The Scooter Strikes Back-A F&W 2017 TR- Bonus Features, Link to new TR 3/22

[franandaj]

So we're all winners because we get to read it!

There you go!

I think that's a really good idea in a tectonically stable area such as where you are.

Well, no... but maybe any over the ear headphones?

My walkman had over the ear headphones...

Oh, no! Poor kitty!

It seems to have helped her, she's running around, playing and behaving like a kitten.

Ah! Didn't realize they were wireless.

Isn't pretty much everything nowadays?

I always get a new one.

I used to do that...this picture is without my purple one and my Marie one (which I pretty much used exclusively on this trip.)

Then I guess I'll just have to make some for you.

I have all the ingredients, well except for the vodka....

Well, that's what you get for forgetting the tartar sauce!

Raccoons like Tartar Sauce? : confused3

Well, you were rude to intrude, you know.

I just opened the drawer looking for tools....

Had a similar thing in our backyard at the old place. I mowed the lawn and... what's that? Looks like a tuft of fur. I pick it up and there's a half dozen or so baby bunnies.
I put the fur back.
I went back to check on them later and.... gone.

I'm surprised they didn't scatter when you initially approached them.

You know how I feel about baggies and foil! And old Cool Whip containers.

Yes, I think it was 2012. WAY. TOO. LONG. But I feel like we have been friends forever.

Lunch Thursday right?

Totally! Can't wait! The news just said there is a chance of sprinkles late wed/early Thurs. I may take a vat of chicken noodle soup togo! It's so yummy!

More! More! More! You write the greatest TRs!

 

[rentayenta]

Katella Deli will be perfect!!!

 

[franandaj]

@pkondz I agree with your Elon Musk comment!

I hadn't thought of earthquakes and such, probably not the best idea afterall.

But on the MB: regardless if you get a new one or not, all your old MBs still work for all necessary functions, like park entry, room key and DME identification. The only function that can be lost over time (after about two years) is the long range readability. That is used for some on ride photos, to display your name at the end of It’s a Small World and other fun little extras.

Huh. All my MBs are at least two years old or older, or will be by my next trip. The picture above was taken in 2016. My last two trips I've declined MBs. All mine are the old version not the new one with the wide disc in it.

I figured it'd still work... but I want a new one! I paid for one, darn it!



and yes.... I know I could use an old one and still get a new one after I get there.
But... I'm just stubborn that way!

So you're going to show your old school paperwork when you could easily participate in the 21st century technology?

See, as woman I bring all my magic bands so I can accessorize according to what I am wearing that day!!! So, I need the old ones!

this^^^^ Although on my last trip I had all the choices and still went with my Marie band every day.

That wouldn't work for me.
I always get green!

:

 

[Flossbolna]

Huh. All my MBs are at least two years old or older, or will be by my next trip. The picture above was taken in 2016. My last two trips I've declined MBs. All mine are the old version not the new one with the wide disc in it.

If you want your MB to capture all the onride pictures in the future, you might want to start upgrading them. All vital uses are still ok, just the extras will stop working. There are two chips in the MB. One is a passive chip. That is the one that you need to touch to the tapstile or the room door and such. The other one is an active one that sends a very weak radio signal (not very far, but at least 10 feet or so I think) and therefore there is a tiny battery in them. Once the battery has run out, the signal won't be broadcast, so only the passive chip will still be useable.

Hope the kitten is feeling better!!

 

[franandaj]

That sounds like a nice enough breakfast.

There was a La Brea Bakery there last summer and I got a Ham & Cheese Panini which to me was a heartier choice. I was hoping for something more like that.

That was good of them to hold the connections.

I was astonished that they held it! I'm sure the people who were not on our plane were not as happy.

How nice that they saved some seats for Fran.

That was really nice, next time I will ask when I board if I am ahead of her. I thought we were on our own which was why I ran ahead to grab seats.

At least they were proactive.

Again, I was very impressed that they were already apprised of the situation.

That does not sound like a lot of fun.

No it wasn't.

Goodness, that was late.

Yeah, usually they are within the 4 hours of landing deadline, this time it was 5 hours. I was starting to panic! Especially after the scooter problem.

That is what I call speedy service.

I am continually impressed with the Disney maintenance team. Well except for the time that the guy put our stained clothes in the dryer

That seems to be a novel idea. I never appreciate how many uses a blow dryer has.

Funny thing is that my blow dryer hasn't been used to dry hair in years, but it does get regular use.

Oh my about Kahlua, I hope she's ok.

I had a possum in the backyard earlier this week. It played dead and was thankfully gone in the morning. Poor little guy must have been terrified of the boys.

Well she was running around playing and wrassling with all the others this morning so she must be feeling better!

At the old house the kitties would mess with the baby possums, but they know to steer clear of the adults!

Love that you have a new trip report! Sorry it started rough... we had a similar issue years back with a double stroller and they didn’t offer to deliver it! Such a pain!

That's not right, if they lost it, they should fix it.

Katella Deli will be perfect!!!

I can't wait!

 

[franandaj]

If you want your MB to capture all the onride pictures in the future, you might want to start upgrading them. All vital uses are still ok, just the extras will stop working. There are two chips in the MB. One is a passive chip. That is the one that you need to touch to the tapstile or the room door and such. The other one is an active one that sends a very weak radio signal (not very far, but at least 10 feet or so I think) and therefore there is a tiny battery in them. Once the battery has run out, the signal won't be broadcast, so only the passive chip will still be useable.

Maybe I'll get a new one and just put it in my purse for the picture functions. It worked fine this last trip as it took pictures of me on at least one ride

Hope the kitten is feeling better!!

She seems to be! She's running around and playing again.

 

[franandaj]

Day 2

This morning, I woke up 5AM couldn't go back to sleep so I took a bath. After that I was able to go back to sleep until about 8:30 with some very weird dreams. I can’t remember what they were now, but I was glad to wake up! I finished unpacking the suitcases and woke Fran up around 9AM. I had called Bell services just after I woke up and they said didn't have the scooter. We were prepared to go about our day without the other scooter, I would just have to walk, and I would probably be OK with walking until about the 3rd day of the trip.

I went to make coffee and realized that the coffee I had brought along with me was not already ground, but whole beans. So Fran quickly got online to see about ordering some coffee from Amazon Prime and it turned out to be cheaper to order me a coffee grinder than to order coffee!

That accomplished, we prepared to leave the room. We were going to leave at 10AM but she took too long doing her online ordering and such. At 10:15 we got a call that Bell Services had the scooter, but it was in the “barn”. They needed the key to retrieve it and we had the key, so we met the guy downstairs, gave him the key and he brought the scooter to us up near registration. While Fran waited for the scooter, I went into Artist's Palette and got myself some coffee. She was cranky because it was way colder than we expected. She had worn shorts and was not at all comfortable. I didn't want to deal with her being cold and cranky so I gave up my FP+ for Mission Space and went back to the room so she could put long pants on. I don’t think she wore her shorts once during the whole trip!

By the time we got to Epcot it was 10 to noon, and our lunch started at noon. We got to La Haceinda and were 2nd to last in line. No worries we got a good seat near the window.

This was our place setting. Sorry the tequila is blurry, my camera liked the napkin better!

Salud! The watermelon sangria they served us was very tasty!

Here is the menu:

Our hostess was Hilda, but she said after a few shots of Tequila it was OK for us to call her Maria.

Our first course was a salad. The menu said that it was Hearts of Palm salad and that worried me because I’m not a huge fan of Hearts of Palm. Luckily it was more of a salad with a few Hearts of Palm thrown on top. It was OK. I ate it all because I knew we’d be drinking a bit of Tequila. This dish was paired with the Blanco

It seems like this happens to us a lot, but the people next to us never showed up. Fran kept saying that she was going to steal their Tequila and when they weren’t there for the first course she was like, “Ok, they snoozed they lost!” And grabbed the first glass. After a couple minutes, she said to me, “If you don’t take the other one, I will!” So I took it!

Our second course was Grilled Octopus with black mole and butternut squash puree. I liked the mole sauce better than the squash puree. The octopus was perfectly cooked and really tasty. This was paired with the Reposado, and that’s my favorite style of Tequila, so I quickly grabbed the extra glass!

The Octopus was really tender and very good. I wasn't a fan of the butternut squash puree, but liked the mole sauce.

Our next course was a Beef Tenderloin with a Poblano Cream Sauce atop a plantain puree. There were fingerling chips on the side

The Poblano Cream sauce was OK. I didn’t care for the plantain puree, but Fran loved it and ate mine after I finished the steak. The chips were really good and I ate all of those.

I don't quite remember the order here, they had given us a shot of vodka as a palette cleanser which we were supposed to be sipping inbetween the different tequilas, I'm not sure if it was before or after dessert that they had us take the shot of Mezcal. After all the tasty and smooth tequilas it was obvious how harsh and smoky the Mezcal tasted.

With our dessert we drank the coffee flavored tequila. The dessert was a Mamey Flan and I didn't care for it at all. I took one bite and let Fran have it, she didn't seem to mind it.

We did have a nice waterfront view during our meal.

I'm not sure if these were the tequilas that we tasted, but I thought I might as well take a picture of it.

Since I felt gypped on the dessert front, I went to Karamel Kuche while she bought some pins and stuff. This picture was taken a day or two later in the villa, but Fran and I split the other caramel covered s’more on our way to the bus stop.

We met back up at the pin store in Future World and headed out of the park. It was 2:07 and I had a TT FP+ at 2:35, but I didn't want to wait around that long just for a ride. We had plans for the early afternoon/evening and it was becoming apparent that we needed a power nap.

We were back in the room by 3:08 and after half an hour I started waking Fran up. We got dressed and headed out a little after 4PM. It took until 4:40 before we got on a bus. We decided to play bus roulette, we would take either the first bus to Epcot or to MK and then take a monorail from either one. The Epcot bus came first so we took that. When we got there we had to go through security to get to the monorail to the TTC. We just missed one so we caught the next one. By 5:30 we were on our way to the Poly and Trader Sams to meet up with Magdalene & Michael, they had just scored a table inside and ordered drinks.

Fran got a Nautilus, and I got a HippoMaiTai.

I liked my drink better than hers, and it was definitely potent!

When we ordered our second drinks we got an order of potstickers

and some pork sliders.

I ate most of the potstickers and didn't care so much for the sliders. We gave Michael one of the sliders, so here you can see him with it.

After a while we had to say goodbye as they had a dinner reservation at O’hana. I'll let M explain that one in her own TR, whenever she gets there.

Pretty soon we settled our check, collected our souvenir mugs and headed to the monorail. There were people all dressed up for MNSSHP on the monorail and some great costumes as well. Then we caught the bus to SSR, it took a while for the bus to arrive and I was falling asleep on my tiller or my scooter. I think I slept for most of the bus ride as well, but when I got back to the room, I was awake. Fran went right to sleep, but I was still hungry. Three potstickers and half a slider just didn't cut it for me, so I heated up up a small bowl of the leftover spaghetti and sauce and that hit the spot. After a nice relaxing bath I went to sleep around 11PM. It had been a long and eventful day.

 

[Pinkocto]

Awesome news about Kahlua

Thank goodness they found the scooter sooner rather than later.

That was the funkiest weather week. Its back up to high 70s low 80s and 60s at night.


Your lunch looks tasty. I saw hearts of palm on the menu and was excited! They’re one of my favorite things

Karamel Kuche


Looks like a lovely evening. I know we talked about it already but I still hate that I missed Trader Sams. It was the smart thing to do but I’m still disappointed I missed Magdalene.

 

[LegoMom3]

Interesting lunch options! But a great view.

Ah yes, buses at WDW......good times, good times.

Trader Sam's looks like fun. The Poly is my dream resort and where I will stay someday when I win the lottery.
But seriously, I love it there. Will have to at least check out TS when I next get over there!

.

 

[Flossbolna]

It is so funny to read your report after I already had the oral report when we had drinks at Trader Sam! We both really loved meeting up with you there and then on Saturday. I was actually a bit mad at Michael for getting us that meal at Ohana because it made the evening a bit stressful. I would have enjoyed more leisurely drinks...

And I had no idea that you did not like the sliders! I actually thought it was very tasty! And it was very nice of you to share since I really could use some food at that point! I totally forgot what I had to drink. I know that Michael had the same drink as you because of the mug that he ended up getting...

 

[rentayenta]

Great view! Not sure how I feel about the meal. I'm not a fan of octopus, mole, or sweet potatoes.

Love your pink nails!

Is the seating at Trader Sam's at WDW as disastrous as it is in DL? We got lucky the other day......because we got there at opening. Our bartender sucked again. It just can't be that difficult.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I made it!!!

Nice to see another TR and what an awesome start so far.
Pity about the long travel day; and the scooter.
But that food porn and drinks are great so far.

 

[afwdwfan]

So Fran quickly got online to see about ordering some coffee from Amazon Prime and it turned out to be cheaper to order me a coffee grinder than to order coffee!

And now you have a coffee grinder for when you're at Disney World.

We were going to leave at 10AM but she took too long doing her online ordering and such. At 10:15 we got a call that Bell Services had the scooter, but it was in the “barn”. They needed the key to retrieve it and we had the key, so we met the guy downstairs, gave him the key and he brought the scooter to us up near registration.

And my first thought: How low is the charge?

Our hostess was Hilda, but she said after a few shots of Tequila it was OK for us to call her Maria.

Fran kept saying that she was going to steal their Tequila and when they weren’t there for the first course she was like, “Ok, they snoozed they lost!” And grabbed the first glass. After a couple minutes, she said to me, “If you don’t take the other one, I will!” So I took it!

Heck yeah!

With our dessert we drank the coffee flavored tequila

Well, if I was there, Fran could have mine. I don't do coffee flavored anything.

Then we caught the bus to SSR, it took a while for the bus to arrive and I was falling asleep on my tiller or my scooter. I think I slept for most of the bus ride as well, but when I got back to the room, I was awake.

Of course you were awake once you got back.

 

[jedijill]

Amazon to the rescue with the coffee grinder! That's a lot of tequila! The food looks really tasty.

Ah, Traders Sams is one of my happy places! Can't wait to see everyone next month at the original Trader Sams!

Jill in CO

 

[Flossbolna]

Is the seating at Trader Sam's at WDW as disastrous as it is in DL?

Since I am the one who got us the table, I feel qualified to answer this: It sucks, but not as much as in DL. It is slightly larger, but not by much. They also give out pagers when they are full, so when a table opens up, you are getting paged. However, when we were there I was the first to arrive and while all the tables were taken, there was the odd chair here and there. And because of that they were not giving out pagers, they only do that when they are at full capacity. They do keep an accurate head count, I think 54 guests are allowed inside. So, i hovered for a while, then felt uncomfortable and went outside, then Michael came and we went back inside, nearly were not allowed in because now they were at 54 guests. But two people left and then we were allowed in, got a tiny table for two and pounced once a larger table became available. So, it is a hassle. But it is not as impossible as in DL.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had called Bell services just after I woke up and they said didn't have the scooter.

That did not sound good. I am glad that they had it before you left.

So Fran quickly got online to see about ordering some coffee from Amazon Prime and it turned out to be cheaper to order me a coffee grinder than to order coffee!

This is just crazy.

The watermelon sangria they served us was very tasty!

This sounds great, but the menu would not have been a hit with me.

Corinna

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We woke up at 5AM or was it 4:15?

When it's that early, does it matter?

It turns out that we must have sat on the Tarmac for over an hour or so because partway into the flight they made an announcement that they would be holding the flights in Houston (where we changed planes) for both Belize and Orlando.

Nothing beats an hour of going nowhere!

Of course it was pretty much as far from the first gate as it could be.

This falls under the Law of Airports. When you have to make a connection, it will always be at the gate that is furthest from yours.

We waited a while for Fran’s scooter and it didn’t come up, so I went up top to see if they were bringing it that way.

Nope.

It turns out the gate agent in LA booked it through to Houston.

Well, I'm sure it was doing a lot of good in Houston!

It turns out that the MB scanner was down, and they were working with paper confirmations that were handwritten with paper and a pen!

And then we boarded our horse carriage.

Sorry about the blurry picture, it was dark and the bus was moving, so hard to photograph with the point and shoot.

Your bus was going at warp speed!

However it did become tedious to have to ride through the entire resort every time that we went somewhere. The trip to pick up all the passengers sometimes took as long as 20 minutes before we even left the resort.

That's always a pain at just about every resort.

I had called Bell services just after I woke up and they said didn't have the scooter.

We're taking it for a joyride, Ferris Bueller style!

So Fran quickly got online to see about ordering some coffee from Amazon Prime and it turned out to be cheaper to order me a coffee grinder than to order coffee!

So they were giving you Disney prices.

She was cranky because it was way colder than we expected.

You'd think Disney would do a better job of controlling the temps for their guests.

This was our place setting. Sorry the tequila is blurry, my camera liked the napkin better!

It looks like a very nice napkin.

Our hostess was Hilda, but she said after a few shots of Tequila it was OK for us to call her Maria.

It seems like this happens to us a lot, but the people next to us never showed up. Fran kept saying that she was going to steal their Tequila and when they weren’t there for the first course she was like, “Ok, they snoozed they lost!” And grabbed the first glass. After a couple minutes, she said to me, “If you don’t take the other one, I will!” So I took it!

Are you sure you guys don't plan it this way? Book your table with a couple of non-existent "guests"?

I don't quite remember the order here

After all that tequlia, few would.

By 5:30 we were on our way to the Poly and Trader Sams to meet up with Magdalene & Michael, they had just scored a table inside and ordered drinks.

Hooray!

I ate most of the potstickers and didn't care so much for the sliders. We gave Michael one of the sliders, so here you can see him with it.

I see he's looking as handsome as ever.

 

[disney ny]

So glad to find your newest report. I haven’t been on in quite a while and I always love your reports. I can’t even count how many years I’ve been reading them now!

 

[franandaj]

Awesome news about Kahlua

She's doing much better now. If only she could learn to use the litter box. It's really annoying.

Thank goodness they found the scooter sooner rather than later.

Well.....maybe.....

That was the funkiest weather week. Its back up to high 70s low 80s and 60s at night.

The temperatures were not at all what I expected, totally packed wrong.

Your lunch looks tasty. I saw hearts of palm on the menu and was excited! They’re one of my favorite things

That's the one thing that I wasn't thrilled with!

Karamel Kuche

I must go there on the first day and stock up for the rest of the trip!

Looks like a lovely evening. I know we talked about it already but I still hate that I missed Trader Sams. It was the smart thing to do but I’m still disappointed I missed Magdalene.

I know, but it worked out for the best as Fran and I were both really tired and left shortly after M&M left.

Interesting lunch options! But a great view.

It definitely was!

Ah yes, buses at WDW......good times, good times.

Trader Sam's looks like fun. The Poly is my dream resort and where I will stay someday when I win the lottery.

I really enjoy Trader Sams, although when you're trying to have a conversation it can sometimes be annoying.

But seriously, I love it there. Will have to at least check out TS when I next get over there!

I like the one in Anaheim just a little better. The only thing is that you can't get a Nautilus in Anaheim.

It is so funny to read your report after I already had the oral report when we had drinks at Trader Sam! We both really loved meeting up with you there and then on Saturday. I was actually a bit mad at Michael for getting us that meal at Ohana because it made the evening a bit stressful. I would have enjoyed more leisurely drinks...

I would have loved to go to Ohana with you two, it's one of my favorite restaurants. Fran thinks it's just OK.

And I had no idea that you did not like the sliders! I actually thought it was very tasty! And it was very nice of you to share since I really could use some food at that point! I totally forgot what I had to drink. I know that Michael had the same drink as you because of the mug that he ended up getting...

There was something in there that the texture was off for me, and the sauce was just sort of meh for me. It was OK cause the pasta I had in the room hit the spot.

 

[franandaj]

Great view! Not sure how I feel about the meal. I'm not a fan of octopus, mole, or sweet potatoes.

Yeah, you have to have the kind of palate that you aren't afraid to try just about anything when you go to these kind of lunches.

Love your pink nails!

Thanks! They matched my tablet and my overflannel perfectly!

Is the seating at Trader Sam's at WDW as disastrous as it is in DL? We got lucky the other day......because we got there at opening. Our bartender sucked again. It just can't be that difficult.

I see that Magdalene already answered this. Maybe in December we might want to consider sitting outside. As much as the fun antics inside can be, I have a feeling that we're going to want to talk to each other and every time a new antic starts up, the conversation has to halt because we can't hear each other!

I made it!!!

Nice to see another TR and what an awesome start so far.
Pity about the long travel day; and the scooter.
But that food porn and drinks are great so far.

The trip really was sheer fun for the first couple days!

And now you have a coffee grinder for when you're at Disney World.

That is not a bad thing! Before I got a Kueurig at home I ground my own coffee every day. I don't mind doin it on vacation as that means I get a superior cup of coffee!

And my first thought: How low is the charge?

We didn't even think about that! Luckily it wasn't an issue!

Heck yeah!

In hindsight we really do have no problems stealing other people's booze!

Well, if I was there, Fran could have mine. I don't do coffee flavored anything.

Actually the girls at the table on the other side got in on it and asked for the coffee flavored tequila. They gave us back one thinking I think was the b vodka but it was actually the Mezcal.

Of course you were awake once you got back.

Amazon to the rescue with the coffee grinder! That's a lot of tequila! The food looks really tasty.

Amazon is a life saver! Even on vacation!

Ah, Traders Sams is one of my happy places! Can't wait to see everyone next month at the original Trader Sams!

It will be a total blast! Only 20 days left!