~~October 2016~~Sew, it was the greatest Stitch Experience ever!~~Final Update 3/19/2017!

[goofymimi]

I am late to the party, but I am here!! Can't wait to read all about the rest of the trip!!

 

[AED3]

Hello,
This is my first post...but a fellow Minnesotoan joining in for this report. I have read all your previous ones, and love reading the reports as well as your daily updates. I can't wait to hear about this trip, we've always wanted to go for Halloween, so excited to see/hear all about it- good to hear you guys arrived easily and safe and can't wait for the adventure to continue! Just a quick note- you inspired me- both with exercise and diet...I just completed my first Whole 30. It was tough but doable, and amazing how different food tastes once you eat it again- that was the one part I wasn't expecting.

 

[Ladyfish77]

Bathroom... Again - I don't love this bathroom configuration..

The bathrooms are a bit better in the Palm wing, but the view isn't as nice!

 

[Texan]

Oh man, 1:30, I would just be finishing up packing Love to see your smile at that time of the morning.

I cannot stand going to the restroom on a plane, but I have had to bite the bullet and climb over people as I have made a vow to increase my water intake; ugh; it makes for some pretty bad headaches when you don't drink enough.

Would love some more input on DS; it seems like a lot of people are on the fence; too many upscale shops?

Your room at SOG looks huge; yay for the perfect location! I cannot for the life of me remember the history of SOG and how it came to be; has it always been for military and their families?

I am headed over to read your healthy update! You helped me a lot this week re-think my meals. Feeling much better this weekend.

Looking forward to the week ahead and reading your TR!

Prayers and hugs always

 

[Laurtiana322]

In love with your trip reports. Victoria reminds me a lot of myself, as I am also a Disney-loving 17 year old We are going back in March and I love reading your TRs to get excited! I can't wait to read the rest! Also curious as to if you have an easy shop for your bags? I'd love to have one for our trip. We are going on a girl's trip (my aunt, mom, and grandma) for my 18th birthday

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have had our kitchen and bathroom gutted starting about ten days ago. The plumber and carpenters have been putting in new plumbing and stuff. The kitchen ceiling is gone and we can see up to the roof. I spent 6 hours on Saturday sweeping, dusting and washing all the gritty dirt away. And we have been eating out a lot.

V waiting to line up to board... I love that she still brings her blankie everywhere...

My daughter in law made a blanket for me that looks just like that, except the color is a light blue. I love that blanket.

Pork nachos and Hawaiian flatbread... Which we shared. On top of that - Captain Cooks gives the AP discount -

We are planning to eat here on our arrival day. I love the pork nachos. We'll probably walk over from the GF rather than take a boat or monorail.

We love the flatbread! They do have pretty good food there - sadly I haven't explored the menu much... Josh was laughing at me last night - because once I find something I like somewhere, I rarely deviate from that - I just order the same thing over and over again. LOL

I am like that, too.

 

[DMGeurts]

How great that you and Josh are doing stuff just the two of you. It's important to things together just the two of you.

I agree - we always used to, and then recently - life just became busy - and we haven't done a lot together recently. It was a lot of fun and we look forward to doing more together.

I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I've been reading along for a while now. I'm so excited to hear about the rest of the trip. Have a nice day!

-Heather

Welcome Heather! It's nice to meet you! I look forward to sharing the rest of our trip with you all!

Your nails are awesome! I am a polkadot lover myself

Thanks!!! I am a nut when it comes to polka-dots! LOL Rarely do I leave them behind, and I am always on the look out for them.

I love the day before and day of travel and arrival as everything finally comes together and anticipation builds. So exciting!

Glad you were assigned room 207! Great room and view.

Those nachos at Poly have been on my list for quite awhile and now seeing them again I am trying to figure out how to fit them in during our Feb trip!

Congrats to A for choosing cosmetology - she will do great!!

I need that pretzel Josh had at the diner. Well, I don't actually need it you know but I sure do LOVE pretzels.

Thank you for continuing to update your healthy living section. I do the same weekly on FB after my WW weigh-ins and I have had an incredible response publicly and privately from friends and family that have been movitated to take on the same healthy habits and activity I have discovered over the past 18 months. I'm with you, if this helps me and helps even one other person then it's all worth it. And yes, it is an incredibly difficult, emotional, and endless journey but we're on it and there isn't a deadline. Let's continue moving forward. Always.

I know - me too! It's just the best. Let's face it - I just love travel in general. LOL

Yes - we were very happy with that room location.

I hope you can - they are really good - not very good for you, however. LOL

Yes - she starts tomorrow, I am very excited for her!

Did you hear that Disney brought back the sweet cream cheese pretzels in MK at the Lunching Pad? We were very excited about that - until we ate them after we were already sick of Disney food - which didn't help our situation at all. LOL

Thank you... It's been so rough - and sometimes I just feel like I am spinning my wheels for no reason... Though the alternative scares me more - so I just keep trying.

Great start to your trip, D! I love the pork nachos at Capt. Cook's. I need to get them every trip and since we usually stay at the Poly, I end up getting them several times. They are so good!

Thanks!!! Yes - they are so good... Just the thought of them now though makes me a little sick. LOL Still too close to our Disney trip for me to crave Disney food. LOL I still have a slight aversion to ice cream due to the whole "Kitchen Sink Fiasco" in January. LOL

I saw this last night too...liked it as well. Man, I don't want to spoil it for anyone so hopefully you will know what I'm talking about...crazy eyes on someone huh???

Uh yah... LOL It was pretty good though - I really enjoyed the books - however, I don't remember reading this one?

I am late to the party, but I am here!! Can't wait to read all about the rest of the trip!!

No such thing here! LOL Welcome!!! Super glad to have you here and reading along!

Hello,
This is my first post...but a fellow Minnesotoan joining in for this report. I have read all your previous ones, and love reading the reports as well as your daily updates. I can't wait to hear about this trip, we've always wanted to go for Halloween, so excited to see/hear all about it- good to hear you guys arrived easily and safe and can't wait for the adventure to continue! Just a quick note- you inspired me- both with exercise and diet...I just completed my first Whole 30. It was tough but doable, and amazing how different food tastes once you eat it again- that was the one part I wasn't expecting.

Welcome! I love it when my neighbors read my TRs - it's so much fun!

We love Halloween in Disney - now that I've done both Halloween and Christmas in recent years, I can honestly say that I love Halloween in Disney more. LOL

Thank you! I love hearing that I've inspired someone - this is great! Whole30 is amazing, and very much a discovery/eye opening experience... It's almost as if you can taste all of the weird chemical stuff that you couldn't taste before... It's so strange that they sneak it in there without us realizing it - and once you eat real food for a while - you try to go back and it's like "whoa!"... At least, that was my experience. LOL It's scary! And congrats on completing your first W30!!! It's an amazing accomplishment!

The bathrooms are a bit better in the Palm wing, but the view isn't as nice!

Hahaha... Even in the newer parts of the Magnolia section, the bathrooms are much better - I think, since this is the oldest part of this resort, the bathrooms are the worst configuration... I hope that one day they decide to update the layout.

Oh man, 1:30, I would just be finishing up packing Love to see your smile at that time of the morning.

I cannot stand going to the restroom on a plane, but I have had to bite the bullet and climb over people as I have made a vow to increase my water intake; ugh; it makes for some pretty bad headaches when you don't drink enough.

Would love some more input on DS; it seems like a lot of people are on the fence; too many upscale shops?

Your room at SOG looks huge; yay for the perfect location! I cannot for the life of me remember the history of SOG and how it came to be; has it always been for military and their families?

I am headed over to read your healthy update! You helped me a lot this week re-think my meals. Feeling much better this weekend.

Looking forward to the week ahead and reading your TR!

Prayers and hugs always

Hahaha... I have a love/hate relationship with getting up that early... How can a person NOT be happy going to Disney? LOL So much fun! And I just love traveling anyways.

Yes - this trip was especially rough for the first few days... I don't know why I don't like using the restroom on planes - it's really not that terrible. I just prefer not to, I guess. LOL

I am not sure - it's very nice, don't get me wrong there... I guess, it's just not "Disney" ya know? Where it used to always be Disney - it's now more mall like, with a nice Disney store thrown in there. And we didn't spend enough time there to ever figure out the layout. I dunno... I was very surprised though that the shops there honored my 20% AP discount - that was a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.

Yes - we love SoG... No, SoG was originally the Club House for the Palm and Magnolia golf courses... Then in the 70's, they added on a wing of rooms, because WDW needed another resort quickly and this was easy... So the Club House became the main lobby and the resort was named The Golf Resort... This is a very little advertised resort in Disney history - even now, there is very little to be found about it - pictures are very rare. In the 80's, 1 more room expansion happened, and the resort was given a slight Snow White theme, it was renamed The Disney Inn. Then, in the 90's, Disney offered to lease this resort to the DoD as an Armed Forces Recreation Center, so the DoD took this opportunity, the only remodeling done at this time was the name - changing it officially to Shades of Green... The resort was always full and in the early 2000's, the DoD purchased SoG from Disney. In 2002, the resort closed for an extensive remodel/expansion and the addition of hundreds of rooms... As the ownership of the resort sits right now, the DoD owns the entire resort... However, Disney owns the land it sits on. Here's the color coded map I created last year - it shows the expansions a little bit better - and I think it's a little easier (visually) to understand the progression of the resort.

I am happy to hear that you are feeling better. What did you end up doing differently?

I am looking forward to sharing updates this week!

Thanks Carol - Big hugs!!!

In love with your trip reports. Victoria reminds me a lot of myself, as I am also a Disney-loving 17 year old We are going back in March and I love reading your TRs to get excited! I can't wait to read the rest! Also curious as to if you have an easy shop for your bags? I'd love to have one for our trip. We are going on a girl's trip (my aunt, mom, and grandma) for my 18th birthday

Thanks!!! And welcome! It's great to have you here and reading along! How exciting that you have a trip coming up and with such great people in your life! That must be so exciting? What are you most excited about?

Thanks for the compliments on my bags... Sadly - I am not allowed to talk about my business at all here on The Dis. I hope you understand and will continue to follow along on my TR.

We have had our kitchen and bathroom gutted starting about ten days ago. The plumber and carpenters have been putting in new plumbing and stuff. The kitchen ceiling is gone and we can see up to the roof. I spent 6 hours on Saturday sweeping, dusting and washing all the gritty dirt away. And we have been eating out a lot.

My daughter in law made a blanket for me that looks just like that, except the color is a light blue. I love that blanket.

We are planning to eat here on our arrival day. I love the pork nachos. We'll probably walk over from the GF rather than take a boat or monorail.

I am like that, too.

I am so excited for you Sue!!! I sure hope they are done quickly and you are able to resume living/eating in your home soon. I know all too well how hard that can be. Best of luck and keep me updated! I cannot wait to see after pictures!

Yes - V takes that blanket everywhere. She forgot it at the lake this last summer and it was going to be several weeks before she got it back, so she made herself another one - and it just wasn't the same. LOL

Great plan!!! It will be such a wonderful trip!

****************************************************************************************************

We had a really nice day yesterday...

I had planned to take Allison shopping for a few new clothes to start Cosmetology School with... Seeing as she needs an all black wardrobe now.

Josh decided he wanted to come with us - which was cool - it's not often that he "braves" shopping with us girls. LOL

Once we got to the mall - Josh went off and did his own thing - which was OK, as Allison and I had a mission of Starbucks anyways. LOL

We shopped a few stores and ended up at Old Navy - with a PILE of clothes for her to try on... As we were sitting there, my phone went nuts... It was V and she was locked out of the house. Grrrrr... In a T-shirt (no coat) and it was about 43° yesterday. The mall is about 30 minutes from home, and we were nowhere near done. We quickly tried to finish up - which took us about 30 minutes... Then we had to drive home and let V in. Luckily - Allison's car was open, so she could at least sit inside... Allison also had plenty of clothes in there, V could have worn - however she never did... I had a feeling that she was trying to be a little bit dramatic.

Anways... We let her in, and then we all left again - as we had other things we needed to get... I also wanted to look at new shoes for Josh - the ones he got this spring are already in terrible condition - really bad quality - and he doesn't wear tennis shoes all that often, so they should last longer than a few months, IMO. We never did find him anything.

We came home and Allison made us a really nice dinner that she used to make BMTL in The Netherlands - so that was fun.

Again - we were all in bed early.

Today - it's HALLOWEEN!!! I have no plans to dress up - but I do plan to wear my new Hocus Pocus tee shirt that I got at MNSSHP... I honestly don't think I am working today either, as Allison and I have a few last minute things we need to get done before she starts school tomorrow.

I will work out this morning though... My eating was really good over the weekend, and I plan to continue that today - despite the fact that it's Halloween.

I am looking forward to seeing all of the cute ghouls and goblins tonight!

I hope you all have a great day and a fun evening tonight! Sending prayers and pixie dust out to all of you!

D~

 

[Terkina]

How nice that Josh wanted to come with you on shopping even if he went off doing his own things.

what a shame that V locked her self out. I can't believe she managed to take her phone with her outside but not the keys. Sounds like she tried to be a little dramatic since she chose to not use the clothes Allison had in her car.

How nice of Allison to make you all a nice dinner

Have a great Halloween. As usual I'm NOT celebrating Halloween. In Norway this is something new that is very commercial and the only reason we have it is because all the stores want to make money before the crazy Christmas shopping starts. Of course all the kids falls for the shops advertising and make their parents buy costumes and candy. It's also a shame that the only thing kids goes dressed up as are scary things like zombies, vampires and that sort of thing. No one dress up like Disney characters or other cute stuff which I think it's a shame.

 

[DMGeurts]

Day 1 Part 3

We arrived at Disney Springs from the center Green ramp... I must admit that the entrance was very beautiful... While coming down the escalators - our view was very nice, and very much NOT the DTD I remember. I guess that maybe that's the point?

I was still waiting to hear from Cindy as to where and when she was meeting us.

While we were waiting - Santos took us into his favorite store... He compared it to "my love for Disney" - this was his version of that... The Air Jordan store. I admit - I love shoes as much as the next person - believe me... However, Air Jordans just aren't my thing. I was willing to humor him though and let him look around at the newest shoes.

Just then, Cindy texted me that she was waiting for us under Stitch at the World of Disney store... So, we headed that way...

Yay!!!! I was so excited to finally see my good friend again. And I was so excited to introduce her to V! V has met Cindy once before, briefly on our 2014 trip at AK... However, their meeting was very brief and V didn't really remember it. Considering that we had lots of plans with Cindy this trip - I was hoping that V would love her as much as the rest of us do.

After we met - we all shopped around the World of Disney store for a while... Of course - I was sucked into the Alex and Ani bracelets... The only one that was truly on my "want list" this trip was my 2016 bracelet. I picked it out here and gave it to the CM to ring it up - with my extra AP 20% discount - and just as I was handing the CM my GC, V swooped in and paid her. Turkey! Ahhh - but it was so sweet of her! This is the 2nd A&A bracelet that she has given me, the first was almost 2 years ago, she gave me a "Mom" A&A bracelet for Mother's Day. This was so sweet of her - and not something I was expecting. I do have to say though - she is always so thoughtful and giving - when ever V has $$, it's pretty rare that she spends it on herself... She is always buying gifts for others.

From here - V and I decided we wanted a sundae at Ghirardelli's Soda Fountain... Yum... For the record - I still have a slight aversion to ice cream sundaes since our Kitchen Sink experience back in January - despite that - this was delicious. Both V and I ordered The Ocean Beach - Sea Salt Caramel Sundae. Vanilla ice cream smothered with creamy caramel, handmade hot fudge and sea salt. Perfectly topped with whipped cream, creamy caramel, sea salt and a Ghirardelli SQUARES milk chocolate. $11.95 - I know I got a discount here, I cannot remember if I asked for my AP discount (if they even give it here?) or if I asked for my Military discount? I did get a discount though.

Santos and Cindy found us a table... We chatted and enjoyed our Sundaes.

I was super excited to find a pair of sunglasses in Tren-D, which matched my nails... It's the little things - right? LOL I didn't get them though.

We also had a mini-photoshoot at the Photopass area in Disney Springs... This was fun! The look on V's face cracks me up on the second one... We have lots of pictures like this on this trip... LOL

Santos left shortly after this.

Cindy offered us a ride back to Shades of Green... I was a bit nervous about this, as last trip - the person at the guard shack always seemed to give me a hard time... So, this time - I just came right out and asked at the guard shack... I wanted to show Cindy the resort, and I was hoping she could hang out with us at our room for a bit too... So, I asked at the guard shack, and they told me she was able to park for free in the parking ramp, as long as she wasn't there past 10pm. That was really awesome, as I felt so badly on our last trip - everyone had to just drop us off... SoG is such a nice resort, I'd love for people to see it.

So, we parked in the ramp and Cindy came in with us... We gave her a brief tour of the resort and took her to our room so she could see how spacious it is... This is the fireplace in the lobby...

V wanted to swim, so she threw on her suit... Cindy and I walked down and sat in the chairs next to the hot tub and we all visited... It was a nice relaxing end to our day.

Cindy didn't stay too long... After she left - V and I took the time to organize our stuff and unpack a little bit. As we had to hit the ground running the next morning.

We were in bed by 8:30pm, I was tired and I had a killer headache from the flight.​

Link to Day 2 Part 1

D~

 

[ljcrochet]

We shopped a few stores and ended up at Old Navy - with a PILE of clothes for her to try on... As we were sitting there, my phone went nuts... It was V and she was locked out of the house. Grrrrr... In a T-shirt (no coat) and it was about 43° yesterday. The mall is about 30 minutes from home, and we were nowhere near done. We quickly tried to finish up - which took us about 30 minutes... Then we had to drive home and let V in. Luckily - Allison's car was open, so she could at least sit inside... Allison also had plenty of clothes in there, V could have worn - however she never did... I had a feeling that she was trying to be a little bit dramatic.

That is annoying. You should get a keypad lock on our door so you don't have to worry about keys. We can get into our house from our garage, in fact most days my girls do that instead of taking their keys out of their bag.

Allison and I have a few last minute things we need to get done before she starts school tomorrow.

Wish Allison good luck in school! I'm excited for her.

V wanted to swim, so she threw on her suit... Cindy and I walked down and sat in the chairs next to the hot tub and we all visited... It was a nice relaxing end to our day.

Sounds like a perfect first day!

I need a due over of the weekend. Saturday at my girl's soccer game, Sydney collided with another girl ( probably the biggest kid on the other team) going after the ball. She cntiuned playing, but you could see she was in pain, so she limped off the field. After the game, DH walked across the field to help her. We went out to lunch and she would not straighten her right arm, or use it to hold her burger. She could move her fingers and squeeze but said it hurt . We stopped at an urgent care place. From the examination and x-ray said pretty sure it is a break over the growth plate. Just gave her a sling and said call the ortho on Monday.
She is still not herself. Since I wasn't sure if the ortho would want to see her today or tomorrow, i sent her to school. I'm going to pick her up soon to go to the ortho.

 

[Terkina]

The sundae at Ghirardelli's sounds delicious

Great photos from the mini photoshoot at Disney Springs.

How nice that Cindy was able to give you a ride back to Shades of Green and that the guard said it was OK for her to park at the parking ramp so she could see the resort.

What a great first day at Disney

 

[Clio]

Sorry about V locking herself out of the house. It does sound like she was being a little dramatic, though. I'm glad that Josh decided to go shopping with you. I hope Allison found clothes for school.
Your Dis meet at DS looks like a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for Alex and Ani bracelets, too. I bought the Big and Little dipper set when I was at DS. We have a shop that carries Alex and Ani stuff. I try to stay out of there or I'd really be in trouble.
I ended up going to Pat Catan's yesterday and buying a new cutting mat. then I spent the rest of the day cutting squares. I love my rotary cutter. When i first started quilting all that was done with scissors.
Have a great day.
Liz

 

[rdkeim]

What a nice first day! Cute pictures at DS - love your b/w top. I had to LOL at you having one "go to" meal at restaurants. I do the same thing - makes life much easier

 

[Ladyfish77]

he resort was always full and in the early 2000's, the DoD purchased SoG from Disney. In 2002, the resort closed for an extensive remodel/expansion and the addition of hundreds of rooms...

This explains why I could never get a reservation back in the day (1990's). I tried on several occasions but they were always booked up. So I just quit trying (and we also lived nowhere near it for a long time.). Didn't ever try again until just a couple of years ago!

We also had a mini-photoshoot at the Photopass area in Disney Springs.

Where is this Photopass area? I never saw it, but I also didn't spend enough time at Disney Springs to see everything.

 

[WDisneyMom]

Such a fun first day!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the newly completed DS. We were last there October 2015 so it wasn't quite finished. Everything definitely looks different from all of the pictures I've seen, very 'Florida-like' in regard to their outdoor malls.

Very sweet of V to pay for your bracelet, your girl has a lovely and generous heart.

Ghirardelli! Oh my word do I love this place but the calories!! Even so, we must stop by at least once on our DS visits. There's one here in Chicago right around the corner from work and while my friends from Maine were visiting for the first time a couple of weeks ago, we stopped there. If you love mint you MUST try the brownie sundae with mint chocolate chip ice cream and dark chocolate hot fudge. So delicious but thankfully it's a very rare occasion I stop in there!!

I'm glad Cindy was able to visit with you for a bit at SoG, sounds like a really nice ending to a great day.

Have a Happy Halloween!

 

[kittylady1972]

We love the flatbread! They do have pretty good food there - sadly I haven't explored the menu much... Josh was laughing at me last night - because once I find something I like somewhere, I rarely deviate from that - I just order the same thing over and over again. LOL

Well - there are a couple of booking categories at SoG... Standard - and Pool Side for sure. If you actually booked a Pool Side room - then you PAID for and WILL get a room on the first floor walking out to either of the pools. If you book a standard room (like we do) - the cheaper one - then you can get a room anywhere within the resort... at that point you can request a pool VIEW - which is on any of the other floors, looking at one of the pools. Make sense? So - if you booked the pool side - I would think your only request would be which pool you want to be near? There are many rooms in this category that are next to the Mill Pond pool (waterslide) and there are only about 10 in this category which look at the Magnoilia pool (quiet/faces MK).
D~

Yes I am the same way about food. I'm starting to get a little more adventurous sometimes...like instead of the same Pick 2 at Panera, since they changed the cheese (yes the cheese) on the caesar salad I no longer care for that as a pick 2 item and now get a sandwich with either my French Onion or Broccoli Cheddar soup. I've tried a few sandwiches so far...but even those I have to special order and make them remove tomato or onion from them!

THANKS so much for clarifying the rooms. I checked and we have:

Room Type: • 2 Queen Beds
• Sleeper sofa
• Coffee Maker and Refrigerator
• Private Patio to Pool Are

So yes pool view room so we'll get a patio and I'm not even sure which pool to request...but with the little boys I'm thinking the Mill Pond Pool would be great. Of all our stays at SOG we have NEVER been to any of the pools there. Sad, huh? Even this trip is only for a night there, so unless the temperature allows us to swim at night we probably won't even take advantage of it this time. I may at least request we all get rooms together (I've booked all 3 reservations but at different times/days) and maybe Magnolia would be better if we can face MK at night.

Love the latest update and really hoping we can also finally visit Disney Springs this time around, as we have yet to get there either...well since it converted from Downtown. I think it's been several years since we've ventured over there.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

I've loved reading your past reports so can't wait for this one

 

[gopherdame]

Looks like you had a great first day! Your resort looks amazing and the room is so big. Sorry the bathroom set up wasn't the best though. I think you should have bought those sunglasses. They looked great on you.

My son stopped over last night as he got his vacation approved. So we got his flight picked out as prices had come down. His ticket was a little more than last year, but then he picked basic economy. You have much less choice on flight times though, so this time he paid a little more but he also got to pick his seat. So he got window seats both ways and towards the front of the plane. I think it was a pretty good deal for $248.

I'm starting to get a little excited now and it just seems so much closer. It's only 85 days until we start our drive!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

That's a really long first day!
What a cute resort!
We love Capt Cooks. So many quick things that aren't offered everywhere else.

 

[andera42]

Day 1 Part 2

As we were making our way to baggage claim - I peeked at my texts from the night before... Our town car service has started to send out text reminders - which is very nice - along with that, they now send a photo and name of our driver - which is even better. I like to know who I am looking for.

We found Eddie down by our announced baggage claim carousel... We chatted for a very long time, waiting for our bags. After about 30 minutes and still no bags - yet other flights were coming... V went in search of the other carousels - and sure enough - 3 carousels down, all 3 of our bags were going round and round... It sure would be nice if they would announce carousel changes.

We followed Eddie to our awaiting town car... Loaded up and we were on our way. Passing lots of ME buses as we went - I love that part! It sure makes me feel like I am getting my money's worth.

We decided to follow through with our planned grocery stop... I posed a question on FB before we left - whether I should leave V in the car with the luggage or bring her in with me... Almost all of my friends agreed that it was best to bring her in with me - I know - she is 17... And I am over protective.

I am glad I had her with me- as it took both of us to find all 3 items on our list... Small bottles of apple juice for V, LaCroix water for me, and real half n' half to go in my coffee in the mornings... With all of our items in hand - we headed back out to our awaiting town car, and we were finally on our way to Shades of Green!

It wasn't long - and we were seeing this...

Eddie dropped us off at Shades of Green, we hauled our luggage in and checked in... This is the most exciting part for me... I love to find out if my room requests have been met... This time - my request was 2nd floor (main floor) and a view of the Magnolia Pool - I'd added that I had stayed in room #206 with Allison in January, and this was the perfect location for us. Secretly - I was hoping for room #207, as #206 has a tree just to the right of the balcony - and if it has leaves on it - we wouldn't be able to see Wishes from our room. Imagine my utter surprise and disbelief when the Cast Member said we were in room #207!!! SCORE!

Room #207 is an exact mirror image to the room Allison and I had, as a matter of fact - the connecting door connects these two rooms...

Bathroom... Again - I don't love this bathroom configuration... However, since we are all girls - even at home - we often get ready while someone is in the shower - so we just did the same thing here. It isn't optimal - but it works.

Our first moments in the room... I really wish these photos gave an accurate description of how big these rooms really are - they are massive by any hotel room standards - and they are bigger than any other resort room on Disney property - including the Poly.

And our view - which you will be seeing a lot of during this TR - as it was nice enough our entire trip for me to spend every single morning out on our balcony drinking my coffee... However - I will say that the metal chairs they have out there are very HARD on the behind after a few minutes - and even the stack of towels I eventually put under my rear didn't help much.

As a side note - our only annoyance with this room in particular... The bathroom fan was incredibly LOUD for the first 5 minutes it was on and secondly - we had to hold the toilet lever down for at least 3 seconds for it to flush. Otherwise - the room was great!

V and I were starving - it was after 2:30, I hadn't eaten at all yet and she had a small breakfast at about 5am...

We stopped at the Ticket desk and purchased our Universal tickets... I was a bit nervous about this, as I had purchased the Military 3 day tickets back in January with Allison - so I was nervous that they were a 1 time only per year, per person thing... The girl at the desk assured me that this was not the case and I could again purchase the 3 day ticket... Even though we had no intention of going more then once - you just never know. $310 later, and we were headed out to get food!

We took our beloved Shady Shuttle to the end of SoG property... Always tipping the drivers at the end of the ride (note to self - I need to budget for this expense in the future).

Our friend Santos was meeting us at the Poly for lunch - so we shopped around Bout-Tiki while we waited... I spotted Allison's Owl plant that she missed out on last time... I thought about getting it this day - yet I know my track record with living things - and I hoped it would still be there later in the trip...

At this point - we were tired of waiting and starving... We made the executive decision not to wait for Santos, order our food and we could order his when he got there... I know it's kind of rude - but we were hungry and my head was pounding.

We ordered the same thing I ordered with Allison on our first meal back in January - and the same thing we had with Suzi during our 2013 trip... Pork nachos and Hawaiian flatbread... Which we shared. On top of that - Captain Cooks gives the AP discount - So this meal only cost us $18! How awesome is that? Both of us ordered water, as we were needing it.

Santos arrived shortly after our food arrived - so we went back up and ordered him something... We all ate together. It was good to see him again and catch up.

As we were talking - we decided to head over to Disney Springs... I sent Cindy a message and asked if she wanted to meet up for a little bit with us... She was all for it! I was so excited to see two of my favorite Disney friends on arrival day!

Santos offered to give us a ride to DS, which was very nice of him.

So, did we ever find Cindy???​

Link to Day 1 Part 3

D~