Pinch me, did it REALLY happen????? - All wrapped up, and yes, it DID happen!

[franandaj]

Michael works 48 hours shifts at the FD. He does 48* on and 96* off.

Great update. We love EE and Mickey pretzels with cheese. That would be my Chloe's perfect day.

We've lost a hat or two on EE. You'd think we would have learned.

I also noticed a difference in crowds from weekdays to weekends. It's fairly significant. On the busses too.

Awesome photos as usual.

So I'm guessing that he does all the cooking on the 96?

I was expecting it to be busier, but this was pretty substantial. The bus was a lot more packed on the ride over and I could hear a lot of people talking about having "flown in last night", "so nice to get the shorts out again", etc.

I loved the photos from the line at Expedition Everest. Maybe the next time I go to WDW, I just have to do this for all the clever details in the line and then take the chicken exit. This is one ride that seriously freaks me out.

Corinna

I just love the queues at Disney. I kept looking at each piece thinking about the imagineers who came up with this stuff. I remembered watching a Disney special on the making of EE and how Jim (the imagineer with the earring) traveled to Nepal and they hung out with the locals to find out the customs, legends and other such things. Someone had to come up with almost every one of those "museum pieces", how cool is that to design a museum based on a fictional legend?

I'm just catching up...
I made the TR!!!

I gave my mom the bag yesterday & she LOVES it!!!!

Thank you again!

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

I'm glad she likes it! After all the ones I saw on the trip and after it sat in front of my chair for about a week before sending it, I totally forgot to take a picture!

Just catching up.

How cool is that, that you got an entire vehicle all to yourselves for the tour. Your own private tour! Your stroganoff looks yummy by the way.

You got some great pictures of the queue for EE. I hardly ever get to see the all the little pictures, artifacts and articles that's in the queue.

Did Fran enjoy the ride?!

It was really cool to just have the two of us on the vehicle. No annoying folks who ask ridiculous questions or even worse, try to tell the guides about the animals!

Fran's comment on how she enjoyed the ride, "I fun and I didn't throw up!"

Great pics from EE

Shame about the ball cap - the yeti probably has quiet the collection now !!

Well, she actually had two of that one cap, so I guess it was not that tragic a loss.

I love the pics from EE and Tree of Life. I'd forgotten all the little details in the EE queue. On another note the rock formation at Aulani has fish, turtles, sea horses and stuff all around it like the Tree of Life.

I haven't been able to make myself go on CA Screamin, but I have done EE once and survived. The drop wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I haven't been through the queue in probably over 10 years, so it was fun to do it and see everything again. I had forgotten about the who museum of the Yeti.

I never wear my hat on EE. I think I've even been known to take off my spectacles on that ride. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever clearly been able to see that ride!

Love the Mickey pretzel.

I never wear hats on any ride unless they have a chin strap. On RnRC I take off my glasses AND my earrings.

Hi Allison! That is a TON of sheet music! What a huge job, clearing all that out. I'm curious- do you have a catalog online somewhere?

So nice you had the safari to yourselves. I love all the stories about the animals- I remember feeling like we were getting the inside scoop way back when we did the sunset safari. Those boys were trouble makers 5 years ago, too! Haha! This visit in May we will be doing the sunrise safari again- really looking forward to it.

Your stroganoff looked yummy- beef stroganoff was one of my Mom's best dishes, it was always my Dad's birthday dinner. Yum!

We had an online store for about 14 years, but back in September when Darcy and I started boxing up the music we made it go dark. It was a pain to have to open up boxes and look through them to find stuff that our customers were ordering. For the next 10-15 years we're going to offering some great deals on eBay....buy $200 worth of music for $40, or something like that. We started that back in September, but it took away from my ability to pack up the stuff shipping what we sold, we decided just to sell it once the apartment is cleaned up.

I love the safaris and all the background info you get. I would do this one over the Wanyama again easily. Sometime we will stay CL and do the Sunrise again. That was great!

Thanks on the stroganoff. A lot of people make it with noodles, but from what I've researched it's actually traditionally served with thin crisp potatoes and not mixed with noodles. We adopted this as a staple during our "low carb" diet phase!

I deny that California Screaming even exists. I have done EE once, but never again.

Corinna

That's one of my most favorite, but Fran will never ride it again.

Great pictures of the EE queue. I just love all those details!

More shopping

Thanks, perhaps my next subtitle should be "let the shopping begin" because she is just getting warmed up!

 

[TruBlu]

Here's THE bag... (It's reversible. The one on the bottom is missing a stone on the red side. The one on top is courtesy of Fran.)

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[rentayenta]

Here's THE bag... (It's reversible. The one on the bottom is missing a stone on the red side. The one on top is courtesy of Fran.)

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Adorable!




Alison, Michael does all of the cooking in our home advise from breakfast. He'll cook it of course but breakfast is easy, I can handle it.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Here's THE bag... (It's reversible. The one on the bottom is missing a stone on the red side. The one on top is courtesy of Fran.)

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Gorgeous bag!

 

[lisaviolet]

OMG, so far behind!!!

My apologies Alison. Loads going on and then I had a surprise trip to WDW. Booked at 11 am on a Tuesday for same day flight in Buffalo.

No moulah. And hardly any spent. Maybe spent $40. And that's including air.

Will catch up soon. Hope life is wonderful.

 

[mvf-m11c]

A little late to your latest update. Very nice pictures of the queue from Expedition Everest.

I'm sorry that Fran lost her hat on the ride. I have wore my hats on rides like EE, California Screamin, etc. and I tighten my hat so it won't fly off. Everyone that I go on fast rides are wondering why I am still wearing my hats on the rides. Luckily I haven't lost any of my hats yet on the rides.

Nice update.

 

[franandaj]

Here's THE bag... (It's reversible. The one on the bottom is missing a stone on the red side. The one on top is courtesy of Fran.)


Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Thanks for posting "the bag". It's a cute bag, just not really my style. I have to be picky about what I buy now since I already have so much. But don't think that stops me when I REALLY want something. (For those of you into literary terms, that was called foreshadowing)

OMG, so far behind!!!

My apologies Alison. Loads going on and then I had a surprise trip to WDW. Booked at 11 am on a Tuesday for same day flight in Buffalo.

No moulah. And hardly any spent. Maybe spent $40. And that's including air.

Will catch up soon. Hope life is wonderful.

Surprise trip to WDW!?!?!?!?

And how did you swing THAT without spending any money!

A little late to your latest update. Very nice pictures of the queue from Expedition Everest.

I'm sorry that Fran lost her hat on the ride. I have wore my hats on rides like EE, California Screamin, etc. and I tighten my hat so it won't fly off. Everyone that I go on fast rides are wondering why I am still wearing my hats on the rides. Luckily I haven't lost any of my hats yet on the rides.

Nice update.

You're lucky not to have lost your hat on rides. I always take mine off!

 

[franandaj]

We got back to the resort and stepped into the lobby to find these gals (as we knew from the safari the night before) right down the hallway to the left towards our room. We stopped to admire them and take some pictures.

As we were admiring them, this guy stops and does a double take. He’s all, “Those are real zebras! Oh my God!” I’m thinking how can you stay here and not know this? Well he was a guy who worked for one of the scooter delivery companies, he was just there dropping off a scooter for a guest. We told him that there were all kinds of animals, not just the zebras, but giraffes, cattle, and all sorts of stuff. He said that we made his previously sucky day really cool.

So we went back to the room. All we had eaten today was our meager breakfast and the Mickey pretzel, so some lunch was in order. Fran enjoyed the other half of her sandwich from lunch at Chefs.

I made myself a Roast Beef and Cheddar Melt using some of the bread from Chefs and some of the roast that was left.

Eventually Fran laid down for a nap. I took some pictures out on the Savannah and worked on another installment of the Trip Report. I also worked on putting some of the clothes we wouldn’t need for tonight and the next day into a suitcase because this was going to be our last night at the AKV. Time flies, huh?

Sometime after 4PM we moseyed on up to the bus stop to head out to DTD. We had one of the “Old school” type loading buses this time. I remember when these were the norm. We were so impressed when the new kind of buses came out. Much quicker for loading and unloading.

I took some scenery shots along the way, but this is the only one that wasn’t too blurry.

I don’t know what time it was when we got to DTD, but it must have been late in the afternoon since the shadows are so long in this picture.

Fran wanted to visit the Art Gallery. There are these pictures that are done by Artist Maggie Parr. She used to be an imagineer and now she just sells her artwork for a living. Here are some examples of her work. Fran started collecting these paintings several years ago. I don’t know which ones she has, but she was able to look up some more of these in a book at the Art Gallery and order them directly from Disney. I guess with the AP discount and not having to pay CA sales tax, she saved a bundle! The blue duck, and Duck with a Pearl Earring were two of the pictures that she ordered. They actually arrived just a couple days ago. Along with Cavalier Goofy, and I forget the last one.

Then we headed on to our next destination. We checked in at the podium outside and headed inside. The place was totally packed, and I thought that it might take forever, but it turns out there was a large party on the third floor and once they were seated it took no time for them to call our name.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We were seated at our table.

We ordered some drinks

And perused the menu.

They brought us the cheese spread and the crackers. They were very good.

The bread was better though.

I didn’t even have to think about what I was going to have first. When the waiter told us that they had Malpeque Oysters, I was sold. They are my favorites and no restaurant that I’ve been to at home has had them in over a year.

We asked our waiter which appetizer that he would recommend, the Crab Cake or the Lobster Corn Dogs. He told us that he has customers placing orders to go after their meals for the Lobster Corn Dogs. Hands down, the fried food wins out over everything.

They were delicious. Basically battered and deep friend lobster.

Our next course was Clam Chowder and Caesar Salad which we shared between us. The Chowder was really good, thick and delicious. It came in this teapot and they poured it tableside.

We shared an entrée of Dungeness Crab and boiled red potatoes.

The kitchen was kind enough to split the plate for us.

This was a perfect size meal for us, we both ate everything and still had room left for dessert. Which was two-part, many of you know that I love my Chocolate Martinis.

And since I didn’t take a picture of the dessert menu, I don’t really remember what this was. I think it was a flourless chocolate cake with a raspberry sauce.

All evening I had been really, REALLY tired. I was falling asleep on my scooter waiting for Fran to shop in the Art Gallery. She wanted to go to World of Disney and check out a few things. It was Saturday night!

The place was packed. I browsed around and something caught my eye in the D&B section, but there was no way I was going to even get close to the counter as the line for the registers was soooooo long. Fran wanted to buy some things, but I was just too tired. I told her I was going to wait outside, so I waited by the entrance where Stitch is located.

I took this picture the next day to remember how I was amused for the night while Fran was shopping. You see Stitch is shooting out a stream of water every 3-4 minutes. Some people noticed the wet spot on the pavement. Others were totally oblivious. They would walk right into the spot, the group would stop and talk and all of a sudden a couple of them would get hit with a stream of water. That kept me relatively amused and awake while waiting out in the cold.

We rode back to the Marketplace bus stop and had to wait a while for the bus. Probably our longest wait of the trip. We made it home and I was exhausted. Tomorrow was moving day, so we hit the sack and slept really well.

 

[Pinkocto]

How did the oysters rate?

Sounds like a great evening. Foreshadowing of a future D & B purchase perhaps...

Bus waits at the marketplace can be horribly long. It doesn't seem like they have as much coverage as the parks.

 

[franandaj]

How did the oysters rate?

Sounds like a great evening. Foreshadowing of a future D & B purchase perhaps...

Bus waits at the marketplace can be horribly long. It doesn't seem like they have as much coverage as the parks.

The Oysters were awesome! The only thing that wasn't quite as good was that in California we have this sauce called a Mignonette. Later our server told us that we could request it and they know how to make it. It's essentially red wine vinegar and some shallots, but it is so tasty with the Oysters, I always use it over the cocktail/horseradish option. When you come out here, maybe we could leave Disney property and get some, they don't serve raw oysters at Disney restaurants.

 

[rentayenta]

Future D&B purchase, can't wait to see it!

Dinner looks great. We've never been there but it's going on our next trip list. I have no idea when that will be but Fulton's is on the ADR list.

That squirting Stitch is funny. I am surprised by it every trip.

 

[ACDSNY]

I'll take the crab, you can keep the oysters.

I love watching people by the spitting Stitch.

 

[Linda67]

Great update

I love DTD but not on a Saturday night!

Hope you made it back for the D&B because I want to see it !

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm having a crabby sort of year. Your crabby evening helped a heap! Thanks for sharing.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the artwork. I can imagine having something like this hanging on my wall. I am glad that you enjoyed your dinner. I don't eat seafood so we have never tried Fulton's. I am curious about which D&B purse caught your eye, too.

Corinna

 

[mvf-m11c]

All of the food at Fulton's looks appetizing especially the Lobster Corn Dogs.

Great update.

 

[podsnel]

Hi Alison!
I am with you, I really prefer the mignonette with oysters over cocktail sauce. I am looking forward to downing more than my fair share of oysters in San Fran at Hog Island Oysters this August- it is right across the street from us (we're staying at the Hyatt).

Funny about those people in Stich's spit! That must have been VERY entertaining!

 

[TruBlu]

All of the food at Fulton's looks appetizing especially the Lobster Corn Dogs.

Great update.

I agree! I think we'll give it a try next trip.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[franandaj]

Future D&B purchase, can't wait to see it!

Dinner looks great. We've never been there but it's going on our next trip list. I have no idea when that will be but Fulton's is on the ADR list.

That squirting Stitch is funny. I am surprised by it every trip.

Patience Grasshopper....

I really like Fulton's, we've been there twice now.

I'll take the crab, you can keep the oysters.

I love watching people by the spitting Stitch.

I will happily take the Oysters, I'm glad that I didn't go out there and sit!

Great update

I love DTD but not on a Saturday night!

Hope you made it back for the D&B because I want to see it !

I know! I couldn't believe that she wanted to go in WoD, I figured dinner there was OK, just not shopping.

I'm having a crabby sort of year. Your crabby evening helped a heap! Thanks for sharing.

Glad my crabby evening could help you out.

I love the artwork. I can imagine having something like this hanging on my wall. I am glad that you enjoyed your dinner. I don't eat seafood so we have never tried Fulton's. I am curious about which D&B purse caught your eye, too.

Corinna

I'll tell you, this was the ONLY place I saw that purse, and I looked all week.

All of the food at Fulton's looks appetizing especially the Lobster Corn Dogs.

Great update.

The Lobster Corn Dogs were awesome.

Hi Alison!
I am with you, I really prefer the mignonette with oysters over cocktail sauce. I am looking forward to downing more than my fair share of oysters in San Fran at Hog Island Oysters this August- it is right across the street from us (we're staying at the Hyatt).

Funny about those people in Stich's spit! That must have been VERY entertaining!

Hmmmmm, I haven't heard of that place. I'm looking foward to your visit. It's getting closer.

I agree! I think we'll give it a try next trip.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

It's definitely worth the visit.