ONE LAST HURRAH | a nov 2015 tr

[Sam33]

Here’s a quick picture of the awesome lion that was actually visible on our safari! Early morning safaris rock. And I forgot to post it in the last update.


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We had an early morning FP+ to ride the safari again and it was kind of an awkward amount of time away. We decided to stick around Africa a bit and take pictures and wait for the stand that sold the dole whip rum things to open.


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We decided we had time to do the trail and look at the animals before it was socially acceptable to drink.


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We sat and watched the gorillas for a bit. They are so cool and the baby was out playing around. Didn’t get a picture. He was too cute to worry about missing anything to get the camera ready


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After the trail we headed to the bar outside of Tusker House (Dawa bar I think?) and got some drinks!


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This was the Tikiti Punch


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It was pretty good. A bit sweet. Too sweet for seconds, that’s for sure


Casey got a beer


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Not sure which one…but it was an IPA for sure and he liked it as usual.


We went to get a rum dole whip and after we paid they realized they had forgotten to turn on the ice cream maker and informed us it would take 10-15 minutes so we went to sit down and wait. We figured we had no where to be and Africa was a pretty detailed place. Plenty to check out.


Then this guy came out to play his instrument and IT WAS AWESOME. Had we gotten our ice cream right away we would have left and not seen him. No ice cream turned out to be a blessing. Who’d have thought!











Stud





My rum dole whip was FINALLY ready! And it was delicious and worth it. SO GOOD





After we got our ice cream the live music changed to the drummers. We danced and had a super fun time. Disney World is to be enjoyed, not rushed through!








The drummers finished up and we headed back to the Dawa Bar after realizing we had an awkward amount of time to kill until our safari fp. Still.
Casey got the same beer and I went with something different. I did the "lost on safari" and thought it was tastier than the Takiti punch

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[Sam33]

It was finally time for our fast pass. They must have been having issues with the animals because the line and FP line were crazy busy. The line took a while but it was worth it. Animal-wise, the first safari was better but our driver for the second time was awesome. She was very knowledgeable and talked a lot more that the required script. Lots of extra facts were given. She was fantastic.

We made our way back to Asia for some snacks and our Everest fast pass. My sister in law loves the samosas and wanted us to get some. They didn’t seem like my type of food but Casey wanted to try them.

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The Samosas





I was right, not my thing. Casey enjoyed them, though. They had a weird texture. Too beany

The BEST snack view ever



Our original plan was to eat lunch at Flame Tree but we realized we really weren’t that hungry and we had a big fancy dinner planned. You don’t want to ruin your appetite!

We went and used our Everest FP and then it was time to find me a snack. (Yep, it’s barely lunch time and we did 4X on Everest, 2 safaris and Dinosaur plus breakfast, 3 drink breaks, live entertainment and snacks).







I went with a jalapeno cream cheese pretzel! It totally lived up to its reputation. I had been wanting to try one for some time and it did not disappoint.







While we were watching these monkeys and realizing we had hours to kill before our Kali River FP, we started to feel the exhaustion associated with a late night and a crazy early morning. We decided it was probably best to make our way out of the park and take a break before dinner. It was a tough choice. This was our only scheduled time in Animal Kingdom and I’d never done Kali River before. I was really looking forward to trying something new. But I also felt like I would regret it if we ruined our evening by pushing ourselves too hard. So the decision was made. We were wimping out!









Next is a fabulous break and a fancy dinner. Our best of the trip, hands down!

 

[ariane37]

Was it less than stellar because of the Boardwalk for some reason? I've always wanted to stay there! Looks like a lot of fun

Hi! Ugh, I'm reliving the less than stellar part now as I'm writing my own Nov. TR lol! We LOVE the BW area and before that trip we loved the BWV. Unfortunately our last stay was plagued with plumbing issues (not limited to that resort and certainly not something that, alone, would turn us off) but more upsetting were the unhelpful CM's Like day-ruining, uncaring CM's that I had to go to multiple times with the same issue after we had to change rooms due to said plumbing issues which then led to disgusting unclean bathroom issues. Anyway, I'm sure we'll end up back at and Epcot area resort again and I wouldn't be surprised if we go back to BWV in the future, too. The boardwalk itself is awesome!

The Samosas

They had a weird texture. Too beany

Hmm......I want to try the Samosas every trip and always forget, but I'm not a real fan of beans.......like lima beans? Waxy-like texture?

This was our only scheduled time in Animal Kingdom and I’d never done Kali River before. I was really looking forward to trying something new.

Gives you a reason to plan another trip

 

[Sam33]

Hi! Ugh, I'm reliving the less than stellar part now as I'm writing my own Nov. TR lol! We LOVE the BW area and before that trip we loved the BWV. Unfortunately our last stay was plagued with plumbing issues (not limited to that resort and certainly not something that, alone, would turn us off) but more upsetting were the unhelpful CM's Like day-ruining, uncaring CM's that I had to go to multiple times with the same issue after we had to change rooms due to said plumbing issues which then led to disgusting unclean bathroom issues. Anyway, I'm sure we'll end up back at and Epcot area resort again and I wouldn't be surprised if we go back to BWV in the future, too. The boardwalk itself is awesome!


Hmm......I want to try the Samosas every trip and always forget, but I'm not a real fan of beans.......like lima beans? Waxy-like texture?


Gives you a reason to plan another trip

Ooh you should post a link to your TR!

Also it was kind of that fuzzy bean feeling? Like a black bean. Hard to explain but I hate all beans and the beans were way too forward in this!

And our next trip is already in the works! but it's with my mom again and there's no way I'll be able to drag her on a water ride like that

 

[glennbo123]

I didn't realize that there was a dole whip with rum in it at Animal Kingdom. Sounds good. Wow, you got quite a bit done. It was probably a good idea to not push it and wipe yourself out. I'm wondering what your dinner will be? Intrigued!

 

[ariane37]

Ooh you should post a link to your TR!

Also it was kind of that fuzzy bean feeling? Like a black bean. Hard to explain but I hate all beans and the beans were way too forward in this!

And our next trip is already in the works! but it's with my mom again and there's no way I'll be able to drag her on a water ride like that

The link to my Nov. TR is in my signature The one for my Jan. TR is there also but it's not working for some reason. Have to fix that!

Mom can always watch from the bridge if you ride Kali, she'll be able to see your raft go by and she can snap a picture It's a fun ride. I wish it was a bit longer but otherwise it's pretty cool!

 

[Sam33]

After trying on 3 different laptops and 2 different internet connections, I still can’t get Disboards to stop crashing in the middle of my updates. I’m going to keep trying but it is PAINFULLY slow and frustrating.


Before I get started I wanted to share a picture or two of the outdoor NHL game we went to in February! My team lost but it was the coolest experience I’ve ever had! I used to think the NHL was over-doing the outdoor games but after experiencing one I have changed my mind. Every city should get to have this experience!





Redwing and Avalanche alumni from 1996-2003! Greatest rivalry ever. Also best alumni game the NHL has had yet!











Now back to Florida! It was time for naps. And nap we did. Well, I napped. Casey read his book. He hates naps! (weirdo). We had plenty of time until dinner but we decided to get ready and walk around before. We still hadn’t really done much resort exploring.


We were eating fancy so fancy we got!





We stopped by the gift shop first. There was a scarf I was considering getting for my mom for Christmas but I wanted to make sure she would like it so I had to send her a picture haha. Our family is not big on surprises! Then we decided to go out on the dock towards the light house.











This resort is SO BEAUTIFUL. And I can’t get over how awesome it was to be able to walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Really think it’s more worth it that being on the monorail loop. I loved not having to wait for transportation and the end of the day.





Still had time to kill so we stopped by the pool bar. I got a generic Disney-Pool-Bar-Cocktail and Casey got an IPA (which I did not take a picture of). We had successfully prepared our stomachs for an awesome meal so we were HUNGRY. And getting thankful our reservation was so early (restaurant opening early!)





We got to Yachtsman a bit early and check in with a very small wait. They were still getting set up for the night so it was understandable. I loved being able to see the meat when you walk in and between the host stand and the dining room you walk through the kitchen area a bit. The ambiance inside was great and exactly what I like in a steak place.








Our server was AWESOME right off the bat. The thing about being my age and looking even younger is we often get judged at nicer restaurants and find the servers don’t spend as much time on us (Cali Grill later in the week proved this, yuck). But our server here was amazing right off the bat. We ordered drinks and he brought us some rolls (the rolls were AMAZING…okay, mostly the butter was amazing…I love butter)








The butter was served with roasted garlic and it was just so tasty. We ate all of it. And I usually don’t like to fill up on bread product before the meat comes along. It was irresistible!


We decided to get a charcuterie plate to start. Seemed like the perfect way to sample a lot of different things we don’t usually eat.








Our drinks arrived. We both went with the Manhattans we had at Crew’s Cup the day before. They were just phenomenal. Why try something new when you can get something you know is awesome!





The meal was paced pretty perfectly. We felt like we really had time to enjoy everything but never had a long wait between courses. There were zero complaints on our end.


Casey got the New York strip with the potato gratin. Loved it, cooked perfectly.





I went with the 6oz filet and subbed the mashed potatoes for fries (delicious)





We each got a scotch to eat with our steaks (nothing goes with steak like scotch!)





We skipped dessert since we had plans to go to Epcot for a couple hours and left a fat tip because like I said, our server was AMAZING. After the experience at 50’s Prime Time we felt even more inclined than usual to tip excellent service. It makes a huge difference and we had had two very different experiences in a 24 hour period! We wrapped up, finished our scotch and head straight to Epcot.

 

[Sam33]

I didn't realize that there was a dole whip with rum in it at Animal Kingdom. Sounds good. Wow, you got quite a bit done. It was probably a good idea to not push it and wipe yourself out. I'm wondering what your dinner will be? Intrigued!

Once I had the rum dole whip at Flower & Garden I was forever on the lookout for them. Probably my favorite treat there! And we ended up having a fabulous night. Probably our favorite day of the trip. I love it when it works out like that!

The link to my Nov. TR is in my signature The one for my Jan. TR is there also but it's not working for some reason. Have to fix that!

Mom can always watch from the bridge if you ride Kali, she'll be able to see your raft go by and she can snap a picture It's a fun ride. I wish it was a bit longer but otherwise it's pretty cool!

Oh gosh, DUH. I should have seen that. Haha. I will have to read both. We are doing January 2017 for sure now. AND we decided to stay at Boardwalk!

 

[Sam33]

We went into Epcot with no plans which was extremely liberating. I rarely go on trips that are long enough to warrant park time with no worries about getting my one shot at that fancy ride. We weren’t quite hungry for dessert yet so we ended up shopping instead.


I thought this shop was so cute! The colors mostly. I had to take a picture





We went over to Living with the Land and TOTALLY forgot it closes early. We missed it by about 5 minutes. Soarin was a crazy wait so we decided to turn around and leave. So of course we ended up at the Nemo ride! I tried to take pictures because who doesn’t get fabulous pictures on dark rides? (sarcasm face)








We spent some time looking at fish and then decided to do Turtle Talk since we had never done it before and why not!





It was ADORABLE. Definitely something I will be making my mom see on our next trip. So cute! And it didn’t help my baby fever, that’s for sure!








We thought it was getting close to Illuminations time so we decided to head over to World Showcase. BUT FIRST a stop at the Craft Beer Booth. Because of course!


Excuse this terrible picture. But it was the night of the Paris attack and we liked how they had done the lights in a French flag fashion.








I got a barrel-aged stout (best type of beer around) and it was amazing. I wish I remembered what it was! ARGH. I am the worst note-taker. The line for this booth was CRAZY most of the time we saw it. We got lucky and hit it with little to no line.





For some reason we were feeling bad about how little we ate on our food and wine day so we decided to eat more food (ugh so full). We hit the New Zealand booth and grabbed a great spot for Illuminations. Then I checked and realized we were wrong about the Illuminations time by AN HOUR. Dang.





We decided to walk around World Showcase more while we waited and to watch the show closer to the exit. We went to China to do the echo thing. Something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do and have never taken the time to.














SO COOL. We spent about 10 minutes in there all together haha. We skipped the movie and instead looked at some of the exhibits. Another thing I’ve always wanted to do and simply hadn’t.





Casey got some German liquor that he and his friends drink when they ski. I can’t remember what it was called but I thought it was gross.





We also stopped at the place in Germany where they were engraving glass and picked up at Epcot shot glass for one of Casey bartenders. She had to work a bunch of extra shifts since he was on vacation so we thought she deserved a souvenir!


We grabbed an Illuminations spot around Japan and enjoyed the show. It always makes me cry. Especially seeing it that night after those horrific terrorist attacks.





Up next: Our “day off” that isn’t really a day off because who can take a day off in Disney!

 

[Sam33]

Today was our “sleep in” day. We ended up waking up super early because we were used to it. Our plan was a 10:30 breakfast at Kona Café and we decided that instead of bussing to Magic Kingdom and then taking the monorail, we would just walk through Epcot and take the monorail from there. We had way too much time to kill from waking up so much earlier than we were expecting. Since we had so much time we stopped inside The Land on the way out. Soarin was already crazy long but we did make it onto Living With the Land. It had a 15 minute wait! Longest I have ever waited. It WAS a Saturday in November but still. Crazy.




















That is one of my favorite rides! I’m not sure why. I love the smell of it and it’s so beautiful in there! It was time to head to the monorail, though. And I’m glad our plans for the day were mostly outside of the parks because it was INSANE. The lines to get into Epcot at the main gate, the ticket lines, and the lines at the TTC when we got to Polynesian were just crazy. SO MANY PEOPLE. We were pretty early to our reservation so we ended up having a bit of a wait. Kona was BUSY.





It was our first time in the new lobby. I loved the lights but I definitely prefer the old fountain.





We were seated in a cramped area and were surrounded by unhappy people. Constant complaining about everything. The wait was too long, their tonga toast had “LIKE NO BANANA! OMG!” CONSTANT complaining. And the poor children they were with would probably have no idea there was anything wrong with their vacation but the adults would just not let it go. It was getting aggravating and we were only in their vicinity for an hour. We got a pressed pot of coffee and it was delicious. We enjoyed our meal at least haha. The chef had to come out to address the complaints and she did NOT handle it well. The thing about service industry is you can’t argue with the customer. It won’t help. So saying over and over “that’s the exact amount of banana as always, I’ve worked here 3 years blah blah blah” is not the way to handle it. Even if the complaint was annoying and the customer was wrong. The lady then leaned over to look at Casey’s Tonga Toast and was like “hardly any banana you should send it back”. The nerve. Leave us alone. Casey thought there was a perfect amount of banana. More would have been too much. Oh well.


What got to me was the dual complaining about crowds and prices. The only way to lessen the crowds is to price some families out. You can’t complain about both. There’s just a LOT of people wanting to go to Disney right now. Just seemed like a silly thing to complain about. Our food was good but the cramped area we were in made us not want to go back.





Casey’s perfectly good Tonga Toast. Haha





I’m not a huge breakfast fan and I especially don’t like sweet breakfast food which is what Kona is known for so I went for a basic breakfast.





We decided to go through Epcot to get back to the hotel. And it made me glad we were not planning on being there that day. A Saturday during Food and Wine was bound to be busy but it was so much worse than I was expecting. Just walking from the front gate to International gateway was so exhausting we had to stop for a treat!





Casey got a Cronut and he loved it





I, again, got a rum dole whip. Only they only had coconut rum, not dark rum. It was still good but not my preference!





Up next: a day at the pool and a night at Magic Kingdom!

 

[Sam33]

It was time to take advantage of that awesome pool we’d been walking past all week. I was excited to say the least!





We played in the sand and the lazy river and swam around for about an hour before retreating to some pool chairs for relaxing, napping, reading and, of course, eating.





I had a Pina Colada. MMMMMMM.





It ended up getting a bit cloudy and breezy. Of COURSE our pool day would be the coolest day we were there. Because plans.








Next I went with that Lynchburg Limeade. SUPER YUMMY.


I posted this to Instagram as Denver was getting PELTED with snow.





Because I’m a jerk!


Around 3 we started to get hungry so we got food! Didn’t even have to get up. An employee was walking around taking orders, so we asked for a menu and she came back a little later to take our orders! I got a cheeseburger and Casey got the pulled pork with cole slaw. It was a typical burger at a Disney pool bar. A little cold and not very good but it hit the spot okay. And the fries were yummy.





We spent HOURS there and decided around 4 to get ready and go to Magic Kingdom. We had fast passes to use! It was also our only chance on the trip to see Wishes (we had FP). I was super anxious about crowds, though. I knew they would be bad when I made plans but after seeing the crowds at the TTC that morning I was extra worried. But with the Christmas Party going on, it really was our only chance at Wishes from inside the park.








Magic Kingdom is SO pretty at night! And we decided that if ALL we did that night was use our fast passes, it would be good. Low expectations made for a great night!




















(we were killing time waiting for the Castle Lighting show to begin)











Grabbed a spot on Main Street for the show. I had never seen the new Frozen version of it. I really liked it!








SO PRETTY!

 

[Sam33]

We had a bit of time to kill before our 7 Dwarfs fast pass so we decided to go through Tomorrowland, grab a coffee and take the back way over to Fantasy Land.





This would be our first ride on 7 Dwarfs and I was so excited! We found it exhilarating. The ride mechanism is different but subtle. Not something I’d wait an hour for but we really enjoyed it!





Big Thunder Mountain was showing a 40 minute wait and we had about an hour before our next FP so we decided to wait. I’m glad we did because the queue was amazing! We have only done it with a FP or right at open so we have never gotten to see all the new additions!

















It seems silly to note now that we are basically out of the playoffs. But I wrote in my notes that the Avs beat Montreal 6-1 while we were in line at Big Thunder. Ahh, the past. When I had hope


Next we Jingle Cruise! I had never been at night and heard it was awesome so I was excited





Unfortunately, our skipper wasn’t great. She had energy but she didn’t add any of her own jokes. Just read from the script. After that it was about time for fireworks so we went over to the fast pass area. We LOVED the fast pass for this. It was so easy and it wasn’t cramped and we were really able to enjoy the show without having to go too early to get a spot.





Waiting








I didn’t take firework pictures because I like to enjoy them without distraction. But they were great and I cried. For some reason Casey kept saying “FISHES!” in the way that they say “WISHES!” in the song and it was cracking me up. We would randomly say “FISHES!” the rest of the trip whenever we saw a fish. We must have been tired…


After the show we stuck around and let the crowds dissipate. I have the Wishes soundtrack on a playlist so I knew all the words to the pop version they play after and was belting it out. This little girl was staring at me like I was part of the show or something. And her parents started to leave and she peaked around the stroller to continue staring. It was hilarious and adorable and did not help my baby fever.


After everyone left the area we made our way to Tomorrowland to catch a Monsters Inc Laugh Floor show.





The people behind us in line were from Denver! They all had Bronco gear on so we talked for a bit.


Afterwards we headed straight back to the hotel for sleeping. We had a morning at Magic Kingdom planned!