jenseib

I do like shows, but I prefer family type rides. Which they really didn't have. We basically rode next to nothing. It was a pretty park, but not one I will hurry back to because it didn't have enough for us to do.

We did have a nice time. It's not like disney though, thats for sure.

Well we go to Cedar Point and don't ride much any more these days either. It's just not our thing anymore. In my younger days I loved them. But I just can't do them now.

Once I got back to our room I showered and got ready for the day. The family was NOT moving and I had to get persistent. This was our only chance to go to the park, as they were only open on weekends during our trip. I told them I wanted to arrive early and stay late. That had a lot of grumbles. It got to the point that I was going to leave without them. As they got ready, Claire and I headed back to the main building and got a local map of the area just in case we needed it. I then gave it to my parents. I should’ve grabbed 2. I guess I wasn’t thinking. We took both the rental car and Dads truck. My parents are famous for not staying in a park long and my sister is the same way. I never get that and even as a kid we always arrived to parks late and left early. That’s probably why I am one who wants to get there early and stay late now. I always felt we missed so much back in those days, but being a kid I had no control over it. We finally headed towards Busch Gardens and my parents followed in the truck. We parked and had to ride a tram over to the park. I believe we arrived around 11 or so and by 11:20 we saw this. Now we had to buy Dad a ticket since he was a last minute add on. I had a voucher for 2 free tickets as well. My voucher said to pick them up at any ticket window. It was pretty busy and we got in line. I asked if this is where I picked up the tickets and was told yes. I was then directed towards a side area that had more windows open with a lessor wait. Ok, that sounds good. UM…. not true! The wait was really long. Somewhere along the line we lost the rest of the family as well. We waited and waited and the sun was beaming down on us. Finally they had a few people come out with portable computers to sell tickets. I got one of those people. I told her I had a voucher and I wasn’t sure if I would need to go to a window or not. Nope, I needed to go to Guest Service. UGH! But she was sympathetic and said since I waited so long already she would walk me over and just go in herself and get my tickets. We walked over and I waited outside. I am glad she was doing this because the line there was long also. After a bit, she came out with a guy. They said they found 3 tickets connected to my name. She read the names and one was for Amanda and one was for Claire and the 3rd was no one we knew, but had the same last name as me. I told her the first 2 were ours, but I bought and paid for those tickets. I just needed the other 2 that went with the voucher, which never required a name. OK then. They went back in and again were in there for quite a while. Mom called and wondered where we were and what was taking so long. I told her and they told me where they were sitting so we could find them. I continued to take pictures as we waited. The Team Member finally came out again. She said that my voucher just wouldn’t scan so they were just going to give me 2 courtesy tickets for the day and also 2 snack vouchers since I had to wait so long. That was so nice of her. She also noticed us admiring the flowers. She said they had all bloomed over the past week because last weekend they weren’t there. I was happy to see we chose the right weekend to come. All the colors were so cheerful. We then headed off and found Mom and Dad and Amanda. We set forth into the park then. Of course a little Miss someone had to use the restroom so we looked for one immediately. We were also getting hungry already. I am one who needs to eat more in the morning or I start getting headaches …and some might say not very pleasant as well. My Mom swears I am hypoglycemic, and she might be right. We saw many snack places, but we thought we would find a real meal instead. After our bathroom break we headed further into the park to see what we may find. I immediately spotted the Clydesdales. I have always loved the Clydesdales. Back when we used to have a Sea World in Ohio, that was a highlight to see there and though they really don’t do anything special, it’s neat to see them. Claire was only interested in the stuffed Clydesdales, and I told her she could get one with her money, but not till we were ready to leave. We headed further into the park. Busch is known for its rollercoasters. Sadly about 10-15 years ago, my brain and body had a secret meeting. They discussed it and decided it was in my best interest to no longer ride big rollercoasters. They now work together to remind me of that fact. Or perhaps it’s old age? Or common sense? Anyways, I now seem to have major issues with heights, something that didn’t bother me for years. And after riding a coaster, but my body lets me know about it for days, sometimes weeks after. Sometimes a Dr. visit is even involved. So you will see lots of pictures of coasters, but you will not get any reviews of them from this family. I was the bravest of them all, so if I’m not riding, no one else is riding. From where we were standing, there were like 2 or 3 maybe even 4 rollercoasters intertwining and I really couldn’t tell you what was what. We just watched for a while in awe…but none of us had the single urge to ride one. We decided to head over to the boat dock and take the little boat ride. Yes, that’s how we start our wild time at Busch Gardens. We just missed a boat, so we had to wait for it to come back. This was not my idea of fun, but I was out-voted. Amanda went off to sit in the shade till the boat came back. The boat names made me think of Disney. As you can see, this park is not flat at all. Be prepared for a day of hiking here. We finally got on and I took pictures from the boat. After we passed the bridge you could get up and walk around. Claire did, but I just sat. She kept trying to get me to walk around, but the boat wasn’t THAT big and I was find just where I was. LOL We floated out to where this rollercoaster was and then turned around. That’s it? Not much of a boat ride. Now yes it’s relaxing and a little get away from the park, but there is really nothing interesting to see except the woods and the few coasters we passed. Someone spotted a family of turtles near the shore. That was the highlight of the ride. Soon our ride came to an end and we headed off to find lunch once again. I was now getting on the edge.

April 14, 2013, Sunday I slept great. I guess the long day before really knocked me out. But in true vacation fashion I was up early. I threw on some shorts and a tee and went outside to explore the grounds. The Golf Course was behind our buildings. It was so nice to be seeing flowers! There was a chill in the air and you can see it was a big foggy in spots, but it was still great to be away from Ohio. I found another grilling area. The outdoor pool, the indoor one is in that building with the big windows behind it. I saw Cardinals all over the place and I was constantly trying to get a “good” picture of one, but they were always just out of focus range. Ironically, Cardinals are Ohio’s state bird ….and I rarely ever see them there. A view from the pool deck that wraps around towards the back side of the indoor pool and main building ….. This was a look at the back side of the resort buildings towards our buildings direction. You can kind of see the golf course to the left. Another Cardinal spotted! I walked around the back side of the main building and this was on the other side. I am not sure why they had this fence up. It only went for a short distance and didn’t keep anything in or out. You could easily walk around it. My only guess was they were doing some sort of work here and this would keep people from walking right through here. Another grilling spot. They had bikes to rent too. Back around to the front. On the left where it has a gatehouse looking thing was where the pool was. I went inside to take a bathroom break and these were in there. Amanda loves butterflies. I don’t think I ever took pictures of the lobby or the little store that also had fast food service as well. It was always just too quiet and I felt like I was being watched. Usually that doesn’t bother me, but I guess this place just seemed different than where I normally stay. Back outside. And here is Dad’s gated community. This was the side we were on. He was on the other side of the building trying to get out. Look. Another Disney Lover is here too! I worked my way over across the road and found the other part of the Marriott. These buildings didn’t look as nice. But they did have more activities over on that side. A very easy walk from anywhere at the resort though. Smoking and Tennis go hand in hand, right? I found another pool, but this one was not filled yet. It did have a neat pool house attached to it and it looked like in summer months they may host events here for the resort guests. I then put the camera down and wandered a little more and then headed back to the room to get ready for the day.

My thoughts….. This was the longest trip I have ever taken, and even with all the extra time, I still felt I didn’t do as much as I wanted to, but that’s just me. It was one of the best vacations we have ever been on. We did so many new things, tried so many new places to eat and resorts to stay at. We also did some old favorites. It was a very Magical trip being there with so many family members. Something I hope Claire remembers for a long time. I had worried how it would be with so many strong willed family members on one trip, but it worked out fine and we did things together and apart with no issues at all. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of our new favorite resorts and we hope to stay there again. Sadly, my cousin Katie stayed there as well and did not like it. She had a few issues and she got less than stellar service when she inquired about them. Actually one CM was quite rude and she wrote a letter and was given a partial refund. The cruise was fabulous. It was even better than I could have hoped. I really hope in a few years time we can do it again, because it was just that much fun with so many people we knew on the ship. The Parties were so much fun. I am so lucky and happy to have been able to enjoy both the Halloween party and the Christmas party all in one trip. It was totally an amazing experience. The décor for both seasons was just amazing, but I have to admit, the Christmas stuff totally blew me away and I MUST get back for a holiday trip again in the future. NOTHING compares to seeing the castle lit up at night. The Beach Club Villas were nice, but not a place I would rush back to. I did not like the room décor. The pool was fabulous, however, but we just didn’t have enough time to use it much. Art of Animation was fabulous. The theming is just so amazing. I did not like the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms however and I do not see us staying there in the future without a fantastic deal, and then I would still have to think about it. If I could get a deal on a suite, I would be more likely to stay, since its closer to the main buildings. That walk could be a killer at times. We tried many new places to eat this trip. Some were very successful. We have 2 new favorites, T-Rex and Via Napoli. And now we have some places that I don’t think we’ll ever go back to, but I am glad to have tried them. We also got to try out the New Fantasyland TWICE!!! I had been bummed that it wasn’t going to be officially open for our trip, but now knowing what I do, we actually were fortunate it wasn’t. Crowds and wait times were insane when it did open and I was lucky enough to basically have no wait for them …AND I got to try out BOG when I didn’t think it would be in the cards for us this trip. Gail said that a few days after being home, she asked Alexis what she wanted for dinner and Alexis replied she would like crab legs. Gail told her no, that was vacation food and not something she makes at home. So Alexis thought about it and said she would like Shrimp then. LOL. She loved eating like a queen on the ship and the parks! Gail says that Abby will still randomly ask if they can go visit the princesses today. She is just such a stinker and so darn cute. I am one who believes that no trip is ever going to be 100% perfect, but how you go about it and your frame of mind can make or break the trip as well. This one had its ups and downs, just like any other trip, but it was still super fabulous and I would love to relive every moment of it. Ok….maybe not the part where my Dad took the wrong suitcase at the airport and we had a very tense morning till we got Mom’s suitcase back…. For the most part, everyone had a great time. Even Aunt Mary and Geoff said they would love to cruise again, and they weren’t sure about the cruise part from the start. They like to lounge around and were able to just hang out in the room and do nothing if they chose to. We also wondered how my Dad would like it…as he can be a bit whacky when things are completely planned and going the way he thought they were supposed to go. And though I had told him before the trip that with cruising, there is a lot of “go with the flow” he said he wasn’t going to go with any flow. LOL When asked when he got home by his friends if he liked it, he said he wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was one of the best vacations he had been on as well. The only downer we had was with Dollar rentals. Some of the family members were charged for the insurance. They had accidently checked yes to it because the counter people tell you to check yes to everything. Luckily I read everything as I checked and checked the no box and I didn’t have that issue. My Aunt has written several letters/emails and as far as I know it still has not been resolved. I now warn everyone I know who rents with Dollar to really check everything and double check that they are NOT charging you for something you don’t agree to. They are slick! The only thing that might have made it even more special is if Skip had come along, for even part of the trip, but he was being stubborn. He told me that the next trip would include him, but that was not the case, because my next trip was with my other sister and parents to Williamsburg. We are now at over 1 ½ years since Skip has traveled with us and I keep trying to bat my blue eyes and convince him to do a holiday trip. It’s not working as of yet, but I never give up hope. The next trip most likely will be with my parents again in March of next year and we will be staying offsite at their timeshare. It will be a different experience, but lots of fun too. Thanks so much for reading along and sharing in all the fun we had this trip!

April 13, 2013 ~ Day 1 I woke up early, after just giving up on sleep. I decided I would get in the bath and maybe that would make me feel better. I got ready and heard movement soon after. Mom was up and she told me she had such a horrid night as well. She had all the same symptoms as I did and she said that Aunt Laura told her that often the Lobster there at the Fish Market is too rich for her system. I have had lobster many times and never had an issue in the past, but I guess that is what it was. It was confirmed when Amanda told us she too had felt ill all night and she had lobster pasta. At least we all were feeling a bit better this morning. We all now know if we ever go back to the Fish Market we will stick with steak! We got ourselves ready and then we juggled the suitcases around with weight issues once more. Mom and Claire ran to Dunkin Donuts and picked up some donuts and coffee for Mom. I plunged into my donut and had about once bite left when I said “Didn’t Claire get a donut?” Mom replied that Claire said she would share with her mom. UM? What? I looked at my last bite and handed it over to Claire. I then told Claire when it came to the matter of donuts, ALWAYS get your own because Momma don’t share! We were now all ready and just had to wait now to be picked up and we turned on the TV and sat around and chatted. Mom’s phone rang. It was Dad. “Good news! I’ve decided to come”. We just about died laughing. Listening to Moms conversation with Dad was hysterical. Dad was going to drive his truck. Now this is a BIG deal because he hates to put any extra miles on it. He won’t let anyone borrow it and if you are moving he makes a big stink about helping and using his truck. Mom told him to pack and what he would need and where the suitcases were. He said he had talked to Aunt Mary already and she was printing directions off for him. This was still scary. Dad is AWFUL with directions, and he has issues reading them when he is the passenger, so this was even scarier that he was going to be driving and reading at the same time. He even went to the bank and got money out. Another big wow as he is a little on the cheap side. We were so shocked. I guess he really did want to come after all. I think the big factor was that Mom and Dad’s anniversary was on the 19th and she was going to be gone. Mom thinks he really thought she would cancel out in the end. I have no clue why, because she never has in the past, but she thinks he thought she would. Mom then wanted me to call Aunt Mary and see if we could find him a flight out of Detroit. That was scary too, because Dad doesn’t know how to fly by himself, but we figured it would be better than him driving 10 hours by himself. At least he could ask for help there. I never could get ahold of Aunt Mary and I tried Geoff too and he never answered. We found out later they were gone for the day at something where they didn’t have phone access. We ran out of time and soon Aunt Laura and Jan arrived and we loaded up their 2 cars and headed off to the airport. We were riding in style. Amanda and I rode with Jan I his Mercedes and Claire and my Mom rode with Aunt Laura in the BMW. They dropped us off and we said our goodbyes and the plan was to do curbside check in but a porter came about and grabbed our bags up quickly. I tried to say no, but mom said yes. She said it was too cold out to be messing with our bags and curbside check in. It was chilly, unseasonably cold that morning, but it wouldn’t have been much of a hassle at all. Luckily the line inside was not long and we were checked in quickly, and headed to security. We made it through there quickly and went off to find our gate. Once settled in I headed off to find food. I knew I needed to eat before our flight, which was leaving around 12:10. I needed to eat lunch or I would feel sick and start getting headaches. Amanda and I headed off and I went to Johnny Rockets and got a burger and fries. It was pretty expensive there. I tried to decide what to get Claire. They didn’t have a kid’s chicken nuggets meal and the adult version looked much too big for her and I didn’t want to throw it away at that price. I just decided to wait and see what she wanted, but while standing there I saw you could have an order of bacon and asked for that too. Claire is a bacon freak and I knew she would be happy with that and it didn’t cost too much either. Then I picked up some soft drinks for Claire and I. We went back and sat down and ate and Mom went off to find some food for herself. Before you knew it was time to make those last bathroom trips and then to board the plane. We got settled in and Claire sat by the window, I in the middle and Amanda on the end and Mom was across the aisle. The flight was only about an hour or so. Not bad at all. Claire did a bit of homework and we also played on our kindles. They served snacks, which was a big hit with Claire. A few quick pictures. We landed in Atlanta on time and then Amanda went in search of our next gate number. We had about an hour between flights and I was a little worried about getting to the next gate. I had heard Atlanta is HUGE and that it can take a while to get to the next gate. I couldn’t believe it when Amanda said the next flight was at the gate right next to the one we got off at. How convenient for us! We called home and talked to Skip. I had told him before we left that morning that Dad was now driving and he was laughing and he said to be sure he DIDN’T stop to pick him up. LOL. We just updated him on all the current info. Mom called Dad who had only been on the road for a short time. We couldn’t figure out what took him so long to get going. We had talked to him around 10:30 and it was now around 2 PM. We then knew it would be about midnight before we would have any hope of seeing him. We all then had a good time joking around about what he probably packed. He has no clue how to pack for himself. We were hoping he would remember things that Mom has packed him in the past, but then again, he would have no clue where to find them. Amanda took this picture of Claire and I as we waited. We then boarded our next flight and I thought this one was going to be longer, but it wasn’t. Actually I think our air time was less. Once we landed it felt so nice to be there. I am not a fan of flights that require a layover, but actually this wasn’t too bad. It gave us time to stretch a little bit. Of course it did take a good chunk of the day to get there. Finally we did land in Richmond, Virginia! The Richmond airport was gorgeous. It’s either fairly new or remodeled. At least the area we went through. It looked very modern and clean. We made our ways to get our bags. Usually it takes a little while for bags to come out, but I think ours were in the first 10 to come out. I was shocked. That was really fast. We then walked over to the car rentals and I checked in for our car. I had a great rate with Hertz because my SIL works for them. I did double check that I was receiving that rate and was handed the keys and off we went. It was gorgeous outside. It was so nice to be in some warmer weather. I rented a mid-sized SUV. I think it was an equinox or something along those lines. We jammed our luggage in the back. I am pretty good at getting luggage to fit, it’s a talent of mine …and off we went. I had printed up directions, but we decided to use Siri on my iPhone. I had just learned how to use the gps recently and I figured it would be easier to use her and my directions could be a backup. Amanda typed in the info and off we went. I think it was supposed to be about an hour drive, but it really seemed less than that. Before we knew it we were pulling into Fords Colony where the Marriott Manor Club was located. All I can say is WOW! They had some BIG houses back here. The road was a mile long with lots of huge houses and a few smaller ones, but they were extremely sharp looking too, and a golf course along the way. One thing we notice was that the golf course had dead grass though. I found that odd since we were in such a ritzy neighborhood. At the end of the mile we came to a roundabout and the 3rd stop was ours. There was a country Club back there as well and something else, but I don’t remember what. We turned onto the road and then made a left into the Manor Club. To the right appeared to be more hotels and after doing some exploring one morning I found out that this was an extended part of the Manor Club and it did not look nearly as nice as our side did. Going straight would lead you into what looked to be a gated community. We pulled up to the main building and all of us hopped out. Mom, Amanda and Claire went in to check us in and I stayed out and took some pictures. This was the main lobby for check in. That’s our vehicle on the right. Soon they came out and we hopped back in the car and headed back to the Patrick Henry building. It was one of the further ones back, but it wasn’t too far and very nice. We grabbed our luggage and headed in. They had carts in the little foyer area and we loaded it up with the luggage and headed up to the 2nd floor. I quickly went around and tried to take pictures before it got messed up. We had a 2 bedroom suite and this was Claire and I’s bedroom. In the hall outside our room was a big closet that held the washer and dryer. And there was a bathroom to the right of this picture. A very nice living room and kitchen area. The Master bedroom was for Mom and Amanda. Since Dad was a late comer we decide he was just going to have to have the pullout couch. He was shocked when we told him, but seriously, we had made sleeping arrangements long ago and it wasn’t fair to any of us to have to take the couch now. The master bathroom. No one ever used the hot tub. Mom wouldn’t allow anyone to bathe in it because she said it was too big, which meant whenever someone wanted a bath verses a shower they were in my bathroom. Let’s just say at times it got hectic on our end and Amanda pretty much had the other bathroom to herself on many days. Our bathroom. Continuing the tour of our room…. The entryway. The kitchen Our balcony. The view. I then headed outside while they got situated and took a few pictures. Looking at our room. I don’t know what kind of tree this is, but they were all over. Amanda was starving at this point. She has a nervous stomach so she refused to eat all day for fear of feeling sick on the plane. She did eat the snack they passed out, but that was long gone. So we jumped in the car and headed out in search of food. We turned right out of Fords Colony and just down the road we saw a plaza. It had a few food options, but we continued on to see if we found anything else. This whole area was very heavily wooded, but we soon saw signs of life. An outlet Mall! They had a few options in there but nothing that was calling to us so made a right turn at the light and this is where the main drag was. We had several options and we sounded dumb shouting out names as we drove along. I swear they had like 5 pancake houses on this road. They had some neat shops too but we never did make time to actually come and look through any of them. We decided on Olive Garden. It was something we all could agree on and Dad hates it so since he wasn’t with us yet we could eat here without complaints. We really didn’t think about it, but it was Sat. night and all the places looked packed. Olive Garden was no exception, so we put our names in and sat on a bench outside. I gave Skip a call and told him we had made it. We were next to what looked to be a Yankee Candle headquarters and I walked over and took a couple of quick shots. It was cooling down fast, so we decided to wait inside where it was slightly warmer. I think we had about a 30 minute wait and then we were called to our seat. We made our orders and ordered way too much food once again. But it was darn good. We settled up the bill and headed out. Amanda was now feeling sick again. We had planned to stop at the grocery store we saw to pick up a few items, but then we decided maybe we should skip it. As we got closer to the store, Amanda was feeling a bit better so we went in. Well the few items turned into quite a few. We got soft drinks and juice boxes, cereal, bread, peanut butter, jelly, English muffins, juice, milk, etc. It was nice to have some breakfast foods around the place though. We headed back to the hotel. Claire had one thing on her mind. SWIMMING! It’s a highlight for her on any vacation. We had talked to Dad a few times and at first he was making excellent time, but then he thought he took a wrong turn and went back to a gas station and found out he didn’t. He had backtracked about 25 miles. He was now sounding tired and he still had quite a ways to go. We told him to check in periodically. I took Claire for a swim. They have an indoor and outdoor pool and she choose the indoor pool since there were some adults outside having a little party and were kind of loud. Plus it was pretty chilly out. The inside pool however was too warm. I swear it was hard to breath sitting at the table watching her. She had a good time though. I gave her the 5 minute warning, which usually means she swims for about 10 minutes more and then we walked back to our room and got her ready for bed. I talked to Dad again and from what he said, I figured he was about 1 ½ hours away. We knew it would be VERY dark when he got near and we told him to call so I could go out and find him and lead him into Fords Colony. It was about 11 now and I laid down with Claire so she would go to bed. She was not sleepy, but I sure was. Mom said she came into our room at midnight and I was sound asleep but Claire was watching TV. My Mom told her to get to sleep and she said she couldn’t because I was keeping her awake. That’s awfully funny. I don’t know how my sleeping was keeping her from doing the same. She did go out shortly after though. At 12:30 my Mom came in and woke me and told me Dad was close and on the phone. I got on, but I warned him right away that I was slightly out of it because I had been sleeping. He said he was close but not sure where so I grabbed my keys and told him I was getting in the car to find him. Next thing I know, Amanda appears out of nowhere and says she is coming along with me. That was actually a big help. Dad was driving his truck and he also uses it for snowplowing so he said he was turning his yellow flashing light on so we could see him. We set off and drove all the way out of Fords Colony and no sign of Dad. I had Amanda call him and I told her to have him see if he could find an address near where he was parked. That way we could put it in the gps. Dad wasn’t listening and he just kept telling Amanda he was sitting at the gate and needed to be let in. She kept telling him it was wrong as we had no gate. We turned around and headed back towards the hotel again. Amanda was practically screaming that we didn’t have a gate and he needed to find an address, but he wasn’t listening ….and then I saw it. The yellow glow. I yelled out “I found him”! He had come in some different way and was inside the gated community. We pulled up next to the gate and he tells me to flash my room key. I told him this was not part of the hotel and how the heck did he get in there. He came in a back way and he said he just followed a car in. I jumped up and down in front of the gate sensor, but it just wasn’t opening. I was about to tell him to just park alongside the road for now and he could jump in our car when he pulled forward a bit to ask me something and the gate popped open. Go! Quick! Before it shuts! That gave us all a big laugh. Only my dad could find his way into the gated community. We then headed into the parking lot and parked. Dad took out his suitcase and checked his mileage (amazingly he got really good gas mileage with that hog of a truck) and headed to our room. Dad was tired and hungry. He didn’t eat much all day for fear he would need to stop and use the restroom and then he would lose more time. He had packed a few snacks and that was it. Mom made him a PBJ and he sat and ate and talked to us about his adventure. We laughed because he packed his clothes in the biggest suitcase they have and he didn’t pack that many things. He did bring his crocs, which was impressive. He had plenty of underwear and socks. He bragged how he packed a short sleeve sweater. Mom said he doesn’t own a short sleeve sweater. We had a good laugh the next morning when we found out it was a sweater vest that he had packed. He actually did pretty well, but Mom planned to hit a store in the next day or 2 and buy him a few more short sleeved shorts (He only brought long sleeved) and an extra pair of pants. It was late now and we had a full day coming up so I went to sleep. The beds were super comfy, but the pillows were awful. Very squishy and my head would fall straight through and I would have a huge puff of pillow on each side of my cheeks. Everyone complained about the pillows too, so it wasn’t that I got the short end of the straw. All the pillows were cruddy. It felt good to get some rest after a long day.

Time was starting to tick down unfortunately now. Another quick bathroom stop. And we then went back outside to have a seat for a few more minutes and just take it all in. While sitting there I noticed a group of people walk by. Hey, that’s Rita!!!! (in the blue shirt). I had done a convention a few years ago and she was one of the leaders and she and her partner Timmy took us on tours of resorts. She must be leading a tour! I looked around, but didn’t see Tommy. We decided to head back in and took one more look around the gift shop where I debated on a couple of shirts once again. I didn’t buy them, but I did buy an AoA magnet that was really cute. I think Claire bought something too, but I no longer remember what. We then went to go get our carryons and who do I see outside?????? Tommmy! (he’s in the yellow shirt with his back to us) Tommy was the one that led my particular group and he was fabulous!!!! We had a seat on the bench to wait for unMagical Depress. Backside of entrance sign. While sitting there I saw Tommy and his group walk by and get on their tour bus. I said hi to him and told him I had done this program in 2011. He asked how I liked it and I told him it was awesome. He said he didn’t remember my face, but was better with names and so I told him and he did seem to remember that…or so he says at least! He then introduced me to his group and told them to ask me any questions. LOL. Basically I just told them that it was a fun trip and I learned a lot and got to do new experiences. Tommy asked if I had been staying at AoA and I said yes and told him about my long trip and how sadly this was our last day and introduced him to Claire, who just stared at him…because she is shy and not friendly when she should be! I sat back down with Claire, who had pulled out her popcorn bucket and proceeded to eat what was left. Finally the bus pulled up and we got our front row seats for the 3rd time in a row! SCORE!!!!! Claire’s thoughts about leaving! We did have to wait a few minutes for stragglers. Claire sat patiently waiting for the movie to start, though I told her it wouldn’t for awhile. Here we go! Good by Art of Animation! I think we had a full bus. I kind of remember someone asking if they could ride this one instead of the next and they guy told them no. I also don’t think we stopped at any other resorts. If we did, then I didn’t take pictures, but I am pretty sure we headed straight to MCO. We made good time getting to the airport and let me just say it was sooooo wonderful not to have to go and check our bags in, or struggle with them for that matter. Since we were early, we headed in to a few shops to have a look around. We really liked the Sea World shop. I would love to go to Sea World on a Holiday trip. Claire thought we should get one of these guys……Um no! We then moved on and made a quick stop to see Snow White. And then we wandered around the Disney store, and Claire tried to talk me into buying something there and again I said no. And then we went to get in line for security. HOLY! CRAP! It was insane! But we got in line and finally got through. I did have a few moments of panic, thinking we may not make our flight after all, but we did get to the gate with time to spare. That is the last picture I took of the trip. The rest was of this day was fairly uneventful. We made it on the plane on time and we dozed off and on, worked on a bit of homework and Claire watched a movie on her ipod touch (which we have since lost in no mans land). Amanda was there promptly to pick us up. I think we swung into a fast food place to get something to eat to bring back to her place for dinner. We told her about the trip and laughed and talked a bit till it was time for bed. There was no way I was going to drive home tonight. I had done that after my Sept. cruise and I was about to fall asleep by the time we got close to home. That was too much travel in one day. Amanda had gone to Sears automotive and they did move the spare tire of my car to the back and put the good tire on the front, at the suggestion of Skip‘s friend. So we were good to go for the morning. I was going to let Claire sleep in and Amanda had to work, so she gave me a key to lock up. We said our good nights finally and went to sleep in yet another bed….the first bed that we had slept in at the beginning of this trip almost 2 weeks earlier. Nov. 15, Thursday, Day 15…….. Amanda headed off to work and I let Claire sleep in and I just lounged around a bit. Once she got up we set off for home. We barely made it out of Amanda’s condo complex when I noticed a weird sound coming from my front tire…the good tire. I drove down the road a bit and it sounded awful and I was nervous. I noticed an AAA repair shop on the corner and we stopped in. I talked to the guy and told him the long story about the tires and how I had to drive back to Toledo and was worried something else was wrong. He said my car would be next, but it might be about 30 minutes, so Claire and I walked across the street and got some lunch while we waited. When we returned, he told us that the wheel dust cover was bent and rubbing on the tire. It’s nothing major and they just took it off and all was good to go and to just drive slowly. Good deal. And it didn’t cost me a dime! The guy was so friendly and he is a big Disney fan (Had a picture of his daughter in her princess costume on his desk) and we talked about our trip a bit before heading off once again. We now were officially on the road and I gave Skip a final call to let him know we were on our way. I kept the car at 55 the whole way and we did fine, though at times I felt nervous. More so because I know I was holding up traffic at times, but I needed to be safe. It took us a little longer to get home, but not by much, which impressed me. It was good to be home and of course the unpacking and laundry started then. Skip ended up ordering a used rim from a junkyard that was only about $50, compared to the several hundred dollar charge for a new one and the tired itself was never actually damaged…. in a few days everything was fixed good as new. Sadly life went right on after we got home …with school for Claire and work for me. I do love my job, but it took a few days to get back in the swing of things. Up next, my recap and thoughts of the trip.

I am not done yet...... I just decided to start the other one now too since I am so close to being done! Sorry to make your head spin! LOL. I know, she probably though I looked crazy. Right now the March trip is a week, but I am looking to possibly extend it and add a cruise to it.

April 12, 2013, Friday ~ pre trip I had issues packing for this trip. With Disney, it’s easy to over pack. Claire wears many princess dresses or Disney themed clothing. But this wasn’t Disney. I also went through many of her summer clothes to find that many no longer fit. In the end I did throw in a few Disney themed clothes for both of us. I did most of the packing a few days before the trip and by the 12th I had everything but the last minute things in the suitcases. Claire had school this day and both Amanda and Mom had to work. Mom, Claire and I would be driving down to Columbus, OH, about a 2 ½ hour drive…. and stay with Amanda for the night. At first it was going to be after Mom got off work, then she decided to take a half day off and go earlier. Then she talked about taking the whole day off, but I reminded her that Claire still had to go to school, so she did end up going into work for a few hours to take care of last minute things. At 2:30 I picked Claire up from school and we came home and got changed. Soon Mom arrived and we loaded her car. She told me that Dad was now having 2nd thoughts. As she was pulling out of the garage he told her he would ride down to Columbus with us and then drive to Williamsburg from there. She told him no. First off, we had been asking him over the past week if he wanted to come and he said no over and over. He said it was not a place he would ever want to visit. So we gave up. Second, he didn’t have a suitcase packed and she was leaving right then. She said she wasn’t about to go and pack him for a trip in 5 minutes. And third, there wasn’t room in the car. We had the 3 of us with 3 big suitcases, 3 small ones and a few other bags. It was going to be hard for him to find a spot to sit, let alone bring along luggage. Good grief Dad, you had your chance! As Dad was begging Mom as she was ready to back out, she also didn’t pay attention and backed right into the garage door. She was not happy about that at all, but the damage on both the car and door was next to nothing, thank goodness. Skip came in and we said our good byes and Claire gave him all the kisses she would need to hold her over for a week and off we went. We didn’t get too far though. Claire needed something to eat, so we stopped off at McDonalds and got a snack and drinks. Claire ordered the orange drink for the first time and she was in love. I thought she has had it before, but she swears she hasn’t and she guzzled it down fast. It wasn’t too long and the call of nature came to her. Her eyes were floating and we were in the middle of nowhere. Finally we found another McDonalds and stopped off to use the restroom. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful till we got closer to Amanda’s house and we got into a bit of traffic, but we finally made it. We unloaded the car and freshened up and then headed off again. The original plan had been to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It’s a favorite of mine and Claire’s and Mom likes it too. But a few days before we left, Amanda said that our Aunt Laura (mom’s sister) and her husband Jan wanted to take us to eat at the Fish Market. (They also live in Columbus) So plans were changed and we promised Claire that we would go to the Cheesecake Factory when we came back. We had a lovely dinner. I got the Lobster Bisque, which was delicious and I got the surf and turf that had a wonderful steak and lobster. Mom got the same and Amanda got the Lobster pasta. Claire had her old faithful chicken strips. I didn’t take pictures this day at all except for this one phone picture. We also got this wonderful dessert. Oh my word it was huge and we all shared it. I think it was called shark pie and it was chocolate and ice-cream and just pure heaven. Aunt Laura and Jan were driving us to the airport in the morning, so we decided on a time and then called it a night. We literally rolled out. I was so full that I felt sick. Amanda said the same thing. It was such an awful feeling. I vowed not to eat like that on the rest of the trip…..you know how that goes….. We got back and then the process of weighing bags commenced. Mom’s bag was way overweight so we started juggling things around. In the end, Amanda had been reading it wrong and it wasn’t quite as overweight as we had thought. We started unpacking mom’s case and putting stuff in mine, which were underweight and then Amanda pulled out a pile of washcloths and we just started laughing. Why on earth was she bringing wash clothes? She said she needed her own. Amanda said too bad and took those out. Then she pulled Mom’s brush out and at that very moment I took a sip of pop. Amanda then says that if Mom cleaned the hair out of her brush it would probably weigh 5 lbs lighter. OMG!! I snorted the pop up my nose and couldn’t stop laughing. Claire was on the floor laughing so hard. And then they laughed because I started choking on my pop and couldn’t catch my breath because I couldn’t stop laughing. Mom was not amused by the way ….. We got it all squared away and we headed for bed. I have issues sleeping when not at home, but I tried my hardest. But about an hour or so after bed I started getting cramps and I felt sick and sweaty and my head hurt. The only thing I could think of was food poisoning. Mom had the same food as I though, and I didn’t hear her moving around, so I wasn’t sure. But it was a rough night. It did finally go away, but not completely. I never got sick, but I just felt queasy. Also the comforter kept sliding off the bed and it was driving me insane on top of not feeling well. I think I gave up on sleep around 5 or so and pulled out my kindle and caught up on emails and facebook.

Welcome. It was a very interesting place. It sparked a lot of memories from American History classes......oh so many years ago

There were many things we didn't do, but being newbies to the area, we did take in quite a bit. It was slower paced than my Disney trips, thats for sure. There was friction at times, but we did OK.

Thanks for joining in!!!

For those who wanted to read about my Williamsburg Virginia trip, I have started the intro to it today. You can find it here. http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66494

Hello! Welcome to my newest trip report ….one that is NOT about Disney World or Disney Cruise Line, or anything Disney related for the most part! I took a step on the wild side this Spring and went to Williamsburg, Virginia. Some of you have read my previous reports over the years. You have traveled with Me, Claire and Skip, you have traveled with Me, Claire and my Parents, you have traveled with me and several of my friends and co-workers, and most recently you have traveled with me, Claire, my parents and my sister Gail and her family, My Aunt Mary and Geoff and extended cousins. This time you will be introduced to my other sister Amanda (though she has been mentioned in other reports). This is our first trip together as adults. Claire, of course is along for the fun, as are my parents again. Let me introduce myself. I am Jen. I am a HUGE Disney fan. I have traveled there over 10 times now. 10 used to be that magic number I was trying to achieve. Something about that number just made it sound like a seasoned Disney vet, and I am past that number now! Woohoo! I have also sailed on Disney Cruise Line 3 times and I am hoping to take many more in the future. I am the wife of Skip, who is what many people call a resistor. He enjoys Disney, but he doesn’t see the need to go there or anywhere for that matter that often. I love him very much, but I need to get him turned around on that idea. I am the mother to 3 children …..Michael, who is 24, Paige, who just turned 21, and Claire, who is 8. Claire is my travel partner and she enjoys it just as much as I do. This trip came about last fall. My Mom has a timeshare through Marriott. She decided that this year she would like to go to Williamsburg. My youngest sister Amanda usually travels with my parents as well. They both agreed this was the place they would like to go. My Dad on the other hand said there was no way he would be going. He also said it would be the start of his busy season with his work, which is a lawn service business. Mom mentioned to me that if Dad didn’t go that perhaps Claire and I could come along. I thought that would be wonderful. Colonial Williamsburg is a place I had wanted to visit for years. Actually I have wanted to go for over 20 years. We came close to going a few times, but in the end, we always headed to Florida instead. Months passed and it was talked about here and there, but nothing really came of it. Sometime late January my Mom called and said it was official, Dad was not coming along. I told Skip about the plans and he of course made a face about it, but I went in with the fact that if I went with my Mom he would be off the hook. I knew this wasn’t a top spot he wanted to go to and he knew I wanted to get there someday. Basically he didn’t say yes or no, but he just said for me to keep it quiet, as his family and friends tend to be anti-travel and they seem to get upset and think I go too often. I am not sure why they care, or why he cares what they think, but I agreed and didn’t mention it to too many people. Now for the planning. The dates were April 13-20. I am a planner, but it soon became clear that my sister did NOT want to do much planning at all. It got a little heated at times, as Mom would tell me one thing and she would tell me another and I felt stuck in the middle. I decided that I would just go with the flow. That is very hard for me, but I actually did a pretty good job. I did have a list of a few things I wanted to do, and I also said that I was not sleeping in and wasting days, nor leaving early to come back to the resort. I mentioned renting 2 separate cars, but I was assured it would all be fine. We did work things out, but in the future, I WILL be renting my OWN car. I booked our flights out of Columbus, OH, where my sister lives, reserved the car, and got us tickets to Bush Gardens and the rest was going to wait till we got there. I did a little research, but not like I would normally do. Luckily I have looked into Colonial Williamsburg over the years more than once, so I was slightly familiar with it. The plan was to go to Bush Gardens on Sunday the 14th, only because the park was only open limited days while we were there. The rest of the plans were to do at least 3 days at Colonial Williamsburg, and spend one day going to nearby Plantations. The rest was going to be on the fly. That is so not like me at all, but I managed. Once the plans were made we just had to wait for our dates to arrive. I would like to say I took fantastic notes, but I didn’t, so most of this is going to be from memory. I also didn’t take as many pictures as I normally do. Now don’t get me wrong, I took a lot of pictures, but there are periods of time where I took absolutely none.

We have always been big fans of Pop! It was our first onsite Disney stay and we have stayed there several times. In fact it’s the only onsite spot Skip has stayed at so far. The pool games have been added since our last stay there. This guy totally cracked me up. He was hard at work spraying and checking his phone. This used to be the smoking area and a lot of people complained that it was right out the door that everyone walked through. I see it is gone now. We had to go inside to see the Christmas décor. Finally I get to see the Pop tree! I have always wanted to see it. I liked the decorations, but I liked AoA’s better. I have no clue why Claire is making that face. I really thought this tree was cute! Thinking back now, I am not sure why I didn’t take any close ups of some of the decorations. A quick peek outside. Claire felt the need for another picture. Look at all those lucky people going to a park…and we would be leaving soon. We then headed in and checked out the gift shop, which is always one of my favorites on property. See that security guard in the next picture. We saw her quite a bit and we think she was following someone, though I never figured out whom. She talked on her radio quite a bit though. Again I eyed this shirt, but again, I couldn’t justify the price. Out to look at the arcade. There she is again. We watched her for a bit. I also wondered if we looked suspicious since we kept seeing her. LOL. We made our way around the pool. Lots of work was going on. I tried to get this bird, but my focus was completely off. Pop had a few plant issues as well. Time to head back. A view to the right as we got off the bridge. And a view to the left. A little bit of running around once again.

Our Next Stop! Magic Kingdom! Now I mentioned this before, but it was quite a few days ago on this report, that when I booked our trip I booked 7 days worth of tickets. But after getting plans all in place I really only needed 6 days. BUT the ticket price had increased since I booked and to take a day off would actually cost me more than to keep that days tickets, so I just kept them. Since we still had time I figured let’s use them or lose them. I knew we wouldn’t have much time in the park, but going in would give us that one last fix. We headed straight to the Candy store as we still had several snack credits left with the deluxe dining plan. We picked out several bags of candy and Claire made a “make your own” pixie stick, which was marked right there which sizes were included in the dining plan. When we went to check out, the CM told us pixie sticks weren’t included. I told her yes they were and 2 sizes were actually listed. She still told me no and I again said yes they are, and it was the only reason I allowed her to get it. If it’s not included, we aren’t getting it. So she said she would “try” to put it through and guess what? I was right. (Don’t ever doubt me!) With our package in hand, we left and headed down Main Street. I had one other thing planned. We had to have one last dole whip float before going and I saved a snack credit just for that. Of course the line was moving slowly. But finally we had that precious snack in our hand. We sat down and shared one last yummy treat. I think I called Amanda again to confirm her picking us up later and to talk about my car and its tire. Nothing like Pixie stick and dole whip float. We had been conversing a bit over the last few days and it was just a mess. She had the tire changed by AAA to the spare and then drove it to a couple of different places to have the flat one fixed. They said the wheel was bent and there were some other issues and it was going to cost several hundred dollars to replace it…and it would have to be ordered. I talked to Skip and he made a call to his buddy who owns a tire shop and he said to just drive it home on the spare and just to not go over 55. This made me a little nervous, but they assured us we would be fine if we didn’t hot rod it. I put that to the back of my mind for now. I wanted to enjoy my last moments. Claire and I discussed what to do. She wanted to either do Carousel of Progress or the Laugh Floor. Though we had time, I was still worried about how the buses would run and how long the wait would be. In the end I decided we should head back up front and get back to AoA. It made me nervous to think if something went wrong and we missed the bus or flights. I am sure we would’ve been fine, but I just didn’t want to test my luck. And this was a first for us…some MK streetmosphere! I can’t recall seeing any in the past, but we usually walk through her pretty fast. We did stop and watch. This girl was walking around in the area and we asked for a picture. And then we headed on towards the front. It didn’t take long and the bus was there and we headed back to AoA. Back at AoA we made a quick bathroom stop. And then we roamed around since we made such good time and still had quite a bit of time to waste. We had not been by the bridge yet this trip, so we headed over there. It was neat being on this side of it after so many stays at Pop Century with this end being closed off. We decided we had time to take a quick wander around Pop.

I know. I guess I am not as young as I try to think I am. And a long trip with waking early and staying up late really starts to get to you after a while!!!

We decided to see if we could retrace our steps from the night before and head back to where the Spirit of Aloha was located. I did think the grounds out here were really pretty and it would be neat to stay here just to roam around. And here was the waiting area for the show. It looks so different in the daylight and empty. This tree is so unusual. And this explains it. Claire got a little antsy back there. She was worried we would be in trouble for being back there, which I assured her we were just fine, but she wasn’t believing me, so we headed back, trying to take a different route. We headed inside then and made a quick stop in the bathroom. We then made our way to check into ‘Ohanas. I don’t think we waited more than a couple of minutes before they took us to our seats. We got that darn bread again, but also another bread as well….but it had raisins in it, which I also do not care for. The menu today was basically this …. Basket of sweet breads Seasonal Fruit Bowl for na Keiki (Kids) Breakfast platter for the table which includes: Hua Paka (Scrambled Eggs) - made fresh, hot & delicious Uala Kahiki (Fried Potatoes) - island-style potatoes, caramelized onions & scallions Pua'a (Pork) - pork breakfast sausage links & smoked bacon Biscuits Mickey Waffles - brought tableside by a server Unlimited Juice, Milk and Coffee included The juice is a blend of passion fruit, orange and guava. Our waitress wasn’t too fabulous. Not bad, but she was too busy to pay attention to a table of 2. We both got juice, but I asked for milk as well and it never came. She was slow to refill the juice and I reminded her about the milk, but again it never came. We did enjoy our food though. Claire pretty much had a breakfast of Mickey Waffles. A parade came around, but Claire would not join. Our first character was Lilo. I think Claire has an idea who she is, but I don’t think she has ever seen Lilo and Stitch as a movie. I know I haven’t. She has seen the cartoon a few times though. My flash was wonky and both pictures I took of Claire have her in shadow. I tried to fix them, but it didn’t work to well. Soon Pluto arrived. We sure do enjoy this juice. Stitch came over next. He was a lot of fun! I think this might’ve been the first time we ever met Stitch. And then our main man Mickey made his way over. With it just being the 2 of us, it didn’t take long to get filled up. Sadly our waitress seemed more interested in other tables. I had to flag her down to get the check and then it still took a bit before she came back with it. After she took our card, and we again waited, I actually stood up next to the table with my backpack on to give the universal signal of “We are ready to leave”. Finally she came back and we headed off again. I tried to take a few quick pictures as we left, but most came out pretty blurry. Our thoughts on ‘Ohana for breakfast….. The food was decent. Not fabulous, but good and there were enough things for both of us to like. The character interaction was decent, with Stitch being the best. Our waitress was slow and I never did get my milk and because I reminded her twice I reflected my dislike in her tip, which was less than I would normally give. Would we go back? Yes…In fact in March we have a reservation. But the reason we do is because my cousins are going down the week before us and we have a day where we both can meet up and this was a breakfast she wanted to do for her boys, so I made it for all 8 of us to get together. It’s their last FULL day and our first FULL day at the parks. I took a quick peek at Kona….we do have a reservation for her next year at this point, but I may have to cancel it once I get my plans more set. So we decided to head to the monorail. Looking down. Here it comes! A little closer….. Here it is.

We arrived at the Poly PLENTY early, so we decided to walk around a bit and take some pictures. A lot of these pictures are blurry. For some reason I had a wrong setting on my camera and didn’t notice it till later. A lot of people I know just love the Poly or it is their dream resort to stay at. I am not that impressed. The plus side is that it is on the monorail, but I just don’t think it’s beautiful. Don’t hate me, but I actually kind of think it looks dated. And though I have never been in an actual room there, I have seen pictures, and I don’t think they look all that impressive. Now would I ever stay there? Heck yeah. It’s got a great location, but I would need to really good deal to do so. As we were wandering by the pool I noticed this. And this pad near it. So I pushed the button and to see what would happen. It was a splash area. Some people were sitting near the pool and watched me do that and as soon as we walked away, I heard the Mom ask the kids if they wanted to play in the water. She must’ve not know it was there either. I like this next shot because you can see a boat in the mirror reflection. Had I know I would capture that; I would’ve tried harder at getting the boat centered in there. I really wish I had paid attention to my camera settings. It annoys me how many of these pictures have a blur to them. This is just so cute and would be great if it was in focus….the little ducks were heading to the pool for a swim.

Nov. 14, Wednesday, Day 14 I can’t even believe it, but this trip was coming to an end. Luckily I was smart enough to book a flight for later in the day. Skip is famous for wanting to get home early. I, on the other hand, try to make the vacation last as long as I can. The only thing waiting for me at home is laundry! And about 500 plus emails in my inbox. LOL! Claire was good about getting up today. She knew we had limited time left and a few things on our list to do yet. I believe the first thing we did was haul the luggage down to the resort airport check in …if I remember right. I think we were down there by 8 AM. There was a line, but it was moving OK. A funny thing though, while waiting in line, a lady came in and just walked in front of everyone and said “I was already here, but they made me go get my ID to check in. I have to hurry as I have a flight today” and then she just cut in front of everyone. I laughed and the couple in front of me did too. The guy said, “Oh hey, can I get in front of the line too since I have a flight today.” The lady heard him and then she went on to say that Magical Express was waiting out front for her. UM Lady…first off, ME is NOT going to wait for you. You will catch the next bus. Secondly, if you are cutting it this close, there is a chance your bags aren’t gonna make it anyways. We all let her go, because CLEARLY she was better than all of us! Now this is the first time I have ever used the resort check in. Typically we have flown with Allegiant, which means we rent a car and go in and out of Sandford. The other times we have flown into MCO, we have either rented a car or have not used a participating airline. Let me say, I LOVE resort check in. It was so easy! They took our bags, gave me my boarding pass and it was just a breeze to do. I believe we also took our carry ons to bell services to store as well till it was time to leave. We explored the resort a bit then to see the new Christmas décor and we filled our mugs up. I loved this white shirt, but the price was just way too high. I think it was over $40. So I never did get it. And then we headed back to the room to gather our bag for the day and to make sure we left nothing behind. With a stop here and there for pictures. After we made sure we had everything we then headed to the bus stop. Of course we still had to look around a bit more at the new Christmas décor and take a few pictures. We really liked the way the Art of Animation Lobby was done and with Christmas decor, it made it even more fun to look around. As you can see, I was in the mode…..you know the one where you know you are leaving and not sure what things you took pictures of earlier in the trip, so now is the time to get everything and anything. Time to move on! We had an ADR at ‘Ohanas for breakfast this morning. I actually made this one not too long before our trip. With the deluxe dining I had tried to make a few 2 credit meals to try, but I kept playing around with things and I ended up canceling one that just was not going to work. It was on our Osborne Lights night and I just knew running around was going to be hard and I didn’t want to be rushed. I decided ‘Ohanas on our last morning would be nice to try as it is one of the few character meals we had yet gone to. We arrived at MK and transferred over to the monorail.

More of Aurora. And Cinderella was our final Princess. By this time, Joy and her daughter Maddie had texted and said they were in line for the Princesses too, but they never came in the room while we were there. I love this picture of Claire! She just looks so happy to be there. Darn! Another blink. She was doing that a lot this evening. After our Princess meet and greets we headed out to the gift shop and waited for Joy and Maddie. We shopped around while we waited. Claire found more things she wanted, but I told her there was no way it would fit in our suitcases. After a few minutes Joy and Maddie came out from their Princess meet and it was like we were long lost friends. It was great to finally meet her after talking to her for so many years. The girls hit it off immediately too. Claire seemed to lose all her shyness she had at the beginning of the trip. She and Maddie started talking like they had known each other forever. As we were talking, a CM came by and offered to take our picture. I have to laugh at Claire’s face. She looks scared. The 2nd one was a little better. We chatted for a while and the girls tried talking us into buying things for them. Joy was telling Maddie no because they had just arrived and had lots of time to look at things and I was telling Claire no because we already bought so many things and space was limited in our suitcase. We wandered outside after a bit and chatted a bit more. It was now getting close to midnight, and if I remember correctly, the park was closing then or at 1, but either way it was late….. We said our goodbyes and headed off as Claire had one more thing she wanted to get and I said she could …as long as they had them. …..the Mickey Popcorn buckets. Yes the very same one that Abby had turn into some kind of possessed evil spirit over. Claire knew they may not have them and was Ok with that, but we wanted to try. So we headed off towards Tomorrowland. We did stop for the final photopass pictures of the trip. And luckily we found a popcorn bucket! We then took a seat on some steps and just enjoyed the night and ate some popcorn. I couldn’t believe our time was coming to an end. I really felt this was such a fabulous vacation and now I am a Holiday snob. I can’t imagine seeing the castle without it’s lights in future trips. It’s just so much more magical with them. Finally we did have to leave though. We grabbed a bus for AoA and before long we were back. I am pretty sure Claire fell asleep in the way back this time. She fights it, but at times you just gotta give in. The hard thing is waking her. Once she is out, she is really out. She did get up though and we made our way back in through the lobby. But wait! ….What is it that I see? They were starting to decorate AoA with the Holiday décor! Woo Hoo! We weren’t going to completely miss it after all. Claire did a quick pose for me. At the time, no one knew how AoA would be decorated for the Holidays. I was one of the lucky first few to see it for the first time and as it was going up. Of course I posted a picture on facebook immediately. I really liked the white tree and garland theme they went with. Joy was staying at Pop and she responded to my facebook post saying that Pop was decorating as well when they got back. Hmmmmm….. I love Pop and have never seen the tree in person, so I might have to go over there tomorrow before we leave. More coming in. After a bit, Claire got a bit tired, so we headed back to our room and immediately passed out for the night. It was another great day with new experiences. We got to meet up with Joy and Maddie, something I had really been looking forward to. Oh the People We See! And we tried out the Spirit of Aloha, the Agent P missions in the World Showcase and now came back to the Holiday décor going up at our resort! Oh the Places We Go! Sadly this was our last sleep at Art of Animation.

One of the guests was called up to the stage to dance. I honestly don’t remember how she was chosen, except perhaps it was a birthday or something along those lines. The fire guy was pretty interesting to watch. This picture would’ve been great….if the heads weren’t blocking half of the guy out. The show started to wind down then. Soooo…. My thoughts on Spirit of Aloha. It was by far the worst meal I have ever eaten at Disney World. It was just not our taste at all. I also feel that if I had gone to this show earlier in the trip, I probably would’ve have enjoyed it more. But at this point I was running on very little sleep and it was slow in spots and I had to fight to stay awake. I think if I was more rested and excited about the trip beginning, I would have a better appreciation of the show. The actors were great, don’t get me wrong, but at times their just was not enough action to keep my attention. Where you sit can make or break the experience as well. We had awful seats. The pole was always in the way and if I could see something, others in front moved their heads and that blocked my view as well. I enjoy taking pictures and when I can’t do it, it kind of puts a damper on my mood. There were times I just set the camera down and that is not like me at all. I am not sure if we will ever give it another try. For one, I would have to ask about a different menu as this was just not for us at all. Secondly, taking the chance of seating ……. if I got horrid seats again, I don’t know if I could sit through it again. It does seem a bit on the long side as well. If Claire wants to go again, I may think about it, but only if Skip is with us as well. I think we have enough “other” places and things to try that it this will be down low on the list of going back to. After the show ended, Claire had to use the restroom, which of course they only have one small one. We actually waited a while to let the place empty out a bit and then went and got in line for the bathroom, which was still fairly long. After that we slowly made our way back to the Poly. It was pretty empty at this point in the show area and we saw some of the cast members walking around and talking. Once we got back into the Poly we headed to the monorail. During the show I had been talking with another Dis friend on facebook who had just arrived and we wanted to meet up before I left. She was at the Magic Kingdom, so we decided to head over there and meet her while we had the chance. We quickly arrived at the Magic Kingdom and my Dis friend was doing something else at the moment, so Claire and I decided to get in line for the Princesses because the line was very short ….AND Rapunzel was listed as one of the Princesses in there. That was a plus, as Claire wanted to meet her and at this point we had not found her. We got in line and were let into the room right away with just a short wait in there. I texted my Dis friend, Joy, and let her know where we were. It didn’t take too long and we were ready to meet Rapunzel. Now I never said this to Claire, but Rapunzel was NOT pretty at all. I do find her pictures are actually pretty good though, but in person, especially from one side, she looked awful. I texted my friend Janet as we waited and showed her a picture of her from the bad side. We had a good laugh because it seemed like we were getting all the ugly princesses this trip. Now Rapunzel made up for it with personality though. She was great with Claire and by the end of the meet, I liked her a lot. There was a lot of chatting going on between the 2 of them. Claire really enjoyed her meet with her. Rapunzel then came over and had to look at my hair. She said she wanted to “paint” her hair the same way. Next up was Aurora. And she was beautiful!!!

We spent about an hour in the room. We freshened up for dinner; Claire changed her clothes and went off to play a bit with her legos while I packed up most of our stuff. Sadly this trip was coming to an end and I wanted to have as much as I could packed and ready to go in the morning. After that was done, we headed out to our dinner destination. We were a bit early, so I made a stop in the arcade to take a look. Claire obviously looks thrilled about that decision. LOL And then we headed to the bus stop. Our dinner tonight was the Spirit of Aloha. We have never done this show and I have heard mixed reviews on it. We decided since we were doing deluxe dining for this last segment of our trip, that we would give it a try. We bused to MK and then took the monorail over to the Poly. I think we were still early, so we shopped a little bit and there were a few things I wanted, but in the end I couldn’t justify the price and we left empty handed. We then made our way to check in. A quick stop for a goofy picture. While waiting in line, I realized that we never got a message about picking up tickets for the event. We always have gotten a call message in our room in the past for Hoop Dee Doo tickets and I never even gave it a 2nd thought about this one till we got in line. No worries. They had our tickets at the booth and we were checked off without any issues. We then had to wait a bit before we were let in. We received leas and walked a bit around the area, which was fairly crowded. We did sit down in a small area after a bit to wait. After a bit of waiting they finally were letting people in to be seated. We were seated far off to one side and towards the back of the table. At first it looked like it was a decent seat, but as the night went on I realized this was an AWFUL spot. Our first course was delivered right away. Pineapple-Coconut Bread Asian Apple Pear Slaw Hawaiian Potato Salad The bread was the same bread as ‘Ohana served, and we are not a fan of that. Of course we gave it a try again, but once again we just didn’t care for it. The only thing that I even slightly liked was the slaw. The rest was just not my thing. Claire did not eat any of it. I don’t remember what Claire had to drink, but beer was included and I did have that and enjoyed a couple of glasses throughout the night. This was the view of the stage. It doesn’t look too bad, does it? The area we sat had a roof over it and was slightly enclosed. Most of the stage area was open air. These were venting panels to let in air. The band got started and warmed us up a bit. Still the view looks good. And then the performers came out and got started. I soon realized that my view was a side view and most of the action happened center stage, which was blocked by a pole for us. On top of the pole blocking my view most of the night, there were some heads in my way. One couple in particular were constantly moving and in our way the whole night. I really got annoyed by the end of the evening. The main course then was brought out. Island Pork Loin Roasted Chicken Polynesian Rice Fall Harvest Vegetable Medley We gave it a try, but honestly we didn’t like anything. It was very similar to ‘Ohana’s food and it had sauces that we did not care for. We did not eat much at all. I think the chicken was the only thing we both ate without complaint. If I remember right, they did bring Claire out a hotdog. I shoud’ve asked for one as well. More of the show. I think they called up people who were celebrating something. I will say this show really didn’t make much sense to me in the way of a storyline. It had some great parts, but it had some VERY slow parts as well. It had been a long 2 weeks and I was tired, so I was fighting sleep sitting there. Also the pole was in my way and I tried to take pictures, but many were just awful. And the couple whose heads kept getting in my way just annoyed me even more. Every time I had even a chance of getting a good shot, they moved and got in the way. I will admit, I spent a good amount of time on my phone checking emails and reading facebook. It was REALLY fighting sleep and it was the only way to keep me from dozing off. Claire seemed to enjoy the show more than I, but even she wasn’t super impressed. Then dessert came. It looks good, doesn’t it? Milk Chocolate Macadamia Nut Mousse. Well there was one problem with it for me….the darn nuts in it. I can’t stand nuts in things. I like them plain or not at all (well except in chocolate and caramel). I ate part of the mousse, but I couldn’t get past the texture of the nuts in it. So I didn’t enjoy that either. Claire was given an option of the mousse or cake pops and she choose the cake pops. I think I took a bite and wasn’t all that impressed with those either. But I am not a big fan of cake pops because they are so dry normally. The show did get a little more exciting towards the end and I perked up for parts of it.

I agree. Everything about it was just so tasty! It's on our list for next year already.