Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Tuesday Dec. 4th was supposed to belong to DD9. She had wanted to dine at Blue Bayou for lunch on her day but I was unable to get reservations for her day. (Tip: don't wait to call when it's only a week in advance, even though it's the off-season.) I was able to get reservations for her but not until Wed. so we had to do a switch and Mom took Tuesday. I decided to do things we had never done on my day. The main thing I wanted to do was the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show. My family always complained when I wanted to do this and I have always ended up outnumbered. So... Off to the Billys we went and enjoyed a very funny show. The kids loved it and didn't know why they refused to go to it before. They even had a photo taken with Billy after the show. He put the crazy teeth in and made the goofiest face possible, a hilarious photo. He said it would make a great Christmas card picture. The food served here is not the greatest but my son loved his chili in a bread bowl which seems to be the better of the fare served here. After this we went to DCA briefly to enjoy some of our favorites, California Screamin' and Soarin'. We love to observe Soarin' first-timers and their awe and appreciation of this attraction. We heard a lot of loud "Wow"s during our flight. We agreed wholeheartedly. We never tire of this amazing flight. After this we saw ITTBAB which we had never seen before, it was a fun show. After this it was back to DL, we never find reason to be at DCA very long. I finished the day with Fantasyland rides, I love the Storybookland boats and Casey Jr. but we did all the rest also and rode the train around the entire park, staying on it for almost 2 rotations. I wanted my day to be more relaxing and it was. We ate on the cheap again this day so as to allow the kids their $100 each on their days. The firework show was great, we stationed ourselves unknowingly directly under one of the snow machines. We viewed the show in front of the castle. Man, it was packed, more so than last year at this time. It was downright claustrophobic trying to get out of there afterward in that sea of humanity. I got stepped on and rammed with strollers. After this we went to Target to buy air mattresses. Our backs could not take another night on the hard beds. Wed. Dec. 5th dawned sunny, another perfect weather day. DD9's day and she had us hit Indy first followed by BTMRR and Splash. After this we went to check in at the Blue Bayou. Our reservations were for 2 p.m., a late lunch but we decided to check in early to request a water side table. Good thing we did. As soon as we got seated in the waiting area, all sorts of excitement broke out. Staff scurrying this way and that, all sorts of confusion. Turns out that something in the kitchen had gone awry, either the gas line broke or the power was out, they weren't sure but the kitchen was down for the count, unknown when or if it would be back up that day at all. After they told us what was going on, they said we could either sit and wait just in the off chance it could be repaired, or we could try coming back tomorrow. Well we already had reservations for tomorrow for DS15 so we knew we were coming back anyway, and I could see the disappointment and worry on my DD9s face so we decided to wait it out for a while and see what happened. Most of the other folks in the waiting area left. The check-in podium staff was turning everyone away. There was only one very large group that decided to stick it out like us, they checked back later while we sat and waited. They brought us water and warm dinner rolls while we waited and after 20 minutes or so, a very happy manager came out and the look on his face said it all. We were seated waterside at exactly 2 pm which was our reservation time anyway. I got the crab cakes (very mediocre in my opinion and not much to it although not as expensive as other menu items either), DD9 got the kids chicken drummettes which she didn't like at all but she liked the pasta that came with it. Hubby got the jambalaya which he loved and DS15 got the Monte Cristo, his favorite. Once again we agreed that it's the ambiance that makes this place special. After this we rode Pirates of course (we did this ride the most, maybe 7 or 8 times during our trip.) She had us go to DCA briefly so that she could experience Turtle Talk with Crush for the first time, which she loved. She was fortunate enough to be chosen during question time and she asked Crush if there was some secret from the Finding Nemo movie that we didn't know about. This stumped Crush and his answer didn't have anything to do with the question, he diverted it with a question of his own. (He held up a Buzz toy and asked what it was and DD9 answered him.) I told her it was such a good question that he couldn't even think of an answer. We loved the Snow White exhibit taking place there in the Animation building. The artwork was fantastic, a lot of concept drawings from the time was worth seeing. Particularly the scene where the evil queen was walking around the castle with a black panther, their original idea before the raven. They scrapped the panther after it was deemed "too much" and replaced with the raven which they thought was less intimidating. I loved a concept drawing of Dopey standing on a branch of a tree, chopping the very branch he's standing on and sure to send himself to the ground as a result. I wish they would have left that scene in the movie. I took some great photos of DD9 in front of a huge life-sized mural of the forest scenes. In one picture it appears she's feeding one of the deer, it's a great shot like she's actually in the scene. We returned to DL where DD9 discovered the Autopia and fell in love with it. We've never done this ride before because the line is such a slow mover, but when she saw that she was tall enough to drive, she said we'd do it and since it's her day, she chooses what we do; so we waited in line forEVER but it was worth it to see the big grin on her face as she "drove" the Autopia. She keeps the driver's license in her wallet now. She absolutely loved this ride and we did it again at the end of the week. We were in line for the Matterhorn when the fireworks started and this turned out to be a great place to view them. Half of the fireworks look to be launched from the Matterhorn area (it was hard to tell from where we were standing) and the other half launch behind Small World, and where we were standing in line was fantastic viewing. I don't think you can get closer, it was an amazing show taking place on each side of us. After this we ate at Rainforest Cafe, her choice for dinner. We shared food and with my Safari Club discount, we were able to stay within her budget and still have plenty to eat. That Safari Club card also allowed us to skip the ridiculously long wait. When we checked in they said it was a 2 hour wait (the parks had just closed) but with my card it was knocked down to 15 minutes. That in itself makes the card worth having. But we got free chicken casadillas too which made it even better. This place is always loud and not easy to relax in but the kids enjoy it and the food is better than most of what you'd find in the parks. Thus DD9s day ended and we headed back to the hotel. Hojos is farthest from Rainforest so we were pretty tired when we finally got "home." Coming up: DS15's day
