacation. They make a really good cheeseburger. (Plaza Restaurant take note!!) But as usual I was way too full to even think about eating any dessert let alone a No Way Jose. In an hour I would be ready but not at that moment. Darn!!! I was soooooooo wanting ice cream and hot fudge sauce and peanut butter sauce served with whipped cream and a cherry. And to make matters worse, I forgot to take any pictures!!! I must have been so distracted by the anticipation of ice cream and then the disappointment of not having any that I just plum forgot to share my cheeseburger moment with Flat Brody.

Pleasantly full of fries and cheeseburger - at least I was, Mom was full of hamburger and fruit - we needed to get to Animal Kingdom. But should we catch a bus from the Yacht Club or the Beach Club? This trip is just full of decisions.

We chose the Yacht Club bus. But before we found our way to the bus stop - which is no easy task because there are no signs saying "this way to the bus stop dummies!!" - we took a bathroom break since . . . well, you know my saying by now.

Flat Brody in the Ladies Room at the Yacht Club. Very scandalous indeed!!!!

I like the bathrooms in the Yacht Club lobby because they have real towels to dry your hands with - just like a real yacht club or country club have. It is a nice touch.

Once we found the buses - we finally had to ask someone where to go - we waited about 10 minutes for the Animal Kingdom bus which was just enough time for Mom and me to decide what we wanted to do once we got there. As it turns out all we really wanted to do was the Festival of the Lion King show, the Maharajah Jungle Trek, Expedition Everest, Primeval Whirl and to see if there was any 10th Anniversary merchandise left over. (The Animal Kingdom 10th Anniversary celebration was on Tuesday earlier in the week and we missed it by one and a half days. I also missed the 25th Anniversary celebration at Epcot last year by a week. I need to plan these trips better. I’m missing out on all the fun!!!)

Next Installment - Mom cries "No, No, No, No, No!!!!"

Day 3, Part 2 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-27T01:15:00.004-04:00

Day 3, Part 2 – You know, the Tom Hanks Movie!

After figuring out that Beverly & Vodka might be the new "in" drink, we crossed Future World and went to Universe of Energy. We walked to the left of the building and took a side door and down a corridor to a room just on the other side of the ride. We could hear the dinosaurs growling and snarling and Janet told us that if the door was opened during the ride it would immediately stop and have to be evacuated and would take an entire ride cycle for them to get it restarted. Needless to say, I stayed away from the door since I didn’t want to risk having all those people on the ride waking up from their naps and getting made at me.

(If truth be told, I enjoy Ellen’s Energy Adventure. It is 45 minutes of air conditioned, sitting down, educational enjoyment. And, how someone could sleep on that ride with all that noise is just beyond me.)

There was also a few terradactyl animatronic models for us to look at. They were older models now used for salvaged parts for the newer models but they were intact enough for us to make the wings and beak move. I felt like an Imagineer-in-Training.

This room we were in looked like some kind of break room for the Cast Members and there was the oldest looking microwave I have ever seen. It had to be original to the building which dates back to Epcot’s opening (1982). It might just be time for Disney to splurge a little and buy the Cast Members a Walmart $59 microwave - sort of a way to usher in the 21st century.

Next up was Mission: Space. We stopped outside to explore the Planetary Plaza. There is a big Moon sculpture that has markers on it of where all of the Moon landings occurred. I happened to notice that there was no Apollo 13 marker and mentioned it. (Apollo 13 is the ill fated mission that never made it to the moon but did make it home.) Janet looked at me sort of weird so I explained the Apollo 13 mission and Jim Lovell and the lunar and command modules and using a free-return trajectory to get the crew home safely. She looked at me like I was some sort of space geek who had just come home from Space Camp with a head full of NASA trivia.

Not wanting to seem like a freak of nature I explained that Apollo 13 was one of my favorite movies. She still didn’t really get it so I said "you know, the Ron Howard movie with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Billy Bob Thornton in it." At this point I think she just humored me and we moved on. Janet must not be a movie buff.

We went in another side door and Janet punched in a code on a secret key pad and we got buzzed in to the Red Planet Room (HP Lounge). It was a nice lounge but nothing terribly extra special. They have drinks and some chips for the HP employees when they stop by. Mom took a bathroom break and we watched the ride queue from up above since the lounge looks over the queue. Janet pointed out the Gravity Wheel prop from Horizons which is a nice homage to the former attraction. I like it when the Imagineers pay tribute to extinct attractions - I think Walt would approve.

We did happen to chat with one of the HP Hostesses who was planning her wedding. She had recently come back from a wedding dress shopping trip at Kleinfelds in New York and was filmed for "Say Yes To The Dress" on TLC. I haven’t seen her on the show yet but keep looking for her in hopes I will recognize her.

Next up was Test Track. We walked along side the building to the back of the attraction right underneath the outdoor track. It is very noisy!! We saw the maintenance shop where they repair the cars and all the extra cars. Janet told us about how the Imagineers had a hard time with the car designs at first but eventually got it right.

We then entered a side door to the Test Track building and ended up in the line for the pre-show. Woohooo, we’re VIPs again!!! Some man tried to engage Janet in conversation while we waited. She was polite to him but essentially turned her back to him in favor of chatting with us since we were her 'peeps'. Janet was very protective of us at this point and made sure we had VIP treatment by holding people back for us to pass and such. (We had been together for almost 4 hours and we knew all about Janet’s husband, kids, parents, siblings and she knew about us also. So we had formed a little bond.) I could get used to being a VIP.

After the pre-show we got in line for the ride. During the pre-show Janet and I had noticed this man in his late 50's with a young woman - early 20's. At first we just thought it was his daughter but it soon became clear that she was NOT his daughter. The woman appeared to be Filipino and the man was a little on the tubby side and not what you would call attractive so it made me think of a mail order bride situation. What was really odd was that the man was wearing what I call a Boca outfit - you know those outfits worn by older woman in South Florida during the late 90's. It was white pull on pants and a white button up shirt with flowers painted on it with some glitter. Janet and I both commented on it and decided it was definitely a woman’s outfit. We may have giggled a little also. All he needed was a Bedazzler to give it a true South Florida look. It was very strange - but part of going to Disney World is the people watching and I am rarely disappointed when I look around.

We got in our test car and had a fun ride. I was in the middle seat which is no fun on the curves because I don’t want to smush the people next to me so I end up bracing myself and not enjoying it as much as I would if I didn’t care whether I end up in my neighbors laps. And I love the end of the ride when you race around the track. It is just too short for me. I’ve decided that my Disney Dream might be to just race around the track over and over without having to get out of the car or doing all the testing part. But has anyone ever noticed that your hair flies forward into your face instead of blowing off of your face. It is really weird since you are moving forward and not backwards. Hmmmm?

After racing around the track in our test car, we found another side door and went back stage to check out the Epcot Cast Services building. Janet asked if anyone needed a bathroom break but I think it was just because she had to go REALLY bad. It had been about 4 hours at this point and we had all been drinking lots of water. I, of course, took advantage of the break and used the facilities because of my adage that you never know when you’ll get another chance.

We checked out the costuming department. Things have changed since I was a Cast Member. We used to have to go up to a window and tell where we worked and what sizes we wanted. Now there are just rows and rows of costumes and the Cast Members just walk in and get their own costumes and take them home - which makes it much easier. But the Cast Members don’t get walk time any more. (Walk time was extra time you got paid for because you had to change in and out of your costume.)

There were lots of awards on the walls and Janet explained those to us. Her husband is a Cast Member and had won some big award. There was also a hall way that each department got to paint a section - of course the Imagineering department’s section had fiber optics in the design - show offs!!

We then wandered over to the Illuminations staging area. And egads!!! Mom snapped a picture of backstage. I said I wouldn’t post it so Janet wouldn’t get in trouble but here it is anyways. (I whited-out any distiguishing parts other than the globe which you can see when they bring out the barge. And I saw this area shown on Modern Marvels so I don’t think I am showing anything secret.)

And this is the only picture we took while actually on our tour. We just sort of forgot about taking pictures. In the moment you just forget taking pictures but afterwards you kick yourself for not capturing the moment. It is a hard balance to achieve.

We then took another random door and ended up in the Yong Feng Shangdian Department Store in the China pavilion. (Who knew the store had a name?!?! I had to look it up.)

Our tour was over. Janet told us that we could get a 10% discount in the China restaurant and in the shop and gave us a commerative pin. I had no intention of eating bad chinese food but I appreciated the offer. (If they had only ended the tour at the Mexican margarita stand!!!) The pin is a nice souvenir though.
And then she told us about our special viewing privileges for Illuminations later that night. Yeah!!! Another VIP moment. All we had to do was find a plaid clad CM later tonight in front of Italy and we were good to go. More on that later.

Saying thanks and good bye was a little awkward though. We had been buddies with Janet for over 4 hours but we really didn’t know her know her. In the South we hug but you never know if other people are huggers so you hate to go in for a hug and have it rebuffed. And Mom got all weird because she thought we should tip her like they had on tours they had taken other places. I told her I didn’t think she could accept tips and that we shouldn’t. Of course all of this is going on with whispers and nods and facial expressions because Janet was standing right next to us. I felt like Lucy and Ethel on their trip to Hollywood. In the end, we shook hands with Janet and thanked her profusely saying how much we enjoyed the tour.

The tour was a great experience for us. Basically, with our Disney Visa discount, we paid about $80 for a private tour of Future World. If we had booked a VIP tour it would have been over $600. I’m not sure if the tour would have been as much fun if we had been with lots more people but Mom and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the time we spent together.

It was getting late and we still needed to check in to the Swan, eat lunch, and get to Animal Kingdom, so we made our way back to the parking lot. But on our way out of Epcot we spotted the F&G guy and had to snap his picture.
Next Installment - Finally Big Towels!!!!

Day 3, Part 1 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-26T00:11:00.008-04:00

Day 3, Part 1 – I Feel So Famous!

This is our Undiscovered Future World tour day and we had a lot to do in order to get to Epcot before 8:45 a.m. So we got up and down to business at 6:45 a.m. (We opted not to schedule a wake up call from Stitch and instead used the clock radio alarm. Two mornings in a row with Stitch screeching at you is just too much for a non-morning person.)

When I booked the tour, the Reservations Cast Member repeatedly told me that we needed to wear comfortable shoes, have an ID ready to present, and to check in for the tour no later than 8:45 a.m. I told Mom all this which meant she was all nervous that we would be late. Me on the other hand knew we were close to Epcot and wasn’t all that worried. Thankfully we were up, packed and ready to leave All Star Sports at 8:25 a.m. so no worries were necessary at all.

This is the only day we actually drove to the Parks and that was only because we were moving over to the Swan. Maybe I am a bus person after all?

Since we were at Epcot at 8:35 a.m. we parked in a lot on the left side that was within walking distance to the entrance. This took us near the kennels and darn it but I forgot to take a picture of Flat Brody. My whole plan for Flat Brody was that I was going to take his picture in front of each of the Parks’ kennels - and I totally forgot. I was really pissed at myself. Thankfully I have worked on not dwelling on my "failures" and so I didn’t dwell on it but I am still disappointed that I didn’t fulfill my plan. The worst part of being a natural born planner is that you just have to let some things go and be flexible and it is very difficult to go against my natural tendencies. (But I get another chance with Flat Brody next month - so all is not lost!!!)

Since we were near the kennel we even went through the "secret" security line - one lonely security guy standing at the gate. We approached the far left turnstile that let in the Princess Breakfast and Tour people. The line seemed really long and it had us a bit worried. But as we got closer we realized those people were just waiting for the regular Park opening and were stalking the turnstile - like at an airport gate when they start the boarding process.

We checked in with the Cast Member with the clipboard - although he had to search for our names. I always get nervous when people can’t instantly find my name on a list. Immediately my mind starts thinking of the best way to explain to the clipboard person that I am indeed on the list and it isn’t my fault that he can’t find me and to just let me in or I might have to apologize for his mistake. I think this comes from being a middle child - or maybe I really do need therapy after all.

I always love getting into places while other people have to wait. It makes me feel special - like I am a VIP. I’m not, mind you, but that is always the way it makes me feel. I guess secretly we all want to be a important and special in some fashion.

Once inside Epcot I turned around and snapped this picture of all those "non-VIP" people that had to wait until 9 a.m. to enter the gates.

Flat Brody was very excited to see Spaceship Earth again.

Look!!! Empty Epcot pictures!!!!

We made it to Epcot Guest Services and checked in for our tour. (We didn’t need an ID for either check-ins, by the way. I guess it is a case of better to be safe than sorry.) And the Cast Member looked our tour up and said "oh, there are only 2 people signed up for your tour. Janet will be out in a few minutes." I said "oh, okay" all the while thinking ‘oh my gawd they are gonna cancel our tour!!!’ But they didn’t. Actually Janet came out in her plaid Guest Relations vest and introduced herself and said it was just the two of us for a private tour. She asked if there was anything special we wanted to do since she could tailor the tour just for us. We didn’t really have any special requests but told her if we thought of any we would let her know.

Brody checking in at Epcot Guest Services
Let the tour begin!!!

We started by Janet chatting with us about some of Epcot's history and such. Through our chat, Janet figured out that we were pretty experienced Disney visitors and she could skip over the beginner stuff and give us her advanced spiel.

Our first tour stop was at Innoventions and The House of Innoventions. It was just Mom, me, Janet and Ann, a nice Cast Member who was new on the job and new to USA - she had just moved from England to Florida. This was Ann’s first private tour and she was VERY nervous to be performing in front of Janet. (There is a certain reverence for Guest Relations Cast Members for new Cast Members - like in high school and the Guest Relations department is the cool clique. Who ever said high school doesn’t last forever lied!!!)

Ann stumbled over her words a little bit at first but quickly settled down for her scripted spiel and after a while just started chatting with us. She showed us the kitchen of the future but to tell you the truth it wasn’t very futuristic and quite impractical. Mom and I are well versed in kitchen design since we use one so we could tell that some designer - who probably doesn’t cook - thought of putting drinking glasses in a pull out cabinet on the bottom or an oven that you would never be able to bake a cake in. Since Cast Member Ann was from England she said she was amazed at how big kitchen in the US are (ugh - I get the trembles just thinking about trying to cook in a small European kitchen) and what large quantities you have to buy things at the grocery store (yes, I do need a 24 pack of toilet paper!!)

I did get to play the electronic drums in the teenage room of the future.

We then walked around to the other side of Future World and on the way we chatted with Janet and she pointed our tidbits here and there. She is fluent in American Sign Language so she is Marlee Matlin’s tour guide each time she visits the parks so we also talked about Dancing With The Stars and Marlee’s kids and husband. Janet is also Corbin Bleu’s tour guide - she said he is the nicest sweetest person but that he was going to miss the Disney Games the next week because he was in Arizona filming High School Musical 3. Since Corbin was not going to be at the Disney Games, Janet was assigned to be the tour guide for the girl who plays the friend of the girl witch in the Witches of Waverly Place - I didn’t even know there was a friend on the show. Janet seemed sort of bummed about not having one of the bigger Disney kids but you never know when one of those Disney kids will be the next big star.

Next we moved over to The Living Seas pavilion - well actually it was the Coral Reef restaurant. I had never seen the Coral Reef and it was a really beautiful restaurant. Janet told us all the facts about the aquarium and we watched the sea life. We watched a sea turtle swim over to the corner of the tank and settle in to a spot and then it closed it’s eyes and went to sleep. It was amazing!!! Definitely something you would never see in nature. Who knew that sea turtles slept?!?!

I did stump Janet with a question though. I asked how the sea turtle would nest if it couldn’t go back to the beach where it was born? Since I live on an island (and have watched discovery channel) I know a few tidbits on sea turtle egg laying and was curious. She didn’t know the answer but I am sure that she will know for her next tour. Since I still don’t know the answer I think I may stop in to ask her next month.

Next came our Soarin’ experience. As we walked in Janet mentioned the mosaic in the entrance to The Land pavilion. Don’t hold me to this as fact but I seem to recall that she said some Italian artisans created it and that each side were mirror images of each other. You will have to remember to look at it next time you pass by it - it really is beautiful. And look at the tiles up close you can see little gold tiles.

We made our way to the entrance of Soarin’ and Janet checked in and we waited for the Soarin’ Attractions Manager Joe. While we waited Janet suggested that we get some Fastpasses for Soarin’. At first I declined because I knew we had no intention of being at Epcot after the tour but she insisted, so I went along with it. Sometimes it is easier to just go along with things then to protest - know what I mean?

I know, I know - it DIS sacrilege to not use a Fastpass for Soarin’ but I am a rebel. What can I say? And if I ever get around to scrap booking I will be ready.

Joe arrived and Mom loved his watch - it was a lego watch. (This is only important because she mentions several more times how much she loved it and really wanted one. More on that later.)

Joe walked us back stage and through the back door. (There are a lot of trucks and hubbub going on behind the closed doors of Disney. Makes you appreciate how much effort it takes for everything to seem effortless.) He told us a few Soarin’ facts and then we waited for a few minutes. The next thing I knew we were getting ready to board Soarin’ - front row center!!! I felt like a movie star. It was so much fun to just all of a sudden be on the ride and in the best seats. And since we had a plaid clad guide, people were looking at us like we were famous and that they should know who we were. I felt like saying "I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeVille."

After our brush with "fame", we moved over to the courtyard area outside the Imagination! pavilion and watched the fountains for a little while. One of them was misaligned so Janet explained how someone calibrated them regularly but that they needed a little tune up. We also "decided" that Honey I Shrunk The Audience had outlived it’s usefulness and that they should bring back Captain Eo - without Michael Jackson since he is a sometimes alleged child molester - but that it might be hard to get George Lucas to produce it again.

We then ducked into Club Cool and tried a little Beverly. The first sip is always a little startling but I’ve decided that all Beverly really needs is some vodka and a lime. (Can anyone say "flask"?)

Next installment - You know - that Tom Hanks movie!

Day 2, Part 9 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-20T00:11:00.002-04:00

Day 2, Part 9 – He’s Got Flat Brody In His Hands!

I forgot to mention in the last installment that Mom really enjoyed the Animation Academy. When I first mentioned it I don’t think she realized that the Animator talks you through and demonstrates the entire drawing. And if there is one thing Mom can do, it’s follow directions. She is a rules girl after all.

After another disappointing trip down Sunset Boulevard only to find Tower of Terror STILL not working, we struggled with the age old question of what to eat for dinner. MGM isn’t known for its counter service restaurants - and we’ve eaten at most of them - which makes meal time always a dilemma for us. We had already had sandwiches for lunch so we were thinking we needed something different. Mom didn’t want pizza and I didn’t want a sandwich.

What to do?!?!?

We finally decided to head back over to the Boardwalk area and see what we could scrounge up.

As we left the park, we saw we had just missed the boat launch and there was already a really long line for the next boat. So we decided to walk back to the Boardwalk area - but only after I solicited an agreement from Mom that she would not expect me to power walk and instead we would just stroll. She reluctantly agreed and we set off on our walking adventure.

And let me tell you, it is a long way around to actually get on the walking path. It seems to take forever - and Mom was questioning whether we were going the right way. I had never walked between MGM and the Boardwalk area before but I knew we had to get around the canal so I felt confident we were heading in the right direction. (If you remember, I usually have a good sense of direction except when driving at WDW - walking is excluded from this WDW lapse of directional sense.)

We finally got on the path and found it to be a very relaxing walk. It is a good mile or so and is quiet and not heavily traveled. And wildlife can be seen.

The next boat launch went by. And we decided to play the beat the boat game.
We didn’t speed up but we kept tabs on the boat to see if we would actually beat it...sort of like the Fates Game. And this time we did beat it - we made it to the Boardwalk before the boat went by. Wooohoooo!!!!! It takes very little to entertain me.

But we still hadn’t answered the question of what to eat for dinner. I haven’t ever really paid attention to the more casual restaurants of the Boardwalk so we consulted a map and discussed our options. We finally decided on the Big River Grille & Brewing Works.

Flat Brody was happy we finally decided on a restaurant so we could finally sit down and get to eat something.

But the wait was 45 minutes. We decided this was okay since it would take us almost that long to get to another restaurant and then have to wait to get seated at the new restaurant. So we took our buzzing coaster and went to hang out for a good while.

We looked in the shops and watched the juggler and strolled from Jelly Rolls to Screen Door General Store (we couldn’t go further or our buzzing coaster wouldn’t work). We watched the surrey bikes go by in a circle time and time again. (And if I never hear another stupid surrey bike bell again I will die a happy person. People love those damn bells) We watched people eat their food - not stalkerish but longingly - or maybe longingly is stalkerish. We tried to find a bench with no luck. (You could see where the benches used to be bolted to the boardwalk but they weren’t there anymore. The must have been in the shop for repairs.) We even studied the menu. All the while never forgetting that we were tired and ready to eat.

***A little side note on the surrey bikes*** They look like fun but if you are hanging out on the Boardwalk be very careful. It seems that the surrey bike renters like to go up the bridge by the Swan and then speed down on to the boardwalk. While this is probably lots of fun, it is also very dangerous since the Boardwalk area is busy with little kids everywhere and the surrey bikes aren’t racing bikes and won’t be able to maneuver around people milling about waiting for their table at Big River Grille & Brewing Works. ***End of side note***

Finally we found a brick wall at the Disney Vaction Club model and took up residence to rest our weary feet and legs. Little did Mom know but this gave me another great opportunity to continue my little plan of convincing her to buy into Disney Vacation Club.

Flat Brody was happy to join in on my little plan.

He actually got really into my little plan but decided that he needed to leave it in Mickey’s hands.
Finally our buzzing coaster buzzed. Wooohoooo!!!!! And we even got a table out side. It was a very pleasant evening so it was a great table. You can actually see our table from the DVC picture above - it’s the second umbrella in.

Since we had already perused the menu we didn’t need a lot of time to decide. So when our waiter arrived Mom and I both ordered the Summer Seasonal Wowser’s Wheat beer - which was very good - and our meals.

Mom’s salad - Grilled Chicken Cashew Salad - marinated and served cold atop a bed of mixed greens with artichoke hearts, Feta cheese, tomatoes and cashews with honey mustard dressing

Flat Brody was anticipating my Hazelnut Crusted Chicken - sauteed and served in sundried cherry sauce, accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day

Mom’s salad was really good but my chicken was only alright. Hazelnut crusted chicken sounded really good when I read it on the menu but it was just a piece of chicken with some gravy sauce. But the zucchini and squash were really good. Of course since I was starved I ate all of my chicken anyways.

One thing I did notice about Big River Grille & Brewery Works is that is wasn’t run very efficiently. They didn’t turn the tables quickly at all. People had to wait a good while to pay because the poor wait staff had to bus all of their tables. I just don’t understand why Disney can’t take a page or two from some of the really well run restaurants around the country. It would make the whole Disney experience much better for the guests and the company would make more money. Hmmmm - sounds like a no brainer to me.

After dinner we needed to get back to All Star Sports and I knew that in order to do this we needed to get back to a park. But which park? We could take a boat or walk back to MGM? Or we could take a boat or walk back to Epcot? Or take a bus from the Boardwalk which would require us to walk through the hotel and locate the bus stop and wait for a bus and then wait for another bus once we got to the park?

Hmmmm, decisions, decisions. We opted to walk back through Epcot and take a bus from there. This way we could see some of Illuminations since it was almost 9 p.m.

But by the time we got to Epcot we were pretty tired. We had left the hotel this morning before 8 a.m. so it was already a 13 hour day. Since we had to be up early then next morning for our Discover Future World tour and to check out of All Star Sports we decided to not stop for Illuminations in order to beat the end of the night bus rush. So we just keep walking through to the buses. (I really wish we had worn our pedometers this day because I think we walked at least 15 miles.)

We weren’t really all that sad about missing Illuminations because I knew that we would get priority viewing tomorrow night since we were doing an Epcot tour and we were really exhausted. And I got to show Mom the Illumination Cruises - what can I say, I am laying the ground work for future trips.

We walked to our bus stop but I had a hard time convincing Mom that I stopped at the correct stop. She thought she read Stop 15 on the sign and she wanted to keep walking. But it was actually Stop 13 and I was tired of walking. Finally convinced of the correct bus stop when I showed her the sign above our heads that said "13 Disney’s All Star Sports" she agreed to get in the relatively short line.

We didn’t have to wait very long at all for the bus to arrive. But I do remember that there was a Rosie Perez wannabe in line with us. She looked and sounded just like Rosie - big gold hoops and everything. Actually the woman and her daughters all sounded and looked alike. Sort of spooky.

We made it back to All Star Sports in no time flat but we didn’t go directly to the room. I wanted ice cream!!! So I obliged my craving and got a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough. The sign at the ice cream counter said it was almost $4 which I thought was a bit excessive but I haven’t actually bought a scoop of ice cream in years so I had no idea what the going rate was. Thankfully when I paid it was only $2 and change. And as it turned out, I wasn't in the mood for just a scoop of ice cream - I was in the mood for a Mickey Bar so my craving wasn't exactly satisfied.

We took the short walk back to the room through the X & O football field and started packing up for our move to the Swan tomorrow. It didn’t take long since we hadn’t really unpacked. And then we got ready for bed and FINALLY I slept.

Next installment – I think they think we’re famous!!!!

Day 2, Part 8 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-19T01:06:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 8 – Hmmmm, I think Piglet ate too much of Pooh’s huney!!

So, Tower of Terror was broken. No problemo. I mean who wants to go on a broken ride and actually plummet to your death. Not me!!!

But what to do?!?!?

Mom suggested I go on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster since we were right there. She isn’t a roller coaster fan - well actually she doesn’t mind them but they don’t like her. The last roller coaster she was on was Big Thunder Mountain in 1989. It was a bright and sunny January afternoon and everything was fine until we got off the ride and her knees buckled and she got faint. Thankfully Dad caught her before she fell and we happened to be right in front of a bench. After a few minutes of breathing with her head between her legs she felt better but she was destined to never ride another roller coaster again. Rather sad, isn’t it? So, when we go to Disney World I ride the coasters by myself and Mom will shop or get coffee while my inner thrill seeker comes out to play.

But I wasn’t in the mood for riding by myself so I suggested that we go to try our hands at some animation. I had told Mom about how I had done the Animation Academy several times on my solo December trip and loved it. She didn’t seem all that enthused about drawing but went along with the idea. So we moved back down Sunset Boulevard.

But what did I hear in the distance? Yes my friends - it was the High School Musical Pep Rally!! I am all about High School Musical and High School Musical 2. (I love Grease 2 also - don’t judge me!!) What’s not to love about a good romantic comedy especially if you throw in some music and snappy dance moves? And Mom loves an interactive Disney show that you can clap along with so we picked up the pace in order to "Get’cha Head In The Game."

We joined the crowd at the rope holding back the crowd as the stage/float/set thing moved by. Typically, as soon as the float thing passes by the Cast Members walk the rope up to the viewing area so that there is no running and trampling of children.

But today there was a Cast Member drunk with power in charge of the rope brigade. He was not going to drop the rope for anything - even when the show had already started in front of the giant Mickey Sorcerer’s Hat. The power drunk Cast Member was just standing there as the singing and dancing was going on without us. Several people ignored the rope and went under it - and if I was standing next to the rope I might have done the same thing.

What happened next amazed me. The Cast Member saw the offenders giving his rope blockade the slip and quickly handed his end of the rope to a totally clueless newly minted College Program Cast Member who was working the broom brigade nearby. The Rope Nazi took off running after the rope ignoring children who disobeyed him and made them return back behind the rope to the now very disgruntled crowd. It was just silly since no on had any idea what we were waiting for.

Now remember that the show has been going on for about 2 minutes at this point and everyone is befuddled by the Cast Member with the rope complex. Why isn’t he letting us through?!?!? I am missing the show!!!! I can hear it but I can't see it!!!!

I was getting really pissed at this point and the only thing that kept my inner Princesszilla under control was watching the clueless College Program Cast Member who was even more confused than the crowd - he was holding his broom in one hand and the rope in the other watching some crazed control freak Cast Member chase after small children whose only crime was that they wanted to see the High School Musical Pep Rally before it was over. The expression on his face was classic - total confusion with the whole situation.

Just as I had decided to find an alternate route to get to the show, the controlling Cast Member gave up and dropped the rope. His power play was over and I suppose he won but at what cost. The Rope Nazi was just lucky that the crowd hadn’t turned on him yet or he would have been trampled.

I didn’t get any pictures of HSM Pep Rally on this trip but check out some video from December 2007 I took. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlpzaYPaStM

After figuring out "What Time Is It" and that "We’re All In This Together", I decided that I had better check to see if the rumor of a soft opening of Toy Story Mania was true. It wasn’t. But that is okay it was just a rumor and was worth a shot. Besides we were still having fun even if we hadn’t ridden Tower of Terror yet.

We found our way over to the Animation Courtyard and took the back way into the Animation Academy through The Magic of Disney Animation store. And darn it if we didn’t just miss the class - the doors were shutting just as we walked up. So that means that we had 25 minutes to "waste". It was a good thing we had all of the animation stuff to keep us busy or we might have to run into the Rope Nazi again.

We tried out "The Sound Stage" booth. We laughed a lot while doing this since we tried to do the character voices. Mom was reading the Scar part and I was reading the Simba part. My Simba voice was okay and mostly sounded like a childish version of my voice. But Mom’s Scar voice sounded like a drag queen with a cold trying to be sexy and mean at the same time. We tried it twice and it didn’t get better - we just ended up laughing even harder.

Next we tried the "You’re a Character" booth. It turns out I am a Belle and Mom is a Snow White. I think I turned out to be a Belle because I like to read and Mom is a Snow White because she likes to take care of people. As we stood reading about Mom’s alter ego I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was Frozone from The Incredibles looking over our shoulders. He was walking by and saw his chance to be sneaky. I even exclaimed "OH, it’s Frozone!!!" but Mom didn’t hear me so he kept looking over her shoulder until I tapped her. At this point she turned around and about had a heart attack - and who can blame her, there was a very tall masked super hero character stalking her. If I hadn’t been so sleep deprived I would have been quicker and thought to whip out my camera - but alas I wasn’t firing on all of my pistons and missed a perfect opportunity.

Although I missed a photo op, I wasn’t gonna miss our chance to be a Disney Animator for a little bit. We made our way over to the Animation Academy waiting area and waited for a few minutes for the next session to start.

The Academy doors opened and Mom and I found our drawing stations and got settled in to start our creative juices flowing. The Animator introduced himself and he decided we should draw Piglet. Not sure how they decide what to draw but I hadn’t drawn Piglet before so I was up for the challenge. Things went well but the Animator was a bit sarcastic and made a few border line inappropriate comments - nothing offensive but it could have spoiled the magic for a child. No one gasped so I think most people were busy concentrating on their drawings so no biggie.

Here are my results:
But I think Piglet needs to lay off the Huney for a little bit. :)

It was time to try Tower of Terror , again. We walked down Sunset Boulevard, again. We didn’t hear any screams, again. We saw the Fastpass line backed up to the gate, again. We heard the Cast Member try to spin why the ride wasn’t working, again. We walked back up Sunset Boulevard, again. (Are you beginning to see a pattern here?)

Since it seemed Tower of Terror was not in the cards, we decided to see if Ariel still wore clam shells as a bathing suit top. I love The Little Mermaid!!! (Remember my love for romantic movies with singing and dancing - well, The Little Mermaid has more swimming than dancing but it translates to moving around to music so it works for me.)

The Voyage of The Little Mermaid is a nice show. But let me just tell you that they were shoving the pre-show area so full of people that after about 10 minutes I just about had a panic attack. It was wall to wall people and I couldn’t even move enough to get water out of my backpack without having to apologize to someone. And there was this family in front of us that was playing around and the little toddler in her parents arms was squirming around and kept almost hitting Mom in the face. The child wasn’t doing it intentionally but it was WAY to crowded for such nonsense.

I am not sure if it was where we were sitting in the theater but it was very difficult to hear Ariel. I tried to time our entrance into the theater so we would be in the middle of the row but people were pushing and shoving that we were lucky that we even got seats together on the end of our row - and we started off pretty close to the entrance doors. I think people get an almost animalistic attitude when they are herded and stuffed into an area. It just seems to bring out the worst in people. (Some Psych student should research this for a doctoral dissertation.)

It was getting about dinner time and we had to decide what to do for dinner. But before we decided, we thought we would try to do Tower of Terror , again. We walked down Sunset Boulevard, again. We didn’t hear any screams, again. We saw the Fastpass line backed up to the gate, again. We heard the Cast Member try to spin why the ride wasn’t working, again. We gave up on riding Tower of Terror - which is why I still have both of our FP that I could scan and post on my Trip Report. Very disappointing!!!

Next installment – Another Eternal Question: What should we eat for dinner?

Day 2, Part 7 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-18T02:07:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 7 – Yes, I am sure it is up here on the right!!!

After visiting Victoria Gardens we moseyed over to the United Kingdom and had a quick look through the shops and checked out the tea garden. I don’t drink tea so I never really gave where it came from much thought but it was a nice looking plant. It’s good to learn new things. And I loved the cute tea cup planters that were used.

When starting our adventures today, I had a plan in the back of my head that we would try to get over to MGM. (I know it was changed to Disney’ Hollywood Studios but I still call it MGM because old habits die hard.) There was a rumor that the new ride Toy Story Mania might be having a soft opening today and I thought it was worth a shot to see if the rumor was true.

I had revealed my 3 parks in one day plan to Mom and she was up for it. We discussed the various modes of transportation we would take between the parks and how we were going to take the boats from Epcot to MGM. I could tell Mom didn’t have a clue as to how that would happen but she trusted me and went with it. Every so often she would say "where are we going?" And I would say "to the International Gate." She would say "Oh. Where is that?" And I would say "between England and France." And she would say "where?" And I would say "just keep walking." And she did.

(As it turns out, Mom had never been to the Epcot Resort area and really had no clue about the International Gate or the boats or DVC - which I don’t understand because we have stayed at Saratoga Springs before. I’m not sure how this GIANT hole in her WDW knowledge/experience happened. I just assumed she was as schooled in the minutia of Disney World like me. Doesn't she read the DIS?!?!?)

We left the Her Majesty’s kingdom and as we walked up the only hill in Epcot there it was - the International Gate!!! Just like I had promised. And we even saw Dale as we walked down the only hill in Epcot. Not sure where Chip was though. And not sure I have seen one without the other.

We got in line for the Friendship launch and were only 2 parties from the start of the line. The boat came in a few minutes and we got to sit in the back - that’s my favorite spot.

Flat Brody loved the ride on Crescent Lake.

Ever the opportunist to push my Disney World agenda, I used the leisurely ride to MGM to my advantage by discussing the benefits of being a Disney Vacation Club owner with Mom. I was laying the seeds to hopefully harvest at a later date. This is a long term plan I had unintentionally concocted in my head and I needed to be subtle and try to not push too hard. It is difficult to not push too hard but I am determined to be successful and be able to got to WDW even more often!!! I WILL SUCCEED!!!!!!

We arrived at MGM rested and ready to go. I was ready to get my thrill on and scream uncontrollably as a haunted elevator dropped out from underneath me!!! My inner Disney Commando was itching to come out and I was just about ready to unleash it. But wait a minute . . . what all of that commotion on Hollywood Boulevard when all I want to do is plummet to my death just for the thrill of it?!?!

You guess it, it was the Block Party Bash!!!

Everyone was enjoying the frenetic action of dancing and jumping and swinging and tumbling and hootin’ and hollerin’. Except it blocks the entire area!!! The sidewalks at MGM are freakishly narrow to begin with and then there are benches on them to boot - so the Cast Member was directing people through the stores. It was like Grand Central Station on steroids - people were everywhere with no idea where they were supposed to go if they could even move. And you couldn’t hear anything over the endearing strains of a Disneyfied version of Kool and the Gang’s Celebration. Can you tell I don’t find this sensory overloaded "parade" charming in anyway, shape or form? (And I use the term "parade" loosely.) I seem to prefer a few princesses waving at me and a cute Jack Sparrow. What can I say? I am a girly girl at heart.

But back to happier endeavors. The street finally cleared and Mom and I made our way down Sunset Boulevard to either ride Tower of Terror or get a Fastpass Tower of Terror. Since the wait was longer than 30 minutes, we opted for a Fastpass with a return time of 4:55.

By this time our 11:00 lunch was pretty much gone and I was getting peckish and had a hankering for some kind of baked good and Mom needed coffee. Off to Starring Rolls for what turned out to be an eclair - or should I call it a stale gelatinous mess. It wasn’t very good but for some reason I ate it because I was hungry and needed a quick sugar rush. I do love Starring Rolls though since the patio there is so relaxing but you can still see some action from the streets. It is usually a hidden oasis - except for the eclair debacle - so I will give it another shot next month but probably not an eclair.

It wasn’t quite time for our Fastpass return time so I consulted our times sheet and noticed that there was a Beauty and the Beast show about to start. Mom had never seen this show so we gathered our belongings and made our way to the theater.

(We are really checking off a lot of the things Mom had never done. I will convert her to the dark side soon enough.)

We found seats towards the front of the theater but on the end. It wasn’t front row center but we could see well enough so we were pleased - and who can complain when you walk in 5 minutes before the show.

I really like this show. I haven’t seen the Broadway version but have seen a local theater production and the MGM version is a good glimpse into the full production. I love the dancing desserts. I do have one complaint - what is up with the Prince’s wig?!?!? It looked like straw and something a Fabio impersonator might wear. It just didn’t do much for me.

It was time for our terrifying ride on Tower of Terror so we walked to the end of Sunset Boulevard but something was wrong - we weren’t hearing any screaming. Always the optimist, I thought that it was just a temporary thing and not to think twice about it.

As we approached the gate so we could walk past the waiting masses of people unlucky enough to not have a Fastoass, we noticed that the Fastpass line was longer than the stand by line. Something was definitely wrong and I wasn’t liking it!!! The planets were definitely not lining up for my screamfest.

So, we did the only sensible thing and asked the Cast Member what was up. We got a lot Disney speak as a reply but I read between the lines of his happy babbling. Basically Tower of Terror was broken and that we should check back in an hour. Hmmmm, disappointing but not the end of the world. Besides we had other things we could do for an hour. We had animation to create!!!!!

Next installment – I think Piglet ate too much of Pooh’s huney!

Day 2, Part 6 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-17T00:15:00.001-04:00

Day 2, Part 6 - Are you sure we are still in Epcot?

After receiving our co-pilot licenses, we thanked our driver and took the very long walk to Epcot. It is quite the trek from the monorail to the security bag check. The ramp takes you almost to the buses and back. (Well, not quite that far but it seems like a really long way.)

We got through the ticket stalls with no problems - which is a miracle. I typically have problems with my passes and have had to have them replaced on several occasions. On one such occasion, the Cast Member once told me it was because of my magnetic personality. Me thinks he was laying it on a bit thick that day.

Mom and I were excited to see the Flower & Garden (F&G) displays. We had seen pictures and knew to expect Epcot in all it’s glory. We were not disappointed but we then again were also a little bit disappointed.

Is it silly of me to take a picture of the exit sign when we were entering the park?

We grabbed a F&G guide and plotted our course. The general idea was to see the Future World stuff and then work our way over to the International Gate and spend the remainder of the day at the Studios. In order to efficiently achieve this, we decided to start on the left and move right. Translation - we went to see the sand sculpture close to Universe of Energy.

Mom’s picture

My picture

The sand sculpture was very detailed and impressive. I can’t even imagine how many hours it took the artist to do this. But if you looked on the back side you could see where the sprinklers had sprinkled on it. The back side wasn’t destroyed or anything but you would think that the landscapers would have thought to adjust the sprinklers or something.

As we were admiring the sand art, I heard a man call his two young sons over. With the thickest most stereotypical Brooklyn accent you can imagine, I hear "Mossimo!! Guido!! Come look at this." (I’m not making this stuff up, folks.) For a minute I thought that maybe we were actually at Coney Island and not Epcot. I had to look at where the voice came from . . . you would have thought I was looking at Tony Soprano minus the dark suit. It wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if Carmela was right behind him. I decided to mind my p’s & q’s as to avoid annoying Mossimo and Guido’s father and live another day. Cement shoes in Bay Lake didn’t sound like a very good way to end my vacation.

New York was well represented at Disney World this week because I also heard other children being called Anthony and Dominic.

After narrowly missing a swim with the fishes, we found Garden Town (former the Wonders of Life pavilion) and went to check it out - and it was air conditioned and had a bathroom. Future World bathrooms are far and few between thereby making most of them busy and less than tidy - so knowing where a secret bathroom is heaven.

We spied some gardening tip sheets and found some that might come in handy in the future - things like composting, planning a water garden, etc... Of course we had to check out the Garden Town Mercantile where Mom and I both got F&G pins for our collection. (Sorry Dad - you don’t get one of these since you weren’t at F&G.)

Then we saw a movie on how Disney landscapers get everything ready for F&G Festival. It was held in the old The Making of Me theater. There is still a sign up for the old movie.
Almost gives you hope that it will return some day - although I am not holding my breath.

We also discovered the trains.

Not really sure what the trains had to do with F&G but it was a nice display nonetheless.

Mom and I went to the Minnie’s Magnificent Butterfly Garden next. Something was sponsored by Claritin so we got lots of allergy tips on the path to the butterflies - nothing my Allergist hadn’t already told me but probably helpful for minor allergy sufferers.
It was very crowded when we walked in but we stayed long enough for the crowds to thin out so we could get a better look. It was fascinating to see all the different stages of butterfly development. I’ve seen pictures before but to see a butterfly actually emerge was exciting. We also had quite the task to try to identify the various butterflies. It made me have to think when I was on vacation - oh the horror of it all!!!

(These aren’t the best pictures because of the wire background but I love the colors)
After the butterflies, Flat Brody found his buddy Pluto in Pluto’s Play Zone.

We saw lots of great topiaries here and there but didn’t take pictures of all of them. It was getting warm in the sun so I think we got a little distracted and failed on camera duty. But we found a bench in the shade to have a little rest and not a moment too soon because the dancing water fountain in Innoventions Plaza was starting. It isn’t a huge show like the Bellagio but another bit of Disney fun when you happen upon it.

But enough of resting, we had the Sculpture Garden to see. Some were very classic in nature and others looked like Fred Sanford cleared out his junkyard. Just goes to prove that you can call anything art and get away with it.

Next up was Peter Pan’s Never Land Garden.

Flat Brody meets Tinkerbell.

I love all the topiaries but they remind me of the Rose Parade - don’t have to be alive just made of natural things. I love the topiaries where they are in shapes of the characters or animals and are covered in traveling fig vines. Guess my purist attitude extends farther than just the People Mover.

Moving around towards Canada, we checked out all of the shopping booths. There were lots of fun yard stuff and art exhibits. We saw lots we were interested in but practicality set in and we just browsed. Although I think Mom really wanted a garden tote that was designed just for F&G she said she would think about it. As with most of her think about it items, we never went back for it.

**Sigh**

She missed the shopping gene but at least she got the Disney gene.

We came upon the Water Works area which was of special interest to Mom since they just had a sprinkler system installed a week before out trip. So Mom showed me which system they had gotten and even got some tips on programming the sprinkler system. And we even got some packets of flower seeds. I gave mine to Mom since I was not likely to grow flowers from seeds - I am more of a go to Home Depot and buy a flat of flowers.

We stopped by Canada to see the beautiful garden there. They didn’t really have anything special for F&G but everything was in tip top shape.

Mom snapped a picture of the sunflowers for my sister since she had just had a party and had to go to three florists to find enough sunflowers. All she really needed to do was drive to Florida and sneek into Epcot.

Flower & Garden Festival is very nice but I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more demonstrations and met the gardener type of things. (There are some of these things but only about one a day which makes it hard to get to.) After experiencing Food & Wind Festival, I had it in my head that F&G would be really interactive - which unless they get people to plants stuff I am not sure how it could be truly interactive. It just seemed more like a botanical garden than a festival. When all is said and done, Mom and I had a nice time and enjoyed ourselves.

Next installment - Yes Mom, you’ve seen the International Gate before - it’s just up here on the right.

Day 2, Part 5 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-16T23:11:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 5 - Is That Music I Hear?

After feeling vindicated that the highly undesirable table by the swinging doors was still vacant, it was time to leave the Magic Kingdom and venture on to Epcot. But not before we shopped our way down Main Street. There is a reason that the Emporium is the length of Main Street and we intended to take full advantage of it. Besides, we still needed one more postcard.

Other than the postcard, we didn’t need anything. But shopping at Disney World isn’t usually about need, is it? One disadvantage to having an Annual Pass is that after a few visits you don’t really buy anything . . . and I like to buy stuff. I consider it a hobby - sort of like Dad’s stamp collecting.

As we moved through the store sections, I heard happy music starting. Always one to take advantage of an opportunity, I put the Cinderella snow globe I had been looking at back on the shelf and went to see what was going on. Sure enough, it was the Magic Kingdom Philharmonic entertaining the crowds.

Have a listen

I just love when we happen upon fun things like that at Disney World. It just seems so spontaneous - like a musical when everyone just breaks out in song and dance in the middle of the street for no reason. It’s just magical.

After the band moved on, we returned to our shopping adventure but reminding ourselves that we really only needed a postcard. And we eventually found the postcards and found a wider selection than the World of Disney. Thankfully, postcard sending isn’t a totally dead gesture.

A benefit of shopping in the middle of the day is that it is easier to find someone to ring up your purchase - unlike shopping at park closing time. So our shopping adventure was over and uneventful - my wallet thanked me but my desire to shop was yearning to be quenched. (Being practical is no fun at all.)

I have learned a few things in my slightly older age and that is to always tinkle before you go on a journey because you never know when you will get another chance. And this is exactly what we did - took a trip to the ladies room next to Town Hall before we ventured to Epcot. It is a busy bathroom but luckily a large one so there is never a wait.

But we also took the time to finish the last postcard to my youngest nephew. Or should I say that Mom finished the last postcard. Originally the postcards were going to be from both of us. But Mom wrote the other two postcards and even signed my name. Fine. I am a big girl. But this last postcard she said "do you want to sign your name?" I promptly told her" no . . . too little, too late." I was joking of course but next time I am sending my own postcards, darn it!!! If I wanted someone to sign my name I would just get married.

With postcardgate over, we hopped on the Monorail to the TTC (Transportation & Ticket Center) so we could transfer to the Monorail to Epcot. And you know, since they took out the carpet the Monorails almost smell pleasant - much better than the barnyard sweat smell of trips gone by.

Flat Brody was very excited for his first Monorail ride.

After our short Monorail trip to the TTC, we made our way to the line for the Epcot Monorail. But there was no line. The Monorail must have just left and we were the first people to arrive at the platform. The gears in my mind snapped to attention and before I even knew what was happening I did the only thing a devoted DISer could do - I asked if we could ride in the front of the Monorail.

~~~Hallelujah~~~

Of course the Cast Member said yes and pointed us to the first holding pen. (Don’t you sort of feel like a cow being led to market when they put you in the waiting corrals for the Monorail? Hmmmm, maybe it is just me?)

We only waited a few minutes for the next Monorail to arrive. Mom had never ridden in the front car of the Monorail and the trip to Epcot is a great way to check that off the list. It is longer than most Monorail trips and you get a great view of Future World as you enter the Epcot station.

Flat Brody was delighted with his duties as Monorail Pilot.

Mom enjoying the view.

We even played chicken with another Monorail

The best part of the trip.

And we even got our special Co-Pilot License.

Next installment - Are you sure this isn’t Little Italy?

Day 2, Part 4 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-12T02:10:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 4 - May We Have Another Table, Please?

After taking pictures of Flat Brody with Bronze Pluto we made it to the Haunted Mansion. The posted wait time was 20 minutes which seemed reasonable.

Did I mention that it was still Spring Break for many schools - mainly New York? And that the Parks were crowded. With Easter so early this year, Spring Breaks were spread throughout all of April and it was hard to plan around the crowds.

The line was moving quickly but Flat Brody had time to take a picture of the Haunted Mansion.

We waited in line behind four flamboyant men. I don’t remember what they were talking about exactly but there were lots of big arm gestures, hands on hips, and it kept me entertained during the wait in line. I love to eavesdrop on queue conversations. (I like to eavesdrop in restaurants also. It is a guilty pleasure of mine.)

I love the new and improved Haunted Mansion. The dustyness got dusted and spruced up without any of the charm being removed. The ride even stopped at my favorite part - the ballroom scene. Although it is a bunch of ghost waltzing around it is still a happy event in a spooky kind of way. And I love the ghost who is passed our under the table - I’ve been to a few formal events where that would have been an improvement to the evening.

After having a ghost host join us in our doom buggy I had planned on popping over the it’s a small world since we had missed it earlier in the morning but it was getting close to 11 a.m. and we wanted to try to be at the Plaza Restaurant right when it opened.

In the 36 years since the Magic Kingdom has been open, neither of us has ever been to the Plaza Restaurant. And since this was a trip of firsts, Mom and I thought it was time to check it out. Of course, we didn’t make a reservation which is why I wanted to be there right at the start of lunch time.

We made it to the check-in stand and were that they could seat us in about 10 minutes. Mom found us an outside table with shade to wait while we perused the menu. We were getting rather hungry since we ate really early - and yogurt only lasts so long. Of course from these tables you can smell the piped in smells from the bakery which only made me want a great big cinnamon roll more than I did this morning.

Flat Brody got a picture of Tomorrowland from the tables outside the Plaza Restaurant.

In about 5 minutes a turn-of-the-century costumed hostess called our name. We hopped up and walked past all of the waiting minions into the quaint restaurant.

When you enter, you walk in and see lots of cute marble top tables and these charming swinging doors to the kitchen. It is like an old fashioned ice cream parlor without the ice cream.

But wouldn’t you know that our Disney bubble was quickly burst when the hostess tried to sit us at the little table right next to those charming swinging doors leading to the kitchen. This is the table you see in a sitcom where the person gets a head injury from the swinging doors and has soup spilled on them and then they get a head rush from eating ice cream for dessert.

I quickly spoke up and asked if we could have a different table. The hostess looked like a deer in headlights. She was totally perplexed - like no one had ever asked for a different table. She told us to wait just a minute and she walked back outside to the check-in stand in her confused state.

So, Mom and I are waiting by the highly undesirable table when in a matter of a minute not one, not two, but three Cast Members told us not to stand where we were - in a rather condescending way I might add. It wasn’t obviously condescending but I am from the South so I know how to do subtle condescension pretty good and these CM’s were definitely condescending. You know, like you are really irritated but you say it politely through clenched teeth all the while smiling.

And of course they never once suggested where we should stand as an alternative. I think they thought we had just walked in to the restaurant without a reservation and were looking for a table to sit at - as if we would be so stupid to just stand next to such an undesirable table when there were about 20 open tables.

I do have to admit that my inner Princesszilla emerge a little when the third Cast Member told us to move. I replied in a slightly snotty tone that we were waiting for the hostess to find another table for us since I did not want to sit there - as I pointed to the highly undesirable table. Everyone acted like the restaurant was really busy and no one had ever refused to sit at the world’s worst table.

We finally got seated in the glass conservatory section and I do have to say it was much quieter in there since we weren't near the kitchen or the entrance. We had already looked at the menu so we already knew what we wanted. But it took about 10 minutes for our server to finally come take our order. He kept telling us he was on his way but never really got around to stopping. (And the restaurant wasn’t full - it was still really early and only about 1/4th of the tables had been seated.) We weren’t in a big hurry so it wasn’t that big of a deal. When our server did attend to us, he was very pleasant and efficient.

I ordered the Angus Chuck Burger with fries and Mom ordered the Plaza Club with German potato salad.

Flat Brody seems to be enjoying the cheeseburger.

If truth be told, the cheeseburger was disappointing. It was a machine pressed patty that was very dry. It looked pretty though.

A cheeseburger is just about my favorite food in the world and I am not all that picky. So it takes quite a bit for me to say a cheeseburger isn’t very good. But the fries were fantabulous!!!! And the club sandwich was very good. Mom loved the bread and the German potato salad.

We had to wait what seemed forever to get our check and then we did have to wait for forever to have our server pick it up. Very frustrating for someone who wants to get back in to the Parks.

Am I the only person who has noticed that Disney restaurants don’t have any idea how to turn tables? I’m not suggesting they rush people through their meals but to have to wait almost a half an hour to pay the check is a little ridiculous in my book.

Wouldn’t you know that when we walked out of the restaurant the infamous undesirable table by the swinging kitchen doors was the only empty table in the restaurant. Hmmmm, a coincidence? I think not!!

All in all, our Plaza Restaurant experience wasn’t all that great. Next time I think we will just stick to Columbia Harbour House or Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe - not a swinging door to be found.

Next installment - Shopping with the Main Street Philharmonic.

Day 2, Part 3 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-10T13:38:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 3 – To Infinity and Beyond!!!

When I left you last we were on our way to Tomorrowland – actually to be exact we were on our way to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

Mom and I discovered our love for Buzz on our first Mom and Me Trip several years ago so it is a must do on every trip. We just love shooting the laser guns and twirling around – although we totally stink at it. I think my highest score is around 240,000 and that was after the ride had stopped several times for unseen reasons. Mom is even worse than I am.

It was still early when we arrived at Buzz so the wait time was minimal – basically a walk on. This was ride # 4 at the Magic Kingdom and it is just after 9 o’clock - it is this type of thing I need to remember the next time I want to sleep late while at WDW.

Flat Brody was very excited for his first attempt at catching the evil Emperor Zurg.We got in our ride vehicle in no time flat.

As is our habit, I get in the soon to be twirling vehicle first. (This is only important in that all of the pictures Mom and I have from this ride we are always in the same positions – me on the right side of the picture and Mom on the left. And we always have the same expression on our faces – after all of the times we have ridden Buzz, we never remember to pose for the picture. We know it is coming but we get so involved with shooting the Z targets we just forget to smile. )

Have I mentioned that I love to be in control of the joy stick that twirls the Buzz cars? Well, I do. And I am sure it irritates my Mom but she has never said anything - unlike my best friend who fussed at me for twirling when she didn’t want to twirl. Tsk, tsk, tsk - bad best friend.

Now, I’ve read all of the tips on how to score big on Buzz . . . shoot the moving targets, shoot the targets furthest away, remember the targets as you leave the rooms. We never seem to do very well.

But today the planets must have been aligned and the moons must have been in retrograde because as we left the first room I looked over and Mom had a score of 999,999. She hadn’t noticed yet so as I twirled the car I said "LOOK AT YOUR SCORE!!!! What did you hit.?!?!!?!".

She had no idea what targets she had hit but it was very exciting. It was like winning the Buzz Lightyear lottery. And we saved the world is from the dastardly Zurg.

The winning score – although with the camera flash on you can’t see any score but trust me that it was 999,999.

Here is our latest Buzz picture – although this is the poor man’s version . . . a picture of the picture. We have enough of the "same" picture at home already so we didn’t feel the need to buy it again.

Next up was Astro Orbiter. Mom had never done the ride and it had been almost 20 years since I had ridden it, which makes it the perfect time to give it a whirl. I think I often avoid this ride because it is such a slow loading ride and the whole elevator thing just makes it slower. And having to sit back to front against someone has its disadvantages when it is a family member or someone you don’t want to be that intimate with. But it does provide a great view of the MK and flying around in a space rocket 4 stories above the MK is sort of thrill seekerish.

***Disclaimer*** Although now known as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, for purposes of this Trip Report that attraction will be referred to as the People Mover. When it comes to the WEDway People Mover I am a purist and will never force myself to change the name of this ride in my head. Some things are sacred and shouldn’t be messed with and the People Mover’s name is one of those things. Just humor me.

The People Mover is one of my favorite rides and a must do on every trip. It is 10 minutes of relaxation that is well deserved when you are touring WDW. It is the solution for sensory overload. You get to sit down and put up your feet. There is a gentle breeze as you move around Tomorrowland that cools you off. And there is almost never a line. It is perfect. And I love seeing the future city model and imagine what EPCOT would have looked like had Walt Disney lived longer.

Relaxation over, we moved on to Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. This wasn’t a must see for us so we played the Fates Game. (The Fates Game is when you say if the wait for this is ___ minutes of less then we will go to it but if it is more than ___ minutes we’ll skip it. Basically you let the fates decide what attraction you see next.)

And as the fates would have it, the next Laugh Floor show start in about 5 minutes so we went on in.

Here is dilemma for you. When we entered the pre-show area the designated queue lines were full but the far right line was for wheelchairs but almost empty so Mom and I just sort of hung out by the wall on the right side of the bull pen area behind the designated lines. We could tell people wanted us to move into the wheelchair line because the Cast Member kept saying move forward into all the available areas but we didn’t because we knew there may be another wheelchair show up just before the show and the wheelchair door opens first for them to get to their designated seating areas. But as soon as the wheelchair door opened we got in the far right line thereby bypassing all of the people who were already in the designated lines and who got in line before us. In my head it didn’t’ really matter since it is theater seating for the show and there is no way to get ahead of someone to see the show since we all see the show at once. And although no one in the designated lines got upset that we, and the hundreds behind us who followed us, did this maneuver, I could see how it might get someone riled up. Hmmmm. Hard to know what to do? Just another dilemma about line etiquette that only an obsessed DISer would even think about.

I like the Laugh Floor show. I don’t love it but it is cute and a good way to get out of the heat and sun, especially if you were going to WDW in say July. I do like the whole comedy club seating theme with the little ledge on the bench before you like you will be served a cocktail. There were a few cute texted jokes from our audience group and the people the monsters picked on played along so everyone enjoyed the show.

What to do next? I suggested the Haunted Mansion. Mom said she didn’t care so I spoke up and said "let’s do the Haunted Mansion then" and off to Liberty Square we went.

But look who we saw when we were leaving Tomorrowland . . . Push (the talking trash can.)

I wonder what that little boy was saying to Push? It makes me laugh to see his arm around Push like he is a person.

And on the way to Liberty Square, Flat Brody wanted to pose with my favorite Disney canine . . . Pluto.

Next installment – You want us to sit where?!?!

Day 2, Part 2 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 2 – Adventures with Coffee

As we entered the walkway under the train station there was a buzz in the air. There was music playing and the trolley with the entertainers was passing by. It was just like you would imagine the Magic Kingdom in the morning should be.

And there isn’t much better in this world than walking down Main Street U.S.A when everyone is walking in the same direction.

Flat Brody stopped to get a picture of the Castle.

Usually we stop and get a Disney Photopass picture taken but there wasn’t a Photopass photographer to be seen. Hmmmmmm.

Come to think of it our last few Photopass pictures have been so awful it wasn’t that upsetting to me. Who are they hiring for these jobs because they certainly aren’t photographers anymore? Most of them are just Cast Members with a camera. We had one picture that was so off center you totally missed me except for part of my hair.

As we walked down Main Street I could tell that Mom was still a bit groggy so I suggested we stop at the Main Street Bakery so she could get some coffee. The cinnamon smell they pipe into the street should be illegal – it makes you want to knock down small children to get to the bakery.

When we entered the bakery there was a small line but I have seen worse. Since we were almost up to the counter and we were only getting coffee I suggested that we just go directly to the coffee guy. (I guess technically he was a barrista but I don’t think pouring Nescafe qualifies as such in my book.)

Mom is a rules girl so she questioned whether skipping to the coffee guy was okay to do. I told her I thought so since there was a hold up in the line at the fruit and no one was actually waiting for coffee so it should be okay.

I don’t know what is worse – a hold up in the line at the Main Street Bakery for fruit or that we didn’t stop to get a gigantic utterly tempting cinnamon roll – and these were the biggest cinnamon rolls I have ever seen at the Main Street Bakery so it was very tempting. Next trip we are having breakfast in the MK – weight watchers or not.!!!

Coffee in hand, Mom and I walked directly to the Castle on our way to Fantasyland. We didn’t even stop to enjoy the mosaics in the Castle – which are beautiful if you have never noticed them. We were on a mission – get to Fantasyland!!! (My inner Disney Commando was still tying to make an appearance but I held fast and mostly repressed it.)

We skipped most of Fantasyland on our last trip so it was high time to enjoy some dark rides. My plan was to start on the far side of Fantasyland and work our way over to Tomorrowland. Peter Pan’s Flight here we come.

The line to board our flying ship over London and Neverland was less than 10 minutes. I guess a few other people had the same idea that I had so it wasn’t a walk on like I had hoped. Not a bad wait though. But it was too fast for Mom to drink her coffee – I guess it was very hot and she had to sip slowly. And the boarding area was approaching quickly.

What to do?!?!? There weren’t any signs saying no food and beverages allowed but I just couldn’t imagine that the CM would allow a cup of coffee on the attraction.

[Insert dramatic Indian Jones music – I am listening to DIS Radio and that is what is playing as I type.]

Quick Tonya!! Think!!! My mind was racing.

I leapt in to action and unzipped my backpack and grabbed the cup of coffee. Mom looked at me funny but I said to just go with it.

I cradled my bag in front of me with one arm while holding the coffee cup inside the bag with my other hand. The CM didn’t seem to notice so I got on the ride. And as soon as our ship lifted off to fly I handed Mom her coffee so she could sip and enjoy her Nescafe while looking at London from a flying ship on Peter Pan’s Flight.

When we got off the ride, Mom was emboldened at this point and didn’t even try to hide the cup. She just waltzed right past the Cast Member like she hadn’t a care or concern in the world. (It must have been all the caffeine in her system.)

Here is Mom with her infamous coffee cup of Nescafe.

We were on a roll so our next stop was Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

Flat Brody didn’t seem very scared but I think he might have been trembling on the inside since Snow White’s Scary Adventures is the most frightening ride in the MK.

The line to Snow White’s Scary Adventures didn’t take any time at all but it was just enough time for Mom to finish her coffee so I didn’t have to sneak it in this time. We had Happy’s mine car, which suited us perfectly. And I’m not afraid to admit, there are some very scary parts to the attraction. We heard a little boy crying in the car behind us - but come to think of it he was swinging on the railings in line so he might have deserved it. (Just kidding.)

By the time we made it to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh it was about a 15 minute wait but considering it was not even 9 o’clock we were okay with that. Pooh is a cute ride but I would hate to wait in line for forever to see it - I always feel so awful for those parents who have to wait in line over an hour on an August afternoon to see certain rides. See it is a good thing I don’t have children.

Mom isn’t fond of twirling rides so we skipped the Mad Tea Party – although I love it. I can get her on it sometimes but I didn’t want to ruin our day by giving her vertigo this early in the trip.

One of the best parts of having an Annual Pass is how relaxed you can be when it comes to riding attractions. You know you will be back in a few months so you don’t feel any pressure to have to ride everything on one trip. It has definitely helped keep my inner Disney commando in check – which is a good thing.

Having finished our Fantasyland adventures, we make our way to Tomorrowland for a “futuristic” shootout.

Next installment – What Did You Hit?!?!

Day 2, Part 1 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-05T00:38:00.000-04:00

Day 2, Part 1 - Look Out Rope, Here We Come!!!

Is it 6:15 already??? And what is that obnoxious mumbling noise?!?!?

Yes my friends, we had scheduled a wake up call with Stitch and Mickey.

And as all good DISers know, the person sleeping closest to the phone is responsible for pushing the speaker button when the call comes. I have Mom well trained.

Although you know the wake up call is coming and what to expect ..... it is still just a garbled bunch of noise no matter how much I hear it. What exactly does Stitch say anyway?

Since I had taken my shower before I went to sleep, I had a few extra minutes. So, I got up and fixed my morning diet coke. Mom is more traditional and prefers coffee in the morning but she decided to forgo bringing her coffee maker since we were moving to the Swan soon and she thought she could survive 2 mornings without her coffee. Me on the other hand had to have my diet coke and thankfully it is easier to pack a few cans than coffee.

While Mom was in the shower I got breakfast ready. Neither of us are eat breakfast out kinda people, so we brought yogurt, granola and fruit with us to make yogurt parfaits. It is a hearty no cook breakfast and just enough to keep up your strength until lunch time. And it is pretty healthy to boot so you don’t feel so bad eating a Mickey Bar later in the day.

Although I didn’t get much sleep - thanks for letting me down Rosa Regale - I still had a little bit of adrenaline left over to propel me forward. So I got to it getting ready with the whole teeth brushing, face washing, putting on makeup and deodorant and sunblock, and doing your hair thing. Luckily, I don’t really care what I look like too much at Disney World since I usually have on sunglasses and hats most of the time so this didn’t take all that long.

And wouldn’t you know that I was ready and we were walking out of the door at 7:30 a.m. Woooohooooo!!!!! I think Mom was a little surprised.

Mom and I are usually not bus people but I knew that if we were going to make it to the rope drop we were going to need to eliminate the whole parking-tram-monorail thing and get dropped off right next to the gates of the MK. So we avoided the walk by the pool bar and through the lobby and instead took a little short cut from the Touchdown building through the tiny parking lot and around some bushes directly to the waiting bus. A bunch of Mousekeepers on a golf cart even waved to us and told us to have a good day.

The bus gods were with us because the MK bus was just finishing loading as we approached and the bus driver saw us fast walking towards him. We were the last people loaded on the bus and there were even seats available.

Flat Brody truly enjoyed his first bus ride.

As we approached the MK, I did the "we’re almost there!!!" seat dance of joy. I love all of the WDW Parks but the MK reminds me of my childhood the most since it was the only park around until I was in high school.

Let me just take this time to give all of you stroller toting families out there an admonition - when you get off the bus, move away from the bus door before you start the put the stroller back together process. I won’t go into details since I think you can guess what happened. But this may just be one of my new pet peeves.

It is time to start the trek to our first day of fun. It isn’t all that far from the bus drop off area to the security line but it does seem to take longer than it should. What can I say, I am impatient and when I want to be some place I want to be there NOW!!

When we made it to the entrance area it was 7:54 a.m. and the lines for the bag checks were about 30 people deep. The rope drop show was going on and people were walking in the right direction but there attention was diverted up towards the train station watching the singing and dancing. I think this caused people to slow things down a little bit.

But what to do?!?! I still needed to go to Guest Relations to turn in my AP Voucher to get my AP and the line just wasn't moving fast enough for me.It wasn’t like we were in a great big hurry but my inner Disney commando started to go crazy and in my head I was strategically planning on how to get through security, get my AP, and get through the turnstiles in the quickest amount of time.

It was like an internal struggle about whether I should give in to my commando demons or not. Back and forth I went about whether to go with the feeling or stay calm and rational. My brain was working overtime - which is saying a lot since it still wasn’t 8 o’clock in the morning yet.

I just have to say it is a good thing I am not schizophrenic or we would have been in serious trouble.

I took a deep breath and turned to Mom and handed her my bag saying "I’m going to go ahead through the no bag entrance and go to Guest Relations so I can get my AP. You take both bags and go through the bag check and we’ll meet in the middle." And I was off. I do think she muttered "okay" as I walked off.

It was hard to control my inner Disney Commando but I think I handle it quite well given my adrenaline levels. And as luck would have it there was an open window at Guest Relations. I got my AP with no problems and as I walked back to the middle Mom was just walking up trying to figure out where exactly the middle was.

Whew!!! I can put my inner Disney Commando back into the ugly depths of my brain from whence it came. (I don’t think it comes out again on this trip. But we’ll have to see as I work my way through my notes and memories to make sure.)

Mom and I both made it through the turnstiles without incident. They did have the finger scanners on and I thought I had heard from several different sources that they weren’t using them at the MK anymore. That rumor had either not occurred yet or was totally false. You know that Disney rumor mill - very unreliable.

We didn’t see a lot of the rope drop festivities but we felt like we achieved our goal. And we were both excited to get to Fantasyland. But not so excited that we missed Flat Brody’s first MK moment.

Flat Brody sees the MK for the first time.

Next installment: Mom needs coffee STAT!!

Day 1, Part 7 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 7 - Follow the Rules or Be a Rebel?

After a successful drive back to ASSp - and by successful I mean I didn’t miss any vague directional signs - we parked the car in the small parking lot that is not really close to our building. And we even had to park in the back of the parking lot. What can I say, the ASSp parking gods had no love for me.

Back in the clean and cheerful and thankfully quiet room we settled down to decide which park to go to tomorrow. This is a big decision that could make or break the entire first day of our trip - so I decided to break out the bottle of Rosa Regale I brought for just an occasion like this. (Like I said - I like to be prepared.)

Our last Mom and Me Trip was during Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival where Mom and I discovered the joys of a nice glass of Rosa Regale while we waited for a wine tasting. (By the way, it goes great with Mickey pretzels.) It is now "our" drink. But oddly enough my sister discovered the joys of Rosa Regale on her own. So maybe if we ever have a Mom and Me and Sis Trip we will make it "all of our" drink.

Drinks in hand, Mom and I reviewed my parks chart of times and recommendations. My research showed that it was best to go to Epcot or Hollywood Studios on the 24th and avoid MK. But the MK had Extra Magic Hours in the morning and I told Mom that I wanted to make it to a few rope drops this trip and what better time to go than when it is EMH.

Decisions, decisions!!!

We had plans for our Epcot tour on Friday morning and that was all we had planned for this trip. But the MK was closing at 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights for Grad Nights. But the Powers That Be say avoid a park with EMH. It was a hard call but we chose MK. Call us rebels if you must. I think we just needed a little Fantasyland at dawn.

My Mom was a little doubtful of my abilities to be ready for an EMH rope drop because I am NOT a morning person. I have chronic insomnia and since I have become self-employed my sleep patterns are not that of a normal person. But I assured her that I had been training for this and not to worry because come hell or high water I would be ready at 7:30 a.m.But just to be ready, I took my shower before I went to bed.

But just to be ready, I took my shower before I went to bed.

The odd thing is that I kept filling up our glasses with Rosa Regale and neither of us were feeling anything. I don’t drink that often but can usually hold my alcohol. However, I definitely should have felt it if I had had as much Rosa Regale as I had had. And Mom!!! She is a total light weight when it comes to drinking - at this point she should have been drunker than a skunk and about ready to pass out. But nothing!! We drank the entire bottle in a relatively short period of time and felt nothing at all. I even checked the alcohol content on the bottle’s label to make sure it had alcohol - it did. Oh well, I guess we got weird bottle.

If truth be told, I was kind of hoping the wine would make me sleepy. This isn’t something I ever do but I NEVER sleep the first night in a hotel room and I was already sleep deprived. Not sure what it is but I just can’t relax enough to snooze in hotel beds. I suppose I should add this to the list of things to talk over with my Sleep Specialist at my next appointment.

Anyways, before I can get in a hotel bed I have to remake the bed. My Mom thinks I am nuts but if a hotel doesn’t have fitted bottom sheets then the bed is essentially short sheeted. If you have never noticed before, check it out the next time you are at a hotel. It happens at cheap motels to really expensive hotels. The sheets just don’t reach the bottom of the mattress. Since I sleep in the lower 2/3rds of a bed this is a problem. If I don’t remake the bed then my feet will touch the mattress and mattress pad and that is just GROSS!!!!

So, I remake the bed to my specifications and it is time to get in to bed for the endless hours of the insomnia hell I live in.

Of course, Mom is already asleep. (Actually she always makes me laugh when she sleeps - she barely moves at all. And in order to roll over she basically sits up and then dramatically turns her body but never wakes up. Ohhhh and she does this little moan noise thing - like she is a distant fog horn with a cold. It makes me laugh out loud. It is surprising she has never woken up since I laugh so much. Come to think of it, I don’t think she knows I laugh at her so much. Oh well, maybe she will miss this part of the TR.)

But Flat Brody decides to make sure the bed is comfy first.

Can you tell I like a ton of pillows?So I have issues with beds. Don’t judge me.

Next installment: Finally, Day 2!!!!!

Day 1, Part 6 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-06-02T00:13:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 6 - Are these the only postcards they have?

Having been fed and watered, we had a renewed energy. World of Disney here we come!!!!

WoD is the mecca of Disney shopping AND you get a discount with your AP and/or Disney Visa!!! Doesn’t get much better than that.

But wait!!! Dad had made a request for pins to complete his collection. Neither of us really understood how a few pins would complete his collection but we said we would get him pins. But he only wanted limited edition pins.

My Dad has is a hobby collector similar to the hobbies themselves. He has had lots of them over the years - stamp collecting, coin collecting, beer can collecting, building electronics in the 70's, Civil War reenactments (thankfully this one never really lasted), collecting Department 56, growing orchids which required that he build a greenhouse half the size of my house, and the list goes on and on and on. It doesn’t take much to get him interested in a hobby. It just requires a tiny bit of interest and he is off and running. The Disney pin collecting - he doesn’t trade, only collects - started on our Disney Cruise last year.

So Mom and I stopped by Disney’s Pin Traders on our way to WoD to see what was available. We weren’t going to buy any pins there since we knew that we got a discount at WoD and that we would have several opportunities to buy pins the rest of the trip. We did find lots of pins we were interested in for Dad’s collection and for a few for ourselves.

Even Flat Brody got into pin trading. Although I wouldn’t actually buy him the Official Pin Trading Badge since it was sort of expensive - and I don’t wear a lanyard so what would actually be the point.

After doing our recognizance work at Disney’s Pin Traders, we felt free to do our own shopping at WoD. My little heart was all aflutter at just the thought at being in the Superstore of Disney where I even get a discount. It’s the little things in life that make life worth living.

But before we made it to WoD, we had to make a brief detour to the Ghiradelli shop to get our free sample. It was a peanut butter filled sample. Yummmmm!!!! The ice cream parlor was closed for renovations - which ruined my plans for some ice cream for dessert. Don’t worry, it was just God’s way of saying I didn’t need any ice cream and he was right.

Flat Brody about to enter mecca. (Isn't it pretty and twinkly.)

After taking 5 trips to WDW in 2007, there really were no souvenirs that I needed and I was trying to not spend too much money this trip. But I did need a new pair of Crocs. I had tried to get a new pair before I left on the trip but the Hallmark store on the Island didn’t have any good colors in my size. So I decided that it was time to get my first pair of Mickey Crocs.

Can I just say the WoD has a really crappy selection of Mickey Crocs - and Jibbitz for that matter. I’m sure they sell out of things quickly but you can find better selections at most other stores on property. It’s always been this way - not sure why. Guess it just one of those things that is a mystery.

After trying on several pairs I finally decided on the black Mickey Crocs with the red strap and put them in a hand basket. I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter since it was either the black ones or the white ones which remind me of nurse shoes - not the look I was going for.

We went over to look for a latte mug that Mom had chipped and wanted to replace. But alas it is no longer available. And we only bought it this past October. That Disney Merchandise Department - they are always changing things up.

We did find the rice krispy treats though. There weren’t any of the ones in fun shapes for the holidays since it was sort of in between holidays so we decided on the big bricks of rice krispy treats. Mom takes them back to the office for the staff. We decided several Mom and Me trips ago that people really don’t need knickknacks from a trip that they didn’t actually take - even if it was from Disney World - but that food was a very nice trip souvenir. It shows that you thought of them but you aren’t requiring them to use a pen with a crown and marabou cap on it.

I do wonder what ingredient they put in those big bricks of rice krispy treats to make them so soft and chewy and wonderful. I wish the ones I make at home were as good. Just another one of those mysteries of life.

Then on to the small selection of pins on display at WoD.

Have I mentioned that the store is especially busy tonight? People were just milling around and blocking the aisles with strollers. And worse yet they were blocking the pin display area. Very frustrating, indeed.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity of jostling for position, there was a parting of the crowd and we took the opportunity to be on the front row of the pin display. We even found a few of the pins we were looking for from our recognizance mission and Mom found a pin for each of the grandchildren’s pin collection. So, we are off to a good start.

Now, off to find postcards for the grandchildren. I had remembered to bring stamps and the addresses were stored on my mobile phone. (We can never remember my sister’s zip code.) This should have been the easy part of our shopping excursion. But it wasn’t. There were probably only about 6 individual postcard and 3 postcard books to chose from. Hmmmmmmph.

Don’t people send postcards anymore? I have to assume with the selection available at WoD (and all over property) that people don’t . This is a shame because it was always very exciting as a child to get a postcard from my parents or grandparents. I even like to get them now. It is nice to know that people on trips take time out of their journey to remember you.

Back in the day when I was a CM we had about 50 different postcards to choose from. And I should know. It was my job to keep the rack in order and restocked. It was an enormous responsibility, I assure you.

Oh well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that postcards always show up after the trip taker has returned from the trip.

We picked out two postcards and decided to find another one tomorrow morning for my youngest nephew. Most of the postcards were of princesses and we didn’t think my 6 year old nephew would appreciate it if we sent him a postcard of Cinderella. The original plan was that Mom and I would both write on the postcards and drop them in the mail tomorrow. More on that later.

Since there were people and strollers everywhere it was difficult to tell who was in line to check out and who was just hanging out. But we finally found a cashier that didn’t have a line a mile long and paid for our loot. I think we saved about $20 with our WoD discount.

We took the long walk - about 1 minute - back to our car and easily found our way back to ASSp for our first night in the World. Don't be too impressed there really aren't any signs to follow from DTD to ASSp.

Next installment - Follow the Rules or Be a Rebel

Day 1, Part 5 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-31T17:32:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 5 - Glazed Over From Hunger

When I last left you, Mom and I and Flat Brody had finally gotten into our room at ASSp and spent just enough time in the room to make sure that the value resorts still used scratchy toilet paper and see if our hair was good enough. Besides our car was still parked at the curb so we needed to get moving.

Next stop was Shades of Green.

Mom’s AP was still good but I needed a new AP and if you are eligible for SOG tickets then this is the way to go for AP - no taxes!!! It saves about $40.

And I am happy to report that I did not miss the exit to MK this time. But on our way to SOG Mom checked the onboard computer a few times just to make sure we were still low on gas. We were still low on gas in case you were insterested.

You will pleased to know that the security at SOG is still strong and tight. Knowing in advance that my mother would need to show her military ID, she had it ready to show the guard. Mom is always prepared. What can I say? Like mother like daughter.

Of course in addition to the preparedness gene Mom also passed on the annoying trait of hiccuping on the first bite of a McDonald’s hamburger. It sounds weird but it is true. The first time it happened to me I was in my car after getting a drive-thru Happy Meal on my way back to work. I was at a traffic light happily eating my cheeseburger - after all isn’t being happy while eating your Happy Meal supposed to happen - and I hiccuped. It took me by total shock and I actually spoke the words "I’ve become my mother!!!" Strange how these things happen.

Anyways, I was in some way dreading the whole process of going to SOG to get my new AP.

The last time we went to SOG for tickets it was early in the morning and we were directed to park in the parking garage. Being that this is the military I never argue - they have problems with open defiance for some reason.

The SOG parking garage is fine but you usually have to drive up to the 3rd or 4th floor to find a parking place and it is quite a trek through the building back to the lobby - or any of the rooms we have ever been assigned while staying there.

But as fate would have it, it was now about 7:30 p.m. and the security guard told us to park in the golf course parking lot since the golf course was closed. I had never even considered this before. It was fabulous!! You are practically at the front doors to SOG. I’m going to remember this little trick the next time I am there even if it means I will have to openly defy the SOG security guard who works on behalf of the DOD.

Here is Flat Brody enjoying his first look at being in the military - even if it is at Disney World.

We found the Ticket & Attractions desk where they left it the last time. Since we were having such good luck today, there was only one person ahead of us and he was almost done with his business.

With my new AP voucher in hand, Mom and I checked out the PX next door to see if they had any souvenirs that we might be interested in but mainly to see if they had any Crocs for me. (My favorite pink Crocs had worn out so it was time for a new pair.) But the PX only had children’s Crocs so I would have to wait until later.

It is getting way past dinner time by now and I can tell Mom is starting to wane slightly from hunger and lack of coffee and we still need to gas up the car. So we make the short trip back to the car and exit SOG to make our way to the Hess Station outside of the MK.

Gas is only $3.53 a gallon. Woohoo!!! Did you ever think someone would be happy that gas was $3.53? These times are a changin’.

As a general rule, Mom and Me Trips always start with a trip to Downtown Disney for dinner at Earl of Sandwich and some shopping at World of Disney. This trip was no exception.

And I am happy to report that I found my way to DTD without any problems. I even remembered to turn into the correct parking lot.

DTD has those electronic signs letting you know which parking lots are full and which are open. I ignore those signs. Call me a rebel if you will. But I ignore them because if you follow those signs you would be at the West End of DTD and have to walk a mile or so just to get to Earl of Sandwich and have to walk a mile or so to get back to your car. This is just too much walking this early in the trip. We need to save our strength for the Parks. (My walking never killed anyone saying does not apply to DTD.)

And besides, I have always found a parking place in Parking Lot 1 - which the signs always say is closed.

As luck would have it, today was no exception. A parking place was found in the third row will minimal stalkerish behavior.

By this point Mom had almost completely glazed over so food was our first priority. We quickly made our way over to Earl of Sandwich which was packed. I should have suspected this since the PPP was that night and that means all of the people who were at MK and got kicked out at 7 p.m. eventually make their way over to DTD.

But no mind - we are patient and wait our turn. It amused me to watch the table trollers and Mom and I needed to decided what to order.

Decisions, decisions!! We usually order The Original 1762 and The All American and split them. But this trip was about trying new things so we decided on The Original 1762 and The Full Montagu.

Go ahead. You can say it. These ladies are rebels ordering The Full Montagu instead of The All American!!!

I know, I know. What can I say except that we are living on the edge.

I am not sure what kind of bread Earl of Sandwich uses but whatever it is I would trade my first born for it - if I had a first born, of course. It is perfect bread and I could eat it everyday for the rest of me life. Yummmmmmmm

Even Flat Brody enjoyed the sandwiches.

Next trip we will be going back to The All American instead of The Full Montagu. Nothing is wrong with The Full Montagu. It was a very nice sandwich but nothing extra special except for the bread and we can get the bread on The All American. Besides, I just love cranberries with turkey that The All American provides.

Having scarfed down our sandwiches and caffeinated ourselves - Mom with coffee and me with Diet Coke - it is time to do a little shopping.

Next installment - The Quest for Postcards.

Day 1, Part 4 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-30T22:29:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 4 - Well, This Is Building 10 Room 218, Right?

Okay, so "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" has finished checking us in, written down our room information on the map, circled where we should park and where our room is.

And we’re off!!

But as we begin to leave the lobby I pass by this guy and my brain does that "oh he looks familiar but I can’t remember from where" thing. You know - it happens within seconds and then all of a sudden it dawns on you where you know the person from. It looked like Corey Martin from the DIS Unplugged Podcast!!!!

The guy was wearing a white visor and a blue shirt just like I had seen Corey wear in pictures before. He was the right height and build. He was even carrying a professional looking camera in his hand and walking like he had a purpose. Corey has been doing pool reports on all of the resorts and this guy was walking towards the pool. So it must be him!!!

I even did a double take. I was convinced it was him but decided not to be a Podcast stalker and yell out his name in the middle of the lobby since at this point he was now 15 feet behind me and it was already hard enough to get my mom to not think I am crazy for being so DIS obsessed. So I left well enough alone and was happy with my now really upbeat mood - I was at Disney World and I saw a Podcaster. It doesn’t get much better than that.

(Well, as it turns out it was not Corey. I emailed him when I got back home to see if it was actually him but he claims that he was not at ASSp that evening. I still am convinced I had a brush with someone famous though. Don’t judge me.)

Outside the lobby now, Mom and I cross the "intersection of potential danger from being hit by a bus" with success and drive around the corner to the Touchdown section of ASSp.

According to our handy dandy map our room is fairly close to the parking lot so Mom and I curb it and unload our luggage. This parking lot is smallish but the parking places are not close the our building at all. But no matter. As I always say "no one ever died from walking". (It is probably not true. I am sure that people get hit by cars and die of heart problems when walking but it helps me to feel good about parking further away from stores at Christmas time.)

I’m not sure what Mom was doing. I think she was putting the back seats up or putting bottled water in a shopping bag to take to the room. Either way, she was TAKING TOO LONG!!! So I said I was going on ahead to take a load of our stuff to the room.

With map in hand, I reread our room information that "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" had given us and I quickly find the location. But something seems a little weird. As I approach the room’s window, I noticed little Cars toys in the window and the window sheers aren’t closed all of the way and the bathroom sink light is turned on. Having stayed in enough Disney Resorts, I know this is not the norm. But maybe Mousekeeping was doing things a little different or maybe they were in a hurry and just forgot to turn off the light.

I double check the room information and then double check the sign on the building. Yep, this is building 10, first floor and room 218.

So I quickly glanced in the window and what did I see??? A woman brushing her hair at the bathroom sink. Whoa!!! I back away quickly hoping the woman didn’t see me. Luckily she didn’t. And grateful she wasn’t naked. I would have hated to have been arrested for being a Peeping Tom on the first day of my trip. For some reason I just don’t want my first felony to be at WDW.

What to do?!?! I didn’t want to walk all the way back to the car with my luggage and then have to walk back the same way I had just come. So I waited a few more minutes for Mom to make it to me. I told her about the problem and said to just wait right there and I would go back to the front desk and get this all sorted out.

Flat Brody in front of our fake room.

I put my determined but calm non-Princesszilla hat on and walked through the X&O football field and past the pool bar and right back into the lobby. The whole walk I kept thinking about how I was going to bring this up without getting "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" in trouble. Yes, it seems that it was her fault but mistakes happen and maybe it was just the computer and not her.

So I get to the lobby and see that there aren’t any people in the check in queue so I decide to just wait there for the next available CM. I’m not sure how I would have handled if there had been people waiting in the queue. Are you supposed to wait in a long line when you have already waited your turn in line and it isn’t your fault that you need further assistance? If the situation would have called for it I probably would have gotten the attention of one of the supervisor types roaming around behind the front desk. Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer this eternal question of life?

What I really didn’t want to happen was for "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" to be the next available CM. I am patient and understanding but the sleeplessness and adrenaline was taking its toll and my inner Princesszilla could have emerged at any minute if things took a turn in the wrong direction.

What I did overhear while I calmly waited was surprising to me though. A guest at the counter was asking a CM about the Yacht and Beach Club. The CM couldn’t answer the question so one of the supervisor types came over and couldn’t answer the question either. I can’t remember the exact question but it was something any cast member should have been able to answer or simply look up. In fact the supervisor type even said "I have never been to the Y&B Club so I’m not sure." What?!?!? There was no "I don’t know but let me find out" or "Hold on while I call across the lobby to Guest Services for you." It’s was an honest answer but not the right answer. As a former CM I found it absurd that Disney doesn’t ensure that all of their CMs know about the other resorts and the parks. How is one of the first people you meet on your WDW vacation supposed to help a guest if they don’t know anything about WDW? I didn’t get upset at any of this it was just very disappointing at the lack of CM training. Shame on you Disney.

With the shameful guest exchange over, the next CM was available. And he turned out to be efficient in an "english is my first language" kind of way. I explained the situation and showed him the room information we had been given. He entered my information into the computer system and quickly determined that the room number we had been given should have been 219 and not 218. AHHHHH!!!! Turns out it was "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag"'s mistake after all.

I said thank you very much and quickly and determinately walked back past the pool bar and through the X&O football field back to our room. But not before I saw my first wild bunny spotting of the trip. If reincarnation is true then I want to come back as a wild Disney bunny. Or maybe a Disney duck.

I finally find Mom hanging out with our luggage and explain the wrong room number and we happily put our key in the correct door of our Disney digs. The room is just as we suspected - clean and cheerful yet smallish. Basically your normal Disney value resort room. All is right with the world - or at least in the World.

Flat Brody enjoys his first towel creation.

Next stop: Shades of Green

Day 1, Part 3 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

Mom, me and Flat Brody all made it safely across the street in to the lobby of Disney’s All Star Sports Resort.

We did pass lots of little princesses and pirates on the way to Mickey’s Pirate and Princess Party. I would have loved to have gone to the PPP but there was just no way to drive to Orlando, get checked in and settled in to the hotel and still get to the Party and not be a stressed out freak. Trust me that no one wants to see my Princesszilla side come out. It has taken me years to repress my inner Princesszilla and I don’t want to have to go into therapy over a PPP. So, we’ll have to catch another PPP on our next trip.

It's time for our first queue of the trip!!

It is 6:40 p.m. by this time and the lobby isn’t all that busy. There are probably 2 groups in front of us in the line. Mom and I wait our turn and use the time to get organized by getting my driver’s license, credit card, AP - in case they want to see it since we got an AP rate, and my confirmation number - in case there is a problem with the reservation I like to be prepared. I’ve never had a problem before but I am like a boy scout that way.

Flat Brody waited patiently in line with us.

You have to really be on your toes when you are next in line though. It is hard to see the Front Desk Cast Members and you need to be scanning all of them so you don’t miss the subtle eye contact and head motion that they are ready for you. If you look away for an instant you might miss the signal and then the CM has to do the arm flail movement that you just know they hate to do.

Luckily I was still hyped up on sleeplessness and adrenalin so I saw the signal. It was the CM right in front of the line. Very convenient. Mom and I moved forward and I say "we would like to check in" and do the preemptive hand off of the driver’s license and credit card. Like I said, I like to be prepared.

I have no idea what our CM’s name was because she had her long hair swept over one shoulder covering up her name tag.

Can you see the name tag for the hair?

I didn’t think so. :)

But I did glimpse that she was from China - which would explain why I had no idea what she said at any given moment. Oh, and she was very soft spoken also.

Well, if you have ever been in a Disney value resort lobby you know that they are noisy places so even if I could have understood her I wouldn’t have been able to hear her. I am all for the international CMs but come on - the guests have to be able to understand them. After a few "I’m sorry what did you says" I could catch enough of what she was saying to follow along. Now I know why they have you sign and initial your registration forms.

This is not the first time we have come across a front desk CM from China that we couldn’t understand either. It happened last August at Saratoga Springs Resort. The only difference was that at SSR the CM was a man and I could see his name tag. Oh, and SSR is much quieter than ASSp.

Thankfully we are easy check ins - no room location special requests, no DDP to explain, no tickets to explain. Just give me my key, tell me where my room is, where I should park and I am go to go.

Easy enough, right?

Hold that thought.

Day 1, Part 2 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 2 - Did I take the wrong turn, again?

We’ve arrived on Disney Property!!

Does anyone else get confused about what exit to take from I-4 to get to your resort? The signs direct you to the parks but not the resorts. Unless you know which park area your resort is in you just are left to picking one and hoping for the best.

Have no fear though! I had consulted a map of WDW property before hand and knew not to take the Magic Kindgom exit to get to the Magic Kindgom. According to the old adage, the quickest way between 2 points is a straight line. So, I took the Animal Kingdom exit. It sounds really convoluted now but at the time it made perfect sense to me.

But where should be go first? All Star Sports to check in? Shades of Green to buy my new Annual Pass? Get gas at the Hess Station since the light on the gas gauge just turned on? How does one answer these eternal questions of life?

Mom and I had a quick discussion and decided to go to Shades of Green (SOG) first so I could get my new Annual Pass (AP) and then stop at the Hess Station to fill up on gas. I learned from previous trips that the Hess Stations usually had the cheapest gas anywhere close to Disney property.

Mom was getting a little nervous though since the onboard computer was saying we only had 30 or so miles left before we were stranded on World Drive left to fend for ourselves. (She is one of these people who never lets the tank get below 1/4.)

I tried to assure her that we had plenty of gas to get us to where we were going. You see, I have personal experience with driving her car when the gas gauge light turns on. And I knew we had plenty of gas left. Besides, we had OnStar and everyone knows that every problem is taken care of with one little push of the blue button.

But don’t you know, I missed the turn towards the Magic Kingdom. (This is not the first time I have missed a turn on Disney Property and had to make countless loops around roads following ambiguous purple street signs.) The sign to MK said turn left next light. But there wasn’t a left turn lane at the next light it was at the second light but there wasn’t another sign at the second light saying "turn here Tonya." So I didn’t turn.

(This happened to me a lot last August when we kept trying to get back to Saratoga Springs. After the first 2 days we just laughed about it.)

You would probably never guess that I actually have an excellent sense of direction. And Disney property is just about the only time I ever get lost.

***Take a hint Disney Executives and get better signs!!!***

But as past experience has taught me, just drive long enough and you will find another vague purple sign. As luck would have it though, the next sign we saw was pointing us to the All Star Resorts. Being the ever clever person I am, I jumped on our chance to adjust our plans and go ahead and check in since we were so close to All Star Sports. No sense wasting precious time while at WDW.

Mom agreed and off we went to the security gates to get into our home for the next 2 nights.

Having stayed at an All Star resort, I knew we had to park across the street and brave crossing the street back to the lobby in order to check in. Am I the only one who has this fear of being hit by a bus when you cross this intersection? I stop and look and I know the bus drivers are looking also but it just seems like an accident waiting to happen. The buses just seem to be going so fast that it would be hard to stop if a child - or me - forgot to look from excitement of finally being at WDW.

But guess what? Flat Brody was not afraid at all. He was very excited to finally make it to WDW.

And look on the left hand side of the picture - you can get a glimpse at Mom in her lime green pants making her way to the safety of the pedestrian crossing. She is a rules girl all the way.

Day 1, Part 1 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-28T12:32:00.000-04:00

Day 1, Part 1 - Flat Brody Hits the Highway

Well, it finally happened. April 23rd arrived and it was time to hit the road.Mom and Me Trips start at the Zaxby’s parking lot at Exit 104 on I-95 near the Savannah, GA airport. Mom lives in Augusta, GA and I live on Hilton Head Island, SC so we meet and drive one car to Florida.

Getting me to Zaxby’s is always a chore. In my head I am very organized but in reality I am not so organized. I am always up until the wee hours of the night before any trip - doing laundry, trying to pack, cleaning the house, getting Brody ready for puppy camp. Every trip starts with me sleepless but hyped up on adrenaline. It is a good combination for the first day or so but can be a problem a few days into any trip. Especially combined with the fact that I rarely sleep the first night or two I am in a hotel room.

This trip Mom decides that we are to meet at Zaxby’s at 2 p.m. And she tells me to be on time. In her head she has it that I am always late for our meet ups. Sure I was late a few times but synchronizing our rendezvous is an effort needing military precision.

I ask you - how are two people coming from different directions supposed to meet at one place without one of the people having to wait a little bit.

And besides, the last Mom and Me Trip I was at the Wal-Mart getting muffins and sunscreen for the trip!!!!

So, I was determined to be early for our Zaxby’s meet up. This of course meant that I needed to leave the Island by 1 p.m. which meant I needed to drop Brody off at puppy camp by 12:30 p.m. which meant I needed to leave the house by 12:15 p.m. which meant I needed to have everything packed and ready to go by 12 p.m.

Phooooof, I am tired already. But I did it!!!! I was at the Zaxby’s parking lot at 2 p.m.!!! A full minute and a half before my Mom!!!! WooooHoooooo!!!! General MacArthur would have been proud.

Of course I hadn’t eaten lunch since I was rushing to leave the house and get there by 2 p.m. so I needed to get a yummy chicken finger snack meal to go and we both needed to take a potty break.

We put all of my stuff in Mom’s car and we were off to the long-term airport parking by 2:15 p.m. and back on I-95 South by 2:22 p.m. It was a new Mom and Me Trip record.

Look out Mickey here we come!!!

Mom generally starts out driving and this trip was no exception. She set the cruise control and I set up the radar detector. Mom isn’t a speed demon really. The radar detector is more for my benefit during my time behind the wheel. Of course it is nice for Mom to know if a cop is ahead in case you get a Barney Fife type and wants to give tickets for speeding 7 miles over the speed limit.

It was at this time that I brought out Flat Brody and showed Mom. She thought it was a little silly but she is all about fun on our Mom and Me Trips so she thought it was cute.

Here is Flat Brody traveling down the highway enjoying the scenery of Georgia.

"Be careful Meme there is a truck coming our way!"

We are making good time and didn’t need gas so we decided not to take a break until the Florida Welcome Center.

Flat Brody needed a break from the car also.

Flat Brody likes to thumb his nose at authority. (He is a rebel at heart.)

After out little bathroom/stretch break we switched drivers for the last part of the trip and I settled into the driver’s seat. One of the first things I do when I drive on Mom and Me Trips is to change the XM satellite station to the Disney Channel to get us in the mood. When it comes to the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana I am like a tween girl - don’t judge me.

Mom always gets mad at me though because I will seat dance and take my hands off the wheel. It isn't the safest thing in the world but sometimes I just have to "pumpin' up the party!!"

After a brief traffic delay just before the 95/10 split in Jacksonville, the drive was uneventful. But the longest part of the trip is between Jacksonville and Daytona. It just seems to take forever!!!!

Whenever we get close to I-4 I always get excited and start the "we’re almost theres!!!" I am like a little kid when it comes to my Disney trips. I was after all the child who never slept the night before we were going to the Magic Kingdom and would wake up everybody at 5:30 a.m. saying "GET UP!! It is time to GO!!!"

But as we approach Orlando I also think of my grandmother so it also makes me sad. We used to get off I-4 at the Altamonte Springs exit to get to her house and it is hard for the car not to automatically get into the right hand lane when we get close. I will always associate Disney World and Orlando with my grandmother. It’s just the way it will always be for me. Everyone always asks if we have gone back to see her house but we haven’t. I think I just want to remember the house as it was when Grandma lived there and not think that time has moved on without her.

Anyways, we get through Orlando with almost no traffic and arrive to the WDW area at 6:35 p.m. This is a new record for us!!! 4 Hours 13 minutes!! And we even stopped to go to the bathroom!! And I didn’t even speed that much!!!! I promise.

But where should be go first? All Star Sports to check in? Shades of Green to buy my new Annual Pass? Get gas at the Hess Station since the light on the gas gauge just turned on? These are indeed the eternal questions of life.

Trip Preparations - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

2008-05-28T12:13:00.000-04:00

Who says you can’t take your dog to Disney World?

Who is Flat Brody, you ask? Flat Brody is my taped on foam-core and stuck on a stick version of my beloved dog Brody. You know, like the children’s book Flat Stanley. I got inspired from jordanyosh’s TR and his adventures with Flat Winkers. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1727412 So I planned a trip and made a flat version of my dog - Flat Brody. Seriously, who can resist a cute dog enjoying all of the benefits that Disney World has to offer? Right? Right!

How this trip came about. I was lamenting the fact that my Annual Pass expired on January 6, 2008 and I didn’t have any trips planned to Disney until October 2008. I have become self-employed in the last year and finances are tighter than they have been in previous years especially since I have to pay for my health insurance now. OUCH!!!. So, a Spring trip to Disney World seemed out of the question. But God works in mysterious ways and all that changed on February 12th.

I wrote an email to the DIS Unplugged Podcast with a segment idea. It was about getting one of the new members to the podcrew to start reporting on his adventure in the Parks so we could get a first timers perspective. (BTW, if you don’t listen to the DIS Unplugged Podcasts I would highly suggest it. But be forewarned, it is addicting.)

A few weeks later, my email was read by Pete Werner himself on the 2/6/08 email show at about 49:22 minutes into the show. (Pete - he's the guy who hosts the Podcasts and owns the DISBoards.) I had gotten a heads up on that Monday about my brush with fame because one of the podcasters, Julie Martin, had sent me an email telling me that my email had been read on the upcoming show and asking if I wanted my email prize to be a DIS Unplugged t-shirt or a pin and lanyard.

It was soooo exciting that I got to contribute to the Podcast. I felt famous!!! And Pete even told me to "pick-a-number" from the prize envelopes. I emailed Julie immediately and picked "2"!!! Not sure why I picked "2" but it just seemed right to me.

And I didn’t really think about what my prize would be. I was just excited about being "famous". But don’t you know that things got even better than being "famous" when on the 2/12/08 discussion show at about 11:10 minutes into the show Pete opened the envelope with my Pick-A-Number prize in it and I won a 3 day/2 night stay at the Swan/Dolphin just for suggesting a DIS Unplugged Podcast segment idea.

It was so exciting!!! I was giddy and gleeful for days. The first thing I did was call my Mom and tell her the exciting news. I am not sure she exactly gets the whole Podcast thing or the DISBoards thing but we just brushed over that for now. Mom was just as excited as I was and said "so when are we going!!"

After she looked at her calendar we decided that April 23rd - 27th would work best - my Dad would be out of town playing golf with his college friends so it was perfect. We wanted my sister and niece to go with us but Skatie’s (my niece’s) spring break was earlier in April and her school didn’t get out until late in May. I just couldn’t wait until May so we decided to just to go without them. Even having to wait until April was going to kill me though.

My free trip was burning a hole in my pocket and I knew I had to use it as soon as possible.

Cast of Characters:

Me (aka Tonya) I am the "mom" of Brody and daughter of Mom. I am 29 at heart but 40 on the birthday scale. A lover of shoes, baking, and all things Disney.

Mom (aka Carol or Meme) My Disney travel buddy, mother of 3 children, wife of Joe/Dad, and grandmother to 4 humans and one dog - except for when Brody chewed up her Bible and she disowned him. She loves Disney also and makes the best carrot cake in the world. And she is 67.

A little of our Disney history first. I grew up going to Disney World. My grandmother (my dad’s mom) lived in Orlando and my family just made going to WDW a part of visiting my grandmother. When my grandmother finally had to move to an assisted living facility it was my mother and me who took several trips to Orlando to clean out her house. On the final trip, my mom and I decided that we would just have to come back in the Fall for a fun trip to Orlando since our previous trips were all work and no play. So, we made good on that decision and started our first in a long line of Mom and Me trips to Disney World. We don’t exclude other family members but I’m single and don’t have any children and Mom works for my Dad so we are the most flexible.

Brody (aka Brody Baby, Sugar/Love Bug, Pretty Boy, Cutie Bootie) is a 4 year old Brittany who is full of life and often accused (wrongfully, of course) of being hyperactive. Brody is just energetic and playful. In fact, Brody is a highly trained and recognized bird dog. He loves finding himself some quail. Check out a little youtube video of Brody in action - but only if you aren’t opposed to bird hunting, please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BdjnYu88Xc

It is hard to leave Brody when I travel - so this trip I look him along on. I really wish it was easier to travel with your pets and wish there was a pet friendly hotel at WDW but I wouldn’t have as much fun if I knew Brody was in a strange kennel all day while I was enjoying the parks. Here is a picture of the original picture from whence Flat Brody came.

Brody loves to chew things - even at 4 y.o. he is still chewing things up. (Remember this fact.) So in this picture he is chewing on a wrapping paper roll. But at least he doesn’t chew my shoes anymore. Or maybe I am just better at putting my shoes out of harms way. There was a period when Brody was much younger when he would go into my closet and open my shoe boxes in order to take the shoes out so he could have a new chew toy. But for some reason he only liked to chew on my VERY expensive shoes. Thank heaven for DSW Shoes and ebay!!Back to the trip.

We decided on our dates and I email Bob Varley (may he rest in peace) about booking our reservation. Our Mom and Me Trips have always been Wednesday to Sunday, so we knew we would have to pay for extra hotel nights since I had only won 2 nights.

Bob got us a reservation for Friday and Saturday nights at the Swan but it was booked for Wednesday and Thursday and the Dolphin was available on Wednesday and Thursday but not Friday and Saturday. So we were going to have to move hotels no matter what we did. And there really is no way to put this delicately so here goes - Mom is cheap when it comes to hotel rooms.

There.

I said it.

She isn’t cheap in general - although she’s never been that extravagant about clothes and shoes and such - but she just can’t grasp the price of Disney hotels. And I usually agree with her when the price goes over $299. But she typically wants to stay under $150. With those price parameters we were looking at a Value hotel for our 2 extra nights.

Luckily, I snagged the last AP discounted rooms available (according to the CRO cast member I was taking to) which happened to be at All Star Sports. I think it was $78 a night. Not too shabby!!!

We stayed at All Star Music last October and I stayed at Pop Century this past December so any of the Value Resort are fine. It is just the 2 of us and we aren’t that picky. But having said that, how does a family of 4/5 stay in those tiny Value rooms?!?! It must be like a clown car at the circus. More power to you if you can do it. I just can’t even imagine spending more than a few days being that close to that many people. I suppose that is why I have lived alone for most of my adult life.

While on the phone with CRO, during the pregnant pauses in the conversation when the computer is doing that voodoo that is does so well, the CM started to chat with me. She asked if we drove to the parks or took the buses. I said I usually try the buses each time but always end up driving to the parks instead. The CM laughingly said "yeah, you don't sound like a bus person." I think she might have gotten the impression that I am sort of an independent type after I told her I didn't want the DDP because I didn't like making dining reservations too far in advance since I never knew where I was going to be on a certain day or when I was going to want to eat. Guess I just give off that kind of vibe. Maybe my family is right and I am not as sweet and lovable as Brody thinks I am.

Since Mom and I don’t make ADRs, trip planning is really left to figuring out the Park times and what we really want to do on the trip. But this trip we wanted to see the Flower and Garden Festival so we knew Epcot was in our plans and we wanted to do a tour of some kind. But what tour? Have no fear, my trusty PassPorter and DIS are near.

After much review, we narrowed our tour decision down to the Keys to the Kingdom Tour and the Undiscovered Future World Tour. Since Epcot was in our plans we decided on the Undiscovered Future World Tour.

I really wanted to do the Segway Tour but Mom didn’t sound really enthused about it so I didn’t press the issue. A girl has to pick her battles, right?

Well, that isn’t really fair to say. Mom and I get along very well and are both go with the flow kind of people. In fact there are times when it is next to impossible to get us to decide which attraction to go to next. I’ll say "it doesn’t matter to me" and Mom will say "it doesn’t matter to me either." So eventually I will say "ok let’s go here first and then we will go there". We have to keep things moving or we would be standing in the middle of Liberty Square all day. The one good thing is that if either of us does actually care about something we let the other one know about it.

So off to make the Undiscovered Future World reservations I went. I was a little concerned as I dialed the reservation number since it was a week before the trip. But guess what - the tour was open!

The guy I spoke to was very nice but there must have been problems in the past because he told me about 4 times that the tour involved a lot of walking and to wear comfortable shoes. This is nothing new to me since I have read up on the tour but I suppose it could be a problem for people who don't do any research.

(And if you ever do make a tour reservation, be sure and tell the CM you are talking to that you want the Disney Visa discount first or you will have to go through putting in all your information again. It must be a different computer screen section or something.)

OK, we have hotel reservations, checked the park hours, and a tour reservation. Let the fun begin!!!

The Christmas Frosty Got Knifed!!

2008-05-08T16:55:00.000-04:00

There was a thread on the DISboards that I can across where the original poster had someone cut all of her tulips from her front yard so I posted my yard vandalism story. Here it is:

It was a few days before Christmas about 6 years ago and everything was merry - until Frosty got knifed. That's right folks!!! Frosty the Snowman got knifed!!! We had one of those inflatable giant Frosty yard decorations in our front yard (not something we normally put out but my Dad just had to have it when he saw it in the store) and a car stopped and several "yutes" got out and slashed our Frosty. It was one of the most depressing things to see - a rapidly deflating Frosty at Christmas time. We weren't the only house to have sustained carnage - we later saw several deflated Santa's and Rudolf's. But being a handy person, the next morning I duct taped Frosty to get him back to his previously inflated state and Christmas returned to being mostly merry. And that is why, in my family, it is always referred to as "the Christmas Frosty got knifed".

As a follow up I posted this:

We did not allow my father to buy anymore inflatable Christmas yard decorations after the Frosty incident. Although he circumvented the rules and ended up buying some lighted mechanical pink flamingos with Santa hats on them. (You have to love a dad who continues to try to have tacky holiday yard decorations.) Well, you can imagine what happened with the pink flamingos - the "yutes" returned and tried to steal them. Little did they realize but all of the flamingos were attached to each other since they were after all lighted flamingos and they were also staked into the yard. So the "yutes" were foiled that year and Christmas was saved - but the flamingos did sustain considerable damage. And darn it if my dad doesn't still has those tacky things in the garage. (He keeps saying he is going to fix them but has yet to succeed.) Now my parents put out the lighted reindeer who graze. Grazing reindeer must be pretty boring because the "yutes" have left those alone.

When I was at home over Mother's Day, I noticed the broken pink flamingos are still in the garage. The Christmas spirit continues to live at the Sayers' household!!

Even Gravy

2008-05-05T15:59:00.000-04:00

Now that I am a grown-up, I get to choose exactly what I eat. Since I live alone, I have a tendency to just take the path of least resistance - sandwiches, leftovers, frozen stuff - mainly because if I do cook I end up eating the same meal for the next few days. And between you and me, my sister got the cooking gene and I got the baking gene. I can cook but just don't enjoy it as much as I love baking. But over the last month or so I have been trying to eat more complete meals - which means cooking.

One day at the grocery store I had a coupon for $1.50 off a cook-in-the-bag chicken and the chicken-in-a-bags happened to be on special also. What could be better than minimal clean up? So I decided to roast a chicken that night.

When I got home from the grocery store, I preheated the oven and put the chicken-in-the-bag in the oven and went on to occupy my waiting time by watching Oprah. After a while I put the potatoes on to boil since I wanted mashed potatoes with my chicken-in-the-bag and decided on having broccoli with my meal.

Everything was turning out just fine. The potatoes were almost cooked and the chicken was done to perfection. When I looked in the bag from the chicken-in-the-bag there were drippings. Hmmmm, I should make gravy.

I've seen my mother make gravy every Thanksgiving and Christmas and have even helped. But the one thing I have never done was make the slurry to thicken the gravy. I watch the food network a lot and know you can use corn starch or flour. I only had whole wheat flour in the pantry so decided on using corn starch. Well, everything was going along fine - until the corn starch box fell in to the bowl when I was adding it to the slurry and wayyyyy to much corn starch went in. But I went with it, thinking it would still turn out ok. I'm a glass is half full kind of cook.

As I am stirring the gravy, it starts to turn out fine. But wait a minute, isn't it getting really thick? Oh my, that is thick. Let's add some water to thin it out. That isn't working, it is just getting thicker. (I remember laughing at this point thinking this might be the creature from the chicken-in-the-bag.)

Well, folks it only got worse so I gave up and ate my broccoli, chicken, mashed potatoes without gravy. And it was delicious.

But I think I will stick to baking.

For all of you curious and brave enough, here is a picture of my gelatinous mess

YUMMMMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other People's Dogs

2008-05-03T18:59:00.000-04:00

As I do every night, I took Brody on our daily walk. When we get to the path I see a dog walking off leash ahead of us with its owner on a bike. But they are ahead of us so, no problemo.

Well, the other dog is being pokey and is sniffing everything and since Brody and I are walking briskly, we catch up. Brody loves to play with other dogs and to meet new people. So Brody does his usual happy greeting to the dog and the owner. I call it his downward dog dance. The other dog is a pit bull mix - not as big as Brody but not a tiny dog - and seems to want to play. I even pet the other dog. (Can you tell where this is going?)

When all of a sudden, Brody is rolled and the other dog pins Brody to the ground and just stands over him. It was like a WWF championship match with out the tights and sequins. Hulk Hogan would have been impressed.

Of course I go into protective Dog Mom mode and try to get the dog off of Brody. Not panicking but I know the urgency of the situation. (I've been to the dog park a few times, as they say.)

The whole time the other dog's owner is saying "oh it's alright, she is just trying to tell him to calm down." She even said "like in the dog whisperer". Needless to say, I am NOT buying it. And it isn't as if the other owner could do anything anyways because she is 10 feet away on her bike. (There are leash laws for a reason people!!!)

As I am literally pulling the dog off of Brody I finally say "NO, it is not ok because my dog will attack your dog if she continues!!!" I think she could finally see that I was not happy about the situation at this point.

Brody is a happy go lucky kind of dog and has never attacked another dog but he doesn't take much crap from other dogs either and will protect himself if necessary. And he certainly doesn't take kindly with other dogs telling him to not be happy and playful.

Although she may have watched Cesar Millan on "The Dog Whisperer" a few times, the other owner clearly had no clue about dog behaviour since she had no appreciation of the danger her dog was in by being so aggressive. (Or the damage I would have done to her dog in my attempt to protect my Brody Baby. I am a Dog Mom after all!!)

A dog is a dog whether it is a pit bull or a brittany or a maltese and no one should underestimate the reaction of a dog you don't know. It's just common sense - which I guess some people just don't have.

Collective Gasping Allowed

2008-04-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

Alright, I must confess. I went out in public wearing sandals without having given myself the first pedicure of the season. I know, I know, what was I thinking?!?!?! It's like I have broken the Girly Girl Code.

Now in my own defense, my naked toes don't look all that bad. My toes are clipped and filed on a regular basis. My cuticles could have used some work but it wasn't like the bank customer service representative was looking at my toes or anything. And it was really warm outside and I had some new capri pants on and full shoes were just not going to look as good as sandals. So, I think all in all it was just a minor offense.

And isn't the Code more a set of guidelines? (That is a Pirates of the Caribbean reference for all of you unpiratelike people.)

But in order to not break the Code on any serious level, it is my goal to give myself the first pedicure of the Season this week for sure. Now, I am sure that everyone can breath a sigh of relief. :)

50 Hours of Torture

2008-04-01T01:45:00.000-04:00

It's official. I am dependant on the television and the internet. (I feel like I should be saying that at a 12 step program.)

I woke up on this past Saturday and my cable was not working. Since I use a cable modem, I was not only without my TV service but I was also without my internet. UGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

If you have ever had your cable go out you know that you don't get any stations. Whatever happened to antennas for your TVs? If I had had an antenna for the TV I am sure I could have at least gotten network stations. If I had known my cable was going to be out I would have saved watching my Netflix movies for Saturday instead of watching them on Friday night.

Now, I will admit that I watch a lot of TV but a good bit of the time the TV it is just background noise. So, the weekend was quiet and I felt like a boat without a rudder.

I tried to look on the bright side and thought of all the things I could get done while I was unencumbered with the ever present cable services. There was reading and cleaning and yard work and organizing and packing and who are we kidding - I wanted my TV and internet!!!!

It is amazing how you get used to certain things. I still had my computer; I just didn't have any internet. Five or so years ago that probably would not have been a problem but anymore I use the internet for just about everything, including file saving. Case in point - without TV and internet I though this would be a fine time to finally get around to perfecting my doggie cake recipes. Sounds like a good way to fill a Saturday afternoon when your cable is out, right? It would have been except the recipes I wanted to try were on the internet and I had only saved the web page in my Favorites list and never actually printed the recipes out.

I had also planned on listing a bunch of stuff on eBay this past weekend. Well, without my internet service that plan went out the window. As they say, the best laid plans . . .

Thankfully, I finally got my cable service back on Monday afternoon. (I won't tell you about my telephone conversations with the cable company. Let's just say that although I didn't swear at the cable company employees, I certainly thought a lot of swear words during our conversations.) So now I feel like a real 21st century person again. What did we ever do without cable and internet? Didn't they used to say that about electricity?

Adventures in Godmothering

2008-03-28T13:22:00.000-04:00

Over this past Easter weekend, I, along with my "bestest" friends from high school, had the honor of becoming the Godmothers for little sweet Hollis. Baby Hollis is the son of our friends Kim and Tripp. (We are also the godmother to Hollis' older sister, Arrie B.) It sounds simple enough to become a Godmother - show up at the church and promise to uphold a child throughout their life with regard to their spiritual guidance. Right? Well, not so easy it seems.

When Arrie B was baptized things went fairly smooth since her mother told us to come down front when the families were called for the baptism. At that baptism, Gaby was sitting in the middle of the church and Lisa and I were sitting in the back of the church. Lisa and I saw Gaby stand up and go to the front of the church so that was our clue to also stand up and go to the front of the church. We still had a little bit of hesitation since the minister never actually says "Godparents, come on down!!" but we followed Gaby's lead and no one was the wiser.

Hollis' baptism was a different story. Lisa and I were once again in the back of the church. (Not sure why because at my own church I sit toward the front of the church. And I know Lisa is a join right in kinda person.) But this time Gaby was unable to attend the baptism - and Hollis' mother never told told us to come down front when the families were called for the baptism. So, Lisa and I were blissfully sitting in the back of the church enjoying our surroundings and, since we were in the back, we couldn't really see what was going on in the front of the church. When all of a sudden Tripp rushes down the church aisle frantically asking "Lisa? Lisa Smith?" I am just about to nudge Lisa in the leg when he says "Tonya Sayers?" Ohhhhh the horror!!!!!!!

Well, Lisa and I both realize what is going on and jump into action. At least I tried to. It seems that I had slipped my shoes off so I had to quickly find them with my toes and get them back on the proper feet. Thankfully, I wasn't wearing lace up shoes. Then Lisa and I both had to step over our pew mates and rush walk down front. When we get to the proper spot next to the Godfathers, we had no idea where we were in the service and didn't bring along our programs so we had no idea what our responses were supposed as we vowed to help Hollis make sure his precious little soul makes it to heaven. Ohhhhh the horror!!!!!!!

We muddled through and hoped no one noticed our faux pas. At least we thought we had fooled everyone until we returned to our pew after our muttered promises and our pew mate leans over and asks Lisa why we didn't know we were Godmothers. Ohhhhh the horror!!!!!!!

Well, at least we were there for little Hollis. And we promise we'll do better. :)

(But I can't promise I will have my shoes on.) Ohhhhh the horror!!!!!!!

Spring is Here!! So, you know what that means.

2008-03-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, Spring has sprung here in the Low Country. The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and the plants are sprouting. All this spring-like activity also brings about the need to start thinking about the dreaded pedicures. Egads!!!!

All winter long I have had the luxury of letting my toenails "breath" since I have been wearing fuzzy socks in order to keep my little toes warm. And thanks to my current state of singledom, there is no need to spruce up my toes in the middle of winter just so a boy will think I am cute. But as soon as Spring arrives the sandals come out of the closet and the little toesies have to look good for everyone to see.

I like to get a good spa pedicure but I also like to save professional pedicures for special occasions - cruises, trips, weddings, bonding with the girls, etc... This way it is a guilty pleasure and I feel like I am doing something extra special for myself. But that also means I have relegated myself to being my own pedicurist, which is not as easy as it used to be. First of all, while my eyesight is still very good it isn't what it used to be. And second of all, it just isn't all that easy to reach my toes anymore. Limberness flew out the door after the age of 33 and unlike the swallows of Capistrano, it hasn't returned. Oh to be young and have legs and ankles that would bend any which way just to have pretty toes.

I suppose things could be worse and I could not have any toes at all. And as awful as having no toes sounds, on a day like this it does make a person think: I wouldn't have to worry about my painted toe nails in cute sandals if I had no toes. Hmmm, to have toes or not to have toes? It is a difficult question when the dreaded self pedicure is looming over a girly girl. I am sort of attached to my toes so I guess I will keep them and start soaking them so they will look cute for my first sandal wearing of the season. Oh the dreaded things we do in the name of beauty.

Swan Here We Come!!!!

2008-03-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

Did you know I won a free stay at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel? Well, I did!!! Thanks to the DIS Unplugged podcast and my timely suggestion for a new segment idea, my Mom and I are off to WDW again. We go once or twice a year - it is our "thing". We don't exclude other family members from coming with us but Mom and I are the most flexible schedule-wise so it just works out that we go by ourselves most of the time. (Not having children, I don't have to worry about school schedules. So, in effect, by my not having children I get to go to Disney World a lot more. Hmmmm, odd how that works out.)

This trip we are starting off at Disney's All-Star Sports Resort for the first two nights and then we move to the Swan Hotel for the next two nights. (In Disney fan lingo this is referred to a split stay.) The free Swan stay is the catalyst for this trip. We tried to schedule the trip so my sister and niece could go with us but school doesn't get out until May 20ish and that is the beginning of the busy season so Mom and I just couldn't wait that long. It is just too much for me to have a free hotel stay at WDW and not use it immediatly. I was wanting to go the instant I won the trip. :) We got the Annual Passholder rate for the All-Star Sports portion of our stay. So, for hotel purposes, this trip is costing us less than $200. SWEET!!!!!!!!

On these Mom & Tonya trips we like to go with the flow to a certain extent. Usually I have determined what parks we will be at on certain days based on the Crowd Calendar on TouringPlans.com but we don't have a definite schedule as to what attractions we will see. (The Crowd Calendar lets you know what parks are best to go to on certain days and which parks to avoid. And it is always right!!!) I usually have a wish list of things I want to do but depending on the lines and our moods, we wing it. And usually on these trips I make a fun dining reservation. This year I am going to try to make a Crystal Palace reservation for when we are in the Magic Kingdom. It is a character meal with Pooh and his friends. We don't normally stalk the characters for pictures and autographs in the Parks so a character meal is a fun way to get a picture or two with some characters and get a meal at the same time. (Notice my picture with Goofy - a character meal at Animal Kingdom.) :)

This trip will be during Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival. We've never been to F&G so it will be nice to see all the different displays. We were at the Epcot's Food & Wine Festival last year and had a wonderful time. F&G won't have free wine tastings or international food booths but it will have lots of pretty flowers and fun topiaries. And what could be better than seeing Epcot at its best? Answer: Nothing!!!!!

Disappointing Weekend

2008-03-10T14:39:00.000-04:00

Brody and I trudged up to Jackson Springs, North Carolina this weekend for another Hunt Test. (Jackson Springs is on the outskirts of Pinehurst.) It is a nice area but I wouldn't want to live there. It is in the sandhills of North Carolina, which is exactly what you get - sandy hills. And where you have sand, you have sand spurs. Generally this isn't a problem unless you are barefooted, but for a dog it is a significant problem. Besides, it gets really cold there. (More on the cold later.)

Brody is my wonderful brittany who loves to hunt. He is fondly known as a "bird finding machine" along with "Brody Baby", "cutie pie" and "sugar bug" among other things. Brody is often dismissed at first sight by many hunters who think he is just another cute pampered dog. Brody is in fact really cute and just about the happiest dog you have ever seen and a bit pampered if I do say so myself. He loves life! (And he is NOT as fat as he looks in the picture. Brody gets a fluffy winter coat that I don't like to trim during hunting season. If I trim his fur then he gets cuts on his belly and legs from all of the stickers and brush in the fields.) But once he gets in the bird field he makes all of those dismissive hunters eat their words. And I love to watch their amazement at my Brody Baby's skills. There isn't much better than proving someone wrong even if you can't gloat about it.

Sweet little Brody is working on getting his Master Hunter title. He has 2 of the 5 required qualifying legs. But this weekend did not bring any new qualifications. Here is how it went:

Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m., Brody had a good run until the gunner decided to shoot the quail in the back side from about 6 feet away. Although a good shot, it did nothing for the structural integrity of that poor bird. Brody held steady through the shot and went to retrieve the bird but was having no part of that messy bird. He picked it up and dropped it. His trainer/handler Scott gave him the command to fetch and Brody obliged him by picking the bird up again and promptly dropped it again. As you can imagine, the birds innards were not intact and Brody was having no part of that. (I imagine that bird entrails don't taste all that good.) While I commend him on being particular since I am at heart a girly girl, the hunt test rules state that this is a disqualifying event. Oh well, c'est la vie, que sera sera, and all that good stuff.

Sunday morning was just a disaster waiting to happen. The clocks sprung ahead an hour early this morning for daylight savings time so it was actually 7 a.m. in doggie time. Brody is like his mama and does not do mornings. And given that the hotel alarm clock went off but the radio station was not broadcasting on Sunday morning, I overslept giving us just enough time to frantically speed our way to the bird field but no time to prepare Brody for his brace. It was also about 28 degrees outside and Brody loves him some cold weather. There was a good frost on the ground so the only thing Brody could smell was QUAIL!!!! Sunday mornings are typically a problem for the early braces at a hunt test because all of the birds from the day before are hiding around the fields. This means there are a lot more temptations for a frisky, cold loving, non-morning, bird finding machine of a dog. At least the other dogs working on their master hunter titles thought it was a good morning to do their own thing also. :)

So, Brody and I will most likely make our way to Walhalla, South Carolina for another test in a few weeks. We may not though and just call our hunting season over. All these early mornings are just about to kill me!!!!!

Change in the Weather

2008-02-28T18:31:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just can't get motivated to do anything? Well, this is one of those weeks. I am blaming it on the weather!! It went from really warm to really cold - overnight. Major changes in temperature always seem to throw me out of sync. I wish it wasn't so but alas it is. It could be I am just getting older. :) I seem to be using my age as a reason for many things these days - and I love it!! Certain things come with getting older - you get to say "back in the day" and "those kids" and "youth is wasted on the young". And you get to not really care what people think of things you wear. My friend Dona was telling me about her comfortable but "ugly" shoes that she could tell that younger co-workers didn't approve of. I simply told her that one of the benefits of getting older was being able to say "who cares!!!" Life is just too short to wear really uncomfortable shoes - unless the shoes are really fabulous high heels. Now, let me go put on some Crocs. :)

My very first post!!

2008-02-23T03:47:00.000-05:00

My very first post in my very first blog. This is very exciting!! For some reason I thought this was just what I needed to do at 3:45 a.m. instead of sleeping. Oh, the life of an insomniac. I am not really sure the direction my blogging will go - maybe my love of dogs, Disney, or Jane (Austen for all of you non-Jane people). Maybe how to deal with a chronic disease. Or maybe my quest to find my true life's calling. Or just maybe I will explore the minutia of being single in a couple's world. Who knows, but isn't that part of the fun of a blog - to just explore the life and times of the blogger. Well, here is to the life and times of me: Tonya2426.