Get Off The Ship - we are running out of towel animals! Update 10/25 Day 31

[dizneeat]

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Day 27, September 2​

Back where we belong …… - Part 1


We were up again early. Quick shower and an in room leftovers breakfast and we were ready to get out of Fort Lauderdale. We were on the road by 8am

and made good progress towards Orlando and Walt Disney World. A quick stop at one of the rest areas to stretch our legs was all we needed and without any traffic jams we arrived at Walt Disney World shortly before noon.

And after passing under the welcoming arch of Disney’s World

we immediately went to our new home for the rest of our stay, Old Key West.

We parked our car and headed over to the front desk, fully aware, that our villa would not be ready at noon, we handed our paperwork over to the cast member. She was just earning her ears and had another cast member looking over her shoulder, but she did perfectly well when she smiled and said that our request of a higher floor had been granted and our villa was ready and waiting for us. Pixie dusted again. And with huge grins on our faces we thanked her and headed back out to our car, where we quickly stopped at bell services to pick up our purple box, put it on the back seat and off we went. And not only had we been granted the higher floor we had been put on Turtle Pond Road as well. It could not have been any better. We soon had parked our car and carried up our hand luggage and quickly explored our home from home.

We had to go back to the car twice until we had hauled all our stuff upstairs, but at least we already had our villa. We relaxed for a short while after unpacking and turning on the washer before we decided that we would enjoy some lunch. And after thinking about it for a minute or two we decided on heading on over to Pop Century for a burger.
Soon we drove through the gates, parked the car and headed towards the food court. It was now already past 1.30pm and the food court was pretty empty. So we quickly placed our order and soon were heading towards a table with our lunch. We had decided on sharing two burgers, the

Southwest Burger, Angus burger, Pepper jack cheese, Black bean relish, Guacamole, Jalapeno dressing served with french fries and the

Sloppy Joe, Ground Beef, Tomato sauce, Green peppers, Spanish onion, Vermont cheddar and french fries. We also ordered a side of

Onion Rings and a

Carrot Cake, which I love for dessert. We sat for quite some time enjoying the air conditioned restaurant and our food and then decided to do some shopping before heading back to Old Key West. There were quite a few things we wanted to buy to take home and we had a fridge to fill.

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[jedijill]

Great pixie dust! Your burgers look great as well.

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

What a great room! I can't wait to stay at OKW again. The burgers look great!

 

[Kim Hercules]

All caught up and ready for more

 

[MEK]

All caught up. I was several updates behind. I enjoyed the drive from Key West to Orlando with your various stops a long the way. I really enjoyed seeing how gorgeous Key West was at night. Just lovely!

Very cool hotel with the observation deck. Can't believe you missed the tornado at sea.

My cruise itinerary has changed and now we are going to Key West on our first cruise day. I am very excited about that. Can't wait. I also took an extra day of vacation post cruise. So we get off the ship Sunday morning but now we don't fly home until late Monday night. I am thinking about visiting the Everglades. Do you have any suggestions about things to do in the Miami area (since you are always passing through that area)?

Love your room at OKW! Glad that it was ready and you could move right in! Score!

 

[SeattleSteve]

Crab Cake Sandwich, all crab, served with lettuce, tomato, red onion and Key Lime mustard on the side. I had ordered the

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Wow, I've never seen a lemon filter before. Thank you for your trip reports, they are enjoyable.

 

[Leshaface]

Despite the fact that we actually just wanted something small we ordered quite a lot of food.

This is always our problem too

Fresh Mahi Sandwich,

I LOVE Mahi Mahi!

This looks delicious. Just last night I was trying to find a Key Lime pie recipe

I'm so so excited that a KK location is returning near us again! It's 45 mins away but now whenever we're up there visiting, I know I can stop and get donuts and that makes me so happy

Boy, were they unfriendly. There was no greeting for us, the young lady behind the front desk planted a form on the counter and grunted “fill out and sign here” and took a step back to watch her TV.
Once we had filled out the form she wrote the room number unto a slip of paper and handed us the room keys before she turned her back on us to watch TV again.

Aren't they in the hospitality business???

EEEEK! That is really nasty.

Like they went out of their way to wash the sheets?? What the heck.

This sign always makes me happy.

She was just earning her ears and had another cast member looking over her shoulder, but she did perfectly well when she smiled and said that our request of a higher floor had been granted and our villa was ready and waiting for us. Pixie dusted again.

Score!

Never thought about it before, but those patios must be MASSIVE to fit a 4 person table!

 

[dizneeat]

Great pixie dust! Your burgers look great as well.

Jill in CO

We really enjoyed the burgers, especially since they were not your every day burgers.

What a great room! I can't wait to stay at OKW again. The burgers look great!

We really love OKW. It feels so much like a home.
The burgers were really yummy.

All caught up and ready for more

More coming soon. I am working on it!

I enjoyed the drive from Key West to Orlando with your various stops a long the way. I really enjoyed seeing how gorgeous Key West was at night. Just lovely!

We really enjoy that drive. The water is so beautiful, a colour that cannot be described and crossing all those bridges is awesome.
Key West is beautiful. There are lots of "tacky" shops, but we are used to that from our travels to Italy.

Can't believe you missed the tornado at sea.

Yes, we must have looked the other way when it happened, but at least we got to see it on TV.

My cruise itinerary has changed and now we are going to Key West on our first cruise day.

That seems to be the same itinerary we had. It is a great one! You will love starting your cruise off with a visit to Key West!

I also took an extra day of vacation post cruise. So we get off the ship Sunday morning but now we don't fly home until late Monday night. I am thinking about visiting the Everglades. Do you have any suggestions about things to do in the Miami area (since you are always passing through that area)?

It is great not having to fly home right after the cruise. We did not find Miami especially interesting. Don't get me wrong, we loved cruising along Miami Beach and we even did a Harbour Cruise around Star Island.
We have never been to the Everglades, but it must be very interesting. We always hit Miami during the height of summer and we have been told that there are gazillions of mosquitos in the Everglades at that time.

Love your room at OKW! Glad that it was ready and you could move right in! Score!

Those villas are such a treat and to have them ready and waiting for you when you arrive makes it even better.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow, I've never seen a lemon filter before. ThaOnk you for your trip reports, they are enjoyable.

It was the first time I saw one in the US either.
Thank you for your kind words about my TRs.

This looks delicious. Just last night I was trying to find a Key Lime pie recipe

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OMG, Alicia, if you ever get to drive down to Key West, you HAVE TO stop at Marker 88 just for the Key Lime Pie. It is delicious.

I'm so so excited that a KK location is returning near us again! It's 45 mins away but now whenever we're up there visiting, I know I can stop and get donuts and that makes me so happy

That is great news!

Aren't they in the hospitality business???

You should think that they were. We were just stunned at how unfriendly the girl at check in was.

Like they went out of their way to wash the sheets?? What the heck.

Never thought about it before, but those patios must be MASSIVE to fit a 4 person table!

The balconies and patios are pretty big - those villas are so large, it is just awesome. And with the size of Old Key West resort, you never feel that you are in a hotel. It is just like you live in this quaint little village.

 

[dizneeat]

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Day 27, September 2​

Back where we belong …… - Part 2


There were quite a few things we wanted to buy to take home and we had a fridge to fill.
So we went to Walmart to pick up some school supplies and a T-shirt or two for friends. Next stop Publix, where we bought some sweetener and some spice mixes to take home with us and some groceries for breakfast, snacks and picnic dinners. Shopping done we headed back to Old Key West,

put everything away and rested on the balcony for a while. Around 5.30 we finally left our retreat to head to a park. It didn’t take long and we turned into the Hollywood Studio’s parking lot. Since we were late we were able to score a spot at the very beginning of the row which saved us a lot of walking. A tram was already waiting and we were soon sitting down, waiting for our tram to leave.

About 10 minutes later we headed towards bag check and finally the entrance.

We strolled through the shops, then had a look at the tip board and went to pick up a fastpass for the Tower of Terror before we headed to our first destination, the Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre. It didn’t take long for us to be led to a car

and we sat down in the front row.

The server was quick at hand to ask for drinks and then we tried to read the menu and watched a bit of the movies. We both ordered Diet Cokes and Tom got an

Oreo Cookie Milk shake. I cannot have to much milk so I didn’t try the shake, but Tom liked it a lot. Didn’t take long for the rest of our order to arrive. Again, we had decided to share two sandwiches, one of them was the

Smoked Turkey Sandwich, Smoked Turkey, crispy Bacon, Lettuce, and Vine-ripened Tomatoes with Avocado Mayonnaise on Multigrain Bread served with Cucumber Salad and the other was the

Grilled Salmon Sandwich, Grilled Marinated Salmon on top of farm fresh greens, seasonal tomatoes, crispy bacon, chili-chive ranch dressing, served in baguette with French Fries. And after taking pictures we enjoyed our dinner, while watching those corny old movies.
It took a while to process our bill after we had asked for it as the server had forgotten to run our Tables in Wonderland card, but finally we got the bill, paid for it and were off again. We were full and there was time to kill so we headed towards the Backlot Streets.

It was fun to just stroll through, peek into the “shopwindows” and discover fun Disney extras. We ended up in Front of Toy Story Mania, but the proposed wait time was an hour and we did not want to stand in line for that amount of time, so we headed for an old favourite, which never gets old, One Man’s Dream.

We took our sweet time looking at all the things on display and finally went to look at the models in front of the cinema and then finally sat down to watch the movie. When we left, we saw that the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow was open and the line didn’t look too long.


To be continued .......​

 

[jedijill]

You are an updating machine today! I love One Man's Dream. Such nostalgia.

Jill in CO

 

[englishrose47]

Sci Fi is a great favorite of mine . The oreo cookie milkshake is to die for . The OUt of this world Turtle cheesecake dessert is almost as good as Raglan Roads Raspberry Pavlova !!! Your suite at OKW looks a lot like I remember when I was your guest for a hour or so a few years ago .

 

[franandaj]

Love the Sci Fi dine in! There are just too many good restaurants there to be able to eat at them all. I hope that the rumors about One Man's Dream closing are false. I see that it still has posted operating hours today even though the Animation pavilion was supposed to close a week ago.

 

[dizneeat]

You are an updating machine today! I love One Man's Dream. Such nostalgia.

Jill in CO

I have tried to get those TRs going again, but even with being on vacation I don't have as much time as I would like to spend updating.

One Man's Dream =

Sci Fi is a great favorite of mine .

I know, Rosie! It is such a fun restaurant.

Your suite at OKW looks a lot like I remember when I was your guest for a hour or so a few years ago .

We love those 1 bedroom villas and YES, it is like the one we were in when you visited with us.

There are just too many good restaurants there to be able to eat at them all.

How true ...... and then there are those that are such favourites that we go back to them every visit.

I hope that the rumors about One Man's Dream closing are false.

I did read the rumours and was shocked. I really hope that they might only update it. It is such an awesome exhibition of Walt's life and all that he stands for.

 

[Teri1]

We love eating at Sci-Fi Drive-In. We have ADR's for our next visit. We also have ADR's for dinner at Olivia's, Mick loved their prime rib when we ate there with you and Tom.

 

[dizneeat]

We love eating at Sci-Fi Drive-In. We have ADR's for our next visit. We also have ADR's for dinner at Olivia's, Mick loved their prime rib when we ate there with you and Tom.

I remember our dinner at Olivia's very well and we both wish, we could join you this summer, but unfortunately ............

 

[dizneeat]

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Day 27, September 2​

Back where we belong …… - Part 3


When we left, we saw that the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow was open and the line didn’t look too long.
So we hopped in and were within the second group of people to walk in. The first part you walked through while you were then led into another room and witnessed Jack Sparrow’s adventures. It was nothing spectacular, but still nicely made and we were happy to have seen it,

as it was closed a year later. Once we had exited it, we walked over to the Tower of Terror as our Fastpass was about to expire.

We made it in time and walked right into the library, then hit a bit of a crowd in the boiler room. But nevertheless, it did not take long until we were seated in an elevator and ready to “drop in”.
The ride was fun as always and when we walked around the building and up to where the time is posted we took a peek at the posted wait time and it was 40 minutes, so we decided against getting in line again and since we had been up early we decided
to head towards the exit.
But wait, there was one more attraction that usually does not have a very long wait. Let’s see if we can get on the Great Movie Ride. Luckily the posted time was just 10 minutes, so we got in line and walked right through the first room and onto the next ride out.

The ride vehicles were kind of empty, but it was still a lot of fun.
And once the ride was over we really headed for the exit, got on the next tram back to the parking lot and within minutes were back in our car and on the way to Old Key West. We parked our car, headed to our villa, watched a little TV and had a drink or two

to wind down before we finally went to bed.


To be continued .......​

 

[JKSWonder]

My kids really love Sci-Fi, especially my son since he's a Tom and Jerry fan and they play those short cartoons there.

I will now relay one of the only bad CM experiences I have ever had at WDW: We took the kids to see The Legend of Jack Sparrow. It was fairly new then and none of us had seen it before. Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite ride. I love the movies and I've been love sick over Johnny Depp since I was a teenager. I would have enjoyed it very much, but for the fact that the CM behind us recited EVERY SINGLE LINE of the attraction standing right behind us and he said every line two beats before Captain Jack (or anyone else in the scene) said anything. I looked back at him and asked him to please stop because we could hear him and it was distracting, but he just kept it up.

I realize the CM's manning the rides have a hard job and hearing the same dialogue or song over and over can get to you, but that doesn't mean its o.k. to wreck it for the guest. Deliberately too, since I did ask him to please stop. Definitely lost some of my Disney magic feeling that day.

 

[dizneeat]

My kids really love Sci-Fi, especially my son since he's a Tom and Jerry fan and they play those short cartoons there.

It is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. And I can understand your kids perfectly well.

I will now relay one of the only bad CM experiences I have ever had at WDW: We took the kids to see The Legend of Jack Sparrow. It was fairly new then and none of us had seen it before. Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite ride. I love the movies and I've been love sick over Johnny Depp since I was a teenager. I would have enjoyed it very much, but for the fact that the CM behind us recited EVERY SINGLE LINE of the attraction standing right behind us and he said every line two beats before Captain Jack (or anyone else in the scene) said anything. I looked back at him and asked him to please stop because we could hear him and it was distracting, but he just kept it up.

Now, that is really rude of the CM.
It is annoying enough if guests recite the texts in an attraction (HM comes to mind), but having a CM do it is just not right. And then when asked to stop not following that is just plain rude!!
Did you get the CMs name and report it to GS?

I realize the CM's manning the rides have a hard job and hearing the same dialogue or song over and over can get to you, but that doesn't mean its o.k. to wreck it for the guest. Deliberately too, since I did ask him to please stop. Definitely lost some of my Disney magic feeling that day.

Hope the Magic came back as I really hope this was an isolated incident. CMs can make or break your day - we love how friendly and helpful they are at WDW compared to DLP - are you sure he was not an "exchange CM" from France.

 

[JKSWonder]

It is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. And I can understand your kids perfectly well.



Now, that is really rude of the CM.
It is annoying enough if guests recite the texts in an attraction (HM comes to mind), but having a CM do it is just not right. And then when asked to stop not following that is just plain rude!!
Did you get the CMs name and report it to GS?



Hope the Magic came back as I really hope this was an isolated incident. CMs can make or break your day - we love how friendly and helpful they are at WDW compared to DLP - are you sure he was not an "exchange CM" from France.

No, we didn't report it. We probably should have, but we opted to just try and shake it off and move on. Honestly, that sort of thing had never really happened to me at WDW before, so I think I was just taken aback by it at the time.

The magic can't be totally gone, as we are going back 30 days from today! I'm driving my husband crazy with my questions. "Should I keep this ADR for breakfast at BOG?" "Should we do the water park or Disney Quest?", etc. He likes Disney fine enough, though not the fan I am. He just sort of rolls his eyes, shrugs his shoulders, smiles and tells me to do whatever I think works best. It's maddening!