From the Sea to the World - Holiday Edition - Completed

[Flossbolna]

This sounds like a lot of fun.

I enjoyed all your photos from Animal Kingdom.

The new Explorer game is a really neat addition. I love it that it actually really gets you to interact with the cast members from the various countries.

AK is just so lovely to photograph!

Fun Solo Morning at AK! Got some good pics on the safari.

Yes, I was very pleased with my point and shoot which has a really nice zoom and I got to use it on the safari. And the animals were nice as well and positioned themselves conveniently for me!

 

[Flossbolna]

Well, you do have a point. Any Disney is very good at making sure you come back with your wallet wide open.

Sometimes yes, sometimes I am starting to wonder whether at WDW they have not gone over to a business model of assuming that there are enough people around that they only need to have a family visit once and milk them as much as possible during their one visit...

Good to know! I love picking up these little nuggets along the way.

That's why I put stuff like that in m trip report!

Wha....!!?? This ought to be a riveting sort of tale...

Well, you will have to wait until we start the trip report for the Norway cruise!! If the ship does not think and we can write a trip report!!!

1) Some people just really suck at their interpersonal skills- or lack thereof. Seriously, are they just that uptight or too silly to realize that honest mistakes happen?

I guess they might have been in panic of not getting into the show when they saw how long the line was.

2) Yes, super annoying that your favorite spot was eaten up by changes. No fun to have to make yet another adjustment.

One thing that kid of irks me about it is that there are more and more of these upcharge events. I normally don't mind other people paying more for an experience if they want it. But if it takes away from something that I was able to use for free until then, I am not really happy about it.

3) Biergarten was fun, but I too was saddened by the lackluster variety of offerings.

Interesting, I think Biergarten seems to have its ups and downs. As if now and then it gets a new chef who starts to be a bit more creative and then it gets boring again.

 

[Flossbolna]

And pretzel bread! Perfect combination.

Oh yes, just like in Canada as well!

Entitled people will always fail to see the big picture.

I just commented on Liesa's post and think that maybe the people were just scared of not getting into the show and totally stressed out. It seems to happen more and more that people are so stressed at WDW that they are starting to be really unfriendly.

Good tip! I have a feeling I'd be just fine with the "redneck" version of the processional.

Actually, I first got the tip about that possibility from @GoofyFan1515. He once wrote about it in a trip report and I think we talked about it when we toured Epcot together in 2011 (wow, that trip was nearly 4 years ago!!!).

I think I see the problem. It starts with "veggie sandwich" and "salad".

Ok, but I tell you, even if there had been bacon and pineapple added to both, it would not really have improved it!

No! I hate that the regular folks keep getting squeezed out of the good spots.

Exactly. If there are people who want to pay 50$ per person to see Illuminations and get a few desserts, they are welcome to do so. But do they have to take away from everyone else in order to implement it? With FP+ viewing areas, dessert parties and private parties, soon it will come to the point that there is no waterfront viewing area for Illuminations left for the general public.

Michael, I have bad news for you. No wife/girlfriend has ever realized this.

Oh, this is good to know!!

Yes, construction walls seem to have become a permanent fixture at WDW.

Sounds like fun! I think my kids would really enjoy it.

Definitely! It is certainly similar to the Junior Ranger program!

Looks fantastic!

Oh, I would love to have that cinnamon roll right now!

Yes! That would look great hanging on my wall. They did a great job with the theming there.

And now they opened up a new area to the other side of the main walkway through Africa with new counter service options that looks really wonderful as well! Now they just need to add in a nice family dark ride and the land is really perfect!

Agreed! I love the theming there, too.

And that is why AK is my favorite park: Two over the top well themed lands.

About time. What was it, about 3:00 p.m. at this point?

Actually, no! It was just after noon. I really got a lot done during the morning!

Maybe someday I'll get to experience that....

You will, sooner than you think. It won't be long before the kids are old enough to venture off on their own and Sarah will be responsible enough that you will let them take Drew with them even. And then Julie wants to ride Tower of Terror and you suddenly find yourself with an hour of alone time in a Disney Park! And it does not even involve entering a park with the rest of the family not present!

 

[Flossbolna]

Lights! Spectacular Lights!!

We both got ready to head out for lunch. Today we had plans to meet up with an old friend of Michael from high school who now lives in Jacksonville. She was so curious to meet me that she made her husband come along for the long drive to Orlando to just meet the two of us for lunch.

It is only about a two hour drive and who wouldn't want to drive that long to lunch with US?

We had agreed to meet at Downtown Disney and Michael and I had suggested Portobello. We had a really good meal there on our last trip and I wanted to return there this trip. They were happy with our choice. At least until they realized what a mess we had sent them in. I think we kind of had totally forgotten about it! Thanks to all the construction and them building two new parking garages, parking was a mess! Actually Downtown Disney was a mess as well, construction walls everywhere!! It took them far longer to finally make it to Portobello than we would have thought…

First, a word on Portobello as I never skip it on visits now and had another great lunch there sans M last month. The food is wonderful. The atmosphere is usually peaceful (I do lunch there usually). The views of the lake and Saratoga and Fulton's are nice. The prices are incredibly reasonable BEFORE a 20% off AP discount. This last visit they were running a promo if you have a Levy's Guest Card (free to sign up) where if you ordered an entree, you got a free dessert (any one). Between myself and my two guests we wound up getting $32.60 off a lunch tab was about $60 total. So ... go eat there. You'll never (except on holidays) need a PS (Michael is being old-school there, this used to be Disney-speak for ADRs (advanced dining reservations) back in the day, it stands for Priority Seating) either. Second, I felt so bad for my friends. I wasn't thinking clearly. I was sleep-deprived, worried about my father and the ground was still moving, so I didn't do the smart thing and tell my friends to meet us at SS and then we'd walk over together. I should have done that and felt very bad that I didn't. They wound up parking behind the Hess station, running in because by that point they needed a restroom ASAP and then walking thru a construction wall maze to find us! Bad me!

But we still did not have any idea and just took a nice and leisurely stroll to Downtown Disney. I had looked at a map of the resort and noticed that there are quite a few pedestrian walkways that we could use instead of using the walkways that run along the street. That side of SSR was far more prettier than the street side!

We were not headed towards the bridge, which leads to the lobby building Carriage House, but instead in the opposite direction along the lake.

We got to the Congress Park area where there was a little park between the buildings:

There is also a quiet pool – it is the only true quiet pool left at SSR. And with that the only pool without a fence that is not closed down at 10pm. Even though the official hours end at 10pm, we asked and it was kind of confirmed that as long as you don’t make any noise, you are free to use this pool whenever you want.

Commentary time: late night resort swimming has been part of my WDW resort routine since the 1970s -- when I was very young. I am getting concerned with all these fences they are installing that the days of 1 a.m. dips before bed will come to an end. As the SO of an owner, that will not go down well with me. They decide that after 43 years of running the resort that they need fences so no one will drown -- BTW, waiting for some kids to go play ay River Country and wind up dead -- fine, but let Guests use the Magic bands to get in and swim late in at least a few pools at each resort.

The pool actually has a view over the water towards Downtown Disney:

We did not have a lot of time (we thought, that was before we found out about the parking problems our friends had), but I wanted to check out the new Marketplace Co-Op, which is a store for the adult crazy Disney fans like us. They are selling Disney kitchen stuff, handbags etc. Supposedly the concept of the store is that the collections keep changing.

I don't like the place. I like the idea. I just don't like the merchandise. Instead of making specific WDW items, they are almost entirely items that are sold at both WDW and DL alike. So, a glass might feature DL's Jungle Cruise on one side and the MK's Pirates on the other. It's cheap and tacky and part of the whole Disney Parks/One Disney initiative.... When M and I were at DL last May with a friend, he wound up buying a bowl that was Adventureland/tiki themed that is for sale at the Co-Op. Don't like that at all. Reminds me of walking into the MK in the late 90s and seeing Disney Store branded items for sale.

I thought these saltshakers were very funny:

We then made our way through the maze of construction walls over to Portobello and waited quite a bit until our friends arrived. I was certainly glad that I had that huge cinnamon roll earlier. I think it was past 2 pm by then.

They arrived and we had a lovely meal together chatting and getting to know each other (well, I did, Michael obviously knew them quite well).

My friend's husband, we will call him Bob since that is his name, really liked M ... and her tales of driving on the Autobahn back home. Since she has never driven with him, she doesn't know the joys of an angry Florida aggressive driver who tends to have road rage from time to time.

Since they did not know me and I wanted to make a good impression I did not want to scare them by taking pictures of my meal. So no pictures. Michael had a steak salad that he loved. I think I had spaghetti with meatballs again as that is what I had the last time and loved.

You should have taken pics. We also had some kind of appetizer that was great. Fried some kind of veggie ... eggplant?

Oh, yes, I nearly forgot the appetizer! It was breaded and fried eggplant sticks with a lovely dipping sauce! Delicious!

After a wonderful lunch they were off to drive back to Jacksonville and we had to go to the Wyndham Resort in the Hotel Plaza area right next to Downtown Disney. You may wonder why we were headed there. Quite easy, there is a Dollar car rental agency in that hotel and we were going to pick up a rental car for the rest of the week and for Michael to drive home with.

And the adventure began!

The lady at the counter there (and it was a one lady counter) was very nice. She was from Germany and had fun talking to me in German. But it all took quite long as there was first a customer in front of us and then the whole procedure for us took quite long as well. We were finally sent to the parking lot with car keys, but when we got there, Michael was really appalled with the state of the car. It was old and had lots of miles and there were other things not right.

In December of 2014, I do not expect to get a 2012 Mitsubishi Gallant with almost 70,000 miles on it, damage all over etc. from a major care rental company.

Michael did not want to keep that car, so we went back, the nice lady was very sorry and gave us a different car after some discussion. We went down and saw that that car had some damage and then we got in and saw that the tank was less than half full. Of course that was not acceptable either.

This was a 2014 Chevy Cruze that looked as though someone had thrown paint solvent on the hood. But at least it wasn't an old junker.

So, we went back again. And the lovely lady (she was still wonderful, she definitely did not have any say in which cars the corporate office send her to her small location at the Wyndham) was rather at a loss which car to give us.

She offered us an upgrade to a Mustang Convertible, which we had seen downstairs in the lot. Normally, I would have asked her to waive the extra fee -- we were on Car No. 3 after all. But it was cold that night and scheduled to get colder as the week went on. So I wouldn't have wanted a convertible. Then, there was the fact that someone hadn't negotiated some sort of pole in a parking lot and the entire right front wheel well was smashed in. So, this car shouldn't have been available to be rented either.

After some negotiation Michael agreed to take a Kia. This was definitely a very strange car! At least it was new and without any damage to it. We actually kind of liked it. But when you book a “standard” car, you don’t expect something that looks like a kiddie toy. I am sure Michael can add what specific car it was, I can’t remember stuff like that. I just know that it was bright yellow!

It was a Kia Soul. I surprisingly liked driving it because it was so small and fit anywhere easily. A friend in California owns one. He may even work for a Mouse in Burbank. ...I will add that by Car No. 2 I was VERY unhappy. Car No. 1 and No. 3 shouldn't have even been in the fleet to start with. I knew that I was going to raise some issues when I returned it. ... And when I did, a week later with M already back in Germany, they wound up overcharging me by $90. I spent 45 minutes in line with my very ill father sitting out in the garage. The woman in Orlando had put a note on saying for my troubles there that I could bring the car back with only half a tank. Considering how cheap gas had become that was all of about a $15 savings. That wasn't going to cut it, but I couldn't argue with them at the time. Long story longer, I sent an email to someone high up the food chain about the entire experience and ... he did the right thing (shockingly) refunding the entire rental car AND giving us a $75 off voucher for a future rental that we will be using this summer. ... I actually rented from them again when I went to Orlando, due to the fact my car is having 'issues' and ... sadly, I had another bad experience.

This whole adventure had taken nearly an hour now… Time which we had originally wanted to spend in a theme park. Once we had the car, we made a quick stop back at the room (I think we picked up some warmer clothes as it was getting chilly) and I think we finally arrived at DHS at nearly 6pm. It was already pretty dark outside.

When we got there, Michael was totally annoyed that they did not let him park where he wanted even when we were arriving so late. And then they sent us to a far end of the parking lot. He kept going on and on about how he does not understand that the parking lot is so full and why they are still so actively managing it. After listening to that for a few minutes I mentioned carefully that I would expected that evening Extra Magic Hours at DHS would be very popular during the Christmas season because of the Osborne Lights. Michael was very surprised. With all the stress about the car, he had totally forgotten that that was the reason we were headed to DHS that evening! And then he was able to understand the parking situation better!

We parked the car and I got to ride what must be the most dangerous ride of them all in WDW! The parking lot tram! Really, this is by far the ride with the most instructions and warnings being told you constantly and over and over. Of course that does not prevent people from totally disregarding instructions like “This tram is about to depart – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ENTER IT”.

People do this all the time. They are so dumb. They don't get that real world physics still apply at Disney. I am amazed that 87 people a day don't die from stupidity.

We made it to the park and started to explore! Originally I had made plans for us to be in Animal Kingdom on that day, but with the lunch meeting with Michael’s friends those plans did not work out. So, I changed our FP+ the day before to things at DHS.

I know that we did Tower of Terror as I have photographic evidence:

And we went on Star Tours:

most likely these were our FP+ rides.

I think it was also this evening that we went to see The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which is a show at DHS, not to be confused with the newer ride at the MK. I had never seen the show. Now I have. It is a neat show, but really nothing that I would make a point to see again. But then I am not a show person.

It's better than the MK/DCA ride. And things were working when you saw it. Last month, it was in very, very bad show shape.

When it was after normal park closing time at 8pm we made our way over to The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in the Streets of America.

This was a great strategy as it really was not very crowded there at all.

It was great ... I love the lights. They are the best reason for a Christmas season visit to WDW. I also should have appreciated the small crowd better because later in the week this was not the case.

We just hung out there and enjoyed the lights:

I got some eggnog:

At first the CM selling those did misunderstand me and gave me the one without alcohol. I was really surprised when she asked me for only 2$ (or even maybe only 1.50$) and kind of did not realize what was happening. However, Michael was happy to take over that drink –mainly for the reason that he thought that this was a real bargain for a drink at Disney!

I then got the real version for myself!

It was very good and it was cheap either $1.50 or $1.75 for a good portion.

We met up with some more friends of Michael that evening who are local. It was the friend who had the ice cream in a brioche yesterday and his girlfriend. Let’s call him Friend B and his girlfriend Friend C. Friend C arrived earlier and we walked around with her for quite some time. We went to hunt for the hidden Mickeys that are all over the lights. And then in between we stopped when the lights were dancing to just watch that spectacle.

I really loved the lights! I was not expecting that I would enjoy them so much. Pictures just don’t do them justice at all. They create such a magical atmosphere when you are there and they are all around you. It was truly beautiful. Of course I still took lots of pictures!!

Besides looking for hidden Mickeys we also were looking for the purple cat. There is always a purple cat hidden somewhere in the display. And we found it!

It was hiding in the tree!

Just before the final song started, Friend B finally appeared as well. And after it was over, he asked if we had found the purple cat. We said yes, we had and that it was such a smart place to put it up in a tree. He looked at us as if we were crazy and said that it was not in a tree, but around a corner. Well, we went and showed him the tree as we were close by. He was totally stumped as he had been there some time ago and it had been in a different location. And the next thing I know, Friend B is talking to a CM that just came out of one of the facades, who was not wearing a costume, but a name tag. The CM turned out to be one of the technicians working on the lights – actually he had been working with them ever since they first came to Disney. Friend B asked him about the cat. And the CM told us that this year the theme was the “Wandering Cat”. They had found that thanks to social media, the location of the cat had become so well known that so many people came in and made a direct beeline to the purple cat. And it was so many that they were spoiling it for the others as well as it had become so obvious. So, they had started to change the location in random intervals. He also hinted at that this night be a good night for cats wandering around theme parks…

We thought that this was really interesting! And a good example of how social media sometimes can destroy neat little things because it is no longer a surprise.

After this nice chat, we decided that we all really were in need for dinner. Friends B and C suggested a chain pizza restaurant that was serving Chicago style pizza (I am counting on Michael to provide the name). To me that sounded great as that is something that is not around in Germany.

Uno's in the Crossroads of LBV. Great food and open nightly until 2 a.m. Love their pizza. They were in South Florida when I was a kid, but pulled out of the market in the late 80s, so I only get them when traveling.

I got a small peperoni pizza:

This was really delicious!

And Michael had the Chicago pizza:

I was fascinated by that as it had the cheese underneath the tomato sauce, you can see a tiny bit of cheese towards the right end of the pizza shining through.

The place was just right outside Disney property and not far at all from SSR. I think the MK was further away than this restaurant. I really enjoyed my food there and started to enjoy vacationing at WDW with a rental car (especially since I had a driver who was very familiar with the area!).

Up Next: Boats Hate Us!

 

[Poolrat]

I thought these saltshakers were very funny:

I am sure it is no surprise to you that I own these.....

Catching up on all the adventures from the sea to the world.


I hate when transportation issues dominate the trip. And by the sounds of the next title, it is not over yet.


I love being in the world with the fall and holiday decorations. it just adds another layer of details to look at.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love it that it actually really gets you to interact with the cast members from the various countries.

That is one of the changes that they made when they changed the Kim Possible World Showcase adventure to the Agent P World Showcase adventure that I really like. Virtually every mission now has an element where you have to interact with a cast member.

The atmosphere is usually peaceful (I do lunch there usually).

Looks like lunch may be the way to go as this is completely contrary to my experience. I love the food there, but find this to be one of the noisiest restaurants at Walt Disney World. We have only ever been for dinner though.

I wanted to check out the new Marketplace Co-Op

I can't wait to check this out in September.

She was from Germany and had fun talking to me in German.

That is so funny. The same happened to us at the Thrifty location at the Doubletree near Seaworld in 2013.

We just hung out there and enjoyed the lights:

I love those lights.

At first the CM selling those did misunderstand me and gave me the one without alcohol.

I thought eggnog without alcohol would be a contradiction in terms.

It was very good and it was cheap either $1.50 or $1.75 for a good portion.

That was a bargain.

Corina

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

She was so curious to meet me that she made her husband come along for the long drive to Orlando to just meet the two of us for lunch.

Wow! The pressure is really on to make a good impression!

Second, I felt so bad for my friends. I wasn't thinking clearly. I was sleep-deprived, worried about my father and the ground was still moving, so I didn't do the smart thing and tell my friends to meet us at SS and then we'd walk over together. I should have done that and felt very bad that I didn't. They wound up parking behind the Hess station, running in because by that point they needed a restroom ASAP and then walking thru a construction wall maze to find us! Bad me!

Great strategy! Magdalene would look really good to your friends in comparison now.

Even though the official hours end at 10pm, we asked and it was kind of confirmed that as long as you don’t make any noise, you are free to use this pool whenever you want.

That's a relief. I also like the idea of using the pool when you want to.

Instead of making specific WDW items, they are almost entirely items that are sold at both WDW and DL alike.

That's annoying. I really like the specific, special merchandise better. Which is why I was so interested in WDI!

I thought these saltshakers were very funny:

I love them! But then I'd have to get them all, and who needs 4 salt shakers?

My friend's husband, we will call him Bob since that is his name, really liked M ... and her tales of driving on the Autobahn back home.

Ok, spill it: how fast do you go?

Then, there was the fact that someone hadn't negotiated some sort of pole in a parking lot and the entire right front wheel well was smashed in. So, this car shouldn't have been available to be rented either.

Holy cow. This place is ridiculous. I'm surprised they didn't offer you a rickshaw next.

This whole adventure had taken nearly an hour now… Time which we had originally wanted to spend in a theme park.

Even worse!

Of course that does not prevent people from totally disregarding instructions like “This tram is about to depart – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ENTER IT”.

People do this all the time. They are so dumb. They don't get that real world physics still apply at Disney. I am amazed that 87 people a day don't die from stupidity.

This is why we have the "Darwin Awards". People amaze me sometimes.

But then I am not a show person.

Me neither. Bring on the rides!

It was great ... I love the lights. They are the best reason for a Christmas season visit to WDW. I also should have appreciated the small crowd better because later in the week this was not the case.

Julie and I keep promising to go down for Christmas time someday...as soon as we have the funds!

I really loved the lights! I was not expecting that I would enjoy them so much. Pictures just don’t do them justice at all. They create such a magical atmosphere when you are there and they are all around you. It was truly beautiful. Of course I still took lots of pictures!!

No matter how many times I see them, they always look amazing!

Uno's in the Crossroads of LBV.

I was fascinated by that as it had the cheese underneath the tomato sauce, you can see a tiny bit of cheese towards the right end of the pizza shining through.

Mmm...I really like Uno's. We used to have one in Dover, DE until it went out of business. I always got the Chicago pizza as well!

 

[franandaj]

I'm just struggling to keep up on everyone's reports so no quotes or big comments for me. I do like the specific merchandise. Why would I spend money at WDW when I can get the same thing at DL with a bigger discount and not have to ship it home or carry it in my suitcase?

Never been to Portabello's, but we probably won't. Fran isn't big on Italian, though I am. I can't wait to see the Osborne lights! Hopefully this year! OK caught up enough for now!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Just dropping in to say Hi!

Semi caught up, but I have to admit I don't have the time or the motivation to spend enough time on the DIS anymore to stay fully up to date.

Yes, it is really hard to believe it has been almost 4 years since our shared Disney trip. Loved walking around AK with you and Katharina.......and the rest of the parks too. Great memories!

When I saw your picture of the salt/pepper trash can shakers I was going to mention no surprise that a certain someone had to have them all......but Pat already beat me to it. .....

And Mark, you also have your answer as to who needs 4 salt shakers except in this case it is 4 to complete the collection. ......and two additional ones that are actually used for salt and pepper.

Magdalene, in case I don't make it back before you leave I hope you and Katharina have a wonderful cruise!

 

[Steppesister]

Lovely, lovely update! And a lot to comment on!

Let's see.... oopsies on the mis-directions, but it's understandable that with the construction there was extra time added. I don't think it was fair to blame yourselves- we can't think of absolutely EVERYTHING when planning for ourselves, let alone others too.

I doubt I'll ever get to see the lights; going at Christmas just doesn't appeal to me right now. Maybe someday, but probably not before the Lights are thing of the past. But I do love the idea of moving the purple cat just to make it more of a treasure hunt.

Mmmmm.... pizza Chicago-style. Yummy!!

BOOOOOO for crappy car rental experiences! That is just so unacceptable if they want repeat business. With beater cars, they just aren't going to get that are they?

The resort photos are just beautiful! I love all of the little gardens and parks scattered around for sure. And I agree with you, Michael! Late night swims are part of every WDW vacation I take and I'd hate to see that option taken away with overly concerned safety mongers. Seriously, parents watch your kids and let the rest of us enjoy our vacations!

 

[Alice Royal]

I'm late to the party, but this TR is great! Your pictures of Nuremberg earlier made me miss it soooooo much--I was just in Germany for two weeks and that was definitely my favourite city.

 

[Flossbolna]

I am sorry, I promise to come back and get caught up with replies!! But I am leaving tomorrow to go to Berlin to meet up with Katharina to then fly out to Copenhagen on Friday to get on the Disney Magic and cruise to Norway!! So, there are a million things to do. But I have one more update ready to go and I thought I should put that up for everyone to enjoy while I am away!

We will hopefully come back with plenty of great pictures and lots of tales for the upcoming trip report about the Norway cruise!

 

[Flossbolna]

Boats Hate Us! - Part 1

December 8

We had big plans later in the day, but the morning started out a bit lazy. There was a good reason for that: The weather did not look good at all. It was very dark grey and rainy. It looked more like a December day back home in Germany. However, it was still a few degrees warmer than home. And it was yet not as cold as it still would get. It seemed to get gradually cooler as the week went on.

As I've said before, the coldest days of winter were this week in Orlando and two days in late February. That was our entire winter this year. I didn't mind the cold weather so much, but I did feel bad for M because, other than the cruise, the weather wasn't typical for so early in winter -- or actually late in fall.

We decided to drive over to visit the Wilderness Lodge. Since I had recently bought resale points there, it was now one of my two home resorts and Michael thought that I should at least visit my home resort, even if we did not stay there. The WL is also known for its beautiful Christmas decorations, so that was another reason to go there.

My favorite resort at WDW. I have stayed so many nights there that you don't want to ask how many. But I am VERY worried about the new DVC addition project and what it might do to the feel of the property.

I tried to capture some of the decorations, but feel like I did not really do a good job.

Our plan was to move on to the Magic Kingdom from there as we had a FP+ for the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train (7DMT for hereon) for 2:30pm. That was one of the first FP+ I grabbed when our window opened and there was never really any wiggle room when our plans suddenly changed and we suddenly had plans to be somewhere else later in the afternoon. So, we kept it and mainly planned to go to the MK just for that one FP in the early afternoon.

We were discussing our lunch options, originally thinking we would grab something in the MK, but neither of us is really fond of the counter service offerings at the MK, also it just started to rain rather heavily outside. So, we thought that we should think about getting an early lunch while we were at the WL and decided to check out Roaring Forks. From experience we knew that this is a place that gets crowded quickly. But when we got there, it was virtually empty. So, we had an early lunch there!

What's amazing is that the entire indoor seating area used to be in the main room where they prepare and serve your food. The current dining room was the original arcade for the resort until the Villas were added in 2000 and they needed to expand. WL History Lesson For Today.

At least Michael had something to eat there:

This is turkey sandwich and it does not look like the thing I would pick there. I have no idea what I had (or even if we maybe shared that sandwich?).

I think we did. I also think I may have made a small salad with the fixing bar lettuce, tomato and onion too!

While we were sitting there it was still raining and more and more people came in, obviously from the boat dock and were pretty soaked. We just hit Roaring Forks at the right time before it became crazy and were able to leave while everyone else was fighting for places to sit.

We went to the bus stop (not fun to be in a boat in the rain) and made our way over to the Magic Kingdom.

We still had some time before our FP+ for the Mine Train and went on a ride on Pirates. The standby line was supposed to be 30 minutes long and we were rather appalled. That is what FP+ does for Pirates – on a rainy December day the standby is suddenly 30 minutes! However, a dry and warm line was rather appealing, so we got in line. It took less than 30 minutes, partly because they had found a way to funnel people from the standby line over to the other side that normally is now exclusively for FP+ as the FP+ people all seemed to have decided to ditch their planes because of the rain.

Michael asked for us to sit in the front row and while we waited for that we noticed that in the boats they were not loading the last row. Pirates has recently gotten new boats and they do have some issues. One is that now the first row can get quite a big splash on the hills. The other is that the last row is kind of in the curve that then forms the aft of the ship. Our immediate thought was that this tempts people to put their hands into the water. Just a short time before our trip there was an incident where someone did that and then had to go to hospital to get his fingers reattached to his hand. Michael asked the CM at the loading station whether the empty last row had anything to do with people losing fingers. And the CM more or less confirmed it.

Actually, he lost just the tip of one finger. I'm not sure whether they glued it back on at the hospital or not. Again, see my comment above about stupid people.

We did not lose any fingers! And did not get too wet (we were already pretty wet from the rain anyway…). Afterwards we decided to give the new “A Pirate's Adventure ~ Treasures of the Seven Seas” (that’s the official name on the website). It is kind of a theme park version of the Midship Detective Agency game that we played on the Fantasy. Just not with pictures, but with other interesting stuff. You sign up for it in a little hut along the walkway between Pirates and Frontierland. There you get a map with the first clue. At every station there happens something neat and you get your next clue. It is all in Adventureland and really a neat addition! It definitely made me look at stuff that I had never noticed before!

It's actually a fun addition that doesn't distract or detract from the environment you are in like that noisy SotK game. It really is worth your time -- adults and kids can enjoy it.

I also took a picture of the Jingle Cruise entrance:

We would return there later. Since the weather was so horrible, we decided to pick up a warm drink from Starbucks on Main Street. On the way there we walked past the hub where they were filming that day for the Christmas Parade that is televised on Christmas Day. I really was not in the mood for picture taking that day due to the weather, but Michael said that I should take a picture of the lovely Frozen stage they had but infront of the castle. I declined at first, but then after a few steps thought of you my dear readers and turned around. So here it is a picture of a rainy December day in Florida at the MK during Christmas parade filming:

I got another picture later on:

There is even a tiny crowd hoping for exciting things to happen there…

We arrived at the Starbucks which was packed. But they were extremely efficient in there! I was so impressed. It was about 6 times as large as any Starbucks I have seen here in Germany and there were a million people working behind the counter!

I was wondering today when I was at my local Starbucks and paying 53 cents for a venti iced coffee refill if they did that at the MK since Starbucks runs the unit.

Then it was time for the 7DMT FP+!

I was very happy that we had the FP+, the line was 120 minutes or so. With the FP+ we still had a little wait. The attraction just does not have a good capacity.

We ended up in the last car which Michael said was good as we would be getting more swing action. The cars here can swing from side to side and Michael even taught me, how you can keep the car swinging longer, if you make it swing. The people in front of us picked that up quickly and helped us swing, too!

The ride is really cute! I thought the ride sensation in itself was a lot of fun. Milder than BTMRR, but because of the swing not as boring as a true kiddie coaster. The one show scene they added is very nice. And then there is a fun little bonus while you are waiting for your train to go into the station for unload, but I would not call this a real show scene.[I would ... I'll give them that.] However, the ride is over far too quickly. In some way it reminded me of Crush’s Coaster in Paris. Both rides leave you wondering why they left it at that and did not go the extra mile that you expect from Disney. Especially if you see what they did in Cars Land in California, it seems unfair that the Magic Kingdom did not get something of equal quality. And if you think it was a space issue – that is not true. There exist blue prints of a far longer layout with two real show scenes, but that was cut at some point. Why may always stay a mystery, but one could ponder that they need to cut the money for the My Magic + cost overruns from somewhere…

And then it was time to head out of the park, but not with finally trying to get at least a few pictures. I guess either the coffee or the Mine Train did help to get me into a bit of a more forgiving mood.

Our destination was Fort Wilderness as we were meeting even more of Michael’s friends there for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. I was really excited about this! We had met Friend E and Friend J on our last trip and they are lovely people! Last time we all did the Wild Africa Trek together and thanks to them working for Disney, they got us a nice discount. When Michael told Friend E about our trips, she asked if we were interested in doing the Hoop Dee Doo Revue with them as they were able to get discounts for it and thought it would be more fun to do it as a group instead of just the two of them going on their own. I thought it was a fantastic idea and had even already mentioned before to Michael that this was one of the things I had never done at WDW and would love to do. The discount was only available for either the last show or the first show.

I was under the belief that the discount was 20% off, but apparently they've been trying to fill shows so the discount was 50% off. That makes it a BARGAIN! I was thrilled to hear that.

We decided to go with the first show as we thought that it would be fun to return to the MK afterwards with our friends and do some rides. They were able to get FP+ times that overlapped with ours. From Friend E I also learned that it is easier to not search FP+ times for a large group, but instead go with smaller groups, or even individuals and just get times that overlap. So, for example, you are searching for a group of 4 but get the message that nothing is available. It might very well be that you can get 2 for 4:10pm-5:10pm and then 2 for 4:30pm-5:30pm. This gives the whole group a window of 40 minutes when they can ride together.

So, we headed to the boat dock to go to Fort Wilderness. We got to the boat dock about 55 minutes before the show started and thought we had plenty of time considering that there is a dedicated boat to Fort Wilderness and that the venue was really close to the Fort Wilderness boat dock. When we got to the dock there was already a small group of people waiting for the Fort Wilderness boat and we got in line and waited. At some point I took a picture of a bird flying by:

And we continued to wait. And waited. At some point there was a boat for the Wilderness Lodge that was being loaded. And we waited some more. We were starting to get worried, but there really was no alternative way to get there. So we kept waiting. While we waited the line grew and grew. So did the line over at the other side of the dock for the Wilderness Lodge. Finally there was a boat! It docked, it let everyone get off the boat and then the boat guy closed the boat and went inside to come out with a different colored flag. He then proceeded to exchange the flag. Those boats have different flags indicating the route they are on. My idea was that this meant that the boat would now go to both the WL and FW. And I was right. The boat guy first went all the way over to the other side of the dock to open the line of WL people (which was pretty long by then again). And then he slowly came to open up our line. There were people around us who were obviously as unpleased about that as us. When we walked onto the boat past the boat guy, Michael asked him whether we would be stopping at FW first as we were going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo show and that would be starting soon. I did not really hear the answer very clearly, but it was something rather condescending and it came across as if he really couldn’t care less about whether we were going to be on time or not.

He was an idiot. Nicest thing I can say. And the 20-minute wait was more like 43 minutes. Then, he changes flags so instead of a FW/MK boat, it became a WL/FW/MK boat. Then, he loads all the WL Guests even though they had had a boat there in between and it meant most of the FW guests wound up standing. When I told him we had a HDD ressie he was non-plussed and gave me a bit of attitude. I did complain about him the next day. And the entire incident, which I felt was unacceptable. ... For some reason, M and I don't have problems with buses and monorails like others, but we do with boats!

Once we got underway there was an announcement that this boat would now go to WL and the continue to FW. When this was announced there were quite a few boo shouts from people around us. It really was pretty stupid. I think we waited well over half an hour for a boat to show up – and when we got there there clearly had not been a boat for quite some time. When you walk to the boat dock, you can see if there is a boat that just pulled away.

Well, we got to FW eventually and made our way towards Pioneer Hall where the show was taking place.

It was really bizarre how we seem to keep having troubles with boats in that area when we are together. Last year we tried to take a boat from WL to the Contemporary. That boat trip took nearly 40 minutes because the boat captain decided to turn around when we nearly where at the Contemporary and instead go to FW where he managed to run boat on ground. I already saw us having to swim to the beach! We did not, but it was just crazy.

I had to take some pictures along the way.

And then we were there!

We arrived literally a few minutes before they started seating guests. Michael was still totally angry about the whole situation, but tried his best to calm down as much as he could as he did not want to spoil my first Hoop-Dee-Doo-Revue with his sour mood.

I was afraid the time on the ticket was when the show started, not when they began letting folks in (as I hadn't seen the show since the 1980s!) I was very concerned and couldn't reach my friends because my phone wasn't acting normally on the boat over. But we made it with like 3-4 minutes to spare and then had a wait to get in anyway. But it took what was a relaxing time and made it stressful and I just wasn't in the mood for it.

Our discounted tickets were category 3, which usually is up on the balcony. But obviously the show was not sold out and they had no one sitting up on the balcony. We ended up at a table towards the back of the main floor. Looking at a chart with the different categories, I think we ended up in the back of category 1 even!

We were shown to our table, this was our view:

The tables were nicely set and there already was cornbread, butter and a salad on the table.

Our waiter soon appeared and gave us the rather basic menu. The meal is all you can eat and includes fried chicken, seasonal vegetables, cowboy beans, smoked barbecue ribs, mashed potatoes and for dessert strawberry shortcake. The menu lists also all the included drinks (soft drinks, iced tea, apple juice, milk, hot tea and coffee as well as a white, a rose and a red wine, Bud Light or Yuengling or Sangria). There are also vegetarian options and since Michael has a thing with meat on the bone (meaning that he usually does not eat it), he ordered the vegetarian entrée.

Our server then told us to get started with the salad and the cornbread. The salad was nice, but the cornbread was sooooooooo good!! I love cornbread. I assume that it is full of calories, so I make no attempts of trying to make my own. But I love eating it on vacation in the US. And this one was definitely one of the better ones I had!

Then the show started and it was a lot of fun! This is a bad picture of some of the dancing:

By now Michael had enjoyed some cornbread and some sangria and was starting to not have to work so hard on not appearing too angry.

Then there was a break in the show and dinner was served. I think we had gotten some more cornbread in the meantime…

This is the chicken:

The seasonal vegetables seems to have been corn:

Because you have never seen mashed potatoes, I too a picture of them:

I only remembered to take a picture of the ribs once I had transferred a big piece to my plate:

This was Michael’s vegetarian entrée:

This is not an individual plate, but a serving bowl. That serving could easily fed three people.

[Yes, I felt bad. It was a delicious pasta primavera in a tomato sauce. The serving was enough for four people, but only I had any!]

We started to eat and Michael, while he loved his pasta, looked at the chicken and decided to try some because he remembered that he loved it in the past. And he did not regret that decision. He still loved the chicken!

I still have fantasies about that chicken. I think it is the second best fried chicken I've ever had. Best by a smidge would be the Wicked Spoon Buffet at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

And from then on, he was his usually mellow self and the anger of the boat guy was distant memory – at least it did no longer affect his mood. I need to remember that for the future: If he gets really angry, I need to get Hoop-Dee-Doo fried chicken and the world is great again!

So did the rest of us. The food was amazingly good. Everything was really tasty and the chicken was especially outstanding! It was even better than the corn bread!! And I am not even a chicken fan and was thinking before that I would be all over the ribs. Those were very good as well, but they could not compete with the chicken. All four of us were amazed with the quality of the food!

I ate and loved everything except the ribs. Just not a ribs guy. If there was a zombie apocalypse and my choices were ribs or my neighbors, I'd probably have the ribs ... but I'd have to think about it for a bit. BBQ Bob anyone? That was a Walking Dead reference. If you don't watch, then nothing to laugh at here.

Our server was also really great. At first I thought he was a bit abrupt and not the usual overwhelming friendliness that I was expecting from servers in the US. But then we realized that it was part of the fun of the experience. He had a very dry sense of humour and he really was on top of things and brought us more and more food.

While we were still wondering whether we would be able to eat more chicken our whether that would result in unpleasant results, the show continued and I got some more not so great pictures of it:

And then our dessert was being announced!!

Yes, we tried to stuff even more food into us! It was a good thing that we had been in training for this event for one week during our cruise! The shortcake was really good, too, even if I would have preferred fresh strawberries.

And then the show ended with a final act where we could make some noise, too.

Continued in Part 2

 

[Flossbolna]

Boats Hate Us - Part 2

We got out of Pioneer Hall and it was already nearly dark.

All four of us agreed that this was a wonderful experience! And even though our friends got it with a discount, I feel that this is an experience that I would be willing to pay the full price for and not feel like I have been overpaid too much. The show was great fun, the food was delicious and the surroundings at FW were beautiful. I only was sad that we did have such a hectic start!

I should also add that my/our friends decided to pay for us as a holiday gift, so it went from full price to 20% off to half off to FREE. And they were (and are) really wonderful! I think we decided that it will be a must-do for us all together on future visits. If Disney doesn't replace it with more timeshares and a pin shack.

Yes, that was very nice of them and totally unexpected!

Michael often bemoans how WDW has changed over the years and that it no longer is the “Vacation Kingdom”, that people don’t take the time to enjoy all the little experience that a true resort offers. With four parks, limited vacation time and the prices Disney charges I understand that many visitors are in a mindset to be in the park from rope drop to fireworks without any break and only see their room for 5 hours a night when they sleep. But I also understand how WDW used to be so much more than running from attraction to attraction and how some of that has been lost over time. This experience in the Pioneer Hall feels like one of the few things still left intact from the times of the “Vacation Kingdom”.

Yes, it is.. FW and Pioneer Hall are part of MY WDW. Much like RC was before they closed it in 2001 and left it to rot in the swamps for the last 14 years. There's very little of the WDW I grew up with in the 70s-90s left and it saddens me greatly because what they've taken away hasn't, for the most part, been replaced by bigger and better things.

We went to the General Store, the resort store of FW to browse there. They had some neat resort specific merchandise there and it it was a really nice store:

We decided to not take our chances with the FW boat and instead walked over to the WL. This also helped with letting the huge meal that we just ate settle a bit. It was a lovely walk, by then the weather was no longer so rainy and the air felt really fresh.

I got some more pictures at the WL:

And then we ventured back to the MK. We had FP+ for Peter Pan and for BTMRR and I am sure that used them. Also, I made all of us go on Dumbo together!

You seem to make me go on Dumbo every time I am with you!

I think we also went on the Little Mermaid ride, which kind of seemed to have lost its long lines since the 7DMT has opened. We never saw a line for more than 10 minutes. I remember that we literally walked onto it!

I got a picture of Gaston’s fountain:

Our friends left a little earlier than we did. We then went on the Jingle Cruise (the Jungle Cruise with a cheesy and corny Christmas overlay). I thought it was absolutely hilarious and a truly fun addition.

I took some pictures in line:

None during the ride, but we decided that we wanted to do it again the next day during daylight – and I am sure I have pictures from then.

It was a lot of fun. WDW doesn't get holiday overlays like the three in Tokyo or the two in Anaheim. The one they used to have that I loved -- the Country Bear Christmas Jamboree -- stopped being installed about a decade ago. I guess it cost too much (I heard the price was a whole $10,000 to swap out shows.) I actually really liked the Jingle Cruise. It's no Haunted Mansion Holiday, but it's a fun enhancement.

Afterwards we got a call from Friend C (whom we had met the day before at the Osborne Lights) that she was at the MK and if we wanted to meet up. So, we told her to meet us at the Jingle Cruise.

We started playing with the FP+ kiosk that are there. By then we had used up all of our three FP+ and we thought we might be able to get an additional FP+ for something. We checked and found out that we could get some for Space Mountain, so we got them. We figured that Friend C could just arrange to get one herself. Well, this lead to total chaos, as she did not have any FP+ yet and the system insisted on assigning her two FP+, Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain, and would not let her choose the window for each at all. With the help of a CM she then had to install the app on her phone, log into her My Disney Experience account, cancel the Buzz Lightyear FP+ and then move the Space Mountain FP+… If we had known how complicated it would be, we would never had started the whole process.

It seemed like we spent a good 20 minutes down on the Jungl...I mean Jingle Cruise dock area where they have the FP+ kiosks and it really was ridiculous as it didn't solve a single thing.

By now it was also nearly time for Wishes. We watched it from behind the castle and that worked quite well. The fireworks on the castle, which were kind of on one side of us, and the big fireworks, which were on our other side, never happened at the same time, so if you stood sideways, you could watch left than right and back. It worked quite well. And it was totally uncrowded.

We did go on Space Mountain as our last ride of the day and I think we really did not need a FP+ as it was a walk on anyway…

And then it was off to bed after a long day!

Up Next: A Very Merry Party

 

[glennbo123]

First, a word on Portobello as I never skip it on visits now and had another great lunch there sans M last month. The food is wonderful. The atmosphere is usually peaceful (I do lunch there usually). The views of the lake and Saratoga and Fulton's are nice. The prices are incredibly reasonable BEFORE a 20% off AP discount. This last visit they were running a promo if you have a Levy's Guest Card (free to sign up) where if you ordered an entree, you got a free dessert (any one). Between myself and my two guests we wound up getting $32.60 off a lunch tab was about $60 total. So ... go eat there.

This sounds great, but at this point in my planning I don't think that I'll be able to squeeze it in. I'll keep it in mind though!

I thought these saltshakers were very funny:

Those are cool!

Since they did not know me and I wanted to make a good impression I did not want to scare them by taking pictures of my meal. So no pictures.

I completely understand.

Besides looking for hidden Mickeys we also were looking for the purple cat. There is always a purple cat hidden somewhere in the display. And we found it!

It was hiding in the tree!

Just before the final song started, Friend B finally appeared as well. And after it was over, he asked if we had found the purple cat. We said yes, we had and that it was such a smart place to put it up in a tree. He looked at us as if we were crazy and said that it was not in a tree, but around a corner. Well, we went and showed him the tree as we were close by. He was totally stumped as he had been there some time ago and it had been in a different location. And the next thing I know, Friend B is talking to a CM that just came out of one of the facades, who was not wearing a costume, but a name tag. The CM turned out to be one of the technicians working on the lights – actually he had been working with them ever since they first came to Disney. Friend B asked him about the cat. And the CM told us that this year the theme was the “Wandering Cat”. They had found that thanks to social media, the location of the cat had become so well known that so many people came in and made a direct beeline to the purple cat. And it was so many that they were spoiling it for the others as well as it had become so obvious. So, they had started to change the location in random intervals. He also hinted at that this night be a good night for cats wandering around theme parks…

That is so interesting. I didn't know about that.

The food was amazingly good. Everything was really tasty and the chicken was especially outstanding! It was even better than the corn bread!! And I am not even a chicken fan and was thinking before that I would be all over the ribs. Those were very good as well, but they could not compete with the chicken. All four of us were amazed with the quality of the food!

I remember enjoying the food there also. And you did a much better job of taking pictures -- I must've been hungry because I didn't realize until much later that I had forgotten to take any of the food. Epic Dis-trip-reporter fail.

I tried to capture some of the decorations, but feel like I did not really do a good job.

This picture was from earlier in the day.

I got some more pictures at the WL:

And this one was from the evening. Somebody better check on that guy, sitting in front of the tree,...he may be dead.

Oooo, I like this picture! Nice one!!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

First, I have really enjoyed reading your entire TR! We still have 225 days until our cruise next year, but reading this made me even more excited!

In regards to Hoop de Doo-- my DH and I went last September during our WDW honeymoon trip and had an absolute blast! I have seen it 4 or 5 times over the course of 30+ WDW visits, and it has never disappointed. DH loved it and requested we go again the next time we go to Disney. The food was great (omg cornbread and fried chicken) and the cast was so talented. It reminds of my first trip in '89 as a 5 year old, so I love the nostalgia of it, too.

 

[dolphingirl47]

But I am leaving tomorrow to go to Berlin to meet up with Katharina to then fly out to Copenhagen on Friday to get on the Disney Magic and cruise to Norway!!

I hope you are having a magical trip. I can't wait to read all about it.

I tried to capture some of the decorations, but feel like I did not really do a good job.

I think they have come out great. I think this is where it becomes clear that Wilderness Lodge and Grand Californian are sister resorts. They both have difficult lighting for taking photos.

That was one of the first FP+ I grabbed when our window opened and there was never really any wiggle room when our plans suddenly changed and we suddenly had plans to be somewhere else later in the afternoon.

I can understand this. This is my one must do Fastpass for October.

Michael asked the CM at the loading station whether the empty last row had anything to do with people losing fingers. And the CM more or less confirmed it.

I wondered about this at Disneyland. I don't remember the last row being empty on previous trips.

There you get a map with the first clue. At every station there happens something neat and you get your next clue. It is all in Adventureland and really a neat addition! It definitely made me look at stuff that I had never noticed before!

This sounds really good. I have to try this out in October. Roughly how long does it take?

Milder than BTMRR, but because of the swing not as boring as a true kiddie coaster.

That is good to know. I am not very good on coasters, but I am OK with BTMRR.

In some way it reminded me of Crush’s Coaster in Paris.

This on the other hand scared me silly. It felt to me like it was going on for hours.

It was really bizarre how we seem to keep having troubles with boats in that area when we are together. Last year we tried to take a boat from WL to the Contemporary. That boat trip took nearly 40 minutes because the boat captain decided to turn around when we nearly where at the Contemporary and instead go to FW where he managed to run boat on ground. I already saw us having to swim to the beach! We did not, but it was just crazy.

Remind me to never take a boat trip with you. Joking aside, I would have been very annoyed as well and there was no need for the skipper to give you attitude.

This is so beautiful.

There are also vegetarian options and since Michael has a thing with meat on the bone (meaning that he usually does not eat it), he ordered the vegetarian entrée.

I am glad I am not the only person who does not do meat on the bone.

I think we also went on the Little Mermaid ride, which kind of seemed to have lost its long lines since the 7DMT has opened. We never saw a line for more than 10 minutes. I remember that we literally walked onto it!

That is good to know. It always felt strange that the version in California is pretty much always a walk on and yet this could draw lines of an hour plus.

Our friends left a little earlier than we did. We then went on the Jingle Cruise (the Jungle Cruise with a cheesy and corny Christmas overlay). I thought it was absolutely hilarious and a truly fun addition.

I am glad they improved it. I did this in 2013 and hated it. It felt half-heartedly cobbled together. I then did it at Disneyland last year and loved it and wondered if it was a genuine improvement or just the difference between DL and WDW.

WDW doesn't get holiday overlays like the three in Tokyo or the two in Anaheim.

Anaheim has three now: Haunted Mansion Holiday, It's A Small World Holiday and Jingle Cruise.

Corinna

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

But I am leaving tomorrow to go to Berlin to meet up with Katharina to then fly out to Copenhagen on Friday to get on the Disney Magic and cruise to Norway!!

Have a great time! I can't wait to see the photos and report!

We decided to drive over to visit the Wilderness Lodge. Since I had recently bought resale points there, it was now one of my two home resorts and Michael thought that I should at least visit my home resort, even if we did not stay there. The WL is also known for its beautiful Christmas decorations, so that was another reason to go there.

My favorite resort at WDW.

You both have very good taste in resorts.

What's amazing is that the entire indoor seating area used to be in the main room where they prepare and serve your food. The current dining room was the original arcade for the resort until the Villas were added in 2000 and they needed to expand. WL History Lesson For Today.

I didn't know that. You learn something new every day.

While we were sitting there it was still raining and more and more people came in, obviously from the boat dock and were pretty soaked. We just hit Roaring Forks at the right time before it became crazy and were able to leave while everyone else was fighting for places to sit.

Isn't it great when the timing works out in your favor?

Pirates has recently gotten new boats and they do have some issues. One is that now the first row can get quite a big splash on the hills.

I remember experiencing that on my last ride! I got a lot wetter than I was expecting!

There you get a map with the first clue. At every station there happens something neat and you get your next clue. It is all in Adventureland and really a neat addition! It definitely made me look at stuff that I had never noticed before!

Sounds fun! I'm sure my kids will be on board.

I declined at first, but then after a few steps thought of you my dear readers and turned around. So here it is a picture of a rainy December day in Florida at the MK during Christmas parade filming:

All I can think is, wow, that's really dreary.

I was very happy that we had the FP+, the line was 120 minutes or so.

The ride is really cute! I thought the ride sensation in itself was a lot of fun.

Glad you enjoyed it!

However, the ride is over far too quickly. In some way it reminded me of Crush’s Coaster in Paris. Both rides leave you wondering why they left it at that and did not go the extra mile that you expect from Disney. Especially if you see what they did in Cars Land in California, it seems unfair that the Magic Kingdom did not get something of equal quality. And if you think it was a space issue – that is not true.

I've heard that same complaint about the ride length several times now.

I was under the belief that the discount was 20% off, but apparently they've been trying to fill shows so the discount was 50% off. That makes it a BARGAIN! I was thrilled to hear that.

50% off anything at WDW is unheard of!

Those boats have different flags indicating the route they are on. My idea was that this meant that the boat would now go to both the WL and FW. And I was right. The boat guy first went all the way over to the other side of the dock to open the line of WL people (which was pretty long by then again). And then he slowly came to open up our line.

I did not really hear the answer very clearly, but it was something rather condescending and it came across as if he really couldn’t care less about whether we were going to be on time or not.

Stay classy, buddy. Not exactly excellent customer service.

Michael has a thing with meat on the bone (meaning that he usually does not eat it)

I can understand about ribs--I always feel like they require a lot of work and a lot of mess for very little meat. But I do love fried chicken.

I love cornbread. I assume that it is full of calories, so I make no attempts of trying to make my own.

And calories don't count on vacation!

This is the chicken:

Looks fantastic!

Because you have never seen mashed potatoes, I too a picture of them:

I need to remember that for the future: If he gets really angry, I need to get Hoop-Dee-Doo fried chicken and the world is great again!

Yes! Now you have the antidote for Angry Boat Michael.

The show was great fun, the food was delicious and the surroundings at FW were beautiful.

Excellent! I need to see this show again sometime. It's been a long time.

I should also add that my/our friends decided to pay for us as a holiday gift, so it went from full price to 20% off to half off to FREE.

WOW!

But I also understand how WDW used to be so much more than running from attraction to attraction and how some of that has been lost over time. This experience in the Pioneer Hall feels like one of the few things still left intact from the times of the “Vacation Kingdom”.

I agree. I used to stay in Fort Wilderness with my family all the time and there is so much to do there that feels like a nice bonus to the parks. I hope they never change that.

Also, I made all of us go on Dumbo together!

But I thought you were all friends!

 

[Poolrat]

I know you are having a fabulous time on your cruise in Norway!!!!

Hoop-de Doo is still on my list. I think a group would make it more fun. Sorry about the boat- I do know they change the route every now and again but it is usually weather or someone not showing up for their shift. We missed quite a bit of the Halloween party due to a boat issue from WL. A storm caused one in Aug a couple of times. We opted for a bus after that.

I can do the chicken and for me it might be a beer night. Would have to check on the ribs and the veggie.

It is on the list but when is the question....

 

[franandaj]

Since I had recently bought resale points there, it was now one of my two home resorts and Michael thought that I should at least visit my home resort, even if we did not stay there.

Congratulations! I've only used my points there once, but we really enjoyed it!

What's amazing is that the entire indoor seating area used to be in the main room where they prepare and serve your food. The current dining room was the original arcade for the resort until the Villas were added in 2000 and they needed to expand. WL History Lesson For Today.

Hmmmm, I haven't been there since 1997. I'll have to check it out next year when we stay there again.

I think we did. I also think I may have made a small salad with the fixing bar lettuce, tomato and onion too!

Fran likes to do that too. She makes Thousand Island with Ketchup, Mayo and relish for a dressing.

The standby line was supposed to be 30 minutes long and we were rather appalled. That is what FP+ does for Pirates – on a rainy December day the standby is suddenly 30 minutes! However, a dry and warm line was rather appealing, so we got in line.

I can understand that appeal!

Michael asked the CM at the loading station whether the empty last row had anything to do with people losing fingers. And the CM more or less confirmed it.

Afterwards we decided to give the new “A Pirate's Adventure ~ Treasures of the Seven Seas” (that’s the official name on the website). It is kind of a theme park version of the Midship Detective Agency game that we played on the Fantasy.

So do they not have Sorcerer's of Magic Kingdom in Adventureland any more? We did the Main Street Adventure and our next adventure was supposed to start in Adventureland.

Michael said that I should take a picture of the lovely Frozen stage they had but infront of the castle. I declined at first, but then after a few steps thought of you my dear readers and turned around. So here it is a picture of a rainy December day in Florida at the MK during Christmas parade filming:

That looks rather dreary for the Christmas Parade did they really film it that day because I don't remember it being rainy on the broadcast.

I was very happy that we had the FP+, the line was 120 minutes or so. With the FP+ we still had a little wait. The attraction just does not have a good capacity.

Yikes! I wouldn't wait more than 20 minutes for that ride.

From Friend E I also learned that it is easier to not search FP+ times for a large group, but instead go with smaller groups, or even individuals and just get times that overlap. So, for example, you are searching for a group of 4 but get the message that nothing is available. It might very well be that you can get 2 for 4:10pm-5:10pm and then 2 for 4:30pm-5:30pm. This gives the whole group a window of 40 minutes when they can ride together.

This is good information. Rarely are we more than a party of 2 but hopefully next Spring, there will be four of us.

Then, he changes flags so instead of a FW/MK boat, it became a WL/FW/MK boat. Then, he loads all the WL Guests even though they had had a boat there in between and it meant most of the FW guests wound up standing. When I told him we had a HDD ressie he was non-plussed and gave me a bit of attitude.

This is just not right.

That boat trip took nearly 40 minutes because the boat captain decided to turn around when we nearly where at the Contemporary and instead go to FW where he managed to run boat on ground.

This sounds like Andy's report, but I'm not sure if you're following that one. Scary that the boats run aground or crash into things that often!

We were shown to our table, this was our view:

Nice!

Our waiter soon appeared and gave us the rather basic menu. The meal is all you can eat and includes fried chicken, seasonal vegetables, cowboy beans, smoked barbecue ribs, mashed potatoes and for dessert strawberry shortcake. The menu lists also all the included drinks (soft drinks, iced tea, apple juice, milk, hot tea and coffee as well as a white, a rose and a red wine, Bud Light or Yuengling or Sangria).

Thanks for the pictures! It looks delicious. We are going to eat here next April/May trip and it is making me excited to see the show and eat there.

All four of us agreed that this was a wonderful experience! And even though our friends got it with a discount, I feel that this is an experience that I would be willing to pay the full price for and not feel like I have been overpaid too much. The show was great fun, the food was delicious and the surroundings at FW were beautiful. I only was sad that we did have such a hectic start!

Even more making me look forward to it!

I hope you had a great time on the cruise with Katharina, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip to Arendelle!