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

[chunkymonkey]

Hi Everyone!! I'm Su-Lynn, aka Chunkymonkey. My DH, Steve, and I along with my sis, Su-Queen went to WDW from May 15-22 to experience Star Wars Weekends as well as the last few days of Epcot's Flower and Garden festival, both being firsts for all of us! You can read some more background in my PTR here. This trip was absolutely one of the best, because of magical moments, a coincidental dis meet, and over-the-top meals.

We three love to explore the parks, go on rides, meet characters, and most of all, EAT. We ate a lot on this trip. DH and I basically had an amazing gastronomical cruise on the Magic, walked off the boat, and headed straight for WDW...so we had already been eating a lot and prepared for more! To read my MAGICal Cruise TR, click the link in my siggy or click here.

Introductions:

Me: Su-Lynn, Chunkymonkey. I'm 39 years old, I work in IT and love to travel and eat, mostly to Hawaii and WDW!! I have a travel blog too which you can see here. My favorite rides are the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Test Track, Soarin', Peoplemover, BTMRR as well as Toy Story Mania! My favorite park is Epcot. My favorite WDW restaurant is 'Ohana although on this trip the Garden Grill really blew me away.

DH: Steve, Chubbyhubby. Also 39 years old and works in finance. We live in a house in NJ which we bought a year and a half ago. DH has a new found passion for gardening. Since we bought a house, he's built a raised garden bed and we now grow some of our own vegetables, fruit and herbs! Needless to say, he had a great time at the Flower and Garden festival!! He loves all thrill rides including Test Track Expedition Everest and Space Mountain, although he has a huge competitive streak and likes going on Toy Story Mania and getting Best in Car. I think he got Best in Hour once....

Sister: Su-Queen, Chunky Sis.(From now on she'll be known as CS). She's 5 years younger than me, and loves Disney! She absolutely loves meeting characters and would wait on long lines to meet them to complete her collection of pictures and autographs. She always has special outfits that she wears on park days, and she is always the first one to suggest we get memory maker - she loves her pictures!! CS was not with us on the cruise but we met her at WDW! She loves MK, meet n greets, and her favorite restaurant is also 'Ohana, especially the bread pudding dessert! Her favorite meal on this trip though was the breakfast at Be Our Guest!

Between all of us, we've got thousands of pictures, so be prepared!

We stayed at the Art of Animation resort in a Cars Family suite! It was a really cute room!

We had 10 ADRs in total! For Star Wars Weekends, we had also purchased the Feel the Force package, including the dessert party - combine that with the two Star Wars themed meals for one Star Wars-packed day! We also got reservations for Rebel Hangar for another day...we sure as hell felt as if we FED the FORCE by the time our vacation was over!! Hope you are all along for the smorgasbord, um...I mean ride!!

May the Feast be with you!!​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Table of Contents (each bullet point is a link to that post)

• Introduction
• Day 1 Part 1: We leave the Magic behind but full steam ahead!
• Day 1 Part 1: Photopass pics
• Day 1 Part 2: Eating in World Showcase
• Day 1 Part 3: Meeting Chunkysis at Magic Kingdom! And our first rides of the trip!

• Day 2 Part 1: Star Wars Weekends begins!
• Day 2 Part 2: Star Wars Galactic Dine In Breakfast!
• Day 2 Part 3: Star Wars Celebrity Motorcade, Feel the Force package!
• Day 2 Part 4: I HEART BAYMAX...and other characters too
• Day 2 Part 5: Jedi Mickey Star Wars Dine at Hollywood and Vine!
• Day 2 Part 6: Feel the Force Dessert Party and Symphony in the Stars Fireworks!

• Day 3 Part 1: Soarin' to Epcot!
• Day 3 Part 2: The Thrill of Solo Trippin' around WS
• Day 3 Part 3: Yachtsman's Steakhouse and SW fireworks 2nd time around

• Day 4 Part 1: Chunkysis's Teleportation Powers - Breakfast with Cindy at her Castle
• Day 4 Part 2: Don't Cry over Spilled Popcorn...on the Mine Train!
• A PTR update and some Q's about what to do for 40th birthday next year!
• Day 4 Part 3: Lunch at BOG, Character pics, and a nice relaxing afternoon before we do it all over again!
• PTR Update (2nd thoughts on President's Weekend in 2016)
• Day 4 Part 4: Meeting Anna and Elsa, and an impromptu DISmeet!!
• Even more Photopass Pics! With borders and stuff...

• Day 5 Part 1: Safari Time at AK!
• Day 5 Part 2: Lunch at Yak n Yeti and Rafiki's Planet Watch
• Day 5 Part 3: Cooling Off, Retail Therapy , and a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum
• PTR Update...Prices are insane...should I rent DVC points?
• Day 5 Part 4: Ohana and Wishes, another perfect night!
• PTR Update...and we're booked for next year (2016)!!

• Day 6 Part 1: Star Wars Weekends without the Weekend
• Day 6 Part 2: Rebel Hangar, a Star Wars Lounge Experience!
• PTR Update: NEW PTR LINK!!
• Real Life Update: Road Trip to Boston, Science of Pixar Exhibit
• Day 6 Part 3: A Break then Back to DHS for Fantasmic!

• Day 7 Part 1: Our last full day at Epcot and an ADR change
• Day 7 Part 2: Lunch! Rain! Habit Heroes! More LWTL! Characters! Just a usual Epcot Day.
• Real Life Update: Mini TR to the Berkshires/Tanglewood
• Day 7 Part 3: An Evening at the Garden Grill and Illuminations

• Our Last Day: Day 8 Part 1: We start the 24 Hour MK Day with...yawns.
• Our Last Day: Day 8 Part 2: Celebrities, BoG Breakfast, and the neverending heat!
• I'm an Aunt again! Real Life Update and Day 8 Part 3: Pirates in Arendelle!
• Real Life Update: New York Comic Con 2015!
• Our Last Day: Day 8 Part 3: THE END to our Epic WDW Vacation!
• TRIP EPILOGUE: Lists of Best and Least Favorite things!

 

[natebenma]

Right Place, Right Time.

I'm in- Great intro. Can't wait for this!!!

:

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 1 Part 1: We left the Magic behind but full steam ahead!

DH and I were on the Disney Magic for a 5 night Bahamian cruise. It was an amazing trip. Read my Magic-al cruise TR here. We went with my in-laws and we took a Happy Limo van back to the airport where they flew back to California while we boarded Magical Express for the 2nd part of our vacation...a full week at WDW!! I was sooo excited and it made leaving the boat behind a little easier.

We docked early in the morning, had breakfast, and walked off the boat at around 8:30am. I had scheduled the car service for around 9:15 so we waited around for the car service to pick us up. It was our first Disney cruise so I wasn't sure when to schedule the pickup initially.

If you read my PTR, I was trying to figure out how to get from Port Canaveral to the Art of Animation without having to pay extra $$. It made sense since we already purchased round trip port transfers with Happy Limo for the family, that we'd go back to the airport with them and then board ME from there...that way we don't have to pay extra for Disney transportation on our own. I thought this would take a long time, but it was actually a very smooth process and we got to the resort in good time!

Missing the boat while waiting for our pickup:

At this point on vacation I had already a pretty bad sunglass tan which I got on Castaway Cay. I tried to hide it but on occasion you will see it in pictures...sigh.

Waiting for our car. Maddie and her Uncle Steve were having fun!

The family headed back to MCO!

At MCO we said goodbye to our niece, Maddie. She's 4 years old and super cute. We will miss her!

Bye Maddie!

We all said goodbye and we took our luggage, put on our magic bands and headed down to Magical Express!

We had a somewhat long line for the Art of Animation resort...but it didn't matter, we were going to Disney!

Although our bus was not quite so magical...a regular Mears bus. Boo. But it was fine and comfortable.

We are ready!

After 40 minutes we were turning into the driveway for our resort:

I like the colorful lobby at the AoA. I did online check in so I didn't have to wait long. Our room was not ready though so they said they would send me a text when it was.

We stored our luggage with bell services and went to grab something to drink at Landscape of Flavors. DH got a refillable mug. Since I don't drink that much soda, I didn't get one. I did fill up my reusable water bottle with water though.

Interior of Landscape of Flavors:

We decided to go to Epcot first. We waited for a bus to Epcot and it came pretty quickly! It was also empty. Hooray!

I was so excited to be at my favorite park! The Flower and Garden festival was in full swing. Everything was so pretty!

I had only made FP+ for MK which we were going to that evening, so we didn't go on any rides at Epcot. There were long lines for everything! That's ok, we were just here to eat and take pictures.

We headed to the World Showcase to grab some food...stay tuned!!​

 

[Sazzo'sMommy]

Love it! Great pictures!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Wonderful way to start your time at Disney World!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Photopass Pics from Day 1 Part 1

Ok I finally got the Photopass pics somewhat downloaded (there are so many!) So here are some from that first afternoon at Epcot:

Hang loose!

Stitch is here too!!

I like how they now have those video magic shots now. They are a pain to try and upload and embed in the TR though. The video of the one below just has Tinkerbell flying in and sprinkling pixie dust over our heads. It's cute.

I like this picture a lot except for DH carrying my tote bag. He basically carried it because he wanted to bring ponchos and his mug but didn't want to bring is entire backpack which had more stuff in it. He ended up using my tote because it was lighter. He didn't mind. I called it his "mote" - man-tote. LOL. Anyways he forgot to set it down in the pic below, which is too bad because I really like the pic!

From now on I will try and put the photopass pics into the TR posts. I will have to catch up on downloading all the pics though! You can only download a zip file of about 15 pics each time...and we have over 1000 pictures!​

 

[crepemyrtle]

I'm in. We were there there May 15-23. So while I'm enjoying your photos, I'll also be looking in the background just in case.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 1 Part 2: Eating in the World Showcase

Since we were dying for some lunch...we walked over to the WS and started walking around on the Canada/France side. But first up...I spied Dole Whip! So of course I had to get one...

It was so yummy and really hit the spot!

DH was really into all the Flower and Garden displays and little sections which were educational for gardeners.

Pretty soon we were on the walkway to France. This is such a pretty view!

In France, I got my first Grey Goose slush. It was really good! i dont' know why I never got one before, but I am not a huge drinker and I thought it would be too strong, but it wasn't!

Another photopass pic in France:

We got this at one of the food kiosks. It was a torta with cheese and a ceviche. They were both really good.

In Morocco, the PP photo made is do silly poses. I'm only posting this because I think it's incredibly hilarious....

Too damn funny....

We went to the Hanami booth in Japan and I got to try frushi! Frushi = Fruit + Sushi. It's fruit wrapped in coconut rice with whipped cream and raspberry sauce. It's really good!

We also got a salmon sushi that was really good too! It had a spicy mayo, wasabi aioli, and eel sauce on it.

We walked around the world just soaking everything in. I love Epcot!

We came across a PP photographer in Italy and we got a few shots. I obviously can't stand it when they make us do silly things like "Look at each other!" "Giver her a kiss!" and I always end up cracking up hysterically when I see the pictures but the below 2 are kinda cute:

By the time we made it over to Mexico we decided to grab more food. We were in the mood for something crunchy so DH got chips n guacamole and I got the cheese empanadas. I like eating it with the green salsa.

I like the ice cream scoop of guac that was on top of the chips!

We cooled off in Mexico a bit. It was a hot day but not unbearably so. The first few days of our vacation were actually quite nice. It got really hot and humid towards the end of our trip though...

Hola!

At this time it was getting close to 3pm...my sister's flight had just landed and she was making her way to ME! I still didn't get a text with our room number so I told her to look into it when she got to the resort. We agreed to meet in MK later.

Now it was time to get our Disney Visa picture! So we walked over to Innoventions West, which is mostly closed for construction, but the Disney Visa Character Spot is the only thing open - plus an area for video games. There were about 5 parties in front of us on line when we got there.

Today was Minnie and Pluto! Here's the pic from my camera:

And here are the ones from the photopass:

I really loved all the colorful flowers for the F and G festival...

We walked through some of the exhibits...interesting stuff for DH mostly! After about 20 minutes we went to pic up our free picture from the Kodak Gallery and then we were off on our way to MK!!

Stay tuned...​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Right Place, Right Time.

I'm in- Great intro. Can't wait for this!!!

:

Yay Dee! Good to see you here!! And my first visitor!!!

I'm in. We were there there May 15-23. So while I'm enjoying your photos, I'll also be looking in the background just in case.

Thanks! And welcome! Let me know if you see us in any of your pics!! We were everywhere!

 

[EvilQueensRock]

Following along!

 

[kastoney]

Hi! Just finding your report and subbing in. You had me at food and booze, but brought it home with your "love" for posed photopass pics. Everything looks great so far and I can't wait for more.

 

[cajunfan]

I'm here! I can't wait to read some more!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Love it! Great pictures!

Thank you!! Thanks for reading!!

Wonderful way to start your time at Disney World!

Hi Jen! Thanks!! I've been reading your TR too!! Can't wait to see what else is in store for your guys!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Following along!

Thanks and welcome!!!

Hi! Just finding your report and subbing in. You had me at food and booze, but brought it home with your "love" for posed photopass pics. Everything looks great so far and I can't wait for more.

Thanks and welcome!! We definitely had a ball with those PP pictures...we would inwardly groan when the photog would say, "now, pose back to back, hands on your hips!" but we would still do it. LOL. Let's just say I ahve a lot of photos which will never see the light of day...

I'm here! I can't wait to read some more!

Yay welcome Lynn!! Can't wait to see how our experiences were during SWW!

 

[allybabba98]

Following along. Your pictures are really crisp and bright...would you mind telling me what type of camera you were using? Looking forward to reading more.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Following along. Your pictures are really crisp and bright...would you mind telling me what type of camera you were using? Looking forward to reading more.

Sure! My camera is a Canon G7X...it's my new toy. I am a former freelance photographer but I can't stand carrying around the large DSLR...I like to travel light so the G7X has all the capabilities of a larger camera in a smaller body. It's not a perfect substitute for a DSLR but it's my most favorite point and shoot yet! I do edit my photos in Lightroom 5 but very lightly...just some contrast here and there, and sometimes I have to adjust for exposure and white balance.

Note, I also edit all the photopass pics because sometimes the contrast and colors in them are a bit off.

Hope this helps and thanks for reading!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 1 Part 3: From Epcot to MK, and Chunkysis joins us!

We took the monorail from Epcot to MK. The monorail pulled right in as we approached the gates. We were having a great transportation day so far! Our monorail car was also empty save for a very chill guy sitting behind us!

Sooo excited to see MK again!

We went through bag check and then walked in. We had to go get DH some new cards for his Sorcerer's game. It was only then we realized that his old game was stored on his old Magic Band, and you have to start a new game with each Magic Band. So he just started a new game.

Cards in hand, we walked towards the castle. My sister had arrived at AoA and checked into our room. Apparently for some reason my Magic Band was not activated properly so that's why I didn't get a text with the room number. I would have to stop at the front desk back at the resort. CS was going to grab a bite to eat at Landscape of Flavors and then come meet us at MK! The only thing is that she'll have to miss our first FP+, meeting Cinderella and Rapunzel.

So excited to see the castle again! It was our first time seeing the new hub too. It's gorgeous! The grass..is it real grass? It looks like carpet, it's so perfect.

​

The Celebrate with Mickey show was just over.

We headed to Fantasyland because we had a meeting with the princesses! But first, a photopass pic from behind the castle. I never got one from this view before.

We arrived at PFH and got into the FP+ line to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel. It wasn't too long of a wait!

We saw a same-s*x couple who just got engaged! They were really cute. I was staring at a tatoo one of them had...it was of Tare Panda, which is a Japanese toy, kinda like a Hello Kitty type but less well-known. I used to love Tare Panda!

Tare Panda...he's incredibly lazy but so adorable. He loves to eat...wait, that sounds just like me! Except for the adorable part...

Here's us with Cinderella, DH wasn't ready for the pic but I was!

We're both ready now!

If only DH were so lucky...

While we waited for CS to get to MK, we went to my favorite little cool down spot, Gaston's Tavern.

I like the LeFou's Brew and I think it's worth the calories. We also tried the pork shank for the first time. Oh. Em. Gee. Definitely worth all the calories! It was succulent and tender...falling off the bone. I think this will replace my turkey leg addiction!

Lefou's Brew: It was really good!

By this time, CS had arrived in MK! We met up at our next FP+ location...7DMT!!

The ride was as good as I remember! I think it's awfully short though...

Next we went character hunting! On to Storybook Circus!

We got in line to meet Goofy and Donald...about a 25 minute wait. In general I thought MK had ok crowds today, not horrible, but definitely not the low level crowds we usually experience during the fall which is when we usually come to Disney.

Then after we exited we got right back on line for Minnie and Daisy!

We then got on the railroad at Storybrook circus to head to Frontierland. The railroad appeared just as we went up the stairs...are we having good luck with buses, trains, and monorails today or what!?!

Here's me and my sister on the train. Everyone says we look alike. Do we? Sometimes I think so but sometimes not...I am also about 3 shades darker than her due to my tan, although in the picture below my sunglass tan is not that noticeable. You can kinda tell the area around my eyes is paler. But it got worse during the week! Le sigh...

At Frontierland we walked around a bit, it was getting to be a lovely evening, with a light breeze. I wish all days at MK were like this!

And then got on line for our BTMRR FP+! I love this ride, it's so much fun and a classic! After the ride we walked to Liberty Square and went on Haunted Mansion. The wait time was about 25 minutes. That was actually pretty long for us since when we come we usually breeze through the standby line. This time we actually waited on line! I forgot that there were cool things to do on the standby line now. If you touch the wall below, it plays music!

Then, it was dinner time! We went to one of our favorite QS places, Columbia Harbour House. None of us were super hungry so we decided to just split 2 entrees amongst the 3 of us...we got the Lighthouse Sandwich and the fried chicken breast and fish combo. Both were really good and just enough food for us! To drink, we all got water.

It had been a long day for us, and we had an even longer day tomorrow, so we decided to skip Wishes and just head back to the resort to get settled and rest.

On the way we passed by Rapunzel's tower, which is so pretty at night:

We headed out towards the buses...this was where our transportation luck stops. Our bus to AoA is literally the last bus stop all the way at the end...#34. Our feet were so tired at this point, and so we were dragging ourselves to the bus. It was so far away! At least we didn't actually have to wait long for a bus.

Back at AoA, everyone filled up their mug/bottles and went to the room while I had to stop at the front desk to get my band activated. For some reason it was taking a long time so I just had to wait.

I was really tired at this point! Finally my band was activated and I went to fill up my water bottle and then walked to our room...3613 in the Cars section. We had a lovely room on the 2nd floor facing the Cozy Cone pool.

I managed to get a few pics of the room before I passed out.

My sister slept in the pull down bed and she said it was comfy! DH and I got the bedroom:

I just love the traffic cone lights!

My sister had plopped on the couch and wouldn't let me take pictures of her and she wouldn't move so I don't have pics of the living room yet. I do have pics of the mini kitchenette though!

And here was the outside bathroom. Yes there are 2 bathrooms in the suite! It was really convenient!

What a cute room! We had previously stayed at the Finding Nemo section and it was great too. But you can tell it's a value resort...we had the blended shampoo/conditioner, there are no pool towels, and we went from sleeping in Frette linens on the cruise to percale at AoA...oh the horror. #firstworldproblems

We rested up for our big day tomorrow...Star Wars Weekends at DHS!! Woohoo! Coming soon...​

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[jordansmama]

Joining in!