DAY 4
December 7th, 2015 - Monday
Shopping, More AoA touring, and Disney Springs
This morning started a little later then usual, as this was our mid-trip no-park rest day. We debated how to arrive at our first destination, a late breakfast ADR, and Mark mentioned that he'd like to ride to monorail. So we queued up at the bus stop, and waited FOR-EV-ERRRR. Finally I got fed up, and had us all jump (or in my case, roll) onto the Epcot bus that was about to pull up to it's stop. Change of plans! Off we go!
All was going swimmingly until we got to the Epcot monorail station and were heading up the ramp to the platform, when my
ECV just came to a sudden STOP. Jiggled the key, took it out, back in, but it was no use... It had zero power! Mark checked the battery cables, but everything was secure. I start to panic that we were going to miss our ADR all because of my stupid scooter and my stupid broken body, and really let myself get worked up.
Within a few minutes, a VERY kind CM saw we were having trouble, and came down to ask if she could help. She suggested just pushing it the rest of the way up the platform then figuring out what to do next, so that's what we did.
Then I called Walker Mobility and spoke with a nice girl who, when I described what happened, asked me "Where you going up a hill or ramp when it happened?" Uhhhhhh... yeahhhhhh.... "Oh, that's easy to fix! You just tripped the breaker. Here's what you do..." She directed me to a little white button on the outside of the left battery. I pushed it back into a locked position, put the key back in... and all was right in the world once more! Hooray! (As it turns out, this breaker tripping problem would continue to occur many many times throughout the week, so I was very glad to know how to fix it!) We loaded onto the monorail, bound for the TTC!
Here's a really terrible picture of me on the monorail ride, looking extremely cracked-out crazypants
, but ultimately happy to be on our way:
We made it to the TTC, and I have no recollection of why, but for some incomprehensible reason, we decided to walk/scoot to the Polynesian instead of jumping on the resort monorail line. (Maybe the queue was long?) So we started to hood/wheel it over. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I could tell Debby was hurting, which made me feel bad, so I was very relieved when we arrived at the lobby and could get checked-in for our ADR (on time, no less!):
I squeezed this ADR in for us... Okay, I'm lying, I squeezed it in for ME, because breakfast here has been on my bucket list for ages! Especially after years of reading about the fabled TONGA TOAST!
We were seated as soon as we checked-in, in this cute little corner booth thing. This was my view from our table:
Both my uncle and I wanted coffee, so I started us with the Kona coffee pressed pot! So good!
And of course, I acquired this beauty!
Now some of you might remember the food crisis back in August on my PTR, when I was torn between that beautiful Tonga Toast, and another amazing-looking dish I found on the menu, the Samoan. I was debating which to get. Well, as I predicted I probably would...
I got both! I HAD to! I'm so glad that I did, too. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Mark & Debby even agreed that the Samoan was excellent. I ate every bite, and about half of the Tonga Toast. OINK OINK! There's more photos and details on the meal on my Dining Report, located
HERE.
When we finished up eating it was around 12:30pm or so (making it more of a brunch for us), and Mark & Debby and I went our separate ways for a few hours. They wanted to head back to the room and chill out for the day, so I told them to take the Monorail from the Polynesian over to the Magic Kingdom, then catch the bus back to AoA. I, on the other hand, decided to linger and do some shopping! (Well, originally the plan was day drinking, but then I discovered that Trader Sam's doesn't open until 4pm. So no rum for Billie. BOOOOO!)
Since I was already upstairs, I checked out Moana Mercantile, where I bought a couple things: A Rapunzel photo frame for my Tangled-loving co-worker, and a pink sparkling Mickey head keychain for myself. (
@Chicago Mo , this is also where I found the enormous Stitch pillow-pet thingy that nearly came home with me but didn't!)
Then back downstairs and back into Boutiki. Yes, I was already in here on Sunday night, but I just wanted to look around some more. Well, doing so lead me to making a purchase that I never in a million years ever dreamed I would ever ever make...
...I dropped $200 bucks on a PURSE. On a freakin' PURSE. Me, the girl who has never owned or even wanted to own a designer handbag in her life! But I hadn't spend hardly anything on myself so far in the trip and we were already on Day 4... I figured 4 days, that's $50 a day. Right? Because Disney math.
And do LOVE it so! As you can tell, this photo was snapped on the monorail, as I immediately left with my new acquisition! The lighting isn't great, though, so the colors are pretty washed out, and you can't really see how cute some of the details are. So here's some better photos that I took today of it:
I picked this one in particular because it was the closest one to having all 4 park icons represented on it. There's Cinderella's Castle, Spaceship Earth, and the Earful Tower. (In addition to Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars, Turkey Legs, Mickey Mouse himself, Donald Duck, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Carousel, Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Soarin', and Minnie Mouse!) The only icon missing from it is the Tree of Life...
...which thankfully is on the back, at least! (Along with Space Mountain, a Dole Whip, Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion, and Pluto!) I just LOVE this print and how it represent the four Walt Disney World theme parks and those special Disney treats!!! It's been a month since I got home, and this purse still just tickles me to death, and everywhere I go I have this wonderful daily reminder of my happy place. Totally worth every penny spent on it.
I thought about stopping at the Grand Floridian and shopping a bit there, but for some reason I decided to skip it. No idea why! So I headed on to the Contemporary, where picked up a few pins for Debby (she'd started collecting certain ones at this point), and found an absolutely beautiful blue & white patterned Mickey-themed throw blanket for my best friend, Rachel (who back in April 2015 was on vacation with her family at Universal and bought me a gorgeous Hogwarts throw blanket, and whose favorite color happens to be blue). I never took a picture, but it's actually currently available at the
Disney Store online, so I stole this photo from there...
After the Contemporary, I decided to head back to the room myself, so I caught the monorail on over to the MK, then a bus to AoA. Got back to my room and plugged in my ride, then went next door with my shopping bags to show off my purchases to Aunt Debby. Funnily enough, she had everything she'd bought so far spread out on the bed and was sorting through it at that moment! Then back to my room for a little nap. Mmm I love naps.
I woke up well before it was time to head out for the evening, and I get restless just sitting in the room for too long, so I fired up the ECV and headed out to continue my photo tour of AoA! I managed to snap two full areas this afternoon, the Lion King and the Cars sections.
This update is about to get VERY photo-heavy. You've been warned!
(CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!)
They they all put in the effort anyhow, God love them!
Nope! So we just found a place to sit and rest a bit over near the entrance for our next destination... Soarin'!
She did have to close her eyes at parts, but not for too long. I was soooooo proud of her!
Seriously. Average color, average size. lol. I've done it twice now, and both times got boring pearls. Oh well! I had fun, and it looks cute in the rose-shaped pearl cage that I brought. I wear it every day now (which in this close-up photo I just took today, I can see that it needs to be cleaned up, it's looking bad!):
Lol but seriously I am LOVING that purse! I got my first Disney Dooney in 2014 and it's somewhat similar to yours. I want to say it was called Disneyana?? It had the 4 icons along with a bunch of the rides like Space and Jungle Cruise, but also had the names of all the lands in the MK. Then about 5 months ago DH surprised me with the Runway Princess Dooney, which I'd been wanting forever but was sold out in the parks on our first 2 trips last year and also online for awhile. I get so many compliments on it, but the best thing is going into a 
