5, 4, 3, 2, FUN! 02/28 - 03/04 Disneyland Trip Report *Completed 4/18*

[mindylee847]

Wow! I was stressing because we really wanted to try BB but it's closed when we're visiting - not stressing anymore! Thank you for that!! Glad you managed to get a place to watch the parade - and a BB-8 cup. Wicked cute. From what I've been reading, I think a lot of folks have been having trouble with that reserved parade area and its seemingly odd policies. Hopefully they'll make it work better soon! Glad you didn't let it spoil your evening. Thanks again for your report and all the great pictures!

So glad my review helped! I feel like Blue Bayou is something you should at least do once - but not with the package and definitely insist upon a water table. Had that been the way we had done it, I feel like I would have had a much more enjoyable experience. I just didn't want to "waste time" waiting for a water view and with the way the CM was at check-in, I didn't feel it was worth "bothering" her about it.

Sorry that the entire Blue Bayou dining package seemed a bust. I will be prepared to do the hour and half sitting. I will probably feel like I need a break. Love the BB-8 sipper cup.

Yeah, my legs were killing me! I think that's why I was so upset when they told me to go through the stores again! I just wanted to sit down on this totally empty concrete curb that looked so amazing. Next time I'll definitely grab my dinner from an over the counter spot and park my butt down and wait. I think that would have been a lot more fun and relaxed. People watching can be great!

I am envious of your trip. My last trip in 2013 my wife and I did the World of Color package at Carthay Circle. The Prime seating really wasn't worth it. The food was good but I wouldn't do that again. You are a trooper. It can be really hard to deal with bad management, ill tempered guests, etc. when you know you are paying good money for it. But you handled yourself well. I can't wait to hear more about your trip and your take on the Easter egg hunt. I've heard it is okay.

Thank you for your kind words! I've worked in customer service before and I definitely would not want to try to handle so many guests a day like these wonderful people do. There's no reason to take it out on them or even a cranky guy next to you on a curb who won't shut his own mouth.

We were really considering Carthay Circle for our package. I'm glad we decided to try out Wine Country Trattoria. The veggie option looked better there and seeing some of the reviews and the outdoor seating, I was sold. Being in Wisconsin doesn't allow for much patio time in late February (usually)!

Thanks for continuing a great TR!! I'm loving seeing all the detail you include, and you've reaffirmed my plan to NOT do PTN dining packages...I'm not sure on WOC, I'm really trying to decide if the special viewing area is worth food I might not care about LOL! I love your BB-8 cup, my problem is at least 3 of my 5 kids will want one if I get it and bring it home haha! I'm hoping your CM encounters became a little more bearable on the rest of your trip, sounds like you had a couple of bummer experiences in that department!

Thank you! I'm so glad my trip report is helping so many people and that you are enjoying it. Totally get what you're saying about the BB-8 cup! They were around $11 I think so it's not a cheap investment if you have to get at least 4 of them (three for the kids and obviously one for yourself)! I use him as my night time water so every morning I wake up to an adorable cup! It's perfect.

As far as CM encounters go, don't worry - I've got a great one coming for ya on our next day!

I'm sorry to hear your experience at Blue Bayou wasn't a good one

Wow, the reserved area sounds so chaotic! I'm very surprised to hear this and there are definitely a lot flaws that they need to work out!

I'm glad you enjoyed the parade though, and the fireworks the second time around!

Yeah, I'm hoping they get enough feedback and change the way they are "loading" people into that reserved area. It really was just such a mess. I don't know why you couldn't just start sitting there and have a few CMs checking tickets as you get in... maybe they're worried it'd be too complicated or people would sneak in.

 

[mindylee847]

Day 4 - Part 1: The Hunt

Another morning at the Disneyland Hotel meant breakfast for our second time at Steakhouse 55!

For Mike's breakfast, I suggested he try the salmon entree since I ate his salmon the night before.

Smoked Salmon and Bagel - dill cream cheese and traditional accompaniment

This also came with a white toasted bagel. He didn't really care too much for this dish. The cream cheese was too hard and it just wasn't as good as the Huevos Rancheros - which is what I had this morning. I didn't take another picture of it, but it's in a previous post if you need to see it again.

This morning the servers recognized us from the day before and we told them we'd be back again the rest of the week. I also made the mistake of accidentally dropping my water glass when it was full. I sometimes do that since I have some nerve problems and what not so I was pretty embarrassed. They ran over with a fresh glass and napkins and were so kind about my spill. Top notch service here. I really miss it so much!

After that, we went to our gift shop to purchase the Downtown Disney Easter Egg map! The CM mentioned that at World of Disney we should be able to buy the California Adventure map - I didn't really believe her but I figured I'd ask there.

We were going to do this map after doing both parks and purchasing all of the Starbucks mugs, but while we were heading towards the parks we started to notice a lot of the eggs. We had some time so we decided to see if we could complete the map before World of Disney opened at 9 to pick up our eggs and supposedly the next map! I won't post pictures of the egg locations except for one/two pretty obvious ones, but DTD only made us go into the courtyard of Grand Californian and there was one other slightly tricky egg.

We completed our map and had about 5 minutes until World of Disney opened so we got in line to collect our first two prizes! Here we picked up Stitch and Cheshire Cat. I'll have a picture at the end of all of our eggs!

Of course, like I thought, there was no California Adventure map for sale here. So we went through security, got into the park for the magic hour, and picked up a map from Oswald's.

We wanted to pick up our prize eggs right away, but the shops didn't open until 9:30. So we spotted all the eggs along the way to our first ride of the day!

This was literally a walk on. With everyone being in Carsland, this area was completely deserted. We almost had the elevator to ourselves! This is my favorite ride so I was really excited to get on so quickly.

We headed back up towards the store to grab our next two prize eggs - Woody and Jessie. We decided to make our way quick through Carsland to find those eggs and head towards Paradise Pier.

Here's one spoiler picture: but it's too cute and also a very obvious egg. I had spotted it on Monday while we were there.

We took some pictures on our way to the next ride we wanted to hit before the crowds came in.

We saw the crowds coming in and we booked it over to Toy Story Midway Mania. Literally like right before the line grew massive. We got on right away and Mike beat me again. I went for accuracy this time - still lost in that category! Because of my nerves and troubles with my arms, this game is difficult for me to make through the whole time - I know, excuses!

After our ride, we ran into everyone's favorite cowgirl - with no line!! I pulled out our new eggs to show Jessie!

She was thrilled.

And then Mike asked if we could all yodel together.

It was a really great Meet and Greet!

After that, we quick took a dip in the sea with Ariel as there was no wait for that either and I love her!

We headed over to the Grizzly area - I'm not sure all the names of these locations so this egg hunt was really hard. So hard, that other people were having a lot of troubles too. But we did find some ducks!

We noticed that Soarin' was open at this time... decided to pass. We're waiting for the new version to come out. The line was no more than a 10 minute wait, but Mike and I are really over this ride. Sorry!

We did come across two of the three eggs in the area.

But really could not find one of the chipmunks anywhere! People were all wandering around with maps at this point really confused. Then we saw a guy climbing out of the River Run with Dale. I snagged a picture and then was quickly asked by someone all formal to delete it off my phone. I mean, I wasn't going to say how poorly this was executed or anything - it was the first morning of the hunt! Of course there was a hiccup. I just thought it was funny the way they looked when being held. Ah well. So we just stuck the chipmunk on to his supposed location on the map, but we never officially saw where he was placed.

We purchased everything I wanted from the Starbucks in DCA at this point since we had finished DTD earlier. I hung out in the Grand's lobby while Mike went back to the hotel to drop off our purchases. He asked me to come outside when he was back and I got totally lost and turned around. Eventually I found some signage and made my way out!

Time to go to Disneyland for the hunt!! We had finished two of the three hunts and got on three rides within 2 hours! We were on a roll!

We picked up our Disneyland map and our prize eggs (Mickey and Minnie) right on Main Street when we got in.

I apparently forgot to take a picture of the stickers for this map. Instead of Mater and Lightning like in DCA, this one had Tink and Mr. Toad. Adorable!

We ran into this adorable friend!

Mike also got to dance with Goofy a bit. I didn't have time to take a video or snag a picture - it all happened so quickly!

We wanted to take the hunt in Disneyland at a more leisurely pace so we decided to just start by going into Adventureland and making our way. But first - a pick me up!

And I'll leave you there for right now - staring at delicious dole whips.

Coming up - Do we find the rest of the eggs? Or do we get even more distracted by the magic of Disneyland? ​

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Mindy! I totally forgot you were doing a TR after reading your November TR.. but I'm glad I found you. We're going to DLR in September and I'm just starting to learn

Our flight wasn't until 11:10 AM on Sunday, February 28th. I was able to do the online check in 24 hours in advance and got decent boarding for Southwest. I know we were in the A group - we paid for Early Bird because I don't fly well. We were spots 26 and 27. I did this right after getting my haircut and the lady had convinced me to get the volumizer "boost" they had... it was a mistake as seen in the pictures coming up.

I love Southwest but I always get so antsy w/ the 24 hour! I recently started purchasing Early bird every now and then.. on our flight back from WDW in November, I checked in 24 hours on the nose and was one of the last people to board. And YAY for a Flower and Garden trip!!!

After about 30 minutes, the shuttle arrived and we slowly made our way out of the circle of pick ups around baggage claim. We were the first ones to be dropped off!

How was the shuttle experience? Would you recommend it? Trying to decide on our transportation, originally I thought a car service or shuttle would probably be best. I don't want to do a rental car!

Otherwise, LOVED the resort. I'll get into a bit more details about the food and what not later, but the location was perfect. I loved being able to walk through Downtown Disney each night instead of worrying about catching a bus. This also worked out just fine too since the parks closed around 8 or 9 each night so we could peruse shops or pick up a snack on the way back.

Ahhhh.. I love your room pics! Looks amazing.

I believe we were outta there within 45 minutes to an hour. We primarily did this for the reserved viewing for the fireworks which I will talk about later. Based solely on the food and atmosphere here for me, I don't think I'd go back. If we had had a water table, perhaps my views would be different but if you can't even make one veggie dish alright I tend to not be interested in coming back. It's just some veggies, guys! I felt rushed and crowded the entire time... and like I said, the kitchen was so loud. The atmosphere was really ruined.

Ugh, sorry your experience wasn't the best. Unfortunately I have heard similar reviews. Do you think Cafe Orleans is better? I wanted to try one of them but I have been leaning towards Cafe Orleans.

Based off of this experience alone, I would absolutely not recommend the Blue Bayou package. My claustrophobia was at its peak here (and in the restaurant) and the whole thing was just way too stressful. I would have preferred to just grab a sandwich from the Jolly Holiday bakery and snag a seat on the curb myself an hour and a half early. I would have hated to be one of the people stuck standing too. You were allowed to sit but were told you had to stand 10 minutes before the parade started.

I think this is what we might do.. I am still torn on a WOC package, your Wine Country Trattoria meal looked really good! Good to know we can just stake out a spot for PTN.

 

[missangelalexis]

It's nice to hear the staff was so nice at Steakhouse 55!

The Easter Egg Hunt sounds really cute and fun!

Cute PP pics in front of Paradise Pier! And I love the pics with Jessie too!

You guys were having a great morning of short lines!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Thank you for your kind words! I've worked in customer service before and I definitely would not want to try to handle so many guests a day like these wonderful people do. There's no reason to take it out on them or even a cranky guy next to you on a curb who won't shut his own mouth.
We were really considering Carthay Circle for our package. I'm glad we decided to try out Wine Country Trattoria. The veggie option looked better there and seeing some of the reviews and the outdoor seating, I was sold. Being in Wisconsin doesn't allow for much patio time in late February (usually)!

I agree. CMs have it pretty hard most of the time. I admire the good ones that keep a positive attitude about it each day.
I can only image how it must be in Wisconsin. I don't have much luckfor patio dinning in Utah right now either. Soon!! I can't wait.

 

[disneyguy4life]

Is it odd to have a goal to get as many souvenir cups as possible on my next trip to DLR? Cause that one looks awesome!

 

[mindylee847]

Hey Mindy! I totally forgot you were doing a TR after reading your November TR.. but I'm glad I found you. We're going to DLR in September and I'm just starting to learn

Hi Ashley!! So glad you found me. I hope I can help ya out and my TR gets you excited. Disneyland was really amazing - but so different so there's lots to learn! But I'm sure you'll figure it out in no time.

I love Southwest but I always get so antsy w/ the 24 hour! I recently started purchasing Early bird every now and then.. on our flight back from WDW in November, I checked in 24 hours on the nose and was one of the last people to board. And YAY for a Flower and Garden trip!!!

I always get the early bird to guarantee I can sit next to my husband. I am so not a good flyer and this flight for me is over four hours!

How was the shuttle experience? Would you recommend it? Trying to decide on our transportation, originally I thought a car service or shuttle would probably be best. I don't want to do a rental car!

So - yes and no. But mostly yes, because I don't know of a better way and who wants to rent a car to just get to Disney if that's all your doing?

We did wait quite a while to get on the shuttle and there were other people on our ride. I'm not sure if they are under obligation to drop off on site guests firsts or what so if you are staying off site I'd check into it. Just allow ample time to get to your hotel. I'm just impatient. Also, LAX is probably the worst airport to get out of from the few airports I've been to. I had major anxiety when we were leaving through the loop in the shuttle van. Traffic there was insane.

The shuttle was also late to pick us up when we were leaving and going back to the airport. BUT they do have text updates and even allow you to track where your shuttle is on your smartphone so I did really like that aspect. We still had plenty of time at the airport and there were no issues. We were the last to get picked up and went straight to the airport.

Ugh, sorry your experience wasn't the best. Unfortunately I have heard similar reviews. Do you think Cafe Orleans is better? I wanted to try one of them but I have been leaning towards Cafe Orleans.

I can't really say. I ate at Cafe Orleans when I was 20, had no money, and had the worst entree in the world back in 2008. I loved the patio at Cafe Orleans. But I remember that our service was awful. We were basically being pushed out since we got in around closing time and even though my husband proposed, it wasn't even acknowledged. They were literally cleaning up our table around the time it happened and not even a congratulations. BUT apparently I usually get bad service and just don't care about it, lol. It was probably an off day and the fact they knew we were college kids.

I'd say if I had the choice to go to one or the other today, I'd go try out Cafe Orleans again because then I could try those delicious fries that everyone talks about.

But really - if I was offered any sit down at Disneyland right now, I'd be headed straight to Carnation Cafe. Which I'll get to later!

I think this is what we might do.. I am still torn on a WOC package, your Wine Country Trattoria meal looked really good! Good to know we can just stake out a spot for PTN.

Maybe the Aladdin's Oasis package is a good option if you do want to have a PTN package. I've heard at least one good thing about that and haven't heard much negativity regarding that. It was closed the week we were there. I absolutely recommend a WOC package - 100%. I loved Wine Country Trattoria so much! And I really loved the viewing we had. So perfect.

 

[mindylee847]

The Easter Egg Hunt sounds really cute and fun!

The Easter Egg Hunt was honestly one of Mike's favorite things that we did. He's still talking about it almost every day, especially since Easter is Sunday. I suppose that plays into it.

I agree. CMs have it pretty hard most of the time. I admire the good ones that keep a positive attitude about it each day.
I can only image how it must be in Wisconsin. I don't have much luck for patio dinning in Utah right now either. Soon!! I can't wait.

I'm so mad at our weather. The weekend prior our windows were wide open and I almost took our heated mattress pad off our bed - then bam! It snowed. Windows shut and heat back on.

Is it odd to have a goal to get as many souvenir cups as possible on my next trip to DLR? Cause that one looks awesome!

It was one of my goals so I think that's totally reasonable!! Just remember to leave tons of empty space when you're packing for the trip back! We ended up shoving all of our clothes into the smaller suitcase so we could use the larger one for all of our new stuff! And that's because we also went to Trader Sam's and I could not resist more souvenir cups!! Which is coming up soon.

 

[disneyguy4life]

It was one of my goals so I think that's totally reasonable!! Just remember to leave tons of empty space when you're packing for the trip back! We ended up shoving all of our clothes into the smaller suitcase so we could use the larger one for all of our new stuff! And that's because we also went to Trader Sam's and I could not resist more souvenir cups!! Which is coming up soon

I am glad I am not alone. It makes me feel better about myself. LOL. I think all my souvenirs this DLR trip will be cups and popcorn containers. After all I do have some empty storage space to put them in once I feel like I have displayed them long enough. LOL. That is wise advice concerning suitcases. I did that my last trip to WDW and barely made it under the limit. This time I won't have to pay for baggage with Southwest... LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!

 

[mindylee847]

Today I won't be making an update to my trip report, but instead I wanted to stay how incredibly sorry I am for anyone who witnessed or is related to or knows whoever chose to end their life yesterday at the Contemporary. I know that there are still a lot of details yet to be released, but this is all I can think about right now.

Suicide is a very serious act and depression is absolutely nothing to joke about. I've witnessed a lot of horrific things being said online about this or even just things like "How can you be sad in Disney?" It's not about being sad. It's about being mentally ill, feeling as if this is your one and only solution to end the pain that you feel. What really put me over the edge was someone who said that this was all done to "cause a scene". That's when I lost it. I spoke directly with this person and their comments were removed and apologies were given. I want people to know that in these cases you have to be very sensitive in what you say. Someone mentioned that people are "too sensitive today", but I think they absolutely should be when talking about depression and suicide.

Please know that if you are struggling, people care about you and want to help. I care about you. Reach out to those around you or to the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1 (800) 273-8255.

Stop the stigma. Show people you care and that their problems, concern, or sadness (no matter how small to you) are valid and that you want to help.

 

[disneyguy4life]

Amen!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Very well said.

 

[missangelalexis]

I am sure hearing about the situation was especially hard for you It's a very sad thing that happened.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I am so sorry to hear of your experience at Blue Bayou! We had such a different experience in that we should up ~30 mins early and they seated us ~20mins early and there was no issue, etc. We also requested a table by the water and it was great - definitely couldn't hear the kitchen or anything. Very sorry about your vegetarian meal - such a bummer!

And then to add to it that experience for the Pain the Night viewing area! I have heard similar stories of waiting areas in general there and CM's telling you that you can't wait and have to move along until the right time, etc. - just those types of things in general be it for a parade or Fantasmic or World of Color just seems to be a nightmare there. I don't envy the CMs having to deal with that - but still not excuse to be rude about it.

The parade itself is pretty darn amazing though!

So he gave me his salmon then and he ate my monstrosity. Then he proposed! What a horrible dinner but such a happy ending.

... now clearly, that is love!

Seems like you were having a great time with the egg hunt - other than that one egg ... guess there is always one bad egg in the bunch

It was a really great Meet and Greet!

... great picture!

And never a bad time for a Dole Whip!

 

[mindylee847]

Day 4 - Part 2: A Great Place to Be-Headed

After our delicious snack, we started our way back further into Adventureland. Jungle Cruise is Mike's favorite ride (other than Haunted Mansion) so when I told him it would be down he was obviously devastated by this news. We learned that they were doing something special near the attraction though so we checked out the times and we were about 20 minutes early for the next Skipper Skool. We decided to wait it out and talk with the Cast Members. The guy there that was trying to get people interested was really hilarious. He had a chalkboard and on one side it said "This" and the other side said "That"... he made tons of jokes like "Have you seen this board?" "Did that go over your head?" and he'd put the board over my head. Ohmygoodness. I was dying. I love some good puns and this was so funny to me!

We were eventually handed our jokes, which you can see below.

Not enough people were joining in (WHICH WHY NOT?!?) so we were handed two jokes each!

I must not have gotten a picture of Mike's second joke, but he got one of my favorites - the one about his favorite plants! You know, that one... this one... and that one!

So what happened was the skippers actually walked us through basically the entire ride. When it was your turn for a joke, you got up on the pedestal and spoke into the microphone while they acted out some scenes.

We took videos of our turns up there, but I'm not exactly sure how to get those in here so I'm going to look into that and possibly ask my smart computer guy husband.

THIS is a do not miss opportunity for anyone that loves the Jungle Cruise and doesn't mind a bit of public attention. We completely were in love with what they did here. I think I liked it more than the ride itself. The CMs were amazing, the experience was so fun. If I was going back again before the ride opened, I would definitely do this again! We even got diplomas!

We were told that we could come back when the ride was up and running in a few months and show these to get "something special". We won't be back any time soon, but this was a great free souvenir. Mike's hoping to take it to WDW to show it off... but I don't think they'll do anything there. Who knows though right?

We searched for more eggs, possibly rode Pirates again. I feel like we probably did. And then we stopped for a refreshing drink and a more substantial meal than just some dole whip.

We grabbed two mint juleps from the Mint Julep Bar.

I really enjoyed this! Nice and minty and perfect for a sunny afternoon.

Mike ran and grabbed us the vegetarian gumbo from the Royal Street Veranda.

I feel bad for sitting in the French Market to eat our food. I wasn't sure where else to go with it. I felt a bit out of place... but at least I did clearly pay for some Disney food, right? I never know.

The gumbo was very good. We didn't need to add any extra Tabasco, but Mike did squeeze it onto the bread pieces he ate. I ate most of the gumbo while he ate the bread. The bread, in usual bread bowl fashion, was a bit too hard for me to chew with my TMJ. It was tasty though.

Next, we came across another really fun photo op! The CM had us do a ton of different faces.

Here's angry.

Asleep. Mike didn't do very good with that apparently.

"Dead" pan.

Silly!

Saaaad.

Happy

Surprised!

Scared!

I wasn't initially going to post them all, but why not? I thought it was really fun. We also asked her where the China Shop was because for some reason we were just missing it for the egg hunt. I assumed it was on Main Street, and I was right. She started explaining in more detail but I told her to stop, lol. I wanted to be able to find it all on my own! Minus the small hint.

Next, we made our way to Fantasyland.

There was a very short wait for Snow White so we got in line. This ride used to be in WDW, but of course has been replaced with the amazing Seven Dwarf's Mine Train Coaster. I don't really miss it, but knew I should get a ride in.

I do love this queue though - especially these little guys!

Since Mike got a dole whip and hit Skipper Skool, we decided to see if we could do one of the other things on his list. We headed over to Launch Bay to see if we could catch a certain bounty hunter.

He was there!! We hopped in line and waited no more than ten minutes.

Apparently I was unimpressed.

I believe this is when Mike grabbed fastpasses for Hyperspace Mountain and he found just one fastpass for Star Tours sitting on top of the machines.

We had time to kill before either time was coming up. We had found almost all of the eggs at this point, except for the one in the China Shop. I believe that's where we headed next.

Clearly, still hungry but for nothing huge we stopped at Bengal Barbecue.

This was probably one of the longest lines I remember waiting in the entire time we were there. It took at least 20 minutes to get through and place our order. There was only one to two CMs working the register at a time and a few standing around in the back not really helping to fill orders. I'm not sure how it works here normally but it seemed odd. I get that skewers probably need to be cooked pretty fresh and they don't keep very well so maybe they were standing around waiting for things to cook? Either way, I didn't really care it was just an observation.

We ordered the Outback Vegetable Skewer and the Pomegranate Piranha Lemonade.

This. Was. Amazing. The veggies were cooked up perfectly and the bit of lemon taste to it after squeezing it on was delicious! It's probably my favorite over the counter I had. How simple, yet so delicious! AND THIS LEMONADE! This was sooooo good. I 110% recommend eating here. I'm sure their meats are delicious too. This place smelled amazing and people were literally licking their fingers. Don't miss this eatery!!

Coming up in my next post will be my favorite interaction with a CM regarding my dad. You don't want to miss that! Thanks for following along.


​

 

[wehrengrizz]

Day 4 - Part 2: A Great Place to Be-Headed

After our delicious snack, we started our way back further into Adventureland. Jungle Cruise is Mike's favorite ride (other than Haunted Mansion) so when I told him it would be down he was obviously devastated by this news. We learned that they were doing something special near the attraction though so we checked out the times and we were about 20 minutes early for the next Skipper Skool. We decided to wait it out and talk with the Cast Members. The guy there that was trying to get people interested was really hilarious. He had a chalkboard and on one side it said "This" and the other side said "That"... he made tons of jokes like "Have you seen this board?" "Did that go over your head?" and he'd put the board over my head. Ohmygoodness. I was dying. I love some good puns and this was so funny to me!

We were eventually handed our jokes, which you can see below.

Not enough people were joining in (WHICH WHY NOT?!?) so we were handed two jokes each!

I must not have gotten a picture of Mike's second joke, but he got one of my favorites - the one about his favorite plants! You know, that one... this one... and that one!

So what happened was the skippers actually walked us through basically the entire ride. When it was your turn for a joke, you got up on the pedestal and spoke into the microphone while they acted out some scenes.

We took videos of our turns up there, but I'm not exactly sure how to get those in here so I'm going to look into that and possibly ask my smart computer guy husband.

THIS is a do not miss opportunity for anyone that loves the Jungle Cruise and doesn't mind a bit of public attention. We completely were in love with what they did here. I think I liked it more than the ride itself. The CMs were amazing, the experience was so fun. If I was going back again before the ride opened, I would definitely do this again! We even got diplomas!

We were told that we could come back when the ride was up and running in a few months and show these to get "something special". We won't be back any time soon, but this was a great free souvenir. Mike's hoping to take it to WDW to show it off... but I don't think they'll do anything there. Who knows though right?

We searched for more eggs, possibly rode Pirates again. I feel like we probably did. And then we stopped for a refreshing drink and a more substantial meal than just some dole whip.

We grabbed two mint juleps from the Mint Julep Bar.

I really enjoyed this! Nice and minty and perfect for a sunny afternoon.

Mike ran and grabbed us the vegetarian gumbo from the Royal Street Veranda.

I feel bad for sitting in the French Market to eat our food. I wasn't sure where else to go with it. I felt a bit out of place... but at least I did clearly pay for some Disney food, right? I never know.

The gumbo was very good. We didn't need to add any extra Tabasco, but Mike did squeeze it onto the bread pieces he ate. I ate most of the gumbo while he ate the bread. The bread, in usual bread bowl fashion, was a bit too hard for me to chew with my TMJ. It was tasty though.

Next, we came across another really fun photo op! The CM had us do a ton of different faces.

Here's angry.

Asleep. Mike didn't do very good with that apparently.

"Dead" pan.

Silly!

Saaaad.

Happy

Surprised!

Scared!

I wasn't initially going to post them all, but why not? I thought it was really fun. We also asked her where the China Shop was because for some reason we were just missing it for the egg hunt. I assumed it was on Main Street, and I was right. She started explaining in more detail but I told her to stop, lol. I wanted to be able to find it all on my own! Minus the small hint.

Next, we made our way to Fantasyland.

There was a very short wait for Snow White so we got in line. This ride used to be in WDW, but of course has been replaced with the amazing Seven Dwarf's Mine Train Coaster. I don't really miss it, but knew I should get a ride in.

I do love this queue though - especially these little guys!

Since Mike got a dole whip and hit Skipper Skool, we decided to see if we could do one of the other things on his list. We headed over to Launch Bay to see if we could catch a certain bounty hunter.

He was there!! We hopped in line and waited no more than ten minutes.

Apparently I was unimpressed.

I believe this is when Mike grabbed fastpasses for Hyperspace Mountain and he found just one fastpass for Star Tours sitting on top of the machines.

We had time to kill before either time was coming up. We had found almost all of the eggs at this point, except for the one in the China Shop. I believe that's where we headed next.

Clearly, still hungry but for nothing huge we stopped at Bengal Barbecue.

This was probably one of the longest lines I remember waiting in the entire time we were there. It took at least 20 minutes to get through and place our order. There was only one to two CMs working the register at a time and a few standing around in the back not really helping to fill orders. I'm not sure how it works here normally but it seemed odd. I get that skewers probably need to be cooked pretty fresh and they don't keep very well so maybe they were standing around waiting for things to cook? Either way, I didn't really care it was just an observation.

We ordered the Outback Vegetable Skewer and the Pomegranate Piranha Lemonade.

This. Was. Amazing. The veggies were cooked up perfectly and the bit of lemon taste to it after squeezing it on was delicious! It's probably my favorite over the counter I had. How simple, yet so delicious! AND THIS LEMONADE! This was sooooo good. I 110% recommend eating here. I'm sure their meats are delicious too. This place smelled amazing and people were literally licking their fingers. Don't miss this eatery!!

Coming up in my next post will be my favorite interaction with a CM regarding my dad. You don't want to miss that! Thanks for following along.


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seriously, I find myself being sad when your daily update is at its end! I sometimes think oh crap I'm going to spoil (xyz whatever) by reading this...but you so don't spoil it! I just now want to go DO stuff. did one Mr. Fett do autographs? He's DH's favorite, but my trip is solo, so...I might have to get something signed for him
Thanks again for the updates, and what's awesome is I'm definitely a veggie lover but not exclusively haha so I love seeing the variety and different choices of food! I heard a podcast of the top 5 foods at DLR < $5, Bengal's BBQ skewers were highly rated, awesome to hear they live up to the hype !

 

[missangelalexis]

Skipper School sounds cool, what a neat thing to take part in!

Sounds like a great afternoon!

 

[cheshiregoofy22]

Ditto on the Skipper School! We'll be there May 11th and I'm not going to be sad if JC is still closed so long as we can get skooled! And I agree with the poster above...I try to read really slowly cause I don't want your post to end! Crazy! Thanks again for having us all along with you! Woooo!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Clearly, still hungry but for nothing huge we stopped at Bengal Barbecue.

I have heard a lot of really great things about Bengal Barbecue. I'll have to try it out for the quick service meals. A youtube channel called FreshBaked eats their a lot and always has something good to say about it. Was it busy when you went?

 

[mindylee847]

Hey everyone - I've been having an extremely rough week so I'm not up to doing a post today. I'm hoping to get one done over the holiday weekend. I broke down at work today from everything going on and cried in front of one of our state auditors. I'm pretty embarrassed. He was a great guy about it though and I found out that he was also a survivor as well so we connected on a level I didn't think was going to happen... not that it will help our tax assessment. My brother reached out to me today and he wants to get together tonight to talk. That's really great, I'm just done with talking on my end for a while... but I have to do this for him. It's really good that he's reaching out since he's been so quiet about this and I've been so worried.

Thank you, seriously, for saying how much you're loving my report. I was worried I wasn't going to do a good job but that really fills my heart with joy and I so need that right now. So thank you! <3

Have a great Easter if that is something you celebrate - if it isn't then please have an amazing weekend!

seriously, I find myself being sad when your daily update is at its end! I sometimes think oh crap I'm going to spoil (xyz whatever) by reading this...but you so don't spoil it! I just now want to go DO stuff. did one Mr. Fett do autographs? He's DH's favorite, but my trip is solo, so...I might have to get something signed for him
Thanks again for the updates, and what's awesome is I'm definitely a veggie lover but not exclusively haha so I love seeing the variety and different choices of food! I heard a podcast of the top 5 foods at DLR < $5, Bengal's BBQ skewers were highly rated, awesome to hear they live up to the hype !

Thank you! I don't think Boba did autographs. I'm 95% sure he was there on business and didn't have the time for it. Times weren't posted for him either and we saw him there the first time, we were too late to get in line earlier in the week and we were told that they didn't know when/if he'd come back as he was a busy guy. There were some really cool things in the store though in Launch Bay so maybe you can get something there for the husband!

Skipper School sounds cool, what a neat thing to take part in!

Sounds like a great afternoon!

It was such a blast! I hope I can get the videos onto here for you guys.

Ditto on the Skipper School! We'll be there May 11th and I'm not going to be sad if JC is still closed so long as we can get skooled! And I agree with the poster above...I try to read really slowly cause I don't want your post to end! Crazy! Thanks again for having us all along with you! Woooo!

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying this.

I have heard a lot of really great things about Bengal Barbecue. I'll have to try it out for the quick service meals. A youtube channel called FreshBaked eats their a lot and always has something good to say about it. Was it busy when you went?

You absolutely 100% should try it! As far as busyness goes, I don't feel like it was an overly long line... Maybe four people in front of us? It was pretty impossible to find a table over there though, we ended up sitting in some rocks across the way.