The 75% All New Trip! - All done! Bonus Material finished, Link to new TR!

[skier_pete]

I second the dress you were wearing for your Mickey/Minnie greet. Very pretty!

Overall looks like a good day at Epcot, but 60 minute wait for M:S, I couldn't imagine that! Of course it's rare that we will wait more than 20 minutes for anything. We are just too spoiled!

 

[franandaj]

Ok, first of all, your skills using your phones notepad are clearly far superior to mine.

Well at first it started out as cryptic notes while we were on the cruise, just so I could remember what we did. However by the time I got to WDW, I was writing full sentences and completely documenting my day. I would do it waiting in line for rides or while on the bus or waiting for the bus. Or while Fran was looking in stores (which actually ends up being a fair amount of time!)

But I remember hearing about security being beefed up and longer lines than normal. Sorry it caught you a little bit by surprise this morning.

Yeah, little did any of us know the crud that they would be pulling!

Oh wow. Really? What's the point?

This whole metal detector system they use serves no purpose other than providing a token layer of security.

First of all, I don't think Disney necessarily needed them because their security is some of the best in the world anyway. They have enough plain clothes people around keeping an eye on things that it would be extremely difficult to do anything anyway.

But if you're going to put in metal detectors, you'd better make sure you've got enough to check everybody. Otherwise you're wasting time and causing frustration for the individuals who happen to get pulled off to the side.

Exactly!

I think it is 5 minutes before, 15 minutes after...

OK, good to know, normally I wouldn't push it, but stuff just kept happening that morning!

I love those!

It has been a long time since I've had a meal there. I love the ambience of the place though. We might need to try to fit this one in next time.

This one is high up there on the repeat list!

RSR is way better for so many reasons...

Yikes! I'm glad this trip the bus service was better.

We had pretty bad service on that last trip. I'm not sure if it was because we were staying at the GF or we just were unlucky.

It sounds like a much needed break. Hopefully you get up in time to still enjoy your evening plans!

You will see hopefully very soon.

Love the topiaries. They are just darling.

I'm looking forward to the ones that we will see at F&G as well!

Cute sundress.

Thanks. Did you notice anything "special" about it?

Starbucks spelled your name wrong.

Everyone does!

That's really annoying. I had issues at the DL hotel and at VGC a couple times. It makes me think they are on a schedule with a manager who pushes them too much. That kind of stuff really puts a damper on the fun and relaxing part of being on vacation.

I think you might have something there. I like DVC because you don't have maids bothering you, so having one do it this day was super annoying!

I can't figure out how I messed up that quote.

 

[dhorner233]

What was "special" about your cute sun dress?

 

[orangecats2]

I love your tardis dress!!!

 

[franandaj]

I love your tardis dress!!!

Bing bing bing! We have a winner! I'm replying out of order but you are the first one to figure out why the dress was "special". Not to mention it also has Van Gogh's starry night, but the tardis part was important.

 

[orangecats2]

Bing bing bing! We have a winner! I'm replying out of order but you are the first one to figure out why the dress was "special". Not to mention it also has Van Gogh's starry night, but the tardis part was important.

Of course I knew what the dress was, I'm a Whovian! I did know it was Van Gogh but just wanted to comment on the Tardis.

 

[franandaj]

I really, really hate people sometimes. Scratch that. Entitled people.

Yeah, and we seem to run into plenty of them at Disney.

We didn't run into that, but I read the reports just after we left--and I was glad we missed it!

You guys lucked out. Did you go to any parks on Monday?

Wow, that's...weird.

I know. As pkondz said, "I didn't find the bomb I hid under her seat!"

But why??

The ride ended and they made us get off?

Maybe just a little. I like the atmosphere in there, though.

It was really nice, and the food was great!

That's why it's so dark. They were actually jelly beans.

like RSR better, too. Especially since they muddled the storyline on TT.

I don't like all the stops and starts, and jerky movements.

I was a little surprised to read about the security being stepped up at the Disney parks where they have added the metal detectors, dogs, and more security around Christmas break time. I know what you mean about rude people that are trying to get through the security check point and turnstiles. I didn't experience that when I was at the DLR back in early December but there was more security at that time and I will experience that this coming weekend. I do carry a lot of stuff with me so hopefully it will be fast instead of slower. We have enough slow things to get into DL & DCA from the picture scan at the turnstiles if you are entering the park for the first time with that ticket. It seems like security at the parks are doing the same shakedowns like at any events where it can be annoying and I don't know what they are thinking about selecting certain people of the pat downs.

It wasn't nearly as bad when I was there 10 days ago.

Very nice day at Epcot where you got to meet some characters. Glad to see that you are getting better and better with the Sigma lens during the dark rides. I always wanted to eat at the San Angel Inn which is like the BB version at DL where it is dark and a nice dining experience. The Christmas decorations at Epcot are interesting every year especially with the character topiaries.

Thanks. Me and the Sigma lens are becoming even better friends, but more on that in a couple posts.

I don't know!

Well don't be offended if I wait until after my next update to respond any responses from you generated by this banter!

Probably by her spouse.

Never

I try to keep my TRs educational and informative.


Or something.

Let's go with something.

I saw that on FB.

And it's going rather well so far. I may post about it before my next update, which should be soon as yesterday was when it should have been posted.

Wow. One Coke after supper and I'm usually toast

I can't drink any carbonated beverages, even Champagne sometimes gives me trouble.

Just don't rile us.

Whoa. Ok then!

Well... sure.
Be polite. "Excuse me, could you give me your supervisor's name and number? Thanks."

I was thinking the same thing.

Now I'll have to go on a cruise to find a fun place to dress up.

Nah. He hitched a ride on your back.

Looked to me like his eyes were bugging out.

Hmmmm...I guess I missed that.

Just catching up! Slight distraction with 3 weeks in hospital...

Ugh. Well I'm glad you're back home again, and hopefully all healed!

Exciting about your Mississippi River trip. New Orleans is a place we love. The ship looks amazing. A bay window a good choice. Who wants mosquitoes coming in anyway? I love the rooms on the ship. The dining room looks amazing.

I know. I'm getting so excited that it is coming up so soon! But so many things to do before we go!

I am delighted to hear about the scooter friendly swamp tour!

I was very pleased to find that out as well!

Oh my re SSR - OKW I am glad it got eventually sorted out!

I know. It would have been a PITA going to and from all the dining we had planned at the various resorts if Disney Springs wasn't right nearby.

I love the photo on the speeder bike. I wish I had got a supply of those cinamon rolls in hospital. We thought the holiday decs were best at the BW area. BC was amazing. Loving B & Cream. We were shocked how small it was!

It was all so much fun!

Nice photo of you with Mickey and great dress. Dinner looks good. Enjoyed catching up!

Did you notice what was special about the dress?

 

[franandaj]

I second the dress you were wearing for your Mickey/Minnie greet. Very pretty!

Well thank you, did notice the subtleties?

Overall looks like a good day at Epcot, but 60 minute wait for M:S, I couldn't imagine that! Of course it's rare that we will wait more than 20 minutes for anything. We are just too spoiled!

Same for me. I really don't like to wait in long lines, usually because I am by myself. And because we travel in the off season, I know I can probably come back and the wait will be shorter.

What was "special" about your cute sun dress?

Orangecats2 got it! See her post above!

Of course I knew what the dress was, I'm a Whovian! I did know it was Van Gogh but just wanted to comment on the Tardis.

I really can't say I'm a huge fan because we aren't even watching the new episodes. I really liked the other Doctor better, and have never seen the older episodes. Once we get moved out of our old house and our stuff sold off on eBay, we will have time to sit around and watch Netflix and DVDs and then I will binge watch from the beginning. I saw some of those episodes a while back and the first ones were really trippy!

 

[pkondz]

Whoa. Ok then!

 

[skier_pete]

Well thank you, did notice the subtleties

I didn't - but looked back now and did! A little bit of Tardis! DW always likes outfits from Disney that have a subtleness to them, I know she would like it too if she knew anything about Dr. Who.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am all caught up again.

To give you a life update, we have moved out just about all the boxes that were in the attic and we have even begun to shred the old tax papers.

It definitely sounds like things are happening.

I took a TON of pictures at the Grand Floridian and somehow they got corrupted or something because I can’t view them at all.

What a shame that you lost a lot of photos, bur the one that are left are wonderful.

They had a Mary Blair inspired Frozen Gingerbread house complete with 15 hidden Olafs. I found 13 of them and gave up.

I really like this, but the hidden Olafs look tiny.

This is really cute.

Then we headed out in search of Trader Sams. Unfortunately it was only 2PM and they didn't open until 4PM.

What a pain. I had not realised that they are not open until quite late in the afternoon.

The reason we left so early was that Pam (pinkocto) and her Mom were just finishing dinner at Raglan Road right across the way from our destination. While we had seen Pam on quite a few occasions, we had never met her mom, so it was nice to put a personality to the pictures.

How nice that you got to meet Pam and her mum.

The place was very pretty inside.

This looks absolutely gorgeous.

I ordered a carafe of what turned out to be an INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE sake.

That sounds like very expensive sake.

A few minutes go by and she barges in the door.

I would have been so mad.

These really rude people started cutting in front of folks trying to say that there really wasn't a line it was just a crowd of people.

I really can't understand people sometimes.

So we hauled butt over to the character spot and we were 2 minutes late for our FP, but they must have a grace period because they let us in.

Pam taught me in October that there is a grace period of 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after.

I was going to try and ride Mission space, but the posted wait time was 60 minutes for orange.

I think that must be the longest I have ever seen.

Now the wait for orange was only 15 minutes.

That is more like it. I am glad you got to ride.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

I didn't - but looked back now and did! A little bit of Tardis! DW always likes outfits from Disney that have a subtleness to them, I know she would like it too if she knew anything about Dr. Who.

We only got into Dr. Who since moving into our new house. We had a brand new DVR and needed stuff to record to watch so Dr. Who and Big Band Theory came into the mix since we moved in the off season of Network TV. We also had to purchase some of our old episodes from Network TV off Amazon to get caught up in September when the new season started since we were so behind on watching at the time we moved.

I like dresses and clothes that you have to wonder about a little bit.

I am all caught up again.

Good, you are about to be behind again, but then again I am horribly behind on your TR!

It definitely sounds like things are happening.

Well they were.

What a shame that you lost a lot of photos, bur the one that are left are wonderful.

I have no idea what happened, they are red x's on my card and when I transferred them.

I really like this, but the hidden Olafs look tiny.

They were. I think that's why they were "hidden."

This is really cute.

All the pins were cute, I just forgot to take pictures of the other ones we got.

What a pain. I had not realised that they are not open until quite late in the afternoon.

Yeah. At least we are staying at the Poly next trip, so we better get there!

How nice that you got to meet Pam and her mum.

It was great to meet her mom. She was a bundle of energy, I hope our trips coincide again and we could spend more time together.

This looks absolutely gorgeous.

It was a very pretty restaurant.

That sounds like very expensive sake.

When I did the math in a previous reply, it was about 4x as expensive as sake that I would get at home, so yeah, pretty expensive.

I would have been so mad.

Next time I will flip the latch.

I really can't understand people sometimes.

At least they decided to stop cutting in our line and went over to another.

Pam taught me in October that there is a grace period of 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after.

That's good to know.

I think that must be the longest I have ever seen.

I know I've never seen it that long. I thought that I could just get in line and ride quickly, but obviously not.

That is more like it. I am glad you got to ride.

 

[franandaj]

So it’s been a week since I’ve given you an update on what’s going on in our lives. At that point things were going good and we were going over to the house almost daily and moving boxes, well it hasn’t gone so well this week. Between Doctor’s appointments, getting to the gym and another little thing, we haven’t done much in the way of moving.

Tuesday morning I woke up to the scale registering the heaviest weight I have ever been in my entire life. I decided that drastic measures were in order. Those of you who are friends on FB may have already seen this. Our trip is three weeks (or so) away and I know that I’ll end up putting on a few pounds with all that good food, so if I don’t drop a bunch of pounds before we leave, I am going to be needing an entirely new wardrobe when I get back. I decided the only way to drop pounds (since I’ve tried cutting carbs, and limiting calories by counting on myfitnesspal) was to go with this whole plant based eating plan. I’ve had friends who have done such and said the weight just “fell off”.

So Tuesday I stopped eating anything that wasn’t derived from a plant. Is this a “lifestyle change”? Heck no!!!!! BUT. I have lost 10 lbs in 6 days, so that’s no laughing matter. I would like to drop another 15 but I doubt that I can hold the same rate. If I could I would be there in less than 10 days, but we’ll see. Also we’ll have to see how long I can keep this up. Already last night, I ate some sashimi for dinner as we had planned to order in Thai/Japanese food after our special rehearsal in LA before I decided on this program. I suspect that I will be reincorporating meat into my diet sooner than I mean to just because Fran is already having trouble dealing with my choices to do this. She keeps asking me if I want to put meat into something when I am really trying to just go veggie. It’s not forever, but with the amount of weight loss, I need to go with it!

Back to the TR….We left off both of us laying down for a nap much later in the afternoon that I had intended. After 40 minute power nap, I got us up and dressed for the nighttime. Pretty sunset was going on.



And we were out the door by 6PM. It took a while for a DHS bus to come, plus there was road construction so it may have been close to 7PM when we arrived. We made a beeline for the Osborne Lights along with about 20,000 other people. Crowd control was along the lines of Disneyland before F! Or after the fireworks when they have traffic flowing in only one direction and CMs have those lighted stick things that guys use to guide planes. When we finally got our first glimpse of the lights, Fran said, "This is way too excessive."



I thought it was relatively impressive. We'll if the "A" in Earth could have been lit up, and maybe if the place we're not wall to wall people. I would like to think that it was due to the fact that the lights are closing thus year, but @afwdwfan reported a similar situation last year with his family nearly being trampled and no one knew the lights would be closing then.













It didn't take long for me to start feeling claustrophobic and on the verge of a panic attack.









People everywhere were not paying attention to what was going on around them, they were so caught up in the moment that they were oblivious to their surroundings. I couldn't get out of there fast enough! But it was a challenge to weave in and out of the clumps of people, finally I just followed behind an aggressive guy with a scooter who was practically using it like a machete in a forest of people.















Once we were out to safety, I commented to Fran that it was really a waste since there wasn't even a casino anywhere on there!

We still had half an hour until our reservation and she had wanted to check out one of the shops on the main drag ao we headed over there. After browsing for about 7 minutes she proclaimed that Elias & Company is a far superior store and we went to dinner to check in.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We were 15 minutes early and the place was packed. I doubt they were taking walk ups but it appeared that even folks with reservations were waiting about 15 minutes to be seated.





We got a table in the back and our waitress was very low key. Even with her other tables she didn't seem big on antics. I did see her try the Choo Choo train on one gal who didn't eat all her green beans, but other than that she mostly cracked jokes at her customers.





Fran had a blast in there. She recognized every TV show, knew all the actor’s names, and for most she even pointed out what series they went on to star in following their roles in these classic 50's sitcoms. Me? Never seen one of them. So here’s the menu, pretty basic comfort food.







I got an electric lemonade.





We split a Gingerbread milkshake, which was their seasonal offering. It was sooooooo good. Much more Gingerbread flavor than my cupcake.



We got an order of onion rings, they came with a horseradish sauce that was absolutely delicious. We polished off those suckers in no time.



Then we split the fried chicken. It was really good too and we completely cleaned our plates!



Since we cleaned our plates we could have dessert. Fran got the chocolate brownie sundae.



While I got the pineapple upside-down cake a la mode. So good!



We both cleaned our dessert plates as well!





We had pretty much closed down the place. I didn’t realize it, but DHS closed at 8PM that night and our reservation was for 7:50PM. So I took some photos of the empty restaurant.





The lounge was so packed when we got there, I could barely take any decent pictures.





I remember these Collier’s Encyclopedias from growing up. There were these pages in there with detailed pictures of moths that just horrified me. I think that’s part of why I’m so scared of bugs to this day. I wanted to look at one and see if the pictures still scared me to death, but they are all glued together into one big prop.







Outside the restaurant the park was fairly empty so I tried a long exposure shot using a trash can as my tripod.



We headed for the exit and as we hit Hollywood Blvd a rush of people came pouring out of Sunset Blvd. I guess F! had just finished.

Fran pointed out that her scooter was about to drop dead again so we switched scooters. I took this picture of the Christmas Tree in front of the Studios.



When we arrived at the bus stop there were already two scooter/wheelchairs in line so I got out my phone and got to work on catching up on Journaling this trip as well as catching up on the DIS. It wasn't too long before another bus came along and we were boarding. By this time two more people in (rented) scooters were behind us. They actually had the nerve to get mad at the bus driver for not taking them on the bus. He explained that he could only hold two scooters and that he would radio in and another bus would be coming along for them. "But that could be 20 minutes!" They complained. Well geez what do you expect when you leave the park over an hour after closing? There's always a taxi I thought.

It didn't take long for us to get back to the resort, and the rental scooter hobbled back to the room. At one point Fran gave me a tow it was so low on battery.

I loaded my pictures from the day onto the computer and realized that I hadn't looked at any of them since the last day if the cruise. So I started to look at the pictures, but there were some problems with some of the ones I took at the Grand on Sunday. While I could see them on my SD card, when they copied to the hard drive, all I could see was little red X's. I spent way too much time trying to recopy them over to the hard drive and I eventually gave up and went to bed. But before I went to bed Fran asked me to make her a Schnitzel sandwich with some of her leftover Schnitzel, in case she woke up in the middle of the night hungry. So I did.



I’m sure I took a bath before calling it a night. Pretty soon I was going to be back in the land of water rationing.


Next Up: The last full day of the trip is finally upon us.

 

[ACDSNY]

OK, I made it through page 14 tonight, wow I was so far behind. I still have a long ways to go to catch up. I chuckled at your pic of Atlantis on the dreary rainy day since we were there getting wet. Enjoyed your pics from around the Dream. Your Mississippi River trip is coming up soon, can't wait to see the pics from that one.

 

[franandaj]

Hope I didn't piss you off!

 

[franandaj]

OK, I made it through page 14 tonight, wow I was so far behind. I still have a long ways to go to catch up. I chuckled at your pic of Atlantis on the dreary rainy day since we were there getting wet. Enjoyed your pics from around the Dream. Your Mississippi River trip is coming up soon, can't wait to see the pics from that one.

Wow! You are behind. I'm going to post my last full day within the next week. And yes the Mississippi River trip is coming up soon which is why I'm trying to wrap things up.

What's scary is that I'm going to need to make our FP+ reservations soon. Alberto has not bought his pass so I will only be able to make 3 reservations. By the time they get his pass all the good rides will be sold out.

 

[orangecats2]

Hope I didn't piss you off!

Do Canadians ever really get pissed off?

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm also behind and slowly catching up.

YAY for dropping some weight. I think I need to bite the bullet and go on a plant based diet too.
I'm so far behind that there's too much for me to comment on.

I think I've read everything....but my mind is so mush at the moment, I'll have to come back and read everything again.

Suffice to say....loved that you made it to you M&G FP. I thought you were going to miss it at one stage.
Love the food and yes, Mexico is very dark.
I hope that Disney find a way to put Osborne out somewhere. It's a shame to see it all packed up, never to see the light again.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Osborne Lights is an overcrowded madhouse. I can totally see why you felt like having a panic attack as I'm sure the crowds got worse as the year went on.

Glad you enjoyed your dinner at Prime Time! Home cooking southern style is always a nice treat! Love your long exposure shot!

Judgment Time from Dis_Yoda, re:scooter bus stupid people - Comments like that make me so annoyed - you can probably tell they aren't normal scooter users if they make comments like that - the buses only allow for 2 scooters - always have! (Except way back when they only allowed 1 in the super old style buses) What did they think when they already saw people in line?