A Haunting, A Run, & Some Food & Wine: 3 Fall 2013 Trips - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

We did come here to race!​

After our lunch, we headed to our car. I took over driving, rather than dealing with giving my husband directions. Even though we were getting to WWoS before noon, when the Expo officially started, we were forced to park towards the end of the main parking lot. If this is any clue how busy tomorrow is going to be, I think we are leaving to get to the race earlier than I originally planned.

See this line to get in 15 minutes early!

That said, I'm glad we got there when we did as the line was much worse about 15 minutes late.

Once we got inside the show, we headed to the pack of the show floor to pick up our bibs. We both got corral D! Totally not in the last corral so if I'm slow - I don't have to worry about being swept so maybe we may get a picture with a character or two!

Our next stop was get our T-Shirt & Goody Bag. The t-shirt is um bright. Like yellow-orange bright. The goody bag had a race program, mini cliff bar, pins for the bib & the clear bag for our stuff for tomorrow so we don't have to carry anything during the race.

After we got the official business out of the way, we finally started looking around the booths. It was a lot of people selling over priced things. There were shoe sells, apparel, race frame makers, sparkly skirt sellers, headband sellers, earbuds, food stuff, massage people, compression people and a free yogurt giveaway.

I almost bought this....

but I found something better & I'm totally wearing it tomorrow.

& it was only $24.95!


Some of the other stuff I would have bought if it wasn't over $40.

We liked some of the official merchandise but the line to check out wrapped around and around so I decided there was nothing we needed enough for that.

We also received the text about the time that our room was ready. That might have played a factor in waiting around longer to shop or not.

I drove back to Bay Lake Towers. We were able to park super close to the front. This is good as we had 4 suitcases, a laptop back & our 18 pack of soda.

The room was located on the 9th floor & in the inner circle towards Bay Lake. I'm ok with this even though I know some really don't enjoy the inner circle.

Unpacking was to be done before we could be fully settled for the next 8 nights.

I also went online to change our Fastpass+ reservations to earlier than originally scheduled as we were going to get to Magic Kingdom 2 hours earlier than originally planned. I adjusted our dinner reservation as we don't usually like eating at 8pm.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I don't remembering doing this?​

We left our room around 1:45pm & headed to the walkway to Magic Kingdom. It was hot & not shaded. It was halfway between the park & the room, we realized we forgot to put on sunscreen, but were too lazy to turn around and get some.

Once we entered the park, I was thirsty & it was hot. Lucky for me, one of my favorite places in the world opened in the Main Street Bakery. Yes, Starbucks!

Mmmm, nonfat, no whip, salted caramel frap

As much as I love Starbucks, I don't drink it often at home as it costs $5 a drink & I try to watch what I eat more at home.

We still had about 15 minutes until our first fastpass+ selection. Our favorite lazy ride would be a perfect choice for that small time gap.

The ride broke down when we were going through Space Mountain. We were stuck probably about 5 minutes until the ride started moving again. To us, it was fine. We were just killing time until 2:15 anyway.

Next up for us was Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin. We had no issues using our fastpass+ for this attraction, even with our altering the time only an hour prior.

Totally looks like the 80s

I totally won

After proving to my husband that I am the better Space Ranger, we walked towards Adventureland.

As we still had time to kill until our next fastpass+, my husband said as we passed a certain lesser visited attraction to check it out. He said we hadn't been on it since our honeymoon. I think we remembered why after the 100th stair. At least we got our required cardio for the day.

 

[Tink rules]

I Love Swiss Family TreeHouse!!! I loved the move growing up!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Every TR I've read that involves an Expo they always look so crowded. Great shirt you found and I also truly appreciated the "I thought it was rum" apparel as well. Granted I generally only run when chased

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a nice day. I hope you're enjoying the run!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I Love Swiss Family TreeHouse!!! I loved the move growing up!

I don't think I've ever watch the movie from beginning to end. One of these days I will. I at least read the book back in middle school though.

Every TR I've read that involves an Expo they always look so crowded. Great shirt you found and I also truly appreciated the "I thought it was rum" apparel as well. Granted I generally only run when chased

It was crowded but not horribly so. It was at least organized enough to get around and do the pick ups without too much delay. I'm sure its worse on the bigger race weekends like the real Marathon though.

I'm a slow runner (more like run, walk, jog, walk, repeat) but at least its something.

Sounds like a nice day. I hope you're enjoying the run!

Our first day was nice - did more than I initially thought we would. I hope you enjoyed your Wishes cruise.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Pirates & Princesses​

Our next stop was to one of my favorite rides - Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride was walk on so we took full advantage of that.

It was close to 3:00PM - so I continued our trend of doing things we usually ignore. (We also had 15 minutes to kill until our next fastpass+ time) We watched the parade @ the Frontierland crossing. For showing up right when the parade started, I was shocked how close to the front we could get & that I was actually able to get pictures that weren't of the backside of someone's head.

As it ended, we walked back over to Adventureland, stopping for some photos along the way.

In my other life, I am a pirate queen

 

[Dis_Yoda]

What Does the Fox Say?​

It was now slightly past 3:15PM & it was time for our rearranged fastpass+ for Jungle Cruise.

Except we got the blue-green circle of shame. They waved us through anyway as they know they have problems from time to time. Not any issue in the world to them. (Remember this later)

Sounds like a job I want!

I want the gooseberries!

Does it make you go?

Yup

Wait, that lion's tail is supposed to move

DING, DING, DING

This is where nightmares are made, wait no, thats Rip Tide Rockit

We wondered over to Liberty Square to see how bad the wait would be for Haunted Mansion. It wasn't horrible.

Do you see Mr. Toad hiding up there?

What I don't like is that you can't skip the cemetery now as the other way in was taken over by fastpass+

We got on the ride. My husband jinxed us when we entered one room with saying, "Hey, we always break down here." Yup, we got stopped for about 3 minutes.

He then got "What Does the Fox Say" stuck in my head again as he kept singing it.

After our happy haunts materialized, we ventured into Fantasyland for yet another attraction we have passed on for a couple of years.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Finishing Up Magic Kingdom​

As my husband got one evil song stuck in my head, I decided to get another evil song stuck in his. It is only fair.

Thank you for the time, ride!

It was then time for us to head back towards Frontierland for our 4:15PM fastpass+.

Here is when we ran into trouble. We got there around 4:18, placed our bands on the Mickey head & got the blue-green circle of denial. The cast member was very clear to say we had another hour & forty minutes until our fastpass+ was good. Lucky for me, I had my cell phone in my pocket & could prove it to him on my phone that our time was actually for 4:15pm & his little computer was screwed up. Win for me! He obliged, and finally let us onto the ride.

Once we were finished, we decided to head back to the resort as the MNSSHP guests were arriving in waves along with the day guests. We knew we would be back in a few days anyway.

I did decide to be a creeper to some guests that dressed up as they were from Kingdom Hearts.

I'm not the best creeper though

I was in no mood to walk back to the resort & decided to take the monorail. We should have just walked though as the monorail was slow to arrive & would have been quicker to walk.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

A Relaxing Night​

After we got back to the resort, we hung out in the room for a bit. I played on the computer, while my husband watched baseball. At 6:10pm, we headed to the Contemporary to get to our dinner reservation at The Wave.

View while waiting on elevator

Being a creeper again for the Sully

We arrived right on time for our 6:20pm reservation. (We had changed it earlier in the day) and headed to a table near the server station in the back part of the room.

Menu

We debated on what we were going to order as we waited for our Coke Zeros to arrive.

I decided on an appetizer for a single part of the dish rather than the entire thing.

Scallops w/ Cheddar Risotto

I got this for the risotto. It was a great risotto - better than what Le Cellier puts out with their steak. The scallops, on the other hand, were overcooked. Ramsey would have thrown them back. I'm super picky about scallops to begin with so I knew going in, I probably wasn't going to like that part of the dish.

My husband passed on getting his own appetizer as he stole some of my risotto.

Beef Tenderloin

My husband went with steak. He loved it!

Daily Grilled Sustainable Fish - Swordfish

I went with the grilled swordfish w/ fingerling potatoes. The fish was perfectly cooked but a bit under seasoned for me but some more salt & pepper made it better.

We debated on dessert.

But we ended up passing as we have some snacks in the room if we really needed something cheap.

After dinner, we went shopping upstairs on the 4th floor. I needed more conditioner as my ends are getting dry. I also wanted to get a banana for breakfast for the next morning.

After some of that shopping, we headed back to the room. My husband continued to watch some baseball while I went to the pool for about an hour. I called it a night when the water got too cool for me & too many children were down there without their parents around to watch.

We got to bed around 9:30, shortly after I finished my last post. I set an alarm for 5:30am as tomorrow was race day!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm doing this for fun right?​

5:30AM came quickly. The new wake up call sucks. I miss Stitch.

This is also when I figured out I forgot to pack hair ties. Even my spare always on my hairbrush handle hair tie was missing. I had a butterfly clip at least so I tried to get it as tight as I could if I wanted to keep my hair out of my face for the run.

Its 5:45AM, do I look half asleep?

We drove over Wide World of Sports. Getting there early meant we were in the 2nd row of available parking. As we still had an hour until we really needed to get towards the corrals, we hung out in the car. I ate my breakfast of an energy drink & a banana. My husband had his energy chews.
We decided against turning in a bag with our stuff. I ended up leaving my phone in the car so we got no pictures on the coarse.

We were in D. I got us towards the front of the corral so that we would have as much buffer room if I got lazy and needed to walk slowly.

At 7:32am, the first corral was allowed to start the race & about 15 minutes later, my corral was off! As I was towards the front, I felt the need to sprint. Bad idea. After about .4 miles of that, my lungs said, nope. I started fast walking. My husband got aggravated I was slowing down. After about 2 minutes of fighting back and forth, he left me in his dust. This was ok. He was aggravating me as much as I was him. I maintained my pace switching between jogging, walking, sprinting, walking, etc. More walking towards the end.

I loved the on course entertainment. It made me wish I had brought my phone with me. There was the Big Bad Wolf, King Richard, Grave Diggers, Bees, Football Zombies, and someone else major I'm forgetting.

I finished. My husband was waiting after the finish line for me (he had finished about 15 minutes earlier than me)

I got my RunDisney snack pack and we walked back to the car to head back to the resort.

I Finished!

Me too!

Snack Pack Given @ End

Insides of said pack

We threw out the hummus dip as neither of us enjoy hummus. The rest of the pack is in our kitchenette for snacks as needed. My husband enjoyed his mini protein bar.

We got cleaned up from the gross sweat and relaxed for a bit until we decided to head over to EPCOT.

 

[TigerKat]

What is the blue-green circle of shame???

 

[Dis_Yoda]

What is the blue-green circle of shame???

Apparently when you try to use your magic band at a fast pass entrance, the big Mickey head on the stand (similar to the entrance stands) will turn green in its outer circle, if what you have is correct or is able to be used. If there is any problem it turn blue-green and flash showing there is an issue that the CM will have to look at on his screen.

We did last minute fastpass+ yesterday & had no issues though trying to use them.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Congrats on finishing the race!

Glad you enjoyed the on-course entertainment.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Congrats on finishing the race!

Glad you enjoyed the on-course entertainment.

Thanks! I'm happy I was able to finish. A year ago, I probably would not been able to do that.

I got the email this afternoon for the matharonfoto pictures that were taken at the race. Those will never see the light of day! Both my husband & I look horrible. Then again, 3 miles into a run, I don't think most people would look so hot either. At least we didn't prebuy them.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Why do I trust other people with my camera?​

As we headed over to the Contemporary to grab the monorail to the TTC (then EPCOT), we found 2 friends asking for a new home.

Someone had just left them there by the elevators. Poor penguins

We were lucky to not have to wait long at the Contemporary & quickly were on our way to our next stop @ the TTC to transfer to the EPCOT Rail. While we were waiting, we decided to look for what fastpass+ selections were available for EPCOT this afternoon. I ended up selecting a character meet as being able to not wait in line for a character sounded like a good plan to me. We also got the ride in Norway & the application forced me to get one for Soarin for like 5:30pm. Not like I was actually going to use that. (Had it been available at 1:30pm or before, we would have)

Waiting on the monorail

The first stop for us in EPCOT was the World of Coke stop. We were thirsty.
We don't vary from what we get there now. No need to try all the flavors when we really just love one flavor.

How I love Watermelon Soda!

After a glass or two (or really three, I'm selfish), we headed to our character meeting fastpass. My husband teased me & refused to go in.

I like to play on my cell phone

This involved me then giving my camera to the character assistants. I use a 50mm prime lens as my walk around lens so they didn't quite get how to use it properly even when I showed them how to use it. They didn't get it didn't have a zoom! I should have just handed them my iPhone. Lets see how these pictures turned out...

I kinda wish my husband would have at least gone in the attraction with me as it probably would have turned out better. Oh well! At least I didn't have any line whatsoever to wait in, thus I didn't waste too much time.

As it was near 11AM, we headed over to World Showcase to begin our favorite part of vacation...Eating & Drinking

Its a Kodak Photospot!

Our first booth we stopped at was Desserts & Champagne

We had Chocolate Orange Cupcake, Hazelnut Chocolate Cheesecake & Frozen S'mores

The cupcake didn't have much flavor to it. The cheesecake tasted more like chunky peanut butter than Chocolate Hazelnut & the Frozen S'mores felt more like a chocolate shake with a funky topping. Mostly a miss at this booth for us. At least there are 29 more booths for us to try out!

Our next stop was Brazil for Crispy Pork Belly

It was like a thick piece of crispy bacon with the fat that has been caramelized.
One of our favorite dishes thus far!

Our next booth to stop at was Mexico

I got to enjoy the Shrimp Taco w/ Purple Cabbage. My husband enjoyed the Tace de Rib-Eye w/ Salsa de Chipotle

We split the Sangria

We decided to duck into Mexico for their boat ride.

We found Donald! We then headed to Maelstrom for their boat ride using our fastpass+

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Guess I Need New Shoes​

After our Norway Adventure, we stopped by 2 more booths.

Germany

My husband wanted the Apple Strudel w/ Werther's Original Karamel & Vanilla Sauce

While he was enjoying that, I decided to head next door to the Brewer's Collection to get the beer that made my husband have a gross face during our drive back from HHN.

Schofferhofer Grapefruit

I got the smallest serving of it as we still had lunch & the Grand Marnier event to deal with this afternoon.

The beer was ok. Absolutely no aftertaste to it.

We decided to skip the rest of the booths for the day.

We gave the village w/ the trains a visit to see how their festival was going.

Nowhere as exciting as real life's.

In America, we watched a small show.

Upon leaving America, my flip flop decided to break. There was no way to attempt to repair it. There was also no way to walk on it. Off went the shoes as we walked into Japan.

I had a slight heart attack as I started looking at their shoe selection. The cheapest I could originally find was $89.99. Taking a 2nd glance, I found 1 pair for 19.99 but they would have killed my feet. I was able to find 2 different pairs for $39.99. I picked the least ugly of the two.

While I was dealing with that, my husband was enjoying his fandom self. He bought himself Mario Socks.

We decided to explore the gallery as we hadn't looked in there in a while.

We couldn't get away from the foxes

It was almost time for our lunch ADR & we headed upstairs to Tokyo Dining.

We didn't need an ADR as the restaurant was 75% empty. We got some water to drink & ordered our meals.

Chicken Teriyaki

My husband's selection was the lunch special. It came with Miso Soup & Rice as well. He really enjoyed it!

I went with the Assorted Tempura Appetizer & a Shrimp Tempura Roll

No complaints about either!

Tokyo Dining had not been on our restaurant rotation list in a while. When we lived in Georgia, we had an amazing Japanese place right down the hill from us. In Naples, we haven't really enjoyed most of the places we have been to. The one we did like at first annoyed us when saw them cook most of my husband's food in a microwave right behind us when we ate in their sushi lounge. Haven't been back since.

As it was still only 1:30 & we had an hour to kill until our F&W Special Event, my husband wanted the item he was craving from our last trip.

Yes, we got more L'Artisan des Glaces

Single Scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip in a Cone

My husband didn't change what he got last time. In fact, he was wearing that same shirt for our first visit in our July trip too.

Chocolate Macaron Sandwich

I went with the Macaron Sandwich. Loved it!

At this point, I really had eaten too much. We also were tired & had no desire to walk much more before our F&W Event. We decided to visit Impressions of France as we could sit and relax and not think for a bit. I made friends with the host introducing the movie as I laughed way too loud to his bad singing and bad jokes.

The movie let out with just enough time to spare for our event!

 

[Linda67]

Eek, shame about the flip flop issue
We love Tokyo Dining and really must get back there one day soon
That mint choc chip ice cream is at the top of my list for December

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Eek, shame about the flip flop issue
We love Tokyo Dining and really must get back there one day soon
That mint choc chip ice cream is at the top of my list for December

At least I was close enough to some store that sold footwear & I didn't have to hobble barefoot too far!

I think that mint chic chip is still on the top of my husband's list too. I have a feeling he'll get it at least one more time this week, if not two.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Taste, Shake & Indulge Like The French​

Leaving our movie & my french boyfriend. We walked towards Monsieur Paul.

Letting me know to go upstairs!

Once we reached the landing, we were greeted and shown to our table by the window.

I liked how this time around, each party was seated by themselves. While in 2010, we met a lovely couple & enjoyed ourselves, we've had other times we weren't so lucky with table mates.

MMMMM, shots of liquor!

Cookie, Chocolate, Mint, Lemon, Dried Orange Rind

Here we have the interactive part of the presentation

Now with added Mimosa!

Stop taking pictures, crazy woman

Creeper Photo of franandaj & her SO

The event started about 15 minutes late as they were waiting for people to show up that had reserved the event. Eric started talking around then and thanked us for coming.

The representative from Grand Marnier began her talk about the history of the company and the history of cocktails being an American tradition until we scared all the bartenders away during prohibition. She was very interactive.

After our history lesson, we began to taste our Grand Marnier shots. When asking what the initial shot tasted like, my husband joked to me, stating "purple." She picked up on that & stated maybe he needs to be checked by a doctor

After our tastings of the 4 samples, we got to make our Smash cocktail. We smashed our lemon & mint leaves. Poured in our Grand Marnier & some ice. Gave it a shake & strained it into a glass.

The servers came out to show us how to make a Crepe Suzette.

Shortly after our presentation, we were served a Crepe Suzette along with a Grand Marnier Tart.

We couldn't eat that much of our desserts. What we did get to taste, we really enjoyed. Eating that much earlier around the world along with lunch had caught up to us.

Overall, this event is still a great value for our $65pp.

We picked up our goody bags & headed back to the resort.

Contents of goody bag

When we got back to the room, we had this under our door.

This is going to alter some of our plans for later in the week.

I then headed to the pool to work off some of that eating we had. My husband watched college football until dinner.