"We're basically here for the food..." A September 2016 TR**Updated 4/21/17

[VACamm]

Hi Everyone!

Has it really been this long? I really havn't posted since NOVEMBER 4TH???? I hope everyones Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years was wonderful!

Wow. I really have been gone for a long time... but the good news is that I'm back! So many things have happened since I last posted 2 1/2 months ago!

-We went to Newport & Boston in November
-We went to New York City in December
-We booked our summer beach vacation
-We added my dad to our September 2017 WDW vacation.
-We booked a CRUISE for the very first time... will be spending Christmas 2017 in the Caribbean!

In addition to all of this we hosted a Christmas party, attended Christmas parties, got sick with colds, and worked full time jobs. I'm absolutely exhausted!

My goal is to keep on trucking with this trip report and finish what I have started! Stay tuned...

 

[Nakkira]

Day 1: September 3rd Travel Day


I’m a planner. No really…. I’m a MAJOR planner and I may be told by my husband regularly that I probably have OCD. I’m definitely not saying that it’s a bad thing, I’m just saying that after all the planning and preparation that I do for each vacation I feel like I’m so mentally exhausted that I need a mental health day BEFORE the vacation even starts! The months, weeks, and days prior to leaving for this vacation I had completed every item on a 2 page TYPED To-Do list. A few of the items that I had completed and crossed off were:


· Contacting the post office to put a HOLD on our mail


· Make arrangements for our house and pet sitter


· Notify bank and credit card companies of travel


· Place the Garden Grocer order for our breakfast items


· Get our dogs Milo and Gus groomed


· Pack everyone’s suitcases, and then take out half of the junk that I OVERPACKED


· Make ADRs and Fast Pass Reservations


· Double check ADRs and Fast Passes


· Triple check ADRs and Fast Passes


· Order matching shirts for each of the 4 Disney parks


· And about a billion other things that had to be CHECKED off of the To Do list


The night before our flight to Orlando, we all planned to go to sleep early because we were being picked up by a family friend at 5:45am! I literally was in a panic because Hurricane Hermine had made landfall on the Gulf of Florida on September 2nd and was scheduled to travel over the entire state of Florida on September 2nd and 3rd…. AKA our TRAVEL DAY! I kept checking the airline to make sure that our flight was not delayed… and surprisingly each time I checked it was still on time!


When my alarm clock went off at 5:00am the first thing that I did was pick up my cell phone and check the American Airlines website, and I was surprised and so happy that our flight was still on time! YAAAYYYY!!!! I jumped out of bed and got everyone else up and ready to go. Normally it’s so hard to get my husband and son moving in the morning, but for some reason it always is so easy to get everyone up and out of the house on Disney Vacation Day!! After filling up our to go coffee mugs and saying 1 last goodbye to our 2 dogs Milo and Gus, and 2 cats Money Penny and Obi-Wan, we hopped into our friends minivan to be chauffeured to the local airport.


Side note: This was the first time that we didn’t park our car at the airport. We normally pay $7.00 per day to park our car, but our friend offered to drop us off and also to pick us up the following week and we graciously accepted. This was a blessing to us and it saved us a nice chunk of money!


We arrived at the airport and checked our luggage, and quickly went through the security line. We had about an hour to wait so we ate some granola bars that we brought with us, and we bought some drinks at the airport.

We decided to take a wonder twins picture of our fabulous magic bands! I'm such a dork and this is literally my 4th pink one. I always say I'm going to change to a different color, but its quite obvious that I like routine and always change it back to pink at the last second! This trip Kevin got Orange, and Ethan got the new cool Purple color!

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Here is our airplane waiting for us at about 6:45am!

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Our flight itinerary for the morning:
Lynchburg to Charlotte: 7:20am – 8:31am
Connection Flight that we have less than an hour to race thru the airport to try and catch ...

Charlotte to Orlando: 9:20am – 11:02am

Ethan had the window seat on both flights and he got some really cool pictures of the teeny tiny towns!

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I am very happy to announce that everything went as planned and we actually flew OVER some of the hurricane clouds which was very cool. We got really lucky and didn't have any delays or storm issues at all with Hurricane Hermine. Here's a really cool shot of the outer band storm clouds!

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The flights were fairly uneventful, which I'm not complaining about. I read, and listened to Disney Parks music on my iPod. We ate candy and drank coffee. They give out these weird cookie bars called Biscoff (see below) now, which of course I can't eat because of my Gluten Allergy. I packed lots of gluten free snacks though, so I kept myself occupied.

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We entertained ourselves as best we could... by taking airplane selfies!

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Finally we arrived in Orlando!! My fathers flight from upstate NY arrived about 30 minutes before our flight landed. He had already texted me that he was waiting by the Magical Express check in!! We hopped on the fake MCO monorail and raced down to the Magical Express area to find my dad. Here is Ethan on the moving sidewalk being Oh So Cool as a 13 year old could ever hope for.

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My dad was SUPER easy to find, so we scanned our magic bands and filed into the correct line for the Magical Express bus that would be heading to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We literally only had to wait for about 10 to 15 minutes and then we were able to get loaded onto our bus! I'm not sure about you, but this is when it always gets so real for me.... when I first sit down on the Magical express and this video starts to play:

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I LOVE that guy! He just makes me smile! I sat next to my dad, while Kevin and Ethan sat together across from us. I always try to get a good photo of the Walt Disney World sign and its always blurry or just the corner of it. So of course this trip was no different and I tried to get the perfect photo again and failed miserably.

We made it onto Walt Disney World property with no issues, and pretty soon we were pulling into the Caribbean Beach Resort driveway. Now, you may or may not believe me when I tell you this, but as God is my witness as SOON as the bus stopped in front of the resort it started POURING RAIN. And I mean, torrential downpour!!! We ran inside the lobby only to have the lovely cast member notify us that we needed to hop on an internal bus to get to our room. Apparently I forgot that where you actually check into the resort at the Custom House is in a separate location than the rest of the resort LOL. UGH. Well... At least we are at Disney right?? Before I forget to mention, the Custom House was absolutely beautiful inside. It was really, really, really pretty and it smelled delicious!

Stay tuned for the next entry when we actually try to FIND our room in the POURING RAIN!

I love those cookies

 

[annie170]

Glad to see you back! I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

How cool that you've been doing a lot of traveling! A friend's daughter got married in Newport and the photos were just gorgeous. Boston and New York are such fun cities, too.

Congrats on your upcoming Disney trip and cruise next Christmas! Don't you just love looking forward to a trip? It gets me through the depressing midwestern winters.

 

[VACamm]

I love those cookies

Unfortunately I can't eat them due to Gluten Allergy, BUT my family LOVES them too!

Glad to see you back! I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

How cool that you've been doing a lot of traveling! A friend's daughter got married in Newport and the photos were just gorgeous. Boston and New York are such fun cities, too.

Congrats on your upcoming Disney trip and cruise next Christmas! Don't you just love looking forward to a trip? It gets me through the depressing midwestern winters.

Thank you so much for your warm welcome back to my TR Yes Newport, Boston, and New York are all so much fun. I bet your friends daughters wedding was beautiful in Newport! I'm very much looking forward to our trips this year. I hope that your midwestern winter isn't so depressing this year for you!!!

 

[VACamm]

Day 4 continued...

We decided to walk up to the Custom House, or the Main Building to call a cab to take us to our dinner reservation. The cab arrived very quickly this time, and we were able to arrive very quickly at the Grand Floridian with tons of extra time to explore the resort.

The Grand Floridian is so stunning!






We walked thru the resort all the way to the GF boat launch and got this shot of the Contemporary across the water.






9 months prior, on Christmas Eve we ate dinner at 1900 Park Fare and had such an amazing experience with the characters that we were sure to book a reservation for this trip! Once we were at our table, it was only a matter of minutes before the chef came to our table, and he was able to take me around the buffet to show me what was Gluten Free and safe for me to eat. He said that unfortunately there was nothing on the buffet that was gluten free for dessert, but said that he would make me a special dessert plate when I was finished with my dinner. YAY!


The first royal to come to our table was Prince Charming…






And then Cinderella…






And then Lady Tremaine… she’s so scary!





Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Day 4 Continued...

And then…. The HIGHLIGHT of our ENTIRE VACATION and quite possibly the most embarrassing moment of Ethans life was when Drizella came to our table and RECOGNIZED ETHAN FROM 9 MONTHS EARLIER when we at there on Christmas Eve!! It. Was. AMAZING! She was talking the ENTIRE time and poor Ethan was dying from Embarrassment. She literally spent about 15 – 20 minutes at our table. She was running her fingers through Ethans hair and was asking him loads of embarrassing questions. She then decided that it would be a perfect time for Ethan and her to DANCE and they literally danced THROUGH THE ENTIRE DINING ROOM while the entire restaurant Clapped and Cheered him on! It was such a Magical Moment! I think it secretly made Ethan's day, even though he would NEVER tell us that haha.












The chef brought out my Gluten Free Dessert plate, and it was everything that I could possibly hope for! I told him that I loved candy, and he brought me gummy bears! SCORE!!






The food is not the best at 1900 Park Fare, but the character interaction makes up for the lacking food for sure! I highly recommend this restaurant, especially if you love amazing and hilarious character interaction.


After dinner, got our photo taken with the GF photopass photographer.



We then took the monorail to the TTC, and then switched monorails over to EPCOT to ride Spaceship Earth and to stroll around the world showcase.




After Illuminations, it was time to begin the long trek to the busses to head back to the resort for bed. It was another long day and we were exhausted.


Stay tuned for next time where eat breakfast at Ohana!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

That is really an awsome photo! It is def one to save to show his future girlfriends, to add to the embarrasment!

The food is not the best at 1900 Park Fare, but the character interaction makes up for the lacking food for sure! I highly recommend this restaurant, especially if you love amazing and hilarious character interaction.

We had a great time there as well, not nearly as "embarrasing" My husband had a whole conversation with The Prince about how it was bad form to not ask Cinderella her name the WHOLE time they danced. My girls thought it was beyond embarrasing! So fun!

 

[VACamm]

That is really an awsome photo! It is def one to save to show his future girlfriends, to add to the embarrasment!


We had a great time there as well, not nearly as "embarrasing" My husband had a whole conversation with The Prince about how it was bad form to not ask Cinderella her name the WHOLE time they danced. My girls thought it was beyond embarrasing! So fun!

Oh my goodness LOL I bet your daughters loved it! Prince Charming is right, he should have asked Cinderellas name haha! They really are fantastic characters there.

 

[VACamm]

Day 5


Today was our planned NON PARK DAY! By mid week, we are always so exhausted from the long days and many miles of walking that we look forward to a break in the middle of the week. We were able to sleep in FINALLY, and we showered and hopped on a bus to Magic Kingdom.





Wait, what? Actually, we took the bus to MK so that we could board the Monorail for our late breakfast reservation at Ohana!




The Polynesian resort is so calming and so beautiful.






Once we were inside we were brought our food very quickly which was surprising. Normally we have to wait, but not today! Apparently the main manager was on duty (according to our server) and everyone was on their best behavior.


I was brought out my own Gluten Free skillet, with my very own Mickey Waffles!




Kevin and Ethan were so excited to participate in the parade. Don’t ask…. They are crazy. Lol






After the parade, Mickey came to our table.





Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Day 5 Continued...

Pluto is always such a cutie!








We love Lilo!








We also saw Stitch, but I’m not sure where the pics are?!?!





Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Day 5 Continued...

After breakfast, we went back to the Caribbean Beach resort and had a jam packed day of laundry and lounging by the quiet pool!


The quiet pools are 100%more pleasant than the main pool at CBR. It was nice and calm and had PLENTY of chairs! The only downfall was that we had to walk all the way to the main building to get cocktails, but we made it work.


On one of our walks to the pool bar, we took lots of pics along the way.



















The laundry room is the little building right here next to the quiet pool.



We spend the entire day reading and swimming in between changing the laundry. It was perfect weather.



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Day 5 Continued...

The weather was perfect for the pool.



My dad and Kevin were working hard folding our laundry. Just in case anyone is interested, the laundry rooms are pretty much identical with the ones that we have used at CSR, POFQ, POR, and Pop. They now take credit cards, and they are very easy to use.



After showering, we walked up to the custom house to get a cab to the Wilderness Lodge for a dinner reservation.

The Wilderness Lodge is absolutely GORGEOUS. One day we will stay here… its on our bucket list!







We were able to see the Geyser go off!



Dinner was absolutely delicious. We got the skillet to share and it was enough food for 20 people! The good news is that it was ALL GLUTEN FREE. I was able to eat everything!



The skillet is all you can eat sausage, ribs, chicken, baked beans, corn on the cob, mashed potatos, bbq, and so much more! My insides were busting at the seams! My favorites were the baked beans and the sausage. Omgosh everything was so so so delicious. I HIGHLY recommend everything about Whispering Canyon as a dinner option. Everything that I tasted was delicious!



Ethan asked for Ketchup. If you ask for Ketchup, apparently everyone in the entire restaurant has to get up and run as fast as possible to your table with a bottle of ketchup. We ended up with about 20 bottles lol The next person to ask for ketchup, the 4 of us had to gather all of the bottles and deposit them ALL on their table! So much fun!



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Day 5 Continued...

The Wilderness Lodge Lobby is so stunning!



After dinner we got on a bus, and made it over to Disney Springs for the evening. Disney has REALLY outdone itself with Disney Springs. Its so pretty and it looks very fancy, especially at night!



I am a huge lover of Uggs. The new store at Disney Springs is gorgeous!



We went to Sprinkles Cupcakes, and as we were leaving we saw these 2 golden statues. I was getting my photo with the statues….




… and apparently they liked my hat!



It was hilarious!



We went to Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar for a cocktail, went into a couple of stores, and headed back to the resort. It was a nice relaxing day.

Stay tuned for next time when we go to EPCOT for rope drop!

 

[annie170]

Your story about Drizella is hilarious! Ethan is a good sport! I completely agree that 1900 Park Fare doesn't have the best food, but the best character interactions.

I love all the parks at night, but World Showcase is my favorite. So gorgeous!

We haven't done breakfast at Ohana, just dinner. It looks delicious!

A relaxing day is so needed. Yours sounded just perfect.

A stay at Wilderness Lodge is on my bucket list. It's going to happen one of these years!

Your face is priceless in that the photo with the statues! And I LOVE that top you're wearing!

I'm reading a lot of good things about Jock Lindsay's. I can't get over the overall growth of that area. I think about the first time I visited it in 1985 and it was a handful of shops and restaurants.

 

[VACamm]

Your story about Drizella is hilarious! Ethan is a good sport! I completely agree that 1900 Park Fare doesn't have the best food, but the best character interactions.

I love all the parks at night, but World Showcase is my favorite. So gorgeous!

We haven't done breakfast at Ohana, just dinner. It looks delicious!

A relaxing day is so needed. Yours sounded just perfect.

A stay at Wilderness Lodge is on my bucket list. It's going to happen one of these years!

Your face is priceless in that the photo with the statues! And I LOVE that top you're wearing!

I'm reading a lot of good things about Jock Lindsay's. I can't get over the overall growth of that area. I think about the first time I visited it in 1985 and it was a handful of shops and restaurants.

The Ohana breakfast really is so good. They bring so much food, and the characters are just so amazing too. We have never eaten there for dinner, but we hope to one day!

The black and white top is from Target actually. Its so comfy, and I'm hoping they have something similar to that style this summer.

We have now been to Jock Lindsay's 3x, and we HIGHLY recommend it. Its very tiny, but they have the best atmosphere and theming. If you like Indiana Jones movies, it is a must do for sure. You're so right about the growth in Disney Springs. I used to know my way around Downtown Disney blindfolded, and now I get so confused. There are so many shops and kiosks and restaurants that have popped up everywhere. The new feel is so relaxed and chill though. They have added so many different musicians everywhere and it really adds to the vibe. I hope that you get to go soon!

 

[VACamm]

Day 6

This morning Kevin left our room really early to walk up to the CBR Custom House to get a taxi for his 8:00am Tee Time at Disney’s Magnolia Golf Course. He was VERY excited to play golf at Disney.


Ethan, my dad, and I showered and headed out to the bus stop bright and early at 7:30am. We only had a few minutes before we were able to get on the first bus to EPCOT.




My dad and Ethan made their way easily thru security…




We were about 1 hour early before park opening, so we only had about 3 people ahead of us in line. We sat on the ground and ate granola bars and drank our coffee and people watched to pass the time. We have Rope Drop at EPCOT down to a science, and we know exactly what we had to do so that we could accomplish all that we wanted to before lunch.


As soon as the park opened, we walked very quickly (ran haha) over to The Land, to ride Soarin’ in stand by. We were able to go straight in, and we were told to stand on #6.










After Soarin’, we walked very quickly (ran) over to Test Track to use our first fast pass of the day for Test Track.





This is my super cool pink car!




Next stop…. My FAVORITE ride again …. Spaceship Earth!




I love Foxy Brown… shes so awesome!



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

Then we went over to The Seas to ride Nemo, and then spent about 30 minutes looking at all of the cool fish. We were able to watch the divers cleaning the coral, and also we got to see the Manatee’s eating lettuce!











After we had enough of the fish, we journeyed over to see our favorite purple dragon – Figment! We love the Imagination pavilion. We rode Figments ride and then went into the theater to watch the Pixar Shorts.








When we got out of the theater, Kevin texted and said that he was in the park and that we could meet him up in front of Spaceship Earth for some Photopass pictures. Sounds great to me!




Our shirts today are each of our favorite parts of EPCOT. Ethan: Universe of Energy, Kevin: The Land, Dad: World Showcase, and Myself: Spaceship Earth!






We were starving, and went back to The Land to eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons. All 4 of us agree that Sunshine Seasons is the BEST QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANT at EPCOT! They have absolutely everything that you could possibly want! I got salmon and rice which was delicious… AND gluten free!

Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

We walked over to the World Showcase, to go see our friends the Three Caballero’s! The new animatronics are so fabulous!






Then we headed over to ride Frozen Ever After for the FIRST TIME! Luckily we were able to get fast passes, and we didn’t have to wait that long in the fast pass line.







The theming was absolutely amazing.


The ride was really good and we really liked it a LOT! They did a great job and I thought that it was very well done. Of course we will always hold Maelstrom very dear to our hearts, but FEA is definitely a good updated version.




Since we were already in Norway, we of course had to go meet Elsa and Anna. I will say that the theming in the Summer House was spectacular!









The ladies were very pleasant and we had lovely chats about Reindeer and Snowballs!








They were so much fun!


At 1:00, we went back to the resort for naps and pool time for 2 hours. At 4:30 we were back on the bus to EPCOT. Kevin and I were on a mission to try and Drink Around The World. We had been talking about it for 9 months since our last trip, and we were going to try our very best to achieve success! We took photographic evidence to document our mission, and to laugh months later when looking at the pictures ! Oh, I need to mention that we agreed to SHARE the drinks so that we would have a better chance of finishing.

Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

The first stop, was Mexico. We got a Guava Margarita on the Rocks… which we of course did not get any photo of haha! #Fail


Our second stop was Norway, where we got a glass of Chardonnay.




Next was China and the Tipsy Ducks In Love drink. This one was very weird. It was a chocolate and bourbon drink that I REALLY liked for some strange reason! I think I drank this one all by myself because Kevin didn’t like it.












Our Fourth stop was Germany. When in Germany, its only natural to do Jägermeister shots… so we each had our own.











The fifth drink was Sangria from the cart in Italy. This was so delicious that we each had our own again. It was ice cold and was absolutely amazing.



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

In Morocco, Kevin got a Casa Beer for the sixth drink which I couldn’t have because it wasn’t Gluten Free. Since I drank the Tipsy Ducks In Love by myself, Kevin had this one all to himself! The whole "Sharing Drinks" plan wasn't working out very well.... but we were having tons of fun trying to drink around the world!




We made it to Chefs de France for our dinner reservations, and were feeling very ‘happy’!! Dinner was absolutely delicious. They don’t have a specific Gluten Free Menu, but I was able to request a gluten free plate of salmon, rice, asparagus, and warm gluten free rolls.






I didn’t have any dessert, because I was saving it for my favorite drink in all of EPCOT which just happens to be in the France pavilion! After dinner, we walked outside to the cart near the water, to get Grey Goose Citron Slushies! My faaaavorite! Country # Seven was my favorite of the mission! Of COURSE there are no photos of this drink either. We are terrible at this Drink Around the World game!


We made our way back over to the Morocco Pavilion, which is my all time favorite World Showcase pavilion. The museum is really interesting.






Morocco is especially beautiful at night.










Country # Eight was Japan for Plumb Wine Sake. This drink was really sweet, and not my favorite. Of course, we forgot the picture.


The warm up music for Illuminations was letting us know that the show was about to start. We ran over to Country # Nine - America where we found an amazing spot front row right in front of the water. Also, we were right in front of the beer cart where Kevin got us each a McKenzie Black Cherry Hard Cider. Now, let me just tell you that this stuff tasted like straight cough medicine and I would not recommend this to anyone. Yuck. No picture again of course.


Illuminations was amazing as always, and when it ended we decided to head back to the bus. We failed at our Drink Around The World mission, because we only made it to 9 of the 11 countries. We unfortunately missed the UK and Canada because they were ALL the way on the other side of the lagoon during Illuminations. We also failed because we didn’t get pics of each of the drinks. We had fun trying though!






Stay tuned for next time when we rope drop EPCOT again!