Am I Up to the Challenge of the 2014 F&WF? Bring on the Food!

Ugh, sick + vacation = poo. I hope it doesn't turn out to be all that bad! Of course, I'm sure you'll tell us. Soon. -ish. Y'know.... popcorn::

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"...if it Sounds Too Good to be True, it Probably IS."

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....ambling through Jambo's lobby, after silently giggling at the many costumed [one family was dressed as different characters of Star Wars!] AKL visitors leaving for parts unknown [my estimation was MK] we returned back in our room, and decided to call it a night due to that phone call from our DS. Now, with the added negativity of the impending sickness coming on, Ron felt it best [in light of the fact that Jean and Maureen would be leaving Florida anyway] to shorten our trip by a day. Well, I wasn't having any of that, but I didn't dare express my feelings stating otherwise. Okay, in my mind this mission was NOT about to be aborted, so I had to do some cerebral juggling, and do it FAST.

....so, let's just rewind back a few months to when I began to make our ADR's when the trip was still in its planning stages. As with many WDW visitors, I am among those who always want to try something new every time we visit; a long-time dream was to be able to book ADRs for the Cali Grill, and to date I had been hopelessly unsuccessful - picture this: what better way to cap off the F&WF then to spend it with our friends, enjoying a sumptuous dinner on the fifteenth floor atop the Contemporary, all the while taking in the breaktaking sights of a spectacular fireworks display, compliments of the floor-to-ceiling windows and a recently redecorated atmosphere, including the installation of its bastion of wine fridges, holding a stellar section of the world's most renown liquid gold, but I digress.

With about two months left to our departure date, I was unceremoniously made the recipient of the news that Maureen had expressed a wish that, since they had a long journey ahead of them for the trip back home, that she opted to leave on Saturday instead of Sunday. With now our dinner soiree effectively cut in half, I was not sure how Ron was going to take this news, given the fact that the reservations were timed so that we would get to view Wishes. In other words, it was late dinner (as a blue-collar worker, he was used to his 'meat-and-potatoes' kind of meals at 6PM - PRONTO) so I had to employ some creative finagling to convince Ron that we WANTED to eat at such a late hour. Of course, I immediately phoned WDW to modify our ADR's, so as not to be charged on my Disney Visa credit card. I still was pinching myself for having the good fortune of even securing Cali Grill ADRs in the first place, and I was not about to let these babies go.....

Fast-forward to Halloween night: we were less-than-ravenous due to the filling late-afternoon lunch and given the glaringly obvious fact that Ron was, well, let's face it - he was coming down with SOMETHING. I made a quick jaunt to the Mara, just to grab a light 'something something' for us to munch on in the comfort of our room, and it was in the elevator on the way back that I had to make the inevitable decision - I had to cancel our ADRs for Saturday evening or get stuck paying a fee for canceling less than 24 hours away....:guilty: :sad:

Dinner at Cali Grill - check.....correct that - Uncheck.
 
"...Anyone Who's Anyone KNOWS That You ALWAYS Leave the Best for Last...BTW, THANKS Ron, for Being Such a Trooper."

...we awoke to atypical Florida temperature that was noticeably and considerably cooler than this past week...the morning met us with 60-degree weather, which, as it turned out, didn't climb to much more of a reasonable number. Unfortunately, this sad fact only magnified the fact that Ron awoke to a slight fever. Well, I let him take his time in getting up and about, since I was in no way going to rock the boat and be the cause of a less-than-perfect visit to Magic Kingdom. At this point, I still was unsure of whether we were even going to visit the place. Secretly I was hoping that the last remnants of the Halloween revelry was still in tact given that we hadn't visited MK yet and in fact, never had seen the highly-praised Halloween decorations. At this point, I was still holding on to hopes of even visiting Magic Kingdom at all - I was already completely disappointed that, yet again, the Cali Grill was not in the cards for us. Turns out, my brother and his family would be landing at MCO roughly the same time we headed for the bus depot at AKL and I hoped that we'd bump into each other at some later point in time. Of course, I am holding Kirk solely responsible for bringing the chilly Jersey weather with him on the plane, especially since we had enjoyed such delightful weather all week....ask you can see, my prayers were answered, because we were greeted by two of the happiest jack'o'lanterns:

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....I paused briefly to capture this shot:

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....which, in hindsight, turned out to be not a good idea. As I began walking around the 'circle', an ignorant woman pushing a stroller, crashed into me, tearing a 3-inch vertical gash into the back of my ankle. She then looked down, not at all aware of what she had just done, saw the now-bleeding wound, mumbled "sorry" and went off on her merry way. Ron and I just looked at each other incredulously. In fact, she had hit my heel so hard, that it actually took my shoe off! Well, needless-to-say, not a good way to start off at the Magic Kingdom, as I hobbled my way towards the nearest first-aid station, located directly adjacent to the Crystal Palace:

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...that on-duty nurse was so polite and accommodating - she cleaned out the gash, which by now was bleeding profusely, applied some antiseptic ointment, and covered it with a large square bandage, wrapping it with an ace bandage of sorts, to keep it secured. She also handed me a few extra bandaids and instructed me to sign a form [i'm guessing an incident report] and sent us on our way...

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....passing the morning 'parade', we headed in the direction of a certain attraction where those seven clever gentlemen work and play, all the while singing unending versions of Heigh Ho...as we hurried along to our destination, to my left, I did spot a fellow who really likes to BOUNCE:

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....since I already had my preset fast passes, we waited less than ten minutes, while the onlookers in the stand-by line appeared to be almost out of energy AND patience:

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....Ron expressed his desire to quickly leave this section of the park, since he sensed that this area was the 'kid-friendly' section of MK and we were obviously sans bambinos - where to, but....
 
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"When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake, Spooks come out for a swinging wake; Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize- Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize"


....Haunted Mansion of course!

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...and in we dared to venture:

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....ooooooh, SCARY! Too bad we were a day late - I'm guessing that it probably was cooler to ride this on Halloween, or even just wander around [preferrably not headless!] in the general vicinity....

[next post - Page 11 ~ Post #151]​
 
I cannot wait to try the Mine Train!! What did you think of it?

Sorry about Cali Grill..... :worried: I briefly considered that for a meal on our trip (anniversary and all), but was having a hard time justifying the $$. We're probably more 50's Prime Time people anyway. :laughing:

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Awww. No Cali Grill? So sorry about that. But I guess that means that you'll have to head back there sometime, right?

And that stroller-basher just mumbled sorry and walked away??? She could have at least walked you to the first aid!!!
I hope the ankle is better now.


Yes.....how were the seven gentlemen?
 
I cannot wait to try the Mine Train!! What did you think of it?

...been there. done that. [I can now officially take it off my Bucket List.]
[Let's put it this way: I'm glad that I only had to wait ten minutes]

....honestly, a little too tame for my taste...cute, but not 'spicy' enough...:confused3

LegoMom said:
Sorry about Cali Grill..... :worried: I briefly considered that for a meal on our trip (anniversary and all), but was having a hard time justifying the $$. We're probably more 50's Prime Time people anyway. :laughing:

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...I had the Dining Plan - that's why I was really disappointed that we weren't going to eat there this time out....:sad1:
 
And that stroller-basher just mumbled sorry and walked away??? She could have at least walked you to the first aid!!!
I hope the ankle is better now....

....she didn't even ask if I was okay or if she could do anything....in fact, she seemed annoyed that I had put a slight damper on her day....:confused3

BTW ~ it was healed within 4 or 5 days....
 
"Slow and Steady is the Way to Go - Especially When a Certain Someone is Sick"

....we began to stroll towards Frontierland, but Ron wanted to go to the Hall of Presidents and I was not going to ruffle his feathers, so I acquiesced. It was was fairly 'painless'; I hadn't visited this particular attraction since the introduction of our latest leader. Besides, it gave Ron a chance to sit and relax, not giving him a chance to think about heading back to the room. We furthered along towards Frontierland, when Ron decided that he had to make a, um, err, 'pit stop'; I patiently waited outside and did some people-watching:

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....we hurried across the 'bridge-type' structure, stopping to take in the antics of my DS's favorite characters, Chip and Dale:

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...before boarding that terrifying train of doom:

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....the train we were riding actually stopped here atop a large hill, which gave me ample time to capture this shot....told you it was a terrifying train of doom!
 
:confused3 When I checked, you were only up to the Diamond Horse. You must have updated it after you posted. :rotfl:
 
"Slow and Steady is the Way to Go - Especially When a Certain Someone is Sick"




...before boarding that terrifying train of doom:

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....the train we were riding actually stopped here atop a large hill, which gave me ample time to capture this shot....told you it was a terrifying train of doom!

Wow, you don't realize the scope of the MK until you see here how distant the castle looks!

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Ron certainly was a trooper to get out of bed when he was feeling that icky!
 
MMMM :furious: NOT very kind of that stroller-pushing lady !! I understand that people want to make the most out of their vacation days ... but a decent person would at least stop and ask How are you ? Can I do something to help ? My fault, very sorry and such ...

;);) We are anxious to ride the Mine train ... You know how Marco loves everything connected with Grumpy !!! :lmao::lmao:
:scratchin Well , if that attraction is TAME... ;) IT IS MADE FOR ME !!! :rotfl:

and ... should I say this ? ... Chip and Dale are my favourite characters too :confused3

Thanks , :hug: I like so much reading about your adventures !!
 
Wow, you don't realize the scope of the MK until you see here how distant the castle looks!

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....or how high one actually is...the day was sunny but very windy, so this photo is a bit deceiving...
 
MMMM :furious: NOT very kind of that stroller-pushing lady !! I understand that people want to make the most out of their vacation days ... but a decent person would at least stop and ask How are you ? Can I do something to help ? My fault, very sorry and such...

....nope....barely even stopped long enough to say "sorry" before bowling her way outta there....
 

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