A Salute to AK but mostly Dinosaur! TR 9/5-9/14/24! Update 10/30**

[disneyAndi14]

A salute to AK but mostly Dinosaur!



Hello Everyone!

We are back from a fun filled, activity filled, Halloween filled, Dinosaur filled, Humid/Rain filled trip to Walt Disney World and USO.

Who are we?

I am Caroline the trip reporter. I love all things Disney, Universal, and travel! I travel every chance I get!

In my “real life” I am a wife, mother, and RN. My children are grown and living awesome productive lives. My husband Joe and I are empty nesters. Travel is my passion, training dogs is my husband’s passion. He is president of the Duluth Retriever Club, judges dog trials, and is a dog whisperer. His famous saying to me is “are you going to ask the dog or are you going to tell the dog” Me, I just love the dogs and give them plenty of treats, lol

Here are three of his dedicated dogs! Actually the one in the back is my daughter Andi’s dog, Jordy. The other two are Thor (2) in the front and Hammer (12). Hammer is an award winning retriever trial dog. He has a ton of ribbons and statues. He is retired now!

Thor is just a young one and he is learning. He is just starting to run some dog trials.

Our life is full of activity, travel, and hanging out with the dogs!

Many of you have read my reports in the past and know I travel with my daughter Andi! We have been doing trips together for 14 years to WDW. To say we became obsessed with Disney travel is putting it lightly! We love it!

I have even gone a step further and travel with my sisters and Dis friends to Disney now. I travel to WDW at least 3-4 times a year.

Sisters

Wonderful Dis friend Susan

This way I keep going even when Andi can’t come along. My husband and son are not into theme park travel, blasphemy!!

Andi is now 24. She works remotely for a law firm as the Spanish interpreter. She loves it. She lives in WI. She lives about 3 hours from me. She is now engaged to her partner Kait, and they are starting to house hunt for a home in WI.

They really like the town Eau Claire and can buy a nice house for a decent price. They had thought about moving to Orlando in 2025, however, cost of living and the good jobs they have now won out to staying in WI.

Here they are showing the rings from their recent engagement!

My son, Jack, is 30 and lives in the Minneapolis area. He is also about 3 hours away from us. He is a molecular biologist and travels a lot for his work. He travels to Europe and around the USA. He has a girlfriend for about 2 years now. No wedding news yet but I’m sure it will be coming!

This trip will be Andi, Kait, and myself.




Travel dates are 9/5-9/14. We will spend the first night at AS Sports Surf’s Up building, 5 nights at BWI, and 3 nights at Portofino Bay.

We averaged 28,000 steps a day, up to 38,000 steps at HHN! Needless to say, we walked a ton!

Trip Stats:

We used FP for cash every day at Disney

We bought Fancy rides for Rise, FoP, and GotG

We visited several lounges and many restaurants

We spent time at the F&W festival

We used all modes of transportation Lyft, Boat, Skyliner, Bus, Feet, and of course, Airplane to get there!

I buy Gift Cards every month for Disney from BJs and Target at a 5% discount. I use my Disney Visa card all the time (pay off each month) and accumulate $$ rewards and also use the reward $$ every trip.

I also started buying Lyft and Starbucks Gift cards at Target for 5% off. I pay for everything with gift cards and the reward dollars.

I use my American Express solely at Universal. I get rewards for flights and a discount at Universal.

I have AP for WDW and Universal

Andi has AP for Universal and bought her WDW tickets at child prices with a promo on a ticket vendor site.

Kait bought her Disney and Universal tickets on the same website with the same discount. The girls had 6 day PH tickets for Disney and Kait had 3 days park to park at Universal.

I bought the HHN tickets with my Universal AP discount and we splurged for Express Pass for both nights. This is expensive but sooo worth it! Tickets all bought it is time to get this trip started!

Stay tuned for travel day, coming up next!

 

[suse66]

In my “real life” I am a wife, mother, and RN. My children are grown and living awesome productive lives. My husband Joe and I are empty nesters. Travel is my passion, training dogs is my husband’s passion. He is president of the Duluth Retriever Club, judges dog trials, and is a dog whisperer. His famous saying to me is “are you going to ask the dog or are you going to tell the dog” Me, I just love the dogs and give them plenty of treats, lol

I would just spoil those dogs rotten and love on them.

I have even gone a step further and travel with my sisters and Dis friends to Disney now. I travel to WDW at least 3-4 times a year.

So glad that you do!

Sisters

Sweet picture!

Wonderful Dis friend Susan

I am so looking forward to our Christmas trip v2 soon!

They really like the town Eau Claire and can buy a nice house for a decent price. They had thought about moving to Orlando in 2025, however, cost of living and the good jobs they have now won out to staying in WI.

So exciting for them! Love their engagement rings.

 

[rdkeim]

Following! Always enjoy your TR's!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Yay another fun trip report! Your doggos are so cute. My boyfriend is big on dog training and has had many labs over the years but his interest is in hunting dogs as he is a huge waterfowler (we are in Wisconsin as well LOL). Love that you and your DH have your own fun things to be passionate about! That’s how we are too~he’s obsessed with hunting and I do yoga five days a week

Looking forward to hearing about your trip. And happy engagement to Andi and Kait!

 

[disneyfam]

I feel like I've watched Andi grow up through your trip reports (thank you for writing and sharing btw) and now engaged!! So excited for Kait and Andi. Honeymoon at WDW??

 

[Wood Nymph]

I can't wait to hear all about your trip. We were at WDW last year at similar dates.

 

[Tina1]

You have a lovely family. Can’t wait to hear your trip report

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Yay!!! I've been eagerly waiting for this report. And the dogs!!! I want to smoosh their faces so much. Too bad you are all the way in Duluth. Otherwise I'd try to set up a meet up when I am in MN for Christmas. And congrats Andi and Kait!!!!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm here and looking forward to your report.

Your doggies are so sweet.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Can’t wait to read more !

 

[pkondz]

We are back from a fun filled

Yay!

activity filled,

Yay!

Halloween filled,

Yay!

Dinosaur filled,

Yay!

Humid/Rain filled

Yay!... wait... no... no yay.

training dogs is my husband’s passion.

Interesting. I used to have a neighbor who had a couple labs that he trained for duck hunting.

His famous saying to me is “are you going to ask the dog or are you going to tell the dog”

Which one does he want you to do?!?!?

Me, I just love the dogs and give them plenty of treats, lol

Hammer is an award winning retriever trial dog. He has a ton of ribbons and statues.

Impressive.

My husband and son are not into theme park travel, blasphemy!!

Tragic.

Here they are showing the rings from their recent engagement!

Congrats to them both!

Andi looks pretty happy for someone with a cleaver to her neck!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I would just spoil those dogs rotten and love on them.

It is very hard not to! They are the sweetest dogs

I am so looking forward to our Christmas trip v2 soon

I’m getting really excited now that we can start planning soon!!

So exciting for them! Love their engagement rings.

Thank you! The rings have agate stones. Very unique and custom made for them.

Following! Always enjoy your TR's!

Very glad to have you following along!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Yay another fun trip report! Your doggos are so cute. My boyfriend is big on dog training and has had many labs over the years but his interest is in hunting dogs as he is a huge waterfowler (we are in Wisconsin as well LOL). Love that you and your DH have your own fun things to be passionate about! That’s how we are too~he’s obsessed with hunting and I do yoga five days a week

Looking forward to hearing about your trip. And happy engagement to Andi and Kait!

Hi Joe loves to hunt as well. His favorite is pheasants then ducks, grouse, etc… The dogs are true hunters and they work so hard bringing in the birds! Which part of Wisconsin do you reside? Andi’s partner Kait is from Milwaukee and they have settled in their college town Eau Claire. Such a cute town. Thank you for following along!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I feel like I've watched Andi grow up through your trip reports (thank you for writing and sharing btw) and now engaged!! So excited for Kait and Andi. Honeymoon at WDW??

And It is crazy how fast time flies. It feels like Andi and I were just starting our Disney trips and 14 years have passed in a blink of an eye! You guessed right, they want a small wedding and a honeymoon in Disney!

I can't wait to hear all about your trip. We were at WDW last year at similar dates.

Andi and I have been many years this time of year, however, for some reason this one seemed much more humid then years before, or I just blocked it out

Yay!!! I've been eagerly waiting for this report. And the dogs!!! I want to smoosh their faces so much. Too bad you are all the way in Duluth. Otherwise I'd try to set up a meet up when I am in MN for Christmas. And congrats Andi and Kait!!!!

The dogs are the best therapy, all they want is to please and be loved! Is your family in the twin cities area? I’m very happy for Andi and Kait! They are truly happy

I'm here and looking forward to your report.

Thank you for joining in!

Your doggies are so sweet.

They are the best! High maintenance at times!

Following along. Can’t wait to read more !

Yay happy to see you following along!

Interesting. I used to have a neighbor who had a couple labs that he trained for duck hunting.

Joe hunts with the dogs in fact, this is his favorite time of year! Grouse and Pheasant hunting, oh and Duck, lol We could not get married in the fall that was his only request!

Which one does he want you to do?!?!?

He want me to tell them and mean it, haha

Congrats to them both

Thank you, they are very happy!

Andi looks pretty happy for someone with a cleaver to her neck!

I know! This character was the principal from a school who goes a little crazy at the Candy Factory, haha She is in one of the HHN houses called the Sweets Candy Factory!
Thank you so much for joining in!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

My family is about an hour out of the MSP airport - Cambridge and Stacy, MN.

 

[pkondz]

We could not get married in the fall that was his only request!

 

[disneyAndi14]

9/5/24 Travel Day

I have to run again! I’m too old for this!

It is Disney Day! I was really excited. Andi and Kait were due to arrive at 9am. I was up by 6am to finish packing and getting the house organized for Joe. I always leave him a note with what needs to get done while I am gone.

I think he saves everything for the last day, but he does get the list done.

My silly selfie I do before each trip. I’m so old now I need a filter, lol



Andi and Kait needed dad to watch their dog Jordy, so we decided to fly from Duluth instead of Minneapolis.

Our flight was scheduled to take off at 10:50am. The girls arrived had a piece of toast and yogurt before Joe took us to the airport. I love flying out of our small airport. It is usually quick and easy. You can arrive exactly an hour before the flight and be checked in and through security in less than 15 minutes. Delta and United are the only two airlines at our airport. We usually always fly Delta. There aren’t any direct flights other than Minneapolis and Chicago, so we always have a connecting flight.

After a 20 minute wait, I see our flight is delayed. The airplane coming in was delayed because of a thunderstorm ugh!

Our connection was tight and had me worried. The plane did arrive and we got going about 30-40 minutes later. The flight is a quick 30 minutes, however, you all know how long it takes to deplane. The flight attendant made an announcement that 15 people on the flight have very tight connections and please let them off first. Some people obliged but way more than 15 people got up ugh

Once we got off the flight we were about as far from our next gate as you can be, well almost. We landed in C and needed to get to the middle of F. For those of you that know Minneapolis airport that is a haul.

The girls, I feel like Gru saying the gorl from Despicable Me, they took off running and I lost them. I ran as fast as my little old legs could handle. Now I am an avid walker but believe me I won’t even run to dinner haha

This was brutal. The gorls (I can’t stop now!) got there before me and wow we had about 5 minutes before they would be closing the jet bridge.

A little saying comes to mind, “you’re not going to make it, your not going to make it, you made it and look who else made it a passenger extra large” Um what is that from? Could it be from the best ride ever! I digress!
Our seats are in comfort+ but because we were one of the last people on the plane most of the overhead space was gone now, even though comfort+ is guaranteed overhead space. We maneuvered everything to fit under our seats, it was tight but worked. Thank goodness for extra leg room and a larger area under the seats.

We settled in and I needed a drink. Kait gets motion sickness on airplanes so she took some medicine and closed her eyes for the rest of the trip. We ordered 3 vodka cranberry drinks, the flight attendant said oh she is sleeping and I said “she will wake up for alcohol” Andi actually had the two cocktails. Kait was out! We both had snacks, and I ended up with two vodka cranberry drinks as well. I watched The Quiet Place Day 1

It was good but also very sad. I tried to watch all the movies that are at houses at HHN. Insidious, The Quiet Place, and Ghostbuster The Frozen Empire are the three IP houses. Insidious is creepy, I only watched the first one, there are like 4 or 5 now.

There was a little turbulence on our flight but overall an uneventful flight.

We landed right on time and soon we are greeted with the lovely MCO carpeting and the fake o rail.


A restroom stop was needed before heading to the baggage claim area. The one good thing about the MCO airport is that luggage comes out fast. We had our bags fairly quickly and I ordered a Lyft XL at 5:55pm.

Yay the Disney sign!
I got our room ready text on the airplane. We had a preferred room and our room number was 1321 on the third floor of the Surf’s Up section building 1.

Stay tuned for our evening in Disney Springs! Coming up soon.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Who would pay for a Beverly?

We arrived at AS Sports, found our building and room. It was quite close to the lobby. I just took a few pictures around the resort and the inside of the Murphy bed in the room. It is so stinkin cute!




It was threatening rain so we dug out our rain gear and park bags, used the bathroom and headed out again. We found out we just missed a DS bus. Executive decision made by me, the boss, lol to take a Lyft to DS. I ordered a car and we were on our way with a very short wait.

We chose the West side for drop off since it is closer to The Summer House. This is a new feature on the app to pick the West side or Market place (which is by the Christmas Shop). Well, I think it is a new feature.

It had rained some on the ride over and was just spitting rain when we arrived. It was very hot and humid tonight! Get use to these two words, it was a common theme this trip! Oppressive heat and humidity every.single.day!!

We didn’t put on our ponchos. The little bit of rain felt good and the ponchos stick to you and cause more oppressive heat and humidity.

Our ADR was at 8:15pm and we were early. We decided to check out the Gideon’s line and it was long. I didn’t have it in me to wait. It was probably a good 45 minute wait.

We decided to check out the Coca Cola store. It wasn’t quite as busy as some of the other stores in the area.

I told the gorls (think Gru) there is a bar on the top and you can get a full size Beverly. Andi looks at me and says “who in their right mind would buy a Beverly” we had a good laugh. The rooftop deck was busy so we just quickly looked around and headed out.

It was time to check into the restaurant. We only had to wait a few minutes to be seated. I was bummed the drone show had just ended in DS. I would have liked to see it.

We were seated in the main dining room. The girls were feeling a little dehydrated so they stuck with water. I wanted to try the famous Rose wine. I guess the Summer House is known for this. The wine was very good.

The restaurant was participating in the Orlando Magical Dining. This was prixe fixe menu. I decided to do this. My appetizer was the Truffle fries with a garlic aioli dip, the main entree was a herbed chicken breast paillard. This was a pounded very thin chicken breast grilled with Calabrian chili spice and an arugula salad.

My dessert was a warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream.

I only got a picture of my main dish. The cost for my dinner was $40.00, the price would have been over $50.00.

Kait had a pasta dish rigatoni alla vodka with peas, pecorino and tomato cream. She enjoyed this.

Andi had the crispy chicken sandwich avocado, buttermilk dressing, lettuce and fries. 2 thumbs from Andi.

We all shared the truffle fries. I am obsessed with truffle fries lately. I know I am late to the truffle fries party but I am glad I joined!
Awww look the gorls!

We have a place by our house that has the most amazing truffle fries and garlic aioli for dipping. I would say the place in Duluth makes a slightly better truffle fry!

After my delicious dessert, we realize how exhausted we are and we are ready for bed!

We took a Lyft back to our resort and settled in for the night.

Our room was in a great location. It was a corner room in a very quiet area, loved it. I didn’t even wear my ear plugs!

Well that is Day 1 in the books!

Stay tuned for our first park day! Will we RD Rise for the first time ever? Will it be down? Will we choose a different morning activity? Do we take a bus? Soon these very important questions will be answered! Haha

“To bus or not to bus”

 

[honeymo78]

Andi and I have been many years this time of year, however, for some reason this one seemed much more humid then years before, or I just blocked it out

We travel every year at this same time as well and my trip 9/7-9/14 felt so much more humid than usual to all of us too.

 

[pkondz]

I have to run again! I’m too old for this!

The chapter title made me laugh!

I was up by 6am to finish packing and getting the house organized for Joe.

"My flight was for 4pm...."

I always leave him a note with what needs to get done while I am gone.

I think he saves everything for the last day, but he does get the list done.

But it gets done...
Good man.

I’m so old now I need a filter, lol

Patently untrue.

You can arrive exactly an hour before the flight and be checked in and through security in less than 15 minutes.

Very nice.

The airplane coming in was delayed because of a thunderstorm ugh!

The flight attendant made an announcement that 15 people on the flight have very tight connections and please let them off first. Some people obliged but way more than 15 people got up ugh

Some people. Only thinking of themselves...

We landed in C and needed to get to the middle of F. For those of you that know Minneapolis airport that is a haul.

The girls, I feel like Gru saying the gorl from Despicable Me,

Okay. You can say it once.

Now I am an avid walker but believe me I won’t even run to dinner haha

The gorls (I can’t stop now!

Okay... twice.

A little saying comes to mind, “you’re not going to make it, your not going to make it, you made it and look who else made it a passenger extra large” Um what is that from? Could it be from the best ride ever! I digress!

I wonder what ride that could be?

Our seats are in comfort+ but because we were one of the last people on the plane most of the overhead space was gone now, even though comfort+ is guaranteed overhead space.

Dunno... I'd think the flight attendant should have taken bags out and relocated them to the back.
Oh well... that would've taken more time and maybe you would've missed your connection.

We ordered 3 vodka cranberry drinks, the flight attendant said oh she is sleeping and I said “she will wake up for alcohol”

I tried to watch all the movies that are at houses at HHN. Insidious, The Quiet Place, and Ghostbuster The Frozen Empire are the three IP houses. Insidious is creepy, I only watched the first one, there are like 4 or 5 now.

Haven't seen any of those. I haven't watched a scary movie in a long time.

Yay the Disney sign!

We arrived at AS Sports, found our building and room. It was quite close to the lobby.

Nice. I always try to find a room close to the lobby/bus stop.

Interesting. I don't think I've ever noticed that before. Then again, I don't spend a lot of time at ASSp.

We found out we just missed a DS bus.

D'oh!

Executive decision made by me, the boss, lol to take a Lyft to DS.

This is a new feature on the app to pick the West side or Market place (which is by the Christmas Shop). Well, I think it is a new feature.

I think it's new, too. I seem to recall taking a Lyft to DS and being dropped off a mile from... everything.

Oppressive heat and humidity every.single.day!!

Ugh.

We decided to check out the Gideon’s line and it was long. I didn’t have it in me to wait. It was probably a good 45 minute wait.

Nope. Not worth it for a cookie.

I told the gorls (think Gru) there is a bar on the top and you can get a full size Beverly. Andi looks at me and says “who in their right mind would buy a Beverly” we had a good laugh.

If only you could've convinced Kait to try it.

I was bummed the drone show had just ended in DS. I would have liked to see it.

Poop. I'd love to see that.

My appetizer was the Truffle fries with a garlic aioli dip, the main entree was a herbed chicken breast paillard. This was a pounded very thin chicken breast grilled with Calabrian chili spice and an arugula salad.

mmm... that all sounds delish.

Kait had a pasta dish rigatoni alla vodka with peas, pecorino and tomato cream.

Also sounds good.

Andi had the crispy chicken sandwich avocado, buttermilk dressing, lettuce and fries. 2 thumbs from Andi.

Not sure about the avocado, but... also sounds pretty tasty.

We all shared the truffle fries. I am obsessed with truffle fries lately. I know I am late to the truffle fries party but I am glad I joined!

Awww look the gorls!

Very nice shot.

I would say the place in Duluth makes a slightly better truffle fry!

And... next time I go through Duluth, you'll have to give me a list of everything I need to try. I know you've mentioned the poutine before.