"Through the force, things you will see" - Two May 2014 Trips - Complete

[Twoboysnmygirl]

You had me at Honey Sidecar.

Following!!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I am here...of course I want to hear about the crazy early morning running and the cupcakes!

It only may be one early morning crazy day although I haven't decided what I'm doing tomorrow yet for exercise. Cupcake coming up!

You had me at Honey Sidecar.

Following!!!

They are wonderful things. I think a visit to the bar tomorrow evening is in order for some more!

Thanks for joining in.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

It’s Good To Be Flexible

With my plans changed on me by the Mine Train Press Event, I turned around & headed to an attraction skipped on my last couple of trips as my husband is over this ride:

I think they are called burn songs now

(Not So) Hidden Mickey!

Sadly poor Donald just wasn’t cut out to lead the orchestra:

It was time for my FP+ for the Haunted Mansion so I wandered towards Liberty Square when I got an email.

This night isn’t turning out how I planned it, is it?

With the ghosts not behaving at the Haunted Mansion & given that list of available experiences, there was only one of them worth: The Jungle Cruise. I already had a FP+ for it starting at 9PM though. Luckily, I was able to adjust the 9PM FP+ to another attraction & would soon be on my way to the only cruise that can take you to the Amazon, Africa & Asia within 10 minutes.

I miss it when the skippers used to hum the Willy Wonka Creepy Boat Song when entering the temple…silly having to stay on script!

When I was initially was planning out this day, Main Street Electrical Parade was listed at 9PM & 11PM. As it was 8:20PM walking off the boat, I figured I would have enough time to get a snack and get a spot for the parade before heading over to my changed FP+.

I had seen something on disneyfoodblog a few weeks ago that I knew I really wanted to try so I headed to the Cheshire Cafe for one of these beauties:

White Chocolate Rabbit Cupcake Cup

Isn’t it adorable? After initially eating the ears & the flower, I started eating the cake. I found this one to be too much sweetness in one dessert. I was able to eat about half before I called it quits. I think its just too much icing to cake ratio for me as there wasn’t something to cut the sweetness with the white chocolate flavoring. That said, if my husband has one in late May or July, I’ll still steal a bite or two

It was almost 9PM & I settled on the walkway to see the parade...

​

 

[redzinner]

Good and busy day for you yesterday, Dis_Yoda!

That SideCar looked relaxing. Can it look relaxing or do we just hope!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Good and busy day for you yesterday, Dis_Yoda!

That SideCar looked relaxing. Can it look relaxing or do we just hope!

It was a good first day. Thanks for joining in!

The Sidecar was relaxing & provided enough of an unwind. I think the first alcoholic beverage of choice on any vacation can look relaxing as well, unless it was a Red Bull & Vodka.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Crushing & Crashing

It hit 9:00AM & the music for the parade didn’t start. I decided to look at my phone’s MDE app and then noticed the time of the parade had changed to 10PM with Wishes changing to 11PM. I guess with the Mine Train Media event, they switched things up. I really need to learn to look at the times guide on entering a park.

So it was off to Tomorrowland & Buzz Lightyear!

Where I accomplished my first 999,999 score!

This happened about halfway through the ride so I was able to sit back & enjoy the scenery & spot a hidden mickey!

At this point, I was physically drained of most energy. I knew there would be no way for me to stay awake enough to use my 10PM FP+ for Thunder Mountain & then have to fight the crowds leaving after the parade & fireworks. I decided to head back to the monorail to catch a ride home.

The Water Parade was going on while I was waiting for the monorail to arrive.

The joys of leaving around 9:30 was this:

Empty Monorail Cart!

Once I got back to the Grand Floridian, I walked over to the Villas & was able to get a better look at the water fountain. I love these penguins!

Once back in the room, it was time to crash.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Early Morning Solitude

For those that have been following my Fall 2014 Pre-Trip Report: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3239003 you know I’m training for the ToT 10 Miler. I’ve never ran this far of distance before so I began my training early as I know I have a long way to go. I’m in the middle of a Couch to 10K trainer right now & will start the 10 Miler (well really Couch to Half-Marathon) training at the beginning of June.

How does this play into this trip?

Well, this crazy girl decided to wake up at 5AM & just get the W10D2 run over with for the day.

Don’t I look tired?

The gym is super close to the villas as its right outside of the entrance of the building. The one good thing about going to the gym that early was that no one was there.

I began my 58 minute run & was continued to be completely alone until the last 10 minutes. This was peaceful & I may have just been singing out loud to my music as I had no one to bother me.

Burning 919 Calories is a good way to start the day where you know you are going to be eating and drinking more than usual!

I headed back to the room to clean up. I relaxed around the room playing on the computer until after 7:15AM when I figured I should eat something before heading into EPCOT.

I walked over to Gasparilla Grill.

Can’t wait til I buy in next year

I special ordered one of the croissant sandwiches, grabbed a banana & an energy drink to fuel myself.

With having done a special order, my sandwich was super fresh and hot. The banana was well a banana. I never drink those low carb Monsters outside of Disney but as its really the only lower calorie choice for that type of drink, I’ll deal.

Once I finished, I headed upstairs to the monorail where I didn’t have too long of a wait until I got to be solo again on both the resort & EPCOT Monorail.

I arrived at EPCOT in plenty of time prior to park opening despite not rushing myself so I enjoyed the entrance design and played on my phone until it was 8:45 & they let us in.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Time to Ride

The one thing I love about FP+ is that I don’t feel like I have to rush to the popular ride as soon as the park opens. Instead, I can pick one of the less popular attractions and enjoy it without much of a wait in line.

When EPCOT opened for the day, I headed over to Nemo & was the first one to ride it for the day.

Upon getting off the ride, they were cleaning the tanks.

It was then off to the Land for Living with the Land & Soarin

I went to the Festival Center to look at the shop & noticed they finally had something I have been looking for the last couple of years, which I would pick up on the way out of the park as I didn’t want to carry it around all day:

It was then time for Mission Space & enjoying the Flower & Garden Festival displays.

Once I hit Norway, I was once again disturbed by the happiest fish gutter:

I think he reminds me of Joffrey
​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

More Flower & Garden

It was time for enjoy my first booth Lotus House

Spring Pancake w/ Chicken & Green Apple & Kung Fu Punch (Vodka, Triple Sec, Mango & Orange Juice

I loved the pancake as it tasted fresh with the vegetables and green apples. The Kung Fu Punch didn’t pack that much of a punch sadly.

I stopped for my second booth:The Smokehouse

Pulled Pork

The pork was good for being theme park bbq. The meat was more dry than I expect pulled pork to be.

After this, it was starting to rain a fair amount. I stopped taking pictures of the displays and knew I had one more booth I had to try: Fleur de Lys

Pulled Duck Confit w/ Garlic & Parsley Potatoes, Orange Blossom Macaron & La Vie en Rose Frozen Slush

This booth was an entire win even if I was dodging the rain while enjoying it. The duck was cooked almost exactly how I like it. The macaron was exactly what I was wanting with a balance of the orange blossom and white chocolate. The Rose Frozen Slush had more of a kick than the Kung Fu.

After this, it started really pouring so I sprinted towards the front as it was almost time for my FP+ for Spaceship Earth. Prior to the ride, I ran back to the Festival Center & got my Mickey Flamingo Lawn Ornament.

After the ride, I looked at the weather radar on my phone & decided to call it an afternoon as it was going to keep raining for a while

When I got back to the hotel, I ended up doing laundry as my clothes were soaked & with the weather as it was, I didn’t want to wear my skirts I had originally planned on wearing. I also got a nice 2 hour nap as I was planning on being out a bit late this evening.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Rushing Around To Wine Down

After I woke up from my nap, I got ready to head back to EPCOT. I headed upstairs to the monorail hoping to get to the TTC for EPCOT.

The resort monorail was down and I had to head back downstairs to catch the bus to the TTC as they weren’t running a direct bus to EPCOT. This process took a bit longer than I would have liked and it took me almost an hour to get to EPCOT from when I left my room. Not like this morning when it only took me 25 minutes!

As I had 90 minutes to kill prior to my 8:00PM dinner reservation, I visited the EPCOT Character Spot as the wait was only 5 minutes. It wasn’t even that as there was only 1 family in front of me.

Next was a visit to Figment.

Then over to Canada for a viewing of O’Canada as I haven’t seen it the last few trips as I’ve been going to France’s video instead.

This documentary was cute when I saw it the other week although the display wasn’t as good as it was for Earth or Oceans

Tons of a baby ducks around this trip

After learning about Martin Short’s heritage, I headed to Japan to check in for dinner.

It took a while to get through the check in line & another 25 minutes past my reservation time to be seated. This was making me nervous as I had the EPCOT Wine Down booked at 9:20PM for Tutto Gusto.

The order for the table didn’t get placed even until 8:40PM so I knew I would end up being late. I loathe being late to anything and it actually makes me a bit anxious so I think it tainted my enjoyment of some of this meal.

To try to calm my nerves, I had a glass of sparkling sake.

As all the other guests were ordering an appetizer, I ended up getting one as well as I was starving at this point seeing as I hadn’t eaten since about 12:15.

Tempura

I love their tempura & often have it while dining at Tokyo Dining.

It didn’t take too long until the cook was out for the show & cooking of our main meal.

I missed a picture of my protein but I ended up selecting Filet Mignon for my dinner. The food was good here & totally filled my craving for hibachi as it has been a while since I last enjoyed some. While the chef was cooking, I noticed it was 9:15 & told the waitress to get me my bill so I could leave for my Wine Down Reservation after I finished my steak. My next complaint is that Teppan Edo doesn’t take TIW but Tokyo Dining does. I think in the future, I’ll stick to Tokyo Dining as outside of having the show, I can still get my fill of Japanese food.

It was 9:30 by the time I got out and headed to Italy.

I was immediately seated at a two top between two chatty tables who kept talking to me as I was alone. While it was nice of them to do that, I was content on just disconnecting and relaxing.

Tutto Gusto Menu

As my dinner had ran late, I really wasn’t in the mood for anything savory, so I selected the Sweet Desserts flight.

The desserts were just ok which is a slight disappointment as generally I have loved the desserts I’ve had in Italy before. The wine was really good but the pours were on the small side. I’m not quite sure if it was worth the $35 especially as it was an EMH night. I would be tempted to try La Cava’s or Spice Road’s though in the future on a non-EMH evening.

After I paid, I headed to the front to go back to the Grand Floridian for bed where I set the alarm for 5AM to try to get my work out in before the parks.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Early Morning Magic

I had originally set my alarm for 5AM to get my run in. That alarm came and then was reset for 7 as there was no way I was going this morning & I wanted more sleep. When it finally went off again, I got dressed & headed over to Magic Kingdom to arrive by 7:45AM to get some photography in prior to my breakfast reservation.

As you can see in the last two pictures, it was starting to rain again. I stopped taking pictures & headed over to Crystal Palace for my breakfast. Even though my reservation was at 8:35, I was able to be seated by 8:10AM. This was great as I was able to see all the characters prior to the 9AM opening of the park.

The food there was ok but I’m not the biggest breakfast food eater but I was able to get enough to fill me for the day.

After paying, I was heading over to use my FP+ for Anna & Elsa but with the crowds, I ended up in the wrong line and apparently got in line for Cinderella & Rapunzel (which had no wait) so I just went with it.

After that, I found the right line to get into for my FP+.
It wasn’t too long of a wait until I was able to see them. I felt bad for Aurora as she knew no one was really there to see her so she was dancing to herself.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

This Ride Hates Me

After visiting more characters in 1.5 hours than I have my last 5 trips combined, I headed off for some rides. First on the list was a walk through new New Fantasyland & Ariel.

Then it was off to Pooh!

What I did notice about Pooh that is the ride is looking really rough and probably in need of a good refurbishment.

It was off to Haunted Mansion as I wasn’t able to visit it on Thursday evening as it was closed for having issues.

It was almost walk on through the graveyard and I got through the expanding room and in line for boarding the ride.

Well, the ride shut down when I was close to boarding. It was about a 10 minute wait while it got fixed.

Once it got fixed, the ride was off and I got shortly stopped in the graveyard.

Then at the hitchhiking scene, the ride was entirely shutdown. It was about a 20 minute wait in there before I was released from my buggy.

I was given a Re-Entry Pass:

Only for D type attractions though but I knew which ride I would end up using it on once I got over to Adventureland.

It was well into my window of time for my FP+ at Peter Pan by the time I escaped Haunted Mansion.

I looked over the Mine Train while I headed over to Tommorrowland.

Can’t Wait til we get to ride it on June 1st!

First ride in tomorrowland was TTA as I was trying to dry off.

Look at how soaked my pant’s legs are!

As I still had some time to kill prior to my Space Mountain FP+, I visited Buzz again & was disappointed I wasn’t able to max out again.

It was time for Space Mountain and then off to use my re-entry pass for Pirates.

At this point, the rain was going to start coming down more heavy so I headed back to the resort by boat as it was just pulling up as I was walking towards the monorail.

Once back at the resort, I went for my run.

And relaxed around the room until it was time for cocktails & dinner.
​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Drinking & Racing

After a relaxing afternoon, I headed up to Mizner’s to get a drink or two before dinner.

What I hadn’t remembered was that this evening was the Kentucky Derby and apparently Mizner’s was the spot to be if you wanted to watch it.

They even brought in the trumpet player from the band to do the start of the race.

For my first drink, I had a sidecar. After the race ended, I was able to get a table and sit down to enjoy my next cocktail.

Manhattan

This was also an enjoyable cocktail. The nuts that were given at the table were not enough to keep me from me feeling tipsy from two cocktails though.

I decided to check into dinner about an hour early & in no time, I was able to be placed at a two top in the back of the restaurant.

Menu

I got a glass of Pinot Noir to enjoy during my meal.

I started with the Slow Roasted Pork Belly

This was so tender and melted in your mouth like a good pork belly should.

For my next course, Florida Watermelon Salad

This is how a Florida salad should be. It tasted fresh and the pistachios were a great texture element to the dish.

For my entree, I had Ashley Farms Lemon Chicken Breast

The chicken had just enough of a lemon taste to not overpower. The skin was super crispy and had tons of seasoning added to it.

I passed on dessert as I had heard about something at the Contempo Cafe that I wanted more.

So I paid, very happy with my meal and service and headed to the Contemporary.

I love the GF lobby

At the Contempo Cafe, I got the Frozen Cupcake

Its a chocolate cupcake with a caramel/vanilla filling. This has to be one of the best cupcakes I have had at Disney! Super moist with flavor. The decorations are also adorable!

​

 

[MidnightParade]

Umm...yikes!!! I would have freaked out to be stuck on HM for 20 minutes by myself!! Especially depending on the scene! But I am a bit of a scaredy cat!!

The GF is so beautiful! Sounds like a nice, albeit wet, evening!

 

[franandaj]

I just got all caught back up as I have been away on a Road Trip. All the treats that you got at the F&G booths, looked really good, I definitely want to try all of those my trip next year.

Where was the dinner you just posted, Citrico's? We always consider going there, but then decide on Narcoosee's instead. I admire you for working out on your vacation weekends! You look great with all the weight you've lost.

I'm guessing you're in San Diego right now. I hope that it's not as bloody hot down there as it is up here!

Where are you planning at staying next year?

I'm not sure if we are doing F&W or Star Wars next year - we'll probably end up deciding last minute like we usually do outside of big trips but with likely a cruise & Las Vegas, not sure exactly what we are doing yet.

I just booked the land part of our trip for next year this morning. We are staying at the VWL with two of our friends from CA. I got a two bedroom lock-off for a week April 13-20, around Thanksgiving I booked us a 4 night cruise on the Dream staring the 20th, so this will be one of the longest trips we've taken to Disney.

I'm not doing F&W again until 2016. A number of us are looking at trying to go at the same time of year. When are you going to Las Vegas? We love Vegas and need to get back there since our one night there, didn't quite work out as planned.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Umm...yikes!!! I would have freaked out to be stuck on HM for 20 minutes by myself!! Especially depending on the scene! But I am a bit of a scaredy cat!!

The GF is so beautiful! Sounds like a nice, albeit wet, evening!

At least of all the rides to be stuck on, Haunted Mansion isn't the worst for me at least. I love scary things (hence, why I'm excited for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler & I love American Horror Story/Penny Dreadfull) I kinda wish it was the graveyard or the bride scene rather than the hitchhiker scene.

It was a very wet trip but such is Florida from May to October it seems!

I just got all caught back up as I have been away on a Road Trip. All the treats that you got at the F&G booths, looked really good, I definitely want to try all of those my trip next year.

I wish I had been able to try more but it just didn't between the rain and such. Hope your road trip went well!

Where was the dinner you just posted, Citrico's? We always consider going there, but then decide on Narcoosee's instead. I admire you for working out on your vacation weekends! You look great with all the weight you've lost.

It was Citrico's! I guess I forgot to post that. It has been a while since I've eaten in the main dining room (my last two times there has been for wine dinners)

Thanks for the compliments. I've been working really hard but still have a long way to go.

I'm guessing you're in San Diego right now. I hope that it's not as bloody hot down there as it is up here!

I was only in San Diego until Saturday. It was a relatively short trip for being across the country. We flew in Tuesday & left in Sunday. It was rather nice while I was there - in the high 60s/low 70s

I just booked the land part of our trip for next year this morning. We are staying at the VWL with two of our friends from CA. I got a two bedroom lock-off for a week April 13-20, around Thanksgiving I booked us a 4 night cruise on the Dream staring the 20th, so this will be one of the longest trips we've taken to Disney.

Thats awesome! I loved my one short stay at VWL. Loved the Dream when I was in there in 2012. I love long trips - so much more relaxing.

I'm not doing F&W again until 2016. A number of us are looking at trying to go at the same time of year. When are you going to Las Vegas? We love Vegas and need to get back there since our one night there, didn't quite work out as planned.

I can understand waiting based off of other travel plans. We pretty much did that in 2012 and early 2013 because of work/life.

We are going to go to Vegas from Feb 5th to 10th plus or minus some days at the end once I figure out exactly how much vacation time I have left or if we still have our AWS at work. I have a lot of planning to do for that & outside of our anniversary meal at Robuchon & seeing Britney Spears, I haven't made anymore decisions. I still need to pick the hotel.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Maybe One Day I’ll Finally See It

After I enjoyed my cupcake @ the Contemporary, I had a plan to enjoy some Magic Kingdom & finally get to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade from Start to Finish @ the 11PM showing.

When I entered the park, the parade was going on so I watched a little bit before it started raining.

It started raining again at that point so I ducked into Tommowland & visited an attraction I hadn’t in a long time!

It was only about a 5 minute wait until the next show started & I was able to enjoy not being in the rain.

The room filled up the container & we were free to leave.

I headed to Stitch’s Great Escape afterwards to beat the crowd.

I then started looking through all the stores but didn’t really find much I wanted to buy. I picked up my husband some candy that he requested. Wishes was already over at this point so the streets were pretty bare when I was done & I settled at a spot towards the front of Main Street to get a good spot for pictures during the parade.

While I was waiting, at 10:45PM, there was an announcement that the 11PM show was cancelled due to the weather. UGH! It was finally drying up!
I left & headed back to the hotel by boat as the monorail had a large line. At this late at night, they pull out the old Discovery Boats that can seat lots of people. Too bad there were only about 6 of us on the boat. Felt like a waste!

Back at the room, I packed up from my short trip & went to bed.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Home For A Short Time!

I ended up waking up naturally at 6:00AM. I figured I shouldn’t really wait around when I can get home and unpacked so I have time to pack for the trip I was leaving for in two days, San Diego!.

I said goodbye to my room & I made it home in record time - about 2 hours & 45 minutes.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

La Jolla

We flew into San Diego on Tuesday. My husband had meetings to attend on Wednesday, but there were buses set up to visit either Mission Beach or La Jolla for the guests of attendees. The group of guests from the other attendees of my husband’s store and I all wanted to head to La Jolla as we knew it was the nicer of the two areas.

Horrible Selfie!

Pictures from walking up and down the shoreline of La Jolla:

We also got a lunch of some awesome street style tacos.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

San Diego Zoo

Thursday afternoon was spent at the San Diego Zoo.

Picture Highlights:

Hiding Red Panda

Tricky Red Panda

Do you get the reference?

​