Some people ARE worth melting for ….. 40 Disney days – the trip of a lifetime updated October 10

[dizneeat]

Joining in and all caught up!

Looks like you guys are off to a fun start! I love the Yacht Club, when we stayed there we were so happy and surprised to get an upgrade to a water view. We spent a lot of time out on our little patio.

We were off to a great start and not to get ahead of myself, but it continued that way for 40 days.
The Yacht Club is awesome. We had stayed there before and always loved it. I needed to bridge two days as I was out of DVC points and the Yacht Club seemed just the perfect solution. And we stayed there again at the end of the trip and got a HUGE surprise.

So excited that we get to follow you for 40 days! I think that is a perfect length for a trip

It WAS the perfect length of a trip, well, even though I could have stayed a little longer.

Nice day at MK! So awesome you got to spend time with Michelle and her family! You got some nice night shots, but I love the castle with the fountain in front from this day!

It was another awesome MK day, especially since Michelle and her family took the time to spend it with us.
That photo of the castle with the fountain turned out nicely, didn't it? I really like it too.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 06

Two for the price of one! - Part 2

We both love that ride, so relaxing just sitting there and people watch.
Now, all those rides made us thirsty, so off to Starbucks we went again. But we did not get far, as we walked right into the Move It, Shake It Parade. We stopped for a while to watch,

but then went straight to Starbucks. We had really enjoyed our drinks the day before, so we went for repeats, Tom again ordered the

Iced Caramel Macchiato, while I went with the

Iced Black Tea Lemonade again. We started walking with our drinks in hand, but were happy to find some benches behind the Christmas Store and we sat down and enjoyed our drinks. Drinks finished we slowly walked over to our last Magic Kingdom ride for the day, Big Thunder Mountain.

The standby line was very long as the ride was about to go down for refurb in just a day or two, so we were happy to quickly move through the FP line. Again we were granted last row and enjoyed to ride in the best seats in the house.

Once we got off it was time to leave the park. We walked back to the car,

waved goodbye to Bay Lake Tower and drove over to Disney Springs. We had not been there since the second garage had opened and once we had found the right garage we drove around in search of a spot to park the car. Took us quite a while and once we had finally parked our car we hotfooted it over to the Boathouse for lunch.

We made it with 5 minutes to spare and signed in. It took quite a while until we were called and a table was ready. No problem, as it had given us time to catch our breath again. Now we were following a greeter to a table and were not happy.
There were several “regular” dining tables, but we were led to some of the “high chair” tables. I don’t really feel comfortable in these bar seats, so we asked the greeter if it was possible to get a regular table. We got a really funny look and were told that this was the table that was assigned to us.
Yip, we know, but I’d rather ……
It took a while, but they were able to seat us at a regular table. There we quickly settled in, a server handed us menus and took our order for drinks and we were left to study the menu. It took us a little time to decide on something, but there were a lot of yummy things on the menu, so we decided to share a starter and then have a main course each.
After ordering the food, the server brought some soft

dinner rolls and butter and we started munching on them, while we waited for our food. It did not take long and our starter, the

Firecracker Shrimp, Sriracha mayo, serrano chili and sweet peppers was brought to the table.
The helping was huge, but so tasty and quite hot. We both kept eating and eating and soon felt a bit full and we had yet to tackle our main courses.
Tom had ordered the

Wild Caught Surf Clam Strips with fresh cut fries and tartar sauce and lemon served in a dockside bucket. My main were the

Coconut-Fried Wild Pacific White Shrimp with fresh cut fries and orange-chili sauce served in a dockside bucket. We were still working on the starter, when the main courses came out and the starter and bread had filled us up already, but we did our best working on the main courses as well.
We were not able to finish it all, but most of it was consumed. The server asked if we wanted to think about dessert and we were way too full to even think about it. So we just asked for the bill.
Once it came I asked if they would accept a Disney gift card and they did.
So I handed her our gift card and she looked at me kind of funny.
Guess what, what I just gave you IS an actual gift card, even if it is shaped funnily.
I had bought a flower shaped gift card during Flower and Garden. She went to process it and was gone for quite some time.
Turns out that she did not know how to process it and it had taken several servers and attempts to get it to work. But in the end we were able to use it to pay for our meal and then we headed back out again.
We strolled through some of the new areas

before heading back to the car at around 2.30pm.
Our next destination was Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and shortly before 3pm we arrived, passed the security booth and self-parked the car. Not sure if the room would be ready we left our carry-ons in the car and headed towards the front desk.

To be continued ....​

 

[jenseib]

I hate those high up chairs too. I hate my feet dangling and I always feel like I am going to slide off of them. Your meal looked good!

 

[momof3princes]

I am 5'0 so I never like high top tables, I have a hard enough time with my feet touching the ground on a regular table!!
You dinner looked so good and glad you got to ride BTMR as many times as you did before it closed
Tom got my favorite Starbucks drink

 

[dizneeat]

I hate those high up chairs too. I hate my feet dangling and I always feel like I am going to slide off of them. Your meal looked good!

It's such a pain getting up into the chair, then your feet dangle and like you, I always feel like sliding off. But since I was pretty insistant we really got to enjoy our lunch.

I am 5'0 so I never like high top tables, I have a hard enough time with my feet touching the ground on a regular table!!

Those chairs are just so uncomfortable and I do understand how you feel. While my feet do touch the ground on a regular table I am just to old to juggle myself in those chairs.

You dinner looked so good and glad you got to ride BTMR as many times as you did before it closed

Lunch was really nice and tasty. We had discussed eating at the Boathouse for a long time and then just gave it a try. It did not disappoint.
We just love BTMR and I was a bit heartbroken when I read that it would close early into our trip, but we got to ride it pretty often, so all was good in the end.

Tom got my favorite Starbucks drink

I seem to be the odd one out, loving my tea, but then Starbucks is famous for coffee, isn't it?

 

[franandaj]

The food at the Boathouse looks great! We can't be seated at one of those tables, Fran just can't climb into chairs. I can't wait to see the New Springs area without all the fencing and such! Less than a week and we'll be dining at the boathouse!

 

[dizneeat]

The food at the Boathouse looks great! We can't be seated at one of those tables, Fran just can't climb into chairs. I can't wait to see the New Springs area without all the fencing and such! Less than a week and we'll be dining at the boathouse!

I was not sure about it, but we were very happy that we went. The food was really good and the atmosphere nice. Springs looks so different. Took us a while to get our barings, there were so many new shops and some of the eateries we wanted to check out were a bit hard to find, but it is definitely worth checking out.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 06

Two for the price of one! - Part 3

Not sure if the room would be ready we left our carry-ons in the car and headed towards the front desk.
No one ahead of us, so we told the cast member that we had done online check in and were just here to pick up our Magicbands. Didn’t take long and we had our new Magicbands and our room was ready as well. Yeah!
We walked over to the elevator, went up and went to check out our room. We walked and walked and walked some more and found that it was at the very end of a corridor. We opened the door and the room was really nice and after taking a few photos

I called to ask if our luggage had already arrived and Tom went to the car to get the carry-ons. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and our luggage was delivered. The bellman was very helpful, explained about everything in the room and let us know that we should definitely ask for him specifically if we needed some help. When Tom arrived with the carry-ons he was pretty surprised that the rest of our stuff had already arrived. We took a little break, freshened up a bit and then we walked all the way back to the lobby and outside to walk over to Epcot.
It was another nice day and even though it was very hot and humid we enjoyed the walk along Cresent Lake. Soon we had made it to Epcot with no wait at all for bag check and were inside the park.

Again, there were quite a lot of guests, but it was still very manageable. We had booked another FP after we had been on the initial 3 ones in the Magic Kingdom, but we still had a little time until then. So we strolled through the countries, then worked our way up to the fountain and finally we had a good look around Mousegear. Then we headed over to Mission Space. My Disney Experience had been right, there was just a 10 minute wait and we grabbed an orange ticket and hopped in line.

Well, the wait was even shorter than those 10 minutes, because the only time we stopped was after we had been divided into teams. Score. Our mission to Mars was as fun as always and in the meantime our FP had opened up. No long walk, as it was for Test Track. When I had checked in the morning, I had been very surprised to find a FP for it in the afternoon and had grabbed it immediately. Test Track still had quite the line, but we walked through most of it until …. there was lightning in the area and they had stopped the ride.
We waited
and waited
and waited some more
and many of the other people in our holding area just left but we stayed and while we waited I booked another FP, this time for Spaceship Earth. After about 25 minutes the ride was opened again and the line moved quickly. Soon we found ourselves in one of the cars and off we went to test the vehicle. Once we got off we scanned the Magicbands for the ride photo and checked our car’s efficiency

and then slowly walked towards the exit, where Tom checked out all the new cars. Next stop Spaceship Earth. We soon made it over and even though the regular line was pretty short, why not use our FP and soon we found ourselves in one of the ride vehicles, just to discover that they were very uncomfortable for Tom’s knee, which he had hurt the day before we had left on vacation. There was nothing we could do once the ride had started, so we tried to make him as comfortable as possible and enjoy the rest of the ride. We took a few photos of our future

and after we had gotten off, we watched our photos fly home to the heart of Europe on the big screen. By now it was early evening and we needed to get back to our resort.

To be continued ....​

 

[heaven2dc]

The Yacht & Beach Club rooms are so pretty! The hallways of the Boardwalk Villas can be long too - they placed me in the room longest from the elevator on the 3rd floor next to Jelly Rolls. Normally I wouldn't mind the walk since I walk all over the place in the parks all day but I had a leg brace and couldn't take the stairs. They were super kind and moved me the following morning to a room right above and to the right the Screen Door shop.

Your lunch looks so delicious! You always have the most amazing meals

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! You are really getting your Starbucks in. Do you have Starbucks at home? Very nice new resort. So nice to be walking distance to your resort. I'm sorry SE was hurting Tom's knee. Looks like he was a trooper anyway. Is he doing okay with it now.

 

[momof3princes]

Great job of photographing the room! I love that Mickey light. I think that by now all the Deluxe rooms should have moved to Keurig Machines for coffee...that is a little pet peeve of mine.
You hit all my Future World favorites right off the bat!

 

[dizneeat]

The Yacht & Beach Club rooms are so pretty!

We just love the Yacht Club! At the Beach Club we have only stayed DVC, but those studios are so nice as well, and you cannot beat the location.

Your lunch looks so delicious! You always have the most amazing meals

We were pretty lucky with our food choices this year, even though we had quite a few (grocery store) meals in our room as well. For us, even KFC, which we do not have here, is something special.

Hi Karin! You are really getting your Starbucks in. Do you have Starbucks at home?

No, we don't have one in our home town. The closest one is about 130 miles away - too far for a cup of tea.

I'm sorry SE was hurting Tom's knee. Looks like he was a trooper anyway. Is he doing okay with it now.

It was just this one time that it really hurt him. Then we decided before getting in where it was best for him to sit. It still bothers him today, but he is getting therapy for it. His choices were either to have surgery (with an unknown outcome) or therapy - he went for the later.

Great job of photographing the room!

Thank you!

I think that by now all the Deluxe rooms should have moved to Keurig Machines for coffee...that is a little pet peeve of mine.

We are so used to our Nespresso machines (Nespresso is different to the Nescafe - Nescrap Disney used to serve) at home, but I think they are similar to your Keurig ones. Nespresso is a really high price item here, so when we stayed in Barcelona before our cruise we were so surprised to find one in our room. Plus they supplied the coffee capsuls as well.

You hit all my Future World favorites right off the bat!

We seem to have the same favourites then!! Great minds think alike.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 06

Two for the price of one! - Part 4

By now it was early evening and we needed to get back to our resort.
It did not take long and we were back in our room, had a drink and a snack,

rested for a while on the balcony and freshened up again before we were already a bit late for our next appointment. We headed down to the lobby and outside to the Yacht Club Marina.
I had found a family on the DISboards that wanted to share an Illuminations cruise and it had all worked out.
Once we made it close to the marina, I could see someone get up and walk towards us and yes, it was the person from the DISboards. We quickly got finances out of the way and then walked right over to our boat, which was all decked out for a birthday. Turns out it was the mom’s birthday and she had gotten decorations as well. Our skipper was a young lady,

who had been working for Disney for a few years and was super knowledgeable. First we started to drive along Cresent Lake, along the Beach Club and past Seabreeze Point over to the Boardwalk, then we crossed underneath the bridge and past the Swan and Dolphin and we were on our way to Hollywood Studios. There were four adults on the boat and three teenagers, who seemed to be very occupied with their phones, but the adults enjoyed the comments and the sights very much. Once we had enjoyed the sight of the Studios and heard about what was new and that the new Starwars fireworks were absolutely breathtaking, it had gotten dark and it was now time to return to Epcot.
Our skipper told us that she wanted to be one of the last boats to arrive at the viewing spot so we could be towards the middle of the canal and would have the best view. So we headed back to Cresent Lake and finally crossed under the bridge that divides Britain and France and there were already a few boats moored. Our skipper tied our boat to the other ones and we were right in the middle of the canal.

We still had a little time and so she explained on how they prepare for the fireworks, and what was going to happen. Soon the fireworks started and it was definitely an awesome spot to view Illuminations.

We really enjoyed it, sitting there, having a drink in hand and nibbling on snacks. Once Illuminations was over our skipper asked if we had a little more time and Tom and I had nothing else on our list, but the other family had a reservation for Beaches and Cream. Luckily it was late enough and we all agreed to take our skipper up on her offer of taking us to Hollywood Studios again to watch those fireworks as well.

Two fireworks for the price of one.

Score.
It took about 10 minutes to get to Hollywood Studios and when we arrived, she positioned our boat so we would be able to have a perfect view. It was funny to see that all but one of the other boats had done the same and we were now all at the Studios. I think we were not sitting there for more than three minutes and the fireworks were going off.

We had seen the Starwars fireworks in March and they had been stunning but the new edition took our breath away.
They were absolutely amazing and lasted for quite a long time. Being outside the park we could only imagine what they must be like from in front of the Chinese Theatre.
It got us all excited for the Starwars Fireworks dessert party we had signed up for for later in the trip.
After the fireworks we made our way back to the Yacht Club at full speed, as the other family needed to get to Beaches and Cream. Once we arrived at the Yacht Club we tipped the skipper, said goodbye to the other family and then walked back to our resort and back to our room.
We watched a little more TV, had some snacks and I had some more of the Coconut bar I had bought earlier in the day. But it had been a long day and around 11pm we were ready to call it a day.

To be continued ....​

 

[franandaj]

How great that you got to enjoy two sets of fireworks!

 

[bolgers love wdw]

So happy to have found a new trip report of yours!!! They are so awesome and entertaining!!!

 

[monorailsilver]

​

This looks yummy! What is it and where did you get it?

Sort of looks like a Magic Cookie Bar which I happen to be making tomorrow (Monday).

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Looks like an amazing evening! Very cool you found someone nice to share the cruise and getting two for one is the icing on the cake!

I'm glad Tom is doing okay with his knee. I am faced with a similar dilemma with mine. I'm going with shots before Disneyland because the doc wants me to have time to heal. Then we will have Hawaii in March. What to do?

 

[momof3princes]

That cruise looked so fun! And to get 2 sets of fireworks, lucky you!! Isn't the Yacht Club location great?

 

[dizneeat]

How great that you got to enjoy two sets of fireworks!

It was the icing on the cake - getting on the cruise was great and then to have both sets of fireworks. The ones at the Studios were so unexpected and I had not even realized they had changed from March. It got us so hyped up for the day we had signed up for the dessert party.

So happy to have found a new trip report of yours!!! They are so awesome and entertaining!!!

I am happy to hear that you enjoy my trip reports and even more happy that you join us for this epic one.

This looks yummy! What is it and where did you get it?

Sort of looks like a Magic Cookie Bar which I happen to be making tomorrow (Monday).

It's a coconut bar from the Beach Club Marketplace. I used to love the Magic Cookie Bars from Riverside, but the last few times they were pretty hard and dry, so when I came across the coconut bar I was in heaven. It is moist and so yummy.

Looks like an amazing evening! Very cool you found someone nice to share the cruise and getting two for one is the icing on the cake!

It definitely was. There is a thread where you can ask for and offer seats on fireworks cruises and I happened to stumbe upon the one. They were such a nice family - first time visit, so they got lots of pointers from the skipper and us.
And getting to see two sets of fireworks was just awesome - at least for the adults to teens were more interested in their phones.

I'm glad Tom is doing okay with his knee. I am faced with a similar dilemma with mine. I'm going with shots before Disneyland because the doc wants me to have time to heal. Then we will have Hawaii in March. What to do?

Tom's knee is getting better and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, so your knee will be all better for your trips.

 

[dizneeat]

That cruise looked so fun! And to get 2 sets of fireworks, lucky you!! Isn't the Yacht Club location great?

We have done Wishes cruises before, but we never thought about Illuminations. Then when the chance of sharing the cruise opened up I just jumped on it. And so convenient that it was out of the Yacht Club anyway.
We love both Yacht and Beach Club - it is all about location and then there is the "other" reason that draws us in ....... Stormalong Bay.