tinksmom02
09-25-2009, 09:12 PM
Cast:
Me, Christi
DH, Mark
DD7, Jenna
my mom (aka MiMa)
my dad (aka BeBop or Dan)
our friends Jenn and Ant
their kids: Ant, 7 and the Moose, 2
Day 4: Downtown Disney/MNSSHP
Downtown Disney/Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
I purposely didn’t set the wake up call today, as I knew Jenna was exhausted. I don’t know what triggers it, but she gets congested and starts coughing on every single trip. I’m not exaggerating—we fly in on a Saturday, and by Monday she’s coughing and stuffy. After the first time (with a visit to Urgent Care), we learned our lesson and started traveling with her Flovent and Albuterol.
I, on the other hand, was up before 6am AGAIN. Once my bladder wakes me up, forget it; I can’t fall back to sleep. I considered throwing some laundry in, but figured I’d have to make a lot of noise in the room getting everything together. When I told Mark this when he woke up, he was annoyed that I hadn’t. But I knew that if I had done it, he would have been annoyed too. You just can’t win with him. So I lugged the laundry over and started one big load while Jenna continued sleeping. I switched it over to the dryer (the plan was to bring it back to the room before heading to DTD).
Once we finally roused Jenna, we headed to Capt. Cook’s for breakfast. This was one of the biggest letdowns for us. Having stayed in moderates, we were used to big food courts in our resorts. Capt. Cook’s offered maybe six things for breakfast, and I don’t think that many for lunch or dinner (we didn’t eat there, but my parents did, and were not impressed at all). Anyway, Mark and I ordered the breakfast bounty platter and Jenna had French toast sticks, which looked good but she only picked at. There was nothing wrong with our meals, but everything was just bland. (I forgot to mention that we never even got resort mugs this trip, as I went to the lounge for coffee each day. We didn’t miss the mugs at all, except now that I’m home I wish I had bought them!).
Oh, and somewhere along this process my iPod fell out of my purse and went—you guessed it—right under a washing machine, just out of my reach. A nice gentleman gallantly lifted the front of the machine up so I could reach it (karma paying me back for randomly offering to take pictures of people with their cameras the previous day!).
So I headed back to the laundry to get our stuff, only to discover that it’s still wet! I wait the cycle out, hoping for a miracle, but no dice. Finally I shove more quarters in, pack the laundry bag in Mark’s backpack, and head for the bus stop (very close to the guest laundry). Hopefully no one will steal our stuff while we’re shopping!
Because of our laundry debacle and Jenna sleeping in, we’re heading out later that I would have liked, but again, no wait for the bus. The bus stopped at Typhoon Lagoon first and then Downtown Disney. We met up with Jenn and the crew right away and decided, although it wasn’t quite time for our reservation, to head over to the T-Rex. We checked in about 11:30 and were seated immediately. The place was empty! We were seated in the Ice Cave right behind Trixie the Triceratops. The kids really enjoyed it, although the Moose was (surprisingly) scared of the meteor shower.
We ordered drinks which came with souvenir glasses (I totally could have skipped that if I’d been paying proper attention) and although everything on the menu looked good, we were all still full from breakfast! Mom ordered mozzarella sticks and Mark and I ordered the appetizer sampler, with a side of ribs for Dan. Jenna had buttered pasta (surprise!). The sampler had eggplant bruschetta, quesadillas, onion rings, and a cheese dip with tortillas. Everything was very good although the quesadillas were pretty dry. We were in and out in a relatively short time, and we even managed to avoid the Build-a-Dino and the gift shop altogether! Yay! I don’t have the bill from lunch, but I think that for my parents, Mark, and Jenna, and me, the total, with tip, was about $100. Not that horrible, until you remember that we only had an appetizer platter! Still, I wouldn’t mind returning another time to try some actual food.
From T-Rex we made the short walk over to the Lego store, which was Jenna’s entire reason for visiting DTD. Her and little Ant did the fill-a-cup-with-Legos thing while I hunted down souvenirs for two of my nephews (I settled on the Lego magnet people-- one’s getting Star Wars and the other’s getting Indiana Jones, which meant that Jenna had to get the Spongebob ones!) and the Lego Advent calendar that I spent all of last year regretting not purchasing. Fortunately, they had it! Jenna collects erasers, so she picked out the brick and people erasers, and then somehow we got talked into buying a box of wheels and tires. Jenna paid for most of her stuff with her hard-earned money, and I used a gift card for the rest. Had most of it sent via package delivery, and we moved on. Jenn and the boys decided to head back to their resort to rest up for the party, and we headed to the World of Disney store. Here I was like a woman possessed—I was on a mission! I needed to find gifts for my other nephew and my two nieces, something for Jenna’s teacher, photo albums and anything else that might catch my eye. I was able to get everything I needed (and then some!) except for something for my 9-month old niece; nothing really drew me in. No matter, I still had time. I paid for all of this using another gift card and the balance in cash, and again had everything shipped to my room. Oh, I also took advantage of the special they had: if you spent $30 you could buy a canvas bag for $10. If you spent $50 you could buy a wheelie duffel bag for I’m not sure how much—my mom did that one. The duffel was pretty small, but served her purpose as a carry-on for my dad when we traveled home.
I was just getting into full-blown shopping mode but everyone else was almost done. We hit Basin because Jenna spied some soaps at the Grand Floridian that she’s wanted but we didn’t walk past that way on our way out the night before, so I let her pick some out. After that we hit the margarita stand! Mark and I took turns taking Jenna into the pin store to trade, and I bought her a new pin book. Although I didn’t get to Once Upon a Toy (I’d wanted to build Mr. Potato Heads for my niece and nephew for Christmas gifts), I felt like I got a lot accomplished, and we left shortly after.
Continued below...
Me, Christi
DH, Mark
DD7, Jenna
my mom (aka MiMa)
my dad (aka BeBop or Dan)
our friends Jenn and Ant
their kids: Ant, 7 and the Moose, 2
Day 4: Downtown Disney/MNSSHP
Downtown Disney/Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
I purposely didn’t set the wake up call today, as I knew Jenna was exhausted. I don’t know what triggers it, but she gets congested and starts coughing on every single trip. I’m not exaggerating—we fly in on a Saturday, and by Monday she’s coughing and stuffy. After the first time (with a visit to Urgent Care), we learned our lesson and started traveling with her Flovent and Albuterol.
I, on the other hand, was up before 6am AGAIN. Once my bladder wakes me up, forget it; I can’t fall back to sleep. I considered throwing some laundry in, but figured I’d have to make a lot of noise in the room getting everything together. When I told Mark this when he woke up, he was annoyed that I hadn’t. But I knew that if I had done it, he would have been annoyed too. You just can’t win with him. So I lugged the laundry over and started one big load while Jenna continued sleeping. I switched it over to the dryer (the plan was to bring it back to the room before heading to DTD).
Once we finally roused Jenna, we headed to Capt. Cook’s for breakfast. This was one of the biggest letdowns for us. Having stayed in moderates, we were used to big food courts in our resorts. Capt. Cook’s offered maybe six things for breakfast, and I don’t think that many for lunch or dinner (we didn’t eat there, but my parents did, and were not impressed at all). Anyway, Mark and I ordered the breakfast bounty platter and Jenna had French toast sticks, which looked good but she only picked at. There was nothing wrong with our meals, but everything was just bland. (I forgot to mention that we never even got resort mugs this trip, as I went to the lounge for coffee each day. We didn’t miss the mugs at all, except now that I’m home I wish I had bought them!).
Oh, and somewhere along this process my iPod fell out of my purse and went—you guessed it—right under a washing machine, just out of my reach. A nice gentleman gallantly lifted the front of the machine up so I could reach it (karma paying me back for randomly offering to take pictures of people with their cameras the previous day!).
So I headed back to the laundry to get our stuff, only to discover that it’s still wet! I wait the cycle out, hoping for a miracle, but no dice. Finally I shove more quarters in, pack the laundry bag in Mark’s backpack, and head for the bus stop (very close to the guest laundry). Hopefully no one will steal our stuff while we’re shopping!
Because of our laundry debacle and Jenna sleeping in, we’re heading out later that I would have liked, but again, no wait for the bus. The bus stopped at Typhoon Lagoon first and then Downtown Disney. We met up with Jenn and the crew right away and decided, although it wasn’t quite time for our reservation, to head over to the T-Rex. We checked in about 11:30 and were seated immediately. The place was empty! We were seated in the Ice Cave right behind Trixie the Triceratops. The kids really enjoyed it, although the Moose was (surprisingly) scared of the meteor shower.
We ordered drinks which came with souvenir glasses (I totally could have skipped that if I’d been paying proper attention) and although everything on the menu looked good, we were all still full from breakfast! Mom ordered mozzarella sticks and Mark and I ordered the appetizer sampler, with a side of ribs for Dan. Jenna had buttered pasta (surprise!). The sampler had eggplant bruschetta, quesadillas, onion rings, and a cheese dip with tortillas. Everything was very good although the quesadillas were pretty dry. We were in and out in a relatively short time, and we even managed to avoid the Build-a-Dino and the gift shop altogether! Yay! I don’t have the bill from lunch, but I think that for my parents, Mark, and Jenna, and me, the total, with tip, was about $100. Not that horrible, until you remember that we only had an appetizer platter! Still, I wouldn’t mind returning another time to try some actual food.
From T-Rex we made the short walk over to the Lego store, which was Jenna’s entire reason for visiting DTD. Her and little Ant did the fill-a-cup-with-Legos thing while I hunted down souvenirs for two of my nephews (I settled on the Lego magnet people-- one’s getting Star Wars and the other’s getting Indiana Jones, which meant that Jenna had to get the Spongebob ones!) and the Lego Advent calendar that I spent all of last year regretting not purchasing. Fortunately, they had it! Jenna collects erasers, so she picked out the brick and people erasers, and then somehow we got talked into buying a box of wheels and tires. Jenna paid for most of her stuff with her hard-earned money, and I used a gift card for the rest. Had most of it sent via package delivery, and we moved on. Jenn and the boys decided to head back to their resort to rest up for the party, and we headed to the World of Disney store. Here I was like a woman possessed—I was on a mission! I needed to find gifts for my other nephew and my two nieces, something for Jenna’s teacher, photo albums and anything else that might catch my eye. I was able to get everything I needed (and then some!) except for something for my 9-month old niece; nothing really drew me in. No matter, I still had time. I paid for all of this using another gift card and the balance in cash, and again had everything shipped to my room. Oh, I also took advantage of the special they had: if you spent $30 you could buy a canvas bag for $10. If you spent $50 you could buy a wheelie duffel bag for I’m not sure how much—my mom did that one. The duffel was pretty small, but served her purpose as a carry-on for my dad when we traveled home.
I was just getting into full-blown shopping mode but everyone else was almost done. We hit Basin because Jenna spied some soaps at the Grand Floridian that she’s wanted but we didn’t walk past that way on our way out the night before, so I let her pick some out. After that we hit the margarita stand! Mark and I took turns taking Jenna into the pin store to trade, and I bought her a new pin book. Although I didn’t get to Once Upon a Toy (I’d wanted to build Mr. Potato Heads for my niece and nephew for Christmas gifts), I felt like I got a lot accomplished, and we left shortly after.
Continued below...