He's with the Band! a DL Performing Arts TR- 7/13/15 A little Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum!

[ARmom30]

I just don't like feeling someone could walk in at any moment from my back patio.




Awww, thanks! And I'm happy to have you here.



Fun! Is it your first time doing PHM? I am excited!!!!

I hadn't considered the idea of someone being able to walk in the door. That would bug me too!!!

This is my 1st PHM! It's also my 1st 1/2 ever. I'm excited and nervous about it. I'm really looking forward to running through the castle.

 

[natebenma]

So many emotions reading this update...

Impressed at the way everything was packed for the kids for this trip.

Happy that your travel day was relatively uneventful.

Bummed at your room assignment (but Relieved it was for only one night)

Thrilled that you got to meet Brenda and her posse.

Super Jealous of your Plan B dining destination. Somebody seriously did not do her research for the DL trip. I never made it down to that end of DTD and didn't know UVA existed. Greek food is my favorite. Everything you showed and described looked seriously awesome!

Surprised and Pleased that you were able to dine with Brenda, Michael and Emmy and that you had a visit from your teen.

Curious about the chaperoning situation- as someone who will be going on a class trip with slightly younger teens- were they allowed freedom to roam or did an adult have to be with groups of kids at all times?

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah, you have arrived!

Okay, let me try to remember everything I wanted to comment on.
First ...... that is some serious luggage that needed to be transported. I would NOT like to organize that.

Your travel day looks pretty good, apart from the yuck location of your room. I am so with you on the higher floor and will not fuss over a view, but please no first floors. And yours looked pretty closed in as well. Thank god it was only for one night.

Food looked really good and your DISmeet looks like a lot of fun!

More please!

 

[eandesmom]

I hadn't considered the idea of someone being able to walk in the door. That would bug me too!!!

Yep, that was my main issue with it.

This is my 1st PHM! It's also my 1st 1/2 ever. I'm excited and nervous about it. I'm really looking forward to running through the castle.

What a perfect first half! It was supposed to be my first half too, but I got impatient so instead it is my second.

It is SO much fun! I am very excited to run through the castle. Are you new to running or just new to the distance? The whole thing was SO foreign to me.

So many emotions reading this update...

Impressed at the way everything was packed for the kids for this trip.

Happy that your travel day was relatively uneventful.

Bummed at your room assignment (but Relieved it was for only one night)

Thrilled that you got to meet Brenda and her posse.

Super Jealous of your Plan B dining destination. Somebody seriously did not do her research for the DL trip. I never made it down to that end of DTD and didn't know UVA existed. Greek food is my favorite. Everything you showed and described looked seriously awesome!

Uva was the bomb, you need to go back!

Surprised and Pleased that you were able to dine with Brenda, Michael and Emmy and that you had a visit from your teen.

Curious about the chaperoning situation- as someone who will be going on a class trip with slightly younger teens- were they allowed freedom to roam or did an adult have to be with groups of kids at all times?

Very good question, I didn't think to address that! This was fully chaperoned by the school. They then had the kids assigned to groups of 3 that HAD to stay together. They could never be less than 3. The groups of 3 had to check in with their adult chaperone at set intervals, I think every 2 hours maybe (possibly 3) and were not allowed to leave Disney property. So on this night they all could only be in DTD. At other times I think they could go between the 2 parks and into DTD but that was their entire range. And woe to the kid who tried to do otherwise. There was some rumblings of older kids trying to make beach plans in down times and it was dealt with swiftly and severely. Pull anything like that and not only would you be kicked out of the band, you'd be suspended from school.

Yeah, you have arrived!

Okay, let me try to remember everything I wanted to comment on.
First ...... that is some serious luggage that needed to be transported. I would NOT like to organize that.

I was happy to be part of the bucket line, the actual packing of that truck, yikes!

Your travel day looks pretty good, apart from the yuck location of your room. I am so with you on the higher floor and will not fuss over a view, but please no first floors. And yours looked pretty closed in as well. Thank god it was only for one night.

Food looked really good and your DISmeet looks like a lot of fun!

More please!

I really really don't like first floors unless it is enclosed well. At OKW it was actually ok as the room was raised enough that the patio was completely private. I don't know if all the OKW first floor rooms are like that, or if we just got lucky.

 

[CarolynK]

We are long overdue for a DL visit! I love GCV, too bad about that room but hopefully it gets better.

So sweet that your son stopped by at Uva!

I hope you get the ticket situation worked out!

 

[eandesmom]

We are long overdue for a DL visit! I love GCV, too bad about that room but hopefully it gets better.

So sweet that your son stopped by at Uva!

I hope you get the ticket situation worked out!

I was happy it was only that one night but a little concerned about what the next day would bring. I was happy he stopped by, this age is such a roller coaster I never know!

Can you believe they had to call Florida to be able to do the upgrade? that seemed so crazy to me.

 

[Poolrat]

Oh I have first floor hangups for that very same reason, security.

Looks like a pretty smooth departure and landing. Almost all the way to through dinner.

We did hit Trader Sam's but really early so we were lucky no too crowded inside.

No key card access to the pool? Hmmm I had to battle the key card to get in or through....

Curious to see where your 1 bedroom is.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Cynthia! I missed this among so many TRs I am behind on, along with being out of town for the weekend.

What a load! I don't know how anyone would even organize all of that. I thought just some bat bags for baseball trips was a lot.

Too bad you had no view and no balcony for your coffee - although I guess you had a patio. We had a view like that from GC once - only from the 3rd floor. We saw little peeks of the monorail constantly. DGS, 2 at the time was enthralled!

I love eating outside at DTD! Nice you could meet up with Brenda and clan. Too bad the gift cards were not accepted currency. Looking forward to the rest!

 

[eandesmom]

Oh I have first floor hangups for that very same reason, security.

Looks like a pretty smooth departure and landing. Almost all the way to through dinner.

We did hit Trader Sam's but really early so we were lucky no too crowded inside

Yeah, Saturday night at 6:30 or whatever it was, was not the time to be hitting TS. Ann and I found it pretty insanely crowded on a Friday night as well.

No key card access to the pool? Hmmm I had to battle the key card to get in or through....

Curious to see where your 1 bedroom is.

Key card at 2 other entrances but not that one, or at least not that I could find. Granted I only tried once.

Hi Cynthia! I missed this among so many TRs I am behind on, along with being out of town for the weekend.

Hi Tammie!



No worries, we are just getting started. I am slowly slowly getting caught up elsewhere but it's hard to stay on top of it!

What a load! I don't know how anyone would even organize all of that. I thought just some bat bags for baseball trips was a lot.

I know, it was mind boggling!

Too bad you had no view and no balcony for your coffee - although I guess you had a patio. We had a view like that from GC once - only from the 3rd floor. We saw little peeks of the monorail constantly. DGS, 2 at the time was enthralled!

3rd floor, or even 2nd, would have been fine. 3rd you'd have gotten some pool view which would be nice. We did have the patio and did have our evening treats out there.

I love eating outside at DTD! Nice you could meet up with Brenda and clan. Too bad the gift cards were not accepted currency. Looking forward to the rest!

The gift card thing threw me for a loop. The good news is that I knew I had a trip with Mary Ellen the next month so I could use them then, it was just a bit annoying at the time.

 

[eandesmom]

The alarm went off all too early at 5:15 am. The plan was just to get up and go, as quietly as possible. Dad had basically said he wasn’t up for it the previous night and Mom, well Mom was asleep when we got in so Dad spoke for her.
He should know better.

I should know better.

Not to mention the fact that my dad is totally a morning person (unlike yours truly). Mom on the other hand, is not.

At 5:15 as we are trying to quickly get out of the door, they wake and inform me they are coming too.

Which is GREAT!

Except we needed to leave at 5:30 to make it on time.

We are going to be late.

Of course, it is on the beach. It's not like we are going to disturb anyone showing up late. Plus if they come, I get my Easter run. The nice thing about sunrise service on the beach? Running pants and a hoodie are perfectly appropriate wear!

Without too much ado, we are off and in the car. I'm driving.
Did I mention I hate driving? Especially in new places? I think it's a hold over from too many years of business travel, too many rental cars in too many cities figuring out where to go. I am perfectly capable of doing it. I just don't like it! It feels like work, not vacation. Plus, it was a scary drive. The route we took had us on some city streets for part of it and some highway for part. For 75% of the drive we had a crazy drunk driver in front of us. This truck weaved back and forth so much I could absolutely not get past it so tried to simply give it a VERY wide berth (which really didn't help the running late situation). As did everyone else around it. Had I been the passenger I'd have called it in but I was far too stressed and focused to do anything other than drive. Thankfully about 5 miles or so before out destination he turned away.

And the whole car breathed again.

We found the spot, parked the car and headed to the pier.



A bigger crowd and stage than our normal Sunrise service on the beach but it still had the same vibe







The sun was rising! And so had the son. He is risen indeed!



It was a nice service. Apparently Huntington Beach is a huge runaway destination and a lot of the service was about ministering to the homeless and teens in particular. They seemed to have a nice outreach program. I’m not really used to that kind of attempted "saving" at Easter service but it was nicely handled and given the backstory we heard, seemed like not such a bad idea!

Afterwards it was time for my run. I arranged to meet the rest of the gang at Starbucks and took off.

Tried to take pictures while running



Amazing how empty the beach is at 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday!



I attempted the classic bad selfie



I could keep track of where I was by the lifeguard stations, which are numbered





It had warmed up by the time I got back to the pier



The shade was nice





With that I headed to meet the gang. This place looked good, maybe another trip!



I was SO ready for my coffee, I usually have a cup before a run and would have loved one that early in the am and during the service but there simply wasn’t time to brew any before we left. I hit the restroom, got myself a nice iced coffee and a water and soon we were back to the car and ready to head out. But not without one last beach picture



Bye bye beach! Sad really, I would have loved some real time on the beach. We had it as a maybe to do later so at the time I really thought there was a chance we'd be back.

The drive back was uneventful and this time I was able to con my dad into driving. YAY! We did need to get a move on, we had a busy morning! Back at the studio we took turns showering and getting ready. I honestly don’t recall at this point if everyone did, I seem to think mom had done it the night before which helped as well, one studio bathroom for 4 people...all adult sized…just doesn't work very well. We managed to get it done and all our luggage repacked up. I headed down to check us out, and in, while mom waited for bell services to come get the bags. The front desk was INSANE! I guess the whole world was checking in and out on Easter Sunday??? Finally our turn came and while of course our room wasn't ready, they did tell me that our villa would be in the area we requested. To me that meant we would be on the side facing DCA, not the pool and hopefully an upper floor. I’d given some pretty specific room numbers, in order of preference but just to know we would be in the general area was encouraging! Chores done, we headed to breakfast.

When planning this trip, Easter breakfast had been the big debate. We had opted for what sounded best food wise, versus a character experience, Eric being a bit too old to care much. Our choice, Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen! They offer a Sunday Brunch "Fest" that sounded really good! Originally we had planned to eat around 11, which would have made for a more relaxing morning but once the band schedule was released we had to move it up to 10. The orchestra was performing at 11:50 and we wanted to try and make it. The question was, I still didn't have a ticket, and we needed to eat. Could we pull all that off in an hour and 50 minutes?

The restaurant opened at 10. It was basically empty. Not the vibe I'd been expecting but oh well. We were seated inside. In hindsight I wish we had requested outside but at the time we were expecting some jazz music to start up, the musicians were setting up as we were seated. Given the time constraints we did order rather quickly.

First things first, it was a holiday after all!

For mom, a mimosa, for Dad and I a Bloody Mary. At the time they had advertised a bloody mary "bar". Which they didn't have, and in looking at the menu now I see 3 iterations of bloody mary’s. I don't recall what we had but am thinking maybe it was the Cajun one? And clearly am too lazy to dig out the receipt.



Either way, they were tasty and hit the spot!

For Eric

Buttermilk Fried New York Steak & Eggs : Scrambled eggs, Pontalba potatoes



He had never had chicken fried steak before and was dying to try it.

For Mom

Crab Cakes & Eggs : Pontalba potatoes & Creole hollandaise



For Dad

Cajun Omelet : Andouille sausage, peppers, onions, tomatoes, pepperjack cheese, pontalba potatoes



I think on this he had them use Egg Beaters and may have substituted out the sausage for something vegetarian but I am not positive. He could have lived on the edge and not done either.

For me

Pork Debris & Biscuits: Slow roasted pork, crimini mushrooms, caramelized onions, housemade bisuit, red eye gravy, pontalba potatoes



As we ate, the musicians got going





The food all around was outstanding. Eric declared chicken fried steak to be food Nirvana. And yes, that is the exact phrase he used. He even ate the whole thing which amazed me! The music though...wasn't jazz. It was fine but it was more like weird old top 40 kind of stuff, pop. Not at all what we’d been expecting and given that, I'd have rather been outside. Service was wonderful and overall it was just lovely.

The bathrooms are lovely too, apparently I felt the need to take a picture



Actually I was just fascinated by the mirror.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

Bellies full off to guest services we went. Luckily there wasn't much of a line and a phone call later, along with proof of DVC memberships and my Florida Annual pass, I soon had this in my hand



Ok, actually it's in my dad's hand but you get the idea.

It would have been very nice to have had that at brunch as it gives me a 20% discount instead of 10% but the 10% was still nice to have (DVC discount).

Got tickets. Can we find the orchestra?

The Orchestra would be playing in DCA. The park was busy but not a nightmare.



The stage, relatively easy to find, as we found a seat, I spied my kid.



The kids looked great up on the stage!







I spied the middle school band director, also a chaperone. He looked very intent!



The lights changed colors as they played, Disney tunes of course!



I'm not sure what Eric was looking at




Most likely to see if he could spy any of his friends, the other younger siblings around.

It's kind of neat, there are some big screens and the display the name of the school, and city while the kids play.

The stage is located by this crazy area





It was a wonderful "first" park activity for us, we could not have enjoyed it more and it was so neat to see many kids I knew up there on stage. They sounded amazing.

After the performance we said goodbye to Evan (not like he sat with us or anything lol) and headed back to the park entrance. I needed to get my picture taken for my new AP and pick up our pe-paid photopass card. Card procured, I happened to look down at my new pass as the transaction was being rung up. I noticed something very interesting! It had an expiration date of 4/20/2015. I had of course, just gotten it and it was in fact 4/20/14. However, I had originally activated my WDW AP on 12/29/14. Everything I had ever read indicated that on this one, if you upgrade, there was no bridging. Which I was ok with, I was still going to save a small amount. But now????? 4 extra months????

SCORE!



The four of us chatted about what we wanted to do and came up with a plan.
As we meandered, we checked out the sights.















And got our first photopass of the trip





Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

We had decided to head this way











Our mission? At 12:45 on Easter Sunday?



SCORE! I can't believe there were any left.



As we'd walked towards the RSR fast pass line we had also snagged FP’s for WOC. The timing looked pretty difficult to manage both but we figured we would just give it a try.



We were so giddy, we got another picture!















Yes, clearly I shrunk since the NYE trip.

And some more






What next?

 

[franandaj]

What a jam packed morning! That's the same stage where we play too. Disney does a great job on production and makes it seem really special.

Great score on the RSR FPs! I wouldn't have guessed there would have been any left at that time of day.

Brunch sounded pretty good at Brennans, we have yet to eat there for anything other than appetizers.

Awesome news on the AP, score on the extra few months!

 

[jedijill]

Wow, you got a lot accomplished that morning! Yay for the extra months on your AP! That's an awesome bonus!

Ahh, the deliciousness that is chicken fried meat....A southern and midwest staple!

The concert looked great...Disney does have a nice set up.

Glad they still had FPs for RSR!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

Wow, you guys certainly pack it in!!! Great that everyone wanted to go to the Easter service but a little planning would have been helpful. That drunken truck driver sounds awful

Showered, packed up, checked out/in, AND breakfast before the band played? Extra WOW!

Glad everything worked out with your pass, and bonus for the extra four months!

Very cool about Evan's band did he have fun?

 

[elphie101]

All caught up!! What a crazy getting-ready-to-leave process and thank heavens you didn't have to get up early for the airport! I love how you ran into so many other families on the flight, I bet that doesn't happen for all their band trips

The Grand looks absolutely stunning. Stinks on the room location but like you said, at least it was only for one night. That food at DTD looks fan-freaking-tastic!

Sunrise service looks beautiful, I'm glad you were able to make it in time. Sounds like you had a great run too, it seems like beautiful scenery to look at.

Holy cow that brunch! Yum yum yum - that pork especially looks divine. Now I'm getting hungry!

That premiere passport looks so stinkin cool - I think I've only ever seen a handful of photos of it!

I love that area of the park the band played at, so colorful and cool. for 4 extra months of Disney time!! Perhaps another LSP is a-brewin? Topping that off with RSR FPs to boot, you had some great Easter luck!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I'm always amazed at how much activity you can pack into a morning while on vacation! The sunrise service looks like such a special event - nice you could make it over there.

Your Premier pass is sparkly! I know it will be put to good use!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Can you say....tetris, blockus or zenga? Holy creative loading. About 150 kids went on this trip.

I'd be so glad somebody else had to worry about that!

The weather was NASTY. While it made for a slightly stressful drive due to traffic (Seattleites really do NOT know how to drive in the rain believe it or not)

Now there's something I would never have predicted!

For those that don’t know, the GCV do not have view categories. Basically you get what you get. You can make requests but in reality you can have a great view, an ok view, or....this.

But you're at the Grand Californian! Beats the view from the office anyday.

Who were we meeting? Why the lovely Brenda (emmysmommy), her DD Emmy and DH Michael!

Yay!

My dad wanted to eat at ESPN. It was the first thing we saw leaving Trader Sam's. Um, I don't mean to be whatever about it but I am sorry. Over my dead body am I eating dinner at ESPN! And I said as much.

Not a sports bar fan, I guess?

A really cool thing happened while we were eating. I had my back to the walk way (Uva is literally in the middle of the "street" in Downtown Disney) and was chatting away. All of a sudden I felt a tap on my back. It was Evan!

Very cool indeed!

UVA was not a Disney owned location and did not take them. Nor does most any store in all of downtown Disney. Great. So I had a large chunk of change on gift cards and a fair amount of dining planned not in the parks or resorts. Grr.

D'oh! I hate learning things like that the painful way.

I needed to take care of a park ticket situation but my dad had an agenda.

His agenda?

ESPN.

You go Dad!

Um, I mean, hope it was okay?

Turns out there was a Sounders game that night, and they were playing the LA Galaxy. That's why he wanted to eat there. Not because it was close and certainly not for the food or beer (he is a NW beer snob with the best of them). Well gee dad, why didn't you say so? I wouldn't have snapped and I would have promised that we could go after dinner.

Whew! All's well that ends well!

Of course, it is on the beach. It's not like we are going to disturb anyone showing up late. Plus if they come, I get my Easter run. The nice thing about sunrise service on the beach? Running pants and a hoodie are perfectly appropriate wear!

Sounds like a win-win! I love the idea of a sunrise Easter service on the beach. Sounds really cool.

For 75% of the drive we had a crazy drunk driver in front of us. This truck weaved back and forth so much I could absolutely not get past it so tried to simply give it a VERY wide berth (which really didn't help the running late situation). As did everyone else around it. Had I been the passenger I'd have called it in but I was far too stressed and focused to do anything other than drive. Thankfully about 5 miles or so before out destination he turned away.

And the whole car breathed again.

Been there. Definitely stressful.

We found the spot, parked the car and headed to the pier.

The sun was rising! And so had the son. He is risen indeed!

With that I headed to meet the gang. This place looked good, maybe another trip!

The Beef Company, or Baskin-Robbins?

The food all around was outstanding. Eric declared chicken fried steak to be food Nirvana. And yes, that is the exact phrase he used.

It sure sounds like it! All of breakfast looked really good. And I love that there's a dish that exists called "Pork Debris".

I noticed something very interesting! It had an expiration date of 4/20/2015. I had of course, just gotten it and it was in fact 4/20/14. However, I had originally activated my WDW AP on 12/29/14. Everything I had ever read indicated that on this one, if you upgrade, there was no bridging. Which I was ok with, I was still going to save a small amount. But now????? 4 extra months????

SCORE!

Very cool!

SCORE! I can't believe there were any left.

And you get to ride at night!

Yes, clearly I shrunk since the NYE trip.

I hear that's a side effect of ordering mahi-mahi in Hawaiian burger joints.

 

[PrincessInOz]

You did get a lot done that morning. But then, I guess starting out at 5.30 am would give you all that extra time!
I've always wondered what breakfast at RBJK would be like. Now I know. It's on my list for next time.

Looks like the band scrubbed up well. They look so professional in the formal blacks. Glad you all got to go experience that.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your day.

 

[Leshaface]

Such a nice Easter service on the beach!

He's never tried Chicken Fried Steak?! Mom, what are you thinking never making it for him!? All the dishes do look great there though and so does that Bloody Mary.

Glad the kids played great at their performance.

What an absolute SCORE on the extra 4 months!!! You know what this means right?? You've got to squeeze in an extra Disney trip at some point. Can't let those months go to waste