Another Year of APs and a Surprise Cruise! Combo PTRs/TRs updated 6/16 Labor Day Parts 4&5, the end!

[Lesley Wake]

Ahh, I need to look into that. Last time we did so well and then Zack blew through the last one so we got hit with the rental car toll fee.

I think it cost us $5. But divided up between multiple toll booths, so make sure you have 1s

 

[Woth2982]

Ahh, I need to look into that. Last time we did so well and then Zack blew through the last one so we got hit with the rental car toll fee.

I actually got a FL sun pass! I only bring it with me to FL and put it on my windshield in my rental. I keep like $10 on it, it doesnt automatically recharge though. Speaking of, I need to recharge it, doing a FL road trip this summer.

 

[missjackiemcg]

The Backstage Magic Tour!!

Oooh, I'm so excited for you! I had this booked for myself on the Epic trip, but ended up cancelling so I could be part of the VIP Tour that was gifted to our group. I'm so glad I was able to do the VIP, but sure wished there had been a way to do both!!! I am dying to do the Backstage Magic Tour!

 

[Cloe Colton]

We recently changed our flight to come in really late this night. Like, landing at 1:30am late SW has changed up their flight times for us, and my leave at 6pm land at 11:30pm flight is gone. Originally we had a 2:30pm flight on Thursday (land at 8pm) but decided that since that still required missing at least a half day of work, we might as well take the full day and get in really late. Otherwise, our Thursday 'morning' flight option doesn't land until noon. ​

SW has been killing me with this too! From Buffalo they've completely removed the late flight from Buffalo to Orlando which really screws up my traveling style! We love to take the late flight to Florida or whatever the last flight is and at least for now they've only been offering their super early morning flight! Very frustrating!

I figured now was as good a time as any for this, since we have our APs for a discount and this was all bonus park time for us since now we will be alone. And I'm not sure when/if we'll get APs again (more like when, we may go in October for a park trip and Halloween Horror Nights with Zack's parents and brother, but after that may take a Disney break... I'm trying to plan a trip to Europe )

I was just telling DH recently that there are far too many places that I want to travel to, but also Disney lol

But I figured out we can get wine delivered Sunday morning with Amazon Prime Now! So uh yeah, we'll do that.

That's a great idea! DH and I stopped on our way to Port Canaveral and I just assumed there would be soooo many places to stop and there really wasn't! Definitely a good call just to get it out of the way and have someone else deliver it!

Sunday:
Ok, right now Zack and I have flights back Saturday night... but maybe we should switch them to Sunday night We do have Disney and Universal APs... Technically my PTO is through Tuesday currently...

Haha I feel like when you just have extra PTO days sitting there its hard not to add on! That's how I ended up adding a cruise to DH and I's anniversary trip last year! haha​

 

[amalone1013]

I'm ashamed, you guys are more on top of my TR/PTR than I am

Ooh the changes to Backstage Magic make it more appealing to me, too! I'll be interested to know what you think of it.

I'll try not to wait 5 years to review it

I think it cost us $5. But divided up between multiple toll booths, so make sure you have 1s

Do they take cash and coins? I can't recall, the wedding was the last time we drove at all.

Oooh, I'm so excited for you! I had this booked for myself on the Epic trip, but ended up cancelling so I could be part of the VIP Tour that was gifted to our group. I'm so glad I was able to do the VIP, but sure wished there had been a way to do both!!! I am dying to do the Backstage Magic Tour!

I'm so excited! It's kind of secretly been the one I wanted to do and opportunity knocked!

SW has been killing me with this too! From Buffalo they've completely removed the late flight from Buffalo to Orlando which really screws up my traveling style! We love to take the late flight to Florida or whatever the last flight is and at least for now they've only been offering their super early morning flight! Very frustrating!

Yes! Darn it SW! I remember when they started switching up, it was due to a system upgrade so they didn't have to have the same times every single day and I thought, this will be cool! NO IT"S NOT!!

I was just telling DH recently that there are far too many places that I want to travel to, but also Disney lol

#problems

 

[Lesley Wake]

Do they take cash and coins? I can't recall, the wedding was the last time we drove at all.

Yeah, and they give change (at least they did in February). I had a $5 bill, but we were able to use my mom's $1's. I think it was $1.5, $1.5, $1?

 

[amalone1013]

A Mysterious Labor Day Trip?
A Mini TR
Part Two

Today's breakfast was specifically arranged for a Sunday morning because I wanted to try the weekend brunch... Trail's End!

We were a teeny bit late. We underestimated the amount of time we would need to get there We ubered to Wilderness Lodge and then took the boat to FW since that seemed the easiest. Though this was our first time to WL so maybe I should blame that, we were caught up in the loveliness I think WL or maybe AKL would top our list of deluxes we'd like to stay at.

Eventually we made it and were seated and had a wonderful server. Here is the one plate picture I took:

Looks like we have, a Mickey waffle, some breakfasty food, a cinnamon roll, a teeny bit of grits to try (I'm so adventurous ) tater tots, and eggs with stuff in them.

Now don't all rush to book up the ADRs at once after that wonderful description

Seriously though, everything was delicious. I wanted to book brunch for the extra foods too and so I know I tried the mac and cheese and fried chicken, mashed potatoes, probably biscuits and gravy... We would love to go back here, perhaps on another laid back trip like this as it's not the easiest place to get to. Brunch was $25pp before tax and tip and we saved ~$11 with our TIW card.

After stuffing ourselves we were off to Typhoon Lagoon. Says my memory, as I have no photo evidence. I believe we went back to WL and ubered to the waterpark.

Oh! But I did snap a photo of River Country on the boat like any good Disney fan:

Also, this is the day I broke Zack.

I swear it's not my fault. Today is just the day he learned that he can't go barefoot all day at a waterpark anymore, because his arches can't handle that.

I don't recall eating anything at Typhoon Lagoon, or getting anything interesting to drink. I think we spent around the same amount of time here before busing back to Pop to get ready for our evening dining adventure.

We were off to Disney Springs! Which was crazy busy this night.

Can you see the pain in his eyes?

Also I'm looking at this going, Did I wear my Castaway Cay spirit jersey to dinner? I dressed so nicely for Sanaa!

Destination:

We were seated on the second floor along the glass balcony which was great because we could check out ALL THE FOOD on the tables down below

After some internet sleuthing, I have determined I started off with this:

Asian Sangria $13
light white wine, plum wine, sake, asian pears, apple, plum, tangerine juice

I recall enjoying it and it being light and refreshing. See kids, this is why you should do your TRs sooner...

We started off with:

Kung Pao Chicken Dumplings $11
chicken, peanuts, peppers
Pork Dumplings $11
pork, Napa cabbage, scallion

These were fine, but nothing special. Which I think is exactly what I had read here on some DRs. I liked the chicken ones more but next time we would probably skip (or just order one, as I don't think Zack can go anywhere and not order dumplings no matter how lackluster they may be)

Zack went with:

Orange Chicken $27
tempura chicken, Chinese broccoli, wok-tossed with a sweet Florida orange sauce

He has proclaimed this the best orange chicken he has ever had, so there's that.
I went with:

Mongolian Filet Mignon $48
wok sauteed scallions, enoki mushrooms, sweet szechuan pepper sauce poured tableside

I don't see mushrooms?

So normally I don't order something so expensive so I felt pretty fancy

Honestly, this was the meal I was least excited on this trip. I am not much of an Asian food person. I'm also not typically a fan of sweet sauces on meat, or sweet main entrees, which is usually part of my problem with Asian food. So it was pretty much this, or the Popcorn shrimp off the appetizer menu as my entree. Zack encouraged me to spend the money.

AND IT WAS AMAZING.

I would go back for this. I basically had to fight Zack off of my plate.

We finished with:

Churro Fondue $13
for two. Housemade churros, Nutella, vanilla cream

So, there's two churros there. I guess that makes it for two? I would disagree. I don't recall this as particularly memorable or special and mainly it just felt pricy for what you got. Which was literally that plate, so I'm not sure why it is Churro Fondue? And the Nutella came in a tube.. I'd skip it next time. I was more interested in the MM Parfait but Zack was scared off by the sesame mochi.

We saved $27 here with our TIW card.

After, we had planned on walking around Disney Springs, but Zack's feet weren't really up to it so we called it quits after one store and headed back to the hotel.​

 

[amalone1013]

A Mysterious Labor Day Trip?
A Mini TR
Part Three

Turns out I lied... we did not go straight back to Pop from Disney Springs!

I actually convinced Zack we should hop a Poly bus and watch the fireworks from the beach! This was an adventure as the bus dropped us off right as the fireworks started, and we were attempting to run through the buildings to figure out how to get to the beach (or, I was running and Zack was limping). This was our first time at the Poly ever.

But we did get to sit on a swing and watch the Electrical Water Pageant go by for the first time.

That's a win, right?

At this point, I had been looking at the Spirit Jerseys but wasn't sure if I would like them on, because I'm not always big on that style of top. So while we were hanging out on the beach, I noticed this tag on my Castaway Cay shirt:

I had absolutely zero idea up to that point that it was a spirit jersey style, just short sleeved...

The next monring, we slept in since we were going to MNSSHP that night and we wanted to close down the park. But what would we do with our daytime now? Use our fancy new APs to start hitting food booths at food and wine, of course! And also get a visit in so we could get our AP cutting boards when we came back two weeks later

First we visited some friends for a Fiesta

Then apparently we ate this:

I'm thinking this was the Short Rib Tostada from the Mexico booth. Sorry, I recall nothing...

Then we sheltered from the rain and I felt a need to document a duck

Zack's feet were killing him by this point, so we decided to head back to the room to hang out so we could preserve them for the party as much as possible. We had started making our way around World Showcase and were around Germany when we made this decision, so we walked to Beach Club and called an Uber back.

We got back to our room... and the door wouldn't open! The battery went out on our magic band reader! Just bad luck with timing there, so I left poor Zack sitting in front of the door and headed back to the lobby. Someone came along to let us into our room and about half an hour later a maintenance person came by to replace the battery. We watched tv for a few hours before heading out to the Halloween Party!

​

 

[Raeven]

At this point, I had been looking at the Spirit Jerseys but wasn't sure if I would like them on, because I'm not always big on that style of top.

Me too! I've never found one that I thought would look good on me because they just seem so big.

Zack's feet were killing him by this point, so we decided to head back to the room to hang out so we could preserve them for the party as much as possible.

Aw poor Zack, I feel for him My feet always end up hurting at some point.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@amalone1013 - I'm not sure if it's just be, but I can't see any of your images. I tried it on my phone and computer and not logged in with an incognito window....

 

[amalone1013]

@amalone1013 - I'm not sure if it's just be, but I can't see any of your images. I tried it on my phone and computer and not logged in with an incognito window....

Hmmmm. I tried a different way of uploading them today. Must investigate

 

[Lesley Wake]

think WL or maybe AKL would top our list of deluxes we'd like to stay at.

Those are my favorite deluded!

We got back to our room... and the door wouldn't open! The battery went out on our magic band reader! Just bad luck with timing there,

Or good luck-better mid-day than after the Halloween party!

Hmmmm. I tried a different way of uploading them today. Must investigate

Yeah I can’t see them either! I’ll have to check again on my laptop (I’m on mobile)

 

[amalone1013]

Yeah I can’t see them either! I’ll have to check again on my laptop (I’m on mobile)

I'm thinking I ran into this last time I tried to do them straight off google photos. Maybe its a google setting like I have a privacy thing on... dang it this would make it so much faster to update if it worked!

 

[amalone1013]

I believe photos are fixed now!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I believe photos are fixed now!

Yup! Can see them now!

 

[amalone1013]

Me too! I've never found one that I thought would look good on me because they just seem so big.

I ended up getting the Food and Wine one and wear it all the time

Aw poor Zack, I feel for him My feet always end up hurting at some point.

This was so bad lol.

Or good luck-better mid-day than after the Halloween party!

Oh man, I didn't think about it like that!

 

[kastoney]

Though this was our first time to WL so maybe I should blame that, we were caught up in the loveliness I think WL or maybe AKL would top our list of deluxes we'd like to stay at.

You picked the best two IMO. Wilderness is by far our favorite. You feel away from everything but you are in the middle of everything. AKL is the same feeling, just unfortunately you are not in the middle of anything

Now don't all rush to book up the ADRs at once after that wonderful description

So you're saying I should get off the phone with Disney now and not book Trails End

Also, this is the day I broke Zack.

I swear it's not my fault. Today is just the day he learned that he can't go barefoot all day at a waterpark anymore, because his arches can't handle that.

Oh poor guy! That is no fun. Though technically Zach's feet broke Zach.

We were seated on the second floor along the glass balcony which was great because we could check out ALL THE FOOD on the tables down below

Awesome view. We ate here but had a crappy table right at the entrance. I really wanted to sit upstains

These were fine, but nothing special. Which I think is exactly what I had read here on some DRs. I liked the chicken ones more but next time we would probably skip (or just order one, as I don't think Zack can go anywhere and not order dumplings no matter how lackluster they may be)

Completely agree. And I am so in the Zach camp on this one. I love dumplings but the pork ones were just standard issue. They just opened an all dumpling restaurant by our house that I am dying to try. Just waiting on them to work some kinks out before we try it. I may turn into a dumpling after that.

But we did get to sit on a swing and watch the Electrical Water Pageant go by for the first time.

Oh my favorite! The water parade is my very first Disney memory from when I was 5 years old and we could see it from our room at the Contemporary. Still warms my heart.

Then we sheltered from the rain and I felt a need to document a duck

Well at least you didn't eat it

 

[amalone1013]

A Dreamy Surprise Trip!
Final (?) Update
Cruise Trip - 8 days!

I just spent twenty minutes trying to figure out the hex code for the color I had originally for this trip and this is as good as it's gonna get.

Anyways...

We are officially in single digits! This is not a drill!



And I made some changes.

Hopefully this is the final rundown.


Wednesday:
Land at 1:30am, stay at MCO Hyatt. I decided to take this day off work because my schedule until we leave is crazypants.

Thursday:
Grab an uber to drop off our bags... at the Swan I was poking around and realized I could move us here with my credit card points and only pay the resort fee out of pocket.
Then we will head to Magic Kingdom, where we have FPs for Space, Big Thunder, and Peter Pan, as well as an ADR for Crystal Palace. The ADR is at 10am because I'm hoping to time it so we can get breakfast and lunch foods.

Friday:
Backstage Magic Tour!!
After I booked us dinner at Il Mulino! We've been wanting to get here but have had trouble fitting it in our plans so this is perfect. The tour goes until 4pm and I booked us dinner at 6pm, figuring that gives us time if the tour runs long, get back to hotel, take a break, get pretty. And if we're ready before 6pm we can just go try to get in early. After we want to go to Epcot for Illuminations. I made a few FPs too in case we're feeling crazy.

Saturday:
I think we will start the day at Animal Kingdom, so I need to make FPs for that. Probably Everest, Safari, and River Journey. Then when we feel like it, we will hop to Epcot.
Zack's parents and aunt fly down this day, landing at 5:30pm. I also switched them to the Swan for the night, so they will grab an uber, and us hopping to Epcot means we can easily meet them and all head to Disney Springs for dinner at Homecomin'. I haven't had luck moving our 9:20pm ADR, but if we're hungry I figure we'll just stop by and ask. Plans for extra time this night include Characters in Flight before or after dinner, or maybe busing to the Poly to watch HEA (obviously depends on dinner timing).

Sunday:
Pick up rental from Alamo at the Dolphin (so much easier now!) and... have breakfast at Boma! Turns out since we are leaving Sunday we can't get booze from Prime Now until the noon to 1pm window and we don't want to wait that long, so we will have to stop ourselves. Zack's parents' port arrival time is 12:30pm, so Zack mentioned maybe we could find a breakfast restaurant in the Boardwalk area and I reminded him we'd have a car so we could do any resort restaurant.
Still planning to: See if we can have a table to ourselves for dinner, try to add Zack's mom and aunt to our mixology class, and see if I can move our Palo brunch reservation to the last day.

Monday:
This is a Castaway Cay day, and we have our Mixology class. I also ended up moving our Palo dinner here so we won't miss a rotational dining restaurant.

Tuesday:
This is Nassau day and we're doing a tour, Discover Nassau By Land and Sea.

Wednesday:
Pirate Night
This is also our second Castaway Cay day. And Palo Brunch Day. And Adult Snorkeling Day.
Still hoping I can move brunch to the next day.

Thursday:
Last day, day at sea. No plans currently.

Friday:
Disembark
Kennedy Space Center. We plan to do one of the tours. I've pulled a couple dinner ideas off tripadvisor that I want Zack to look at with me (which has been hard as he's been traveling for work... last Tues, last Thurs, Sunday to tonight, probably this Friday ). Staying at a Residence in by Port on points this night. And BIL may be able to make it, which would make everyone happy.

Saturday:
Second day at KSC, for those who are interested. Need to decide if we're getting a second car for those who don't want to do the second day. If BIL comes we will definitely need it. Still not sure what group I'm in More changes here though... we added one more night! Ok, I haven't officially booked the hotel but I did change the flights. We might do Swolphin on points again. But this whole swap allowed us to... add dinner at Shula's! Which had been on our list to take Zack's parents too, but wasn't working out on this trip originally. Now we'll feel even better as we will still have our TIW card to use

Sunday:
Now we all fly back midday on Sunday, so we will just hang out at the resort. I think we have a 2pm flight. I need to price out the rental car cost for having it Friday to Sunday and paying for parking at Swolphin, or dropping it off at Swolphin on Saturday night and ubering to MCO.



And there you have it! I can't wait!​

 

[Raeven]

I tried a lot of hex codes to match mine too The only one I couldn’t get close with was the teal.

Have an amazing trip! Your dining plans look so good!

 

[kastoney]

I cannot believe your trip is almost here. Everything sounds divine. A little Disney time, a little cruise time, a little space time. And food. Lot of food. My favorite subject. Sounds perfect.