Thanksgiving AND New Year's?! Whew! - Update 3/12 Pg. 17

[TanzUnited99]

Welcome back! Have just caught up with your Thanksgiving trip and looking forward to reading more and hearing about New Year in Disney World!

TanzUnited99

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Welcome back! I'm so excited to hear about your New Year's trip!

 

[Nermel9]

Welcome back! Hope you had a great time!

 

[dlboss]

sounds like you had a great time

 

[jillianml]

I read your trip from start to finish,well to this point anyways!Hope you had a great trip!

 

[IheartDDuck]

All caught up ! - can't wait to hear more and the current trip! We had fun at Monster's Inc on our last trip. My son was holding my granddaughter and they became the two-headed monster on the screen.

Oh, what I wouldn't do to be pictured on the screen for Monster's Inc.

Welcome back! Have just caught up with your Thanksgiving trip and looking forward to reading more and hearing about New Year in Disney World!

TanzUnited99

Thanks! I'll be finishing my Thanksgiving trip shortly, then on to New Years.

Welcome back! I'm so excited to hear about your New Year's trip!

Thanks!

Welcome back! Hope you had a great time!

We did! Hopefully I'll be able to get to that part soon.

sounds like you had a great time

Definitely did.

I read your trip from start to finish,well to this point anyways!Hope you had a great trip!

Thanks. I'll have more shortly.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Finally, we are on to our final day in the parks. It was strange for me, because I've never taken a trip quite this short before. I guess I'm a little bit of a Disney snob, but I definitely don't regret a short trip.

We went to be fairly early the night before, and this ended up being a really good decision in the end. It was nice to be able to get a good nights sleep, what with our late night to get out to Disney, and then the late night with the fireworks and MSEP. We were up and out of the hotel by about 8:20am.

Our plan was simple. Epcot. The crowd calendar seemed to be working in my favor, because there were not many people in line for the Epcot bus. A bus came in no time and we were on our way. The plan was to eat breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, because we wanted to get a good return time for our Soarin' fastpass. On the ride on the bus, we were talking to a man who was visiting for the first time in over 20 years. He was there with his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. I love how prepared he was, because he had the wait time app for his iPhone.

He said that his daughter was the one that he was really following, because they had visited three times in the last four years, so she knew what she was doing. There was a young couple behind us that we started talking too as well, about the weather back home and our favorite attractions. They had already been there for almost a week and had done a lot of things. I asked them if they had done Toy Story Mania yet, and they said they hadn't. I told them to make sure they got over there to check it out, but to make sure they got on the ride early or grabbed fastpasses immediately because the ride is so popular.

The ride was over in no time, and we all started heading into the park. I had to get my picture of course.

I love the poinsettia's in the front.

Our first destination was obvious, and again the crowd calendar was doing pretty well, because the crowd's weren't unbearable at this time. We were at our destination soon.

I went to secure our fastpasses while mom headed into Sunshine Seasons to get our breakfast. I managed to get a return time for us of 10:20, so not too bad. It always pays to get there right when the park opens. Mom got our breakfast.

Mmmmm

We both got a cheese danish. Mom got coffee and I got milk.

I love the inside of the Land. Makes me think about my childhood in Disney.

Obviously I enjoy cheese danish!

After we were done, we decided to stay in the area so we could get to our return time for Soarin' early. First we headed over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends.

I think this is the first time that I have been able to get a picture of this with no one in front of it. Again, it pays to be there so early.

I like that ride. But, as I've mentioned before, when it comes to Disney, I'm pretty easily amused. Doesn't take much! Back in the day when it was the Living Seas, I detested that attraction. And then when they took the "ride" portion out, to me it was even worse. I think the theming has helped the attraction immensely.

Then it was over to....

My favorite bathroom!

Then.....

Okay, so we're waiting in line for this, and they're doing the whole pre-show, and this kid says "I wasn't even born yet when this opened". Yeah, thanks kid for making me feel old! I remember when it was brand new! And the coolest thing ever!

It was funny to have such a blast from the past. What cracks me up is that the storyline just makes absolutely no sense. None at all. I think it was still fun though. Remember, easily amused. I told myself that when we came back in February that I want to get a Captain EO shirt. I was trying to keep my spending at a minimum this time around.

Then we headed back over to....

Why oh why did Disney destroy this ride? I will still go on it, but when I was a kid the line for this ride was always long. Because the ride was AWESOME! Now......meh.

Now it was time for our fastpasses.

"Hello, and welcome to Soarin'!"

Love Patrick Warburton. Love him in the Emporer's New Groove too.

Our flight over California was awesome as always! We lucked out and got the first row without even having the ask for it. Score! We ended up sitting next to someone on the ride that was a DVC member, and mom struck up a conversation. They started talking about how addictive DVC is and how it's like the points you have are never enough. It was at this moment that mom told me that for their 40th anniversary (this year! Wow!), she wants more points from dad. Ha ha! I told her that I would help her work on him.

After this, we decided that we would get fastpasses for Test Track. We don't get on that ride too often, because the wait time is always crazy. Plus, I don't enjoy it quite as much as Soarin', so it's never a priority. We were able to get a return time of 1:25pm. Not bad.

We decided this would be a good time to get something to eat. We were tossed up between La Hacienda and the Tangierine Cafe.

Up next: Where would we decide to eat?

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

GREAT UPDATE!!!

My parents will be celebrating 30 years together on June 13th!! I doubt they have anything planned haha. They might take a trip somewhere this summer but who knows haha.

I know what you mean by short trips...my March trip only consists of 3 full days, 2 1/2 days (if that). My goal is to be tan by the end of the trip but with only 1 day of possible pool time + good weather hopefully, we'll see if I reach my goal haha!

The breakfast looks yummyyyy

 

[IheartDDuck]

GREAT UPDATE!!!

My parents will be celebrating 30 years together on June 13th!! I doubt they have anything planned haha. They might take a trip somewhere this summer but who knows haha.

I know what you mean by short trips...my March trip only consists of 3 full days, 2 1/2 days (if that). My goal is to be tan by the end of the trip but with only 1 day of possible pool time + good weather hopefully, we'll see if I reach my goal haha!

The breakfast looks yummyyyy

I hope you are able to reach your goal! I never put the option of being tan in any of my goals. I'm just pasty. No change there.

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! I'm not one to complain about the lack of Christmas decorations, like I've seen lots of people do on the DIS, but I'm not a fan of what they did in the front of Epcot. When I was there in 09 they had all the Mickey and Minnie topiaries out there, and this year they moved them to the back...just doesn't make sense to me! The poinsettias are pretty, but they don't compare to how the park looked last year!

Ok, enough complaining! The Seas is so cute! I've never been able to get a picture of the little Nemo and friends area without 10,000 kids climbing all over it either! I gotta get there at rope drop someday!

Yay, Soarin! I love that ride SO much!

 

[TanzUnited99]

on being able to ride Soarin (front row!) and Test Track...sounds like you had a great last day!

 

[wdwgirl03]

I am so with you about Journey into Imagination. The original was just amazing. We were watching some of our old home videos the other day and my dad recorded some of it. Ahhh I miss it.

Funny about the conversation about DVC! I remember a couple years ago we got into a conversation with some DVC members and they were saying how that trip they weren't even using their points because they ran out for the year! It really is addicting.

 

[IheartDDuck]

More updates! I have to finish November so I can get started on New Year's!

So, I left everyone with us having to make a decision about where we were going to have lunch. La Hacienda or Tangierine Cafe. We thought about it as we walked into World Showcase. I snapped some pictures along the way.

Mom had to stop in the bathroom, so I continued to take pictures. I love ducks. That's obvious, because I love Donald, but I love all ducks. I think they're so cute, so all of my vacation pictures always have a duck or two in them.

There were also these cute little guys that kept diving under the water to get food.

By this time, our dining decision was made.....

We were about to hop in line and there was a family who were trying to decide which margarita's to get. I told them to go into the pavilion and go to La Cava. I explained that the margarita's there were awesome and much better then the ones outside. They thanked me and headed in. I told them I figured it would be open already.

Mom and I ordered our food. Mom got the tacos de pollo, sweet tea, and churros, and I got tacos de carne, sweet tea, and churros.

Everything was really good and I was happy with our choice. I think the food is significantly better then it used to be. After we were done, I told mom that I really wanted to go and have a margarita and she happily agreed. So we headed into La Cava. It was about 11:55am and they weren't open yet! I completely forgot that they didn't open until noon. I felt so bad about telling that family that they would be open already. Man, I should know these things!

Since we had five minutes to spare, we went on the Grand Fiesta tour. I love this because it stars Donald. Hello!

Once we were done with the ride, La Cava was open, so we headed inside. The family that I had directed there was not inside. I felt so bad. We sat down and ordered. I cannot remember what mine was called, but it was blue something (duh!).

Mom got the pomegranate margarita. She liked it very much (obviously!).

We also ordered some chips and guacamole. I know we had just eaten, but I'm not good at drinking without something to nibble on.

Minutes after we arrived, the family that I had directed over arrived. I apologized to them for giving them bad information on the time of day it would open. They said no worries, that they just wandered over to Norway and then came back. I was glad that they ended up liking it, even though one in their party mentioned that the margarita's were a little strong. Whoops! That's exactly why I direct people over there, because the margarita's everywhere else are just too weak! LOL.

We sat and enjoyed our drinks and snacks for quite some time. Afterward, we decided to head over to Test Track to see if it was time for our fastpass. Along the way I took some pictures.

Went into Mouse Gears. Apparently I was feeling silly.

We were about 10 minutes off, so we took a seat outside and waited for a little while. We were in line and in our briefing room in no time. I like Test Track very much, but the complaint that I have about most of Disney is the way they load people. They have you in a nice line, but then they load you into a place where you have to migrate together. It causes pushing and people just wanting to get through. My solution to this is waiting around the back and heading in last. I'm in no hurry, and waiting an extra five minutes (because realistically, that's the most it would take), is no skin off my back. Anyway, my point is, Test Track is my least favorite place for this.

Continued in next post.

 

[IheartDDuck]

We were done with our ride on Test Track and made a decision. There were only a few things left in Epcot that we definitely wanted to do, but we also wanted to head to Downtown Disney. Well, I know that even during off season you want to avoid DTD at night, so obviously we didn't want to go there at night during the holidays. It was around 2pm at this point, so we walked over to the International Gateway to get to the Beach Club. Our plan was to hop on the DTD bus from there, get some shopping done, drop our goods off at the hotel, then head back to Epcot. Whew!

We also wanted to make sure we were back in the room at a relatively decent hour, because we had to pack and ME was coming to pick us up at an ungodly hour (4am!).

We took some beautiful pictures of the Beach Club area along the way. I was very excited that I would be staying here in October.

We got to the Beach Club and were on a DTD bus by about 2:30pm. With the additional stop at the Boardwalk, we arrived at DTD at about 3pm. Our first goal was to stop at the World of Disney. I was looking for a hoodie that inspired me to buy it. We also wanted to stop at TrenD and D-Street.

Other then that, we had no other goals in mind. We gave ourselves stricter shopping budgets on this trip because of the length. Here are the purchases that I made.

Umm, lots of Vinylmation.

This is the passholder exclusive

Loved this shirt!

Obviously I found a hoodie that spoke to me.

Continued in next post.

 

[IheartDDuck]

We finished up Downtown in seriously record time. I've never shopped that quickly before. We were on a bus back to POP at about 4:30pm. Impressive if I do say so myself!

We had a really funny bus driver. Every time people would get on he would say "everyone ready to go to Epcot?" This made me laugh, because we all know that there are those people out there. You know, the person that goes up to the bus that is clearly marked Epcot and says "does this bus go to the Magic Kingdom?" I'm sure that on a regular basis, he gets confused looks when he tells this joke. Priceless. He was a great bus driver. He asked trivia questions along the way, like what Donald's nieces names are (anyone know?), what three attractions inspired movies, how many square miles is Disney World, etc. It made the bus ride more fun. What he kept saying in the end was "if you liked your bus ride, my name is John. If you hated your bus ride, my name is Steve." He also requested that when we stopped at our destination, that we all get off of the bus as fast as possible and run away screaming in pure terror. He didn't actually want us to do that though. He said that he just likes the joke, but that his bosses just don't understand.

After our fun bus ride we dropped our stuff off at the room and changed for the night. The temperature was dropping, so we wanted to make sure we had hoodies, longer pants, and tennis shoes on. We were out of the room in no time, caught a bus to Epcot almost immediately, and then managed to get there around 6pm. Not bad, not bad at all.

First stop was Spaceship Earth

Mom and I had an accident in our future

All better!

Spaceship Earth was the last attraction on our list. It's a must do, for sentimental reasons. After that, we decided that we were getting hungry. We decided since Tangierine Cafe was on our short list earlier, that we would go there for dinner. In all of my years of going to Disney, I have never eaten there. We always eat at Marrakesh, but never counter service. I can't believe that I haven't, because it honestly was the best meal that I had the entire trip. Hands down. I recommend this to anyone who likes to eat ethnic food that wants something different from Disney.

Sliders

Chicken and Lamb combo

Baklava

This is definitely on my to do list for future trips. However, it was during this dining experience that we came across the most indecisive people I have ever seen in my entire life. They were in line ordering when we got there and it took them almost 10 minutes after we arrived for them to complete their order. It was simply because they were not prepared and wanted all kinds of substitutions, like double hummus, no tabouleh, etc. However, what made it bad was they would say one thing to the cast member, then her mother would interject and say something else, then they'd change.

Then, they took 2 minutes, no joke, just to figure out what to get to drink. Come on, really? They were not crowded at all when we had gotten there, but this customer had pushed the line out the door. They got another cast member as soon as they could. We ordered in two seconds flat. The problem here was that they didn't like everything that was offered. My thing is, it's ethnic dining. If you don't like what they have, don't eat there. Sorry if that sounds a little harsh, but seriously people. The poor cast member kept looking at my apologetically, because I had to wait so long.

When I was waiting for our food, the lengthy orderer came back to the cast members with one plate and said that she had wanted one tabouleh and one hummus, and they had given her two hummus. No problem, the cast member said, and proceeded to hand her a tabouleh without taking back the hummus. Then she looks at the tabouleh like it's grown a head, and says again "I said I wanted tabouleh." The cast member looked confused, and I interjected this time and said "that is tabouleh." She finally walked away. Seriously, you ask for something, but don't know what it is? Hmmmm.

Anyway, we found a nice seat in a corner and were able to enjoy our meal at a leisurely pace. However, we were unfortunately somewhat close to the slowsky's, so we got to hear them complain about the food. Really? Just let it be over!

I had nothing left on my plate when we were done. Too good!

After this we had only two things left on our agenda. Stop in Norway to get dad cologne, and stop at the caramel store!

I apologize in advance for forgetting to take pictures of our purchases. There was so much to choose from! We got a chocolate and caramel strawberry (delish!), a chocolate caramel cupcake, and a dark chocolate covered piece of caramel.

We figured this would be good snacks for us when we were done packing. It was pretty crowded in there. This led to two more incidents with guests. One was pretty funny. The lady behind us asks the girl behind the counter if they had anything without caramel. The cast member took a second and calmly stated that there was nothing in this store without caramel, because it is indeed a caramel store. I just about died laughing. Her delivery was so deadpan. I wonder if they get this a lot.

Then, when we were paying, a lady came up with a piece of chocolate covered caramel. She told the lady behind the counter she asked for dark and they gave her milk. However, she had eaten 3/4 of it! And she still wanted a dark one! Okay, observe people, observe. Did you not see the person pull the piece out of the case? Notice the color? Obviously not. Then, to have the audacity to eat 3/4 of it, then demand a new one. I could never do this. Not for something so trivial as the kind of chocolate used. If it's not trivial to others, my intent is not to offend, it's just trivial to me.

Okay, sorry, that was like rant after rant! We got dad's cologne in Norway and were on our way out. It was about 7:30pm at this time, and we figured this would be a good time to head out. We made it to our bus stop, but this was where we had the longest wait. We were on the bus around 8pm and back to the room at 8:20pm. We headed back, dropped our stuff off, grabbed our mugs, and stopped at the food court. We still had six snack credits to burn, so we had to make sure we picked them up. No reason to let snacks go to waste!

We picked up pop tarts for breakfast, a cookie, cookies for Joaquin, and gummies for Joaquin and Riley. Once done with that, it was off to pack. We needed to make sure we were completely done, because we had to get up before God was out of bed. We were in bed by 10pm. And that was the end of our final Disney day. *sniff*

Up Next: Remaining Photopass and closing thoughts

 

[TanzUnited99]

Wow you sure are firing through the updates!

Love the duck pics and the one of you with the Mad Hatter's hat!

Thanks for informing me on the line situation on Test Track...would not have known that so will now know to stand back in the migrating section

Love the idea of getting a hoodie to inspire you Will have to do that for my purchases when I go to make sure I don't spend too much lol. Btw your purchases are great..esp love the hoodie.

for the people in the Tangierine Cafe line - can't believe they took so long. They sure need to look up menus before going

OMG I so nearly wet myself laughing at that Karamell Kuche comment Don't know what I would have done if I had actually heard the comment.

Hope you manage to get up at the ungodly hour to catch the ME bus. Looking forward to seeing the PP pictures and hearing your final thoughts.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

GREAT UPDATES!!!!!!

The food looks really good! We've eaten at the TS Morocco and enjoyed it in the past but like other places better!

Can't wait for the closing!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Great update! I'm not one to complain about the lack of Christmas decorations, like I've seen lots of people do on the DIS, but I'm not a fan of what they did in the front of Epcot. When I was there in 09 they had all the Mickey and Minnie topiaries out there, and this year they moved them to the back...just doesn't make sense to me! The poinsettias are pretty, but they don't compare to how the park looked last year!

Ok, enough complaining! The Seas is so cute! I've never been able to get a picture of the little Nemo and friends area without 10,000 kids climbing all over it either! I gotta get there at rope drop someday!

Yay, Soarin! I love that ride SO much!

It's so nice to be able to get there early, because there are so many things you can do (like get good pictures!). I'm not against sleeping in though, just not when I only have a few days.

on being able to ride Soarin (front row!) and Test Track...sounds like you had a great last day!

We did. We were very happy with all three days and how they went.

I am so with you about Journey into Imagination. The original was just amazing. We were watching some of our old home videos the other day and my dad recorded some of it. Ahhh I miss it.

Funny about the conversation about DVC! I remember a couple years ago we got into a conversation with some DVC members and they were saying how that trip they weren't even using their points because they ran out for the year! It really is addicting.

We have video of it too from back in the day. Brings back such memories. I just watched it the other day too.

Ummm, we fell into the same category as those people you met......we didn't have any points left for this trip either!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Wow you sure are firing through the updates!

Love the duck pics and the one of you with the Mad Hatter's hat!

Thanks for informing me on the line situation on Test Track...would not have known that so will now know to stand back in the migrating section

Love the idea of getting a hoodie to inspire you Will have to do that for my purchases when I go to make sure I don't spend too much lol. Btw your purchases are great..esp love the hoodie.

for the people in the Tangierine Cafe line - can't believe they took so long. They sure need to look up menus before going

OMG I so nearly wet myself laughing at that Karamell Kuche comment Don't know what I would have done if I had actually heard the comment.

Hope you manage to get up at the ungodly hour to catch the ME bus. Looking forward to seeing the PP pictures and hearing your final thoughts.

I know, I'm like a machine!

I use that hang back logic for a lot of rides, so here they are in case you're interested. These are all rides where you wait in line, then migrate into a main area, then get into a line again.

Haunted Mansion, Test Track, Dinosaur, Rockin' Roller Coaster. Those are the ones I can immediately remember.

Yeah, the people at Tangierine Cafe just weren't prepared. I always try to be somewhat prepared. Okay, not somewhat, I'm a little anal retentive!

I almost died laughing when that lady asked that at the caramel store. I'm not going to lie, I almost snorted.

GREAT UPDATES!!!!!!

The food looks really good! We've eaten at the TS Morocco and enjoyed it in the past but like other places better!

Can't wait for the closing!

I thought it was a really good CS option. I think that's also because CS can seem to get repetitive.

 

[IheartDDuck]

This was our idea of feigned terror