momof3kids-Yvonne

Great report Yvonne. I can't believe the guy wouldn't let pictures be taken, what a party pooper! How did he know she wasn't trying them on, looking to buy one?

I must disagree with you on one point though...chocolate is a perfect way to start the day...or end the day...or get through the day. Heck, chocolate is good anytime!!!

You are right about that. Ok so maybe it's not the healthiest start to a day, but I did try to say "No Thank You", but the man insisted. I have been taught that I should respect my elders so, that is exactly what I did. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

We made it into The Pancake Panty and were taken to our table. I will say they really cram a lot of people in there. The one thing we did not like about this place is if you wanted a side of something with your pancakes you had to order that separately. The girls each had the chocolate chip pancakes from the children’s menu as they are both still young enough to order off of it. Steve decided that he would order the Morning Star Breakfast because it actually came with a side of pancakes or toast. That way he could get pancakes and eggs. So his meal consisted of shredded hash browns topped with melted cheese and a fried egg. That was topped with diced grilled onions, pimentos, mushrooms, ham and green peppers. He chose to have the pancakes with it. Drew order the Banana Pineapple Triumph. I guess this is a Pancake Pantry original. It was banana wedges rolled up in crepe style pancakes then topped with their own pineapple syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream. He also had a side of bacon (I think Steve may have eaten one of his slices and we ordered a side of it for the girls to share. I know horror making someone share bacon. But with the cost of the side ($3.30) there was no way we were going to get three separate orders. We thought there would be plenty to share. There were 4 slices of bacon on each of the two plates. I ordered the Red Rasberry crepes. They were filled with a red raspberry compote, topped with more of the same compote, powdered sugar and whipped cream. The girls liked their pancakes and the bacon. Drew said his was alright. Steve seemed pleased with his order. Mine was alright too. The raspberry compote was a bit too sweet for me. Over all it was a neat place to try and to be able to say we’ve been there, but I don’t think we would wait in line to go again. I think next time we would go to one of the other pancake houses in the area. It would not be as close to our hotel, but that does not matter much to us.

After breakfast we decided to walk around for a while. I was interested in taking the trolley that went into the National Park and wanted to find out where I would need to catch it. So we went to find that out. It ended up being right by the Aquarium. Deciding on the 2:30 trolley time still left us some time to walk around and have fun. Last year when we came here we played miniature golf and everyone had fun so, that is what we decided to do again. On the way to the miniature golf place we stopped by the Guiness Book of World Records Museum and got these pictures outside.

The miniature golf place we decided on was the same one we went to last year. It was a black light one and you had the option of it being 3D. When asked if we wanted to play the game in 3D Steve said, "sure." Of course it wasn't until after this that we noticed it was an extra $1 per person for that option.

A fun picture of the kids inside the miniature golf course.

I just realized there are no pictures of me on this trip. Well except for in the one above. See that hand holding the score card, golf ball and 3D glasses? Yep that's my hand. Sorry it's the best I can do for you on this trip. I will try to do better next time.

By the time we finished it was a little after 2:00. Still not sure who exactly was going to go on the trolley ride we all headed over there. In the end the guys decided they did not want to go. Now I don't know that the girls truly wanted to go too, but they wanted to go where I was going. The guys decided to go back to the room for a bit and then they were going to Blaine's to watch some college football, maybe get an appetizer and Steve wanted a beer. This was another place we had gone to last year and really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. They headed off for their guy bonding time and the girls and I waited on the trolley. While we were waiting I noticed that we could take a trolley into Pigeon Forge. As I mentioned before my aunt and uncle live in Walland which is not too far from Pigeon Forge. So, next time we go to Gatlinburg for a longer trip I am thinking I will take the trolley over to Pigeon Forge and we will be able to meet up with each other.

Unclaimed baggage used to be AWESOME!!! It truly was very random stuff really cheap. However, as they have grown, it has gotten more commercial and more expensive. You really have to live there (like my inlaws do) to find the really good deals.

They have also expanded to include unclaimed freight. Entire truckloads of brand new merchandise that got misdirected or double shipped, or something. For awhile that was really great, but that has gone down too. (I guess GPS tracking of shipping has gotten better.)

The best deals I have found are books. A good trashy paperback for 50 cents, can't beat that!!! Have also occasionally found Disney souveniers, but not often.

The most hilarious thing I saw there once was a huge box of Disney "American Express" fanny packs for $5.00 each. Those were given away FREE to Amex customers when you checked into a Disney resort. I have a whole pile of them. (Amex used the be the official card of Disney)

Sounds like an awesome weekend!!! I remember well, when those "school breaks" were not really breaks for the athletes. Always spent Spring Break and fall break playing baseball!!!

My son use to play baseball too prior to high school. Am I a bad mom if I say that I was not at all upset when he decided to stop? Right now he plays football and basketball. His real passion is football and is hoping to play that in college. They did win their game today. Though he came home with a nice gash under his eye. Apparently someone on the other team tried to help him get his helmet off. He said actually a few did at different times, but only one called for facemask penalty.

Great report, Yvonne. One question, did your DH say why the store owner said no to pictures? I can't see what the harm would be.

By the way, now I want PANCAKES and you haven't even made it into the restaurant yet :rofl2:

I asked him, but he did not know. So did you get any pancakes yet?

Great report love the pics.

Thank you this is my first time posting a trip report. I have had so much fun reading so many of them that I thought that one about a weekend away would be a great place to start.

You are getting me excited...we head to Gatlinburg this weekend.

I am glad that we discovered Gatlinburg. Funny thing is we had been going to the general area for years as my aunt and uncle live in Walland. Most of the time when we go see them we would just stay at their house and maybe go to the outlets in Pigeon Forge. It was not until after we bought our camper that we discovered Gatlinburg. Hubby says he likes the layout of it better than Pigeon Forge. He likes that you can park your car and walk up and down the main street. I can't wait to read about your trip to Gatlinburg.

All thes Gatlinburg trip reports are making me jealous i'm not there A nice ride to avoid traffic and a ton of miles is to take Hwy 321 off of I-75 at Maryville. 321 will take you right into Townsend which is close to cades cove then through Wears valley and put you right into the middle of Piegon Forge. It will keep you out of Knoxville and most of the mess in Piegon forge.

That is how we get to my Aunt and Uncle's house who live in Walland. Going the way we do we completely miss Pigeon Forge. Most of the time Knoxville is not a problem for us.

I think Judy mentioned we should have a GG in Gatlinburg. I agree with her and like you love Smoky Bear Campground.

You forgot to list on the events what day and time the live steam of Judy dancing on the table was going to be happening. Those of us left at home will need to make sure have access to the internet for that.

Beautiful girls. We went to the park one time for the day, but have not camped there yet. Like Carol this is one on my loooong list of places to go.

I kept saying to myself that I need to get pictures of the room before I leave. Well apparently I listen to myself about as well as my children listen to me. :rofl2: Yep you guessed it I forgot to do that. Here are a couple of the outside of the hotel though.

This is where you check in. When I made my reservation I had to send in a check for one night of the stay for a deposit. They do not take credit cards for that. We were able to use the credit card to pay the balance though.

The pool was closed, but here are some pictures. It looks like it would be a lot of fun.

I did not notice it at first, but Jessica pointed out to me that it looked like the slide was being held in a hand. Sure enough she was right. It is as though it is being held in the left palm of some giant.

Saturday morning the plan was to get up early and go get breakfast. Have I ever mentioned that we are not early morning people in general. Well we're not. So I was the only one who got up at a relatively early time for us. Somewhere around 8:00am. I went ahead and got my shower while everyone else slept. Now, let me just say one thing I hate about hotel showers is when you get very little hot water and even worse no water pressure in the shower. This shower had neither of those. As soon as I turned it on the water came out full force and it was hot. I did not even need to wait for it to warm up in fact I had to turn it down a bit. After I was done getting ready I went ahead and woke everyone else up. Now we had to decide where to go eat. We were pretty close to the Pancake Pantry so the plan was the girls and I would go ahead and walk over there to wait while the guys finished getting ready. The line to get in was out the door and into the village. They do not take your name, but someone from the restaurant walks along and asks you how many in your party and gives you a piece of paper with a number on it. I was told our wait would be about 45 minutes. Not too bad.

Jessica apparently did not agree with this statement.

Steve and Drew made their way over to us and since their was still some time Steve decided he wanted to go look for a cowboy hat. So he took Jessica and Drew and headed off to do that. I told him I would text him when we got closer to the door. Now you might be thinking sure he leaves you waiting while he shops, but Rachel and I did not mind at all. It was fun people watching and we even got to experience some wonderful southern hospitality. An older gentleman in front of us had gone into the candy store which was located conveniently right next to the Pancake Pantry. He had bought some chocolate covered cherries and gave one to us. They were delicious. I know it's probably not the best way to start a day, but I just thought of them as the appetizer before our meal.

I let Steve know when we were near the front and they came back. He told me Jessica got them kicked out of the store. Guess he was taking pictures of her with some hats on and the man in the shop told him not to do that. :popo:

He did not have to delete them from the camera so, here they are. The first one actually has Drew in it too. He's at that "too cool" for pictures stage.

It's a gorgeous time of year to make the trip! I'm ready to hear more and see some pics!

We do love to go there this time of year. We were discussing how we need to try and go other times as well. More will be coming up a bit later today and yes some pictures.

Oh we love Best Italian. We eat there every time we go. I can eat 6 rolls alone.

The rolls were delicious.

I have GOT to go check out unclaimmed baggage.. I had no idea it was that good!!!!

Where are the pic's Missy?? I love TN in the fall to, have you ever did the Christmas at Dollywood thing? I heard it was really nice, trying to decide if i can swing it before the year ends :)

Unclaimed Baggage is a hit or miss type thing. It was my first time there and as we were in a hurry I didn't get a chance to look around. Hubby had taken the kids there when I went back to Michigan when my grandmother passed. The IPod Jessica got was not the newest generation, but it was as close to that as we could find. You definitely have to do your research before you go so that you know if you are getting a good deal or not.

As for pictures, I did get them into Photo Bucket last night, but as you can see this report got started really late. I need to get some work done around here and will get some pictures in later. We have never done the Christmas at Dollywood. We actually haven't been to Dollywood in years.

My son's fall break was scheduled for October 5th (beginning at 1:00pm) through October 10th and one of our favorite places to go in the fall is Gatlinburg, TN. So that is where we decided to go. The only thing is we could only go for the weekend as he still had football practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a game Monday night. He's the starting QB so we didn't think it was too wise to have him miss. So that combined with the cost of gas we opted to leave the camper at home and just stay right in town. So, it was my job to find a place to stay. Last year we rented a condo in town that was a couple blocks to the main road, but we decided we didn't want to stay there again. Since we ended up going out to eat anyways regardless of if we had a kitchen or not the decision was made to just get a hotel room. Using Google Maps and then Trip Advisor (to see what others thought of the places) it was narrowed down to Jack Huff's Lodge. I sent an e-mail to the owners and they replied back right away. They had a room that someone had just canceled. I went ahead and booked the room as it had the 2nd highest ratings on Trip Advisor and the location seemed ideal. We could park our car and leave it there the entire time we were there. :dance:

Friday afternoon we finally got on the road, but first we had to make a stop in Scottsboro at the Unclaimed Baggage Store. We were on the lookout for an IPod Touch for my youngest daughter. She is the only one who does not have one. Actually I don't have one either, but have been known to use my children's on numerous occasions. We were able to find one for under $100. Great now that should keep her occupied for a few more hours while we continue our journey. The only thing is there is no Wifi in the van so, she can't get any games yet. She also does not have any music on it yet. Thank goodness was just happy to have it and thought it was fun just adding birthdays to her calendar and watching the Unclaimed Baggage video that was downloaded on it over and over and over again. Still wondering how my parents managed to take car trips with my sister, brother and me and only gave us things to do like Yes and No books.

Now we have gone to Gatlinburg many times, but we have never gone on a Friday evening so we had no idea how bad the traffic was going to be. We made it through Chattanooga fine, but it was slow going through Knoxville. Not sure if it is always like this or if the fact Tennessee had a home game the next day added to it. Oh well we just trudged on knowing that we would get there a bit later than we had planned. The one thing we do not do when we go is take the exit that goes through Pigeon Forge. It adds miles to the trip, but we staying on I-40 and going around to the Cosby exit is so much nicer. We are at least moving the entire time and it reduces the amount of arguments. Yes, even for the children. :laugh:

We got to the hotel around 8:30pm. Quickly unloaded the van and went in search of a place to have dinner. We decided on The Best Italian Restaurant. Sorry no food pictures in this trip report. Anyways, let's see what did we order...oh yes my children all had fettucine alfedo, I had lasagne and my husband ordered a calzone with Italian sausage, chicken, mushrooms and spinach. He asked the waitress is it was big prior to ordering it and she told him it was the size of a football. She was not kidding! It was huge. We all agreed our food was good and made the decision that if we went again we would just order two different calzones and split them. We had way to much in leftovers. Thank goodness our room had a refrigerator and microwave.

Wow! I was just thinking about you the other day. I am glad you are back and I am looking forward to more of the trip report.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. We are actually in the Smokies right now. It's the one place we can all agree on when we need to choose somewhere to go for a weekend away. My son's fall break was at the end of this last week and Monday of the coming week. Unfortunately being that he had football practice we really could only go somewhere for the weekend. So, we chose to go to Gatlinburg. Hubby did not want to take the camper for such a short trip so, we are in town at Jack Huff's Lodge. I am thinking of taking the trolley into the Smoky Mountains tomorrow if I have time.

Haven't been to Dollywood in about 5 years I just may need to plan a trip there soon.

I decided to check out the article (loving all your responses) and even scrolled down to see some of the other articles including the one about stopping the Trick or Treating at Downtown Disney. It seems like the Freeloading mentality that everyone is mad at here is also being felt in other areas as well. Some have asked about where they could take their kids trick or treating if they did not (for whatever reason) want to go to MNSSHP. So far not one person responded about FW (thank goodness), but now when the see this new article not so sure that will stay that way.

TCD, Once again you made me feel like I was there with you. Thank You!

I'm ALL over the pic of herd of kids on the stick ponies!! :rofl2: Marty, Loretta, gonna need to borrow your kids for a few.. we will do this shot up right!! Hope there is enough ponies! :partyline: :partyline: :partyline:

Right Judy you're getting the kids together for the picture.

Somehow I can just imagine it going something like this... Mommy can you let me have a turn on the pony now? Wait a minute Miss Loretta and Miss Marty and I aren't done with our race yet.

The Lego displays blew us away! I can only build the ones from a kit with detailed instructions. :rofl2:

I thought I was the only one who had to use those. :rofl2:

Thanks Carol! I really enjoyed this trip of yours. I too liked the pictures of the inside of the DME bus.

As for Rick's surgery, if there is anything I can do to help out let me know. I don't know where exactly you liive in Madison, but I live just off of Sam Thomas Rd in Harvest so, really close to the Madison line. Does he need a ride to the surgeon? Is it an outpatient type thing? If you are in Virginia when he has to have it and need my help just send me a message.

Loved the pictures! Of all these Dream Cruise trip reports I think you had the advantage in that you had the cutest model for your pictures.

Bummer! I was hoping there would be something really exciting inside the cabin. Science equipment, bug spray and cleaning supplies? In other words, junk. Just a place for Disney to store stuff they don't know where else to put.

That's it! From now on I am going to refer to my junk piles as "cabins." Who knew I had so much valuable property? :rofl2:

TCD, I am looking forward to your theory.

I am heading to church now, but looking forward to the strawberry shortcake when I get back.

:fork:

Second Verse same as the First!

This is the report that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. We started reading it not knowing what it was and it will go on forever just because. This is the report that never ends. It goes on & on my friends....

The picture of Gabe with his bike is one of my favorites.

Happy Birthday!!

TCD never gave himself a job, but he's a good sport, he'll be up for any of it. Kind of like a floater. We'll put him wherever we need him. He also promised us Yuri to get into the projection room.

He could be the flasher... um I mean the one to lead the Fort Fiend Flash Mob.

My DD9 loves those! She would eat them everyday if we let her. Last year Santa brought her some for Christmas. :rofl2:

Lorna, I am so glad you were able to go on this cruise. As someone who has been a payroll administrator, I fully appreciate how difficult it can be to get payroll done and have an enjoyable vacation. I am glad your company worked with you to allow this wonderful opportunity. Those porthole pictures are amazing. I wish I had your craft skills, but as I tell so many when it comes to arts and crafts I leave those projects to my hubby.

Starla did offer her laptop for some live action since chances are good that at least some of us may be hanging around the fort more than parks this trip. Guess we'll see how the net is, I'm used to the free internet in the BC lobby... it's gonna be a shock to have to pay for it while at the fort but we may have to... just for Judy! :rofl2:

That's what I was thinking. :rofl2: