Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby Feed the Force!! A May 2015 TR - Update 10/29 Trip Epilogue!

[kadrachb]

From February 27th to March 5th 2016 we're staying at...a deluxe standard studio room...at the...

POLYNESIAN VILLAGE!!!!

Ahh! Exciting!


The Rebel Hanger looks so neat, and all the food looks really good.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Rebel Hanger looked awesome! And the food sounds super delicious - much better than the usual Backlot Express in my opinion. I may have to get down on a Star Wars weekend some time, all of this looks so fun

 

[chunkymonkey]

Ahh! Exciting!

The Rebel Hanger looks so neat, and all the food looks really good.

Thanks!! Rebel Hangar was awesome! I hope it sticks around!

Rebel Hanger looked awesome! And the food sounds super delicious - much better than the usual Backlot Express in my opinion. I may have to get down on a Star Wars weekend some time, all of this looks so fun

It was great! Definitely much better than Backlot Express! Star Wars weekend was amazing. I hope I get a chance to do it again!

 

[chunkymonkey]

So just wanted to let you all know that I started a new PTR for next year's trip:

40 on the Fantasy! Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby's Star Wars cruise and WDW Feb 2016 PTR

I hope you'll all follow along and give me some good advice!
I have a lot to plan it seems...park tickets, flights, ADRs, FP+...yikes!​

 

[soniam]

So just wanted to let you all know that I started a new PTR for next year's trip:

40 on the Fantasy! Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby's Star Wars cruise and WDW Feb 2016 PTR

I hope you'll all follow along and give me some good advice!
I have a lot to plan it seems...park tickets, flights, ADRs, FP+...yikes!​

I wish we could have gone on a Star Wars cruise. They have one the week before and one the week after my son's Spring Break. I hope they bring them back for 2017. You will have a great time. If you haven't been on DCL before, it's one of the best vacations, maybe better than WDW.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I wish we could have gone on a Star Wars cruise. They have one the week before and one the week after my son's Spring Break. I hope they bring them back for 2017. You will have a great time. If you haven't been on DCL before, it's one of the best vacations, maybe better than WDW.

I have a feeling they will be really successful...I mean, how can they not?!?! Anything Star Wars-related seems to be a hit, especially right after the new movie comes out at the end of this year. I hope you get to go on it too!

Yup we were in the Magic in May and we loved it! Can't wait for the Fantasy!

 

[dmlovullo]

I just found your TR yesterday and am all caught up today! Following along! Can't wait to hear more and follow along on your birthday trip! I want to stay at the Poly very badly! Hopefully some day soon!

 

[KathyM2]

I like the idea of lounge/bar food as you can taste a bit of everything!

OMG I absolutely love bar food and trying small portions of things. It sucks because my DH hates to share so I don't get to do it that often! That food at Rebel Hanger looked soooo good! And the drinks with glow cubes...how perfect!! Definitely worth it right there. Love the mini chicken and waffles too...it looked like the perfect amount - I love that combo but never get it in restaurants because it's just way too much food!

 

[chunkymonkey]

I just found your TR yesterday and am all caught up today! Following along! Can't wait to hear more and follow along on your birthday trip! I want to stay at the Poly very badly! Hopefully some day soon!

Thank you and welcome! I'm following along your PTR too!

OMG I absolutely love bar food and trying small portions of things. It sucks because my DH hates to share so I don't get to do it that often! That food at Rebel Hanger looked soooo good! And the drinks with glow cubes...how perfect!! Definitely worth it right there. Love the mini chicken and waffles too...it looked like the perfect amount - I love that combo but never get it in restaurants because it's just way too much food!

The portions at Rebel Hanager were actually quite big, so perfect for sharing! That's funny that your DH doesn't like to share. I have to share because I must have a taste of everything on the table. #greedy

The glow cubes were awesome! I have to build a little collection now...

The chicken n waffles were so good! Nothing beats a Disney waffle!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Real Life Update: Boston Road Trip and a visit to the Science of Pixar exhibit!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer - seems like it has zipped by so quickly - soon it will be fall then winter, and then it will be time for our DCL and WDW trip in February. I can't wait but also don't want the time to move too quickly. What else would I have to look forward to?

A week ago I went on a little road trip to Boston with my sisters and their families. It was a short weekend trip but we had a great time! 5 of us went to school in Boston/Cambridge so it was kinda like a revisiting our college years. (Myself, DH, Chunkytwin1, Chunkytwin2, and Chunkytwin2's DH).

What was special about this trip was that my nieces came along! It was their first official vacation away from home. Eva is Chunkytwin 2's daughter. She's my first niece and is turning 3 years old in a few days!

Eva at the Curious George store in Harvard Square

And Caylee is Chunkytwin 1's daughter, who will be turning 2 in September. Eva and Caylee are at that age where they are first starting to realize they are cousins - but that doesn't always mean they get along!

This is Caylee and her mommy! Caylee will soon be a big sister...to a little brother!
Chunkytwin 1 is expecting a boy in October!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge. This hotel used to be so fancy and spiffy when I went to school - but now you can see it's past it's prime and in need of some refurbishment. The service was fine, but I thought the rooms could have used some sprucing up...the carpet was a little worn, the headboards had some rips etc.

We shared a room with Chunkysis as usual! Except this time, the beds were double beds and not queens. I felt like they were way too small! DH tried to get me to sleep with Chunkysis but she wasn't having any of that. Sigh.

The best part about our room was the view. It was awesome! We had Charles River and Boston views.

View at night

View during the day

Here's a pic of my sisters and their families at breakfast at the hotel:

From L to R: BIL 2, Chunkysis, Chunkytwin2, Eva, Chunkytwin1 and Caylee, and BIL1.

And here's a pic of all of us sisters, and my 2 nieces:

Can you believe it's been 4 years since our Chunky Sisters Trip to Disney??!? I think it's time we all made a trip and bring the kids along!

We ate well on this trip! We are the Chunky family after all.

Hotel breakfast buffet, no Mickey waffles but was still pretty good!

Rod Dees, a famous place for Thai food with a few locations in Boston. This was spicy fried rice with fried chicken and a fried egg on top. It was da bomb. Late night after college party type food.

And another college favorite, Anna's Taqueria. The burritos are really good here...see the flakiness in the tortilla? It's delicious!

And you can't visit New England without some lobster porn:

Traditional steamed lobster with clarified butter. YUM.

Lobster roll #1

Lobster roll #2 and clam chowder - a must!

We visited the aquarium...highly recommended! Boston has one of the best aquariums in the Northeast. Almost puts The Living Seas to shame. Almost.

Penguins!

BIL2, Chunkytwin2, and Eva at the top of the massive tank...if you look towards the top you'll see a giant sea turtle swimming!

Caylee, BIL1, and Chunkytwin1

We got a faux-photopass picture from the aquarium! I don't usually buy these sort of things (unless at Disney) but the picture was really cute and it's rare we're all in the same picture. We gave it to our parents when we got home!

It was amazing weather in Boston that weekend! Sunny and warm, not too hot or humid. Perfection!

Faneuil Hall Marketplace

On our last day I met up with my DIS friend, Betsy (@tankgirl427) who lives near Boston. We visited the Boston Museum of Science.

Is DH getting electrocuted or just sleepy?


We wanted to check out the Science of Pixar exhibit. It was a really awesome experience! You get to watch a short movie on what goes on behind the scenes at Pixar, and what it is like to work there. Then you can walk around freely among the exhibits, some of which are hands-on and takes you through different aspects of animation. It was really fun, and you can also pose and take pictures with large-scale character statues.

Chunkysis, me, and Betsy!

Buzz and DH

The exhibition floor:

Not sure what we're doing here, but we were having fun!

Backdrops from Finding Nemo

I'm standing in front of a wall of monster "extras" from Monsters Inc.

You can build toy robots

Make different objects by changing the fabric on them

Change the lighting in a scene from Up

We had such a fun time at the Museum of Science!
Of course Disney didn't end anything without a store.

You could find cute Pixar stuffed animals and animation themed stuff. Nothing terribly exciting but of course you just want to take everything home. I didn't buy anything though. I save all my money to spend when I'm actually at Disney.

We said our goodbyes to Betsy! I've met up with her 3 times at WDW so far! She's super fun and very knowledgeable about all things WDW and she also participates in all the Run Disney events. Hope to see you soon Betsy!




Hope you enjoyed this little off-topic post about our trip! We have a few more road trips planned so maybe I'll do a little update on those too.
​

 

[Rosebud123]

Love your TR, and your Boston update! I live right in Boston and you just inspired me to go see that exhibit at the MOS! I'll have to see how long it's there.

Love the view from the hotel room.

 

[pookersmom]

So fun -- there are few things I like better than hanging out with my sisters now that we are grown and not forced to!

 

[kastoney]

Looks like an awesome time in Boston!!!! Thanks for sharing

 

[Dugette]

I love off-topic travel updates! Thanks for sharing! Wow, you have a lot of sisters...great family shots! Sounds like Eva is very close in age to Izzy.

Looks like you had fun (and good eats) in Boston. That Pixar exhibit looks really cool!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Love your TR, and your Boston update! I live right in Boston and you just inspired me to go see that exhibit at the MOS! I'll have to see how long it's there.

Love the view from the hotel room.

Thanks! I sooo miss Boston! It's really changed over the years...but it's always fun to go back. I should go more often I realized!

The exhibit is great! Definitely check it out.

The view was awesome! My other sisters didn't get quite amazing views but we were all on the same floor and they didn't have any more with that view.

So fun -- there are few things I like better than hanging out with my sisters now that we are grown and not forced to!

Haha, so true, when we were younger we were constantly fighting. Seems that's just what sisters do.

Looks like an awesome time in Boston!!!! Thanks for sharing

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!

I love off-topic travel updates! Thanks for sharing! Wow, you have a lot of sisters...great family shots! Sounds like Eva is very close in age to Izzy.

Looks like you had fun (and good eats) in Boston. That Pixar exhibit looks really cool!

Thanks!! I have 3 sisters total. 2 of them are married with kids. Yup Eva looks to be about Izzy's age! We just celebrated her 3rd birthday today with a family party.

Thanks! We sure did, and the Pixar exhibition was awesome!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 6 Part 3: Hanging at AoA and back at DHS for Fantasmic Fun!

After our gastronomical late lunch/early dinner at Rebel Hangar, we slowly rolled out of the Backlot Express, having had an amazing time meeting Jawas, Chewie, and Stormtroopers among other rebels. CS wanted to go to DTD but DH and I we were too full to really do anything more so we decided to head back to AoA for a little swim and relaxation by the pool.

Before we left the park we made another FP+ for TSM later that evening. I'm surprised they even had any left but luckily it was not a crowded day at DHS. Finally, a breather!

CS got a PP picture right before leaving the park:

At the bus area CS went on a bus to DTD while we boarded an AoA bus. We had several hours of downtime before our FP+ for TSM which gave us some time to relax. It was cute how Mousekeeping found our stateroom door decor and the wand we got from CRT earlier that week and decorated the bed!

Since CS was not here I finally have a chance to take a picture of the Cars Suite Living room.

Back at the Cozy Cone pool.

I ventured into the locker rooms and showers near the pool. I didn't realize they were themed too. Cute!

We had a nice time just chilling and swimming. After we showered and got ready, we headed back to the bus stop to return to DHS. CS said she'd join us later. She'd miss out on her FP+ for TSM but she was having too much fun shopping! She agreed that we needed to spend more time in DTD (well, technically Disney Springs now)!

Here's a PP pic of me and Steve back at DHS:

My t-shirt above is from Crazy Shirts in Hawaii. It says "Just Maui'd" How cute is that? Even thought we're not newlyweds I couldn't pass this t-shirt up when I saw it on a trip to Maui two years ago. It was also 50% off, which was really the reason I bought it.

Time for Toy Story Mania!

Don't have a pic of our scores bit let's just say we got progressively worse during the day. Our arms were just so tired!

We then went to get another FP+...this time for...Rock in Roller Coaster!
We finally get to ride it! I really do love this ride. I don't like heights but I like speed, so this ride was made for me.

We realized that the standby line was just 15 minutes. So DH and I look at each other, and said, well, why not?

Another unflattering pic of me squished in a roller coaster ride car. At least we tried to do funny expressions. I wanted to do a sleepy face but let me tell you, on this ride it's a lot harder than it seems. You cannot help but scream!

Oh and then we had to use our FP+:

At this point, CS had joined us! Which only means...we went on RnRC again! SCORE!!!!! RnRC 4 times in a row! The wait times were only 10 minutes at this point. Here's some more equally unflattering pictures of me squished in a ride car:

We're a bunch of nut jobs, I'm telling you.

After our multiple rounds of RnRC, DH and CS went to ToT while I stayed and went shopping around sunset boulevard because as I said I dislike heights, so ToT and me do not mix!

They seemed to have fun though!

Now it was time for Fantasmic! My favorite WDW show! We caught the later show at 10pm and combine that with an uncrowded park day, and you've got NO LINES. The Theater was barely full. There was SPACE on the benches. It was WONDERFUL.

No lines!

Pics and video from Fantasmic!

I love the part where the princesses come out:

And the finale!

I just LOVE Fantasmic!
We strolled out of the park after Fantasmic! and headed back to AoA. I couldn't end the night without something yummy, so I got some chocolate gelato at Landscape of Flavors.

A delicious end to a wonderful day at DHS!!

Coming up, our jam-packed day at Epcot!
​

 

[allybabba98]

We have been lucky enough to have stayed at AofA twice, this time we are going to try POR. However, I never realized there was a change room! Or a washroom so that you don't have to head back to your room. I am such a rookie. The pictures are great and you and your sisters outfits are fantastic! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[deedee2177]

Great update! I can't wait to see Fantasmic! I'm so sad (and embarrassed) to say I've never seen it. It is on my Must Do list for our November Trip, and I can't wait to see it!

 

[kastoney]

CS got a PP picture right before leaving the park:

Now there's a shocker

It was cute how Mousekeeping found our stateroom door decor and the wand we got from CRT earlier that week and decorated the bed!

Love this. I can't ever even seem to get a towel mickey.

My t-shirt above is from Crazy Shirts in Hawaii. It says "Just Maui'd" How cute is that? Even thought we're not newlyweds I couldn't pass this t-shirt up when I saw it on a trip to Maui two years ago. It was also 50% off, which was really the reason I bought it.

Newlywed or not, this shirt is perfect. Think I'll just pop over to the islands and get me one ; )

We then went to get another FP+...this time for...Rock in Roller Coaster!
We finally get to ride it! I really do love this ride. I don't like heights but I like speed, so this ride was made for me.

Can't believe how many fast passes were still available. I would have figured all they'd have left would be the muppets

Another unflattering pic of me squished in a roller coaster ride car.

Is there really such a thing as a flattering roller coaster picture of anyone???????

We strolled out of the park after Fantasmic! and headed back to AoA. I couldn't end the night without something yummy, so I got some chocolate gelato at Landscape of Flavors.

Looks like the perfect ending

 

[chunkymonkey]

We have been lucky enough to have stayed at AofA twice, this time we are going to try POR. However, I never realized there was a change room! Or a washroom so that you don't have to head back to your room. I am such a rookie. The pictures are great and you and your sisters outfits are fantastic! Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you!! I didn't realize they had them either, but I can see how it makes sense. All resorts should have them near the pools. We actually used the showers the day we checked out because it was the 24 hour day at MK and it was also the hottest day of the trip. Our flight left that evening and we were so hot and sweaty that we needed to feel refreshed before heading to the airport. Sooo grateful for that! Plus they give you towels at the front desk, just ask!

Great update! I can't wait to see Fantasmic! I'm so sad (and embarrassed) to say I've never seen it. It is on my Must Do list for our November Trip, and I can't wait to see it!

Oh you must see it! It's awesome. I used to not be so into the shows, but more into rides, but now I cannot leave WDW without catching the shows/fireworks in each park. My trip would feel incomplete if I didn't! And I realized, the shows are what made me an even bigger Disney fan throughout the years! They are just so magical!

Now there's a shocker

Haha, I know, right?

Love this. I can't ever even seem to get a towel mickey.

We would occasionally get one but in comparison to the ones we got on the cruise the resort ones were amateur-ish.

Newlywed or not, this shirt is perfect. Think I'll just pop over to the islands and get me one ; )

I know! I think that's a great idea!

Can't believe how many fast passes were still available. I would have figured all they'd have left would be the muppets

Me too! I thought for sure we wouldn't be able to do Toy Story again, and all those rides on RnRC....yay!

Is there really such a thing as a flattering roller coaster picture of anyone???????

I see a lot of ride pictures and everyone else seems to look good compared to me! Haha.

Looks like the perfect ending

Sigh...it was!