Duffy the Disney Bear. On a Stick.

Continuing on with our Feb/March 2011 trip to Disney World...

See all previous entries for this trip HERE

After our adventures in the Seas were over, our stomachs were starting to rumble a bit. It was nearing lunch time. But first, we must stop at the Land to grab Soarin' FastPasses!


I cannot help myself but to take pictures like this every trip. I seriously have an obsession with palm trees! (among other things found at Disney World...)


Squirt was guiding the way over to the Land



I believe I hung out with Henry outside while Joe went to obtain the goods



Where to eat?

Let's go this way:


The other side of the butterfly tent



The World Showcase sure looks inviting...through Canada, the UK and onto





France. Your bakery is my husband's siren call.





I have heard from fellow Disney fans that the ham sandwich found here was good stuff.  I had been longing to try it after their descriptions. Joe had absolutely ZERO problem with eating lunch at a bakery - especially this one!


Ham and cheese sandwiches for all of us.  You can either get them cold straight from the case, or the Cast Members will heat them for you.  We chose to have ours heated.


Chocolate Mousse - Henry's pick.


Eclair - Joe's pick.


Apple Tart - mine.

I was a bit nervous about this meal. I am not a huge fan of cheese (I know, I know, but just wait until you read the NEXT paragraph), so I wasn't sure I'd like the cheese on the sandwich - but I did! The entire sandwich was delicious and not a crumb was left behind! 

As you can see in the pictures above, I chose the apple tart as my dessert, but I will admit, I steered Henry in the direction of the Chocolate Mousse so I could try it! I've heard so many good things about it, I just wanted a taste. I am not a huge fan of chocolate either (see! worse than cheese, right?), I have to be in the mood for it, and it can't be too rich - but with all the rave reviews, I had to try that mousse! Sadly, I was correct with this one - it was too chocolatey for me. Henry, on the other hand, ate that cup CLEAN!



Despite our simple meal of a sandwich and desserts, the bill was almost $30--without drinks! This is not a great deal out of pocket, but could be pretty decent on the Disney Dining Plan.

After we were done eating I took Henry over to the KidCot stop so he could color a Duffy on a stick.  The KidCot stops are little booths, just for the kids, in each of the World Showcase countries.  The kids can color a picture of Duffy, the Disney Bear, on a stick and then get their stick stamped from each country.  It's completely free and it makes kids really enjoy the World Showcase a bit more.  Another idea, that is similar, is either buying or creating a "passport" for your child to do this with.  I figured we'd be here for just a couple minutes to color Duffy while Joe threw away the garbage and we each took a turn browsing the shop/coloring with Henry.


Serious artist at work.

It was about 3 minutes into it, I decided to make a run to the bathroom. I consulted my iPhone map and saw there was one just over the bridge, near the International Gateway.

Easy.

Well, turns out this bathroom is OUTSIDE the gates. It wasn't close at all! Morocco is much closer! All well, lesson learned. I hurried back knowing Joe and Henry would be more than ready and waiting for me...

but...I found Henry was still hard at work on his Duffy! Joe said he had not come up from coloring since he had started!

So, I took pictures and waited.







And eventually, the masterpiece was complete!



I was a very proud Mommy. I'm certain that Duffy would go for millions!

We finally emerged from France





We started to wander just a bit, completely without an agenda



In seconds we were in Morocco - near the bathroom. LOL



It was getting late in the day - and Joe was itchin' for some Stormalong Bay (the pool in case you forgot). A decision was made, we turned around and headed back out toward the Boardwalk - first a nap, then swimming!

Happy birthday Walt Disney!

Thank you for everything you have done...and continue to do beyond the grave.  With your vision and determination you have changed a world and inspired millions.  You are truly a legend.

Can you swim really, really, really, really, really fast?

Continuing our Feb/March trip to Walt Disney World (see all updates so far HERE)...

I had grabbed FastPasses for Test Track (including Henry-he said he wanted to ride today, despite him saying he didn't like it on our first night), and we had made a purchase of two Disney Racer cars.

We headed to the other side of Future World


The Flower & Garden Festival still wasn't open yet - but this was outside the butterfly tent


See the Hidden Mickey in the bubbles below "Cool"?

Pit stop-let's go in!

Perhaps I can trick Henry with the Beverly....


I wasn't the only mean one - that is JOE'S arm in the pic!!




"It's yucky!!!!"

After the Beverly incident Henry refused to try anymore of them! Gee, I wonder why?!?! LOL!

Back outside,



we eventually made it to our destination


Nemo!

An attempt at a family picture...



Blurry, yet a BAZILLION times better than the last one we attempted in a clam shell!

After we found Nemo we had to pay Bruce a visit



Turtle Talk was in the middle of a show, so we spent some time exploring the area


Henry always enjoys a touch screen! Such a little geek!

And of course, we scoped out the fish and stingrays







There are a few fish in the stingray tank, one of which "befriended" Henry back in September and would not leave the corner of the tank where Henry was standing. This time, as soon as Henry spotted that little fish, he remembered him! I was surprised!


"Hi friend!"



And this is where Momma made a mistake.

Henry kept saying "Hi!" to the fish as it swam near him, and would ask him various questions, so in return, I pretended I was the fish and spoke back to Henry.

"Hi Henry! I remember you! How are you? Are you having fun? Are you going to see Crush?"

And so on.

Cute, right?

Well....for the rest of the trip Henry expected EVERY animal to speak back to him. "Make him talk Mommy!" I cannot count how many times I (or Joe) was a duck, or a bunny, or a fish, or an animatronic animal! While it's fine the first few times, it did get old!  Thankfully, he has passed this stage!!!!

Eventually the doors opened and we went in. For the past couple trips Joe has tried to encourage Henry to sit down front with the other kids, and Henry has always refused. But, this time Joe and I got front row seats, so Henry happily sat on the floor-directly in front of us.



He didn't last too long sitting there, he would scoot up front - then stand up and come back around to us. Then go sit back down. Lather, rinse, repeat!

We really enjoy this show. Sure, it's pretty similar every time you see it, but the questions kids ask are so stinkin' cute! It has never failed to make us laugh. The best part of the show this time was when one of the kids asked Crush how fast he swam. I cannot remember the answer, but then Crush asked the child if she could swim really fast - except he repeated "really" about 200 times! The whole place was roaring with laughter!

Out into the dump shop






If Disney t-shirts were closer to $15 instead of $30, I bet I'd have a closet full of 'em.

I didn't buy anything, but Henry...



selected his stuffed animal of the trip!

Last trip he selected Nemo, this time Squirt (or is that supposed to be Crush?). If they have a Dory, I can see him getting her next time!

Shopping is an attraction...right?

Continuing our February/March Walt Disney World trip...I know the updates on this is a bit disjointed and random, but you can find all the updates on this trip so far HERE

We left off wrapping up our first full day with Henry flirting with the It's a Small World Cast Member and scoring us a back-to-back ride on the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed.

We all slept hard that night, it had been a long, full day!

Monday, February 28, 2011

We didn't set an alarm. As usual for this family. We all didn't even wake up until 8:00 am! It was bliss!

We took it slow that morning, watching some Playhouse Disney



Playing on the computer while enjoying a wonderful, wonderful breakfast



Playing with the monorail



And really, just enjoying our morning in the room.

We eventually left the room right around 10:00 am



We headed down to the Boardwalk and toward the International Gateway (the "backdoor" entrance to Epcot).





And within minutes we were here


Sigh. So pretty.

The World Showcase was still not open, but they do have the Kim Possible stations open, so we grabbed a FastPass for that.


This was something I had been meaning to do for several trips, I was determined this time!

We slowly made our way to Future World




A few of the Flower & Garden Festival displays, even though it wasn't quite officially started yet!







Suddenly some two-wheeled guests were flying past us


Henry was VERY excited to see the Segways. Joe and I took this tour during our Disneymoon and had a pin with a Segway on it from the tour. Just before we had left on our trip Henry had asked about them, and he instantly recognized them here in the World Showcase!


I cannot explain how excited I was to see those flower beds. They are BREATHTAKING! And they smell soooooo good.



Okay, who wants to be in Epcot RIGHT NOW?!?! These pictures are making me 'homesick'!

We decided to go get Test Track FastPasses, but they had some sidewalks blocked off in preparation of Pixie Hollow area for the Flower & Garden Festival, so we cut through Mouse Gear instead-which was a-OK with me, I wanted to shop here anyway!



Of course, when you walk into a gift shop with a child, it isn't always easy to just peel them outta there. Joe and Henry shopped for a bit, while I ran for FastPasses



Back to shoppin'


1 of each please. LOVE the 40th Anniversary stuff!

Henry reallyyyyy wanted a couple cars. We said "Only one.", but then he reminded us he had his own money! And he did! We give him a few coins each time he does things that we are working on-such as cleaning up after himself, obeying RIGHT away, putting his dishes in the sink, etc. plus, birthday money. Soooo....




The one we bought him


The one he bought


Could he be any happier?!?!

Meal Planning

The other day I joined e-mealz.com, which is essentially a meal planning service.  You sign up for a certain number of months and each week they will give you a PDF with 7 meals and the grocery list you need to make them all.  The recipes are easy, including "quick meals" and crockpot meals.  They have a portion control (Weight Watchers) menu, gluten free, and more.  On Cyber Monday they had a 30% off code, for 3 months it came to less than $15 so I took the plunge.  I have no idea how it will all go, but for $15, it's worth a shot.

I printed out the menu from last week (Thanksgiving, so it was a shorter menu) and this week and hit the grocery store today with Henry.  I'm not gonna lie, it was a little crazy.  But when is grocery shopping with a 4-year old NOT crazy?  Trying to find Minced Garlic while Henry is asking me to untangle his guy from the cart was not my finest moment.  I have NO clue how he got that thing wrapped around like he did.

I was a bit nervous about what the total was going to come to, as groceries in NYC are pricey, but was PLEASANTLY surprised.  I'll post more on what the total is after I pick up the rest of the meat from the butcher and a few other things from another store.  I'm really excited about this new endeavor.  We have the meal plan stuck to our tack board so Joe, Katie or I can easily cook.  No more of the "What's for dinner?" or blankly staring in the cabinet and ordering pizza!  Now we can look at the list and choose something knowing we have everything on hand.  YAY!

I'll post more about this as time goes on...I'm very curious to see how it will work for our family.

Cruise Money & Awesome Cyber Monday Deals

I just added $353 to our cruise fund!  Yay!

On top of that, I've been doing some Cyber Monday shopping today and have spend $11 and gotten 5 gifts for Henry, 1 for myself, 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive at church.

Here is a run down of my deals:
DisneyStore.com: I had a $20 gift card that I received from Disney Movie Rewards (free) and a 10% off code for being a Vacation Club member (our timeshare) and they have free shipping today.  We got Henry Spiderman pajamas, a Spiderman action figure and an ornament for myself for a total of $4 after taxes.

Amazon.com: I had $25 from Swagbucks (free) and $60 from loose change we had saved that I cashed into an Amazon gift card.  3 gifts for Henry (1 was $44, ugh!), 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive.  Free Amazon shipping because I was spending more than $25.  Grand total was $7 after taxes.

I also earned 5% back on my DisneyStore.com order using Mr. Rebates!

It's been a GOOD day! :)