Worst Ending to a Disney Trip EVER! (and other things that happened) - UPDATE 6/22!

[DexLabDeeDee]

I had no idea the crane had a twitter handle. Seems like it hasn't been tweeting this fall though.


Something else I learned today. I had no idea of the symbolism behind CHH. I have to confess I have never been here. DW and DD's don't like seafood and they just assume they won't like it because of the nautical theme. I need to remind them there is chicken too.

I did notice that it wasn't tweeting this fall. Bummer.

You can just walk through if you don't feel like eating there. It is very heavily themed. I love it. It reminds me of Blackbeard's Ghost, if you've ever seen that. Classic Disney.

I hate seafood too! Blech. They have the chicken strips, a chicken salad, a chicken pot pie, and a vegetarian sandwich. Lots of non-seafood choices!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

The Sea Tavern Love it! We also love sitting upstairs.
It has to be so hard traveling (and living) with an allergy. I feel bad for your mom although I get the martyr thing, my MIL likes to do that sometimes. Maybe it's a mom thing, although I don't do it. Hmm, don't think I do it My kids may say otherwise lol!

Momento Mori has so much cool stuff in it!! So much cool, expensive stuff!! Honestly though, I was psyched when it opened, HM deserves its own gift shop

Traveling with an allergy can really get you down sometimes. And it is so easy to fall into the martyr trap. You feel sorry for yourself so then you want a sympathy from others. I have to remind myself to be honest about my feelings.

Haha. I wonder what your kids would say. Isn't that the purpose of moms? The guilt trip? My mom is normally very good about not giving us a guilt trip. It's just that every once in awhile she does the martyr thing.

 

[VACamm]

It always seems like it takes forever to dock. Normally, I love the boat ride but I was rarin’ to go! We were one of the first people to get off just to be stopped dead by bag check. Of course. And, as usual, it was SLOW.

Bag Check =

(And the crane is back! Have you seen the crane's twitter feed? @WDW_Crane Hilarious.)

Ok so, I haven't gotten this far in my TR yet, but we actually took a MK Crane photo shoot with a Photo Pass photoghrapher behind the castle this September LOL She said that she gets asked so many times every day by guests to 'make sure the crane is in the photos!!"

Mom and I were getting hungry and we thought we would wait but then we thought that was crazy to wait when we were hungry. It was only going to get worse. I would only get hangry later.

Being HANGRY in WDW is never fun.....

So Dad suggested we go to the Sea Tavern.

Sea Taven. This will be my new name for CHH.

The Hall of the Presidents was like it always is – presidential. Dad fell asleep and started to snore.

Its our top MK place for a break, to cool off, a nap, to be in air conditioning, and to close my eyes briefly.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

we're going to get hopelessly lost when we go.

So lost. We need to build that into the schedule. From 9:00-9:30pm - hunt for car.

I hate how you can't see the mansion because of the construction.

They must have put more stuff up because you could still see the mansion outside the line when I was there.

I think I read somewhere that Barack Obama's was the first time they've used a new sculptor since the one that did it before got too old and trained the new one, and that recording the voice is one of the first things a new president does.

I want to be president just so I can be in the Hall of Presidents at Disney World. Everyone! Write-in Jenna in November!

I've also heard that they get to choose who narrates. Hmmm...I'd have to think who I would want. Chris Pratt?? Amy Adams?? Phil Dunphy??

 

[Raeven]

So lost. We need to build that into the schedule. From 9:00-9:30pm - hunt for car.

I want to be president just so I can be in the Hall of Presidents at Disney World. Everyone! Write-in Jenna in November!

I've also heard that they get to choose who narrates. Hmmm...I'd have to think who I would want. Chris Pratt?? Amy Adams?? Phil Dunphy??

Hm Phil Dunphy might be a good one.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Ok so, I haven't gotten this far in my TR yet, but we actually took a MK Crane photo shoot with a Photo Pass photoghrapher behind the castle this September LOL She said that she gets asked so many times every day by guests to 'make sure the crane is in the photos!!"

Haha. I can't wait to see your PP of the crane! That didn't even occur to me to make sure the crane was in the shot. Fun!

Sea Taven. This will be my new name for CHH.

Dad doesn't even know what he's started! Haha.

Being HANGRY in WDW is never fun.....

Yeah. It's not pretty. Sometimes I don't even know that I am being hangry. If I look upset, shove a Mickey bar in my mouth.

 

[KathyM2]

Funny about the forgetting where you parked...I have done that too many times to count. And you always say to yourself, next time, I will remember...but...no. I love the food at CHH...so yummy!! But yeah...a lot!! Too bad about your Buzz score lol

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Funny about the forgetting where you parked...I have done that too many times to count. And you always say to yourself, next time, I will remember...but...no. I love the food at CHH...so yummy!! But yeah...a lot!! Too bad about your Buzz score lol

The funny part, too, is that I remember when tehy're directing us into the space. But in the commotion of grabbing our stuff and getting out of the car. I forget again.

Yeah, my loss was pretty unexpected....

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Day 4 Part 2 – Is that me??


After the Hall of Presidents, we went to Pirates. We didn’t have a FP so we did standby. And my mom and I played Heads Up in line using the WDW deck that unlocks when you’re in WDW. It was a lot of fun. A lot of people watched us too. Dad even participated. It was a great way to pass the time and super funny to watch the videos after.

Sadly, my mom needs to go to Disney school. There are some characters she does not know…

Pirates was great as usual.




For some reason, I love the trek up the moving walkway. I don’t love it in SM but I love it in Pirates. Maybe because of the light sconces? Because I’m weird??

We shopped at the gift shop for awhile and I found a hoodie that I HAD to get. It’s kind of fun but also kind of creepy but I really like it. Mom and I thought it was a good buy because we hadn’t really seen it anywhere else (spoiler – we saw it lots of other places later.) I bought it with another one of my gift cards. Instead of sending it to the front or to the Swan, we just put it in Mom’s backpack. (Can you even send stuff to the Swan from the parks? I don’t even know.)

(I couldn't find my pic of the hoodie but here it is

PP FP+ was up after this. It’s my mom’s favorite. I was glad not to have to spend all that time in stand-by but I was bummed that I didn’t get to see the new queue stuff. It was on my list but we never made it over at rope drop, which is when I would want to go through.

It was starting to get quite hot so a cool snack was in order. You’re thinking a Dole Whip, right?

Nope.

I’m with Orange Bird – I need a citrus swirl!

Yuuummm.

This is the first time that I had experienced the switch between Aloha Isle and Sunshinetree Terrace. It makes more sense now that I’ve seen it but I thought that they just switched the treats not the entire location. I’m kind of sad about it because I really liked the look of Sunshinetree Terrace where it was but as long as I can still get a citrus swirl, I’m good. I understand why they switched – even in the off-season the lines were terrible for a Dole Whip. Though the line was still long for a citrus swirl. I’ve actually never had to wait in line for a citrus swirl.

A lot of people were still confused though which made the line longer. The guy in front of us heard someone say, “No Dole Whips in this line”. He turned to us and asked us and we said no Dole Whips. He mouthed the F-word hard. As in he would have been screaming it had he said it out loud.

We quickly told him that it was just down the way a little further but he shook his head and then left the line going in towards the hub. I hope he eventually got his Dole Whip. Apparently, he needed it really badly!

Our next FP+ was for Splash. Dad didn’t want to go so we left our stuff with him and Mom and I just went. We felt pretty smug passing all those people in Standby. I know it’s not nice. I feel it anyway after all that planning I did ahead of time. I also used the opportunity to point out to Mom how important it is to pick your FP+s wisely. Thank you to MesaBoy’s FP+ attraction list!




This is one of my favorite tracks on my 4 Parks, 1 World CD. There’s just something so fun and joyful about it. As we got to the hill to go up to the last drop the ride stopped and the lights came on. Oh please don’t evacuate us just as we’re about to go down the hill! We stayed there for what felt like a long time. We did eventually get going and down the hill.




But then, of course, we were backed up at unloading for awhile. We were right by the place that has a little ledge before you’re released to go to unloading. And every time another boat would join the line, a wave would come up on the ledge and Splash back down on to our boat. We were quite soaked.

But that was okay because it definitely cooled us off. We bumped into the Festival of Fantasy parade trying to get over to Tomorrowland. There was a group of HUGELY enthusiastic early-20s people who ran by us shouting about the parade. They waved to some of the CMs. I'm pretty sure that these people had to be CMs themselves. We decided to go down the shops at Main Street and work our way over and back up to Tomorrowland.

When we got to the end of Main Street we were cut off again because the parade was going backstage. Mom and Dad hung out in the shop and I watched the rest of the parade. OMG, it was an AMAZING spot. And I found myself behind the same group of off-duty CMs. They were laughing and singing and doing the same hand gestures. They were a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself immensely!









I could see that even with the cool off in the store, Mom was starting to wilt. We walked all the way to the TTA and rested while we talked about what to do next.



Mom and Dad wanted to leave and I agreed at first. But while I was going around on the TTA I decided that what I really wanted to do was stay.

So I did. I got a FP for Buzz. Then I went over to the Carousel of Progress because no one likes to ride that with me. I texted my parents a pic of the logo and said, “Jealous?” (jokingly) My Dad texted back, “Yes” I said. “Haha” and he said, “No really, I love that ride.”

Oops. I thought he didn’t. He always falls asleep. Maybe that’s why he likes it…

After CoP I looked for other FP+ options. I found one for Rapunzel in 45min. I took a deep breath and just booked it.

Yiiikes!

Characters are hard for me because I feel awkward and I feel like they don’t want to meet with me anyway. But I’m trying to be more comfortable and you can only do that with more exposure. And, for me, I only regret the things that I don’t do. So I should do this.

Ahhhh. This is so nerve wracking!

Since I had 45 min, I got in the line for Space, which said 30min. It was about 15min. I used my phone to do the LINES line calculation thing so it can be updated. I saw that my phone’s battery was getting really low. It made me nervous to lose power to my phone when I was by myself. It was also my way of keeping track of time.

I turned my phone off and road Space. On the way out, the normal door that I use was blocked so I had to go farther down. Sooo glad that I did. Because right next to the door was a Fuel Rod station.

I had heard that these were being added to the parks through the DISUnplugged podcast but I had never seen one myself. It allows you to buy a lipstick-style charger for your phone for $30. It comes with adapters for different phones. Everything is yours to keep. You can recharge it at home if you like. OR (and this is the great part) you can take it back to any Fuel Rod station anywhere, return the used (or even partially used) Fuel Rod and get another one fully charged.

It’s totally awesome. It will give you about 80% charge on a completely dead phone. Mine wasn’t so it ended up giving me a completely full charge. I was so happy to have my phone back!

Even with all that, I STILL had more time to kill so I did Mickey’s PhilharMagic. As I was sitting in the theater, I could smell person. Sweaty person. OMG is that ME??

Yup.

That was me. Well, this will be fun for Rapunzel and guest to meet me. After the show, my FP+ window was open but I quickly found a bathroom to freshen up a bit. I could still smell me but I got the worst of it.

Ugh. Apparently, it’s been a long day or I’ve been fear sweating the last 45min.

I got into the FP+ line nervous. Not doing the fear sweat any good. There was a family in front of me and a family behind me. I felt really weird by myself but I was determined to power through it.

I met Rapunzel and she made a comment about my tank being green like Pascal. And I said it wasn’t color changing like Pascal or her hair. And she said her hair was kind of color changing and then explained why it was blond instead of brown but she likes it blond better. We chatted a little more and I felt a little more relaxed. She was good but there was something a little blah about her. Which was weird because we had a good conversation.



Tiana was the visiting princess. I was excited because I was in New Orleans in Feb and learned how to make gumbo and jambalaya so now I would have something to talk to her about.



Tiana must have really wanted to get out of there because she hugged me and immediately got in place for the picture. (or maybe it was the smell…) I managed to squeeze in that I had been to New Orleans and learned to cook a little. She did stop and talk to me for a little bit then. She said Naveen was trying to learn to cook and next time I needed to bring my prince because she would like to meet him.

And that was it.

Overall, it went well. I felt I did pretty good. Go Team Jenna!

After I got back out into the park, I decided that I should leave. I was hungry and smelly and I didn’t want to wait forever for my GF food.

But before I left, I had to get one more LeFou brew for the road.

I exchanged my Fuel Rod at the station just outside the PhotoPass place and took the monorail to the TTC. I decided to walk since I didn’t see a tram and didn’t want to wait. I had not noted where we parked but I did remember it was by trees so I found it pretty easily. (Whew!) When I drove away I still hadn’t seen a tram.

When I got to the Swan parking lot, my room key card didn’t work for some reason, so I just grabbed a ticket. I figured my key wouldn’t work for the room so I was going to check at the front desk but there was a looong line so I just skipped it. My parents could let me in to the room anyway. I tried the card and it worked. So whatever, I guess.

Mom wanted to go to the fireworks at MK so she took the keys and went back. I told her about the Fuel Rod so she could get one too.

I finished off the night with another bath (no tears!), a call to my DH, and Le Cellier leftovers.

It had been a very good day and FINALLY felt like I was on a Disney vacation!


Up next….


Day 5 Part 1 – Ahoy!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

That seemed better! I love CoP and the TTA! Two of my must dos! And I'm kind of the same about characters, I'm a little awkward with them. I did better on my last trip, but I can't tell you because I didn't start my TR yet! Hahaha And you know, I love alone time in the parks on a group trip. People don't understand how awesome that is!


ETA: I am a citrus swirl girl through and through. Totally must eat. Each and Every trip! At least once. Sometimes twice. Possibly in one day, but that hasn't happened yet!

 

[KathyM2]

That citrus swirl looked really good...can you believe I've never tried that OR a Dole Whip....both are must do's...there just never seems to be enough time to eat all the things you want to eat on a Disney trip lol

You had some great interactions and rides it seems...and a much better day...and no tears so...that's good!!

 

[xlsm]

Ugh, I wasn't getting my alerts and ended up so behind on your TR!

I'm caught up now...whew, what a whirlwind of emotions!

No fries?
Yes, fries!

Cat doing cute things

SEA TAVERRRNNNN!!

And then I got to the Splash photo and was soooo confused by the kid in the back with the juggalo makeup on and then I realized it was the skull face paint from Pirate's League. I am a moron.

I get a little weird about meeting face characters alone, too. I usually make one of my kids go with me, even if they don't really care. My oldest is usually a good sport and goes with me. I had some time alone in MK on our last visit, and the line for the princesses was really short, but I was sweaty and hot so I skipped it...and it was a huge regret for me! I'm glad you went ahead and did it!!

I'm glad I got caught up, but now I really, really want a LeFou's Brew.

 

[Raeven]

And my mom and I played Heads Up in line using the WDW deck that unlocks when you’re in WDW. It was a lot of fun. A lot of people watched us too. Dad even participated. It was a great way to pass the time and super funny to watch the videos after.

I love Heads Up! I didn't know there was a special deck at WDW though! Josh doesn't really like that game as much as I do though.

PP FP+ was up after this. It’s my mom’s favorite. I was glad not to have to spend all that time in stand-by but I was bummed that I didn’t get to see the new queue stuff. It was on my list but we never made it over at rope drop, which is when I would want to go through.

I still haven't seen it either, but plan to during EMM!

We stayed there for what felt like a long time. We did eventually get going and down the hill.

You look so free!

When we got to the end of Main Street we were cut off again because the parade was going backstage.

We got blocked in by a parade too

Characters are hard for me because I feel awkward and I feel like they don’t want to meet with me anyway. But I’m trying to be more comfortable and you can only do that with more exposure. And, for me, I only regret the things that I don’t do. So I should do this.

I'm so awkward with face characters. And then I pose awkward it's just an awkward mess all around. But I had some fun with the ones at Universal...I have to try some princesses again. I prefer the fur characters their so cute!

Even with all that, I STILL had more time to kill so I did Mickey’s PhilharMagic. As I was sitting in the theater, I could smell person. Sweaty person. OMG is that ME??

Yup.

This happens all the time to me too at Disney especially in September.

I got into the FP+ line nervous. Not doing the fear sweat any good. There was a family in front of me and a family behind me. I felt really weird by myself but I was determined to power through it.

I went through by myself too it did feel awkward.

Overall, it went well. I felt I did pretty good. Go Team Jenna!

 

[ariane37]

Wait, OK, I know what Head Bands is but what is Heads Up? It sounds cool and kind of similar, but I'm old and don't quite get all these newfangled things you kids use these days...........

I used to be terrified to meet ANY characters by myself, so I wouldn't and then I'd regret it after I'd walk away I've gotten much better, even with face characters, and am even what I'd call "comfortably comfortable" meeting them by myself when DH and I go alone or if we have our boys but they're being ungrateful Glad you did it, both your Princess meets sound like they went well! Don't worry about being smelly I met my boyfriend Jack Sparrow in Aug. and between sweat and frizzy hair I wasn't looking like my normal Princessy-self, but you gotta just figure there's always someone smellier or frizzier coming up to meet them next!

 

[gracer9977]

Looks like a fun day.

Wow that guy really wanted a Dole Whip to be that pissed about it.

I met Ariel for the first time by myself. I couldn't resist I had never seen her with her tail, there was like a 10 min wait and she's one of my favorite characters. For a moment I stood there and thought about waiting till my kids came back to the park but then I sucked it up and just went with it. It was great. My hair is (dyed) red and she said we were hair twins. She was so funny and easy to talk to I meet alot of characters with my kids but that was the first time I went alone. That was also my first time being totally alone at the park as everyone else decided to go back to the resort to swim. I hung out in Gaston's Tavern, had to get my LaFou Brew as well (love) and then went out and watched people meet Gaston. I was totally not brave enough to meet him by myself. It was so much fun to be alone and be able to do what I want when I wanted.

Good job on the duel princess meet.

Hopefully you get to rope drop on your next trip and that you can walk through the PP que. We finally had the chance on our last trip and it was really cool. Took lots of pics cause I'll probably never walk through again since I always get FP for this ride.

Absolutely LOVE your Jack/Sally sweatshirt!!!!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

That seemed better! I love CoP and the TTA! Two of my must dos! And I'm kind of the same about characters, I'm a little awkward with them. I did better on my last trip, but I can't tell you because I didn't start my TR yet! Hahaha And you know, I love alone time in the parks on a group trip. People don't understand how awesome that is!


ETA: I am a citrus swirl girl through and through. Totally must eat. Each and Every trip! At least once. Sometimes twice. Possibly in one day, but that hasn't happened yet!

You'll have to start your TR soon!

And with the phone and social media, I can still feel connected and sharing neat moments with people while doing my own thing!

Hooray for another Orange Bird girl!

That citrus swirl looked really good...can you believe I've never tried that OR a Dole Whip....both are must do's...there just never seems to be enough time to eat all the things you want to eat on a Disney trip lol

You had some great interactions and rides it seems...and a much better day...and no tears so...that's good!!

You HAVE to try both and then let us know which is your favorite!!! It is true that there just isn't enough time (or $$) to eat everything you want!

It was definitely a MUCH better day.

Ugh, I wasn't getting my alerts and ended up so behind on your TR!

I'm caught up now...whew, what a whirlwind of emotions!

No fries?
Yes, fries!

Cat doing cute things

SEA TAVERRRNNNN!!

And then I got to the Splash photo and was soooo confused by the kid in the back with the juggalo makeup on and then I realized it was the skull face paint from Pirate's League. I am a moron.

I get a little weird about meeting face characters alone, too. I usually make one of my kids go with me, even if they don't really care. My oldest is usually a good sport and goes with me. I had some time alone in MK on our last visit, and the line for the princesses was really short, but I was sweaty and hot so I skipped it...and it was a huge regret for me! I'm glad you went ahead and did it!!

I'm glad I got caught up, but now I really, really want a LeFou's Brew.

Haha. I didn't even notice the kid in the back. How self-absorbed is that??

The parents of the kids meeting the characters definitely give you a bit of the side-eye though no one has said anything directly to me. I need to borrow a kid for the line and then hip-check them out of the way when we get to the characters.

Meeee tooooo. Mmmmmmmmmm. LeFooooou Brewwww. You can kind of get it at Caribou, if you even have them anywhere. Or any coffee shop that can give you a blended/iced apple cider with a marshmallow shot. It tastes not quite the same but close enough for not WDW!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I love Heads Up! I didn't know there was a special deck at WDW though! Josh doesn't really like that game as much as I do though.

Bummer! We'll do it on our trip, I bet we can get a really high score!

You look so free!

I finally feel like I'm on vacation!!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Wait, OK, I know what Head Bands is but what is Heads Up? It sounds cool and kind of similar, but I'm old and don't quite get all these newfangled things you kids use these days...........

I used to be terrified to meet ANY characters by myself, so I wouldn't and then I'd regret it after I'd walk away I've gotten much better, even with face characters, and am even what I'd call "comfortably comfortable" meeting them by myself when DH and I go alone or if we have our boys but they're being ungrateful Glad you did it, both your Princess meets sound like they went well! Don't worry about being smelly I met my boyfriend Jack Sparrow in Aug. and between sweat and frizzy hair I wasn't looking like my normal Princessy-self, but you gotta just figure there's always someone smellier or frizzier coming up to meet them next!

Haha. Heads Up is an app created by Ellen Degeneres. You hold your phone on your forehead while the other person gives you clues and you try and guess what it is. When you get it right, you flip your phone down and a new word/phrase pops up. You can YouTube Heads Up Ellen Show and there are videos of people playing it on her show. It's a lot of fun! And if you are at WDW, there is a WDW set of words that become available to you. The best part is that the app videos you while you are playing and it is hilarious to watch it at the end. You don't have to save the video or even watch it but it's part of the fun!

I always regret walking away from a character interaction which is why I forced myself this time. I'm slowly getting better. I always think that they are secretly rolling their eyes inside and mentally checking the time until they can go home and generally annoyed at having "customers". Like the cashier at Target. Which I'm sure is probably not what they are thinking. It's just some of the pleasant thoughts that roll through my head while I'm sweating in line.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Looks like a fun day.

Wow that guy really wanted a Dole Whip to be that pissed about it.

I met Ariel for the first time by myself. I couldn't resist I had never seen her with her tail, there was like a 10 min wait and she's one of my favorite characters. For a moment I stood there and thought about waiting till my kids came back to the park but then I sucked it up and just went with it. It was great. My hair is (dyed) red and she said we were hair twins. She was so funny and easy to talk to I meet alot of characters with my kids but that was the first time I went alone. That was also my first time being totally alone at the park as everyone else decided to go back to the resort to swim. I hung out in Gaston's Tavern, had to get my LaFou Brew as well (love) and then went out and watched people meet Gaston. I was totally not brave enough to meet him by myself. It was so much fun to be alone and be able to do what I want when I wanted.

Good job on the duel princess meet.

Hopefully you get to rope drop on your next trip and that you can walk through the PP que. We finally had the chance on our last trip and it was really cool. Took lots of pics cause I'll probably never walk through again since I always get FP for this ride.

Absolutely LOVE your Jack/Sally sweatshirt!!!!

It was a fun day! Finally!!

I have yet to meet Ariel. I should put that on my list. I have met Belle (my favorite!) a couple of times but it has been years. I really need to make that a priority in Epcot. Her line is so hot, though!

One of these days I'm going to get Gaston! I almost did a few years ago but then I had to jump out of line because our BOG reservation was in 2min. He does such a good job taking his time with people but the line moves so slow and I missed out!

Thank you! I had a great time wearing it most of October!

 

[jelloarms]

Just found your report, I'm really enjoying it! I love child free TRs. Nothing against kids, I just don't have any myself so I relate better to the reports without them in it.

On my 2011 trip, my first trip as an adult, I brought a backpack that had 12 zippers to open! I only know this because one of the security guys actually counted them! He said the most zippers on one bag he had to open was 15 so my bag was pretty up there in zipper count! I am one of those overpacker types, ha ha! Though I don't see it as overpacking...to me it's just being prepared for anything! It quickly got annoying though, and every Disney trip after that I used a bag that only has 5 zippers! The bag itself is a pretty fat bag though so it still allows me to overpack. Ha ha!

ive tried to write TRs twice in the past but have stopped midway because like you, I too get the Disney Blues! The TR would be fun to write for a while but then I would get sad knowing there would be no Disney trip in the future so I drop off the face of DIS completely. I'm currently writing one now and what keeps me going is knowing that I'll be at Disneyland next year. So no Disney blues!