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[Meetmeinmontauk]

Hello everyone & welcome to my first ever trip report! How exciting?! I'd like to welcome you too

We must look like 'those' people! An Aug/September '12 TR

A special brought to you by Lady & The Fox. (Really brought to you by Lady because Fox just likes to tag along )


Let's go ahead & meet the splendiferous cast!

Mandy

Hi there! I'm Mandy & I am a 25 year old Disney-loving, crazy, foodie, nerd! This was only my 2nd trip to the World, but rest assured there will be MANY trips in the future. DBF thinks we will only go once every other year when we get older. He's so funny

I am currently a junior in college. I work "part-time" (30+ hours... close enough to FT in my opinion!) & go to school part-time because of that fact. My major is accounting & my tentative graduation year is 2015. Sounds like a good reason to plan another trip, right?!


Matt

Matt is a 23 year old Disney-loving nerd just like me! Ok.. so maybe he isn't obsessive about it like I am, but he likes it just the same

He goes to school full time as a computer science major & we both work at the same place. We actually met at work & spent our 1 year anniversary at Disney World

Here is our 1 year anniversary picture from Le Cellier! My mom pointed out that it looks like he is balancing those candelsticks on his head LOL

Cast: Mandy & Matt.... a.k.a Lady & The Fox
Dates: August 30 - September 4, 2012
Location: Port Orleans Riverside




Up Next: Whose Crazy Idea Was This?

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[Meetmeinmontauk]

Table of Contents

August 30, 2012
Whose Crazy Idea Was This?
The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!)
The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!) Part 2
Will we ever make it to the parks?!
The Dining Dilemma

August 31, 2012
Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney - Shopping, Lunch, & Second Dessert
Downtown Disney - Shopping, Lunch, & Second Dessert - Part 2

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[Meetmeinmontauk]

Whose Crazy Idea Was This?

August 30, 2012


I had everything planned out months in advance because let's face it, planning is the best! We usually leave early in the morning & drive for 6-7 hours before reaching our destination. Well, a week before our trip we get the news that there would be a mandatory meeting at work at 11:00PM the night BEFORE our trip. Ummm, what?!! Great decision guys....

Ok... whatever. I can readjust & come up with something else. & then the 'bright' idea came to me! Let's just sleep all day then wake up for the meeting and drive straight to Disney!

This is my 'It's 1 AM & I don't care how I look because I have my Stitch & we are going to Disney Face!!!'

DBF & I both had trouble sleeping during the day. Go figure. We were pretty pumped about driving to WDW after the meeting, though! With our energy drinks in tow we were ready to go!

It was great for a while... until we came across this creepy driver. We hadn't seen anyone on the interstate for a while & then suddenly there was a car that decided he wanted to drive RIGHT beside us. We would speed up & he would speed up and just sit right next to us! It was also 4 am in the morning!!!

Matt decided to go ahead and get gas just so we could avoid the driver. We were both freaked out & had a really bad feeling. I'm so glad we took the nearest exit because it scared us so bad.

I don't think we will ever leave at 1:00 in the morning again! Not only because of the creepy driver, but we both started getting really tired about an hour before we arrived

Matt being a good sport & wearing the Minnie ears

I also like to take all kinds of pictures & realized the whole ride there was pretty much dark. So this little update is super lacking with the photos. I promise it gets better though! I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked on this trip but I photographed EVERYTHING that we ate. Yes, I am a Disney food addict & proud!

Finally, 7 hours later and we made it!

Up Next: The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!)​

 

[cheekypoppins]

I'm along for the ride

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I'm along for the ride

Yay! And

 

[wiigirl]

In for this!

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

In for this!

Woot! Welcome, welcome

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!)

August 30, 2012

OMG! We finally made it home!!

Somehow my sleepiness completely disappeared. Matt's, however, did not. He really wanted to take a nap & I didn't blame him. Well, we were in Disney so I kind of blamed him

We usually arrive much later so I told him to just take his time. I wrote in my trip journal (not that there was that much to write yet!) and let him sleep for about 2 hours.

The bed in our Royal Room inspired by Tiana was beckoning to him! Boo to that!

I should mention that this was my first time staying at a Moderate. I loved it! You could definitely tell it was a step up from a Value resort. I do love my Pop Century though

Our very first towel Mickey

We never got a towel Mickey at the Pop

Funny story, Matt didn't realize that we were staying at a Value on our first trip. He ended up liking the Pop Century but he said the last time he visited they could literally walk right up to Epcot.

Apparently he stayed at the Boardwalk with Club Level & everything! There tends to be a difference when you visit with someone who works for a fancy company & when you visit with a couple of college kids

Check out the beautiful grounds!

Stitch! My favorite character

When Matt finally woke up from his nap we decided it was time to visit the parks!

We always begin & end our trip with Epcot. It's Matt's favorite park & my 2nd favorite I was ready to eat lunch and had my heart set on Sunshine Seasons. I've never eaten there & I've always wanted to try it.

To be honest though, I just knew the first thing we had to do was get fastpasses for Soarin' and Sunshine Seasons is just so conveniently located.

So off to Epcot we go! Both of us filled with such wonderful Disney joy


The joy didn't last too long. This crazy Disney day was just getting started. Stay tuned!



Up Next: The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!) Part 2
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[Meetmeinmontauk]

The Worst First Day (But not really because we're at Disney!) Part 2

August 30, 2012

Matt & I were finally on our way to Epcot! We were both pretty ecstatic

We finally arrived & what happened? I left my KTTW card back at the resort! NOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'll just go ahead and mention that the buses are pretty hit & miss at Port Orleans Riverside. There was either a bus right when you got there or you had to wait a pretty decent amount of time.

The worst part was that I realized I didn't have my KTTW card as soon as the bus was pulling off

By the time we got back to the resort we were both beyond starving and just decided to go ahead and eat at Riverside Mill.

We definitely weren't intending on eating at the resort. I didn't want to 'waste' credits outside of the parks. I am that crazy person that wants to eat at EVERY restaurant inside the parks... lol

The food at Riverside Mill was just as good as normal park CS.

Matt got the Chipotle Barbeque Cheeseburger with Pasta Salad. He chose Red Velvet Cake as his dessert!

He enjoyed his meal quite a bit. He liked it better than a good bit of other CS meals we had. Red velvet cake is one of his favorite desserts.


I got the Royal Chicken Sandwich with Pasta Salad. For my dessert, I chose a Magic Cookie Bar. I had read great things about them on the dis!

I really liked my chicken sandwich! It was juicy & perfect We both agree that the pasta salad was nice and refreshing.

I did like the cookie bar but I didn't think it was spectacular.


I didn't finish my pasta salad or cookie bar so we packed things up and put them back in the room. I must say that it was nice having a fridge!


Our building

We were finally well-rested and well-fed! Let's try heading back to Epcot... again!




Up Next: Will we ever make it to the parks?!
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[cheekypoppins]

yay an update

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

yay an update

I've been in Atlanta the past 2 days!

Took a friend to the airport so he could head to 'C eh N eh D eh'

 

[cheekypoppins]

WOOT WOOT what an awesome friend

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

Will we ever make it to the parks?!

August 30, 2012


We finally made it to Epcot at 1:45... after what seemed like forever. I'm not a fan of the bus system at Port Orleans.

The 'geodesic sphere'! That is the only thing you are allowed to call it when you're with me I just enjoy saying geodesic!

So what is the first thing you do when you make it to Epcot during prime park time? Head straight for Soarin' to get fastpasses! Not before taking a few pictures though


You can see me in one of the lenses!

Obviously, all the fastpasses were gone but I was feeling hopeful.

The wait time was 65 minutes so we decided to ride another favorite of ours, Living with the Land

After LwtL, Soarin' was down to only 35 minutes. Matt & I have found that the wait time is usually shorter than what they actually show.

We waited about 20 minutes and we were almost ready to get on the ride when an older woman collapsed

They had to bring in a stretcher and stop the line for a bit! I've never seen anything like that happen.

After riding Soarin' we were both pretty tired. We headed over to Club Cool so that Matt could get some of his beloved Kinley! You can't get that stuff anywhere else. It depresses him

It was pretty hot out so we decided to briefly walk through the wonderful air conditioning of Innoventions.

I think the lack of sleep & long car ride exhausted both of us. Like I said, we will never leave at 1 am again! Especially not on 5-6 hours of sleep!


We came back to more towel animals


Love Swans

Dinner was scheduled at Via Napoli later that evening, so we decided to go back and rest.

It was at this time that Matt mentioned he didn't feel like eating at Via Napoli.

I'll just go ahead and mention that we stayed during Free Dining and he knows that you need to make ADRs in advance. I also asked for his input on where we should eat during the trip months ago!

This was my face when he said he didn't want to eat there --->

I have no problem with changing it up, but it was literally 2+ hours before dinner time!


Where in the world would we find a dining reservation?!




Up Next: The Dining Dilemma
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[Lucys2200]

I'm joining in! Great start, really enjoyed it . My sister and I are thinking about staying at Riverside next year. I'm excited to see more pics

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I'm joining in! Great start, really enjoyed it . My sister and I are thinking about staying at Riverside next year. I'm excited to see more pics

Thanks for joining in! Y'all are gonna love POR ​

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

The Dining Dilemma

August 30, 2012


I handed Matt the laptop and told him to look at the menus until he found somewhere he would like to eat.

Between fast research and what kind of food he wanted we came across Portobello. It was still Italian, so I was pretty happy!

I called and tried to make a reservation for 5:15 because I was having issues making it on the computer. Apparently, my computer never switched time zones so it said it was 3:42 but it was actually 4:42.... Duh! Kind of hard to make a reservation for 30 mins in advance!

We still wanted to eat at Portobello sometime during our trip so we decided to try and move around another one of our reservations.

The first ADR I tried to move around was Ohana. Worst idea ever. We are staying during free dining... I don't know what I was thinking!

Finally we moved our Kona ADR to tonight & Portobello to another night.

I was SO excited to eat at Kona! I had been trying to talk Matt into eating there since our first trip.

We set off for Kona and arrived 20 minutes late

Our luck with the buses and our dinner ADRs were awful this trip. We left super early for each dinner too!

Despite being late, we were seated within 5 minutes!

Prepare yourselves for the most boring food pictures ever!

Matt & I both ordered the same entree AND dessert. We usually don't do that sort of thing, but it just sounded too delicious


Matt ordered the Mixed Berry Smoothie rather than a soda. Yay DDP! He loves his smoothies!

They started us out with Pineapple bread & Macadamia nut butter

OMG this bread was pure heaven! Why, oh why do they serve such amazing bread for you to fill up on before your delicious meals?!

& for our main dish....... the infamous Pineapple teriyaki glazed new york strip with broccolini and sticky rice

Wow! Matt & I both agreed that this was the best steak we've ever had on Disney property. Matt finished his & I ate my leftovers for breakfast!

Time for dessert! We chose the Banana & chocolate creme brulee.

Like everything else from Kona, we loved this! I am a creme brulee addict! This was the first of the 4 creme brulees I ate on this trip... LOL

After dinner, it was back to the resort and straight to bed. We had to be up bright & early for Animal Kingdom rope drop!




Up Next: Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney
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[Meetmeinmontauk]

Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney

August 31, 2012


I had a wonderful wake up call scheduled for 7 am! Naturally, my body woke me up at 6:44 because it obviously knew that I was at Disney!

Poor Matt... he is not a morning person at all. He is always a good sport and gets up on time because he understands the importance of making it to rope drop!

We made it to the Animal Kingdom 20 minutes before RD and I think we were some of the only people there. The crowd level was super low!

The crowds were so low that we were the very first people to ride Expedition Everest! We rode it two times in a row & I really wanted to ride it again but Matt wanted to do other things. I grabbed us a fastpass for later!

An hour after being in the park. Totally nonexistent crowds!

We rode Kilimanjaro Safaris next with only a 5 minute wait & saw all kinds of animals

Hippo!

We were told that this crocodile was regulating his temperature. Matt remarked that we would look funny if we had to walk around with our mouths open to regulate our temperature.

Elephant

Ostrich

We ran into DeVine on our way to our next ride. She is so beautiful and just moves perfectly!

I was very excited about our next ride because it was closed on our last trip. Primeval Whirl! It was pretty fun but a tad jerky. I love this whole carnival themed area.

Afterwards we walked right on to Dinosaur. We both love this ride & we both agree that it's pretty scary. Matt says he can't even look at the dinosaur at the end! Lol

At this point we were both getting pretty hungry. We LOVED Flametree BBQ last time but we weren't really in the mood for that. We decided to go to Downtown Disney so I got a snack to hold me over.

It was time to cross a food off of my Disney Food Bucket List! Behold... the jalapeno cheese pretzel!

It was so good! Matt keeps talking about how he can't wait to have one on our next trip.

He got a frozen lemonade which he loved. He seems to get at least 2 or 3 on all of our trips.

With our snacks in tow we hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney to find something yummy for lunch!



Up Next: Downtown Disney - Shopping, Lunch, & Second Dessert
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[Tricia's mom]

 

[tutti]

Joining in! I'll be going with my boyfriend in September so it's fun to read another couples adventure!

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

Joining in! I'll be going with my boyfriend in September so it's fun to read another couples adventure!

Awesome! It's fun to see other couples who love Disney



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