lynnek
11-21-2010, 05:45 PM
Day 3
Today is Spa Day for me!!! Yeah!!!:thumbsup: I had reservations at the spa at the Grand Floridian at 8:00 a.m. DH, DS, DD1 and DD2 had breakfast reservations at 1900 Park Fare with characters at 8:20. We left at 7:15. Now if DH would just follow the signs we would be fine. A note here: one would think traffic would be a bit mild at this hour but there was the golf classic going on, so there were additional signs, traffic etc. DH decided to go to the left at the arch thing.:bang: He was determined to get to Grand Floridian Way because the Spa was right near the wedding chapel on that side of the resort. At this point, I have not consulted a taxi driver, am just letting him drive. This is how we always work things. He handles the transport, my territory is what’s needed for the day for the kids. Well we found ourselves in a nice big parking lot designated for the golf classic. A CM sent us back around to that arch thing and explained very nicely we needed to go to the RIGHT. I am now getting mad.:mad: I will not be late to my Spa appt!! I have been looking forward to this for 6 months!! There wasn’t a lot of conversation and it felt a little tense until we pulled up to the sidewalk that led to the spa. O.K. deep breaths. I had booked an aromatherapy massage with reflexology. 2 hours total!! I really loved everything about this spa. The feel of it, the personnel (I have been to a few places that really had an uncomfortable stuffy feeling—this was not at all like that), the soft robes, everything. I was introduced to my massage therapist who then helped me chose some fabulous oils. I had a wonderful, relaxing two hours. Some great tips on choosing a therapist at home as well as some tips as to what to do at home. Great experience!!
Meanwhile my DH was ay 1900 Park Fare with DS, DD1&2 for a character breakfast. They enjoyed visits from Mary Poppins, Alice, Tigger, Pooh and Piglet. We were unsure how DD2 would react to characters, really booking a couple character meals for the fact they would be floating around the place rather than her actually getting into photos. DD1 did enjoy some time with Alice and they came back with some great photos with all the rest as well. The rest of the vacation DD2 waved at Pooh, Tigger and Piglet when she spotted them. So cute! Really had no need to wait in lines for pictures with any characters though, as she really didn’t care for them too much up close—unless they were going to play or dance with her—more later on that—Playhouse Disney Dance Party. DH did not care for this character breakfast or any other for that matter. Part of it being a buffet—he likes buffets, liked some at Disney, just did not like the character ones. Madhouse was a term he used. After they finished, they explored the Grand Floridian, inside and out. Everyone loved the Gingerbread house.
After my spa appt, we met up and went to Magic Kingdom. This is the first time DD2 has been. Same for me. As we are wandering up Main St, the street party started. DD2 was thrilled to see Woody and Jesse. Note to Disney—girls like Toy Story too. Mom’s don’t always like to buy blue, green or black t-shirts for their girls—try yellow, red?? Maybe even light gray? After it passed us, we decided to try and head to Fantasyland—I’m not really thinking it’s after 10 at this point, had I had this thought, we would not have gone there. We wandered through the rose garden, loving the heavy scent of all the roses. A CM was trimming them and gave us a few handfuls of fully blooming roses! Gorgeous! Pinched off the thorns, DD2 clung to them for quite awhile. DH knew my main goal was to ride Dumbo with DD2so that’s where we head. Huge line…O.K. huge for this time of year. And it’s hot. While we’re waiting in line with DS, DD1 and DH go to get Fastpasses somewhere. During this lovely wait in line, I am coming to my senses. I have much more of an idea of where to go when than DH(plus I was wearing the watch), just a really bad sense of direction. Have you ever followed a person with a stroller who is maddenly wandering all over the place? That wasn’t me—that time, unless you were in Magic Kingdom on 11/14. So after Dumbo, I got us straightened out. I would tell the boys where I wanted to go, they would would get us there. Not commando style, just a bit more efficiently than me. DD2 loved Dumbo! So much so that we went on Dumbo’s sister rides quite a few time—Magic Carpets and Triceratops Spin—she loved those just as much as Dumbo!
We had ADR’s at Whipsering Canyon at 1:20.:cowboy: The Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s flight weren’t until about then, so we decided to give those away and take our time getting to lunch, enjoying the day. My DS got elected to give those away. He said he went to the line, found a family who had just gotten in line and gave the tickets to them. DD1 wanted to know how he chose them—his answer—“I looked for a kid about my age who looked like he was being forced to go on with a younger sister. Man did he look relieved!” We took the boat to the Wilderness Lodge. We were getting pretty good at this ferry thing—who takes the baby, who collapses the stroller, which ferry went where, which ferry you didn’t need to collapse the stroller and wake a sleeping baby—still hadn’t figured out that the backpack with the baby stuff needed to stay with the parent who actually had the baby though. :confused:
O.K. Whispering Canyon—I really thought we’d enjoy this one. Noise and chaos, not a problem, DD2 was entertained with the horse races. Service was not good. We were at a table in the back near the food service entrance. It took 2.5 hrs to get out of there!!:noway: Apps—chili, pork rolls, queso and chips. The salsa with the chips was frozen. Grabbed a waiter, not ours to take it back and exchange. Pork rolls were good as was the chili. At every restaurant, we were asked if we were on the dining plan and which one. At most restaurants we were told if we were ordering something not on the plan. At some restaurants smoothies were on the plan and then not at others? Yes, here, Olivia’s, Sanaa but then not at Grand Floridian Café? What? I did not ask the server if the Tinkerbell/Buzz thing was on the plan at Whispering Canyon. I had had three fabulous servers—at Sanaa, Narcoossee’s and Olivia’s, all being very helpful, letting me know about the menu, plan etc, and made the mistake of not checking about this particular drink. Not a problem, we paid for two of these things for the DD’s. Only thing was, I should have returned the Tink one I did not order for the Buzz one I did—DD2 is obsessed with Toy Story. Just irked me at the end of this lonnngggg meal. Entrée’s—DH, DS and DD1 ordered the skillet, I ordered the turkey sandwich. Can you tell me how you grill two pieces of bread like a Panini, melt the cheese and then keep the turkey inside cold—a culinary feat!! Not a culinary masterpiece. And it arrived well after the skillet thing—manager was trading pins with DD1 and noticed I didn’t have lunch. Skillet was a bit of a miss for my family as well. Could be because of the dining plan and all that food. Glad we did lunch here and not dinner.
After lunch we shopped in the gift shop. Read a tip in someone’s recent trip report about each store having different marked down apparel—so true!! Thank you thank you for the tip!! :thumbsup:I love that the CM’s know that the kids will want to wear their Goofy hats as soon as purchased or play with their toys. Always happy to cut off tags etc. DD1 really was having a great time trading pins!
We headed for some resort time after this—this was our relaxation day after all! DH chose to do nap time with DD2 instead of the pool time with the other two….We picked up our refillable mugs and I had a nice relaxing afternoon poolside with a good book. CBR has a great pool area, main bldg area. We decided to make sure to build in more resort time next trip.
Today is Spa Day for me!!! Yeah!!!:thumbsup: I had reservations at the spa at the Grand Floridian at 8:00 a.m. DH, DS, DD1 and DD2 had breakfast reservations at 1900 Park Fare with characters at 8:20. We left at 7:15. Now if DH would just follow the signs we would be fine. A note here: one would think traffic would be a bit mild at this hour but there was the golf classic going on, so there were additional signs, traffic etc. DH decided to go to the left at the arch thing.:bang: He was determined to get to Grand Floridian Way because the Spa was right near the wedding chapel on that side of the resort. At this point, I have not consulted a taxi driver, am just letting him drive. This is how we always work things. He handles the transport, my territory is what’s needed for the day for the kids. Well we found ourselves in a nice big parking lot designated for the golf classic. A CM sent us back around to that arch thing and explained very nicely we needed to go to the RIGHT. I am now getting mad.:mad: I will not be late to my Spa appt!! I have been looking forward to this for 6 months!! There wasn’t a lot of conversation and it felt a little tense until we pulled up to the sidewalk that led to the spa. O.K. deep breaths. I had booked an aromatherapy massage with reflexology. 2 hours total!! I really loved everything about this spa. The feel of it, the personnel (I have been to a few places that really had an uncomfortable stuffy feeling—this was not at all like that), the soft robes, everything. I was introduced to my massage therapist who then helped me chose some fabulous oils. I had a wonderful, relaxing two hours. Some great tips on choosing a therapist at home as well as some tips as to what to do at home. Great experience!!
Meanwhile my DH was ay 1900 Park Fare with DS, DD1&2 for a character breakfast. They enjoyed visits from Mary Poppins, Alice, Tigger, Pooh and Piglet. We were unsure how DD2 would react to characters, really booking a couple character meals for the fact they would be floating around the place rather than her actually getting into photos. DD1 did enjoy some time with Alice and they came back with some great photos with all the rest as well. The rest of the vacation DD2 waved at Pooh, Tigger and Piglet when she spotted them. So cute! Really had no need to wait in lines for pictures with any characters though, as she really didn’t care for them too much up close—unless they were going to play or dance with her—more later on that—Playhouse Disney Dance Party. DH did not care for this character breakfast or any other for that matter. Part of it being a buffet—he likes buffets, liked some at Disney, just did not like the character ones. Madhouse was a term he used. After they finished, they explored the Grand Floridian, inside and out. Everyone loved the Gingerbread house.
After my spa appt, we met up and went to Magic Kingdom. This is the first time DD2 has been. Same for me. As we are wandering up Main St, the street party started. DD2 was thrilled to see Woody and Jesse. Note to Disney—girls like Toy Story too. Mom’s don’t always like to buy blue, green or black t-shirts for their girls—try yellow, red?? Maybe even light gray? After it passed us, we decided to try and head to Fantasyland—I’m not really thinking it’s after 10 at this point, had I had this thought, we would not have gone there. We wandered through the rose garden, loving the heavy scent of all the roses. A CM was trimming them and gave us a few handfuls of fully blooming roses! Gorgeous! Pinched off the thorns, DD2 clung to them for quite awhile. DH knew my main goal was to ride Dumbo with DD2so that’s where we head. Huge line…O.K. huge for this time of year. And it’s hot. While we’re waiting in line with DS, DD1 and DH go to get Fastpasses somewhere. During this lovely wait in line, I am coming to my senses. I have much more of an idea of where to go when than DH(plus I was wearing the watch), just a really bad sense of direction. Have you ever followed a person with a stroller who is maddenly wandering all over the place? That wasn’t me—that time, unless you were in Magic Kingdom on 11/14. So after Dumbo, I got us straightened out. I would tell the boys where I wanted to go, they would would get us there. Not commando style, just a bit more efficiently than me. DD2 loved Dumbo! So much so that we went on Dumbo’s sister rides quite a few time—Magic Carpets and Triceratops Spin—she loved those just as much as Dumbo!
We had ADR’s at Whipsering Canyon at 1:20.:cowboy: The Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s flight weren’t until about then, so we decided to give those away and take our time getting to lunch, enjoying the day. My DS got elected to give those away. He said he went to the line, found a family who had just gotten in line and gave the tickets to them. DD1 wanted to know how he chose them—his answer—“I looked for a kid about my age who looked like he was being forced to go on with a younger sister. Man did he look relieved!” We took the boat to the Wilderness Lodge. We were getting pretty good at this ferry thing—who takes the baby, who collapses the stroller, which ferry went where, which ferry you didn’t need to collapse the stroller and wake a sleeping baby—still hadn’t figured out that the backpack with the baby stuff needed to stay with the parent who actually had the baby though. :confused:
O.K. Whispering Canyon—I really thought we’d enjoy this one. Noise and chaos, not a problem, DD2 was entertained with the horse races. Service was not good. We were at a table in the back near the food service entrance. It took 2.5 hrs to get out of there!!:noway: Apps—chili, pork rolls, queso and chips. The salsa with the chips was frozen. Grabbed a waiter, not ours to take it back and exchange. Pork rolls were good as was the chili. At every restaurant, we were asked if we were on the dining plan and which one. At most restaurants we were told if we were ordering something not on the plan. At some restaurants smoothies were on the plan and then not at others? Yes, here, Olivia’s, Sanaa but then not at Grand Floridian Café? What? I did not ask the server if the Tinkerbell/Buzz thing was on the plan at Whispering Canyon. I had had three fabulous servers—at Sanaa, Narcoossee’s and Olivia’s, all being very helpful, letting me know about the menu, plan etc, and made the mistake of not checking about this particular drink. Not a problem, we paid for two of these things for the DD’s. Only thing was, I should have returned the Tink one I did not order for the Buzz one I did—DD2 is obsessed with Toy Story. Just irked me at the end of this lonnngggg meal. Entrée’s—DH, DS and DD1 ordered the skillet, I ordered the turkey sandwich. Can you tell me how you grill two pieces of bread like a Panini, melt the cheese and then keep the turkey inside cold—a culinary feat!! Not a culinary masterpiece. And it arrived well after the skillet thing—manager was trading pins with DD1 and noticed I didn’t have lunch. Skillet was a bit of a miss for my family as well. Could be because of the dining plan and all that food. Glad we did lunch here and not dinner.
After lunch we shopped in the gift shop. Read a tip in someone’s recent trip report about each store having different marked down apparel—so true!! Thank you thank you for the tip!! :thumbsup:I love that the CM’s know that the kids will want to wear their Goofy hats as soon as purchased or play with their toys. Always happy to cut off tags etc. DD1 really was having a great time trading pins!
We headed for some resort time after this—this was our relaxation day after all! DH chose to do nap time with DD2 instead of the pool time with the other two….We picked up our refillable mugs and I had a nice relaxing afternoon poolside with a good book. CBR has a great pool area, main bldg area. We decided to make sure to build in more resort time next trip.