I'M JUST SHOWBOATIN' AROUND THE WORLD! & getting pooped on. Jan 13 TR! NEW TR POSTED!

[Fantasyland Mom]

Partner in adventuring!

I had no idea about the bakery being open that early. Sounds like a great place for breakfast! Your location coming through the IG is just perfect for that sort of thing.

You have to post a picture of Matt's tattoo for everyone not following you other places. It's too amazing! It should be plastered all over the interwebz! I just can't get over it.

We're going to WDW next month!!!!!!!

 

[katt789]

Aahahahahaha I pad comment, and a little story to go along with that….. called my Mom on Sunday to chat about Disney and how we’re all excited and stuff and she was talking about her tablet that she just bought, not an Ipad, but the same thing, and a smaller than an Ipad..

Me: “You’re not going to bring it with you to take pictures are you?”

Mom: “Well for video yes I was…”

Me: “No…don’t be one of those people” #stop

Seriously…#dying She said she was only using it as her camera would die quickly otherwise, but *sigh* mother will be one of THOSE people come September….but at least she’s taking video so I can hopefully put together a trip video!!

NO SLEEPING IN DISNEY! Seriously, I do the same “we’ll sleep in” and I’m still awake and bright eyed and bushy tailed before the sun’s up! Uhm…that France picture is amazing…It looks like a painting, it’s awesome! Okay…French bakery, on the list of things to try for Sept! SO MUCH NOMMING Epcot, that’s all I do there..Again, gorgeous photo of France, like, I will pay you to follow me around with a camera, like, amazing pictures.

I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED TO PIN TRADE AGAIN!!!

Love the photo with the Up border!! CUTE! Also, the pp borders have something to do with where the cm like “signs in” their camera in the morning. Hence why sometimes the borders are super messed up and stuff…If that made ANY sense…

The bats are so cute! I love bats, which is odd as I’m terrified of birds…

YOUR PICTURES ARE AMAZING!!! Like, the one of all the prayer flags I have stolen and made my computer background… I love that you guys took the time to look at all the details in AK because they’re seriously my favorite and there’s so much to enjoy in that park and it gets so much hate that I want to slap people!

 

[katt789]

Partner in adventuring!

I had no idea about the bakery being open that early. Sounds like a great place for breakfast! Your location coming through the IG is just perfect for that sort of thing.

You have to post a picture of Matt's tattoo for everyone not following you other places. It's too amazing! It should be plastered all over the interwebz! I just can't get over it.

We're going to WDW next month!!!!!!!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I AM DYING

In case you couldn't tell... I started packing today......

 

[danimaroo]

Your breakfast looked awesome! I haven't been to the bakery since the renovation, and I was veryyy nervous because I don't think they serve cream puffs anymore, but your food looked so great I will have to check it out!

And I NEED that Pluto cupcake pin! What a great find!

It WAS awesome! The renovation, in my opinion, was great. There's a lot more space and seating! It was a perfect place for us to get breakfast.

Thanks! I was on the hunt for Pluto pins because I LOVE Pluto, so that was one I was very happy to find!

OMG I love that survey pin!! It's a good thing I'm not into pin trading as I know I'd become obsessed (and broke).

I love DiVine. She doesn't creep me out at all. Well, maybe a teeny tiny bit. Nah I love her. Not Stacey love mind you, but love nonetheless.

Bang on Dani! Animal Kingdom is indeed short on "rides" (of course it is also home to the amazing Everest... HELLO), but there is SO MUCH MORE!!! Those walking trails are wonderful, the shows are wonderful... Animal Kingdom rocks!

Oh my gosh, pin trading really is addicting.. and so much fun! But it can be expensive, haha. I still pin trade a little, but my money gets spent on Vinylmation! Holy cow, I have way, way too many in my collection... and I'm even going to the big Vinylmation trading event in September! I'm actually really excited about it.

She is really awesome... but yes, she is NO Stacey!

I actually need to spend more time exploring AK! I think my only problem in September is going to be the heat... but we may just have to go on Kali River Rapids to help battle the heat! I've never been on it before since it's always down for a refurb when we go. But yes, AK is awesome!

Awesome pictures!
We LOVE Animal Kingdom!! I think it is all of our favorite park!

We have always been big fans of the French bakery but that breakfast looks fabulous!!

We may have to try that during our trip!

Thanks! AK is a fantastic park. I think it would be a lot higher up for me if we didn't have an amazing zoo here in Seattle, but it really is a fantastic park.

Yeah, breakfast in France was amazing.. I just wish we'd thought of it earlier in the trip! Next trip I'm fairly certain we'll get breakfast there a fair amount when we're at Beach Club!

Oh. My. Lanta. THE BATS. You know how much I love those bats. I would stand there and watch them all day, if I didn't think the CM's would get freaked out. And if I didn't feel the compulsive need to ride Everest over and over again.

[for some reason all I can think about here is Abed acting like a vampire in the cafeteria, a la Community]

Johnny actually told me the other day that in Camp Minnie-Mickey there's a place with a dragon cave that has burned and melted suits of armor outside of it that were destroyed by a dragon's fiery breath. How stinking cool is that?!

I so wish Beastly Kingdom was a thing.

Also, score one for having excessively nerdy significant others that just ooze random disney trivia.

AND I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SO SOON UNTIL YOU GUYS ARE HERE.

The bats are delightful, but I'm with you, I get that itch to go ride Expedition Everest repeatedly. It's just callin' my name.

Hahaha, oh Community.. I hope this next season is good with Dan Harmon back.

COOOL, can you see it?! That is so neat! And yes, I love Disney trivia, it's kind of my favorite thing.

I KNOW RIGHT. I can't wait. I just want to be there now!

Every update of yours I add another thing I need to do on my upcoming trip!!! I'm running out of time!!!!!

Bakery breakfast looked amazing! The peace and quiet of the early morning world showcase seemed awesome!!

Hahaha, well, if you don't get everything done on this trip, it just means you have to plan another one!

It was seriously perfect and I loved walking through there with literally no one else around.

Gah! I hate when people chase ducks/geese/whatever. I totally yelled at some tween boys at the Denver zoo a couple years ago when they were throwing woodchips at the geese and chasing them.

You know, I've been on a weight loss program since the beginning of your TR and I am doing super well, but I swear EVERY food photo you post makes me want to lick my screen!

Yeah, I don't like that at all. I makes me really sad/angry! Leave 'em alone!

Bahaha, this TR is not helping me out either over here when I'm eating some grilled chicken and posting a photo of croissants or some other delicious food. Good thing calories don't exist in Disney World.

Great update!

Thanks!

Ah isn't that the most frustrating feeling in the world? That does win Matt a best husband award!

What a great plan to have breakfast at the France bakery!

I love the Maharajan trek!

I had the same problem with the Up borders on my photopass pictures and it made me SO sad.

Matt rules for running back. It was really frustrating and I just felt bad for holding us up!

Yes, we were big fans of the bakery, if only we'd visited sooner!

Yeah, I don't know why the heck that happened, but at least I could add it onto some other photos!

 

[danimaroo]

I don't normally read trip reports, but we are back planning for a trip in May and I have been absent from the boards since our last trip in May 2011 so I thought I better get a little bit up to speed on what's been happening since I have been away. I came across yours, and I have just read the entire thing, it has taken me 5 days (I have three kids they really cut into reading time especially as they are on their school holidays at the moment)

We went to Seattle once on our road trip from LA to Vancouver, loved it. Would love to go back one day.

Looking forward to the rest of the report and a little sad that I am up to date as now I might have to do some house work.

Kirsten

Oh awesome, I'm glad you caught up and joined in on the fun!! I'm sure having kids cuts into DIS time, I don't have any and I find it hard to squeeze in time, too!

Seattle is awesome, I really love living here, and even though it's far away from Disney World, I just don't think I could really ever move from here. It's such a beautiful place to be!

Anyway, hopefully I'll have an update here for you shortly to cut into that house work.

Aww, how nice of Matt go run back and get your AP! I imagine, pursuant to your description, that he literally ran away and then reappeared in a roadrunner-esque cloud of dust.

I CANNOT WAIT to try some of those insanely delicious looking French pastries! I've been drooling over everybody's TR pics since it opened. Luckily I only have to hold out a liiiiiiitle longer...

Pin trading is so, so fun. I'm completely addicted! It seems like it would be weird to walk up to a stranger and ask them for their stuff, but after you do it once it's old hat, and there are so many cool pins to be traded for! I love the Pluto cupcake one you got -- I got the Minnie cupcake pin last year and nearly lost it in a teacup at Mad Tea Party when the back came off! Luckily (?) I ended up stepping on it instead of losing it forever.

Love love love the Up border -- wonder why it wasn't available for your Dug & Russell pic? And the grape soda cap in the corner!!!! *melts*

Hahaha, he did, you couldn't even see his legs, it was just spinning, he was THAT fast.

They are really super delicious! There is another snack from there that is AMAZINGLY good which you will see in a later update... because we were kind of all obsessed with eating there, mornings and nights!

I totally love trading! I love talking to people and finding pins that I get excited about for our collection! It's so much fun. I'm glad you didn't lose your Minnie cupcake, that would have been such a bummer!

I have no idea, but I'm glad it was available for that photo, because it came out pretty adorable in the end!

I loved your pictures of france (not just the delicious looking food)! i'm not a huge fan of epcot, but those pictures just made me wish I was there enjoying a quiet morning in Disney!

I liked the UP border on your picture too. I'm also not a huge fan of pins (I know, I know, WHAT is wrong with me?!?) but I do want to get one of the grape soda ones. they are so cute! I've also seen a shirt I might get when we go--with the castle floating from mickey balloons. we do love that movie!

oh the bats!! I love love love them! I'd stand there all day and watch them with you. they totally fascinate me.

you and matt are just like our kids.....on days we have to get up, no one wants to get out of bed. but, come Saturday morning, they're in our room at the crack of dawn, ready to go outside and play!

thanks for another great update!!

Aw thank you! I love France and World Showcase in the mornings... I really have fallen in love with it since we began staying at Beach Club! The strolls through England and Canada early in the morning are just lovely, too!

Haha, hey, everyone has their things they love and things they don't like, so I get it! The Grape Soda pin is one of my absolute favorites that I own in my collection. It's so cute.

I actually own that shirt, both the Disney World AND Disneyland versions! Unfortunately, they no longer are sold in the parks, wompwomp. They actually went to the outlets, as DanniDear mentioned below. A friend bought me the Disneyland version for like $8 at an outlet in NC. I am surprised they weren't more popular though! I wear mine very proudly!

The bats are soooo cool. I have to visit them every trip!

Hahaha, it was really only this morning where we were just UP! And I was kind of sad about it because I was actually looking forward to sleeping in!

Thank YOU for reading it!

I really enjoy Animal Kingdom too because there is so much to do that isn't rides!!

I just love that park because it is so pretty! The jungle trek is nice too especially when you see tigers.

I agree, it is a fantastic and very underrated park! It's beautiful and the details that were put into everything are unreal. I love when the tigers are active, too.

You got some nice photos of AK today! It's nice towards the end of a trip to take a bit of a slower pace. My only problem is that I'm really good at sleeping in, so I can't really let myself do it at Disney.

And P.S. I'm coming to your city this weekend

Thank you! I agree, it is nice to slow down a bit... my body just basically forces me to at the end of a 10 day trip though, hahahaha.

Oh you are?! What for?! So you're here right now! Crazy, haha. I hope you're enjoying being in Seattle!!

Ohmygosh, your French breakfast looks so good! French breakfast food is my favorite kind of French food, so I'll definitely add that to my massive list of things to try!

I hate it when people are mean to animals like that. It's like, how would YOU feel if some giant creature started chasing you around when you're just trying to have a nice morning stroll with your partner?! Ugh.

I *think* that instrument is a santoor... if my memory serves me right and I haven't completely forgotten everything I learned in my world music class in college, it's basically an Indian or Persian dulcimer. Music nerd right here!

It is REALLY awesome, so definitely give it a shot!

I agree, I wanted to smack them. Like, they didn't need to be all up in their business. I would have laughed if the ducks nipped at their legs.

Oh that's really awesome! It was neat to watch her play it for a while before we left! I feel like this was a total learning moment here, right in my TR! Hahaha.

Partner in adventuring!

I had no idea about the bakery being open that early. Sounds like a great place for breakfast! Your location coming through the IG is just perfect for that sort of thing.

You have to post a picture of Matt's tattoo for everyone not following you other places. It's too amazing! It should be plastered all over the interwebz! I just can't get over it.

We're going to WDW next month!!!!!!!

He totally is my partner in adventuring!

Yeah, it's an awesome place for breakfast! And yes, perfect for us since it's a 5 minute walk over to Epcot!

I am going to here shortly when I post a new update!! I'm pretty darn excited to share it because it really came out amazing!

I KNOW ERMERGERD! DISNEY NEXT MONTH!! I can't believe it. I REALLY CAN'T.

Aahahahahaha I pad comment, and a little story to go along with that….. called my Mom on Sunday to chat about Disney and how we’re all excited and stuff and she was talking about her tablet that she just bought, not an Ipad, but the same thing, and a smaller than an Ipad..

Me: “You’re not going to bring it with you to take pictures are you?”

Mom: “Well for video yes I was…”

Me: “No…don’t be one of those people” #stop

Seriously…#dying She said she was only using it as her camera would die quickly otherwise, but *sigh* mother will be one of THOSE people come September….but at least she’s taking video so I can hopefully put together a trip video!!

NO SLEEPING IN DISNEY! Seriously, I do the same “we’ll sleep in” and I’m still awake and bright eyed and bushy tailed before the sun’s up! Uhm…that France picture is amazing…It looks like a painting, it’s awesome! Okay…French bakery, on the list of things to try for Sept! SO MUCH NOMMING Epcot, that’s all I do there..Again, gorgeous photo of France, like, I will pay you to follow me around with a camera, like, amazing pictures.

I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED TO PIN TRADE AGAIN!!!

Love the photo with the Up border!! CUTE! Also, the pp borders have something to do with where the cm like “signs in” their camera in the morning. Hence why sometimes the borders are super messed up and stuff…If that made ANY sense…

The bats are so cute! I love bats, which is odd as I’m terrified of birds…

YOUR PICTURES ARE AMAZING!!! Like, the one of all the prayer flags I have stolen and made my computer background… I love that you guys took the time to look at all the details in AK because they’re seriously my favorite and there’s so much to enjoy in that park and it gets so much hate that I want to slap people!

HAHAHAHA I laughed so hard at the iPad thing! Well, I guess your mom can just do her thang! As long as she's not blocking people's views, she's good, hahaha.. and she has a point about the video stuff!!

It's hard to sleep in at Disney, even when you WANT to!

Haha thanks, I actually took that one in my iPhone! It's kind of amazing how your phone can sometimes take even better photos than nicer cameras!

Hahaha thank you, France is a very photogenic area!!

I know, I need to start going through pins to bring for trading!

That makes sense on the camera thing! I just wish it had been available for my Up photos, poop.

Bats rule, birds drool.

Oh that is an awesome compliment! If you want a better version of that photo, let me know and I can send it to you or something! But yeah, AK rules and it's all about the details in that park!

 

[danimaroo]

Hey guys! Before I get on with this TR and provide you with an epic DOUBLE WHAMMY OF AN UPDATE... I just wanted to show off something really neat.

As many of you will remember, Matt got his Haunted Mansion tattoo line work done around a month ago. And it looked AWESOME. Well, the day finally came for Matt to go in and get the tattoo colored in! IT CAME OUT EPIC. I mean seriously, it looks AMAZING!!

So of course, I had to share it with you guys, because, duh!

My picture isn't amazing, but you get the idea!

He is so happy with it (and so am I, I seriously kept saying how awesome it looked!), and will have another appointment to get it touched up once we're back from Disney World.

He was going to get it touched up before our trip, but I told him that was probably a bad idea since we'll be swimming a lot and will be in the sun... so he re-scheduled for after our trip! But yeah, I'm so happy for him. He had been wanting that tattoo FOREVER and he finally went for it!

That's one dedicated Haunted Mansion fan!

Anyway, that's what I wanted to share with you guys, so now... let's continue with this lovely Trip Report!


Chapter Forty-Nine: We make new friends, feed turtles, and we discover Basin White...
Day 9: January 25th, 2013

After saying goodbye to Animal Kingdom, we headed to catch a bus over to Epcot! We were in the mood to stop by for a bit, for some lunch and shopping! I think we actually went on Spaceship Earth but I somehow have no proof that this happened. BUT LET'S SAY WE WENT ON IT.

On our stroll over towards World Showcase, we stopped by the Pin Trading area, where we bought this AWESOME Epcot pin/keychain set.

We also stopped by MouseGear and bought a few fun things, including some Park Starz Vinylmation, a mug for home, and some goodies for our co-workers!

I'd just like to note that Matt encouraged me to buy the Park Starz Vinylmation, which began the addiction to this specific series... and I can now say that I own every single Park Starz Vinylmation to have come out. I own 43, and the 44th will be released this week...

Haaave I mentioned how obsessed I am with Vinylmation? Yeah...

We were both starting to get pretty hungry, so we headed off towards England... in search of some fish 'n chips!

There was kind of a longer line, and since seating is SO limited over there, I decided to go off and find us a table. It took some waiting around, but finally a family left and I snagged us one while Matt got our food.

When Matt came over with the food, I was SO excited. I'd heard such good things about the fish 'n chips, and they looked REALLY good.

We also both got one of the sugar cookies they have there, too.

THIS LUNCH WAS SO GOOD! Seriously, amazingly good. Like, I would kill for some fish 'n chips in England right now! The breading on the fish wasn't too thick or heavy, but instead it was light and crispy, and the fries were really tasty, as well.

As we were munching on our lunch, an older couple came up to us and asked if they could sit with us. Since we had a pretty sizeble table for just the two of us, plus this couple seemed nice, we told them it was no problem and let them join us.

We ended up chatting with them for a while, as they were asking us all sorts of questions about food and recommendations of places to eat (since they were on the dining plan and were fairly new to Disney World)... but it was so lovely to hear that they were having a good time on their trip! They made a comment that the two of us must really love Disney, as we chatted with them about prior and future trips. It was actually a really nice lunch and they were very friendly people. They also thanked us for all of the recommendations, too.

We finished up and said goodbye to the older couple, then headed back over to Beach Club.

I took photos of some of Matt's new pins, my Park Starz Vinylmation I'd just bought, the pins we bought for our co-workers, and randomly took a photo of the new Haunted Mansion print Matt had gotten a few nights before:

We both were really wanting to go for a swim, so we got changed, and headed down. My notes are terrible, and I HAD an explanation as to why we didn't go swimming at Stormalong Bay, but my notes literally make no sense. In fact, they say: "We decided to go for a swim, but because we didn't ha e a ton of the. We opted for the quiet pool."

Yup, typed that up on my iPad and I have no idea what the heck I was trying to say... but we DID go to the quiet pool, and it was perfect!

He and I swam around and chatted about our trip, our favorite moments, and future trips as well... we also had a more serious conversation about Disney Vacation Club, because this trip really solidified that we were definitely going to look into buying it. And now, months later, we are 95% of the way there on becoming members!

This was such a perfect day for us, and it was so nice to just relax and not have to worry about a thing!

After lazily floating around the pool for a while, we got out and headed back upstairs to shower and get ready for the evening!

At around 3:45, we met up with Bruce and Amy to catch a bus over to Magic Kingdom. They had a blast at Typhoon Lagoon and said there was barely anyone there! Gotta love Januarys at the water park.. and I say park because one of them is always closed in January, this year being Blizzard Beach.

On our way over to the bus stop, we remembered to finally bring some goldfish down with us to feed to the turtles! THEY WERE SO HAPPY! There were a TON of them and we just sat there and fed them. This might be against some rules but honestly, these little guys were very happy. I LOVE TURTLES. And the fish were also getting in on the action, too, coming up to snag a couple of the crackers.

After we ran out of goldfish, we caught a bus on over to MK! Buuuuut we weren't heading there quite yet, as we had dinner plans at another MK resort!

So hopped on the monorail, and I captured this photo of Bruce looking very sad while Amy is consoling him, hahaha... I have no idea what was going on in this photo!

We rode along, zooming past the Polynesian...

Then I took a series of bad photos of Matt because I always like to bother him with photos whenever I can, mwahaha.

Hi, my name's Matt, and I like to think about life sometimes.

And I also like to ignore my wife, too! NO PHOTOS FOR YOU.

Finally, we made it to our grand destination... THE GRAAAAND FLORIDIAN! I love that this is what you see as soon as you step inside from the monorail. It's glorious.

After Bruce and Amy marveled for a bit, we went into the gift shop since we had time to spare before our dining reservation... and I decided to trade for a Vinylmation, snagging a Muppets 2 Pigs in Space!

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was overpowered by a delightful scent.... the scent that comes out from Basin White.

OH. MY. GOD. I'd never been in a Basin before, and I have no idea why I hadn't, but Amy and I were in HEAVEN. In fact, that store smells like heaven. And though it's insanely expensive for soap, it was all worth it. I even got Matt to help me choose one, and he went with the Waffle Cone (which I literally just opened last night at home.. I've been rationing my soaps since this trip, and Waffle Cone is the last one I have!)...

I also decided to buy a soap called Ariel, which smelled like a combination of Beach Club and the Grand Floridian... and also a red wine soap. All 3 were to die for!

After spending around $26 on soaps (only in Disney World!), and Amy picked up some goodies as well, we left... and I was so sad I forgot to do the hand scrub! Apparently it leaves your hands feeling ridiculously soft. NEXT TIME, I will not forget.

We explored a bit more, stopping to take photos of the characters looking adorable yet classy on the floor, haha.

I love the Grand Floridian. I know some people think it seems too snooty or too non-Disney, but I think it's fantastic. I want to stay here again, and am hopeful we will in the future at the new DVC property that is opening in October. Maybe when we plan our 2014 trip, we'll get a night or two in at the Villas at Grand Floridian!

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter Fifty: "Something touched me deeeep inside... the day... the Moooooooonorail died."
Day 9: January 25th, 2013

We headed downstairs to check in for our reservation, but not before I did some pin trading on our way over! I got some FANTASTIC ones, including Carl, Ursula, and Ezra!

We finally checked in at the Grand Floridian Cafe at 5pm, and they seated us very quickly!

I was really wanting to try the Lobster Burger here, so we decided to give it a shot since they had some great-looking options on their menu!

We were served bread very quickly by our waitress, whose name was Jamie. Jamie was kind of amazing. She was from New York and definitely had that attitude about her. But she was still very nice, too, haha.

I think I was trying to get a photo of the butter, but instead, Bruce photobombed it.

Matt and I had remembered to wear out anniversary pins this night, and Jamie took notice... because she came back out with champagne for us! I felt bad that Bruce and Amy didn't get any because they forgot their pins, haha. Oh well!

I usually do NOT like champagne but this was really good!

I decided to order the Grand Floridian Burger, which (stealing the descriptions from AllEars) was: Angus Chuck Burger, butter-poached Lobster, with red onion marmalade, and arugala on a brioche bun with chips.

Matt went with Shrimp and Grits, where were: Jumbo Shrimp with Chorizo and Fennel served on top of Creamy Mascarpone Cheese Grits.

Amy went with the Orecchiette Pasta, which came with Grilled Chicken, Prosciutto, Peas, and Asiago Cream Sauce.

Bruce went with the Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast, which came with Fregola Sarda Pasta, vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, pecorino cheese, tomato-essence and basil oil.

Thanks, AllEars for those lovely descriptions!

This time, I actually got photos of EVERYONE'S food! It only took 9 days to train everyone properly, hahaha.

Everyone was really happy with their food! My burger was realllllly tasty, and I loved the carmelized onions on top with the lobster, yum! Mine also came with homemade chips and I believe plantains, and they were VERY tasty!

I tried a taste of Matt's dish and also noted that it was really good.

Once we were finished with our dinner, Jamie offered the sampler dessert, but we all had our eyes set on the Chocolate Fondue!

IT WAS AMAZING. Seriously, so so good. You can't go wrong with anything dipped in chocolate from that plate, and it was the perfect dessert to end our meal!

We took care of the bill then headed out to explore the Grand Floridian's grounds a bit. As some of you will recall, Matt has a tradition of doing a "Monorail Resort" tour on every trip. This was the last of the monorail resorts that we needed to visit, and I actually liked doing it this way. We had a meal at 2 of them, and visited the Contemporary in hopes of a cupcake. Taking the time to really explore the resorts is always lovely. I'm hoping during our next trip we can manage to do this earlier on in the trip, though I'm thinking since we won't be doing many ADRs, we'll do our tour of all the resorts all at once.

Anyway! The Grand Floridian is beautiful. Seriously... and even better during dusk.

We decided to head back to the monorail after our explorations were done... only to find out that the monorail was dead and we needed to take the boat over to MK.

WOMPWOMP. If only we'd known! Instead, we headed back with a MASSIVE amount of people and ended up having to wait in big line for a while.

I stared at this boat, wishing that I was on it....

Well, ya know what you do when you're stuck in a line waiting for a boat?

TAKE PICTURES!

I love the MK area at dusk. It's absolutely beautiful and there's something about it that I just love more than any other time of the day in Disney parks. I can't really explain it, but it's just perfect.

THEN BRUCE GOT VIOLENT... Okay not really, but he was definitely yelling at us saying: DON'T. TALK. TO MEEEEE... and we were all dying.

After waiting and watching TWO boats leave without us, Matt was looking like what he sometimes calls me... a Grumpagus.

As you can see, we were waiting for a while, because it got dark pretty quickly... but it was still pretty.

We finally got onto a boat, and we seriously had the WORST boat driver! He was going super slow and definitely hit the dock hard over at the Polynesian.

45 minutes later, we finally got to MK... and what's kind of sad is I think the monorail was up and running by the time we made it over!

Long boat ride aside, we were ready for a night of fun in Magic Kingdom with much lighter crowds!

Continued in next post​

 

[DanniDeer]

HOW DID I NOT KNOW YOU HADN'T BEEN TO A BASIN BEFORE THEN!?

I would have forced you to go WAY sooner. It's magical. That hand scrub is magical. It's magical Disney soap.

You know my, and Johnny's especially, affinity for smelling things. It's seriously like a two hour ordeal for us. I think the CM's of the DTD one were starting to get creeped out. Whatever. Haters gonna hate.

Also, your post made me hungry. And we just ate. This isn't even fair.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I said this on insta already but because it's so awesome I have to comment again. Matt's tattoo just came out perfect. It really is just amazing!

That fish and chips looks quite delicious. I don't even like fish and now I want some

How nice that you were able to share a table with friendly people!

I'm gonna start pin trading for the first time this trip and I'm fairly certain it's going to become an addiction. That's the main reason I've avoided it til now but I'm SO excited already so it's fine. Only my bank account will suffer, I've accepted it. Vinylmations also appear addicting. God help me the day I get my first one.

Hmm maybe you didn't have a ton of time to go to Stormalong Bay? Blame autocorrect. That's what I always do!

Eeep. I love seeing the Grand Floridian. It's so fancy. And it makes me feel out of place which I'm oddly ok with.

I need to visit Basin in September! Everyone keeps saying such excellent things about it!

AH those pins are awesome! Especially the Carl one!

Wow your dinner sounds seriously delicious! Especially your burger. I wish I was in Disney eating right now.

 

[rachel09985]

Wow!! I can't believe you own all of those park starz!! What exactly are they? Like made with the same material but in different shapes of things you see in the park? Are they all blind boxed too?

I got the shrimp and grits from GFC too! I loved it so much Everyones food looks yummy.

gorgeous dusk photos! I wish the resorts still had trade boxes. It makes me sad there is only 5 or 6(or however many there is) trade boxes in all of Disney World..

 

[bethk78]

Mmm, the fish & chips look so good.

I love all of the pictures you took at dusk - absolutely gorgeous.

Congrats on buying DVC. I would love to do that someday.

 

[gardengirl2790]

Matt's tattoo turned out really well!

We like exploring the different hotels at the Disney properties. It is a lot of fun to see all of the beautiful grounds, and of course, the variety of merchandise in the stores .

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Dani! I'm sorry I've been absent from your TR...life got the better of me. I have to laugh though, you went a week before me and I've been done for months with my TR and you are still going! Love it! I also ADORE Matt's tattoo! It's perfect. I'm happily reading along again, you guys are headed back in soon, right? Need to catch up more!

 

[keys1388]

Oh Dani. I have such a story about the Maharajah jungle trek from our February trip. I'll type it when we get out of Children's, which will hopefully be tomorrow!! I always love reading your updates. you got some beautiful pictures of Epcot and the Grand Floridian!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

TATTOO!!! That is a thing of beauty. Please tell Matt congratulations. It's fabulous!
Plus, knowing what you were doing while this was being completed makes me love it even more.

Ahhh I loved that Fish & Chips. Funny story from a few years back. I was there with a group and we went here for food. A buddy of mine (with a BIG appetite) was in front of all of us so he ordered first. I swear he was going to cry when he got his fish and I swear Fried Guppy would have been bigger. The rest of us all got large pieces. It was one of my funniest memories.

I think meeting people is one of my favourite things about the Disney experience. So nice of you to share your table.

Oh God a Big Al Vinylmation!! Must... Look... Away... Will... Become... Addicted!

Ha gotta get in the random photos. LOVE IT!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I'm SO EXCITED for Basin White in September! I'm such a bath kind of girl. I actually have it written in our plans for that Monday, which is when we're going to GF for 1900 Park Fare.

Also written into our plans is to recreate the scene from Full House when Steve and DJ run across the lobby and he trips and then they have a huge sloppy kiss. No big deal. We're also going to go to THE piano and Brandon will serenade me with the song Jesse sang to Becky to apologize. We are going to fit in so well at GF!

Julia almost chose GF Cafe as her "one restaurant choice" for that extra dining credit, but then decided against it since we were already going to the resort once. Had I known their food was this yummy, I may have pushed for it more!

I love your pictures as it turned dark. Especially the pictures of whiny Bruce and annoyed Matt. Those are classics, lol! Seriously, though, those shots of night time are gorgeous. I love the moon off the water.

 

[okw19]

I love logging on and seeing Dani updates!

Oh hey, Matt's awesome Oswald twins with Rachel shirt!

That sounds like a perfect morning in AK! That park really deserves more guests who can appreciate it like that.

I LOVE MATT'S TATTOO. It turned out so good!

Fish & Chips, yes please. Always been a tradition in my family.

Love the turtles, the monorail and the Grand Floridian.

That dinner looks amazing! I might be adding that to my list of restaurants to try!

I hate waiting for the boats when things like that happen. Womp, womp. At least there's a fun night at MK ahead!

 

[katt789]

Ahahahaaha, glad you enjoyed the story!! And yeah, I definitely get it. I’ll probably use my phone and camera combined to get pictures and video, and as she doesn’t have a phone I guess it makes sense!

AH! WHAT?! WOW!! I do get that feeling though! One of my best BOG ceiling pics was a cell phone one!

The tattoo looks amazing!! Glad that he changed the touch up til after! I didn’t realize til last week that I had booked a tattoo removal appt for the day before leaving…that won’t work now…baha!! Make sure it gets COATED in sunscreen while you’re down there!! Haha!

I refuse to get into Vinylmations because I know how addicted I would get and I just don’t need something else to spend money on while in Disney aha. I do love the Beauty and the Beast ones though, I’m dying for the bimbettes!!

YUM! Best fish and chips ever, I love it there! Yay for new friends! I do love it when that kind of chatting happens at Disney. New friends everwhere!

They braved a waterpark in Jan?? I would have been freezing! Then again they probably heat the water…and I guess it is Florida, I didn’t realize it was only one closed I totally thought it was both.

CUUUUUTE turtles!!

Dear baby jesus, I legit teared up at the pictures of the GFlo, it’s just so beautiful and wonderful! I will stay there someday. As much as I want to now, I’d also like to save it for my wedding hotel bahaha!

Love Basin!! I picked up some face wash/toner/lotion last trip and it has made my skin feel/look SO NICE that I’m so in love and cannot wait to get back and buy more! Awesome pin trades!!

Dinner looks amazing!! I did want to book Mom and her friend a nice lunch there on the last day to celebrate her friends bday but I saw that Le Cellier was open and opted for that with all 3 of us instead! Ha! Again, everything at the GFlo is so awesome and looks so good!

Despite taking that long to get to MK, you definitely got some awesome pictures! Love the ones of Bruce and Matt!

 

[DharmaLou]

Matt's tattoo is fabulous! Love it!

The fish n chips looks amazing, and you're right with the breading, it looked just about perfect to me. I like it light, not thick and crispy.

I'd actually never heard of Basin White, but I sense that my wallet will be in trouble. I have been buying myself "rewards" with every 10lbs I lose, and I foresee some soap in my future!

 

[khertz]

It's so nice when you can make new "friends" in Disney World just by sharing a table. The fish & chips look really good, too. I don't think I have ever gotten them from there, but I might have to!

I love the GF, not gonna lie. It's SOOOOO pretty! And yeah, it's fancy, but I mean it's still in the middle of WDW, so I just don't see feeling THAT out of place! That will be cool if you get to stay there once you are DVC! I bet those units will be beautiful.

The food at the GFC looks good to. You are making me so HUNGRY! That pasta dish looks right up my alley.