(Updated 3/14) Gonna Have to Buy a New House! - Jan 2025 TR

[Araminta18]

Yay another trip report!!

I love Del Taco. Where else can you get fries with your taco?

Yay thanks for joining!

Ooooho that's a good point....though (whispers) we didn't get any fries...guess we'll have to go back!

 

[Araminta18]

Following!

yay thanks for joining in!

 

[Araminta18]

Whoo-hoo! I’m excited for another of your trip reports!

Honestly, I thought of you given all the chaos in Washington. I didn’t realize Trevor was a federal employee, too. I understand the savings mode and hope everything remains okay with both of you.

Your FArts trip sounds spectacular! Club Level at the Beach Club?! (You mentioned Grand Floridian in your hotel list, but I’m thinking this was a typo given your description?) After Hours at MK AND the Studios? That sounds like so much fun!

I’m glad your travel day was off to a great start. I agree that the decor of that hotel was… a choice, but it looks nice and clean. I’m glad you had another chance to eat Del Taco!

Yay thanks for joining in!

Aw, thank you for the good wishes!! I really appreciate it - it's just such a crazy time and while normally us both being federal employees has not been a concern, it's definitely been scary given the times.

Oooh good catch! I definitely didn't copy paste from my old TR and then forget to update it...

It's updated now! This whole trip was Beach Club, but maaaaaaaybe Beach Club club level?

The decor at the hotel was indeed a choice - definitely memorable though? So close.... I did kind of like the moss wall. But it was clean, which is really the important part!!

 

[Araminta18]

Haha I knew you guys were going to hit up Del Taco

LOL starting to get predictable in our old age!

 

[Araminta18]

Yay - I love your FARTS reports. I haven't been able to get down to FARTS since 2020 (right before the world shut down), and I miss it SO MUCH.

And as another Fed employee, I understand your angst right now. I've been sitting on some DVC points for 2025, and I finally had to asknowledge that there's just no good time to go for the forseeable future, so I gave them to my ex to use while he takes or youngest to look at colleges in Florida on her spring break.

Thanks for reading! I hope you get back to FARTS soon - it's so much the best festival!

Oh, solidarity! It's just terrifying. I'm so sorry you had to give up your points for 2025!!! But I totally get it - everything's so unpredictable. *hugs*

 

[Araminta18]

Following!

yay! thanks for joining in!

 

[Araminta18]

Yahoo another Tiffany and Trevor adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

aw thanks for joining in!!

 

[Araminta18]

Love Love Love your trip reports!

thank you for reading!! Making me blush!

 

[Araminta18]

I am following

yay! thanks for following along!!

 

[Araminta18]

Joining in again. We loved the Beach Club. It was our first place we stayed after we got married way back when.

yay thanks for reading! isn't Beach Club awesome? How special to have it be your first stay! has it changed much since then?

 

[Araminta18]

Breakfast in France! - Saturday Jan 25th 2025 (part 1)​

We woke up the next morning at about 8 am, after a pretty good night's sleep. I was all excited that the blackout curtain would keep out the light (cause the light is usually what wakes me up), and it did - but the light was coming from inside the room!

The fridge for example had a transparent door and there was a blinking light there, and just other little random led lights. Booooo.

But at least the bed was comfy - overall not horrible. I just need to bring like black tape and cover all the stupid lights!

We got packed up and were ready to go by 8:45 am, waiting for the uber. I was like vibrating with excitement - FARTS here we come! Also, the weather was supposed to be 40 degrees, but it was sunny and with just a tiny breeze - it didn't feel cold! That could have been cause it had been bonkers cold back home (like 10 degrees) so at that point 40 degrees is basically balmy.

The uber picked us up and we were on our way. Mostly uneventful ride except for when Trevor got in the uber and saw a pair of high heels just sitting there in the back. Oops! Someone's barefoot!

And I'm a bad trip reporter - I got distracted reading my book and I DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE OF THE ARCH! Disney adult card, revoked!

I did though get a picture of the Beach Club sign as we pulled in!

Gorgeous

At the parking booth, they had an ipad-thing that picked up on our magic bands; they just asked our name and checked it off on their ipad and waved us in. That was kind of cool - I don't remember the parking lot guards using the magic bands like that before.

We dropped our bags off at Bell Services and then checked in. Our room wasn't ready (which like, no surprise at 9:15 am). I did confirm that they'd linked our reservations so we at least wouldn't have to move between the first and second reservation (since we'd booked the same room category). Then, I got out my art that I was gonna get signed that day, and then off we went into the park!! Trevor was teasing me for my excitement to buy art, but then as we headed out of the lobby into the open air was second guessing wearing his jacket, and then he wasn't teasing me for being excited to buy the art because the art was why I had a big old bag that he could put his jacket in!

As we headed out of the lobby, we ran into a table of pool CMs with some arts and crafts that they were doing with kids, cause Stormalong Bay was closed! I thought that was so fun - the pool is closed but the CMs are still there making magic. They even gave us the pirate ship craft "to go" . And as we kept going, other pool CMs were doing a dance party down by the beach!


We made our way into the park, and over to France to get some breakfast. As we crossed the bridge I noticed this little easel down there by the water - it's a painting of the friendship boats!

Cute

As we walked into France, Sleeping Beauty was out meeting and greeting. Her line was closed (you know otherwise I would have gotten in line) but I did get a fun picture as she ended her set:

Twirl!!

We were thinking we'd get crepes to go for breakfast from La Creperie, so we headed that way only to find a bit of a line. But we didn't have anywhere to be (yet - art booths don't open til 11 and it was only like 9:30), so Trevor hopped in line and I went over to Les Halles to get breakfast there.

Honestly I was just so excited to be in the parks and see the art...the chaos of everything with work (which only got more chaotic yay being a federal employee!) and then just my family chaos (dealing with my parent's divorce and so my mom's care falling all on me and my siblings) - I was excited for some time to not have to think about anything or be responsible for anything but Disney dining reservations and the like.

It was a good mindset to be in as I got over to Les Halles and found the line out of the building:

This was 9:43 am; after about 5 min I was here:

I do love the theming of this building.

About 5 min later I entered the stanchions/official part of the line, which was at the same time that Trevor found me with his crepe!

A little pre-breakfast breakfast He got the plain crepe with sugar and butter - it was good! Hard to beat a classic.

About 15 minutes later, we were placing our order! We got a frangipane almond croissant, a raspberry mousse cake thing, a croque monsieur, and then half a baguette.

This was all so good. The baguette was fresh and had a really good flavor - it wasn't warm but it was definitely fresh. The croque monsieur was good and cheesy - I think I liked the one in Disneyland Paris a little bit better, but this was a very worthy competitor! The raspberry cake mousse thing also tasted mostly of real raspberry (vs fake raspberry flavor) - YUM! I love raspberries and I love that so many French pastries have raspberry. And then finally, the frangipane almond croissant. It turned out to be not just almond, but also chocolate! That was kind of unexpected - I actually liked it better the less chocolate I got in my bite. It tasted like the bitter almond macaron from LaDuree that I got in Paris that I loved so much.

We also had ordered hot chocolate, and the way it works (or at least how it was working that morning) is that you pay at the register and then take the receipt over to the drink window. So I got over there and they didn't look at my receipt, just asked what I'd ordered, so I said hot chocolate and then a few minute later they handed me a hot chocolate. Then back at the table I looked at the receipt and realized the hot chocolate wasn't on the receipt! We absolutely ordered it so....calling that one on Mickey.

It was yummy - HOT! But a good flavor. And our first experience with the new cup! I deliberately took a pic with Sleeping Beauty's crown there on the bottom.

We got lucky and had a nice seat there indoors, enjoying the food and the theming.

Isn't that a fun chandelier? In the shape of flowers!

Overall, line aside (25 min from getting in line to sitting down to eat our food), it was a great breakfast. I was about to call Les Halles a sleeper hit, which is hilarious considering the 25 min line. We'll have to swing by on future trips and get a full baguette!

As we left, the line was a lot longer than when we got in line, so we had good timing! It was about 10:30 am, so still 30 min til the art booths opened, and as we walked out, we saw Sleeping Beauty was out meeting again but this time her line wasn't closed! We hopped in line, cause I had all my Sleeping Beauty stuff on (ears, bag... ).

 

[SimplyGoofy]

You did a great job getting over to the Beach Club early in the day. I’ll forgive the lack of Disney sign picture (I’m sure you have many!) as getting a picture of the resort sign is always harder. Good work!

Your breakfast looks delicious! France is wonderful place to find breakfast options. Also, your picture of Aurora spinning is excellent!

 

[Araminta18]

You did a great job getting over to the Beach Club early in the day. I’ll forgive the lack of Disney sign picture (I’m sure you have many!) as getting a picture of the resort sign is always harder. Good work!

Your breakfast looks delicious! France is wonderful place to find breakfast options. Also, your picture of Aurora spinning is excellent!

What? me have multiple sign pictures? nooooooooooo I think that was very much the "ooh I'm here a lot" moment - I got engrossed in my book instead of anxiously looking for the sign. And yes I agree! The resort sign pics are harder

France breakfast is so good! I can't believe we've missed it all these trips. Gonna have to go back! And all the credit for Aurora spinning goes to her - I was just taking a quick pic and she was doing all the poses.

 

[Araminta18]

Emotional Rollercoaster! - Saturday Jan 25th 2025 (part 2)​

We waited about 10 minutes to meet Sleeping Beauty, which wasn't bad. Got to enjoy our hot chocolate and then, time for Sleeping Beauty! While I was waiting in line, I realized that I'd brought a Sleeping Beauty "tapestry" thing with me, because I wanted the artist (Ashley Taylr) to sign it, and I was like wait a minute, should I have Sleeping Beauty sign it too?! I went back and forth for a bit before deciding yea, that'd be fun.

Anyways, finally our turn!

It was a fun little meet - she was so sweet to sign the tapestry, especially 'cause I like lose my mind when I meet characters and can't speak coherently. Oh well!


So yea, not bad! Got a nice pic, got the tapestry all signed, and it was 10:45! 15 min til the booths opened, so we headed over to scope out which one (hopefully) has the piece I wanted.

Over at the booths between France and Morocco, some of them were opening early but not the one with the piece I wanted. But I saw the booth with the pieces from that artist, so I was like ok! This is the booth to rope drop.

I was not the only one ropedroppping art booths. And I think 2 of those three people ahead of me were indeed hoping for the piece I wanted - the Haunted Mansion bride piece by Dylan Bonner. It ended up being a whole rollercoaster! Dylan Bonner was signing at 11 am, so they opened up that curtain there and brought out a framed large version of that bride piece, but they took it over to the display area by the signing and said it wasn't for sale. Womp womp. And the CM said that was the only one they had. But then another CM was like "wait I think we do have some of the limited edition canvas ones (similar to the display one) in the back, let me go check." So Trevor waited there and I did a dash around the other art booths that were open right there nearby and got the art postcards I wanted. I got a bunch (I have no self control), and then came back, just in time to see the CM who'd gone to the back come back with nothing in his hands, and the CM there at the check out counter was like "ok yea sorry, we don't have any more".

BUT! The CM who'd gone to the back arrived and was like "we have 3, do you want one?" It was just me and Trevor, and then one other guest, and so we both were like yes please! Yay!!! It was a bit more than I necessarily was wanting/planning to pay ($399) but at least my AP discount applied. So they brought it out and we had Dylan sign it!

Weirdly enough there was no line for him, which was nice 'cause it was a little bit of a hassle to get the piece unboxed, but with no line I didn't feel too bad. And he was super nice, signing this and a couple other pieces, and we had a great conversation about art and the general state of the world...it was so awesome. And I got the piece I wanted!! SO EXCITED!! Honestly I was just on cloud nine, getting the piece I wanted and getting it signed and having a lovely conversation with Dylan Bonner. Just awesome. Trevor was asking where we were going to put it, and I told him that was a conversation for a later day. His tongue in cheek response was that we'd have to buy a bigger house!

So, with that piece secured (and we had it shipped home, cause big ), the plan was just to look through the art booths and buy the art we wanted, and meet a few more artists. I'm very much of the "if you see it and want it buy it then" mindset, because if you come back later, it may be sold out. So first morning of FARTS = buy all the art.

There were a few things that were out of stock, or they didn't have it in the size I wanted, but mostly they had everything. Yay! I'd been following artists on instagram and they're pretty good about posting stock updates, so I was...cautiously optimistic.

After a blitz of pieces there in the France/Morocco area, there was an artist signing! Kenny Yamato does these pieces with letters, and last year they only had them in the large size, but this year they had his pieces in the postcard size, which yay! We're running out of wall space (see TR title ) so smaller is better. But I bought them all and then was able to get them signed.

He also didn't have a line, and was so sweet - he drew an original sketch on the back of each piece! So nice. All the artists really are just so sweet and nice.

We just kept going around World Showcase - there was a booth with a bunch of Star Wars art there by Japan so we were looking around there for a bit. The weather was so nice - just slightly cool and breezy, and sunny but not hot. It's always a novelty to me to be wearing long sleeves at Disney and not be sweating!

We did run into the photographer with one of the FARTS photo ops, and right as we were heading in to it, another family ran in front of us and jumped in instead. After they finished, we got in line and the photopass CM seemed a bit apologetic or whathaveyou, cause she did a bunch of fun shots with us, which was super kind.


We're rowing!

We're fishing!

Titanic! We should have moved up to the front for this one LOL

It was super nice of her, and just lots of fun.

As we kept going around World Showcase, the art booths kind of dry up between Japan and Italy, so we took photos instead.

Hi Daisy!

 

[Counting Stars]

Another great trip report underway! Just love reading your reports- you two have so much fun. Wonderful pictures too! Looking forward to reading more. Thanks for taking the time to share

 

[VAtink]

Yay, I'm so happy you got the art you wanted! I don't think I saw that piece while we were there, I love it!

 

[Araminta18]

Another great trip report underway! Just love reading your reports- you two have so much fun. Wonderful pictures too! Looking forward to reading more. Thanks for taking the time to share

Aw, thank you for the compliments - and for reading! I love reliving the trip so it's mostly for me But I'm glad it's enjoyable for folks who are not me!

 

[Araminta18]

Yay, I'm so happy you got the art you wanted! I don't think I saw that piece while we were there, I love it!

According to the cast members, that piece sold out SUPER fast, mostly 'cause it included the HM Cast member and so bunches of them were buying it as well. I got so lucky! I'm hoping they restock and just have it in the art stores in Disney Springs or in the America pavilion later, after FARTS. How they choose to restock art is beyond my ken though.

 

[Araminta18]

Room Tour! Can it Beat Our Room Last FARTS? - Saturday Jan 25th 2025 (part 3)​

One more Italy picture:

I feel like there were more signs for each country this time - I think maaaybe I've seen them around before but this trip they were at like every country.

We kept going, and met Dave Avanzino - we weren't planning to buy any of his art but we got sucked in by his "maps" of Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. We're a sucker for maps. Dave was also there signing and so we got to meet him and have a fun little chat. He was very nice.

They only had the maps in the bigger size so that's what we got.

We kept looking - didn't buy anymore art as we made our way around, mostly cause the other pieces we saw that we wanted were big and no wall space left! We did get William Silver to sign a piece I'd bought a few years before - yes I brought art with me from home to have signed. At about this time a friend of ours texted that they were on the skyliner heading to Epcot, so we decided to head back to meet them, instead of going to Communicore Hall. We thought about grabbing some food from the booths on the way but it was SUUUUUUUUPER crowded. Like every food booth had 3 switchbacks of lines - again, I assume it was a combination of Saturday + lovely weather for the first time in a week. It was super sunny - we should absolutely have brought sunglasses.

As we were heading back to International Gateway, we got the text that our room was ready! Yay! It was only about 12:30, so that was nice. You best believe I was looking the room number up on roomfinder to see what room we got, and I got SUPER excited: it was the same room we got as last time we were at Festival of the Arts, but 2 floors higher! Corner room, king bed, BALCONY...yay! I was super excited.

We made our way back to International Gateway, and met up with our friend for about half an hour or so on a bench there by the Skyliner, and then it was time to head to the room! We figured we'd drop stuff off, have our luggage delivered, get sunglasses, maybe Trevor would stay in the room and nap (apparently he's a vampire, and the sun saps his energy)...we were gonna play it by ear.

The nice thing about being close to our room last year meant we could enter the building by the little outside door there (by the beach volleyball court) and take the stairs right up to our room! So nice, honestly - we book Beach Club for its proximity to Epcot, and this room is a winner - super close and very close to an outside entry/exit. I HATE having to go past something and then circle back because the entrance is not where the room is - it offends my sense of efficiency or something - so this worked out great.

Room tour!

Super long hallways, with the closet and bathroom on the right.

Bathroom - only one sink, but still pretty big feeling.

No window in front of the bed here (like there was in our second floor room), but otherwise the same.

Trevor was spying the balcony!

A lovely huge balcony!!!

Our view - still mostly the beach volleyball court, but a little bit of the lagoon. Not bad!

Our anniversary is in March (next weekend, actually ), so I tagged this trip as an anniversary trip.

Yay! We were very pleased - we loved the second floor room last year, and this room was just as good, the only downside being up 3 flights of stairs instead of just one. But you can't have everything, and overall this was fantastic, so no complaints.

We had them bring up our luggage and they brought it SUPER fast, which was awesome. Trevor got his sunglasses, we dropped off most of the art, except a couple things we wanted to get signed, and after about 10 minutes, headed back into the park.

That's our room, the top floor there - you can just see our balcony.

Ashley Taylor was signing for the last day, so the plan was to head over there and get her to sign the art. I was excited! Trevor was going to get food, and he was excited for that.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I love your enthusiasm and I am super jealous! I can't get my husband excited about Disney, no matter what I do. You're a lucky gal.