You nailed it Pam...that is indeed Horace Horsecollar. If I remember correctly he was originally like a sidekick to Mickey and was eventually replaced by Goofy. And as far as Clarabelle goes, she shows up now on episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Junior as somewhat of a girlfriend to Goofy. I guess Horace got replaced again...poor guy.Originally Posted by pfalcioni
Thanks for identifying Horace!
Before we left the GF we stopped by their shop. I had a mission to get light up spinners to send to my sister for the kids at Seattle Children's Hospital who were undergoing cancer treatments. My sister is a pediatric oncology nurse practitioner there. They have a very good selection of spinners at GF. I had brought a priority mail flat rate box with me to send them directly to her. The girls used some of their money to buy Tshirts and pins.
We took a taxi back to POFQ.
1:20p CM at front door had 'doubloons' for the kids to throw in the fountain. The girls loved stopping and getting some on the way in.
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We split a shrimp po' boy and bacon cheeseburger sandwiches for lunch on our way back to the room. Nice and quiet at the counter service.
Nap time for Bella and Traci but Emma was excused so she and I hit the pool together. Then when it was time we went and woke Bella up. Back to the pool. There were pool games. CMs were throwing rings into the pool for the kids to retrieve. There was some music and dance moves and a water balloon toss. Relaxing and refreshing.
4:05p Caught a taxi back to GF for our 4:30 Park Fare Dinner.
We had a chance to fill our dinner plates and start eating before Prince Charming first came out. I'm fairly picky but I thought the food here was fine as well. Enjoyed the roast beef with horseradish sauce the most. The best part about the buffets were that everyone, including Bella, could eat everything.
4:55 PC just had time to sign the autograph books. He was quite charming. I loved how he stood with one hand behind his back.
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Charming excused himself so he could go escort 'his Princess'. They did a little dance. Emma announced that it was 'the right Cinderella'.. meaning the one we had met the night before. She told Cinderella how much she had enjoyed the dinner at the castle and Cinderella told her how wonderful it was to see her again so soon. I'm pretty sure it was a different young lady.
4:57 PC back
5:01 Cinderella
5:05 Lady Tremaine
5:07 Anastasia
5:13 Drizella
I loved the step family. Plenty snarky. Reminds me I need to get the pictures Traci took of me with characters from her.
5:23 Dessert! For tonight I had ordered the slipper desserts for Traci and me. The girls were happy getting to choose their desserts from the buffet options. The castle design is made of cocoa!
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5:24 PC and Cinderella did another dance in the middle of the dining hall.
We paid the bill and took the monorail over to the MK for the nighttime entertainment.
Last edited by ellie; 08-02-2012 at 09:07 AM.
Love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Robin
The Disney Diaries 1999-2003 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PYCL8C
The Disney Diaries 2004-2012 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009RA770A
Fun report Ellie, thanks for sharing!!!
Kate
We got to Main Street in time to see the Castle Lighting.
Got in line for Mickey. They took folk in in groups and we were first at the door.
6:20 Mickey and Minnie
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Carousel of Progress. One of my favorites. There's a great big beautiful tomorrow... I wish they'd redo the last vignette and nix the virtual reality.
Monsters Inc.
7:20 Stopped at the ice cream parlor for some ... well, ice cream.
Got pictures taken with the castle by a photopass photographer. Saw the Magic, Memories, and You show and then
8:00 Wishes !! Be careful that your view isn't obstructed by the holiday wreaths strung across Main Street.
We joined the throng heading down Main Street back to our hotel. Another full, fun day.
Last edited by ellie; 08-17-2012 at 09:50 PM.
Got to AK for opening.
First up was EE. Traci and I both wanted to ride and were pretty sure we would be taking turns because of Bella. But kids surprise you. You can see a lot of EE, unlike Tower of Terror, or Splash Mountain, or Space Mountain, or even Big Thunder Mountain.
We walked to where you could see the 'drop' and Emma looked at it and announced she was not going on this ride. And she had loved all the others! Even more surprising, Bella said she was going to go on it, with me. Wow. As we walked through the queue I outlined the ride to her so she'd be prepared. When it came time she took a breath, put her head back against the head rest, and was ok. Her prouncement at the end to Emma. She liked it, but once was enough. Then Traci got to go - Emma wasn't convinced - and we waited to see her come down.
9:16 Traci on EE
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Dinosaur. it's jerky. It's dark. It could be considered scary. Both the girls loved it. The line was short and they wanted to go again so they and I did. Traci went outside to wait for a friend of ours from elementary school who lives several hours away. She and her husband had driven down to join us for the day. I hadn't seen Tammy in about 30 years. It felt like it was just a couple of months. I'm in the middle.
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Bug! I always feel bad for the crying screaming scared children. Fine for our group.
10:30 Flights of Wonder Truly wonderful show. Guano Joe is fairly funny but the birds steal the show. All liked.
{Edit, Ernie just stopped by to see what I was doing.. he did not think Guana Joe was funny. He thought the birds were incredible.}
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11:00 The others headed to Flame Tree Barbeque to get lunch (with my order) and I went and got KS FPs for everyone.
We sat in the covered area and the adults had a few minutes to talk.
KS with FP. The girls would have done this again if we had the time.
We walked the Pangani trail.
1:15 seated for Festival of the Lion King I will say this is not my favorite show at AK. If I'd been by myself I would have gone to see Nemo. But I thought the girls would like Lion King, which they did. Not to say they wouldn't have liked Nemo.
Stopped to shop and trade pins. Bella got a stuffed Minnie Mouse.
2:38 Photopass photographer. We took several pictures, including the one of we gals above and some fun ones with us all pointing at Stitch erupting from the pavement.
Emma wanted a stuffed snow leopard. Luckily someone in the earlier shop knew there was one at the Rainforest Cafe store. Success!
3:00 The AK Christmas Tree
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We said goodbye to our friend Tammy and took the bus back to POFQ.
Last edited by ellie; 08-03-2012 at 09:38 PM.
Love all of the pics Ellie!!
-Ashley
"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank...but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child." -- Forest Witcraft
For our break today we put on our bathing suits under our clothes and headed over (actually took a cab, folk were tired of walking) to Port Orleans Riverside and enjoyed their Ol’ Man Island pool and slide. It's perfectly legal for Riverside and French Quarter folk to share each other's pools. The complex is much bigger than the one at French Quarter. There was no comparison, the girls loved the pool and slide more - we should have stayed here! they said. So it was good we saved the visit for our last pool break. Traci relaxed with an adult beverage for part of the pool time.
After we were mostly pooled out - the girls never got tired of the pools - we utilized the very nice changing facility nearby.
We went over to their store to check out the pin trading. And then the evening surprise! We had a carriage ride booked at 6.
We had a very slow pleasant 30 minute ride ($45) around the Port Orleans resort.
Afterwards, we ate at Riverside Mill. Traci and Emma had burgers. I decided to try out the Create-Your-Own Pasta. Bella decided to join me. Fun to pick your own ingredients and see it assembled right in front of you. Way too much food. I told the cashier that I thought I had to pay for Bella's as it wasn't officially a kid's meal, but she said not to worry about it. For dessert we selected pastries to take back for breakfast the next morning.
We took a cab back to POFQ and the others all enjoyed long tub baths and we packed up most of our stuff as we would be checking out the next morning before heading to Epcot.
Great report! POR was my first Disney hotel so it always has a special place in my heart.
Our final morning! Very sad. We had our last breakfast in the room and brought the large bags over to the airport check-in. Traci had to move a few things around as the one very large bag for the 3 of them was slightly overweight. We then dropped our carry on luggage at the bag check.
8:56 at Epcot waiting for the turnstiles to open
Soarin'. Bella had a problem with some of the 'motion' so her mom had her close her eyes. It wasn't her favorite although it didn't cause undue stress. Emma loved it and wanted to go again but we only had a partial day. I don't love Soarin'. It's ok. I've never felt the desire to do it more than once a visit. Traci enjoyed the aroma-experience.
Living with the Land was next for them. I've never been on this ride. Maybe someday. I booked it over to Test Track to get our FPs while they rode.
Traci was hurting from all the walking so we sat on a bench for a bit and rested.
Spaceship Earth More cool rest time. Bella and I had fun choosing the selections at the end to customize our world of the future.
I think SE is my favorite ride at Epcot.
We got our Kim Possible Kimmunicator for England.
10:30 Daisy showed up with her handler.
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10:44 The girls hung out in the misters for a bit.
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Test Track with FPs. A thumbs up from both girls.
11:30 We stopped by Club Cool to try the various sodas. The girls drank a lot and did some mixology.
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11:39 Heading toward World Showcase we were resting on a bench when Bolt arrived. The girls were definitely getting plenty of autographs. It was fun seeing how happy they were interacting with the characters.
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The Epcot Christmas tree. I was sorry our trip was too early for the MK one to be up. Hope to see it this Dec but our latest MK day is Tue after the parade taping weekend.
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We stopped for some pictures of the girls in the totem pole cutouts in Canada.
Noon. Lunch at Yorkshire County Fish Shop. It was quiet enough that we were able to grab an outside table next door.
England Kim Possible Mission. The girls took turns with the Kimmunicator and we worked our way through England and with help from Wade saved the world. No problems getting a volunteer for 'Danger is my cup of tea'.
Traci was still in some pain so she spent a while in the back garden area sitting on a bench and chatting on the phone with her sister. We would stop in and tell her how we were doing and where we were off to next.
12:55 Alice The girls got in line. Traci's mom is named Alice.
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1:00 on our way to the Patisserie we stopped to watch the act in France. I'm afraid of heights. No way I could do this.. well, and there's that balance issue as well.
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1:15 Boulangerie Patisserie Seated indoors enjoying our pastry selections. I had the chocolate mousse. Yum! This is one of my favorite places in Epcot. Another is Karamell-Küche. Yep, I have a sweet tooth. The girls noticed that there was French writing on the trash bins.
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We were heading out the International Gateway exit. As we were heading toward the exit Beast came strolling out to join Belle.
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The queue was already long and everyone was tired so we didn't get in line and just headed to the exit. Beast would have been cool but at least we had seen Belle at Cinderella's Royal Table - really a good deal getting so many princesses done at once while you're sitting eating.
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We headed out the International Gateway and thought briefly about taking one of the boats to the Beach Club, but with Traci so sore from walking and the boat dock at the end of the Lighthouse pier we decided it might be shorter to just walk.
1:42 not taking the boat
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We took lots of breaks and the girls had a chance to play at the edge of the sand beach. No beaches in TN.
1:50 The Beach Club was decked out for the holidays.
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Indoors the pastry crew was adding final touches to the carousel.
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2:10 We arrived back at POFQ after taking a cab. The Christmas elves had been hard at work overnight and the POFQ decorations were up as well... although one of the lobby tree's lights weren't working correctly... we heard the elves would be back soon to fix that.
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We collected our luggage.
2:19 We had time for one last pin trade in the gift shop.
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A CM had two bubble blowers and let each of the girls play with one.
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We hung out for a bit in the lobby. The girls plopped down in front of the cartoon TV.
3:09 Our chariot arrived.
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4:05 At MCO. We had a fantastic bus driver. He told jokes. He asked who was having a Nov birthday - Bella was the only one on the uncrowded bus. He had everyone sing Happy Birthday to her. I took a quick picture after everyone was off the bus.
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4:41 Minnie in line at security.
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Our gates were 122 and 127 so we got to spend a little time together before we separated and flew home.
Everyone was tired but happy. Emma still had her crown on at the airport.
A trip I'll long remember. Go with some kids! It was really fun sharing Disney with them and their mom.
Love your report. We are scheduled for that same week this November. I noticed one of the girls wearing Jeans the last day. Did it cool down over the course of the trip? I was happy to hear you had so much pool time and that so many decorations were up.
The last day the temp dropped down to 78 high... it had been in the lower 80s... and it was a little breezy. Part of the jean choice I think was running out of other clothes and knowing that it was going to be a lot colder when they got home - Traci's husband was bringing their coats to the airport.
I love the wunderground travel planner for seeing what the actual temperatures/conditions were for the dates you select for the last 15 years.
http://www.wunderground.com/travelplanner/index.asp
So for Orlando, FL from Nov 13 - Nov 18 the average was 80 high and 64 low.
If you scroll down they have each day back to 1997 with various weather data.
The weather for us was just about perfect. Warm enough for the pool but not too hot for being in the parks.
It was also fun getting to enjoy some of the holiday events and decorations for the first time.
GREAT report! We are headed to POFQ in January and this makes me even more excited :) Thanks for finishing it up!
Thanks msmissy! and others for reading!
I loved POFQ. The queen beds. The small easy to navigate size so quick to get to the pool or the dining hall or the bus. Having the POR sister resort facilities to use.
Here are some more POFQ pictures.
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Great report! Thanks for sharing!!!
Kate
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