The tale of 2 Happy Anniversary Pins "thank you" An Oct '11 TR NEW 2/25 final thought

[JPFamilyMom]

I love how the flow of your trip sounds so relaxing and you are at MK, which I normally feel like I have to rush around. Glad you two have been able to get so many couple shots. the pictures in front of the castle are great, I'm sure you will or have already, but I suggest you frame one of those Really enjoying your trip so far

Can't wait to see whats next

 

[jillyb]

Great start to your trip! I love the PP pics of Mickey absconding with you! LOL

 

[mousescrapper]

We enjoyed the new HM queue but I think mostly because the kids loved it. We were in line with Kathy & Billy. Our boys & Billy were really having fun with all of the interactive stuff. I really LOVED the new hitchiking ghosts!

Can't wait for the room reveal!

Oh I bet it was a bunch of fun w/ them we def do the new queue w/ the kids, they should like it, try and do early in day before crowds appear...wonder where will they go when Dumbo and BTMRR are closed

yes the new ghosts are cool...I think it was 3rd ride when we got the head switching one again that i realized are heads were switching

Can't wait to see where your room was!! I can see how the fun of playing in the new queue would be taken away slightly by impatient crowds behind you. I'm still really excited to see it though!

yes it is worth a walk through

I love how the flow of your trip sounds so relaxing and you are at MK, which I normally feel like I have to rush around. Glad you two have been able to get so many couple shots. the pictures in front of the castle are great, I'm sure you will or have already, but I suggest you frame one of those Really enjoying your trip so far

Can't wait to see whats next

we def were not rushing much at all this trip it was nice...hope that carries over to the jan trip I did frame a castle pix but not from this day

Great start to your trip! I love the PP pics of Mickey absconding with you! LOL

I know it was so cute and a great way to start the trip

 

[mousescrapper]

Day 1) cont…our room w/ a VIEW!

We bid our farewells to the Magic Kingdom for now

And walked back over to BLT w/ eager anticipation to see our room and check out the view! As we made our way over there, we saw many guests on their way to MK for the Halloween Party, we saw some great costumes, like Snow White and Dopey (adults), more pirates, and more. We couldn’t wait till Tues night!

We got to BLT and up the elevator to the 9th floor and just over past the service elevator awaited room 7914. As we opened the door, we noticed that our luggage had arrived and it appeared we may have a refurbed room…but none of that mattered, I needed to see our view. We made a bee-line to the balcony and opened the doors to see:

THE CASTLE!

We didn’t even need to crane our necks, it was right there in front of us! No we didn’t get an upgrade from lake View to MK view, it was pure MAGIC!

The Lake was there to our right:

Which was an interesting view too, as we’d see the boats come in each morning in the early sunlight, and some other odd things like billowing smoke (never figured that out) and the Endor Station out in the trees…don’t think we have a pix of it, but that’s what this building popping out of the trees looked like

Now there was one sore to this amazing view:

Yep, that is what was directly under us, so we didn’t look down much

So let’s look at this again:

We also could hear the train chugging around MK, it was a great ambience noise. Oh how I love BLT! Now that we were thoroughly excited by our view it was time to unpack and settle in to the room, but first some pictures inside our Studio, that actually wasn’t refurbed but a accessible room.

The accessible shower

The other shower/tub was right next to the sink. This helped getting ready in the morning be a breeze as we each had our own shower! The downsides of the room were, the bed had no box spring and was a bit soft for me, as well the mirror in the bathroom was low for Matt, he had to lower down to see the top of his head. The bathroom counter was minimal so good thing it was just the two us and our toiletries.

Lastly there was one closet, but oddly set up so there was no long hanging. Good thing MacGyver Matt was here, he rigged up some string hooks on the drapery rod for our costumes:

We finished up the unpacking and then rest a bit while watching Stacy of course. Then decided to put on our swimsuits and head down to the pool area for a dip in the Hot Tub. I didn’t take my camera.

Before heading out I put up our sign which would later have a surprise greeting on it:

I love the art work at BLT, here was the poster art outside our elevator:

The pool area wasn’t too crowded so that was good, some other couple was already in the hot tub and I felt a bit weird joining them, having odd movie flashbacks from something

So we checked out the fire pit nearby that we don’t remember being on in November. Then the tub was empty so we enjoyed a few moments of quiet together…but me the big dork couldn’t find a spot to sit right that the jets weren’t pushing me off the bench. Our solitude lasted only a bit, as a hoard of kids joined us…oh well.

We headed back up to the room and got jammies on and awaited Hallo-Wishes to begin. We no longer needed to head up to the Top of the World Lounge as we had our own private viewing area!

Fireworks cont next post…​

 

[mousescrapper]

We tuned in the TV for Hallo-Wishes to begin at 9:30pm and awaited the first pop and color burst…we were not disappointed at all! The show was absolutely amazing, I kept saying “wow” “ooh” “Awesome” it really was! I couldn’t wait to see it in person in the park in just a couple days…here are some shots Matt captured on his camera:

OMG the castle exploded

At then the fireworks were everywhere…UNBELIEVABLE! LOVED IT!!!!!

What a way to end our 1st day at Disney on this trip!

The TOP 3 Magical Moments of Day 1) were:

* The nice lady offering us seats at the front of the plane

* Meeting Mickey and having some fun joking around

* Our room view with the Hallo-wishes finale

Coming up (hopefully) a video recap of day 1) and then onto Day 2)! ​

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Oh my goodness that view!!!!!!!!! How amazing! (Yeah, we'll just agree to not look down! ) Your room looks like it was great!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What a fabulous view, I'm super jealous. Can't wait to see what the note/msg left on your door was

 

[DisMomAmy]

Awesome view!!!

So cool that you can put Hallowishes on your tv to hear the music!!!

 

[Native NYer]

What an amazing view!

 

[teekathepony]

YAY! I'm here and all caught up! LOVE that view!!

 

[exwdwcm]

I finally made it over! sorry life has been crazy, especially work.

Loving all the pics so far and WOW on your view. I know you said it was good, but it is amazing. So happy you got to enjoy a magical view! I can't wait to see more pics of the costumes others had on. I didn't think to take any, but I know you did and I know you were in many photos by request too on party night.

Can't wait to hear how the rest goes.

How is Matt's back doing, any better?

 

[mousescrapper]

so sorry I am having a hard time getting my DIS on life seems way busier than usual...but hopefully I will find some time to crank out some updates and get this baby done in the next 30 some days before I leave for my trip trip, huh so hang in there...thanks

Oh my goodness that view!!!!!!!!! How amazing! (Yeah, we'll just agree to not look down! ) Your room looks like it was great!

yes we didn't look down much...it was AMAZING, every chance i got I'd peek out the balcony windows to look at MY castle

What a fabulous view, I'm super jealous. Can't wait to see what the note/msg left on your door was

it was awesome, probably never to be repeated...the message will be coming up

Awesome view!!!

So cool that you can put Hallowishes on your tv to hear the music!!!

yes you can listen to any of the night time fireworks on the tv at BLT...very FUN! they were some of the best works we'd ever seen!

What an amazing view!

it was great!

YAY! I'm here and all caught up! LOVE that view!!

awesome hi Wendy

I finally made it over! sorry life has been crazy, especially work.


no worries mine is equally nutty, just got caught up on your TR

Loving all the pics so far and WOW on your view. I know you said it was good, but it is amazing. So happy you got to enjoy a magical view! I can't wait to see more pics of the costumes others had on. I didn't think to take any, but I know you did and I know you were in many photos by request too on party night.

it was pretty impressive i tell ya, I still can't believe our awesome luck! MNSSHP was beyond great...I can't wait to see it again w/ you and all

Can't wait to hear how the rest goes.

hopefully sooner than later

How is Matt's back doing, any better?

he is doing well, thanks for asking things are slowly becoming more normal, but be very happy for the Disney break again!

 

[mousescrapper]

So I don’t have that Day 1 video working yet…so let’s move forward…but first a special message that awaited us on Day 1) in our room:


click on the picture to hear it...

Day 2) Monday Oct. 17th

We started out our morning w/ breakfast in the room:

And then headed out of our room about 8:15/20 am and made our way over to CR to catch the Monorail to the TTC to make our way to Epcot!

First thing on the day’s agenda was a DISmeet w/ Stephanie (Pixiedust) and her family. The plan was to meet in the lines pre RD and then head over to Soarin together. I texted her to say we had arrived and they had just made their way thru bag check, we walked toward the line area she said they were in to look for them…we I hear this lovely southern accent call out “Are you Matt?”

We all introduced ourselves and I gave her son Caden his DISgift, which he loved and they all thought was so sweet of us. We immediately all clicked and spent the next several minutes chatting away. Matt and Grandpa had a nice time talking. Once entering the park we made our way to the land Pavilion, we didn’t run, but got there pretty quickly and headed down to the ride. The CM’s greeted us w/ waves and music from the Thriller! Now that’s a way to start your day…I tried to snag a picture of them, but I guess my booty shakin distracted me from turning the flash on.

It didn’t take long making in through the stand-by line, I think the wait time was listed for about 20 min but we made it through in less time. We enjoyed talking and getting to know each other. I snapped a few pixs of Stephanie and I:

The ride was awesome as usual (except I noticed the film must have been dirty which was a bit distracting)

Before we headed our separate ways after the ride we took a few more group pictures, Caden was so sweet.

Next Matt and I grabbed FP’s for TT and then walked over to the old Pavilion of Life which now housed the F&W F Welcome Center

not much happening in here yet, but I wanted to purchase a festival cookbook for my sister and a pin for myself, plus get two F&W gift card wristlets for use later in the day…but DOH! I couldn’t purchase a gift card w/ a gift card. Before leaving on the trip I put the $ we planned to use for F&W on a gift card and couldn’t transfer over. GRR! Oh well.

We backtracked to the front to get some pictures:

I loved these huge suitcases!

​

 

[mousescrapper]

We next went to Mouse Gear the first of two times and did a bunch of shopping before heading back over to TT for our ride.

Trying to take pictures on here is a trick…

Yes we did the kiss picture…I think I was a bit embarrassed LOL

It was just after 11 am so we made our way up to the World Showcase, stopping along the way for some FREE Craisins (YUM!) and had a guest take our picture too:

Our first booth stop was Australia, and after a bit confused on the ordering process we got our first tempting sensations of the day. They hit the spot.

We got Shrimp on the Barbie, Grilled Lambchop and the Lamington Cake…all were finger lickin good and freshly prepared and HOT too. I was impressed and ready for more! Matt said the little lamb sacrifice was worth it. I made a note to myself, bring wetnaps and breath mints….

We followed the order toward Mexico and stopped at Brazil next for the Seared Mahi Mahi, which was equally good. I noted how tender it was and loved the sauce.

I had to create a system of ordering, grabbing plastic wear, napkins then finding a table, curb or bench to sit and eat our food. We’d take a picture, share and eat, then make some notes in the little food review booklet I made. We definitely took our time stopping, eating and talking at each stop which is quite a departure from the normal touring routine. We thought to ourselves, how could you do this w/ kids in tow, be tough making this many stops and the COST e-gad that would be tough considering what we spent of the course of 2 days…

Up next was a stop for drinks at the Caribbean Booth. These frozen delights sounded so good, but unfortunately like most of the “drinks” we got didn’t always match up… I tried the Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito and Matt got the Dragon Berry Colada

It was ok, maybe I took too long drinking it, but didn’t taste like much. Matt liked his, but a bit sweet for his liking.

I took a few scenic shots, it was a bit overcast this morning, but wasn’t cold and never rained:

We stopped to sit down outside Mexico and then moved up to Scandinavia to try the Swedish Meatballs w/ Lingonberries…where they much different than the Ikea version…no not so much, but they were still good w/ a nice rich sauce.

We decided to go on the Maelstrom next, I can always pass on this ride, but Matt enjoys it, so it had been awhile since I rode it.

​

 

[mousescrapper]

The next stop was China where we tried the Pork Pot Stickers and the Xinjiang Barbecue Chicken Stick.

The Pot Stickers were great, but seemed pretty similar to the frozen kind I can get at the store. I wasn’t in love w/ the chicken stick…it was ok, a bit dry for my taste. We also re-ran into Parla and her family too. The kids came and chatted w/ Matt and I a bit while she was in line getting food for them.
After eating we walked back to check out the new China main shopping area and looked around for awhile. We admired the tea sets and “picked” out one. This is where I bought my new wallet too.

I thought these lanterns were cool:

On our way out of China, we saw a PP photographer and got some really nice pictures:

We continued onward w/ our dining experience and stopped in Germany. This was one of the longer lines of the day w/ of course the beer options, but neither of us got any yet. We tried the Nuernberger Sausage in a Pretzel Roll and the Apple Strudel w/ Karamel/Vanilla Sauce.

They had a nice seating area set up back here w/ tables and benches and I noticed an older couple sitting at a table w/ one side open so I asked if we could join them. We had a lovely 20 min conversation w/ this retired couple from I believe the Pennsylvania area who now lived outside of Orlando and were in for the day. It was fun to chat w/ them and dream about us retiring down here some day.


We now wandered a bit looking around at things. I had read once that the cookoo clocks were all suppose to go off together on the hour so we attempted to catch that, but no luck, guess that doesn’t happen. Bummer
I’m not sure what the order was for the next items, but we went to Italy and got the Cannoli and a Smoothie. We found a bench in the shade to rest a bit

when what luck we were able to watch the Sergio show for a bit. He is a great performer; we really enjoyed seeing this again and were reminded of when Rebekah was chosen to be his assistant in the show 2 years ago.

We also stopped in Belgium for one more treat of the day the Belgium Waffle w/ Berry compote and Matt tried the Leffe beer. The waffle was freshly prepared and topping was good, could have used 1 each. Matt liked the beer, but said was a bit heavy tasty. I recall talking to another couple while we sat on a bench and ate, they were newlyweds on their Honeymoon

​

 

[mousescrapper]

We also stopped in France

and saw the Impressions de France movie. I think I had seen this once before? We tried to guess when it was filmed, we think in the 80’s…I hate to admit but sitting down for almost 20 minutes in a semi comfy chair I started dozing off…whoops.

We also got some PP pictures here too:

We may have back tracked at this point to watch the Japan drummers. This is always fun and entertaining. I love how they can stay in that perfect rhythm.

A quick browse through the UK:

Included a stop in the tea shop (which was surprisingly VERY busy) and we got some pumpkin chai tea for back in the room.

The last thing we did before heading out for the day was to stop in Canada

To see the Canada circle vision movie. We must have arrived just after a show had stated and we had a bit of a wait. I’m not sure if have ever seen this one, it was amusing and interesting. I loved the area walking back to get to the theatre, it really is quite pretty back there.

I don’t have a time written down when we left EP, but I think it was just before 5 pm. We had a relaxing and nicely filled EP day w/ just taking our time and doing several things we normally wouldn’t do if the kids were w/ us.

Up NEXT: Our anniversary dinner… ​

 

[Tinkermom76]

we were there for the beginning of food and Wine but had the kids with us so there is no way they would wait in all those lines. Maybe one day I will get there without them and do F&W

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Wow all of your food and wine snacks look great! I can see how the festival would be a lot of fun, but would add up quickly! I've always wanted to go though...one year we will, I'm sure!

 

[Charleston Princess]

The two Photopass pictures with you and Matt kissing are adorable!

Looks like you had a chance to try lots of yummy things at the F&W Festival -- of course, you know my favorite thing you tried was Matt's Dragonberry Colada -- -- sorry he found it a bit too sweet.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Like you, life has kept me busy lately and I've missed a few updates. But, I'm caught up now and I just have to say I LOVE your anniversary/vacation feet picture!

What an incredible view from your room! And who needs to look down when you have that to look at?

That voice message from Minnie and Mickey is adorable!

Food and Wine Festival looks awesome! I'm sure our budget would be shot with all that great food available. (Not to mention with 2 teenage boys!) LOL...definitely a good idea to do it without the kids in tow!


Your trip so far seems so relaxing and romantic! Can't wait to hear more!