A Salute to all things Disney, but mostly Magic Bars; a July 4th 2019 TR*update 11/28 new TR link!

[ariane37]

I'm way behind (what's new?) but this time it is because I stopped receiving notifications for this report! Anyway, I'm trying to catch up now...

Glad you're here now! I hate when I stop getting notifications and then I'm 20 pages behind lol

We loved our water view room at Gran Destino! We were up on the 14th floor which is one floor below club level and two floors above the restaurant and bar on top floor. We loved it and thought the service was impeccable! Not sure if you made it down to Barcelona Lounge at night but the bartenders and server down there are amazing!

We were on the 10th floor so our view was pretty good! I've walked through Barcelona the last 2x we stayed there but haven't stopped in; this last trip was just so quick and busy plus the lobby and lounge were always ridiculously crowded-worse with conventions than any time we stayed at CSR. Whether it was 8 in the morning or midnight the line for GS was long and the lounge was filled with people and loud!

 

[ArielSRL]

And this pink slush?? I have no recollection of what this was called or what was in it but I do remember it was a special seasonal offering at Les Halles and it was good, I think it had the words summer slush in it:

Had this on the list and didn't get to try it. Hopefully it will be back!

Speaking of summer specials these were the Guardians snacks and beverages they had, although we didn't try any:

Had some of these on the list too and completely missed them.

We shared this; it's the FROZEN STRAWBERRY LEMON SUNSET from Joffreys: layered frozen strawberry and lemonade with topped with grey goose vodka Funny that the picture they show on the board is pink but ours was clearly yellow so I guess heavier on the lemonade rather than the strawberry but either way it was really good and served as the perfect drink to exit the park with.

I really like the Joffrey's alcoholic slushy offerings. Seems like different booths have a different option and every one I have tried has been good.

For Ricky:

Yum! I love this.

 

[ArielSRL]

I don't know why but I've gone a bit overboard with the new shirts for what will be just under 3 days in the parks!

I thought I did too for our 4 nights at Thanksgiving but I totally misjudged. I figured we'd need long sleeves in the morning and night and we really did not. So I only had one set of short sleeve and one set of long sleeve and we never wore the long sleeve...but I guess that could change from year to year. We probably brought more luggage for this past tri than we do for our 8 night summer trips! Love the shirt designs, btw!

Not nearly as busy as Thanksgiving (our absolute favorite time to go)

Okay, so because I did both this year, I will say that Independence Day was definitely busier than Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving was just like any other regular summer trip foe us. Of course Independence Day wasn't terrible but it was busier. We got to MK at rope drop on TDay and there were areas of the park where we saw NO ONE! It probablt started getting busy around 1-2 and that is when we headed out for our break. We went back at 8 and stayed til about 11 or so and there really was not a ton of people, compared to the night of the 4th. I'm sure that can change from year to year though. BTW, we are doing Spring Break this year (Mar 29-Apr 2) which I have not done I probably 20 years, so I guess I'll be able to compare that also.

Maybe even next year.....................

Fingers crossed for you and me both!

Finally, my thoughts on the Contemporary. We didn't like it I know I know, lots of you love it and that's ok with me, I still love you. To all of us it was way too plain and reminded us of any old regular nice hotel, just with a little train going through it......the room size was definitely a plus and it's nice walking to the MK but not nice enough that we'd stay there again unless it was our only option up against values and mods other than POFQ.

I've never had an overwhelming urge to try it. Chad either. We will probably end up doing a night or two at BLT, theme park, maybe, just for giggles one trip.

DS Tree Trail! I'll take Lyft over with some friends if it works out that way because I don't think Steve and I will be able to fit this in. We walked the trail last year and while it isn't the end all and be all of Disney holiday decor it's cute! I've seen most of this years' trees and some are new/different from last year so I'd like to do it again.

Now, the Tree Trail is probably the busiest area we encountered in all of WDW during our Thanksgiving trip. We went in about 8ish I think, on a Wednesday night. Crazy! We really didn't even get to enjoy the trees because of how crowded it was. We could barely move and some lady caused a scene at one point, which is a story for another time and just one of the many weird things that happened on our trip. Disney had our backs though, with free snacks and front of the line privileges to see Santa.

 

[ariane37]

I thought I did too for our 4 nights at Thanksgiving but I totally misjudged. I figured we'd need long sleeves in the morning and night and we really did not. So I only had one set of short sleeve and one set of long sleeve and we never wore the long sleeve...but I guess that could change from year to year. We probably brought more luggage for this past tri than we do for our 8 night summer trips! Love the shirt designs, btw!

That's good it wasn't chilly and yes it can change! We've had Thanksgiving trips where shorts were needed and a light jacket at night and others where shorts definitely would have been too chilly at night.

so because I did both this year, I will say that Independence Day was definitely busier than Thanksgiving this year.

WOW! I'm surprised, I don't think any of our Thanksgiving trips were less crowded than July 4th! But we only felt July was crowded at MK ON the 4th..................

Fingers crossed for you and me both!

We were discussing this the other day and the 3-8th or 4-9th were looking good Need to get on my College of Knowledge update so I can book a resort with my discount!

Now, the Tree Trail is probably the busiest area we encountered in all of WDW during our Thanksgiving trip. We went in about 8ish I think, on a Wednesday night. Crazy! We really didn't even get to enjoy the trees because of how crowded it was. We could barely move and some lady caused a scene at one point, which is a story for another time and just one of the many weird things that happened on our trip. Disney had our backs though, with free snacks and front of the line privileges to see Santa.

OMG OK I do need to hear about that. As for being busy the first time we did it which was last Thanksgiving it was nuts. We couldn't get near the trees, I barely got any pictures of the trees without any people in them because EVERY family was standing in front of EVERY tree for a family picture I just wanted the tree lol. This year though it was pretty empty and I think it was a combination of not being a holiday and being daytime.

 

[Steppesister]

. We could barely move and some lady caused a scene at one point, which is a story for another time and just one of the many weird things that happened on our trip. Disney had our backs though, with free snacks and front of the line privileges to see Santa.

I'd love to hear this story as well!!

 

[ArielSRL]

OMG OK I do need to hear about that.

I'd love to hear this story as well!!

The basics are that some lady's hubby crossed in front of our stroller and my husband said "Whoa" to let the guy know that we were there. Well his wife basically thought that we should've said "excuse me" and would not stop! I was like, we just want to move on and she just kept on. Now, I wasn't completely innocent because I called her something not so nice (oops) and she bum rushed me, but I just walked away. I knew she was all bark and no bite and I certainly wasn't going to let it go any further. The people around us were all saying the lady was the cause of it all and we just continued on but then a CM came up and asked me if we were all okay, I was baffled because honestly it wasn't really that big of a deal. I told her numerous time we were fine but she insisted on getting us snacks and giving us front of the line access to Santa! It was kind of crazy! Before that we had had a bad experience at Paddlefish (the manager comped our meal and told us to come back for ANOTHER free meal in January) and then another day our kids got stuck in the bathroom at Coronado but they ended up giving us a gift bag with a ton of stuff in it and offering more. There were a few other weird things but those were the big ones.

 

[ariane37]

The basics are that some lady's hubby crossed in front of our stroller and my husband said "Whoa" to let the guy know that we were there. Well his wife basically thought that we should've said "excuse me" and would not stop! I was like, we just want to move on and she just kept on. Now, I wasn't completely innocent because I called her something not so nice (oops) and she bum rushed me, but I just walked away. I knew she was all bark and no bite and I certainly wasn't going to let it go any further. The people around us were all saying the lady was the cause of it all and we just continued on but then a CM came up and asked me if we were all okay, I was baffled because honestly it wasn't really that big of a deal. I told her numerous time we were fine but she insisted on getting us snacks and giving us front of the line access to Santa! It was kind of crazy! Before that we had had a bad experience at Paddlefish (the manager comped our meal and told us to come back for ANOTHER free meal in January) and then another day our kids got stuck in the bathroom at Coronado but they ended up giving us a gift bag with a ton of stuff in it and offering more. There were a few other weird things but those were the big ones.

Now that's a trip to do a TR on lol! I guess all I can say is, at least you got a few times!

 

[Steppesister]

The basics are that some lady's hubby crossed in front of our stroller and my husband said "Whoa" to let the guy know that we were there. Well his wife basically thought that we should've said "excuse me" and would not stop! I was like, we just want to move on and she just kept on. Now, I wasn't completely innocent because I called her something not so nice (oops) and she bum rushed me, but I just walked away. I knew she was all bark and no bite and I certainly wasn't going to let it go any further. The people around us were all saying the lady was the cause of it all and we just continued on but then a CM came up and asked me if we were all okay, I was baffled because honestly it wasn't really that big of a deal. I told her numerous time we were fine but she insisted on getting us snacks and giving us front of the line access to Santa! It was kind of crazy! Before that we had had a bad experience at Paddlefish (the manager comped our meal and told us to come back for ANOTHER free meal in January) and then another day our kids got stuck in the bathroom at Coronado but they ended up giving us a gift bag with a ton of stuff in it and offering more. There were a few other weird things but those were the big ones.

That's quite the drama! But, I"m glad there was pixie dust at the end of the day. Because...

 

[Steppesister]

Soo, I just spend 6 minutes watching Destino. Here is what I can tell you. It is bizarre!

Apparently, Salvador Dali and Disney teamed up to make a cartoon (no dialogue just a song) that is just... weird. It is completely done in surreal-style as you'd expect a Dali to be and is basically a tragedy. A girl finds a man (really a sculpture) who represents time. The whole 6 minutes of the piece is her hopes of finding someone to love dashed over and over and over. I didn't like it at all. And yet can kinda relate a little or can at least see what the meaning behind it is? Sorta? Anyway, I found this article about it that explains it MUCH better than I can and seriously DO NOT see at all how they took inspiration for the new Tower from it. Like at all.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/destino-film-interprets
Anyway, happy reading. It's a short article.