The Empty Nesters Magical Mystery Tour *1/28* Link to New Girl's TR p141

[amazingact21]

Welcome back, Mary Ellen!

I'm so happy to hear your trip was wonderful and that you enjoyed specific things like the Palo dinner (YUM) and the GFV. I'm especially glad to hear that your Cape Canaveral stay went so well. That's kind of my second home, since I lived in that area for 4 years and that's where my in-laws are. So I always get a little happy seeing someone else get the appeal of the place.

And I actually know exactly what resort you stayed at. My in-laws townhome is less than 3 miles to the Surf Shop and right across from the bridge to the cruise terminals, so I know what you mean about the beaches being so quiet and peaceful.


Oh, hey, look at that...another cruise in the works! Once you go on one, you almost can't wait to go back.

 

[ddstratton]

Welcome back! Sounds like it was a wonderful trip.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Welcome home! I'm glad you had a fabulous time, and I hope we get to hear all about it!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Welcome home Mary Ellen! Sounds like you had a blast. And you did a great job getting so many DIS meets in!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Welcome home Mary Ellen! So glad to hear that you had a great trip. I agree 100% with your comment on what hard workers the ship castmembers are. They were never ever still and were constantly on the go.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Welcome back Mary Ellen!! Two of my SILs have condos at Cape Canaveral right by where you stayed. I hope to spend a few days there again on a future trip.

Was your villa at GF a studio? I'm hoping to stay there one of these trips too! But I've got my points booked for 2015 already!! I've got to save up so I can go to Aulani!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Welcome back Mary Ellen!!

 

[MEK]

You know, I have been writing my TR on my blog but I was thinking I'd have it on the DIS, too. The one thing about Blogger is it's not easy to have a dialogue with people and chat like you can on the TRs, so maybe I will do that. I'll post a link here, if you don't mind, once I get it going.

I'm so glad you decided to do a TR here on the DIS. I have to agree that the interaction is really the fun part of it. People here really do interact and leave fun and interesting comments! That hard part is just keeping up.

I love Sci-Fi; the food has always been good, the price is right and the atmosphere is fun. I love your pictures!

We ate there once for dinner many years ago and it was not the best meal. I think the key is sticking to burgers and sandwiches. That's their niche and they do a great job. I'll definitely be back for lunch!

I bet that authentic Greek food was awesome! Years ago, we went to St Pete and near our hotel was this little diner where we had breakfast every day. It was Greek-inspired and SO GOOD. Seriously the best restaurant breakfasts I've ever had.

I really enjoyed the Greek food. It's just something different that I don't get every day. Spoiler alert - we hit another Greek restaurant before we left Tarpon Springs. Oh yeah - and we had a Greek wine tasting. Fun!

Can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

I hope to get a new update done this week. I am such a slacker.

Katie, I hope you do; it's so hard for me to DIS and read blogs in a work day. Please do let us know if you do and the link.

Couldn't agree more!

I started the TR! Here is a link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52451094&posted=1#post52451094

YAYAYAYAYAYAY

Have fun Mary Ellen on your trip. As soon as I read that post on facebook I knew plans would be changing.

Thanks Jen! I just couldn't help myself. I really DID want to go to Universal, but I couldn't pass up that ticket. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do both.

Tarpon Springs looks beautiful. I love all the boat pictures and the sponges look neat too. Thought I wouldn't want to use one on my body.
I love the B&W picture.

It was a really unusual town. It had a lot of character and I'm glad we stayed near there and got to visit.

I agree - the sponges were cool but I wouldn't want to use one.

 

[MEK]

Enjoyed your recap of Sci Fi. Those commercials can be pretty amusing.

Those commercials crack me up and I just think its funny that I remember watching them as a teen. At the time the didn't seem nearly as corny as the do now.

Ahh, a stop at the Tune In Lounge, that's something I've been meaning to try. Your drink looks really tasty, and in that girl at the bar's defense, all Disney drinks are typically strong if you're not a big drinker. (I say that only because I have grown accustomed to Disney's heavy handed ness and am occasionally disappointed at regular restaurants.)

I definitely recommend Dad's Lemonade.

It's funny - as far as drink strength is concerned - I think there's a wide variability at Disney. You can get a strong drink and the next time barely taste the alcohol. Sometimes I like sticking to beer just because I know what I am going to get.

Yuck, 2 hours to get to Tampa. Gotta love Friday evening traffic.

Well, I guess out pit stop didn't help much either. Fortunately, we didn't take any wrong turns. It was just really heavy traffic. It reminded me of home.

I'm happy to hear you found the carriage house easily enough and had an enjoyable dinner.

We found it without any problem, which was great. And, yes, dinner was fabulous!

And, yeah, sponges aren't the prettiest things in the world. and imagine, a lot of people display those in their homes.

OK - that is just weird. I see nothing attractive about those sponges. But I like the whole history of the sponge diver. It's part of history that will never come back.

In case I'm not on here before Friday, have a wonderful time on your trip! I'm sure cruising will be a fun experience for you two and I hope Denny has a great birthday.

Thank you! We had a wonderful time and it was fun to celebrate our anniversary and Denny's BD on this trip. I really did enjoy the cruise and would love to do another one.

And, yeah, at 50 dollars a ticket, that pass would be impossible to pass up. And hey, now you've got an extra reason to take another vacation. Have to try Universal out!

That ticket was a deal! It came just as the right time. I'm glad you bought it and got a chance to visit all four of the parks.

 

[MEK]

Have an absolutely fantastic trip!!!

That is super news that you were able to get a great deal on park tickets. To paraphrase Jurassic Park's "Life finds a way". Disney finds a way!

We had a great trip. It was so fun! And the ticket deal was awesome. I just couldn't pass it up! We had a lot of fun visiting the parks.

You got some pretty impressive last minute fast passes!

It worked out better than I thought and I think it proves that you can get last minute Fps. I really liked have the FP for Fantasmic. That was cool!

Congrats on your race time.

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

Thanks! :good vibes I would like to do better, but I'll take it!

The Sci Fi is a must-do for my family.

Such a fun and tasty lunch option!

Orange Pilsner. Grapefruit Beer at Food & Wine. I want to go beer "hopping" with you and try all of the citrus ales.

I love that Grapefruit Beer. I really wish they would keep it going year round. So tasty!

Love your pictures from the back of the restaurant.

Thanks. I saw someone else try that so I decided to duplicate the effort. Of course, mine aren't quite as good but they don't stink either.

That really is a neat picture with you in Denny's sunglasses.

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

That was fun. I tried to do it myself last trip, but I know the results are not as great.

I am loving your little getaway to Tarpon Springs so far. The marina and sponge boats/fishing boats are so beautiful!

It was a neat town to visit. I'm glad we picked it as our location. We were only a few miles for the town and we visited on several occasions.

And you are killing me with the Greek food. My favorite cuisine!

I love Greek, too! So good. I could literally eat spanikopita and greek salad every day!

How fabulous to get such a great price on Disney tickets! I'm guessing this means that Universal (and Butterbeer) are out for you, but I do recommend that you try both of them sometime!

Yes - unfortunately we cut Universal from the itinerary. I really did want to go there, but we didn't have time for both and I just couldn't pass up that Disney ticket. We did enjoy the Disney parks and the Halloween party. It was a fun trip for sure!

I need to try a meal at Sci-Fi one of these trips. Those cars and the movie clips look so fun!

It is a fun place to eat and they have really yummy sandwiches. I will definitely head back there for lunch in the future.

What a fun trip to Tarpon Springs! I also prefer man-made to "natural" sponges, but it's pretty neat to see all of them strung up on the boats.

Those natural sponges just look nasty, but they do make for a good photo-op. Tarpon Springs was a cool town. I'm glad we picked that as our start off location. It worked well for what we wanted to see and do.

Your dinner looks GREAT - I love Greek food.

It was really yummy! I love greek food too. I think I could eat it every day.

HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks! We had an awesome time. I can't wait to write all about it!

 

[scottny]

Welcome home!

Sounds like it was a lovely trip.

 

[khertz]

Welcome back!! I'm glad you had a great time!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

First off, welcome back! Can't wait to hear about the trip! Although I already lived vicariously through your FB pictures.

I'm so glad that you loved VGF. I really cannot wait to stay there.

 

[MEK]

So sorry you had to leave Disney quickly! It's nice to even get a short visit in, but that departure sadness comes so much sooner.

The good thing was this was a trip really to see other parts of Florida - for research purposes. You know - for when we become snowbirds. So it actually wasn't too bad only being in Disney for less than 24 hours.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Florida!

And it IS coming up. I swear. It's just taking awhile to get there.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Sci Fi after your long absence. I really enjoy it for what it is.

We did really have a nice lunch there. I will definitely be heading back in the future for more lunches. They have some great sammies!

Glad the carriage house worked out well for you. Even if you had to store some extra food for your hosts. Never knew about the Tampa area sponge industry. Learn something new all the time.

It was really hard to not drool over those shrimp.

The carriage house worked out great. It turned out to be a big money saver and a really nice place to stay.

I never knew that about Tarpon Springs either, so it was a cool place to visit.

Sci Fi is too cool. Love the photos you got of all the cars. They have a very delicious spinach/artichoke dip that I've been wanting to get back for.

Thanks! I had seen someone else take those pictures so I decided to give it a try.

I think I had that dip the very first time we ate there and it was very yummy!

The carriage house looks cute. But weird about the shrimp storage.

I know, right? I thought that was a little odd too, especially since it meant the owner would be coming in once we were gone for the day. But it worked out fine.

Beautiful pictures of the boats.

Thanks!

Awesome about the WDW tickets!!! does this mean universal is out?

Yes - Unfortunately I had to drop Universal, as much as I wanted to go there. We only had 5 days at Disney before the cruise so there just wasn't enough time.

Hope you have a FABULOUS vacation!!!!!!

Thanks Pam! We did! I thought about you when we got a tour of the Rainforest room. It was gorgeous!

 

[MEK]

Oh, I got back in here just in time to wish you a great trip!!
Glad you got the tickets. Good deals are hard to pass up!!

Thanks - we had a great trip and that ticket deal was really too good to pass up on.

I'm slowly getting back to reading all the TRs I've subbed to. SciFi is still someplace we haven't been yet. One of these days…

It's a fun restaurant. It's sort of one of those places you have to try because its so unique. We definitely enjoyed our lunch there.

I think I'm with Pat remembering the concession ads from Grease! Too funny!

That's what the ads were like when I was growing up. I must have been on the tale end of the Grease era!

Love Greek food!! It's so similar to Armenian food that I grew up eating with the family. Yummy! But for the peas on that plate. No thanks.

Greek food is awesome. As far as the peas - Thank goodness I am fan because that was A LOT of peas!

I'm shielding my eyes! We'll have a training session sometime. I'll get you to be a pro and Denny will be all like "wha?!"

I'm gonna hold you to that! How about in February. I need serious help! No, I'm serious - I really DO!

Oh my goodness, you are so safely out of the last corral! I'm so happy for the results of your 10k. I have a quarter marathon this weekend. Fancy speak for 6.55 miles.

I love that 6.55 miles! So proud of you for doing two qualifying races. That is so great.

We used to go to the drive in all the time when I was a kid, and they still had those old school ads for the concession!

Really? REALLY? That makes me feel better because I feel like a fossil having seen on those commercials in real life. I love those old school ads. They are so cool.

Sci-fi is planned for us for the PHM with the whole fam. There's 12 of us, so goodness knows where they're going to put us. Hopefully two cars.

That's going to be interesting, but I'm sure that's how it will work. Actually, that should work out just perfect with 6 in each car. That's going to be a fun meal for everyone.

Whenever we drive to Disney, we get so excited when we see Illinois license plates. I totally get the excitement of seeing a Delaware plate.

Especially since Delaware license plates are far less common than Illinois. It's like seeing one from Rhode Island ANYWHERE!

Sponges. Who knew. I'm kidding! My Dad always bought real sponges! He had a painting side business for about 25 year, and he always bought real ones, not manufactured. They worked really well when sponge painting was all the rage.

I bet they did. That's cool. I didn't know that about Popadon! He is a man of many talents.

OMG, that is totally a scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding! "Put some windex on it!"

LOVE spanakopita! One of my faves.

I could seriously eat it everyday! SOOOOOOOOOO good!

I hope you have a wonderful trip! Oh....... and Denny too!

Thanks! We had a GREAT time!

Have a great trip!

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill! We had an awesome time! So. much. fun!

Have a great trip, Mary Ellen! Save travels, too!

Thanks Karin! We had such a great time and your TRs were so helpful in knowing what to expect while on the Dream. It was fabulous!

I know you landed safe so have a magical and pixie dust filled trip.

Thanks Pat! We had such a great time and we were blessed with really great travel during this trip! It all worked out perfectly!

 

[jash08]

Glad you are home! I am looking forward to your report!

 

[Pluto0809]

Just stopping in to say hi since I've finally caught up on your TR. I was somewhere around 50 pages behind so I'm not even going to try to comment at this point!

Hopefully I will be able to keep up at least until I head back to WDW in a few weeks.

 

[afwdwfan]

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a nice trip! I have to say that I totally understand where Denny is coming from. I'd be thrilled with a room where I could sit and watch the monorails right out my window!

 

[Leshaface]

Glad you made it home safe and that you had a great time! Totally looking forward to hearing about it

 

[jenseib]

I swear I welcomed you back but I guess I just read and that was it.

Anyways, welcome back and I can't wait to hear about the cruise....I knew you would enjoy it.