Celebrating 20 years at WDW - Bonus features, A few posts from May, Updated 9/11

[pkondz]

Unfortunately, I have to say that this has now become a thing, I woke up around 4AM.

Again! Yes this is definitely a thing.

Which helped me go back to sleep around 5:30, and then I was awake by 8AM, so I would call that a pretty good night’s sleep.

Wait. So you actually got to sleep til 8 with a tub thrown in.
Not too shabby.

We had already decided that Fran would just remain in bed while I went on rides.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Orange Team

Whoa! Brave. I did that with the kids and felt sick for at least half an hour afterwards.

These machines look a bit dated now.

Days of future past.

It turns out that Fran was feeling woozy and dehydrated so I gave her a bottle of water and told her to drink a lot of it, and I headed back out to Epcot.

Oh, that's too bad.

They had their sights set on a margarita in Italy, so that's where we went.

Good sightseeing.

It was a limoncello and Tequila slushie style margarita

Oh boy. Does that ever look good!

I also got the apple strudel. It was not nearly as good as I remember, plus it had raisins in it. Yech!

I'm usually "Yes! It has raisins in it!"

As we went past the Africa Outpost, I saw Remy.

Little sucker gets around!

wanted to try the spicy noodles and garlic shrimp in China, so I got one of those. It was a huge portion and very spicy. I couldn’t eat it all.

Huh. I don't remember a. it being that big or b. being all that spicy. And I'm a spicy food baby.

but first we all agreed to get the Hard ice Cream floats at the Desserts and Champagne kiosk.

I had those on my list! And never got around to it.

It looks like I didn’t get a picture of the menu, but it was here that I found out you couldn’t use the coupons for Dom Perignon or any champagnes.

Well that bites.

I thought that they put a little too much ice cream in the floats and they could have used more of the “soda:.

We made sure to take evidence of our meet.

I dunno.... that may be her, I'm not acquainted... but that's not you.

after showing them where to get a Cronut and Dole Whip.

Where do you get a Dole Whip at Epcot?

Love that shot.

Back in the room Fran was feeling up to going out. So we got ready to head out for the night.

Oh, good! Hope you guys had a great one!
(And guess I'll find out!)

 

[GoofyFan1515]

I remember Marv shot off some hilarious one liner and we laughed about that a lot! Hey @GoofyFan1515 and @Poolrat where are you guys?! We need your memories!

Reading here about the evening at La Cava, and then again with Liesa's version, I have to agree it was constant chatter and laughter. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly DISers who never met before can get comfortable with each other and have a great time together. The pictures are all wonderful, but definitely don't do it justice!

When I didn't see any details here about the conversation I started to comment but decided to wait and see what Liesa spilled. After she didn't really comment either I started thinking (yes, quiet and .....as I normally am) that maybe some parts are better kept in the minds of those who experienced it. If we share everything then where is the motivation for others to join us next time......

However, there are two specific items that I remember. First was @Steppesister confessing that she had an affinity for sucking when she was younger. (mind out of the gutter @pkondz.....had to do with her musical skills with the oboe) The other was the comment Fran made to Alison about some spilled tequila, which also came close to making me also spill some of my tequila on Alison......from across the table!

Honestly it is hard to remember a lot of specifics as the conversation flowed about as smoothly as the tequila. Definitely an enjoyable evening that went by much too quickly!

 

[pkondz]

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly DISers who never met before can get comfortable with each other and have a great time together.

First was @Steppesister confessing that she had an affinity for sucking when she was younger. (mind out of the gutter @pkondz.....had to do with her musical skills with the oboe)

You're taking all the fun out of it!

the comment Fran made to Alison about some spilled tequila, which also came close to making me also spill some of my tequila on Alison......from across the table!

 

[franandaj]

Oh, Yes! I should go re-read that.
Believe it or not, it may only be a one day DL visit.

Then again the Force within my Fairy Godmother-ness has grown stronger since their trip. You may not need some of those strategies now.

I'll be e-ing you.

Well.....


As I read that over again, that sounds a little naughty!

I had a feeling you might say something like that. I got the impression that your rentals would be nice.

The places themselves are older than we are. OK one is my little sister's age. But all of them were "original" around the time her father took a turn for the worse. So with him out of the picture, we just started totally remodeling them, with granite counters, new appliances, restoring the hardwood floors, etc. We only have two left, our old house, and the other already had every thing but the kitchen done about 25 yeas ago. Plus that tenant is good and settled.

I didn't see Greenhouse Guru, but I did see the Chew one.
I had a list of stuff I wanted to try. I didn't get to even half of it, I don't think, but what I didn't have was a map beforehand.

It takes some serious commit mentions to get through everything you want at F&W! That's why I had a lot of TIOLI (Take it or Leave it).

Never needed 'em. I was a voracious reader in high school. At least in English. (I never liked reading French. May have been the books, but was probably me.) I remember in Gr. 10 English class we had to read Dickens' Great Expectations. Out of a class of 30 or so, I was the only one who read it all. I think there was a similar result in Gr. 11.

Ah, I was never a very good reader. Still not, I have some sort of ADD, not as bad as my sister. I had a class "Reading for College". Don't know if you had ads for the "Evelyn Wood speed reading program" up in your neck of the woods (ha! Pun not I intended!), but it was advertised down here like crazy when I was a kid. Well they taught us the basics of "Speed Reading" in that class. It was great! I learned to skim through pages at 200+ wpm. The problem? Less than 10% retention!

I have to read really slow, and that's why I like TRs with lots of pictures. Yours are good too. Short sentences, not a lot of prose, and lots of jokes and groans mixed in to make sure I'm paying attention and not just skimming.

 

[Steppesister]

However, there are two specific items that I remember. First was @Steppesister confessing that she had an affinity for sucking when she was younger. (mind out of the gutter @pkondz.....had to do with her musical skills with the oboe) The other was the comment Fran made to Alison about some spilled tequila, which also came close to making me also spill some of my tequila on Alison......from across the table!

 

[Steppesister]

Holy crap. What happened to the "What happens in Disney, stays in Disney"? Oh, wait, NM, that's what TRs are for.



Don't mind me.... I'll just be over here hiding under the table. (ALONE!)

 

[Steppesister]

These machines look a bit dated now.

Awesome... I get to post the EXACT same 2 photos when I get there on mine. HAHAHA. Great minds and all that.

But I don't have this one! I really love this shot!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Holy crap. What happened to the "What happens in Disney, stays in Disney"? Oh, wait, NM, that's what TRs are for.



Don't mind me.... I'll just be over here hiding under the table. (ALONE!)

Hey, if you didn't want to hear the answer....... don't try to pull things out of my head! (insert evil laughter)

Besides, I didn't explain them..........or does that make it worse?

 

[Steppesister]

Hey, if you didn't want to hear the answer....... don't try to pull things out of my head! (insert evil laughter)

Okay, fine. You win!

 

[pkondz]

Then again the Force within my Fairy Godmother-ness has grown stronger since their trip. You may not need some of those strategies now.

Ooohhhh...

Well.....

It's coming! It's coming!


(That's what she said.... )

As I read that over again, that sounds a little naughty!

See above!

The places themselves are older than we are. OK one is my little sister's age. But all of them were "original" around the time her father took a turn for the worse. So with him out of the picture, we just started totally remodeling them, with granite counters, new appliances, restoring the hardwood floors, etc. We only have two left, our old house, and the other already had every thing but the kitchen done about 25 yeas ago. Plus that tenant is good and settled.

Sounds nice! As a tenant, I would appreciate all of that.

It takes some serious commit mentions to get through everything you want at F&W! That's why I had a lot of TIOLI (Take it or Leave it).

I'll be the first to admit that I almost never mention my commits.

Ah, I was never a very good reader. Still not, I have some sort of ADD, not as bad as my sister. I had a class "Reading for College". Don't know if you had ads for the "Evelyn Wood speed reading program" up in your neck of the woods (ha! Pun not I intended!),

Pun accepted!

but it was advertised down here like crazy when I was a kid. Well they taught us the basics of "Speed Reading" in that class. It was great! I learned to skim through pages at 200+ wpm. The problem? Less than 10% retention!

I'm familiar with it... and had a sneaking suspicion that's what would happen.
Besides... I don't want to speed read. I like "hearing" the narration and characters.

I have to read really slow, and that's why I like TRs with lots of pictures.

Sorry. I'll write more slowly on the next update.


(MASH joke)

Yours are good too. Short sentences, not a lot of prose, and lots of jokes and groans mixed in to make sure I'm paying attention and not just skimming.

Aw, thanks Alison!

Holy crap. What happened to the "What happens in Disney, stays in Disney"? Oh, wait, NM, that's what TRs are for.



Don't mind me.... I'll just be over here hiding under the table. (ALONE!)

She's under the table everyone! Cross your legs!!!

Besides, I didn't explain them..........or does that make it worse?

And thanks for that!

 

[Steppesister]

Staaaaaaaawp, you two!!!

 

[pkondz]

Staaaaaaaawp, you two!!!

 

[Pinkocto]

Fun morning sorry Fran wasn't up to going out though.

You are making me hungry with all this yummy food!!!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Our last part of cleaning any apartment is the kitchen. On a whim I decided to run the dishwasher and make sure that it worked. You never know about appliances in your tenant's apartments, especially when they have lived there for a long time. The first bad sign was when water started to come out the dishwasher overflow valve and spill into the sink. The second bad sign was when we started to smell some sort of “electrical burning”. We turned off the dishwasher and unplugged everything under the sink. It turns out that it’s a mess under there, leaks from on top of the counter, leaks from the dishwasher. We had already decided to replace the stove in there, but now we’re looking for a dishwasher too.

Well, that sucks. Sorry you have to deal with that. But good thing you checked!

We tried to buy shirts at the Festival center but they were all sold out in the larger sizes, the festival was barely halfway through, did they not want to make money off of merchandising?

Disney not wanting to make money? Perish the thought. Maybe some of those people came through that buy 30 of everything so they can sell it on eBay.

Fran really likes Gazpacho, she liked it well enough, but prefers her gazpacho without bread chunks.

Sorry, this has nothing to do with anything, but whenever I hear about gazpacho, I think of the Simpsons. In one episode, Homer threw a BBQ party. Lisa is becoming a vegetarian so she tries to hijack the BBQ by offering everyone gazpacho instead. Someone shouts, "Go back to Russia!" which never fails to crack me up.

I just want to wish all my American friends out there a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you guys had a great one!

While I was riding Soarin’ Fran had sprung for several copies of the Remy map.

Cool, that looks like fun!

I always thought that @Leshaface was kidding when she talked about Beaver Butt Lip Balm and then I found all those products!

Hey, those are quality items!

I think it was this point when Fran decided she didn’t care how we got all the Remys and she started to Google him on her phone.

Liesa @Steppesister had put together a meet at LA Cava. I wasn’t sure who all was going to be there and it turned out that @GoofyFan1515 and @Poolrat were the other folks who would be in attendance.

What an awesome group of people!

Yes those parties were at separate tables, but the tables were next to each other! Hello! Slide them together!

Amazing how they didn't come up with that.

As I said, I don't remember what everyone else got, but I know Liesa was well into her alphabet game. I won’t spill any beans.

Boo.

Back at the room we put on the circus (aka presidential debate) and yelled at the TV! It's funny what Tequila does to you!

I would have needed several shots to even consider watching it!

Unfortunately, I have to say that this has now become a thing, I woke up around 4AM.

Ugh.

I also got the apple strudel. It was not nearly as good as I remember, plus it had raisins in it. Yech!

Yes! Stop ruining desserts with dead grapes!

We made sure to take evidence of our meet.

Another great meet!

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a nice day so far. How annoying your body clock has decided to make the 4am a regular thing. Breakfast looked good!

Tell me about it!

Poor Fran sorry she was off colour at the start of the day. Good advice with the water. I get that too. I wish I could do the IV drip like in hospital to rehydrate. That makes you feel better quickly. I discovered drinks with electrolites really made a difference. Smart water and Vitamin water.

I'll have to remember that. I always figured I was smart enough so I didn't bother with Smart water.

That cute Remy! Well done on your Test Track score. I agree the mission space panels looking so yesterdays pizza now.

Love that! Yesterday's pizza!



Mmmmm pizza.

Frozen magariatas look nice. Woohhoo there that soda float ice cream ratio way off I agree!

Yeah, I want a little ice cream floating in my soda.

Nice photos with your friend. We found the portion sizes at F & W so varied and unpredictable. One too little, one just rught then an entree would appear!

It's hard to gauge them right, but they even have pictures hanging in the kiosks.

Glad it looks like Fran might be feeling up to coming out tonight.

Yes we did have a good night. Hoping to get that day up soon.

Too bad Fran missed out on your DISmeet. Looks like you went around quite a bit through the park though!

Yes I did actually cover a bit of ground that day!

We really liked the Schinkennuddel - even though it's just basically cheese noodles with ham and onion, I think it's great.

All those things are great, put them together, what's not to love?

I didn't try the strudel - I don't like raisins in my strudel either.

Exactly. Now I want apple pie.

Didn't really care for the shrimp in China either, but DD liked it.

I liked it, I just couldn't eat it all. I was really missing Fran helping me at that point.

I'm not a big fan of soda/floats, so we skipped those.

I like them, but with much more soda.

Never really got a chance to check out the BCV quiet pool when we were there. We went to the main pool a couple times, and while nice it was awfully crowded. Felt like we should see it though as it's one of the highlights of the resort. It DOES mean that the BCV pool stays pretty kid-free.

When I went out there, kids were tossing a ball in one end of the pool. It wasn't as "quiet" as I would have l liked. I also noted that the jacuzzi was low on water and all week the water level was below the skimmer. That can't be good.

 

[franandaj]

Is this something new? I have never heard of it before.

They had it last year, not sure beyond that.

Oh these are great... I have peeps who need these.

I'm not sure that anything with beaver butt in the name would touch my lips!

Love La Cava, and we always have to stop in and get a margarita. Glad you all had fun!

I was glad I could convince Fran to go there, she does like Tequila and it was a great time!

I am with Fran on the sandwich, plain and simple for me.

I am rarely simple!

Looks like you had a great day morning with out Fran. Hope she was feeling well enough to enjoy your evening.

I hate leaving her behind, but I am getting better about not feeling guilty doing it. We are rarely separated, so it feels odd.

 

[IowaTater]

Now I'm kicking myself for not stopping in there. Those would have been great Rob Your Neighbor gift this Christmas.

It was a limoncello and Tequila slushie style margarita

And they were so nummy! Like frozen lemonades. I couldn't even taste the alcohol at all and they were perfect on that hot day.

I also got the apple strudel. It was not nearly as good as I remember, plus it had raisins in it. Yech!

They definitely changed the recipe or something. I couldn't believe how tough the crust was on yours too.

How was this? It looks delicious and was on my list but I never got it.

I'm glad Fran was feeling better by the end of the day but it was a bummer we missed her. We had a great time that day!!

 

[afwdwfan]

We were starting to get full again, but we pressed on to the Chocolate studio.

So. Much. Chocolate. How did I not know there's a chocolate studio????

Back at the room we put on the circus (aka presidential debate) and yelled at the TV! It's funny what Tequila does to you!

But could you even yell loud enough to hear yourself over the "debate?" Maybe you should have just hung out in La Cava for a few more hours.

Since I didn’t make the Bacon and eggs for breakfast the day before, I decided today was as good a day as any.

Looks delicious. I clearly didn't eat enough for breakfast this morning.

They had their sights set on a margarita in Italy, so that's where we went.

Italy? Yeah, that's where I'd go to find a margarita.

I also got the apple strudel. It was not nearly as good as I remember, plus it had raisins in it. Yech!

Nooo!!! Don't ruin a perfectly good apple based dessert with raisins!

Back in the room Fran was feeling up to going out. So we got ready to head out for the night.

I'm glad she was feeling a little bit better. After your pool/hot tub time and her day of rest you should be all ready to enjoy the evening.

 

[franandaj]

Again! Yes this is definitely a thing.

Well at least Tesla is enjoying it.

Wait. So you actually got to sleep til 8 with a tub thrown in.
Not too shabby.

That's what I thought!

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Whoa! Brave. I did that with the kids and felt sick for at least half an hour afterwards.

Fran would never try it and my second trip that I rode, I was a little hesitant, but the Green Team was so mild that I decided I wouldn't second guess myself on riding Orange Team again.

Alberto was thrown off for a whole day after riding it.

Days of future past.

Confusing.

Oh, that's too bad.

Yeah, well she thinks diet Mtn Dew is a hydrating beverage and rarely drinks just water.

Oh boy. Does that ever look good!

It was! You could hardly taste the alcohol!

I'm usually "Yes! It has raisins in it!"

I think you're in the minority around here when it comes to dead grapes.

sucker gets around!

Yes he does. There's more of him to come!

Huh. I don't remember a. it being that big or b. being all that spicy. And I'm a spicy food baby.

I guess I just lucked out!

I had those on my list! And never got around to it.

I can see how that would happen as your trip was so short.

dunno.... that may be her, I'm not acquainted... but that's not you.

Whadda ya mean that's not me?????

Where do you get a Dole Whip at Epcot?

Same place you get a Cronut!

Love that sho!t

Thanks!

Oh, good! Hope you guys had a great one!
(And guess I'll find out!)

I still have to do the next update...I've been working on a novel for the past few days.... [/QUOTE]

 

[franandaj]

Reading here about the evening at La Cava, and then again with Liesa's version, I have to agree it was constant chatter and laughter.

Tequila does have that affect on folks!

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly DISers who never met before can get comfortable with each other and have a great time together. The pictures are all wonderful, but definitely don't do it justice!

That is true. I have not had a bad meet up with anyone on here yet!

When I didn't see any details here about the conversation I started to comment but decided to wait and see what Liesa spilled.

Well that's mainly because I didn't remember a lot of details. This was my first full day and had lots of adventures since to cloud my mind.and well, Tequila.

After she didn't really comment either I started thinking (yes, quiet and .....as I normally am) that maybe some parts are better kept in the minds of those who experienced it. If we share everything then where is the motivation for others to join us next time......

Very true. Plus evidently we had some discussions that can't be posted here.

However, there are two specific items that I remember. First was @Steppesister confessing that she had an affinity for sucking when she was younger. (mind out of the gutter @pkondz.....had to do with her musical skills with the oboe)

Yes I do remember this as we talked about the back pressure from playing oboe.

The other was the comment Fran made to Alison about some spilled tequila, which also came close to making me also spill some of my tequila on Alison......from across the table!

I asked Fran about this and she doesn't remember either!

You're taking all the fun out of it!

Well evidently whatever Fran and I said can be taken that way!

Holy crap. What happened to the "What happens in Disney, stays in Disney"? Oh, wait, NM, that's what TRs are for.

Yeah, but if you don't remember you can't talk about it.

Don't mind me.... I'll just be over here hiding under the table. (ALONE!)