The Snarkiest Safari That Ever Sailed! An October 2018, Food & Wine Trip! Complete 4/26/19!!

[missjackiemcg]

Sounds like a perfectly lovely way to end your trip!! I always go to MK on my last day, especially when I don't have another trip planned and I'm not sure when I'll see that beautiful castle again!

 

[Cloe Colton]

I've always wanted to meet Gaston! The last time I tried they closed the line two times before I could get in it and I've given up since looks like you had a fun meet though!

I can't believe your trip is just 9 days away! So exciting!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

and then went on to not become Galactic heroes on Buzz, despite our valiant efforts…

I have never come close to Galactic hero status. Even after trying to read up on the tips and tricks.

It's like they knew it was our last day

My family likes finish off our trips with a ride on iasw. It just seems to fit well.

We had a late lunch ADR at The Plaza, so we checked in and waited for our buzzer to buzz…

I find the Plaza is a solid choice. Not fancy, but simple, reliable food.

 

[wdwnut61]

And we checked out some of the chocolate sculptures in the festival center.
These things are amazing, it's hard to believe they are chocolate!

Agreed they are incredible

Let me spoil this review by saying right from the beginning that we loved it here!
This was one of our favorite evenings of the trip and I literally cannot wait to go back.

We love GP and spent every evening last November there great food, drinks and the view so relaxing

And yes, I did cheat a little and eat the bun and those fries…life is all about choices

It's vacation a logic I use quite often

Of course, the view from here was just perfect and certainly played into how much we love this place.
I highly recommend going as the sun just starting to set. This was at around 6:30 pm...

Beautiful pics

We also caught the Main Street singers just as they were coming down the street and happily stood to watch.
This is starting to be a last day tradition for me as we did the same thing last April.
I love their fall costumes.

Glad you got to see them again

and then had a VERY fun meet with Gaston!
This was something I've always wanted to do and we happened to catch it just right, as they closed the line right after we got in it.
Even waiting in line was fun to watch because of his interactions with the other guests.

Gaston is a hoot!

I know your trip is close have a wonderful time

 

[buzzrelly]

Sounds like a perfectly lovely way to end your trip!! I always go to MK on my last day, especially when I don't have another trip planned and I'm not sure when I'll see that beautiful castle again!

I'll be seeing that beautiful castle in 3 days

I've always wanted to meet Gaston!

You should, especially when you're with your DH! I'm not a big, meet-the-characters kind of girl, but he is hilarious!

I can't believe your trip is just 9 days away! So exciting!

We leave tomorrow night! And I still have so much to do!

I have never come close to Galactic hero status. Even after trying to read up on the tips and tricks.

We may be the only two who haven't! I get to try again in three days, wish me luck!

I find the Plaza is a solid choice. Not fancy, but simple, reliable food.

Same…we are definitely not fancy eaters

We love GP and spent every evening last November there great food, drinks and the view so relaxing

That sounds like a perfect vacation. I'm staying at WL in May and I have a feeling we will be doing the same

I know your trip is close have a wonderful time

Thank you! We leave tomorrow!!

 

[pkondz]

Have a great time!!!

 

[buzzrelly]

Have a great time!!!

Thank you! I was going to try to get the last day of this TR done, but I don't know if I'll be able to! Maybe if I get everything done today, I can take a stab at it tomorrow morning. If not, it'll have to wait until I get back

 

[pkondz]

Thank you! I was going to try to get the last day of this TR done, but I don't know if I'll be able to! Maybe if I get everything done today, I can take a stab at it tomorrow morning. If not, it'll have to wait until I get back

My advice? Leave it. Concentrate on not forgetting your toothbrush or leaving the stove on. (To prevent the latter... take a photo of your stove before you leave.)

 

[disneyAndi14]

We always hit MK on our last day! The Plaza is such a nice spot to relax on busy park days.

 

[buzzrelly]

My advice? Leave it. Concentrate on not forgetting your toothbrush or leaving the stove on. (To prevent the latter... take a photo of your stove before you leave.)

Good advice! As you can see, it didn’t happen since we are here already! Heading to the MK in a little bit!

I like your tip about the stove! I’ll definitely use that when I come here with Mike but for now, the stove is safe at home with him

 

[pkondz]

Good advice! As you can see, it didn’t happen since we are here already! Heading to the MK in a little bit!

Have fun!

I like your tip about the stove! I’ll definitely use that when I come here with Mike but for now, the stove is safe at home with him

Good.

 

[kastoney]

I need to get going so I can finish this up before we leave for our April trip in 28 days

Better yet you are on your trip now. Hope you are having an amazing time!!!!

This is such a funny angle it looks like he is coming out of the tree.

Let me spoil this review by saying right from the beginning that we loved it here!
This was one of our favorite evenings of the trip and I literally cannot wait to go back.

I so can't wait to spend lots of time here in a few weeks!!!!!! We've only gotten a couple of drinks here and I definitely need to check out some of the food.

This is starting to be a last day tradition for me as we did the same thing last April.
I love their fall costumes.

I hope we get to do this. I never catch more than a glimpse of them walking by because Casey is always anxious to get to ride something!

This pictures are priceless. Love how the boys are so enamored with each other and there you are just posing away.

Mike and I shared the wedge salad…

This looks strangely good. I don't usually care for iceberg lettuce but pile it in blue cheese and I suddenly like it.

I got the Fried-Green Tomato Sandwich…

I'm kicking myself for not ordering this in February. I totally wanted it but with sharing with Casey and she pulled a Kelly and wanted a salad

 

[Tracy161]

We then walked over to Tomorrowland, passing by The Purple Wall where we took a LOT of really bad pictures that are unfit for viewing

Been there! Meanwhile, you took some very lovely other photos that were very fit for viewing, so there's at least that!

I don't know how I missed that update last month... if you're still on your trip, I hope you're having a wonderful time! And if you're back, I hope you had a great time and will be sharing with us some details!

 

[buzzrelly]

Hope you are having an amazing time!!!!

We were!

This is such a funny angle it looks like he is coming out of the tree.

I didn't really care much about getting the best view…I was happy to have a little shade and a corner of a fence to rest on

I so can't wait to spend lots of time here in a few weeks!!!!!! We've only gotten a couple of drinks here and I definitely need to check out some of the food.

Me too! We ate at D-Luxe burger in April and I was wishing we were at GP

This looks strangely good. I don't usually care for iceberg lettuce but pile it in blue cheese and I suddenly like it.

I don't usually like iceberg lettuce either, but I do love these salads…it's gotta be the blue cheese

I totally wanted it but with sharing with Casey and she pulled a Kelly and wanted a salad

You can never go wrong with a salad either…unless it's from Earl of Sandwich.

I don't know how I missed that update last month... if you're still on your trip, I hope you're having a wonderful time! And if you're back, I hope you had a great time and will be sharing with us some details!

I have been missing so many updates on everyone's trip reports myself since even before leaving! I'm trying to catch up before leaving again and I'm hoping to get this finished up before then too!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Happy Easter Kelly!

 

[buzzrelly]

Happy Easter Kelly!

Thanks, Jenny! Happy Easter to you as well!

 

[buzzrelly]

October 23-24, 2018
Sad Day



Hello all! No, our ship did not sink! I've been back for a bit but busier than usual and trying to get back into the swing of things. I'm finally getting back to finish this!

I know I left you all with a cliffhanger…we were heading back to AKL to do our laundry.

Don't worry, I won't subject you to photos of our dirty clothes.

We threw it in and then walked around AKL a little bit since we hadn’t really had a good look around yet.
I can see how you might love this resort if you woke up to this view every morning…

And the building and grounds are quite impressive…

Me from my best angle…far, far away and behind a fence…

Impressive lobby…

When our laundry finished, we went back to the room to pack up a bit and enjoy one of my favorite cocktails…

I don't even have any more pictures from this evening so I think we just hung out and relaxed. We are crazy that way

We headed back to EPCOT for our last day. This was supposed to be a Food & Wine trip, after all.

Mike's face looks like a big blob here but mine came out okay so it goes in the trip report. See how that works?

We soared around the world one last time…

And then went to get some snacks for lunch. Nothing exciting...we hit a couple of booths that we had gone to previously and enjoyed.
I also saw that they had this at a booth and I thought it was a nice option for a snack…

It's been so long that I don't even remember what we ate, but here it is…

More of my favorite…spanakopita…

Mike got some kind of sausage in Germany…

We caught the whole Jammitors show on our way out.
They are very entertaining and I would definitely recommend stopping to watch them if you ever have the chance.

So long, Spaceship Earth

And then it was time to leave so I could go back and catch the DME from AKL and Mike could start driving back to his mom's to return her car and spend a couple days with her before he took his train home

DME came around 5 pm, and that was that for an amazing trip.

My flight was on time and the weather was good for flying so I had a very uneventful trip home.

Thanks for following along with me on this amazing trip! I can't even believe this was almost seven months ago now. As I am looking back at these pictures, I am kind of sad that we won't be going back down this October. However, Mike and I have booked a trip for next March since he has never been down there for the Flower & Garden festival. One day he offhandedly expressed an interest in going at that time and he got my wheels turning so before you knew it, we have booked BLT for 7 nights, March 16th to March 23rd, 2020! We had already planned on going down with the kids at the end of June/early July 2020 and we had enough points left for this room. Plus, I can use my AP and get Mike an AP to use for both trips too. The big caveat, and the thing that most sweetened the deal with Mike is that we are going to drive down for that trip . Mike doesn't have it in him to take the train down twice just a couple months apart, and I can't say as I blame him. And I don't have it in me to drive down more than once/year so I will fly down in June with the kids. Hopefully the drive won't be too bad and we have already kind of mapped it out since we have driven to Hilton Head a few times. We plan on taking the same route and drive from CT to Santee, SC on 3/14 and then wake on 3/15 and drive to WDW which I believe will take around 6 hours from there. We'll stay one night at POFQ and then move to BLT on 3/16.


Also, I did just get back from a cruise on the Disney Fantasy that was wonderful and I may write about, and I'm also heading back down for the EPIC trip in less than a week! I don't really do pre-trip reports, but here is a little synopsis of what's to come on that trip:

Originally, I was booked to go down May 3 and stay with my awesome roomie, @kastoney in the WL until May 6th. Well, some things transpired and there are events happening on May 2nd that I REALLY wanted to be there for so @Steppesister and I teamed up and were trying to figure out a plan to get there on the 1st since she was in the same boat I was in. We scrambled and each made some hotel reservations that weren't perfect but would at least give us a place to stay. We then received a VERY generous offer from @jedijill to let us stay in her room at AKL Kidani for a couple nights! I am beyond thankful and am now heading down on May 1st instead of the 3rd . My plane does not land until 7:15 pm so Liesa and I will probably just hang by the pool or lounge at Kidani for a drink and maybe some apps that night. We'll need to rest up for the rest of this amazing trip where I am going to meet so many fellow Dis-ers, I can't wait!

Again, thanks for reading along! If I start a TR for our April trip, I'll post the link here!


​

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Well, some things transpired and there are events happening on May 2nd that I REALLY wanted to be there for

Hee! Hee! Soooooooooooooooooooooo excited!

 

[missjackiemcg]

YAY EPICness in t-minus 5 days.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I'm so glad it worked out for you to arrive on 5/1/19, how nice to have a room with a generous Diser!

It will be so fun to meet on this Epic trip, I fly down on 5/1/19, should arrive around 1:30pm, yay!

Sounds like you have some nice trips planned for 2020! I think we will be staying at BLT in January before our cruise on the Dream!