I Sneezed My Ears Off! An April TR (Finished 09/04)

[coloredimage]

Let's Do This!

Since that last update was so short I'm just going to go right ahead and write about the next day, because that took me barely no time to write!

So, every time I've gone to Florida in recent years, it's been a tradition to meet up with my friend Liz.

Little background for newcomers: Liz and I have grown up together and became very close in high school. We share a love of musicals, Disney, Harry Potter, and travel. She moved down to Florida for the CP in 2011 - Jey and I drove down to spend a few days in the parks with her before she started - and after she finished the CP she moved down permanently for college and took a part-time job in the company. With the exception of 1 trip a few years ago when we just didn't have the time to, it's been tradition for us to spend a day together. So when we were planning this trip I told her the dates. Originally she was supposed to meet up with us for Dapper Day, but once it got closer, she suggested meeting up with us our last full day. It worked out perfectly because outside of a lunch reservation that we could easily add her on to at the last minute we had nothing planned - no FPs, no plans, nothing. Jey and I had left this day open purposefully so that we could just do whatever we wanted and just go at our leisure.

The night before we had sent Liz a text telling her that we were both planning on wearing dresses. So we made it a "cute dress day".

It turned out that this was also the second to last Friday Liz was going to be in Florida - she had graduated a few months earlier and she was moving. So not only was it our last full day in the parks it was also kind of a one last ride for her too.

I had texted her earlier in the morning as we were headed out and told her to just meet up with us sometime before our 11:30 lunch. She promised she would be there around 10-10:30 depending on the traffic so we headed off to Epcot!

We didn't want to do any rides without Liz so Jey suggested we see how long the lines were for some characters. She had a Polaroid camera with her and wanted to take some character pictures to make a collage.

Baymax's line was basically non-existent.



It was pretty quick and Jey was able to get a picture of him. Since ti seems that they kind of expect you to get pictures with the characters I'm the one to get the picture here:





Bye, Baymax!

After that we glanced over at the Joy and Sadness line. It was about a half hour long according to the CM, so we decided to get into it - Jey adores Inside Out and really loves Sadness so she didn't want to miss the opportunity to see them.

The line was probably about 45 minutes long. We didn't move for a long time, but the couple in front of us in line was very pleasant and we passed the time having a great conversation with them - they were there with their daughter's band and so we were talking about school and such. They helped pass the time and knew all about our (lack of) plans for the day.

We finally got into the Meet and Greet and it was one of the best fur-character meet and greets I've done in WDW. Joy was perfectly into character, pulling us both in for individual big hugs and then dragging us each over to Sadness. I got more time with Sadness because Joy pointed out my glasses and the top of my dress and hair and how we looked the same, so Sadness was mildly excited. All-in-all it really was worth the wait.





When we got out of the line we began a conversation with the CM who was working to direct people where they wanted to go. She was very nice and very chatty and we had to excuse ourselves after a little bit because Liz had just sent a text saying she had parked.

We told her we'd meet her out in front of Mousegears so I went to the ATM to quickly take out some extra cash and we stood in the shade of the overhang, waiting. She got up quickly and after hugs and hellos we headed off into World Showcase!

 

[coloredimage]

Part Two

LIZ WAS HERE!

So we headed out to the World Showcase since we had a little bit of time before our lunch ADR. World Showcase had just opened and even though it was a Friday during Flower and Garden it was nice and quiet. The nice couple Jey and I had been talking to while waiting for Joy and Sadness walked past us and when they saw Liz the husband jokingly said "they've been waiting all morning for you!"

Sometimes I really love the random people you meet in Disney.

We just kind of walked, heading towards nowhere. So, the Jungle Book came out that day and as we walked past the sand castle there were CMs handing out buttons to the first 50 or so people who walked past. We were very excited to get them - Liz because she is a former CM and loves the limited edition buttons and Jey partially because she's a former CM too and partially because Jungle Book holds a very special place in her heart. I just like Disney swag and special little things they do randomly.

Basically we were all wicked excited.

Since there weren't really many people who were that far into World Showcase yet one of the CMs asked if we would like her to take our picture in front of the sand art since no one would be walking in front of us. We were very excited to comply!



Of course you can't see the pins on any of us. Mine's on my other side, Liz's is front and center but a faded, and Jey's is hidden by her hair.

We wore them until we left the park that day!

Anyway, after all this we decided we should probably head back towards the front of World Showcase. Once we got to Mexico we decided to hop onto Gran Fiesta (this became our go-to "we need to kill time in Epcot" ride because Maelstrom's gone). We basically had an entire boat to ourselves.

Once we were off we went over to San Angel Inn. Liz went to look at their menu while I checked in at the podium.

If you've read any of my other TR's (my TR from August 2014 in this section or the TR from last August in the DL section specifically) you'd know that I don't like Mexican food. Some of the flavors are just not things I like together (especially due to the wide use of limes, which I hate the taste of) and I don't like the heat of Tex-Mex which is what we get frequently up here, so I'm very hesitant of it. (Any other Hispanic or Latino food? Give me all of it. Brazilian? Please and thank you. I seriously blame Tex-Mex.) But in 2014 Jey and I went to San Angel Inn for the first time.

And I loved it.

So when we were making ADRs I was perfectly okay with going back. And it worked out great because our ADR was so early (around 11:30) and San Angel Inn isn't as popular for lunch so it was really easy for us to change the ADR from two to three.

Our waitress came over. I didn't note down her name but she was awesome and totally made up for Antonio the night before. She was very sweet and gave great recommendations for Liz who had never been here before.

We got our drinks:



Mine was the hibiscus margarita which is my favorite - I love floral drinks - while Liz got the blood orange margarita and Jey got the avocado margarita. We all tried each others and we all liked everything.

Jey and I ended up getting the same meal, which was also the same meal we got the last time we were there: tacos:


These are some of my favorite tacos - I especially love the avocado on them. I also really enjoy their beans, which I normally don't like. They're not mushy and they have a nice flavor to them.

Liz got the enchilada, which I didn't get a picture of.

We really enjoyed our food! Liz didn't want anything for dessert but Jey and I got the crema Bavaria and I'm pretty sure Liz had a little bit of it.



We used our last TS credits on the plan we had and we settled our tab then headed out.

As we were sitting around chatting we asked what Liz wanted to do as a celebration for graduating college. We threw around a couple ideas but decided that for the time being we'd stay in Epcot and play around.

But first, we had to hit up the Mexico booth!

When we were talking about the trip Jey and I made a short list of things we definitely wanted to try at the booths. One of them was the watermelon sangria. When we mentioned it to Liz she was very excited - everyone she knew had been raving about it but she hadn't gotten a chance to get to try it yet. We figured getting it after lunch and sipping it as we wandered was the best option.



It was very nice and refreshing and great for a warm spring day! I drank mine as we walked around, trying to think of what to do. Jey and I had wanted to go to the Festival Center but it hadn't been open any of the other days we were in Epcot so we headed on over there to see if we could find anything interesting to buy:





We had been commenting on the wall, I took this picture mostly as a joke but it makes me laugh whenever I look at it so I had to share lol.

Not finding anything interesting to buy we headed over to the other side of Futureworld, planning on heading into the Land. As we got to the Imagination pavilion we saw Mary and Belle training next to the building.

Liz, who is one of the biggest Belle fans I know, may or may not have skipped over to her.



Jey got some pictures of Mary and Belle for her collage. Since we were there we decided to ride Imagination.

We may have sung along.

It's fine. We're fine.

We played around in the drop area with a bunch of toddlers.



And we made Bertha 2.0



Then we finally got to Livin' With the Land. We rode and once we got off we had to make a decision to go into World Showcase or head out. Liz had talked about wanting to try doing the Monorail Crawl and getting appetizers everyplace we went to make a dinner out of it, then head to Magic Kingdom, since it was around 3-4 at this point.

With plans mostly settled we headed out of Epcot!

 

[ariane37]

Nice review of San Angel Inn! DH and I are planning to eat lunch there in a couple weeks, it'll be our first time there. I've wanted to go for awhile but it seems to get a fair amount of negative reviews However lately I've read quite a few positive ones and I'm excited to try it! And I'm totally getting the Avocado margarita even though I cannot remotely fathom what it'll taste like.

Love those pop-up character trainings Every time we've stayed at BWV we find some at the IG.
Can't wait to hear about your Monorail Crawl!

 

[coloredimage]

Nice review of San Angel Inn! DH and I are planning to eat lunch there in a couple weeks, it'll be our first time there. I've wanted to go for awhile but it seems to get a fair amount of negative reviews However lately I've read quite a few positive ones and I'm excited to try it! And I'm totally getting the Avocado margarita even though I cannot remotely fathom what it'll taste like.

Love those pop-up character trainings Every time we've stayed at BWV we find some at the IG.
Can't wait to hear about your Monorail Crawl!

Thanks! As someone who does not like Mexican food at all, I was pleasantly surprised by San Angel Inn! I know there's a different menu for lunch and dinner and I haven't had dinner there yet (I just love those tacos so much...lol). We had kept away from it because of the negative reviews but Jey really wanted to try it a few years ago and we both enjoyed it a lot!

The avocado margarita tastes, and I quote Jey here: "just like an avocado was pureed into a shake, but then add tequila." Which is both accurate and not at all helpful lol. It was a very, very light taste but I can see how drinking one would definitely be refreshing.

And I love the pop-up character trainings too! <3 We saw Aurora at IG one of the days earlier in the week but couldn't stop because we were headed somewhere and didn't think to stop. They're my favorite! Never lots of people and always good interactions because they're so alone.

 

[coloredimage]

Part Three

So! We left Epcot.

And walked.

And walked.

And....walked.

Liz said she had parked close enough to the front of the parking lot that we didn't need to take the tram. Okay, we said. It would have been fine any other time of the year except the summer, because ten-ish rows and then down to the very end of that last row was pure, sweaty torture. We had to blast the air conditioner once we got into her car.

We decided to start our crawl at the Polynesian, because we knew we all wanted to go to Trader Sam's and we figured we could get some sushi or other appetizers that we could all share.

I miss the old Poly foyer but man do I love the fishing balls hanging from the ceiling.





We headed on over to Trader Sam's, which had just opened maybe a half hour ago.

And it was packed.

Like, dang, Poly. Jey and I were going on the Disneyland theory that if you go right when it opens you'll be able to find a seat.

We stood near the emergency door close to the bar and talked about what we wanted to do. Nobody seemed particularly like they were about to leave and there was no room at the bar. There was a family sitting to our right who told us to just find a place to sit with another group, no big deal. But we didn't want to be rude. And it's not like he was offering for us to sit with him - he and his wife had their two daughters were at a four-top.

After he kept at it the couple to our left finished their drinks. They told us they were just waiting for their check to come so we could sit at their table and order if we wanted. We thanked them and sat.

This all took about five minutes. We didn't mind waiting for the table.



We had a great waitress too! She was quick and very nice and was really into it.

I got a Tahitian Torch:


Jey got the Krakatoa Punch and Liz got the Castaway Crush.

For those that haven't been to Trader Sam's yet -

Tahitian Torch: ByeJoe Dragon Fire Spit, Tropical Juices, Passion Fruit, and fresh Lime Juice.
Krakatoa Punch: Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Pyrat XO Preserve Rum, Orgeat (Almond), Sam's Gorilla Grog, and Hibiscus Grenadine
Castaway Crush: Leblon Cachaca, Cream of Coconut, Pineapple, Cinnamon, and Fresh Lime Juice.

Jey and I enjoyed ours. Liz didn't like her Castaway Crush all that much. I don't know if it was the taste of the cachaca or if it was the cinnamon but there was just one of the tastes that she didn't like too much. I tried it too and liked it so I helped her finish it.

We talked about staying and getting food at Trader Sam's and another drink, but we ultimately decided that we'd go up to Kona Island because they had a larger selection of sushi than Trader Sam's so we paid our bill and headed up.

It was a little busy at Kona Island but we were quickly seen to since we decided to pay separately. I don't remember what kind of sushi Jey and Liz got both they both got some variety of sushi - I think Liz got California rolls and Jey got something spicy?

I got wontons:


We sat in the plush benches in the lobby outside of 'Ohana and ate our food, chatting about our next plan. We were going to go to Tambu at one point to get some pina coladas or a lapu lapu but at some point in our conversation we decided we should just head out to the next hotel so we'd have some time in Magic Kingdom later.

We finished eating and headed on out to the monorail - we had awesome monorail luck every time we took it this night - every time we went to get on one there was one just pulling in or held so we could get on.

One last shot of the Poly before we headed out:


I know I took a picture of the Grand's lobby because I always do, but I cannot for the life of me find it on my Flickr or on my camera so I must have accidentally deleted it before I uploaded.

We got to the Grand and walked around, enjoying the lobby, but we couldn't decide where we wanted to get a drink. So, we decided to come back after we went to Contemporary.

Actually, we had a specific goal in mind. Jey suggested we go to Top of the World Lounge so we headed on over to Bay Lake Tower.

It was only about 6 and had just opened once we got there was nobody up there. A group of maybe ten or so was at one of the couches and a couple was next to the windows at one of the small tables. So we chose a table next to the windows as well, thinking we could enjoy the view.

Literally, we sat down and this was the view:


And about twenty seconds later we lost sight of the Grand as the only storm of our entire trip rolled through. It was like a summer storm it came in so intensely.

But it was okay because it was the perfect place to wait out the rain!



We ordered drinks and some soft pretzels.



I go a Magical Star, Jey got a Moscow Mule, and Liz got a blue martini. I didn't take any pictures of the pretzels because we devoured them. I can't remember how long we were there but we may have ordered another round of pretzels we were so hungry.

So pretty:


We nursed our drinks and got a round of water (we had been getting it with every drink everywhere but we couldn't really fit the waters and the food and the mixed drinks on our little table. Basically we had already decided we weren't going back to the Grand because we were getting full but we were trying to wait out the rain.

It stopped raining around 8-ish so we headed out to take some pictures from the observation deck.













We headed down to the walkway between BLT and the Contemporary and it was starting to drizzle again. We spent some time walking around the Contemporary, looking in their gift shops.



I bought a cute Small World luggage tag and a Small World postcard because it was the only place I'd seen them. Then we headed to the monorail.

And it started pouring again.

We ha spent about an hour or so wandering the Contemporary to let our food digest and shopping and missed the opportunity.

We made it back to the Poly and decided to just go back to the hotel. Liz offered to drive us so we didn't have to wait for the bus and we thought maybe we could go to Disney Springs and walk around if it stopped raining this hard.

Once we got back to the hotel we went to get something truly perfect:


Two for each of us!

We ate and went back to our room to relax. We watched some television and gossiped and generally just relaxed. It was getting late, and Liz suggested we call it a night so she could get home and meet us early before she went to work the next morning. We agreed and said goodnight. We had offered to have Liz stay for the night with us but she had to get her work clothes so it didn't make much sense.

When Liz Left Jey and I took turns showering and packed while the other was in the shower. The next day was our last in the parks

So, we didn't do a full monorail crawl and we didn't make it to Magic Kingdom, but we had a great day with Liz celebrating her graduation regardless!

 

[coloredimage]

Disney Announcement!

So, guys!

A few weeks ago (maybe 2 weeks) I posted a picture on Instagram - actually, it was one from this past post of the view from BLT - with the comment "I miss this view." My friend E told Liz and I that we should come down to Florida for New Year's and spend some time with her family.

Liz and I kind of...didn't answer. We changed the subject.

But it came up again last week on Facebook and yesterday Liz and I were talking about how much we want to go back to Florida before we go to California. We were trying to find a way to go over April Break but with Easter where it is this year it just couldn't work well.

So this has led to....

...we're probably heading down to spend time with our friend E and her family over New Year's!

And it'll be a birthday trip for me, as my birthday's the Tuesday after the holiday (and of course the day I have to go back to work, boo) so that'll be fun!

 

[coloredimage]

Squeeze It All In!

Saturday was our last day But the way we had scheduled our plane ride meant that we were able to have basically an entire day in the parks and since we had dropped our lunch for the day in favor of our impromptu dinner at Skipper's Canteen earlier in the week we had the freedom to do basically whatever we wanted until our bus came to take us to the airport at like 6.

We had FP+ but we decided to spend the day not on rides but just enjoying everything else that Magic Kingdom had to offer.

So, we were up and finishing packing at 7 am. I just had to pack what I needed that morning - face wash, tooth brush, etc., so I didn't have much to do. Jey wanted to get up early just so we could do a final sweep without rushing. We were done by 7:30 so we headed on out to drop off our luggage and store our carry ons, then we joined the Very Long Line to Magic Kingdom.

Random side tangent - I don't know how the construction at the bag check area in MK is going now, but while we were there it was all open and torn up. And it smelled like horse manure? Strange comment I know, I was just wondering if anyone else noticed.

Anyway, we got through the bag check line fairly quickly, and were waiting in the crush of people near the the right-hand side of the train station. It's where we normally stand waiting, we just gravitate towards there I guess!

Anyway, we had about 45 minutes until the park opened so we spent it people watching and taking pictures. I played with my longer lens:



And I was very amused by the family in front of us. Mostly because the father of the family seriously looked like a time-traveling version of my friend A. They were built the same, they walked the same, etc. I even sent a stealth photo and sent it to A - he thought it was funny. The mom of the family even looked a bit like A's fiancee J. And they had three really adorable, well-behaved kids - a middle-school aged boy, an elementary-school aged boy and a little toddler girl. They had the family shirts on - King, Queen, Prince, Prince, and Princess. We didn't really talk with them but they were pleasant people to be around - the little girl was slowly enamoring herself with all the little boys around, going so far as to sit with the son of the family next to us who was reading a Pokemon guide book. He started reading out loud to her.

I seriously just love when the people around you in Disney are pleasant, especially early morning. It really sets a nice tone for the rest of the day.

It wasn't long before the announcements were being made and the "train" was coming.

Y'know, the invisible one.

Because why would you have a secondary sound track as a fallback option?

Let's just sit back and relive the rope drop show, shall we? I've seen it a million times and always take too many pictures of it. You'll see that's true of parades too later on. Fair warning.















We were some of the first people onto Main Street and Jey was very thankful because she needed coffee, stat! We had the truly magical experience of being the first people in Starbucks. Which basically just means that we got our coffee and got out in about 3 minutes.

It was glorious.

We decided to enjoy our liquid breakfast on the hub grass. Which, uh, was still wet from the early morning cleaning and the rain from the night before. Which I may not have realized until I sat down. Good thing I was wearing a duster!

This may have been one of the reasons why there was nobody else on the hub grass that early but whatever because it was all ours! And it was a great place to just wash the sea of people running to Fantasyland.







(yes I literally just spun in a circle and took pictures)

We finished our coffee and started to follow the crowds to Fantasyland. Except we weren't going to the Mine Train or to see the sisters - instead, we were just kind of walking. And we found Alice and Hatter.

Have I mentioned that Alice used to be Jey's absolute favorite until the new movies came out and everybody started obsessing over them?

And that she's probably still deep down her favorite non-princess?

So yeah, we sat there and character stalked. Well, Jey stood. I sat on the wall so that I was out of the way. I was actually waiting to hear from Liz. I did take a picture of myself but I look kind of annoyed - I wasn't, I was just blinded by the sun lol.



And no, it wasn't all that cool out anymore but I was wearing a tank top and I really didn't want to get a sunburn.

Keep this in mind for a moment of awesome later on.

When Jey was done getting pictures she asked if we could head over to the side of the castle to see who was there. I agreed and we started heading over and saw something we've never seen before.

They were getting Friar's Nook ready for lunch.

I know it's been open for a while now but I've honestly never seen it open. We were commenting to each other about it when a manager walked by and gave us all the information about when it'd be open, etc. We thanked him and continued on our way to stalk Suzy and Perla.

I made a friend:



This little black bird was watching me so I kept taking pictures. This was the best one to come out. I make my own fun, lol.

I had gotten a text from Liz saying that she hadn't slept well the night before so she was going to be a little late to meet up with us - but she was still planning on meeting up with us before she had to get to work. We were fine with that - we had some plans.

And I'll leave you with this before I stop for now, and a question: what do you think we did next?

 

[ariane37]

Those pictures from Top of the World Lounge are awesome! Refresh my memory: is that for DVC members only or AP's? I know it's one of them ,right?

DH and I went into Trader Sam's back in January while staying at the Poly. Same thing as you, went right at opening - well, about 10minutes after and it was packed. No tables at all and only one bar stool. We each got a drink and they were ok, but before we even finished them we headed up to Tambu and got drinks and apps and much preferred it up there

Awesome on your NYE/birthday trip!!! Love when those things happen somewhat unexpectedly. We've had our Nov. trip booked for awhile now. Then in mid July DH said casually one day, as we were driving to the grocery store, "maybe you and I should go down in August for a few days".......hence our adults only trip coming up this Saturday

 

[coloredimage]

Those pictures from Top of the World Lounge are awesome! Refresh my memory: is that for DVC members only or AP's? I know it's one of them ,right?

DH and I went into Trader Sam's back in January while staying at the Poly. Same thing as you, went right at opening - well, about 10minutes after and it was packed. No tables at all and only one bar stool. We each got a drink and they were ok, but before we even finished them we headed up to Tambu and got drinks and apps and much preferred it up there

Awesome on your NYE/birthday trip!!! Love when those things happen somewhat unexpectedly. We've had our Nov. trip booked for awhile now. Then in mid July DH said casually one day, as we were driving to the grocery store, "maybe you and I should go down in August for a few days".......hence our adults only trip coming up this Saturday

Top of the World is DVC only It's beautiful up there though, so if you ever have the opportunity to go up I'd jump on the chance. It's also barely ever really busy. It was a great (if impromptu) way to end the night. I'm hoping that we'll be able to go back up there and have another girls' evening next trip too!

I really enjoy Trader Sam's in DLR, but Tambu has my heart at the Poly - their pina coladas are my favorite I've ever had and the bar tenders are always very nice and helpful!

Have fun on your trip! I can't wait to hear about it! We haven't pinned down if we can pull the trigger on the birthday trip yet. I wanted to talk about it this past weekend but Liz and I were at a wedding and it completely slipped my mind! She's moving closer in the next few days so someday after work once she's settled we'll be able to start figuring out details in earnest!

 

[coloredimage]

Part Two

We were at the castle, looking at Main Street. And where were we going?

What thing had we seen a million times (read: 3) already?

Yeah.....


We were getting good spots for Move It, Shake It.

We sat down and watched a bunch of cheerleaders posing for photos - it must have been their first or last day from the way they were acting. We saw this vehicle coming around:


And decided to shift where we were sitting for a little because we knew what was about to start!





Flowers + Partners statue = <3

We weren't really paying attention, because we started talking, so the Trolley singers kind of took us by surprise. Even though we moved specifically to watch them. But they were fun to watch and I haven't seen the Spring show so it was a perfect opportunity!











Soon after it was over we went back to our spot in front of the castle and sat for a bit, talking and people-watching. There was a girl and her mother near us - the girl was maybe teens, early twenties, and she was definitely a Judy fan - Jey was very jealous of her cute Judybound outfit and we kept commenting on how nice it looked.

Soon we heard the familiar music and suddenly:



I tried to take more pictures of Judy this time because I had completely ignored her last time. But whatever. Move It, Shake It spam time!:











































Sometimes having scarlet red hair and an obnoxiously red camera pays off!

It was around noontime or a little later at this point so we headed out to get lunch since Liz told us to eat and not wait for her, that she'd eat on her way to the park to say goodbye.

Since the nice man from two towns over from me had told us that the Friar's Nook would be open we headed on over there to see what we'd want. It was very crowded in the seating area but it was obvious most of them were from Pinocchio's or other places. Jey grabbed a table for two just as we were walking up to the counter so I dropped my bag and camera off and offered to just grab both our meals if she watched my stuff.

There was nobody at the counter so it was quick and easy to order. We got the simple meal:



panko-crusted mac and cheese which was regular old Disney mac and cheese and hit the spot even in the heat! Jey got a mousse of some variety (it wasn't the normal chocolate one but I didn't make a note of it) and I got apple slices with caramel. The mousse just wasn't what Jey wanted for a dessert - too filling after the filling lunch - and the caramel was good but I'm not a huge fan of granny smith apples so we finished up fairly quickly. Jey wanted to get a coffee so off we went to Starbucks!

The line was insane but it moved quickly and she had her coffee before we knew it. Liz had called while we were waiting to let us know she had just parked and was heading out to Main Street to find us. We told her we'd meet her in Uptown Jewelers so we weren't standing in the overcrowded Starbucks taking up room for other customers. Also we wanted to ogle the gorgeous Dooney bags there.

Once Liz met up with us we headed out to Tomorrowland. We only had a half hour before she had to leave us so we hopped into the line for Carousel of Progress.

Let me tell you a story before we continue:

New Year's Eve, 2010. I've come to America to see my family for Christmas. I had originally planned to spend the week leading up to Christmas, after our department's Christmas party (truly, the best History class ever - Victorian Christmas traditions. AKA everyone bring cake or wine to class day) in Disneyland Paris which, if you've ever seen a TBT post on my Instagram page you know has a very special place in my heart. I ended up canceling the trip last minute because I had been walking back home from dinner with my classmates and twisted my ankle and since I was going alone I didn't want to risk trying to go down to London and all the way to France.

It ended up being a good thing I didn't - Christmas 2010 ended up being a really bad storm that hit England and France and I wouldn't have made it home for Christmas. I took an early bus to Heathrow that day and was put on an earlier flight (7 am instead of 10 am) by a very worried Aer Lingus clerk who didn't like the idea of a young woman traveling home by herself getting stuck due to the storm coming. Which was incredibly sweet of her!

What does this have to do with Disney?

Since I didn't go to DLP, Jey and I decided to drive down for New Year's and spend the time with E and T (pre-adorable babies) and Liz and her then-boyfriend. NYE around 8-ish at night E and T had decided to go back to their room at Bay Lake Tower for the night (a story for another night) so it was just Liz, Jey, Then-BF, and myself. When we pulled FPs for Buzz we got a "special" one for Carousel of Progress. We thought it was hysterical, we took pictures, and then we headed over. It was PACKED! We had to sit in the second or third row to get center like we like and the ride actually groaned when we went from the opening room to the turn of the 1900s.

The robins came out, Father's lumbago wasn't acting up, and then we began heading to 1915-20.

And there was a horrible clunk. Sister's lazy susan had gotten stuck.

So we sat there for another round of 1900.

And another.

By the fourth time they turned off the audio. Being obnoxious the four of us kept acting it out in our seats and by the time we got to the song at the end of the scene we had most of the people in the room with us singing along thanks to other Carousel fans who were having just as much fun as us.

We were evacced right after that.

Why do I bring this up?

Well as we were walking on, Liz made a comment about how it was the last time she had gone onto the ride with us and she didn't want to get stuck and be late for work. And Jey has a reputation - not just for getting wet on rides normal people don't get wet on, but also for getting randomly stuck on rides.

I promised we wouldn't get stuck - we had been on once already during the week and it had been very busy and we didn't get stuck!

Yeah, well...

We got to the end of the 1900 section and there was a loud crack.

I started laughing hysterically, Jey started apologizing, and Liz was ready to leave. She wasn't mad, she just didn't like the odds that we would get out.

Thankfully whatever it was just needed like a kick or something because less than a minute into the scene and we were moving into the next room. It could have been that someone had to leave quickly or something but it was funny to the rest of us.

We walked around for a bit in the Fantasyland area until Liz had to leave us to get to work. We hugged and she wished us a save trip as she headed out one way. Jey and I headed another, towards Liberty Square. At the beginning of the week we weren't using all that many snack credits - we were used to just buying snacks anyway so it didn't much matter to us. Except we paid for those snack credits so by gosh in the last two days we were going to use them up!

So we headed over to Sleepy Hollow and got another ice cream sandwich, this one to share since we just wanted to cool down and neither of us wanted something too big.

This was our second duck attack. Well, not attack, just obnoxiousness. There was a family sitting behind Jey that kept letting one of their children walk on her on her bench (we were sitting at the long benches in the sitting area just next to Sleepy Hollow). The first time it was just the kid doing what they thought was easiest and figured the parents had spoken to them about it, but then it happened three or four more times with other kids. It was like we were sitting in the middle of a jungle gym until Jey turned around and asked politely if they could not climb on her. The mother wasn't rude about it but didn't really do much of anything about it.

Then the other family across from us started feeding the ducks their waffle.

A CM spoke to them about it but once he stepped away they kept doing it. He came back and stood there cleaning up to be kind of blatantly between them and the duck. But when he went to throw something away they went back at it. Jey finally said something, explaining that there are signs saying not to feed them and that the waffle was really bad for the duck and if they kept doing it it would start attacking other guests because it will expect food. They were pretty shocked by that and stopped doing it. I don't know if they kept doing it once we left but at least they stopped. I don't get feeding ducks, guys. But I also only like ducks from a distance. I've been bitten enough to be wary of them lol.

Anyway, we left and decided it was the perfect time to find place for the parade someplace!

 

[coloredimage]

Part Three

I'm trying to finish my TR before I go back to work on Monday so here we go!

After our ice cream sandwich Jey and I went through Frontierland looking for a place to stand and wait for the parade. We found a place that was roped off kind of near Country Bears, basically across from the bridge to Splash and Thunder. There was a family already sitting in the area but the grandmother offered us the corner as long as we didn't mind standing. We didn't and thanked her.

We stood and chatted with the woman and a woman a littler further down in the same area, as well as with a father who was just standing in the area with his son trying to figure out what they wanted to do next. The boy was asking about Splash Mountain but neither he nor his dad had ever done it before so we were telling him about the rides. I only bring it up because his son was adorable and such a well-behaved kids. I don't know how we end up doing it but every time I've watched FoF I've been surrounded by really great parents. A+ work, guys.

I hadn't gotten any good pictures of my beloved Splash Mountain yet, so I decided to use my zoom to get a good one:


I can go forever never going on it because I'm not a huge fan of getting wet on rides, but I love every other aspect of it.

Soon the parade was starting and....I have a ton of pictures, sorry guys I'll cut some:









































We enjoyed the parade. At some point Jey was getting really burnt on her shoulders and was trying to use her hair to cover them up. The woman next to us asked if we had any sunblock and we explained that we had to pack it so we didn't have any with us. She pulled out hers and offered to let Jey use it. We thanked her a lot.

After the parade we really only had like an hour and some change left in the parks and didn't want to rush around, so we headed out of Frontierland.

 

[coloredimage]

Part Four

Hi, I'm Elle and I spend a week forgetting to do the very last update of my trip report.

Womp.

Let's finish this thing, shall we?

So, we left the parade and we were extremely hot! We really wanted a drink or something cold to use up snack points.



We considered stopping here but neither of us really felt like it. Sadly. I love that little orange bird!

Instead we headed over to Jey's favorite place in the parks - Starbucks. lol. She really wanted another coffee so we got in line. I'm always up for a strawberry acai refresher in Disney - they help keep the migraines away in the heat for sure!

When I was ordering the girl behind the counter asked if I had been in before that day. I was a little taken aback because even though we'd been in twice before the last time I hadn't bought anything and I knew there had been a shift change since I had gotten coffee that morning. She told me she remembered my ears and how cute they were and was glad I came back so she could let me know how much she liked them! I thanked her and left smiling - she definitely made my day!

We decided to just sit down on the hubgrass and enjoy the last little bit of time we had in Disney relaxing - which is a huge novelty for us! The hub grass makes for a great place to still be right in the middle of the magic while having the space to breathe and relax and I love it! So worth it!

And the best part is, besides Dapper Day when everyone wanted to be seen on the #hubgrass it was always fairly open during our trip!

We chose the lefthand side in front of Casey's to plop ourselves since we hadn't sat there yet.



Gotta love that view!


This is, silly enough, probably one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip. It just epitomizes exactly how I feel at Disney - relaxing, without needing much of anything but my camera, comfy flip flops, and a cold drink. I miss it so much!

We finished our relaxing and I snagged one more picture of the castle:



Then we were on our way off! Even though it was the middle of the day we had practically no wait for the bus and we were whisked off back to our hotel with plenty of time to spare for our bus back to the airport. Back at FQ we grabbed our bags and said one last goodbye to my favorite two-alligator band:





and went to go grab dinner since we had gotten back with enough time:



Mini corndogs, fries, and beignets. Y'know, only the healthiest when in Disney.

But it was good and a nice farewell to Disney for the time being. Then we sadly had to get onto the bus. Our flight was delayed (3rd time in 4 trips our flight was delayed coming home) and we weren't in until around midnight. My dad is a wonderful human being and picked us up, driving Jey back to her apartment and letting me sleep in the car while he brought me home.

I seriously already miss Disney in the spring - it's my favorite time of the year!

 

[coloredimage]

Final Thoughts

I always have a blast when I go with Jey. We've known each other for so long and are so close that we click in such a great way for Disney. Even when we get grumpy either with each other or the crowds or whatever we've learned how to make things better so our trips are relaxing and enjoyable and we're not sniping at each other. Seriously - it's down to a system even with the silly things like getting ready in the morning: I always get up before my alarm so I get up, close the divider between the beds and sink area, start to get ready, and by the time I'm halfway through my makeup her alarm's going off. It will be weird to add Liz to that mix in the hotel room on our next trip(s) (our only trip we've done with Liz we had a suite and Jey and I had a really nice vanity in our room that was the best part about the hotel room) but since we're so used to our own pattern we've been able to add more than just one person we've both known forever into the mix so I'm not too worried!

Oh! The title? It's silly. I'm allergic to 80% of the Flower and Garden Festival - which stinks because I love it so much. So even with my Claritin I still end up having an allergy attack at some point in Epcot. And wouldn't you know it - the second I step into the World Showcase the very first time I had a sneezing fit so hard that my ears literally flew off. I couldn't breathe I was laughing at myself and sneezing too much.


So, our firsts and my final opinions of them:

Hotels:
Port Orleans: Riverside - we were only there for maybe 6 hours so I can't say much about the rooms or anything and I was so tired after 8 hours of work, 2 hours of traffic, and 3 hours on a plane that I probably could have slept on a shipping crate and would have been happy. But the staff at the front desk was polite, friendly, and helpful even at 1 in the morning and the rooms were wonderfully themed.

Port Orleans: French Quarter - I may just live at this hotel forever. Don't tell the staff. It's gorgeous, quiet, great staff, and good-sized rooms. It doesn't have a balcony to sit on or a nice view of fireworks like Boardwalk but I'm so glad I took my own advice! I've wanted to stay here forever and now I may never stay anywhere else!


Meals:
Skipper's Canteen - I liked it. I know a lot of people haven't but honestly I'd go back again.

Sanaa - I was skeptical of Sanaa only because I've never really liked Indian food. Or, the most exposure I've had to Indian food in the past had been some baked goods (which I did - do - love) and restaurants which is basically like saying I dislike Chinese food or Mexican food because I've eaten at a Chinese restaurant or a Mexican restaurant. Anyway, I loved Sanaa and I think it may become a staple for us.

Whispering Canyon - I liked it and I'm glad I got the pulled pork and listened to my heart! I want to go for dinner some time and see more shenanigans because we went at such a dead time but they don't serve the sandwich at dinner and I can't justify that giant meat tray thing for just me. Hopefully I can convince somebody to share next time!

Tokyo Dining - please go here, everyone. The wait staff is so kind, the food is great, the atmosphere is relaxing, and it's got gorgeous views of Epcot. The only reason (probably) that less people go here is because Teppan Edo is so neat to go to. I get it. But did you see the amount of food I got? I got a chicken breast, soup, cucumber salad, noodle salad, and rice for $27, which is a pretty reasonable price - I did a quick comparison off the menu of a Japanese restaurant we've frequented and it was honestly maybe $1 difference. Go to Tokyo Dining.

All-in-all it was a great trip, and it's definitely relit my Disney flame! I can't wait to go back, and fingers crossed it'll be sooner rather than later! I'm going to E's to help with some house stuff (and play with the babies) so hopefully you'll be seeing me back in the trip report section of these boards soon!

 

[ariane37]

I enjoyed following along! I agree on Tokyo Dining , although it seems they've changed the menu since we went in January and removed the only entree my younger DS would eat DH and I returned last Wed from a quick adults only trip and your final pictures of the Move It, Shake It parade reminded me I forgot to see it, aka forgot to see Judy and Nick! Has to be a priority for our November trip. I truly hope you get to go back to WDW soon!!

 

[coloredimage]

I enjoyed following along! I agree on Tokyo Dining , although it seems they've changed the menu since we went in January and removed the only entree my younger DS would eat DH and I returned last Wed from a quick adults only trip and your final pictures of the Move It, Shake It parade reminded me I forgot to see it, aka forgot to see Judy and Nick! Has to be a priority for our November trip. I truly hope you get to go back to WDW soon!!

Thanks for following along! Hopefully your younger DS finds something else on the menu he likes (or you guys get to go on another adults only trip!) at Tokyo Dining. How was your quick trip? And oh, no! They're my favorite part, honestly. lol.