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

[MidnightParade]

Boo to the parade being cancelled! Atleast you got to visit the Laugh floor and Stitch.

Oooh La Jolla looks beautiful! Yay sealions! And that random squirrel pic in the green shrubs popping out, hilarious.

Yay Dire Wolf! Any lions or stags or dragons??!!!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Boo to the parade being cancelled! Atleast you got to visit the Laugh floor and Stitch.

Oooh La Jolla looks beautiful! Yay sealions! And that random squirrel pic in the green shrubs popping out, hilarious.

Yay Dire Wolf! Any lions or stags or dragons??!!!!

One day I'll see that parade. Maybe if I whine enough, I can convince Shaun to go back out after our first Hollywood Studios day & dinner so I can finally see it, provided it isn't raining.

La Jolla was so pretty. I'm glad I got to go even if my husband had to miss out due to his meetings.

There were lions but no stags or dragons

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Updated Star Wars Weekend Plans​

As we get closer to this weekend (10 days to go!), a lot of plans have changed thanks to various events being announced.

May 30th
Hollywood Studios Hours: 8:00AM to 10:00PM

5:00AM - Leave Naples
8:00AM - Arrive @ Boardwalk Villas & Check In(Online Check In already completed)
...walk to Hollywood Studios
...activate husband’s DVC Premium Annual Pass
9:30AM - Toy Story Mania FP+
...possibly characters?
10:50AM - Sci-Fi Star Wars Character Breakfast (aka lunch for us)
12:25PM - Star Tours FP+
1:25PM - Great Movie Ride FP+
...shopping at Darth’s Mall
...head back to resort
...possible pool/gym time
6:00PM - Dinner @ Flying Fish Cafe
...relax
...or possibly head to Magic Kingdom for either 9:00PM or 11:00PM Main Street Electrical Parade to make up for the failure of seeing on the last few trips. We’ll see how tired we are.

May 31st
Hollywood Studios Hours: 8:00AM to 10:00PM

6:30AM - Wake Up
7:00AM - Grab Breakfast @ Boardwalk Bakery
...walk to Hollywood Studios
8:00AM - Park Opens
8:05AM - Star Tours FP+
9:25AM - Voyage of Little Mermaid FP+
...characters or Art of Animation
10:45AM - Head to Feel the Force Package
...enjoy our ice cream & water
11:30AM - “Legends of the Force” Motorcade & Celebrity Welcome
12:35PM - Lunch @ Brown Derby (hopefully they still have the ‘light’ lunch menu they had back in October)
2:15PM - Padawan Mind Challenge (watch)
...immediately after head to our next FP+
3:30PM: Stars of the Saga Show (we have FP+)
...head back to hotel to get ready for dinner/relax
6:00PM: Dinner @ Yachtsman
...head back to Hollywood Studios
8:30PM: Feel the Force Dessert Party
9:30PM: Fireworks
...head back to hotel & sleep


June 1st
Magic Kingdom Hours: 9:00AM to 1:00AM

Originally, we were just going to go straight home in the morning but a certain ride oopening changed that plan.

7:30AM: Breakfast @ Kona Cafe
9:00AM: Magic Kingdom Opens
...Quick Ride on Space Mountain
9:10AM: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP+
...immediately after head back to the car & head home. We hope to be back home by 1:30PM.

 

[MidnightParade]

Yay SWW almost here!!

I was reading that just to line up to get a FP for the (big) celeb autographs to be there 3-4 hours before the park opens Bananas!

And I have to say so jealous having breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery! nonnomnom

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Yay SWW almost here!!

I was reading that just to line up to get a FP for the (big) celeb autographs to be there 3-4 hours before the park opens Bananas!

And I have to say so jealous having breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery! nonnomnom

I know! I can't wait til Friday! Just 3 days of work to get through for both my husband & I.

We aren't going to go after any of the big celeb autographs as I enjoy my sleep too much to get there at 4am or earlier for them to sign something.

Hopefully the line isn't too horrible at Boardwalk Bakery, every other time I've been there, it always takes forever to get through! Hopefully we will be early enough to avoid it.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Pins/Pin Trading

Over the years and certain trips early in our marriage, we accumulated a ton of Disney Trading Pins. I have some from childhood as well as my mother always bought one at whatever hotel we stayed at if we didn't already have it. Looking at MidnightParade's Pre-Trip report reminded me that I had them hidden in a box in a closet since we moved to Naples & settled in our new home. I decided to get them out and sort through them so we can get them on a board for our game room/office we are working on getting furnished in a certain way.

It didn't quite fill the board as I guess I didn't have as many pins as I thought I did. (Can you tell Stitch is my favorite with Star Wars being my husbands?)

We haven't pin traded in many years but as I went through the pins, I noticed we had a few duplicates:

So I will probably be pin trading a bit this trip to trade for things we don't have.

The next board I need to do for the office will be our race board but Ace only had 1 board when shopping today so that will have to wait until the next time we stop by there. That board will be rather empty for the time being as the only races we have completed have been the 5K last October, my 5K in April and the 5K we compete in tomorrow but we do have 2 more races this year after that (Castaway Cay 5k & Tower of Terror) but it can be a continued work in process.
​

 

[franandaj]

You have resorted your plans nicely from getting the FtF package. I hope we're not wiped out after Friday trying to get in too many things. You have a lot of relax time in there and some nice TS meals.

The pin board is a cute idea. We have to decide what things to display and what to get rid of in the new house.

 

[Mom2m&k]

We were in WDW the same time you were! We were there 4/26-5/4 and boy there was a lot of rain! My DH then went to San Diego on 5/5...he was at a convention downtown. Glad the fires didn't bother your trip. I LOVE the San Diego Zoo; there really is just no other zoo like it! Excited to here about your SWW trip!

 

[MidnightParade]

Yay pins!!

I love the Mickey bat! So cute!! And which one is that in the very top right hand corner?

Less then a week to go now!! Woot!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

You have resorted your plans nicely from getting the FtF package. I hope we're not wiped out after Friday trying to get in too many things. You have a lot of relax time in there and some nice TS meals.

The pin board is a cute idea. We have to decide what things to display and what to get rid of in the new house.

Honestly, I feel a bit over scheduled to how we usually do Disney. Shaun told me today he also needs his ice cream from France so now I have to figure out when we have time for that. At least you have your nap scheduled during the break on Friday!

Yeah, we are just now getting around to really decorating after having been in this house for over a year. We finally have decided on where exactly we want all our furniture and set up. Right now, we only have the bedroom decorated completely & our wedding pictures up by the front door. We need more stuff up on the walls to make it look like we actually do live here.

We were in WDW the same time you were! We were there 4/26-5/4 and boy there was a lot of rain! My DH then went to San Diego on 5/5...he was at a convention downtown. Glad the fires didn't bother your trip. I LOVE the San Diego Zoo; there really is just no other zoo like it! Excited to here about your SWW trip!

Hope you had a great trip! Did you start a trip report for yours? It was a ton of rain but tis the season in Florida for rain and more rain.

There were like 4 conventions going on when we were there outside of just ours. I did have to laugh at our hotel though as they were hosting a hot yoga convention along with our retail technology conference and I just had to laugh at how well you could tell which person was with which group. The fires started pretty much the day after we left so they were no bother.

Yay pins!!

I love the Mickey bat! So cute!! And which one is that in the very top right hand corner?

Less then a week to go now!! Woot!!

The top right corner is this character from Fantasia that I don't quite remember. It was one of the ones we got through a trade.

 

[franandaj]

Yeah, we are just now getting around to really decorating after having been in this house for over a year. We finally have decided on where exactly we want all our furniture and set up. Right now, we only have the bedroom decorated completely & our wedding pictures up by the front door. We need more stuff up on the walls to make it look like we actually do live here.

That's funny we've had the house for less than a year and we have been waiting to move in until it can be good and ready to look like we live there. I'm not sure if you're over on the house thread, but today while they were putting in phone and internet, I finished putting Mickey and Disney knobs on the laundry room cabinets and kitchen cabinets.

We have plenty more in the way of personalization to go, but it's definitely well underway!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Subbing! Can't wait for your Star Wars Weekend report!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That's funny we've had the house for less than a year and we have been waiting to move in until it can be good and ready to look like we live there. I'm not sure if you're over on the house thread, but today while they were putting in phone and internet, I finished putting Mickey and Disney knobs on the laundry room cabinets and kitchen cabinets.

We have plenty more in the way of personalization to go, but it's definitely well underway!

I wish we had that luxury but we didn't with the amount of drama of the initial place we were living in Naples. I've been following off and on your house thread! All the touches you've made definitely are making it yours & you've had your fair share of problems that you have had to fix. Our worst problem here has been having to replace a motor in our well system & the washer flooding the mud room. We do know we have to fix some electrical issues as not everything is up to current code (house was built in 1983) Not too long until you move though!

Subbing! Can't wait for your Star Wars Weekend report!

Thanks! I can't wait to be there! 2 more working days.

~~~

Also Disney announced the Star Wars Half Marathon today! Looks like we're going to Disneyland Jan 14th or 15th to the 19th! Now to plan.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

What Plans?

Our alarm went off at 4:35AM. We were able to get dressed & out the door by 5:00AM to begin our drive up to Disney. I took the drive up as Shaun hadn’t slept well so I figured letting him sleep on the way up will keep him more alive once we got to the parks. Shortly after we got on I-4, I needed caffeine as well as I had stayed up late as I went to see Maleficent with 2 girl friends of mine the night before. We pulled off at exit 19 & stopped at the Starbucks there. Big Mistake. Never in all my starbucks visits (which is a lot) have I had to wait 25 minutes after ordering to get my drink. They seemed to have only 1 person making drinks for both the drive through and the inside ordering while 2 people did nothing and 1 person made food. Luckily, when we got our drinks, we only had about 40 more minutes until we arrived at the Boardwalk. We self parked, left the luggage in the car & checked in. As expected, our room wasn’t ready so we walked over to Hollywood Studios.

Sadly Sid, your treasures are no more as you are now a FP+ Kiosk or whatever

We walked up the street & debated on our first ride while walking.

While we had a FP+ for later in the afternoon for Great Movie Ride, we decided to just go for it now as there was zero wait.

It was time for Toy Story Mania so we headed that way.

The FP+ line was to the glass doors so we did have a bit of wait to getting to the 2nd set of Mickey heads but still better than that 70 minute line in standby! We were ushered to the right gate and were quickly on the ride.

Shaun won. See his excitement:

As we still had an hour until our dining reservation, we just headed over to Star Tours, ignoring the planned FP+ as we were going to switch up what we were doing this afternoon.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wookie This Way

We headed towards Star Tours where I saw how long the line was for Chewbacca & I decided to just take pictures in passing instead.

Star Tours had a posted 20 minute wait time & it started right outside of the main building. Not having much else to do in the time before brunch, we got in line for it.

We ended up getting called out of the line early as they were looking for a party of 2 and placed in Corral D that was loading. Having fought off some stormtroopers, winning a pod race and avoiding Boba Fett, we were out & in our way to look through the shop and buy um nothing.

We checked into Sci Fi 20 minutes early & in about 10 minutes, we were called in line to meet Boba Fett & Vader.

We were sat in the back left corner of the room.

Our server greeted us rather slowly but when she did, she brought us a lovely plate of pastries:

The cream puffs & muffins were great sweets to start the meal. My husband loved the almond pastry but he also loves almonds where I can take it or leave them.

Greedo visited us shortly but my camera wasn’t really behaving when my husband took it:

I also attempted to take a picture of my husband but the camera did not want to work & ended with me not getting a picture & my husband annoyed for wasting time. He got kinda mad at this point & stopped talking. (He wasn’t too happy to be spending $47.99 per person for breakfast for characters)

Our blue milk & small bottle of water came out shortly before our fruit cups.

The blue milk was cotton candy flavor & entirely too sweet for me. It kinda made my stomach sick from just the one small glass & the one bottle of water wasn’t enough water for me but our server didn’t seem to want to give us more? The fruit cup was ok. I ate the melon and watermelon out of it.

My husband’s plate. He went with the basic breakfast selection. Later this afternoon, he did mentioned that the food was much better than a normal disney bounty plate. The eggs tasted fresh & had great flavoring. The potatoes were done right & the sausage was well sausage.

My plate. I went with the shrimp & grits. The shrimp was cooked well & had good flavor. The grits were ok. You could tell they were cheap grits, not good stone ground ones.

My camera also didn’t want to work for the storm troopers either…

The last characters to visit us were the Jawas. They saw me playing with my phone & stole it. Here are the results:

We paid & didn’t stay for the special dessert. My husband was still in his mood & he didn’t want to stay and wait for something he thought he wouldn’t like. I was content to keep watching some of the clips.

Was it worth the $119 it was after tax and tip? No. Am I glad I did it? Yes. Is my husband glad? Nope.

We headed to Darth’s Mall in a continued non-talking fight. We didn’t find anything to buy but I’m not sure if thats because we were in this stand-off or because nothing really stood out.

Leaving the Mall, we finally verbalized our fight & got over it.

We ended up leaving the park at this point & taking the boat...
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[Dis_Yoda]

Short Visit to EPCOT

We enjoyed a 25 minute ride by boat to EPCOT. Once we got off the boat into the park, our first stop was for a drink. That one glass of super sweet milk & tiny bottle of water had not been enough liquids for the day.

We each picked up a Strongbow to quench our thirst & headed to the shops in Japan for my husband’s amusement.

I really wish they had a tank top like this instead of a t-shirt.

After shopping & not buying anything in Japan, we went to where the real reason for going to EPCOT was, L’Artisan des Glaces. Those of you that have read my dining reports know how much my husband enjoys this place. I think he would visit every day if he could.

He enjoyed a single scoop of the Salted Caramel ice cream in a waffle cone. He was branching out from his usual mint chocolate chip! He enjoyed it well enough but he probably was in the mood for something more sweet.

I was unoriginal with what I wanted & got the chocolate ice macaron that I love. It wasn’t as good as it usually is as the cookie was over cooked or not mixed well as it was hard rather than that soft but firm texture a macaron should be.

We enjoyed our treats in the garden area of France as we hadn’t gotten the text that our room was ready. As we had finished them & it was now 1:30pm, we decided to just walk back to the Boardwalk & ask the front desk if the room was ready & the text thing might just not have worked.

I was super polite at the front desk & sure enough, our studio, #4085, was ready! We were lucky enough to get one of the standalone studios on the fourth floor with a lovely view of the front of the hotel. We were standard view so we knew our view wouldn’t be the greatest but it was better than the parking lot!

We headed back to our car to get our luggage and got settled for the short weekend. My husband ended up passing out for a nap shortly after 2PM. I got bored around 3PM after uploading pictures/playing on the computer so I headed to the gym alone. I left him a note in case he woke up from his nap & was on my way downstairs.

I was fully intent on doing a nice long 60 minute run. I mean, look at me, I even brought one of the gels for 30 minutes in!

About 5 minutes into running on the treadmill, I was not into it at all. I was however into the bike. It even had a solitaire game you could play while doing it. This may have killed my pace on the bike though. 30 minutes later, I had won 3 games of solitaire & worked out. I then did some arm and core stuff. I was super sweaty & headed back to the room for a shower & to get ready for dinner. Shaun woke up from his nap around 4:45PM! Guess he was really tired.

I even have enough Magic Bands to match each outfit! Shaun is lagging behind me with his different color choices though…

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[Dis_Yoda]

Committing the Sin of Gluttony

We headed downstairs to get dinner at Flying Fish for our ADR at 6:00PM. We were about 15 minutes early & we were immediately seated without a problem. Our server greeted us quickly and took our drink order. My husband went with water while I went with a Pinot Noir wine flight.

The Crossbarn was my favorite of the three. The Argyle tasted too watered down for a Pinot Noir.

Fresh Potato Chive Bread

We were given an amuse bouche prior to our meal.

Cucumber & Avocado Soup w/ Crab Meat

This chilled soup was very refreshing with the cucumber. There were bits of pepper in there as well that gave it a bit of kick to balance the cleansing nature of a cucumber soup. It wouldn’t be something I could eat a whole bowl of but the small sample was just enough!

Potato Wrapped Red Snapper

My choice for entree. I love their Red Snapper. The fish is always cooked correctly and the rich nature of the wine reduction mixed with the fondue makes me never want to pick a different entree for my meals here.

Wild Caught Gulf Shrimp Pappadelle Pasta

My husband went out of his normal choices for entrees & went with a shrimp pasta. This was only ok. The shrimp tasted gritty but I believe that is more from the fennel pollen-scented chardonnay crema than the shrimp itself. He didn’t say it was a bad dish but more so a bad dish for his tastes & he wished he would have gotten the Red Snapper instead.

Aged Gruyere & Parmigiano-Reggiano Potato Gratin

We got a side to split between the two of us. This was great! The cheese had enough of a bite to be a great gratin rather than some of the bland ones you get at steakhouses.
While looking over the dessert menus, I noticed a cocktail that I couldn’t pass up.

Boardwalk Cafe - Maker’s Mark, Caramel, Coffee, Homemade Whipped Cream

3 of my favorite things! I normally hate whipped cream but this was rich enough with a bit of vanilla as well that I actually was ok with it.

Trio of Concession Sweets: Popcorn Mousse & Caramel Corn, Cherry-Limeade Popsicle, S’Mores Whoopie Pie Lollipop

My choice for dessert! Each component was great as the popcorn mousse wasn’t overly sweet. The whoopie pie had a marshmallow instead of super sweet icing in the middle which made me happy & the popsicle was tart enough to balance all the sugar.

No Sugar Added Cashew-Crusted Citrus, Preserved Lemon & Sour Cream Cheesecake

My husband’s choice. He thought it was ok - he didn’t realize it was a sour cream cheesecake which made it too savory of a dessert for him. He told me the next time we come to Flying Fish, he’s just going to let me pick for him as he wasn’t doing well on his own this time around.

We paid and left to walk the boardwalk. My husband still wanted more food & particularly something overly sweet. We had remember what we’ve seen on the Disney Food Blog about the ultimate fat kid food & we headed to Beaches & Cream.

Mickey’s Kitchen Sink

This was a $24 dessert we really didn’t need & probably wasn’t worth it as I know I was full. I will say it was really fun but as there are about 6 scoops of ice cream in that thing, I was only able to tackle about 1 myself. My husband was not as much of a light weight as me & tackled 3 of the scoops! I had to clean it in the bathroom sink before our walk back to the Boardwalk as I did not want all the ice cream dripping on me.

Fully clean back in the room

Its now our soap dish at home for our kitchen sink.

Back at the room, we didn’t do much. He was still tired & I didn’t feel like going around Disney by myself. We were asleep not long after 9PM.

​

 

[franandaj]

Wow! Thats a lot of Magic Bands! Do they all work at the hotel and parks even if they're not from the teip they were issued for?

We need to get back to Flying Fish. I love that place. We have still never been to Beaches and Cream. That Mickey sink is too cute! I want one!

We wanted to go to the ice cream place un France yesterday and then the skies opened up something fierce. I'm guessing you were already home by the time it hit here.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wow! Thats a lot of Magic Bands! Do they all work at the hotel and parks even if they're not from the teip they were issued for?

We need to get back to Flying Fish. I love that place. We have still never been to Beaches and Cream. That Mickey sink is too cute! I want one!

We wanted to go to the ice cream place un France yesterday and then the skies opened up something fierce. I'm guessing you were already home by the time it hit here.

I have accumulated a lot of Magic Bands. They all still work. I have switched out what bands I wear now to better match what I'm wearing (silly I know)

We're going to stick to going to Flying Fish when we are at either BWV or BCV going forward. With as much as we go, its easier just to dine around where we are planning on staying for the additional relaxation benefits & to aid in not driving as much as possible.

My husband loves ice cream (as I'm sure you've noticed) I only wanted that sink so I could have the Mickey Sink. Best soap dish ever!

We were already home by the time you had the skies open up. We had rain here as well when we were heading to the gym/grocery shopping. The dogs are sad about it I'm sure as they don't get to have free reign of the yard if its soaking wet.

Hope your trip was as enjoyable as mine!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

A Barely Planned Morning

The night before we didn’t set an alarm as Shaun didn’t want to have a rushed morning. I even changed our 8AM FP+ for Star Tours to 1:25PM to make sure we didn’t have to be anywhere in the morning. The problem with this is that we went to bed at 9:00PM. I was up at 6:45AM with little hope of going back to sleep.

I attempted to be quiet to let him sleep more but he was soon up as well. We got ready & were out of the room by 7:30. We thought about possibly getting breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery but once we looked at the options, nothing really looked like something we wanted this morning. We knew we were going to enjoy a lot of desserts this day with the Feel the Force package & thats all that looked good for us there. We walked over to Hollywood Studios at a leisurely pace. We arrived to the Studios around 8:00AM but they had already opened early so we were quickly through the gates. We didn’t have a FP+ until 9:25AM.

Boba Fett Guarding The Stage

I wanted to avenge myself for losing at Toy Story Mania the day before so we headed that way, saying if the wait was more than 40 minutes, we would skip it. It was posted at 30 minutes! It probably only took about 25 minutes to get to loading.

Wonder where he is?

Found him! Do I get my reward now?

Did I win?

Yup!!!!!

We then headed to Darth’s Mall again as we were both in a better mood than the day before.

Turns out my husband did want the name tags he saw the day before but couldn’t find them his first time around the Mall. We both got one - I’m a Sith where as he is an Imperial. I also got the Boba Fett Tank Top, A Lanyard, & Watermelon Sours. That tank top may be my outfit for ToT 10 Miler unless I end up getting one of the Darth Vader choices.

Our Loot - Picture Take When Back in the Room

We then got a water and window shopped in the Art of Animation Store until it was 9:25AM & time for us to use our FP+ for Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The FP+ wasn’t really needed for this showing as it wasn’t even half full but I guess I had to pick a Tier 2 attraction.

We still had some time until we had to check in for the parade portion of Feel the Force so we just kinda wandered & window shopped some more.

Mickey’s Pants!

The sign is funny because it is true

After this, we headed over to check in for Feel the Force.
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