It's a SO-LO trip report! Oct 09, CR/YC, MNSSHP, F&W, and Independence! FINAL UPDATE!

[ClareH37]

Thanks! And You're going to love being solo. I see from your siggie that you stayed at BWI last time...I'll be interested to hear how you think the YC compares, post-refurb.

I'm getting very excited, can't wait for the 'freedom' to do my own thing I'll report back after my trip, I love the BWI refurbished rooms and from your photos, I think I'm going to love the YC rooms too.

 

[manntra]

Ick on the view....and what your Mom says really makes me think...I always wondered that too....I am usually pretty lucky on getting (at least close) to what I request. The room is gorgeous though...very pretty decor....I have stayed at BC and BWV over there but not the YC.

Tracy

 

[clearskies]

Hi Nory,

I found your trip report and I am very glad I did. This is very entertaining. You have a great style of writing. You have also posted some very nice photos. I especially like the sunrise from Contemporary, the Walt and Mickey sunset shot and the panoramic balcony view shot you posted.

I am looking forward to reading more...

 

[norybell]

I don't think it's the length of the TR that's the issue, but how much time I've let slip by between posts. More time = worse memory.

I believe it! I already feel it happening with this TR...the details are starting to slip away, slowly but surely. Don't worry, though -- I'll just make up what I can't remember!

Hi Nory!

I just stumbled upon your report this afternoon and I read all eight pages in one sitting. You are HILARIOUS, girl.

Thanks! I'm glad you found me.

I took my first solo trip in July and I'm still writing this monster trip report in Word. Trying to get closer to the end before I start posting because having a 2.5 yo son at home means far less time to write. So yes, I've been writing it for 5 months and I'm nowhere near finished.

Wow! Five months is a looooong time...I can see how that would be a great way to write one, though. If you get too busy to write you won't have to worry about it and can just post a chunk you've already written.

Okay, you know that picture you took of yourself in the mirror? I showed it to a few people at work who agreed that it looks just like me. It is very bizarre. You're like my (younger) twin.

Holy moly, you're right! (Of course I had to take a look at your last TR to see.) We really do look a lot alike! That is so weird! Maybe, if we run into each other at WDW sometime, the world will explode, or something!

I'm getting very excited, can't wait for the 'freedom' to do my own thing I'll report back after my trip, I love the BWI refurbished rooms and from your photos, I think I'm going to love the YC rooms too.

I'm already fantasizing about another solo trip...

Ick on the view....and what your Mom says really makes me think...I always wondered that too....I am usually pretty lucky on getting (at least close) to what I request. The room is gorgeous though...very pretty decor....I have stayed at BC and BWV over there but not the YC.

Tracy

Yeah, I don't know if I believe her, or if she's just being negative. But part of me thinks it would make sense for them to fill up the less-desirable rooms first. And I was there in such off-season, and I know there were plenty of vacancies, so it wasn't a case of the place being full. We need someone in hotel management to explain the process to us, I guess.

Hi Nory,

I found your trip report and I am very glad I did. This is very entertaining. You have a great style of writing. You have also posted some very nice photos. I especially like the sunrise from Contemporary, the Walt and Mickey sunset shot and the panoramic balcony view shot you posted.

I am looking forward to reading more...

Thank you! And I have to admit, it makes me really happy that people are actually reading this!

 

[hucifer]

Holy moly, you're right! (Of course I had to take a look at your last TR to see.) We really do look a lot alike! That is so weird! Maybe, if we run into each other at WDW sometime, the world will explode, or something!

Probably. Freaky, isn't it?

Oh, and one more thing...since I started reading this report a little late, I am not going to highlight some of my favorite quotes from the previous pages, but I would like to say that I LOVE your spin on classic songs! Especially the IASW song at the beginning...very funny stuff, Nory. You're a great writer.

Oh! And I agree with your PP...you take GREAT photos.

 

[Tribilín]

I neglected to write down how much the cab cost between the CR and the YC, but I remember being surprised at how expensive it was.

Always wanted to know what a New Yorker thinks about the cab fares at Orlando

Great update!

 

[norybell]

Always wanted to know what a New Yorker thinks about the cab fares at Orlando

Great update!

We're seriously spoiled by cabs here! Everytime I go anywhere else and need a cab, I'm shocked by the cost. Supply and demand, I guess.

Probably. Freaky, isn't it?

Oh, and one more thing...since I started reading this report a little late, I am not going to highlight some of my favorite quotes from the previous pages, but I would like to say that I LOVE your spin on classic songs! Especially the IASW song at the beginning...very funny stuff, Nory. You're a great writer.

Oh! And I agree with your PP...you take GREAT photos.

Thank you! I'm really enjoying writing this; I like writing but I don't usually have anything interesting to write about, you know? And you're in luck, because here comes another song...

 

[norybell]

Hooray, inspiration has struck, and I think it’s time for another song! In honor of DHS…

Sung to the tune of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid:

I wanna be where the thrill rides are
I wanna feel, feel my stomach dropping
I wanna be at the edge of my—front row, please!—seat

To spin and to speed in a fast, fast car
To drop from a height of, oh, thirteen stories
To feel a bit faint, is—in this context—such a fun treat

Oh it’s divine! So very fine!
Even if there’s a bit of a line…
With my fast pass, the wait, it won’t last
For this thrill ride

***

So, when I last left off I had just checked into the YC. I spent a few minutes settling into my beautiful room with its questionable view, then I headed out for DHS, one of my four favorite parks in the world (the other three being MK, Epcot, and AK, naturally, in no particular order. I truly can’t decide which is my absolute favorite anymore; I love them all too much!).

It’s amazing how nice it is to walk around a resort you’ve stayed at and loved many times before…even walking down the hall to the elevator feels like home. But a special and magical home, where you don’t have to do the dishes or check your email!

I told myself I wasn’t allowed to dwell on my lost water bottle any longer (beautiful stainless steel water bottle, how I miss you!), so I stopped at the YC store on my way out to buy a bottle (I’m one of those people who needs water with me pretty much all the time). While I was there, a CM said, “Pssssst, over here!” I was very confused for a second, and I did that whole looking around, oh, are you talking to me? thing, before I realized he was talking to me, so I walked over. And then I understood what he wanted me to see: my very first pin board! He’d noticed all the pins on my purse, and figured I’d be interested, which was very nice of him. We chatted for a bit about pins while I looked over the board. To be honest, there wasn’t anything there I was particularly interested in, but I felt kind of obligated to be excited about trading for something, since the CM seemed really invested in me having a fun first pin trade. So I traded a little Stitch pin for a little Dumbo pin. I like Dumbo much more than Stitch, so it worked for me.

Here’s a blurry crop of that pin, which you’ve already seen in my previously posted pin update. But I’m sure, for the sake of TR continuity, you want to see it again, right?

With my first pin trade successfully completed, I finally headed out for DHS. It was around 10:30. I wasn’t sure I remembered exactly where the walking path from the Epcot resorts to DHS was, but I decided I’d trust my gut instincts, and they turned out to be right. Soon I was walking down that pleasant path along the river (or canal, or whatever it is). I love that you can walk from YC to both Epcot and DHS (we took the boat once, and it took at least twice as long as walking), and I particularly love the path to DHS. It’s one of those rare Disney-spaces where you can be totally alone.

For some reason, I didn’t take any photos of the path itself. But I did see this guy:

Before long, I was walking through the gates to Hollywood. I was so not used to arriving at a park in the late morning, when everyone else seems to be arriving, too; usually I’m a rope drop girl, maybe an afternoon- or evening-arrival girl if I’ve flown in that day. So it felt kinda weird to me! I headed straight to my favorite ride in the whole world, to get a FP:

This is how I looked while riding it. Maybe.

Then I jumped in line. Or, I should say, I jumped in the area where a line would be, if a line had actually been there. The posted wait was 15 minutes, but in reality, it was a walk-on. A brisk walk-on without a single pause, seriously. After the pre-show, when I got to the elevator loading spot, I asked the CM if I could sit in the front, partly because I love having no pesky heads between me and the amazing visual effects, and partly because another solo rider was already slotted for the front, so I figured it’d be no problem for us to sit together. The CM looked disgruntled, said OK, then made the other solo rider switch to the second row, so I could sit in the first! Of course I told the other solo that I didn’t really care, and that I’d switch back with her, but she said she was happier not being in the front, anyway. I thought the whole thing was odd…I guess the CM wanted to be able to seat a couple in the other two spots in the front row, but it was so non-busy, it seems like it shouldn’t have mattered.

Anyway, I was in the front, so I was happy! And it had an amazing drop sequence. After I left, I saw that the wait was still posted as 15 minutes, so I decided to ride again. This time I had one of the longest waits of my entire trip: ten minutes (isn’t it amazing, how the actual wait time can change so quickly?), which gave me time to take this pic:

I love the Tower of Terror. Everything about it. The theming, the story, the brief explanatory TV episode, that amazing moment where those two lines of light converge and you enter…The Twilight Zone, the awesome view from the top, and, of course, the drops themselves. I’ve always thought I could ride it over and over again, but before this trip, I’d never had the opportunity. Would anyone like to place any bets on how many visits to the Hollywood Tower Hotel I’d make in this vacation?

By now, my FP window was up, so I headed here for another one:

The posted wait time was 30 minutes, but I doubt that was true. The FP windows were still only 45 minutes away.

FP in hand, it was time for lunch. I headed to my first-ever solo ADR, at the Brown Derby. It was for 11:45, and I probably showed up around 11:30. I checked in at the podium and only had to look at these guys:

for about a minute before they led me to my table. Here’s the view I had of the room:

You can’t beat the atmosphere! And it was so empty, I actually felt a bit glamorous. My server, Pete, was very nice—attentive without being too attentive—and my newfound chattiness reemerged. I told him that I’d eaten there the year MGM opened, and that the Cobb salad was the first salad I’d ever liked (and I wasn’t kidding…if it weren’t for the Brown Derby, I’d probably be a much less healthy person now! Not that the Cobb is remotely healthy. But it did introduce me to the idea of lettuce.).

Of course, I had to order this:
Brown Derby Cobb Salad - with finely chopped greens, turkey breast, egg, bacon, tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado, chives and Cobb dressing

It was sooooooooo yummy. My mom and I split one of these for dinner in May, and we thought it was too mushy, but this time it was perfect. I mean, it was still mushy—it’s a mushy salad—but this time it was the perfect level of mushiness. And I think it tasted even better to me because I kind of felt like I hadn’t had a real meal in a few days…all of my Disney food thus far had been grabbed at quick places on the go, and it was so nice to be eating something that involved all the food groups.

I don’t usually eat dessert at lunch, even on vacation (being too full makes me too sleepy, especially when I’m sleepy already). But when at the Brown Derby, who can say no to this?
Grapefruit Cake - A Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit Cream Cheese Icing

Oh, so delicious. Just looking at that photo makes me drool. Seriously, I’m drooling now. Good thing you can’t see me, because it’s not particularly attractive. But this is some darn good cake. And it manages to taste light (an effect I’m sure achieved with lots of sugar and butter), so it’s really ideal for lunch. My boyfriend loves grapefruit, so this cake is in my arsenal of things-that-will-eventually-make-him-love-Disney. In the meantime, I want to learn to make it. Then I can eat it every day!

I had such a lovely meal, I can’t say enough good things about the Brown Derby. I’ve heard people discuss how it’s not worth it if you’re on the Dining Plan, and I can see that. But for me, it’s the perfect oasis from the park for a little while. Plus, the vibe makes it a wonderful spot for solo dining—if I’d been at all self-conscious about dining alone (which I really wasn’t), I could’ve felt mysterious, instead of solitary. I sat there with my iced tea and my delicious food, updating my TR notes and reading my book in this gorgeous room, feeling more than a little bit like a 1940s starlet, or something, and I’m hard pressed to think of a better way to spend an hour!

After lunch, I felt completely recharged for possibly the first time in my whole trip so far. Though I knew, thanks to the DIS, that there was no chance of riding Toy Story in the afternoon without a FP, I walked by to check out the situation; I forgot to write down the wait time (it was long, I remember that much), but FPs were still available for 5:30, which didn’t seem too bad. It wouldn’t work for me, though, because of my dinner plans. Instead, I went back to ToT for another FP (for anyone keeping track, I still hadn’t used my first one).

I was still on my mission to do things at the parks I’d never done before, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid was on my list. Why VOTLM instead of Beauty and the Beast, you ask? Well, I’m not typically a Disney-show person, and VOTLM is shorter. Also Beauty and the Beast looks more Broadway-ish to me, and since I live in NYC with the real Broadway, that makes it less appealing. Not that I ever actually see shows on Broadway, because they’re super-expensive and involve fighting through crowds in Times Square that rival MK in July, and, more than anything, because we’re pretty lazy. Hey, you asked. But I’ll probably see B&TB next time.

I asked the CM at the line when the next show would start, and she said 1:00; it was around 12:45, so I went in to wait. The waiting area is pretty cute. I took some pics, but none of them turned out, unfortunately. I spent the rest of the time playing more iPhone Scrabble.

Soon enough, Ariel was singing about her world and our world and making some rash decisions (I’ve always wondered why she didn’t just write Eric a note. I guess mermaids aren’t literate?).

I thought the show was cute. Probably nothing I’ll rush back to, though, at least not until I’m with a child who expresses interest. Ariel’s first big song was amazing, and I was surprised when no one clapped. Even though one of the reasons I’d chosen this show was its short length, I found myself wishing it were five minutes longer…they gloss over so much of the story. And, I’m sorry, but they really need a new Eric wig. Eric looks like such a tool, it’s ridiculous. It’s kind of sad when an animated character looks a hundred times hotter than the real person playing him, you know?

Next up: Star Tours. I’d ridden ST before, but not for ages, so I figured it was time to give it another go, before they re-do it.

The theming in this area is pretty awesome. And I’m not a huge SW fan, or anything. I would classify myself as a normal SW fan, the way anyone is automatically if they were born in the ‘70s. Another thing for my boyfriend-Disney arsenal; what thirtysomething guy isn’t going to be totally geeked out by this stuff?

Sadly, there were a bunch of obnoxious high school kids in my ship, who talked and yelled loudly the whole time. But even if they hadn’t been there, I still wouldn’t’ve been too excited about this ride. It was exactly how I remembered: underwhelming. I’m very glad it’s getting a makeover. Plus, I’d put my water bottle (a plastic one I’d bought at some point at the park, not my beautiful lost stainless one, obviously) in the storage space under my seat, and I guess it rolled away during the ride, because it wasn’t there anymore when it was over. That makes two lost water bottles in one day.

I saw these guys on my way out:

Hey, you! Vader! I know you stole my water bottle, and I want it back! I’ll use the Force if I have to, don’t think I won’t…

Coming Soon - Rockin’ Roller Coaster = Walk-on Roller Coaster: The Remaining 10% of my DHS Day

 

[hucifer]

I'm with you...the theming for ToT is amazing. The canned music gives it such a creepy feeling that adds to the aura. And the drops give such an adrenaline rush!

Okay, because you're my (younger) twin, I'll spare you the hunt:


Grapefruit Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs (separated)
3 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into mixing bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients.

2. Add water, oil, egg yolks, grapefruit juice, and lemon rind. Beat until smooth.

3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar separately, until whites are stiff but not dry.

4. Gradually fold egg whites into the cake batter, folding gently with a rubber spatula until just blended. Do not stir the mixture.

5. Pour into an ungreased 10-inch cake pan. Bake at 350º degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched with a finger. Invert pan on cake rack until cool. Run spatula around edge of cake. Carefully remove from pan. With a serrated knife, gently cut layer in half.


Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 six-ounce packages of cream cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
6 to 8 drops yellow food coloring
1 one-pound can grapefruit sections (well-drained), reserving 2 tablespoons of juice OR 3 fresh grapefruits, peeled, sectioned, and drained, reserving 2 tablespoons of juice.

Method:

1. Let cream cheese soften at room temperature. Beat cheese until fluffy.

2. Add lemon juice and rind.

3. Gradually blend in sugar. Beat until well blended. Add food coloring.

4. Add reserved grapefruit and blend into frosting.

5. Divide the frosting evenly into two bowls. Roughly chop 2/3 of the grapefruit sections and add them to half the frosting. Spread this mixture on the bottom half of cake. Top with several grapefruit sections. Cover with second layer of cake. Frost top and sides. Garnish with remaining grapefruit sections.

http://allears.net/din/recipes/rec_grck.htm

---------------------

Personally, I would replace the vegetable oil with coconut oil. Yummy! Let us know how it turns out!

Oh, and LOVED your song!!!! It made me LOL.

 

[onelilspark]

Haha, I like how you have an arsenol of things you know your boyfriend will like. I had/have one too...mine included the Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot. Because my boyfriend is an engineer and that nerdy kind of stuff does it for him. (It worked! He's more interested in the tours than the actual parks, but I'm A-OK with that!)

 

[Tribilín]

Amazing DHS day so far... mmmhhh that cake looks scrumptious (and reading hucifer recipe made me drooooool )

I love the Tower of Terror. Everything about it. The theming, the story, the brief explanatory TV episode, that amazing moment where those two lines of light converge and you enter…The Twilight Zone, the awesome view from the top, and, of course, the drops themselves. I’ve always thought I could ride it over and over again, but before this trip, I’d never had the opportunity. Would anyone like to place any bets on how many visits to the Hollywood Tower Hotel I’d make in this vacation?

Last year when entering the Hollywood Tower Hotel I told my sister "oh I feel like I'm home". She asked me why and I said "because the cobwebs and dust"

 

[A-Jay]

Stealing that cake recipe . Not big fan of cake in general, but that grapefruit cake is Deeeeelicious!!!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Still here? Interested? Well come on then, let’s go!

I used to be a book editor (hopefully ensuring the grammatical accuracy of this TR!), and now I work at a bookstore.

Awesome! (pssst....If you notice any typos on my TR, please let me know! Thanks!)

I felt dazed, like I was severely jet-lagged, even though I hadn't changed time zones.

Yep...been there, done that. If I could only change 1 thing about our trip, it would be to take a later flight out.

The hotel I’ve wanted to stay at for literally 30 years, and my home for the next two nights!

You should check out Zzub's last TR! It would be right up your alley.

Of course, before I even looked at the desk or thought about the light fixtures, I stepped out on the balcony to check out my view:

Yay! A panoramic! WHOOT! Good job!

Or, if you prefer a different sort of metaphor, they were pulling me in like a tractor beam to the mother ship.

Me likey.

Sorry, terrible photo! I forgot to turn on my flash.

Actually it’s not bad at all! I liked it. (Flash is only good for 6-12 feet anyway so it would still have exposed off of ambient light.)

And the possibly-excessive amount of hot sauce I slathered all over it more than made up for the blah-ness of the pierogi.

Such a thing does not exist.

I had low expectations.
Which were met.

Sad isn’t it? I miss Dreamfinder.

Can’t wait to read the rest!

 

[glennbo123]

Another great update Nory! I've never eaten at the Brown Derby, but it looks really nice. That's cool that it makes you feel like you're back in the '40's Hollywood.

Hey, you! Vader! I know you stole my water bottle, and I want it back! I’ll use the Force if I have to, don’t think I won’t…

Jedi mind trick: "These aren't the water bottles you're looking for."

 

[GreatBiscuit]

It’s amazing how much easier it is to wake up at Disney than it is anywhere else, isn’t it?

That it is!

But I wanted to go back to Epcot, so back to Epcot it was!

Woohoo! Gotta love that!

This lovely composition is what happens when you take photos while walking!

LOL! I had several of those! (Getting an entire group to stop while I took photos was not an option.)

It looks disgusting, doesn’t it? It really, really was.

Yep….looks a might nasty.

The salsa, which was cold, made the bun all soggy. The chicken was overcooked and stringy and stuck in my teeth. All I could really taste was the whole-wheat bun. Blech. I took about two bites, ate the fries, and that was it. This was definitely my worst meal of the trip. Perhaps my worst meal of any trip, for that matter. And I don’t just mean any trip to WDW. I mean any trip to anywhere.

Noteto self – Never order this. Done.

Since I now had an old favorite under my belt, it was time for a new favorite: Mickey’s Philharmagic. I’d only seen this twice before -- once with my sisters, when we were totally surprised by how amazing it was, and once with my mom, when I was more worried she wouldn’t find it as extraordinary as I do. So I couldn’t wait to see it again, and it didn’t disappoint. I had a great seat, near the back in the middle. I love, love, love the flying carpet scene. And I also love the wonderful, collective fun of it, the way everyone in the theater is laughing together.

We LOVED this attraction!

Wondering about the daylight in this picture? Yeah, I’ll admit it, it’s from the next day.

I was a bit curious. I was thinking “What kind of mutated solar flash is she using?”

I went out to my balcony and saw this:

Awesome!

Since I’m a good girl and wasn’t about to flagrantly break the rules and run, I was about three people back at the Adventureland rope.

Good job maintaining your Disney etiquette.

I was very surprised when a group in front of me ran from Main Street to the Adventureland rope, only to peel off and hit the Swiss Family Treehouse first thing…strange, right?

That is a bit of head scratcher.

In my day at the Magic Kingdom, it was actually still a little too early for lunch. (As we would have said back in the ‘80s: Psych!)

Whoa! I just had a flashback.

That’s right, in countless trips to the MK, I’d never crossed those treacherous seventy feet of water to get to the elusive Tom Sawyer Island. So I boarded the raft (the Becky Thatcher) and set off for a brand-new adventure.

This is one of those things I’ve never done at the MK.

 

[ClareH37]

What a fantastic day - I'm just starting to put together my plans for what park on what day, I'm seriously torn between Brown Derby and Sci-Fi for lunch at HS, but I think I'm now leaning towards Brown Derby - that Cobb salad looks delicious!

 

[manntra]

I too could ride TOT over and over again (and have .) My favorite drop sequence is when you actually go up first instead of drop. Very unexpected! Cute Photopass picture in front of the best ride ever

Your BD lunch looks scrumptious. I ate there a few years ago and it was very good. The last two trips have been Sci-Fi for the BLT soup

Tracy

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Loved the trip through Port Orleans

Marinated Beef Flatbread - with oven roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, arugula, and goat cheese

It was very good, and it pretty much redeemed the place. Though I’ll admit that this would have been a dish better shared with another person, not because it was big (which it wasn’t), but because the combination of grilled sweet onions, roasted tomatoes, and goat cheese got a little sweet after a while. Don’t get me wrong – I love all those ingredients! They just became overpowering after eating half the flatbread; I would’ve liked a different dish to eat along with it. Or maybe it just needed more of the beef or peppery arugula to cut the sweetness. Of course, this didn’t stop me from finishing every bite.

Glad to hear the place redeemed itself.

I’m happy to report I do not usually look like this. I think my weird crooked smile (and face) is saying, “Dude, you should be helping your wife, not taking my picture!”

My wife would have killed me dead.

Suddenly, I was in Tomorrowland. I hate to say it, but with Space Mountain closed, Tomorrowland doesn’t hold a whole lot of appeal for me.

It was definitely missing something. Especially in June when TTA was closed as well.

It made me wonder about how a new president feels when an aide tells him, one day early in his administration: “Mr. President, Disney World has called. You have to record a speech for the Hall of Presidents.” Seems like it would be one of the more fun parts of the job!

Just once I’d like to see somebody run on that platform. “Yeah, I just want to be in the Hall Of Presidents”

Splash was so empty, that when we finished the ride, they offered to let us stay in the log and ride again. How could I say no to that?

You can’t!

I was so happy and amazed and excited by the nonexistent lines. I’ve never been able to walk straight onto a ride at Disney before, unless it was right at opening in the morning. It’s really a thrill in of itself.

That was our favorite part of evening EMH.

I took my snack over to the railing in front of the Crystal Palace, where I experienced my first of two minor disappointments: the cinnamon roll. I’d heard so much about these, and it looked so delicious, but you know what? It wasn’t. It actually tasted stale, and wasn’t even as good as a Cinnabon. I ate half and threw the rest away.

Sorry to hear that! I’ve never tried them either, but I have heard the legend.

Then I spent the next fifteen minutes or so practicing balancing my camera on the railing, in the hopes of getting my first-ever fireworks pics. I took a few photos of the castle while I was waiting (sadly, I didn’t discover the “twilight” setting on my camera until the next night – that’s why there aren’t too many pics in this portion – but I think these still turned out OK):

They did turn out quite nice.

Soon enough the lights dimmed, and they made the pre-show announcements. I was so excited for this! Unfortunately, I almost immediately experienced my second minor disappointment of the evening. Can you guess, from these photos, what it was?

It was my location! It turned out that all the big fireworks were happening to the left, behind those trees. I couldn’t believe that Tour Guide Mike had steered me wrong!

Doh! Gotta hate that!

It will be a day or two before I have a chance to get fully caught up.

Loving it so far!

 

[norybell]

Okay, because you're my (younger) twin, I'll spare you the hunt:

Personally, I would replace the vegetable oil with coconut oil. Yummy! Let us know how it turns out!

Yay, thank you soooo much for the recipe! I can't wait to try it!

Haha, I like how you have an arsenol of things you know your boyfriend will like. I had/have one too...mine included the Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot. Because my boyfriend is an engineer and that nerdy kind of stuff does it for him. (It worked! He's more interested in the tours than the actual parks, but I'm A-OK with that!)

Oooh, Imagineering guides, that's a good idea. If I give him a stack of all the Imagineering guides tied together with a ribbon for Christmas, would that be a little too much like a gift for myself?

Last year when entering the Hollywood Tower Hotel I told my sister "oh I feel like I'm home". She asked me why and I said "because the cobwebs and dust"

Sadly, right now I know how you feel...I'm way behind on household chores lately. Sigh. Who wants to do the laundry when you could be writing a trip report?

Stealing that cake recipe . Not big fan of cake in general, but that grapefruit cake is Deeeeelicious!!!

Time for a bake-off!

Awesome! (pssst....If you notice any typos on my TR, please let me know! Thanks!)

Biscuit, I feel like a celebrity has stopped by! And you shouldn't worry about typos: your TR is excellently written and grammatically sound. That's why I like it so much!

Yep...been there, done that. If I could only change 1 thing about our trip, it would be to take a later flight out.

Me, too. Oh well, lesson learned.

I was a bit curious. I was thinking “What kind of mutated solar flash is she using?”

Just once I’d like to see somebody run on that platform. “Yeah, I just want to be in the Hall Of Presidents”

It would be refreshing, wouldn't it?

Another great update Nory! I've never eaten at the Brown Derby, but it looks really nice. That's cool that it makes you feel like you're back in the '40's Hollywood.

You should totally give it a try sometime! I bet your girls would love it.

What a fantastic day - I'm just starting to put together my plans for what park on what day, I'm seriously torn between Brown Derby and Sci-Fi for lunch at HS, but I think I'm now leaning towards Brown Derby - that Cobb salad looks delicious!

I highly recommend it! I haven't been to Sci Fi in years and years, but I'd imagine BD is more restful, which felt awfully nice to me!

I too could ride TOT over and over again (and have .) My favorite drop sequence is when you actually go up first instead of drop. Very unexpected!

Whoah, I don't think I've ever had that one! I guess it's a good reason for me to go back and ride it another gazillion times, right?

 

[Kell-Bell]

Hi NoryBell!!

I saw your posts on clearskies TR and had to come on over and check yours out. Love it!!! SO funny, and is making me so excited about going again, I'm going with a friend but we've already decided to have "on our own time"! I love idea of the freedom, to go where I want when I want!

Love the little mermaid song, I really did giggle at that!

I had wondered what the rooms at CR & YC looked liked so thanks for the pics, rooms look amazing! I haven't done any Deluxes yet, done a couple of values (really good value, POP is so much fun!) stayed at POR a few years ago and agree with what you said such beautiful peaceful resort. AM staying at POFQ in Jan and can then say I've done all the Mod's! (got to say not a fan of Coronado springs. Just didn't have the same magic as POR)

And agree with PP you take very lovely photo's.

Next chapter/instalment please!

Thank you

Kelly