2011 Disney Vacation ~ Day 8

January 10, 2011 – Day 8

Today was an at Sea day. It was a busy one! We woke up and had a quick breakfast before getting our swim suits on.

Pixie & Pirate Destinations

I am so excited to talk about a new part of my life!

 I have started working for a new Travel Agency.  Pixie & Pirate Destinations.   They are a brand new Disney Based Agency.  I am really trying to find a way to do the Travel Agency job as my full time job.   If all of you guys could please come “LIKE” me on Facebook  and pass the word on to your family and friends.  You know I will take wonderful care of my clients and help in any way possible. 

Did you know that it is the same price to use me, a graduate of Disney’s College of Knowledge ad you personalized Disney Vacation Planner as it is to book online with Disney.  The only differance is you (or who ever books) will be helping me out and getting quality service in return.  Check out the web site.  I have my own page on the website .  The Web site is great, you can fill out the form online  for quotes  and there is an online payment page too.   It is great!  I know you guys are there for me and I really appriciate all of you who let me book your Disney Vacations!!!!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 7

January 9, 2011

Today was the day we were going to be docking in Key West. The Magic did not dock until 1pm so we had some time in the morning to sleep in a little before our character breakfast. We headed to Parrot Cay a few minutes early and were seated right away!

The characters started coming around pretty fast!

Alyssa and Austin loved them all….except Pluto. He scared Alyssa so much. Look at her little face!

Breakfast was really good.

Except….Mickey Waffles are NOT the same in the parks and on the Cruise ships. These were dense and not very tasty. I have just discovered the goodness of a Mickey Waffle at Walk Disney World a few days prior, so I was disappointed!

Alyssa would get so excited each time a new character would come by!

After some drama over Brandon’s breakfast the waiters made us all fun hats out of napkins. Look at Pete’s…

We still had a few hours before it was time to get off the ship. We walked around some.

Then it was time to learn to Do-Si-Do with Snow White. Alyssa was not registered in the kids club this cruise. She still visited the nursery. But we took her as often as possible to go play in the kids club. She isn’t fond of strangers so this was the best option. She could still visit the nursery when she needed one on one babysitting, but we could take her to play with the bigger kids.

Notice her fingers again!

Alyssa got picked to go into the back for a special meet and greet with Snow White after the party. She couldn’t stop talking about it.

We headed up to the Deck and got a littl ebite to eat before we got off the ship.

Once we got off the ship we stopped and talked to the Trolly Tour lady that was set up right at the pier. Pete and I knew we wanted to do the tour, but we talked Laura and Brandon into joining us too. It was a great deal, much cheaper then Disney charges and when you book the Trolly through Disney excursions you do not get the hop on and off option.

We waited for the next tour to start.

We got our seats and the tour started pretty soon.

Austin and I enjoyed it. LOL It was a really good tour. We saw some interesting sights.

By the time we got to the southern most point Alyssa was out like a light!

Austin had taken a little nap too so he was in a good mood once he woke up.

Chickens were everywhere!

We waited our turn for a picture and when we got there Alyssa didn’t want to get up. She ended up in her family’s picture and ours. Love her! She was not happy about her parents trying to make her get up. Look at that face!

We walked back to the bus stop and Alyssa found something she liked!

We got back on the Trolly and started towards one of the places I was most excited for….the Key West Winery!

We got off and walked a few blocks to the winery.

We bought some of the best wine ever! Key Limon. I LOVE it and can not wait to get more. I am hoarding one lone bottle, but I want alot more. LOL

We walked back to the ship after we were done at the winery. We wanted watch the sun set onboard.

I think we all liked Key West alot!

It had gotten hazy and the sunset was not as clear as it could have been.

We had to go get showered for dinner. One of the reason’s I like the late dining is because you don’t have to rush as much. You have more time before dinner.

The beauty of the Disney ships still amaze me.

Dinner was in Parrot Cay tonight. These chicken fingers were my favorite part of dinner tonight.

Alyssa was drawing some pictures to help pass the time. The dry erase board was nice to have at dinner.

We celebrated Alyssa’s birthday tonight! The was her 3rd Birthday cruise!

Even with cake she needed a Mickey Bar.

After dinner Pete and I went to the club and it was 70’s night. We enjoyed a good show before we headed up for bed!!!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 6

January 8, 2011

This morning was my last morning waking up in Bay Lake Towers! I woke up extra early to sit and look at my Castle. It never gets old. I could take a whole vacation and do nothing but look at the Castle. After showering and getting dressed Pete and I headed over to the main building of the Contemporary Resort. We had a breakfast date with some great friends and Mickey & the gang.

Laura and Jennifer were there and we checked in and got our picture taken.

We got a great table and hit the buffett. Before long the characters started coming around. They don’t wait any time at Chef Mickey’s!

We had a good time at breakfast and I was so glad Laura and Jennifer made it to breakfast. The Marathon was this morning so traffic was bad. The girls were heading to the Magic Kingdom and Pete and I had a boat to catch. We said our goodbye and shared hugs before we parted ways.

This was the view from the walk way between Bay Lake Towers and the Main building.

This was the view facing Bay Lake.

We sat on the balcony a little while until we saw this……

Our Limo was here!!!! We grabbed our bags and headed down to the lobby.

It took a little longer then usual to get off property since there were detours for the race. It was nice to be riding in style.

We got to the port and checked in. We got number 8, so we started waiting. Well then Laura calls me and she got lost in the airport then they checked in at the airport for the cruise. The called number 8 but since our family wasn’t there yet we traded with a family that had number 21. Pete waited at the steps we missed Alyssa and Austin so much. Finally we saw them! YAY!!!!

Alyssa was so excited to start her Disney Cruise! We got in line to see Mickey. Pete and I had bought Alyssa an Autograph book while we were in the Magic Kingdom. Notice her hands in her mouth…we discoved that is what she does when she is nervous!

We got a great group shot! Our Tie Dyes looked so good together!

We got on the ship and had the picture taken before being annouced as “Princess Alyssa’s Family”.

Once we got on I went to the member services desk and got our tickets for the Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter. I also turned in the Pillow cases I made to get signatures for the kids.

We headed to Parrot Cay for lunch!

After lunch we stopped for a quick dance party! Alyssa was already having so much fun! It’s no wonder that Disney Cruises have shot to the top of her favorite vacation list.

It was now after 1:30pm so we could go check out our rooms. We were close to the evelator when Pluto wanted a look at our baby Austin!

We cut through Beat Street to the elevators closest to our room. Alyssa love “walking in the road”!

She also loved the portholes. She climbed in them evertime we walked by them.

Pete and I had arranged for a special deliverly to be waiting in Alyssa’s room. This was her Birthday Cruise! She was very excited!

She loved it all. We had ordered it from A Perfect Gift. Shirley toook care of us and it was full of sand toys, juice boxes, her favorite snacks and a few extras….

We started to unpack some then we had to head to the Walt Disney Theater for our life boat drill. But in all honesty if the boat was going down I am running right to a boat and jumping in. LOL

It was time for the Sail away party. I love the Sail away party!!!

Alyssa LOVED it! She danced and cheered and enjoyed it whole heartedly. Austin on the other hand….

Everytime the crowd cheered he screamed and we all laughed! LOL So mean of us!

Once the party was over we took Alyssa up to the kids club to get all checked in and to play awhile. She loved it, the rest of us were tired! The kids club was great though I wish DCL was around when I was like 8 or 9! WoW!

see tired…

The first day goes so fast and before we knew it we had to get dressed for dinner! We had the late dinner, which I prefer it gives you time to do somethings without rushing too much!

This Pasta dish was so good.

But Alyssa enjoyed this alittle more. So much more she had one every night for the next 6 nights!

We had a special guest at dinner. Pete’s favorite Mickey Mouse!!

Alyssa was already making friends with out assistant waiter. He was great and so nice!

After dinner I think we walked around the ship a little before heading to bed. Look even sleepy my girl is adorable!

When we got back to our room there was another gift for being a Gold Castaway Club Memeber!

2011 Disney Vacation – Day 5

January 7, 2011

Today was a non-park day! We slept in just a little bit before heading to the Polynesian for breakfast at the Kona Cafe. Pete wanted some Tonga Toast, I wish I would have headed and gotten a Dole Whip. We only had a few minutes wait and then we were seated. We ordered and waited for our food. Our waitress was less then Magical and I really dislike the open-ness of Kona. I feel like I am eating in the lobby. BUT the food was pretty darn tasty!

Love the lights here.

Breakfast…….

We were almost done eating when we saw our friends from home (We had planned to meet up with them). Ms. Val and Amy! Ms. Val was running the 1/2 Marathon. What a wonderful accomplishment!!!!

We walked around the hotel a bit after we were done eating. It is so very pretty here. I totally want to do a vow renewal at Sunset point. Maybe in 7.5 years

We grabbed a bus to downtown Disney. We wanted to shop a little bit before we met up with my DISNEY BRIDE friends for our Mega Meet!

This is our favorite store in all of Downtown Disney! We used our entire wedding registry gift card in here during our honeymoon.

This totally makes me want to do a train garden at Christmas time.

We had a few snack credits left so we stopped in Goofy’s. When did the Pretzel rods become 1 for one snack credit?? Too bad this isn’t one snack credit!!

Pete wanted to head into the World of Disney and I wanted to sit and people watch (and look for my friends)!

Thankfully I was sitting there because in no time at all I spotted Laura! We talked a few minutes then she went to meet Amanda and little Miss Emma. They came over and I made Pete take our picture!

We all sat around and chatted. Pete ran back to the room to get a sweatshirt since I thought we were going to be outside and he was kinda chilly (BAD IDEA).

Look at pretty little Emma!

We took a quick group picture since Tricia, Carly and Rachel were now here! I love being with my friends in the happiest place on earth!!

Look at adorable Owen! I love him…so sweet!

We all started the walk over to the other side of Downtown Disney. We had a reservation for like 50 at Bongos!

We got all checked in and headed up to the area we were going to be sitting! It was nice, but I hated the way the tables were set up. We couldn’t mingle well at all. After some of us ordered then we took a group picture since a few ladies had to leave early!

Look at us all….Me, Tricia, Lori, Tracy, Leah, Lisa, Sandy, Jennifer, Laura, Amy, Vanessa, Amanda, Patty, Cam, Betsy, Rachel, Mikkel, Carly & Owen, Jenna & Riley, and Amanda & Emma!!!!

My favorite Red heads! Lisa and Vanessa.

Loook at the boys! I think they are friends already!!! They even wore matching outfits.

I love this picture of Howard and Melody! Vanessa your kids are so friendly!

We got a few appitizers. They were ok. Fried Plantains and Ckicken Croquets.

I also had a STRONG drink and was a bit tipsy!

Kisses from Mikkel!

Look at me, Sandy & Amanda!!!

Tracy & Danny. He was probally telling her which Powerball numbers to pull so him and Amanda could be the big winners!

Speaking of Amanda here is a picture of Jennifer, Amanda and me!

Look at short Cam and I. Lucky Amanda and her long legs!

Look it’s two of the three prettiest nurses I know (where is Sandy)!

Here she is….Sandy and I!

Things were dying down and some people were heading to Epcot, Pete and I on the other hand were heading back to our room to watch Wishes, one last time! Oh but we will be back to BLT! But first….Me and Vanessa!!!

So Pete and I talked about it and since he had such a hard time with the buses (It took him 2.5 hours to get back to Downtown Disney) we were going to catch a cab back to our hotel. We walked to the parking lot with these ladies!

Tracy, Betsy, Leah, Me and Mikkel!

We got a cab and when we were in the cab I got a call from the town car service and they had upgraded us to a LIMO! How fun! We got to the Contemporary for our dinner reservations at the Wave. I was still all excited and we jumped out of the taxi. We walked in and sat down in the Wave. The waitress asked to see our room key, I went to pull it out and my purse was GONE!!!! I left it in the cab! Can you tell I am a Cab rookie. Pete and I ran to the front desk. They called the Cab company and left messages and were super helpful. We were leaving on the cruise the next day and all of my money, my license, everything was gone. I was crying, Pete was insanly mad, it was bad. Then my cell phone rang. It was the Contemporary Vallet service and they had my purse! My phone number was written on my shipping receipt from the Magic Kingdom. The Cab driver had brought it back. Pete ran out to the vallet service and we got the purse back. Oh did I mention it was my D&B Mickey Purse…yeah it was! Everything was still in there…including my $200!!! Talk about Disney Magic!!!!

So we calmed down and went back to the Wave. Honestly we should have skipped it…Ick!

We rushed through dinner and raced back to our room. Just in Time!!!

It was a perfect end to a perfect (1st half) of our vacation!!!

We finished packing and laid in bed and I looked at the Castle until my eyes could not stay open any longer!

Disney Vacation 2011 ~ Day 4

January 6, 2011

We woke up and it was cloudy and rainy. It didn’t stop us though we headed to Hollywood Studios. We had ADR’s at Hollywood and Vine. We have never had a meal here (I have but us together..never). We decided to make this a day of firsts. We usually just do Hollywood Studios as a half day, so there is a lot Pete has never seen here.

It was awesome to be some of the only people in Hollywood Studios, one of the reasons I love making dining reservations before the park opens.

My first Mickey Waffle! Who knew they were so light and tasty!

June is such a cutie!

We went to line up for the running of the bulls to Toy Story Mania of course.

When we got there Pete got in the longest line ever, but I ran into Sandy!

I love the theming in this area!! I took some picture before we got in line to meet Buzz & Woody.

Look it’s my very own Stinky Pete!

It was around this time we got sad and started missing our girl! Alyssa loves Toy Story and I couldn’t wait to get to the cruise to see her!

Pete and I went down to where Mike & Sully come out. Again something new for Pete! I love the little things that go into making each area special!

Now it was 10:45 and our fast passes were good for Toy Story Mania! YAY! Finally we will get to ride this all star ride!

I was kinda bummed I didn’t get to spend more time in the line. There was so much to look at in here. Toys from my childhood bring back such good memories!

After Pete kicked my butt we played with some Green Army men for a while.

We sat down and people watched for a while. We were talking about what to do next and decided to go tour One Man’s Dream. I have been wanting to go in here for years. I love Disney History.

After the movie at the end of One Man’s Dream we headed to one of the shops. We needed to get some gifts for Austin and Alyssa..shocked I know!

We wanted to try the animation studio. We didn’t stand in line for all of the awesome characters, but I needed a picture of Lotso. “Hims a mean bear, hims broke the baby’s heart” ~Alyssa age 2.

We just missed a drawing class, so we pulled up a bench and waited for the next one. I was really hoping we would get to draw something great.

After we sat down we found out we would be drawing Grumpy! YAY!

I think we did pretty good. What do you think?

We had time for one more attraction before lunch. Since Pete had never seen it…The Little Mermaid. We sat in the back and had a great view!

It was time for our ADR at 50’s Prime Time. It is always so much fun. Pete loves when we get a good waitress who plays along. Ours was great and she took Pete’s cell phone away and made us play a game. Can you name 1o body parts with only 3 letters each? “leg” … any other guesses?

I love the burned tops of the smores!

The crowds were rolling in due to the Marathon. We couldn’t stand it so we talked about it and decided to head back to the hotel.

But first we decided to stop at Staring Rolls to get a treat. Our friend Shawn raves about the cupcakes here and they surely didn’t disappoint. We took this one “home” and had it for breakfast the next day!

I love love love the details. Look at this…Roger Rabbit! Wonder if he will ever make a comeback?

Ballons in Disney are my favorite things. I just smile when I look at them!

Two quick photopass pictures before we head to the bus.

I love the “Magic” pictures.

It was around 4pm when we got back to Bay Lake Towers and it was drizzling so we skipped the pool and Pete took a nap and I called my BFF then curled up on the sofa and read my book a while. It was a relaxing afternoon. We got showers and got ready for dinner a little early since we had one show to watch before heading to Meet the girls at the Yachtman.

WISHES

We jumped in a cab since we were running late. Amy was waiting for us at the Yachtman since she has eaten an hour or so earlier.

The Christmas Tree was still up when we got there. Thankfully I snapped a picture going in since they were breaking it down when we left.

Amy and Alec had enjoyed their dinner and were waiting in the lounge for us. I was so happy to see them! We hung out and talked awhile until Lisa and Tammy got there.

Lisa called and yay she was here! I was so happy to get to spend some time with my friends!

Now for some Food Porn. Dinner was good as always, but company was even better.

Butter

Garlic (YUM)

Scallops

Steak

Desert

Soo glad we were on the dining plan. We tipped in cash, I fould that easier then charging the tips.

We closed the place down. Lisa and Tammy were taking the bus and Pete and I got a cap. I did check for Lisa to make sure the buses were still running and then they got a great bus driver who bypassed downtown Disney and took them right to the Pop.

We had a great night. I got ready for bed and climbed in and this was my view until I finally fell asleep!!!