I'M JUST SHOWBOATIN' AROUND THE WORLD! & getting pooped on. Jan 13 TR! NEW TR POSTED!

[DizneyDizzy]

Sooo excited!! Just subbed in. I am pretty new to the DISboards but have read your TRs and PTRs (yes they are their own TRs really). Character meets? Yeah awkward for me as well, I always feel like the lone adult, but totally over that now! Proud Disney Dork here! Oh and your Disney Vinylmations collection? You might be the reason I decided to finally bite the bullet and start collecting but I'm a heck of a lot slower at it then you are.

 

[jecskc]

That's so exciting you'll be there in September! When are you going? I can't wait to go back to BC again!

We are going August 30 - Sept. 4. YAY !!

 

[cheekypoppins]

you just picked up a hitcher I 'm excited for the journey ahead

 

[danimaroo]

Hi. I am here. This is the first time I have read one of your TRs. Looking forward to it.

Also - question... I, too, am a DSLR user. Just wondering, how do you carry around your camera at WDW? Do you just carry it on a strap? Do you use a case or a bag? What do you do with it on rides? Not trying to be nosy, just trying to figure out what to do for our trip this summer.

Thanks!!!

Awesome, glad you are here! Hopefully you'll enjoy this TR!

Yay for a fellow DSLR-user! This trip, I spent most of the time with my camera around my neck. I really wanted to have it readily available for taking photos!

But, when I needed to put it away for a ride, etc., I'd put it in our backpack we were carrying with us. We usually had ponchos are the bottom to protect it, but I was just really careful with my bag if I knew my camera was inside. I only stuck with one lens this trip, because I didn't want to have to lug around other lenses with me. I found my 35mm prime lens worked out pretty well overall, though there were times where I'd wished I'd had a wider lens. I'd still choose the 35mm though.

Not nosy at all, by the way! Our January 2012 trip I decided to not really bring my DSLR around with us to the parks, and instead just used my iPhone. I have to say, I'm glad I brought my DSLR around this time, because I got some amazing shots that I wouldn't have caught otherwise. Hope this helps!!

I'm here! Please don't pass out from shock, I really am going to try to work the DIS back into my routine.
Love the intro, learned a new fact about y'all with the board game thing. Also, corgis for the win. (Bruce & Amy have an awesome dog)
I cannot wait for all the meet-ups and awesome Dani/Matt shenanigans!
That beach club picture reminds me that I need to find the crafty craft I had started on for you two.

Anna & I plan on leaving around 7m for our trip.
Matt is totally making the frump deer face in that airport picture! Line photos are the best.
I completely approve of both Starbucks drink choices, I order both regularly!
AMY'S TOMS OMG I was thinking about painting one of my old pairs of Vans slip-ons like that.
I would fit in with you Seattle people.
I hate waiting for people to get off the plane. BE EXCITED AND GET OUT OF MY WAY.
Props to Matt the speedwalker. We are too similar, haha.
Fake monorail is awesome upon arrival, but I hate it when leaving.

Yay for ME! Is it bad that as soon as I read about Joe I was thinking, "Donald?......Donald?.......Donald?" in my head?
Tears while passing through the gates happens to the best of us.
Craziness that y'all had the same room again! How does that even happen? Redonkuless.
WDW brings out that ridiculously happy feeling in me too. Sam even noticed over phone calls that I was more enthusiastic over everything than usual. I told him it's totally normal to get excited about mundane things like the details of a public restroom while on Disney property.
What if you get the same room next time you're at BCV? I'd probably pee my pants in excitement, haha.

Lovely updates! I cannot wait to read more!

AHHH RACHELLLL. I seriously died when I saw your name pop up! I'm so happy you're here and I hope I see you on the DIS a lot more! I mean, obviously we've been chatting outside of it, but still. YAYAY! It's just nice to see your name on here.

We love our board games! And yes, their dogs are the funniest. Pug and corgi, BFFs forever... Stella is a sweetheart.

OOOOH crafty craft, this makes me very excited and intrigued!

Bahaha, 7m. I think it was actually my fault, too. Maybe not though, I can't remember, haha.

HAHA he totally is making a frump face!

Yeah, her TOMs inspired me to want to make my own! I just may have to...

Haha, I know your love for Seattle; you would fit in so wellllll.

Hahaha, I wanted to knock people down so I could get off! And yes, Matt is a speedwalker, especially in Disney.

Fake monorail is the worst when leaving. the. worst. Especially because security is a hot mess, too.

Bahahaha, not bad at all, in fact, perfect.

I don't know how that happens in terms of the room! It was just so weird. But I loved it! If we get it again, I will probably die, haha.

I know you get the Disney happiness thing. It's just wonderful and I miss it so much when I'm not there... liiiike right now.

Again I AM SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE AGAIN! I've exploded for excitement, as seen here:

Ahhhhh I love the excitement of leaving! Even reading about people getting up early and going to the airport makes me really excited

That's so funny that is just said M...not am/pm. Well not funny then but funny now!

Your bow headband is super cute!!

Those Toms!!! I wish I was artistic enough to do something like that...without ruining 50 pairs of shoes trying to get it right.

Who could sleep on ME??? That crazy ol driver!!

Ahhhh the unique happiness you feel at WDW is seriously the best feeling in the world!! Seriously know what you mean

Haha I am the same way with reading about when people are leaving for their trips! The anticipation is just so awesome!

Haha it is definitely funny now, but I was a bit panicked then! I'm just glad the guy knew what I meant!

Thank you very much! I made a bunch of them and they were perfect for our trip! I wore that Minnie one a lot just because it was probably my favorite... Though I loved my Donald one, too!

I KNOW, right? I was thinking I'd love to try something like that but would probably ruin a $45 pair of sneakers, soooo maybe not.

I do not know who would sleep, that man was crazy for thinking we'd want to snooze. COME ON JOE.

I knew everyone here would GET it, ya know? It's just like, overflowing happiness when you're there.

Sooo excited!! Just subbed in. I am pretty new to the DISboards but have read your TRs and PTRs (yes they are their own TRs really). Character meets? Yeah awkward for me as well, I always feel like the lone adult, but totally over that now! Proud Disney Dork here! Oh and your Disney Vinylmations collection? You might be the reason I decided to finally bite the bullet and start collecting but I'm a heck of a lot slower at it then you are.

Aww I am so happy you're here and you're so excited!! And even better, you've read all of my stuff?! You are awesome!

This trip, let's just say I met a LOT of characters. My awkwardness went away.. and I even had my first princess meet! Disney dorks unite!

That is so awesome you started collecting Vinylmation!! It's such a crazy addiction, but a lot of fun. Slow is good though, I'm trying to really limit myself to things that I love... Right now I'm trying to finish up my Park Starz collection!

We are going August 30 - Sept. 4. YAY !!

Oh awesome!! That will be so fabulous. I bet you guys are beyond excited!

you just picked up a hitcher I 'm excited for the journey ahead

HOORAY! Glad you're along for the ride and even better, you're excited for it! I think it'll end up being a goodie.

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter Three: Cape May Cafe, I miss your Oreo Bon Bons.
Day 1: January 17th, 2013

As we left off, Bruce and Amy swung by our room and we were ready for some adventuring!

Well actually, our stomachs were ready to EAT because we basically hadn't eaten anything substantial in around 9 hours... but we also did this for a good reason! So we decided to head down towards the lobby, and also did a little exploring to show Bruce and Amy the resort a little bit on our way down.

I absolutely love the Breezeway area over in the Beach Club Villas area. It's just such a relaxing spot where you can easily hang out and read or relax.

And I also love this painting in the Breezeway, just because it's really adorable.

Plus, I like to pretend that there is a beach on the other side of the quiet pool near Beach Club Villas... and not a parking lot.

Anyway, it was about 7:30 at this point, so we made our way over to Cape May Cafe! THAT is why we made sure not to eat very much... we wanted to have LOTS of room for dinner at Cape May, since they have such a fantastic buffet.

Our reservation wasn't until 8, but we checked in early and the CM gave me a buzzer. We went to the waiting area down the hall and Matt was just about to point out some stuff to Bruce and Amy when the buzzer went off!

We walked in, and went past the dessert area... and I nearly started crying when I didn't see the Oreo Bon Bons there anymore. Wooooompwomp.

Those were my FAVORITE dessert (and a DISboards favorite) at Cape May, and they no longer serve them there anymore! It's a travesty, really. BUT the good news is, you can find them in the Beach Club Marketplace in to-go containers! So in case you need your fix of Oreo Bon Bons, head over there for them.

Anyway, we were seated and our waitress came over, and she was very friendly. She took our drink orders and encouraged us to go EAT! I came back with a plate full of delicious food, as did Matt!

Matt went with crab legs, clam strips, a seafood pasta, roasted potatoes, broccoli, and a roll (but unfortunately it wasn't their awesome garlic rolls from the past, wompwomp).

I went with a roll, some corn bread, a fish nugget, some clam strips, pasta, mac 'n cheese, and some of the hand-carved flank steak. I love the mac 'n cheese there, even if it's a "kid" food.

Everything was so good! I know part of it was that I was just so hungry, but it was seriously good stuff. We love the food at Cape May; it's probably the best dinner buffet on Disney property, ESPECIALLY if you enjoy seafood! I was concerned about the food not being fresh since we had a later reservation, but that was not an issue at all!

I got another plate of food, including more mac n cheese, the red potatoes, pizza, corn bread, and the seafood pasta that Matt had because both he and Amy were saying it was delicious.. and it was!

I was a little disappointed that the red potatoes didn't have the seasoning they'd had on them last year, but they were still tasty!

We left some room for dessert, and though there were no Oreo Bon Bons, there were still some delightful treats! I went with a strawberry shortcake, peanut butter bar, brownie, Boston cream pie, aaand a flourless chocolate cake. Everything was SUPER good, except the brownie was too cake-y for my liking. The flourless cake was too die for!

Obviously I failed at getting more food photos of Bruce and Amy and Matt's plates... but number one, I needed to EASE Bruce and Amy into my photo-taking ways, hahaha, and number two, we were all starving soooo I wasn't going to force everyone to wait for me to take photos before they could dig in!

We headed out of the buffet after settling our check, and decided to go walk around for a bit to help our food digest and ya know.. GO AND SEE THINGS SINCE WE WERE IN DISNEY WORLD!

Beach Club is so beautiful at night, it's just so calm and peaceful, too! We decided against trying to do any parks because we knew by the time we finished dinner, Epcot was going to be open for only a little bit longer since it closed at 9 that night, and no parks had EMH. It was tempting, especially since Matt and I have our Premier Annual Passports, but we held off and decided to save the parks for tomorrow!

Anyway, we strolled out and I of course let everyone go ahead of me while I snapped photos. I was just so happy to be home again.

We walked past Stormalong Bay and showed it to Bruce and Amy, since we'd talked about it a LOT prior to our trip, telling them how it was the best pool on Disney property!

Matt and I were very happy to see the windmill lit up and moving! Last year they were doing work on it so we didn't get to see it lit up at night.

No but seriously, why is it so beautiful?! The one bad thing about January is that Stormalong Bay closes pretty early, so nightswimming there is pretty much a no-go. One day we will swim there when it's late! It's just so pretty to look at all lit up.

We continued on towards the Yacht Club, and on our way I had to stop and take photos of the Boardwalk across the way, while boats passed by...

I seriously love the Lighthouse at night and just sitting in that area people-watching while the calming music plays in the background. That area is perfect. If you haven't been to the Epcot resorts at night, it's a must-do! Plus, you can check out the Boardwalk, as well, which has some great entertainment at night.

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter Four: "Nightswimming, deserves a quiet niiiiight."
Day 1: January 17th, 2013

I'm fairly certain Matt was trying to get me to move along, so I finally gave in and turned around... to snap photos of the Yacht Club!

We went inside and showed Bruce and Amy around, and of course were immediately drawn to the large globe in the lobby.

I think everyone started discussing the inaccuracies on the globe, hahaha.

Personally, I just enjoyed the happy sun hanging out, thinking about how life is grand.

I really love how the Yacht Club has that New England/Cape Cod nautical feel to it. It reminds me of spending summers down the Cape when I was a kid.

We headed back towards the Beach Club, because we all really wanted to go swimming... even though it was 57 degrees out... WE DIDN'T CARE! Nightswimming was a must for our first night there, plus 57 seemed crazy warm to us Seattleites. I think the humidity also played a role in making it seem warmer than it probably was.

We stopped by Beaches and Cream to show Bruce and Amy where it was, and Matt took a photo of Bruce, Amy and me. We were all such happy people!

I stopped in the Breezeway to take some photos of just the little details... I love how Disney just puts little touches on everything, right down to the decorations in the resorts.

We headed back up to our room, and on our way, I took this glorious photo of Matt right after he took his hat off. Look at that fierce hair-do!

As we got back, I remembered to take a photo of the new scanners they installed on the doors. No more putting your card into the little slot and grumbling when your door won't open because you didn't scan it fast enough, haha. Now you just tap your room key and boom, you're in!

We got changed and headed down to the pool, where we met Bruce and Amy. The water was actually super warm, which was nice, so we all went swimming for awhile and goofed around. A few people walked past us and gave us looks of "Holy crap you people are insane for swimming while I have on my jacket and jeans." buuut we didn't care. We did eventually move over to the hot tub, which we fortunately had to ourselves.

We went back upstairs and said good night to Bruce and Amy since we were planning to unpack and settle in, then go to bed at a decent hour.

It was around 9pm, so we caught Illuminations from our balcony... but just part of it. We didn't watch a whole lot of it because we wanted to save it for when we actually would be in Epcot, and ya know, I wanted to get out of my bathing suit.

After I got showered and changed, Matt and I decided to unpack all of our clothes and put them away. Obviously you are not unpacking the correct way in Disney World until you have this on your television:

STACEY! HEY GIRL, HEEEEY!

Even better, new Stacey scenes, too, as you can see above! Anyway, we had told Bruce and Amy about Stacey and how she is mega cheesy but just SUCH a big part of your Disney vacation that they had to put her on, haha. Plus we constantly sing Livin' it Up, because it's one of those songs that gets stuck in your head, which you all obviously know... But anyway, we both were happy to see Stacey back in our lives again.

After we unpacked, we got into bed and Matt read while I wrote in my Trip Journal. Thankfully with the flight being so long and having been up for awhile, we were both pretty exhausted and ready for sleep. We wanted to get adjusted right away to the 3 hour time difference, especially since we had plans to get up bright and early at 7:30am, which was 4:30am west coast time.

When you have your first FULL DAY in the parks, you better get some serious rest because there's no slowing down!

Continued in next post​

 

[arbolita]

I love the whole Boardwalk area, especially at night! I really hope I get to stay over there soon. And Cape May is high on our list of places that I want to eat - but my DH is not a big seafood person, so we've been putting it off until we check off a bunch of other places first.

STACEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

 

[beachphotog]

Bahh!! I love, love, LOVE the Epcot resorts!! Especially at night with all the lights up! Oh, I can't wait to be there and experiencing it all over again!!!

Cape May Cafe sounds good, but you probably need to like seafood to really enjoy it? I think a lot of it would be lost on me... But the Oreo Bon bons?? I may have to make my way across the lake from the Boardwalk to pick them up to go!

Do you that in my last 4 trips there swimming of any sort didn't fit into my plans? Plus, in November/December the air is too chilly to swim. But it sounds like they keep the pool nice and warm!

Great update! Thanks for keeping the masses entertained, in the midst of your busy life!! (lol!)

 

[soldiersmom]

Hi, Dani--I'm joining in a little bit late, but y'all sound like lots of fun and I want to be on your trip--wearing Amy's shoes! I love them!

Okay, now going back to finish reading...

 

[MasonsDisneyMom]

We love Cape May Cafe too! I swear I'd be happy just eating the mac n 'cheese and cornbread. We have ADRs in May for both dinner and breakfast! Loving all the night time pics of BCV!

 

[marDgreen88]

Yay Cape May! I unfortunately do not enjoy seafood... besides like the occasional shrimp and crab cake. But those rolls look good! Even if they aren't the awesome garlic ones from the past or whatever.

I did the same thing with my family. I'm like, my readers will be okay if they only see my food.

AHHH great pictures. The Epcot resort area is so beautiful it hurts.

The RFID entry is just perfection, is it not? I mean it's... perfect. (Clearly, I couldn't think of another word.) LOOOOVE. And night swimming sounds perfect. Who cares if people think you're crazy? THEY'RE CRAZY.

STACEY.

 

[DisneytheKid]

This is going to be a very interesting learning experience I see... We've only done Disneyland and I'm already learning new things even before you go to the parks! I wonder if there is a youtube video of Stacey somewhere...

 

[onelilspark]

57 is freezing to me now! If I would have been with you, I would of had a sweatshirt, warm socks, scarf, mittens. I'm such a wimp now

 

[cheekypoppins]

I need to hit the boardwalk at night holy cow its so pretty!!!!! I love those pics you took with everything all lit up AMAZING!!!Although if it were me even if epcot was closing in 15 minutes I would've gone in just because ure that close to it and Epcot is my love

 

[Aurora1972]

Darn it! I was wrong you didn't go to EPCOT!! Gorgeous pics of Beach Club and Yacht Club! They were awesome![/SIZE]

 

[stacy~**]

Sounds like a great start to your trip! And once again I love your night/water reflection pictures. Perfection!

I have to say you are really making me miss the Epcot resort area. We stayed there for the first time this summer (during tropical storm debby) and I could see how great it COULD be if there weren't torential rains.every.day.all.day. Hopefully we can stay in that area next time (and hope for no rain).

 

[khertz]

Beautiful resort pictures. It looks so peaceful around those Epcot resorts! Never visited over there, but I've always wanted to.

Cape May dinner looks delicious! I am really craving sweets, and that picture of your dessert plate is not helping.

 

[DharmaLou]

Mmmm seafood. My husband is allergic but my daughter & I love it. I can see a stop at Cape May in our future. I'm sure there's plenty he can still eat!

And I'd totally go for a swim at 57 degrees.

 

[DanniDeer]

Guuuuurl, you are getting so good with that camera! Your making me kick myself for never taking mine with us, especially around the boardwalk.

I can't wait to hear all the stories and see more pictures.

Btw- Matt's hair is priceless.

Is it September yet?

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ahhhhh...it is so beautiful there at night! I love all the lights on the water, Rey and I enjoyed it on our Anniversary trip. Savannah, on the other hand, snarled and stuck her nose up at Beach Club AND Boardwalk when we were there headed to Epcot?!?! She said she wouldn't stay there if we paid her! WHA?!?!?! Insanity. I know we'll go to Beaches & Cream though, Rey RAVES about it, even to this day, and says we have to go back. Maybe Savannah will like it after she eats there. Who wouldn't love those shakes?!?!