I Can't Do That! I'd Be Too EmBEARassed! A Nov 2015 TR New PTR link 10/13!

[IowaTater]

Boo for a boring breakfast So far we have only done lunch at BOG, which we enjoyed. DH has mentioned that he wants to go again this trip but if we do, we'll do dinner. Nothing on the breakfast menu really interested us.

You have the best luck with ride times. Hopefully we'll have just as much luck when we go.

I have a question about purchasing Magic Bands. Can they be activated from your resort? I was going to buy one next week & bring it with us in October.

 

[Pluto0809]

I have yet to see the new queue at Peter Pan because I usually FP it. I may have to check it out in January tho.

I watch Joe and Ashley occasionally as well cool that you saw them. I'd probably get more star struck if I saw the guys from the disunplugged.

I liked being able to experience jingle cruise last January it was nice to have something different.

I also wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

It's worth at least one walk through the PP line to see the new stuff. It's pretty neat but I wouldn't wait more than 15 minutes for it.

I haven't managed to get into disunplugged. I barely have time to watch Joe and Ashley as it is.

Thanks, I had a wonderful week with my Mom!

Merry Christmas! Have a great time with your mom

I love SeeYaReelSoon! I just finished watching this week's video. So cool that you saw them!

I didn't realize there were 2 interactive scenes, I only saw the bells when I was there. Very nice!

Sounds like a nice morning at MK!

Thanks, we had a wonderful time!

I'm behind on their videos right now! The last one I watched was the Buzz Lightyear tutorial. Very, very helpful!

I saw two but wondered if there were even more. We walked through that room pretty quickly but maybe when the line is long and moving slower there are more.

Looks like you did a lot! I have only eaten at BOG for lunch. Wasn't impressed enough with the dinner menu to try and get an ADR.

I love lunch at BOG! As a matter of fact DH and I are eating lunch there next month. He specifically requested it and luckily I was able to snag a reservation.

Taking today to try and do a little Dis catching up...

Loved seeing your BoG pictures - even if the meal itself was less than stellar... Still a beautiful restaurant.

And first in line for 7DMT - AWESOME!!!! LOVE it!!!

It's been years since i've ridden Peter Pan's flight... I hope to do it one of these days.

FUN on the Jingle Cruise - I know we had plans to do that - but we never actually made it there.

It's no good being sick at F&W...

D~

It definitely is a beautiful restaurant but I think I will stick with lunch or dinner from now on.

It was a lot of fun to be first in line for the Mine Train.

I need to try to get Jim onto PP this next trip, he's never ridden it! It was down in 2013 for renovations and the line was too long in 2014. I'm hoping that with the A & E & Mine Train craziness it won't be too bad this time.

I love the regular Jungle Cruise so having a Christmas version is great.

You got so much done on this morning! Amazing that so many of our faves were walk ons or short lines. Oh, I miss the World so badly. Cannot wait to go back "home"!

Rope drop has always paid off for me! Did you see those crowds coming in as I left, crazy!

Hey Ariana!

LOve that you were able to sneak in a 2015 trip! I had "officially" joined the DIS commenting on one of your last TR posts this summer, got into the logging and such - and have been radio silent on the DIS since mid-August. Imagine logging on for the first time since school started - and your undercover TR is the first that pops up! Have a fantastic holiday with your family- can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Yay! Thanks for joining in. So glad you found my new TR.

Caught up! Really looks like a good morning.

I think I'm in the minority I like BOG breakfast, but did think it was totally over priced!

We had someone filming on our BOG breakfast morning too, but they ride 7DMT like 10 times!!!

Maybe if I wasn't so picky and had one of the other dishes it might have been better. I have read some good reviews.

Ugh, that would have been frustrating to have to wait that many times through before you got to ride.

Boo for a boring breakfast So far we have only done lunch at BOG, which we enjoyed. DH has mentioned that he wants to go again this trip but if we do, we'll do dinner. Nothing on the breakfast menu really interested us.

You have the best luck with ride times. Hopefully we'll have just as much luck when we go.

I have a question about purchasing Magic Bands. Can they be activated from your resort? I was going to buy one next week & bring it with us in October.

My DH also requested BOG for January. I didn't think I would get it as this was a last minute trip but I somehow snagged a lunch ADR for our MK day.

Rope Drop and late at night are the best times to get on rides at MK. As you can see by that last picture, by 10:30, the crowds were huge!

I believe you can activate the MG when you purchase them so any gift shop should be able to do it. Activating it online was super easy. I just had to attach the specific person and type in the number on the back of the band.

 

[Pluto0809]

Making Myself Sick Again at Food and Wine

When I made it over to the Monorail Station, I realized that the Express Monorail was closed. No big deal, I just hopped on the resort one.





We made it to the Contemporary and sat and sat and sat. It was a good 15 minutes before we moved and the whole time they were jamming more people into the car. Luckily I had a seat in the corner as my feet were starting to bug me, especially my bad ankle.

I waited a bit again for the Epcot Monorail. It ended up taking about 50 minutes for the whole trip which was a bit longer than the day before. A few photos as we rounded the park before exiting the Monorail.







When we got near the entrance again I noticed that the lines to get in were still huge even though it was almost noon. I kind of expected that with it being a Saturday and Food and Wine.





I was starving by the time I got into the park so I headed straight to my first destination which was the Chew Lab. It was getting quite hot at this point and my sweatshirt had been off and tied around my waist for a while. The line was pretty long at all of the booths but they moved quickly. I don’t think I waited more than 10 minutes at any of them.

At the Chew Lab I got the New York Strip with parsnip silk, balsamic glaze and arugula foam. I also got some water since it was so hot and I wanted to stay hydrated.



While this dish was very good I wasn’t impressed with the size. It was maybe four bites and cost over $6. Probably won’t get that one again in the future.

I made my way back into WS. Being a picky eater I skipped over Dominican Republic, Greece and Scotland. I also bypassed Canada since I already had the filet the day before.

Instead I headed to the Ireland booth and got both the Lobster and Seafood Fisherman’s Pie and the Warm Chocolate Pudding with Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur Custard (gluten free!).





The Fisherman’s pie was amazing with large chunks of seafood in a bisque sauce underneath those mashed potatoes. And the Pudding was awesome too. I enjoyed every bite of both dishes.

I continued on to the France booth and got the Boeuf Bourguignon (braised short ribs in cabernet with mashed potatoes) and a Passion Martini Slush (vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, cranberry and passion fruit juice).





The mashed potatoes were a little weird, kind of a harder consistency than the year before, but the ribs themselves were just as delicious as I remembered. The Slush was also very good.

I was getting kind of full at this point so I passed over Morocco, Belgium, Brazil and Japan to head to the Italy booth. I did consider the Kefta Pocket (ground seasoned beef in a pita pocket) at the Morocco booth but I was concerned it would be too spicy for me. There was nothing at the other three booths that interested me.

At the Italy booth I picked up another favorite from the previous year, Ravioli alla Caprese (cheese ravioli, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and basil).



This was not as good as the previous year. The cheese on top of the ravioli was one big hard piece and I ended up picking it off before eating just the raviolis underneath. At that point I was starting to feel a bit on the sick side. Looking back I think I got myself overheated and a little dehydrated even though I was drinking some water. I did take my sweatshirt off of my waist and tied it to my purse instead and that helped a little. I figured that I better be done with Food and Wine and turned around to head back to the International Gate to catch a boat to Hollywood Studios. It was time for the long awaited DIS meet with Mo and her family!

I caught a boat pretty quickly but we were packed on and it was hot, hot, hot which did not make me feel any better. By the time I made it to HS I was feeling absolutely awful. I did take one quick picture of the HS tree as I went by.



As soon as I entered the park, instead of texting Mo, I headed towards ABC Commissary for some water and much needed air conditioning. I ended up sitting at a table for about 45 minutes sipping water and I finally felt better. I think it was a combination of the heat, strange food and alcohol and reminded myself that I needed to drink more water the rest of the week!

I did text Mo but I think they were in the Frozen show so I didn’t hear back from her right away. I still had some time before my TSM FP+ so I decided some more air conditioning was the way to go. I went and visited some Muppets.



Mo did get back to me right after the Muppets but it was time for my TSM FP so I said I would go there then meet them. We arranged to meet right outside of the ABC Commissary. Of course that happened to be the one time that the FP line was backed up out the door and I was worried that I was making them wait for me.

I finally made it to the front and they sent me through the blue gate. This appears to not be as much of an advantage as it used to be because they were sending a lot of people through that gate. Both lines were about the same length.

I didn’t do too badly this time considering I hadn’t played in almost a year. Not my best score but not my worse either.



I was still best in vehicle.



And then it was time for the meet. Even though I write TRs on the DIS, in real life I am pretty shy and introverted. As a matter of fact my introvert score is 96% when I take a personality test. That being said, I was a bit nervous and always am before these meets. I had been talking with Mo on Facebook and even once on the phone but face to face can be different. Of course I had nothing to worry about, we clicked instantly and I even got along great with her kids and husband, Tom, too. I didn’t get a picture at that moment but we got plenty throughout the rest of the week.

We wandered over to the animation courtyard because I thought Character Palooza would be happening there. Apparently it’s very hit or miss now whether or not it will happen and today was a miss. There was nothing going on in the courtyard except for the Disney Jr. stuff. I’m really sad they’ve basically eliminated the Character Paloozas, I had so much fun doing them the previous year.

We had an important FP together so we headed down Sunset Blvd to Tower of Terror. If I remember correctly, the standby wait time was really long but we breezed through with our FPs. We basically walked straight into the library. When we exited, almost everyone in our group turned right but we continued on straight. It was weird because for a long time no-one came in behind us. The CM there said that they were down one library and that was why the standby line was so long and no one was coming in behind us.

He placed us on our numbered spots and still no one came behind us. Finally a group did come but he sent them to the next elevator. We ended up being loaded onto an elevator all by ourselves! The CM placed us all in the front row but the seat next to Meg was broken so Zack chose to sit in the back row by himself. We had an awesome ride and ended up with this epic ride photo.



And here’s our ride video.



After we exited, Mo and family decided to head back to their resort, AOA, as they hadn’t even been in the room yet. They wanted to relax a bit and get unpacked before dinner. I wanted to check out Watto’s Grotto so I planned to shop a while and then meet them at AOA to drive to our dinner. So they headed out and I made my way to the back of the park.

I have 12 kids under the age of 8 that I shop for birthdays and Christmas. Most of them are my cousin’s kids. Three of the boys and one of the girls had requested Star Wars stuff so I needed to do some serious shopping. The store is in the area where the Backlot Tour used to empty out so it’s really large. This picture is just one of two rooms. I spent quite a bit of time wandering around checking out all of the merchandise.



I ended up purchasing this shirt for two of the boys (all three boys said they wanted villains).



And then this one for the third boy.



The little girl got a cute Droid shirt.



And for my big kid at home, I picked up this Boba Fett shirt. He’s Jims favorite Star Wars Character.



I had everything sent back to my resort so I didn’t have to carry it the rest of the night.

I think I was meeting Mo and family around 6 or 6:30 and it was now 5 pm so I decided to head out of HS since you never know how long it will take to catch a bus.

Up Next: A Tour of Art of Animation

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Awesome update!!!

Must try the following at F&W while we are there:

Warm Chocolate Pudding with Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur Custard (gluten free!)
Passion Martini Slush (vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, cranberry and passion fruit juice)
Boeuf Bourguignon (braised short ribs in cabernet with mashed potatoes)

Not sure about the Fisherman's Pie...does it have scallops? I am kind of iffy on mashed potatoes with seafood? I have such food texture issues, this is just sounding weird to me. We may get it for Brian and the kids to try, I could try a bite.

ToT all to yourselves??? That was so great, a picture that will truly be a great memory of your first time meeting Mo and her family!

OMGoodness... all the SW merch! We will definitly have to check that store out!

 

[ljcrochet]

Love the t-shirts you picked out

 

[rteetz]

Great update!

I can't believe the monorail took that long. They had to really be packing people in or something.

I heard a lot about the chew lab this year especially their dessert. One of these years I'll make it to food and wine.

That's cool that you got to hand out with Mo and her family for a while. I understand the whole meeting thing, I am kind of the same way. I will talk to someone all day online or in a text but face to face is different.

I can't wait to check out all the Star Wars merchandise in a week when I am there!

 

[IowaTater]

I believe you can activate the MG when you purchase them so any gift shop should be able to do it. Activating it online was super easy. I just had to attach the specific person and type in the number on the back of the band.

Oh I didn't realize I could activate them online. The one I wanted is on the Disney Store website so I'll just have it delivered now and activate it before we go. Thank you for the information!

And then this one for the third boy.

I love that shirt! The Imperial March was actually our entrance song to our reception. (Yes we are nerds and are proud of it).

 

[missangelalexis]

Your F&W choices sound great. I'm sorry you ended up not feeling well. The heat can really take a toll on you, even if you don't notice it at first.

I'm glad your meet with Mo went so well. The ToT picture came out awesome!!

Sounds like you made some great purchases for back home!

 

[DMGeurts]

Great update! Love the ToT picture with Mo's clan... Gosh I miss them! Love all of the Star Wars goodies too - those shirts are pretty cool!

I am just not all that impressed with F&W... We will be there next year during F&W too, and I am pretty sure we will skip it entirely for the School Bread.

I am glad that after your rest - you were feeling much better! I've had that happen a few times, and it's just so important to take that time to rest and drink water.

D~

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm glad that I found your trip report - I always enjoy reading them! I'm glad you weren't able to stay away from Disney in 2015!

I'm not surprised you had a M&G with your beloved Pluto on your first day!

It's too bad your Le Cellier dinner wasn't as awesome as your 2012 meal, but I'm glad it was better than your last experience. I've loved our last two meals here so I hope my mom likes it when we visit next May (it will be her first time there!).

Although I love BOG for dinner, I think it would be hard to tear me away from the Crystal Palace breakfast. It's too bad you didn't love your breakfast, but the Christmas decorations (especially the ornaments on the tree!) look awesome, though!

I can't believe how short the lines were for you! I look forward to seeing the difference between early and late May - I know the crowds have increased overall, but the late May crowds this year were crazy!

I'm glad you enjoyed meeting Mo and her family! It's amazing how DIS friends can seem like long-lost friends.

 

[tabrizia]

I'm impressed with 3 parks in one day.

Also thanks for the hint for BoG, we are doing a pre-park breakfast and my husband won't eat anything on the adult menu, I was afraid he would have to get a kid's serving of something, which are normally small. Looks like he can get waffles or french toast on the adult menu, which will make him happy. I'll just have to remember to do the allergy option.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Lobster and Seafood Fisherman’s Pie

This was really good.

 

[hokieinpa]

All caught up!

I'm sorry the BOG breakfast was a disappointment. I agree the the price seems very high for a QS breakfast. But at least you got to ride 7DMT with no wait!

Great pictures of the Peter Pan queue. We've never done stand by but I hope we can do that at RD in May so we can see the new queue.

I'm sorry you didn't feel well in the afternoon! It's hard to remember to take a few minutes to hydrate and rest when you're on the go. Glad some rest made you feel better!

What a fun ride on TOT! And great Star Wars shirts!!

 

[alabalacoo]

Found your trip report, so I am going to follow along. Love your pictures, and the meeting with Pluto looked like so much fun. I am a Pluto fan, too.

 

[FancyNancy]

Subbing in! Love your TR. I was a lurker on one of your past TR's mostly because I had joined it toward the very end

 

[missjackiemcg]

I'm glad you didn't get toooo far ahead of me since I haven't been on the DIS since I started Christmas Break!! All I have done is work and drive back and forth from Christmas celebrations here, there, and everywhere!!

Love the food choices you made at F & W. Mom and I were first timers and nervously picky about a lot of things, but we liked the kielbasa and frozen apple pie in Poland, and creme brulee in France. We were actually on our way to France when we met you and Mo & Family!!.....and didn't take our picture. Ugh!

 

[DMGeurts]

Stopping by to wish you a Happy New Year!~

D~

 

[goofymimi]

I have read all of your trip reports, but don't think I have ever commented on one..I really enjoy them, as my husband's favorite is Pluto, too..so I like all the pictures..Am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip..I also follow along on Mo's reports, and I read D's too...

 

[DisMom1981]

Just binge read your report so far. Really sucked me in! I have to admit- I LOVE seeyareelsoon and would have awkwardly tried to follow J and A around for a bit lol. I'm loving reading about your solo experiences. After 3 trips with my family- a DH that is not an enthusiast, 3 small kids, my parents who are a huge help and I love , but they can get a little judgy and also don't get my dis needs lol- I think I'd like to definitely just go by myself one day. But seeing my kids are so little and we live pretty far away- I will need to live vicariously for awhile!

 

[Fantasia79]

Nice report and pictures! Looks like the trip was just what you needed.