"Are you done with that?!" A photo heavy, gluttonous, Jan 2012 Trip Report! NEW PG32
- Thread starter Twoboysnmygirl
- Start date
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
What if I don't tell you anything tomorrow and make you wait like everyone else?!?!?
That's just EVIL!!
BTW, I think our PTR is going to get some action b/c I'm ready to plan again! How many days have I been home? Not even 2?
I'm glad to hear that because I've done all the planning I can for the beach and the UO trip in 2013- I need something to plan!!
Oh, and since I already know what you ate I won't guess but even if I hadn't already known it would have been an easy guess.
Lovin' the pics so far and the fact that Dylan is picking up the photography bug... sounds like someone needs a new camera so he can start practicing with this one...
ksack
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
Wow! Thank you and Welcome! That is truly a compliment, I worry that I'm just rambling aimlessly and people will get tired of me! I know I get tired of me sometimes even!
Keep on rambling!! We are thinking of driving ourselves - depending on how much airfare costs, so I may need the proverbial 2x4 up side the head come this fall... BTW we are in Central WI so we are talking about a 20 hour drive...
danimaroo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
That is not fun walking into a massive crowd upon arrival! Especially at such a slow time of year, it's not what you expect. I can't believe Pop was entirely full though! 
But that is really exciting you got the room you wanted. I can't wait to see photos from it, especially of the fireworks! 
You guys are definitely troopers doing the drive, but I will be in your next PTR telling you, "NO YOU ARE FLYING!" when you try to bring up driving. Flying is so much nicer, it's worth the extra money and saving where you can for it, that's for sure!
I like the rambling, because I'm totally known for it, too, but it makes the TR that much more personable, in my opinion.
Oh and your photos look good to me! It's hard to know what size works for everyone!
But that is really exciting you got the room you wanted. I can't wait to see photos from it, especially of the fireworks! You guys are definitely troopers doing the drive, but I will be in your next PTR telling you, "NO YOU ARE FLYING!" when you try to bring up driving. Flying is so much nicer, it's worth the extra money and saving where you can for it, that's for sure!
I like the rambling, because I'm totally known for it, too, but it makes the TR that much more personable, in my opinion.
Oh and your photos look good to me! It's hard to know what size works for everyone!
KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
Great update, Karen, and great photos.
We used to drive from Chicago to Disney ALL the time. I do not like night driving either, and we now fly every trip (although I must admit...I hate flying!).
I'm sorry you had such a crowd when you checked into the resort; I hope the resort didn't stay crowded your entire stay.
We used to drive from Chicago to Disney ALL the time. I do not like night driving either, and we now fly every trip (although I must admit...I hate flying!).
I'm sorry you had such a crowd when you checked into the resort; I hope the resort didn't stay crowded your entire stay.
exwdwcm
wishes she was Wendy Moira Angela Darling
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
Hi Karen- welcome home! So glad to see the TR started! I can't wait. 
So sorry you had car issues, but so glad you made it safely. I was worried there for a minute. I can't wait to hear what you ate and why the resort was so crowded/sold out- cheerleaders????
So sorry you had car issues, but so glad you made it safely. I was worried there for a minute. I can't wait to hear what you ate and why the resort was so crowded/sold out- cheerleaders????
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
I am such a goof....I meant to say I found you through reading Ann's post. That's what I get for typing so early in the morning and trying to hurry up and not get caught at work!!!
And here I thought there was another Karen!
Yay for subbing! AND...you are right about one of those guesses!
I'm glad to hear that because I've done all the planning I can for the beach and the UO trip in 2013- I need something to plan!!
Oh, and since I already know what you ate I won't guess but even if I hadn't already known it would have been an easy guess.
Lovin' the pics so far and the fact that Dylan is picking up the photography bug... sounds like someone needs a new camera so he can start practicing with this one...
I think when I'm done with the TR, I will look over our plans and we should tweak and make some changes based on what I learned from my trip. I'm also itching to upgrade to Boardwalk or Beach Club b/c since Rey things they are "hoity-toity" (isn't that what he said today?) then we can stay there without him. Not sure we could pull it off though, depends on the discounts...
Oh man, it took us 21 to get back, you'll hear about that later, and I had a breakdown. It.just.took.forever.
That is not fun walking into a massive crowd upon arrival! Especially at such a slow time of year, it's not what you expect. I can't believe Pop was entirely full though!
You guys are definitely troopers doing the drive, but I will be in your next PTR telling you, "NO YOU ARE FLYING!" when you try to bring up driving. Flying is so much nicer, it's worth the extra money and saving where you can for it, that's for sure!
I like the rambling, because I'm totally known for it, too, but it makes the TR that much more personable, in my opinion.
Oh and your photos look good to me! It's hard to know what size works for everyone!
Yep, I think we might have missed the mark by a week or so. From what I've seen so far in your TR, you didn't have much crowds and we did! It didn't ruin anything, but it was way more than expected for the time of year and what I had been told.
The great thing about Pop is that it's HUGE! Our room placement was perfect and secluded, so the only time it ever felt really crowded was in the mornings and we were not usually eating, just filling our mugs!
Hi Karen- welcome home! So glad to see the TR started! I can't wait.
So sorry you had car issues, but so glad you made it safely. I was worried there for a minute. I can't wait to hear what you ate and why the resort was so crowded/sold out- cheerleaders????
Yep, we had some groups of girls, but we thought we overheard them saying Argentina. They were not really any trouble, just a LOT OF BODIES!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
I'm here! I'm so excited to read your TR and see the pictures! Great start!
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Wow 17 hours
It definitely gave me a new found respect for my husband's job! He drives around 8-10 hours a DAY, every day! I don't know how he does it, I would go crazy!
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
What's red and yellow and green and blue and purple all over?!?! That's right, the very first thing I ate at Disney was Pop's tie dye cheesecake!
Now I will admit it, I don't eat the kinds of foods that I ate at Disney very often...ok, really ever. Rey and the kids say that I can't really judge whether something is good b/c I don't ever eat the stuff, so when I do, I think it's great...but I think it was GREAT! I had never had red velvet before, I thought that really made the cheesecake to have that bottom layer. Savannah got one as well and liked it, everyone else stuck their nose up and said they didn't think they could eat something that colorful. I had no problem...trust me!
Rey and Dylan were not hungry, Dallas got a cherry turnover and Leslee had a massive oreo cupcake. I didn't take pics of those because it was so early on in the trip, I think I must have still felt silly taking pictures of other people's food...have no fear, I lost that inhibition pretty quick!
Oh and each tie dye cheesecake is different, which made it especially difficult for me to pick a piece! In the end, I went with the biggest I could find, naturally!
After our snack, we moseyed back over to the bowling pin pool and sat in the sun! Ahhhh sun! I have a vitamin D deficiency, especially in the winter, and although I take supplements, there's just nothing like the actual sun. My friends say I'm part plant.
Dallas still had his sweatshirt on, but not for long! It was already in the upper 60s at noon and headed to the 70s. Very warm compared to other January's that I have read about.
I had to get a shot of Rey with HIS cup. He chose PINK, naturally. My husband is a nut sometimes, precisely why I love him!
At 12:35 we got the text! Our rooms were ready...or at least we got a text for one room! We walked up the stairs just for fun and up, up, up we went! 4th floor! I thought we might end up having a bunch of trees in front of our door as we were walking, but low and behold, we found the rooms and THIS was the view!
If you look REALLY close, you can see just a tiny bit of the top of Spaceship Earth out there near the orangish tree closest to the bowling pin! The building on the left is the least finished of the AoA buildings. They were working on it, but we woke up early enough that the noise never was an issue. To the left more was more lake and the more finished part of AoA. Somehow I only have a zoomed shot of that and not one including our balcony.
Only one of the rooms was ready, our mousekeeper was working on the other, which was fine, we had loads of stuff to bring up!
The two connecting rooms worked really well for us. Rey & I and Savannah & Leslee shared a room and then the boys had their own room. I had worried there wouldn't be enough space for 6 of us, but there was plenty and we were not in the room that often, so it functioned well!
After dragging up a ton of stuff to the room, and getting situated (both rooms were ready)...I headed to the POOL! duh!
The girls came with me most days, but the first day they didn't. They were really tired from no sleep most of the night and they stayed in the room for a bit, walked up to get refills, and then showered for dinner. It was 70 degrees, but perfect for just laying in the sun. Ahhhhh (can you hear my heaving sigh of relief and relaxation?!!)
I went up after about an hour and got ready for dinner. Our first ADR was OOP, I had used mypoints to get rewards and had $125 in gift cards for Rainforest Cafe. Savannah LOVES RFC, I think just for the Volcano dessert, but I digress...
So off we went to one of my favorite places!
(not RFC, but DTD!)
Uh wow, whose bright idea was it to go to DTD on a Saturday night when the weather was unseasonably warm in Florida?!?! It was just a TAD busy! Ok, it was really busy. We headed straight to RFC and they seated us immediately! I got a Green Python and sucked that baby down. Probably too fast considering how long it took for the food. Super refreshing!
Savannah was sad part of the meal, I believe she was even crying a bit, she was really homesick and missing her pets. Luckily she wasn't upset the whole time, she loves the fish at RFC.
I think the limit is 25 images per post, I'm not sure I'll make it to the end of the night at this rate!
It took forever for the food, which was surprising since it wasn't busy when we first got in there. The girls were disgusted that they only got red and green "christmas colored" crayons...I think they were more disgusted that they GOT crayons. The nerve! They are nearly teenagers!
So they scribbled like little kids to prove their point.
Going to have to continue in another post with the food!...
Now I will admit it, I don't eat the kinds of foods that I ate at Disney very often...ok, really ever. Rey and the kids say that I can't really judge whether something is good b/c I don't ever eat the stuff, so when I do, I think it's great...but I think it was GREAT!
I had never had red velvet before, I thought that really made the cheesecake to have that bottom layer. Savannah got one as well and liked it, everyone else stuck their nose up and said they didn't think they could eat something that colorful. I had no problem...trust me!
Rey and Dylan were not hungry, Dallas got a cherry turnover and Leslee had a massive oreo cupcake. I didn't take pics of those because it was so early on in the trip, I think I must have still felt silly taking pictures of other people's food...have no fear, I lost that inhibition pretty quick!
Oh and each tie dye cheesecake is different, which made it especially difficult for me to pick a piece! In the end, I went with the biggest I could find, naturally!
After our snack, we moseyed back over to the bowling pin pool and sat in the sun! Ahhhh sun! I have a vitamin D deficiency, especially in the winter, and although I take supplements, there's just nothing like the actual sun. My friends say I'm part plant.
Dallas still had his sweatshirt on, but not for long! It was already in the upper 60s at noon and headed to the 70s. Very warm compared to other January's that I have read about.
I had to get a shot of Rey with HIS cup. He chose PINK, naturally. My husband is a nut sometimes, precisely why I love him!
At 12:35 we got the text! Our rooms were ready...or at least we got a text for one room! We walked up the stairs just for fun and up, up, up we went! 4th floor! I thought we might end up having a bunch of trees in front of our door as we were walking, but low and behold, we found the rooms and THIS was the view!
If you look REALLY close, you can see just a tiny bit of the top of Spaceship Earth out there near the orangish tree closest to the bowling pin! The building on the left is the least finished of the AoA buildings. They were working on it, but we woke up early enough that the noise never was an issue. To the left more was more lake and the more finished part of AoA. Somehow I only have a zoomed shot of that and not one including our balcony.
Only one of the rooms was ready, our mousekeeper was working on the other, which was fine, we had loads of stuff to bring up!
The two connecting rooms worked really well for us. Rey & I and Savannah & Leslee shared a room and then the boys had their own room. I had worried there wouldn't be enough space for 6 of us, but there was plenty and we were not in the room that often, so it functioned well!
After dragging up a ton of stuff to the room, and getting situated (both rooms were ready)...I headed to the POOL! duh!
The girls came with me most days, but the first day they didn't. They were really tired from no sleep most of the night and they stayed in the room for a bit, walked up to get refills, and then showered for dinner. It was 70 degrees, but perfect for just laying in the sun. Ahhhhh (can you hear my heaving sigh of relief and relaxation?!!)
I went up after about an hour and got ready for dinner. Our first ADR was OOP, I had used mypoints to get rewards and had $125 in gift cards for Rainforest Cafe. Savannah LOVES RFC, I think just for the Volcano dessert, but I digress...
So off we went to one of my favorite places!
(not RFC, but DTD!)
Uh wow, whose bright idea was it to go to DTD on a Saturday night when the weather was unseasonably warm in Florida?!?!
It was just a TAD busy! Ok, it was really busy. We headed straight to RFC and they seated us immediately! I got a Green Python and sucked that baby down. Probably too fast considering how long it took for the food. Super refreshing!
Savannah was sad part of the meal, I believe she was even crying a bit, she was really homesick and missing her pets. Luckily she wasn't upset the whole time, she loves the fish at RFC.
I think the limit is 25 images per post, I'm not sure I'll make it to the end of the night at this rate!
It took forever for the food, which was surprising since it wasn't busy when we first got in there. The girls were disgusted that they only got red and green "christmas colored" crayons...I think they were more disgusted that they GOT crayons. The nerve! They are nearly teenagers!
So they scribbled like little kids to prove their point.
Going to have to continue in another post with the food!...
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
After nearly an eternity, which really wasn't that bad since we were in Disney and just soaking it all up, our food arrived!
I got the portobello burger. I've had it before (it's really the only thing without meat on the menu other than salad) and it's good! Onion rings were good as well, I had no complaints about my food!
Rey got the appetizer sampler, which he really liked.
Dylan got a burger, which I failed to get a pic of, he liked it. Dallas, however, got a shrimp/pasta plate and this was his least favorite meal of the trip. I didn't get a picture, but he ate because hungry but really didn't enjoy it at all. He said there were only a couple pieces of shrimp and the sauce tasted like it was out of a jar.
The girls had mac-n-cheese (.99 meals w/a coupon I had) and they liked it, but what they really wanted was a VOLCANO!!!! Not only did they get one to share, but the boys did as well.
I had a couple bites...of course! I thought it was just ok. Honestly, it's the size that makes them all excited. It's just brownies, ice cream, and sauce. 
Rey & I ordered this gem to share:
Uh...YUM! Really cool to taste Margarita AND Corona together. Wasn't sure I would like it, but I did. It was called a Conarita.
Finally stuffed, the bill came and it was $204. I just didn't think it was worth that much. This was standard chain restaurant food and I thought the bill would be smaller with the girls having .99 meals. The Volcano's and the drinks put us up there, I guess. Oh and Rey had 1 beer too. An 18% tip was included in all our meals, although I always gave them more than what it had on there. So, we spent $75ish out of pocket for the meal, which is ok because I think RFC is more about the experience and the atmosphere, but I hadn't planned on it. Might change our plans further on in the week because of that!...
There's no way to avoid the next stop for us, straight across from RFC...
We didn't buy anything, but Goofy's is just one of those stores you have to walk around (and drool in).
I know a lot of people have talked about how the make-it-yourself stuff isn't a snack credit, but I did notice some stuff that was a snack credit. I thought these looked pretty nice for a snack, although I had other plans for my credits!
We headed to Once Upon a Toy after that...
Savannah started to get a little upset again and as we were walking out of the store in back, I walked right into a little gem just to cheer her up! A engraving machine with dog tags! She didn't even hesitate to spend $10 a pop to get her dogs each a personalized Disney doggie tag. It really cheered her up.
that's the back/engraved part of them, here is the front...and the little "shrine" she set up on the dresser in our room with pictures of her dogs (there was also a framed pic of our cats as well, not in the shot)
We made our way to WoD, but wow it was crazy! Where did STITCH GO?!?!?! They were doing some refurb work at DTD as well, so maybe he's just getting fixed??? Looks pretty empty without him...
We didn't do a ton of shopping b/c it was just too hard with how many people there were. The girls tried on a few more hats
The sun was going down and we decided to head out.
On the way, I had to make one last stop! Babycakes! Babycakes has Gluten free/vegan treats and I could not wait to try them!
I got a doughnut and a blondie cupcake this night (got more later in the week, I'll post a pic then) and they were amazing. Seriously, I had seen some reviews about them being dry and people not liking them, but for a vegan who can't normally eat gluten, these were such a treat!
Ahhh, I have more pics of the resort at night and I'm worried the updates are too picture heavy for people to even load them! I think I'll make a separate update with nighttime resort pics...
I got the portobello burger. I've had it before (it's really the only thing without meat on the menu other than salad) and it's good! Onion rings were good as well, I had no complaints about my food!
Rey got the appetizer sampler, which he really liked.
Dylan got a burger, which I failed to get a pic of, he liked it. Dallas, however, got a shrimp/pasta plate and this was his least favorite meal of the trip. I didn't get a picture, but he ate because hungry but really didn't enjoy it at all. He said there were only a couple pieces of shrimp and the sauce tasted like it was out of a jar.
The girls had mac-n-cheese (.99 meals w/a coupon I had) and they liked it, but what they really wanted was a VOLCANO!!!! Not only did they get one to share, but the boys did as well.
I had a couple bites...of course!
I thought it was just ok. Honestly, it's the size that makes them all excited. It's just brownies, ice cream, and sauce. Rey & I ordered this gem to share:
Uh...YUM! Really cool to taste Margarita AND Corona together. Wasn't sure I would like it, but I did. It was called a Conarita.
Finally stuffed, the bill came and it was $204.
I just didn't think it was worth that much. This was standard chain restaurant food and I thought the bill would be smaller with the girls having .99 meals. The Volcano's and the drinks put us up there, I guess. Oh and Rey had 1 beer too. An 18% tip was included in all our meals, although I always gave them more than what it had on there. So, we spent $75ish out of pocket for the meal, which is ok because I think RFC is more about the experience and the atmosphere, but I hadn't planned on it. Might change our plans further on in the week because of that!...There's no way to avoid the next stop for us, straight across from RFC...
We didn't buy anything, but Goofy's is just one of those stores you have to walk around (and drool in).
I know a lot of people have talked about how the make-it-yourself stuff isn't a snack credit, but I did notice some stuff that was a snack credit. I thought these looked pretty nice for a snack, although I had other plans for my credits!
We headed to Once Upon a Toy after that...
Savannah started to get a little upset again and as we were walking out of the store in back, I walked right into a little gem just to cheer her up! A engraving machine with dog tags! She didn't even hesitate to spend $10 a pop to get her dogs each a personalized Disney doggie tag. It really cheered her up.
that's the back/engraved part of them, here is the front...and the little "shrine" she set up on the dresser in our room with pictures of her dogs (there was also a framed pic of our cats as well, not in the shot)
We made our way to WoD, but wow it was crazy! Where did STITCH GO?!?!?! They were doing some refurb work at DTD as well, so maybe he's just getting fixed??? Looks pretty empty without him...
We didn't do a ton of shopping b/c it was just too hard with how many people there were. The girls tried on a few more hats
The sun was going down and we decided to head out.
On the way, I had to make one last stop! Babycakes! Babycakes has Gluten free/vegan treats and I could not wait to try them!
I got a doughnut and a blondie cupcake this night (got more later in the week, I'll post a pic then) and they were amazing. Seriously, I had seen some reviews about them being dry and people not liking them, but for a vegan who can't normally eat gluten, these were such a treat!
Ahhh, I have more pics of the resort at night and I'm worried the updates are too picture heavy for people to even load them! I think I'll make a separate update with nighttime resort pics...
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Our last order of the evening was to head back to the resort and get some sleep! We were running on not much and had a big first day tomorrow! I had to get some nighttime shots of the resort first though!
We were ALL in bed and asleep by 8:30pm! It had been a long day and I was so excited that our trip had just begun! Tomorrow...early breakfast at MK!! 
WOW...it took me 3 posts to do just one update this morning! I hope no one is having trouble loading the TR b/c of all the pictures!!!
We were ALL in bed and asleep by 8:30pm!
It had been a long day and I was so excited that our trip had just begun! Tomorrow...early breakfast at MK!! WOW...it took me 3 posts to do just one update this morning! I hope no one is having trouble loading the TR b/c of all the pictures!!!
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Food pics you say?! Count me in
Oh yes, many many food pics! I'm starting to wonder how it's going to be possible to post all the pics I have, it took me three posts just to do one update this morning!
RFC was the first meal we had on our 2008 trip when it was just Savannah & I with a friend. We had never been to WDW before and Savannah had never been to RFC, so she associates it (and especially that VOLCANO!) with Disney, so she requested it for our first night.
Stringbean&Wingnut
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
Gorgeous DTD pics!!! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Babycakes! I've always been curious to give them a try, but always forget to save pastry room! Actually, I've also never tried the tie-dye cheesecake for that reason too! It looks really good though!
Actually, I've also never tried the tie-dye cheesecake for that reason too! It looks really good though!
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