MagicBands + Margaritas + Muggles + Minions = TRP. New TR link is up! 10/31

[elphie101]

You know, I didn't even think about a camper's budget - now THAT makes a lot more sense!

In my opinion Soarin makes the best alarm music - it makes me want to actually get out of bed. That's why I had DF reserve it for Disney trips only - I don't want to taint that feeling with getting up for work

 

[cstorm65]

Good update on your meal at Trail's End. We are trying to get an idea of what to do on our Christmas trip and think we want to do a night at Fort Wilderness to take in the decor and have dinner at Trail's End, so it is nice to see a good review of it. And it is such a great deal as far as the price compared to all other buffets on property.

 

[mickeystoontown]

There's nothing better than comfort food after a long soggy day. I am now regretting that we changed our Trail's End buffet to another restaurant because it sounds like a nice meal.

 

[eandesmom]

Welcome back! So glad you & MEK had such a fun time. So sorry we missed you -- maybe next time!

I know, so sad! Just barely missed each other.

Ugh to alll the rain but kudos to you for putting on a happy face and making the best of it. We had a rainy few days in May and it is frustrating!!!

You did! I think you had some serious heat too. It can be a huge bummer. We had some rain in May as well but it was shorter bursts and was at least warm out. We did get very wet though!

I am, in general, not a buffet fan but I continue to hear great things about Trails End. Warm, cozy comfort food on a cold, rainy night sounds like just what the doctor ordered.

Here's hoping the next day dawns nice & sunny!

I'm not a buffet fan in general either. Definitely one of the better ones! The weather was different the next day, that is for sure.

Ok, seeing this update is making me seriously reconsider my ADR choices and see where I can cram this one in... I just don't see it working out, but Trails End is definitely on the list of places to try out sometime soon.

You would love it! But it's a hard thing, the list is always longer than the amount of days and nights in which to cook.

I'm glad that your dinner there was just what your group needed to get everyone back on even keel after the not quite perfect experience at IOA.

It was! At least for that night lol.

Seems like you hit Trail's End at the perfect time...comfort food at the end of a cold, wet, tiring day.

It was perfect

You know, I didn't even think about a camper's budget - now THAT makes a lot more sense!

In my opinion Soarin makes the best alarm music - it makes me want to actually get out of bed. That's why I had DF reserve it for Disney trips only - I don't want to taint that feeling with getting up for work

Makes sense! I use it as an alert for a couple of things but not my main alarm.

Good update on your meal at Trail's End. We are trying to get an idea of what to do on our Christmas trip and think we want to do a night at Fort Wilderness to take in the decor and have dinner at Trail's End, so it is nice to see a good review of it. And it is such a great deal as far as the price compared to all other buffets on property.

It is such a good deal in comparison! We loved it

There's nothing better than comfort food after a long soggy day. I am now regretting that we changed our Trail's End buffet to another restaurant because it sounds like a nice meal.

Next trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is good to have never dones still on the list I think.

 

[englishrose47]

Have to keep up with you Cynthia you move so much faster than me !! Both I real lifend your TR's !!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Seems like you hit Trail's End at the perfect time...comfort food at the end of a cold, wet, tiring day.

Better say Hi to you I haven't seen you on my new TR here as yet!!

 

[annmarieda]

What a great race recap! Sounds like you all had a great time and someone learned a valuable lesson regarding what to eat or NOT to eat right before a race. So cool he wants to run more though!

I have never been to trails end. I think it is the getting there part that throws me. Looks like you all enjoyed your meal. Gummie bears are a great dessert!

 

[scottny]

WOW! You've seen them before though, right?

I have just never noticed before I guess.


Congrats on the race and how much was raised.
Never tried Trails End but think I might on the next trip.
All caught up again.

 

[CarolynK]

It was worth it and honestly, the idea of all trying to eat in the villa, which we discussed as an option and bailing on the ressie since we did have the fixings for taco bar (though now I worry they'd have tried to charge the room since I did have a card on file) but as you know, the BWV kitchen and dining area just really doesn't fit that many for eating very well at all and felt like far more work than the trek to TE.

I get it...just the 4 of us around the tiny table at BWV is a stretch!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

However the previous day had been a scheduled ADR at Trails End that, at the time, we weren't motivated to try to get to. We had decided to reschedule it for this evening, feeling that by dinner we’d all be ready to go given that there would be no midday break.

Good call! Trail's End is still one of the better-kept secrets in the resort.

The place was PACKED!

Or...maybe not so well-kept.

Evan decided he needed a whole bowl of gummies for dessert

All he needs now is some Red Bull to wash it down!

The food was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! The kids ate SOOOOOOOOO much. All of them! Maybe too much....Just perfect after a super soggy day. Totally comfort food. Great service, we had a lovely bottle of wine with our meal and it just couldn't have been more perfect and more restorative. I would go back there again in a heartbeat. The kids loved the food, the adults loved the food and the price…best buffet deal on property I think!

 

[eandesmom]

Have to keep up with you Cynthia you move so much faster than me !! Both I real lifend your TR's !!!!

I would not call this fast moving. We are on Jan 2, it's almost June!

Better say Hi to you I haven't seen you on my new TR here as yet!!

Uh oh, Rosie's hunting people down!

What a great race recap! Sounds like you all had a great time and someone learned a valuable lesson regarding what to eat or NOT to eat right before a race. So cool he wants to run more though!

I think he will do the summer running club with school and that should help him quite a bit.

I have never been to trails end. I think it is the getting there part that throws me. Looks like you all enjoyed your meal. Gummie bears are a great dessert!

Gummy bears are great ANY time of day!

Getting there is a bit of a pita. Not bad if you are at MK though.

I have just never noticed before I guess.

Congrats on the race and how much was raised.
Never tried Trails End but think I might on the next trip.
All caught up again.

Trails End was fabulous, I like the look of the lunch menu too, it's not a buffet and has some nice options.

I get it...just the 4 of us around the tiny table at BWV is a stretch!

Are there even 4 chairs? You have to take 2 from the counter right? That counter is a bit odd....you are very low it seems when seated there. I love BWV and am so glad we own there but...not good at all for family meals.

I'd put THV first, followed by OKW based on the resorts I've stayed at.

Good call! Trail's End is still one of the better-kept secrets in the resort.

Or...maybe not so well-kept.

NO kidding! I am not sure if it was the time of year or what but I did not expect that kind of crowd at all. Then again they may have had a lot of walk ins from folks staying there due to the weather. Cooking in the rain at a campsite is no fun and even if you are in an RV, that can get old (and be close quarters!)

All he needs now is some Red Bull to wash it down!

Yeah. NOT.

As in not allowed even if he did want it. Which thankfully he wouldn't. He probably did have a coke though!

you'll get yours

 

[natebenma]

I am so glad to hear you had a fantastic girls' trip! I have to say, I loved seeing your FB posts and I was extremely jealous more than once!



That is fantastic about the family race. It is really meaningful when you can share an event like that.

Sometimes the lessons that stick with you the most are the painful ones.

 

[natebenma]

I am so glad to hear that after your long, wet, fairly frustrating day, that you had a wonderful meal that hit the spot for everyone!

That bowl of gummy bears looks familiar. I remember a similar accompaniment to one of my boy's breakfasts at Chef Mickey's. Honestly, who gives kiddos unchecked access to gummy bears? Thanks, Disney!

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad Trail's End hit the spot. Sounds like a great dinner, it looked like they had a nice selection there.

I'm back to really needing a vacation again!

 

[eandesmom]

I am so glad to hear you had a fantastic girls' trip! I have to say, I loved seeing your FB posts and I was extremely jealous more than once!

It was an amazing trip! SO much fun

That is fantastic about the family race. It is really meaningful when you can share an event like that.

It was really a fun event, I would totally do it again.

Sometimes the lessons that stick with you the most are the painful ones.

It's that the truth! Like the 2nd cup of coffee I had before today's race (or the possible overhydration I did yesterday) that meant I had to hit the porta potty at mile 6 in a 9.3 mile race. LOL!

Or the callus I didn't file down as much as I thought I did and ended up with a pretty nasty blister bursting at mile 9.

Teachable moments happen at every age!

I am so glad to hear that after your long, wet, fairly frustrating day, that you had a wonderful meal that hit the spot for everyone!

It really did

That bowl of gummy bears looks familiar. I remember a similar accompaniment to one of my boy's breakfasts at Chef Mickey's. Honestly, who gives kiddos unchecked access to gummy bears? Thanks, Disney!

Yeah, it may not have played out well ultimately for one of our group.

Teens and tweens aren't known for willpower

I'm glad Trail's End hit the spot. Sounds like a great dinner, it looked like they had a nice selection there.

I'm back to really needing a vacation again!

Me too! Like a permanent one. However since it's 3 months away till the next one I've been focusing on port excursions as a distraction. LOL!

We really enjoyed Trails End.

 

[CarolynK]

Are there even 4 chairs? You have to take 2 from the counter right? That counter is a bit odd....you are very low it seems when seated there. I love BWV and am so glad we own there but...not good at all for family meals.

I guess the designers didn't expect a family to actually use that "dining" area!

We've never used that counter area for sitting at, it's for stashing our junk!

 

[englishrose47]

Got to mark my spot as Cynthia is a fast woman !!!

 

[eandesmom]

I guess the designers didn't expect a family to actually use that "dining" area!

Apparently not, more of a stow your stuff area! It really is interesting how different the villas are, functionally, in that respect. The funny thing is that the actual kitchen, from a cookware standpoint was the best stocked of any villa we've ever had. Go figure.

We've never used that counter area for sitting at, it's for stashing our junk!

It is weird to sit at. Counter and stools are too low, it's just odd

Got to mark my spot as Cynthia is a fast woman !!!

Oh not. I have good intentions but...

 

[eandesmom]

Believe it or not we are at the halfway point of this trip report! And heck, it’s not even June yet!
I know some of you have seen these before but thought I'd share some pics of our beat the bridge adventure last week.

Contrary to our usual behavior, we actually got to this race plenty early and despite the poorly managed parking situation that took us forever to get into a lot, we arrived in time for Eric to eat that fateful donut, and the kids to enjoy some warms ups courtesy of the Nordstrom Zella girls.







Eric looks meditative doesn't he



I think those middle school boys just liked the Zella girls



K and her BFF got into the warm up too

Clearly I skipped that part...had to document



Jeff and I were ready to go



And we did! Here is Eric and his gang after they beat the bridge





And what it looked like if you didn't beat the bridge! Not me but it did happen to at least one of the mom's!



The diaper derby at the end was pretty cute



After that race it was back to work and well, I think just now I am getting sort of maybe kind of on top of things. I have to admit, I did love the fact that it was a long weekend! It was a busy one, Jeff and I went and saw Hugh Laurie (of the TV Show "House" fame) and his Copper Bottom Band on Friday night. He was an absolute riot and we enjoyed the music quite a lot. A very eclectic selection of obscure oldies with a heavy blues influence. He’s quite the piano player and while his vocals didn't quite match the rest of his band, that would have been hard to do as they were truly incredible all around, especially his 2 female singers and the female trombone player.

On Sunday, we had another race! It really was not my intent to go on vacation and then come back and have 2 back to back events like that, it’s just how it worked out. We arrived plenty early and actually had time for more than one trip to the porta potty and pictures!

I decided to "test" the outfit I am considering for the DL ½.

It was Wizard of Oz themed, complete with flying monkeys







Some seriously fun costumes. A lot I wouldn't want to run in and you could tell after the race many folks had ditched items or shed layers as they went along. Heck someone went as the house!

This was a fun one. It started in a park and you ran around the lake, with a side trip down the ship canal if you were doing the 15K distance. I did the 15K and Jeff did the 10. As we headed to the start line we found another mom and her son from our area. Her son is in band with Evan and they've done various sports and things together over the years, fun to see them there. They were also doing the 10K. It was nice to be at a smaller event again but even with that it was a bit congested at the start, more because it was a little narrow than a huge crowd. Just like the week before, I got to run over 2 bridges! This time though it was on the paved sidewalk part of the bridge. Basically the course was a western version of the one we did the week before, with the 2nd bridge being the same one we had “beat” before. For me, the first 10K were incredible. I felt great, my pace was great, the weather pretty much perfect. Even better I’d settled into a groove with another runner and she and I kept pace together for those first 6 miles, it was really fun, and really helpful! As that 10K mark came closer I realized something. I was never going to make it another 3 miles without hitting a porta potty. I have never had to do that during a race! I don’t know if I had just "that much" too much coffee before (didn't seem more than usual but maybe it was) or if I'd over hydrated the day before. Either way, I wasn't going to make it. I also tried to get out a shot block and realized that my skirt’s pocket had a zipper facing the exact opposite of what I was used to. Which made grabbing the darn block out pretty impossible and I almost did a face plant trying!

Needless to say, that stop cost me some time. It didn't help that someone was in the porta potty and that the door wouldn't show "closed" when it clearly was locked. The 2 hills that came in succession after it didn't help a whole lot either. As did the blister that burst/skin that tore on my food right at the 9 mile mark. LOL!



The hills weren't major but were enough to count as what they call "Cat 5" climbs. Basically a climb or a hill doesn’t count unless sit’s at least 500 meters in length with an average grade of 3% or more. 5 is the lowest that actually counts, “rolling” hills don’t count, just the shorter and steeper ones. Not so fun when they fall at the 8.25 and 8.68 mile marks on the course. Hmmnn....maybe I can blame that blister on them!

Still, all things considered I was happy with my time. I did beat my previous 15K result by a whole minute and that was the primary goal. I was even happier that the first 10K was at a pace I'd not hit for that distance since October and I really do give the gal I ran with a lot of credit, it was some pretty fun energy for those first 6 miles. And even though I’m pretty sure the stop cost me about 2 minutes, it wouldn't have made a difference in my bracket placement, the person in front of me was a solid 3.5 minutes faster. I don't think "placing" is in my future but that is ok. Jeff on the other hand, did place. In fact he won his bracket.

Glinda gave him his own broom.









Evan's classmate won his bracket too! Way to show for our little burb!

LOL!

The rest of our holiday weekend was full of housework, yardwork and sadly, some "work work" for me. Which means I did not get caught up on the DIS, nor did I get an update written! But in the spirit of our race week I thought this trip update seemed timely. So lets get back to it.

Today, January 3rd, the plan was…no plans.

Oh we had ideas, but we weren't held to anything official. Everyone's goal, at least at bedtime, was to sleep in and take it easy. Some of us did. Unfortunately when I woke up and strolled out to make coffee, I found that a few had been up for a bit and there was a bit of commotion. Apparently Eric had gotten sick in the middle of the night.

And then gone back to sleep.

This was not the first incident of vacation induced sickness in our travel history. In fact it seems to be a rule that it’s not vacation unless at least one kid throws up. In almost all cases it is either too much sun, not enough liquid, too much junk food combined with general over-excitement. Knowing what Eric had eaten (and not eaten) for dinner I definitely felt it was a combo of the latter two. He certainly seemed fine, no worse for the wear, no temp, felt "great". However he had made a mess of the bed. And while it hadn't impacted his bedmate, my sister had called housekeeping to come get everything. As I walked in, they almost done gathering items and taking them away.

We are DVC. Housekeeping never should have been called. I would have washed everything. However, it hadn't occurred to me to tell my sister this, nor had the fact that with her sleeping in the living room portion, she would be the first to know of anything going on and in her typical fashion, would just take care of it.

Arrgh. I felt awful about it and apologized till I was probably blue in the face. And then tipped.

The kids all settled in watching cartoon, we wanted Eric to just chill for a bit and Melissa had some homework anyway. After a cup of coffee, Jeff and I decided to go for a run.

It was colder than I'd packed for. I want to say my phone said it was 57!!!
I had only brought a short sleeved shirt and a tank top for running, neither were going to cut it. Fortunately I had my running gloves. Not because I had expected to need them for actually running but because they had touch sensitive pads on them so were great in the parks at night when it cooled of!
I cobbled together an outfit as best I could and we set off.





Of course I had to stop and take some pictures along the way





Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

Pretty! But cold





We did kind of a reverse 8. Basically a loop to DHS and back on both sides of the canal and around the lake, and then the same in reverse and were able to get 4 miles in. On our first or second loop behind the Swan we saw my folks getting on the bus! They had clearly decided to go ahead and hit a park. But what park? We yelled, waved, barely caught their eye long enough to say hello and they were off.

It was funny, as I was running along close to the IG (solo, Jeff is much faster) a guy flew past me saying "I never thought I’d need to pack my running gloves for here!" Yeah, me either but boy has I happy I had them! The fleece was a bit toasty for running but better than the alternative of the short sleeved shirt or tank.

We ended at Jelly Rolls and enjoyed the view for a bit. At my suggestion, we headed here



I thought we deserved a treat plus I wanted to see the remodeled bakery!













Arriving back we found the rest of the gang up and ready to go, it was going on noon so that seemed appropriate! Eric still seemed just fine and so we decided to let him go but with strict instructions to take it easy. He’d had breakfast some time ago with no issues, no fever and no other symptoms. Plan was for immediate extraction if needed but both Jeff and I felt, based on years of experience, that it was simply a matter of all the excitement and junk catching up with him.

While I'd have loved to have our breakfast and coffee on the verandah…it was too cold! So we enjoyed it here.

At the odd little breakfast bar counter thing



Jeff of course had to use his new mug…so he could hog all the coffee!
Sticky bun for Jeff and for me....a new wonder. The multigrain croissant! Oh flaky deliciousness! Add butter, some strawberry jam (and a greek yogurt on the side) and I was in HEAVEN!

Between the run, the yummy breakfast (brunch really) and a shower we were both entirely refreshed, the sogginess of the previous day completely washed away and though it was cold, it was pretty out and we were ready to go.

But to where?

Space Rangers and Flaming Drinks