Lots of Pics, Plenty of Rum, A Few Tears... and a Bomb Scare To Boot!

[coltink]

subbin'. Looking forward to the rest of your trip. I have 103 days left to go!

 

[heaven2dc]

Great pics and TR so far! Don't you just love that feeling you get when you realize you are in WDW!!

I would have to agree with you that the "cowboy" section wouldn't be my favorite (did you ask if they could put you in another section before you got to the room? I didn't remember if you did.) But it still looks pretty cool!

 

[trickiwoo]

subbin'. Looking forward to the rest of your trip. I have 103 days left to go!

Oh, I hope those days go by quickly for you!!!!

 

[trickiwoo]

Great pics and TR so far! Don't you just love that feeling you get when you realize you are in WDW!!

I would have to agree with you that the "cowboy" section wouldn't be my favorite (did you ask if they could put you in another section before you got to the room? I didn't remember if you did.) But it still looks pretty cool!

Haha, I do love that feeling! I kept squealing with excitement that I was actually there!

I didn't ask for another section. We just took what they gave us! It didn't matter to me too much where I was... I was just happy to be at Disney! Plus I just wanted to get to my room as soon as possible!

 

[trickiwoo]

Before leaving for Downtown Disney, we went to the hotel concierge so that The Boyfriend could get his theme park tickets. He bought his online to pick up at will call. I already had my ticket, so I was set! We were able to get his tickets no problem. And the concierge called me a princess! We also grabbed a Downtown Disney map while we were there!

Then we got on the bus to go to Downtown Disney! This was my first time being on one of the Disney transportation buses! It was pretty exciting! I mostly looked out the window taking in all the sights of WDW! I took a picture of us on the bus.

It wasn't long before we were in Downtown Disney!! One of the first things we saw was the play fountain on the ground where the water squirts up out of the ground. The Boyfriend told me that when he was a kid he got hit in the eye with one of the jets from that fountain!

Once we got there, we immediately started shopping!!!!

I bought some souvenirs to bring back to my family. I bought my mom a Pirates of the Caribbean coffee mug since that's been her favorite ride since as long as she's been going to Disneyland (and she loves the movies!) and she mentioned that she doesn't have a coffee mug that's big enough... and this mug was really big! I bought my grandma some Disney "Theme Perks" coffees because she loves her coffee! And I bought my brother a Pirates of the Caribbean shot glass since I had no idea what to get him... so I figured he'd like a shot glass since he's 21 and I knew he liked Pirates of the Caribbean.

I also bought a couple souvenirs for myself!! I got some pins and an antenna topper! I really wanted to get some Mickey Mouse earrings, but I couldn't find ones I liked anywhere!

I saw these and thought they were way too adorable

It was raining on and off the whole time we there. But somehow we managed to always be inside a store shopping when the rain would let loose. Then when we'd be done shopping the store the rain would stop! So we managed to stay dry the whole day! It was pretty neat!

At one point, we were walking around outside when The Boyfriend told me to look up at the sky! I did, and I saw a rainbow!

I shouted, "It's Disney Magic!" pretty loudly! I'm sure everyone around me thought I was crazy! But I was very excited to see a rainbow on my first day at WDW!

We took some pictures outside the Lego store

I took a picture of the Lego German Shepherd with my cell phone and texted it to my mom, since she has a German Shepherd. The Boyfriend took a picture of me doing this for some reason...

We took some more pictures

By then we were pretty hungry! We decided we were going to have dinner at the Big River Grille and Brewing Works and Brewing Works since we're both microbrew fans! So we went to the bus stop to get on a bus to the Boardwalk!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

you did such a great job taking all those pictures of the resort and the rooms That was one thing i forgot to do! I am sorry you guys got put in the CF section We paid extra for the Prefered rooms in the calyspo building-- it was very nice having the short walk at the end of the night-- I think it was worth the money because at the end of the night i had no energy to walk left in me LOL!! The food you guys good at the food court looks good!! The chicken looks very good that you had-- sometimes a good old fashioned counter service hits the spot LOL Josh had a burger from the food court too-- and also said it was just okay LOL!! I cant wait to read more

 

[kdzbear]

Your trip also overlapped ours, but we stayed at Pop. We booked through AAA and we were able to do the online check-in without a problem. I love the start to your trip. I took several pictures of Pop, but they did not come out since I was shooting into the sun, I guess. I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[trickiwoo]

you did such a great job taking all those pictures of the resort and the rooms That was one thing i forgot to do! I am sorry you guys got put in the CF section We paid extra for the Prefered rooms in the calyspo building-- it was very nice having the short walk at the end of the night-- I think it was worth the money because at the end of the night i had no energy to walk left in me LOL!! The food you guys good at the food court looks good!! The chicken looks very good that you had-- sometimes a good old fashioned counter service hits the spot LOL Josh had a burger from the food court too-- and also said it was just okay LOL!! I cant wait to read more

Haha, I think I continued to take pictures of the resort every single day the whole trip! I'd just be walking to the room or to the food court and I'd see something I hadn't seen before and pull out my camera!

Yeah, I had some really great counter service meals on the trip! I planned it out so we were trying a lot of different CS options, so it wasn't just pizza and burgers every CS meal!

 

[trickiwoo]

Your trip also overlapped ours, but we stayed at Pop. We booked through AAA and we were able to do the online check-in without a problem. I love the start to your trip. I took several pictures of Pop, but they did not come out since I was shooting into the sun, I guess. I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Ooh! Good to know! Somehow I didn't hear anything at all about online check-in until I was on the DME! I was like, "What??? You can check-in online? Why didn't I hear about this??" I'll definitely have to try that out next time!

Oh, I wanted to stay in Pop so bad! But it was all booked up! Next trip that's where I plan on staying! What did you think of it?

 

[trickiwoo]

We got on the bus and headed over to the Boardwalk!

First we stopped at the sweet shop and I got my dad some saltwater taffy. He has fond memories of eating saltwater taffy at Disneyland as a kid. And I was happy because most of my souvenir shopping was done... all I had left to buy was postcards! And anything else I wanted to get myself of course!

Then we went over to the Big River Grille. They said it would be like a 30 minute wait if we wanted to get a table inside. Or we could eat outside and be seated right then, but they said if it rained we couldn't come back inside. There were a couple empty tables under the canopy thing so we got one of those.

Our table had a nice view of the boardwalk

And it didn't rain at all during our dinner.

We got the beer sampler

The Boyfriend's favorite was the Rocket Red Ale. I think the Wowser's Wheat was my favorite, but I don't remember!

I also got a Raspberry Ice Pick

Which was Stoli Razberi Vodka, Tanqueray Gin, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, Chambord Liqueur Royale and a splash of Sprite. It was really good!

The Boyfriend got a Cesar Salad.

He liked it. I guess it's hard to mess up a Cesar Salad!

I got the Beer Cheese Soup

Oh my Goodness! That was soooo delicious!!! I highly recommend it!

And The Boyfriend had the steak

He said it was really good.

I had the salmon

It was more dry than I like my salmon. But it was still really good!

While we were eating our dinner we heard some booms. We were trying to figure out if it was thunder or fireworks. Then we saw colorful lights in the sky a bit off in the distance! It was Wishes! So that was pretty neat! We had a pretty nice view from our table!

After dinner we walked around the boardwalk. It was really pretty at night.

We were looking out over the water when we noticed Spaceship Earth! The Boyfriend pointed out that it was my first time seeing it! I was pretty excited about that!

Then we walked over to see the lighthouse

Then we decided to head back to the bus stop to go back to Downtown Disney. As we were walking by, we saw more fireworks! It was Illuminations!

We stopped and watched for a bit, then headed to the bus stop.

While we were waiting for the bus, a balloon got stuck in the fan!

We got on the bus and made our way to Downtown Disney! Then we decided to stop for a drink at T-REX.

We stepped inside and WOW! It was really amazing in there!!

Both of us thought it was just the coolest thing ever! So after looking around in awe for awhile, we went over to the Shark Bar

The big octopus was so awesome! And the tentacles would move! It was so neat!

The fish tank was pretty cool

And I loved the lights on the ceiling that made it feel like you were underwater

The Boyfriend and I both LOVED it!!! And we hadn't even ordered drinks yet!

The Boyfriend ordered a Blue Moon

He doesn't drink Budweiser, so he was not thrilled with the selection of beers that were available on the tap the whole trip.

I ordered a Green Apple Cotton-tini.

It was a martini made of Skyy Vodka, Apple Schnapps, and Midori Melon liqueur. They put cotton candy in the glass and poured the martini over it! Then all of the cotton candy dissolves into the drink.

Oh man, it was SO good!!! It was the sweetest drink I've ever had in my life! I loved it! Plus it came with a souvenir shaker!

While we were enjoying our drinks at the bar, the T-Rex started roaring! Comets started shooting across the sky! And the bar turned from ice blue to deep red! It was so awesome!!!

After we finished our drinks, we wandered around the restaurant for a bit checking it all out!

T-REX was a blast! We will definitely be going again on a future trip! We didn't eat anything, so I don't know how good the food is. But it's worth going to for the theming and atmosphere! Such a cool place! And if you love sugary sweet boozey drinks, I'd definitely recommend a Cotton-tini!

By that point we were completely exhausted! It was time to head back to the hotel!

 

[TXAng]

Sorry you got the one section you didn't want, but it sounds like it was awesome, anyway! You got some really great shots around the resort! I didn't get nearly enough photos of the resort.

I thought the burgers at the food court were pretty good! Compared to a regular fast-food place, anyway.

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[kdzbear]

Ooh! Good to know! Somehow I didn't hear anything at all about online check-in until I was on the DME! I was like, "What??? You can check-in online? Why didn't I hear about this??" I'll definitely have to try that out next time!

Oh, I wanted to stay in Pop so bad! But it was all booked up! Next trip that's where I plan on staying! What did you think of it?

I might be shot on these boards for saying this, but I prefer All Star Sports. Pop did only have one bus for the resort and I did not wait for busses. However, with only one food court and one gift shop for 3 times as many resort guests, it was crowded and chaotic. It was hard with a family of 5 to find a place to sit and eat in the mornings. After our first attempt, my DH ended up getting pastries and bringing them back to our room. I did explore the resort and it had lots of neat Disney icons. It was fun to try, but I guess I still like Sports and will be staying there for our third time this November.

 

[trickiwoo]

Sorry you got the one section you didn't want, but it sounds like it was awesome, anyway! You got some really great shots around the resort! I didn't get nearly enough photos of the resort.

I thought the burgers at the food court were pretty good! Compared to a regular fast-food place, anyway.

Looking forward to hearing more!

I don't eat beef, so I didn't try the burgers. They did look pretty good though! But The Boyfriend didn't like them. He's kind of picky though!

 

[trickiwoo]

I might be shot on these boards for saying this, but I prefer All Star Sports. Pop did only have one bus for the resort and I did not wait for busses. However, with only one food court and one gift shop for 3 times as many resort guests, it was crowded and chaotic. It was hard with a family of 5 to find a place to sit and eat in the mornings. After our first attempt, my DH ended up getting pastries and bringing them back to our room. I did explore the resort and it had lots of neat Disney icons. It was fun to try, but I guess I still like Sports and will be staying there for our third time this November.

Good to know! I wondered what the crowds were like over there!

 

[trickiwoo]

So we got on the bus and headed back to ASMu! We'd planned on going for a swim that night, but we were both way too tired!

I did stop and take some pictures of the hotel at night as we walked back to the room!

This light was right outside our room. I thought it was neat!

We set our alarm and went right to sleep!

The next morning we got up pretty early. We made our way down to the food court for breakfast.

I saw my first Florida sunrise!

The guitar pool was quite lovely in the morning

The food court was pretty empty. There weren't a lot of people in there at all!

The Boyfriend got this croissant sandwich thing

He didn't like it very much. I tried some of the scrambled eggs that were in it, and they were SO good! I loved them! The Boyfriend didn't care for them that much though.

I could not wait to try one of those Mickey waffles! But... we had pretty early lunch reservations that day. And those waffles looked pretty big! So I went with something smaller and got a cherry pastry thing.

It was really good! I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would!

After we finished eating, we headed back to our room to drop off our mugs and get ready to go to the park!

On our way, I realized I hadn't taken any photos of the Broadway section! So I fixed that right away!

We got back to the room and got everything we needed for the park! Then we went on our way to the bus stop! We stepped outside and got to experience that wonderful Florida humidity!

We made our way to the bus stop and it wasn't long before we were on our way to our first park!

Coming up next... Does the restaurant I was most excited about live up to my expectations? And later... the ride that made me cry! Stay tuned!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm having so much fun reading your report! Your pic of the sunrise is beautiful - perfect for a screensaver!

I love the Broadway section - how cool! I'm glad you are having a great time on your first trip

 

[kdzbear]

We got back to the room and got everything we needed for the park! Then we went on our way to the bus stop! We stepped outside and got to experience that wonderful Florida humidity!

We made our way to the bus stop and it wasn't long before we were on our way to our first park!

I am loving all of the details of your report so far. With three kids I forgot to take pictures of most of our meals. Your picture above came out like the ones I took in the morning at Pop. I wonder if the humidity caused this. I took one into the sun and one away from the sun and they both turned out like yours!

 

[trickiwoo]

I'm having so much fun reading your report! Your pic of the sunrise is beautiful - perfect for a screensaver!

I love the Broadway section - how cool! I'm glad you are having a great time on your first trip

Thank you! I don't think I got any photos of Florida sunsets while I was there... but at least I was able to get a sunrise picture! I don't get those often since I usually wake up long after the sun has been up!

 

[trickiwoo]

I am loving all of the details of your report so far. With three kids I forgot to take pictures of most of our meals. Your picture above came out like the ones I took in the morning at Pop. I wonder if the humidity caused this. I took one into the sun and one away from the sun and they both turned out like yours!

I looked at so many food photo pictures here on DIS before my trip, that I made sure to get pictures of every meal!!! I got so used to it, that when I came back home I wanted to take pictures of everything I ate!

Yeah, the humidity will cause the lens to fog up like that and the pictures will look all hazy! You just have to wait a minute or two for the camera to adjust and your photos will look fine!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I'm loving your TR so far - I can really sense your excitement! You've gotten some excellent pictures. Hope your weather luck holds up!