MY Last Trip........

[calisota]

Apologies if anyone was waiting for a trip update today or tomorrow but my memory stick got left at work so you will have to have a three day hit on Monday!!!!

Sandie

I've spent the entire morning wandering around the house with a vacant expression and muttering "I need my Sandie fix".

No...wait...that's what I normally do, apart from the Sandie part.

Greg

[Mel]

At least we will have something to read on Monday afternoon when the work-week seems soooooo long!

[churros]

Excuse me Sandie it is Tuesday night!

[sandie]

I'm sorry!!!! Its been a busy week - I am in a documentry which started filming this week and at a union meeting today I think I suggested we start writing up a few notes to get some funding on making one on women in the union movement! But I promise I will get another day up tomorrow!

Sandie

[calisota]

Sandie, did you ever make it home from the trip?

Greg

[sandie]

Do you people not understand busy??????????

August 30th – Shopping Day

The last few days I had been moaning about the lack of shopping time I was being given. The solution? The boys would head off site to shop at boring places like Toys are Us and us girls would hang out at Downtown Disney!

The boys left at 9.30 and we were right behind them. A Disney bus got us to the Marketplace at 10 and we were ready to go. We briefly wondered what our first stop should be and quickly decided Goofy’s Kitchen. After all ten am is not too early for dessert! The concept here is amazing:

Step 1: Pick your base from a gingerbread man, apple, chocolate chip cookie
Step 2: Decide if you want a coating of sticky caramel
Step 3: Pick your chocolate coating – white, milk, dark or any combination
Step 4: Pick your toppings – as many as you like from m&m’s, choc bits, lollies, nuts and lots more!
Step 5: Try and eat it!

Eloise had an apple coated in caramel, milk chocolate and biscuit pieces. I had a gingerbread man dipped in milk chocolate with white chocolate mickey ears and mini m&m’s. We ate what we could and continued on. We spent some time in the Wonderful World of Disney Memories and bought a few scrapping items and a cross stitch kit of Mickey shaking hands with a fire fighter. The man working in the shop asked us what country we were from and informed us we were not from the Country of the day but we still got a lollipop. We wandered around the adjoining art of Disney Store but could not really afford anything. Next stop the Christmas Shop where I grabbed some Christmas decorations and got name badges for both kids.

We wandered across the walkway to Pooh Corner where there was a big sale going on. We grabbed some gifts for family back home and prepared for the big plunge – The World of Disney. We spent heaps in here – we got t-shirts, jewellery, pins, toys, candy, dresses and more. All for the princely sum of $399!!!!!! We were feeling hungry again so we grabbed a coke and some pop corn to snack on whilst we purchased chocolate in Ghiradelhi. We were shopped out by this time so we headed back to the resort on the boat. This was a nice relaxing way to travel. We had lunch in the food court and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. The boys returned at 4pm and had a quick swim before we headed to EPCOT for dinner.

We had reservations at Chef de France and did a bit more shopping as we made our way around the World. I bought my mum and friend Lorna tea pots from the Tea Caddy in England and some Cadburys chocolate for Peter. We arrived at the restaurant just before our reservation. Originally we had been scheduled to eat in Japan tonight but the restaurant refurbishment was delayed so they moved us to here and gave us vouchers to the special Illuminations Viewing Area for tonight. We were seated near a window. The good part about being ion the free dining was that we could try food we normally wouldn’t. Tonight Eloise would put that to the test. For entrees John had cheese puff pastry, Peter had ratatouille et calamars (calamari), I had champignons sauvages et quarte fromage (flat bread with mushrooms and 4 cheeses), and Eli had escargot. She ate two of them and Peter tried one. Sickos. For main courses John had croquette de boeuf (hamburger and fries), Eloise had demi poulet (roast chicken), Peter had jarret d’agneau aux haricots (lamb shank) and I had vegetarian lasagne. For dessert I had a beautiful chocolate tart with banana and coconut, Peter had crème brulee, Eli had profiteroles and John had ice cream.

We were all full so we headed over to the Illuminations viewing area. We were right across form the American Pavilion and situated where we could sit on our bottoms on the warm concrete and see everything. I got out some glow sticks I had bought from home and played with the kids whilst Peter went to buy some cinnamon roasted pecans.

We enjoyed the show and headed back to the resort to get some sleep as we all had early mornings tomorrow.

[KeithS]

Do you people not understand busy??????????

All we're hearing is excuses, Sandie...excuses...

[churros]

About time - I thought I'd be on my trip before we got to the end of yours

I believe the dining plan doesn't include appetisers anymore!

Is there still a shop in Downtown Disney where you can buy sauces etc that they use in the various restaurants? I remember a friend telling me about it but I think it might have closed.

[calisota]

We were shopped out by this time

So it is possible!

Greg

[sandie]

I believe the dining plan doesn't include appetisers anymore!

My understanding is taht there are now 3 dining plans - 1 is 3 meals quick service which means no appetizer, but they still have the one we got which is on table service (3 course), 1 quick service (meal and dessert) and 1 snack, plus they have the deluxe which is 3 table service credits a day.

I do not know how you would do the third one. We never ever used all our credits on the middle one. I usually had to go snack shopping on the last night. However the quick service one won't work for me because I would get so sick of burgers, fries and hot dogs! We would do the dining plan again even if we had to pay for it. It was nice to be able to eat whatever you want without worrying about paying and next time we will have 2 teenagers and at almost 10 John eats more than me so it would be worth it to feed him! Yes at $170 a day for a family like ours its not cheap but it really only means working 2 hours of overtime a week for 6 months before the trip - and its not like I am really sitting at work working for those two hours anyway!!!!!!!

A big change to all the plans is that tips are no longer included - this has a good side and bad - the bad being I always get scared I am not tipping enough and over tip, the good being you will get better service, Dining Plan peope were treated like dogs when we used it because the staff knew exactly what their tip would be before they started serving you.

Sandie

[sandie]

31st August – Girls Day out/ Boys Big Adventure

Eloise and I were up and at the bus stop at 7 am. We had a 8 am reservation to have breakfast with Pooh at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. The bus got us to our destination at 7.30 am so we sat and enjoyed the early morning sunshine before they let us in 15 minutes later. It was amazing walking up Main Street with only 1 or 2 other families. We took advantage of this and took some photos.

We arrived at the restaurant just before 8 and had to wait a short time to be seated. Eloise went straight up to the buffet and grabbed pastries and strawberries for breakfast. A cast member gave her a flag and she got to march around the restaurant with Pooh and all his friends before they each came and visited us. I do not really like Pooh but we had a nice time anyway. When we were ready to leave we gave our waitress a little koala. She gave Eloise some Magical Moments pins – one for her to keep and one for her to give away to anyone else needing some magic.

We made our way down to the tour office in the Town Hall on Main Street. We checked in for our tour and we were given metal name badges with our names on them. Our tour guide came out and introduced herself to us and we began our tour. There were 15 people in our group and we started off by walking up Main Street where we were told about Mickey’s birth. We spent some time looking for hidden Mickeys and also sat under some trees and had a lesson in how to draw the famous mouse. We toured most of fantasyland and ended up in Toon town where we had a very detailed and private tour of Mickey’s house and we were treated to a private audience with the big cheese himself! At the conclusion of the tour we were each given Mickey ears with our names on them in silver and declared fully trained mouseketeers! We enjoyed the tour but we did not really learn anything new.

We were both feeling a bit hungry but didn’t want to eat to much as we had something special planned for afternoon tea. We shared a hot dog and french fry meal in Cosmic Rays before heading over to Frontierland to get on some attractions. Eloise had a Mickey head ice cream while we were walking. We went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder before catching the train back to Toon Town. We took the back path to Tomorrowland and had a go on Space Mountain and Stitch’s Great Escape. We browsed the gift shop and bought John a Stitch cap. It was time for us to take a break for our special treat so we walked down Main Street and caught the monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort.

We had reservations for the Grand Afternoon Tea. We were lead to our table in the Garden View Lounge and relaxed into our soft puffy chairs. The waitress delivered a large wooden box to our table. Inside the box was dived into twenty compartments. In each there were different tea leaves that I could smell before deciding what sort of tea I wanted. I selected Earl Grey and Eloise chose chocolate milk. Our tea pots were delivered along with a small plate each of tiny sandwiches. We had chicken and dill, egg and lettuce, cucumber and salmon. They were so dainty and crustless. Next we were bought a cake stand with small pastries and tarts. Finally we were each given a bowl with about 25 strawberries and fresh whipped cream. I really recommend this diversion for anyone wanting a relaxed mid afternoon break.

It was now 4 pm and we had to meet the boys at 6pm so we rode the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and did a small amount of shopping before catching the monorail back to the ticket and transportation centre and then on to EPCOT. We arrived at our Test Track meeting place just before the boys who were excitedly waving Dream Fast Passes. They had been given them by a couple leaving the park as they had arrived. A number of the tabs were still left so we would get some use out of them!

The boys filled us in on their day. They had started at the internet café before heading out to Daytona. They did the Daytona Experience which involved a tour of the race track and some small attractions. Both said it was well worth the drive. John had seen a bill board for the largest scrapbook store in Florida and he was very excited to share this with me. On the way back they had been caught up in very bad storm. Peter had to drive very slowly and at one stage told John to climb over to the back seat as he was worried hail would smash the windscreen. They were on the interstate so there was nowhere to seek shelter. They had also fit in another visit to Toys R US.

We went on Test Track using the single rider line and Mission Space before taking a walk through Innoventions. The kids made plastic robots and we played a few games before heading over to the World Showcase for our dinner reservation at Nine Dragons. We had never eaten here before and we really enjoyed it. The food was delicious and as we finished up we decided that we would change one of our later reservations and come here again!

After dinner we spent some time in Norway and Mexico and had another spin on Test Track before heading back to the hotel. The kids and Peter had ice cream and I bought myself a new book from the gift shop.

[Mel]

I would love that afternoon tea! I hope I have a daughter to share it with by then, otherwise one of my sons will have to go with me

[sandie]

1st September – NASA

We started this morning with breakfast at Sizzler. At $3.99 a head it is great value and we have found you should eat a lot before you go to the Kennedy Space Centre as the food is not very good there! We all ate plenty of food except John who was feeling a bit off colour. For his $3.99 he ate 4 fruit loops.

Once we were full we jumped in our car and headed out to the coast. We arrived at the Centre at 10 am and booked in for the NASA Up Close tour. The person in front of us in the queue had a spare voucher to save $5 per ticket which he shared with us – we of course gave him a koala!

Once inside we made our way over to the tour departure area. We boarded our bus and spent a pleasant few hours visiting the shuttle preparation building, the actual launch area (well as close as we could get) and finally ended up at the large hanger which is the Apollo/Saturn V centre. In here we saw a simulation of the original Apollo mission control room and then spent some time wandering around looking at the displays including the giant rocket hanging from the ceiling. The highlight for the kids was touching a moon rock.

We decided to eat lunch before heading back to the main area. Peter had peperoni pizza, John had a hot dog, Eloise had chicken fingers and I had a ham and cheese sandwich. We were all under whelmed with the quality of the food. We caught the bus back to the main complex and headed over to the IMAX cinema to see magnificent desolation. We had already seen this in Sydney at our IMAX but we still enjoyed watching it and sharing pop corn and space chocolate with each other. We exited the cinema and headed over to try the Space Shuttle Experience. I liked this very realistic attraction but the rest of the family preferred Mission Space. In the pre show movie we saw the astronaut we had met a few days earlier.

The day had been very hot and when we exited the building some very dark clouds were rolling in. The kids wanted to play on the playground and we just made it before the skies opened up. It was torrential. The kids were happy they got to play for 30 minutes until the rain eased enough for us to make a run for the ice cream shop. Both kids got space dots and Peter and I had soft serve. We made another rain dash to the main gift shop where we bought magnets, t-shirts and John got patches to sew onto a future space suit. The rain was not letting up so climbed back in the car for the drive back to Orlando. We arrived back at dinner time and headed to Peter’s favourite place – Cracker Barrel! He had his usual chicken fried steak, the kids both had chicken tenders and mac and cheese whilst I had a salad.

On the way back to the resort we stopped at Walgreens to browse. We walked away with a talking Halloween zombie, shampoo and almost the complete set of Cars cars.

[sandie]

2nd September – Fathers Day

Today is Father’s Day for us but not for all the Americans. Their Father’s Day is in May! The kids gave Peter the cards that they had bought for him and we headed out to visit an auto supply shop so he could buy some hoses for his Dodge. We returned to the hotel for lunch and then headed over to the Richard Petty Driving Experience. This was Peter’s Father’s Day gift. The day started with a briefing session that we were all allowed to sit in. The drivers were suited up and measured for helmets. They then took the participants for some on track briefing and drove them around a few times in a mini bus and showed them the cars and the safety requirements.

Now the fun began. One at a time they got to hop in a nascar and follow a pace car around the track for their 8 laps. Peter was beaming from ear to ear when he got out of the car. For us watching it was all just a blur – load engine noise followed by a car whizzing by! Once all the drivers had been around we all went to debriefing where each driver was given a record of his times. Peter won!!!!! He felt very manly!

We headed back to the car for a short drive to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. The night before Eloise had bought herself a beautiful purple fluffy, lacey girly dress which she changed into. It was part of a dress up costume for Halloween and was very ornate. It was such a hot afternoon that we decided to use some of our snack credits for ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlour. When we got to the head of the line the server greeted Eloise: “Hello Princess what would you like?” He continued to talk to her about her beautiful ball gown and asked where her prince was. Eloise enjoyed the conversation so much she wanted to give him a kangaroo. We took our cones outside and sat under one of the umbrellas. It was necessary to eat quickly as they melted faster than I had ever seen ice cream melt before. The server came out to find us and gave each of the kids one of the Magic moments pin sets. They were so happy.

We started off in Adventureland with a ride on the Jungle Cruise. This time it was John’s turn for special attention. The skipper called him up and let him steer the boat for the whole voyage. John was given a special badge announcing him “skipper of the day”. Eloise was feeling very hot in her dress so we headed into the cool queue line of Pirates. I am pretty sure I saw her making googly eyes at Jack as we sailed past!

We still had time before our priority seating so we headed over to Big Thunder. As we excited the ride I realised that we had remembered to bring the kids shirts to be autographed but forgotten the sharpie pen. As Peter scouted the shops in Liberty Square looking for one the kids and I sat under the Liberty Tree trying to figure out which lantern Tink lives in!

Peter had no luck with finding a pen so we headed into the Liberty Tavern and told our greeter our problem. She borrowed a pen from the kitchen for us to use. Liberty Tavern is a table service character dinner themed at the time of the American Revolution. Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Chip and Dale all visit your table in colonial garb. The food is served on platters in the middle of the table and is all you can eat. We were served steak strips, ham, turkey, vegetables and macaroni and cheese. We had a great dinner and once we gave our server a koala he was much nicer to us – I think he thought we were British – not a popular thing to be during the revolution!!!!

When we came out it was getting dark so we went to collect our wrist bands for the extra magic hours tonight. We rode most of the attractions in Fantasyland before heading over to duel with Zurg on Buzz Lightyear’s Rescue Ranger Spin which we followed up with 4 goes on Space Mountain.

We were feeling tired so we grabbed some popcorn and coke on Main Street and made our way our of the park and rode the boat over to collect our car.

[Mel]

2nd September – Fathers Day

I am pretty sure I saw her making googly eyes at Jack as we sailed past!

.

Can you blame her?