I Sneezed My Ears Off! An April TR (Finished 09/04)

[amberg93]

Okay wow, I can't believe I fell so far behind. My bad.

WCC is a great choice and WL is gorgeous. Seriously.

I love the streetmosphere performers, they're always incredible to watch.

I'm sorry that there were so many people in Epcot, but glad that you managed to get your snack

Sunshine seasons looks great, I've only eaten the shortcake there but I'm hoping to change that soon.

Your Epcot pictures make my heart hurt missing it so much.

 

[MarieLightning]

I love my lefse but I'm always hesitant to give people the rec. But maybe you'll love it!

Maybe, who knows! I enjoy eating most kinds of bread (baguette, tortilla, pita, etc) on its own so I'm sure this wouldn't be any different

Anyway, we went onto Spaceship Earthafter popping into Mousegears to buy ourselves the Epcot Alex & Ani - we were both shocked that neither of us owned it since it's our favorite park!

Those bracelets are all so cute! Epcot was the first one we got, along with Anna and Elsa. And well, only ones to date XD I'm not a big jewelry wearer, I just kinda forget to put it on when I'm getting dressed in the morning. But I really do like the looks of them.

So, while on Spaceship Earth we made faces for the camera like always and uh, this was our pciture:

Oh, Spaceship Earth cameras.

We got on with a Portuguese family in the single rider line that either didn't understand how the single-rider line worked or they had assumed that they could get on together but they had a little boy maybe 5 years old with them and the poor kid was so confused and upset about why they weren't going on together.

Could be, but some people also just try it, thinking "Oh, I have a young child, of course they won't split up". We were behind a very American mother and her son when we went for the RnRC single rider line, and she was 'very surprised' that they split them up.

Filled up, we were going to get on Living With the Land but the line was over 30 minutes long!

FastPasses are 100% to blame for that. Some rides were just better off before they forced FastPasses on them, but the problem with a park like Epcot is that it otherwise wouldn't have had enough rides for the FP+ system to work the way it does. But yeah, I love Living with the Land, but definitely wouldn't wait more than like, 15 minutes for it.

 

[Stephanator]

Just caught up on your TR! I love that two ladies seemed to be having fun and going with the flow. Those are my favorite trips!

P.S. I grew up with lefse too and love it! My dad has a lefse griddle we get good use of around the holidays. We eat it with butter and white sugar on it so I drool when I think of that sugar "crunch" (kind like when it doesn't dissolve in cereal).

 

[coloredimage]

Okay wow, I can't believe I fell so far behind. My bad.

WCC is a great choice and WL is gorgeous. Seriously.

I love the streetmosphere performers, they're always incredible to watch.

I'm sorry that there were so many people in Epcot, but glad that you managed to get your snack

Sunshine seasons looks great, I've only eaten the shortcake there but I'm hoping to change that soon.

Your Epcot pictures make my heart hurt missing it so much.

Streetmosphere is my favorite, we always actively look for them. And I'm glad that there were so many people in Epcot because the park needs love, I just hate going the "wrong" way past them - gets all discombobulating!

Sunshine Seasons is probably my favorite quick service - the food is always fresh and there's a lot of variety. Most of the food comes from Livin' with the Land so that's a nice bonus.

I'm glad you like the Epcot pictures! It's such a great park to photograph.

Maybe, who knows! I enjoy eating most kinds of bread (baguette, tortilla, pita, etc) on its own so I'm sure this wouldn't be any different



Those bracelets are all so cute! Epcot was the first one we got, along with Anna and Elsa. And well, only ones to date XD I'm not a big jewelry wearer, I just kinda forget to put it on when I'm getting dressed in the morning. But I really do like the looks of them.





Oh, Spaceship Earth cameras.







Could be, but some people also just try it, thinking "Oh, I have a young child, of course they won't split up". We were behind a very American mother and her son when we went for the RnRC single rider line, and she was 'very surprised' that they split them up.



FastPasses are 100% to blame for that. Some rides were just better off before they forced FastPasses on them, but the problem with a park like Epcot is that it otherwise wouldn't have had enough rides for the FP+ system to work the way it does. But yeah, I love Living with the Land, but definitely wouldn't wait more than like, 15 minutes for it.

Oh, then you would probably really like lefse! Try some next time and if you don't like it, well it's only like $3 so it's not an expensive treat!

I really only felt bad for the little kid in the whole thing. I don't know what the parents were doing as I don't speak Portuguese so I don't know what their whole deal was but the kid was 5 so he didn't really know what was going on. And he looked like he was going to cry.

and I know with the FP thing. It annoys me so much - I do like being able to get FPs for some rides in advance but I don't like the tiered system.

Just caught up on your TR! I love that two ladies seemed to be having fun and going with the flow. Those are my favorite trips!

P.S. I grew up with lefse too and love it! My dad has a lefse griddle we get good use of around the holidays. We eat it with butter and white sugar on it so I drool when I think of that sugar "crunch" (kind like when it doesn't dissolve in cereal).

Thanks so much and glad you enjoyed! Very jealous of the lefse griddle - once I have a kitchen to myself again I think that is on my list of things to buy!

 

[coloredimage]

Mini Trip-Report: Virginia Beach

So I am back from my vacation and I promised a mini TR before I began with my Disney TR so here we go!

I went with my friends R, H, and D. We've all known each other for about ten years - H and D were my college roommates three out of four years and R lived with our guy friends. He actually ended up basically living with us for two years. He and H have been married for a year and a half. He was our only guy on this trip, but didn't mind.

We weren't checking into our hotel room until Monday the 4th but our plan was to get passed New York City before holiday traffic got really bad. I drove to R and H's apartment, about an hour away from my house, around 10 am on Saturday. We went for brunch and some coffee for the road then got on the road around noon.

There was nobody on the road. Seriously. Going north on the Merritt? There was dead-stop traffic after the Heroes' Tunnel. Going south? There was only two other cars on the road around us. We meant to take the Tappan Zee but missed the exit. It didn't matter though, because we there was literally nobody on the George Washington - at 3 in the afternoon!

We stopped in New Jersey, at D's parents' house where we were meeting her. We were staying there for the weekend, then heading out Monday morning.

We did do one bit of diversion before we went to Virginia: on Sunday we decided to go to the Princeton University Art Museum. We got to Princeton early so we decided to just wander around campus.




(this picture is at an odd angle because as I took it D decided to say "those calves though!" which quickly became our nerdy, history quote of the week)



We decided that Princeton is secretly Hogwarts and went on our merry way to the art museum.



This is my favorite statue at the Boston MFA so I was confused but happy to see its twin in Princeton.


Monday we left around 6 in the morning, fearing holiday traffic. Once again, we didn't hit any at all. It took us about 5 hours to get thee, with two stops - one for a quick in-car breakfast and one for a rest room and stretch break. We made it so early that we were able to drive around downtown Norfolk looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Brick Anchor Brew House, and I had an amazing chicken and feta salad.

We had one issue with our hotel the entire week - our email said check-in was 1 but when we got there just before 3 the woman at the desk said we'd have to pay $25 for early check-in. We tried talking to someone about it after we went into our room and the person we talked to copped an attitude. When we checked out D tried one last time and the woman said we shouldn't have been charged and not only had we been charged for the early check-in the woman on the first day had charged us for the entire week again! She fixed it for us and was very nice the few seconds I spoke to her as I went to grab D's bags to help pack the car.

Anyway, Monday we watched the fireworks from the boardwalk and it was pretty awesome.


Tuesday we decided to drive up to Charlottesville. We had lunch at Michie's Tavern (D had gone there once in high school and loved it though she continually calls it "Ye Olde Kitchen") which was all-you-care-to-eat chicken and pork and mash and ugh it was so good! Then we drove further up the mountain to visit a cultural landmark.

Where?

Here's a guess:


Not helpful?



This should be a much better clue.

Or how about:


Ah, Monticello. So many history nerd quotes that day. We got there around 2-3 and had about an hour and a half to wander around before our tour of the house. It was a gorgeous day, not too humid, so it was perfect for walking around outside on the mountain. And Jefferson is a fairly interesting person. Him and Adams.

Wednesday was a beach day.


The weather was perfect and gorgeous, we spent quite a bit of time in the water before we finally decided that it was probably time to go get lunch. We went to a very nice little place on the boardwalk and sat outside for lunch. We also saw dolphins in the bay while we swam which was really awesome! We did end up getting stuck in the middle of a torrential downpour as we were walking back to the car, but at least we were still in our bathing suits under our coverups so everything dried quickly.

Thursday was "R's Day" - he had been doing all this historical stuff with us that we gave him a day to check out some of the local breweries. It was nice and relaxing and we found some nice places. Wasserhund Brewery has some amazing food, and Commonwealth allows dogs in, so we were cooing over all the dogs. We then went to Whisky Kitchen for dinner (see the day's theme here?) and finally went mini-golfing. I won! Which I never do! We even back to the hotel in time to swim in the pool.

Friday was another beach day, but first we went to the local aquarium.







And then Saturday we drove home, but we made a stop at Luray Caverns because it's the one thing H wanted to do more than anything. It was absolutely breathtaking.









It was a great and relaxing trip, and we've all decided that it's definitely where we're going again for our next beach vacation. That may not be for another few years as next year we all have our friend A's wedding (which H and R are both in) and D has 3 weddings next summer so it'll be an expensive summer for everyone, and the next year D, H, and I all turn 30 and we have been talking about doing a larger vacation to Europe or out west for our celebration. But we'll definitely be back in Virginia sooner rather than later.

 

[coloredimage]

Part Two

So! Back to Disney!

We were walking toward World Showcase right?

We went back into the Mexico pavilion to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour. I tried getting more pictures of the Thee Caballeros but they kept coming out blurry. We didn't stay in Mexico long and popped over to Norway to look through the stores again. This exchange happened:

Man: Do you like the perfume?
Woman: Yes, it's very nice.
Man: Do you have any questions?
Woman: Er....no.
Man: Well, if you do, I make it so I can answer whatever you need.

I don't think the woman believed him. She side-eyed him as she walked away. I think she was really confused when we went over and told him how much we loved his perfume. Because, yes, it was Geir Ness! Every other time he's in Epcot we miss out on seeing him but we happened to walk in and the right time. Jey was beside herself. She got a picture with him (it's on her instagram but I can't get it at the moment) and she got a signed photo of him.

She's far more assertive than I am.

I got a handshake and the smallest bottle of Laila ever. I think I lost it because it was so small.

We continued walking around World Showcase. We watched the new Italian cast members getting their IP photo taken. I had pictures but I have no idea where they went.

We had a ton of time to kill and not much to do, so what do you do when it's April in the World Showcase? You go around taking pictures of the topiaries!









We popped into the stores as we went, just taking everything in and enjoying the fact that we were in Epcot without having to rush or without an agenda. It was crowded but not as bad as it had been the night before, so we took absolute advantage of it.
My favorite thing was that we had enough time to watch the girls in Mitsukoshi doing the pick a pearl counter! I did it once when I was 13 and have never done it again. Originally I wanted to do it this time too but the crowd was gigantic and we never wet anywhere else where they did it during this trip but I got to stand there for a few minutes just watching them. The girl who was wearing the microphone was great - very enthusiastic and personable and just generally great at her job!

But it was quickly time for lunch. And where were we going?



Mmm-mm-mm, Tokyo Dining! We had been to dinner at Teppan Edo years ago on our first trip together (it was our first time doing commando touring, we were 19? 20? and we totally fell asleep on the stairs leading up to the restaurant before dinner because we had ben going from 7 am to 2 am every day!) and we had always wanted to go to Tokyo Dining but never had the chance until now.

The way this place is set up is nice, and the one thing I did notice that I thought was brilliant was a picture menu and allergy list. It's so simple but absolutely brilliant! We saw it work with the couple in front of us checking in upstairs: while both the girl at the counter and the couple spoke English, they both had thick accents as English was nobody's first language and those cards came in very handy to make sure everyone understood everything. I've never noticed them before (not to say they don't have them everywhere!) but I loved them.

Anyway, food!

We were one of maybe three groups of guests at Tokyo Dining - though I will admit we were eating at like 3, so a weird time for a meal. We did it so that we really only needed one big meal during the day instead of being hungry later on and it worked out in our favor. We were smack dab in the middle of the restaurant, so I had a good view of the sushi chefs at the counter and loved that they were women. It's traditionally a men's field of work so it was fascinating watching them.

And we got to watch them for quite a while because Jey got one of the sushi platters which was gigantic. I got panko chicken because as much as I love sushi sometimes it just does not like me. I learned my lesson after pushing the issue with the Mushroom Debacle last summer!

And of course, this is my "small" panko chicken:


Yeah, that's a cucumber salad, miso soup, brown rice, and pasta salad with my chicken. That's three appetizer portions plus a giant thing of rice plus my chicken.

And I ate it all.

It was so yummy.

We had ordered our dessert when we ordered our meal so that came out fairly quickly after we finished eating. Jey got the green tea cake while I got the ginger cake:


This was surprisingly light after all this food. Very good meal, and a very varied menu so if you aren't a big fan of traditional sushi they have quite a bit of traditional Japanese food that any picky eater would like.

Finished eating we stepped out into the World Showcase again. We didn't really have many plans to stay in Epcot but we did desperately need to walk off the food we had just eaten so we simply continued down towards Morocco to continue our hunt for topiaries!

We kind of bypassed Morocco as even though it's a beautiful pavilion it is a shopping temptation. We continued instead into France. Belle was out so Jey stopped to take some pictures of her.

Then we went to look at the festival booth. We were both stuffed but we figured if we each got something we could share just to say that we had tried something.

I got the one thing I have been desperately wanting since I had gone to Silver Spur Steakhouse for my friend's 22nd birthday 7 years ago - a Kir Imperial!



Jey got the macaron but was not a fan of it - it tasted kind of old, like it had been in the fridge too long. You couldn't even taste the almond anymore. That was a bummer, but my Kir Imperial was perfect for a hot summer day and definitely gave me memories of dancing through a deserted DLP on a perfect April evening which was all I was expecting out of it!

We went to take pictures of princesses:


There was a family in front of us who was convinced this was supposed to be Beauty and the Beast because "Cinderella isn't French" (...). It was a very strange conversation.



The France pavilion does not remind me of France much but it is still absolutely beautiful!





If they thought the other topiary was Belle and the Beast I wonder who they thought this was?

We continued on to England and walked through the shops. Jey had found Alice in back so we watched her interact with little kids. Someone in one of the stores did notice my shirt and laughed at it - joke's on them now!

We continued on with our topiary crawl



















We left World Showcase and slipped inside one of the Innoventions buildings, finding this cool timeline on the wall:


The reason we were in here? To go into the Cool Spot and grab some international drinks!

Jey had been dared to try Beverly again so we had to go in!

This was our last stop in Epcot for the day, and were back at the hotel by 5 in order to change and drop off our bags.

 

[coloredimage]

Part Three

I have no idea why it took so long, but we didn't make it back to the Magic Kingdom until 7:30. I'm guessing we changed and probably charged devices before we headed out. But either way soon we wre in the Magic Kingdom!



Earlier in the day, while we were on the Gran Fiesta Tour, it had gotten so hot that my Jamberry decals had started peeling. Frankly I stink at putting them on so I was shocked they had lasted that long (I didn't put them on until the very last minute I could) so I spent the ride peeling them off. I know, not good for your nails, but they were so sticky that it didn't do much. It didn't even really mess up the nail polish I had put on underneath it.

Anyway, just an aside in case you're wondering why my nails were naked in this next photo.

Jey was taking pictures of the castle and it was hot so I decided to get into the (shockingly short) Sleepy Hollow line and get the one thing I was craving:



I was absolutely craving ice cream and a sandwich from Sleepy Hollow seemed perfect. I ate all of it, which is ridiculous and weird for me (seriously - Jey and I shared one our last day in Florida and it was the perfect amount; I must have been hungry or hot!)

We walked as I ate, even though I wouldn't really be able to do much. At some point we went over to Tomorrowland and rode the Peoplemover but we soon ended up in New Fantasyland because we didn't want to be stuck during the pile up of people getting ready to see the first ELP.





I know it doesn't look it but about an hour had passed since we had stopped at Sleepy Hollow and we were both getting a bit thirsty. We didn't want to go all the way back to the front of the park for a treat when we knew it would be crowded so we went for one of my all-time favorites instead:



Lefou's Brew, yum!

We sat inside and drank them, just enjoying that there was nobody around. It was awesomely relaxing!

Satisfied with our snack we headed over to a perennial favorite since the wait was pretty nice thanks to the parade.

But first, we had to stop in the prettiest bathrooms in the parks:





To our ride!


While we waiting in line we made a quick fastpass for Big Thunder since it's one of our favorites at night and we knew it'd be pretty packed back there with people trying to get on before EMH started. After our visit with the 999 happy haunts we started to weave through the firmly entrenched ELP crowd. It was actually really easy and the walkway wasn't all that bad and we ended up back near Thunder Mountain before our fastpass was open so we sat on a nice flat rock and watched people pass.



We actually passed our rock on to a mother waiting for her family who we had struck up a short conversation with, laughing about how we had just planted ourselves there and how ingenious it was.

There was a little back up in the line so I had some fun taking pictures of the queue and playing with the things along the way! Sadly this was the only good picture that came out.



Since the parade had finally ended we managed to get over to the Hub and sat down on the curb to watch Celebrate the Magic.















I have a ton more but I'll stop here for now and post the rest tomorrow!

 

[ariane37]

Looks like you had a great vacation! We love Va.Beach, although it's been a few years since we've gone. One of our favorite restaurants there is The Raven, down around 6th St. And we would take the kids to the aquarium every trip.

Geir Ness! I met him a couple years ago and also got his autograph, and I replenish my Laila every trip I know you can get it at....Nordstrom's I think?? But it just wouldn't be the same lol.

DH and I "accidentally" found Tokyo Dining in January by booking it last minute for dinner. Now it's one of our favorites and we're returning with our boys in November. I got the same thing you did, the Panko Chicken and ate every bite of that and all the sides! The cool thing about going for dinner is, if you go at the right time you can watch Illuminations from their deck and it's a beautiful view

 

[coloredimage]

Looks like you had a great vacation! We love Va.Beach, although it's been a few years since we've gone. One of our favorite restaurants there is The Raven, down around 6th St. And we would take the kids to the aquarium every trip.

Geir Ness! I met him a couple years ago and also got his autograph, and I replenish my Laila every trip I know you can get it at....Nordstrom's I think?? But it just wouldn't be the same lol.

DH and I "accidentally" found Tokyo Dining in January by booking it last minute for dinner. Now it's one of our favorites and we're returning with our boys in November. I got the same thing you did, the Panko Chicken and ate every bite of that and all the sides! The cool thing about going for dinner is, if you go at the right time you can watch Illuminations from their deck and it's a beautiful view

We saw the Raven as we were driving but ended up going to Tortuga's instead because we were on the other side of the boardwalk by the time we were hungry. VA Beach was definitely way more relaxing than going to Myrtle Beach, and pretty on par with going to Ft. Lauderdale (which was very nice and relaxing when I went) so I can't wait to go back!

The dinner at TD sounds awesome! I wanted to go at an "off" time to try it out but that would be a lovely dinner to do next time we plan to watch Illuminations!

(Side note: the worst restaurant to be in during Illuminations? Arkershus! It sounds like you're in a bunker!)

 

[jelloarms]

Hi! I just found your TR. I LOVE adults only TRs! Nothing against kids, I just don't have any myself so I don't relate as well to the TRs with kids.

I am at the part where you went to the TTC. Did they discontinue the monorail that goes to Epcot or something? When did they get rid of that? Last time I was there in 2014 I know it was still there. What is even the point of the TTC anymore?

 

[KBOhio]

I am loving your trip report!
With two kids in college this fall, there's no room in the budget for Disney for a few years.
I will have to do all of my Disney travel vicariously!!
Thanks again for a great trip report

 

[coloredimage]

Hi! I just found your TR. I LOVE adults only TRs! Nothing against kids, I just don't have any myself so I don't relate as well to the TRs with kids.

I am at the part where you went to the TTC. Did they discontinue the monorail that goes to Epcot or something? When did they get rid of that? Last time I was there in 2014 I know it was still there. What is even the point of the TTC anymore?

Welcome! The TTC is more for drivers/day visitors now. They do still have the monorail over to Epcot but we were trying to go to DAK and last time we needed to do it from MK the buses were all over there. It was a bit of a fail on our part lol.

I am loving your trip report!
With two kids in college this fall, there's no room in the budget for Disney for a few years.
I will have to do all of my Disney travel vicariously!!
Thanks again for a great trip report

Thanks so much! Hopefully you get to go soon! And enjoy

 

[coloredimage]

Part Four

Okay so "tomorrow" turned into "next week"; oops! Sorry guys, I've been working at a local day camp this past week and it totally slipped my mind!

Anyway, more Celebrate pictures:


















Since most people were headed for the exit after the show, we decided to head a different way:




I love Disneyland and if you follow me on Instagram you know that I've been pining recently (I've hit the "under a year" mark for my next trip to CA so I'm kind of going stir crazy. I may or may not be trying to convince myself/friends to do a quick WDW trip with me just to get back to Disney faster) but nothing beats WDW's Tomorrowland at night. It's just so pretty and even if it's outdated I still get a little bit of that little kid wonder when I see it.

Our original plan was to just get to the back of the park and let the day crowd peter out but Buzz said that it had a 15 minute wait and we knew that was a lie because there was absolutely no line anywhere near the door. We walked in and it was really a 5 minute wait! That we can do!



I did decently but Jey won as per usual. She's just much better at shooting than me. I have the worst aim ever lol.

We got off and jumped on the Peoplemover and just enjoyed the peace of the park at night with less people as the park had closed while we were on the Peoplemover.

After we decided to head towards Fantasyland to see if we could get onto Mine Train. The sign said 30 minutes but the CM outside said that the wait was really well over an hour. We didn't want to waste all of the EMH in that line, especially because it was the first week of the Magical Evening or whatever it's called (I don't know, the little cards for it look like the Sailor Moon logo, that's literally all I really paid attention to for the paid EMH) so this was our only EMH night in Magic Kingdom. Instead we popped onto a true classic.



Yup, the Carousel!



I love the carousel but we only ever go on every few years when the line is short. Of course Jey chose a horse that was stupidly high. It's a lot harder to get onto a carousel horse than a real one when it's that high, no matter what she says!



But I got up and it was a lot easier to jump off than it was get on.

We decided to just head back. It was getting close to midnight at that point and we didn't want to wait forever for a bus.











This was the only night that we had to really wait for about a half an hour for a bus. One came just as we were getting to the line so we had to wait for a bit. We were in between I'm guessing it was a school group? High schoolers? I'm not sure if it was a school group or a church group but it was a group of high school students who were all kind of freaked out because they had been waiting in line but were supposed to be on a bus by midnight. There was a chaperone with them, a teacher from the conversation I gathered on the bus, and she had to calm them down and tell them that she would let their coordinator know it was out of their control.

I actually ended up standing next to her on the bus. We split up when we got onto the bus - Jey went into the back and so that a family didn't get split up I stepped into the emergency door area and let them pass me. I kind of became one of her charges just because she was so used to helping all the people around her - when we got back to the hotel she made sure the door didn't hit me and wished me a goodnight.

We were back in our room around 12:40 so we showered as quickly as possible and went to bed.

 

[MarieLightning]

We had a ton of time to kill and not much to do, so what do you do when it's April in the World Showcase? You go around taking pictures of the topiaries!

Sounds about right!

Very good meal, and a very varied menu so if you aren't a big fan of traditional sushi they have quite a bit of traditional Japanese food that any picky eater would like.

We really need to try Tokyo Dining some day. But we just love Teppan Edo so much that that's where we always end up going. We'll probably have to end up doing two Japan meals during one trip or another XD

I have no idea why it took so long, but we didn't make it back to the Magic Kingdom until 7:30. I'm guessing we changed and probably charged devices before we headed out.

We usually end up taking a bit of time too. It's just hard to pass up a bit of relaxation time in an air conditioned room when you've been walking around all day.

While we waiting in line we made a quick fastpass for Big Thunder since it's one of our favorites at night and we knew it'd be pretty packed back there with people trying to get on before EMH started.

That's pretty great that you were able to make a FastPass at that time of day! Hopefully we'll have the same luck.

Our original plan was to just get to the back of the park and let the day crowd peter out but Buzz said that it had a 15 minute wait and we knew that was a lie because there was absolutely no line anywhere near the door. We walked in and it was really a 5 minute wait! That we can do!

Even 15 minutes isn't that bad for Buzz, but 5 is obviously better!

 

[coloredimage]

We really need to try Tokyo Dining some day. But we just love Teppan Edo so much that that's where we always end up going. We'll probably have to end up doing two Japan meals during one trip or another XD

I really liked Tokyo Dining because it's a bit more intimate I guess? I love the food at Teppan Edo but it's nice to be able to just sit and chat and eat yummy Japanese food with your party. I'd definitely suggest it!

We usually end up taking a bit of time too. It's just hard to pass up a bit of relaxation time in an air conditioned room when you've been walking around all day.

I just honestly have no recollection of how it got that late! I seriously remember it as going back to the room, changing bags, and leaving but I'm obviously wrong. Hmm, missing time in Disney....not the worst thing in the world!

Even 15 minutes isn't that bad for Buzz, but 5 is obviously better!

The only time I wouldn't do 15 minutes is the heat of the day when you're stuck outside because they haven't opened the indoor queue sections! We definitely would have done it regardless but 5 minutes is totally a bonus!

 

[coloredimage]

Gravity! You've Got A Hold On Me!

So, the 21st we got up and made our way to Hollywood Studios. I'm gonna be honest here guys - I only have two big memories of this day - dinner and our late-night snack - and my notes for the day stink. Absolutely stink So this will be a lot of me going off of pictures and saying "oh, we went here, then we went there" so sorry about that! As I remember, it wasn't all the crowded yet even though it had just opened. We got through security quickly and made a beeline for coffee. As we walked out of Starbucks the Stormtroopers were marching and while I was way too short to really see them I managed to get a decent picture somehow - I'm getting good at the juggling coffees and cameras thing lol.



I had made a FP at park opening for the Great Movie Ride mostly as a throwaway because they didn't change the whole "you don't have to make 3 FP" thing until the week before our trip, but since we were right there we decided to use it. We probably could have done without using it but hey, it was a tiny bit faster!





Hello, beautiful Star Trek uniforms



And Singin' in the Rain! It's like they knew I was coming!

It was close to 11 once we were getting off and we figured we should get an early "lunch" since we were eating our large meal in the middle of the day. I literally did not write anything down from lunch so let's see if I remember correctly.

We went to the ABC Commissary because it was right there. Jey got...I think she got the chicken club? I'm going to say chicken club because it looks like a sandwich in the corner of my picture and she's not usually a burger person.

I got chicken fingers


I mean, it's chicken nuggets, you can't really go wrong. The chocolate mousse was very good. We were happy and fed and ready to go!

We had a FP for Muppets which we may have used before lunch but I honestly don't remember. Afterwards we headed over to the Launch Bay.



We...didn't realize we could just go down the other way and go right into the Launch Bay, like you could with the Animation Building, so we, uh, stood in line for way longer than we wanted to.

Which I mean, we got to see the new movie and such, so at least there's that, but I don't think Jey was all that pleased with it lol.





I may have teared up a little bit during the video. I may be that kid.

We wandered around inside the Launch Bay but we didn't see much we wanted to do - the wait for Kylo Ren was ridiculous and we weren't that interested in him. Not for that wait. Same goes for Chewie. But just looking at the stuff inside was cool.













While we were meandering around with the Jawas a CM looked at me and asked if I was in the band. I was a bit taken aback and confused for half a second until I remembered that I was wearing a Max Rebo t-shirt and laughed.

We were walking out when Jey said she wanted to get a drink. A specific drink.

A drink that comes in a cute round droid.

But first we were interrogated by these guys:




The CM taking orders was grumpy, but it was incredibly hot. He was personable enough, but you could just tell that the heat was getting to him. We walked back past after a bio break and he was on his break so he had probably hit his limit. This was probably the hottest day of our trip. The CM inside giving out the drinks and popcorn was very nice though, so at least that evened itself out.



Look at this nug! She ended up holding my extra change during the trip (I pay all in cash during vacations because my bank is such a small credit union that recently it's been the safest option). I filled her up with orange soda since it was such a good treat for the heat.

At some point during this morning I also ended up getting the Jedi Order Alex & Ani so I had to get a picture of BB8 and the bracelet together:
\

Once we finished wandering with our drinks we stopped to use the restroom and clean out our cups. This is what my bag looked like for part of the afternoon:


These cups though? They are HEAVY. Like thick, solid plastic. Jey ended up taking hers and just carrying it after a while because she could see how much the weight was bothering me. Even with mine in there and hers out it was still pretty heavy. And literally this was all that was in there besides my wallet.

We went on a whirl on Star Tours and it was practically the same exact ones we had seen earlier. Weird.

Anyway, we began to leave the park, but we saw that there was Streetmosphere out and about so we decided to watch their rendition of Romeo and Juliet.













We decided we should head out of the park. Even though I apparently fail at writing it down we had spent all morning and most of the afternoon in HS and needed to get to our lunch reservation. We had a couple hours to kill but we figured it'd take some time to get there and we'd get distracted along the way.

 

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Part Two

Before I begin, three things:

1 - I'm going to be updating more frequently now, so I don't have a lot to add by the time work starts up again on the 29th. I know from past experience that I will totally fail at updating if I'm at work lol. So I'm going to try and update 2-3 times a week for the next couple of weeks. That should get me through everything before the 29th!

2 - remember those Mickey stickers the old man gave me? Last week at camp a friend and co-worker's daughter (who is almost 2) was going through my bag just playing with things. I used the bag I bought this trip for camp to carry my script and water and such. I guess those stickers were still in there because she found one of them, still completely in tact! lol!

3 - There are barely any pictures in this update because I broke it up weirdly. Sorry!

So! Back to our day where Elle forgot to take notes!

We left Hollywood Studios and took the boat over to Epcot. We really thought it would take longer than it did and assumed it'd be a little longer but I guess I was wrong.

We made it to Italy and it was hot. Remember when I said that it was probably the hottest day of our vacation? Yeah. It was hitting by this point. We didn't think it'd be a sane idea to try and keep walking when Italy was our destination so we sat down under the breezeway on the stone benches for a while.





After a little bit Jey was way more adventurous than I was and went to take pictures around the pavilion. I followed after a little bit longer in the shade and we followed these guys over to the piazza. We watched their act, even though we were very hot by the end of it:





Once they were done we headed over to the fountain of Poseidon and plopped ourselves down there. Seriously, guys, I have spent more time killing time in the Italy pavilion after waiting for this meal and our previous post-Illuminations wine tasting at Tutto Gusto that I feel like I know every out of the way sitting area ever!



It's a beautiful pavilion though, so I'm not really complaining!

It was finally close enough to 4 for us to go check in for our dinners....well, our sit-down, at Via Napoli. It felt more like lunch to us.

Jey is not an Italian food person, but the three of us have now officially been to every single restaurant in this pavilion. (Every single...y'know, 3 if we count the bar.) We've literally been every trip our last three trips together, mostly because of me. Italian's my favorite. I had gone to Via Napoli summer of 2015 (a year ago last week actually!) with my aunt and it was a very good meal so when we were trying to make ADRs I suggested it to Jey.

We were seated one table over from where I sat last time, next to the windows. It took a bit to be seated but it's always so crowded there it's not surprising. It actually was a lot faster than last year.

By this point Jey had taken her BB8 cup and I was having some fun taking "adventures of BB8" photos lol.



Our server, Antonio, came over right away.

Now, a few updates ago I talked (or hopefully I talked) about walking past the Italian pavilion and seeing the CMs taking a picture to kick off their IP? Well, Antonio was one of those servers who had literally just started that week. He was very, very flirty when we first sat down but when he realized we were not into it he kind of did a 180 and was inattentive.

But either way we ordered a pizza each. Jey got the prosciutto with melon pizza which she enjoyed. I didn't try any of it but it looked good.

I got my standard, plain, boring margarita pizza:


And it was yummy as expected!

We had to flag down Antonio to get refills of our drinks, and a dessert menu. Jey got the ice cream soda which she loved but it made her cold (you can kind of see her wearing my sweater in the next picture lol). I got the zeppoli which are my favorite.



Now. This is one of those "nobody is right in this situation" scenarios. Ah, language barriers, don't you love 'em?

So, first of all, Antonio had scanned Jey's MB at the beginning of our meal. He then brought over our check quickly after we finished our desserts (+1) but instead of the normal receipt slip you get when you pay using the dining plan, but a regular ol' receipt for everything (-1). We tried to get his attention for 10 or so minutes but he was very pointedly ignoring us - flirting with the girls behind us or playing with the scanner. He later explained that his scanner's batteries had died and he was trying to get this one working with his tables. Fair enough.

So, he scans Jey's MB again. And she kind of freaked because it says we only have 2 dining credits left. Which was completely right! -

Let me back up a couple days to explain the reason she thought it was wrong. It kind of is a tangent so if you don't care just look for the next hyphen to bring you back to the current storyline . So, we never expected to eat at Skipper Canteen because like I said at the beginning we had originally planned to not be in the parks until later that Saturday. So when we got to Florida at the beginning of the week, we had an ADR for lunch at LTT for our last day that we dumped after talking about it during EMH.

- But! Up until we got to Disney we should have had 4 meals left once we got to Via Napoli and until the night before we still had our Liberty Tree ADR that we were planning on going to. So we were all mixed up. I had originally agreed with Jey that we should have 4 and then after talking about it we realized we were both wrong but by that point Antonio wasn't around to apologize to. He was trying his best to explain what had happened but he was getting frustrated because while he spoke English fluently he was still an 18 year old guy and it was his one of his first weeks speaking English all day so there was still a language barrier.

So that put a little bit of a damper on the meal and it was mostly our fault but the inattentiveness was pretty annoying.

Even though we had cooled down in the AC during our meal we still wanted to change before we continued our touring so we went back to our hotel room at 6.

 

[MarieLightning]

I'm gonna be honest here guys - I only have two big memories of this day - dinner and our late-night snack - and my notes for the day stink.

Totally understandable. I tried taking TR notes in November 2012. Failed miserably. Never tried again.

Amber's much better at it. This past November was the first time she kinda stopped writing things down half way through. I think we were just getting too drained for her to keep going XD

I had made a FP at park opening for the Great Movie Ride mostly as a throwaway because they didn't change the whole "you don't have to make 3 FP" thing until the week before our trip, but since we were right there we decided to use it. We probably could have done without using it but hey, it was a tiny bit faster!

You know... we still ended up making 3 FP+ for pretty much every day of our trip this August, except one. I think we just figured, you know, if it comes down to it, we'll have it. If something crazy happens and Spaceship Earth has a 30 mins standby line, we will be thankful for it

We wandered around inside the Launch Bay but we didn't see much we wanted to do - the wait for Kylo Ren was ridiculous and we weren't that interested in him. Not for that wait. Same goes for Chewie. But just looking at the stuff inside was cool.

I think you guys went not too long after they just started meeting, right? Cause that'd definitely have affected the wait. I hear it's not so bad nowadays. Which is good because we do want to meet them But I am definitely looking forward to having a look around the Launch Bay.

Look at this nug! She ended up holding my extra change during the trip (I pay all in cash during vacations because my bank is such a small credit union that recently it's been the safest option).

That is the cutest mug! Man I wish I could get it. Amber won't let me get souvenir mugs though. She thinks we have too many already.

We made it to Italy and it was hot. Remember when I said that it was probably the hottest day of our vacation? Yeah. It was hitting by this point.

I feel like the places where it's always, irrevocably the hottest is Animal Kingdom, because of the density and humidity, and World Showcase, because it's basically a giant concrete slab in front of the pavilions.

I got the zeppoli which are my favorite.

Maaan we've been at Via Napoli three times now (if I remember correctly..) and I always want to get the zeppoli, but never do. Next time! (Hopefully)

So that put a little bit of a damper on the meal and it was mostly our fault but the inattentiveness was pretty annoying.

That does suck. And that is rotten customer service, in my opinion. We probably would have made a comment on it. If he's got a flirty personality, fine. That doesn't mean your job entails hitting on customers, and snubbing them if they're not into it.

 

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Totally understandable. I tried taking TR notes in November 2012. Failed miserably. Never tried again.

Amber's much better at it. This past November was the first time she kinda stopped writing things down half way through. I think we were just getting too drained for her to keep going XD

I'm usually really good at least at remembering and it's just like "nah, that Thursday you were in Disney in April? It doesn't exist. It was all a dream! *spooky voice*"

And I don't blame you guys for getting drained and not keeping a trip journal completely up-to-date from your Nov trip! Woof! You just had so much going on!

You know... we still ended up making 3 FP+ for pretty much every day of our trip this August, except one. I think we just figured, you know, if it comes down to it, we'll have it. If something crazy happens and Spaceship Earth has a 30 mins standby line, we will be thankful for it

Y'know, I'm probably just going to keep getting three and then dropping and/or changing them in the parks because I just like the security of it.

And I've totally been there in July/August when it's like 10 am and even then you totally need a FP for Spaceship Earth and I would be the person saying "I told you so!" gleefully in the FP line.

Sometimes I wonder how Jey puts up with me lol.

I think you guys went not too long after they just started meeting, right? Cause that'd definitely have affected the wait. I hear it's not so bad nowadays. Which is good because we do want to meet them But I am definitely looking forward to having a look around the Launch Bay.

Oooh if you do those'll be fun pictures! Yeah, when we went it had been open for maybe less than a month? I didn't even know they had the Jawas until we walked into their room and they were hanging out! We were so bummed because we would have totally brought them cute little dollar store trinkets.

That is the cutest mug! Man I wish I could get it. Amber won't let me get souvenir mugs though. She thinks we have too many already.

If Jey and I were still living together I doubt I could have convinced her because I totally have too many mugs (and when we put our mug collection together it was HUGE). I may have also bought a mug while I was in Virginia, but it's got a quote about books on one side and a sketch of Monticello on the other and I figured I could use it for coffee at work. Mugs need to be less adorable nowadays.

Maaan we've been at Via Napoli three times now (if I remember correctly..) and I always want to get the zeppoli, but never do. Next time! (Hopefully)

I love them! They're light so it doesn't feel like a huge dessert. I'd try them if you can fit them!

That does suck. And that is rotten customer service, in my opinion. We probably would have made a comment on it. If he's got a flirty personality, fine. That doesn't mean your job entails hitting on customers, and snubbing them if they're not into it.

Again, it's like the Thursday was wiped out of my mind, but if I remember correctly we were originally going to go to the manager but couldn't find him? I seriously don't remember but there was talk about it. Jey was pretty peeved and I don't blame her. I was just frustrated with the whole thing - obviously not with her but just with the overall experience. It hasn't turned me off of Via Napoli by a long shot it just bad customer service.

 

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Part Three

Okay, I could have finished this day in two parts, womp. I didn't realize that when I finished the last part. Anyway.

We changed quickly and headed back out to the parks - it was the second night of the Disney After Hours event they tried out and we were not participating in it. But we did want to spend some time in Magic Kingdom, as it's usually where we end up going at night to wind down and relax. There's just something about walking around Magic Kingdom, even when you're fighting through the crowds waiting for the parade or fireworks. We just find an emptier spot and relax. That feeling of calm at night is the one thing that WDW will always have for me.

Sorry, Disneyland. I still love you.

So we got to the park at 7, knowing we had about four hours of park time to enjoy!



How can you not want to see the castle at sunset every night?

We explored around Pirates first, taking a nice cruise on the Caribbean, and began to walk towards Thunder.

This is one of those ridiculous "Elle doesn't pay any attention" anecdotes. So I had been wearing a t-shirt and shorts earlier, but when we went back to change I put on a dress and leggings. A girl walked past and complimented my dress while we were on our way over the bridge to Thunder. I got to admit, I kind of just expect people to be talking to Jey I guess? I don't now, I'm the least observant person in the world lol. So it took me until she was seriously 100 feet away for me to turn around and yell out a thank you. Sorry, random girl!

Jey may have laughed at me. I may have deserved it.

Anyway! We rode Thunder then headed down to Haunted Mansion. It was easy to get on things because the After Hours event was keeping a decent amount of people away. I tried to take some pictures of HM but only got this mediocre one of Constance:



And this pretty good shot of the busts:



We left Haunted Mansion and headed to Small World because there was absolutely no wait! Can't pass that up!



I love the suns and elephants in Small World.

Jey was getting hungry. I had gotten a snack at some point in the MK but she hadn't. Since it was around the time for Wishes, we figured it'd make sense to stay in the Fantasyland/Tomorrowland area.

So we split the difference and went into Cosmic Ray's.

Jey bought some fries and I got myself a drink. Since it was so late nobody was in the room with Sonny so we got a seat front and center for his schtick!



It was around 10:15-10:30 by this point and we were going to get kicked out of the park anyway so we decided to head out. They had opened the gate next to the Plaza bathrooms so we followed the crowd that way. I tried counting event lanyards as we went - I only counted about a dozen in total walking in. It had just been announced like a week or so ago and the first one had just happened right before we got there. Seriously though, the only reason why they caught my attention is because this night's colors were pink with a yellow moon and with the white font it honestly looked like they were all wearing Sailor Moon styled name tags.

Shockingly, even with all the people being shuffled out of the park there was nobody waiting for the bus once we got to it! So we hopped right onto a bus that was still there and were back at French Quarter by 11.