NM: Live in the World

NEW 7/5/10

Well, sadly enough, the NMs are home.

I am actually preparing the home movie DVD as I type, and we'll watch all of our vacation videos tonight while we polish off the last of our snack credits...the Mickey Rice Krispie Treat. Dipped in chocolate, of course.

Thanks to everyone who posted comments to my live TR while I was gone. Free internet and a laptop made it kinda fun to upload some pics and give a few thoughts while on our trip. Even my husband enjoyed seeing what I would post about our day. There were trips we've taken when I kept our schedule so jammed that I wouldn't have had a single spare minute to upload pics and post to a blog. But this trip was much different. I look forward to telling you all about it!

It'll be a couple of weeks before I start my TR, but I hope you'll all join me for LOTS more Disney deets and MANY more pics.

Until then,

NM out.


HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Well, I thought I had typed up a bunch of stuff and saved it until after lunch, but evidently, you can't save in the page format. I have lots to learn about the blog. So I'll start over, but I'll be much more brief. Much to your delight, I'm sure.

Just to catch you up, Friday we checked in at Bay Lake and had a great chill day. The evening was topped off by Mr. NM and I leaving the kids in the villa with a movie and some fried food, and heading up to the Top of the World lounge for some apps and fireworks. It was a fantastic date night, and might have been one of my favorite evenings of the trip. The view is amazing, the flatbreads are delicious, and it's a very intimate place that's perfect for a nice time with your date.

The next morning was July 3rd, and it was the day we had planned to visit MK. We still had one last GAD voucher, so we weren't worried about hitting rope drop. We arrived at the MK around 9:45, and got several rides in before having lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. (We'd never done this CS before and it was fun to do something different.)

We also did an NM first yesterday before leaving the Kingdom for our afternoon rest. We had never done the Hall of Presidents and it was actually a GREAT thing to do as part of our 4th of July celebration. My daughter was embarrassed that I teared up during the show - but I did. It was a good reminder of the things we have to be thankful for in America.

After the Hall of Presidents, we headed down Main Street to board the monorail back to BLT. If we were gonna hang late that night, we needed some zzzzzs. We were pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds, and we were fully expecting it to be a mob scene when we got back that evening.

More to come later...we're headed to Epcot for the day.

Happy 4th of July!

New Post: 7/2/10

Good Afternoon from Bay Lake Tower!

We've had a great day and are trying to decide our plans for the evening. Can you believe it? We are WINGING IT!! I don't know why I can't pull up my latest photo upload, but I can't. So the pics will have to wait until the real trip report. The REAL tr will be - unfortunately for the three people reading this - MUCH more detailed. Because NM loves her some Disney details.

Last night it rained until about 11 pm. Of course, that didn't stop us from swimming at Kidani anyway. I couldn't believe it when I joined some strangers in the hot tub and announced that I was actually cold and needed to warm up. We all got a laugh out of it.

This morning we slept in and checked out of Kidani and into BLT. But before we checked in, we sat down and had some breakfast with Mickey at Chef Mickey's. I rarely eat a breakfast worth talking about. If I have more than my cup of coffee, it's something boring like fruit, yogurt or a bowl of cereal.

NEVER is it all kinds of cheesy eggs, cheesy potatoes, biscuits with some gravy, a slice of bacon, and a return trip to the buffet for a piece of french toast. It's 6:45 and I haven't had a single thing since. And I'm still not hungry.

Our villa was ready at 1 (well in advance of the 4 pm check-in) and we walked in and immediately felt cramped. How insane is that? Until Thanksgiving, we had almost always stayed in hotel rooms on Disney property. And now a 1 BR villa seems small? We've gotta get a quick reality check! That Kidani villa was just SO BIG!

But BLT is great. Just as I knew I would, just being over here makes me want to go to a park. I've already tried to convince my bunch to ride the monorail to MK to use our evening CS credit. At Pecos Bill's. They ain't bitin'. So me and the hubby will probably leave the kids in the villa with a movie and some grub, and we might ride the elevator to the Top of the World and have some apps. A date night in the World - sounds fun.

Right now, the rest of my family is down in the pool. I was down there for a while, but had all my camera stuff with me and came on back up to the villa. I THOUGHT they were coming right behind me, but they must be still enjoying some pool fun.

The weather here was cloudy with a threat of rain all day. So the temps never got much above the low 80s. Would have been a good park day!





New Post: 6/30/10

Hey friends! NM here checking in after a HOT day at Animal Kingdom. Although my husband and I were talking on the way out and we decided that while it is BRUTALLY hot outside, either we're acclimated, or Disney just does a really good job of giving you places to cool down. Because it wasn't as hot and miserable as I had planned on it being. Which is always a good thing, I guess.

We've had two great days and today kinda marks the end of the first part of our trip. More on that in a minute.

Yesterday was HS. We knew the littlest NM was VERY close to 48 inches. In fact, at home, he WAS 48 inches. But in case they pad it here in the World, we told him there was a chance he wouldn't make it. Although he never lost faith. He told us he didn't know why we kept telling him that, because he was SURE he would make it. So he marched his little self up to the RNR entrance, measures 48 and some change, and didn't bat an eye.

And he LOVED RnR. I wish I didn't have such a hangup with sharing his pic online, because his ride photo is absolutely hilarious. Bless him.

Thanks to the GAD FPs, we rode RnR 6 times, Toy Story once, TOT once, and Star Tours once. (Riding Star Tours once was one time too many. Dude, that ride makes me so nauseous!) My daughter REALLY wanted to see the Indiana Jones show, so we saw that and then hopped our bus to AKL just as the bottom fell out.

We were exhausted, but happy, although we were in no mood to traipse all the way over to Mexico in the World Showcase for the dinner ADR I had planned. So we walked down to Sanaa in Kidani, and they were able to seat us right away.

While I wasn't blown away by my dinner, I was blown away by the setting of the restaurant. (Pics are interior of Sanaa and our table by the window.) It's beautiful inside and out. It was a rainy evening at Disney, and we were tired and wanting nothing more than a meal and then showers and a movie in the villa. I don't think any of us made it through the first 30 minutes of the movie, so we all turned in close to 9.

Today we were up and at the bus stop in time to make rope drop at AK. We rode EE 7 or 8 times (Thank you GAD!) and Primeval Whirl just once - but only because the little man was tall enough and wanted to try it. Ugh - what a nauseating ride!

We ate lunch at Yak and Yeti - DELISH - and then my son and I went to the Nemo show while my husband and daughter headed off to see Lion King. (Third and fourth pics are our view from Yak and Yeti at lunch and the Nemo show.) After meeting back up, we rode Kali for our last ride of the day. We caught the bus back to AKL, and my husband took the kids down to swim while I rested and chilled - and did a little laundry.

Tonight is CS somewhere - we haven't decided - and then tomorrow is an off day. (My crew just came in from the pool because the bottom just fell out. Same time as yesterday!) Today ends the "busy" portion of our trip. Although we really haven't even gone hard like we always do. I had committed to my husband that we would enjoy the resort as well as the parks, and I have stayed true to that commitment. We've loved it, too. We've only been in a park two evenings of the six days we've been here so far, and we've had one day where we didn't go in a park at all. UNHEARD OF for us!

Tomorrow we check in at Bay Lake, have a late breakfast at Chef Mickey's, and do whatever until our dinner ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Then Saturday and Sunday are MK and Epcot respectively for their fireworks. We'll see how that goes!

Take care, friends!
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New Post: 6/29/10

Hmmmm...since this is a page, and not a post, I reckon this will work. I'll put the new stuff on top and leave the bottom as is.

Yesterday and today were both great days. I hate to sound like all of our Disney vacations are perfect - I'm sure they aren't. But honestly, there's something about this place that makes things work out well for the NMs. Now let me add this, though: I think attitude has A LOT to do with your happiness at Disney. Or any other vacation, for that matter. But we really have had exceptional CMs this trip, and things have gone so well and we're having tons of fun.

Yesterday we slept in after our late EMH at MK. We waited until around noon to even make a plan (GASP!!!) and when we finally made one, it was Coronado Springs Pepper Market for lunch and then Fort Wilderness to rent bikes. I love visiting other resorts, and I'd always wanted to check out Coronado Springs.

The Pepper Market was a hit for all of us, and biking was fun, too. We biked from Ft. Wilderness to Wilderness Lodge twice, and then biked around the Ft. Wilderness campground a little while.

Can I just say this, though? Granted, I'm not a camper. Ever. Not in perfect weather, or any other type of weather. But in HOT weather? In a tent? With no A/C relief from the heat of the parks? And no shower to call my own? I'm sure it's fun for lots of people because the campground was packed! But they are existing with a much different internal thermostat than I am. Because there's just NO WAY I could do that.

But if you're a camper, Ft. Wilderness looks to be as good as it gets. It's really nice over there.

(The pic is the bike trail as you approach WL.)

Dinner was Cape May Cafe and it was go-ood. Although a little too much work with all that digging the meat out of the crab legs. I went with the fried shrimp instead. I don't usually like fried shrimp, but that stuff was awesome.

Today was Typhoon Lagoon. The little NMs love them some wave pool, too, PolyMom! We spent at least two hours in there today, and went on the Crush n' Gusher 8 times. At 5:30 all the dawgs were barking (more like HOWLING) and we rolled out to Caribbean Beach to try out their food court.

Rednecks that we are, we loved it, too, and the kids caught a glimpse of the pool, so guess what? They went swimming. I'm pretty sure it's actually a DVC perk to pool hop anywhere but AKL Kidani and SAB, but if not, we're guilty of hopping. First time ever. And lemme add this: Caribbean Beach has got one stinkin' nice pool!!

Alright, a few pics and then I'm getting some shut eye. Big day at Hollywood Studios tomorrow. My little man MIGHT be 48 inches. We haven't had an official measure, but we're all really hopeful.

NM out.
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Hello Friends! (Update of 6/28/10)

Coming to you live from Walt Disney World! Where my DH and I just declared that no matter how many times we come here, it really gets better and better for us each time. For different reasons, of course.

This trip is great because it's our first time to stay in a 2BR villa. It may be our last, because the amount of points we bought does not support a 2 BR villa for every trip. (Unless we shorten the trip, and who wants to do that?)

But because we purchased our DVC contract toward the end of 2009, and didn't use all of our points in that year, we had more to use this year.

Thus the 2 BR villa.

People, we are FULL ON SPOILED. This place is HUGE!!!

Yesterday we enjoyed a morning at MK, an afternoon swimming at Kidani and taking nice long naps, and an evening that started with a DELICIOUS meal at Ohana, followed by the MK EMH. This morning we slept in and we are now just hangin' out in the villa having some "Ohana Time",  a new NM family phrase coined by my 8 year old son. (Said son is currently "robbing" the home runs of various MLB players as he makes diving catches thrown by his dad in the villa living room. Chipper Jones just had a home run robbed and next up is Yunel Escobar...a window into my life.)

Well, gotta run. We are trying to decide whether to rent bikes at Fort Wilderness, boats at the Contemporary, or a movie at DTD. Either way, there is much fun to be had. And we won't visit a single park to have it!