The 75% All New Trip! - All done! Bonus Material finished, Link to new TR!

[franandaj]

Sounds like you are making progress on the move!

The riverboat looks really beautiful...love your cabin! How nice that the tour can accommodate Fran's scooter so well!

Jill in CO

Slow but steady progress.

It does look very nice. It's in dry dock right now, and they are replacing all the carpeting and linens, sounds fairly extensive, so it should be in good shape when we board.

I've had a few different cards, but right now my go to card is my WestJet card.
With it (for about $100/year) I get free bags (already more than paid for the card fees), up to 3% cash back towards WestJet flights (no exclusions) and a $99 companion flight anywhere in Continental North America where WestJet flies. Plus all the usual perks, free trip and cancel insurance, car rental insurance, etc.

We have a few as well. Right now we are concentrating on our American Airlines cards.

I thought there was a "no adhesive" policy. That's why I was so surprised to see what looked like stickers.

You can turn anything into a magnet with the magnetic sheets. They just don't stick as well to the heavily painted doors.

Not to worry. She's from the deep south. You know. Cleveland.

Any place that a jacket is a part of your daily wardrobe in winter is no place to wear a Dalek dress in Winter!

But I'm caught up already!

Well, not everyone is! But I'll give you a hint. I won't have much to do during the Superbowl but watch commercials, so that might be a good time for an update!

It's amazing how much you accumulate, isn't it?

Heck half this stuff got here before I even came on the scene!

I don't think I'd like to go to Alaska if it was under construction.

But I would like to go to Alaska if my previous apartment was under construction, in fact that would be the ideal situation, in fact it would be even more idea if the previous apartment were completed construction and it was rented, but I think that's a bit much to ask given the current circumstances so I'm just going to hope that by the time we go to Alaska the contractor is working on the apartment and not Alsaka.

I don't know how old the ship is, but I'm sure it or its predecessor had rigidly divided rooms at one time.

Yes the predecessor did have separated rooms, the current ship only pays homage to those times, not respects them. They even mention that in the brochure for history's sake. Another reason I think we're going to really enjoy this ship, there seems to be a lot of tradition that is honored in the history of the riverboats. We both love history!

What a shame that you had to cancel the stay at the Grand Californian. The ship looks wonderful. What a bonus with the patio right by the cabin. I am pretty sure that friends of ours have been on the same ship and loved it. The excursion looks pretty neat, too.

Corinna

I know, I hate canceling trips like that, but really they are only just for us to waste time around the resort. Last year we were so exhausted all we did was sleep in the room, I went to the spa and we went out to dinner. We were so exhausted from life that it was kind of wasted. This year she was feeling about the same so we would have done the same thing. I will book it again next year and hopefully we will do it. I hate that I have so may points at this resort and they stopped the main reason I bought the points. Other than birthdays and such there aren't as many reasons to own at a resort only half an hour away from home. Perhaps once we are completely settled in our new home we can come up with better parties to use up the points we own there!

Yeah we got a little snow today!

Any snow would have me going

Did your Mayor call out the National Guard?
(If you didn't know, a few years back Toronto did... and became the laughing stock of the entire country.)

Yeah, but wasn't he the mayor that was on crack and himself became the laughing stock of the world?

Of course not! It was just a tiny bit, even the cats didn't mind.

Even a tiny bit sounds cold! Anything that requires a jacket means you are living somewhere that is COLD!

Silly me. Of course it was a tiny bit. You live in the deep south!

I don't know where you keep going on about this deep south! I don't care how deep it is, it still sounds cold! Below 60 degrees F in the daytime is cause for brrrrr. We have had a couple days where it hasn't got out of the 50s and I have had to actually find my jacket! That is not something we Southern Californians take lightly!

The Mississippi River trip sounds well organized and the ship is gorgeous! Expensive huh? Compared to a Disney cruise?

I hope that it is well organized! I have read mixed reviews online. Well as far as the price goes it is quite a bit more per day compared to the Dream cruise on this TR, but actually only about 15% more than the Alaskan Cruise which is interesting since there are various differentiating factors between the two cruises.

Nice to see that you did another Mixology class on the Dream during your trip. It must be fun to try all these different drinks.

Dinner at the Royal Palace looks very appetizing.

The Mixology was and fun and dinner at the Royal Palace was quite good.

Will you post a report from that trip somewhere? I know a couple who have taken a couple different versions of those cruises and they want to take more. I've heard nothing but rave reviews from them.

I will post it at the end of this TR which is why I am trying to wrap this one up so quickly.

I didn't realize that they could be called a ship.

Well, I'm not sure what else to call it, a boat?

The pricing is on their website and can be very expensive, but the couple I know who have taken them have booked them on short notice and got deals like 2 for one. They are retired and able to travel on short notice. They keep telling me to go and to get on discount cruise email lists, but week long or longer travel on short notice isn't anywhere in my foreseeable future. Someday.......

We are on their list as well and I keep getting things about 2 for 1 sailings, so we may not book so far in advance if we decide on future cruises, but we need the HA stateroom and those are hard to come by, so even if we can travel on short notice we also need the HA stateroom and that might be difficult.

 

[rentayenta]

Your riverboat cruise is going to be fantastic!!!

 

[franandaj]

Your riverboat cruise is going to be fantastic!!!

I sure hope so!

 

[franandaj]

Day 6

I woke up in the middle of the night around 1AM wanting some noise and made the mistake of putting on "Muppets Most Wanted" because I ended up watching more of it than sleeping though it. After it finished, I decided to go with what had been my second choice of drowsing movie, Sister Act. This was a good choice as I slept through almost the entire movie and woke for the last "chase" scene. By this time it was about 5:20 AM and we were pulling into the port.

Once we were well into the port canal I decided to turn my phone off of airplane mode. Of course all the text messages started pouring in. Naked Jim had disarmed the panel at our house twice a day to feed the cats. Good. And I had a couple voice mails from a 407 area code.

I listened to my voice mails and it was the resort. It seems they were transferring us from SSR to OKW. WHAT????????

OK this throws a major Monkey wrench in our plans. I had multiple deliveries coming to SSR, not to mention all our ADRs and such pretty much were relying on staying at this resort. The idea of motoring over the bridge to Disney Springs played a big part in our plans, so that we could easily transport to the resorts, as this was a heavy resorts trip and not so much the parks.

I called and spoke to someone at the resort and thought we had it all sorted out. It seems that they could not provide us with a room with a roll in shower at SSR. When we got off the phone she had told me that we would have a shower with a very small (like 2-3 inch lip) to step over for entry. We would still have the jacuzzi tub. And I thought everything was solved.

I got dressed, packed up the last of my stuff and headed down to turn in my extension cord (get my $50 back) and pick up our digital pictures.

After a short wait at Guest services the refund was complete and I got in line for the photos. It was about quarter to seven and I was maybe 10th in line. They didn't open until 7AM and by that time the line must have had 30-40 people waiting. It turns out that now they give you a USB drive and not a CD. Interesting.

I got back to the room at 7:15, woke Fran, helped her get dressed and she packed up her stuff. We were out of the room by 7:40AM. WOW! Breakfast didn't start seating until 8:00AM, but they started 10 minutes early and we were there and ready.







I got a cinnamon roll.



She had a Croissant and a Chocolate Croissant. You can even catch a glimpse of our "candy bag" in the side of the picture.



She had the Route 66



While I had Eggs for the Road. No surprise there.



I took a few last shots of the room before we finished up.





Pretty soon we were disembarking. This was so much better than the last experience. As soon as we reached the luggage room a porter asked if we would like assistance. He helped us find our bags, loaded them all on his cart, whisked us through customs, and in no time we were boarding our motorcoach.

It was an uneventful ride and soon we were seeing this.



We were the first drop off at SSR. Score!

I had received the text that our room was ready and one of the bellmen loaded our luggage onto his golf cart and prepared to take me to the room. We had ordered a second scooter so that I could get around the parks without my foot hurting and since it wasn't from a licensed Disney company Fran had to be there for the pick up. So she waited at the front of the resort while I went to the room.





The first thing I checked was the shower and immediately I realized there was a problem. Evidently there was a language barrier problem as the person I spoke to in the morning thought a regular bathtub shower combination was an appropriate solution since there were bars on the wall. Because I know that even a non handicapped room has a more appropriate shower than this, I picked up the phone immediately and called the front desk. They told me that EVERYTHING was full and there were no other rooms available. I was put on hold several times and before the last time, the gal told me she was going to triple check something.

Lo and behold they had a room where someone had not done online check in, and it just happened to be on the same floor of the same building. In a resort this big, what are the odds? Something tells me the entire resort was not completely sold out and they had a tiny bit of wiggle room in there. The bellman had already left, but I said that I could move our luggage myself without a problem. They also told me that my Magic Band would not work on the old room anymore, and that it would take a while for my Magic Band to sync up with the new room, so they would send a runner with an actual key to open the door.

As he arrived with my key I got a call from Fran saying the scooter had arrived and that our Bellman Manny had located our owner's locker and would be bringing it to the room momentarily. Then he would drive me back to the front where Fran was waiting. What a sweetie! I quickly snapped these photos of the room while I waited for Manny to arrive.



























I love the cute little touches in the Mickeys on the balcony.



Our view.






After meeting back up, we went back to the room so I could change. I didn't anticipate that it would be nearly so warm and I was wearing long pants and a T-shirt. Fran changed out of her long pants into shorts as well.

Our plan was to have lunch at Marrakesh which is all the way at the back of Epcot, so rather than take a bus to Epcot, we found the bridge to Disney Springs and caught a bus to BCV. On our way to Disney Springs we walked past the pool at Congress Park. We were a little confused as to how to get to the walkway to Disney Springs because there were steps leading from the pool area, just as we were turning around, I heard someone call out, “Alison!” I was pretty sure they were talking to their daughter or sister at the pool. I mean really no one would be calling my name. And then I heard it again. I looked into the pool where the call was coming from and who should I see but @bobbiwoz! I knew she was going to be here they were leaving on a cruise out of Miami soon, but what a small world!


[Continued in Next post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous post]


We chatted briefly and then Fran and I were on our way to the BCV via Disney Springs.



Since we had stayed here only two years ago, I knew the shortest route to Epcot without having to go through the hotel or the lobby. We went right to Guest Relations and after about a 5 minute wait. Purchased our TIW card and we were off.

I was starving, so we made a beeline to Morocco, and right to Marrakesh. We were seated immediately, and perused the menu.



















While we waited for our meal, I took some shots of the restaurant. This was a good call. Hardly anyone was in there, so a good spot to go without an ADR. Besides, I would have been way off on the timing had I made one. The whole thing with switching rooms really ate up a huge chunk of time.













It was so pretty inside!

We ordered the appetizer sampler, chicken bastila, beef brewat roll, and Jasmine salad.





We also got another separate order of the chicken bastila which was included on the appetizer sampler. This is my favorite Moroccan dish, so I didn’t want to be shorted!



For our entree we split the braised beef Cous Cous.



It was a little bland, but once I got some Harissa to spice it up, the dish was delicious. Those who don’t know what Harissa is, it’s a blend of spices mixed with Ketchup (at least that’s how I make it at home). It’s more flavorful than spicy hot, but it does has a small kick to it.





I also had a glass of Moroccan wine to go along with it.

During our meal, this duo came out to play traditional music.



Then this Belly Dancer came out for a little while.



All in all, we really enjoyed our meal at Marrakesh. I don’t know why it took me so long to dine here. Maybe since I’ve had such great Moroccan food at home, I didn’t feel the need to try it at WDW. And as you saw there was no problem eating there as a walk up, the place was practically empty when we ate there.


[Continued in Next post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous post]

All the while, Mark (@Captiain_Oblivious), Julie and I had been texting each other. They were making their way around WS from Mexico via Germany and Italy. We left without ordering Baklava for dessert because I wanted to get something from the various Christmas Kiosks set up around the park.



Fran and I did catch a bite from the American kiosk. Some peppermint bark. A gingerbread cookie and egg nog with Kentucky Bourbon. Hence why we didn't get any Baklava in Morocco.





We met up in the American Adventure after listening to the Voices of Liberty. We chatted for a bit, took the obligatory photo and we're each on our way.





We stopped in Germany for Caramel. Not just a piece for now, but for the week and what ended up lasting until about a month ago. We got popcorn that ended up going to Naked Jim. It was fun watching them make it while we waited in the long long line.

















We also got a glass of Riesling at the kiosk.





And then we went into Mouse Gears. I needed some coffee for the room and I'd had Mickey's Diner coffee before, it's pretty decent.



Fran bought a few other things, but I was totally hitting the wall. I had been up since 5:20 AM and it was after 5PM, so I hurried her along and out of the park.

We got to our bus stop and she picked up her book to read and within a minute our bus drove into the pick up area. Score!

Back at the room we called for delivery of our groceries which had been delivered while we were having lunch. While we waited I unpacked the suitcases and got our laundry ready to wash. We enjoyed our bottle of Moet Ice from the ship while making dinner.



She helped me by chopping the veggies and cheese and soon the meatloaf was in the oven.

The washer wasn't working properly. I noticed that after the meatloaf was done, it was still on the wash cycle which was only supposed to be 12 minutes. I slid the knob to rinse and finished serving up dinner.

Meatloaf.



Fran’s dinner.



My dinner.



After dinner I had to put it on the spin cycle manually as well. I started the load of whites and packed up our dinner leftovers.

Fran went to bed and I took advantage of the Jacuzzi tub before crawling into bed myself.

For those concerned about falling behind, the next day needs to be finished by Feb 15 and I'm planning on posting it in two installments if that helps any! TTFN!

 

[dizneeat]

Last breakfast on the ship ....... so not fun at all!
Seeing that WDW sign .......

I was in awe that your room was ready when you arrived ...... I should have guessed there was a hickup and how lucky that you were able to get it sorted after all.

It looks like you enjoyed your lunch at Marrakesh - we have only eaten there once and it was the worst meal ever. It rained into my glass from the ceiling, the food was cold and the bread stale. We swore "never again", but your food looks really nice. Hm, maybe .........

And you were cooking dinner!!!! We have stayed so often in a 1br but never cooked more than a frozen pizza. Maybe we should pick up some steaks or something in the summer.
Thanks for sharing.
I am so sorry for not commenting more, but next Friday is half term and there were a gazillion tests and exams and I rarely had time for the DIS.

 

[pkondz]

Well, not everyone is! But I'll give you a hint. I won't have much to do during the Superbowl but watch commercials, so that might be a good time for an update!

Did I miss the game? I see an update just below...

Another reason I think we're going to really enjoy this ship, there seems to be a lot of tradition that is honored in the history of the riverboats. We both love history!

Cool! This something I think I should look into.

Yeah, but wasn't he the mayor that was on crack and himself became the laughing stock of the world?

No that was two mayors later.

I don't know where you keep going on about this deep south! I don't care how deep it is, it still sounds cold!

Below 60 degrees F in the daytime is cause for brrrrr. We have had a couple days where it hasn't got out of the 50s and I have had to actually find my jacket! That is not something we Southern Californians take lightly!

We haven't seen it hit 50 for over 3 months now.

Going back to read the update now.

 

[pkondz]

I woke up in the middle of the night around 1AM

Ugh. You seem to do that a lot. Or is that a cruise thing... or an aberration?

made the mistake of putting on "Muppets Most Wanted" because I ended up watching more of it than sleeping though it.

Try picking something that'll put you to sleep next time.
Like... oh, I don't know. How about Sister Act?

I listened to my voice mails and it was the resort. It seems they were transferring us from SSR to OKW. WHAT????????

Not the message you want to receive.

And I thought everything was solved.

Uh, oh.

I got dressed, packed up the last of my stuff and headed down to turn in my extension cord (get my $50 back)

$50. They really want their cord back.

It turns out that now they give you a USB drive and not a CD. Interesting.

Huh.

You can even catch a glimpse of our "candy bag" in the side of the picture.

You still had some left? I thought you would've handed it all out by now.

Pretty soon we were disembarking. This was so much better than the last experience. As soon as we reached the luggage room a porter asked if we would like assistance. He helped us find our bags, loaded them all on his cart, whisked us through customs, and in no time we were boarding our motorcoach.

Nice.

It was an uneventful ride and soon we were seeing this.

Wow! Only one truck among all those cars. That is interesting!

We were the first drop off at SSR. Score!

Had my fingers crossed here that you still were staying at SSR.

The first thing I checked was the shower and immediately I realized there was a problem. Evidently there was a language barrier problem as the person I spoke to in the morning thought a regular bathtub shower combination was an appropriate solution since there were bars on the wall.

Oh.... crap.

I was put on hold several times and before the last time, the gal told me she was going to triple check something.

What does that even mean? You type in rooms available and the computer should give you the same answer every time.
It makes me wonder what the experience was of the people who hadn't done online check in was.
"But we asked for a room with a walk in shower!"

There's the tub. I assume the shower was a walk in with just a little lip?

Our view.

Nice.

We chatted briefly and then Fran and I were on our way to the BCV via Disney Springs.

Nice fortuitous little meet, there.

This was a good call. Hardly anyone was in there, so a good spot to go without an ADR. Besides, I would have been way off on the timing had I made one. The whole thing with switching rooms really ate up a huge chunk of time.

I'd like to try it. Haven't had the opportunity yet.
It's outside my normal comfort zone.
Which is why I need to try it.

We ordered the appetizer sampler, chicken bastila, beef brewat roll, and Jasmine salad.

Thanks for the photos of the food.
I was really curious to see what it'd look like.

It was a little bland, but once I got some Harissa to spice it up, the dish was delicious. Those who don’t know what Harissa is, it’s a blend of spices mixed with Ketchup (at least that’s how I make it at home). It’s more flavorful than spicy hot, but it does has a small kick to it.

And now I (sorta) know what Harissa is.

During our meal, this duo came out to play traditional music.

Any good? I remember pausing to watch some band outside the pavilion. I hated it.

Then this Belly Dancer came out for a little while.

Oh? Well, maybe I'll stick around for a while...

Maybe since I’ve had such great Moroccan food at home

I'm ashamed to say I've never had any. At home or otherwise.

We left without ordering Baklava for dessert

How could you pass that up!?!? I love baklava.

and egg nog with Kentucky Bourbon

Hello!!

We met up in the American Adventure after listening to the Voices of Liberty. We chatted for a bit, took the obligatory photo and we're each on our way.

Nice you got to meet them. Was Mark fairly quiet? (just a hunch)

We stopped in Germany for Caramel. Not just a piece for now, but for the week and what ended up lasting until about a month ago.

How did you do that???? In my house, a month's worth of Caramel/chocolate wouldn't last a week.

Excuse me a sec.
Gotta go find a towel to wipe the drool off the keyboard after looking at those pics.

And then we went into Mouse Gears. I needed some coffee for the room and I'd had Mickey's Diner coffee before, it's pretty decent.

Huh. I had no idea you could buy coffee... well pretty much anywhere on Disney property.

Fran bought a few other things

Did she also buy some boxes to store them in?

but I was totally hitting the wall. I had been up since 5:20 AM and it was after 5PM, so I hurried her along and out of the park.

Long day. Didn't help being up at 1am for a while either.

We got to our bus stop and she picked up her book to read and within a minute our bus drove into the pick up area. Score!

A good. I see you took my advice and purchased the VIP bus package.

We enjoyed our bottle of Moet Ice from the ship while making dinner.

How was that, compared to a regular champagne?

The washer wasn't working properly. I noticed that after the meatloaf was done, it was still on the wash cycle which was only supposed to be 12 minutes. I slid the knob to rinse and finished serving up dinner.

Solved!
You didn't mention it, did you call maintenance?

Fran went to bed and I took advantage of the Jacuzzi tub before crawling into bed myself.

I get that. A nice tub is soooo relaxing.

 

[disney ny]

That room mess sounds crazy,. I don't understand how they run out of rooms or how they think just switching someone to another resort will not cause issues. Your room looks beautiful! I love the colors and it looks relaxing. I have never stayed there but I really think with Disney Springs coming back to life it will make Saratoga more desirable for people.

 

[dolphingirl47]

It turns out that now they give you a USB drive and not a CD.

That sounds interesting. I saw Royal Caribbean now does their photos on a USB drive as well.

The first thing I checked was the shower and immediately I realized there was a problem. Evidently there was a language barrier problem as the person I spoke to in the morning thought a regular bathtub shower combination was an appropriate solution since there were bars on the wall.

What a shame that there was such an issue with the room assignment. I am glad that it got sorted out in the end.

We also got another separate order of the chicken bastila which was included on the appetizer sampler. This is my favorite Moroccan dish, so I didn’t want to be shorted!

I was surprised that the restaurant was so empty. I love the restaurant and the bastila is one of my favourites.

It looks like you still had a nice day despite the various issues.

Corinna

 

[dhorner233]

Wow! Long day for you! Seeing that entrance to DW is always so exciting! Loved the pictures from Sarasota Springs. I've never been there. Loved the room. I like the Moroccan restaurant but I've had better food elsewhere but the atmosphere and the music is nice.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I can never get tired of the WDW entrance every time I enter the property. The pictures at SSR are very nice especially the room. I rarely have Moroccan food but it was nice to see your pictures of the dishes. Nice first day at WDW during your trip.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ok. I'm so far behind that there was 3 full pages for me to catch up on!!!

Let's see how much I remember.
1. Generous serves at mixology, with amazing flavour combinations.
2. Boo for last night and having to take down the door decorations, pack up and leave.
3. I didn't know that Disney could "just" change your resort reservation from SSR to OKW without longer notification. WOW! Glad you got it sorted out.
4. Your trip to the Mississippi is going to be one that I'll be hanging by the seat here to read. I've always wanted to do a cruise down that river (and sing Ole' Man River, whilst doing so). Everything looks amazing.
5. Bobbi was there at the same time??? How awesome to catch up with her at the same time.
6. And yay for catching up with Captain Oblivious as well.
7. Marrakesh looks great. We always stop by Tangierine; but have never made it to Marrakesh. I think I might need to put that on the list for if I ever get back to WDW.
8. YUM to the meatloaf.


(How did I do??? )

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Well good news for you folks who might be falling behind.

My ears are burning...

Today would have been the first morning that I would have awakened in the Grand Californian for our annual, “let’s go out there to use up points” trip, but I canceled that when we were not yet out of the old apartment.

Dang. Hope things work out for all of the trips you have planned!

But speaking of the Mississippi River trip, it’s now 45 days away, and things are really coming into place. ADRs have been made!

Woohoo!

That looks really cool.

After a phone call to the company, they told me that not only could Fran bring her scooter, but that the bus drives right up to the boat for loading.

Even better. Things are coming up roses! But bring mosquito repellent.

It seems they were transferring us from SSR to OKW. WHAT????????

Now is the time to PANIC!!!!

We were out of the room by 7:40AM. WOW!

Will wonders never cease?!

It was an uneventful ride and soon we were seeing this.

Does that ever get old?

We were the first drop off at SSR. Score!

Even better. I hate being the last one on the bus.

Lo and behold they had a room where someone had not done online check in, and it just happened to be on the same floor of the same building. In a resort this big, what are the odds?

Well, we can either say it was an amazing coincidence and they hedged on the available rooms a bit, or it was good customer service. Maybe a bit of both.

Our view.

Nice!

While we waited for our meal, I took some shots of the restaurant. This was a good call.

Wow, that really was empty. You're on a roll of good luck here!

Those who don’t know what Harissa is, it’s a blend of spices mixed with Ketchup (at least that’s how I make it at home). It’s more flavorful than spicy hot, but it does has a small kick to it.

Thanks! I thought Harissa was the name of the belly dancer.

All the while, Mark (@Captiain_Oblivious), Julie and I had been texting each other.

I'm sure you were riveted by our updates of our progress along the WS.

We met up in the American Adventure after listening to the Voices of Liberty. We chatted for a bit, took the obligatory photo and we're each on our way.

"Chatted for a bit"? You mean, you weren't amazed by my rapier wit? Thunderstruck by being in the presence of DIS celebrity? Thrilled to see Julie in spite of me?

Just messin' with ya. It was great to meet up again, and to finally meet Fran! And your pictures turned out really well! Good to have a competent photographer doing our shots.

For those concerned about falling behind, the next day needs to be finished by Feb 15 and I'm planning on posting it in two installments if that helps any! TTFN!

So I should be ready to comment again by Feb. 24!

Nice you got to meet them. Was Mark fairly quiet? (just a hunch)

I'm not sure why we kept texting when we were standing right there.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Fran and I did catch a bite from the American kiosk. Some peppermint bark. A gingerbread cookie and egg nog with Kentucky Bourbon. Hence why we didn't get any Baklava in Morocco.

I look at that menu and I think I'd be inclined to order one of everything.
I can never justify the cost of going across the country to WDW when I can drive to DL, but the holidays there do look like a lot of fun. I don't know how I would narrow down any choices, though.

Quick question - answer first thing that comes to mind, no thinking allowed - If the Wonder the Dream were sitting side by side and going on identical cruises, which one would you pick and why?

 

[franandaj]

Last breakfast on the ship ....... so not fun at all!
Seeing that WDW sign .......

I think whenever I get off a cruise at PC, it must be followed up with at least a few days at WDW!

I was in awe that your room was ready when you arrived ...... I should have guessed there was a hickup and how lucky that you were able to get it sorted after all.

It was very frustrating and made me wonder if I should even try booking accessible rooms as I know that the regular rooms at SSR, VWL, BCV, BWV all have better showers than that room they had originally assigned us. It's just that having bars on the wall really is helpful for the toilet. At least it worked out, but it sure took a long time.

It looks like you enjoyed your lunch at Marrakesh - we have only eaten there once and it was the worst meal ever. It rained into my glass from the ceiling, the food was cold and the bread stale. We swore "never again", but your food looks really nice. Hm, maybe .........

I always believe in giving a place at least two shots. The first time they could have had an off day, but if it happens twice, I'm likely not to go back.

And you were cooking dinner!!!! We have stayed so often in a 1br but never cooked more than a frozen pizza. Maybe we should pick up some steaks or something in the summer.
Thanks for sharing.

I always cook at least one meal in the room. Usually a travel day as Fran often needs the rest, so she sleeps while I cook. One trip I packed a frozen 5 pound prime rib in my suitcase. It thawed while we were at UA/IOA (we had a fridge in the room) so our first night at Disney I made prime rib, baked potaoes, and green beans. For the rest of the trip every other night I used that meat to make dinner. Beef stroganoff, open faced hot roast beef sandwiches, and finally BBQ style ribs with baked beans and creamed corn. I still get stopped in the parks by people who say, "Aren't you the one who packed a big piece of meat in your suitcase?"

I am so sorry for not commenting more, but next Friday is half term and there were a gazillion tests and exams and I rarely had time for the DIS.

No problem! I need to get over to your thread and comment!

Did I miss the game? I see an update just below...

I ended up with some extra time due to an unplanned nap on someone else's part.

Cool! This something I think I should look into.

If you ever have a schedule that allows somewhat last minute travel, they seem to offer 2 for 1 specials as the voyages get closer. Otherwise it's fairly pricey.

No that was two mayors later.

Ahhhh, Canadian politics are not usually covered in our news, only when it's really a spectacle.

We haven't seen it hit 50 for over 3 months now.

Yikes! It's almost 90 here today!

Ugh. You seem to do that a lot. Or is that a cruise thing... or an aberration?

I've really never had much of a problem sleeping through the night. At home I knock myself out daily by doing either physical work or just somehow burning the candle at both ends. I think on these last two trips I psyched myself up so much (due to all the cancelations earlier in the year) that I was literally "too excited to sleep." That changes later.

Try picking something that'll put you to sleep next time.
Like... oh, I don't know. How about Sister Act?

Good choice.

Not the message you want to receive.

No, transportation issues from OKW would have been a nightmare.

$50. They really want their cord back.

I figured that out on the Mexican Cruise. It's not that the cord itself is worth anywhere that, they are trying to make a point to make you bring it back.

You still had some left? I thought you would've handed it all out by now.

We actually ended up bringing some home. We gave a few pieces out to the bellman at SSR, but it's not the same with CMs at the resort as it is with the ship. They go home every night and can pick up whatever items they want, the CMs on the ship are very restricted due to space and ships rules.

Wow! Only one truck among all those cars. That is interesting!

I find it interesting that is what you noticed about this photo, but there is another truck about three cars up in the same lane as the bus.

Had my fingers crossed here that you still were staying at SSR.

I did consider taking them up on the offer as the tubs there are really cool and the rooms are HUGE! But it would have been a real PITA as you will see by how much we utilize the Disney Springs convenience.

Oh.... crap.

Yeah, crap.

What does that even mean? You type in rooms available and the computer should give you the same answer every time.
It makes me wonder what the experience was of the people who hadn't done online check in was.
"But we asked for a room with a walk in shower!"

Well she said something to the effect of, "Can you hold on while I change your room category?" I don't know if that meant she was changing us from a HA room to a regular one.

There's the tub. I assume the shower was a walk in with just a little lip?

This is a picture of the shower from our stay at the VWL a couple years back. The showers are exactly the same just different colored tiles in the accents. I'm not sure why after all that going on about the shower, that I didn't take a picture of it. I suppose that's when the bellman showed up with the Owner's Locker.

Nice fortuitous little meet, there.

It was pretty random.

I'd like to try it. Haven't had the opportunity yet.
It's outside my normal comfort zone.
Which is why I need to try it.

You definitely need to try it. My first time was in the early 90s and my friend's mother took us all to a place, interestingly enough called Marrakesh. They had the whole deal, sit on the floor, eat with your hands, bellydancer came to your table. We were served 4-5 courses, after that I was hooked.

Thanks for the photos of the food.
I was really curious to see what it'd look like.

It's not at all weird, I don't know why so many people are afraid of it.

And now I (sorta) know what Harissa is.

OK, to completely describe how to make Harissa, I need to include the entire recipe. You will understand when you read it as you are a cook yourself. This is something that I came up with by combining various recipes that I read online. It is based on a dish I had in France where there are many Moroccans who have emigrated there and set up restaurants. Their restaurant names can be loosely translated to "cous cous house". I make this for two of us, but the ingredients can be easily modified for larger groups as I have not really indicated much in the way of quantities. Kind of like when elders pass on recipes.

Alison’s Cous cous recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
Chicken Thighs
1 medium cut onion (large pieces)
1-2 cloves garlic chopped
Carrot & zucchini cut in large pieces
1 can chicken broth
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
Parsley
Green pepper, chopped
Celery chopped
Small can garbanzo beans (if desired)
Merguez sausages (optional)
1/3 cup cous cous (per person approximately)
Harissa (recipe below)

Heat olive oil in a 5-6 quart pan over medium high. Salt Chicken and brown on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside. Add onions and garlic to pot, reduce heat to medium and cook stirring until soft. Return chicken to pan and add carrots and zucchini, black pepper, broth, cloves, bay leaves and parsley. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat and simmer until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.

If you’re having Merguez, begin cooking them. Cook for 10-15 minutes in a water bath, then grill in a pan or on a grill for about 5 minutes to brown.

Cook the cous cous according to package directions.

Add celery, green pepper and garbanzos to the chicken pot and simmer 5 more minutes. Just before serving time, pour the broth from the chicken pan into a teapot or gravy bowl. Skim and discard fat.

Mound cous cous in the center of a large platter. Arrange meats and vegetables around the sides of the mound. Serve a portion of Cous cous with meat and vegetables, add the broth to taste, and sprinkle with Harissa.

Harissa: In a bowl stir together 2 tbl ketchup and 1 tbl olive oil. Stir in ½ tsp each ground red pepper (cayenne), ground cumin, white pepper. Then add ¼ tsp each ground nutmet and ground cloves. When cooking broth is poured off from meat mixture, add ½ cup of the broth to the harissa paste.

Any good? I remember pausing to watch some band outside the pavilion. I hated it.

It wasn't something that I would choose to listen to in my car, but it fit the restaurant.

Oh? Well, maybe I'll stick around for a while...

I figured that the male audience on the TR would appreciate that part!

I'm ashamed to say I've never had any. At home or otherwise.

I think you should try it, I have a feeling you might like it.

How could you pass that up!?!? I love baklava.

I see you figured it out!

Hello!!

Nice you got to meet them. Was Mark fairly quiet? (just a hunch)

I had spent a day at Disneyland with them a couple years ago, he was just as snarky in person as he is on the DIS.

How did you do that???? In my house, a month's worth of Caramel/chocolate wouldn't last a week.

Well, I didn't put it in the report, because I don't remember which night it was, but let's say something happened a couple days from this day where she said, "Fine, they're ALL yours, I'm not going to eat ANY!" I think we had about 20+ pieces of caramel, I ended up taking home over a dozen pieces, and I would only eat about a half of a piece a day. Sometimes, I skipped the candy. Eventually Fran found my hiding place and they started to disappear much more quickly.

Excuse me a sec.
Gotta go find a towel to wipe the drool off the keyboard after looking at those pics.

Huh. I had no idea you could buy coffee... well pretty much anywhere on Disney property.

I'm glad you could, I meant to pack it in my suitcase and completely forgot. Since I didn't order it from the grocery delivery service. I had bought some at MK several years ago, so I knew that it was pretty decent.

Did she also buy some boxes to store them in?

They were plush toys, so they fit easily in the suitcase. In fact they are still in one of the suitcases sitting open in our guest room.

Long day. Didn't help being up at 1am for a while either.

No, it didn't.

A good. I see you took my advice and purchased the VIP bus package.

No, we didn't. Trust me you will see.

How was that, compared to a regular champagne?

It was lighter, and it was designed to be served over ice. It also wasn't quite as bubbly as regular champagne.

Solved!
You didn't mention it, did you call maintenance?

Oh, you have not heard the last of our laundry saga.

I get that. A nice tub is soooo relaxing.

I have a lovely tub at home that I can not use because we have no water to spare. I'm going to milk Florida's water situation for all that I can.

 

[afwdwfan]

That river cruise really looks like so much fun! I think that will be a really cool experience.

I listened to my voice mails and it was the resort. It seems they were transferring us from SSR to OKW. WHAT????????

If they can't give you your room, you'd at least like to have some kind of an upgrade. Like maybe a Poly bungalow or something.

Pretty soon we were disembarking. This was so much better than the last experience. As soon as we reached the luggage room a porter asked if we would like assistance. He helped us find our bags, loaded them all on his cart, whisked us through customs, and in no time we were boarding our motorcoach.

Breakfast looks like it was great. I'm glad the disembarking process was smooth.

The first thing I checked was the shower and immediately I realized there was a problem. Evidently there was a language barrier problem as the person I spoke to in the morning thought a regular bathtub shower combination was an appropriate solution since there were bars on the wall. Because I know that even a non handicapped room has a more appropriate shower than this, I picked up the phone immediately and called the front desk. They told me that EVERYTHING was full and there were no other rooms available. I was put on hold several times and before the last time, the gal told me she was going to triple check something.

Lo and behold they had a room where someone had not done online check in, and it just happened to be on the same floor of the same building. In a resort this big, what are the odds? Something tells me the entire resort was not completely sold out and they had a tiny bit of wiggle room in there. The bellman had already left, but I said that I could move our luggage myself without a problem. They also told me that my Magic Band would not work on the old room anymore, and that it would take a while for my Magic Band to sync up with the new room, so they would send a runner with an actual key to open the door.

Oh boy... this sounds like a pain, but I'm glad that they managed to meet your needs and got you a room in SSR that would work.

Then this Belly Dancer came out for a little while.

And now I'm sold on it.

All in all, we really enjoyed our meal at Marrakesh. I don’t know why it took me so long to dine here. Maybe since I’ve had such great Moroccan food at home, I didn’t feel the need to try it at WDW. And as you saw there was no problem eating there as a walk up, the place was practically empty when we ate there.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal. Always nice to find a place that can make a nice meal that you don't need an ADR for!

My dinner.

Looks delicious. That would be the nice thing about DVC... getting to make a nice homemade meal every once in a while.

 

[traceyg]

To quote one of my favorite movies "You're killing me Smalls!" .......
Our last family trip was June 2014. I spent a four day weekend in December with my best friend to get a "fix". We won't be back until June for another family trip. Due to some crazy family dynamics (I won't go into the sordid details) we won't cruise again until I am not obligated to pay for everyone to go with us. So alas, I must live vicariously though your pictures and experiences. June cannot get here soon enough and I'm going to have to wait for about a year before I can take my first Disney Cruise. Looking at your amazing food and trip details makes me so envious.
I have lurked long enough and wanted to tell you that I absolutely enjoy your reports! We have 5 kids so the thought of having an alone trip is so outside the realm of any possibility. I really enjoy seeing what carefree looks like! lol

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Just joining your adventure and really enjoying your report