A very merry, friend filled, unexpected unbirthday trip (report) August/September 2019 - updated Dec 31

[dizneeat]

Hello and welcome to another one of my trip reports. (links to previous TRs are in my signature)

We are two Austrians who love all and everything Disney.

Tom is a retired postman, now running the house, loves working on the computer and coming up with all sorts of fun creations.

And I am Karin, still teaching at a middle school here in Austria.

We were both bitten by the Disney bug in 1992 when we visited Disneyland for the first time.

Photo taken on our coast to coast trip in 2016

We returned to Disneyland every year for the next 8 years and in 1999 we decided that we might give Walt Disney World a try and have since vacationed there at least once a year for three to six weeks. Disneyland Paris is our home-park, but the US parks reign supreme.

About this trip:

Well, in 2018 we had taken a five week trip, including a seven night Fantasy cruise and had used up all our DVC points banked, recent and borrowed.

Flights are expensive in the summer months from our side of the pond and therefore we were very sure, a trip in 2019 was not in the cards.
Nevertheless one can dream and look up the discounts, can’t one?
And this is when around Christmas 2018 I came across the free dining offer for summer 2019.

Did the numbers and once we had found a suitable flight we took the plunge and told our friends that we would indeed return in 2019.
Little did we know that our “on a budget” trip would include two Club Level stays,

several MNSSHPs,

After Hours,

a Dessert Party,

a Fireworks Cruise,

a Savor, Sip and Sparkle event

and a tour.



Now that you have the “facts”,

"We invite you, if you dare, to step aboard because this trip report might end with a hurricane again."​

 

[dizneeat]

Chapter links:

Day 1, August 14:
A perfect start to an unexpected trip! - Part 1
A perfect start to an unexpected trip! - Part 2

Day 2, August 15:
Getting into the groove - Part 1

Day 3, August 16:
Another night ends with a bang - Part 1
Another night ends with a bang - Part 2
Another night ends with a bang - Part 3

Day 4, August 17:
It’s another friend filled day - Part 1
It’s another friend filled day - Part 2

Day 5, August 18:
Sundays are for eating - Part 1
Sundays are for eating - Part 2

Day 6, August 19:
That line is insane, let’s hop in … - Part 1
That line is insane, let's hop in ... - Part 2

Day 7, August 20:
Don’t think we’ll make the Extra Magic Hours … - Part 1
Don’t think we’ll make the Extra Magic Hours … - Part 2

Day 8, August 21:
A „kind of“ lazy pool hopping day - Part 1

Day 9, August 22:
Day 10, August 23:
Day 11, August 24:
Day 12, August 25:
Day 13, August 26:
Day 14, August 27:
Day 15, August 28:
Day 16, August 29:
Day 17, August 30:
Day 18, August 31:
Day 19, September 1:
Day 20, September 2:
Day 21, September 3:
Day 22, September 4:
Day 23, September 5:
Day 24, September 6:
Day 25, September 7:
Day 26, September 8:

 

[dizneeat]

Day 1, August 14

A perfect start to an unexpected trip! - Part 1

The year leading up to our vacation we had not dreamt about being able to pull off another trip this summer, but when some things fell into place, it started to look good for a Florida summer vacation.

And a few weeks later everything was booked and we were starting to make adjustments ….

And here we were. Finally the day we were to leave had dawned.

We got up around 7am, took showers and had some breakfast of leftovers to empty out the fridge. We then got our luggage ready, closed up the house and waited for the taxi to arrive.

Didn’t take long and it arrived and the luggage got loaded into the boot and onto the back seat and off we went. It’s only a 20 minute drive and soon we found ourselves at the airport, rolling in our luggage to send it on its way. Luckily the check-in counter to drop off luggage was empty and within two minutes all of our luggage was on its way to Florida.

We got some money from the ATM before heading through security and after that we still had time to stroll through the tiny Duty Free shop, before we found two seats and waited for our plane to arrive.

A few minutes later it rolled in, passengers were disembarking and soon it was our turn to get on board. Right when we boarded we were handed some snacks to enjoy during our flight. We found our seats and got buckled in

and soon they closed the doors and our plane started moving. It’s a pretty short flight

and it didn’t take long for the flight attendants to start serving drinks. Tom had asked for some beer and was served a

Birra Dolomiti, which he enjoyed. I had asked for some Coke and tried the snack we had been handed,

Mini Corn Snacks, flavoured with Rosemary, but unfortunately they tasted like Rosemary cardboard and only one of them got eaten. I looked out the window for a while and soon we were descending onto Frankfurt Airport.

We had about two hours until our connecting flight, so there was no need to rush once we got off the bus that had taken us from the plane to the airport. The planes we fly in on are rather small and so are parked pretty far from the actual terminal. Once in the terminal we checked if the departure gate had changed and then started our trek over there. We needed to go through passport control and for once that European passport really paid off, as there were only a handful of people queueing up in the EU self serve line and the regular line was long. We walked over to the Z-area of the airport and stopped at the Duty Free store to look around and Tom found some Whiskey he wanted to buy and I had found some perfume which we bought, stored in Tom’s on board case and then we walked further on.

When we passed a bakery we decided to get a snack as we had thrown out the cardboard corn snack. The line in front of the bakery counter was long, but soon it was our turn and we picked up our goodies, then found a rather empty gate where we sat down and enjoyed our flatbreads. We had decided to share a Diet Coke and the two flatbreads we had bought, one that was topped with halved Frankfurter Sausages, which are kind of hotdogs and lots of cheese

and one that was topped with Lardons and cheese.

We ripped them in half and they were so good. By now it was past noon and it was time for us to head to our gate. One more check of ID and we were hiking down to one of the last gates in the area. It was close to boarding, so we got in line right away and about 10 minutes later the gates opened and we were allowed to get on board. We had booked Premium Economy seats, so they were pretty much right at the beginning of the aisle. Tom stowed our hand luggage and then we sat down and buckled in

and watched the stream of people boarding. Once everyone was seated we were served some

Orange, Mango and mint juice as a welcome drink. This was the time when we noticed that the family in the row in front of us was behaving rather strange. Two of their kids in the row behind them were all over the seats, the husband didn’t seem to care and the wife was covering one of the kids in her row with a blanket. Little did we know that the family would be the reason for some uncomfortable times on that flight. We departed a few minutes late, but once we had taken off

and reached cruising altitude we were in for more snacks and drinks. First off, we were handed some small bags of

Pretzels and Crackers and then it was time for drinks. Tom had another beer, a Warsteiner this time, while I stuck with Coke.

And while we enjoyed drinks and snacks we checked out the entertainment on board. And it was then that the woman and mother to the four kiddos started to get antsy and when she realized that her husband had dozed off, she proceeded to lean on his seat and pushed it back so hard that it came to a halt with a bang. It was like she had pushed him into Tom’s lap, as Tom’s personal space was kind of gone. We looked at each other, Tom had to push his seat back a bit as well, but it was still uncomfortable.

About two hours into the flight and an hour into uncomfortable sitting for Tom, they were starting to hand out lunch. We hoped that the in front of Tom would wake up, but nope and Tom had to eat his lunch scrunched in.

They had handed out menus beforehand, so we knew what to expect and we both had chosen the same meal.

To be continued .......
​

 

[Oscar5933]

Yeah! So glad your doing another trip report, I always look forward to them.
Glad that Dorian didn't impact your trip too badly. That one had us all on our toes for a few days, but since I have lived in Orlando my whole life we are used to prepping for hurricanes. Can't wait to see more of your adventures!

 

[Dentam]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! I always love to go in early September for the low crowds! Sorry to hear about the uncomfortable flight with the inconsiderate family in front of you.

 

[gwynne]

I'm in! Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

 

[jrmint427]

I'm following along, looking forward to hearing about your MNSSHPs and the Club Level stays! We did MNSSHP last week and could have benefited from more Halloween Party time

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah! So glad your doing another trip report, I always look forward to them.

Great to see you here again! And thanks for the kind words.

Glad that Dorian didn't impact your trip too badly.

It was such an up and down as we had friends who needed to go back at the start of the week and all worked out for them, but in the end we had to extend our stay because of the closed airport. Not that we did mind too much.

That one had us all on our toes for a few days, but since I have lived in Orlando my whole life we are used to prepping for hurricanes.

We have stayed through a few hurricanes at Disney resorts now and know they take such good care of their guests, so the only thing to worry about is the flight home. This year was no exception.

Can't wait to see more of your adventures!

Working on updates right now!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Great to have you here!

I always love to go in early September for the low crowds!

Unfortunately due to needing to get back to school we need to leave in early September. Hopefully once I retire we will be able to go in a less crowded and HOT time of year.

Sorry to hear about the uncomfortable flight with the inconsiderate family in front of you.

Well, poor Tom was suffering through it, but there are more and more people out there, who don't think about others.

I'm in! Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

Great to know that you are here!
There's a lot more to share. We had a blast ...... and a lot of food.

I'm following along, looking forward to hearing about your MNSSHPs and the Club Level stays!

Great to have you here!
We LOVED Club Level, both resorts were awesome and we had two very different experiences at MNSSHP.

We did MNSSHP last week and could have benefited from more Halloween Party time

I hope the crowds were not too thick, we loved After Hours a bit more, as the park was so empty.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 1, August 14

A perfect start to an unexpected trip! - Part 2

They had handed out menus beforehand, so we knew what to expect and we both had chosen the same meal.

We started out with a

Mixed Salad with Cherry Tomato accompanied by Italian Dressing, which was actually quite fresh and tasty. It was followed by

Lemon Flavoured Chicken with Peas and Jasmine Rice.
And while the chicken was still moist, tasted on its own it tasted a bit like it had been cooked in cough candy syrup.
But together with the rice it was quite nice. For dessert we had White Mousse au Chocolat with a Cassis Fig, which was good, but a bit on the sweet side, so we were quite happy to enjoy some very young Camembert Cheese, butter and a fresh roll.

Once we had finished our meal, that was accompanied by some drinks

we watched some movies and tried to doze off a bit, but it was not easy as the family in front of us had now decided that they were NOW ready for lunch.
The guy in front of Tom did not pull his chair forward instead just leaned forward and his wife was now tending to the child underneath the blanket. It turned out that he was special needs and they had a hard time keeping him relaxed and quiet, but feeding him sugary snacks all the time did not help in any way.
Well, if nothing else, they were a distraction for most of the Premium Economy cabin.

We kept on watching movies and after some they had handed out some more soft drinks we were handed some

Milk Chocolate bars, which got eaten right away.
It’s about a 10 hour flight, so we tried to doze off a bit and it helped for the time to go by faster.
Around two hours before we were supposed to land we got another meal.

This time it was

Beef Strips in Curry Sauce with Roasted Sesame Seeds accompanied by Jasmine Rice.
And while the taste of the curry was nice, the meat had a really funny texture and we both just had the rice and sauce and left the meat.
Dessert was a Curd-cream cheese slice on a bed of Orange coulis, which was not bad but nothing to write home about.
By the time we were done eating we were both getting antsy

after being confined to our seats for nearly 10 hours.

Thankfully our pilot had made good on some of the delay and we arrived around 20 minutes early, just to be parked in front of the terminal as we had to wait for another plane to push back and free the gate for us.
Finally we rolled to the gate about five minutes after our arrival time and once Business Class had left the plane we were able to get off too. Usually several planes from Europe arrive around the same time, so we hotfooted it to immigration to be as far forward in the line as possible, just to find the immigrations hall empty.
We got in line and within three minutes found ourselves in front of an officer, who was super nice, stamped our passports and wished us a wonderful vacation. Tom went to get a cart for the luggage and then we waited for our luggage to arrive.

We needed to be patient as our luggage only appeared after quite some time. But then it got quickly loaded onto the cart and we were looking for customs. There wasn’t any customs stop and once we were outside the hall we opened one of our bags, which only had some shoes in it, put Tom’s carry-on in it and we finally only had four pieces of luggage for four hands.
We took the elevator up to the fake monorail and then headed out into the airport and over to the rental cars. We got into the elevator down and walked towards the rental car counters and were happy to have chosen Hertz as there was only one other costumer, while all the other agencies had much longer lines.
And again, within a few minutes we had our paperwork in hand and found ourselves on our way over to where the cars are parked.
When we left the building the hot air hit us, even though it was already 7pm.
Having to haul the luggage up to the cars didn’t help to cool down, but soon we had arrived and Tom picked out a Chevy as our ride of choice. We loaded everything into the huge trunk and Tom installed the GPS and we waited for a while as the GPS had trouble connecting but after a while we gave up and decided to just start driving. Tom had put the address in and it was a bit different from what I remembered, but since the GPS displayed the correct hotel name we both thought that we were on the right track.
The GPS still had not connected correctly when we left the airport and drove toward Disney World, but after a few minutes it started talking and leading us.
We were not driving the same route that we usually took, but with all the construction we thought that this might be a new route.

Little did we know that the address the GPS had shown and that had sounded different, WAS indeed different and we ended up somewhere unknown.

We reprogrammed the GPS and off we went again, this time in another direction. And while we were driving along we saw a Publix Supermarket and decided to make a pit stop for some drinks and snacks. About 20 minutes later we added a few shopping bags to our luggage and off we went again. It was now past 8pm and completely dark and we were both tired, but very happy once we saw the familiar arch that told us we were home. A few minutes later we stopped at the Pop Century security booth, showed our reservation paperwork and drove to check in parking.
Since it was already way past 8pm we thought that there wouldn’t be a line at check in, but we were wrong.

There was a HUGE line.

Okay, let’s join them all. Turns out there was another CastMember who was checking why people were in line and he “distributed” guests to several desks, so the line moved rather quickly. Within a few minutes it was our turn to walk up to the desk.
The CastMember who checked us in was super friendly and check in was fast, as I had done online check-in, then he handed me a birthday button, as this was kind of part of my birthday trip and everything went super perfect until we heard the room number. First floor! The CastMember must have seen my disappointment as he asked if that was not okay. We let him know that all we really wanted was a quiet room on a higher floor. They were pretty full so he tried and after about 10 minutes and several phone calls we had a new room on the highest floor. Yeah! We needed to return the magicbands that he had just given us, so they could be reprogrammed and soon we were on our way to our home for the next 11 nights.
We had been given clear directions, but still we had a bit of trouble finding the shortest way to our room.
Having been burned before with non working magicbands we had only brought our carry-ons and were now in search of the elevator and finally we had found our room.
Magicbands working we inspected the room.
It was nice and clean and we had a short restroom break, before heading back to the car. When we got off the elevator we noticed a parked luggage cart and borrowed it to transport our luggage from the car to the room in just one trip. Needless to say that we returned the luggage cart to where we had found it. Tom filled up the little fridge with some of the drinks

we had bought and I unpacked just what we really needed at the moment and then we were off to dinner.
We weren’t quite sure which way to turn for the shortest way to the food court, but while we were still debating another guest saw us struggling and pointed us in the right direction.
We had a free quick service dining package which we had upgraded to the regular dining plan and so first we needed to pick up our drinks mugs and it was quickly done in the shop outside of the food court.
And new mug in hand we marched in in search of food.
There were a lot of people still having dinner a little after 9pm and we went to the counters, read what was on offer and in the end decided on the

Chicken Parmesan Pasta, Penne Pasta with Alfredo sauce finished with a Breaded Chicken Breast topped with Provolone and a Breadstick and served with 2 sides, for which I chose a

Caesar Salad and Green Beans. Tom had decided on the

Meatball Sub, hearty meatballs in a toasted bun, topped with Marinara sauce and cheese, which also came with two sides and he also chose a

Caesar Salad and Green Beans.
Only when we saw the size of the portions we knew that we could have easily shared one portion.

Live and learn.

I also picked up one of my all time Disney desserts, a

Carrot Cake and since the food comes with a drink as well and we had our mugs anyway, we picked two aluminum bottles of

Budweiser for Tom, before we made it to the cash register, scanned our bands and just paid with our free dining credits.
We quickly found a table, took pictures of the food and started tucking in.
Since we had had to wait for a while for Tom’s Sub to be done the green beans had become luke warm, but they were still tasty.
We sat there for quite some time enjoying our food, but my portion was just too big and I had to give up after about two thirds.
We both could not finish the green beans and the Caesar Salads, but it had been nice to have some veggies and salad with our meals.

Once we were done we explored the stores a little more, but soon enough we knew that we were too tired to do much more and walked back to our room, where we found one of the drawers open.
I didn’t remember opening it and neither did Tom, but we didn’t give it much thought.
We got ready for bed and when we opened the second bed for Tom we realized the drawer was open again. Closed it, just to see that it opened up again all by magic it seemed. Well, it was nothing a piece of tissue shoved into the side of the drawer could not fix and soon we were able to lie down and watch a little TV.

And it was only a little TV, as we soon fell asleep.

To be continued .......
​

 

[franandaj]

Yay for getting settled in! I'm here!

Sorry the family was annoying, but you made it!

 

[dizneeat]

Yay for getting settled in! I'm here!

Alison!
Good to know that you are here!

Sorry the family was annoying, but you made it!

They were so self centered and it required two flight attendants to get the seat back to normal. And yes, we made it ......... in the end. Missed you and Fran this vacation though!

 

[jrmint427]

I hope the crowds were not too thick, we loved After Hours a bit more, as the park was so empty.

Unfortunately they were pretty thick. We spent the day at MK and the crowds were way lower during the day. I need to try an After Hours event some time!

We let him know that all we really wanted was a quiet room on a higher floor. They were pretty full so he tried and after about 10 minutes and several phone calls we had a new room on the highest floor.

It's always nice to hear that they can accommodate room requests!

 

[dizneeat]

Unfortunately they were pretty thick. We spent the day at MK and the crowds were way lower during the day. I need to try an After Hours event some time!

Yes, same for us for the first party. We were so happy we had signed up for the fireworks dessert party, at least we did not have to fight the crowds for a spot to watch the fireworks. After Hours are awesome. No crowds at all and free soda, ice-cream and pop corn

It's always nice to hear that they can accommodate room requests!

I usually have touringplans send in a room request fax and so far we have always gotten what we requested, or close to it. The assigned room was exactly where I had wanted to stay, just not on the first floor. So we were happy when the CM was able to find us another room.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Excited to read another report!

 

[dizneeat]

Excited to read another report!

Lisa!
Thank you for joining us for this adventure. We had so much fun.

 

[ksinniger]

Joining in! Am looking forward to see what parks and parties you hit, as my daughter and I were there from Aug. 16-20th as well!

 

[dizneeat]

Joining in! Am looking forward to see what parks and parties you hit, as my daughter and I were there from Aug. 16-20th as well!

I am glad you decided to come along.
Should be fun to find out if we were at the same parks any of your days.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, August 15

Getting into the groove - Part 1

We were up pretty early as our inner clocks were still on European time, so we started to unpack a bit more, took showers and around 7.30am we were ready to walk over to the food court for some breakfast. Walking in we were stunned at how crowded the place was. We did expect crowds, but that was overwhelming. Since we had not wanted to have a full breakfast, we just picked up a tray and went to the bakery case, where Tom decided on a

Cinnamon Roll and I picked a

Chocolate Croissant.

Items on the tray we walked over to the cash desks and got in line.

And waited, and waited some more and then waited even more.

There were two CastMembers at the till and one was very visibly new as she took a very long time to ring up purchases.
And our two simple bakery items were no exception. She needed three tries and a few minutes to ring it up and then I needed to scan my band and she had pressed the wrong button and we started from the beginning.
I felt really bad for the people who had hot items on their trays but finally we were good to leave and found a table, where I sat down and took photos of the bakery goods, while Tom went to get some coffee and hot chocolate for me.
He soon returned with his coffee and told me that two of the Hot Chocolate machines were out of order and one was just filled again. A few minutes later he came back with the beverage and just told me that he had been lucky as there was quite the line right now.
We tried our breakfast and both items were fresh and yummy and we had some of the hot beverages, but neither Tom’s coffee, nor the Hot Chocolate were really what we had hoped for, so about half of it got dumped, the mug got washed and we filled it with Diet Soda for our way back to our room.

Shortly before 9am we were out the door again and drove over to Disney Springs.
We arrived about ten to nine and found that both the ticket office and Guest Services only opened at nine, so we decided to do a bit of window shopping. It was pretty sunny already and I usually have a bit of trouble with my eyes those first few days, so we took out our sunglasses and put them on. Funnily enough I just could not make mine stay in place.
They were new prescription progressive sunglasses and this was only the second time I wore them. So, when we found a bench we sat down in the shade and I started to find out why those glasses would not fit me any more.
Turns out that one of the little plastic pieces that sit on your nose was missing.

Yikes, what to do, what to do?
But by that time it was 9am and we were right next to the ticket store, so we walked inside and asked if we could upgrade our tickets to Gold APs there. Yes, no problem, so we showed our DVC cards and paid the upcharge and were now proud owners of new APs.

Next we needed to find somewhere that sold sunglasses.
Luckily enough we had picked up a map and there was a store, so we headed there, they were not sure they would be able to help, but in the end found the plastic pieces that fit and put them on, gave me 8 more in case another one would fall off and that was it.
We were very thankful and glasses fitting again, we did more window shopping at Disney Springs until we knew it was time to do some more grocery shopping.
We hopped into the car and off we went to Publix.
We always love to spend time in the store as they are so different to the ones we have at home. And therefore we took our sweet time and got some snacks and drinks and a few savoury breakfast items. About an hour after we had arrived we were back in our car and on our way back to Pop Century Resort. There we headed up to our room, which had not been serviced yet, put everything away and then hurried back down to take the bus to the Magic Kingdom.
Lines were long and when we arrived a Magic Kingdom bus was just pulling out. So, that meant that we would have to wait a little longer and we were cutting it close to our reservation. But there was distraction in line ahead of us. A family of five was pulling their wagon in line and I was wondering if they would be allowed on the bus. Turns out there was a CastMember, who approached them and told them that wagons were not allowed in the parks. It was interesting to follow their conversation as the family insisted that their travel agent had told them to get the wagon and they had had to pay for it to get it on the plane and now they were not allowed to use it.
They argued for quite some time, but in the end the father took it back to the room, not without some not so kid friendly comments. And some people were now commenting and telling the family to complain about the misinformation and ask for compensation.
We were pretty stunned as the information was out there and it was definitely not Disney's fault.
By then a bus was pulling in and the family stepped aside, as their dad was not back yet, but in the end they got on the same bus as us.

The bus took quite a while to make it to Magic Kingdom, then unloaded all of us at one of the furthest away spots and we had to hike all the way to the security check and finally we made it through the turnstiles. But now we were late for our reservation at Be Our Guest.
We still took in the first view of the town square and the first glimpse of the castle, but then had to really make a move on to the restaurant.
Wasn’t too easy as the park was pretty packed.
We arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes late and found a huge line to check in, but fortunately it moved fast and they did not mind our late arrival. We needed to wait in front of the gates again, but within 90 seconds we were asked inside and got in the pre-order line, which only had 2 parties ahead of us. And again, it only took a few minutes and we had paid for our food with credits and walked inside to find a table.
The place was packed and only when we walked through the main room for a second time we saw a family get up and leave and we finally had a table.

Now during former visits we had been given a plastic rose for the servers to find the table, but this time we got no such thing. Instead a CastMember came by and matched our bill with a table number and soon enough our lunch was served.
Tom had gone to get some ice-water for both of us while I took some photos of our food and then we were able to taste our food. Tom had ordered a

French Dip Sandwich, on a Baguette with Au Jus and Pommes Frites and a

Kronenbourg 1664. I had ordered the

Croque Monsieur, a Grilled Sandwich of Carved Ham, Gruyere Cheese and Bechamel with Pommes Frites as well and a glass of the

Cambria Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Maria Valley. We shared our food

and were both pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food.
Around 1am we left the restaurant and went to use the first of our Fast Passes. So off to the Haunted Mansion we went.

Having a Fast Pass really helped, as the regular line was pretty long. Once we got off we slowly walked over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

for our second Fast Pass of the day. Another fun ride in the bag we discussed staying for our third Fast Pass, but then decided to miss Peter Pan and so we released the Fast Pass and instead booked one for the evening in Epcot.
And with that we walked towards the exit and then hiked to the furthest bus stop there was to get on a bus back to the resort. The stop was completely empty so we were pretty sure a bus had just left and we waited and waited and waited some more. It took more than half an hour for another bus to come and by that time the line had grown.
No scooters to load we were soon on board and found a seat.
A few minutes later the bus started moving and off we went back to Pop Century. By then the early morning had caught up with both of us and we decided to take a nap. Back in our room Mousekeeping had done perfect work and so we just put down the bed for Tom and lay down for a short nap. Well, it was not so short, as about half an hour later there was a knock at the door. I got out of bed and opened the door and there was a Cast Member who handed us some chocolates and a card from Mickey and another one welcoming us to the resort.

What a nice surprise. But then it was back to resting.
Around 5.30 we got ready for our next reservation. Again, we made it just in time to the Beach Club and our reservation at Beaches and Cream. In the early stages of our planning we had been sad to see that Beaches and Cream would be closed for refurb, but they had decided to open for just a few more days and we were lucky to snag a reservation.
When we finally arrived we were told that there would be a short wait, so we just sat at one of the outside tables and waited. Well, it was a short wait, as, as soon as we had sat down we were called as our table was now ready. We got a table close to the bar and had one of the nicest servers and once we had decided on what we wanted to share it didn’t take long until we were served our Diet Cokes shortly followed by the

Cheese & Bacon Fries, French Fries, topped with cheese sauce, bacon, red onions, garlic peppercorn Ranch. And we were so happy we had decided to share, as this was quite the helping and we were getting full fast. But there was still ice-cream to come. You cannot visit Beaches and Cream and not have ice-cream. And once our plate was removed it didn’t take long for the

Classic Banana Split, ripe Banana, three Scoops of Ice Cream, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry, Pineapple, Strawberry, and Marshmallow Topping finished off with Hot Fudge, Caramel, Toasted Almonds, Whipped Cream, and a Cherry to be served.
We worked hard to put a dent into the sundae, but we had to give up about two thirds in.
And after we had paid the bill, we strolled through the resort, looked at the shops and finally walked over to Epcot. It was interesting to see all the changes that are on the way with the new Skyliner. Quite soon we had made it through bag check and were scanning our bands and walking into the park. We headed towards England as we had a FastPasses and then right over to The Land Pavillion for our ride on Soarin’.
Once we arrived we were at the tail end of our FastPass, but still in time. So we joined one of the lines and without even asking we were assigned the middle glider. Win! After the ride we thought about walking over to Mission Space, checked the app and it had quite the wait.
By then the time change had caught up with us and we just decided to make our way back to Pop Century. And about half an hour later we had made it and were back in our room.
We had a drink and watched a little TV and soon enough we fell asleep.

To be continued ....... ​

 

[ncc1701]

Happy to follow your newest report. I do like your idea of a "Budget" trip . When you are retired may I suggest November as an option. The Christmas decorations start appearing once Halloween is over. By U. S. Thanksgiving everything is decorated. Not to mention the threat of hurricanes is almost non-existent. The weather is usually good ( mid 70s ) . Although we had a trip when we were in the pool the first 4 days but the last 2 a cold front came in and DH needed to buy a ski cap.

 

[DnA2010]

Jumping on board, I love your reports!