It's kind of fun to do the impossible - 32 days of fun and friends - updated December 29

[Grumpy's Wife]

Love your purse in the first picture. It looks like a Disney Dooney but I can't tell the pattern. I'm such a purse person that I notice those things.

So sorry you didn't like your Starbucks tea. Especially since you don't have one close to you. I'm sure by the end of the trip you found something you really liked there.

 

[dizneeat]

You guys got a lot done for your first morning!

The fact that there were Morning EMHs helped a lot. We don't usually make it to those, so it was a nice surprise to hit the low crowds. And we were still running on GMT+1. So early didn't feel early.

I can't imagine living 200 km from Starbucks!

Welcome to Upper Austria!

I didn't realize I was late to the party, so I already had some catching up to do! You're off to a great start!

You're not late at all. I am very happy you have found me here.

What a loooonnnnngggg travel day!

We are used to that. Even though I could have done without all the delays.

I want to bring my DD to either Italy or France in a few years and this all kind of makes me very nervous since it's probably about the same heading in that direction too.

You will be faced with at least 6 - 8 hours of travel, depending from where you live. But then exploring a new country is so worth it. And Italy is really beautiful, so is France. Funnily enough we are travelling to both in the next half year. Italy is a 5 - 6 hour car ride and France is a two hour plane ride.

I love that you got both a theme park view and a water view in your BLT studio. We had the same view in our 1-bedroom in April and it was just amazing!

I could not believe that this was a standard view room. I had to thrifty with my points, so when I could score a standard view it was awesome. Little did I know it work out that way.

Perfect way to spend your first day

It was such a great start to our vacation.

Love your photo pass pics they are such fun

We never really made much use of them before, but since they were included with the AP we thought why not get a few fun ones in. And we got quite a few good ones this year.

Glad you were able to move your BOG adr

I was kinda shocked when I tried to push it forward one day and a new ADR just popped up.

 

[dizneeat]

You did quite a few rides!

It was really fun to be able to get on quite a few rides. It was a perfect start to our park days.

As Jill said, I can't imagine living that far from Starbuck's they are pretty much on every corner here and I have them just about every half a mile from our house. When I decide to place a mobile order, it's a tough decision as to which one because it all depends on where we are going and which one we are going to drive past, or more like "which ones....".

Welcome to Austria! But I may add, we have some REALLY awesome coffee houses here.

I was already way behind on here, oh my!

Nope, you are not!

So glad the crazy travel days ended and you were safely here. I would have been stir crazy sitting on the runway.

You have no idea how happy we were when we had finally made it to Orlando. But it was well worth the trouble getting there. Even though I could have done with a few hours less on that plane.

I’m so glad the CMs were able to move things around and made everything work.

They were SO helpful. I might have freaked even more if it had not been for them and the time and effort they put into getting my vacation on track again.

Yum that sandwich looks great!

It was really good! But it was HUGE!

I agree, the magic carpets are a fun little ride

If it had not been for Jeanette and Pamela the year before, who had introduced us to them, I think we would never ever have gotten on. But now that we know it is a fun little ride, we will get in line (if it is not too long).

I am visiting DL soon, I'm looking forward to seeing the new scene.

It was pretty strange at first to have a changed Redhead scene and to be honest, the old scene did make more sense.

We are big Jungle Cruise fans- my DH's dream retirement job is a JC skipper

That is such a fun ride and the skippers are all such great fun. It must be quite hard doing it all day, but they make or break the ride. We love to ride it during EMHs, as the skippers come up with even more or different jokes and it is so much fun.
Keeping my fingers crossed your DHs dream retirement job becomes a reality.

Looks like a yummy meal coming up!

We were definitely looking forward to it.

Love your purse in the first picture. It looks like a Disney Dooney but I can't tell the pattern. I'm such a purse person that I notice those things.

It's one of my favourite park purses. And one of the first I bought as well. It's actually the Disney Dream inaugural Dooney. We were not on the inaugural cruise, but were able to snag one lateron that year. I think they were sold for a year or so.

So sorry you didn't like your Starbucks tea. Especially since you don't have one close to you. I'm sure by the end of the trip you found something you really liked there.

They have some really nice teas and I have to admit that I only like certain teas. My aunt, who lives in London/England provides me with tea from a very certain shop, called Fortnum and Mason, who cater to the Royal Family and their tea is devine.
I have had some nice black tea lemonades from Starbucks and was looking forward to a pineapple flavoured one. Unfortunately the pineapple had a very artificial flavour and that was what put me off. I had some of their regular teas and lemonades lateron in the trip and they were pretty nice.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 3, August 10

Let the fun begin! - Part 2

We both love this enjoyable little ride, but once we got off we had another place to get to, Belle’s castle.

I had been super lucky and was able to push the reservation we had made weeks in advance one day forward.
I had done the online ordering and it was a super easy process checking in, paying for our food and then off to find a table. The main dining room was pretty full, so we walked over to the well-lit Rose Gallery.

Tom went to fetch some drinks and came back with small cups and soda with no ice. It was not what we had wanted, so I went in search of other options. Turns out the ice machines didn’t work but in the main dining room they were handing out cups filled with ice. So I picked up two of them and our drinks were set. And it did not take long until our food arrived.
We had been to the restaurant before and the food had been really good, especially given that this was a counter service restaurant. So we were really looking forward to a wonderful first lunch at Walt Disney World. We had decided to share a French Onion Soup, which was not the way I remembered it.

The actual soup was watery because there was just not enough onion cooked down and the cheesy crouton on top was so thick and chewy that it was hard to get spoonfuls off of it. It was like chewing gum.
Well, maybe the

Braised Pork (Coq Au Vin Style) - Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Bean Jardiniere would be a just like we remembered.
Well, it was not.
It was very much like boiled stringy pork in a lukewarm sauce, served with very yummy mash and squeaky green beans. It was a huge portion, way more than the two of us cared to eat. We had also ordered an

Éclair à l’Orange - Custard Filling with zested Orange and finished with Chocolate Ganache. Now, before I go into detail I have to admit that when we go to Disneyland Paris we stay near a little bakery and patisserie which makes the most heavenly Eclairs and every other éclair has to stand up to theirs. So, while this particular éclair had an awesome citrusy taste, the actual pastry was far too thick for my liking.
But it was by far the best item we had had at Be Our Guest.
When we left the skies had gotten dark grey and it looked like it was going to rain soon. We had a Fastpass for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but it was down already because of the incoming lightning, so we decided to just head back to our resort.
We made our way to the exit and hotfooted it over to Bay Lake Tower and made it just about in time, with only being hit by a few drops.
Once in our room we had to take a short nap, as the short night was catching up with us.
Around half past two we were ready to go out again.
This time we were ready to do some grocery shopping. So we drove to the Publix near Celebration, did some shopping and exploring of the shop and returned back to the resort at around 5pm. We stowed our groceries in the fridge, chilled for a while and then had a leftovers and salads “dinner” made up of the leftover breakfast sandwiches, salads we had purchased at Publix and some chips.

We spent some time just resting and enjoying the resort before it was time to head out for Extra Magic Hours and the evening’s booked event, the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Well, that was one of the reservations I had had to change, thanks to Lufthansa’s flight cancellation.
I actually had it planned on a day where we would stay at the Boardwalk and would not need a car to get there, but now we needed to rely on Disney Transport, as there are alcoholic drinks at the party. So once we had changed into park gear, we headed over to the Contemporary bus-stop to take a bus to the Studios. There were already quite a few people waiting and a few buses came and went and finally there was one that went to the Studios. We were lucky enough to find seats and off we went.
It was getting dark when we arrived and we joined the crowd of people that walked toward bag check and turnstiles. The park was packed.

We were kind of shell-shocked to see so many people, but thought that the crowds might subside once the Extra Magic Hours began. So, we went to the Starwars Launch Bay where check in was supposed to be. They had already put up a check in desk, but weren't allowing guests in just now and we were
told to come back in about half an hour, when they opened to party guests.
We had not made any Fastpasses, so we checked the app and there was nothing before the party, so we just started to walk around and check out the stores. We were back a few minutes before the opening time and they were already letting people in. It was a bit different to what we had experienced before.
There had been high tables and you used to stand while enjoying your food and drink. Now, you were assigned a table and we had tablemates. Not really what we wanted, but there was no way around it. We found our table and were offered our first drinks on the way there.

Since we were there with the early crowd our first thought was to take photos of the buffet and check out what all they had to offer.

Photos done, we picked up plates and returned to our table and the tablemates that had arrived by now.

To be continued .....​

 

[jedijill]

You have me reconsidering my BoG reservation in November! Hmmm, I will have to think about it. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on the Star Wars dessert party. I did it a couple of years ago... I hated the lack of seating especially after doing a tour all day.

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

Sorry your BoG experience wasn't all it could have been, you're lucky you missed the rain.

Was that all the savory food they had there? I would have potentially starved! I can't eat a ton of sweets or my blood sugar goes through the roof.

 

[jenseib]

I keep hearing how Be Our Guest food is going down hill. It's such a shame.

The fireworks party food looks great! I might have to try this one next time we go!

 

[dizneeat]

You have me reconsidering my BoG reservation in November! Hmmm, I will have to think about it.

It's the second time it did not live up to the hype. When they first opened their CS was REALLY good, but this was not what we remembered. The eclair was nice, just didn't live up to the real ones in Magny.
Hey, and guess what - I am going to get some Magny ones (from my favourite French patisserie) in February. Found flights I could not turn down and then I stalked booking . com and found a privately owned little flat, just up the road from the patisserie. Now we are going to France (DISNEY!!!) in February.

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on the Star Wars dessert party. I did it a couple of years ago... I hated the lack of seating especially after doing a tour all day.

The party was fun. Especially since they added the savoury options as well, and they were really good as well. Having a table to sit at was great, but it was pretty cramped as there were MANY tables and the viewing spot for the fireworks was not ideal.
It used to be way back, behind the handicapped spot and this time they had moved us all the way forward. Great to watch the projections from - not so great for the fireworks view.

Sorry your BoG experience wasn't all it could have been, you're lucky you missed the rain.

It definitely was not as good as we had remembered and it all seemed a bit disorganized. But YES, we were able to avoid the rain and just sit it out resting in our room.

Was that all the savory food they had there? I would have potentially starved! I can't eat a ton of sweets or my blood sugar goes through the roof.

Well, they sell it as a "dessert" party, so any savoury items are an extra plus and yes, that was it. But it was more than enough. The pita bread was yummy and there was yummy cheese and meats to try.

I keep hearing how Be Our Guest food is going down hill. It's such a shame.

Well, I have to admit that a lot of food items are no longer as good as they used to be, but this was truly a bigger disappointment. I am not a huge fan of onion soup in the first place, but I remembered theirs to be pretty tasty. The one we were served was not, neither was the braised pork tasty. They make a mean mash though.

The fireworks party food looks great! I might have to try this one next time we go!

The food was nice. I just love that breadpudding, so good with some ice-cream. Wasn't a fan of being seated with others, but it worked out nicely in the end.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 3, August 10

Let the fun begin! - Part 3

Photos done, we picked up plates and returned to our table and our tablemates had arrived by now.
It was their first time, so after some pointers we all went to try our goodies. We both had a plate of the savory offerings, which were all very nice.

Round one in the bag, we went to pick up some more drinks. We chose something different this time, as the first one was not quite to our liking

and then Tom went to get another plate of savory food, while I went and got some of the galactic breadpudding with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

So yummy. And while we were stuffing ourselves some of the Star Wars characters were coming through

and interacting with guests, mostly ones that definitely displayed some Star Wars T-shirts and there was this cute little Darth Vader who had such fun interacting with the (grown up) Stormtroopers. They had us all in stitches. And after that Tom and I went back a third time to taste some of the desserts. Tom just stuck to fruit and a cupcake, while I tried some of the new dome desserts.

And then it was all over. Cast Members came around and asked us to head back to the buffet if we wanted something else, but we would all be marching over to the fireworks spot in a few minutes. Tom and I finished our desserts, then went in line and waited to be walked over. It took a few minutes while they found some cute kids to lead our procession and soon we were on our way. The spot was different to where we had been previously, right in front of Chinese Theatre. Not knowing how the new show and fireworks were going to be we followed the rest and went right up front. Not the best of places. While we had an absolutely wonderful view of the projections, we were way too close to fully be able to see most of the fireworks.

Once the fireworks were over we packed the Stormtrooper mugs

we had gotten as a memento of the party into our bag and hoping that many people would leave we walked towards the Tower of Terror. No way, they were showing a 60 minute wait. Too much for us. We slowly walked back to the Chinese Theatre, where the crowds were lighter now, but still thick. We both were tired with it being our first night and so we decided to just check out the new Toy Story Land. We were pretty sure there would be no way to ride either ride, but at least we could get a glimpse of it at night. So we walked past One Man’s Dream and around the corner and were in awe. How cute was this. It was great to experience the land at night with all the lights and Slinky zipping through. We watched the alien ride for a bit and it looked like good fun, but nothing we would wait for for hours.

But we had to fight the crowds and so after having a look around we decided to head back to our resort.
We took our sweet time getting to the exit and then finding our bus and when we walked up to the bus stop one was just loading people. Walking a lot faster we made it, even found seats again and off we went back to the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower. We arrived back at our resort shortly before midnight and were happy to be able to fall into bed.

To be continued .....​

 

[suse66]

There had been high tables and you used to stand while enjoying your food and drink. Now, you were assigned a table and we had tablemates. Not really what we wanted, but there was no way around it. We found our table and were offered our first drinks on the way there.

I don't think I would love that either.....

It was their first time, so after some pointers we all went to try our goodies. We both had a plate of the savory offerings, which were all very nice.

Your savoury plates look delicious.

and then Tom went to get another plate of savory food, while I went and got some of the galactic breadpudding with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

I can never resist bread pudding with ice cream!

While we had an absolutely wonderful view of the projections, we were way too close to fully be able to see most of the fireworks.

How did you find the show? I watched it during my August trip and found it to be projection heavy and light on the fireworks.

We both were tired with it being our first night and so we decided to just check out the new Toy Story Land. We were pretty sure there would be no way to ride either ride, but at least we could get a glimpse of it at night. So we walked past One Man’s Dream and around the corner and were in awe. How cute was this. It was great to experience the land at night with all the lights and Slinky zipping through. We watched the alien ride for a bit and it looked like good fun, but nothing we would wait for for hours.

Isn't it so cute??? I think it really shows to advantage at night too. I just love how immersive the theming is.

 

[mesgram]

I'm sorry your lunch at Be Our Guest was so disappointing, it sounds like the dessert party was fun though and a break from the crowds that night.

 

[Dentam]

Sorry to hear that your lunch at BOG didn't meet expectations. I had lunch there during my Labor Day week trip this year and had the same dish. I really enjoyed it so maybe I got lucky with a better batch of the pulled pork.

The Star Wars show at HS is my favorite nighttime show in any of the parks. I was so happy to see that it had even been updated with new scenes since my trip one year prior!

I've never been to a dessert party - the food and desserts all look pretty tasty!

 

[wdwnut61]

Sorry to hear BOG was disappointing we have found it hit or miss. I prefer the breakfast although last November we did enjoy our steaks and glasses of champagne.
Come to think of it that may be why we enjoyed our meal
We plan on booking the SW Dessert party for March glad to hear you enjoyed it. DD is a huge SW fan so I think this will be fun

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following Along!!!

makes 31 nights and 32 days.

That is an amazing trip!

We all had a blast – wanna join us reliving it?

Yes!

In the evening we had calmed down enough to enjoy a light dinner, watch some TV and finally go to bed a bit early after all that hassle.

Man that must have been soooo frustrating!

telling us that we were redirected as there was a thunderstorm approaching the airport.

So we went all the way down to Lake Okeechobee.

Oye!

A huge turkeyleg. Needless to say we needed another photo taken.

I love this one. I want this pic.

Now, you were assigned a table and we had tablemates. Not really what we wanted, but there was no way around it. We found our table and were offered our first drinks on the way there.

Really?!? Did they give you chairs?

 

[monorailsilver]

We were at the MK that same morning. Got there at 8:30 because stupid me knew it was EMH before vacation but I forgot once we were on vacation. Still my kids got on space mtn twice and me once and my youngest and DH got on the Speedway. I would of looked for you but I see where you were and we didn't go into Adventureland that day.

And your flight day, yep, we were pulled from the lava pool in the afternoon for storms. The day before (wednesday) there were storms in the evening in the MK so most of the rides were down. Good for us since we went to BTMR and SM with a walk in right after.

 

[dalayney]

Oh how happy I am to have found you! I read your 40 day trip report along time ago and enjoyed it so much! Do you have a link to your other trip reports?
Delighted to be following along.

 

[jenseib]

Those mugs are so cute!

 

[Pinkocto]

Bummer about BoG. It does make me less upset that I couldn’t get a reservation for our December trip though.

The SW party looks like great fun with lots of yummies. I find it very odd about the seating though. You’re paying for a great viewing... I guess they’re always trying to tweak things.

 

[dizneeat]

Apology time!
When I last updated I had the best intentions of posting updates as often as possible but then ...........


Well, first off we were suffering from Disney Blues.
Being home for 6 weeks we needed to take another vacation, this time to Italy and I'll post a few of our pics right lateron.

When we got home from that we realized that the next Disney vacation would be more than 700 days away and to be honest, I got pretty depressed and every waking moment that I did not spend at work I was at my computer making sure that I didn't miss a way for us going back next summer.
Being on a budget this coming summer doesn't help either. But it soon became clear that being without points (used them all up this summer, banked, current and borrowed) and our APs no longer valid we would not be able to make it.

YES, that meant coming up with "something" to hold us over.

So I started exploring options for the next best thing, DLRP.
NO way we could afford to stay on property, but there are always some nice options through booking dot com. We actually found a nice little villa right opposite the small bakery we love so much. So we have that booked now and we have our flights booked for half term holiday, which is in February.
We were debating just getting 3 day tickets, but they are only a tiny bit cheaper than an AP with blockout dates. So we are going to get that AND are going back in the summer.

We also have a standing invitation at my aunt's who lives right outside London, so this summer we will spend at least a week at her house, return home for a bit of laundry and then head back to Paris for another week of Disney fun. At least something to look forward to. Then we will only be about 400 days away from our next trip to Mickey's World.

I have now "recovered" enough to go back to posting and hopefully in a more frequent way.

First off, I guess I'll give you a little peak of our Italian Adventure ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

A Glimpse of Italy ......

October 26 is our National Holiday and this year it fell on a Friday and our school decided to close the school on Oct 24 and 25 so we could all have a little vacation time. Tom and I decided to spend the time in Italy, just relaxing.

I got off at noon on the 23rd and we packed up and got the house in order and around 5am on the 24th we got up, grabbed a bite to eat and then we were on the road. We had hit the tail end of an autumn storm and it was raining and very windy, which made driving in the dark so NO fun at all.
About 100 km into the trip (of 550) I needed a break, so we stopped at a service station that had a McDonald's for a bit of a break and a hot beverage.

And after a bio break we pushed on. The weather was still yucky.

But thankfully, the further we got the nicer the weather got.

Shortly before we reached the Italian border we left the motorway to fill up the tank again - gas is way cheaper in Austria than Italy and to grab a bite of breakfast.

This is McDonald's "kind" of toast - like two pieces of cardboard with some cheese (and Tom had ham and cheese) in the middle. Not something I need to give a second try.

Off we went again, just to leave the motorway again to pick up our tollticket (think sunpass in Florida) so we could use the fast lanes at the toll stations.

and took this for our friend Jeanette, who likes the chocolates ......

and we hit the motorway again ..........

About two hours later we had made it to our destination. Now I need to explain that we went there at the tail end of the tail end of the season, so we knew that most of the businesses would already be closed, but we were sure that restaurants would still be open. BUT, this being Italy - EVERYTHING is closed for some hours at lunchtime and we did not want to go around searching for a restaurant so we stopped at a supermarket and bought some groceries and then headed to our hotel, which is an Aparthotel - you rent an apartment, but they will service it daily. And we were glad we did, as most of the businesses were closed and so were most of the restaurants.

We picked up the key and discovered that we had been put in the apartment that we have often had before, it is one with a HUGE veranda.

you even have a view of the Mediterranian sea.

​