CRAZY DIS ASIANS! A Sept 2018 TR...COMPLETED 6/1 The last day!!

[KEK1]

Sydney is beautiful. Hope you have some time to spend there, both in the city and outside it! Perth is the other side of the country..not so pretty. Ha.

 

[pepperandchips]

I am also much older so this is just my feeble aching body talking.

Oh hush. You don't look a day over 28 so just own it!

Hope youre Balloon bucket stands the test of time.

I had not read that about certain bucket colors "expiring", good to know. Did you see the fb post that Disney raised cart snack prices across the board? Popcorn refill now $2.

The lights were only on in the beginning, when we got to the top I expected the lights to be on as well, but everything was dark

Foiled again! I wanna know what is up there...

 

[FFMickey]

Joining in! We were there at the same time. We might've passed you guys ibn the halls of BC. The weather cooperated for the most part, but not enough to keep us away!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Reading your TR updates always make me so hungry! The shrimp and scallop cake sounds sooo good! And I don't even like beer but I want to try that Jasmine one from China! The potstickers from Lotus Cafe are soooo good. I end up getting them on every trip, in spite of all of the F & W booths, because I love them so much. We actually ate at the CS in Japan on our last trip and I was pleasantly surprised - I got some garlic shrimp thing and it was quite good! Just when you think Epcot can't get any better, you find something new and wonderful to eat!

I really like the quick service at Japan. When you're craving a bowl of noodles there's only so many places to get one at Disney and that one hits the spot.
The Jasmine beer was very light - it wasn't a heavy beer but it had a light floral taste. The shrimp and scallop cake is quite good.

Soarin' has long been my most favorite ride at Disney. But uuuuuuuggggghhhhhh the new video drives me insane if we aren't exactly in the middle. I don't even care about top row, I just need to be in the middle of the room.

I agree...why would they do that knowing the theater skew's the perception? Instead of the Eiffel Towel they could have picked...I dunno, the Chicago Bean, so then it won't look as distorted, but not quite as exotic as Paris I guess.

Mulan is ridiculously adorable! I love your pics with her, they came out great!

She is really sweet and fierce! I'm glad we got our picture with her considering we were dressed for it, haha.

Sydney is beautiful. Hope you have some time to spend there, both in the city and outside it! Perth is the other side of the country..not so pretty. Ha.

Yup we're spending a week in Sydney. Really looking forward to it!

Oh hush. You don't look a day over 28 so just own it!

Aww thank you sweets. It's Disney that keeps me young. And I find that the truth when I look at every one of us.

I had not read that about certain bucket colors "expiring", good to know. Did you see the fb post that Disney raised cart snack prices across the board? Popcorn refill now $2.

Yes...the horror. Not unexpected, but still sucks. That just means i'm going to milk this popcorn bucket until it's so old the graphics will probably fade away, LOL.

Foiled again! I wanna know what is up there...

Haha. Still a mystery!

Joining in! We were there at the same time. We might've passed you guys ibn the halls of BC. The weather cooperated for the most part, but not enough to keep us away!

Hi there and welcome!! Thanks for reading!
The weather was so so hot...the first half of the week was definitely rainier than the latter...but overall, not enough for us to stay away either!

 

[franandaj]

I would totally do garden grocer if we had more people or stayed in a DVC room because they have more variety of foods.

I like WeGoShop for groceries. Garden Grocer forgot my head of lettuce and I had planned a salad for one of my meals. They didn't even return my phone calls or anything. No customer service follow up whatsoever.

I ordered little bath bombs - I believe they are the Whole Foods Fizzing Bath Bombs since Amazon now owns the whole world. they are cheaper than Basin's versions but I don't think quite as potent. I also like the Dr. Teals ones but in actuality any epsom salt that is the cheapest bag is what I would usually get.

I like Village Naturals. I use those at home. Dr. Teals are good too. They're more widely available.

Thank you! My hair begs to differ but that's the reality of WDW in summer! My hair usually looks so much better in DLR!!

I just plop mine on top of my head most of the time, and only take it down for photos. That's why it looks so crazy.

She is an extreme slave to fashion, but she does take the sweater off when there's no cameras around...or so she thinks (see latest post, LOL).

I'm a slave to nothing, well maybe food & drink!

Happy Anniversary!!!
I love Shabu Shabu even more than Teppan Yaki, but Shabu is better when the weather is cooler

Thanks! It was such a yummy dinner, and I had the soup for breakfast the two days after. Next time I'm going to ask for all udon noodles.

Apparently the accessible rooms have automatic doors that stay open for about 30 seconds before slowly closing on it's own.

Yes! I'm so glad they've done this to the Beach Club accessible rooms. We have had room like this on our last three cruises and it's so much easier for Fran to get into the room when she's by herself.

I got the purple Mickey when I scanned my band to enter (it means DVC). I am not sure why sometimes it's purple and sometimes it's green so maybe sometimes it chooses to recognize I am DVC and sometimes not?

I've never gotten a purple Mickey. But my pass doesn't come from DVC, so they probably don't even know that.

We started off with some sauteed udon noodles with vegetables.

Love udon noodles! See previous comment.

I got my filet medium rare. It was quite nice

I always get mine rare, because since they cut it into such small pieces, it continues to cook for 5-10 minutes on your plate. That way it is still pink if you are a slow eater like me. I order my steaks medium rare normally so this works out as a good compromise. I don't mind steak tartare, I even like it!

Here was the shrimp that both Steve and Su-Queen got.

Now I really want Teppan Yaki! Fran gets steak, I get shrimp, we tell the chef to split it.

I think they should just serve ice cream instead of the cake. (Those were the only two choices I think).

On a hot summer day, green tea ice cream would be perfect!

Three princesses and a magic shot! Good job Chunkysis!

Yeah! She did very well!

So we timed it and it's seriously about 30 seconds of waiting until it is fully closed. You can't just walk out and close the door. You had to walk out, and stand there and wait for it to close, and it's the slowest door ever. Creak....creak...creak....close. Then you had to test it to make sure it's closed because I don't know about these automatic doors, and since we were near the elevator, there's no way I'm leaving that door open for anyone to come in so someone HAD to make sure the door was closed after we left.

Yeah that is a bummer. I did the same thing for my stateroom on the last cruise. But when you need the door, the benefits outweigh the 30 seconds of waiting.

These Totchos were quite tasty and I enjoyed them a lot! Only gripe was that the tater tots could be cooked a tad longer so it's crispier but it all tasted great like an Americanized poutine LOL.

Sounds like I would like them!

I also wanted to try the Raspberry Lunch Box Tart: Raspberry Marmalade stuffed Pastry coated in a Strawberry Fondant and Crispy Pearls

It does sound good, sorry it didn't measure up.

This ride is exactly like Tomater's Junkyard Jamboree in Disney's California Adventure.

I was going to ask if it was like the teacups or what. Now i have my answer.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I like WeGoShop for groceries. Garden Grocer forgot my head of lettuce and I had planned a salad for one of my meals. They didn't even return my phone calls or anything. No customer service follow up whatsoever.

Good to know. We've only ordered once during our family trip last year, and it worked out fine. But we rarely order groceries since we're not usually in a DVC room so don't really have much place to store and heat stuff up. That will change soon though once we start staying using our DVC points!

I like Village Naturals. I use those at home. Dr. Teals are good too. They're more widely available.

I use lots of different bath salts. I usually place larger orders with seasalt.com and get the dead sea salts in bulk. They last a long time and they are apparently the most detoxifying. I add essential oils to the bath and it's bliss!

I just plop mine on top of my head most of the time, and only take it down for photos. That's why it looks so crazy.

It's a nice bohemian look which is what I strive for, if only I can let my hair grow that long...when it reaches past my shoulders I am always itching to cut it.

I'm a slave to nothing, well maybe food & drink!

haha me too!

Thanks! It was such a yummy dinner, and I had the soup for breakfast the two days after. Next time I'm going to ask for all udon noodles.

I love the soup at the end of shabu shabu and hot pot. Mmmmm.

Yes! I'm so glad they've done this to the Beach Club accessible rooms. We have had room like this on our last three cruises and it's so much easier for Fran to get into the room when she's by herself.

It is definitely a very good accessible room! We could have had you guys over if you stayed longer lol.

I've never gotten a purple Mickey. But my pass doesn't come from DVC, so they probably don't even know that.

That's so weird I thought that they would know you're DVC anyways regardless of what ticket you buy, so strange. And sometimes it's purple and sometimes it's not, so I don't know what triggers it or if it's just a random thing.

I always get mine rare, because since they cut it into such small pieces, it continues to cook for 5-10 minutes on your plate. That way it is still pink if you are a slow eater like me. I order my steaks medium rare normally so this works out as a good compromise. I don't mind steak tartare, I even like it!

Good idea to get it rare because it does cook even after it's removed from heat.

On a hot summer day, green tea ice cream would be perfect!

Yes it would be! Or some shave ice with green tea syrup!

Yeah that is a bummer. I did the same thing for my stateroom on the last cruise. But when you need the door, the benefits outweigh the 30 seconds of waiting.

I can see how it would really help out some one who is accessible. Maybe I should have kept the room. I should have rented a scooter when I hurt my knee!

Sounds like I would like them!

I think you would!

BTW, are you looking at any of the 2020 DCL itineraries? We just booked May 8th 2020...from Hawaii to Vancouver!

 

[cajunfan]

I can't believe I was three pages behind!

Great update...I need to know where your sister got her dresses for this trip...and I am totally amused that you are planning a Disney wedding for your sister who may or may not be seriously dating someone, lol! But I would totally do the same thing...as a matter of fact, I may have to tell my sister that for her daughter...the one that was at Disney at the same time as you around Labor Day.

As usual, can't wait to hear more!

 

[Monykalyn]

Love the pictures and descriptions as usual!
Does Su-Queen know you are already planning her wedding? My only hope for a Disney wedding will be my oldest daughter (who is already plotting her 3rd DCP program in 2 years after she graduates...)

The Hawaii DCL cruise looks nice. Hoping I can talk DH into a Cuba cruise friends of ours are doing next fall...

 

[chunkymonkey]

Great update...I need to know where your sister got her dresses for this trip...and I am totally amused that you are planning a Disney wedding for your sister who may or may not be seriously dating someone, lol! But I would totally do the same thing...as a matter of fact, I may have to tell my sister that for her daughter...the one that was at Disney at the same time as you around Labor Day.

She bought a lot of stuff from those facebook groups that keep popping up. One of them is Spadesboutique.com - a lot of stuff has to be ordered months in advance but it's cheap and she really likes them. I bought a few as well but they don't look as good on me as they do on her!

Haha she totally wants a Disney wedding. I told her that as her bridesmaids we get to choose to be a Disney princess, and I want to be Belle, buahaha.
I'm obviously planning the Disney wedding I never had.

Love the pictures and descriptions as usual!
Does Su-Queen know you are already planning her wedding? My only hope for a Disney wedding will be my oldest daughter (who is already plotting her 3rd DCP program in 2 years after she graduates...)

Thank you!
Oh yes she totally knows, she of course wants a Disney wedding too! Fingers crossed haha!
And fingers crossed for your daughter that she will find her prince charming and have a big Disney wedding. If my sister doesn't get her wish then I'm going to crash your daughter's. Hehe.
That's so funny whe wants to do annother DCP program already, but I guess they are addictive. Same here, I'd never want to leave the bubble!

The Hawaii DCL cruise looks nice. Hoping I can talk DH into a Cuba cruise friends of ours are doing next fall...

Cuba sounds amazing. I would really like to do cuba one day too. A friend of mine went last year and it looked so cool, it had a vintage vibe with all the older cars and old architecture.

 

[franandaj]

Here's CS's outfit of the day complete with matching hair clip:

She really is a slave to fashion!

the lights were on! It wasn't exceptionally bright or anything, unlike Space Mountain with the lights on, but everything was just illuminated better. We wondered what had happened.

That would be strange.

I didn't realize it was actually something bigger than that:

That's pretty serious!

I also remembered that it was our 2nd visit to Epcot and on our 4th visit we could get the coveted Mickey cutting board!

I wish I could get the cutting board!

So I bought a glass. I can't remember the price but it wasn't super cheap for the amount. It was a good wine and I enjoyed it but not enough to buy the whole bottle which was close to 100 dollars.

That's how I felt too. I don't mind if they serve it to me with my wine pairing, but I'm not going to purchase a bottle for that price!

We made this crazy little truck, unfortunately not as much power as I would have liked.

As a consolation prize, we did use the photobooths in the dump shop. All this is included with Memory Maker

Nice to know. I try to get my money's worth whenever I can!

My sister and I both got the Seared Shrimp and Scallop Cakes from Thailand. They are served with a cold noodle salad. My sister really loved this a lot and so did I as it was something I enjoyed last year too, plus it wasn't too heavy unlike all the other Food and Wine booths.

That sounds pretty good. We will be there next year, so maybe I can try it then.

Since we had Ohana tonight, this was all Steve was going to eat that afternoon since he's all about Ohana's shrimp and doesn't want to fill up the rest of the day, haha.

I am getting so confused between all your TRs, I'm like, I thought you were having a 12 course meal at V&A's tonight!

This is me playing Gamora in Avenger's Infinity War:

I really need to get caught up on those movies!

The pancake is pretty much a scallion pancake and the filling is a spicy sauteed beef.

Interesting. I've never had a scallion pancake "filled" with something. I've always just had it by itself. Great, and now you have me craving one of those too. I'll need to work Teppan Yaki into my dining rotation, and Sunday the 21st, I wrote, "take out or delivery", so now I think I know where the take out will come from!

Looks like it's sorta worked out as my sister is seeing someone at the moment.

Well good for her!

Coming up...the worst thing I ate during Food & Wine...

Uh, oh. That' doesn't sound good.

 

[franandaj]

Good to know. We've only ordered once during our family trip last year, and it worked out fine. But we rarely order groceries since we're not usually in a DVC room so don't really have much place to store and heat stuff up. That will change soon though once we start staying using our DVC points!

We only stay on DVC points because we've been members since 2007. My grocery lists are pretty intricate now, we always have V8, cereal, milk, bread, yogurt, butter, etc for breakfast in the mornings. And I know people think I'm weird, but I like to make a "bacon and eggs" breakfast on vacation. I never have time to do it at home, so it's a luxury for me to have my eggs cooked just how I like them and still hot when I sit down to eat!

Occasionally we actually plan dinners in the room, but that depends on how active we plan to be. Fran is a lot better than she used to be and while she needs naps and downtime, she doesn't need as much as she used to so we haven't been eating dinner in the room quite as much.

I use lots of different bath salts. I usually place larger orders with seasalt.com and get the dead sea salts in bulk. They last a long time and they are apparently the most detoxifying. I add essential oils to the bath and it's bliss!

That's a good link to know about. Fran said the place she used order bath salts from has become too expensive, so I'll show her this.

It's a nice bohemian look which is what I strive for, if only I can let my hair grow that long...when it reaches past my shoulders I am always itching to cut it.

Mine is finally past my shoulders and it has taken me years and years to get it there.

BTW, are you looking at any of the 2020 DCL itineraries? We just booked May 8th 2020...from Hawaii to Vancouver!

We booked opening day, April 12-19, Mexican Riviera. I can't believe the pricing and what a change it was from Platinum Day to Gold Day!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hope everyone had great weekend. I am just getting over a very bad cold. I was out for 2 days of work last week and probably should have just taken the whole week but it was such a bad cold I had to go to the doctor twice. I think I am finally over most of it, just a lingering cough. This weekend was also NY Comic Con, I was just there for the weekend but I had to leave early on Saturday because I was coughing too much but yesterday was a great day at the con, lots of stuff to see. I may post a few pics later but today is my lazy recovery day and good thing we have a day off! Finally I am able to finish off Day 2 of this TR.

Day 2 Part 2: The Worst Thing I Ate

After leaving China we kept on walking, I refilled my popcorn bucket at America, and then headed for Japan. I looked at the booth menu and decided to try the Beef Nigiri topped with Shrimp Sauce and Diced Pickled Jalapeños. Sounds interesting right? I thought it would be like a nice barely seared rare sliver of steak, kinda like a steak tartar, I mean when I think of nigiri I usually think of regular, uncooked fish on sushi rice, so I thought it would be the same with a steak.

This was what I got:

It looks like roast beef sushi with some white sauce and pickled jalapenos. It did not look appetizing at all. It was not what I expected and it looked really sad. So this was the worst thing that I ate at food and wine. The roast beef is like what you find in a deli, served over sushi rice, then throw on some creamy sauce, and then some finely diced HOT jalepenos. It was a weird blend of deli meat, sushi, ranch dressing, and mexican condiments. I consider this a big FAIL. I don't know who decided this should be on the menu, It just seems like there must not have been many taste trials of this because it was just lousy. Or maybe there were and we just got a bad batch. Who knows because I will certainly not be having this again.

I also got that green drink which was supposed to be a green apple sake thing, thinking it would be refreshing, but it was not, it was cloyingly sweet and just too syrupy, I kinda chugged it quickly to get it over with. So probably the worst drink I got as well.

Those were the only things I tried from the Japan pavilion. It's too bad because I usually enjoy their offerings, but maybe I should just stick to frushi during Flower and Garden. We kept walking and finally we had reached the international gateway and had to decide if we wanted to stay in Epcot or if we wanted to head back to the pool and we all decided on the pool since it was deathly hot.

Heading to the pool:

We spent some nice time at Stormalong bay. Steve, the crazy one, went to the gym before the pool. I did some very embarrassing things trying to get on and off on a float tube. I could not get up on one and get back off without lots of flailing and ending up in the water when I was supposed to be on two feet and probably looked like a buffoon trying to do so. There is no graceful way to get on and off those things. Hahaha. Or maybe I just haven't perfected it yet.

Sorry no pics of the pool since we spent most of the time in it. It was very crowded since it was the weekend and a holiday weekend so we didn't get loungers but we did get a table with an umbrella. When it close closer to dinner time we left and got ready for the evening...our favorite restaurant, Ohana was calling our name!

Instead of trying to deal with the bus system we decided to Minnie Van it over. It was our first time riding a Minnie Van. And now since they have changed the pricing, I think it may be more expensive to ride it. Boo. However at that point but we took advantage of a new Lyft sign up bonus and our ride to the Poly ended up costing only 5 bucks! When we got off at the Poly, we of course had to take a picture of our very cute ride.

Sorry the lighting is very wonky in this picture:

Aloha!

This brought back many memories of our stay at the Poly last year during our Chunky Family vacation especially since I was there again with my sister. We had a few minutes before dinner so we got some pictures:

Poly is our DVC home resort since last December. Our first official DVC stay there is not until next January so we are looking forward to really be welcomed home!

We checked into Ohana and soon we were taken to our table by our cousin and served the coconut bread:

I got this drink, I think it was a Captain's mai tai but I thought it was a little too sweet for me, still I drank it but I kept adding ice to it so it looked like the drink that was bottomless, just got a little less sweet which I much prefer. Still very potent though.

Our salad followed and sorry it was slightly mauled by Steve before I got a picture:

My favorite yummy appetizer platter arrived next:

Our meat and shrimp skewers followed but I could only manage to take a picture of our shrimp.

I think between Steve and Chunkysis they managed to polish off a good many skewers!

My favorite part is dessert of course. Oh and we got lei'd haha.

Omg I'm so hungry now thinking of this meal, just a few more months before we're back in January!

After our dinner we felt stuffed! But we still headed to the Magic kingdom because we wanted to watch HEA. It was one of the few nights we could watch it as other nights had MNSSHP.

Ears on:

In MK, Halloween was already in full swing:

The skies looked ominous. The forecast was for rain that evening. Hopefully the fireworks would still be on!

My sister went to meet the princesses but Steve and I just wanted to chill so we went to find a spot to watch the fireworks. We went to our go-to spot in front of Casey's, in the grassy hub area and we managed to get a seat too.

My sister had some luck that evening:

This Cinderella could use a bang trim.

After her meet n greets she joined us in our little spot, although she couldn't find us at first. The area we were in looks like it's roped off to the public but it actually is not, you just have to meander around some roped areas but it is accessible to all.

It was then the skies opened up. The rain came down, but it wasn't a thunderous rain, it was a steady drizzle at most. We were lucky we brought our ponchos, and my sister huddled under her umbrella.

The good news was that HEA was still on! But it was the wettest HEA I've seen, LOL. It was so rainy I couldn't take many pictures, but one interesting thing about the rain was that it made the lasers stand out much more.

Either way, still happy we got to see the show, I love it so much even to brave the rain for it and everyone knows that I hate being wet, yuck.

Nothing but love for HEA even in the rain.

Of course, AFTER the show ended, it stopped raining.

We made the most of the evening as there was still a good 2 hours left of park time.
We went on Jungle Cruise and I would have loved to show you more, but this was the only picture that would come out.
Behind me is the backside of water, I promise you.

Then we had the wildest ride in the wilderness!

And we ended the night in Pirates although we keep forgetting that there's a ride picture, obviously.

Despite the rainy fireworks, still a fabulous night in Magic Kingdom.

Aloha until tomorrow, stay tuned for Bon Voyage Breakfast and MNSSHP!!
​

 

[MeghanEmily]

Yes, I was thinking about you guys at comic con this weekend!! I wish we'd been there! Hopefully someday we'll do NYCC. I know it's a little tricky to get in, but I think the biggest reason Nathan has been avoiding it is so he doesn't have to drive in New York!

It looks like roast beef sushi with some white sauce and pickled jalapenos. It did not look appetizing at all. It was not what I expected and it looked really sad. So this was the worst thing that I ate at food and wine. The roast beef is like what you find in a deli, served over sushi rice, then throw on some creamy sauce, and then some finely diced HOT jalepenos.

Ew. This sounds so strange and gross.

We spent some nice time at Stormalong bay. Steve, the crazy one, went to the gym before the pool.

I maintain that Steven is totally the craziest DIS asian. 100%. Who goes to the gym on vacation?? Esp. when you could just go straight to Stormalong Bay instead...

I did some very embarrassing things trying to get on and off on a float tube. I could not get up on one and get back off without lots of flailing and ending up in the water when I was supposed to be on two feet and probably looked like a buffoon trying to do so.

I think between Steve and Chunkysis they managed to polish off a good many skewers!

I wouldn't expect any less!

but one interesting thing about the rain was that it made the lasers stand out much more.

Oh that IS interesting! I wouldn't have thought of that. But a kind of cool consolation if you have to stand out there in the rain.

 

[DisneyyDaydream]

It looks like roast beef sushi with some white sauce and pickled jalapenos. It did not look appetizing at all. It was not what I expected and it looked really sad. So this was the worst thing that I ate at food and wine. The roast beef is like what you find in a deli, served over sushi rice, then throw on some creamy sauce, and then some finely diced HOT jalepenos. It was a weird blend of deli meat, sushi, ranch dressing, and mexican condiments

Oh no that sounds actually horrible. I haven’t heard a single good thing about it, so you’re definitely not alone. Makes you wonder what they were thinking when they created it

Such cute dresses!!

 

[cadien]

We spent some nice time at Stormalong bay. Steve, the crazy one, went to the gym before the pool. I did some very embarrassing things trying to get on and off on a float tube. I could not get up on one and get back off without lots of flailing and ending up in the water when I was supposed to be on two feet and probably looked like a buffoon trying to do so. There is no graceful way to get on and off those things. Hahaha. Or maybe I just haven't perfected it yet.
​

​

That is me every time!

Our meat and shrimp skewers followed but I could only manage to take a picture of our shrimp.

​

​

That is an insane amount of shrimp! I've never seen a photo of those skewers before!

​

Aloha until tomorrow, stay tuned for Bon Voyage Breakfast and MNSSHP!!

​

Hooray! We have ADRs for Bon Voyage Breakfast.


Feel better!

 

[missangelalexis]

That stinks that both items in Japan were a bust!

Such cute pics at the Poly, yay for Ohana!

I love your ears, they look so cool in pics! Glad you were able to see HEA even with the rain! And it sounds like you had a productive ride evening!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

'Ohana for dinner looks amazing! I have only been to the breakfast, but really enjoyed that (especially for DD to meet Stitch).

 

[iivye]

You and your sister are adorable. My favorite part of the reports are what you two wear. It sounds like a wonderful trip.

 

[Scse1029]

I love the dress you wore to Ohana!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Sorry you've been sick. Hope you're feeling much better now.

NY Comic Con! How fun! My daughter would LOVE to go to that. We have a very small con here, but NY and San Diego are on her bucket list.

Your pics are wonderful - especially the ones of you and your sis together!