Here we gooooo! A November 2013 TR {Update 4/23: The Last Installment}

[STLMickeyMom]

Wow! You got a lot in! Sounds like a great start on a sunny, pretty day!

And you know I love all the hidden mickeys! I even knew about the one in the aquarium and forgot to look for it!

 

[kayemgi]

We decided to head up through Canada first, which we never do, but I wanted to save my Mexican margarita for later in the day when I had lots more food in my belly! I will apologize in advance for the lack of food photos — a lot I just forgot and a lot just didn’t seem worth taking a photo of as it didn’t look very appealing even if it tasted good!

Our first stop was Scotland, where DH got an Innis & Gunn Original. Spoiler alert, that was his favorite drink of the whole day. (I don’t drink beer, I have some kind of hops allergy that makes it a very bad idea for me!) Next was Hawaii; DH got the Kãlua Pork Slider and I got the Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad. More spoilers — that was our favorite food of the whole day. Bummer that we hit all of our favorites so early, but we didn’t know at the time! That tuna poke was just one of the most delicious things I think I’ve ever eaten. So so yummy.

Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Kãlua Pork Slider

Next I tried the Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey which sounded so promising for a lover of all of those things, but it was cold and kind of gross. I had heard this was a hit or miss dish, so I wasn’t too disappointed. I only ate a couple of bites and just let it go in the spirit of the day. Then I got a little cup of the famous Cheddar Cheese Soup from the Canada booth. Delicious! If you are the kind of person that would enjoy cheese soup, then it is definitely not overpriced or overhyped like so many people say.

Griddled Greek Cheese

After all that we still hadn’t even made it to the Canada pavilion! We finally got there and walked around a bit just enjoying the atmosphere. I think it’s one of the nicer pavilions as it rarely seems to get overcrowded. We walked over to the UK area where I knew I wanted to try the Fisherman’s Pie from the Ireland booth. Sadly it was mostly potatoes. The seafood portion was good, but there was only a few bites of it, so I ate that part and tossed the rest, thinking of saving room in my belly and not the wasted money. We went into this knowing that we might not like some things and that we were going to spend a lot of money, so we were trying not to worry about it. Plus we had saved the majority of our snack credits from our Free Dining for this day, which eased a lot of the pain of not liking something.

Next we walked over to France where I stood in the looooooong line for Escargots while DH headed over to Belgium by himself to grab a Potato & Leek Waffle with Braised Beef for himself and a Chilled Coffee with Godiva Liqueur for me. After the long line I ended up with the wrong receipt, which I didn’t realize until they handed me the wrong thing at the kitchen portion. I went back over to the cashier and explained that she rung up the wrong thing, and because I had used a snack credit it turned into a HUGE ordeal I must have waited next to the cashier for at least 20 minutes trying to get it fixed before she finally figured out that she hadn’t rung it up wrong, SHE JUST HANDED ME THE WRONG RECEIPT. Yes. Almost 30 minutes of line waiting and then problem fixing to discover there was no freaking problem. I was really not pleased, which I let the cashier and her manager know as calmly as possible, and then I just moved on. What else are you going to do?!

Escargot, not my photo, but they looked exactly like this. Photo from: the Orlando Sentinel

Potato Leek Waffle with Braised Beef. Photo from: Disney Food Blog

I finally walked over to the bench DH was sitting on and told him what had happened. I was glad he had gotten me a drink during all of that! Although you couldn’t taste the alcohol much it was still relaxing just to have a cool drink in hand. The escargot were pretty good, but not worth all of that hassle! DH said his waffle was good as well but could have used more beef. We just sat on that bench in France for awhile, needing to cool down and calm down. It was turning out to be a very warm day! Of course, after the previous three days, I had worn pants, expecting a chilly day. Luckily they were lightweight capris so it wasn’t too bad.

When we decided we were ready we moved on the Morocco. We didn’t get anything to eat there and spent some time just wandering around the pavilion. I knew I wanted to get a mosaic wall tile that I had seen on our last trip, but it looked like they really weren’t selling them anymore! I looked everywhere but couldn’t find what I was looking for, or even anything close. I settled on some Moroccan tea glasses instead, but decided to come purchase them later on.

Not the greatest photo, but still nice!

Then we went to Japan, where DH got a Spicy Hand Roll and I got a Green Tea Colada. DH said his hand roll was delicious but very spicy indeed, and he stole some of my delicious colada to cool his mouth down! Then we watched the drum performers for awhile and then headed into the gift shop to look around. I think DH could have spend all day in there, but of course he didn’t get anything! He’s not very fun to shop with.

Next up was the Florida Local booth at American Adventure. I got the Florida Grass-Fed Beef Slider and DH got an Orlando Brewing Sun Shade Organic Pale Ale. Quite a mouthful! He is not usually a fan of pale ales, but he said he really enjoyed this one. I think the hot day played into that a bit. My slider was really good too.

Photo from: whatididonvacation.com

We decided we needed a bit of a break so we went into the pavilion to see the American Adventure show. We caught the tail end of a Voices of Liberty performance as well, and I will definitely be going out of my way to see a full performance on our next trip. They were just amazing, and they did a completely heartbreaking version of “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” that almost made me cry. (Link to my video on You Tube here.) I managed to keep it in though! As thrilled as I was about the Voices of Liberty, we both sat down for American Adventure and promptly fell asleep. Haha, I guess we just needed to recharge! My feet had been hurting and after our little nap I felt 1000% better, like magic. It was wonderful.

Up Next: More food!

 

[wiigirl]

 

[missangelalexis]

You guys have tried a lot of things so far! I totally agree with your statement about the Cheddar Cheese soup!

 

[teekathepony]

Hello! I'm joining a little late, but going back to catch up!

 

[kayemgi]

After our little American Adventure nap we decided to share a Lobster Roll and the Craisin Bread Pudding from the Hops & Barley booth. Both were really really good, though the lobster roll was tiny! It was chock full of lobster but it was barely four bites. Oh well. The bread pudding was my ideal version of bread pudding, with Craisins instead of raisins — I hate raisins!

Photo by Disney Food Blog

Renewed, we walked through Italy to Germany because DH wanted a beer flight from the Brewer’s Collection booth. While he did that I got in line to get the Cheese Sampler from the Cheese booth across the way. We stood at a little table in a grassy area that looked like it had been set up just for F&W people and ate and drank. I took out our map and realized that we had missed the Poland booth in Italy! DH wanted to try the Kielbasa & Potato Pierogi and I wanted the Zapiekanki (it was like a thick mushroom and onion pizza with no sauce and a spicy ketchup drizzle). I also got the Frozen Szarlotka, which mostly just tasted like frozen apple juice. All of that food was good but nothing special. The cheese sampler was the best of those items.

Photo by disneyworldexplorer.com

Photo by extrawdwmagic.com

We walked back over to Germany and looked in the Christmas shop and at all of the cuckoo clocks. Gosh I love those clocks. Someday we are going to come home with one of the smaller, more affordable ones. They’re just so sweet. Then we moved on to the China pavilion and really started shopping! I knew that the store there would be my best bet for non-Disney souvenirs for family. I found a really pretty loose-leaf tea individual brewing cup that was perfect for my mom, my boss and one for me as well! I really love that thing. Then we also found a beautiful glass ornament of a hummingbird for my MIL. We had everything sent to the front of the park for us to pick up at the end of the evening.

Germany Hidden Mickey!

We walked over to Norway and got in line for Maelstrom next. I really miss the trolls on that ride. It used to be almost all trolls I feel like. I could be remembering wrong, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly trolls sometime in the 90s. Now I think there’s just a couple (the river trolls)? Oh well, it’s still a fun little ride. We looked around the gift shop for a few minutes but it was really crowded for some reason so we left and decided to sit down for a bit outside the Stave Church. Can you tell this trip happened before Anna and Elsa got crazy popular?! We didn’t even notice a line for them.

Maelstrom Hidden Mickey!

We were far enough into our day that we decided to chat about our plans for the next day. We had agreed yesterday that unless Epcot F&W was spectacular, we would go to MK for our bonus day. We agreed that we had only felt so-so about the F&W offerings thus far, and we doubted Mexico could really have anything so good as to change our minds, so we officially decided: MK for our last day! Yay! I was thrilled. I immediately set about setting up our remaining FP+ reservations. We also called the car rental place — I think it was an Alamo, in Disney’s Car Care Center — and arranged for a pick up at 7 am the next day. We needed to rent a car because we were headed to my Grandfather’s in Daytona Beach at the end of our last day. 7 am sounded impossibly early to be up and ready to go, but we didn’t want to sacrifice arriving to MK at rope drop since we’d be leaving before park close.

Newly exhilarated by our decision, we got off our butts and moved on to Mexico, my favorite pavilion! I just love the atmosphere inside the pyramid. Sadly, the line for the Three Caballeros ride looked absurdly long, so we decided to skip that. We walked around a bit looking at the stalls and then I got a blood orange margarita from La Cava. We decided to sit at a table outside on the terrace (they are such a great out-in-the-open secret. I don’t know why they are always available but I love it!) and I volunteered to run over to the Mexico F&W booth and grab us both a ribeye taco. I made the executive decision not to try to share once I saw how small they were! They were delicious though. Really really yummy, great flavors and well balanced. As we sat and ate we decided we were pretty much done for the day, but I wanted to walk back through the showcase to pick up a few more souvenirs, so we rested a bit more and that’s what we did!

Up Next: Saying Goodbye to Epcot

 

[missangelalexis]

I absolutely loved the lobster roll but agree it was tiny!

Cute pic of you with your margarita!

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Looks fun! I don't know how you were still walking around! If I tried all that yummy food, I'd need to find a place to nap!

I love the Mexico pavilion too! I so badly want to try any of the restaurants there!

 

[kayemgi]

Sorry guys, I have been such a lazy trip reporter! Here's the next update:

We stopped in China again and I picked up an adorable dinosaur marionette and a pretty comb and mirror set for my two little twin cousins (I think of them more as nieces than cousins). I spent a long time debating over what to get them, so by the time we were done we decided to stop at the South Korea booth and grab a Kimchi Dog. Second best thing of the day. It was so good! The tacos took third place. (Oh and I forgot, while we were in Mexico DH also got a Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce from the Argentina booth, which he really enjoyed.)

Photo by extrawdwmagic.com

In Morocco I picked up the tea glasses I wanted. I’m glad I splurged on these, I love using them at home for wine (or at least I did before our nugget came along!). Then it started to rain a bit, which nicely cleared out the walkways. We were still feeling warm so we just kept on our way!

In the UK we debated for a long time about what to get for DH’s father. We finally decided on a really nice (and expensive, but worth it) personalized embroidered polo shirt with our family name and crest on it. It was a special order so we couldn’t take it with us right then, but a very helpful CM helped us fill out the form and assured us it would arrive in time for Christmas (when we were planning on giving all of these gifts). FIL is really hard to buy for, so we were thrilled that we found something we knew he would love!

We sadly said goodbye to the World Showcase and walked back down to Future World. We really should have been done, but I just wasn’t ready to leave! So we decided to poke around in Mouse Gears a little. Knowing we were going to try to have a kid after this trip, and already knowing I wanted an ocean-themed nursery, I decided we had to find a Nemo stuffy to bring home. We could only find tiny ones and huuuge ones, so I asked a super helpful CM who found a medium sized Nemo in the back for us. Yay!

Then we decided to pick up a couple of toys for the kids of our close friends. We texted them to find out the three-year-old’s current favorite, which turned out to be Princess Sofia. We found an adorable singing Sofia doll for her. Then we picked out a cute rolling, singing Simba for their one-year-old. At least, we both thought it was grown-up Simba until we got home and looked more closely at the box. It was Mufasa! Seemed strange, but we didn’t think it would matter to the baby!

Is that not the cutest?

Finally we were ready to leave. We took our time walking to the exit, loaded down with all of our bags, and made it back to the bus stop. As we were exiting one of the security guards joked that we must have had to stop shopping because we couldn’t possibly carry any more! DH joked back that I only stopped because his wallet was empty. He got some side-eye on that one! (I have my own wallet, thankyouverymuch!) The bus came pretty quick and we got on and settled in. And suddenly, with a jolt I remembered we hadn’t picked up our souvenirs from China that we had sent to the front of the park!! We got right back up again and rushed off the bus, giving a quick explanation to the confused bus driver!

I could tell by DH’s face that he was completely exhausted, so I told him to sit at the bus stop with our bags and I would run over to the Package Pick-up. It’d be faster for me to go without the bags anyway. I speed-walked back to the entrance and went through the gates again. The CM complimented me on my shirt, which was nice! I asked her where Package Pick-up was, and she let me know it was actually outside the gates! So back I went through the exit again and retraced my steps. If I hadn’t been so focused on walking fast I would have seen the big “Package Pick-up” sign that I passed! Luckily no one else was waiting, but it took them awhile to find my package. While I was waiting, I noticed a great magnet. We try to always get magnets as travel souvenirs, but we hadn’t found one we liked yet on this trip. This one was the seagulls from Finding Nemo, and there were little “Mine!” words popping off of it on springs. It was adorable, so I snatched that up too! Haha, finally they found my package, and I was really and truly done shopping for the day. As soon as I got back to the bus stop another bus pulled up and we headed home.

After all that eating, when we got back to ASMu we were still hungry! So we decided to order a pizza to bring back to the room. It wasn’t the greatest pizza, but it hit the spot right then. It reminded me of Boboli pizza, do you guys remember that?

Bellies full, feet aching, excited for the next day at Magic Kingdom but sad for our last Disney day, we went to bed.

Up next: Our last Disney day. But our second MK day!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

What a great end to the day--love disney shopping! The glasses you bought are beautiful! I love the colors. And the mirror and comb set are gorgeous too!

 

[missangelalexis]

Great purchases! Frustrating that you had to go back to pick up your package from China but thank goodness you remembered in time!

Booo to the last day but at least its an MK day!

 

[kayemgi]

My God I'm getting lazy with this TR. I think I just don't want it to end! We're up to our last day. But as a bonus, it's a Magic Kingdom day! I've never done a park twice in one trip before, so I was super excited about this. As my TR title says, here we go!
---------------------------
Another super-early wake up! I don’t know how we did it but we woke up early every single day of the Disney part of our vacation. We had to be out the door this morning by 6:50 am to make it to the ASMu entrance for our Alamo pick-up. The lady I had spoken to on the phone the day before warned me not to be late, as the drivers would only wait a few minutes since they had to go to other resorts to pick up more guests. We were up, dressed, and packed in record time. It helped that we were only driving to my grandfather’s, not flying home, so we didn’t have to pack carefully or neatly.

On our way out I snagged some early morning ASMu shots:

We got to the entrance right on time and the shuttle was there waiting for us. We hung around a few more minutes waiting for one more family and then we were on our way. We picked up more people at ASMo and then we drove on to the Car Care Center. Luckily we managed to get off the shuttle second and were second in line at the Alamo desk, so we were helped pretty quickly. The people behind us ended up having to wait quite awhile as there were only two people working at the desk, and apparently picking up the keys to a car you already reserved online is quite the process. It took forever, but finally we were on our way!

We drove back to ASMu to load up our bags. We had a credit card linked to our reservation, so we didn’t need to check out. We said goodbye to ASMu and told it it had been a good hotel (yes, I really did) and then we were on our way to Magic Kingdom!

And goodbye to our fun towel octopus!

I was glad we got to drive once and see the Magic Kingdom sign. Our Magic Bands got us into the parking lot with no problem and we ended up right in the second row of cars, close to the end. We were pretty early! I was also happy we’d have a chance to ride the monorail and the ferry — we decided to take the monorail in and the ferry back out at the end of the day. We managed to get an entire monorail car all to ourselves, which was nice! It was great to be able to bounce around and take photos out the windows without annoying other people.

Then we were there! At Magic Kingdom! I was so happy, even though we had just been there two days earlier. And in those two days they had decorated for Christmas! How exciting. The tree wasn’t up yet but everything else was very Christmas-y.

I'm kind of sad they got rid of the Let the Memories Begin sign

We had 30 minutes to wait until the park opened, so we staked out a spot up front and sat down to rest our feet. I had fun watching the families with little kids, they were so excited! The Welcome Show began and then we were entering the park!

We decided to head to Tomorrowland first this time and ride Buzz. I was abysmal, as usual! Then we rode Space Mountain with no wait and decided to head to Main Street Bakery for breakfast. What a great deal! We got two bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, an iced latte and a smoothie for our last two dining credits. Amazing. Those drinks should have been over $10 themselves, and they still counted just as regular drinks for our credits. So awesome.

We ate breakfast at the tables across from the Plaza, gazing upon the castle basking in the morning light. It was wonderful. After eating we rode Haunted Mansion (without getting stuck this time!) and then Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we used our first FP+ reservation for Jungle Cruise, which was all decorated for Jingle Cruise, but we didn’t get to hear any of the jokes (it wasn’t officially starting for another two days).

The other FP+ reservations I had made were for HM and PC, but we decided we didn’t need to ride them again, so I changed them to Under the Sea and, with DH’s blessing, to meet Rapunzel at Princess Fairy Tale Hall. He said he wasn’t going to meet her, but that he would go with me and take photos. Yay! I was wearing my Tangled tee today, so I was especially excited.

Up Next: I get to meet some Princesses!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I am so glad you posted today! I was needing a dose of Disney! And an MK day? Even better!

Way to go getting up at the crack of dawn!

Love the magic kingdom sign and space mountain and the Christmas decorations and the pretty, pretty castle! Love it all!!!

But I especially love your tangled shirt and little pascal peeking out from under your hair--very rapunzel-esque!

 

[missangelalexis]

Last day But yay for MK and getting to ride the monorail! I love all the pics you took! Oooh I can't wait to hear about your Rapunzel greet!!

 

[kayemgi]

I am so glad you posted today! I was needing a dose of Disney! And an MK day? Even better!

Way to go getting up at the crack of dawn!

Love the magic kingdom sign and space mountain and the Christmas decorations and the pretty, pretty castle! Love it all!!!

But I especially love your tangled shirt and little pascal peeking out from under your hair--very rapunzel-esque!

Last day But yay for MK and getting to ride the monorail! I love all the pics you took! Oooh I can't wait to hear about your Rapunzel greet!!

Thanks for sticking with me through my erratic posting ladies! I appreciate having you both regularly comment.

 

[kayemgi]

After Jungle Cruise we did something that neither of us had ever done before — the Enchanted Tiki Room! It was so fun! I loved all of the birds, and the fun surprises when the whole room came to life. I would definitely do the Tiki Room again.

We hung around in Adventureland for a bit, soaking up the atmosphere of our favorite land. DH got a Dole Whip (orange) from Aloha Isle, and we just relaxed while he ate. Then we walked over to New Fantasyland to use our FP+ for Under the Sea. (It was about noon.) I think I enjoyed it even more the second time through! It really is a sweet little ride in the tradition of Disney dark rides.

We walked around FL for a bit, and we caught some of the Tremaines doing their meet and greet. They are just the best! I love their costumes and makeup and they seem to have so much fun. The line was a little long, otherwise I might have tried to convince DH to meet them as well.

DH really wanted to try Stitch’s Great Escape, so we headed back to Tomorrowland. On the way I grabbed my favorite ice cream treat, a Mickey bar. Yum.

From reading the DIS I was expecting Stitch to be the worst experience of all time, but it really wasn’t that bad! Maybe because I had such low expectations, and also because I had read about the uncomfortable shoulder restraints so I used my hands to make them stop above my shoulders, so I wasn’t being squished. It was pretty harmless. However that chili dog smell really is the worst. I feel like I can still smell it!

After Stitch we went back to Tomorrowland to ride the Tea Cups. Earlier, before breakfast, we had seen Alice and the White Rabbit start their morning by riding with a little girl. It was very cute! And what a special memory for that family. I love that Disney allows that. I’ve heard that Jasmine and Aladdin will often start the morning by riding the Magic Carpets, but not with a guest (I don’t think). Do any other characters ride rides? The Tea Cups were fun — that ride really makes you feel like a kid again!

Then it was almost time for our FP+ at Princess Fairy Tale Hall, so we decided to kill some time in the shops around the Carousel while we were waiting. We noticed that there are some prince costumes available, but they seemed a lot more generic than the princess costumes. I guess the money is in pirates for little boys (and some girls!) at Disney.

Then it was time for our FP+! I was only slightly disappointed because the FP+ line is kind of dark and boring. No princess portraits for us. But it’s also short, so how can I complain?! The standby line was already long by that time.

Rapunzel was very sweet! She loved my tee, especially the Pascal on the sleeve (I was glad she noticed as I was especially fond of that detail). She asked if we had been to her tower and seen her paintings and I told her, yes, they are beautiful! Then she asked what I thought she should paint next, and I thought for a second and then said that I thought Max might like to have a portrait done. She loved that idea. They are so good at being in character! I wanted to ask her how she felt about that tower being around, since it was essentially a prison for her for a long time, but it felt rude, so I didn’t.

Then I met Snow White, who was also very nice but not as much fun as Rapunzel. She asked if my husband (who was hanging back and taking pics for me, he wasn’t into meeting the princesses!) was my prince and I said yes. Then she asked if I had wished for him in a wishing well like she had wished for her prince. And I had to tell her no! Haha I realized after I should have just said yes. Then we took our photo and it was time to go.

 

[scrpbookr]

I had not read / heard before that Alice and Jasmine start their days on their respective rides. I love that!

Love that you had your sun shirt on when you met Rapunzel! Did she notice?

Stitch is on my list for this summer. It is one I have not done before. I'll keep reasonable expectations so that I'm overall pleased. I hadn't heard bad reviews.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I love the picture of you and rapunzel! She was so cute when we met her--she got the girls to twirl around to show her their skirts, then she spun around too. Snow white was a little disappointing after her.

Oh, Mickey bar!!!! Excuse me while I drool on myself!

I did tiki room for the first time on our last trip! I really liked it too!

I think the tremaines are great! We had fun meeting them. They must like being the funniest character meet. And lady tremaine is always so in character. Fun!

 

[missangelalexis]

Mickey bar, yum!

I wish I had known about the shoulder restraints on Stitch before I went on! They really are so uncomfortable, so I'm glad you were able to stop them!

Cute picture/interaction with Rapunzel!