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

[breagirl]

I agree with you. TOT is my favorite. I just love it, although I'm not sure my stomach would love it riding it that many times. I also really like both pins you got from YC. Can't wait for more updates!

 

[Tribilín]

I can see Huey --> Hugo and Louie --> Luis, but Dewey --> Paco? How about Diego or something? In high school spanish class I was renamed....Jose. I guess the teacher couldn't come up with anything for Glennbo.

José? Funny, a name that doesn't have a translation should remain the same like Gwendolin or Jessica, but obviously it will sound different in spanish.

From Dewey to Paco is a really big jump, since Paco is short for Francisco (weird, I know). To me it should be renamed as David

Donald is very weird too, since the name Donaldo exists in spanish, but I guess they wanted to play with alliteration (Pato Pascual)... except that the big mouse's name doesn't work that way since Mickey is Miguelito and Mouse is Ratón so... ouch it gets so confusing!

But the weirdest of them all is *drum roll please*
Tribilín... gues whos is he?

Hehehe! Look at my avatar.

Does El Pato Pascual really translate as the paschal duck? As in, passover?

More as in Easter (Pascua). Pascual is a very nice name.

Minnie is Mimí, Horace is Horacio, Clarabelle is Clarabella, Chip is Chip and Dale is Dale... thank God!

 

[glennbo123]

Thanks for the explanation Tribilín, that's very interesting.

José? Funny, a name that doesn't have a translation should remain the same like Gwendolin or Jessica, but obviously it will sound different in spanish.

That's true. But I always thought that if she was just going to pick one out of the blue she could have gotten a little more creative than José.

Donald is very weird too, since the name Donaldo exists in spanish, but I guess they wanted to play with alliteration (Pato Pascual)... except that the big mouse's name doesn't work that way since Mickey is Miguelito and Mouse is Ratón so... ouch it gets so confusing!

I'm just impressed that you used the word "alliteration". I would never know a word like that in a foreign language. Okay, who am I kidding....in english I probably would have written your sentence, "they wanted to keep all of the first letters the same".

But the weirdest of them all is *drum roll please*
Tribilín... gues whos is he?

Hehehe! Look at my avatar.

Ahaaa.

 

[Tribilín]

I'm just impressed that you used the word "alliteration". I would never know a word like that in a foreign language. Okay, who am I kidding....in english I probably would have written your sentence, "they wanted to keep all of the first letters the same".

LOL! Thanks Pepe *ahem* I mean glennbo123.

Ahaaa.

Uh-oh! There goes my secret identity!

 

[dawnbu40]

I just spent the morning reading your TR and I love it! I too have been in love with WDW since I was a child and can't help riding IASW a few times each trip even if it drives everyone else crazy

I'm so envious you stayed at my two dream resorts! As a child I always wanted to stay at CR but we always stayed at the Poly (poor baby right ) and my current dream is the YC.

All your pics are just beautiful! I'm looking forward to more!

 

[praisehisname]

That's awesome that you got 4 rides right in a row before you left the park! I love the limited edition YC pin. Looking forward to hearing about Jiko!

 

[norybell]

Just popping in to say hi to everyone! I'm too wiped out to really respond to all your posts -- today was my fourteenth day working in a row -- and I probably won't get to update again until after Thanksgiving. But after the weekend my life will be back to normal, and I promise to get back to my regularly-scheduled TR! (I might be starting a PTR soon, too.)

In case I don't get back until after Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

We'll be here

 

[kitten25]

Hey Just wanted to say thanks for the fabulous trip report!! I cant wait to read the rest. I am planning my first solo disney trip for december. At first I was a lil bummed because I couldn't convince my DH to come with me but now I am getting really excited. It will be nice to do whatever I want without having to think of what others want to do. I cant wait to hear about the rest of your adventures

 

[norybell]

Hey Just wanted to say thanks for the fabulous trip report!! I cant wait to read the rest. I am planning my first solo disney trip for december. At first I was a lil bummed because I couldn't convince my DH to come with me but now I am getting really excited. It will be nice to do whatever I want without having to think of what others want to do. I cant wait to hear about the rest of your adventures

Well, I'm finally back after my little work-mandated hiatus. Which felt a lot longer than it was! There were actually a few days in there when I didn't think about WDW for even a second. But last night my mind started wandering back to my fantasy April trip, and here I am...

I'll get the next update posted soon, maybe tomorrow, but probably on the weekend. It feels good to be back!

 

[onelilspark]

Well, I'm finally back after my little work-mandated hiatus. Which felt a lot longer than it was! There were actually a few days in there when I didn't think about WDW for even a second. But last night my mind started wandering back to my fantasy April trip, and here I am...

I'll get the next update posted soon, maybe tomorrow, but probably on the weekend. It feels good to be back!

Not even a second?! The horror.

I had a very long drive today for work...so I started planning our October 2010 trip

 

[GreatBiscuit]

I entered the FP line, but the park was so empty at this point, they didn’t even take it! Another October first for me! And though the wait time was posted at 20 minutes, I know for certain it was a walk-on, because some people who entered the stand-by line the same time I entered the FP line ended up in the same pre-show room as me. I couldn’t believe it! 1:45 in the afternoon, and Rockin’ Roller Coaster was a WALK-ON! I’ve never seen that before! It was pretty exciting! As I’m sure you can tell from my over-abundance of exclamation points!

!!!!!

AWESOME. I can tell you it was nowhere NEAR walk on status in June.

I rode with a single rider who was, shall we say, very enthusiastic. We argued a bit about which is better, RnR or ToT (I love RnR, but for me, it’s ToT all the way). Then she sang along at the top of her lungs the entire ride, which was pretty hilarious. To be completely honest, she was so over-the-top about the ride, there was something about her that didn’t seem quite…normal. I mean that in a totally non-mean way, I swear. It's possible she was just drunk. Whatever was up with her, it did make her a pretty fun ride partner.

Oh, that’s funny.

On my way out, I ran into a Photopass photographer, and got the lovely shots you’ve already seen. He seemed to get a real kick out of it when I hammed it up for the “act scared” shot; I don’t think he expected me to really do it. He said, “Good for you, you know you’ll never see these people again!” Yessirree, that's my motto!

This is when I learned about Donald’s sister Dumbella (don’t worry, though, I fact-checked it on the Internet before posting it here; only the best for my dear TR readers!), and about how to tell Huey, Dewey, and Louie apart (the brightest hue is red = Huey; dew is water, which is blue = Dewey; that leaves Louie, and leaves = green. This confuses me, though, because dew is on grass, which is green…but maybe I’m overthinking it?).

I think this CM could’ve gone on and on and on and on and on and on about Disney ephemera, and we passed the point when I clearly wanted to get away, but he was still talking. Finally I said goodbye as gracefully-yet-insistently as I could, and made a run for it. Then I headed back up to my room to get ready for the ADR I was most excited about: Jiko.

You learn something new every day….whether you want to or not apparently.

Loved the photos! Especially the ones from boardwalk. Great job!

 

[PamelaKay]

Well, I'm finally back after my little work-mandated hiatus. Which felt a lot longer than it was! There were actually a few days in there when I didn't think about WDW for even a second. But last night my mind started wandering back to my fantasy April trip, and here I am...

I'll get the next update posted soon, maybe tomorrow, but probably on the weekend. It feels good to be back!

I am looking forward to the next installment. Glad you will be updating it soon

 

[norybell]

Not even a second?! The horror.

I know, it's shocking, right?

Loved the photos! Especially the ones from boardwalk. Great job!

Thanks, Biscuit!

I am looking forward to the next installment. Glad you will be updating it soon

Update on its way...

 

[norybell]

So…where was I? Ah yes, back in my room, getting ready for my big night out. Not much exciting to say about that. I debated stopping in the lounge for a glass of wine before I left, but decided I’d wait for dinner (though I always appreciate a free glass of wine, I find the wine at the YC CL to be pretty lousy; I’m far from a wine snob, so I’ll drink it anyway, but I figured I might as well wait for the good stuff at Jiko).

I walked through Epcot to get to the buses; it was around 5:15, and World Showcase was pretty crowded. As I approached the bus stop, I saw an AKL bus sitting there. I thought about running, decided against running, watched the bus drive away, and then really regretted not running. But I was lucky, and another bus pulled up only five minutes later. We waited for an ECV and two wheelchairs to load (will an ECV and two wheelchairs even fit? Maybe one wheeled away when I wasn’t paying attention?), which took a little over five minutes. I clocked it out of idle curiosity; of course it felt like far longer than five minutes. But it was only five, which I actually thought was pretty impressive.

On the way to AKL, we were driving next to a red DVC van that said: “Follow me to an Information Center!” I wonder if any random car has ever, on a whim, decided to follow a DVC van, and ended up at a gas station? I mean, they can’t always be en route to an information center, can they?

The bus stopped at Kidani first, and almost everyone on the bus disembarked. From that unavoidable eavesdropping that happens when you’re sitting alone on a bus, I knew that most of these people were heading to Boma and were getting off at the wrong stop (the announcement was very unclear, even to someone used to the unintelligible speaker system of the NYC subways). I wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to be an annoying know-it-all. So I kept quiet, and felt a little bad about that afterward. I really, really hope that all those people enjoyed their walks over to the main lodge.

I had been looking forward to walking around AKL and looking at the animals, especially the giraffes. I love giraffes. This is a relatively newfound love for me, mostly based on the fact that this is my dog’s favorite toy:

That dirty-looking piece of rope used to have eyes. And be yellow. In a nutshell, it used to be a giraffe. He loves it so much, it’s actually Giraffe #2; Giraffe the Original fell apart last year and had to be replaced with an identical twin. (Also, I’m a bit embarrassed about the surrounding mess in this photo—I’d like to state for the record that all those dirty socks belong to BF, not to me!—but I include it anyway for the book in the background. Recognize it? Yep, it’s the Unofficial Guide!)

Sadly, I was to be deprived of giraffes on this particular evening, because it started pouring as soon as I walked into the lodge (which makes me realize that those poor people who got off at the wrong stop probably didn’t enjoy their walks over—sorry, people, really I am!). I took some photos, none of which turned out particularly well.

Gloomy, isn’t it?

I was experimenting with the aperture settings on my camera, which I still don’t really understand. I mean, I understand the definition of “aperture”, but I don’t necessarily understand how changing it changes the photos. I’ve read and read about it, but the info just won’t stick in my brain. I plan to figure it out one of these days.

I loved the colors in this thing.

Soon enough, it was time for me to check in at Jiko. I requested a seat at the Cooking Place (the chef’s bar), and I ended up being the first person seated there. I met Andy, the appetizer chef, who promised he’d slip me some appetizer samples (ah, the perks of eating at the bar!).

For some reason, I neglected to take any photos of the actual space. So I stole this one from Disney:

As I was looking over the wine menu (I was pretty desperate for a glass at this point!), a couple sat next to me: Tracy and Jim from Massachusetts. Tracy and Jim were really great, and we ended up chatting through the entire meal. They go to Disney a few times a year; she’s a photographer, and you should click here if you want to see some of her gorgeous WDW pics. (And yes, I did drop Tracy a line to make sure it was OK for me to post that!) While I was definitely enjoying the solo-ness of my trip, it was so, so nice to have good conversation over a good meal.

Speaking of the meal:
Tibs Watt in Panekoeke - stewed beef rolled in "crepes" with peppadew-olive tapenade; and Crispy Savanna Rolls - with sweet corn, bitter greens, goat cheese and curry vinaigrette; courtesy of Andy the appetizer chef

These were delicious, especially the Tibs. Though BF and I are very confused about why they call this dish Tibs Watt; tibs and watt are both Ethiopian dishes, and BF's parents are Ethiopian, so we know that watt is a spicy stew that can be made with chicken (doro watt) or beef (siga watt) or lamb (yebeg watt) or whatever. Tibs, on the other hand, are bigger chunks of meat. So this was essentially siga watt, and why don’t they just call it that? (Sorry for the random Ethiopian food lesson!)

Braised Beet Salad - with smoked bacon, goat cheese, shallot marmalade and sherry vinaigrette

The beets were hiding beneath that monster piece of bacon. This was good, if you like beets. I love beets, and I never get to have them because BF hates them, so I was happy.

Barbecue Beef Short Ribs - with Roasted Yukon Gold Potato Salad and onion-garlic sauce

This was fine, but not as mouthwatering as I’d hoped it would be. If was a little dry in the middle.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal, but more for the company than for the food. When my mom and I went to Jiko in May, it was a real highlight of our trip—every bite was amazing. While it was still good this time, it wasn’t nearly as delicious as I had remembered. I think they’ve switched chefs in the meantime, so maybe that’s why? Or maybe my expectations were too high this time around? Either way, I didn’t really mind, because the food was still solidly good enough, and I had such a nice time talking to Tracy and Jim (if you two are reading this—hi! Thanks again for making my night!).

Coming Soon—An Unexpectedly Social Evening.

 

[hucifer]

Nory, your dog is sooooooooo cute in that picture.

I ate at Jiko during my solo trip too, and while I did enjoy my meal, I didn't love it like I wanted to. I also didn't sit next to anyone who wanted to talk to me. I ended up taking pictures of myself during that meal too.

For poops and giggles, let's all follow a DVC van the next time we see one. Maybe it'll make a McDonald's run.

 

[manntra]

I was in quite a few awkward situations trying to get off the bus at Kidani this October. Since that is where we were staying and it was always our first stop but most people were Jambo and didn't want to move!
I absolutely loved my meal at Jiko. Loved the wine!!!!!! I have since become interested in South African Pinotage....my local wine guy carries a bottle and it is only $6.99!!! AND it's REALLY GOOD!!!
I had a flatbread starter, my niece had the mussels (they remind me of things I see in our lake but I tried one and it was good!) and we both had the filet/mac and cheese. YUM!
Cute dog picture too!

Tracy

 

[onelilspark]

I really want to follow the DVC van now!!!

 

[ClareH37]

I just love your dog, what a cutie

 

[Sawhiskey]

Nice update Nory, good to hear you ment some friends at Jiko..Those pictures of the lodge bring back so many memories from my last trip there.. Thanks for sharing, cant wait to see your next update..