Sleepy and Grumpy visit Tatooine–A SWW TR! - The End - All done and Link to new TR

[Captain_Oblivious]

Check your email....

I would love to take a nap, but history tells me that I lie in bed tossing and turning and finally end up taking a bath or something because I just don’t fall asleep. So today, I decided to go on a photo journalism spree at the hotel.

I'm the same way. I have such a hard time taking naps during the day. Especially if I'm traveling!

When you come out the back entrance you see this fountain. I think it is just beautiful.

I agree!

I always have to take a picture of this saxophone. It boggles my mind why they leave it out here when the band isn’t playing.

This always makes me think of Homer Simpson for some reason.

"Sax-a-ma-phone....Sax-a-ma-phone..."

I'm not sure why I like this hallway so much.

Because it means you're at Disney World?

I think by the end of the evening, this is what Fran looked like to me.

The fireworks were launched to the music of Star Wars, and they had a lot of it to work with.

Fireworks timed to Star Wars music? That's AWESOME!

These were some of the best fireworks that I have ever seen. Or it could have been the great music.

The music I'm sure would make a big difference!

Or the drinks.

Or that.

 

[eandesmom]

I lied, I was still 2 updates behind!


The show looked SO good! I can't recall who was there when we were but had I known about the storm trooper show I might have tried to go just for that. Add in John Ratzenberger and....wow!

And with that, we bid adieu to our guides. Their day with us was over, but we had the fireworks show in the sky that night. However, it was almost 4PM and we had several hours until we had to be back for the show. We had seen this earlier in the day and now was the time.



We got one of each drink and tried them both. It turns out that I preferred “The Force” and Fran preferred “The Dark Side”.

I preferred The Dark Side

In addition to the sweet treats, there were libations which were free flowing as well. The Dark Side mix never quite came together that night and they never served any, although they kept mixing batches up behind the bar and I guess they just never quite got it right. I particularly enjoyed my share of Jedi Mind Tricks while Fran rather preferred “The Force”.



I think by the end of the evening, this is what Fran looked like to me.

The fireworks were launched to the music of Star Wars, and they had a lot of it to work with.

After less than five minutes, I gave up taking photos of the fireworks. They just weren’t coming out nearly as well as I was seeing them and I decided just to sit back and enjoy the show rather than try and document it. These were some of the best fireworks that I have ever seen. Or it could have been the great music.

Or the drinks.

What a wonderful night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interesting that the drinks had the same names but were so very different. It really seems like you got "value" out of your package and it was money well spent. The Jedi Mind trick sounds tasty!

 

[cj9200]

We have been very fortunate in the past couple years. All her medical maladies are healed or under control. We've had a couple financial winfalls so that I'm not having to scrape for every penny to make ends meet like we did while her father needed 24/7 caregivers. We're not getting any younger, so if we can afford it, we're going for it. Too many years of waiting for people to die and wounds to heal, we're healthy enough so we might as well enjoy it!

Continued good health and more financial windfalls.

I think by the end of the evening, this is what Fran looked like to me.



After less than five minutes, I gave up taking photos of the fireworks. They just weren’t coming out nearly as well as I was seeing them and I decided just to sit back and enjoy the show rather than try and document it. These were some of the best fireworks that I have ever seen. Or it could have been the great music.











Or the drinks.

Too funny. We were at BWV during Star Wars Weekend and just hearing the finale was awesome. Saw them our last night and it was an amazing show.

Love the pictures of the GF. DD wants to stay there bad and we will have to sang a reservation sometime soon.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the pictures from around the resort and particularly the chandelier photos.

Is the Macaroni Cheese Hot Dog any good? This was on my must try list in December, but after doing Rock'n'Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror in short succession, I was so shaken up that I did not feel like eating.

The dessert buffet looks amazing. What a shame that they did not offer the Dark Side. This looks delicious.

I enjoyed your fireworks photos. I am going to have to seek out the fireworks on You Tube as they sound very special

Corinna

 

[Leshaface]

Love the GF photos. Can't wait to see them in person in January! That kid splash area is actually really neat. I wouldn't mind using it myself

Mac and Cheese Hotdog?!

I loved your blurry Fran photo. I'm sure that's how you looked to DH on Monday night!

 

[franandaj]

Nice pictures of the hotel and the chandeliers. Seems like you're starting to get bitten by the photography bug again.

Thanks! I learned some even more interesting stuff over the weekend that might totally get me in trouble, we'll see if I have time to work it in after this crazy season is over.

That dessert party/special viewing area looks wonderful! The treats look delicious. I think I would have definitely forked out money for that position.

The $50 package included the parade and the fireworks. That was soooo worth that price, but I'm happy we got the whole package it was a treat to be escorted around that day and not worry about anything.

I did see the entire fireworks show on YouTube. The music was amazing! It definitely was the best show/music I've experienced in a long time as well. Glad to see your pictures of it and read your take on it.

Thanks for sharing.

If I'd known that it was on YouTube, I wouldn't have bothered at all. I'll have to seek it out and watch again, it was just too cool!

That is the coolest fireworks experience ever! The booze alone is awesome. Add in all of those desserts and wow! The pics of the fireworks are good.

Yeah, we tried to get our money's worth on the booze and desserts. I could barely eat one of each on the table. The Yoda and Darth cupcakes were rich and I think it was Yoda that was Hazelnut. I don't like Hazelnut. Fran also had the ice cream treats in addition to the table sweets.

Thank you for the photo tour of the villas. The pool area looks awesome. I am very interested in the Poly construction so thanks for those too. I agree with PIO, seems like the photography bug has bit you. Between you, PIO, and Bret, I'm in heaven!

I can't wait to stay there again, it's one of my favorite resorts, so swanky, but yet so casual. I'm thrilled you put me in the same sentence re pictures as PIO and Bret!

Cool fireworks and dessert viewing area, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Your pics of the GF are making me want to stay there on our next trip, whenever that might be.

If you have the points, it's definitely worth staying there!

It is so nice to see you able to take a lot of pictures at the GF. That is good for you to take a lot of pictures during your trips. It looks so amazing to stay there. The new expansion for the Polynesian Resort looks good from your picture and so much has been added since I last visited.

I take way too many pictures, if I posted all that I took, folks would get bored. I'm glad you enjoy the ones I've posted.

The dessert viewing area looks very nice and great to be able to watch the fireworks without having to stake out a spot. I would have no problem waiting to stake out a spot for the fireworks at DHS but the dessert package looks very nice.

For us, Fran really needs her rest and staking out a spot is rarely an option because it will wipe her out for the next day, so it's good that they offer things like this.

Your pictures of Symphony in the Stars fireworks are very nice and the location was nice as well. I also checked out Symphony in the Stars firework show on YouTube and it is very nice firework show. It was shorter than I have expected. But overall it was a very nice theme for Star Wars Weekend.

Very nice updates.

Fireworks shows are almost always too short, but that's good that Disney leaves you wanting more all the time. Thank you.

The desserts look awesome and I would love the booze! Your photos are great! I wonder if the fireworks were the same as I saw last year on May The Fourth Be With You....if they were they were amazing!

Jill in CO

I bet they were fairly similar, there's not a lot of variation they can do. Plus I think Star Wars fans are just happy to hear the music and see the pretty lights!

Love looking at your VGF and GF photos! We had our first stay at the Grand Floridian in May and we really enjoyed our all-too-brief stay. The CMs were friendly and we liked the generally quiet, laid-back atmosphere of the entire resort. For years, we dreamt about staying at the Grand Floridian, but the room prices always scared us away. The Grand Floridian is still very pricy, but now that we are DVC members we can afford to stay in the villas.

We stayed there one year, and that was the year we came home and bought DVC! I'm glad we can stay there now too!

We discovered there is a CM whose duties include removing coins from the Penguin fountain in the VGF lobby. The coins start to corrode and can stain and discolor the fountain, so every few days the coins are removed and the stains cleaned. I guess its human nature to toss coins in a fountain.

It totally makes sense. That fountain is so pretty, I wouldn't want to see it stained either.

Good Grief I only realized 11 pages in that you started this report Boy I have catching up to do

I'm glad you made it over here. Better late than never. There is a handy index in the front to help you catch up!

 

[afwdwfan]

We were on the 5th floor of the resort and this is a shot looking down of the chandeliers in the lobby.

Cool picture. Kind of disorienting, but very cool effect.

I never needed these concierge types, but it’s nice to know they are there if you need them. Though I haven’t actually heard many stories of them actually being able to help folks out, most of the time they send them back to the main lobby for things.

You know, I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Never used them, but usually don't hear success stories from those who have.

The Dark Side mix never quite came together that night and they never served any, although they kept mixing batches up behind the bar and I guess they just never quite got it right.

Oh, come on. Just give me the rejects. I don't care what it looks like. I'd hate to see all that stuff get thrown out.

They let you have two beverages at a time when you went to the bar.

2 hands... 2 drinks.

I think by the end of the evening, this is what Fran looked like to me.

After less than five minutes, I gave up taking photos of the fireworks. They just weren’t coming out nearly as well as I was seeing them and I decided just to sit back and enjoy the show rather than try and document it.

Always the best way to do it. Fireworks are hard to photograph and you can't enjoy them if you try. We always have like 1 or 2 pictures of fireworks and then just take it all in.

These were some of the best fireworks that I have ever seen. Or it could have been the great music.




Or the drinks.

All of the above?

 

[franandaj]

Great photo's of VGF and main hotel plenty of eye candy! The fireworks and desert party look great! Nice you got handicap area also. Glad you enjoyed your day and hope you slept soundly!

It was a great day all around, we couldn't complain at all.

Love VGF. Sort wish we owned there too, but we could always use more BLT points. We found the concierge check in folks at VGF to be quite helpful. Since we drove that is where we checked into VGF and they were quick and friendly. But you are right that we usually went out the side door unless we were driving somewhere.

We really love the VGF, but we'll have to live without owning there. We have too many points as it is. Fran keeps talking about getting more to rent out, but we somewhat struggle with trying to use them all up. With a Paris trip on the horizon though, we might not have a problem.

I know what you mean about how hard it is to photograph the fireworks and sometimes you need to just stop taking photos and enjoy the show. We could hear the SWW fireworks as we were staying at AKV Jambo House. They sounded pretty impressive.

Thanks again for taking the time to report all this stuff.

I sometimes have trouble not "documenting" everything. This last weekend was hard, every meal I had that urge to take out my camera even if it was just banquet food.

Very nice pictures around VGF and GF. I'm going to have to sit down and figure out the next time I'll get to stay there, right now there's no plans do you remember where the lion statues were? I can't recall seeing those before.


What a fabulous evening at HS! Did you ever report that awful CM? We caught the fireworks twice while walking back to BC, that was very cool. The desserts look mighty tasty.

The lion statues were on the second floor, the two elevator side near the entrance to Citrico's and V&A's.

No, I didn't end up reporting the awful CM. Not worth my angst.

I am caught up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GF Cafe is a great idea for lunch. We ate their on our last trip. The food was quite good but I struggled a bit with the ambiance and there was a LOT of little ones. Which is fine, but the combo of the 2 for an adult trip just wasn't ideal for me for dinner. Lunch though would be prefect since it is so nice and airy n there

I almost always buy a mug for use in the room, it makes such a difference. Interestingly I didn't on the last 2 WDW trips but came home with 3 from DL! If I like the F&W one, I will get it, if not hopefully there will be something on DCL as I actually don't have a DCL one at all unless you count my beat to heck to go mug from Alaska. Which seems wrong.

I want to stay in one of the 1B's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad just so I can use that kitchen! I don't see it happening but oh I want! Just beyond gorgeous.

It was so nice! Maybe someday when the kids leave the nest.

I hear you there, while we used the strategy in May, honestly on several of the days we used it for evening FP's, not afternoon. And I know we simply blew off some afternoon ones!



You got some really really lovely ones! .

As soon as we got there, I tried to switch many of them to evenings if we planned on being in that park at night. I know now better strategy.

Thanks!

I would expect nothing less of Fran. I do kind of wish I'd bought the coffee mug, I was afraid of the decal coming off in the dishwasher but now I wish I had it. Fun dress!

Really great calvalcade pics! I absolutely LOVED that parade but my viewing psot was less than ideal for decent pics.

She does crack me up sometimes with the stuff she finds.

We really did luck out on the parade. I was glad to have such great memories on film...er SD card.

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad we cleared THAT up!

I'm the same way. I have such a hard time taking naps during the day. Especially if I'm traveling!

Unless my butt is totally whooped I don't sleep well during the day....cue foreboding music....

I agree!

There is just so much beauty at this resort, I really can't wait to go back. But I say that about every Disney resort I stay at!

This always makes me think of Homer Simpson for some reason.

"Sax-a-ma-phone....Sax-a-ma-phone..."

Well since technically this is what I have a Bachelor's Degree in it has a lot more significance, more like reminds me of Lisa!

Because it means you're at Disney World?

It's not often I can say that and get away with it!

Fireworks timed to Star Wars music? That's AWESOME!

The music I'm sure would make a big difference!

Or that.

I lied, I was still 2 updates behind!


The show looked SO good! I can't recall who was there when we were but had I known about the storm trooper show I might have tried to go just for that. Add in John Ratzenberger and....wow!

I looked it up, the folks who played Jar Jar Binks and Chewbacca were there as well as Ashley Eckstein and someone else from the upcoming Star Wars Rebels.

I preferred The Dark Side

I'm not a fan of coconut anything, especially Rum so I knew I wouldn't really like that one. Give me a Blue drink and I'm happy!

What a wonderful night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interesting that the drinks had the same names but were so very different. It really seems like you got "value" out of your package and it was money well spent. The Jedi Mind trick sounds tasty!

It was, I switched to that one for the evening!

Continued good health and more financial windfalls.

Too funny. We were at BWV during Star Wars Weekend and just hearing the finale was awesome. Saw them our last night and it was an amazing show.

Love the pictures of the GF. DD wants to stay there bad and we will have to sang a reservation sometime soon.

Thanks!

I'm glad it wasn't just the booze!

I know your DD loves the restaurants there, and they're even better when staying on property!

I love the pictures from around the resort and particularly the chandelier photos.

Is the Macaroni Cheese Hot Dog any good? This was on my must try list in December, but after doing Rock'n'Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror in short succession, I was so shaken up that I did not feel like eating.

Thanks!

The hot dog was OK, Fran prefers her Mac n Cheese on the side, but I've had several versions and this was one of the better ones. I can see why you wouldn't want to eat after those two.

The dessert buffet looks amazing. What a shame that they did not offer the Dark Side. This looks delicious.

I enjoyed your fireworks photos. I am going to have to seek out the fireworks on You Tube as they sound very special

Corinna

I know, I love coffee with liqueurs and this sounded so good! Thanks for the compliments on the fireworks pics!

Love the GF photos. Can't wait to see them in person in January! That kid splash area is actually really neat. I wouldn't mind using it myself

Mac and Cheese Hotdog?!

I loved your blurry Fran photo. I'm sure that's how you looked to DH on Monday night!

You guys are going to love staying there!

I love Mac and Cheese hot dogs!

Yes, your DH was feeling no pain when I left you guys! I'm sure he slept really well that night!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Caught up after being so behind: So now I have random thoughts bear with me Amazing VGF absolutely gorgeous. So glad you and Fran had a good time with the sisters @ 1900 I forgot that was your first dinner there, we'll have to do it next time I laughed so hard at the Wookie family with the hairless cat, yes a much cheaper way to show us Can't wait until you are in the house and everything is unpacked it will be so neat to see where everything goes. Your fireworks pictures are getting better & better..see you never forget.

 

[Leshaface]

Yes, your DH was feeling no pain when I left you guys! I'm sure he slept really well that night!

Yep! I actually didn't get him out of bed until after 9:30 I think that's pretty good don't you think?

 

[franandaj]

Cool picture. Kind of disorienting, but very cool effect.

I like cool effects!

You know, I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Never used them, but usually don't hear success stories from those who have.

That's funny!

Oh, come on. Just give me the rejects. I don't care what it looks like. I'd hate to see all that stuff get thrown out.

I know! And that one sounded really good too!

2 hands... 2 drinks.

Excactly!

Even she thought it was funny!

Always the best way to do it. Fireworks are hard to photograph and you can't enjoy them if you try. We always have like 1 or 2 pictures of fireworks and then just take it all in.

At least I can remember that I saw them, but still got to enjoy!

All of the above?

Probably!

Caught up after being so behind: So now I have random thoughts bear with me Amazing VGF absolutely gorgeous. So glad you and Fran had a good time with the sisters @ 1900 I forgot that was your first dinner there, we'll have to do it next time I laughed so hard at the Wookie family with the hairless cat, yes a much cheaper way to show us Can't wait until you are in the house and everything is unpacked it will be so neat to see where everything goes. Your fireworks pictures are getting better & better..see you never forget.

We're planning on doing it for our trip in April. I'm sure Jim and Alberto wouldn't mind if you tagged along, they're great fun. I thought the picture was pretty darned funny as well.

It's going to be a long long time before we get everything unpacked. At the rate the contractor is going I hope we're settled before Christmas!

Yep! I actually didn't get him out of bed until after 9:30 I think that's pretty good don't you think?

That's nice that you got to sleep in and have a chill day.

 

[franandaj]

Going to bed Friday night we had high expectations for the morning. Even though it was well after midnight, free drinks can do that to you. We had every intention of making the rope drop stormtrooper’s show and getting in a nearly full day at DHS. When Olaf called at 6AM the next morning, we said, "To heck with the stormtroopers!"

Instead we laid in bed for a while longer. Then I put together our travel breakfast of champions. Cereal, V8, and our caffeinated beverages of choice.



Then we were on our way to DHS. I think we were on our way before 9AM, just not the 7AM in our original plan.



Our first stop, Darth's Mall of course! We visited the Trap, otherwise known as the Ackbar Snackbar. We purchased our favorite choice of drink in the souvenir stormtrooper mug.







I know it was still relatively early because I was going to order my drink without alcohol, but when Fran said she was getting hers "fully leaded" I decided why not? Its OK to drink before 10AM on vacation! Fran likes to take pictures of funny details that Disney does….



Then we headed over to the D-tech me section to get special CM style nametags with our names written in Aurebesh. We both chose Tattoine as our "home planet", although there were a variety of planetary choices as well as alliances like the rebels. It took about 15 minutes so that gave Fran some more time to shop. She got a small box worth of stuff including a Jedi costume meant for Duffy that she plans to put on Olaf, thus making him Jedi Olaf.

Then it was time for sone character shots. We headed over to Star Tours and found Chip and Dale as Ewoks. While waiting in line we saw this sand person skulking around.



I don’t have a close up picture of the name badge we purchased earlier, but you can see it on my in the upcoming character photos.







We wanted pictures with Chewie next but his line was closed down so that he could go participate in the motorcade. We were told he would be back around 12:30 or 1PM and we could start lining up around noon or 12:15.

We were getting hungry so we decided to head over to the Farmer's Market section of the park. You see I have this little Golden Spoon in my signature, it is a concept invented by BirdsOfPreyDave on the DVC section of the boards. I'm really trying to get up to 50% on restaurants I've dined at in WDW so this entire trip I tried to eat at new places. We'd never even considered grabbing food from this section before so there were a whole bunch of new opportunities in this part of the park. We settled on Rosie’s All American Café and a burger and fries.



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

I had scheduled FP+ for us on RnRC, so we went over there and I rode it twice, then we headed back to get in line for Chewie. He had just come back out and the line was pretty long, but he was really the only character I really wanted so we waited almost an hour. I knew from the Tips and Tricks thread that his line was almost entirely in the shade so this wasn't a big deal. We basically people watched during our wait. Fran took almost a hundred photos of the various Star Wars shirts that she saw. And there were quite a few people in costume.



Most of the shirt pictures were not particularly noteworthy, but I thought these two were a little out of the ordinary. If you can’t make it out in the first one, it’s Maury Povich sitting in the interview chair, with the phrase, "You are the Father."



This was a cute mash up.



And then we finally got to the front of the line.



I'm not sure what Fran is telling this Ewok.







I had booked us FP+ for the Great Movie Ride thinking that it was silly since usually for us it is a walk on, but I was glad that I had done it today because the wait was 40 minutes! We were pretty tired at this point, but a nice air conditioned ride through the ages certainly wasn’t going to wipe us out over the edge. But first we had to get our souvenir Darth Vader Popcorn. I can’t believe that I didn’t take a picture of it!





I was testing out my new found skills at photographing dark rides.



Here’s the crazy lady who hijacked our tour car.



Neither of these guys were able to stop her!





But they sure tried!



She was too freaked out to even try and help us.



But then our hijacking guide had found greater treasure.



She went in search of it.



Which proved to be her downfall.



Then we headed into scary territory with an evil witch.



But Dorothy saved the day and the munkins rejoiced.



And everything was happier over the rainbow.



We were pretty hot and tired, but Fran was hungry and didn’t feel like eating anything we had back at the villa so she got herself a Pretzel Frankfurter with chips from Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner and I got a chocolate shake. We had an uneventful bus ride home and talked about where we wanted to have dinner. I had Chinese Chicken Salad on the schedule, but we were thinking about possibly going out somewhere, and I was surprised at the number of places that still had ADRs for a Saturday night at around 3:30PM.

Back in the room, Fran enjoyed her hot dog before taking a nap and I worked a little on my Southwestern Road trip TR. After about an hour or so on the computer, I decided that I would lay down for a few minutes before we figured out what to have for dinner. I can never nap in the room right?

I woke up around midnight.

We figured that we saved some money not buying dinner that night and were thankful we didn’t make any ADRs. I think I took a bath and went back to sleep. OK next day, we’ll have big plans!

 

[jedijill]

Looks like another fun day! Love the pics with Chewie and the Ewok.

Glad you didn't make the ADR....you guys needed the sleep!

Jill in CO

 

[afwdwfan]

Instead we laid in bed for a while longer. Then I put together our travel breakfast of champions. Cereal, V8, and our caffeinated beverages of choice.

Is that also your secret hangover cure?

I know it was still relatively early because I was going to order my drink without alcohol, but when Fran said she was getting hers "fully leaded" I decided why not? Its OK to drink before 10AM on vacation!

I really like those mugs too.

If you can’t make it out in the first one, it’s Maury Povich sitting in the interview chair, with the phrase, "You are the Father."

I love it!

I decided that I would lay down for a few minutes before we figured out what to have for dinner. I can never nap in the room right?

I woke up around midnight.

Wow... looks like you were tired. Oh well, a much needed nap isn't a bad thing. At least you should be well rested the next morning!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Another great day at DHS and during Star Wars Weekend. I really like your pictures with the characters and the one with Chewie and the Ewok is a very nice.

Very nice updates.

 

[ACDSNY]

That heat and humidity takes all the stuffin out of you so when you get back in the AC all you want is sleep. Great pics with the characters.

 

[dolphingirl47]

There should not be any such time as 6:00 AM when you are on vacation unless you have to travel somewhere. The character photos are really nice. I think Olaf will make a very handsome Jedi. Your photos from The Great Movie Ride came out really well. You must have been really tired to "nap" until midnight.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! You went down for a nap and didn't wake up til midnight? You must have been tired out.

Great picture with Chewie. The wait was worth it.

Love that you're getting pictures inside dark rides. You're doing great!