Our Vacation, I Mean, Trip: Part 2

The first day we arrived was a crazy day, but we did manage to finally get unpacked and headed out to find something to eat. If you've ever been to Disney, you've probably gone to the Downtown Disney area, which unlike the parks, is FREE! Well, until you go to dinner and try not to buy any souvenirs in the 50 Disney stores that are there!

We ended up arriving there around 7:30, walked around, snapped some cute pics, shopped around in the stores, managing NOT to buy a thing. There were several "moments" had by Brendan when we would leave the store empty handed, but we stood our ground, and just had fun "looking" and taking pictures outside the different stores...

Mr Potato Head -- they had a huge build-your-own Mr. Potato Head section inside this store that had to have had 500 different Mr. Potato Head parts...


Buzz Lightyear -- yes, we were on our way to the bathroom at that point. It looks like he has to go!! The whole potty thing... I should've waited until after this vacation to potty-train him! It would've been SO much easier!!

Hurry up and take the picture, Mom!! I have to go to the bathroom... AGAIN!

Jeff was starving. Surprisingly, I wasn't, thanks to the McDonald's I stuffed my big pregnant face with earlier, but I would still manage to eat a full meal when we'd sit down to dinner later that night! :-) We saw on the map that there was a place called "T-Rex Cafe" a dinosaur themed restaurant, that looked like it would be a lot of fun for Brendan, and had a good menu. When we got closer to this restaurant, we saw it was swarmed with people. People everywhere! It was 8:30!! We thought we'd "beat" the dinner crowd... not at this place! There are like 25 restaurants in Downtown Disney, but I think this place, and Rainforest Cafe are the only two that are geared toward kids. We were quoted a 30 minute wait, which was actually much better than I thought, so we decided to wait. On a side note, when walking around Downtown Disney, I'm convinced that there is really no recession at all, and NO ONE has decided to forgo a vacation this summer. People are here spending money like there's no tomorrow... it's crazy! OK, anyway...

At this point, we get seated and it's 9:15. Again, you'd think it was 6pm with all the people eating dinner and still waiting to be seated. The crowd hadn't even died down at 10:30pm when we were leaving... people still walking in, with their kids in tow, going to eat dinner. There seems to be no bedtime at Disney, either, I've noticed! Apparently, no one else's kids are as unmanageable as ours is when overly tired! I can't even imagine trying to get Brendan to sit down to dinner at 11 and behave in a restaurant -- 9:15 was difficult enough!

While we were waiting for our table, we took turns going into the restaurant, looking around at the gift shop, walking around to tour the inside, which was enormous, and so cool looking! There was a store within the gift shop, called, "Build-a-Dino, by Build-a-Bear Workshop" -- so, seeing no alternative to a nice, peaceful dinner, I had Brendan pick out his "Dino" and told him if he was a good boy at dinner, we'd come back and make one when we were finished... this child works really well on bribery, but I'm sure most kids do! And, well, I've always wanted to make a Build-a-Bear, so I knew Jeff would "approve" on the Dino, since Dino's are so much more "manly" than a bear...

So tired, while we waited outside the restaurant!

Behind Jeff was an "Ice Age" themed dining area that changed colors and looked really cool.

It's kind of hard to see, but there were dinosaurs everywhere, and there was a show that would happen every 20 minutes where the lights would dim, and the dinos would sort of come to life.

A big "talking" dino in the front of the restaurant, and an Octopus bar behind it.

I can't figure out how to turn this picture, so you'll have to turn your head! We thought it would help Brendan to drink a 2 liter of red and blue slushie to give him a little sugar rush to make it through dinner! The drink was served in a dinosaur bone...

Brendan was a good boy during dinner! Well, good, considering the fact it was almost 10pm at this point... here he is picking out his dinosaur "skin."

Kissing the heart that will go into his dino before it is stuffed.

Pressing the pedal while the girl stuffed his dino at the stuffing machine....

Brushing and blowing any extra fuzz off of it...

Time to pick out the clothes!! Brendan wanted the Super-Dino outfit...

I wanted the preppier dino outfit... I love dressing Brendan in plaid shorts and t-shirts! And besides, those super-hero boots and mask would only cause tears when they get lost!

I WON! They look like twins! I don't even think he cared at this point. He can't even stand up it's so late!

The Dino Promise

The Dinosaur was all boxed up and we were on our way! Check out the holes for the head and the tail! So cute!

Not wanting to leave.... no adventure would be complete without a little break-d0wn on the way out!

When we left the store, the dinosaur's name was "Crocosaurus" and by the time we were home, that changed to "Rexy" -- I don't think this dino was actually a T-Rex, but I won't tell him that! It was renamed a few other times today, but then back to Rexy. We actually went back to Downtown Disney tonight again to go to a different area and restaurant. When we told him we were going back, he ran into his bed to grab the dinosaur and said, "I need to bring my dino, cuz I'm gonna take it back and get a different one..." -- WHAT?? Seriously. This kid... He's so grateful and appreciative! I know, he's 3...