Ready, Set, Let the Games Begin! - Link to new PTR/TR!

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We have those singing fishes here so I loved that costume. Ours sing 'take me to the river' lol. Great costume also Alison. Lovely photo's

I like in the parade when the grave diggers push their spades on the ground and give off sparks did you see that?

They tried to give us a lifetime of those peeps candy when we left!


Hope you enjoyed it! Do they have a MNSSHP in DCL?

 

[dgbg100106]

Love the costumes and the party! We have been there during the same time, but have never stayed up late enough to enjoy the party! Would you do it again?

 

[TifffanyD]

hahah I love those costumes! Is the mounted fish something you bought or made?

 

[scottny]

LOL. Sleep off the buzz.
That looked like a great meet. The food all looked so good.
The champagne lunch looked fun.
Nice pics of the fireworks and parade.
Loved the costumes.

 

[ACDSNY]

Nice pics of MNSSHP and I love your costumes.

 

[franandaj]

I'm so not caught up but wanted to wish you and Fran and everyone else here a very Merry Christmas.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

MNSSHP looks like great fun! I love the HM pictures. And Fran got some beautiful ones of the castle and fireworks. Love that you got dressed up, you both look great!

It was a lot of fun. There is just too much to do at the party, you can't even do it all then.

What a great day during MNSSHP. Very nice spot to watch HalloWishes fireworks, Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween parade and Celebrate the Magic! Castle Projection show.

That is nice that you and Fran got to dress up during the party.

We did have a really good spot for pictures and it was fun to dress up. I would have liked to hit a few more candy trails, but we really didn't need it with all the other things we ate that week!

Great pics. I had a great time that night and I hope you and Fran did. There were a lot more crowds concentrated for the parade and fireworks so I hope things worked out for you two.


When Alison first told me about Fran's costume, I had no idea what she meant. I had to google it and she had to tell me what it was. I've never seen a Billy Bass nor heard of it before! Not sure it even exists in Australia.

I missed you during the fireworks and parade, but I'm sure you and DS had a good time. We enjoyed the time with Ed and your DH. I still can't believe after all the UK folks have chimed in that Billy the Bass never made it to Australia!

I'm hoping to finally get all my WDW pictures loaded by the New Year's but.......

Alison and Fran. Merry Christmas. I did take pictures of you in costume at Main Street.

Hope you're having a great Christmas day.

Thanks for posting those pictures! We don't seem to take pictures of ourselves ever so I'm glad you did!

Just popped home to take care of the " kids " and loved the pictures I am kicking myself that we didn't get any together at MNSSHP Fran just made me laugh all over again Alison you looked beautiful if you still have the Cinderella costume I may have to borrow it for next year !

great shots Pio ( happy boxing day )

I am stealing the dog picture I can NEVER get a good one Okay heading to Chef Mickey for dinner very soon Hope everyone is having a fantastic day

I know, I wish we had all taken a picture together on Main Street before we split up. Steal away on whatever pictures you want!

They did not swap the flavours until October 29th. They are now:

Brazil - Guarana Kuat - Guarana berry flavored
Peru - Inca Kola - Sweet fruity flavored, comparable to bubblegum
Zimbabwe - Sparletta - Raspberry cream soda
Japan - VegitaBeta - A non-carbonated apricot and passion fruit flavored drink
South Africa - Bibo - Kiwi mango
Thailand - Fanta Melon Frosty - Melon
Italy - Beverly - A very bitter non-alcoholic apéritif
Greece - Fanta Pineapple

My favourites were the Fanta Melon Frosty and Sparletta.

I loved your costumes. We most certainly are familiar with Big Mouth Billy Bass in the UK. Looks like you had a fun and productive night.

Corinna

OK, I didn't miss anything, I thought the flavors were the same as the last time I was there. We just have to go back on our next trip and try all the never ones.

Great pictures, PIO.

Merry Christmas Alison. Hope the day is fabulous. Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope yesterday was fabulous for those further along in the calendar.

And PIO, some family members are there right now - all over the place. Melbourne right now and having a wonderful time.

Thanks Lisa! We had a nice low key relaxing day. Hope your family members in Oz are having a great time!

I am glad you and Fran decided to go to the Halloween Party. It looks like you had a great time. I LOVE Fran's costume. Crap used to have one of those singing fishes, and I hit the button and danced with it all the time. When we moved in together, he "forgot" to pack it. For years after that, I was able to visit it and play with it when we visited his Mom's house. It has now been many years since I have seen it. Boy, was it fun. The singing always made me laugh, and I swear it never got old. Crap was annoyed by it, but kept it for a while, because he knew I loved it.

Your costume is nice too. I want to be Cinderella for Halloween one year, but I just cannot wear anything but flats. That is part of the reason I chose Alice this year.

How awesome that you did Haunted Mansion during the party! I wanted to do that on both coasts, but it did not work out either time.

The parade was amazing. We are not really parade people, but I loved it. The Headless Horseman and Grave Diggers were my favorites.

The Halloween Party is so much better than the Christmas one. That said, I would be down to do the Christmas Party at Disneyland if they started one (at least to try it of nothing else). Crap is not letting us do the Christmas Party in 2014 at MK. It is a short trip, and he makes us leave the party right after the fireworks. I am not going to fight him on that.

Fran's father had one of those fishes. We sold it at the estate sale! I had flats for my glass slippers. I can't wear anything else either. If you look closely at the picture of the grave diggers, Fran caught one making sparks!

 

[franandaj]

We have those singing fishes here so I loved that costume. Ours sing 'take me to the river' lol. Great costume also Alison. Lovely photo's

I like in the parade when the grave diggers push their spades on the ground and give off sparks did you see that?

They tried to give us a lifetime of those peeps candy when we left!


Hope you enjoyed it! Do they have a MNSSHP in DCL?

I forgot that they sing "Take Me to the River!" That cracks me up!

Yes! If you look in the pictures that Fran took, she captured the sparks!

We didn't get offered any peeps, but they sure did try to give us lollipops. You've been on DCL at the holiday time...didn't you say they had some kind of Holiday party?

Love the costumes and the party! We have been there during the same time, but have never stayed up late enough to enjoy the party! Would you do it again?

We would probably do it again and try some of the things we didn't do like explore more of the park and candy trails. They have some other stuff dressed up that we didn't get to see. I would also try to do some character meet and greets.

hahah I love those costumes! Is the mounted fish something you bought or made?

Thanks! We bought that costume at a total generic shop on International Drive or 535 across from the Lonestar Steakhouse. Otherwise, Fran was going to take the bedsheet off the bed and be a ghost!

LOL. Sleep off the buzz.
That looked like a great meet. The food all looked so good.
The champagne lunch looked fun.
Nice pics of the fireworks and parade.
Loved the costumes.

It was quite a bit of alcohol!
We loved the food. I would do the champagne lunch again regardless of the region.
Thanks, Fran deserves the credit mostly.
Thanks on the costumes!

Nice pics of MNSSHP and I love your costumes.

You know I enjoy being a princess and I got a new tiara for the event, but Fran always has a hard time especially since she's in a scooter. I think she did good!

 

[rentayenta]

Whew, I am finally caught up.

The DIS dinner meet looks like fun and yum on the food. Can I get that veggie salad recipe? I'm assuming its easy but I need directions.

Adorable pic of PIO. Sweet smile, so happy.

The champagne lunch looks amazing. Even the sweetbread part. What a fun event.

Love the Halloween costumes. Michael cracked up at Fran. You make a wonderful Princess. Great shot of the headless horseman too.

 

[franandaj]

Last morning. We really did do nothing but eat this trip.

It’s always sad, check out day. We had a great trip and we were looking forward to getting home. Especially since we were going to be getting on a plane back to the East Coast less than 30 hours after walking through our front door!

We packed up our bags, got the Owner’s Locker together and everything ready for check out. In the meantime I made us breakfast. This was mine, but Fran had the same thing.



Once we were all checked out we had a couple more hours before our DME was going to pick us up. We like to leave 4 hours prior to our plane departure instead of the normal 3, this is easily arranged by a long phone call with DME a couple days prior to your departure. However this still gave us at least two hours that we could go around Epcot and have a few bites from the kiosks.

We gave all our sodas and leftover wine coolers to the Bellman. They can’t accept gifts of alcohol, so don’t tell them it’s in there. I’m sure someone there appreciates it! And then we were off to Epcot.

We picked up where we left off around the world over near the International Gateway, with the Australia booth.



We got one of each of the food items. I guess we didn’t get any of the wine since I don’t see it in my pictures. Garlic Shrimp, this was really really tasty! I would love to have this again.



The Grilled Lamb Chop was also awesome.



The Pavlova. It was tasty, but I’m not a huge fan of Pavlova.



It was at this moment while we were eating our food that a lurking DISer came up to us and said “hi” and recognized us from my TRs. She said, “Aren’t you the one who put the Prime Rib in your suitcase and cooked it multiple different ways throughout your trip?” Amazing how a TR can live one well after it’s completed!

Another thing that I wanted to try was the deep fried pineapple slices from the Refreshment Port and the Orange Dole Whip with Rum. These were both really tasty and the Dole Whip with the Rum was pretty awesome!



We headed over to Ireland to repeat a favorite, first time I got to go back and have something I really loved. The Molten Chocolate Cake is still my favorite food item and it was so nice to have it again!



I posted this picture on FB and then we started to head out of Epcot. We were just passing the bridge to France when we started to feel drip, drop….drip. And then it started to come DOWN! We barely made it inside the gift shop next to the International Gateway before the skies let it rip.

We waited for a good 20 minutes inside that gift shop, chuckling at the irony that we had just checked our Owner’s Locker with two ponchos in it. We had just checked our bags for the airport with two ponchos in them, and now we were going to be shelling out for two more ponchos. We were supposed to meet the guy from the scooter company to return Fran’s scooter at 1PM and then we were catching the 2PM DME. It was almost 1:00 already, so we just covered up our scooters with the ponchos, put our thumbs to the plastic and gave it our best shot back to the Beach Club.

The guy was waiting for us in the lobby, and he appreciated the fact that we tried to protect the scooter from the rain. So here we were at the saddest part of our trip. Waiting for this.



Of course now, the rain had let up.



While we were waiting for the 2PM DME bus to show up, the 1:30PM bus arrived. Since we were just sitting at the resort, we asked the driver if there was additional room on the bus and we could catch that bus instead of ours. There was room so we got a head start on our way back home.



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Since we had plenty of time to kill, we checked out the “mall” at the airport. We got suckered by the sale at the Harley Davidson store “buy one T-shirt, get the second at 50%” and picked up the tote bag for $13.99 with your purchase over X amount of dollars. After our hard day of shopping we decided to pick up some lunch at the food court. Nathan’s fit the bill nicely.



Then we rode our last monorail ride of the trip.





There was another food court at the satellite terminal and after the grueling security check we had worked up quite an appetite. We decided to share a bowl of Mac and cheese with some cinnamon knots.





Then it was time to board the plane. In our comfy seats we were treated to some adult beverages and roasted nuts.



When it was time for dinner we both chose the cheese ravioli which was served with a prawn appetizer, salad and a roll.











For dessert, I had the cheese plate.



While Fran had the sundae with caramel sauce.



I worked on the TR for most of the flight even though I didn’t opt for the internet access, I was able to organize my photos and write up the text for the report. We knew the end of the flight was nearing when they came around with the fresh baked cookies and milk.



The landing and deplaning process went very smoothly, and the luggage made it into the car with some effort. But we made it home safely. Our kitties were waiting for us.



Within moments of arriving home, this was the scene.



It was only about 30 hours we would have in So Cal before we jumped back on a plane, but they appreciated us for all the time we could give them. Another great trip on the books!

 

[ACDSNY]

I'm so happy you had a well deserved trip with wonderful memories and awesome DISmeets.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a lovely way to end the trip.


It was a fantastic trip and I really enjoyed spending more time with you and Fran. Whilst I wished we could have had more time together, I think that the time we did have was perfect and that it was great that you two could do all the things you wanted to do for F&W. Loved seeing the "gaps" on this TR.

Thanks for sharing. I hope that we have another joint sharing PTR/TR in the future.

 

[franandaj]

Whew, I am finally caught up.

The DIS dinner meet looks like fun and yum on the food. Can I get that veggie salad recipe? I'm assuming its easy but I need directions. .

This is one of the easiest things to make. Unfortunately I can't give you real good quantities, but I can do my best.

I usually start with
5 cucumbers
7-8 tomatoes
1 red onion
canola oil
cider vinegar

I peel the cucumbers and slice them thin. I do two of the cucumbers, then I salt and pepper the layer. Next cut slices of two tomatoes, roughly cut, not in a manner that a chef would use, and then slice about 1/3 of the onion. Again roughly cut not methodically like a chef. Add another layer of salt and pepper.

Then repeat. I normally do 1 1/2 of the cucumber, followed by salt and pepper, then cut 1-2 tomatoes whatever covers the bowl with tomatoes and more red onion. More salt and pepper and repeat this layer.

Then I add the canola oil and balsamic vinegar and mix with my hands. I don't actually measure, but I know you need measurements so I would start with 2 tbl of oil and 2 tsp vinegar for this amount of salad. You probably need to add a little more of each but I would try this amount and see if it has the right amount of tang for you. If not you can add more cider vinegar, but I think the amount of oil will be just fine. Remember the flavor of the vinegar will intensify with the amount of marinade time.

I'm going to be making this on my VGF trip as well! I hope to launch that PTR very soon since I'm wrapping up the other TRs this week!

Adorable pic of PIO. Sweet smile, so happy.

The champagne lunch looks amazing. Even the sweetbread part. What a fun event.

I know! Isn't she so cute? She is such a wonderful person! I wish we lived closer!

I had to push myself on the sweetbread part. But. I. Did.

Love the Halloween costumes. Michael cracked up at Fran. You make a wonderful Princess. Great shot of the headless horseman too.

Thanks! I always love to play the princess! And always an excuse for a new Tiara! We laughed really hard when we bought Fran's costume. I couldn't believe we found it at a cheap shop on 535, they had tons of things, but in a scooter not much works really well!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I forgot that they sing "Take Me to the River!" That cracks me up! Yes! If you look in the pictures that Fran took, she captured the sparks! We didn't get offered any peeps, but they sure did try to give us lollipops. You've been on DCL at the holiday time...didn't you say they had some kind of Holiday party? We would probably do it again and try some of the things we didn't do like explore more of the park and candy trails. They have some other stuff dressed up that we didn't get to see. I would also try to do some character meet and greets. Thanks! We bought that costume at a total generic shop on International Drive or 535 across from the Lonestar Steakhouse. Otherwise, Fran was going to take the bedsheet off the bed and be a ghost! It was quite a bit of alcohol! We loved the food. I would do the champagne lunch again regardless of the region. Thanks, Fran deserves the credit mostly. Thanks on the costumes! You know I enjoy being a princess and I got a new tiara for the event, but Fran always has a hard time especially since she's in a scooter. I think she did good!

We went to DLP ( Paris ) for Halloween and they had a Halloween party but not been to Cali at that time. Wondered if they had one?

 

[dolphingirl47]

We went to DLP ( Paris ) for Halloween and they had a Halloween party but not been to Cali at that time. Wondered if they had one?

Yes, they have Mickey's Halloween Party, which is a lot of fun. I ended up going twice in 2011.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a lovely last day. It was a shame though that you got caught out in the rain. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

Corinna

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Yes, they have Mickey's Halloween Party, which is a lot of fun. I ended up going twice in 2011. Corinna

cool! Thanks Corinna!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Ah now that is very useful to know that you can get the MDE to take you early to the airport! They never allow us enough time and it's so stressful! They do 3 hours for international and it's not enough! We need to go through security, eat etc and shop before the flight! 4 hours would be perfect so sounds like we need to phone and insist! Thanks for posting that.

Lol that always happens to us re the rain with our ponchos and umbrellas in the owners locker! We can go through a 2 week vacation bone dry then soon as that purple box is out of the room ...is that the sound of thunder in the distance!

Nice you popped into EPCOT on the last day. The joys of being at the Beach Club I guess! You can really maximise your time I like that. How did I miss that dole whip sampler! Damn! Next year!

Really enjoyed this TR. How cute re your kitties when you got home. They look so sweet like Yin and Yan! What a lovely welcome home. And the food on your flight omg! How nice! Ours is appalling which is why we like extra time at the airport to grab something. If I wanted to eat cardboard sandwiches I would eat the wrappers of my duty free lol.. Always feels more painful after the wonderful food around Disney!

 

[dgbg100106]

sorry to see this come to a close... Thanks for a wonderful trip!

 

[jedijill]

I can't believe its over!

Jill in CO