Our First Anniversary @Sports, Old Key West AND Pop! TR finished, new TR started!!

[Hillary12.8.07]

Great update! I love your Osborne Lights Photopass pic too! When we went the lines for that shot were so long we skipped it (and now I'm sorry). Can't wait to hear about your stay at OKW and the rest of your trip.

Thanks! I love that picture too...there was a LONG line when we were there too, every time. We skipped it the first night but this was one of the last nights we were there and I was determined to get a picture. We waited maybe 10-15 min. maybe less. And then we were next, and the dancing lights started so we had to wait longer because they don't take it during that. But I'm glad we got it, its one of my faves.
Thanks for reading!

Sorry you missed the MK opening, I'm sure one of these days you will see it. Looks like you guys had a good morning, got to do a lot. That's so cool you got that picture of your DH on BTMR, perfect timing. I can't wait to see OKW west as well. When we stayed at POR many moons ago we rented a boat and took a ride down and passed by it and I loved the theming from the outside, can't wait to see what pictures you have.

I'm sure we'll catch it next time. My mom sent me a youtube video of it the other day and demanded that we go our next trip bc we'll be a boat ride away at the campground. And I'm proud of that picture of DH too! lol...I'm a bit embarassed to admit that I practiced a few times to see how to get the timing right. haha.
OKW pictures coming up soon!

Great update and great pictures!!!

Thanks!

So I was MIA from the DIS for about a month due to work, just found out that you took another trip Yay! I'm excited to catch up and read all about it so far

hi! I'm glad you're back!!

Thanks for reading everyone! And come say hello, lurkers!!

I'm going to try to get a short update up soon, because I love my OKW pictures. But we leave tommorow afternoon for Mississippi so I'm not sure if I'll get a chance. We're going for New Years bc DH has had to work all through Christmas, and having "Christmas" with my mom's side of the family in Mississippi and then driving over to Arkansas to have it with my dad's family. Busy weekend ahead! We'll be gone from tommorow afternoon as soon as DH can get off work, until Sunday night. So in case I don't get a chance to come back on before we go, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year, I will talk to you soon!!!
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[Philadisney]

OK I'm all caught up! I love that you were able to get pictures of your DH on Big Thunder Mountain. And I have to agree about the values - while I've heard good things about POP, I spent one night at ASMu and hated it. I would almost rather stay offsite than at a value now. I can't wait to read about your adventures at OKW, I have never been there but I love the real Key West and really want to check that resort out!
By the way your last TR totally sold me on Fort Wilderness - my friends and I are looking into getting a cabin for the fall maybe...I can't wait!

 

[A's Princess]

Great TR! Happy Anniversary! A year does go by fast.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

When I left off we were heading out of the MK to our home for the week (most of it anyway), Old Key West resort! I was so so excited to finally be there!

Pulling into the resort I could tell I was going to love it. It immediately reminded me of this place my family used to stay at in Hilton Head, SC when we were kids. And all the buildings were just so pretty and colorful. I just loved it. We drove past the main building into the parking area looking for somewhere to park. It wasn't a very large area and we didn't see one, so DH just dropped me off so I could go check in while he found a place to park. This was working out in my mind, because I had ordered a delivery from Disney floral, and I wanted to ask and make sure it was there.

walking into the Hospitality House..

There was no one waiting at check in, yay! One of the CMs quickly checked me in, and told me we were in a great close location! At OKW you can request to be close to the Hospitality House, it's an actual booking category so I wasn't too worried about getting it, but still. And I was SUPER excited when she told me our room was ready too! About this time DH came in, and I was almost done. The CM said she had something for us and walked to the back. I had forgotten to ask her about the delivery, and then was aggravated bc I figured that must be what it was. I had really wanted it delivered to the room for DH to see when we walked in as a surprise, but oh well. She walked out w/it...it was a Disney lunchbox bag, and it was full of snacks (chips, pretzels, cookies, drinks, etc). I had also added a balloon to it, but it was missing. I didn't bother asking then, I just wanted to see our room. I planned on asking about it later but just never did...oh well. I kinda forgot about it!

DH didn't really get it I dont think...he was carrying the bag and asking where our room was. I was like, did you even see what this is??? THEN he saw the card, which had a message from me on it, and unzipped it some and figured it out. He was all surprised and happy then. men.

We walked out to the car, and I could see our room was really close. We didn't know it was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET close. AWESOME!

We drove down just a little bit until we could see our building number and had a parking spot right outside! We were on the second floor, but weren't too far from the stairs. We decided to get a load of stuff out w/us and carry on up. We went up the stairs, and our room was the second on the right side. I could not wait to see it!!!

front of our building..

When we walked in I was SO HAPPY! I LOVED our room. It was so big, and laid out differently than most other rooms, which made it feel even bigger I think, even compared to the other deluxe resorts. And I LOVED the big windows w/shutters, both on the window and the double doors outside to the balcony.

from the door, looking in..

(stole this from Allears)

kitchenette

looking back to the door and windows, bathroom is on the left side

out on the balcony! I loved the Mickey shaped holes

our beautiful view! It was the end of one hole on the golf course and the tee off of another

this was where the tee off is. I loved watching people play in the mornings..

picture of our delivery. I love using that lunchbox everyday now!

I was absolutely in love! I think I said it at least a dozen times that day, how much I loved our pretty new hotel! I was just so excited! I could tell it was defintely going to be my new favorite!

DH made a few more trips out to the car to get all of our stuff in. I got busy unpacking everything and putting stuff away in the closet, drawers, and in the kitchenette. I LOVED having that. We had a good sized fridge, cabinets, microwave, coffee maker, toaster, sink, and other stuff. SO nice. The only complaint I would have about storage is the lack of drawer space. All we had were four smallish drawers, which were under the tv. Just not very big. I ended up using the two in the nightstand between the beds as well. For a longer trip and more people it would have been more of a pain. ONLY complaint I have though. The bathroom was amazing too! SO big, and I loved having the big vanity with drawers and cabinet space to put all of our stuff away! It was bigger than my bathroom at home almost! And it had a cool window up at the top which let some light in. Just beautiful.

And because I'm a dork, I had to put some decorations out too...

I also had some window cling Mickey and Minnie Christmas things, but with the windows the way they were I decided not to use them. I just stuck them on the big mirror on the front of the bathroom door.

After putting everything away and making ourselves at home we decided to wander around for awhile and explore! We had a few hours before our ADR that night at Kona.

We walked across the street to the HH, and walked around in the gift shop. I loved all the DVC merchandise, I WILL OWN ONE DAY! We also looked at their selection of grocery stuff, we needed bread and a few other things but decided to come back by later.

We walked past Olivia's, and looked at the menu. It looked really pretty and decided we wanted to try to eat there later in the week. We went down towards the water and boat area. SO pretty.

I caught a bus coming across the bridge...

boats..

We kept on walking on down past the pool, which was beautiful of course!

We were very interested in the slide! We loved it at Wilderness Lodge so we knew we would have to check it out sometime!

We saw the very small counter service place where we could refill our mug, the community hall, and gym which DH was interested in. We walked past the playground area which was super cool, and saw a big fire area and chairs, volleyball area, tennis courts, and another seating area, kinda hard to explain. I took this picture of the waterway that goes to DTD..

We past this big ugly bug on the ground, it was HUGE. I had to take a picture of it, it was so big

Then we went around the backside of the pool towards the lighthouse just seeing what was back there. I love this picture of DH

After walking around for awhile we decided to head on back to the room and shower and clean up for our night out! We had really enjoyed Kona Cafe on our honeymoon, and decided it was one of the only places we really wanted to go back to, being on a budget. We didn't go out or anything on our anniversary the week before so we decided this would be our celebrated anniversary dinner.

I took a long relaxing bath in our big bathroom, and I think DH went on a run or something. We finished getting ready and headed out.

took this as we left. not great but oh well

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[Hillary12.8.07]

We walked over to the bus stop across the street at the HH and waited just a few minutes for a MK bus. There was a MVMCP that night and everyone there was all excited for that. As we rode over it started sprinkling some and I started freaking out, worried it would come a downpour. We didn't have an umbrella or ponchos or anything, and its a bit of a walk from the bus stops to the monorail. Thankfully by the time we got there it had stopped. We headed to the monorail and rode around to the Polynesian for dinner!

I always love walking in here, the smells and just how beautiful the lobby is. Even though we have really started to enjoy the Epcot area more and would love to stay over there, I just love the Polynesian and dream of staying there with DH one day. one day...

We checked in at Kona, and were given a buzzer, told it would be a few minutes. We walked around some, looked at the menu at the Kona coffee stand, and into the gift shop. In just a few minutes our buzzer went off and we were in and seated. One thing we didn't like last year there was how close the tables were, and again it was the same. Last year we were at a table that had a booth on one side, but this time we were over towards the coffee place in a row of small two person tables. I think we were even closer this time. Oh well though. We decided not to get appetizers even though we LOVED them last year. We knew we'd be getting the yummy bread they have! YUUUM. DH ordered the Slow Roasted Prime Rib w/mashed potatoes and stir-fried broccoli florets, and I had-Pomegranate Barbecued Pork Chop served on pan-roasted fingerling potatoes and applewood smoked bacon braised Swiss chard. Both were very good. My pork chop was very good, but I'll be honest I've had better at other places around here. But still good. We were too full for desert as well. We did enjoy ourselves, and knew it would most likely be the only dinner we ate that week in a CS place like that. But later we both said it wasn't worth the money, and we could have gone somewhere else much cheaper. Oh well...it was fun, and we still had a whole week of fun left! Lesson learned!

Oh and our waiter kind of sucked too. I dont remember his name...but it was a younger guy...as most of the other waiters there are. He only came by maybe twice, and my water was empty for half the meal and he never came back near us until he brought the check. I was not happy, but just didn't let it bother me too much. His tip reflected it though, and I ALWAYS leave good tip, unless it just sucks. And he did.

We left Kona, and decided to try some of the Kona coffee I'd read alot about. We've both gotten into drinking alot of coffee, and trying diff. kinds. So we got a cup to go for us to share, and then walked around outside for a little bit. It's just so pretty here, the pool and the beach and the view...I'd take it over the GF any day, seriously. F

few pics...

We were ready to go, and talking about how to get back "home". Being who we are, just going back to the monorail and then finding a bus was not fun enough. We wanted to check out the boat from DTD to OKW, plus I just wanted to go to DTD so we headed out to the bus stop to get on a bus to DTD. Now this, was our longest wait of the week I think. We waited foreverrrrr for a bus. A bunch of other ones came, many to DHS, MK and Epcot. But it was a good 30-45 minutes before a DTD one came. While we were waiting we tried some of our coffee....it was...ok. DH did not like it. It was just a weird taste I guess? Maybe we're just boring. But we ended up throwing most of it out. FINALLY a bus came and we were off to DTD!

We got there, and DH stopped in the rest room while I went in the new tshirt place where you can design a shirt. I played around for a few minutes until he came in. Then we had to walk through the Art of Disney store, I just love it and tell him I want everything in there. We were headed to the Christmas store, and saw that they had most of the entrances closed off. We walked around to the other side and saw that they had a LINE GOING IN THE STORE. People were lined up waiting just to get in! We could see the lines going around the store, they were limiting how many were in at once I guess? It was nuts. The guy outside told us they were having a sale? I knew all the ornaments, tree skirts, etc was all 50% off, we had already seen that. So I assume it was the same there and they were just really busy?

We were getting tired, it had been a LONG day, so we decided not to go all the way around to the World of Disney store like we'd planned, and just head over to the boat and go home. It was nice, having that boat launch right there! And even better was there was a boat sitting there waiting!

It was a pretty full load of people. As we went across the water towards Saratoga Springs we could see fireworks in the distance, which the driver said was Illuminations...

Very cool.

I took more pictures as we crossed the water, it's so pretty at night.

We stopped first at Saratoga, and everyone on the boat got off! We were the only ones on the ride from there to OKW. It was very pretty and relaxing, and we had a great boat driver. She was telling us about alot of the wildlife and birds, and just seemed very happy with her job. It was only about a 10 minute drive back, and when we got closer to the resort we could see that alot of the guests had decorated their balconies with lights and even alot of the big inflatable Disney characters. The bigger unit balconies were HUGE, so they fit easily. We could even see alot of people had full size Christmas trees on their balconies, and in some of the rooms that you could see in. Some people had even put up some displays out in the grass outside their balcony. Just very cool. I had brought some lights to hang on ours, but didn't put them up earlier since I thought it might be tacky there. So of course as soon as we got back I put mine up too!

We got back and walked back through the gift shop to get the groceries we forgot to get earlier, and then headed back to the room. We discussed going for a swim, but it was pretty chilly and we were both exhausted. We sat outside on our balcony for a little bit talking and just hanging out, and then headed in to bed. We were so happy to be "home", and ready for our next day of fun at Epcot!!!


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[Hillary12.8.07]

OK I'm all caught up! I love that you were able to get pictures of your DH on Big Thunder Mountain. And I have to agree about the values - while I've heard good things about POP, I spent one night at ASMu and hated it. I would almost rather stay offsite than at a value now. I can't wait to read about your adventures at OKW, I have never been there but I love the real Key West and really want to check that resort out!
By the way your last TR totally sold me on Fort Wilderness - my friends and I are looking into getting a cabin for the fall maybe...I can't wait!

I can see why alot of people really don't like the values. I think it's worse when you've stayed in a deluxe and have been spoiled too! I would def. rather stay offsite than at ASports, but not Pop. I loved it. And we REALLY LOVED OKW!

I'm so glad you're thinking about Fort Wilderness!! That sounds like so much fun, you'll def. have to keep me updated, and let me know if you have any questions!

Great TR! Happy Anniversary! A year does go by fast.

Thanks so much, and thanks for reading!

 

[Cindeegyrl]

Just found your trip report today and I love it! Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[KatGarcia]

OKW is one of a small # of resorts I haven't been too...It looks really pretty, I'll have to check it out sometime. Great update!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Love that you explored OKW while you were there. We stayed there in October, but barely looked around...so now I see what we missed. Lesson learned-next time explore the resort a bit more! I agree about the Poly. We were there over Christmas and we never get tired of the view or atmosphere. You absolutely MUST stay there at some point in the future...you will not want to stay anywhere else. I love your pic where you capture the pool with the castle and train station in the background...so cool!

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Just found your trip report today and I love it! Can't wait for the next installment!

Thanks for joining in!

OKW is one of a small # of resorts I haven't been too...It looks really pretty, I'll have to check it out sometime. Great update!

I had never really even THOUGHT about staying there...I've stayed so many other places! But its awesome, I never expected to love it this much. You'll have to check it out sometime, at least go walk around. Thanks for reading!

Love that you explored OKW while you were there. We stayed there in October, but barely looked around...so now I see what we missed. Lesson learned-next time explore the resort a bit more! I agree about the Poly. We were there over Christmas and we never get tired of the view or atmosphere. You absolutely MUST stay there at some point in the future...you will not want to stay anywhere else. I love your pic where you capture the pool with the castle and train station in the background...so cool!

Aw, you'll have to try to get back sometime!!
I have stayed at the Poly, just not w/DH. We stayed there a few years ago in January, my mom and I took my two little cousins and stayed there and the Boardwalk. I fell in love w/it then, although we were in the VERY last building by the TTC and would have liked to be closer to the lobby and food. But I still loved it...its at the top of my list of places to stay w/DH!

I love that picture too! Thanks for reading!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I have stayed at the Poly, just not w/DH. We stayed there a few years ago in January, my mom and I took my two little cousins and stayed there and the Boardwalk. I fell in love w/it then, although we were in the VERY last building by the TTC and would have liked to be closer to the lobby and food. But I still loved it...its at the top of my list of places to stay w/DH!

I love that picture too! Thanks for reading!

Ahhhh....you must have been in Tahiti. That is the building we stayed in and always request. Yes, definitely a hike to the GCH, but the rooms are larger there than most of the other buildings. That'll be great when you and DH can stay there. Definitely a romatic resort and so much fun.

 

[IluvXU]

OKW sounds/looks great. We might have to check out renting points for our next trip. I think the kids would love the pool area and we love the boats to DTD.

 

[Goldeelox9]

YAY...A New TR.....I Love your TRs!

 

[tinkgurl]

Okay Hill, I'm all caught up! It's so cool seeing your pics of OKW and thinking I was exactly there too! Now if only we could be there at the same time!

I love that pic by the Poly pool with the Pinkish castle in the distance!

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

OKW sounds/looks great. We might have to check out renting points for our next trip. I think the kids would love the pool area and we love the boats to DTD.

Oh your girls would love it I'm sure. I remember how much they love slides too and the one there is SO fun. It's a great family resort, so much to do! And renting points is the way to go, definitely! We will be doing it again w/out a doubt, it saves SO much money.

YAY...A New TR.....I Love your TRs!

YAY I'm glad you're here!! I need to get caught up on yours, I started reading and have been so busy I need to check in w/you! Thanks for reading!

Okay Hill, I'm all caught up! It's so cool seeing your pics of OKW and thinking I was exactly there too! Now if only we could be there at the same time!

I love that pic by the Poly pool with the Pinkish castle in the distance!

Yay! I know-I thought the same thing reading yours (I've been keeping up, I just suck at commenting ), it's weird seeing your pics when we were just there! Are you guys going to keep staying there now, or go back to VWL? We just love OKW, we've talked about buying a resale there.

 

[tinkgurl]

Yay! I know-I thought the same thing reading yours (I've been keeping up, I just suck at commenting ), it's weird seeing your pics when we were just there! Are you guys going to keep staying there now, or go back to VWL? We just love OKW, we've talked about buying a resale there.

It's okay...just maybe sometime leave a little comment to say hi or something! Oh we are definately staying at OKW again....(*whispers* sorry VWL)

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Monday December 15th

I woke up in the BEST mood this morning, in my beautiful new Old Key West room! I love me some Disney, and waking up in such a pretty room, with just a hint of sunshine coming in, with a whole week ahead of me...can't get better than that!

I think we woke up around 7:30 or so, and DH wanted to go take a run around the resort, so he got on up and got dressed and left. I took my time getting around, I opened up the blinds and sat outside on the balcony for a few minutes, just enjoying the quiet. I saw a couple teeing off at the green right across from us, but had left my camera inside and didn't feel like getting it. I took my time showering and getting ready, and a little while later DH came back and got himself ready as well. We had made our own coffee, with our favorite coffee and my yummy peppermint creamer, and decided to take a cup with us. This was SO nice, to be able to have our own coffee in the morning using our coffee maker!

I was faithful to Tourguide Mike yet again on this trip, and like our honeymoon, we did pretty good with crowds. We were headed off to Epcot! I was so excited, it really is becoming our favorite, although Magic Kingdom will always be special and just "DISNEY" to me.

We walked across to the bus stop and I'm sure we didn't wait too long. We got to Epcot soon enough, and were in pretty quickly. We stopped for a few pictures...

this on my camera...

for some reason the Photopass ones were just not good...we were squinty in pretty much all of them. I wish I'd known this, because this was the only time I gave my camera to the Photopass person the whole time. boo.

few Photopass ones...

few more pics I took

Of course, we went immediately to Spaceship Earth. Well, actually we sat for a few minutes on a bench near there to finish up our coffee...it was so hot we hadn't finished it yet and couldn't take it on the ride.

So after we were done we got in line. This was one of the first (and few) aggravations of the trip. We got in line behind a few people...a man, and I think maybe one woman. They were speaking Spanish and really loud. Well we walked a few steps, and then they stopped, and held up the whole line of people behind us to let like, 8 or 9 people get in front of them. The only reason I didn't throw a complete fit was because we hadn't gotten very far in line yet. But everyone behind us was getting aggravated at it. The people just kept coming. And a few random times during the wait they would just stop walking, to take pictures, or the kids would be playing on the railings, etc. And they were LOUD. DH was getting really aggravated.

vent over. The wait time was listed at like 30 minutes but we only waited maybe 15...the line always moves fast. OH...one more thing...the crazies in front of us asked the two attendants before you got on how many people they could get in one car or something...because I heard one of them say, "no sir, you cannot fit all of you in one car"....

So now that DH has figured out where to pose for the camera, he had to make a crazy face.

I don't know exactly what he was doing but when our thing popped up we were hysterical. It was HILARIOUS, watching his part of our future w/that picture running around. We seriously laughed about it the rest of the week...I don't know why it was so funny but oh my gosh.

After SE, we walked some through Innoventions. Is it just me or is it just totally lame??? DH is always interested to see stuff, but there is just nothing fun there. moving on...

We decided to go over to Test Track, to see how long the single rider line was since I don't ride. It wasn't long, so DH went ahead. I walked around in the store for a few minutes, found the tag for my car I wanted. I saw it in October but didn't get it, and wished I had. I decided to wait though bc I didn't feel like carrying it around all day, and didn't feel like messing w/sending it to the resort. And just bc I like to wait around on stuff, just in case.

I went over to the picture area, so I could see DH's picture come up and get it on our Photopass card. There was some girl working there, but she was being really rude and short with people who were trying to do their own card. Like she'd get mad at them for trying to do it themself and snatch it away. whatever. But she wasn't paying attention to anyone so they were trying to hurry and get their picture before it went away. Well after about ten minutes she left, walked off to some room. I had been watching her scan the cards so I figured if she wasnt back, I could do it. Of course DH came out a few minutes later and I saw his picture, and we couldn't get it to work. Lots of other people were having trouble too, and naturally stupid girl is nowhere to be seen. So, no picture of that ride. I was PISSED. I thought about complaining to someone but decided to get over it and move on.

After this we decided to head on back to World Showcase. On our honeymoon, one of the main things I wanted to do was spend time back there and see the countries, and take our time walking around bc the only other trip DH had been there, we rushed through and missed most of it. But for whatever reason, we just never got to on our honeymoon either. He had seen from Mexico-American Adventure, and nothing really on the other side. So that was number one on my list of to dos this trip. So we started on the Canada side since he'd never really seen it.

When we got there this guy was finishing up...

We listened to the last few minutes, there was a huge school group there, from a private school or something, they looked like middle schoolers maybe, and had uniforms on. We decided to go see O Canada, because DH has always talked about going there one day and I remembered it being pretty good when I saw it years ago, and knew it had been redone too.

We walked down to the theater, and only waited maybe two minutes for it to start. It was really good, I enjoyed the addition of Martin Short. DH really enjoyed the whole 360 degree film, he'd never seen one before. Made him really want to go now!

After that we just walked around some, went in the stores and looked at all the different stuff for sale, and then walked around and took some pictures...

DH in the phone booth...

From there we went to the United Kingdom next. We were getting hungry, and were looking for a place to sit and eat. We had packed peanut butter sandwiches and chips and pretzels and stuff in our bag (told you we were on a budget!) We walked through some of the stores here, and then saw this...

We didn't see any tables available, but some the little area down by the water with benches to sit. There was a free bench, and I thought hey, what a great view, we'll go there. BAD. Now, reading here on the Dis about others' experiences with the psycho birds there, I think we were INSANE to sit there. The birds, were nuts. Flying all over the place, SCREAMING, nuts. But we were HUNGRY, and they didn't really come real close to us, so we just ate fairly quick so we could get out of there! Seriously though...what is up with those Canada/United Kingdom birds?!?!?

our view (minus said birds)...

We finished our food, and with full bellies we were ready to conquer the rest of World Showcase!!


Up next-the rest of our WS afternoon and a romantic stroll!









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[tinkgurl]

Love the Spaceship Earth pics! When we rode it for the first time with the changes, I was thinking "Oh my gosh, they are really taking our picture?! Are they going to have a gift shop at the end and try to sell those to us?!"

 

[Philadisney]

That is so irritating about all those people cutting at Spaceship Earth. I can't believe the nerve of some people! Or the nerve of those birds who tried to steal your lunch!
That's also too bad about the photopass thing not working at Test Track. It worked for us when we were there, but I don't understand why that is the only ride that seems to have that feature. It's such a great idea! I guess then they know nobody would buy the shockingly overpriced pictures then.

 

[DisneyLaura]

Hillary - I'm finally all caught up. I've been MIA on the DIS within the couple of days being sick, now I have to read a lot of TR's. I love the SE pictures too. One of things I want to do when we go in Nov is to really enjoy going through the WS. We always just quickly go through them just to say we were there and never really walk through and see everything. Not next time though.