"I bet they get Charmin" A May 2014 Girls Trip **04/03 THE END**

[courtneybelle]

Not going to lie, I'm pretty homesick for Soarin' right now...a bit from the soundtrack is actually my ringtone!

I really need to take my sister and mom to Sunshine Seasons because strawberries are their favorite and I think they'd love the shortcake.

Your cars are AWESOME. And your car pictures are FIERCE.

I always do the green side of Mission: Space as well. I've heard too many stories of people being sick for the whole day after riding that.

I am going to guess Via Napoli for lunch!

 

[DisDance]

Sunshine Seasons is one of my favorites, it's great for a big group because there are so many options. You guys win the award for the most fabulous pics taken at disney, seriously they are all so great!

 

[Li Li]

So, I'm a lurker, hi! Just wanted to pop in and say thank you! I got the steak today at Mama Melrose, and it did not disappoint!!! Fantastic! Thanks for the review!

 

[amberg93]

Hmmmm, of the 3 cars, I'd have to say your's and Eli's looks the most normal.

I did not know about the picture area after TT. Interesting.

Wow, they found Orange underwhelming? Well I guess after the inital launch and the G forces maybe so.

I didn't know you could make an extra FP for a ride you already did that day. I just assumed it'd have to be something different. Good to know.

Ah look at you being the mom of the group. Nobody said being a mom was easy.

Well, we try for normal. We were more concerned about beauty than skill

Neither did we until right then. And then we killed so much time by doing it. It was pretty fun.

Yeah I wouldn't know. Marie and I always steer clear but at the end they were all like, it was meh. So...

Yup, as long as there are FP+ available you can and the group preferred TT over Soarin' so.

Being the mom sucks sometimes.

Not going to lie, I'm pretty homesick for Soarin' right now...a bit from the soundtrack is actually my ringtone!

I really need to take my sister and mom to Sunshine Seasons because strawberries are their favorite and I think they'd love the shortcake.

Your cars are AWESOME. And your car pictures are FIERCE.

I always do the green side of Mission: Space as well. I've heard too many stories of people being sick for the whole day after riding that.

I am going to guess Via Napoli for lunch!

Sounds like something Marie would do. Soarin' is her happy place.

I don't even like strawberry shortcake that much and I loved it. So I think it'd be a good idea.

Well, we're pretty fierce so thanks

Yup, I don't take any risks when it comes to getting sick.

Good guess, let's see if it's right in the next update

Sunshine Seasons is one of my favorites, it's great for a big group because there are so many options. You guys win the award for the most fabulous pics taken at disney, seriously they are all so great!

There are a lot of options that's for sure.

Thanks! And we have lots of more fabulous pictures coming up still.

So, I'm a lurker, hi! Just wanted to pop in and say thank you! I got the steak today at Mama Melrose, and it did not disappoint!!! Fantastic! Thanks for the review!

Hi! Glad you've been following along.

And yay for the steak! Jealous that you got to eat it and I am not eating it right now, but very happy to hear that our review guided you toward ordering it.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Quite the variety of car design - as well as poses on the ride photo

So I had no idea they had that post-ride photo area. Though, the fact I have never been on Test Track (old version nor new one) might have something to do with that. #DisneyConfessions

My goodness you are mean Amber! Trying to ensure you all make your reservation!

 

[MarieLightning]

Quite the variety of car design - as well as poses on the ride photo

So I had no idea they had that post-ride photo area. Though, the fact I have never been on Test Track (old version nor new one) might have something to do with that. #DisneyConfessions

My goodness you are mean Amber! Trying to ensure you all make your reservation!

It was beautiful, really. But honestly, it was great taking the pictures afterward. Definitely a good use of time!

Gaaaasp! The scandal! Nah, it's fine It's a fun ride, really - I enjoy it, especially the speeding part around the outer track. But I think if Epcot had a bit more in terms of fun rides, Test Track probably wouldn't be as busy. It's worth a try, though!

She is a meanie face, isn't she? Who needs food anyway?

 

[MarieLightning]

Day 4, Part 3: "And the rain rain rain came down down down"

Once the rush toward food started up, I let Amber take the lead to try and make it to the restaurant on time for check-in as I lagged behind a bit with Traci, as her feet were still hurting. Not really paying much attention to the topiaries as we walked along (I actually didn't even notice the Pooh gang in the UK until later that week, because I was just focusing on trying not to fall to far behind from the other girls in front).

We passed through France, going on our merry way toward the promise of food.

And after skipping past Morroco, we made it to our destination!

Japan!

That's right. Those who've followed along with our past trip reports will know where I'm going with this.

It was lunch time at Teppan Edo!

We're a little obsessed. Amber just cannot get over those noodles. And that chicken. And I'm pretty much the same way. God it's good food.

So of course, we had to introduce our favorite, never miss restaurant to the rest of the group!

Thankfully, we didn't get in trouble for running a tad late, and Amber had us checked in by the time Traci and I joined the rest of the group. The beeper was pretty much already going on when we arrived, so we made our way inside right away!

We only had to wait a couple of minutes after getting upstairs before being seated, and not too much later, we were joined by two more ladies (I believe they were mother and daughter). We didn't really get into much of a conversation with them, but I think they were locals, and AP holders. Or DVC members. One of the two.

This is all the pictures you get of that meal, because we decided Teppan Edo food is sacred and you just gotta start eating it as soon as it hits your plate. True story. Which, the other girls were asking if we were gonna take pictures of this meal, and we told them to just go ahead and eat. Amber and I each got the chicken, Veronica had the vegetables, and I'm not a hundred percent sure of who had what of the other three girls, but I know there was some steak and shrimp, and chicken and shrimp combos in there. We also gave all our mushrooms away to Traci, which she was very happy with.

All in all, everyone seemed to enjoy their meal pretty well. The waitress was also very helpful - Teppan Edo doesn't qualify for the Tables in Wonderland discount, but it does give a discount to AP holders at lunch time during week days, so we'd planned on that. However, we didn't know the most you could have on a bill with the discount was four people, but thankfully, she said we could just go ahead and do two bills, one with my discount and one with Amber's, which would work out to give everyone the discount.

Once we got our bill settled, we headed back out to find this waiting for us.

That's right. Our gorgeous day, which we'd been commenting on on our way to the restaurant because of how nice and bright and blue the sky, had turned to a downpour.

At that point, we just hoped it would pass soon enough and decided to take that time to explore the store in Japan, seeing as we knew it'd interest some of the girls - and might as well since we were stuck there anyway!

Well, the rain didn't pass that quickly. We spent so much time in there that Amber is pretty much refusing to enter the store when we go back in a few days. As it is, at some point, the two of us just headed over to the Kidcot area and started coloring a new Perry and Duffy. Eli joined us at some point, after buying something for friends, and eventually Merranda had to go and brave the rain (after investing in a Mickey poncho because she'd forgotten hers back in the room) because her Uncle just so happened to be there at the same time as we were, and she'd planned to meet up with him for part of that afternoon.

Finally, the rain let out, and we headed back outside. We walked around the pavillion a bit more, as we were waiting to meet someone and had told them we'd wait for them in Japan.

There's always so many little details to each of those pavillions, it's nuts. You could never notice them all in one trip.

Disney duck!

And big fishies

While we were waiting, the drummers came out so we headed over that way and decided to watch the show. Good lord, that is a cardio ridden talent.

Seriously, just watch them go if you've got a chance. No wonder the girl was out of breath whenever she spoke.

Soon, the show was over, and we waited a little bit more.

Before we were finally joined by our new guest and went on our way. Amber had been chatting with a girl - Aidan - who has a Disney Tumblr and who was also, at that point, part of the DCP. They'd talked about meeting up, and seeing as Aidan wasn't working during our Epcot day, she joined us then.

At that point, we headed over toward France, because we'd told everyone to hold back on dessert at Teppan Edo so we could instead have them sample what the bakery has to offer!

Traci and Amber ended up getting some adult drinks instead - Amber got the Grey Goose slushie, and Traci got the Grand Marnier, but they ended up trading as Traci didn't like hers, and Amber was fine with both.

We headed over to the bakery and Amber, Veronica and I all got a treat. Eli didn't find anything to her liking, and Aidan got an ice cream (well, mango sorbet) martini at the ice cream shop, while Traci got a mint chocolate ice cream cone.

Veronica got this raspberry macaron, which also looks to have some vanilla custard type filling. I can't remember exactly what it was, or what it was called, but she liked it much.

Then Amber went ahead and got this pastry, which I've been told is an elephant ear? Either way, she liked it as well, it was very flaky and not too sweet, though she didn't entirely finish it.

And I went ahead and got two treats because I do what I want and I just couldn't pick. They're actually the same things I got in October, and they were completely delicious again - the strawberry tart, and the chocolate eclair. So much yum!

With our desserts eaten, we started making our way back around the World Showcase to meet with Merranda, who was coming from Mexico.

Mrs. Potts!

Omnious sky. The bright blue is definitely gone.

We passed by as the band in Morroco was performing, though we didn't really stop, and I merely got a few pictures in passing.

We stopped briefly in Japan because Aidan wanted to get something to eat, so she got herself some sushi. At that point, the downpour started up again, but Amber was not having it (she was so discouraged about getting stuck in Japan again) so we all poncho'd up and rushed over to America instead so we could head inside Liberty Inn and sit down.

In the meantime, poor Merranda continued on her way over to meet us toward France - as that was where we were when we'd told her we'd meet her along the way while she came toward us from Mexico - while Amber went out looking for her, not spotting. She ended up getting a hold of her with the cell phone, and went to get her. We chilled in the restaurant for a bit longer while waiting for the rain to pass again, and thankfully it didn't last quite as long that time around, allowing us to head back out.

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[DisneyKid4Life]

Hmmm, I wonder if you threw off the rest of the group with your "no pictures needed" at Teppan Edo. Now they won't know what to do at meals.

Oof that rain just comes from nowhere doesn't it? Thankfully it's easy to kill time in that massive store, despite the fact that Amber doesn't want to return... ever.

How nice to meet up with a DCP'er. Very cool.

I'm in the GGS camp. I didn't care for the Grand Marnier either.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's funny how quickly "guests" can catch on to the taking pictures of the food before you eat. Friends of ours who came with us for the first time last year were so thrown off at the beginning, but now can't stop. We actually went out to eat with them this past weekend - just to a restaurant in NYC, not Disney or anything, and they were taking pictures of all their food

My goodness that is some rain! Like, someone start building an ark and someone else figure out what a cubit is level rain. Glad it didn't last the rest of the day or anything and there are definitely worse places to get stuck than in the store at the Japan pavilion.

Speaking of which, I think Teppan Edo is another place we often don't think about as we have some really good hibachi places near our house - but I have read so many positive review of it! Glad it delivered again

I agree - there are so many details in the different pavilion - one could fill up a mighty big memory card trying to capture all of them

 

[courtneybelle]

I haven't done Teppan Edo in several trips but I do love it!!! Mmmm steak.

Oh no not the rain at least there's a lot to look at in the Japan store!

Those French pastries are making me so hungry!!

 

[geckodani]

Boo to rain! Epcot's not a bad place to be in the rain though! I often go there on purpose when it's raining, although I think Future World is a little more rain friendly.

 

[DisDance]

I like how the girls asked if you were gonna take pics of the food, you toe have taught them so well!

 

[amberg93]

Day 4, Part 4: "If you see a table, jump on it."

Now that the rain had let up some we decided that we wanted to go ahead and head over to Norway to ride the Maelstrom.

Which meant going by Italy (with less beauty than normal with that wall up)

At least this part was still pretty.

Crowd pictures, just because.

Very cute Kermit and Miss Piggy.

More crowd as we passed by.

And we finally arrived in Norway to find the wait too long for our liking, so we continued on again.

Going the opposite of a group with shirts. Which is always a good thing.

Mexico was our choice. Hi to Traci's face in the bottom half.

We rode the Grand Fiesta Tour and though I took some pictures, they all turned out terribly.

So once we finished we decided to head up toward Future World while Aidan told us some stories, which were pretty amusing to listen to.

I also stopped to take some flower pictures.

Lightning!

And Mater, of course.

We did stop in at Club Cool and got everyone to try the Beverly with some help from Aidan, but didn't take any pictures of them because I figured it'd be pushing our luck.

Veronica seemed suspicious from the beginning and when she took the glass she turned to us and went, "I think I know what's going to happen here." But she drank it anyway.

What a trooper.

The responses were pretty hilarious and once we'd finished laughing we decided to continue on.

Where were headed?

Spaceship Earth! Of course we had to ride such a classic and with that wait time, it was obviously a good choice.

Marie rode with Eli, Veronica rode with Traci and Merranda rode with Aidan. Which means, I rode alone.

I took my picture to commemorate the solo ride. I think I'm handling it pretty fantastically.

Since we were still in the area, we headed over to Innoventions and made our way inside and over to...

Stormstruck

I know, you guys are probably like, Amber... you've now done it every trip. It's not even that interesting. And you know, it's not, but Marie and I like it for some reason. So, that's what really matters.

So, we made everyone else go on it and even Aidan was like, "What is this?" New experiences people, new experiences.

At that point we wanted to use our FP+ for Test Track but it was down, so we decided to head for food. Stopping along the way to get some pictures taken.

Oh no, it's Stitch!

Whew. Okay, now it's just us girls.

Pictures with Phineas and Ferb are a must.

And yes, Traci's dress is up because after the last picture she'd picked it up to keep it off the ground and then forgot about it because we weren't supposed to stop. Oops. Thanks photographer for pointing it out.

Just kidding, once when I was a photographer at a studio I totally missed something like that until like halfway through the session. It happens.

Pictures taken, we headed back into the World Showcase.

Except, gasp, we're going left!

Why would we do that?

Well, we were eating at La Cantina de San Angel so that Marie and I could get some of those tacos and churros again. And as the title suggests, we took zero food pictures. I didn't even write down what everyone else got.

I know, I was slipping on my game, but we had to literally hunt down tables and one managed one for about five minutes until someone else left. They need more seating over that way without a doubt.

At least the food was on point.​

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[amberg93]

Okay wow, not only did I just realize that I forgot to respond to comments from the last chapter but I'd meant to add before the previous post about our trip that we leave for tomorrow.

I'm losing it guys. I swear.

Anyway, yes, we leave tomorrow for our trip. We won't get into Orlando until evening but we're totally looking forward to it and we'll definitely going to be writing a TR about it when we get back. I'm really glad we didn't PTR though because we were constantly changing plans with just the two of us.

So we will see you all on the 28th (or 29th depending on how late we get home and settled). I hope you all have awesome weeks!

Day 4, Part 5: "Is this a real song?"

Once we got our food we checked the MDE app to see if Test Track was up and running again so we could use our FP+. However, it was not and since our time had passed with it being down, it became a general FP+ good for anything but Soarin.

Naturally, this means we decided to go over to the Maelstrom to use that FP+.

As you'll remember, Aidan didn't join us until later so she didn't have a FP+. However, we explained our situation to the girl at the start of the FP+ line and she let Aidan come with us! Yay!

It wasn't a long wait at all and the guy loading the boats, Fredric... let's just say that as a group of seven girls there was a lot of attentiveness toward listening to what he had to say

I snapped a picture of the row behind me.

And tried to take a we-sie with Traci and the row behind (and Veronica's hand) decided to improve it so much that I couldn't help but laugh as I was taking the picture.

As usual, it was a decent ride.

Once we'd finished, Aidan mentioned that she was a Disney Visa holder and wanted to know if we were interested in going to the special meet and greet area up in Future World.

So, you guessed, it, we decided to truck back up to Future World. As you can see, we're great with deciding where to do things and never walk anywhere unnecessarily.

I took the opportunity to take some more pictures.

Monorail. It's like a rule, right?

We get up to about Club Cool and then thought about the time and realized that it was going to be closer. So what did we do?

Turned back around and headed back for the World Showcase.

Goodness this sounds even worse writing it out than it did experiencing it.

This time we made our way right.

I snapped some more pictures.

And we started making our way toward one of the treasures of the World Showcase.

I like flower pictures.

O Canada!

It didn't take long for the next show and I enjoyed it just as much as I always do. Which is probably too much all things considered.

Which I say that because the song at the end I know all the English parts and I was like mouthing the words during the thing and Aidan sees me doing so and is like "Oh, is this an actual song?"

And I sort of froze and was like, "... I mean I think so. Yeah. I don't know all the words from seeing it here or anything. That'd be weird."

I'm the master of smooth saves.

Upon exiting, we decided that we'd grab a spot for IllumiNations and wait it out.

But first (yes, Julie Chen style)

Bunny!

We took a spot along the fence between some trees across from the steps in the Canada pavilion because we had only about 45 minutes to go and the best spots were taken.

I took no more pictures for the end of the night, sorry. I just wanted to enjoy the best fireworks show. Also, our spot was bad not just because trees blocked some stuff but because all the smoke came right at us.

Ooops. I still cried tears for the beauty though and after that the park closed so we headed toward the buses fully intent on waiting in an obnoxious line.

However, Aidan was sweet enough to offer us a ride back to the hotel as she owns an SUV. So, for the first time we rode the trams into the parking lot and Aidan took us back, joking with security when she showed her DCP ID.

Given how tired we were and the plans for the next day we parted then and headed up to bed. It was great hanging out with her though and we've since become friends on Facebook and of course I still follow her Disney tumblr disneydelirium.

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[amberg93]

Okay, I can't believe it took me seeing the chapter posted to realize I hadn't replied to comments. Oof. Last minute details are clouding my brain.

Hmmm, I wonder if you threw off the rest of the group with your "no pictures needed" at Teppan Edo. Now they won't know what to do at meals.

Oof that rain just comes from nowhere doesn't it? Thankfully it's easy to kill time in that massive store, despite the fact that Amber doesn't want to return... ever.

How nice to meet up with a DCP'er. Very cool.

I'm in the GGS camp. I didn't care for the Grand Marnier either.

They were definitely a bit taken aback but they all got over it fairly quickly with delicious food in front of them

I wouldn't even go into Japan next week if I could avoid it and if my favorite restaurant wasn't there.

Aidan was awesome. I'm so glad we got to meet up with her and Traci especially took to her as well.

It was fine. I prefers the GGS but I liked the GMS too.

It's funny how quickly "guests" can catch on to the taking pictures of the food before you eat. Friends of ours who came with us for the first time last year were so thrown off at the beginning, but now can't stop. We actually went out to eat with them this past weekend - just to a restaurant in NYC, not Disney or anything, and they were taking pictures of all their food

My goodness that is some rain! Like, someone start building an ark and someone else figure out what a cubit is level rain. Glad it didn't last the rest of the day or anything and there are definitely worse places to get stuck than in the store at the Japan pavilion.

Speaking of which, I think Teppan Edo is another place we often don't think about as we have some really good hibachi places near our house - but I have read so many positive review of it! Glad it delivered again

I agree - there are so many details in the different pavilion - one could fill up a mighty big memory card trying to capture all of them

Geez Phil, you created some monsters in picture taking Oh well, it's not a terrible thing.

That rain just took us all by surprise and we were so over it within like ten minutes. And while there might be worse places (I know that the DIS put it in the best places to be when it's raining) it has killed my like of the store.

I just love Teppan Edo. I mean I know it's not extremely unique, but it's always on point and always delicious.

I'm sure people can and have. Maybe someday I'll be one of them

I haven't done Teppan Edo in several trips but I do love it!!! Mmmm steak.

Oh no not the rain at least there's a lot to look at in the Japan store!

Those French pastries are making me so hungry!!

I think about getting the steak sometimes but then I'm like, but less chicken.. and I just can't bring myself to do that.

There is a lot to look at but it was like our third time in there and so I just wasn't feeling it.

French pastries are the best and super good.

 

[amberg93]

Boo to rain! Epcot's not a bad place to be in the rain though! I often go there on purpose when it's raining, although I think Future World is a little more rain friendly.

This was really our first experience with rain. It didn't rain at all in October and only rained a little in November so we were sort of caught off guard. I will keep that in mind for next week though in case all the rain starts happening

I like how the girls asked if you were gonna take pics of the food, you toe have taught them so well!

They definitely didn't take long to get used to it. Which was good because I'd have felt bad constantly having to remind them

 

[geckodani]

This was really our first experience with rain. It didn't rain at all in October and only rained a little in November so we were sort of caught off guard. I will keep that in mind for next week though in case all the rain starts happening

I hope you don't get rained on, and that you have an amazing trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That does sound like a lot of walking - though I am sure in TR form it reads a bit more condensed than in real life. And if you are going to do a bit of walking, EPCOT is a pretty scenic place to do it

I totally didn't even notice Lightning at first and rather was focused on the "Cool X-ing" sign - shows where my priorities are

Um, yeah it's a real song ... smooth, very smooth

Ack - hate when the smoke from any Fireworks show gets in the way but it can be bad at times for Illuminations - glad you still enjoyed it though!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Marie, Amber - totally forgot to wish you a wonderful upcoming trip!

I am sure the group trip was tons of fun - but I bet in some ways it will be nice to be back to touring as just the two of you

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Ah Spaceship Earth. And it appears your face has hands. I don't remember that at all.

You're going to Disney!!!! I hope I see you!

Awww how cool the CM let you all ride Maelstrom. Pixie Dust!

Monorail pictures are a rule, yes!