A Bash, a Benson, and a Banshee: A DIS 20th Event Solo Trip ** new Aug 2nd, 2017 - Complete! **

[TheMaxRebo]

The "real" Heidi would be VERY excited to eat at Homecon' too, and she also can only hear Kevin's voice saying it "just that way". LOL And when it comes to food - NEVER an angel, ALwAYS a devil, much to my detriment!

Thanx for another great update, and can't wait to try this place for myself someday, as it's DEFINITELY on my "must try" list!!!

Guess that means I am relying on PJ as the Angel

It's funny as this wasn't originally at the top of my "must do" list but after the DIS team gave it such positive reviews and then there was interest in doing it as a group it moved up the list and I am glad to have tried it. I could see going back there with my family (though we would definitely split meals)

I enjoyed Homecomin' last Fall. I had the chicken with donuts. Subbed out the included mashed potatos for mac n cheese. Pecan Pie for dessert. It was very good. The fried chicken was great although, and this isn't a dig at all, the Florida Publix fried chicken is just as good. So a hint if you are in the Orlando area & can get to a Publix, you can great take out fried chicken from their deli section. the donuts weren't anything special but were fresh. I loved Homecomin's mac & cheese. Just yum. The pecan pie was incredible. Pecans are wildly $ in Canada so an absolute treat. My service was decent. Making a hard choice between Homecomin' and Raglan Road this Fall. The food at both is great. RR has the advantage of live bands & dancing. Tough call.

Good to know about the donuts as I did see that as an option and I like the concept, but if they aren't anything special probably not worth it.

I am a big fan of Raglan Road - especially the appetizer menu and I love their bread pudding (personally I think it is even better than 'Ohanas) - definitely tough decision!

I cannot wait to try Homecomin' on my upcoming trip in November. I love southern comfort food and fried chicken. I don't get it much at home because I'm trying to be healthy-ish.

I hate that they struggled so much with the bills, though! That would be so frustrating. The worst thing to me is feeling like I've been held hostage at a restaurant after I've already finished eating because they don't bring the check/take forever to process your payment/etc.

The good thing is that at Disney there are no calories as all dishes are made from pixie dust ---- plus on most days one walks like 17 miles so I think a little cheating is ok

It was definitely frustrating at the time - and also because we didn't see any servers really around that we could ask. I think if our server was checking on us and in communication with us during the time it wouldn't have been as bad - we just felt helpless

Wow! Your lunch looks downright drool worthy!

I hate when it takes forever to get a check settled. I've had that happen many times when doing separate checks. That's so annoying, especially when you want to get somewhere.

It was a pretty darn good lunch! I know doing separate checks makes things harder - but we asked how best to do it and they assured us it was no issue - and he got us our checks initially really quickly so it seemed like we were fine - it was when he took the payment that the wheels fell off

Phil...I had the same meal as you. And I didn't come close to finishing mine either. It was excellent tho. We could have split it if we were sitting at the same table. The mac and cheese side was way too much. It's a good spot and will go there again.

Ah, great minds think alike We definitely could have split it (and then maybe had room to split dessert too )

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh, we hung up (at least temporarily) the art I had gotten at the DIS 20th auction and thought I would post if you are interested in it - I think it is pretty neat and something a little unique (I'll add it to the post above, but thought I would include it here if you already read that post)

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Oh, we hung up (at least temporarily) the art I had gotten at the DIS 20th auction and thought I would post if you are interested in it - I think it is pretty neat and something a little unique (I'll add it to the post above, but thought I would include it here if you already read that post)

Nice score, congrats!!

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

Oh, we hung up (at least temporarily) the art I had gotten at the DIS 20th auction and thought I would post if you are interested in it - I think it is pretty neat and something a little unique (I'll add it to the post above, but thought I would include it here if you already read that post)

Those are beautiful! You made an excellent choice in those. I would frame those and hang them in my bedroom. I love that art style.

 

[GAN]

I then had to decide on what food to get. I did have some help for this part - though I am not sure who is the Angel and who is the Devil

I'm pretty sure you've got yourself a couple devils there! . Angels at heart though....

Lovin' the TR and the great memories! Looking forward to the finale...

 

[rteetz]

Glad you enjoyed Homecomin' with a great group of DISers!

 

[wdwnut61]

Glad you liked Homecoming it does get great reviews. The moonshine flight looks interesting might have to do some research
So nice you were able to share another meal with DIS friends
Congrats your purchases I love the prints.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Nice score, congrats!!

Thank you - I was pretty happy to get something I liked that the price didn't get outrageous for

Those are beautiful! You made an excellent choice in those. I would frame those and hang them in my bedroom. I love that art style.

Thank you! I definitely need to get them framed or at least covered in plexiglass or something - but wanted to get them up in some capacity for a bit at least

I'm pretty sure you've got yourself a couple devils there! . Angels at heart though....

Lovin' the TR and the great memories! Looking forward to the finale...

Well put! Thanks GAN - still a bit to cover before the big event, but getting closer!

Glad you enjoyed Homecomin' with a great group of DISers!

definitely a good meal with good company!

Glad you liked Homecoming it does get great reviews. The moonshine flight looks interesting might have to do some research
So nice you were able to share another meal with DIS friends
Congrats your purchases I love the prints.

Definitely need to do that research with the moonshine flight ... not something I'd want at every meal but was fun to do once here

Thank you!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I'm pretty sure you've got yourself a couple devils there!
[HEUSER=92438. [/QUOTE]

HEY NOW! I resemble that remark, @GAN!

 

[Chris B.]

Great Trip report. I can't wait to see Pandora in December.

 

[khertz]

Wow, that food looks delicious! We hardly ever spend much time at Disney Springs on our trip, but we are talking about having some down days on our next one, and this is a placed I'd love to try for lunch or dinner. The rave reviews on the podcast have really grabbed my interest. But bummer that the service went so downhill at the end.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great Trip report. I can't wait to see Pandora in December.

thank you. I am sure you will love just taking in Pandora - lots of details and I think they did a great job!

Wow, that food looks delicious! We hardly ever spend much time at Disney Springs on our trip, but we are talking about having some down days on our next one, and this is a placed I'd love to try for lunch or dinner. The rave reviews on the podcast have really grabbed my interest. But bummer that the service went so downhill at the end.

The food was great and definitely recommend it - i haven't really heard of many reports of bad service here so I think it was more of a one off (and even for ours it was quite good for most of the meal - just, like you said, went downhill)

It's definitely hard some trips to make the time to go to Disney Springs (and I know you recently have done the Disney/Universal combo so probably even harder to have down days) - but there are a lot of good places to eat there now so if you do have a down day or two I recommend it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 19: The Longest Trip to Geyser Point
Thursday June 1st 4:00pm - 6:00pm​

I got back to my room and planned/hope to rest for a bit but time was running a bit short so really just sort of freshened up and changed for the evenings activities - I would be heading out to a few meet-ups and then directly to the DIS 20th party. The plan was to meet up at various locations around the Magic Kingdom resorts and then take the EPCOT monorail over to EPCOT for the party. I had tried to keep track of who was interested in which parts of the evening - but was more of a rough guide:

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I headed out of my room a bit after 4pm and headed to the bus stop with plans to take the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the boat from there to the Wilderness Lodge to get to Geyser Point for the first part of the meet up. I got to the bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited. In the end it probably wasn't that long (15-20mins) but felt longer as buses for all the other locations (including multiple buses for DHS and Disney Springs) came so it was a bit frustrating.

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Then we got to the Magic Kingdom bus stop and here is where a change they had relatively recently implemented bit me in the, um, tookus. As you may know, in an effort to reduce the congestion in front of the train station, they have changed the security procedures for the Magic Kingdom so that you now go through security (including bag checks) at the TTC, at the resorts before getting on the monorail, the walking path from the Contemporary, and when you get off the buses. I knew this but didn't realize that I would need to go through security even if I wasn't going into Magic Kingdom, so I had to get in the long line for bag check (they only had 2 lanes open) and then was "randomly" selected to go through the metal detector, just so I could then get to the boat launches to leave the area. So that was a bit frustrating and took some more time.

I did stop for a few minutes to get a picture of the entrance to the Magic Kingdom as this was the closest I would get and the Flatties wanted their picture too

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I then found the correct boat launch and of course had a bit of a wait for the correct boat to get to Wilderness Lodge (although this wait wasn't that bad, so really can't complain about this segment). I got on the boat and decided to take a selfie to commemorate the moment (and show off my party outfit - had to wear the Little Mermaid button for the Jodi Benson concert) - and probably got my best selfie of the trip

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I then took a few pictures as we were traveling - including one of the Flatties on the boat - and also some video. While not always the quickest option I do love traveling by boat around WDW property as it can be pretty relaxing and you can get some pretty neat views

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I also always try to get a picture from the water bridge that shows the cars and buses going under the water - I just think it is a neat (and very impressive from an engineering standpoint) thing they did

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Before too long the Wilderness Lodge was coming into view - I must admit this would be my first time stepping foot in/near the Wilderness Lodge so I was pretty excited to check it out. We landed and then I walked along the long boardwalks they have and then did take one picture of the water play area (which looks like tons of fun) with the Lodge in the backgrouns

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Finally I arrived at Geyser Point (I had been messaging the DISers already there that I swore I was on my way) - in the end it took nearly 1.5 hours to get from POP to Geyser Point. If I had to do it over again I would have planned to go to a different park and then juts take the bus from there right to Wilderness Lodge rather than having to deal with the MK security and then I could have just gone on whatever the first park bus (other than MK) was to show up. Oh well, live and learn.

There were a number already there who had already ordered their drinks. We then moved to a larger table (actually, pushed a few together as there aren't really large tables there) and had our server take a picture of our group (although we had a fail in that @katmu showed up later and we didn't get a new picture)

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You can see at this point I had my drink and food. To drink I ordered the Black Cherry Mule (Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer) and it was really good - very refreshing and a little unique but nothing too out there. Definitely would order again. (though, at $11.25, maybe not too many of them - but I guess that is the going rater for specialty drinks at WDW nowadays). To eat I just got from the appetizer menu the Cheesy Barbecue Brisket - which was like a dip that was served with house-made chips. This too was very good and while not huge, was pretty filling and was great as a smaller meal for me.

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I do want to take a minute to point out that a number of people at our table ordered some form of burger - the adults the bison burger and the kids a regular burger - and pretty much universally they all hated them ... to the point basically no one could finish it. They were just very dry and then all had on this Marion Berry sauce that was just too much and didn't go well. For the most part people liked their drinks and the other appetizer/snacks ordered were good - so we all felt Geyser Point is a very good place for that (drinks and snacks) - and it is a very beautiful setting and has lots of TVs so probably a good place to watch sporting events - but maybe not the best place for a full meal.

After we finished up we decided we were ready to move on to the next stop - and we let other DISers know who were thinking of joining us but hadn't arrived yet at Geyser Point to just go to the next stop - which was Trader Sam's at the Poly.

We were debating the best way to get there but then realized we had enough room in cars to just drive over so that is what we did. That took us through the Wilderness Lodge lobby (not sure why I didn't take any pictures, probably because we were trying to be relatively quick). It definitely is an impressive space. I know some people consider it the best lobby/entrance of any WDW resorts - i think I need to spend more time taking in the details but on first glance I think I still prefer the main lobby at Animal Kingdom Lodge

 

[GAN]

Fatties

Ahem..... I'm pretty sure you mean "Flatties" !!!

I love the update....

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 20: Uh-Oa! it's Trader Sam's
Thursday June 1st 6:30pm - 8:40pm​

So we drove over to the Poly and the check-in guard was being pretty strict with letting people park there saying they needed to either be staying there or have an ADR at a table service location there. @GAN was in our car and was staying at the Poly so we were able to get in but the other car had to park at the TTC and then walk over. (We tried to contact them to let them know to say they were visiting GAN, but didn't get to them in time).

But were there, at one of my favorite resorts at WDW (and my dream location to stay one day) - the Polynesian! I love the entrance to the resort and have gone in the past to watch the torch lighting ceremony which is fun and the kids really enjoyed.

We got to the Grog Grotto and it was pretty full so we had to squeeze a bit at a smaller table and would gradually pull chairs up - we also ran into a couple of other DISers that were going to the party and were just there on their own. My favorite drink at Trader Sam's is the Shrunken Zombie Head but GAN was eyeing the Uh-Oa! (which is designed for more than one person) so I agreed to share that with him as I was interested in trying it at some point. I have to day - it was really tasty - nice mix of flavors and would definitely get it again (it's also one of the take-home mugs I don't have yet, so something to add to the collection in the future)

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It is also one of the (many) drinks they do a ceremony for - in this case they bring it out and ask everyone to chant "Uh-Oa! Uh-Oa! Uh-Oh-Oa-Oah!" and then light it on fire and sprinkle cinnamon on it to make it spark:

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There were a lot of drinks being ordered in the room that involved ceremonies and the server this evening were really into it so it was a lot of fun. One of my favorites was for the Tiki-tiki-tiki-rum which involved the server wearing a swim ring tube and spraying the crowd with water (you can see @katmu (Kat - who ordered one of these drinks) and @PrncessA, Sara, getting sprayed in this .gif)

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For round two I did want to try something else and previously someone had ordered a Dark and Tropical Stormy and let me try it and thought it was really good so I decided to order one of my own. For those of you that like Dark and Stormys, this is a really tasty version of it that is pretty true to the original but with a bit of added flavor to it from Falernum (which is a sweet syrup with the flavors of almond, ginger, and/or cloves) being added.

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At 8pm they do kick out anyone that is under 21 (in the funniest/nicest way possible of course ... hey, they do say "please get out!") and as we had a few younger DISers with us we decided to all move to the outside patio. While out there one of the younger DISers asked me to put on her Star Wars ears which I did for one of the oddest pictures of the trip

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One of the benefits of being on the outside patio is that they have one drink you can only get out there - the Spikey Pineapple - which has actual Dole Whip in it. So I got one of those - and got it "extra spikey" which involves a 151 floater on the top

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We continued to just chat and have a good time - and at about 8:40 we settled bills and head out to our last stop before heading to the party

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 21: Reach Out and Find Your Happily Ever After
Thursday June 1st 8:45pm - 9:20pm​

After finishing our beverages we walked over to the TTC. One of the new things that started at WDW at this point was the new Magic Kingdom Fireworks show Happily Ever After. I knew I wasn't having a n MK day this trip so no way to see it in the park, but I was hoping to see/hear the show from outside the park. A lot of other people were interested too so we made our way to the Ferry Dock at the TTC to watch from there. Spoiler alert - this is an *excellent* place to watch the show as you can hear it all, and see all the fireworks really well (possible even better in some cases than in the park). It's hard to make out all of the projections but if you know what is going on you can tell what is being projected.

When we got there we did get to see a bit of the Electric Water Pageant - which is one of my favorite things at WDW so I was glad to catch a bit of it

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We first did bio breaks and then I picked up an iced coffee from the coffee stand there (figured I would need the cafine for another long night) and then moved down to the Ferry Dock - and we got a pretty clear view of the Castle

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Then the show started - I tried to just enjoy the moment and the show but couldn't help take a few pictures (and the Flatties enjoyed the show too) ...

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.... and a few zoomed in towards the end ...

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... and a bit of video of the show as well. The first one, where you can make out the Hunchback projection scene, is zoomed in and I think in the last two you can see what I mean about being able to see all of the fireworks well from this viewpoint.

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I must admit that I was a bit sad when I heard they were replacing Wishes do to all the wonderful memories I have of watching it with my family (and I love the line "See what a little wishing can do?") but I have to say I think they did an amazing job with this show and it is a worthy replacement. After watching video of it with my oldest daughter I started to get some a bit of an emotional connection to the show as well (so much so that I wrote an article about it for the DIS - the link for which is in my signature *cough* cheap plug *cough*)

I still do want to watch the new show from Main St at some point but this turned out to be a really good spot (about the only negative is the Ferry does still run so you can hear some of the announcements - but didn't ruin it or anything)

Coming up next - we head to the party ... which is the main event of and motivation for this entire trip .... so good we are finally getting to it!

TTFN

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ahem..... I'm pretty sure you mean "Flatties" !!!

I love the update....

Of course! I don't know what you are talking about as it says "Flatties" now .... I think you are reporting Fake News!!!!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I can't believe it took me so long to find this-can't wait to catch up and read about your latest adventures!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Ahem..... I'm pretty sure you mean "Flatties" !!!

I love the update....

ROTFL @GAN. That's why you're my friend - even though Phil was right the first time, you still sprang to my defense! ROTFL!!!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Of course! I don't know what you are talking about as it says "Flatties" now .... I think you are reporting Fake News!!!!