The One Where I Go To Disney World for the Tenth Time: Aug '14 TR - COMPLETE 5/21 LIFE U/D 7/7

[heathsf]

I just found your TR and love reading it. It makes me miss all the fun at MK, my DD and I were there in November. We stayed at the Poly, so fun. I really enjoy your pics and your style of writing. Our goal is to stay late at MK in April when we return. We have never made past 11:00pm, I know sad. Thanks for the good report and allowing another disney addict to get my fix yah!!

Hi! Thanks so much for reading along! I would love to stay at the Poly one day. It could be the leverage I need to get DH to return How lucky you have a trip coming up in April. I hope you make your late night! Will you be writing a TR?

 

[heathsf]

First, as the mother of 4 (awesome but smelly) boys, I'm so jealous you're having a little girl lol! You get to buy all those adorable clothes they have for girls, much better than the stuff they make for boys IMO. Not to mention you'll have someone to do all the princess stuff with in WDW !!! I hope you're feeling well and enjoying your first pregnancy

I meant to comment on your "alone time" in the park earlier, I did that for the first time on our trip this past Feb. MK had EMH hours, opening at 8 a.m. The boys wanted to swim that day so I suggested getting to the park at 8, staying a few hours and then returning to go in the pool. It was day 8 of our 10 day trip and nobody else wanted to get up that early so I said fine, I'll go myself! I made it there right as the opening show ended. I walked *slowly* down Main St., really looking at all the windows/details I never have a chance to look at when 3 people are pulling me in different directions lol. I rode HM, LM, PP, and Astro Orbiter, had a cinnamon roll, shopped, and again walked real slow through the park, enjoying the almost empty sidewalks and slightly chilly Feb. morning. I only stayed until 10:30 but it was so relaxing and one of my best memories to date. I'd love to do it during late EMH hours, too!

4 awesome but smelly boys!
That sounds like my DH's family. They are 5 boys and 1 girl. I don't know how my MIL did it! I absolutely cannot wait to take this little girl on her first trip to WDW. I am feeling really great now, I'm smack in the middle of my second trimester and I'm getting bigger but not too big where I'm uncomfortable. And I'm just starting to feel her move. It is the best!

Spoiler alert: I also did a solo morning later in the trip because no one wanted to get up. It was so great, and my morning went exactly the way you described yours! And I bet you *really* enjoyed it after touring for 8 days with all those smelly boys! You should definitely try nighttime next time. It's a different kind of experience

What a great night. Can't believe you got so much done. And good it get it in before the baby comes. Mine is almost 4 and we still have several more years before night time EMH are in our realm of the possible.

It was so much fun doing all those things alone. I wonder if on a future trip DH would be willing to take breaks with DD and I could have some alone time in the park. But first I need to get him to agree to a trip!

A girl!!!! Aw a little princess, how exciting! Congratulations!

Oh no I can't believe the People Mover was closed That would have been so much fun to be on that so late at night.

LOL! Love your Buzz photo, that's awesome!

Your picture with you in front of the castle - you don't look tired at all! Can't believe that was taken around 2 am.

And even crazier that you were still trying to make your way slowly to the room. You were definitely trying to make those last few minutes count

I did not want that night to end! I really didn't!

Love your adventure! Makes we want to return ASAP.

Thank you so much! I hope you get to return ASAP! I want to, too

Joining in! Just discovered your report and got caught up (and actually read the DL report too). I love your enthusiasm!

I loved hearing about your late-night MK solo time. I ended up missing my planned time for that on our last family trip, so I am REALLY looking forward to going out on my own (after DD and DH go to bed) next May and playing at MK!

Big congratulations on your little girl! If you think you like Disney now, just wait until you can introduce your own little princess to all your favorites!

Welcome! I recognize you from Alicia's TRs!
You will LOVE your solo time on your next trip!
Thank you for the congratulations. I am already so excited to take this little one to WDW in the (hopefully) near future.

I see you have two TRs in progress - I will have to check them out! (I got on the computer to do work but instead I'm on the Dis and your TRs will make for fantastic further distractions )

 

[starousse]

Joining in. Just discovered your report too and am all caught up and Congratulations!!!!

 

[heathsf]

Joining in. Just discovered your report too and am all caught up and Congratulations!!!!

Welcome! Thank you for the congratulations and thank you for reading along!

 

[heathsf]

Episode 18​

The One Where I Allow Everyone to Sleep In​

After my super late (but amazing) night at MK, I was okay with sleeping in this next morning. I slept until 9:10 when I heard M get into the shower. No one heard me come in to the room around 3 am so I was happy I didn’t wake anyone up. M said that she wished she had stayed with me so I wouldn’t have had to be alone, and I assured her that I was 100% okay with it. As you all already know, I was really happy I ended up staying alone. It was wonderful doing exactly what I wanted.

We left at 11 for DHS. We only had to wait a few minutes for a bus. It was nice not feeling rushed. Even though we had already been to DHS on Friday, I was still very excited to be there. So excited, that I made DH take a picture with me at the bus stop before we even got into the park

Once I was armed with my Olaf fan, we were ready to hit our first ride of the day, my beloved ToT.

We had some fun planning our ride photo while we waited in the boiler room.

There are so many funny things going on in this elevator!

S is too cool for us

Next we scooted over to TSM for our 12 pm FP.

Remember when DH had the high score of the hour at TSM on Saturday? At some point after that, he secretly confided to me that he had researched the high-scoring targets before we left for the trip. I was shocked because I had no idea and THRILLED that he had done some kind of Disney planning on his own before the trip. I was absolutely giddy over it. He made me promise not to tell M and S though So when we rode today, he told me where to aim so that we could maximize our scores. He knew the secrets for EVERY stage! He was a Toy Story Mania Maniac! I still couldn't keep up with him though, and he beat us all again.

He beat his previous score, and had the high score of the hour AGAIN! At least my accuracy was better than his!

We were all hungry at this point and we decided to go back to the Backlot Express since we all liked it so much on Saturday. I got the same thing again, Buffalo Chicken Nuggets. Yum.

DH wised up and got the amazing Olaf cupcake.

I know it doesn’t seem possible that I passed up on such a delicious cupcake, but I had other dessert plans in mind. For years now, I had been wanting to try the carrot cake cupcake from the Writer’s Stop. Since Olaf was also carrot cake, I decided to pass on him and get the chocolate mousse instead. It was okay but I didn't finish it since I was saving room for dessert #2. After we finished eating, M and S went ahead to get us seats for Lights, Motors, Action while DH accompanied me to the Writer’s Stop. I had never been here before, and to be honest I’m not sure I’d ever even noticed it there before! It’s tucked away so inconspicuously on the Streets of America.

Well, finally, here she is!

I took it to go and we went to the stunt show. It was pretty full by the time we got there and we rejoined M and S. I couldn’t even wait for the show to start to enjoy my “cookie.” Nom nom nom.

It was good. Actually, it was really good. I had no problem scarfing the entire thing down in no time at all and it’s pretty big. The only problem with it was that it wasn’t as good as the Olaf cupcake! Olaf is just the perfect cupcake if you like carrot cake. I think it was moister than the cookie and I like that there’s more frosting on the cupcake than in the cookie. Don’t get me wrong, both were delicious. In fact, I wish I could eat one or both of them right now!

 

[Dugette]

Yay, Frozen Summer!

Cute ToT ride photo!

That is awesome that your DH had researched the TSM strategies. And, if both of you know them, you can work together and actually help each other get higher scores.

Mmmm, I would happily eat either of those desserts right now!

 

[kastoney]

Glad you got to sleep in a bit after your late night.

Love your ToT pic. I'm gonna have to look up the TSM high point targets so I can finally beat the hubby next trip ; )

Mmmm carrot cake cookie. One of my absolute fav snacks in the world. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[heathsf]

Yay, Frozen Summer!

Cute ToT ride photo!

That is awesome that your DH had researched the TSM strategies. And, if both of you know them, you can work together and actually help each other get higher scores.

Mmmm, I would happily eat either of those desserts right now!

Somehow my score only got lower though while DH's got higher.... hmm....

Glad you got to sleep in a bit after your late night.

Love your ToT pic. I'm gonna have to look up the TSM high point targets so I can finally beat the hubby next trip ; )

Mmmm carrot cake cookie. One of my absolute fav snacks in the world. Glad you enjoyed it.

You should look them up. Worked for DH! Not so much for me though

 

[coloredimage]

I'm so behind on this TR it's insane (Fact: It's January and I just found it. Because life ate me.)

I just read the first day and hey, we were at the same place at almost the same time! On the 7th we spent all afternoon/evening in DTD and ate at Raglan Road (inside, not at Hole in the Wall, but still). Small World!

 

[heathsf]

I'm so behind on this TR it's insane (Fact: It's January and I just found it. Because life ate me.)

I just read the first day and hey, we were at the same place at almost the same time! On the 7th we spent all afternoon/evening in DTD and ate at Raglan Road (inside, not at Hole in the Wall, but still). Small World!

at the bolded

We may have actually been even closer because I went inside Raglan Road to use the bathroom! I got to see a snippet of two guys playing music on the stage . They sounded great. Did you enjoy RR? We ate there 3 years ago and really liked it.

 

[Leshaface]

AGH! Sorry somehow I missed your update!

I would have been ECSTATIC had DH looked up information all on his own.

I keep hearing about these buffalo chicken nuggets. Need to try those sometime. Do they serve them with blue heese diping sauce?!

Dang it, I don't think i've ever seen Writer's Stop either! Well, even if it wasn't as good as the cupcake, at least now you can say you've been there.

 

[heathsf]

AGH! Sorry somehow I missed your update!

I would have been ECSTATIC had DH looked up information all on his own.

I keep hearing about these buffalo chicken nuggets. Need to try those sometime. Do they serve them with blue heese diping sauce?!

Dang it, I don't think i've ever seen Writer's Stop either! Well, even if it wasn't as good as the cupcake, at least now you can say you've been there.

It's okay... but only because you've been busy being at WDW!!!

The nuggets were yummy. I used Ranch for dipping one day, and Blue Cheese another!

 

[heathsf]

Episode 19​

The One Where a Storm’s a Brewin’​

So it was not meant to be that I enjoy the carrot cake cookie during the stunt show because I scarfed that delicious thing down way too fast and it was all gone before the show even started. S was very excited to see Lightning McQueen show up since Cars is his favorite.

We had FP scheduled at 2:00 for Star Tours but M and S decided they weren’t up for riding so DH and I went on alone.

When we reunited with M and S they showed us where we could take a Guardians of the Galaxy magic shot.

Next we hit up the Great Movie Ride which had a 15 minute posted wait, but the line stretched all the way outside. I can’t remember ever having to wait outside for this before.

We were desperately trying to squeeze up against the walls and trees for every bit of shade we could get. It was brutally hot in the sun.

DH complained on line that he “remembers this ride and it’s terrible.” I know there are some people who agree with him, and I know it’s outdated, and perhaps I enjoy it just for the nostalgia of riding it as a child. I’ve read that changes are coming but I haven’t heard anything about exactly what. Does anyone know?

Anyway, the wait ended up being 20 minutes and 3 out of 4 of us enjoyed the ride

S really wanted to see the Indiana Jones stunt show which started at 4. At 3:30 they started letting people into the queue which winds through some jungle-like shrubbery. All of a sudden really dark clouds rolled in and the wind picked up like crazy. There was definitely a storm coming. It was a little scary how quickly it got so windy and dark. All of a sudden there was a really loud crack and a tree next to the queue snapped and fell onto a fence. This picture doesn’t really do it justice. It doesn’t look like much but it was a decent sized tree and it was loud and scared everyone on the line! Everyone was sort of in disbelief, like did that really just happen?

It stayed windy and kept getting darker. Soon we were let into the theater and got decent seats on the right side toward the front. All of the best seats were reserved for FP+. We still had a bit of a wait until the show started but it was nice to sit in the shade and relax for a bit. Except that there was a boy sitting directly behind M and S who kept coughing right on them. No mouth covering. Just direct shots of germy air right onto the backs of their necks. This made the waiting a little less pleasant for them. And then finally it was 4 o’clock and they were announcing that due to lightning in the area, they would only be able to perform the first scene of the show for safety reasons. So we watched the first part, sans the boulder, which took 9 minutes. Then a producer came on stage and basically said "Thanks for coming, bye." S was pretty disappointed, especially after waiting a half hour, watching a tree fall, and getting coughed on for the better part of a half hour. At this point we were ready to leave DHS and head to Epcot where we were having dinner. And we really wanted to get there before the storm hit. So we took off in a hurry.

 

[heathsf]

Episode 20​

The One Where the Friendship Boat is Not My Friend​

We were rushing out of DHS to try to get to Epcot before the imminent rains I had really wanted to take the Friendship boat because I had somehow never done this before! We exited the park and headed to the dock but a CM stopped us and told us the boats weren’t running due to lightning in the area Rats!

We decided instead to take a bus to the Boardwalk Hotels. We missed the first bus but another came along within a few minutes. It was starting to rain. The bus stopped at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club and then Beach Club which is where we got off. M and S had stayed at the Beach Club on a previous trip but I had never been there. Holy smokes is it gorgeous! We went inside to use the bathroom and get to the walkway to the International Gateway.

I had to take a picture of the bathroom because it was so classy. It has a totally different feel than Art of Animation

DH wasted no time doing what he usually does when we visit fancy WDW hotels:

Even the garbage cans were gorgeous and I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

The Beach Club has officially been added to the list of resorts I want to stay at one day.

It was really raining now so we donned our ponchos and walked to Epcot. It really would have been a lovely walk if not for the weather. Although, if it weren’t for the weather we would have taken the boat. Which I’m sure would have also been lovely.

DH didn’t feel like stopping to smile for a picture.

Oh look! It’s the friendship boat from DHS that wasn’t running when we left. It beat us by just a couple of minutes. Arghhh! I’m not gonna lie, it was frustrating that we were finally arriving at Epcot all wet just to see that we could have taken the boat after all if we had waited!

Oh well, we couldn’t be sad for too long because we were in Epcot!

And our first stop at Epcot was here:

 

[Leshaface]

We too had to wait outside in the queue for the GMR. Longest we've ever had to wait!

Oooh wonder what kind of changes are going to be coming. I haven't heard anything, I usually get all my info from you

How scary about the tree! Thank goodness it didn't fall on anyone.

DH has this thing, whenever we're walking and someone in front of us coughs in our direction as we're walking 'into' the cough, he'll start waving both his hands, like he's swatting at a fly, but he's trying to 'shoo' away the germs . Probalby doesn't work but it makes him feel a bit better for trying.

But if you had taken the boat, you would have never gotten to experience the Beach Club. I really want to stay there too but the decor isn't DH's cup of tea.

The pub is always the best place to start your visit in Epcot!

 

[ariane37]

Let me tell you something about those EPCOT resort friendship boats in the summer. If you think it's hot walking, and uncomfortable walking in the summer heat while its raining-you would DIE on one of those boats!!! They are lovely to use other times of the year ( we've used them often). We took one from Beaches & Cream to HS last August and I honestly thought I was going to jump ship regardless of the getting-banned-from-WDW-for-life-consequence!!! It was unbearable OMG so smothering, the air was not moving, the windows were closed, no air coming in and it was packed and smelly. I almost lost my mind and had a breakdown lol, sounds like I'm overreacting but it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.

Seriously-no friendship boats in August!!!!!

 

[ariane37]

By the way, how're you feeling?

 

[heathsf]

We too had to wait outside in the queue for the GMR. Longest we've ever had to wait!

Oooh wonder what kind of changes are going to be coming. I haven't heard anything, I usually get all my info from you

How scary about the tree! Thank goodness it didn't fall on anyone.

DH has this thing, whenever we're walking and someone in front of us coughs in our direction as we're walking 'into' the cough, he'll start waving both his hands, like he's swatting at a fly, but he's trying to 'shoo' away the germs . Probalby doesn't work but it makes him feel a bit better for trying.

But if you had taken the boat, you would have never gotten to experience the Beach Club. I really want to stay there too but the decor isn't DH's cup of tea.

The pub is always the best place to start your visit in Epcot!

Sorry I don't have any good info about the GMR. If I hear anything I'll post it!

I like your DH's method for shooing away germs

And you're right about the boat and getting to see the Beach Club. I think what I really liked about it was that it reminded me of being in Wildwood (Cape May) as a kid but was prettier and fancier. Good combo!

Let me tell you something about those EPCOT resort friendship boats in the summer. If you think it's hot walking, and uncomfortable walking in the summer heat while its raining-you would DIE on one of those boats!!! They are lovely to use other times of the year ( we've used them often). We took one from Beaches & Cream to HS last August and I honestly thought I was going to jump ship regardless of the getting-banned-from-WDW-for-life-consequence!!! It was unbearable OMG so smothering, the air was not moving, the windows were closed, no air coming in and it was packed and smelly. I almost lost my mind and had a breakdown lol, sounds like I'm overreacting but it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.

Seriously-no friendship boats in August!!!!!

Wow you just made me feel SO much better about missing the boat! Maybe it was a blessing!!! That sounds so, so, so awful!

By the way, how're you feeling?

I'm feeling great! Thanks for asking. I'm pretty much right in the middle now at 22 weeks. I have a bump but I'm not so big that I'm really uncomfortable and I'm starting to really feel her moving and kicking and I absolutely love it! I guess this is why I kept hearing that the 2nd trimester is the best!

 

[heathsf]

Episode 21​

The One Where We're in World Showcase in the Rain​

We had just walked to Epcot from The Beach Club and wanted to get indoors and out of the rain. So we headed to the nearby pub at Rose & Crown. It turns out we weren’t the only ones with this idea

DH wanted a beer and it took him quite a while to get served since so many people were in there. He still wasn’t in the mood to pose for me

He eventually got his beer and since it wasn’t raining too hard anymore we went back outside to listen to Off Kilter for a little bit in Canada.

We realized we were pretty hungry and it was raining enough that we weren’t really in the mood for exploring the World Showcase, so after a few minutes we decided to head toward Japan and see if we could have dinner early. We still had over an hour until our ADR time.

So here are my rainy day, people-in-ponchos, scenic World Showcase pictures as we walked half way around from Canada to Japan.

France:

Morocco:

Quite possibly my favorite WDW park icon: Spaceship Earth

 

[heathsf]

Episode 22​

The One Where We Eat Hibachi​

Then we got to Japan, our dinner destination.

We figured since we were here and it was rainy we may as well try to get seated early for our ADR. We went upstairs into Teppan Edo and asked if it was possible to eat now and they gave us a buzzer and told us it would be about 20 minutes. We sat down in the waiting area, started to dry ourselves off, and the buzzer went off literally 1 minute later. It was hilarious. So off to our Hibachi table we went!

I had eaten here with my mom 3 ½ years before and I ordered either the steak and shrimp combination or steak and chicken combination. I can’t remember which. All I know for sure is that all I wanted to eat was the shrimp because it was some of the best shrimp I’d ever had, hibachi or otherwise. There was also a dipping sauce that I couldn’t get enough of. So this time around, I decided to just order the shrimp.

Yum veggies

The noodles were good but they weren’t Ohana noodles. I couldn’t help but compare.

Shrimp!

It was good but not quite as spectacular as I remembered. The dipping sauce was just as good as I remembered though. It’s the one in the middle in the above picture. Our chef called it “yum yum sauce.” I always thought I tasted horseradish in there but I just googled it and found a few possible recipes and none of them include horseradish. I should probably mention that I’m pretty terrible at identifying flavors in dishes. (I can’t even tell different colored Skittles apart which DH finds appalling). Anyway, the sauce is delicious. Overall I really enjoyed my meal. It was just really hard not to compare it to the wonder that is Ohana. And Teppan Edo just doesn’t compare. It really wasn’t fair to eat there the day after Ohana.

By the time we were done eating the weather had improved significantly.

We spent some time looking in the koi pond and enjoying the other pretty scenery in Japan (including a salamander! I love spotting them!) and then took a Friendship Boat to Canada. This wasn’t the trip I had really wanted to take on the boat but it would do

View from the boat

It’s not the most flattering picture of either of us, but it’s proof we’re on the boat!