Snowed out so let's try a hurricane. A rescheduled trip report

[bookgirl]

This trip was a bit of a redo. After a short visit to MK in 2009, I wanted to revisit the world to see the rest of it and one set of my parents were going to come along for the ride.

The original trip was planned for Feb 2011 with a return trip for me in Oct 2011, but due to ice in Houston my flight was cancelled and I changed my reservation to September 2011, since they were somewhat price comparable. Luckily we did not get a hurricane though we were watching close and honestly it might have done something to cut down the heat and humidity. This trip would combine the Feb family trip with my Oct solo trip. My parents would be joining me for a 3 night Beach Club stay and then I would be moving on to POFQ for another 3 nights. My mom and step dad are in their 60’s and I’m in my 40’s, so an adult trip no kids.

This was not so much a budget trip. I mean for the most part I’m frugal, but then again I make enough money that if I want something I’ll just buy it, and I don’t worry about the small stuff. I saved up and planned and knew that I would be spending a fair amount on this trip so while I am listing some prices because I know some folks like to know, I admit now that I probably could have spent less if I needed to, and could have afforded to spend more if I wanted. We’ll just say I stuck to the middle of the road and spent some, saved some and I had a good time. My parents are more frugal, but they do a lot of trips and casino junkets so they are like me as far as they spend money to vacation when it pleases them, they are just bargain minded so convincing them to splurge on WDW was a hard sell, but since I was already planning of going and they wanted to go with me for at least part of the trip they decided to come along for the ride. We did split some of the expenses, but there were things that I just paid for and considered it well worth the money.

We are not foodies, or adventure trippers, we were not participating in any special events, we had no agenda per say except to enjoy a vacation and try to see a few highlights along the way. My mom is not much of a thrill ride fan, but she did really well and only sat out on one. I and my stepdad are pretty game for anything. Due to their age and various ailments I wasn’t sure how much they would see or do, but with three solo days to look forward to I just let them set the pace and tried my best to minimize their efforts. However with the reschedule we did end up going during the month of my birthday. So maybe hoping for a little birthday magic to make sure this trip actually took place. We made just a few ADR’s, figured out some not set in concrete touring plans, and decided to see where the trip took us.

 

[bookgirl]

SATURDAY
Using flights that were a part of the SW 40 year/40 dollar flights promotion our arrival date was Sat 9/17. Though our inbound flights were the same, we had different departure dates, we could with some juggling of our flights have $160 dollar round trip tickets (purchased in spring for a higher price we are applying the overage to a Vegas trip in late winter so win-win, got to love no fee for changes). We are SW fans and fly them often, between free baggage and low fares we like the budget and as fans we know the ins and outs of getting the seats we want and are very comfortable with this airlines. Our flights went off without a hitch, I had a new I pad (3G/Wi-Fi) to play with and plenty to read so we were occupied on the flight and had one stop but no change of planes, we even landed early which was great for our plans.

We did have a mix up at the Thrifty rental location (we were directed to the wrong set of cars and then had to go back and switch it) but other than that we had no major problems and were able to get a Wild Car rental (they just guarantee a car standard size or up you don’t know ahead of time what kind) for $136 for the week. We all drive bigger vehicles (Edge, Escape, F150) but for a week we could live with a car if that’s what we got and that’s what we got. LOL. We had our own GPS, I have good insurance and AAA and I’m the only driver so a car was fine, it was some vehicle that I know don’t even remember the name of. It was little and boxy and had no leg room and was OSU orange which was hard on our Sooner sensibilities, but got really good gas mileage (which would come in handy later) drove from point A to B, fit our luggage with some creative placement, and didn’t have a weird blind spot. My biggest complaint was that it was only a 4 cylinder which I hate, but if that’s the biggest problem then life is not so bad.

We were scheduled to arrive at 8:30 (but actually got in around 8) that night and my step dad was only interested in the quickest way to get to a TV so he could watch the Florida State vs. OU game that kicked off at 8. With that in mind and the cost/value of a hotel room we would only be stopping to sleep and watch TV in we decided to check into the La Quinta Suites on the north side of the airport (off Semoran Road) for the first night. Price wise it was $81 for a room (we don’t mind sharing and to save the price of two rooms we just decided to share between the three of us). This was a Double Room. In hindsight if we do this again we will just go ahead and do two rooms or see about the King/Sleeper Sofa option. In Florida, double room means two full sized beds and well that just sucks. For my parent’s at least. I was okay in a Full but honestly prefer a Queen as well. Beds were comfortable just small. We got to the room either during the 1st quarter or at the beginning of the 2nd. Can’t remember, but my mom and I just did a quick run to the Arby’s nearby and picked up some sandwiches for a late dinner (less than $20) and I know I saw part of the 2nd quarter and all of the second half. We watched the Sooners win (yea team!) then hit the hay. We were actually in an accessible room so it was rather large and the bathroom was a standard tub/shower with lots of rails but again rather large. The beds were comfortable and it was clean and well maintained.

Breakfast the next morning was the usual selection of breads, pastries, and cereal, along with fruit, boiled eggs and a waffle maker. On par with that level of hotel. We were checked out around 9:45 and heading for Beach Club.

 

[bookgirl]

SUNDAY
We decided when we rented that we would not take the Sun Pass option on the car. I knew from my previous trip that I would only hit a couple of tolls and that they were less than the daily fee for the pass. I would only need to be on the toll roads for three of the 7 days. So I would pay out of pocket. I made sure to have at least $2 in quarters though it would end up that I did not need them as both toll gates were manned.

Leaving the hotel we actually took a back road to the access road of 528 toll road and it bypassed that first gate that you would hit leaving the airport. This gate is on the exit/entrance from the airport and is $1. As you take the toll road to meet up with I-4 you pass through one other gate and it is .75. So $1.75 each way airport/Disney. And frankly what is up with 55-60 mph on a toll road. Maybe it’s just that we’re speed demons back home but our toll roads in the Midwest are 60-75 mph. I really had to watch my speed (at least once I got that little 4 cylinder car up to speed) as I kept creeping up the dial. Other than that the road is in good repair and a very nice ride with very clearly marked road signs for those without GPS. I-4 is fine as well and again I had no problem finding my exits with GPS and they were also pretty clearly marked for those without. I did have one little glitch on directions once I entered the roads at Disney but honestly that seems to be par for the course, over the course of the week I had maybe 2 or 3 times where road signs were not on cue with GPS and sometimes the signs were better and one time the GPS was the better route. In the end they all led to the same place you just have to be aware.

We arrived at the BC a little before 11. (3 nights $841.23 Room Only Discount 3 adults in a Garden View room) They were very nice and welcoming, and we left my stepdad in the car under the porte cochere while I went in to the desk. I was escorted in by a young lady who gave the desk my name, and then she wished me a happy birthday (noted on my reservation) and went back to the valet area. We had a room ready (2620) and were given our keys and buttons. We then took some time to talk with the BC greeter Teena, who many of us know from the disboards. She’s just the sweetest lady and my mom and I talked to her for awhile about resorts and her new granddaughter and love bugs. She looked over our room assignment and since the #1 request on it was that we be near the elevator (my step dad has a torn lig in his knee and he gets sore and tired easily with it) she said that this was so we did not try for a higher floor (another request). We then got luggage and my stepdad out of the car and handed the keys over to valet. Because of the knee damage he has a handicap placard and gets free valet. We love valet and used the service for our entire BC stay. $5 tips are worth saving my parents legs. We also stopped by bell services as the BC thread has a pool noodle swap going and I was next in line to pick up and use them.

In hindsight I almost wish we had changed our room assignment as we ended up using the back elevator a lot so we were walking anyway and being higher up might have meant we would have enjoyed our balcony more. The room itself is a 2 Queen/Daybed combo. The view is trees in a courtyard facing other rooms. We had a Garden view and that’s pretty much what we got. Lots of hotel and green. We might have taken standard view which was a little cheaper, but doubt we would ever go up to water view. We really were thinking if we got a balcony we would do morning coffee or an evening beer out there, but as it was we never really used it at all.

There was construction/maintenance going on and the cranes were in the courtyard that my balcony faced. Mostly sanding and painting so no hammering, sawing, excessive noise but still not real great to look at. They were actually on our balcony one day working, but it was not a huge thing as they were nice and tried to work on the balconies not being used and they were pretty punctual about not starting the heavy stuff till after 9am. Also being on the second floor we were directly above and beside the outdoor eating patio by Marketplace, we could hear and see everything and this was actually the main reason to avoid the balcony, at least for me. My mom just didn’t want to take a chance on a love bug touching her. We were there towards the end of the swarm so they were there but not a ton of them and not to the point of bothering us much. So nice view but they wasted a balcony on us. I had not requested a balcony and probably would not waste a request to get one in the future.

After dropping off luggage and getting the few things we needed unpacked we headed down to concierge got our tickets put on our keys and headed to Epcot. (I did a 6 day park hopper $341.41; parents did 3 day base tickets $247.08 each) I am more of a commando vacation kind of girl, but this first part of the trip was more at my parents speed, they both have knee, feet, and leg issues so I was not going to push them. In fact I spent a lot of my time running to places getting fast passes, checking availability, etc. I was the one with sore legs.

Our first stop after the IG was the fish and chips stand for….water. Hey it’s like the first stand you hit. 3 bottles $2.50 a pop. But it was worth it. It was very humid. We’ve been through a summer of triple digits, like 110+ triple digits, but a very dry year. So honestly the heat wasn’t so overwhelming. My father and step mother lived on a Texas island for 20 years and I know humid, and it was humid. So we just tried to keep hydrated. After getting our water we watched the players do their King Arthur skit, and then walked over towards The Land with a quick stop in Canada. We watched O Canada which we enjoyed and browsed a bit before walking on.

This was really our goal for the day, try to hit a couple of the big rides and look around. We ended up doing a FP for soarin, standby was over an hour and I believe the FP was like an hour and half or maybe 2 hours later, that seemed to be a constant on the days that I was there. Soaring never had a wait less than 40 and was up to 90 or more often. It also ran out of FP mid afternoon.

We decided to ride Living with the Land, and eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons.

I really liked the ride. My folks really like yard care and gardening so they were way interested and I just liked riding around looking at the stuff.

We all kind of divided and conquered and none of us ate at the same place. We had the Turkey sandwich with side of potato salad, Chinese beef with rice and side of noodles, Roasted Beet and Goat cheese Salad with a side of Potato Bacon Soup. (My meal $15.63, theirs $28.21)The soup and salad were mine and completely yummy I enjoyed the soup more than the salad. I tried my mom’s Chinese, and it was okay. We had sodas with lunch. No desserts, we were not on the dining plan and we’re more of a sweet snack family than a sweet with meals family. A kind of magical thing was that I was wearing my birthday button and the cashier called me by name with a ‘phone call for ******’. Goofy sang me happy birthday. LOL

We did a run through the Circle of Life movie. Kind of a dud but cute. Probably won’t do it again but worth doing once.

With more wait time on our FP, we decided to head over to The Seas. By this time the daily rain shower made an appearance. It was wet but not awful so a handy 88 cent poncho pulled from my bag of tricks for my mom (step dad and I just decided to tough it out) we walked over to ride a Clamobile with Nemo and Friends. Looked around a bit than headed out to Spaceship Earth.

I know it’s kind of a slow ride, but I’m a science/space geek so I really liked it. After that we were near our ride time so we headed out for The Land and got in line for Soarin. The FP line was maybe about 10 minutes. We liked this ride, but I’m not sure why it seems to be such a hot ticket. I would think the two other thrill rides would be way more popular but TT and Mission Space always had way manageable wait times and FP’s. Maybe it’s because just about everyone can ride Soarin?

By now we were ready to call it an afternoon and headed back to the room. My step dad was going to put his feet up and my mom and I were going to do a Wal-Mart run. We went to the one on Vineland. According to my GPS it was closest. We picked up Dr Pepper for my Stepdad, 12 pack of bottled water for us all, some beer for me (since I thought I was going to be sitting on the balcony in the evenings), milk and some paper cups with lids. I got some items for my solo stay as I am a eat breakfast on the run type. We also went through their Disney section and got a post card for me to send to a friend with a birthday, a card for my stepdad to send to his sister, a beach towel and t-shirt for a friend who was picking up our mail (about $35 for the 2 items) and my mom found a t-shirt she liked ($15). We also while standing in line realized there was a Subway, and decided to grab a couple of $5 foot longs for an easy dinner. We picked up a bag of chips from WM to go with them. (About $15 bucks total)

Back in the room we chilled and rested. Then ate our subs and got ready to head back out to Epcot. Going back we were just heading in to see Illuminations. We found a bench near The Crown and Rose for them to sit and then stand when the fireworks started. I actually did a walk though the UK shops. Mom liked the show (although she wanted to see it from the other side without trees); step dad thought Wishes was better. I’m not a big fireworks fan and thought it was fine.

We then walked back to the resort. The quiet pool was empty so we went up, changed and hit the hot tub/pool. We had seen the elevator by one of the doors leading to the quiet pool on the first trip over and so we found the back elevator on our floor and used it pretty often for the rest of our stay. I actually went back up and brought down some beer (good thing we bought those tall coffee cups w/lids. I like bottles and though it didn’t say it wasn’t allowed, glass by a pool is never good. The hot tub was lukewarm, as was the pool, but it was very relaxing. As time went on families would return from the parks and bring their kids down but it was never really busy. This was after nine so SAB was closing but it never got real busy. Stepdad did have a snack and some milk, but for the life of me I can’t remember what. If I had to guess it was a muffin. After that we were done for the night.

 

[bookgirl]

There were not a lot of pics from the first day but I do have some food pics and such that I'm going to try to add to later days.

 

[bookgirl]

MONDAY
My mom made coffee in room. She used the Nescacrap and said “its drinkable, I’ve had worse” I didn’t have one coffee on the entire trip; I don’t need coffee that bad.

This was the day that the workers were on our balcony. As we left the room at 9:15 they were sanding. We had a really bad showerhead, I thought it was just the brand but found out later it was just bad. We also had a slow draining tub. I reported this (if I’d known we had a bad showerhead I’d of reported it too) when I went down to breakfast and told them we’d be gone to the parks around 10:30. She sent it in and it was taken care of by the time we returned for an afternoon break.

We originally had a 8:00 ADR to Captain’s Grille for breakfast, but judging by the lack of speed from my parents I had them change it to 9:30 with plans to head to Epcot by 10:30-11:00. We chose the breakfast buffet and it was great. ($16.99 each drinks included) My stepdad really likes omelets and when we asked they said that he could get them as part of the buffet you just have to order them from the waitress. This was also where I had my first taste of Florida water that didn’t suck. In 2009 I had noticed water tasting bad when I brushed my teeth. For the rest of the trip I did bottled water only. However I’m so used to ordering water that I forgot and ordered it and tasted, and it was drinkable. The rest of my trip this seemed to be the case. If I ordered it from somewhere with a soda fountain it was drinkable. The public fountains and taps, not so much. I liked this restaurant and would do it again. I don’t think my parents were thrilled with the amount of walking to get there and back but it was very doable.

We got to Epcot by 11 and headed straight for test track. We did this by hooking a right over to France and taking the Friendship boat to Mexico. I could have walked it faster but my parent’s needed to save their legs. We went to TT and decided to get fast passes since it was only a short hour till return time and head towards Mission Space. We walked on to green and all three did it. It seemed a little lame as thrill rides go, so my stepdad and I decided to go straight to Orange as it was like a 5 minute wait, my mom who is a bit of a chicken sat and waited for us. Well my step dad was downright sick for hours after. He got really nauseous. I did feel a little queasy for about an hour but not bad. I’ll probably never get him on it again.

Decided to slow it down and head to Ellen’s energy adventure. A 45 minute slow ride sounded like just the ticket. You know when they call it a slow ride they are really underselling that. It’s a tremendously long slow ride. I think my stepdad took a nap. He probably needed it after the trip to Mars.
We exited just in time to head to Test Track. We had almost no wait and while a little jerky I liked this ride. My mom didn’t mind it and my step dad was grumpy….that would pretty much sum up the rest of my stepdads day. He’s not the type to yell or be ugly so even a little grumpy is so out of character that we knew he really wasn’t feeling well.

We walked over towards Innovations but ended up sitting on a stone wall and watching the kids play in the sprinklers. I ran and bought everyone a soda (around 8 bucks) and we just sat for a while. Then we went into Innovations and again they sat for a little while so I could go locate the Visa Character photo area. It’s remarkable just how many people who work in Epcot have no idea where or what this is. We did find it and I went back and got them and we stood in line for maybe 5 minutes. Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. We took a few pictures, and they gave me my ticket stub with instructions to pick it up by park closing at the Kodak store by Spaceship Earth. I then led my parent’s to Club Cool so I could Beverly them. It was mean, funny but mean. I liked the Lemon and I think I tried something Orange. All the Watermelon’s where out, which I did want to try, but no go. Oh and just to be fair I did try the Beverly before I laid it on the parents. Yep totally gross.

We then boarded another boat to head back to France and on to the Resort. I think this is when we also rode one of the water taxis. The Epcot to BC walk is so short that it’s negligible (as I would have a chance to prove later), but my folks were tired and a boat was there so we got on it. I think it’s actually longer to ride the boat and walk back to BC side from the dock, but I just go with the flow.

This was a shorter morning at Epcot because my mom and I had plans to spend the afternoon at the Mall. Got to love an outlet. She was dying to see the Vera Bradley outlet. So off we go to Vineland again. We did have one brief hiccup where they forgot to list our handicap placard and charged my room, but they immediately corrected that when I asked why they needed my room number to pick up the car. Here’s a funny part of the scattered showers phenomenon of Florida. My GPS had us enter I-4 briefly. It had started the daily drizzle but it was very light. We enter the highway, water suddenly pours, we exit the highway only a mile later…the frontage road is dry. I kid you not looking straight ahead dry, turn your head to the left and you could see the rain falling on the highway. It was a little freaky. The parking at this mall is a little crazy, but we found a space and walked in. We only hit a few stores. VB (got a lunchbox and an ID zip) mom bought a few things. Didn’t find anything else to buy. Went to Auntie Ann’s and had a snack of pretzel bites. Then headed back.

Spent the afternoon resting. The guys were on another balcony during the mid day. But at some point that day they painted our balcony. I was kind of surprised they didn’t put up a wet paint sign, but maybe they figured we knew they were out there and we would assume it was wet. A few love bugs became part of the paint job. Ewwww!

We had planned to go to Cape May as my stepdad loves fish but he didn’t feel up to a big dinner and frankly he heard me mention the price and about had a heart attack. LOL He was appalled at the prices for food. We do Vegas fairly often and it’s pricey even if you hit a fast food joint, but he couldn’t seem to accept the fact that a family place would charge so much for even mundane food. Besides he really wanted just fish and chips (he saw them when we bought water the day before). So I suggested we cancel Cape May and see if R&C had anything open. We headed back to Epcot, and they had one cancelation about 35 minutes later. We jumped on it. They gave us a pager and told us to stay in UK. We wondered over to the shops but ended up sitting on some steps in the garden listening to British Invasion. They’re pretty good. It was at this time that I realized my ticket stub for my character picture was back in the hotel room. This is where that short walk comes in handy.

I took off at a fast pace. Luckily not only was BC a short walk but we knew about the secret entrance. There’s a back door that gets you into the building so you can do most of your walk in the air-conditioned hallways. Grab the back elevator and you can get there and back pretty quick. In fact as I was walking back to Epcot my mom called and said that they were seating us. I told her to order me water and I was a few minutes away.

I got back just as they brought out the drinks. My mom ordered the Sunday Roast. I also ordered this but without the shallot gravy (I’ve got an onion issue, it’s a tag, it’s my quirk and I embrace it). My stepdad got his fish and chips. Great meal, loved it, want to eat here again, wish they didn’t put shallots in their gravy and onions in their green beans. Again around $50 I think, but I didn’t pay for this meal so I don’t have a receipt. (By the way I haven’t been including tip in my prices but we’re pretty standard at 20% often more as was the case here because our server was a peach)

After eating, my parents were going to head to WS and take a boat to Mexico so that we could do Maelstrom. I was going to walk over to Kodak, pick up my picture, then walk over to meet them at Norway. Was being the key word. Friendship boats don’t run after 7pm, and the line at the Kodak shop was unreal. So they started to walk and I stood in line. By the time I got the picture and headed towards WS they called and said that they did not want to walk any further so I told them to sit and I would meet them and we’d walk back to the resort. However we did see Illuminations from the other side (somewhere around America) just like my mom wanted and then headed back for the resort. At that point I believe my stepdad went down to hot tub again and mom and I just lounged in the room. I don’t remember any snacks that night, but I believe my parents were drinking something when I met up with them so they must have gotten water or a soda.

 

[bookgirl]

Tuesday
This was their last day in Disney and also the day we had an ADR for Spirit of Aloha. We had decided not to do a third Epcot day and instead go see AK, have an afternoon break then head over to the Poly for the 5:15 show.

I told them that AK would need to be an early park since the hotter it got the less likely we would see any animals on safari. So with that in mind I did get them up and going early. We canceled our Captain’s Grille breakfast ADR and I just ran down to Market Place to pick up a quick breakfast. There is a lot of chatter over the lack of QS at the Epcot resorts and truthfully I also had my doubts. But Market place was actually a decent meal. My stepdad and I had Ham/Egg/Cheese croissants; my mom had the adult portion of French Toast Sticks and ham but only ate half. Then grapes for Stepdad, apple for me and an orange Juice for mom. We also had milk from our fridge. I spent around $20 dollars (this is a missing receipt, and I can’t remember if I paid for this or my mom) and with the exception of half the grapes being icky it was a filling tasty breakfast. I think my stepdad finished off mom’s French toast.

We were heading out to the bus stops by 8:30 with three bottles of water from our fridge in my backpack. (Just a denim jansport single pocket for those who are bag fanatics. I needed the room to store things so my parents didn’t have to carry anything extra), and boarded a bus after a short wait. We hit the gates at AK just after opening.

I went to fast pass Expedition Everest while they headed towards Safari’s. They had plenty of time to sit and rest before I got back. The wait was maybe 10 minutes before we boarded the vehicle and took off. We saw hippos, deer, rhinos, some kind of big horned yak/cow/ox, tons of elephants, giraffe and a few small creatures. This was fun and I’m a sucker for zoo’s anyway, so it was a must see.

We then headed over to Asia. We had a small stop and watched Flights of Wonder which was very amusing and fun to watch and started about 20 seconds after we sat down.

We then made our way to Expedition Everest. I was surprised my mom got on this. But again she really was being a trooper. Very nice and not too jerky. We don’t mind the going backwards thing but I actually never saw the Yeti, guess I wasn’t paying attention.

After this we hit one of the little stands outside the attraction and mom and I had Strawberry Fruitcicles, my step dad bought a fountain soda at a stand across the way. We then walked towards Dinoland. We made a stop and decided to watch Nemo the Musical. Unfortunate they prohibit drinks so my step dad ended up throwing out half his drink by the time we entered. While they were sitting drinking and waiting, I made a dash over to Dinosaur and grabbed fast passes. By the time I got back they were loading the theatre and we went inside. Meh. Not a fan.

Next stop was Dinosaur. My mom put a firm veto on the newly reopened Primeval Whirl, and honestly I didn’t care about riding it so we gave it a pass. Dinosaur was okay but a little rough riding. I’m not really a fan of things that jump out and get in your face so while it was an okay ride, I’m probably going to put this in the rode it once and I don’t need a repeat category.

We decided to eat lunch there in the park and since we were right by Resturantosaurus that was the plan. We decided to split two meals between the three of us (which is common for us) knowing that we would be eating again at 5:30-6:00. We got a Bacon Cheese Burger with Fries, 8 piece Chicken Nugget with Fries and two sodas (they shared drink, plus we still had some water). I did not try the burger, but the chicken was fine. I think they each ate 1 pieces of chicken and split the burger which my mom said tasted good we split the two fries between all three of us. The fixing bar there is nice and I’d hate to see this go. Filling and just the right amount of food for us. ($22.96)

After this we decided to head towards the front of the park. We had entertained thoughts of Lion King, but the show times were off for us, so we did It’s Tough to be a Bug. Beverly take two. Yes I knew about the hidden pokes and surprises, no I didn’t tell them, yes my mom screamed and I laughed. I’m mean like that. LOL

On the way out I stopped and picked up a souvenir bucket of popcorn. I really wanted an Epcot bucket, but all I saw there all week was the Ghost and the Halloween motif. So I picked up one here. (My one from 2 years ago is my change bank. This one will probably be the same)

We headed back to the resort because we knew there would have to be some refreshing going on before we headed to the Poly. AK was a hot muggy day and while I did enjoy it (and would make a quick trip back later) I put this in the category of hit it early and plan to leave by afternoon. I might feel differently in a cold month. I think we were on the bus around 2 and got to watch the afternoon shower from behind its windows. Stopped at BB and a few other Epcot Area hotels before we got back to BC, but you know it wasn’t a problem. I don’t get the kvetching about buses, I just accept that they may be slow or crowded (luckily my parent’s never had to stand but we would have worked around that) and make multiple stops. We were fine and as hot as it was outside it was nice to just sit on the bus in the cool and watch the world go by.

After cleaning up and changing clothes we got the rental car out of valet and headed to the Poly. My parents did not have hoppers (not that they would have done well with the trek from IG all the way up to the monorail) and we didn’t want to do the bus shuffle, so I just drove us there. I overestimated the time it would take to get there by a lot, but we drove into Valet, again tip only since valet if free with a placard.

We were early and just kind of did a leisurely walk around the resort. Pretty, very atmospheric, but I don’t have any desire to stay there. However I might have to think about trying one of the restaurants there on a future trip, because I did like the surroundings.

I do have a complaint about this show. The fact that they make you wait outside in the sun. We had the 5:15 seating and it was miserable. Not much seating, not much shade, they actually line you up 15 minutes early where there is NO shade and you are broiling, people were actually turning colors and looked sick. They do have an OOP bar but I find that rather insulting that they put you where you are hot miserable and uncomfortable and then plop down an overpriced drink to ‘help’. We actually did not buy anything but I felt really bad for some of the folks around us.

This is one of the few ADR’s I had planned for the trip. I know Spirit of Aloha gets a bad rap and it’s all about Hoop do Doo. But I’m from the Midwest, bbq and cheesy hoedown comedy were just not worth the bucks, for something that I can get back home that’s twice as good and half the price. Hula dancers on the other hand, not so common in Oklahoma. I decided to make Cat 1 reservations ($203.97 tip included for 3 adults). I was glad I did, we were in a front table slightly off center. Great views and the food was really good.

There are plenty of menus around but I’ll just say the fruit was fresh and juicy, salad crisp and lightly dressed, chicken and ribs tender and seasoned great. I was not a huge fan of the bread, rice or dessert, but that was more of a personal taste thing, there was nothing wrong with the food itself and my parents loved it all. I ordered some $12 fruity adult drink, the Island Breeze in a souvenir plastic glass. It was good, my mom drank a little of it and I just had the one since I would be driving and I knew that one drink would work out of my system before I had to get behind the wheel. My step dad was not driving and had like 3 beers. (We did NOT tell him how much I spent on this meal I didn’t even tell my mom, but she knew it was higher than a regular sit down meal)They really enjoyed it. He loved the photo they had taken of us when we entered so my mom bought the package (1 big and 4 small copies). It was around $31 dollars.

I’m so glad we decided on this. Yes the plot of the show was poorly written but the music and dancing were great and that’s what we wanted to see, I even humored my mom and got up and did the birthday hula, it was not pretty, she took my camera and shot pictures, it’s a good thing I like her. I may do HDDR on another trip but we made the right choice for this trip.

We walked back up to the front and got the car and then headed back to BC.
It was early but stepdad and mom were tired and they wanted to relax. I grabbed a beer, my book, and my clothes and headed down to the quiet pool and did laundry. $2 each wash and dry, I had brought one 3n1 sheet with me anticipating laundry. (I brought clothes for 6 days, but it never got cool enough to even think about some of them). I lived in the 3 pairs of shorts I brought and only wore my capris one night when it was raining, and on the flights there and back. I did bring extra t shirts and this was great since I often just changed shirts on breaks to deal with humidity.

I really liked the quiet pool at BC. I had made a foray over to SAB but it was crowded and the lazy river was without much current so there was no drifting, you had to paddle. I just stuck with the quiet pool and except for the Jacuzzi being lukewarm and not hot; it was a great place to hang out. Back to the room and everyone got packed up for check out the next morning. I think we were all asleep before 11.

 

[bookgirl]

WEDNESDAY
Otherwise known as the day I officially got tired of people telling me Happy Birthday LOL. Put the birthday button down and step away ma’am.

This was check out from BC. I really liked this resort. I had only really warmed up to two Deluxes. AKL and BC. I finally chose BC because of its location, and because I really like the people on the YC/BC thread and they just made it sound so great.

I took the pool noodles down to bell services for the next one on the swap list. I also put a few items in a lunch size cooler and had them put into the fridge at bell services. I also did an actual checkout. I didn’t need to but it always seems to be like the punctuation at the end of the sentence for me.

Here is where we hit the only real snag on our BC stay. They have been doing painting and general maintenance around the resort and in the front. The morning we were checking out they were painting the front entry way and porte cochere. There were large lifts and workers all over the drive so that really on one lane was accessible to cars, taxies, and vans. It was chaos.

I turned in my valet ticket and we moved over to the side to get out of the way. There were people lined up to get into transport and a bus and cars. When we still hadn’t gotten our car 15 minutes later I went up to ask how long since all the other transports had left. She looked at me kind of blank and asked my name, then reached into a drawer and grabbed my keys and sent someone to get it. I was livid, and I mean mad. This was poor planning on the part of maintenance and just lack of organization on the part of valet. I might not have been quite so mad except there was a supervisor right there and no one thought I might deserve an apology or at least an acknowledgement that they screwed up and forgot me. Anyway it was small in the greater scheme of things and my mad lasted about 5 minutes.

In the final analysis of things. We liked Beach Club. I don’t know that I would call it magical, but it was a really nice hotel and really nice stay and if I decide to do another Deluxe stay, this would be my first choice. Food was good if a little limited on the counter service side of things. Pools were nice but I preferred the quiet pools to SAB, if I had kids that would be a bigger factor, but it actually worked out since most of the families and kids were there and left the quiet pools to the rest of us. I liked the food we ate there, and the prices were pretty comparable to other resort stays I’ve done. The people were friendly and helpful and they were always upbeat and pleasant.


They had an early afternoon flight so we left early enough to hit a breakfast. I just GPS inquired and ended up at an IHOP next to a really huge tacky souviner shop. We passed though a lot of hotels to get there so I expected it to be busy and it was. Typical IHOP fare. I didn’t buy this meal so I have no idea of prices but I don’t remember it being outrageous.

We then crossed over to the I-4 and took the Toll road back ($1.75 between the two stops) to MCO. My parents did curbside check in and I kissed them goodbye and turned around and headed back to WDW. ($1.75)

I was back on property and parking at Port Orleans French Quarter. When I originally decided to come back to WDW I had narrowed down my resorts to two deluxes and two moderates, this was my top choice in moderates. It was slightly before noon if I remember right. Unlike BC I did not have a room ready. Darn. But I paid and checked in and left my cell # for a text when my room was assigned.

I took my BC KTTW card over and had the leftover ticket days transferred to my POFQ KTTW (Doing this however messed up my charging privileges but I only tried to use it once and since I paid cash for most everything I never did get it fixed). I left the luggage in the car and then took off.

I still had my parking permit for BC and I could use the facilities till midnight on my checkout day so that’s where I went thinking I'd see a little more Epcot then swim at SAB. I parked and walked into the hotel. Then I stopped off at Marketplace and grabbed water. Why did I not drink one of the waters left from my original Wal-Mart run? because I didn’t clue into the fact that duh it’s hot and you’re thirsty till I passed the Marketplace.

So with my water I headed off for the IG. My plan was to just hit the WS. We had done some small scale browsing, but I wanted to see more. I don’t think I even entered Future World this day.

I took the Friendship boat over to Mexico and started from there. Rode the 3 Caballeros ride Grand Fiesta Tour and looked around at some of the different knick knacks. I loved this ride, but I’m a fan of this trio. It’s definitely tame. Very cute, very musical but no “it’s a small world” music that won’t leave your head feel to it afterwards.

Next was Norway. I rode Maelstrom. This was cool. The movie afterwards is dated but interesting. I stopped in the Kringla and had a Skol Bread and ice water. I liked it. It was a little heavy but tasty. I loved the gift shop here, I had a moment of ‘yes I need a helmet with horns’ but talked myself out of it. I’m not a huge souvenir kind of girl but I will buy something that catches my eye.

China. Home of the worst water. LOL I stopped by Lotus Blossom I think, to get a cup of water since I had an accident with my cup of water from Norway (I dropped it). They had trays full of the little cups that they had obviously been pre filled. No ice, lukewarm, tasted bad. Not sure if it tasted bad because it was warm or if they filled them from the tap. Either way I kept it because I knew I needed the liquid but blech.

The exhibit on the other hand was pretty cool. The Terra Cotta Army room was outstanding. Clay figures, a few artifacts. Then a short movie Reflections of China. This was fun and I loved the panoramic of the wall. (if you haven’t figured it out by now, I love the whole learn about the culture thing. I could watch movies about other countries all day long). I wasn’t impressed by the little knick knacks so I walked through and out of the shops.

I walked past the outpost. Don’t remember anything about it.

Germany. Home of the best water. LOL No kidding it was great. I stopped at Sommerfest. They gave me a large cup packed with ice. It was great. I stopped by the Caramel shop which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of but I love caramel so this was a must do. I bought a few hard candies, but it was just so hot I couldn’t even fathom buying one of the treats from the case. Too gooey, too sticky, too much. Maybe next time. I think I did a glance at the shops but again didn’t buy.

Italy is a blank. Literally. Know I saw it, don’t remember a thing.

America. I was still nursing my big cold cup of ice water and they wouldn’t let me in the door. I wanted the water more than I wanted the exhibit. However as it was doing the afternoon drizzle I decided to lean against a post under cover. Added bonus was that I was close enough to the door that the cool air blew out. The Fife and Drum troupe marched up and I watched that. They’re really good and they interacting with some of the teens in a funny way. When that was over and the drizzle down to occasional sprinkles I headed out.

Japan. This is where I actually did buy a souvenir, only not for me. I was browsing the shops and came upon a cute like knick knack. There’re these little painted ceramic figures called Lucky Cats ($2.99 each) and Owls ($3.99 each). They were about the size of my thumb tip and heavy. There are ten different ones per animal and each color represents a ‘luck’, education, love, fortune, etc. I’ve got twin nephews and one likes cats and one likes owls, so it’s like they were totally made for them. However I could not decide which colors so I just bought them both full sets. This set me back around $75. Yeah I know, crazy amount for some goofy little chotskies, but I really love my boys and it’s not like I was blowing my budget since I couldn’t seem to find anything else to buy. Besides as I say, it’s not like I have kids of my own and I have disposable income so why not splurge on things that bring me joy to give. And I love buying them things.

Morocco. Did I mention I’m a picky eater? Yeah, I’m a picky eater. However one of the things I wanted to do was try stuff. So after scouting menus on some sites I knew that the two things I most wanted to try were the Tangerine Café and a Scotch Egg at Rose and Crown.

So I headed into the cs and it was pretty empty. I think it may have been 2 or after. I looked, I debated I kind of chickened out. Kind of. I was really thinking I need to do that platter thing and get lamb and falafel and yep it didn’t happen. I did however get the Moroccan chicken wrap (hold the onions) with lentil salad and couscous and more water. (Around $9, again with the missing receipts lol) I really liked the sandwich. The spice was different for sure but still really good. I like lentils and this was good, but there were just so many onions that picking around them was work. I didn’t like the couscous salad at all. First there were the raisins. I don’t do raisins, but even after picking them out, the couscous itself was sweet and I couldn’t wrap my taste buds around it, ick. So I would eat here again, but I’d probably see if they would just give me fries or olives instead of the salad sides.

The only other thing I had planned for Morocco was to get some henna done. However I didn’t see this and I just wondered around.


France. Planned on GreyGoose Slushie, a chocolate croissant, and Impressions de France. Did not manage one of these things. I was too hot to even think about butter pastries or chocolate. I knew I wouldn’t have time to work off vodka before I had to drive, and well I don’t know why I didn’t see the film. Honestly I think I forgot about it. Did look around but that was it.

I had already seen UK and Canada but I had one other little thing to do so I wandered around a bit. I had a 5:30 ADR at Rose and Crown so that I could have a Scotch Egg and whatever else I ordered for dinner. I canceled this and just walked into the pub and ordered a Scotch Egg and water. It is really small and not nearly enough seating. However I stood at the bar and vultured the tables. As soon as someone got up I snagged the table and my egg came just a minute later. Yummy. Not even a big sausage fan, but still yummy, yummy, yummy. I want more of these. I must have more; I will so be doing this again. If I ever get up enough gumption to have a pot of boiling oil at home I’ll make my own but that’s a lot of work for an egg, so maybe I’ll just savor the memories and head back there next time I’m in Epcot.

In the mean time I was finished at Epcot, and after briefly considering using the BC health club to change into a suit and do SAB, I decided in the end that I was full and just wanted to put my feet up. So I picked up my cold package from bell services and headed back over to POFQ to see if I had a room yet.

As I walked up to the desk I had a different cm. This one was confused that I had not received a text by then. When she looked at my records it showed my room not ready, but it also said I had been texted. Any way she told me I had been assigned to room 5139. I had asked for close to main building in 4 or 5. This was close-ish. But if you know POFQ really everywhere is pretty darn close and building 5 was fine, and I just wanted to get to a room. I unloaded and just left my car in the front center parking area. Everyone else was parked in the side lots to be close to their rooms and I wasn’t planning of driving much, so I just left the nice rental where it might get the least amount of door dings and it had shade.


I had two beds so one became a staging area and held all my junk. I will say that the new queen beds are nice but they are really close together. So close that I doubt two people could sit on opposite beds and not touch knees. There was a table with two chairs and a bench by the bathroom with a coat rack and shelf above it. I put my few cold items (beer, ham, cream cheese, water, a few sodas) in the fridge and my non cold items (bagel thins, chips, cheezit-mix, apple, on the shelf above the bench. I only unpacked the few clothes and shoes I would need and left everything else in the bags laying on the bed. I had plenty of room.

It was late afternoon like 5 or 6. I had originally had dinner ADR over at Epcot, but since I ate a couple of cs things I wasn’t hungry and had canceled, and I didn’t want to go hit another park, I decided to go to DTD instead.

Number two reason to pick POFQ right after the fact that it’s so compact and accessible, is the boat to downtown Disney. It was already dark and a small storm had rolled in. Rain was kind of light but pretty steady but not so wet as to keep anyone trapped in their room. (this was the pattern for the next two nights as well) The boat was there as I walked up to the dock. Again see reason number one, it took me a minute to walk from my room to the dock. They are covered but open sides, and it’s a slow trip through the waterways behind the PO resorts and a few other moderates. I know I saw the Tree house Villas and another resort that I’m not sure of. This was great, the scenery, the river, light rain falling, very relaxing and so different it was a total vacation moment.

I had done DTD on my previous trip and as you can tell from before I’m not a huge consumer of ‘stuff’, but I did want to check out Everything Disney, and I bought a fridge magnet, a small keychain and a bag of cherry sours. ($16.89)

Other than that I didn’t really find anything. I’m picky about clothing fit and I am not a collector of Disney themed merchandise so it was a fun time browsing but easy on the pocketbook. The rain continued very sporadically and light but there were a few lightning strikes in the distance. I wondered around and did look in at a few places to eat but I wasn’t all that hungry. I went ahead and boarded the boat back to the resort. I just relaxed in front of the TV.

I did eventually head over to the food court. There seemed to be a really limited menu. I just bought a hot dog and ate it with some left over chips and soda while I watched the premier of Revenge. I think that since it was later, almost 10, they just had what was left over on the menu. The next days I was there earlier and they had full menus up. However the hot dog was good quality and tasted pretty good at the end of the day. I also had taken a bagel thin over with me and toasted it for the next morning as I planned to eat quick and head out early. This would pretty much be my routine. I set an alarm called it a day.

 

[fromscratchmom]

Signing on... and I'm first!

 

[bookgirl]

Signing on... and I'm first!

Congrats!

 

[bookgirl]

THURSDAY

My alarm went off at 6AM. I had thought I’d get up hit EMH at MK, but no not really. I was totally not going to be moving that fast. LOL Instead I just got up at 7am and took my time and planned to hit HS at opening instead. This is the morning I figured out that POFQ had the same showerheads as BC and that it wasn’t the type that was screwy it was just that particular showerhead and BC, because this showerhead was just fine. Live and learn and next time I’ll let them know. I did call housekeeping as I had no do not disturb sign. With just me I wasn’t going to need any replacements of towels or coffee, so I just asked them to skip my room. No problem they said they’d let the housekeeper know and they would put a sign on my door.

I fixed a quick breakfast sandwich of bagel thin (I had toasted it the night before, I like the taste of toast but I don’t care if it’s hot or cold) ham and cream cheese. I also fixed a soda. I’m not a huge soda drinker but we had bought Dr. Pepper for my stepdad and we had some leftover. I will drink this brand so I just kept them and drank them over the next couple of days. It was too hot for coffee and cold caffeine was just the ticket. This was my routine for the rest of my stay. I had thought of buying a refillable mug since I was going to be there a week (I’ll drink coke or coke zero, hot chocolate and coffee) but with us buying those sodas and the lidded disposable cups I just used the ice machine at the food court and drank what I had. I ate my sandwich on the walk to the bus and finished my drink on the way and threw my cup away when I finished with it. Easy Peasy and no morning rush.

The opening of HS was 9 so I headed out to the bus stop slightly before 8:30. I was thinking that I might make rope drop but was aiming at just after to avoid the big crush. HS and MK share a shelter at POFQ and it was crowded. I though most of them would be HS since MK had EMH, but nope, I watched 2 MK buses come and they both had a lot of people get on. Not that it wasn’t still crowded but lots of MK people. I stood there maybe 10 minutes. As the last of the MK buses were loading a HS bus pulled up behind it. I then watched 90% of the people waiting go line up in a space behind the MK bus (except for the two scooter people who went to the square marked off for them). I watched for a few seconds and then walked up to the front of the shelter and got into line where the MK people had lined up. Another lady walked up just before me and she looked over to the other line and sent me that “look at the newbie mistake” grin that you see from time to time.

We talked for a few minutes while we waited for the others to clue in, mostly about how a good attitude made the bus rides so much nicer. Sure enough the bus did not open its door and waited for the MK bus to leave then pulled up to the loading area. Then all those people made the shuffle to join us and the 3 or 4 others who were in the right place. There were some grumbles and the couple in the scooters actually told the driver that they would wait for the next bus since it was obvious this one would be full. Very nice, I figured they mainly just wanted to avoid the crowd, but still nice. We all entered and grabbed a seat. There was standing, but honestly no older people or mom’s holding kids so I kept my seat and enjoyed the ride.

I got to HS and there were short lines to go through bag check (I only had one entry where I did not have a bag). The rest of the crowd was inside the gates lined up on the main street. I did not miss rope drop. I was on the fence about Tower of Terror but knew I wanted to ride Rock n Roller Coaster. I waited for people to start moving then took a right to head towards the two biggies.

I was walking with an older lady and she was heading right to ToT and we talked about how I was going to RnR and couldn’t decide on doing the tower. I do have a bad neck and I was worried about it. She said it was smooth and was just a yo-yo effect. I was shamed by the bravery of the senior cit brigade. I decided I really needed to consider a ride. I stopped and picked up a fast pass so that I could think about it. I’m not a big fan of things that just drop you. Love coasters but hate the jerk and fall thing. After the FP I headed towards RnR. However it was delayed opening, no one said anything just not open yet. So I headed back to ToT. Standby was 5 minutes. I trudged in, thinking well there’s still the chicken door. I entered the lift and thought well I suppose it might not be too bad. In the end I just couldn’t chicken out. Like I was worried that a bunch of strangers would see me slink away. So I just sucked it up and did it. Oh course I ended up in the front row. Great, NOT! I was feeling apprehensive as the car moved on the tracks for the front of the tower. Then it happened. The drop. LOVED IT. Holy Cow! Probably my favorite ride so far. We only had one biggish drop so maybe I just got an easy ride but yep this was great.


I did feel sorry for the little girl on our car. Maybe 8 at the most. I had listened to her whimper and plead not to go, and her parent’s just kept telling her it was fine just fun and she would love it, basically just brushed her off and told her she was riding. She did not love it, she screamed and I don’t mean laugh/screamed I mean flat out hysterical OMG I’m going to die scream. She was still hysterical in the gift shop and just kept repeating I don’t want to ride anything I don’t want to ride. Stupid parent’s need to be taken out back and have their butts kicked, that child will probably hate every mention of the word Disney for the rest of her life. There was a young boy as well maybe 12 who was a little leery as well, not panicked but voicing concern and wanted to know where he’d sit and who’d be by him, but the adults he was with were talking with him calmly and he never asked to chicken out, he rode without a problem, in the gift shop he told his mom he wanted to ride it again. He was thrilled. You know if your kid is panicking so much before the ride, then suck it up and one of you stay with her on the ground.

RnR was still not operating after my conversion to ToT fan. The only other thing I really wanted to do here was ride Star Tours. So I headed over that way. The standby was not awful, 15 minutes. So I went through. Again I was in the front row. I loved this as well. Really fun. We did the Rebel spy scenario where we ended up at the death star. I guess there are different ones. I didn’t know this before hand or I might have ridden more than once. Next time this gets extra rides.

Afterwards I headed back towards the middle of the park and ended up doing the Great Movie Ride. I would have enjoyed it more without the acting bits by the guides. I loved seeing the old and new movie references. After this I headed back towards RnR but just had to accept that this would be a no go. It was around 11 by this time and had ridden the rides that I really wanted. I had no desire to do Toy Story Mania or see the Little Mermaid and I couldn’t remember if the shows were covered because I didn’t want to sit out in the sun (I’m fair skinned and sensitive to sunlight and had already pinked up pretty good despite sun block on the previous days) so I thought I might as well get some use out of that park hopper.

I originally had an ADR at Tusker House in AK at 2pm. I figured this would give me a chance to try some new food and I could redo any rides I liked or missed. But by the time I was done it was already a muggy mess. Heavy food sounded really bad and as AK seemed to be hotter than the other parks I just wasn’t into the plan. I did however feel in the mood for something I’d already had.

I headed back to the front and decided to hop the boat over to Epcot and see what the lines on the rides there were and to get a bowl of that yummy potato soup for lunch. I did buy a triple blast Popsicle on the way out and ate it while I waited for the boat. I didn’t know they stopped selling Itzakadoozie bars. I thought they just had them at MK and everyone else had these other popsicles but a family in line said they didn’t have them anywhere.

The boat to Epcot was slow and relaxing and stopped at Swan and Dolphin, Boardwalk and BC/YC. I wasn’t in a hurry and so just sat back and enjoyed the view.

Once I got to Epcot I took a look at the board. Soarin was a long 90 minute standby and the next fast pass was two hours ahead. I did grab a fast pass just in case. I then got my soup and a turkey sandwich (way too much bread but I just took off the top) and a glass of ice water. After I ate it was only 12:30. I didn’t want to wait for an hour to get another free picture taken, besides I had been wearing a baseball cap all morning to protect my nose and my hair was beyond bad hair day. (Note to self if you wear a baseball cap you’ll protect your nose and expose your ears and sun block will not save them. Bring your lake hat next time) I decided that I was not interested in riding anything else and I again did not feel like buying some buttery chocolaty heavy sugar thing. Instead I went back to the room had a cool beer and sat in the air conditioning for a while.

When I got to my room housekeeping had left me a do not disturb sign. They also left me a bag with enough towels, toiletries, cups, coffee and toilet paper to supply not just me but at least two other people. I hadn’t asked for any supplies so I’m assuming they do this anytime they don’t service a room, but I could be wrong. I pretty much just left the sign up whenever I left and did without housekeeping for the rest of the stay. They didn’t leave me a bag again but I didn’t need anything else, and I’m sure if I’d have called they would have brought me refills. I mean really it’s not like I’m messy nor needed more stuff, so why should they use the time in my room that they could spend somewhere else. This worked out well and I’d probably do the same again.


Once I cooled off I decided to head to MK for a while. It was the same as the night before weather wise so I threw a poncho in my bag (I had switched to a Vera Bradley hipster on my solo days, for those who care about such things) and decided to brave the storm, so to speak.

I had done a day in the MK a couple years back when we were in Florida for the National Championship Game (Sooners did not win that game). Hall of Presidents was closed for refurb and I really wanted to see it so that was my only real objective. I did head over to Pirates of the Caribbean first. Love that ride. Just as I got up in line (again first car I got put in the very front of the very back on 90% of the rides this entire week) the ride stopped. We waited and waited and 20 minutes later (it was raining out there might as well stick it out) after a very humorous talk with a cm from the UK about Dr. Who and who the best companions were in this new cycle the ride was up and going. I know its cornball but I like PoC. A lot.

I decided to head over to do HM and Hall of presidents only upon exiting the rain had picked up. I decided to put on the poncho. It’s like your own personal little sauna, but it was raining way too hard to put up without covering. I don’t know about anyone else but I have the worse time keeping the hood up. It’s either in my face or falling off the back. I was still wearing my baseball cap around because I had hat hair so I put the hood up then stuck my cap on top. I’m pretty sure I looked like a dork, but at least I was a dry dork. I went back towards the front and stopped off to try a Dole Whip; I had heard about them forever and decided I had to try. I ended up with a pineapple/orange swirl soft serve. This was really good. I think if I try again I might just do the orange/vanilla swirl or just the plain pineapple. The float is just not doing it for me. I’m not a big floats fan anyway, but I love ice cream.

I took my ice cream as I headed over towards Liberty Square. I had finished by the time I got to the Hall of Presidents and went in to watch the show. Very nice and historic LOL. I did a walk on to Haunted Mansion, another ride I loved the last time I was here. In fact I have loved it since I went to Disneyland in 2000. After I got off this I thought about grabbing some dinner.

I walked into Columbia House but noting appealed to me there. I thought I’d go head towards fantasy land and ride the rides I had missed there 2 years ago (Winnie the Pooh, Philharmagic, Snow White) but it was still raining pretty good and Fantasy Land was a lot more crowded than the others, so I decided to call it night and come back tomorrow morning. As I was trying to exit they were putting up parade ropes so I asked a cm for the quickest way out which was to do a little bit of circling around but got my directions straight and managed to escape. I’m not a parade person and I’ve seen these fireworks. I made it back to POFQ and got to the Food court to grab dinner before the real rain started. A quesadilla this time, only with fries instead of beans and rice. ($9.15) Basically just chicken and cheese in a tortilla with sour cream and salsa on the side, it was tasty and hit the spot. I think I may have had another beer this night as well, but I was pretty bushed from a busy week and turned in early to prepare for my last park day.

 

[bookgirl]

FRIDAY

Last day. I had set up a plan in my head the night before. Alarm at 7, have a bagel walking to the bus stop and try to make rope drop. I decided to go back to the Magic Kingdom. It was a Halloween party night so I thought it would be a good day to go early and do the Fantasy Land rides I wanted, plus my prior trip was in January so Splash Mountain was closed. So I’d head there first thing, get a fast pass, go to Fantasy land, ride 3 rides, go to Tomorrow Land and ride Astro Orbiter (another miss from before), then go back to Adventure Land and do Splash Mountain. Then I’d head over to AK and ride Kali River Rapids, which I hadn’t ridden on Tuesday and see The Lion King. Go back to the room cool off and then back over to HS that evening to do Rock n Roller Coaster and Fantasmic. In my head this sounded like a plan and a great finish to a wonderful vacation.

So I was out at the stop before 8:30 again and got a ride on the first MK bus to pull up. I waited maybe 5 minutes. It was busy and I ended up squished in one of the back seats as today’s group of riders knew the right place to line up. But still it was cool and I wasn’t driving and I was on my way to MK. It was a good morning. We got to MK and unloaded and went through the lines at bag check. And then I did something sneaky only I didn’t know I was doing something sneaky but still I totally took advantage of it once I figured it out.

Everyone was waiting and looking up at the train platform, people were there and you could see movement but no show as of yet. It was a little before nine, maybe 8:45-8:50 maybe a little earlier, I don’t know what time they do the little opening show but it hadn’t started yet. Anyway I was trying to avoid the sun; even with the hat and sun block I was trying to avoid a burn. (Which, I did by the way. I mean my nose and cheeks were slightly red but elsewhere just pink.) I was just slathered in high SPF sun block and I did my best to keep aware. So I headed over to the left where the little shop is beside the tunnel to enter. There was a crowd of people there but I could kind of stand close to the building and be shaded. Next thing I know a guy is ushering us in. I figured I must have missed the opening since I could not see the front. As I entered the tunnel from the side I realize the rope is still up on the main entrance. Nobody else is entering. That’s when it dawned on me, the group by me must have had ADR’s and the guy just thought I was part of the group. Holy Crow! This is where I could have done the honorable thing and turned around, but I didn’t. Heck I just tried to look hungry and headed to Main Street. I took a bunch of photo pass photos and walked my happy little self over to the rope to head to Frontier Land. I feel very guilty. I ‘m sure that the big ole’ crane in my castle pictures are penance. I’d never do it on purpose but I’m not going to pass up the opportunity when it walks up and ushers me into the park either. There I said it. I snuck into MK, and I enjoyed it.


After talking to the photo pass people and taking a few pics I was lined up at the rope with a very nice mom and daughter who were also heading towards my way. The little girl wanted to ride BTMRR and they were getting FP for the Dad for Splash later. The cm’s escorted us all the way back and I grabbed my FP for Splash, a mere 45min later. Then because it was so light crowd wise (there were probably only 20 of us total on the rope drop parade) I walked on to Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road and started my morning with a coaster. It was a good morning.


I then made my way over to Fantasy Land and did Winnie, Snow White and Philharmagic. None of these had a long wait. Maybe 5 minutes on the dark rides and 15 on Philharmagic. Very cute and cool as far as getting out of the heat. Phiharmagic was great and probably my favorite Fantasy Lands attraction. I finished and made my way over to Tommorowland.

I wanted to try out the Astro Orbiter. This was actually one of the few attractions all week where I stood around. Maybe 15-20 minutes. In the sun, it was not exactly comfortable. Luckily I had stopped by Cosmic Rays and picked up an ice water so I crunched my ice and people watched.

You know it amazed me how many people I saw in jeans, and black. Like all black. Like let’s be a magnet for the sun black. Are they immune to sunlight, to heat, to spontaneous internal combustion? There was one guy, in Epcot I think in full on Goth. Long sleeve black shirt, heavy black cargos with chains, motorcycle boots and long hair with guy liner. Crap I was just waiting for the poof of smoke after he turned to ashes on the spot. So I watched the miserable people in black and then took the elevator up to the launch pad.

Fun, way to short but fun. I actually used most of my time trying to get a self portrait of myself in mid air but I did try to look around.
After Orbiter I started my way back across to the Frontier.

I stopped at a coffee window and got…wait for it….ice water. I’m telling you hydrate is the word of the day. LOL Splash was short and I had an almost no wait in FP line. I really liked this ride. It was nice and cool inside and I loved Song of the South when you could still watch it. The only glitch on this ride was right after you came down the drop and were turning back into the mountain it stopped. Like just stopped. It was only a few minutes though so no worries.

It was a little after 11 as I was wondering around and I decided to go scout out some lunch. I was debating on whether I should go up front or try a walk in at one of the ts, but I kind of wanted to ride the train (another miss from prior trip) back up to the front so decided to stick to somewhere in the back. With vague thoughts of Pecos Bill I walked into Tortuga’s. I’m not sure how, I think I thought I was in the right place from what I remember before, but anyway there I was and there it was and I’m pretty fond on nacho’s so that’s what I got. Meat and Cheese only since the beans had Pico mixed in and yeah that’s not happening. ($10) Now I know it’s controversial about who should or should not get to use fixing bars but it says it goes with entrees and I had an entrée and I like chips instead of the tortilla bowl you get with taco salads so I got some lettuce, tomatoes and put them on my nachos. That and an ice water and I was set.

After lunch I backtracked and boarded the Train and rode up to Main Street with a stop off for a water refill behind the new Fantasy Land Expansion. The fence has a lot of posters up about the new area and people were chattering away. After debarking on the platform I took the stairs down and headed out of MK and went to see where the next bus was heading.

I never saw any bus’s to AK itself but I had the thought that I could just board the AKL bus then grab a bus from there and hit AK. Yet as I was walking up there was a bus finishing it’s boarding for BC. LOL Well hello, I grabbed it made the quick trip back to the Epcot area, exited and 2 minutes later boarded another bus for AK. I’m sure there was an easier way, but hey it was hot my brain was sort of fried and that’s what my head said to do.
This was probably one of the more humid days I was there. Or it was just that in the time I would normally be heading back for a break I was actually going to go stand in the heat. And stand I did.

I entered AK and made my way over to Asia with a quick stop to pick up yet another cup of ice water. Standby for Kali, 45 minutes. Ick. Fast Passes over an hour away and The Festival of the Lion King didn’t work out in that time frame. I just decided to suck it up and do standby. This was my only long wait all week; it was a little more than 45 minutes and there was a little shade but not a lot. Once you got to the buildings it was much easier but that first part out in the rocks was a killer. I had all my stuff in my bag in Ziplocs, and one of the items in there was my ipod touch. I whipped it out and read my eBook and drank my water (for how long it lasted) and resigned myself to stand, stand, stand, shuffle forward, stand, stand, stand, sweat. By the time I got up there, I figured I would be so hot I’d love the ride. Not so much. I mean yes, it was fun and I was in the seat that got soaked, but I wasn’t in love with it. I would not stand by this ever again. FP yes, but I’m not sure it was worth the long wait. By the time I was done, I was really not in the mood to sit around for the Lion King show and decided to just head back and cool off.


I spent a little time at the resort looking through the gift shop. I bought a couple of bags of candy and a box of the Mickey/Minnie Cookies. (Cookie pretty good, cherry sours yum, red licorice nah) I was still striking out on the t shirt front and just decided to give it up and try again next trip.

I did go and pick up and bottle of chocolate milk and a small order of beignets light on the powder sugar. They reminded me of a tougher version of a sopapilla, which I do love and that probably overshadowed my opinion. I did have them cold and that may have made the difference as I took them back to my room, but I didn’t love them. Didn’t hate them but didn’t love them.

After chilling out and watching the weather I began to doubt my efforts to get to my third park that evening. There was a pretty good storm moving in and so I grabbed my id and some cash and my phone threw them in my pocket with one more of my ponchos and made a dash to the bus. This was the only time I hit a park bag less. I had only one thing in mind. Rock n Roller Coaster.

I hit the park just before six and made my way straight to Hollywood Blvd. I was just going to hit the single rider’s line and try to beat the storm. I knew at this point I would probably not hang around for Fantasmic. I’m not a huge firework fan so I wasn’t disappointed, but it will give me something to try for next time.

I made my way though the single rider line and with only about 15 of us waiting I got on pretty quick. I’m mixed about this roller coaster. Speed was great, loops and curves thrilling, I thought it was really jerky of a steel coaster. I know you’re going to get a bit of jostling but it seemed excessive. But then again after 6 days I may have been feeling a bit worse for wear. LOL After this I went ahead and headed back to begin packing up for the trip home.

I had the quesadillas for dinner again, not very inventive I know but I thrive on simple.

I got my bags situated for the trip home. (I had brought 1 med and 1 small suitcase and was using a midsized Coach Signature purse as my carryon since my I pad fits in it) Next time I think I can do this in one large bag even for a week. I needed about half the clothes anyway, and I didn’t mind one night by the pool doing laundry. Shoes actually took up most of the room and that I will not skimp on. Being able to switch out sneakers every other day and then good supportive flips for the resort were the key to keeping my feet in good shape.

I tried to give away my leftover beer and water (couple of bottles of each) and people looked at me like I was the offering them illegal drugs.

Whatever, I left them as part of my housekeeping tip; I hope the maid likes Bud Light with Lime. I got what I needed ready first thing and moved my car over to the side parking lot that was closest to my room, and went to bed.

 

[bookgirl]

SATURDAY
I needed to get my rental car back between 9 and 10, and check in for my 11:55 flight, so I had the alarm set for 7 again with plans to head out between 8:30 and 8:45. I actually left late as it was almost 9:00 before I finally left. Got up fixed my bagel and then fixed another as I’d be traveling over lunch and security likes the bagels. While rolling the bags out to the car I encountered a new form of Florida wildlife. A small black snake with an orange ring. Probably less than the diameter of a pencil about 6 inches long. I looked him up, he was harmless.

After getting packed I left Port Orleans and WDW I actually didn’t do a physical checkout because I was running late. The only bad thing about this is that I don’t have a receipt but since I didn’t charge anything it really didn’t matter.

The trip back to the airport was fine, but I did find one little hiccup along the way. Remember how I said being a good mileage vehicle would come in handy. Well, I hadn’t used very much gas, but I always just take the option of filling up on my own. There was a gas station right by where I ‘d stayed last Saturday and since it’s the same road as the exit to the airport, my plan was just to exit, turn left, fill up then head straight south on Semaron into the airport. I pull up and notice a sign for FL residents to bring in their ID. Why? Because the gas was $5.49 a gallon! Yep a $2 dollar surcharge for gas. Anyway luckily I only needed 6 gallons and I was within 15 minutes of my rental return so I just paid it and hustled on my way.

Huge lines at SW and a nice lady was directing everyone into the very long queue. I just kept on walking and exited to curbside where there was not waiting. Well worth the skycap tip. I had never actually gone through the security at MCO before (I flew in to MCO but out of Ft. Myers last time). I think they handled it very well. I’ve gone though some larger airports and this was pretty painless. Bought some French fries at McD’s and an ice water and waited to board.

The never laugh at others ending to my story.

Know how people always start the Norwalk panic/my kids caught the plague at Disney/we arrived at the resort and all caught a bug immediately threads. Yeah I pooh pawed them too.

Within 12 hours of landing home I was laid so low I wished someone had just shot me for the next three days. Four days after that I was willing to bypass the gun to the head but I still was sick. I had to have picked it up Friday at WDW or Saturday at the airport. Live and learn, I washed my hands a lot but was lax on the hand sanitizer….note to self…..you get the picture.

 

[bookgirl]

So the wrap up.

RESORTS:

Loved both of my resorts.

Beach Club was an amazing atmosphere and the location just can’t be beat.

French Quarter is by far the easiest resort to navigate. So small but beautiful landscaping and a real authentic resort quality that makes up for some of the discrepancies price between a mod and a value or a mod and deluxe
.
I’ve already been thinking about a trip back next October and have a POFQ reservation. If some great rate comes out and Beach Club becomes closer in price I will switch there, but for the cost/value POFQ was outstanding.

POOLS:

Beach Club has SAB. I actually did not like it as we were looking for quiet and relaxing, but it did occupy the families so that the quiet pools were very nice if you just wanted a soak in the hot tub or to float a little. I would go to SAB if I wanted fun, Quiet pools, for relaxation and laundry.

POFQ has the one pool. Again the kids were enjoying themselves (which is fine because they are at a pool and they should be loud and playing) so I just didn’t see it as relaxing so I never went there. The hot tub was usually full, so I passed on that too.

FOOD:

Beach Club food was well prepared and tasted wonderful. There is a lack of quick service is a pain for someone like me who is pretty happy with simple food, especially if I already ate a big meal out somewhere. However I think there is enough to get you through breakfast at least. Captain’s Grille was tasty and a filling breakfast buffet.

French Quarter had enough variety to satisfy me. They had the usual burger/chicken/hotdog fare as well as some more interesting things like poboy’s, chicken, and roast beef. I wish they had a better pasta selection. In all they were fine and I could have eaten here for an entire stay and not gotten bored.

RESTURANTS

Captain’s Grille- thumbs up, for breakfast without characters this was affordable and very tasty

Marketplace (BC)-great for an on the go breakfast, but wish they had a protein option besides ham. Sausage or bacon would have been nice. They had a lot of grab and go stuff here (cereal, fruit, chips, snacks) and if needed I could have made a great lunch out of their options.

Rose and Crown-good food that was not quite the usual but familiar enough to appeal

Tangerine Café-mixed review, the chicken wrap (not a wrap really more like flatbread) was good, the sides not so much

Rose and Crown pub-nice for a quick bite or a beer but not enough seating and they won’t let you leave with the food

Sunshine Seasons-Ate here twice and if I could have gotten back I would have eaten there again. Love this place.

Resturantasaurus- Typical cs food and not much variety but tasted good and was convenient to location

Tortugas- was okay but would not go there again on purpose. If I was in a hurry and there it was then that’s where I would eat but wouldn’t plan on it.

Sassgalula (POFQ)-Was completely adequate for a counter service food was good and menu had enough variety to satisfy most people. Won’t get the Beignets again.

Spirit of Aloha-very thumbs up don’t know if I’d redo it every visit but it’s something I would be open to doing again

THINGS I DIDN’T DO, BUT STILL WANT TO TRY:

Monorail- that was on my list for this time but I never seemed to be making any hops between the right resorts. I know they stink and are not really a ‘ride’, but still I want to at least ride it once.

Festival of the Lion King-heard it’s good but didn’t make it. Not sure if I would be tragic if I never saw it but I’d like to give it a try. Wouldn’t get a hopper just to see it and wouldn’t go to AK just to watch. Only if I was already planning on an AK day would this be a must see.

Star Tours-now that I know there are different scenarios, I’m going to have to go on this a few more times. Probably would burn a ticket for this but if I had hoppers I’d totally spend part of a day just playing on this and then filling in with the shows that I didn’t see this time. (back lot, stunt show, maybe the Muppets)

Technically not WDW- So I’d really like to hit IOA to see Harry Potter, SeaWorld, and I’m dying to go to Cape Canaveral and see NASA. I’m planning a trip next Oct so I can do HP and Food&Wine. So that will knock one of these off.

Resort Hop- I always talk about wanting to tour around the resorts, but let’s face it unless you have multiple days that aren’t park driven it’s just not a priority.

 

[bookgirl]

Sorry guys I'm rubbish at photos, so it's just so much talk.

I had a great time and as you can see I'm going back again.

If you have any questions ask away but if not then I hope you liked the reading.


See you next year WDW.

 

[natebenma]

So far I have read through the Beach Club portion of your vacation, with your mom and stepdad.

Sounds like you had a pretty smooth arrival, complete with celebrity meets: Teena and the Noodle Family.

You had a great first day visit to EPCOT. I really enjoy Living with the Land , Sunshine Seasons (particularly the goat cheese and beet salad) is yummy and you definitely don't have to be a science geek to love Space Ship Earth. My whole family loves it!

Isn't it great how easy it is to watch Illuminations, and then get back to the BC so quickly!

****************************************************

Your comments (and your mom's) about the coffee made me smile. As soon as I book a trip, I start obsessing about the coffee. Is there a coffee maker in the room? What kind? So I know whether to bring filter packs or k-cups. In fact, the very first post I made to the BC thread on the DIS was about the coffee makers.

Sorry about the experience you had on M:S Orange. At least you were brave enough to try it. My husband and 9 year old son tried it in 2010. My older son and I sat it out. When Ben joined us in the wait area he had a huge smile on his face.

"I puked! 3 times!"

Your meal at Rose and Crown sounds really good. Aside from the expense of Cape May, it was probably a good call to go to a restaurant where you were served your meal rather than a buffet. Although I really love the clambake!

Isn't it great how easy it is to watch Illuminations, and then get back to the BC so quickly!

***************************************************

Is there any chance you have a photo of the French Toast Sticks with Ham from breakfast that morning? I have a photo of the French Toast Sticks only on the Marketplace thread, but not with the ham. If you do, could you email it to beachclubdee@yahoo.com?

How did the folks do walking around AK that morning? It is such a big park!

I've never seen Flights of Wonder show. My guys are not big on sitting for shows.

Last time we went to It's Tough to be a Bug, I told my husband about the stinging seats and scurrying roaches. But I didn't tell my boys. And that was the last time we will be doing that attraction.

I have not been to Spirit of Aloha so I appreciate your descriptions. Sounds like it was a nice choice for your evening. If you plan a future meal at the Poly, I would recommend Kona for either breakfast or dinner (probably lunch too, although I haven't tried that meal)

That's it for now, but I'll read up on the rest of your report tomorrow.

 

[bookgirl]

No I didn't get a picture sorry. We were totally rushing as I was literally pushing them out the door. AK was tough but I just went back and forth and let them do short walks straight to attractions.

 

[bookgirl]

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