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

[kfcamm]

When we got off of the Peoplemover, we walked straight into the Incredibles Dance Party!! We danced and danced with Frozone, Elastagirl, and Mr. Incredible! We did the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide with them… and OH MY GOSH the selfies that we took with the characters were amazing!! We love the dance parties!

Because I can do this now

 

[VACamm]

Because I can do this now

Ok, so this is now my favorite post EVER.

 

[VACamm]

Hi Everyone, and Happy Thursday! The workweek is almost over and I am VERY HAPPY! I think I'll pick up this TR right where I left off last time...

We ate entirely too much food at Mama Melrose, and our bellies were very full so we were a bit sluggish walking through Muppets Courtyard.


We debated whether or not we wanted to go to watch Muppet Vison… in the end we decided against it, but instead we just took photos of the amazing fountain.




We walked past Star Tours….






And Ethan went for a quick ride… (I have Ethan in this same photo / same pose from age 3 thru 13... makes me so happy!)




On the way through the park, we saw a bunch of storm troopers marching in a line near the Chinese Theater…




So we decided to follow them! They went to the stage in front of the Chinese Theater. They had a short show, but I didn’t really follow the plot and I had no clue what was happening.






When the show was over, we walked behind the stage to use our 3rd fast pass for The Great Movie Ride! BUT… we were 15 minutes early, and they said that we had to stand to the side of the entrance and wait for 5 - 10 minutes. This turned out to be the best thing that happened to us ALL DAY!! We were milling about admiring all of the hand prints in front of the Chinese Theater, when a cast member waved us over to the side and told us that if we wait RIGHT HERE (near the little fountain), that some characters would be coming out of THAT DOOR OVER THERE. We asked which characters, but she wouldn’t tell us.


About that time, the door swung wide open and then this happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF US…. Like 18 inches in front of us!!








It was incredible! It was only us and 1 other family there watching this!

It was our lucky day!!

Continued in the next post...

 

[VACamm]

They kept coming, and coming....





I do really like Chewbacca!








I am not sure where they were all marching to, but we were headed into the theater to go watch some classic movies! We all really enjoy the great movie ride. The end montage always brings a tear to my eye. I will be sad when they shut this down… well if the rumors are true.



Continued in the next post...

 

[VACamm]

After the Great Movie Ride, we all decided it was time to head back to the resort for a much needed mid day break. The bus ride back to the resort was pretty non-eventful and we all took off in separate directions once we got to the room. Ethan took a nap (Teenagers need them too!!!!! #CrankyPants), Kevin went to the pool bar, I went to the pool with my book, and my dad went to the resort gift shop and then to hang out at the pool bar with Kevin.

My view while I was reading...



Kevin even was so nice to bring me a cocktail to enjoy while I was reading and relaxing!






After our mid day break, we got ready, went to the bus stop, and we took the first bus to EPCOT! Friends, let me just tell you that my family is obsessed with EPCOT. I mean… seriously. We LOVE EPCOT!!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we were on the bus to EPCOT when my father realized that he is the only one with a Boba Fett shirt on! He forgot to put his StarWars Coffee shirt back on! haha!! Its ok! There is no dress code in WDW!




I like this one with Tink!




Spaceship Earth is HANDS DOWN my ALL TIME FAVORITE ATTRACTION in all 4 Disney Parks! I love love love Spaceship Earth and everything that it stands for! #ThankThePhoenicians




Of course, since there was no line we were able to take a quick spin through the history of communication. #FoxyBrownFanclub






Ethan decided that he wanted to ride Mission Space, and catch up with us right after. So we made a meeting time / place for 60 minutes.


We walked from Spaceship Earth to the World Showcase to grab something quick for dinner before we had to head back over to Hollywood Studios to use our Fantasmic Dining Package Tickets that we got at lunch.


We first stopped in Mexico and got come gluten free tacos and chips & salsa, and rode Gran Fiesta Tour with the Three Caballeros… I love those silly birds!!


Then we continued onward to Morocco where my dad and Kevin got some Moroccan food which looked delicious, but unfortunately they said that they don’t have anything that isn’t gluten free. Right on time, Ethan showed up in Morocco and we all continued through the World Showcase and out the back entrance towards the Yacht / Beach Club.

I love this view of the Boardwalk!






We arrived at the boat dock at the Yacht Club and we slowly chugged along and made our way back to Hollywood Studios. We were cutting it close and we weren’t sure if we were going to make Fantasmic in time!


Once at HS, we marched straight to the Fantasmic Theater with about 10 minutes before showtime! Kevin went to get Ethan some Chicken Tenders and Fries because he didn’t have any dinner yet! He also got me a huge box of popcorn!


Fantasmic was amazing as usual. We really enjoy this show every year. My favorite part is the Pocohontas scene! I always get choked up when the canoes are going through the water…. Its so amazing and I love it so much! I decided not to take any photos this time, because I really wanted to enjoy the show and not be distracted!


**I would like to say that for some dumb reason, Disney decided to have Fantasmic start at 8:30 and the Star Wars Fireworks start at 8:45. Soooooooooooooo in the middle of Fantasmic, you are literally watching the glow of the Star Wars fireworks behind you. NOT TO MENTION that we kind of wanted to watch both shows, but we already had decided to watch Fantasmic that night. Oh well.


We were absolutely exhausted, but we decided to wait until the theater emptied out so that we weren’t in the crazy mad rush of people trying to leave all at the same time. We took our time leaving the park and went into a few shops on the way out.


We got back to the resort, took showers, and fell asleep very quickly. It was a good day at Disney.


Stay tuned for the next post when we rope drop Magic Kingdom and have a magical lunch!

Day 3: 20,204 Steps / 9.40 Miles Walked

 

[VACamm]

I'm finished for the night, but I wanted to share with you this sweet kitty face! Obiwan kept laying on my arms for the past 30 minutes and nudging me as I was typing. Its been a little bit distracting, so I'm thinking that he might need some attention.

 

[kfcamm]

So after leaving Mama Melrose’s we rolled past old Streets of America. Aimee and I tried to get some looks at what’s going on behind the walls, but I wasn’t tall enough to really see anything.

I am so fortunate to know that I had a chance in the past years to see it during the day and to see it all lit up with the Osborne Lights during Christmas. However, it is so sad to see it gone.



So we walked up past one of our favorite fountains. I would love to have this in our backyard!!



We then headed to the Great Movie Ride to use our fast passes and try and get in early, but Storm troopers were rolling by us. We had to check this out and it was a show. Never expected that.

It was pretty cool to see that....continued

 

[kfcamm]

So after the show we were still too early for our fast passes so we sat near the fountain to the left of the Chinese Theater.





A cast member told us that we should stay there, but move back a little because some characters were about to come through – how about that for lucky!? I never expected to see all of these Star Wars characters and they walked right by us and there was only one other family around us. It was a magical moment.

And my favorite picture!! ARRRRGGGGGHHHHGHHHHH (that's wookie for 'Cheese!')



That totally was worth the wait – now it was time for the Great Movie Ride!! I really like this ride and I also like looking for the Hidden Mickeys throughout too. I think my favorite scene is the Alien more scene and my favorite part is the new video at the end. Question: Is there a list for all of the movies that they show? Just wondering…





More to come...

 

[annie170]

I love how you guys are posting so frequently. That's so smart while it's still fresh in your mind.

The Cupid Shuffle video with Frozone is beyond awesome!

My five year old grandson is a huge Star Wars fan and would absolutely die if he had been able to see all those characters! It's like they looked right at you! That cm definitely sprinkled you with pixie dust!

Chewie is just the best! Chewie for President!!! (He'd probably do a better job than the options we have!)

While I would never stay at CBR again, I did like the pool area.

That's so odd that the fireworks went off during Fantasmic. How disappointing, but what an great day you had!

Obiwan is quite the beautiful kitty!

 

[kfcamm]

I love how you guys are posting so frequently. That's so smart while it's still fresh in your mind.

Part of that is due to Aimee's planning. We made cheat sheets of where we were to be and at what time and what fast passes we have. Then when we look at our pictures, they bring back so many memories. I cant remember anything, but Aimee can and then that gets my mind going.

The Cupid Shuffle video with Frozone is beyond awesome!

So lemme tell you...Mr and Mrs. Incredible were dancing all over the place, but when I saw Frozone, I was amazed on how 'real' he looked, lol. I needed to get close to him to get a picture or video. It was a really neat moment and memory.

My five year old grandson is a huge Star Wars fan and would absolutely die if he had been able to see all those characters! It's like they looked right at you! That cm definitely sprinkled you with pixie dust!

Aimee follows some vloger's on YouTube and one mentioned that they had seen it, but honestly this time we were just wasting time and BOOM - here they come. Pretty cool to see them come out of the door....they just kept coming and coming with their flair and pomp.

Chewie is just the best! Chewie for President!!! (He'd probably do a better job than the options we have!)

Over Christmas, we met Chewie and he spoke to us, hahahaha, with his small teeth showing each time he opened his mouth, it was great! This time however he was the only good "guy" that came out which leads me to believe that he could take the entire group. As far as the presidential race...no comment, hahaha!

 

[kfcamm]

So we get on the bus and head to Epcot. By this time, we had been all through Hollywood Studios, so luckily for us we had the park hopper to roll on over to Epcot. Of course, many of you do not know this, but Aimee’s favorite ride is Spaceship Earth. She LOVES it and actually because of that I love it even more. Even at home, when we smell a campfire, we’ll say – Rome is burning!! Thank the Phoenicians!

Good ole Foxy Brown!!

After Spaceship Earth we headed around the world to get some food. We got some quick Mexican snacks and then we all rode the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros.





We love this ride…Donald and his mischievous behavior and the music is awesome!

We continued around the world and saw a little random show in Italy. Ok…so later in the week we saw a show in France, and this and that show, they used whistles instead of talking. I get it, but daggone, the whistle gets old after a while. OK, I’m done.

After making our way through the World Showcase, we decided to head to the Boardwalk and hope a boat back over to HS. That was cool because I had never been on that before. Once we were at HS, Ethan I got dinner (for him) and we headed to Fantasmic where Aimee and Rob were waiting. Grabbed Aimee some popcorn and we enjoyed the show…one of our favorites.

 

[VACamm]

I love how you guys are posting so frequently. That's so smart while it's still fresh in your mind.

Thank you, however I feel like we are NOT posting frequently enough haha. I guess I'm not quite certain how often we should be posting. I'm afraid I'm going to forget the details, well actually I feel like I've already forgotten some.

My five year old grandson is a huge Star Wars fan and would absolutely die if he had been able to see all those characters! It's like they looked right at you! That cm definitely sprinkled you with pixie dust!

Oh gosh, yes! It was quite the amazing amount of pixie dust sprinkled on us that day! The characters literally were so close to us, and it was so random! I hope that your grandson gets to experience it one day soon!!

Obiwan is quite the beautiful kitty!

Thank you so much, he is my favorite. (but don't tell the other animals haha)

 

[VACamm]

Halloween is such a fun time of year for our family. We always go all out and dress up in fun costumes. This year we had a party on Saturday night, and another one on Monday night…. And we of course kept with our tradition of a Disney Costume by dressing up as Cinderella and Prince Charming! This was our costume get-up for this Halloween!




This was us last year…




And this was us 2 years ago… haha. Kevin is obsessed with the movie UP, and he did a smashing job of building his costume as Carl Fredrickson!




Back to our trip report!


Day 4


This particular morning we planned to rope drop Magic Kingdom and watch the Welcome Show, however we weren’t planning on being SO TIRED. We were really slow this morning, and once we got to the bus stop it was very obvious that we were later than usual. The bus stop was PACKED. What a difference arriviving a few minutes later makes! We ate our breakfast at the bus stop, and slowly sipped our coffees. It seemed like we had to wait FOREVER for a Magic Kingdom bus. Eventually one came.


On the bus… Kevin tried to take a nap…




By the time we finally got to Magic Kingdom, we could hear the Welcome Show music… WE WERE OFFICIALLY LATE! Well, not late, but we missed the train coming in and most of the show! By the time that we made it through bag check we could hear the announcement that the park was officially opened and people started to walk in. Luckily we were among those people and we made a beeline straight to Space Mountain. Because most people head straight for Peter Pan and Seven Dwarves Mine Train, we were able to literally walk straight onto the ride with zero wait!

Ethan.... doing the "Dab" again. I swear, almost every ride photo this year is Ethan in this pose haha.



I love my dads face in this pic haha.




After riding Space Mountain, we went next door to Buzz Lightyear and again, walked right on with no wait.


Then, we crossed from Tomorrowland over to Frontierland, but first we had to take a few pics with the Photopass Photographer! She was very quick... and when we were done, we thanked her and took off to Frontierland.







We went through Adventureland....



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

To Frontierland...



...and were also able to walk right onto Splash Mountain with NO WAIT! This morning was turning out to be pretty awesome!





We. Got. Soaked. But hey, it was hot and sunny and we would eventually dry off!! Splash Mountain has always been a family favorite of ours!


After Splash Mountain, we headed to Adventureland and we rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets… I’m not sure why other than the fact that there was no line.




It was time to use our very first FP+ of the day, for Pirates of the Caribbean. I don’t think that we really even needed it because there was very few people in line. It was weird because we could actually smell scents in this ride…. And I don’t ever remember smelling things like that before!?!? Is that new? We always love seeing the Johnny Depp / Jack Sparrow animatronic at the end… its spectacular!

We had a few minutes to burn, and they were letting people into the Country Bear Jamboree which Kevin had NEVER seen. I’m not so sure he is excited about seeing it ever again either haha. It really is a totally BIZARRE show, and the bears truly are CREEPY looking. Sooooo.... I'm not sure we are in a hurry to go back again, but we checked it off the list!








We then were able to use our 2nd FP+, for the Haunted Mansion!

I was able to catch Leota's eyes open!!



After the Haunted Mansion, we had to run over to Beast Castle for our Lunch ADR at Be Our Guest! We were lucky enough that we pre ordered all of our meals, so once we checked in we were directed to walk past all of the guest standing in line waiting to order their food on the Kiosks. TIP: If you preorder your food online, you can BYPASS the entire line! Its SO WORTH IT!!

Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

At Be Our Guest, we waited for about 3 minutes to check in right near these guys who were just kind of hanging around...





The hostess gave us a rose at checkin, and we were able to choose our own seat immediately. We chose a table in the main ballroom because its so beautiful!





Our food came out exactly as we had pre-ordered. ALSO, Be Our Guest has a terrific and seperate Allergy Friendly Menu!


My Dad ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich with the Lemon Cupcake for Dessert. My dad loves lemon everything, and he thought that the cupcake was very good.


Ethan ordered the Turkey Salad with French Fries, and the Masters Cupcake for Dessert. He LOVES the Gray Stuff every time!


Kevin ordered the Braised Pork with mashed potatoes and green beans, and the Masters Cupcake for Dessert. I think that Kevin orders this dish each time that we eat at BOG for lunch, and he enjoys it every time.


For my Gluten Free lunch, I ordered the Quinoa Salad and the Lemon Raspberry Cream Puff for Dessert. I had previously ordered the Quinoa on 2 previous lunches at Be Our Guest, even before I was diagnosed with my food allergy. I really really really love this dish. Both the salad and the quinoa portions are exactly enough to fill you up without sitting so heavy in your belly. Its light and refreshing and packed full of flavor. This is not my photo, but I found it online to show the presentation which was very nicely done. It really is so delicious, and I am actually sort of wanting to eat this right this very moment!




I really also enjoyed the Gluten Free lemon raspberry cream puff. It was my first time trying it, and it was sweet and tart in the same bite which was very surprising! It balanced perfectly with my coffee!




After lunch, we decided that it was time for us to head back to the Caribbean Beach Resort for a little nap and pool time. We were especially tired, and really needed some resort downtime.



Continued in next post...

 

[VACamm]

On our way from New Fantasyland to Main Street, we came upon a Photopass Photographer who offered to take our picture behind the castle next to the Carousel. It was perfect lighting, AND she was able to give us our own photoshoot with the CRANE! She said she had SO MANY people every day who ask her specifically to make sure that the crane was in the pictures, haha!

I actually saw a few tshirts this trip that said "The Magic Kingdom Crane Ruined My Disney World Vacation" hahaaaa!






Once we were back at the resort, Ethan laid down for his regularly schedule afternoon teenager nap, while the adults headed to read and nap at the pool.




The weather was PERFECT!






Stay tuned for next time when we go to dinner at the Grand Floridian and then ride the monorail to EPCOT!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Your Halloween costumes are spot on. Y'all looked amazing year after year.

Another point for cute shirts.

BOG is definitely on my list of restaurants to try. It seems as though people either love it or hate it. So nice that everyone enjoyed their meal there.

 

[annie170]

Your costumes are so cute! I love how you guys keep a Disney theme.

More cool shirts! And I just noticed you have several different sets of ears to match your outfits!

I kind of enjoy Country Bear Jamboree. It just seems like something Walt had a hand in creating. Big Al is pretty cute, too. My family does not share the love, however.

I've been wanting to try the quinoa salad at BOG, so I'm glad to hear that you like it. We have a lunch adr for our next trip and I think I'll give it a try. Were you on the dining plan?

I think midday breaks are the key to keeping sanity. That's so smart that you made that time every day.

 

[VACamm]

Your Halloween costumes are spot on. Y'all looked amazing year after year.

Thank you so much! We totally have a lot of fun dressing up for sure! We are already planning for next year!

Another point for cute shirts.

Thank you!!!!! I was alone on this choice, because nobody else liked the shirts in our group but they wore them anyway hahaha!

BOG is definitely on my list of restaurants to try. It seems as though people either love it or hate it. So nice that everyone enjoyed their meal there.

Ooohhh yes, I think you should try it next time that you go! I really do like the Lunch as well as the dinner at BOG. While the food is NOT the best in all of WDW, the food is very tasty and the atmosphere is super fun. Also, at dinner you can meet the Beast which is always so much fun and makes for great photos!!!!!! I hope that you get to go try it out soon!

 

[VACamm]

Your costumes are so cute! I love how you guys keep a Disney theme.

Thank you so much! We have only done Disney costumes for the past 3 Halloweens, the year before that we were Richard Simmons and Flashdance from the 80s hahaaa.... they are HILARIOUS!

More cool shirts! And I just noticed you have several different sets of ears to match your outfits!

I do love to match my ears to my shirts for sure!! The problem with the Mickey Ears is that the headbands always seem to feel like the are digging into my skull... and I end up with a headache. The pain that we women have to endure for fashion.... right??? LOL I actually buy all of my ears on EBAY at a fraction of the cost as buying them in the parks! You can get great deals on EBAY!

I kind of enjoy Country Bear Jamboree. It just seems like something Walt had a hand in creating. Big Al is pretty cute, too. My family does not share the love, however.

You're exactly right... Walt I'm sure would be very happy that Country Bear Jamboree is still running strong!! I also love the classic Walt rides.... Carousel of Progress, Its a Small World, etc...

I've been wanting to try the quinoa salad at BOG, so I'm glad to hear that you like it. We have a lunch adr for our next trip and I think I'll give it a try. Were you on the dining plan?

We were on the dining plan! So at BOG you get a drink, entree, and a dessert... which as you know is a TON of food! You will have to let me know what you decided to eat for your first lunch there! I hope that you like it

I think midday breaks are the key to keeping sanity. That's so smart that you made that time every day.

We learned a long time ago, that we are not that family who can go from rope drop until park close every day without at least 3 meltdowns per day. Its too exhausting, and vacations are meant to be relaxing!! Plus its WAY too hot in Florida in the middle of the day. Thats why resorts have swimming pools!!!