“Mom, you just beat cancer, what are you going to do next?!” I'M GOING TO WDW! Sept 18 *NEW 8/22

Day 2, Part 2: It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

We had finished up our eventful and longer than expect breakfast at BOG and head on our way. We are roamers at heart and really just like walking around the park and taking it all in. Plus we were digesting so a ride didn’t seem like a good idea.

We stopped by the castle walls in Fantasyland and took a few pictures before continuing on.


I make my own ears shop so I’m always taking pictures of ears to have a stash to post on my instagram(s) @wayhograce & @wayhoears





We walked through the Tangled bathrooms area and of course I took some more pictures there. Tangled is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies and I adore all the great theming in this area.







Next we headed to The Haunted Mansion so I could take a few pictures of my new HM bow on my ears. Before this trip (literally the night before :rotfl:) I decided to make my ears have an interchangeable bow feature so I could have one pair of ears and just swap the bows out, so this was a special bow I made for the interchangeable ears.









This bow was A LOT of work so I was really proud of it and excited to take pictures. Mom sat over in a shady spot and caught up on Facebook.

It started pouring right at noon and I ran back to where mom was sitting and put the ears away and took the umbrella out. We were tucked under a tree hiding from the downpour, and when it let up a tiny bit we ran over into Memento Mori for some shelter.

I wear Birkenstocks a lot, including this day, which are not great rain shoes. And man was is pouring! I debated taking them off to when we ran for shelter, but I toughed it out.


The ran passed and we walked towards the front of the park. We stopped at the Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe to take some more pictures and look around. A Christmas sneak peak! (<-- I wrote this update back in September, so no Grace, this isn’t a sneak peak now cause you took so long to post it, it’s a thing of the past) It started raining again and we had to duck under that structure by the castle with 20 other people. After a few minutes, we decided it wasn’t raining too bad so we decided to brave the sprinkling and walk down Main Street.


Christmas Ears!






We left MK at 12:40pm and we walked to the Contemporary to catch the bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We waited for a while for the DAK bus, one had just driven away when we were walking over to the bus stop. It was so dang hot and steamy waiting for that bus! And there was no airflow underneath the bus platform. I had bought little handheld fans for us before our trip and they were coming in handy! Well not mine.. :confused: It didn’t work well. The battery didn’t hold a charge and the fan strength was pathetic. I used mom’s because she wasn’t using it and it helped me get it through the wait.

The bus came at 1:10 and we arrived at DAK at 1:30. We stopped to take some pictures on the way in.





We were running a little late for our fastpasses, but I was able to switch them to later times on the app during the bus ride. We headed straight to Asia to ride Everest. We stopped at a frozen lemonade cart to get one of the green poison apple mugs for my friend Jae and a frozen lemonade. After our purchases we continued on to Asia, we stopped quickly before getting on Everest because mom got a phone call. While she was on the phone I spilled the remainder of the frozen lemonade all of my shirt somehow. I know, I am very talented at spilling things.










The green poison apple cup for my friend, Jae! Jae is the best! We met on our DCP and she ended up staying down here for about another year or two and I came and visited her, but she had recently moved back home to Ohio and was missing Disney! And she reallyyy wanted this cup! It was HUGE!

I cleaned up my shirt from the frozen lemonade spill and mom finished her phone call, and then we headed onto Everest. We had a fastpass, but the standby line was only posted at 10 minutes anyway. The park was pretty dead.



Continued…
 
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Day 2, Part 3: Pandora? Like the Jewelry?

Once we’d spotted the Yeti and lived to tell the story, we headed over to Africa for a safari! I stopped at a pin stand on the way there and bought some mystery pin packs and other pins. I got the ice cream pin set, two little mystery pouches, a Coco pin, and a Roger Rabbit 30th anniversary pin to gift to my dad. Then we headed over to safari but had a few minutes to kill so we poked around the gift shops.








All the pins I bought



We had to stop at the Fichwa Mickey wall for some pictures!




We jumped on the Safari right at 2:35 with a FP but there was a really short standby line, too. Our safari guide was Raffi (I might have spelled that wrong, I didn’t see her name tag) and she was great! At the end of our safari she congratulated mom and was so sweet to her. We saw some great animals up close and personal which is always fun!










This is always one of my favorite spots on the safari!



Oh hey, Mr. Zebra!





After we got off the safari, my aunt Dianne called us to let us know she was going to be at the park soon. She lives in Florida down by Fort Myers and she had come up for the night to spend some time with us. We had a dining reservation at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge so we had her park there and take the bus over to the park.



We went to the front of the park to meet her and give her her magicband/tickets, and when she got in the park we went to Guest Relations to see if they could match our one last fastpass for her. Since it was so last minute, her deciding to come up, we weren’t able to get her FP beforehand. But luckily the Guest Relations CM was able to make some magic for us and give her the same FP as us. He was so nice, I can’t remember his name but he was from the same part of Florida as my aunt so we had fun chatting with him about.

We walked over to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage. This was our last FP for the day and we were very appreciative that they were able to give one to Dianne, too. The standby line wasn’t nearly as long as you usually here it is. I believe it was 80 minutes.


This was also all of our first time’s being in Pandora so it was awesome to see it finally! Back in May 2016, Mom and I were flying home from Disney sitting next to an Imagineer who was working on Pandora and he showed us some sneak peak pictures of the “floating mountains” he had on his phone. And then in 2017 I was there in March, just a few weeks before it opened but didn’t get a chance to see it! We were seriously blown away!











I had no idea what to expect for FOP. I purposely hadn’t watched any videos or seen any footage of it or really heard anything about it other than it was amazing. I actually thought it was on a track like Tron, I REALLY was going in blind. :rotfl: But I loved it, it was amazing.


After FOP, we got in line for Navi River. The posted wait time was 50 minutes, but we only waited 35 minutes. It was really good, I thought the animatronic was amazing. The air conditioning was even more amazing. But it was a little slow, but we knew that going in. We got off the ride and headed out of the park. I stopped and took a few pictures, then we grabbed a bus to DAKL.

*I hate to admit, but we’re not big Avatar people. My mom and aunt have both actually never seen it. And I’ve seen all of it in parts, but never in full. I really need to sit down and watch it. So my aunt really have no idea what Pandora was and we were trying to explain it to her. I think once she saw it and rode the rides she got it a little bit. Mom at least knew what the movie was and like sort of understood it.*

All in all, we really enjoyed Pandora! I had wanted to try Satu’li Canteen, but we had to go eat dinner. :hyper:









Bye DAK!


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Day 2, Part 4: The One Where We Eat All The Food

We left the park at 5:10, and our dinner reservation was at 5:40. There was a DAKL bus waiting for us, and we got to Kidani Village at 5:25. We checked into Sanaa at 5:25 for dinner and had a just a little bit of a wait before being seated. This was our first time dining at Sanaa! We’ve ate at Boma before and really enjoy it there!











We sat outside while we waited, it wasn’t too hot. There were quite a few other people in the same area as us so it was a little snug. We had a good time looking at the animals that were out and about. I, however, do not like bees. At all. Actually I love bees, I think they’re really amazing and great. I don’t like when they’re anywhere near me though and there were quite a few hanging out in the same area as us and it was freaking me out, so I stood by the door while I waited.



I got a text that our table was ready and we headed in. Our server was Michael from Mount Morris, MI and he gave me major Woody Harrelson vibes.


We used the dining plan for mom and I, and we ordered the bread service with all nine sauces to start and we were able to do that rather than get dessert. Mom and I both ordered Malawi Mango Margaritas and it was so so good!





For the bread service it comes with Breads - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Accompaniments - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle.

I really couldn’t tell the difference between the naan breads, except for the spice one which was spicy as heck. I don’t like spicy stuff so I steered clear of the spicier things but I did try a little bit of all of them. We all felt the Garlic Pickle was gross, and I really like the roasted red pepper hummus, the tomato-date jam, and the tamarind chutney. I’m not a big fan of coriander and cilantro either so I wasn’t a fan of the coriander chutney.


Our server Michael was chatting with us about his favorite combos, we didn’t do too much mixing of sauces but we did a little! It was hard to remember what you were mixing with what after a while because there were so many different combinations.

For entrees, mom ordered the Potjie Inspired with the butter chicken, braised beef, cilantro-coconut vegetables, and basmati rice and I order the South African Braaivleis - fire-grilled meats with traditional accompaniments. Dianne order the Potjie Inspired with spicy Durban shrimp, cilantro-coconut vegetables, and basmati rice. Mom got to an extra because we were on the dining plan. We loved the butter chicken, and I really like the braised beef, mom wasn’t too crazy about that. None of us were crazy about the cilantro-coconut vegetables. I really like the fire-grilled meats, the lamb was a little small but good!



Mom’s plate: Potjie Inspired with butter chicken and braised beef


My plate: South African Braaivleis


Dianne’s plate: Potjie Inspired with spicy Durban shrimp

We enjoyed Sanaa and were glad we tried it, we’re not sure we’d go back soon. We did like it, but we didn’t love it. We’re not very adventurous eaters when it comes to spice so it wasn’t really up our alley, but we definitely see why people love it! And we really really enjoyed the butter chicken! And the mango margaritas! We’d make the trip back for those!


We left Sanaa at 7:00pm, made a pit stop at the restrooms, and hang out on the balcony for a little while longer and admired the view and the animals.





I find Animal Kingdom Lodge so amazing. I remember my parents went on a trip without my sister and I in 2004 and stayed here and raved about it for so long. It’s very high on my list of resorts to stay at!

We left DAKL and found Dianne’s car in the parking lot and drove over to the TTC. Mom and looked around for our family brick from 1997. I found it back in 2015 when I was on my DCP, and it was pretty faded then. We didn’t have luck finding it in the dark, but we planned on coming back on Thursday to look.


We rarely drive/park/go to the TTC, but I really just love these arrows!





I was trying so hard to zoom in on this old instagram picture and see our brick number but had no luck at all!


We took the monorail to MK and got into the park at 8:10pm. Happily Ever After was at 8:30pm so we walked down Main Street to right near Casey’s Corner and scoped out a spot for the fireworks. This was my first time seeing HEA and I was really excited to see it. I’m a huge fan of Wishes so I was resistant to Happily Ever After.

I really liked it, but it’ll never take the place of my one true love, Wishes. I got emotional when the Moana scene came on because I’m a big ole baby, and I thought it was a really cute show.







In the past, I’ve taken my DSLR to Disney and take a zillion pictures during the fireworks, and then never go through them or delete the bad ones off my computer but I actually know the settings on that so I can get a lot of good pictures. This trip I had my new Canon G7X which I love, but I couldn’t figure out the fireworks feature so I only got a few good ones, but I was also just trying to take it all in for the first time.

After the fireworks we headed over to Tomorrowland, stopped at the purple wall for a quick photo, and got one ride in before the park closed at 9:00pm. We used our bonus FP from breakfast on Buzz. It was a good ride, I always love Buzz!




Is anyone else’s natural instant to throw up a peace sign? Or is it just me?




We tried to hop on Peoplemover too, but they closed the line right before we could get on. We headed out of the park while Once Upon A Time was projecting on the castle. We stopped in the Confectionary because we wanted a sweet but nothing was speaking to us. I asked them if they still made my favorite rice krispies with peanut butter chips on them and I was told that they don’t! Which was the saddest thing I’d heard all day!



We left the park at 9:10 and the monorail line looked insane so we opted for the ferry. The line at the ferry was absolutely insane as well, but we hoped it would be faster because more people fit on the ferry. They probably took about the same time. We got to the TTC at 9:50 and were back at the car by 10. We drove back to the Boardwalk, parked the car, and headed to the room. We went down to the bakery to grab a snack. I got a key lime pie, and mom got a fruit tart.

I saw one key lime pie left and then as I went to ordered it wasn’t in the case anymore but the person before me didn’t order it. I asked about it and the cashier ran backstage and grabbed it. I think one of the cast members wanted to buy it so they were tucking it away cause the store was about to close. I felt really bad, but I also really wanted the key lime pie. :littleangel:

We popped in Ample Hills Creamery and Dianne got an ice cream. Then we headed back up to the room with our treats. My key lime pie was so delicious. I only ate half of it and put the rest in the fridge for later.


I opened my pins that I bought at MNSSHP yesterday and at DAK today. Mom and Dianne both passed out quickly and I fall asleep shortly after. It was a long day and we were all ready to sleep sleep sleep.

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Sounds like such a great rest of the day from MK to AK to Dinner at AKL! So nice that your Aunt could join you and spend time with you! And really great that the CM could work some magic and get her a FP!

Love your ears btw :)
 


I'm surprised they couldn't at least give you a fastpass that was good for SDMT! I imagine many people there were doing both back to back. Hopefully they would get a pass to use their SDMT FP if they missed the window due to the fire drill!

Sounds like a great, fun-filled day! I love the Haunted Mansion ears too, super cute!
 
Sounds like such a great rest of the day from MK to AK to Dinner at AKL! So nice that your Aunt could join you and spend time with you! And really great that the CM could work some magic and get her a FP!

Love your ears btw :)

It was a great day! I know we were so thankful for that CM's magic! And thank you!!

I'm surprised they couldn't at least give you a fastpass that was good for SDMT! I imagine many people there were doing both back to back. Hopefully they would get a pass to use their SDMT FP if they missed the window due to the fire drill!

Sounds like a great, fun-filled day! I love the Haunted Mansion ears too, super cute!

I know haha seems silly that with such a big inconvenience they couldn't give fastpasses that would work for anything. I think they didn't work for PPF either but I can't remember on that. Thank you!

I'm a little late to the party, but joining in! What an awesome reason to go to Disney!! Loving your TR so far!:D

Thanks for joining! Definitely a great thing to be celebrating!
 


Hey :wave2: Joining in!

Nice to see a fellow Boston girl! I'm on the south shore!

My mom and I did a mother/daughter trip last year and it was one of my favorites!

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip! I also followed your instagrams because your ears are adorable!
 
Hey :wave2: Joining in!

Nice to see a fellow Boston girl! I'm on the south shore!

My mom and I did a mother/daughter trip last year and it was one of my favorites!

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip! I also followed your instagrams because your ears are adorable!

Hi there! Thanks for joining! We're metrowest :goodvibes Mother/daughter trips are the besttt!
 
Day 3, Part 1: A Very DHS Morning

I woke up at 7:30am, but mom and Auntie Dianne were still asleep. I took a quick shower, got ready for the day, and then headed down to get coffee in our refillable mugs from the Boardwalk Bakery at 8:20am and brought it back up to the room for everyone.


They were doing yoga out on the lawn! I think it would be so fun to do something like this at the resort!





I filled our two mugs with coffee and figured we could split them between the three of us using one of the to go cups in the room. But I ended up surrendering my coffee to my aunt and grabbing some later.

I was a little confused by their being 4 different places you could fill up the mugs, I knew the bakery was one for sure so I went there, but I later found out that I could’ve saved some time and walking by filling them at the Bellevue Lounge which was at the bottom of the elevators in our building.



I got back to the room and packed my backpack for the day and we headed out a few minutes before 9:00am. The game plan was to get to DHS for opening, but we weren’t too stressed that we were a little behind schedule. We got to the friendship boat dock at 9:00am and were second in line. Mom wanted me to snap a picture of all our magic bands, such a content creator. The boat arrived at 9:05 and we docked at DHS at 9:25. I snapped a sneaky picture of one of the boat drivers because he looked like one of my friends.







Security was a breeze, they weren’t making everyone go through the metal detectors. I had to go through but mom didn’t. We headed straight towards Toy Story Land to get in line for Slinky Dog Dash. The posted wait time was 70 minutes and we were full prepared to wait.



I wasn’t able to get a FP for SDD so we knew if we wanted to ride it we would have to wait in a long line. Luckily the line was moving quick and actually only took 35 minutes rather than 70! We chatted with the people in from of us, the daughter had just graduated from college and they were from Omaha, Nebraska.





We thought SDD was so much fun! Definitely worth the 35 minute wait, and definitely worth that long trek to the back of the park!

We got of Slinky Dog and I was already sweating! And it was only 10am! We headed over to Alien Swirling Saucers. Mom and I had a fastpass but Dianne didn’t so we hopped in the standby line which had a posted wait time of 25 minutes. The line took 20 minutes but it didn’t even feel like that long.

At the FP checkpoint mom spied a list of Toy Story trivia questions and asked me them. I got all them except for one! The ride was a lot of fun, I rode solo and I was flying from side to side. This ride really reminded me of the Tow Mater ride in DCA and I loved that ride, too!



When we got off Aliens, we stopped at Woody’s Lunch Box for a
Lunch Box Tart! The ovens were down so they were only serving certain things. Luckily they still had the tarts! A cast member was walking around with samples of the tarts so I had a sample of the chocolate-hazelnut tart.



My plan was to get both tarts when I ordered, but my sample was pretty big so I felt pretty satisfied on the chocolate-hazelnut front. So I ordered a raspberry tart and split it with mom. Dianne had tried the raspberry tart sample so she passed. We sat for a while until I bugged them enough to get up and move onto the next thing. I stopped to get some pictures in front of the Pixar ball. It was hilarious because though there was a small line by the ball people walking by were so oblivious to the fact that anyone would want to take a picture in front of it. They’d just walk right in the middle and stop there. Like uh hello? Excuse me.



After snapping a few pictures, we hopped in line for Toy Story Mania, which is an absolute favorite of mine and mom’s. The line was 30 mins and we had a lot of fun chatting with the family in front of us. They were FL locals, a mom and her 3 year old. The little girl was so cute and kept saying the funniest things. They said they hadn’t been to DHS before even though they’re APs. They spend most of their time at MK and Epcot, which was crazy to me! We were on the ride in no time.





I beat mom’s score, but I didn’t get highest score in car. On the way out I made mom stop at the popsicle wall and snap some trendy pictures for me. Having a Disney Instagram and not living near Disney can make your trips exhausting because you’re trying to take enough pictures to last you until your next Disney trip. :rotfl:








Seriously, I’m so proud of these ears. They were a heck ton of work but they turned out great so that’s really all that matters.



I really wanted to get a picture of just the Pixar ball. I absolutely adore Pixar, I’ve written papers on them, I’m obsessed with them, it’s my dream to work for them, and I actually got very close one time! So I really just wanted a picture of this dang ball, but there was this family that I KID YOU NOT, walked by and stopped right in front of it/me when it was finally my turn to take my picture. They had a family pow wow for like at least 7 minutes and I was like.. Um hi? I didn’t want to say anything because I was in no rush, but they were just so oblivious to that fact that I was trying to take a picture of it, or that there was a line of people behind me who also wanted pictures of or with it. Eventually they moved and I could take my picture and move on with my life.







We moseyed on over toward Tower of Terror, we had a Fastpass coming up but we still had some time to kill. We popped in a gift shop and looked at some options for my sister. She wanted something from TSL so we sent her a few pictures of different options. She ended up picking the Alien Cup. We stopped to watch the citizens of Hollywood for a few minutes and I popped into the pin stand and bought some pin packs.







We got over to Tower of Terror and walked right on. The wait time was posted at 10 minutes but we had a fastpass so we used that. Auntie Dianne doesn’t like drop rides so she waited for us in the gift shop. We had a great ride, but we love TOT so we think every time is great.


Mom’s face is great

After the ride, mom had another phone call and we were figuring out to do. My mom’s an important lady at her work and is literally always on the phone, I don’t mind it or really even notice it honestly, but in case you’re wondering why she’s always on the phone.

I was poking around the TOT gift shop and this woman started chatting me up about my ears. She asked where I got them and if she could get them in the parks. I told her I made them and she literally asked if she could buy them off my head or if I had any more ears with me she could buy. I was flattered but I wasn’t about to give up any of my ears, especially these ones that took me forever to make and were my only pair at the moment. I told her my instagram name so she could look me up if she wanted.

We left Sunset Boulevard and started walking towards the front of the park. I love walking through gift shops, I honestly LOVE merchandise. During my DCP, I worked in merchandise and I just honestly love looking at stuff, so I always make it a point to walk through gift shops. As we walked through we took some pictures of spirit jersey to send my niece options because she has an obsession with spirit jerseys.

We finally left the park and made our way over to the boat dock to catch a boat over to Epcot. We left the park at around 1:00 and waited about 20 minutes for a boat, there was a long line and we were on the second boat that came. When the first boat left and the line moved up were just almost under the awning. You may have noticed that I’m extremely fair skinned. Well as you might have also guessed, I burn very easily. I’m pretty good about applying sunscreen, but I guess I was hungry and delirious today. I ended up with a gnarly sunburn on just one of my arms from this 20 minutes in the sun later in the day.

We boarded our boat at about 1:15 and docked at Epcot at 1:40. We could’ve gotten off and walked from Beach Club, but we were very content just staying on the boat.


Continued…

 
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Joining in...great pics. Congrats on your mom. May good health continue.
We are from the Boston area too in the North Shore. We were just there in January.
So fun. But hard to manage to get everything in with a group of 10.
 
What a fun morning in TSL getting to do all 3 rides! The popsicle wall is a picture must! And those ears are awesome, I am not surprised that someone stopped you about them!!
 
Glad you had a good morning at DHS. Sounds like you hit all of TSL without huge waits which is awesome! I am obsessed with those ears! OMG they are amazing! No wonder that lady stopped you lol.
 
Joining in...great pics. Congrats on your mom. May good health continue.
We are from the Boston area too in the North Shore. We were just there in January.
So fun. But hard to manage to get everything in with a group of 10.

Thanks for joining in! And thank you! Woo Boston Party!! :cool1: That's so fun! We're going as a group of 9 in August!

What a fun morning in TSL getting to do all 3 rides! The popsicle wall is a picture must! And those ears are awesome, I am not surprised that someone stopped you about them!!

I know it put such false expectations for TSL in my mind, we did not have the same luck this weekend :rotfl: Thank you!

Glad you had a good morning at DHS. Sounds like you hit all of TSL without huge waits which is awesome! I am obsessed with those ears! OMG they are amazing! No wonder that lady stopped you lol.

Such a good morning! We hit all the things we wanted too! Thank you so much!
 
Day 3, Part 2: The One With All The Snacks

We hopped off the boat and headed into Epcot through the International Gateway. Seriously this is my favorite way to enter Epcot! Anyone else agree?

We headed over to France and ordered ourselves a feast from the France F&W Pavilion. We used a quick service credit to order 3 snacks. We got the
Croissant aux Escargots, Carbonade de Boeuf Purée de Pommes de Terre, and Crème Brûlée à la Confiture de Framboises with our snack credit and we ordered La Passion Martini Slush as well!




Croissant aux Escargots: Escargot Croissant with Garlic and Parsley


Carbonade de Boeuf, Purée de Pommes de Terre: Beer-braised Beef with Bacon, Onion and Mashed Potatoes


Crème Brûlée à la Confiture de Framboises: Crème Brûlée with House-made Raspberry Jam


La Passion Martini Slush: Vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, Cranberry and Passion Fruit Juice



We found a high top table and hung out for a little. I really enjoyed all of these! The croissant and beef were particularly good, and the slush was amazing! I didn’t love the creme brûlée as much as I thought I would, but I am a bit of a creme brûlée snob if I’m being honest. :snooty:

Next stop was Belgium and Brazil! In Belgium, mom and I ordered the
Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes and my aunt ordered the Moqueca from Brazil. Both were very good!




Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes




Moqueca: Brazilian Seafood Stew featuring Scallops, Shrimp and White Fish with Coconut-lime Sauce and Steamed Rice

We kept trekking along making our next stop in Japan. Mom and I ordered
Teriyaki Chicken Bun to split and my aunt ordered on for herself. Mom cut ours in half and it was a little on the lacking side in the fillings department. My aunts was sooo full, but hey that’s alright it happens.




Teriyaki Chicken Bun: Steamed bun filled with Chicken, Vegetables and a Sweet Teriyaki Sauce



Next stop: Italy! We ordered the
Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila, in the little F&W book it said it was frozen, so I ordered “frozen” and they told me that was a mistake it’s not frozen. We still got it anyway but I was looking forward to it being frozen since it was so hot out!









As we walked past Norway we decided to check out the line for Frozen Ever After. The posted wait time was 80 minutes but the cast member outside said it was more like 50-60 minutes. We hopped in line, excited to be inside in the AC regardless of the wait! The line only took 25 minutes and we were quickly journeying through Arendelle.

Our next treat was from Hawaii! I ordered the
Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts! This was one I had been looking forward to since I read about it online. I love cheesecake and I love macadamia nuts!



We continued our walk around World Showcase and ducked back out at the International Gateway and took the boat over to the Boardwalk around 4:30. We could’ve walked, but we were all really tired AND it was so stinking hot! Plus the boat dropped us off in just 5 minutes!

When we got back to the hotel, mom and Dianne both laid down and took naps. I on the other hand decided to head down to the pool.

I had bought this pin pack in DHS and I guess I decided to open it as well.





I hung out by the pool just for a little while, I swam and even went down the water slide. I know I’m a “grown up” but hey I’m still a little kid! I want to go down the water slide, too! Little kid me would’ve been on cloud nine for this water slide! I headed back up to the room after about half an hour at the pool. It had started raining while I was down there and I need to get ready for dinner anyway!

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Day 3, Part 3: The One With The Fancy Dinner

Mom and I got ready for dinner and Auntie Dianne got ready to head back home. We walked her down to her car and then call a Minnie Van to take us over to the Contemporary. Not before taking some pictures of course!





We left for dinner at 6:50 and our reservation was at 7:35. There was a few other people waiting for Minnie Vans, as well. They didn’t seem to understand that they were assigned a specific number van and it would have that number on it when it got there. They tried to get in ours and we kindly explained to them the whole number thing.



We were quickly on our way to the Contemporary. I can’t remember anything about our driver or this experience. It was fine overall. I do however remember that I jammed my pinky finger when I got out of the car and honestly it was a swollen and hurting for a full month after! I’m not really sure what happened, but somewhere in the middle of trying to unbuckle, pick up my stuff, and open the door I essentially punched the door and my pinky got jammed up somehow. I wiped my few tears from the hand/pink/door incident, and we headed inside and upstairs to check in for the California Grill!



When we booked this trip and got the dining plan we decided we definitely wanted to do a signature dining experience and use two of our dining credits for that. We landed on California Grill because we had heard such good things about dinner! And we were able to get a time that would allow us to see the firework as well!

Shortly after checking in, we were taken in the elevator up to the restaurant. We were sat at 7:30 and our server was
Lisa from Trenton, NJ. She gave mom a bag of pixie dust for her celebration of being cancer free!





We ordered wine to start. Mom ordered a Kim Crawford Reserve, Chardonnay I believe, and I ordered a Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, NZ. I can’t remember which one, but that’s always my go-to. We ordered the
Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli to start.




Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - Tomato-Fennel Broth, crispy Mushrooms, Tiny Basil, Benziger Estate Olive Oil

The ravioli came at 8:00pm, it was so so so good. I’m pretty sure we had already ordered dinner before the appetizer came. I decided on the salmon and mom went with the rib-eye steak. I don’t see my exact item on the menu anymore, but it came with a really really good side! I think it was the Ora King Salmon. Dinner came at 8:20pm.


Possibly the Ora King Salmon - Brentwood Corn Spoon Bread, Lychee Glaze, Grilled Hearts of Palm, Pommery Vinaigrette


Rib-Eye Steak - Honey Saffron-glazed Carrots, Aged Gouda Mac and Cheese, Triple Garlic Butter





Happily Ever After was at 8:30 this night, so we took a few bites of our food and then our server came over and asked if she wanted us to have her get warming dishes to put over our food so we could go out on the deck and enjoy the fireworks. Our food had come right at 8:20 and she had apologized and said that the kitchen had been backed up, usually they’re able to time it better.



We went out on the deck right before the fireworks started and enjoyed the show. It was a really fun way to watch HEA and of course they had the music playing and had dimmed the lights in the restaurant. We headed back inside to finish our food and decide which desserts to get! I settled on the
Masumoto Peach Crème Brûlée and mom got the Pear-Blueberry Crostata.


Masumoto Peach Crème Brûlée - Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée, Fresh Masumoto Peaches, Lemon Thyme-Oat Crumble, Cinnamon Sponge Cake Croutons


Pear-Blueberry Crostata - Local Blueberry Crostata with Cornmeal Crumble, Popcorn Ice Cream, Salted Popped Sorghum

Our server, Lisa, also brought us two glasses of champagne as a little magical moment to celebrate mom!





We finished up dinner and left absolutely stuffed! Dessert had come at 9:30, so we probably left around 10pm. On the elevator ride back down, a woman in our elevator had on a light pink Magicband with snacks all over it! That was the first time I had seen that band, and I was absolutely obsessed! I had to have it! I found it on the app but it said it was sold out online and there were only a couple shops that said they had them.



We went down stairs and called a Minnie Van. We could’ve gone over to MK and taken a bus, but we were both super tired and not feeling it. I remember this Minnie Van took a while to get there. When we got back to the hotel, I had to go out for a run. I wasn’t quite ready to give up on my run streak even though I had hit my 100 day goal. So I headed out around the boardwalk for my 1 mile minimum.







The Boardwalk is so well lit and full of people that I felt totally safe running in the dark that late though normally I don’t like to run in the dark. After my quick run, I took a quick shower and fell right to sleep.

Continued...
 
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All the food from F&W looks so good!

What a nice dinner with your mom! :goodvibes Such a sweet memory to have! Also her steak has me drooling!!
 

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