Trip of New Phases, Friends & 40! Updated 8/31 - As If Goodbye Wasn't Enough! The End

[TyRy]

What a cute niece!! Of course she is much more important than your TR! Take your time and enjoy your new family member!

Thanks Flossbolna - I think she's pretty cute too!

 

[TyRy]

NOT AGAIN! Well, yes again, but not as bad. I woke up Thursday and yep – somehow managed to get sick. But compared to last time, this one was much easier to handle. My cold/throat thing did develop into a cold which wasn’t bad considering the strep throat of last year! While I was dragging a bit, I popped a couple of those Tylenol cold pills we had picked up and was ready to rock –ok, maybe not rock, but at least go

I still had an appetite this morning (so I knew I wasn’t super sick with a cold) so off we headed to Trail’s End. This is the one ADR where DH is usually close to being on time since he loves it. Once we parked, we got lucky and caught a bus right away to take us to the area where Trail’s End is. We were seated with almost instantly, and Ed was our server. I don’t know how or why, but I was very happy as I remembered Ed was our server last year too. DH just looked at me like how do I remember this? Normally he is the one who remembers everything, like when we were doing on any certain date 15 years ago…although he never seems to remember things I tell him to do in present time . I just remember things when it comes to Disney, something I’m sure a lot of your understand.

Breakfast here has always been good, and this time did not fail. Our plates:

Yes – the one with the Mickey waffles and giant pile of bacon is mine. After breakfast (which is the best bargain on property) we took our traditional bear photos. I’m glad DH still wanted to do these, as we had only done them with his parents before. We needed to modify and try to keep a few traditions going and I think we did pretty well.

Happy Bear

Be a Bear

Scary Bear

I was still feeling ok, so the decision was made to head to the MK to try and ride all the rides that kept breaking when we were there on Tuesday.

 

[Flossbolna]

great bear pictures! One day I need to eat at Trails End. I think it would fit in well with my rule to eat as American as possible while at WDW (since I don't get that stuff at home here in Germany).

 

[brookelizabeth]

The bear pictures are fantastic! I remember them with the folks too...always an excellent photo shoot.

I must try Trails End sometime, it looks simply awesome every time I see pictures! That oatmeal made my stomach growl and I just ate!

I swear I did it just so I could have those little castles. And they reappeared at my birthday party, and who knows - they might again.

You are awesome. I love this!

Congratulations on your ADORABLE niece!!!

 

[TyRy]

great bear pictures! One day I need to eat at Trails End. I think it would fit in well with my rule to eat as American as possible while at WDW (since I don't get that stuff at home here in Germany).

The bear pictures are fantastic! I remember them with the folks too...always an excellent photo shoot.

I must try Trails End sometime, it looks simply awesome every time I see pictures! That oatmeal made my stomach growl and I just ate!

We LOVE this place for breakfast, we now must eat there at least once every trip. It's not a huge buffet like Crystal Palace, but they have just yummy straight-forward food. It's also cheap by Disney standards.

Congratulations on your ADORABLE niece!!!

Thanks Brook - I think we'll keep her Mark finally met her last week as well....

And proud Grandpa

With my other niece

And Mark had the best idea last night for our upcoming trip...I'll have to share once this TR is finished and I start my next pre-trippie for October.

 

[TyRy]

Hope you'll all indgule me for just a moment. I was going to post my next installment, but it didn't seem right - I'll add it tomorrow. One year ago today we lost Mark's mom. I was already semi-Disney obsessed when I met Mark and his family, although I'd never been. His parents decided I should go and took me on my first trip and then a second trip to WDW. They also were along for the third, fourth and fifth one...which was to be our last with her.

She really gave me my love for WDW and I regret I'll never get to see Disneyland with her. Still miss her greatly every day, and I still reach for the phone to call her at times. It has gotten a wee bit easier, and I know it will continue to do so, as time passes. She would have LOVED meeting Addison, and I know would have been on the upcoming trip with us as well.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I love that Yeti pic!

 

[DisneyJo]

Congrats on your new niece she's adorable

I'm glad that you didn't get too sick and you were able to carry on and your double castle cakes are too funny

I know it's bitter sweet but I think it's great that you have so many wonderful memories of your MIL

 

[Flossbolna]

Tracy, I remember her from your previous reports and from your posts a year ago! It's so sad that she is no longer around, she really sounded like a wonderful person!

And just as Brook said, that Yeti picture is priceless!!

 

[TyRy]

I love that Yeti pic!

Tracy, I remember her from your previous reports and from your posts a year ago! It's so sad that she is no longer around, she really sounded like a wonderful person!

And just as Brook said, that Yeti picture is priceless!!

That picture is priceless as she didn't even hesitate when the photographer said now be a Yeti and scare everyone. Of course the the jokes started flying about when Mark was little, that's what she would be when mad etc. Everything about her was fun.

Congrats on your new niece she's adorable

Thank Jo - I'll hopefully have new pictures soon.

I'm glad that you didn't get too sick and you were able to carry on and your double castle cakes are too funny

I could not resist having two of them. I claimed it was because one would not have been enough to feed three of us, but I really just wanted the matching pair.

I know it's bitter sweet but I think it's great that you have so many wonderful memories of your MIL

It is bittersweet, and Monday was kinda a tough day, but we got through it. Its still really hard to believe that she's not with us anymore.

 

[TyRy]

We drove over to the TTC and hopped the ferry over.

We also found PP photogs just outside…so Evil Twin and I jumped right in!

We arrived just before the Move It Shake It Celebrate It! parade started and people were lined up all along Main Street.

It’s a quick parade, so we watched it -

as Evil Twin and I wanted our pictures taken on Main Street before moving on.

DH and I also look very different depending on lighting…it can really add years to our age!

No idea how that one happened but we ended up with them on our photopass, so someone else must have us.

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

We headed into Fantasyland and DH found another place to lock me and Evil Twin up.

And it was a bit more crowded today then Tuesday, but still not bad.

Evil Twin and I wandered into one of the shops and immediately got all giggly and happy. DH had no idea why we were so excited and then we explained we found Aurora’s dress.

We LOVE Sleeping Beauty, so this was a treat for us.

We headed towards the Castle and we ran into the Fairy Godmother, first time I’d seen her out and about.

The Castle had been completely closed off to walk thru when we were there earlier in the week, but was partially open today, so we took advantage of that.

Evil Twin and I then had to try and get the sword out…maybe one of these years it’ll come out

We headed to Splash to try our luck again and see if it was working or broken…whoo hooo – it was FINALLY working, so it was time for our ride on that.

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

I started to feel my cold a bit more after Splash for some reason, so we decided to head out. But being us, we were first distracted by the show in front of the Castle. And that was fine with me as DH never wants to watch those, but since Evil Twin did, I finally got to see it! And I think DH enjoyed seeing Donald in it.

So we made our way out, and we were not the only ones headed out at that time.

We got in the car, and somehow the decision was made that we were hungry, not for food, but for beignets!!! My cold suddenly felt much better as I LOVE the beignets at POFQ and wanted Evil Twin to try them. And they did not disappoint.

My BFF at home, Shelly, told me to hug a palm tree for her, so we took this opportunity to do just that!

Back to AKL for us. Evil Twin went back to DHS to explore some more, while DH and I just relaxed. We originally had dinner ressies at Chefs De France, but I didn’t feel like going out so we cancelled it. Turned out to be a good idea as my cold seemed to be getting worse!!! For dinner that evening, he had the African Stew from Mara which he enjoyed (so much so that we forgot to get a photo) and I had the most exciting dinner ever Crackers. Yep – that was all I felt like, so it was tea and crackers for me. I called it an early night, as I was really really hoping to feel better for our AK day and Yachtsmen Steakhouse the following night.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Oh man... I hope you feel better! A dinner of crackers and tea doesn't seem like a very good sign though.

DH and I also look very different depending on lighting…it can really add years to our age!

No idea how that one happened but we ended up with them on our photopass, so someone else must have us.

HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TyRy]

Oh man... I hope you feel better! A dinner of crackers and tea doesn't seem like a very good sign though.

At least I wouldn't gain weight on this trip eating that kind of dinner. I am not usually a tea drinker and I've had more tea the last two trips to Disney than I think I've had in my entire life!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I had to laugh so hard about the last picture of you and Marc in front of the castle!!

I love the sword action shots! YOu do a lot of these and I think they are so fun to see, like telling a story of your trip through these pictures!

 

[TyRy]

I had to laugh so hard about the last picture of you and Marc in front of the castle!!

We just cracked up when we saw that on our CD...thinking, who were these people and who has our shots?

I love the sword action shots! YOu do a lot of these and I think they are so fun to see, like telling a story of your trip through these pictures!

I love those pictures too...ones where we are doing something, I think it shows some of the fun we have along the way.

 

[TyRy]

Today was AK day, and of course, we were (ok DH) was running late. I was feeling a bit better. Not 100%, but better. With DH being late, Evil Twin to the opportunity to walk around the Lodge and snap a few photos.

The view from her balcony

Heading towards the Savannah

I LOVE morning on the Savannahs.

DH was finally ready and off we headed. We used to think of AK as just a half day park. But what we’ve learned over the past couple of trips is that there is just so much to explore if you take the time to do so. It’s now DH’s second favorite park. This update will be pretty photo heavy.

We pulled into the lot around 10am and had a fantastic CM that really enjoyed her job of directing parking. She was dancing and having a ball (if DH would ever put the videos together I could show you ).

Of course we had to stop outside the entrance for a couple of photos.

Be a lion (which looks a whole lot like our be a bear )

We made it inside and headed right for TTBAB…but found a couple of photogs first.

Be a bearlion

We literally walked right into Bug. We had a bit of a wait for the show to start…but that was fine as it gave us time for a couple of pics.

The dung would become a recurring theme during the day . We then grabbed FP’s for Safari since the wait time was much toooo long for us – 25 minutes! - and went to Dinosaur.

DH was wishing this car would take us away!

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

After our thrilling Dinosaur ride, in which DH insisted they moved the T-Rex that pops out at you, we saw Nemo. Evil Twin loved this and I was glad we saw it again. Again, the lines were nothing. After Nemo let out, we grabbed a FP for EE, although the wait time at 11:30am was only 25 minutes!

Kali was up next, and I decided not to ride since I wasn’t feeling 100% and was already soaked from the heat and humidity…I didn’t need to add to it. Kali was only a 15 minute wait, so I took a couple of shots while waiting for

DH and Evil Twin to appear.

Loved watching these guys.

Then DH and Evil Twin appeared…they were wet, but not soaked.

It was time for our EE passes, and DH suggested I sit it out. He rode it last year with a sinus thing and felt horrible afterwards. Evil Twin knew she would be ok as she had taken her Dramamine earlier in the day, so it was just me sitting it out. They were back pretty quickly, and DH was still a bit woozy, but poor Evil Twin as almost green. Evidently the Yeti had defeated the Dramamine. I think it was decided that as short as it is, the backwards part is what gets everybody. We just sat for about ten minutes while Evil Twin got her balance back. We then thought maybe food would help so we headed off to Flame Tree.

It was pretty crowded but we were able to grab seats. The food was so good that we scarfed it down before we took any pictures. This place has been consistently good each time. I think it is now our go-to lunch spot when we are at AK. I will say, the birds were worse than ever this time around. I thought my Corgi was always trying to steal food, they birds could teach her a thing or two!

We were off to the safari, but stopped for a photo op:

When we got to the Safari, it was a walk-on. The CM told us to keep our FP’s and use them again later if we wanted to ride a second time…cool with us! Since it was the afternoon, and about a million degrees, and have I mentioned that Evil Twin and DH still had not dried off from their Kali ride a couple of hours ago with all the humidity!, it was no wonder that they animals were just laying around. But come on the safari with us.

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

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