All the Pixie Dust! A May 2016 Trip - 1/24 FINALLY COMPLETE!

[LindseyJo22]

I love that view at BW. When we were originally tossing around the idea of BWV for this past June, I could totally see myself in a pool view! Alas, it just ended up being too much for a cash ressie so we didn't pursue it any further.

Love the pizza/pasta share idea. That's why I love buffets, bc of being able to try/ eat different things at the same meal.

Glad you guys made a good decision - a dry one...lol - and headed for the Poly. Yum on the Dole Whip!

I really enjoy the view of the pool! We've also had a view of the quiet pool which is great, too And without our DVC points I don't think we'd be staying at BW at all! That's part of what I love about it

And yeah, sharing the food at WPE was a great plan. The portions are pretty large, and I do like getting to try different stuff.

It rained for quite a while - I was so glad we hadn't tried to go in the park!

I love your pool view from the BW!

I didn't find the clown pool creepy at all.

I love it too We don't usually end up using the balcony a whole lot, but I like sitting with my soda in the mornings. And the clown pool doesn't really bother me either - but I can understand why it would be a little creepy to some people.

I really liked Wolfgang Puch xpress also, I had that same chicken pasta dish and thought it was great. Really good food for a QS credit.

It is so fabulous! We seriously thought about going over there on our February weekend since we're trying out the DDP, but opted for BOG breakfast instead since we probably won't ever pay OOP for that.

Sounds like a wonderfully relaxing day

It was so nice to have a slightly more leisurely day

From just the couple pictures you posted I can tell it's changed so much since then! Looking forward to seeing it this weekend

Very nice view from your balcony, too!

Hope you enjoyed the "new" Disney Springs! There is actually a ton of cool stuff now, and I like the atmosphere a lot!

And since it's been a million years since I updated, it's time for some more Disney magic!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Magic Kingdom Evening

Okay, I'm so sorry for the abandonment of this TR! School started in August and life has been pretty crazy since - we've traveled every single weekend this month, and we're heading on another trip on Friday. But we're about to hit double digits for our January trip, and I want to start some kind of PTR or something for that - so this TR needs to get moving!

When I left off, we had been rained out of MK but consoled ourselves with delicious Dole Whip.

I am pretty sure that we ended up riding the Mine Train again with a FP and then trying to ride Winnie the Pooh. We even got in the front of the Mine Train, which was super awesome - it's not a crazy fast ride, but I enjoyed not being obstructed by anyone!

I'm pretty sure this is the day we ended up being evacuated out of Winnie the Pooh. We tried to ride it, but it was down - so we headed up to Columbia Harbor House to get some dinner:

I got the fried shrimp plate with fries and broccoli. This was pretty good! I think I'd probably stick with my Lobster Roll standby if I went back, but I wanted to try this and it didn't disappoint. It's pretty hard to mess up fried shrimp!

Will got the salmon with broccoli and cous cous:

He said the salmon was good, but thought the cous cous was a bit dry. This was a really nice portion and a decent healthier option, though! I really wish they hadn't removed the lobster mac and cheese from the menu, as I had been looking forward to trying it - but such is life.

CHH was just as expected - good food, quick service, plentiful seating (especially if you go upstairs). This is probably my second favorite QS place since BOG opened up, and we'll certainly return!

After this, I'm thinking we went back to try and ride Winnie the Pooh with one of the FPs we had gotten when it was down earlier. I thought it was interesting that they differentiated into different "tiers" for these complimentary FPs. We had a choice of similar rides to Pooh if we wanted to use the FP for something else, but it didn't include the Mine Train or a couple of the other more popular rides. I thought that was really smart on the part of Disney!

This time, we actually got on the ride. Everything seemed to go fine, but the ride stopped right as we were about to enter the rainy scene - and it stayed stuck! Eventually, we had to evacuate our ride vehicles and walk out of the attraction. Will was videotaping with our camera at first, but the cast member told him not to - I think he may have taken some surreptitious video anyway, but this was actually really cool! We got to walk through the rainy scene and out the ride, and I liked being able to get an up-close look at some of the stuff you don't get to see from the vehicles.

After our experience with Pooh, we were all pretty ready to head back and just chill for a while - so we ended up taking an easy night at the Boardwalk in preparation for our HS day the next morning, where we were planning to get there at rope drop!

I am going to try my hardest to actually schedule myself some time to finish this TR up -thanks for sticking with me, despite my seriously sporadic updates!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi Joining in and enjoying reading along. I think it's wonderful that your mom joined you this trip. Special memories for sure. I've never had the school bread but heard so many people like it but can definitely vouch for the caramel popcorn. Yum! Looking forward to the next update.

 

[Saphire5742]

But we're about to hit double digits for our January trip

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to try my hardest to actually schedule myself some time to finish this TR up -thanks for sticking with me, despite my seriously sporadic updates!

Don't worry about it. Totally understandable that life gets in the way of these sometimes.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Hi Joining in and enjoying reading along. I think it's wonderful that your mom joined you this trip. Special memories for sure. I've never had the school bread but heard so many people like it but can definitely vouch for the caramel popcorn. Yum! Looking forward to the next update.

I was so happy she could come too! It was a really fabulous trip, and I think everyone had a great time Caramel popcorn is on my "eventually" list - but I love the caramel apples so much it's hard to switch it up!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know!! I can't believe it's coming up so relatively soon (not that I'm complaining at all).

 

[buddha112]

looks like a lot of fun. Going to put CHH on the docket for next time.

 

[LindseyJo22]

looks like a lot of fun. Going to put CHH on the docket for next time.

It was a ton of fun, and we're not done yet

And I would definitely recommend CHH - we usually go there at least once every trip!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Hollywood Studios Day

After a relatively leisurely day, it was time to get up and going again to make rope drop at Hollywood Studios! Our plan was to hit some big attractions, have lunch at Sci Fi Dine In, and hopefully get to see Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks, which happened to be showing that night.

We took advantage of the walking path from the Boardwalk over to DHS - I loved this! It wasn't very long, and you ended up a lot closer to the gate than I had thought, so it's a very convenient option if you don't want to wait for a boat.

Got a picture on the way in:

You can tell it was a bit sunny - we're all a little bit squinty

I want to say we got to the gates at 8:15 or maybe a little before for a 9:00 opening, and it was already very crowded:

Somewhere not that long after, they started letting people through the turnstiles to head into the park. We headed down the main street with everyone else:

Somewhere around 8:45 they let everyone start heading for rides - and we beelined for Rockin' Rollercoaster! We already had a Toy Story FP, and figured that tons of people would head there first thing. We hadn't done RnR last time because of the fastpass tiering, so I really wanted to ride it at least once this trip. This was a great decision - we basically walked right into the pre-show film and were out of the ride by the official 9:00 park opening time!

Hilarious ride photo:

After our fast-lane trip to the red carpet, we decided to head toward the Great Movie Ride. But first, we noticed some characters with no line and decided to say hello!

I loved these outfits Donald and Daisy had on - super cute!

Then it was time for the Great Movie Ride - I don't think we got the very front row, but it was close. I really enjoy this, even with the TCM overhaul. I do wish we could get a cowboy once though! We always end up with a gangster, and a lot of the time it's really hard to hear them, even with the mic Maybe we're just unlucky. But this time I think I liked the mobster person - she was at least audible, unlike our previous GMR trip.

Then it was off to use our Tower of Terror FP - we seemed to criss-cross the park a little more than I'd like this day, but it was okay. More fun ride pictures:

And then it was back across the park again for Toy Story We actually ended up just hanging out on a bench for a little bit before this fastpass since we had some extra time. We tried to peek and see what was happening on the Streets of America, but couldn't see much of anything. The concept art for Toy Story Land looked pretty cool though!

I beat mom! I was kind of glad to be in her car - Will always beats me at these games

After this, I think we rode Star Tours with a fastpass while mom went and browsed around a bit. She doesn't do the motion simulator stuff, so Will and I rode by ourselves. We happened to be pretty close to Sci Fi, and didn't have much we wanted to do, so we checked in early and waited for a little bit to sit down. But honestly, it wasn't a long wait. I was pretty excited for this lunch since I'd never been here, and Will had always wanted to eat in one of the cars, so we were doing it!

We did go a bit overboard here with the food, but we aren't really sure when we'll be returning to Sci Fi and wanted to make sure we tried everything that was a must-do just in case!

I loved all the funny movie clips - the way the seats are arranged in the traditional cars, this isn't a great restaurant for conversation, but it is definitely fun!

I didn't get pictures of the food - I tried, but they were just too dark. I actually got their specialty burger which was a Boursin burger. This was so delicious! It had a fried chunk of garlicky, delicious cheese on top of the burger along with some kind of red pepper sauce. It was messy and very rich, but I loved it I think the fries here were pretty good too.

Will got the salmon sandwich I'm pretty sure, which he enjoyed a lot. He also got a vanilla milkshake which was quite wonderful.

My mom got the club sandwich, and she seemed perfectly happy with it.

Dessert was where things went a little crazy. I really wanted to try the sci fi candy bar, but we were also interested in the donut dessert. So we got both

I loved the candy bar! It was really delicious and rich (probably a bad idea after that burger) but definitely worth getting. Will also really enjoyed the donut with apples and ice cream. Needless to say after this meal, we were incredibly stuffed! My mom was also very generous and picked up the check, so that was an unexpected plus

We enjoyed Sci Fi a lot - I don't think it will be on our short list for returning soon, but that's just because there are so many great places to eat at Disney! I would probably come back on a trip with just Will and me just because it's not the best restaurant for groups in my opinion - the loud movies and everything make it pretty impossible to actually have a conversation. But it makes a great experience and a really nice way to get out of the heat.

Next up - a Frozen Sing Along, a break, and Fantasmic!

 

[ArielSRL]

Good finish to your MK day! I've only gotten stuck on one ride where we were evacuated but it wasn't a real evac bc it was ToT and we had already dropped. The elevator just dropped weird or something and wouldn't move up to the doors so we did get to see a little, but not much , and we actually got an immediate re-ride, which was nice!

Love CHH as well. I got the shrimp last time even though I really wanted to try the Lobster Roll (just have read so many mixed reviews). Loved the shrimp and it was such HUGE portions!

That was a lot of people at RD for DHS but I know a lot get there early for Jedi Training sign ups too. That's the only RD we made all trip and that's bc AJ and I went ahead of the others. Love that you easily got on the big rides!

We've done Sci-Fi at least once before. I'm sure we will be back at some point but no rush. It certainly didn't bowl me over and the thought of the theming is cool, but like you said, makes it really hard to converse and in my opinion, see my food!

Looking forward to your DHS evening!

 

[ariane37]

We love CHH for lunch, but I admit we go with the less healthier options lol. As for HS we seem to criss-cross alot there, too! Don't know why, but I don't really mind since it's not such a big park. As long as in Epcot I'm not going from FW to WS back to FW and then WS constantly (which DH and I did a bit of last month), I'm good!
I also love the outfits Donald, Daisy and some of the other characters in HS wear and wish my boys were still into meeting them! Not that I have any problem meeting them myself

 

[Saphire5742]

We took advantage of the walking path from the Boardwalk over to DHS - I loved this! It wasn't very long, and you ended up a lot closer to the gate than I had thought, so it's a very convenient option if you don't want to wait for a boat.

Did the same in the opposite direction for my Cape May breakfast. I enjoyed it a lot too.

Great start to your DHS day. You look like you're enjoying yourselves on the ride photos (well except for Will it seems )
I'm slightly jealous that you got to meet Daisy there. Her outfit is super cute and sunny. I was in line when they switched her for Stitch. Oh well.
And Sci-fi sounds like fun. I don't know if I could ever give up on 50s though after the amazing lunch I had there.
Can't wait to read more about your day

 

[LindseyJo22]

I've only gotten stuck on one ride where we were evacuated but it wasn't a real evac bc it was ToT and we had already dropped. The elevator just dropped weird or something and wouldn't move up to the doors so we did get to see a little, but not much , and we actually got an immediate re-ride, which was nice!

An immediate re-ride would be awesome though! We eventually got to ride it without a malfunction, so I was happy And I'm pretty sure we got a Fastpass out of the deal too, now that I'm thinking about it.

Love CHH as well. I got the shrimp last time even though I really wanted to try the Lobster Roll (just have read so many mixed reviews). Loved the shrimp and it was such HUGE portions!

I really like the lobster roll! Even from someone who doesn't really like mayo-based salads, I thought it was good. A little heavier on the mayo than I would do if I was making it, but it's still super tasty. Also a huge portion I really liked the shrimp too, I just kind of missed the lobster roll in retrospect.

We love CHH for lunch, but I admit we go with the less healthier options lol.

I usually just get the chips or fries if we go for lunch, but I think the second side option was corn, which i just can't do with fries. Corn doesn't count as a veggie to me, so I always get broccoli at CHH if we happen to get a second side.

I'm slightly jealous that you got to meet Daisy there. Her outfit is super cute and sunny. I was in line when they switched her for Stitch. Oh well.
And Sci-fi sounds like fun. I don't know if I could ever give up on 50s though after the amazing lunch I had there.

It was really a chance encounter - we were looking around the Great Movie ride, and there happened to be no line - that doesn't happen often, so we jumped on it 50s is definitely on my to-do list at some point. It looks great! The shenanigans make me somewhat nervous, as I'm a little shy and not really into that stuff, but I figure the waitstaff are pretty used to people like that, too.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Frozen Sing-Along, and Fantasmic!

After we ate at Sci Fi, we were all extremely full. We didn't really have much else we wanted to do, but we got a Fastpass for the new Frozen sing-along since we hadn't ever done it. Plus, it was inside and air-conditioned since it looked like there was a storm coming!

Before long, the show was about to start - I had no idea what to expect from this.

I thought the projection of Arrendale and the story was really awesome.

The historians totally made this show. I mean, Anna and Elsa were pretty cool, but these guys were amazing!

Elsa doing her thing...

I didn't get any more pictures after this - it got darker in the theater and I didn't want to be that person with the phone screen. The show was super cute, and it was so fun hearing all the music and everything. The best part was the little girl next to us in this show - she knew all the words and was singing along and even doing the motions when they showed clips from the movie. Easily one of my best Disney experiences ever!

We really were surprised with how much we loved this show. I like Frozen a lot, so it was great to hear the music again since I hadn't watched the movie in a while. But really, the historians made this show great. They were fabulous comedians and really got the audience laughing. I'd highly recommend this if you're in HS and looking for a nice, cool break from the outside for a bit.

After the show, it was looking even more threatening so we started to head back to the boat. We got on the boat, but were quickly told that they were not able to go anywhere because of the weather. So we headed back up to wait for a bus. Which took forever and a day :/. My mom ended up walking back, and she didn't get rained on - but Will and I didn't want to take any chances. We did end up spending a lot of time on the bus to get back, but I was okay with it. I'm pretty sure we didn't do anything interesting on this break either - just took a nap

Before we knew it, we were sitting in the Fantasmic theater waiting for the show to start:

I had to get my usual Fantasmic treat - a Mickey Pretzel!

And soon enough, it was getting dark. It was still a little stormy, so I was pretty worried the show would get cancelled at the last minute. We hadn't managed to see this in our last few trips, so I was really wanting to get it in this time!

Thankfully, the show went on, no cast members fell or anything, and it was fabulous as always! My phone didn't really take good pictures, and I was trying to just enjoy the show and not worry about the camera as much - but it's great! Wishes is still my number one, but this one is definitely next in line.

And right after the show ended, we were going as quickly as we could to see if we could catch the Star Wars fireworks. This was the only night on our trip they were showing, so it was now or never!

We ended up squeezed in a pretty decent spot. Now, these were the older fireworks so I'm not sure how this spot would work for all the projections and stuff they have now, but it wasn't bad for last minute viewing (despite the tree). I also don't think you can do Fantasmic and the new SW Fireworks in the same night because they have shortened the window between them so much. I know that some people will perhaps go to HS another day or evening just to see the SW Fireworks, but I'm still sad you can't do both any more.

These were fantastic - again, no pictures. But the combination of the music, audio, and fireworks was brilliant. Will was over the moon with excitement - I think he might have even said this beat out Fantasmic for his favorite show (!) and we really can't wait until we can go see the new ones at DHS. Maybe I'll even try and book a dessert party...

After Fantasmic, we were a little bit munchy -we didn't really eat dinner at all and just snacked at Fantasmic. Probably good considering our insane lunch! But I knew that Ample Hills had recently opened on the Boardwalk (like the week before we went), and was really wanting to try it, so that's what we did

Butter Cake ice cream with a waffle cone for me

Vanilla in a cup for Will

Both of these were absolutely amazing. We both like plain vanilla ice cream a lot, and this vanilla was great. The waffle cone was also really nice, and I could eat the butter cake ice cream all the time. It was absolutely amazing! Plus, at least one thing on the menu here is a snack credit on the dining plan I believe, so you could probably get a pretty sizable ice cream scoop for your credit. I don't think we'll be over by the Boardwalk in February or I'd be testing out that plan!

We enjoyed the Boardwalk atmosphere for a little while:

And then it was time to go to bed and get ready for another fabulous Disney day!

 

[ArielSRL]

I've never done the Frozen sing along as I have two boys, as you know! I like Frozen but they refuse to watch it MOST of the time. Every so often I con them into it...lol.

We missed a Fantasmic last time bc of the weather. It ended up going off but it was delayed. I hope we catch it next time. And yes both last trip and this next one, we did/will have 2 evenings in DHS. And I'm fairly certain we'll do the dessert party if it's offered.

Yum on the pretzel and yum on the ice cream!

 

[Saphire5742]

But I knew that Ample Hills had recently opened on the Boardwalk (like the week before we went), and was really wanting to try it, so that's what we did

Butter Cake ice cream with a waffle cone for me

I believe the proper name for this is Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. Get your ice cream names right !
Seriously though, their ice cream is really good. Two years ago when I was visiting family in NY I happened to be watching a show about ice cream in where else but Brooklyn my hometown. Lucky me! So of course I had to check some of them out. One of them was Ample Hills. Got the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake sundae. So heavenly decadent.

 

[amberdc1987]

All caught up! Y"all look like you are having so much fun. I can't wait to read more.

On another note, I see you're running in the Princess Half! I am also! I can't wait to do it. It's my first time.

 

[LindseyJo22]

I've never done the Frozen sing along as I have two boys, as you know! I like Frozen but they refuse to watch it MOST of the time. Every so often I con them into it...lol.

Haha yeah, that could be a bit difficult - but this is fun if you can convince your fellow travelers to go!

I believe the proper name for this is Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. Get your ice cream names right !

I can never remember how to spell Ooey, so I just left it off But it was so good!

All caught up! Y"all look like you are having so much fun. I can't wait to read more.

On another note, I see you're running in the Princess Half! I am also! I can't wait to do it. It's my first time.

We had so much fun! I still think about this trip at least once a week - it was really great

And yes! I am so so so excited. I actually ran my first ever half a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun! I plan on taking the Princess half slower, so I will hopefully get some better pictures than from the most recent one. You will have so much fun! I've never done a Disney race, but I am confident it will be awesome

 

[LindseyJo22]

Epcot Day!

After a good night's sleep, I headed out for a run the next morning and got to see the Hollywood Studios topiaries in the dark:

Not the best picture, but it was super cool to be able to see some of the parks before everyone was up and about. After getting back, it was time to head into Epcot for the day!

We went to the International Gateway, which is one of my favorite parts about staying in the Boardwalk area.

But our mission today was in Future World, so we tried to get there as quickly as possible! Sadly, there were plenty of people from the main entrance here too when we arrived:

Why were we here? Soarin' wasn't open, and I love Living with the Land but won't use valuable Test Track time to ride it first thing in the morning! But a new experience had opened here somewhat recently, and I had wanted to do it from the very beginning. We were going to meet Joy and Sadness!

Pretty sure this was the longest line we waited in the whole trip! Character lines tend to be long for me, at least compared to other stuff, so I try to do a character meal or something that is a little more interesting. But you can only meet these characters here, and I didn't think the line was really going to go down any time soon. I did really love the decoration in this room with the memory bank.

After a decent wait, it was time!

Joy wanted to twirl me, I'm not totally sure why

I wore my Inside Out ears for this meet and greet too - they seemed to like them!

I loved this meet and greet - it was very cute and upbeat, and I think it was worth the wait. I had wanted to try and see Baymax, but by the time we were done with this one the line was a little long for me. Plus, we had a Fastpass to use!

As usual, Will and I went for the utterly ridiculous in our car.

So much fun! I love Test Track, even though I never get a good picture. I'm pretty sure it's impossible.

I know we did a few other things - I'm pretty sure Spaceship Earth made an appearance, and then it was time to head back over to the other side of Future World for my favorite boat ride about vegetables:

Terrible picture, but still.

After the end of our cruise, it was time for lunch - and I could not wait for this. We were returning to the Garden Grill for lunch!

We were seated pretty immediately, and the restaurant was not overly crowded. I'm pretty sure our lunch was a little early, so that might have been part of it.

We started off with some salad and amazing rolls:

I love this salad - it really is amazing, and not too complicated. And I can't get enough of the rolls and honey butter! I'm seriously wondering if we can make this a thing on our next May trip, even though we keep saying we need to try new places...

And then it was time for the main course! Sides of macaroni, sweet potato fries, and green beans:

And entrees - this time, there was beef with potatoes, turkey and stuffing, and sausage and peppers in place of the fish we had been served the previous time we visited.

Again, this was absolutely amazing! We also had wonderful character interaction at this meal. We saw the characters at least two times, and they were hilarious and doing all sorts of shenanigans. I really appreciate this about the Garden Grill - we got plenty of time with the characters, pictures, etc. and saw them multiple times.

I know we got pictures, but I think they are all on the other camera - but we saw Farmer Mickey, Chip and Dale, and Pluto and had a great time!

After stuffing ourselves with a second platter of turkey and beef, it was time for dessert:

We got cake for our anniversary buttons, and a mixed berry shortcake. This was also a menu change from our last trip - and I was a little skeptical. I loved the berry crisp, and it didn't seem possible that this was as good - but it was amazing! The cake was really wonderful, and there was plenty of sauce to go with it. The cake was also delicious, but way too much with all of our other food!

After this, Will and I made a beeline back to the room for a nap. I wanted to try to do some stuff, but I was so ridiculously full that sleeping seemed like the only good option Mom headed to World Showcase to take some pictures of the Flower and Garden stuff, and we decided to meet back in the park later.

 

[Elevationist]

How in the hell am I four months late to this?! You shoulda smacked me!

 

[LindseyJo22]

How in the hell am I four months late to this?! You shoulda smacked me!

Probably because I am so bad at updating it! I've got to make a schedule and actually stick to it