Marceline
12-18-2008, 08:15 PM
Day 3, December 4th. On this day the plan was to hit MK in the morning and DHS in the evening for Fantasmic. The best laid plan of Mice and Mommies was to get up early for the EMH at MK, but alas we could not fight the urge to sleep. DD and DH had been good troopers so far and I didn't want to push them too hard. Anybody else a complete Disney scheduling nazi? Show of hands? :here: Yeah, well, I am. I lay it all out atleast 6 months ahead of time, and am wise enough to "schedule in" the unscheduled down time as well. I am so masterful with my planning that I can give my family the cleverly crafted illusion that they are making decisions for themselves. Mwahahahaha! It's diabolical, I know.
DH was running his fingers through his hair after his shower and grumbling about how he should have gotten it cut before we left. A brilliant idea popped into my head. "Honey, there is a barbershop on Main-Street you know." That was agreeable enough to him, and semi-agreeable to my DD, as long as we rode the Pooh ride before we ate lunch. The line at the barbershop was deceptively short enough to warrant the wait. All in all, however, we waited an hour and half for a five minute buzz of the clippers. But it ended up being totally worth it.
The folks in front of us were fun to watch. A little boy got blue spiked and pixie dusted hair with a blue Mickey painted into the back of his head. An adorable little girl had pink wavy stripes applied with pixie-dust along her newly trimmed mane. A special treat happened as we were (finally) seated inside, next in line for the barber chair, and who should appear but the Dapper Dans themselves. A real barbershop quartet in a real barbershop!! They stayed and sang tunes for a good 20-30 minutes, some Christmas songs and some old standards. A sweet older gentleman and his wife, who were wearing Anniversary buttons, had followed the Dans into the shop and were seated and serenaded. It must have been his special Anniversary request, which was followed by an even more special request. The gentleman revealed that he sang in his hometown Barbershop choir and would love to sing a tune with them himself. They graciously obliged and the tenor popped his signature banded straw hat on his head and took a seat. They had a good chuckle as the fella pulled his own tuning harp out of his pocket and sounded the tone in the key of C. They sang a few lovely old requested ballads for his beaming wife. After letting the man play Dapper Dan with them I saw one of the quartet members pull him aside for a second, hand him a card and whisper to him to give them a call if he'd ever like to audition. How cool would that be!:cool:
I personally love Barbershop music and have a familial affinity for it, as my father, grandfather, uncles, cousins and great-uncles fancy themselves Barbershop crooners as well. Most family dinners are not complete without a rendition of "I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old Dad" in four part....or more part, harmony. This day gave us a haircut for a song indeed. As luck would have it, a few minutes into the semi-private show, it was DH's turn in the chair and I was able to videotape his entire haircut, with the Dapper Dans warbling away right next to him. They shuffled and tapped their way out the door just as his cut was finished. Since my DH asked for just a simple bland ol' haircut, the hairdresser lady sarcastically slapped a Mickey sticker on his chest and surprise attacked him with a smattering of pixie dust on top of his head. hehe She also kindly offered to quickly sprinkle my DD with a handful of pixie dust....which by the by is shiny bits of multicolored confetti, some of them Mickey shaped.
The haircut took up the better part of the morning and it was now time to hop the monorail to the Poly to catch our lunchtime ADR at Kona Cafe. DD was happy with a promise to come back to the Pooh ride after lunch, as she was getting a rumbly tumbly too. We puttered around the lush and lovely Poly lobby for a bit before lunch. I find that visiting the resorts is just as much fun for me as visiting the parks. Food, architecture and well crafted ambiance are as big a thrill for me as rides, parades and fireworks are. Kona was delish once again. I had to have the duck potstickers for app. as they were a memorable pleasure from the last trip. I highly recommend the bbq pork tacos here for a lunch entree. Nicely sweet and spicy meat, crisp exotic greens all wrapped in a flaky fried flatbread. Ohhyeah! I came only a moments pause of shame away from licking the plate clean. My picky weird Hubby ordered just sticky rice...plain sticky rice....yeah, he is a bit like Jack Spratt and I am a bit like Jack's wife. heh Accidentally they brought out the Sticky Wings for him instead, but whisked them away to my disappointment as we explained that he had asked for simply sticky RICE......which is just not as nice if ya ask me. I had the Chocolate Banana Creme Brulee for dessert and savored every bite of it's sugar crusted creaminess. I had been instructed by my sisters to snap pics of our food, as it is a twisted hobby of ours to drool over Disney food photos that we find online.:photo: The shot of this brulee brought envious moans of approval.
Upon our return to MK, our DD proclaimed that the time had arrived to get her some ears. She chose a pink princess set that had an attached silver tiara, silver ears and a pink lacy veil in the back...it was quite a set of royal ears.:princess: And of course, everywhere we went brought about the comments..."Hi Princess!" and "Like those ears!" It's pretty sweet that the castmembers are told to make every little kid feel noticed and special....err wait, was it really just my Princess that we got all this attention? *wink* We took our ride with Pooh and fulfilled a special wish our DD had for months and months before this trip. She used to have a giant Pooh bear that was dearly beloved, but, he had something sticky spilled on him that got moldy and so, with tears, he had to be thrown out. So the big talk from her about this trip for the last few months had been about how she couldn't wait until she got her new big Pooh bear. Knowing there was the perfect Pooh store at the end of the ride, she made a beeline for the guy who loves honey. We located the biggest bear in the store and plunked him down on the counter. Now, I don't know about ya'll, but when your kid genuinely is in love with a stuffed friend and hugs it with such complete adoration and thanks you profusely and just glows with joy.....it makes it worth every penny. Giant Pooh bear= $35.95 Moments that follow the purchase= Priceless.:pooh:
DH was wearing thin by now. He is more an Epcot guy as the lack of beer in the MK drives him a little batty. So it was time to get a seat on the WDWRR and head back to the resort for a respite. After a snooze, DH's favorite vacation activity, I cajoled him down to the bus stop to catch an MGM....errhhmm....DHS bus. He had grown hungry by the time we arrived and demanded I find him a buffet where his veggie options were greater. I showed him the way to Hollywood and Vine, and chuckled as we left him on the steps, wishing him good luck with the walk-up wait. heehee My DD and I had an appointment with Fantasmic. It was a good 45 minutes before the show but throngs of people were streaming up into the entrance of the amphitheater already. I made the last second decision to stand in the popcorn cart line at the bottom of the hill before heading in. I am glad I did...as a box of popcorn and a souvenir Holiday mug of hot chocolate shared with your 6 year old make the perfect pairing with an evening viewing of Fantasmic. We had to sit waaaay over in Hades, literally, but really all the seats are good seats......until it's time to leave. There are no quick exits at Fantasmic are there? After the show, we collected up my DH, now stuffed with carbs galore on Hollywood Boulevard and headed out of the park.
The plan was to jump on a boat and checkout the Boardwalk area for fun. The line for the boat launch led us to make the hair-brained decision that taking the walkway to the BW would be faster. HA! Well, at least it was very very very very good exercise. Once at the BW nothing there struck my DH's fancy and he impatiently herded us on to the International Gateway. We continued our long walk trough England, Canada, Future-World and right out the door of Epcot. DH wanted to beat the post-Illuminations crowd and take the bus back home for his favorite activity....resting. I was actually very surprised by how tired we weren't by the time we got to the bus-stop. I think we were actually invigorated by our long stroll. But I agreed with DH, another late-night snack at Roarin' Forks and propping up the tootsies in the room sounded just about right. To my joy and surprise, right as we entered our room to drop off the fanny pack before heading down for grub, Holiday Wishes was flashing and twinkling just above the roof-line across the courtyard. We went out on the balcony and cheered amongst ourselves as we watched the double treat of fireworks and the Water-Parade from our room. Yaaaahhoooo! Only in DisneyWorld.:mickey:
More to come......
DH was running his fingers through his hair after his shower and grumbling about how he should have gotten it cut before we left. A brilliant idea popped into my head. "Honey, there is a barbershop on Main-Street you know." That was agreeable enough to him, and semi-agreeable to my DD, as long as we rode the Pooh ride before we ate lunch. The line at the barbershop was deceptively short enough to warrant the wait. All in all, however, we waited an hour and half for a five minute buzz of the clippers. But it ended up being totally worth it.
The folks in front of us were fun to watch. A little boy got blue spiked and pixie dusted hair with a blue Mickey painted into the back of his head. An adorable little girl had pink wavy stripes applied with pixie-dust along her newly trimmed mane. A special treat happened as we were (finally) seated inside, next in line for the barber chair, and who should appear but the Dapper Dans themselves. A real barbershop quartet in a real barbershop!! They stayed and sang tunes for a good 20-30 minutes, some Christmas songs and some old standards. A sweet older gentleman and his wife, who were wearing Anniversary buttons, had followed the Dans into the shop and were seated and serenaded. It must have been his special Anniversary request, which was followed by an even more special request. The gentleman revealed that he sang in his hometown Barbershop choir and would love to sing a tune with them himself. They graciously obliged and the tenor popped his signature banded straw hat on his head and took a seat. They had a good chuckle as the fella pulled his own tuning harp out of his pocket and sounded the tone in the key of C. They sang a few lovely old requested ballads for his beaming wife. After letting the man play Dapper Dan with them I saw one of the quartet members pull him aside for a second, hand him a card and whisper to him to give them a call if he'd ever like to audition. How cool would that be!:cool:
I personally love Barbershop music and have a familial affinity for it, as my father, grandfather, uncles, cousins and great-uncles fancy themselves Barbershop crooners as well. Most family dinners are not complete without a rendition of "I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old Dad" in four part....or more part, harmony. This day gave us a haircut for a song indeed. As luck would have it, a few minutes into the semi-private show, it was DH's turn in the chair and I was able to videotape his entire haircut, with the Dapper Dans warbling away right next to him. They shuffled and tapped their way out the door just as his cut was finished. Since my DH asked for just a simple bland ol' haircut, the hairdresser lady sarcastically slapped a Mickey sticker on his chest and surprise attacked him with a smattering of pixie dust on top of his head. hehe She also kindly offered to quickly sprinkle my DD with a handful of pixie dust....which by the by is shiny bits of multicolored confetti, some of them Mickey shaped.
The haircut took up the better part of the morning and it was now time to hop the monorail to the Poly to catch our lunchtime ADR at Kona Cafe. DD was happy with a promise to come back to the Pooh ride after lunch, as she was getting a rumbly tumbly too. We puttered around the lush and lovely Poly lobby for a bit before lunch. I find that visiting the resorts is just as much fun for me as visiting the parks. Food, architecture and well crafted ambiance are as big a thrill for me as rides, parades and fireworks are. Kona was delish once again. I had to have the duck potstickers for app. as they were a memorable pleasure from the last trip. I highly recommend the bbq pork tacos here for a lunch entree. Nicely sweet and spicy meat, crisp exotic greens all wrapped in a flaky fried flatbread. Ohhyeah! I came only a moments pause of shame away from licking the plate clean. My picky weird Hubby ordered just sticky rice...plain sticky rice....yeah, he is a bit like Jack Spratt and I am a bit like Jack's wife. heh Accidentally they brought out the Sticky Wings for him instead, but whisked them away to my disappointment as we explained that he had asked for simply sticky RICE......which is just not as nice if ya ask me. I had the Chocolate Banana Creme Brulee for dessert and savored every bite of it's sugar crusted creaminess. I had been instructed by my sisters to snap pics of our food, as it is a twisted hobby of ours to drool over Disney food photos that we find online.:photo: The shot of this brulee brought envious moans of approval.
Upon our return to MK, our DD proclaimed that the time had arrived to get her some ears. She chose a pink princess set that had an attached silver tiara, silver ears and a pink lacy veil in the back...it was quite a set of royal ears.:princess: And of course, everywhere we went brought about the comments..."Hi Princess!" and "Like those ears!" It's pretty sweet that the castmembers are told to make every little kid feel noticed and special....err wait, was it really just my Princess that we got all this attention? *wink* We took our ride with Pooh and fulfilled a special wish our DD had for months and months before this trip. She used to have a giant Pooh bear that was dearly beloved, but, he had something sticky spilled on him that got moldy and so, with tears, he had to be thrown out. So the big talk from her about this trip for the last few months had been about how she couldn't wait until she got her new big Pooh bear. Knowing there was the perfect Pooh store at the end of the ride, she made a beeline for the guy who loves honey. We located the biggest bear in the store and plunked him down on the counter. Now, I don't know about ya'll, but when your kid genuinely is in love with a stuffed friend and hugs it with such complete adoration and thanks you profusely and just glows with joy.....it makes it worth every penny. Giant Pooh bear= $35.95 Moments that follow the purchase= Priceless.:pooh:
DH was wearing thin by now. He is more an Epcot guy as the lack of beer in the MK drives him a little batty. So it was time to get a seat on the WDWRR and head back to the resort for a respite. After a snooze, DH's favorite vacation activity, I cajoled him down to the bus stop to catch an MGM....errhhmm....DHS bus. He had grown hungry by the time we arrived and demanded I find him a buffet where his veggie options were greater. I showed him the way to Hollywood and Vine, and chuckled as we left him on the steps, wishing him good luck with the walk-up wait. heehee My DD and I had an appointment with Fantasmic. It was a good 45 minutes before the show but throngs of people were streaming up into the entrance of the amphitheater already. I made the last second decision to stand in the popcorn cart line at the bottom of the hill before heading in. I am glad I did...as a box of popcorn and a souvenir Holiday mug of hot chocolate shared with your 6 year old make the perfect pairing with an evening viewing of Fantasmic. We had to sit waaaay over in Hades, literally, but really all the seats are good seats......until it's time to leave. There are no quick exits at Fantasmic are there? After the show, we collected up my DH, now stuffed with carbs galore on Hollywood Boulevard and headed out of the park.
The plan was to jump on a boat and checkout the Boardwalk area for fun. The line for the boat launch led us to make the hair-brained decision that taking the walkway to the BW would be faster. HA! Well, at least it was very very very very good exercise. Once at the BW nothing there struck my DH's fancy and he impatiently herded us on to the International Gateway. We continued our long walk trough England, Canada, Future-World and right out the door of Epcot. DH wanted to beat the post-Illuminations crowd and take the bus back home for his favorite activity....resting. I was actually very surprised by how tired we weren't by the time we got to the bus-stop. I think we were actually invigorated by our long stroll. But I agreed with DH, another late-night snack at Roarin' Forks and propping up the tootsies in the room sounded just about right. To my joy and surprise, right as we entered our room to drop off the fanny pack before heading down for grub, Holiday Wishes was flashing and twinkling just above the roof-line across the courtyard. We went out on the balcony and cheered amongst ourselves as we watched the double treat of fireworks and the Water-Parade from our room. Yaaaahhoooo! Only in DisneyWorld.:mickey:
More to come......