*8/24 Update: Our Intentions Were Good, But The Treats Were Better: One Month in Disney (4/21-5/21)

[mickey916]

Here's our cookie ranking. It was a really tight race between the Pistachio Toffee Cookie from Gideon's and the Riviera Cookie. The Riveira cookie is served warm and that gives it a slight edge but when we heated up the Pistachio Toffee Cookie in our room's microwave, it soared to the top. Either way the top four cookies are phenomenal.

Cookies
Pistachio Toffee Cookie, Gideon's	A+
Riviera Cookie, Primo Piatto	A+
Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie, Kringla	A+
Peanut Butter Cookie. Summerhouse Cookie Bar	A+
Frankenstein Bite, Gideon's	A
Bride of Frankenstein Bite, Gideon's	A
Chocolate Hazelnut cookie, Sunshine Seasons	A-
Chocolate Chunk Cookie, Les Halles	A-
Coconut Macaroon, Java (Swan)	A-
Chocolate chip cookie, Boma buffet	B+
Smores cookie, Landscape of flavors	B+
Apple Pie Cookie, Zuri's Sweet Shop	B
Cherry Pie Cookie, Sunshine Seasons	B
Banana chip cookie bites, Gideon's	B
Trail Mix Cookie, Trail's End	B
Oatmeal Scotchie, Summerhouse	B
Earl of Sandwich Chocolate Chip	C+
Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookie, Karamel Kuche	C+
Krispy cookie, Summerhouse Cookie Bar	C
Dahlia Cookie Flight	C
Mickey Snickers, Main St. Confectionery	C
Gasparilla Signature Cookie	C-

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Sorry, I’m having trouble with quotes. I used to know how to use them. I’ll figure it out later.

mickey916 says:
“The guy got a chuckle out of it too. The couple had been married two days. We're going on 34 years....”

Congrats to you guys for 34 years together. And many more great times ahead.
If anyone wondered about the glue that holds you two together, I’d have to say peanut butter. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

 

[mickey916]

Congrats to you guys for 34 years together. And many more great times ahead.

Thank you so much!

If anyone wondered about the glue that holds you two together, I’d have to say peanut butter. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

I think you may be onto something here...maybe with a little added chocolate too!

 

[mickey916]

Our final ratings category is specialty drinks. We mostly drank water and soda, Diet Coke for me, Coke Zero or Coke for DH. I made coffee for myself most days with a travel Keurig I bring on roadtrips so other than the delicious Iced Coffee from Trattoria Al Forno and the hot coffee from Boma & 1900 Park Fare, I didn't really order coffee (unless you count the Frappuccino). So, the remaining drinks we tried are ranked below:

Drinks
Pineapple Coconut Slushy, The Market, HS	A
Hot Butterbeer, Leaky Cauldron, Universal	A
Apple Slushy, Screendoor, Boardwalk	A
Ponche de Frutas, Dahlia Lounge	A
Pineapple Float, Epcot Pineapple Promenade	B
Shangri-La Berry Freeze, Warung Outpost, AK	B
Ghiradelli Chocolate Shake	B
Night Blossom, Pongu Pongu	B
Frozen Strawberry Lemonade, Friars Nook	B-
Starbucks Frappucino, Connections Cafe	C
Starbucks Double Chocolate Creme, Connections Cafe	C

 

[mickey916]

That's a Wrap!!
​

Well folks, that's my report of our one month trip. It was such a phenomenal trip. Our younger son was just saying yesterday what an incredible time we all had and how he's ready to go again. Before our trip I was wondering if we'd reach a point that we were there "too long" but it never happened. We just loved it so much and felt like we really had time to experience so much.

Our original plan for our next trip was to go for a couple weeks at the end of February/early March to exprience the Festival of the Arts and escape the cold and snow. Then, to do another long trip immediately after Easter into early May. When I looked at my countdown for those trips though they were just too far away. So, I convinced DH to go down at the end of October/early November just for 10 days to experience Food & Wine for the first time and see the fall decorations.

Well, DS-27 told us he wanted to ride the 611 train in Virginia which is only running from the end of September to the end of October. We decided since we were driving that way anyhow, we could add that to our trip. DS-27 also wants to see the Railroad Museum in Lancaster and ride the Cass Scenic Railroad in WV on the way, so we added a week. DS-29 wanted in on the fun and to go to Hershey Park, so he's coming along too for a portion. Then, DH surprised me with tickets to MNSSHP for my birthday so we added that in as well.

So, here's a preview of our planned itinerary, which I can't wait to write about! Lots of new to us stuff!

10/17 depart Mass arrive Lancaster, PA
10/18 Strasburg RR & Railroad Museum
10/19 Hershey Park Halloween
10/20 Hershey Gardens & Trolley Tour, visit Lititz, dinner at Shady Maple Smorgasbord
10/21 DS-29 flies home, we continue to Snowshoe, WV
10/22 Ride the train at Cass Scenic RR
10/23 Explore the area around Cass and head to Staunton, VA
10/24 Ride the 611 train
10/25 Explore Staunton area, drive to Charlotte
10/26 Drop DS-27 off at CLT, drive to Florida
10/27 Disney Springs/POFQ
10/28 Magic Kingdom, Beak & Barrel, MNSSHP (a first for us!)
10/29 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Hollywood Studios (New Little Mermaid show & Villians show)
10/30 Epcot (new Test Track!), Food & Wine, Le Creperie
10/31 Animal Kingdom, 'Ohana dinner
11/1 Epcot, Food & Wine, Space 220 Lounge (?)
11/2 Monorail Crawl, Grand Floridian Cafe, Magic Kingdom (Starlight parade)
11/3 Skyliner Crawl/Boardwalk, Boma for dinner
11/4 Epcot, Food & Wine, Via Napoli
11/5 Disney Springs, Old Key West, El Patron lunch buffet
11/6 Epcot, Garden Grill breakfast, drive to Charlotte
11/7 Drive to Lancaster
11/8 Drive home (avoiding 95).

Thank you everyone for following along and for all the great comments! I will post a link to the next report here and hope you will read along again!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

OMG I love that you have your itinerary all set already!! Wow!
And so great that the boys are joining you for part of it again! I wish my boys could do that. Maybe someday soon.
We are also doing F & W but only a long weekend. If you’ve never done it before, just know it’s a lot of food! We can’t usually even make ADRs. We share everything so we can try more. But then again we usually only have a few days.
Can’t wait to hear about this trip and that I don’t need to wait until April for a TR!

 

[mickey916]

OMG I love that you have your itinerary all set already!! Wow!
And so great that the boys are joining you for part of it again! I wish my boys could do that. Maybe someday soon.
We are also doing F & W but only a long weekend. If you’ve never done it before, just know it’s a lot of food! We can’t usually even make ADRs. We share everything so we can try more. But then again we usually only have a few days.
Can’t wait to hear about this trip and that I don’t need to wait until April for a TR!

We are planning on sharing everything and we have three full days at Epcot. Hope we get to try a lot of things! I did plan ADRs for dinners in case the lines were getting long for the booths but we may end up canceling them, especially Via Napoli. Glad to accommodate your need for an earlier trip report! Haha!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Oh, a fall trip! How exciting! I can’t wait!
How nice you will spend part of the time with your sons too. I like trains! You have so many fun activities planned.

I see your staying at POFQ. Now I’m sure the beignets had nothing to do with it, right?
I’ve been considering staying at POFQ at some point. I’ve stayed at POR 4x but like the idea of a smaller resort with only one bus stop, for a change. … Plus POR is just a walk or boat ride away, as you guys well know.

Thanks a bunch for the added cookie and drinks ratings!
I look forward to your autumn road trip to Disney World.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We are planning on sharing everything and we have three full days at Epcot. Hope we get to try a lot of things! I did plan ADRs for dinners in case the lines were getting long for the booths but we may end up canceling them, especially Via Napoli. Glad to accommodate your need for an earlier trip report! Haha!

We only have 3 days too (weekend ) and I feel like we don’t have enough time. Maybe you could squeeze in another day and avoid weekends which I’m sure you will.