Tiki-tastic Graduation Celebration - May 2016 TR - Updated 2/9 - D-Luxe Burger and Ample Hills

[disneydaydreamer33]

I'm really enjoying your TR so far! Hopefully I can remember all of my comments! Congratulations on your graduation and acceptance into grad school! About a year and a half ago we moved from VA (we were like 50 miles west of DC, so a bit out there, but close enough to do fun things in the city on occasion). We love the DC area so much!

We have only gone to WDW in February, but May is next on my list of when to visit! It looks like you guys are doing the Poly right with club level!

I really love Monsters Inc too! That show in tomorrowland is honestly one of my favorite attractions.

I love how many characters you guys are meeting! I would love to meet Merida sometime, but I've been intimidating by the line.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[kadrachb]

UGH! I don't even think I have checked in yet! SO I AM HERE! And all caught up!

I am so behind on all the TRs I started reading I don't even know where to begin! Haha.

So nice! I don't know the area well, but i know Bethesda a little bit, my company owns some office buildings in that area... any update?

Actually, Kenny and I decided to not move in together so we gave up the apartment. He got a job offer, but the noncompete clause was too much and he decided to not take it. I really had to find a place to live before I started working in lancaster because I knew I'd be too busy, so I'm now moving in with another girl who is also starting graduate school in August in the Van Ness area!

I also LOVE this attraction, so funny, i crack up every time!

I don't think I could go to tomorrowland and skip it!

It looks like its night time in the picture to me... no idea way!

I think its because the bushes in the back are so dark. After you said that I looked at it and it definitely does look like a nighttime picture!

We love the DC area so much!

I do too! This weekend I actually took two girls I work with down because one is from Scotland and the other is from California, and neither had been to DC before!

We have only gone to WDW in February, but May is next on my list of when to visit! It looks like you guys are doing the Poly right with club level!

May is great! I visited in February when I was little with my parents for my birthday, but Kenny and I have only ever gone in May. I'd also like to visit in October and December!

I love how many characters you guys are meeting! I would love to meet Merida sometime, but I've been intimidating by the line.

We always go straight to Merida at rope drop. I know we're missing out on rides, but I'd rather wait in line for a ride later in the day than a character. Plus the meet and greet interaction is always so good with her that I wouldn't want to miss her because of a long line. And meeting characters is one of our favorite things to do! I don't see how I could go to WDW and not meet some characters!

 

[Saphire5742]

Good idea to go straight to Joy and Sadness right at rope drop. Unfortunately I didn't make it there in time and waited an hour. Then again it was before I was planning on leaving the park so there was nothing else for me to do afterwards.

Love your WS pics! Really cool one with Sven.

 

[kadrachb]

All You Can Eat German Feast! Lunch at Biergarten and Epcot Evening – Day 2 Part 2
​

While we still had some time before our lunch, we wandered through Germany and Italy before returning back for our ADR.

We were seated fairly quickly. Sitting across from us was a CM who was also a flight attendant and her boyfriend, next to us was a man and his wife (who wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t eat anything), and then across from us a mom and her son. He actually was still in college – majoring in Biology education! I talked to him a lot at the end of our meal.

I sadly, did not get a lot of food pictures during lunch. But – I did order the white wine flight! It was very good. I had the names of the wines written down in my old phone – but since then I’ve traded it in to get a new one, so I lost it…. Ooops.

I know from right to left It was dry, semi-sweet, and sweet. And the two sweets were Rieslings.

We also caught a whole performance and a beginning of another…

All around, a good meal! However, I’m not sure we’ll do it the next time we go back. Maybe again sometime, but I think I enjoyed the food more than Kenny did.

After lunch we headed back to the poly for a nap! AND IT STARTED TO POUR! And I mean, the water was so much I’m pretty sure walking to the monorail from Spaceship Earth my feed we’re ½ under water. Thankfully, we got back to the resort and we able to dry off and sleep a little bit! I’m pretty sure we missed appetizers and snacks this day since I don’t have any pictures of them.


Once we got up, we headed back to Epcot! Our first stop off the monorail was club cool. I ended up getting my dad a coke glass (he’s overly hard to shop for – but he LOVES coke glasses!). And we tried all the sodas!

After this we headed to Mouse Gear to look at some clothes, but we didn’t buy anything. There was a rain jacket I was eyeing up, and I tried on a few sizes. But my normal size felt a pinch too tight, and the size larger felt too big around my shoulders. So by the end of the vacation I ended up skipping it and getting a different sweatshirt instead.

We were still pretty full from lunch (it was around 7pm) so we decided to just share a couple different foods from the F&G kiosks. First came dessert (because that’s 100% acceptable on vacation)!

It was the Rose flan from Mexico! And it may have been the best dessert the whole trip, next to the one we shared at California Grill later in the week.

We then headed over to the other side of the World Showcase – to UK! We got the cheddar biscuit with salmon tartar and the lemon scone.

Personally I thought the biscuit was too salty, and I only took a few bites. Kenny liked it a little more than I did and finished it.

This lemon scone though was delicious! I think the red sauce was raspberry and the combination was to die for! I almost went back and ordered one just for myself.

Since the biscuit left such a bad taste in my mouth… we decided to head over to Pineapple Promenade to get some Pineapple wine and cider!

I enjoyed the wine more than the cider. I sadly don’t have any pictures though! I know it wasn’t the same cider as last year. This year the cider was Ocean Tropical Pineapple Hard Cider, last year it was Ace. But we took our drinks into the FP+ viewing area for Illuminations and sat around and waited.

And I have to say that I’ll never FP Illuminations again. We just ran out of 1st tier FP to use since Soarin’ was down. So we cut out of Illuminations slightly early. The past two years we always caught the end of it anyways! It was nice to fully see it though. And we even got back in time to watch Wishes! WITH DESSERT! And this is now our 3rd time seeing Wishes this vacation….




Up next: Hollywood Studios!

 

[jarofpickles]

Pineapple wine sounds delightful!

 

[kadrachb]

Pineapple wine sounds delightful!

It is! I think it's the same place which makes the Key Lime wine they were selling at a different kiosks. And that stuff is delicious!

 

[NJlauren]

Any day where you can sample items around WS is a good day in my book!

I haven't tried berigarden yet, but sometime I will. It just seems like the food would be so heavy I wouldn't want it for lunch and it never seems to work out for dinner.....

 

[chunkymonkey]

Your wine flight at Biergarten sounds really good! I really enjoy Rieslings, especially if they are form Germany or Austria!
That's great you had some good company there too. Sometimes it's hit or miss for us. The good is ok to pretty good. I wouldn't mind returning but it's not someplace that screams out to me when I go book ADRs.

That scone sounds so good! I really wanted to try it too but I was so full from the cheddar biscuit before. I did like the cheddar biscuit but I also do like salty things.

Great update!

 

[Saphire5742]

First came dessert (because that’s 100% acceptable on vacation)!

Accepatable year round!

Looks like you had some great F&G picks

 

[Neverland_Girl]

Congratulations on your graduation. I have three more years left to get my masters. The poly is next on my wish list. Did you love being so close to MK? That lemon scone was so good I had two. I would have gotten one more if I didn't need to save room for my traditional creme brule.

 

[Sbk1234]

Great trip report. I look forward to reading more. Looks like you had a fantastic time.

 

[kadrachb]

Accepatable year round!

Good to know! Dessert is one of my favorite things (its also my downfall in dieting...)

Congratulations on your graduation. I have three more years left to get my masters. The poly is next on my wish list. Did you love being so close to MK? That lemon scone was so good I had two. I would have gotten one more if I didn't need to save room for my traditional creme brule.

I'm just starting my masters this August! I absolutely *loved* being that close to MK. The view from the club level lounge is what made me love the Poly, because I wasn't in love with it before visiting. But that first night watching Wishes from the lounge did it for me. We much prefered the boat to the monorail I think for transportation to MK. We've also stayed at the Contemporary but we had a bay-lake view. Walking was also really nice, but I think I almost prefer being just slightly farther away.

Great trip report. I look forward to reading more. Looks like you had a fantastic time.

Thank you! We had an absolutely lovely time. I'm really falling behind updating the TR though!

 

[kadrachb]

I haven't tried berigarden yet, but sometime I will. It just seems like the food would be so heavy I wouldn't want it for lunch and it never seems to work out for dinner.....

The food is really heavy, that's why I'm so glad we took a break and went back to the resort (also because it was pouring).

Your wine flight at Biergarten sounds really good! I really enjoy Rieslings, especially if they are form Germany or Austria!
That's great you had some good company there too. Sometimes it's hit or miss for us. The good is ok to pretty good. I wouldn't mind returning but it's not someplace that screams out to me when I go book ADRs.

That scone sounds so good! I really wanted to try it too but I was so full from the cheddar biscuit before. I did like the cheddar biscuit but I also do like salty things.

Great update!

Yeah I'm not really sure if we'll go back next time we're there. I think there's so many other really good places to try that while this was fun, it wasn't the absolute best.

 

[BippityBrittany]

just caught up on your TR! love it so far can't wait to read more!

 

[kadrachb]

Feelin’ A Little Frozen – Day 3 Part 1​

Today was our Hollywood Studios day! But first in the morning we decided to have a semi-later breakfast at the club level (around 8am) and then swim for a bit!

This was our first longer stay at the Oasis pool, and we absolutely loved it! Not many families were around at 9am, but the people who were there we saw most of the week that early.

Around 10ish we headed back to our room and got ready for an early lunch. We weren’t really planning on eating too much before dinner after this, so even though we weren’t that hungry we decided to head to Captain Cooks anyways.

This was our first meal there – and its delicious!

I got the fish tacos, it was cod (I think, some white fish), a slaw, and a slightly spicy mayo. I have to say I still think about these fish tacos.

Kenny got a chicken sandwich which had bacon and pineapple on it (it had some name and I’m too lazy to go look for it}, but it was also, very good. REALLY big though, we could have easily shared it.

And then it was off to catch a bus to HS for the rest of the day! It was about 11:30 when we got on the bus. This was probably the only bus which we didn’t have to wait forever for the whole vacation (later in the day, we really wished we’d had Kenny’s car with us)


Once getting into the park, we started to head straight for Star Tours as our FP time had just started, but we saw no line for Olaf’s meet and greet – so we detoured! And I am so glad we did so! One of Kenny’s favorite characters is Olaf.

After getting some warm hugs and chillin’ in the sun with Olaf we got to Star Tours. We actually finished things much faster than I had anticipated so we decided to go check out Launch Bay. Our first stop was seeing Kylo Ren, his wait showed 25 minutes that was pretty accurate. He’s kind of intimidating!

There was about 30 minutes until the next showing of Beauty and The Beast that I really wanted to see – which was great because it started to pour as we walked to the theatre! Thankfully Kenny still had our ponchos, so we made it without being soaking wet and road out the storm watching it.

Our next FP had started during the show so that was our next stop – RnR! We hadn’t ridden it before, so I was slightly nervous. While I did enjoy it, I have to remember to take my earrings out next time! The backs kept jabbing me in the neck and it hurt like heck!

I’d also like to direct you all to go back and look at Kenny’s face – this is even better than his face the first time we road Everest! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anyways, we then got some PP photos… Since Kenny had on his Olaf shirt, we got one with Olaf.

And then just a regular one…

And then… it was off to the thing I am so glad I did this summer! ToT! I almost chickened out before going on, but thankfully Kenny pushed me just enough to do it! And it was so much fun!

I’ll leave everyone here for now! But coming up next is our dinner at Hollywood and Vine and our night at HS!



I'm also completely moving into my apartment this week in DC! I'm not sure if I updated it or not, but due to a job offer complications, Kenny and I decided to not move in together. So I am moving in with another girl who is also going to start at AU this fall!

 

[Saphire5742]

I’d also like to direct you all to go back and look at Kenny’s face – this is even better than his face the first time we road Everest! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Don't think I've ever seen that face on a coaster before. Priceless!

And then… it was off to the thing I am so glad I did this summer! ToT! I almost chickened out before going on, but thankfully Kenny pushed me just enough to do it! And it was so much fun!

I LOVE ToT. Glad you got over your fear and enjoyed it.

Cute character photos by the way.

 

[NJlauren]

Looks like a nice relaxing start to the morning!

An Olaf day all around!

Tot is fun! Happy you have it a try! Seems like your going to have bus issues later on

 

[kadrachb]

Don't think I've ever seen that face on a coaster before. Priceless!

I know. When we looked at it later I just started laughing so hard I cried!

I LOVE ToT. Glad you got over your fear and enjoyed it.

Cute character photos by the way.

I think part of my fear is my dad teased me about it when I was little and my parents took me to WDW. And even though he meant no harm, I think it always stuck with me that it was the scariest ride!

Looks like a nice relaxing start to the morning!

An Olaf day all around!

Tot is fun! Happy you have it a try! Seems like your going to have bus issues later on

We'll be planning a lot more pool mornings in the future I think, it definitely gave the "go go go" version of Disney a much more relaxing side!

 

[kadrachb]

It’s been so long guys! I’ve settled into my new apartment and really liking DC!
Anyways, here we go…

Squeezing In A Little More Spring! – Day 3 Part 2​

Once getting off ToT we had a little bit before dinner, so we decided to get some photos in front of the park…

​

We were in a rush to get to the other side of the park in the morning we totally forgot to do this! Even though we were 15 minutes early, we still checked in for our dinner at 4:00pm (super early for dinner, but I’d definitely eat an early dinner again).

Soon after we were whisked inside to see Daisy! I think it’s a little odd that its Minnie’s Seasonal Dine but you meet Daisy in the front, but whatever! I love these outfits!

We were then seated, and since the restaurant was pretty much empty, Donald came around fairly quickly…

​

I think we saw him at least one more time throughout dinner... Actually, this was the case with all the characters (next to Daisy).

We went up and got food, and their fruit salad was so good. I didn’t care for the mussels. And I don’t have a photo of Kenny’s app plate, but there wasn’t any seafood on it.

Next up was Minnie – And oh my god these outfits are killing me – too adorable!

We then saw Goofy… The character interaction with him was great every time he came around. Kenny also wanted his hat. But to be fair, I'd want Minnie's dress.

It was very much a rapid fire of all the characters are once since we ate so early.
Then time for more food!

The mac and cheese was absolutely delicious, I think it had lobster in it. So were the mashed potatoes and meatballs. The corn was just regular corn. And they are PRETZEL ROLLS! I absolutely love them, so any place that has them as a bread of choice is a-okay with me!

To drink, Kenny got something with alcohol in it (I completely forget what it is) and in the back you can see my glass of sangria! I also got the pomegranate lemonade.

And last, but not least, was Mickey! And dessert!

I love those display cakes.

The desserts were delicious, the cupcake off to the side was strawberry which, since I loved strawberries, I love this cupcake. The blondies were pretty good too. But I don't think I've necessarily had a bad dessert while in disney.

Overall, it was a really great meal. From all the bad reviews it got, I don’t really see why. Was it the best buffet we’ve ever been to? No, that’s definitely reserved for 1900 PF and Tusker House. But not the worst, not even close. The character interaction was good too. But, it was very expensive, and came out to be our 2nd most expensive meal after our signature at California Grill – and there were only two of us. Plus two drinks. I think I would do this dinner again if I were there during another season.



In my next update we may be meeting a certain wookie...

 

[Saphire5742]

I think it’s a little odd that its Minnie’s Seasonal Dine but you meet Daisy in the front, but whatever!

It is a little strange. And from the pictures I've seen, it's Santa Goofy greeting during the christmas dine

Next up was Minnie – And oh my god these outfits are killing me – too adorable!

I know, right?!

But to be fair, I'd want Minnie's dress.

You and me both. Also Daisy's dress and headpiece

Overall, it was a really great meal.

Glad you had a great experience and meal there. Unfortunately other factors prevented me from fully enjoying my meal there, but I did love the characters in their spring outfits