“I felt like a chickmunk!” A Jan/Feb 2019 TR UPDATED 6/2 x 2 COMPLETED!

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry it was so cold and you had a bit of anxiety But it does still sound like it was fun- and you got a lot done! I love that you had the whole Pirates boat to yourselves! And ending the night with a fave ride- especially one where the CMs were so awesome- sounds great!

 

[disneyAndi14]

It was a cold night, we failed with snacks this time, we each only had 1 ice cream and 1 popcorn and a few sodas. We never even looked at 7DMT. I couldn’t ride and D and Andi didn’t feel the need.

Sorry about the choking incident you observed I am a nurse so throwing up doesn’t bother me at all, doesn’t make it any less gross though!

My take away from this particular after hours was a nice leisurely pace and we covered 12 attractions between the 3 of us.

 

[Gina Starr]

Hmm, I don't see anything. But on the mobile site sometimes things look funky (I'm reading on a desktop right now)

Yea I only use the mobile site. I have only seen it a few times since I posted so who knows.

I'm sorry you felt a bit crappy the last half hour. I feel the same way when it's a special ticketed thing and I'm not getting the most out of it!

I’m definitely an “I have to get my money out of this” type person so I made the best of it!

I'm sorry it was so cold and you had a bit of anxiety But it does still sound like it was fun- and you got a lot done! I love that you had the whole Pirates boat to yourselves! And ending the night with a fave ride- especially one where the CMs were so awesome- sounds great!

We definitely had fun! The boat to ourselves was awesom but a little creepy.

It was a cold night, we failed with snacks this time, we each only had 1 ice cream and 1 popcorn and a few sodas. We never even looked at 7DMT. I couldn’t ride and D and Andi didn’t feel the need.

It was so cold! Which made it hard to want to eat ice cream!

Sorry about the choking incident you observed I am a nurse so throwing up doesn’t bother me at all, doesn’t make it any less gross though!

Oh gosh I could never be a nurse because of my phobia. So thank you!

 

[Gina Starr]

So we have no plans for our September trip yet other than hotel reservations. Our 180 days for ADRs opened several days ago and I haven’t booked anything yet. I feel like this trip is gonna be a little more packed since it’s shorter and I don’t want to feel restricted with tons of reservations. Also since everything with Galaxy’s Edge is so unknown still I’m sure our plans will change.


I do want to do something “special” on my birthday which is our arrival day. We are driving straight through the night Saturday and hope to arrive Sunday anywhere from like 11am-2pm. Sunday is a MNSSHP day and I though about doing the party that day but we are gonna be so tired so we will probably do the Tuesday party. But I thought we could go to MK Sunday since it’s supposedly not busy on party days (although I think that tip has gotten out and now it is busy??) I was thinking Raglan Road and Erin McKennas at DS since we missed RR (sorry, upcoming spoiler alert). I briefly considered California Grill but I looked at the gf menu and it doesn’t seem like much I am interested in. Considered Hoop Dee Doo too but trying to be somewhat budgeted so I think we will skip that. Anyone have any ideas? Don’t forget I like the senior citizen dinner time!


Sorry this next day I’m posting is gonna be a downer and super boring and I literally have one picture. I considered skipping it but I’m doing this as a journal for myself so if you want to skip Day 5 I understand!


Day 5- Tuesday January 29th- Disney Springs

In addition to my gluten intolerance I have some other food sensitivities. One of them is popcorn. I have always assumed it was due to dairy in the butter and I read Disney’s popcorn is vegan so no dairy but it’s clearly not the butter. I woke up at 2:45am absolutely sick to my stomach. I woke Donnie up and he was so sweet and caring but I have had issues like this at home and really all I can do is wait it out. I let him go back to sleep and I played on my phone to try and distract myself. If I try to go back to sleep before it passes it gets worse. So by around 7:15 am the pain was letting up and I decided to try and sleep. When Donnie got up with me I think he knew I wouldn’t want to do much. We had an adr for Raglan Road at 11:45 which we pushed to 12:30 the night before (before I didn’t feel good) And we were going to go to Epcot to explore Festival of the Arts in the late afternoon/evening. Donnie let me sleep til 11:45 am and called to cancel Raglan Road :-( He also cancelled our fp for the day. I wasn’t too upset since we already were at Epcot once and had at least one more day planned. I really couldn’t think about fried food either so Raglan Road wasn’t a big loss. We figured we could squeeze it in another time.

When I first woke up I thought I’d be laying in bed all day but once I started moving around more I was feeling a bit better and even ate a Lara bar for breakfast. When that sat okay with me I decided we could do something, but still not in the mood for a park. We had been wanting to go to a movie at Disney Springs sometime during the trip and today was as good a day as ever! We checked the fandango app and saw Glass was playing in the huge theater with the reclining seats at 3:45 so we bought tickets. That would give us plenty of time to get ready and shop a bit before the movie started. While I was getting ready Donnie headed to get some food for himself. He came back with a beignet burger which he said was delicious! Our room was closer to the boats than the buses and we wanted to check out some shops down in that area of DS where the boats drop you off before going to the movie. We got to the boat dock around 1:45 and a boat came pretty quickly for us.

Our first stop after arriving was the Christmas store. We started doing a Disney tree and need a Disney tree topper. The Christmas store had two different ones but they were both pretty tacky. We also stopped in TrenD and that shopping area attached to it (I think it’s called The Co-Op?) Next we went into World of Disney. Our thoughts on it after the overhaul? Meh. We weren’t impressed. I like the more modern feel and open layout but there was no good way to navigate the store so I felt like we missed places and went through the same areas a couple times. Next Donnie wanted to go to the pop up place to play a demo of Kingdom Hearts. This was actually the release date of the game but since we wouldn’t be home for over a week he really wanted to try it. He immediately said he would be downloading it when we got home. I don’t play it so I know nothing about it but it looks cool!

It was time to start heading towards the theater but I knew I wanted to go to Vera Bradley and it was on the way. I stopped in, found the style I wanted, and a good pattern placement and bought it with our gift card we got for declining housekeeping! *A little side story* I don’t know the names of the patterns but an older one with a black background was the last one I bought (and maybe the last one they sold) a few years ago. My crossbody purse is super faded and the strap is fraying all over the place so I desperately wanted a new one. The only problem was Vera Bradley stopped doing Disney prints for some reason. I actually made a thread about it here on the dis and once every couple months someone would comment that they wanted to know what happened too. Then last summer they announced a new collection but it was only available at the Vera Bradley store at DS so I didn’t know if I’d even be able to get one. But I did. Yay! *end of story*

So after that we walked down to the theater and Donnie got a snack, just a drink for me. The movie was really good! We watched the two movies Glass was a “sequel” for before our trip but never had time to see it before we left. We got out of the movie about 6:15 and had just two more places we wanted to go. We stopped in Disney Style and I bought a cute Country Bears sweatshirt (that I had to return :-( when I tried it on back in the room the neck was super weird. It like puffed up but it wasn’t from being on a hanger. I don’t know how to explain it. It was technically men’s and Donnie said men have broad shoulders so that’s why it was like that) And then Erin McKennas, of course! I ran out of treats Sunday so it was necessary. We just did the bus back since we were close to the bus stop and luckily the bus was there waiting for us. When we got back to the resort Donnie grabbed a slice of pizza (for $10! For one slice!), I picked up a package we had delivered the other day, and went back to the room. We straightened up the room since we hadn’t done that in a while, I ate half a pineapple upside cake for dinner in bed, and we watched the last episode of the Ted Bundy documentary on Netflix and some YouTube. It was an easy going and relaxing day which was much needed!


(Quality photo of a gf pineapple upside down cake)

Coming up: A (slightly) more exciting day​

 

[cinderaimee]

All caught up on your report - sorry you weren't feeling great, but it sounds like a quiet day and a movie were a nice way to spend it.

I love Vera Bradley! I didn't get a chance to go into the store at DS when we were there, but I really love the Disney prints.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Sorry you got sick from the popcorn. I can’t eat much popcorn, I get a bad stomach ache from it, not sure what it is from but I stay away from all popcorn for the most part.

I agree about the new WOD store and don’t get me started on the ugly CM outfits, yuck!

A down day at Disney is okay in my book now, I use to feel like I wasn’t getting enough out of my vacation if I didn’t go to a park everyday, now it’s just fine.

 

[Gina Starr]

I love Vera Bradley! I didn't get a chance to go into the store at DS when we were there, but I really love the Disney prints.

I’m not a big bag person but it’s a necessity so if I’m gonna carry a purse it might as well be a cute one! They just released new prints that are pretty cute but not currently in my budget!

 

[Gina Starr]

A down day at Disney is okay in my book now, I use to feel like I wasn’t getting enough out of my vacation if I didn’t go to a park everyday, now it’s just fine.

I used to feel the same way! If I wasn’t doing something constantly I wasn’t getting my money worth. But I would be so tired and sore that I could barely move when I woke up! So taking it slower and having more down time has been perfect for me!

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 6- Wednesday January 30th- Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Sanaa, Magic Kingdom


Hey everyone! Sorry I have been a little MIA. Most people have valid reasons but I really don’t, sorry! (I wrote most of this tr right after our trip and after reading it back this day is a little sad too. I promise the rest of the trip is more fun and I (think) I felt better.)


So I only participated in 2 of the 4 activities today. I wasn’t feeling the greatest the night before and couldn’t fall asleep until 4 am! We had fp scheduled at Animal Kingdom for FOP, Festival of the Lion King, and the Safari. And I planned on being there all day and then going over to AKL for dinner. I was feeling okay when I woke up but just sooo tired so I sent Donnie by himself to Animal Kingdom. I honestly didn’t care about missing FOP because I can’t really enjoy it due to my motion sickness. If I went to AK, I would have had Donnie use my fp anyways. So he grabbed my magic band and went to AK while I went back to sleep. I slept til almost 11 while Donnie used both fp. As I was waking up, he was texting that he was going to eat at Satu’li Canteen. He went through the Maharajah Jungle Trek again and texted me a pic of a CM feeding a mouse to a bird but the way he described it, I thought the bird just found a random mouse and was eating it live. I watched YouTube while trying to get motivated to get up and get ready for the day. Donnie rode the Safari and then headed back to FQ after that.


(Hope this isn’t considered too graphic)

While I was in the room by myself they came by to do the room check and I was not happy about it. It was shortly after I woke up and I just didn’t want to be bothered. I get why they do it and since we declined housekeeping I understand having to check the room. But I had the do not disturb sign up and I was disturbed! *end rant*


It was around 1 when Donnie got back to FQ. We must have hung around the room a bit longer cause my notes show we got on a bus to Epcot at 2:30. Our Sanaa ADR was for 5 so we knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time but we were able to get a Soarin fp for 2:55. Donnie doesn’t really love this ride because he is afraid of heights but says he rides it cause I like it. I think this was the only time we rode it all trip which I’m kinda sad about. I really like it but feel like even with fp it takes forever to get through.


We decided to ride Living with the Land next since we were right there. I kinda thought to myself in recent days that we hadn’t seen any tour groups and it took us til Day 6 to see them! I spotted my first one in the Land and there was so many of them for the rest of the trip. We didn’t necessarily have any bad experiences with them but we definitely made it a point to stay away.


I was able to get us a Spaceship Earth fp next. They give out way too many fp for this ride! The line was so long and it took probably 15 minutes to actually get on. I was starting to worry about time while on the ride as it was around 4 while we were still on the ride and our ADR was 5. We didn’t know when a bus was gonna show up so I decided to try out a Minnie Van. While on SE I downloaded the lyft app and as we were exiting I requested the ride. It was 4:22 and it said our ride would be there in 6 minutes. I panicked for a minute because we were still basically in SE and we didn’t know where the pick up was! Luckily it was pretty close and it was actually 8 minutes not 6 so we got there in plenty of time. Our first experience with Minnie Vans was pretty good. The cm asked us the basic small talk type questions and we were dropped off right at Kidani Village.


Our reservation was at 5 which is when they open so they weren’t ready for us when we checked in about ten minutes early. We gave them my phone number and walked out to the savannah to see what animals were out and there unfortunately weren’t many. And it was super cold and windy! So that was a quick little trip out there. We sat on a bench close to the check in desk and right at 5 they did a little drum ceremony for the opening and within a minute or two got our text that our table was ready. We got a table by the window (yay) and ordered the bread service first, duh! You get to choose 5 breads and we got 3 gluten free naan and 2 regular naan. The gf ones were much smaller and if I couldn’t eat them all, Donnie could eat them but I couldn’t eat his so I figured it’s better to have more of mine. And he actually said he liked the gf ones better and we would get all gf next time.


(The view from our table)




I’m not going to list all the sauces here cause I’m sure you know what they and if not then you need to go and taste them yourself! My favorite was hands down the mango one. I also liked the white creamy one. So descriptive, I know. But this isn’t a dining report! We both got the Potjie Inspired. Donnie ordered the braised beef and said he wanted to add a second “journey” and get butter chicken too. The server didn’t understand him and brought just the braised beef but once he saw how much food it was, he didn’t say anything and just tried some of my butter chicken. Mine came out without an allergy stick in it and I asked the server and he said it should have but the stuff is naturally gluten free so no worries. My butter chicken- omg! So good! I loved it. We both got the Paneer Tikka from the “harvest” and the description sounded really good but I couldn’t get past the texture. I don’t know what I would get instead because I think only two of the harvest items are gf and the second didn’t sound good. I don’t know how to describe it- like cottage cheese in cubes that were a little burnt on the outside. I actually love cottage cheese but I didn’t love the Paneer Tikka. Oh well, the bread service and butter chicken were all I cared about anyways!



After dinner we were deciding what to do and I was honestly still really tired and it was so cold out, like low 50s/high 40s. I had no desire to take a bus to a park or Disney Springs and then another to FQ so we did another Minnie Van! I had the app figured out and our first time was super easy so why not! This time was a little more difficult. It could not find any nearby drivers for a good 10 minutes. Still not familiar with it, I thought it was the app or my service so I closed it out and tried again. And again. And finally it found a nearby driver and said it would be there in a minute! Well, okay! Our driver was awesome! I really wish I got her name. She said she was so close because she was going to drive another guest at Kidani but had to turn them down cause they were trying to go to Applebee’s and they of course can only drive to Disney properties. She was really awesome, talking to us like we were friends and even accidentally cussed which she immediately freaked out over and got super worried but I just thought it was hilarious. She had some good stories from working there for I think like 8 or 10 years. My favorite though was when she was in concierge at the Contemporary and Mariah Carey was staying. Apparently Mariah and her staff took a liking to the cm and they trusted only her to hand wash Mariah’s underwear.... omg I was dying over this story. I honestly wanted to hear more but we were back at FQ around 6:30.


I was a party pooper and got into bed to watch more YouTube or Netflix but I was so cold and tired I didn’t feel like doing anything. I may have mentioned this before but I don’t love Happily Ever After. I feel like if you’ve seen fireworks once, you’ve seen them all. I hate the crowds, I hate staking out a spot for an hour only to have someone walk up in front of me ten minutes before it starts, I hate standing in one spot for more than three minutes. Donnie, however, loves it. So he decided tonight would be a good night to head to MK by himself and watch Happily Ever After. And I was more than okay with it. I got on MDE to see what fp I could get him and got one for Buzz (for both of us so he could go on twice). He got there around 8:15 I think and got Galactic Hero at least once, if not both times. This is when I found out he likes riding by himself cause he controls the spinning and is worried about my motion sickness so doesn’t spin it the way he would like to. We rode by ourselves each time after this.


He said he found a spot about 10 minutes before the show started. (And not right in front of someone who had been waiting!) He took lots of pictures but this is my TR and I didn’t actually witness them I’ll leave them out! (And really, you seen them once, you see them all. Am I right?!) He headed back to FQ and I’m sure we watched more tv and went to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I would participate in more than half the activities!

Coming up next: we visit the character warehouse outlets​

 

[Gina Starr]

I’ll go ahead and continue since my last update was a little boring.

Day 7- Thursday January 31st- Outlets and Hollywood Studios


We had the morning and afternoon free today since our fp weren’t til later at Hollywood Studios. We both really wanted to check out the Disney Character Warehouse at the outlets so decided to do that today! We slept in a little and got out the door around 10:30. I was feeling a little sad this morning. I felt like our trip was almost over and that I had accomplished nothing and ruined our trip with not feeling good mentally or physically a few times. But I tried to stay positive and remind myself we still had 5 park days left!


There are two different outlets and we went to the one that was further away first and found a lot of stuff! We got two shirts, a mug, a magnet, and a phone case all for $40! The phone case was for my mom, it was a 3D Jack Skellington who she loves and when we gave it to her she immediately took off her current case and put that one on it so I would say it was a success! Then we went to the outlet that was closer to Disney. It was bigger but I felt less organized and maybe just cause we had just seen most of the same stuff we weren’t as impressed and didn’t buy anything there.


We pretty much immediately went to the bus stop when we got back to FQ because we were both hungry and I had something in mind! We originally had an early dinner ADR at 50s Prime Time today but when we got the same day ADR for 50s earlier in the week and we weren’t impressed and the food didn’t really agree with me, we cancelled it for today. I went looking at gf menus online and saw a turkey wrap on the menu at Sci Fi and it was a basic turkey wrap but it was just what I was in the mood for! But first we had to get to Hollywood Studios! The bus situation was terrible and I really wish we would have just drove. It took about 20 minutes for a bus to show up and then we find out we are sharing with Riverside. It took another 20 minutes to get through all their bus stops! This is why I could never stay at a resort with multiple bus stops. If I did, we would drive way more often! So while waiting for the bus/on the bus I was looking for an ADR for Sci Fi and there were none! I was gonna be really sad if we couldn’t eat there after craving this turkey wrap.



We FINALLY arrive at Hollywood Studios, walk approximately 2 miles from the bus stop, and I ask if they can take a walk up party of two? Please please please? Sure, it will be 30 minutes and we will sit at a flying saucer in the back. Perfect! No problem at all! Give them our number, walk out to find something to do and get into the Star Wars gift shop and about one minute later I get the text our table is ready. And they lead us to a car!



Yay we got to be hitchhikers and don’t have to sit at a regular table in the back! So was the turkey wrap worth it? Yes!! It was so good. I mean it was a basic turkey wrap but it’s hard to find yummy gf wraps that don’t just crumble once you touch it so I loved it! I’m pretty sure Donnie got a burger (Sorry, I didn’t pay attention!) and this has kicked 50s Prime Time off my Hollywood Studios restaurant list and added Sci Fi back to it (they flip flop pretty much every trip)


(Sorry for the bad pic, it’s so darn dark in there!)

We had a Slinky fp but that wasn’t until like 5:45 and it was only 3ish at this point. This was perfect because we still wanted to do some of the shows! The times worked out pretty well, we just had to make sure we were up and outta there once it ended. First was Beauty and the Beast but we still had a good 45 minutes so decided to check out all the shops down Sunset Boulevard and take our time. I don’t think we bought anything (at this time, we bought plenty of things at other times!) and found a seat about 15 minutes before showtime. It was a good show as always. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites, it came out when I was the age it was targeted for and I definitely had it on VHS! And I’m a major musical fan so I always enjoy it. Next was Indiana Jones and we made it with ten minutes to spare. I feel like the pre show was different this time than it has been in the past. And since the weather was cold, the outfits were different, and what I normally see happen, I couldn’t tell when it was going to happen. Okay, that made no sense but I’m trying not to give spoilers. I always enjoy this and feel like it might be the last bit of what Hollywood Studios originally was with the behind the scenes stuff. (After writing this it has been announced they are getting rid of the behind the scenes part of the show)


It was 5:25 and we were scurrying to the 5:30 Frozen Sing a Long which we made it to and had plenty of seats to chose from! And our favorite royal historians were there! Yay! They are just hilarious and have really good chemistry. (Butch and Sissy on YouTube if you wanna know who I’m talking about). We sang, we got snowed (snoaped?) on, and it was finally time for our Slinky fp! I apparently didn’t let me food digest enough and got an upset stomach on this ride (yes, we had eaten three hours ago but I got some bad acid reflux) so it was all I could do to just even keep my eyes open on the ride. Which kinda sucked but oh well, I got to enjoy it two other times.



Right before getting on Slinky I managed to get us fp for Alien Swirling Saucers which I really wanted to do but really didn’t want to wait in stand by for. It sounded like one of my favorite rides at our local amusement park and I was excited. I took some medicine and luckily by the time we rode, I was feeling well enough to enjoy it! It was fun as an extra fp but I wouldn’t pick it over Slinky or even Toy Story Mania! We mobile ordered a tart from Woodys Lunchbox for Donnie. He got the berry one (raspberry I think?) and said it was better than the hazelnut one. We headed out after that and a bus was waiting for us at the bus stop!






I checked the massage chairs three times when we got back and the same people were there each time! They must have bought an hour! Oh well, Donnie got pizza and this time was smart and paid only a few dollars more for a whole pizza instead of a single slice and got leftovers out of it. We watched the new Fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias) stand up on Netflix and went to bed.

Coming up soon: MK and HDDR!!​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I agree SE gives out to many FP, that line is always backed up now! Ugh!

We used regular Lyft a lot this past trip and it was awesome, we haven’t tried the Minnie Vans, are they expensive?, I heard 25.00 for all rides around the resort. I paid 7.00 for Lyft with a discount.

I loved the Cilantro- Coconut vegetables at Sana’a with my butter chicken, maybe they aren’t gluten free but very delicious. Andi and I didn’t like the Paneer Tikka either, the texture was gross and I didn’t think it had any flavor. The bread service is so awesome!

Do you remember the name of the Character Warehouse you went to first? Andi and I want to go there in August.

We love Sci-Fi and can often walk up because of the party of 2, we usually are hitchhikers in the back of someone’s car

Sorry you didn’t feel all that great those couple days, I remember that weather it was hard to be as excited when it was so chilly!

 

[Gina Starr]

We used regular Lyft a lot this past trip and it was awesome, we haven’t tried the Minnie Vans, are they expensive?, I heard 25.00 for all rides around the resort. I paid 7.00 for Lyft with a discount.

I think the $25 flat rate was when Minnie Van first started but now it’s more like Uber/lyft where it’s charged per mile. It’s actually super expensive and I don’t think we would use it again since are planning on driving ourselves a lot more. Both trips were $45+

I loved the Cilantro- Coconut vegetables at Sana’a with my butter chicken, maybe they aren’t gluten free but very delicious. Andi and I didn’t like the Paneer Tikka either, the texture was gross and I didn’t think it had any flavor. The bread service is so awesome!

Yea those aren’t gf sadly. I think there’s only two things to choose from that are gf. Maybe they would let me get double rice?

Do you remember the name of the Character Warehouse you went to first? Andi and I want to go there in August.

The one we liked was at International Premium Outlets. The other one is at Vineland Premium Outlets. They both had a lot of the same stuff but the International one was more organized and less chaotic.

Sorry you didn’t feel all that great those couple days, I remember that weather it was hard to be as excited when it was so chilly!

I could have pushed myself to go go go even though I didn’t feel good but the nice thing about a long trip is that I knew I could take it easy!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry it wasn't the best day for you But I'm glad you could at least enjoy Sanaa!

Sounds like your day at DHS was much better! I'm glad you enjoyed your lunch and got to see all the shows!

 

[disneyseniors]

Following along!
WHAT? No more hot chocolate via machine????? I looked forward to POFQ's delicious hot chocolate every day this past December!! Grrrrrr. Packets of Nestles Quick is not the same. Rant over
I feel the same way you do about booze; just a personal thing and don't care if others imbibe. But take away my Diet Coke and I'm upset
We love POFQ too, but we also loved the AB rooms at POR.
Loving your trip report; you are doing a great job on your first one.
I'm too chicken to try one, AND I can't figure out how to put the pictures on either......…......sigh...……….
I just finished reading the report, and I have to say that you are the only other person that I know that doesn't care for the fireworks! for all the aforementioned reasons I always say, you've seen one, you've seen them all. Most people love them. Me, I just want to get out of the park as fast as possible and avoid the crowds

 

[Gina Starr]

I'm sorry it wasn't the best day for you But I'm glad you could at least enjoy Sanaa!

Sounds like your day at DHS was much better! I'm glad you enjoyed your lunch and got to see all the shows!

Thanks! We loved Sana’a and had a great time at DHS!

WHAT? No more hot chocolate via machine????? I looked forward to POFQ's delicious hot chocolate every day this past December!! Grrrrrr. Packets of Nestles Quick is not the same. Rant over

Yea I was really sad too. Especially because it was actually cold. I don’t think I will miss the hot chocolate in September...

I'm too chicken to try one, AND I can't figure out how to put the pictures on either......…......sigh...……….

You should try one! I like having a report because I have a terrible memory. For me, I use my iPad and just go into my photos and copy a photo then paste in here. It’s super easy but has a 10 picture per post limit.

I always say, you've seen one, you've seen them all. Most people love them. Me, I just want to get out of the park as fast as possible and avoid the crowds

Yea I still don’t get the love for fireworks. I am considering a dessert party again though to avoid the crowds which I think would make the experience more enjoyable.

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 8- Friday February 1st- Magic Kingdom and Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue


This was the day Donnie had been waiting for! I think I mentioned in my PTR that we went to Cedar Point last summer and they had this little show in their country western part of the park that was corny and had music that I thought was like Hoop and Donnie loved the show! So I figured Hoop was going to be right up his alley and I definitely talked it up a bit (even though I had never seen it myself!) Our plan was MK in the morning/afternoon and Hoop Dee Doo for the first seating at 4. The alarm was set for 8 and we got up at 8:30 (which is good for us! We both take 30-90 minutes to get out of bed depending on the day) We left the room at 9:30 and a bus was there shortly after. We got to MK shortly before 10.


Our fast passes were:

9:05-10:05 Pirates of the Caribbean

10:30-11:30 Big Thunder Mountain

12:20-1:20 Jungle Cruise


We got to Pirates at 10:08, but could have rode without a fp if we were much later cause the line wasn’t too long. (We apparently didn’t get our ride photo) We got to Big Thunder at 10:25 and while in line I moved our next fp up to like right away. At 10:47 we were getting in line for Jungle Cruise. This is another one they give out way too many fp for! The line was so far back and it snaked around several times once we actually got into the que too. It took us 15 minutes in the fp line which I guess I won’t complain about since it looks like standby was 50 minutes but still.



I don’t know what would be better, limit the number of fp per hour and have the standby line shorter or give out more fp. I guess I would still vote for the more fp because I can count on one hand the number of times we stood in a stand by line the whole trip. Anyways, I was excited that we had used (well, scanned) our first three fp within 40 minutes. Now it was gonna be a game of fp refresh which would have been a much more fun game if the MDE app didn’t totally suck. It crashed so many times I lost count. I started using the browser version in Safari on my phone which was a little better but still crashed a lot. I did okay but I feel like I did better on past trips. I got one for Haunted Mansion but it was still a while away.


We mobile ordered some dole whips. Donnie got the pineapple upside down cake that he loved and we sat by the Tiki Room exit.





So what better to do after that than actually watch Tiki Room? I actually really like this show and I’m impressed even in 2019 that the birds chests puff out like they are breathing. I tried and failed to take portrait mode pictures of the things close to me.



Next was Country Bears. Another one that people just don’t get my love for. The cm working it this time really loved his job. He had a whole little stand up act before the show, telling all sorts of bear jokes. And it wasn’t to kill time while more people filed in, the doors were shut, he just really enjoyed himself. Donnie didn’t want a full lunch before our early all you care to enjoy dinner so just got himself a Mickey pretzel and then it was time for our HM fp!



We got in line at 12:40 and again the fp was super backed up. Donnie got a portrait mode picture of me in line and we were able to cut some people because they just don’t understand the fill in all available space thing. We also know where to stand in the stretching room to be the first ones through but that means we can never see the tightrope girl.



While in line for HM I grabbed a Small World fp that was ready right away. When we were exiting the ride there was a super long line in the wheelchair loading area. I don’t know why there was so many people, it’s not like they were all together! Maybe they just don’t have enough accessible boats.

Continued in next post​

 

[Gina Starr]

Day 8 Part 2

It was about 1:40 at this time and I had heard we should leave 90 minutes early for our adr (totally unnecessary) so we only had time for a few more things. We hadn’t seen Phillharmagic yet and we were already in Fantasyland so why not! The line was like almost outside! Which was good I guess cause it meant the next show should be starting soon. I don’t know about anyone else but my eyes hate 3D. I have to shut one of them to even make it look 3D and Phillharmagic is particularly bad when it comes to the 3D. I still have to do it every trip though. I got us a fp for Little Mermaid next and when we got in line we heard an announcement that it was taking longer than expected but don’t get out of line. We were still in the outside part of the fp que when we heard this so we abandoned it because I didn’t want to be late for Hoop Dee Doo because of a ride we have done a million times.


We started to head out and stopped for the Mickey popcorn bucket (sans popcorn) that Donnie wanted and got some Main Street pictures. There was a photopass cm in training and she had this idea to look at the ground and she would count to three and we would look up right at three so we weren’t squinting. It sounded smart but either I didn’t get it or it just didn’t work cause we got these gems.




(It must have just been me cause Donnie looks normal)


(We did get several normal ones too but they all looked like this one)

We got to the boat at 2:35 and listened to a super annoying family behind us. I think it was two sets of grandparents, and then two families with kids. Neither mom wanted to pay attention to their kids and the dads were talking to each other. I could tell they were going to Hoop and told Donnie I hope they don’t sit near us.


On the boat ride over I was refreshing looking for whatever fp we could get. I saw 5 different ones for FOP but they were all too early (like 5:30ish) and we figured we’d go back to the room after dinner and the show anyways. We got to Ft. Wilderness at 3:05 which was way too early. I thought with dinner at 4, they would start letting people in at like 3:30. Nope, they didn’t even start seating everyone til 4. Oh well, we looked around the gift shop which was super small and sat on the porch in the rocking chairs until we could check in. I checked in and went back to the rocking chair til it was almost 4. Your table is preassigned so it’s not like getting seated first does you any good.


The salad and corn bread were on the table waiting for us when we were seated. We booked tier 2 because we read tier 1 parties of 2 get seated right next to the stage. If you were facing the stage we were the second table back on the left. There’s really not a bad seat in the house but we had to maneuver chairs to avoid the pole. It was at this time we realized the annoying family was seated RIGHT next to us. They actually weren’t annoying at all during the show but did get a lot of attention during the audience participation parts. The server got our drink order and Donnie couldn’t pass up a free sangria. Neither one of us drink at home. I hate alcohol and if I drink a mixed drink I’m known to say that it would taste better without the alcohol. So I went with water. Donnie said the sangria was super strong so that was his only one.


The chef came over next and said the only things I couldn’t eat were the cornbread and the fried chicken but everything else was safe. And he was gonna make me something special for dessert. I could have sworn I read they offered gluten free corn bread but oh well, not the end of the world. (The definitely do have gf cornbread. I follow a gf Disney food blogger on Instagram and she just posted about HDDR- it was like her meal was entirely different from mine) The salad was good but the italian dressing was really strong. I found myself going for seconds which I would never do with salad but I think I was just super hungry.

The show started and Donnie had the biggest grin on his face the whole time. His favorite character was Claire she looked just like Kimmy Gibler from Full House to me and it was seriously distracting me. It’s totally not a bad thing but it’s all I thought of when I saw her. I thought they were all good but my favorite was Six Bits! The food was delicious and I got baked chicken instead of fried and it was yummy. When the strawberry shortcake came out I got a bowl of the strawberry shortcake topping without the cake. So the strawberries, sauce, and whipped cream. And two small chocolate chip cookies. Now I try not to dwell on things I can’t eat and most of the time I don’t care what I’m missing but they sing an entire song about strawberry shortcake and the chef says he’s making a special dessert for me and I felt a little ripped off. Beggars can’t be choosers. We still had a great time and it’s on our must do list!





I considered getting a Minnie Van but I realized we’d have to hop on an internal bus to do that and there was already a MK bus there waiting for us so we just got on that one and transferred to the FQ bus when we got there. I briefly considered going into MK since we were right there but I was tired! It was only 6:15 but we had an early (for us) wake up call that day and early-ish the next day so just went back to FQ. We got drinks in our mugs and sat in the massage chairs for a little while. Once we got back to the room we decided to start American Crime Story: Versace. Yep, we pick quality family friendly television to watch while in Disney. I think we watched 3 episodes and went to bed.

Coming up next: Animal Kingdom​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Joining in (late) to the party!

Hoop is one of my favorite things to do- glad you guys liked it!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great time in MK and a really fun night at HDDR! I hope to go there one day! I love your matching shirt too

 

[Cloe Colton]

I'm glad you started to feel better! Its no fun at all being sick on vacation! I had a cold on our cruise and it was tough to power through!

What a great HDDR experience! DH and I are doing it in September and I can't wait! I am pretty sure the Minnie Vans CAN pick up right outside HDDR though! Its like MK where they get special access! I definitely plan on using one when we have dinner here! (At least to get to dinner!)