Think of All The Joy You'll Find When You Leave the World Behind- Nov 2018 TR-updated 09/22/19 RL

[suse66]

It was beautiful.

So pretty!

Two ladies were busy chatting away. They glanced at me and went back to their conversation. A lady in a suit cleared her throat and said "Ladies. . . " They sighed with defeat, separated, and one of them said "Can I help you?" with the enthusiasm of a slug. Magical.

Oh dear! That is not the Disney way!

Our room, though, was just gorgeous. I loved all the details from the wooden post beds to the ferris wheels on the shower curtains, to the old postcards in the frames. I immediately took pictures so that I could make a running leap onto the bed to make sure it was comfortable. It was! Thank goodness.

Such a lovely room. I really enjoyed the rooms when I stayed there in 2016.

We checked in to Kona and were seated 30 minutes earlier than our ADR. Yay! I started with some strong coffee to keep me going and Jason had juice. Boring.

Love Kona! Your DH is starting with my favourite and you have my DH's!

Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving (American friends--Canadian friends, I'm only a month late)! We enjoyed our time at home with family and guests. Yesterday, my mom and I shopped until I was practically crawling through the aisles. Is that dropping? Today, my husband is at work so I'm home watching Christmas movies and getting us back to our regular scheduled program here.

Thank you, hope you had a great Thanksgiving! One month from tonight is Christmas Eve!

Having worn out our welcome in Frontierland, we decided some classics were in store for us. While I later had a FP for It's a Small World (spoiler alert: I canceled it), we decided 15 minutes was reasonable and got in line. I enjoy this attraction, but it's not something I need to do again and again during the same trip. I do have to brag on my new phone as these were the most clear pictures I had ever taken on the ride. I decided not to post them as I feared seeing them may inspire the song in your heads and you may start throwing tomatoes at me when it gets stuck.

I actually love IASW so no tomatoes from me!

I happened to look up from my meal and see my husband with his lip poked out sadly and a spaghetti noodle dangling from his mouth. He's missing our girls and thinking about the famous meatball scene from the movie. I snapped a photo of his weakened moment, but I've reached photo capacity for this post so you're all spared from the pity.

Haha!

Here is the most amazing part. I turned around and saw a newlywed couple sitting down to my left. I recognized her immediately as my old friend from long enough.

That is amazing!

He told him that he is what we hold as top of the line, and that meeting him was a joy. If we go back, we will request to be in his section again if that was allowed. If you go to this restaurant and you meet him, rest assured he will take good care of you. He is just spectacular.

Love this! So great that you recognized him. You are making Disney magic!

Breakfast at another resort before we're off to a park. Where are we going and which Fastpasses do we have for the morning?

Breakfast at Boma before AK with FPs for FoP, EE and Safari??

 

[disneyAndi14]

Sounds like an awesome Anniversary dinner, how nice to see a childhood friend at the restaurant.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

At the end, we caught us a real "live" ghost. He switched my head with his and tossed it around. Don't worry, I didn't feel a thing!

I love this effect at the end. It's my favorite.

Glad you were feeling good enough to enjoy dinner.

 

[ariane37]

Checking in from our last night at the Wilderness Lodge! So far your trip seems to be off to a good start (other than the not so friendly CM's that greeted you ). And boy do I know about the long halls lol! We were practically at a different resort at both Yacht and BWV one time we were so far from ANYTHING, not horrible but not fun. It is interesting to see where your room was located though since we've had a few stays at BWV but never at the Inn, looks like a pretty location

 

[SweetSerenity]

Yay! Your dress sounds awesome, and that's even more exciting that it fit!


What a lovely touch!


Oh my gosh that's amazing! What a lovely happenstance!!!!


It sounds like it was a lovely anniversary dinner--I'm happy it was such a wonderful night for you two.

Thank you! It was a really good evening!

Thank you, hope you had a great Thanksgiving! One month from tonight is Christmas Eve!

We did, thank you! I know! Where did the time go?

I actually love IASW so no tomatoes from me!

Thank goodness because I'm allergic! Not enough to count but still. . .

Love this! So great that you recognized him. You are making Disney magic!

He deserves far more recognition than we gave him.

Breakfast at Boma before AK with FPs for FoP, EE and Safari??

Very good guess! Sadly, Boma was dropped when we switched from AKL to BWI. You are correct on the FP--just not on this day!

Sounds like an awesome Anniversary dinner, how nice to see a childhood friend at the restaurant.

It was a wonderful chance meeting!

I love this effect at the end. It's my favorite.

Glad you were feeling good enough to enjoy dinner.

Thank you! There were highs and lows, but I made the best of it. I have had two tests since returning home, and I think I have the okay for surgery. I am waiting for my insurance to approve it because it is still considered an investigatory surgery, but my surgeon was one of the founding researchers on the procedure and I have every ounce of confidence in him.

Checking in from our last night at the Wilderness Lodge! So far your trip seems to be off to a good start (other than the not so friendly CM's that greeted you ). And boy do I know about the long halls lol! We were practically at a different resort at both Yacht and BWV one time we were so far from ANYTHING, not horrible but not fun. It is interesting to see where your room was located though since we've had a few stays at BWV but never at the Inn, looks like a pretty location

I hope you are loving WL!!! I loved visiting there, but more on that later.
It was nestled in a very nice location as far as aesthetics are concerned, but for distance I thought we were staying in China at the WS. Since you can see in that photo that we are on the backside of the lobby, you can also see how the connecting hallways were winding around to our room. At least it was inside unlike previous stays at value and moderate resorts.

 

[SweetSerenity]

The Holidays Are A'Creepin'- Day Two, Magic Kingdom

November 2nd, 2018

I'm backtracking.

I forgot to mention when we returned to our room the previous night, Jason was undressing over on the side table where they put the information. He made this his personal dresser since I used the main one for my wardrobe. I heard him sigh and say "that was close." I asked what was wrong, and he said he had just found the bounceback offer. Thankfully for him, it had expired on Halloween so there were no chances of me using it. We had already agreed this big splurge of a trip would be our last one for several years so I was trying to make the very best of it. I was a little disheartened but also relieved that my sheer will would not have to be tested.

We woke up at 6:30 to get ready for our breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. This was a new restaurant for us to try, and I was pretty excited about the strawberry soup. We took the bus to the MK, went through security, climbed the incline to the monorail, and rode over to the Grand Floridian.

Neither of us had ever been to The GF before. In fact, our only experience with it is from our favorite episode (s) of Full House where the Tanners stay there and D.J. runs down the grand staircase to meet Steve just as he tumbles on the floor. Honestly, if you have no idea to what I'm referencing, I have it on DVD for you to borrow. Please see me after class.

I expected the resort to be, well, Grand, but it was so exquisite. As much as I don't like Yacht Club for its air of pretentiousness (sorry, YC fans), I thought this resort was absolutely stunning. We giggled like schoolchildren as we made our way down the staircase to find 1900 Park Fare. On our way, I saw the spot for the afternoon garden view tea and pointed out dramatically to my husband how wonderful it would be to try that.

During our meal, we met Tigger (we were the first ones), Mary Poppins (I have not seen this. . please, stow your rotten lettuce), Alice, and the Mad Hatter. I despise Alice and Wonderland and told Jason I was not having my picture taken with her. I'm a liar.

While he was getting his food, Pooh came over to sit with me. We had the best conversation mime style until Jason returned.


My charming husband loves to cheese it up for the ladies, and he takes every opportunity he can to present his arm to them. He's not being creepy. . . he's been a chivalrous Southern gentleman. Blah, blah, blah.


Tigger and I bounced around together until he saw our celebration buttons and congratulated us on our anniversary. I could have spent all morning just hopping around with him, but we had to move on.


Just a note for future food posts, I did not take pictures of buffets or Jason's plates. These are just mine, and I will tell you we had a good meal there. I would very much go back if I needed a character breakfast.

We stopped in Basin and the other nearby gift shop before going back on the monorail to hitch a ride over to the Magic Kingdom.

When we arrived, I noticed they had added more Christmas cra---decorations. *Sigh*

I'm not sure if I mentioned on our previous day (I'm too lazy to go back) that we had stopped at Guest Relations to redeem rewards from the Disney Visa. While we were there, we stopped in the firehouse to pay respects to my step-dad. Jason decided he wanted to try Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We got our map and cards. We couldn't find the first spot so we went back on this day to get another pack of cards and try again. Spoiler alert- we never found the first portal and gave up.

Our first FP was for my favorite. Do I need to tell you what that is again?

So, we went up to the train station and decided to take the peaceful ride around to Frontierland.

It was very quiet up there with only two other guests waiting for the train. We looked through the (broken) viewfinders, but the train came pretty quickly. I propped up my feet and just enjoyed making our way over to the land.

After we rode BTMRR, we were going to go see Country Bears but it was down for the second day in a row. We did meet a beary nice critter.

I've seen this show a gazillion times, but I don't know which one that is. @ariane37 , help me out!

Our second FP was ready so we stayed in the mountains again and splashed around with Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear and Brer Fox and Brer Frog and Brer Chicken and Brer. . . well, you get the picture.

When there are ride pictures, I'm usually smiling with my eyes closed. My husband just throws his hands up, sticks out his tongue, and goes with it.

Our final FP for the morning was Haunted Mansion. We still had some time to kill (no pun intended) so we went to Memento Mori's and The Christmas Shoppe.

I'm out of photo room so this is where we stop for now.

Resort Hop: 3

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I used the main one for my wardrobe. I heard him sigh and say "that was close." I asked what was wrong, and he said he had just found the bounceback offer. Thankfully for him, it had expired on Halloween so there were no chances of me using it. We had already agreed this big splurge of a trip would be our last one for several years so I was trying to make the very best of it. I was a little disheartened but also relieved that my sheer will would not have to be tested.

Oh... that is sad and funny all at the same time.

I expected the resort to be, well, Grand, but it was so exquisite. As much as I don't like Yacht Club for its air of pretentiousness (sorry, YC fans), I thought this resort was absolutely stunning.

I do think the GF is beautiful, but I am not sure we would like staying there.

This is the cutest picture!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I'm a bit behind (you update fast!) but I'm joining in!

This was the year I was finally going to get a candy apple! Did I ever get one?
Spoiler alert #3- no.

Hehe. I think I have said this every trip, and I have never had one. Those apples look great and I like the idea of getting one, but there's so much other good stuff to eat, I never get around to having the apple.

 

[buzzrelly]

I haven't even had time to update my lowly ONE trip report! Kudos to you for updating TWO!

We did appreciate the new ziplock bags they give out to protect phones and whatnot. So, we splashed down the mountain.

Every time I rode, they were out of the bags

I had bought a black dress with a blue skirt that had silver emblems of the princesses such as an apple, book, etc. When I bought it, it did not fit. I forgot to try it on again so I was a little nervous, but exercise was paying off because it fit!

Yay! That's a great feeling

To our surprise, we had personalized menus.

Very nice!

Here is the most amazing part. I turned around and saw a newlywed couple sitting down to my left. I recognized her immediately as my old friend from long enough. We will call her D. Back in elementary and high school, her older sister was my best friend. We were always at each others' houses on the weekend. D always got me birthday presents even though I was her sister's friend. Now, she is all grown up and had just gotten married a few days before in Las Vegas. They were honeymooning at The Poly and the stars just lined up for us to be eating at the same place at the same time. We hugged for what seemed like forever, her new husband took our picture, and she told him we were like best friends growing up. I was so happy that I had tears in my eyes. I wish this sweet girl all the happiness in the world, and she was one of the best parts of my Disney story. We chatted a little more, but I tried to leave her alone to enjoy her meal. We hugged one more time before we parted ways, and I enjoyed seeing all her pictures later.

That really is an amazing story

I despise Alice and Wonderland and told Jason I was not having my picture taken with her. I'm a liar.

Why? Poor Alice

While he was getting his food, Pooh came over to sit with me. We had the best conversation mime style until Jason returned.

That's really cute.

My charming husband loves to cheese it up for the ladies, and he takes every opportunity he can to present his arm to them. He's not being creepy. . . he's been a chivalrous Southern gentleman. Blah, blah, blah.

Very sweet

After we rode BTMRR, we were going to go see Country Bears but it was down for the second day in a row. We did meet a beary nice critter.

I don't know if I just don't pay enough attention, but I never saw these guys out wandering

 

[ariane37]

I expected the resort to be, well, Grand, but it was so exquisite.

I completely agree! We'd been here many times before our stay in Sept., for meals and to see the gingerbread house during the holidays. At first, years ago, I felt it was way too "stuffy" and I'd never want to stay there. I changed that a tad and eventually got to the point where I figured I'd try it but only IF a good price came up. Finally that happened in Sept. (without the Roy suite of course lol, that's always just a bit out of our price range!) and I'm so glad we tried it because not only is it absolutely gorgeous, it's fancy but not too fancy at the same time We were there again last week to visit and it's definitely now my 2nd favorite resort behind WL.

I've seen this show a gazillion times, but I don't know which one that is. @ariane37 , help me out!

LOL that's Big Al Love when they roam around!

Very cool you ran in to your old friend and I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner, looking forward to reading more

 

[skier_pete]

Wait - I can't just gloss over this...you haven't seen Mary Poppins?? Sorry, you need to rectify this immediately.

Haven't done 1900 PF for breakfast, only dinner, but we've enjoyed that a lot when DD was little. GF is our course beautiful, it's another "someday" on our DVC list when we can manage to snag a reservation / have enough points to do so.

I love taking the train back to Frontierland - though I think I'm the only one in the family that does.

 

[SweetSerenity]

Oh... that is sad and funny all at the same time.

I know!

I do think the GF is beautiful, but I am not sure we would like staying there.

I would enjoy it, but it's so big as we later would come to find out.

I'm a bit behind (you update fast!) but I'm joining in!

Thanks for stopping by! I've been taking advantage of my husband working on Saturdays so I've been able to update. I think I'm about to hit a wall so I'm trying to do as much as I can. Also, eager to share, I am.

Hehe. I think I have said this every trip, and I have never had one. Those apples look great and I like the idea of getting one, but there's so much other good stuff to eat, I never get around to having the apple.

I agree. I mean, do they really taste as good as they look? And they are rather expensive.

I haven't even had time to update my lowly ONE trip report! Kudos to you for updating TWO!

I'm just trying to stay on top of it before I crash!

Every time I rode, they were out of the bags

They had tons when we were there. They were so nice to have.

That really is an amazing story

It was incredible!

Why? Poor Alice

Ugh. I don't know. I feel the same about Snow White.

I don't know if I just don't pay enough attention, but I never saw these guys out wandering

I think this was the first time for me, but it's not always easy to get your picture taken because they really are just roaming around.

I completely agree! We'd been here many times before our stay in Sept., for meals and to see the gingerbread house during the holidays. At first, years ago, I felt it was way too "stuffy" and I'd never want to stay there. I changed that a tad and eventually got to the point where I figured I'd try it but only IF a good price came up. Finally that happened in Sept. (without the Roy suite of course lol, that's always just a bit out of our price range!) and I'm so glad we tried it because not only is it absolutely gorgeous, it's fancy but not too fancy at the same time We were there again last week to visit and it's definitely now my 2nd favorite resort behind WL.

See, I never felt like it was stuffy, though I thought it really would be before we went over. I'm not sure if it was just the openness of the lobby or the paint scheme of the GF, but I felt like the Boardwalk was more formal. I really enjoyed all the time we spent there, but it was such a big resort that I'm not sure we would want to stay there more than once since it seems so spread out. It's not a fault of the resort, but we just like the smaller feel such as AKL and WL doesn't seem overwhelming to me either. I am so happy you got the grandest of grand suites, though.

LOL that's Big Al Love when they roam around!

I knew you would know!

Very cool you ran in to your old friend and I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner, looking forward to reading more

You can't make up that kind of magic.

Wait - I can't just gloss over this...you haven't seen Mary Poppins?? Sorry, you need to rectify this immediately.

No, and I'm sorry not sorry!! I don't know, it just never appealed to me. The new one looks interesting so I may have to watch it to see the sequel.

Haven't done 1900 PF for breakfast, only dinner, but we've enjoyed that a lot when DD was little. GF is our course beautiful, it's another "someday" on our DVC list when we can manage to snag a reservation / have enough points to do so.

My list of "somedays" is nearly the entire deluxe resorts with the exception of a couple that I have no interest to stay in, i.e. The Contemporary and Yacht Club.

I love taking the train back to Frontierland - though I think I'm the only one in the family that does.

Me, too! It's a break for your feet and from the heat, if only mildly.

 

[SweetSerenity]

Shannon and Jason and The Great Big Blustery Day- Day Two, Part Two


After our adventures on the left side of the park, which we tend to trend toward, it was time for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Along the way, we finally got a picture at the pillory.


Jason said it was terribly uncomfortable, and thought his rather large head was going to get stuck so I guess it's one and done over there for us.

We found a comfy spot in LTT and waited our turn. I feel like colonial royalty for a split second when they call our names and announce we hail from the great territory of Tennessee. People cheer us forward while others scowl it's not their turn yet. It's fun.



After lunch, the clouds were starting to look a little ominous so we decided to go back to The Boardwalk for a rest. I had not yet gone into panic mode so I was okay with resting before we went to Epcot for the evening. Besides, with the exception of Tomorrowland, we had mostly covered MK.

Before we went up to the room to rest, we headed down for our first look at the actual Boardwalk.

There were not very many people out so we took our time to explore. We went to the bakery to get the included resort mugs that we never used and stopped in the gift shop. It was nice to finally see it in person, though, I had envisioned it to be larger than it actually was. Not that it's small, mind you, but I'm not good with judging scales so I just thought it was bigger. We had plans to maybe go to the dance club one evening just to check it out or have a drink at the bar, but we never made it. Even with being on property 10 days, there still wasn't enough time.


I wanted to see the pool and the (in)famous clown pool. I had big plans on Wednesday, our rest day, to spend time relaxing over there. Spoiler alert: this is the closest I ever got to the pool. I also never made it out on the beautiful terraces overlooking the resort or to one of the nice chairs out by the Boardwalk just to pass the time. It's hard to teach yourself to slow down sometimes.

So, we went upstairs to nap. The clouds were getting darker, but I didn't care much about rain. I had just dozed off when I heard this crashing sound. Jason was sound asleep in his bed so I rolled over and noticed that the balcony door was open. I guess the latch hadn't caught or maybe that was just some crazy winds, but it startled me for a moment. I closed the door and went back to sleep to dream about poor Winnie the Pooh on such a blustery day.


It was raining when we made our way down to the Friendship boat to ride over to Epcot, though it wasn't a torrential downpour. I had on my nice Nightmare Before Christmas rain jacket and felt cozy and secure inside it. Also, it's like being wrapped in plastic and very hot but I was dry!

A short ride later, we were at the International Gates of Epcot. This was my first experience with the short proximity to Epcot, and I loved it! It was always so wonderfully convenient to either take the short walk or ride over to Epcot for our meals, which were all at the World Showcase.

Continued in next post---

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That was a nasty day out! I seem to always forget to lock our door on the balcony as well whenever we do go out on it.

 

[SweetSerenity]

. . .

We had dinner at La Hacienda for the evening. I was secretly hoping that we would get to sit by the water to watch the fireworks, but we did not. That's okay, we'll catch Illuminations next time. Spoiler alert # I don't know how many---we did not. We heard them, but we were never in a position to see the show in its entirety. I was a little bummed since they are discontinuing it, but we have seen it so many times that we are secure in our memories.

Just like in the Magic Kingdom, we tend to stay to the right of Japan in the World Showcase. We made the trek over to Mexico and checked in to La Hacienda. It was still raining.


There was more food and drink, but these are the highlights since this is just a standard trip report.

I had made a FP for Soarin' during dinner, which was nice to snag. After we left the restaurant, we made our way across the middle toward the Land Pavilion. Jason thought it would be nice to stop and see Figment, but it had closed at 7:00.



We stopped to see Baymax. My husband had to belly bump him. I have proof, but I'm having trouble getting my photopass pictures to upload. Judging by the size of these other pictures, I'm clearly not tech savvy.

We soared around the world in the bottom row with feet in the sky before we made our way back over to the UK pavilion to exit. This is my favorite pavilion in the WS so I enjoy browsing through the shoppes. Yes, shoppes. It's fancy.

We decided to walk back to the resort for the evening, which I thought was a leisurely stroll, but my husband disagreed. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

Coming up: It's our first visit to AK since the opening of Pandora. Would we make it over to Pandora? Did we get to ride the new attractions? Stay tuned for one of my favorite days!

 

[SweetSerenity]

That was a nasty day out! I seem to always forget to lock our door on the balcony as well whenever we do go out on it.

I thought it was locked, but I guess not. Scared the snot out of me.

 

[QueenJen]

we finally got a picture at the pillory.

I really need to make note of these types of things. We've only been to WDW twice and are always go go go in the parks, hanging at the pool, or strolling DTD (that's what it was still called when we were there)

People cheer us forward while others scowl it's not their turn yet.

Fun - I don't recall this - it would make things more interesting if they announce the city - two of the cities I've lived in people have a hard time saying it correctly. I love that you mentioned that 'others scowl'.

We had plans to maybe go to the dance club one evening just to check it out or have a drink at the bar, but we never made it. Even with being on property 10 days, there still wasn't enough time.

This is another thing I would like to do at least once - both of our trips have been 14 days and that's still not enough time.

It was always so wonderfully convenient to either take the short walk or ride over to Epcot for our meals, which were all at the World Showcase.

I think the Epcot resorts would be fantastic just for this reason....but we love Kidani too much.

 

[buzzrelly]

Even with being on property 10 days, there still wasn't enough time.

There never is (I would love to use the little crying emoji here but they still aren't working for me so use your imagination!).

Spoiler alert: this is the closest I ever got to the pool. I also never made it out on the beautiful terraces overlooking the resort or to one of the nice chairs out by the Boardwalk just to pass the time. It's hard to teach yourself to slow down sometimes.

I have to force myself to make myself relax and have pool time, although the more I go, the less I have to force myself.

A short ride later, we were at the International Gates of Epcot. This was my first experience with the short proximity to Epcot, and I loved it! It was always so wonderfully convenient to either take the short walk or ride over to Epcot for our meals, which were all at the World Showcase.

That's so convenient

I had made a FP for Soarin' during dinner, which was nice to snag. After we left the restaurant, we made our way across the middle toward the Land Pavilion. Jason thought it would be nice to stop and see Figment, but it had closed at 7:00.

Makes for a nice picture anyway

We soared around the world in the bottom row with feet in the sky before we made our way back over to the UK pavilion to exit. This is my favorite pavilion in the WS so I enjoy browsing through the shoppes. Yes, shoppes. It's fancy.

That's my favorite pavilion too

 

[Araminta18]

Isn't being so close to Epcot awesome? I loved that convenience. Sounds like a fun night at Epcot!

 

[kastoney]

Not sure how, but I fell massively behind. Looks like you all had a couple of good days in MK, though I'm shocked it was still so hot in October. Sounds more like August weather to me.

I'm totally with you on the Yacht/Beach Club. We stayed at the latter for the first time as I always wanted to stay there. I like the look of the rooms but there is something very sterile about it and not warming like some of the other resorts. I was shocked that we liked Boardwalk much better as it seemed to have more of a soul to it.