Trick or Treat & Eat Some Sweets! Oct 2018 TR - LInk to new TR 5/17/19!

[missjackiemcg]

Gatorland is definitely on my list of places to go in Florida! I might try to fit this one in on our next Universal trip. I must get back to Universal soon since the new HP coaster is opening this summer.

We've had fun on our trips to Gatorland, but it's definitely not a full day park for us. Several hours is good if you want to catch a couple of shows, but it's not a huge place, so you can definitely get it all in within a pretty short amount of time. Unless you care to add on ziplining....it looks fun, but I'm not thinking I'd like to zipline over alligators. No, thank you!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I didn't finish before I clicked post on that last one....oops!!

I am really excited we will be at Universal in December! My #1 thing to do will be the new ride!!

One of the things we didn’t get to do during the day was the Sky Tower that you can see in the next picture. John really wanted to do it but then we found out it was an additional cost above our park tickets so he said to forget it.

Six Flags Great America has a ride sort of like this that I used to love as a kid!! I was disappointed that the Legoland version of this ride was closed indefinitely before we visited last summer. Good to know there is one at Sea World in case I ever make it back there

As I was standing there waiting for her to come back another lady approached me and asked if I was the one buying the Dumbo doll. I said yes and she introduced herself to me. She was Linda Rick, the designer of the Disney Precious Moments dolls! I was a bit on the awestruck side and totally forgot to ask for a picture. But she did sign my Dumbo doll for me.

That's so cool!! I'm glad she was able to sign your doll for you.

Sorry you didn't like Homecomin'. I always think Rob would love eating there when I read reviews about it, but the only thing I've been dying to try was the Moonshine Mash. I'm sad to hear it was sort of meh.

The line for the bus was massive and there is only one bus stop for all three All Star resorts. Three buses came pretty quickly but there were so many people in line that we didn’t get on any of those. We ended up waiting about a half hour before getting on bus #4 and the line was just as long then as when we got in it!

We've had the same experience ever since the new bus depots opened at DS. It was a mess when they had the old bus stops on the Marketplace end, too, but we never waited the way we have had to most recently!

 

[missangelalexis]

The rest of your Sea World day sounded great! Great pics of the whales in action!

I can't believe John passed on all those beautiful purses!

I'm sorry you didn't love Homecomin. It's rare to hear people not like it, but I totally get how you would be soured by it just from the heartburn alone! And to me, there is nothing worse than crappy mac & cheese!

Wow, how cool that you were able to get your precious moments doll signed! It's a cute one too

 

[Tracy161]

What a great experience to have met Linda and for her to sign your Dumbo doll

Sorry to hear about Homecomin' - it's not high on my list of places to try, and this kinda solidified that

 

[SweetSerenity]

I love the Precious Moments dolls! In November, I bought my grandmother the Fall edition of Tinkerbell. She's 90 and collects dolls. So cool you met the designer.

 

[rteetz]

I am really surprised by your take on Homecomin' although you are from the south so I have heard form others who live in the south that they weren't impressed by the chicken and what not. Coming from the midwest I loved it all and have been back multiple times because of it.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

One of the things we didn’t get to do during the day was the Sky Tower that you can see in the next picture. John really wanted to do it but then we found out it was an additional cost above our park tickets so he said to forget it.

Well that's disappointing that you have to pay for it now. I did go on it but it was back in 2013 and I'm pretty sure it was included with the park ticket back then. I can't see me paying extra for it. I remember almost nothing about the view from the top, which probably means it was that impressive.

The movie is basically a helicopter “ride” out to Base Station Wild Arctic where you get to see Beluga Whales, Walruses and Seals. Of course since it’s a simulator ride, you run into all kinds of problems on the way there that makes the ride jerky and bumpy. Even sitting in the theater without moving seats, it made me slightly nauseous so I’m really glad we chose the stationary version.

I liked how they were trying to tell a bit of a story instead of just going straight into the aquarium. But I remember that ride being the most intense simulator ride I had done in Orlando. Maybe overtaken since by Transformers at Universal. But still pretty rough.

But I restrained myself and came out with only one shirt. I definitely plan to wear this one in May.

Nice! I like shirts from classic Disney attractions. It's something you could wear and most people would not realize it's a Disney shirt.

I am going to be honest and say I was not the biggest fan of Homecomin’. I know a lot of people like it but it was not my favorite. The chicken was good but nothing out of this world and I found the mac and cheese to be pretty disgusting. It was really dry and tasted more like cardboard than mac and cheese.

Sorry you didn't like it. Overall I found it good, although my chicken was salty, and I think I had some heartburn after too. The portions were huge though. My family should have split the meals. I would try it again on another trip just to see if there is a difference from my first visit.

 

[pkondz]

Before heading over to the other side

Go to the light, Ariana! Go to the light!!!!

of the park

oh.

Nevermind, then.

at least it didn’t end in a gift shop this time.

What? This is possible?

like that shot. feels like you're underwater, looking up.

One of the things we didn’t get to do during the day was the Sky Tower that you can see in the next picture. John really wanted to do it but then we found out it was an additional cost above our park tickets so he said to forget it.

So does it slowly rise while spiraling up the shaft?

The movie is basically a helicopter “ride” out to Base Station Wild Arctic where you get to see Beluga Whales, Walruses and Seals. Of course since it’s a simulator ride, you run into all kinds of problems on the way there that makes the ride jerky and bumpy. Even sitting in the theater without moving seats, it made me slightly nauseous so I’m really glad we chose the stationary version.

Sounds like fun. Also sounds like they'd need barf bags on the motion one.

I wish this second photo had come out better because the Walrus was right up against the glass and he was huge!

Still gives the impression of its size, though. Big boy!

We finished up in Wild Arctic with a tiny bit of time to spare before the One Ocean show started.

pfffttt… skip it. There's five oceans. You'd think they'd know that.

Mom got some gummy candies

I just read that as "yummy candles"....


I think there's something wrong with me.




Well, more than usual.

The main difference here though is that the trainers do not get in the water with the animals.

I wonder if that's because of the one who died a few years ago. They may not be allowed to now.

Okay... Googled a bit. Found this:

"OSHA came back with the decision that SeaWorld was obligated to protect their trainers from any known risk, and having them in the water with the ocean’s top predator was way too dangerous to ever have happen again."

Wow!!

I’m definitely glad we weren’t sitting in the front rows!

I've often wondered about those tourists who sit there, unaware that they're about to get completely drenched...

 

[pkondz]

the Pets Ahoy show which is basically a showcase of rescued dogs and cats.

Awww...

On the way out of the park I did stop to make a few pressed pennies.

Of course. You collect those too.

One thing I didn’t know was that the driver has no idea where you are going until he picks you up. So when he accepts the job, he doesn’t know if he will be driving 5 miles or 100 miles.

Really! Huh. I never would've guessed that.

I guess that sort of makes sense so the drivers don’t always pick the choicest destinations.

Ohhh... okay, I can see that too.

He also told us that he hangs out mostly at Universal because that’s where most of the business is. He said he would hang around Disney Springs for about 10 minutes after he dropped us off, but if he didn’t get a customer by then, he would drive back over to Universal to pick up one there.

Hmmm... I get that.
Most people in Disney... stay in Disney. And most of those either have their own vehicle or are using Disney transpo.

If you look at this Disney Springs map, you will see a looped road to the left of the Cirque du Soleil building. That’s the ride share area.

Far away!

First stop was the Soccer store

Never knew there was one. Not a soccer fan, so don't care that much, but... still.

Before Mom and I headed out though, I managed to find a LFC decal for Jim. It’s his favorite team so I snagged it for him to put on his truck.

Nice.

Cute shirt.

For some reason, he didn’t want any of them for himself.

I think the Ray one was my favorite, I tend to gravitate towards Disney sidekicks for some reason, especially the animal ones.

Interesting. Wonder why?

Pretty!

They had been there for a few minutes when the boy in the wheelchair got up and basically sat half in my lap and half on the bench so that he could see what his brother was doing on his phone.

Great...

He also sat on top of my bag which was by my side and contained my camera, phone, sun glasses and other breakable items.

I kind of made an “ooof” sound as he sat on me and gave him a good glare as I pulled my bag out from under him. But he continued to sit half on me and half on the bench for about 5 minutes before they got up and left with him back in the wheelchair. I was not amused but at least nothing was broken in my bag and the rest of my gang got a good chuckle out of it.

I am not laughing. That's deplorable and unacceptable. The adult should have immediately seen and taken steps.
I sure as heck know that I would have!!

I started out the night with a Moonshine Mash – Watermelon-infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup – because I had read about it on the DIS.

Sounds interesting. Maybe if it's ordered "easy on the ice"?

But then when the brought the meal, the waitress said they did have the doughnuts so she brought us a basket of them for free.

Odd... but... free doughnuts.

I am going to be honest and say I was not the biggest fan of Homecomin’. I know a lot of people like it but it was not my favorite. The chicken was good but nothing out of this world and I found the mac and cheese to be pretty disgusting.

Okay... I was going to ask. I have not heard good reviews of the mac n cheese, and was surprised that you changed to it.

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with the worst heartburn I have ever had. I thought for sure I was going to throw up for a while.

Sorry you didn't feel well.

I got the 2018 Mickey Vinyl to go with my ones from previous years.

Of course. You collect those too.


Just out of curiosity, is there anything you don't collect?

another lady approached me and asked if I was the one buying the Dumbo doll. I said yes and she introduced herself to me. She was Linda Rick, the designer of the Disney Precious Moments dolls!

Really! Cool!!

I was a bit on the awestruck side and totally forgot to ask for a picture. But she did sign my Dumbo doll for me.

Too bad about the photo, but cool about the signature!

We ended up waiting about a half hour before getting on bus #4 and the line was just as long then as when we got in it!

Long!

 

[Steppesister]

Once we exited the park, Jocelyn called us an Uber which showed up very quickly. The driver was a nice young man and we spent most of the trip to Disney Springs chatting with him about driving for Uber. One thing I didn’t know was that the driver has no idea where you are going until he picks you up. So when he accepts the job, he doesn’t know if he will be driving 5 miles or 100 miles. I guess that sort of makes sense so the drivers don’t always pick the choicest destinations. He also told us that he hangs out mostly at Universal because that’s where most of the business is. He said he would hang around Disney Springs for about 10 minutes after he dropped us off, but if he didn’t get a customer by then, he would drive back over to Universal to pick up one there.

I didn't know any of that! That is really very interesting! How could they not know...? I mean a lot of drivers even will do one or two in a couple of spare hours and if they don't know... can they just refuse?? I'm wondering a bit how that works... So I asked a friend who drives with them:

Here is his response:

"Hey Liesa! I was thinking about you the other day and wondering when you might be visiting your folks again. Yes that is correct and that assumption is correct. They don’t want drivers cherry picking. We only know where you’re going once we start the trip after you’re in the vehicle. One caveat: if the trip is going to take longer than 45 minutes we are given that information when the trip request initially hits our phone so we have the option to reject or ignore."

He ended up dropping us off in the ride share area which is way down at the far end of the West Side. If you look at this Disney Springs map, you will see a looped road to the left of the Cirque du Soleil building. That’s the ride share area.

Good to know! that's a LONG walk to get to most of the restaurants.

We decided to shop our way towards our dinner destination.

Perfect use of that long walk!

I've seen that exact photo on several TRs including my own. LOL!!!

boys came up. One of the boys was in a wheelchair so the other two joined me on my bench. They had been there for a few minutes when the boy in the wheelchair got up and basically sat half in my lap and half on the bench so that he could see what his brother was doing on his phone. He also sat on top of my bag which was by my side and contained my camera, phone, sun glasses and other breakable items. I kind of made an “ooof” sound as he sat on me and gave him a good glare as I pulled my bag out from under him. But he continued to sit half on me and half on the bench for about 5 minutes before they got up and left with him back in the wheelchair. I was not amused but at least nothing was broken in my bag and the rest of my gang got a good chuckle out of it.

So not acceptable on so many levels! I don't understand parents anymore.

 

[ariane37]

I'm not sure if it was the same or not but they've had a Sea Lion show forever so you definitely did see one. I remember watching the Clyde and Seamore show growing up but I thin

I need to go back and read your update but you are correct, it WAS pirate themed

 

[ariane37]

OK caught up!

One thing I didn’t know was that the driver has no idea where you are going until he picks you up. So when he accepts the job, he doesn’t know if he will be driving 5 miles or 100 miles. I guess that sort of makes sense so the drivers don’t always pick the choicest destinations.

I didn't realize this, I thought they did know before they accepted. But as you day it does make sense.

moved on to the newish Disney Style. This store is awesome and I could drop some serious dough here.

It's a very, very dangerous store lol

I started out the night with a Moonshine Mash – Watermelon-infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup – because I had read about it on the DIS.

This is what I was thinking of getting in May but if it's small............hmm, I may have to rethink. Because then I'll need at least 3

I am going to be honest and say I was not the biggest fan of Homecomin’.

I found the mac and cheese to be pretty disgusting. It was really dry and tasted more like cardboard than mac and cheese.

OK so I for one agree with you. Steve and I ate there last year and I was totally excited for it and totally let down. I LOVED the fried green tomato app and then got a salad for my entree which may have been why I wasn't impressed. Steve got a fried chicken sandwich and thought it was just that; a fried chicken sandwich. But the mac n cheese was the biggest issue. After seeing so many pictures of it here and reading how delicious and creamy it was, ours was as dry as it could be. If we threw a single piece at someone's head it would hurt, that's how dry it was. Steve said he'll never bother going back but I'll take fried green tomatoes any time I can get them, and I had a beer that day and really want to try moonshine, so that's why I'm giving it another try with Billie and Sarah in May

 

[Lesley Wake]

I’m definitely glad we weren’t sitting in the front rows!

We sat in the Soak Zone once when I was a little kid! We got soooo wet my parents had to buy me a whole new outfit! (It was just me, my cousin, my dad, and my uncle; mom and my aunt stayed up higher in the stands)

 

[Chicago Mo]

Howdy!
I am CAUGHT UP. What an adventure for sure! Surprised to see sea world! I didn't know you were going there! It's pretty cool! Do they even have the whales anymore?
Pictures are fantastic. your doing a great job there.
Meeting the maker of the dolls is really amazing experience!
Hope you do get to meet with her again!
staying caught up now....

 

[Pluto0809]

We Need Ketchup!

Once again I have managed to disappear and abandon this TR because things got crazy at work for a while like they always do. But I leave for my next Disney trip in just a few days so I really need to finish this one out. I'm skipping over replies for now just so I can get this posted but I will come back and catch up after my trip next week.

I will start off talking about Friday, October 26th by saying that I royally screwed up the schedule for this day. Here’s what the day looked like:

Lunch at Whispering Canyon Café
Magic Kingdom for some shows
Hop to Epcot for one more round of Food and Wine & a FP for Frozen Ever After.

Do you see my major mistake there? Yep, I scheduled Food & Wine on a Friday night! I had heard all the nightmare stories about the weekend F&W crowds yet I did it any ways. My only defense is that Jim and I did do F&W on a Friday night back in 2013 and while it was very crowded, it was manageable. This time was definitely not the case but I’ll get to that in a while.

We did talk about skipping Epcot that night because we all felt we were done with Food and Wine after one lunch and two dinners there. But two things stopped us. First was the FEA FP. Neither John nor Jocelyn had ridden the new version and despite repeated attempts, I was not able to change that FP at all. And then there was our Remy maps. If you remember from way back on our previous Epcot day, we did not get a chance to redeem those for our prizes.

So looking back, what would I have done differently? I would have flip-flopped the day, starting out with lunch at Epcot and the FEA FP, then MK, then dinner at Whisper Canyon Café.

We started out the day by sleeping in till about 8 am since we had been out so late the night before at Disney Springs. We really took our time this morning and munched on some snacks in the room rather than going over to the food court for breakfast. Mom and I also spent some time packing since we would be leaving the next day. It was around 11 am by the time we left the room. Well, I should say by the time Mom, Jocelyn and I left. John went over a bit earlier so he could play some more pinball.

We had gotten down the elevator and started to head towards the main building when we realized that it was raining a bit. We did have ponchos with us but I always buy the cheap ones from Walmart or the dollar store and we throw them out after one use. There was a chance of rain all afternoon on this day so I decided to run back up to the room to grab a second set just in case we needed them for later. Spoiler, we never did need the 2nd set.

We donned our ponchos and headed out to find John still playing pinball in the arcade. He let Jocelyn and I finish out his game which made it go very fast and then he had us wait a minute so he could show us that he had two of the top scores on the game.



Between the ponchos and checking out high scores, it was close to 11:30 by the time we made it out to the buses. Our ADR was at 12:30 pm so I figured we still had plenty of time to make it. Well, this was one of the few times we waited the full 20 minutes for a bus to Magic Kingdom. There wasn’t even a wait time on the board so I was starting to panic a tiny bit. It also stopped raining while we were waiting and didn't start up again that day.

Once we did make it to MK, we had to go through security before heading to the boats. John had to use the bathroom so he ran off to do that while the rest of us headed to the boat dock. A boat was luckily just pulling in when we got there and since they are pretty slow to unload and load, John made it with time to spare.

We finally made it to the Wilderness Lodge and I rushed everyone through the lobby and we checked in about 5 minutes late which was really no problem at all and we were seated right away.

I had read somewhere that the antics that they did at this restaurant had been stopped but definitely not on this day. Everything was still in place, the ketchup, the big drinks, the waiters/waitresses being really goofy. They even had a guy running around in a ketchup costume which the kids at other tables loved.

Our waiter was beyond strange though. He immediately started telling us about all of his rescue dogs and trying to get us to adopt one even though we told him we had dogs and lived out of state. We also had a different waiter sit down at our table for like 10 minutes and chat with us while totally ignoring his actual tables.

Mom and I both ordered the Chopped Bison Burger – Chipotle aioli, white cheddar, candied hickory-smoked bacon and fried pickle on a house-made bun served with Potato Wedges. But I got the burger with just ketchup of course.





John got the Slow-smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich with onion rings, chipotle barbecue sauce and coleslaw on a brioche roll served with your choice of French fries or sweet potato fries. And Jocelyn got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich – citrus-herb marinade, roasted red pepper aioli and fresh greens on focaccia served with potato wedges. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of either of their meals.

Our food was very good, I would definitely go back for that burger again. The atmosphere was pretty crazy though, I’m not sure what John and Jocelyn thought!

After lunch we spent some time looking around the Wilderness Lodge and checking out the gift shop. They had a nice pin board in the lobby and I stopped and traded for a few pins. We also found the Hidden Mickey on the fireplace but I will admit I had to cheat a bit and use google to figure out where it was.



As we headed out to the buses to go back to MK, we managed to catch the tail end of the Geyser erupting.



I took that picture at 2:05 pm and this next picture was at 2:19 pm so it took us 14 minutes to get from Wilderness Lodge to MK. I’m pretty sure we walked straight onto a boat.



We didn’t have any FPs for MK but our only goal for the day was to catch some shows that didn’t have or need FP. First though I dragged everyone into the Art store so I could check out the Precious Moments dolls again. The designer, Linda Rick was there again and she showed me a new doll that hadn’t even been officially released yet. I decided I wanted it but didn’t want to carry it all afternoon so I planned to pick it up on the way out of the park. I couldn’t send it back to the resort since we were leaving the next day.

Then it was show time. First up was Carousel of Progress, a favorite of John’s.



Then we moved on to John’s favorite attraction in all of WDW, the Hall of Presidents. It’s an absolute must do for him plus he hadn’t seen the new show yet.

As we exited the HOP theater, the next Liberty Square Muppet show was starting so we stayed and watched that.





Then we crossed over into Adventureland and visited my birds in the Tiki Room.



Next up was a Dole Whip stop for everyone except for the super picky, dole whip hating member of our group (me) who had a Mickey ice cream sandwich instead.





Our final show of the day was another of my favorites, the Country Bear Jamboree!









There was one more ride that John really wanted to go on and that was the train. So we hopped on in Fronterland and rode around to the Main Street Station to end our day at MK.





Once we got off at Main Street, we found John and Jocelyn a bench while Mom and I ran back to the Art Store so I could pick up the other doll that I wanted. It took a bit longer than I thought it would because they had to go “upstairs” to get him. Not sure what that actually meant. So what was this newly released doll that I had to have? Why it was none other than Jack Sparrow.



Once again Linda Rick signed him for me.



I have zero pictures from the rest of our night at Epcot so I’ll quickly finish it out. We took the monorail around to the TTC to discover that the Epcot monorail line was down. They had buses but the line to get on them was huge. Luckily bus after bus pulled up and it didn’t take as long as we thought it would.

Once we got to World Showcase though, I realized my horrible mistake. It was literally wall to wall people. Our first stop was to redeem our Remy maps. They didn’t have plastic cups anymore, just drink koozies. Jocelyn got a Mickey and Minnie one and I got this Ratatouille one.



We fought our way through the mass of people to use our 7:10 pm FEA FP. For some reason the CM decided that all four of us had to be in one row and it was an extremely tight fit. Thank goodness we all like each other! I was in the middle and I had to sit with my arms pulled into my lap so I didn’t bother trying for pictures. We pretty much giggled the whole way through the ride about our squishy situation. I was really excited to see just how silly we looked in the ride photo but unfortunately it never showed up in our account.

We stood in the dump shop for a bit trying to figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. I pulled up the MDE app and we looked at some menus. We almost booked a meal at Biergarten but once I reminded John it was a buffet he said no. He really wanted to eat at Morocco but the rest of us couldn’t find something on that menu that we liked. In the end we decided to head to UK to get Fish and Chips for Mom, me and Jocelyn. Meantime, John would continue on to Morocco to get his dinner and we would meet him there with our food.

We started off and made a brief stop at Choza De Margarita where Mom, Jocelyn and I each got a frozen Margarita. Then we continued the crazy struggle to get to Yorkshire Fish. It took us almost a half an hour to get from Mexico to the fish stand! By that time John decided he was done with the crowds and would just get fish with us. As busy as WS was, the fish stand wasn’t too bad and we had our meals and found a table fairly quickly. It was too dark for pictures but I’m sure you have all seen the fish from Yorkshire.

After that, we were all over Epcot and the crazy crowds so we headed out with a brief stop in Mouse Gears for one last look.

I traded for two pins that day, both of them off of the board at WL.



And my Fitbit stats for the day.



Up Next: And Now it’s Time to Say Goodbye

 

[Pluto0809]

And Now it’s Time to Say Goodbye

Once again we took our time on the last morning, Saturday, 10/27. Mom and I took our bags over and checked them before heading to breakfast. We then took one last spin around the gift shop to make sure there wasn’t anything we missed. I found some really cute birthstone rings that I liked but despite looking through all of them, I couldn’t find August. I picked up the April one since it was clear and then asked a CM if they had any in the back. He said it was doubtful because the jewelry was supplied by an outside vendor. But low and behold, he came back out with the August one. By that time I decided I wanted the April one too so I bought them both. So this makes a total of 4 rings I bought during this trip! I sense a new collection starting.



John and Jocelyn met us around 9 am after they had checked their bags and then we headed out to the buses and on to Animal Kingdom for the morning.

Our first FP of the day was for Navi River Journey from 9:25 – 10:35 am so we went straight there.















John and Jocelyn weren’t very impressed with the ride. I felt the same when I first rode it but it’s slowly grown on me. I still wouldn’t wait more than 10-15 minutes for it but it’s a cute little ride and great for kids too small for FOP.

We had a little bit of time before our next FP so we stopped and watched the new show they have in Pandora.



I honestly don’t remember one thing about it so it must not have been very impressive.

We took the back path around to Africa and used our second FP for the safari. The animals weren’t as active as our first safari earlier that week but we did finally manage to spot the baby hippo, Gus Gus!



And the savanna was pretty lively.





Baby giraffe!



















It was almost lunch time when we exited the safari so we trekked back to Pandora to give Satuli Canteen a try. I had dessert there back in August but had not tried any of the regular dishes. I decided to try the bowl that had both chicken and beef and picked the potato base with no sauce.



Mom got a seasonal dish not on the regular menu which was some kind of shrimp and noodles.



I have no idea what John and Jocelyn got at this point. I do know that John got the rice base because I was pretty jealous. I didn’t really care for the potato base because there were too many peppers in it plus it had sweet potatoes which I’m also not very fond of. I was able to pick around the peppers some but it was a lot of work and I ended up leaving a lot of the potatoes behind. As for the meats, I loved the beef, it was outstanding. Surprisingly the chicken didn’t thrill me, it was a bit too chewy so next time I will get the rice base with the beef.

For dessert, I got the chocolate cake which is one of my new favorite desserts.



We did have one more FP for Dinosaur but discussed it during lunch and none of us felt like riding again. We were all kind of quiet on this day and I think the final day blues plus all the walking/late nights were catching up to us.

So we exited the park via a few of the stores, Mom found an AK shirt she liked, and then headed back to the resort.

Once we got back to the resort, we realized we were very early for our DME pick up time of 2:50 pm. We found a table out at the pool and sat there soaking up the atmosphere for about 45 minutes before heading to the bus.

We did some shopping once we got to the airport and I found a Hufflepuff magnet in the Universal store for my filing cabinet at work.



Once we went through security, we stopped for some food. I ended up getting a fish sandwich and fries from McDonald's for my dinner. We also discovered around that time that their flight back to PA was delayed till after my flight. My flight was at 6:15 pm and theirs was supposed to be at 5:50 pm. So I said goodbye to them when it was time and boarded my flight which was uneventful. I did hit some crazy traffic in Atlanta but the express lanes were open so I took those and probably saved an hour getting home.

And that folks is all she wrote. Well at least for this trip. Here’s a few more pictures just to fill up some space on this post. First my last day of Fitbit stats and also the stats for the full week.





And here’s my little owl collection, elephant collection and my file cabinet at work with all the magnets







And finally, remember that Storm Trooper toy I bought for the dogs? It ended up lasting all of 10 minutes. I won’t be buying that kind of toy for them again!



Thanks for following along everyone! I’ve got one more post coming up for you here in just a minute. I’m going to do a brief update with my plans for this coming trip.

Up Next: The Most Epic Trip of All the Epic Trips!

 

[Pluto0809]

The Most Epic Trip of All the Epic Trips!

I will be heading out to Disney on Tuesday! This trip is epic in so many ways but the main thing will be meeting up with approximately 30 other DISers! We have so much planned, a lot of which I will be joining in. I did choose to skip the California Grill brunch and also the Grand Floridian Tea mainly because I’m way too picky for either meal. There isn’t even anything on the kids menu at the Tea that I will eat! So here’s a brief synopsis of the trip. I’m not going to dig out pictures, I just don’t have time, but I will grace you with my outfits for the trip.


Tuesday, April 30th, 2019

OK, so I lied right off the bat. I don’t have a picture of the outfit for this day but I plan to wear a shirt I got during the October trip that has Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto along with my Pluto Stitch bag.

My flight leave Atlanta at 11:30 am and lands in Orlando at 1:05 pm. I plan to leave for the airport around 7:30 am and take the Express Lanes to avoid rush hour traffic. I’ll probably get to the airport way too early but I’d much rather be early than late!

I’ll take the Magical Express of course to Pop Century to check in for my one night, room only reservation.

Next will be a bus to Disney Springs for shopping and dinner since I don’t have park tickets for this day. I have no set dinner plans, I’ll probably eat at a Counter Service. Some options I’ve been considering are The Polite Pig, Blaze Pizza, Deluxe Burger or The Chicken Guy. Several DISers might be at DS this evening so this could be the first DIS meet of the trip.

Back to the room for an early night’s sleep to prepare myself for the upcoming epicness (yep, I made up a word there).


Wednesday, May 1st, 2019



I may need to pack up and switch rooms but hopefully not. I linked the two reservations together so maybe they will keep me in the same room. If anything I know I will have to stop at the front desk to verify our room for the rest of the trip.

Bus to Epcot
• Test Track at Rope drop
• Head to Guest Services to upgrade my 5 day ticket to an Annual Pass
• Other rides in Future World depending on the lines – Soarin, Figment, Spaceship Earth
• At 11 am, head back to World Showcase to shop my way around all of my favorite stores.
• No set lunch plans, I will probably get a few items from the Flower and Garden booths and maybe a pretzel in Germany.
• Head out of Epcot around 2 pm

If I have to switch rooms, I’ll probably head back to POP to get settled a bit.

If I’m already settled I will bus straight to Magic Kingdom:
• Get in line to meet Remy and Emile from the movie Ratatouille. They have some special meet and greets this summer and those two only meet on Wednesdays from 11:30 am – 4:45 pm.
• FP to meet Mickey and Minnie from 4:00 – 5:00 pm – I really wanted to meet them in their birthday costumes hence the FP.
• Fast Pass for Pirates 5:15 – 6:15
• Probably some other rides in between the Fast Passes if the lines aren’t too bad.
• Early dinner most likely at Columbia Harbor House
• Fast Pass for Peter Pan from 6:25 – 7:25
• Fireworks Dessert Party 8 pm with eight other DISers!
• I may stay a bit after the fireworks to ride a few more rides or I may just head back to the room. MK is open till 12 am for EMH but I know I’ve got some long days coming up.

My roommate for the trip is Jackie (@missjackiemcg here on the DIS) and she arrives late that evening, her flight lands around 9 pm so it will be 10-10:30 before she makes it to the room.


Thursday, May 2nd, 2019



This day will probably be the most Epic of the Epicness. We are doing a 4 parks VIP tour. There are around 20 of us doing the tour! We will start at HS, hop to Epcot, then AK, then finish at MK. We will have front of the line access to all rides so we hope to catch as many headliners as possible. We also plan to have lunch at AK, probably at Satuli.

After the tour is over, I will hop to HS with Jackie and two other DISers for the Star Wars Dessert party (hence my outfit for the day). I’m really looking forward to seeing the new Mickey show that starts on 5/1.


Friday, May 3rd, 2019



Magic Kingdom most of the day with Jackie.
• Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 9:15 – 10:15
• Fast Pass for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train 10:15 – 11:15
• In between those we will probably hit up some other rides, whatever we feel like doing
• Lunch at Be Our Guest at 11:20 pm. Already ordered my Turkey Sandwich and chocolate cupcake.
• DIS meet with @pkondz !
• Space Mountain Fast Pass 12:45 – 1:45 pm
• Any other rides we can get in between that one and 3 pm.

Late Afternoon/Evening Plans
• We plan to head out of Magic Kingdom between 3 and 3:30 and head to the Poly.
• First stop will be drinks at Trader Sam’s.
• Dinner at O’Hana at 5:15 pm. I believe there are about 30 of us at that dinner.
• After dinner, we plan to ride the monorail around and visit some other resorts/bars. We may try to get into the Disney Vacation Club lounge at the top of the Contemporary resort but we most likely have too big of a group. We have quite a few DVC owners in the group but they can only bring so many non-members with them.


Saturday, May 4th, 2019

This is my favorite outfit for the trip. I wanted to combine both Star Wars (May the 4th be with you) and Flower and Garden. I think I did a pretty awesome job.



Starting at Hollywood Studios with Jackie again
• Check out any merchandise for Star Wars “May the fourth be with you” day.
• Fast Pass for Tower of Terror 9:05 – 10:05 am
• Fast Pass for Slinky Dog Dash 10:10 – 11:10 am
• Lunch at Sci Fi with Jackie and 9 other DISers
• Fast Pass for Rockin Roller Coaster 12:35 – 1:35
• Leave Hollywood Studios and take boat to Epcot

Epcot
• Meeting up with lots of other people at 2 pm for our “epic” eat and drink around World Showcase. We will be checking out all of the Flower and Garden booths and probably having way too much fun. Any and all DISers in the park that day are invited to join us.
• Around 7 pm, we all need to head back out to the Yacht Club to board the boats at 7:30 pm for our Illuminations Cruise. We have around 30 people and 3 boats.
• There’s talk of Jellyrolls or maybe Abracadabar after the cruise


Sunday, May 5th, 2019



Jackie and I are starting at AK and then I think splitting up. This is her birthday and she wants to do all 4 parks in one day but may have changed her plans since we are doing four parks on a different day now.

Animal Kingdom
• Rope drop Navi River Journey if Jackie wants to
• Fast Pass for Flights of Passage from 9:15 – 10:15 am. This is our only shared Fast Pass and I think we will split up afterwards.
• Fast Pass for Safari from 10:15 – 11:15 am
• Animal Trails, Festival of the Lion King
• Lunch at Flametree Barbeque
• Fast Pass for Dinosaur from 12:35 – 1:35 pm

Back to room to pack and change into my Hoop Dee Doo Shirt then to Magic Kingdom



Magic Kingdom
• I have no set plans for the afternoon other than catching whatever I missed the previous days there. I’ll try to get some more Fast Passes after the Dinosaur one but if I can’t I’ll probably just go see some shows.

Head out of Magic Kingdom around 7 pm and boat to Fort Wilderness Lodge for the 8:30 pm Hoop Dee Doo Review. We have a group of 12 DISers for the show.


Monday, May 6th, 2019

I have no set plans for this day. I will head back to whichever park I feel like I need more time at. I actually have three different outfits packed depending on which park I head too.








My Magical Express time should be around 3:15 pm so wherever I am I’ll need to head back to the resort by 2 pm at the latest.

Flight out is at 6:15 pm.

Alright, I’ll see you on the other side of this trip with what I think will be the best Trip Report ever!

 

[ljcrochet]

have a great trip

 

[disneyAndi14]

See you real soon!!

 

[pkondz]

Once again I have managed to disappear and abandon this TR because things got crazy at work for a while like they always do.

What the heck, Ariana!!


I totally understand.

I will start off talking about Friday, October 26th by saying that I royally screwed up the schedule for this day. Here’s what the day looked like:

Uh, oh...

We started out the day by sleeping in till about 8 am since we had been out so late the night before at Disney Springs.

You can sleep in at Disney? This is possible?

There was a chance of rain all afternoon on this day so I decided to run back up to the room to grab a second set just in case we needed them for later. Spoiler, we never did need the 2nd set.

Good!

John still playing pinball in the arcade. He let Jocelyn and I finish out his game which made it go very fast

We finally made it to the Wilderness Lodge and I rushed everyone through the lobby and we checked in about 5 minutes late which was really no problem at all and we were seated right away.

Good timing. Late... but not enough to matter.

I had read somewhere that the antics that they did at this restaurant had been stopped but definitely not on this day.

They did stop... but only very briefly. They reinstated them fairly quickly.

Our waiter was beyond strange though. He immediately started telling us about all of his rescue dogs and trying to get us to adopt one even though we told him we had dogs and lived out of state.

What the what???

We also had a different waiter sit down at our table for like 10 minutes and chat with us while totally ignoring his actual tables.

I'm trying to decide which one is more strange...
I am at an impasse.

Mom and I both ordered the Chopped Bison Burger – Chipotle aioli, white cheddar, candied hickory-smoked bacon and fried pickle on a house-made bun served with Potato Wedges.

mmm... that sounds good!

I would definitely go back for that burger again.

Glad to hear that!

Hmmm... did it look like it was put there deliberately or just a coincidence?

As we headed out to the buses to go back to MK, we managed to catch the tail end of the Geyser erupting.

Oh, yes. It's volcanic there. The whole resort is probably going to disappear soon.

The designer, Linda Rick was there again and she showed me a new doll that hadn’t even been officially released yet. I decided I wanted it but didn’t want to carry it all afternoon so I planned to pick it up on the way out of the park. I couldn’t send it back to the resort since we were leaving the next day.

I thought I sensed foreboding there... apparently not!

First up was Carousel of Progress,

With no FP???

Then we moved on to John’s favorite attraction in all of WDW, the Hall of Presidents. It’s an absolute must do for him plus he hadn’t seen the new show yet.

Nor have I. Might not this trip either.

the super picky, dole whip hating member of our group (me)

I'm so shocked you haven't been banned from the DIS, yet.

Our final show of the day was another of my favorites, the Country Bear Jamboree!

A classic.

Once we got to World Showcase though, I realized my horrible mistake. It was literally wall to wall people.

ugh. No.

For some reason the CM decided that all four of us had to be in one row and it was an extremely tight fit.

I was really excited to see just how silly we looked in the ride photo but unfortunately it never showed up in our account.

Darn. Would've been a good one.

It took us almost a half an hour to get from Mexico to the fish stand!

We then took one last spin around the gift shop to make sure there wasn’t anything we missed.

Can't have that!

despite looking through all of them, I couldn’t find August.

It's between July and September. You're welcome.

I sense a new collection starting.

Another one!

Okay... those are really pretty.

So love this place. the themeing is over the top!

I honestly don’t remember one thing about it so it must not have been very impressive.

Apparently not.

awwww

awwww (again)

Animatronic

I decided to try the bowl that had both chicken and beef and picked the potato base with no sauce.

Interesting choice.

I didn’t really care for the potato base because there were too many peppers in it plus it had sweet potatoes which I’m also not very fond of.

Yuck. Not a sweet potato fan either.

And here’s my little owl collection, elephant collection and my file cabinet at work with all the magnets

You realize you can never leave, right?

And finally, remember that Storm Trooper toy I bought for the dogs? It ended up lasting all of 10 minutes. I won’t be buying that kind of toy for them again!

See you in just a few days!!