Trip Report - September / October 2023

[BellaBaby]

Enjoying your trip report as always!

Question on your stacked SDMT, did you pay for an ILL and not use it? Just wondering because it's either standby or ILL I think. I understand if you were woozy after Tron tho!

 

[Noreen411]

I just love your casual, chill touring style!

Hi. Thank you. We used to be park commandoes going from open to close. With the longer trip and the annual pass, we know if we miss something we have plenty of time to catch it. We’ve been trying hard to relax a bit on vacation and enjoy what we are doing in the moment rather than rushing to the next thing.

 

[Noreen411]

Enjoying your trip report as always!

Question on your stacked SDMT, did you pay for an ILL and not use it? Just wondering because it's either standby or ILL I think. I understand if you were woozy after Tron tho!

Hi. Thank you
That’s correct, we didn’t use the ILL for 7 Dwarves Mine Train. I mentioned getting the TRON ILL since I was worried we wouldn’t be able to with it being a newer attraction. Between Genie+ and the ILLs, we had a great lineup but just weren’t up to riding the additional coasters after TRON. I suggested Scott go on the other coasters and I would wait for him, but he was fine not going on either. We knew we’d be back in the park to catch the rides we skipped pretty soon.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/28/23
We went to the gym together about 6:45.

Back in the villa our normal morning routine of laundry, jacuzzi, showers and breakfast. Scott will often make himself a protein drink, mixing the powder in water in a shaker he brings on vacation (I’m surprised he hasn’t brought his little blender he uses at home). He must not have closed it properly this morning and when he started shaking it, the protein drink went flying all over. I found that hysterically funny; even Scott had to laugh while covered in protein drink. After cleaning himself and the mess in the villa, he tried again making sure the lid was closed tightly the second time.

We drove to Epcot and Scott was stopped for the bag check. The guy checking his bag was very slow; the guard next to him checked several people’s bag while Scott was still standing there. We’re laughing since it was comical how long it took. I understand needing to check and be thorough so it’s not like we were upset about it, we found it amusing.




Our first attraction was Soarin Over California and we were in the middle section so everything was straight (rather than things looking curved if you are seated on the end). I liked seeing the California version since it was the original.

We went on the Figment ride then waited on line to meet Figment. This was fun to do, the photographer took a few pictures and they give you a postcard with Figment’s signature on it.


Hugging Figment was a spontaneous moment where he opened his arms so I hugged him. It was such a sweet innocent experience so I’m glad I have the picture.




We went to the Moana Annual pass holder preview. It was peaceful to walk through. Some of the water features were fun. There wasn’t any air flow and it was hot walking through. We would probably appreciate it more on a cooler day.






We went on the Seas with Nemo then stayed to watch Turtle Talk with Crush.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/28/23 Continued
We walked around World Showcase. We enjoy walking and World Showcase is a great place to just wander and enjoy being there. Of course we stop for pictures as we go.




We went on Remy which is always cute. You know how you sometimes see something then can’t un-see it? In the Magic shot with Remy, look at my pinky finger. Doesn’t it look super long the way it’s lined up with the trim on the fountain? I know it’s not, but now when I look at this picture, all I see is a super long pinky finger.



While in the France pavilion we went to the Beauty and the Beast singalong.




At Les Halles (the pastry place in France) Scott got an espresso and we got an almond croissant to wrap to bring with us, hopefully the correct one this time. Last trip we got a chocolate croissant instead and it was a bit dry.


The cut in half picture is from the next morning when we ate it, but I’m putting it here since this is when we bought it.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/28/23 Continued
We stopped for some cute photopass pictures then rode the boat ride in Mexico.




We went on the Frozen Ride. It’s interesting how the movie overlay made this attraction so much more popular. We enjoyed it when it was the Norway ride with trolls and polar bears too. I don’t like rides where you get wet when you are dressed. I usually enjoy Frozen since it’s usually just a little sprinkle of water. When we got in the boat the seat was all wet; luckily Scott had a little towel handy so put that down for me to sit on. You get a bit more wet on this ride now than I remember.


As we would stop for pictures, we would always ask the photographer if they had Magic Shots. While some of the photographers did them without us asking, sometimes we had to ask.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/28/23 Continued
We stopped in Japan where we had early dinner reservations.


We went to Shika Sai, excited to try a new restaurant.


I had a Mt Fuji drink that wasn’t good at all, it just tasted sweet. I like sweet drinks but this didn’t taste like anything other than cloyingly sweet. Scott wanted Bombay Sapphire but the waitress didn’t understand what he wanted so he ended up just getting Coke.


As we often do we shared everything we ordered.

We had a Dragon roll which was excellent.


We had the Wagyu Gyoza which was disappointing, it tasted like regular dumplings from a Chinese takeout place but overcooked.


We had the Unagi-don which was fantastic.




We also had the Okonomiyaki which was interesting and grew on us. We never had that before so wanted to try it.


There is a lot of promise with the concept of the changes with the seasons at Shika Sai. We were a bit disappointed since our waitress wasn’t able to explain anything or communicate with us. When we would ask a question she would just point to the pictures in the menu for us to figure things out ourselves. She was sweet and trying but I don’t think she was in the right role. We would have enjoyed hearing more about the concept of the place and someone who could answer our questions. We skipped dessert planning to go elsewhere for dessert later. We still enjoyed our meal and would go back.



After eating we walked around World Showcase again.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 9/28/23 Continued
After strolling around World Showcase and the park some more, we headed out and drove to the Polynesian to go to Tambu Lounge.


I had a Raspberry Mojito and Scott had a Martini.


Scott wanted potstickers after the disappointing Gyoza but these weren’t very good either and we’ve usually enjoyed them in the past. We are striking out with dumplings today. We each managed to eat one but that was all we wanted.


The main reason we came here...Bread Pudding. It was good but not the same as usual. We’re not sure what was different but it wasn’t the bread pudding we loved, normally the holy grail of bread pudding and one we would compare others to. On prior trips, we’ve come back for the bread pudding here several times. It was still very good, but not the same as in the past.


We had a nice time hanging out at Tambu Lounge, chatting with others that were spending time there too.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/29/23
Scott went to the gym at 6; I followed a little later around 6:30.

Back in the villa, our normal routine of laundry, jacuzzi, showers, and breakfast. While I was finishing getting ready Scott took a quick ride to the gas station to vacuum out the car; there was a lot of sand from the beach.

We drove to Animal Kingdom.


I really like the creative pictures some of the photopass photographers take.





Dinosaur is always a favorite. I’m sad to hear they will be replacing it. I wonder if it will still be the same ride but with a different overlay (kind of how Frozen is the same as the original troll Norway ride but was overlayed with Frozen).





We played some of the carnival games in Dinoland. I know many people think this is a waste of space, but we both think it’s cute and kind of fun. Our favorite game to play here is the one where you throw the balls and if they land in a colored cup you win a prize (different colors denote the size of the prize). We both won. Scott won an Extra Large prize and I won a Medium prize. We each chose our prize from their respective sections. We like that you aren’t competing against others, you either win or you don’t on your own. I have that same preference at casinos preferring games where nobody else determines whether you win or lose (ex. Not a huge fan of Blackjack since you could have players that don’t know what they are doing mess up the hand for the whole table).

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/29/23 Continued
As we were walking we stopped for a few more cute pictures. The photographer had us laughing with these, he said act like you are freezing, then act like you are hot.



We went to the safari next. This was probably one of the best safaris we’ve done. I’m not even sure what made this one better than others, possibly the guide being more interactive. We didn’t see lions during the safari. When we got off we both commented how enjoyable this safari was.




We went to the Navi River ride next. While this is very peaceful, I don’t understand why there is usually such a long line. We rode with Genie+ so didn’t wait long, but we wouldn’t wait in a long standby line for this attraction.


We decided to head out of the park. I thought this was a very artistic picture of Scott looking back at the tree. Notice his way of carrying the dinosaurs attached to his knapsack.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/29/23 Continued
We left the park and drove to Disney Springs. We had lunch at Homecomin. Our luck continued with finding seats at the bar.

I had a Peach Sangria and Scott had Tanquerey Gin with lime.


We shared our food as we often do.

The shrimp cocktail was pretty good. It was interesting how it was served.



We had the chicken biscuits which used to be one of our favorite items at Homecomin. The last few times we’ve had them, they were OK, but not as great as they used to be. Maybe we need to try new items next visit.


Scott also ordered the macaroni and cheese which he liked. I thought it was OK, but I’m not the best Mac & cheese judge since I can take it or leave it. It was very cheesy.


We walked around Disney Springs after lunch and did a bit more shopping.

We went back to the resort and went swimming. It was so nice to spend some time hanging out in the pool, going on the water slide, and reading my kindle on a lounge chair. We aren’t good at relaxing since I don’t want to miss anything, but this was a really nice way to spend some time.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/29/23 Continued
We showered and changed for the evening.

We drove to the Boardwalk for our dinner reservation at Trattoria Al Forno. We went a bit early to have time to wander the Boardwalk and to have a pre-dinner cocktail at Abracadabar.

We walked along the Boardwalk and stopped where they have the carnival games. They are corny but we enjoy them. We played a game where you use a hammer to try to make the rubber lobster land in a pot. Scott got two of the lobsters in the pot and won a cute grey stuffed seal.



We went to Abracadabar which was crowded at first. After a few minutes we were able to get seats at the bar. There were seats available in the lounge area, but we preferred to sit at the actual bar.


I had a Hoodunit Punch and Scott had Woodford reserve double with a big ice cube and a cherry.


I stepped next door to check in for dinner right before our reservation time and they mentioned they were running about 25 minutes behind. That was OK with us since we were hanging at the bar.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 9/29/23 Continued
We received a text when our table was ready and were seated in a back room that I didn’t know existed. It was nice and cozy and much less noisy/crowded than the main part of the restaurant can be. We shared our food as we often do.

I actually forgot to take a picture of Scott with the menu when we were seated. Near the end of the meal, I remembered so we borrowed the menu from people that were just seated near us for the picture, but I’m putting it here since that’s when I should have taken it.


We were brought bread (little rolls) and an olive oil dipping sauce. We tried to tell them we didn’t want the rolls since we ordered bready things, but the person who dropped them off, just dropped it off quickly and kept going.



For an appetizer we ordered the Margherita pizza with pepperoni. This was very good, better than we expected.


We ordered the garlic bread. This wasn’t good at all. It just tasted like dry bread, not like any garlic bread we’ve had before.



We ordered the rice balls. These were very good and Scott doesn’t usually like rice balls. I would have preferred the sauce on the side to dip (one of my food quirks) but it was very good.


We had the Shrimp Pepperdalle entree and enjoyed this as well.


We had a nice conversation with the couple seated next to us. They had an off-menu pizza (Bianca) that looked great. They said they get it whenever they come here. I asked if they lived nearby and the woman asked how we knew they were local…she was wearing a huge sweater and it’s 95 degrees out.

Back at the resort we realized we are gathering quite the collection of stuffed animals.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Enjoying the report!

Can I ask why you do laundry everyday? That seems like a lot. Especially on the first day of vacation.

 

[Noreen411]

Enjoying the report!

Can I ask why you do laundry everyday? That seems like a lot. Especially on the first day of vacation.

Hi. Thank you.

At Disney, we’ll do laundry pretty much every day. It’s easy having the washer/dryer right in the villa, but it’s a smaller stackable set. Between the two of us we’ll go through a lot of clothes each day: gym clothes, park clothes, possibly a second set of park clothes, pajamas, multiple pairs of socks and underwear, sometimes a bathing suit. It’s nice to pack clean clothes when it’s time to go home. It doesn’t interfere with the day since we’ll throw a load of wash in when we get back from the gym and it’s in the dryer before we leave for the park. You would think with all the laundry we’re doing we would pack lighter, but we still both overpack.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/30/23
Scott went to the gym at 5:45 and I followed a little later around 6:15. Back in the villa, we did our normal morning routine of laundry, jacuzzi, and showers. We skipped breakfast today. We are meeting a few of my friends/coworkers from the Tampa office of the company I work for at Disney Springs for an early lunch.

We drove to Disney Springs and did a bit more shopping before it was time to meet.

We met Justin and Minal at Polite Pig for lunch with their families. Scott ended up having some work he had to care for (calls and stuff on the computer) so he went off to do that and would come back to meet us after he was done. We had a nice time at lunch at Polite Pig. We have never been there before. It was really nice to meet them in person; before today, we’ve only interacted over zoom.


Scott and I did a bit more shopping at Disney Springs. We stopped by Guest Services where they had little photo shoots set up so we stopped for some of these cute pictures.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/30/23 Continued
We drove to Hollywood Studios.


We went on Toy Story Mania trying to remember some of those tips we read about previously.

Next was Alien saucers.






We picked up Raspberry Pop Tarts and packed them up to bring with us. Knowing we wanted to get these for later we had a ziploc in Scott’s knapsack ready.


We couldn’t pass up a ride on my favorite attraction in the park…Tower of Terror.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 9/30/23 Continued
We left the park and drove back to the resort to go swimming. We had a nice time at the pool for a little while.

After our time at the pool we showered and changed for the evening.

We drove to the Dolphin and valet parked for dinner at Shula’s.


We sat at the bar for pre-dinner cocktails. I had a blueberry Mojito and Scott had an Old Fashioned.


We decided to stay at the bar to eat so let the hostess know so she could use our table in the dining room for others.

We started with two appetizers, the scallops and the bacon wrapped shrimp. Both were really good.



Their bread is always warm and delicious; it’s hard not to fill up on bread.


For an entree we shared the off menu special - dry aged cowboy steak. We have had this in the past and loved it. This time it was just OK.


We had the macaroni and cheese. I’m not the best judge of Mac & Cheese but this one is my favorite one at Disney. Scott’s favorite Mac & cheese this trip was the andouille Mac & cheese from the Boathouse.


For dessert we had the chocolate souffle. This is always fantastic.



We planned to go to the 9:30 Fantasmic show at Hollywood Studios but we didn’t leave Shula’s until 9:25 and it was raining so we skipped it.

We drove back to the resort. When we got to the door, the keys didn’t work and we couldn’t get into the villa. We drove to the front desk and the woman reset the keys for us. I asked for a phone number in case it doesn’t work so we don’t have to drive back. We drove back to the villa and the keys still don’t work. The phone number/extension she gave me didn’t exist when we tried calling it. Back to the front desk we went again. While we could have walked to the front desk, it’s a lot quicker to drive there.

We are very go with the flow type of people. Things happen, we don’t usually get upset about little things. However, Scott was very irritated by all this and asked to speak to a manager. He was more annoyed that they didn’t give us a working phone number when we specifically asked for that than the fact that the keys didn’t work. The number they gave us to call only works from inside the room; since we weren’t able to get into the room, what was the point of that? The manager was very apologetic for the issues. She sent security to our room to let us in and they would call someone to come fix the lock. Security was at our room before we even got there (we had to drive back from the front desk). The security woman let us right in and assured us she called for the people to come fix the lock after confirming we wanted them to come tonight instead of waiting for the morning. I said I want them to come tonight; I don’t want to deal with being locked out in the morning when we’re coming back from the gym and trying to get ready to go out. All we are doing now is getting ready for bed and we’ll be here. Two men showed up about 20 minutes later. They changed the battery in the lock which took them just a few minutes. We’re happy that the lock is working again. Everyone was super helpful (except the first front desk lady), friendly, and fast so we are happy with how this was handled.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 10/1/23
We went to the gym around 6:30. Back in the villa our normal morning routine of laundry, jacuzzi, and showers.

We skipped breakfast today thinking we would get something in Magic Kingdom if we’re hungry. It’s a Halloween Party night so the park will close at 6 for people not going to the party. While we are not going to the party, going to Magic Kingdom on a party night historically has worked out great for us with lower waits for everything. With Genie+, the shorter waits make it even quicker to jump from attraction to attraction.

We drove to Magic Kingdom and it started to rain. We got on the ferry and it’s pouring. I asked Scott to pull my poncho out of his knapsack and he realized he took it out when he was organizing the bag for today and forgot to put it back in, but he had umbrellas.


When we got to the park, I bought a Disney poncho. The rain was going sideways and the umbrella alone wasn’t keeping me dry. Scott was OK with just the umbrella.

We took a few pictures surprised when we found a photographer outside since most of them don’t take pictures in the rain. How adorable is this rainy day picture?


Scott went on Space Mountain. I haven’t gone on this lately since certain attractions that I used to like are bothering me. When he exited the ride he said it bothered his back a bit.

The rain was starting to slow down.

We went on 7 Dwarves Mine Train. This is such an adorable ride.


The wait times are short for most everything except the newer rides, we’re assuming due to the party tonight and the rain.

We went on Small World.

Big Thunder Mountain was next. This is always fun, too bad there isn’t a ride photo. Scott likes Big Thunder Mountain better than Mine Train. I used to feel that way too, but lately I’m becoming more partial to Mine Train.

We rode Pirates next. This is another ride we’ve always liked but have they done something to make you get more wet? I remember it being a sprinkle here and there but Scott got soaked on one side.


We decided to head out of the park and get some brunch.



On the way out we stopped at the Confectionary. We bought a Twix Blondie Pie and a Mickey Chocolate Chip cookie. Both were wrapped up to go, but we couldn’t help having a piece of the ear on the Mickey cookie. Scott started eating the ear before I could even get a picture. This was a good cookie. Scott declared it probably the best Disney cookie he’s had in a while.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 10/1/23 Continued
We drove to Keke’s for brunch. We read about Keke’s before and finally tried it last trip and thought it was a great off property place for breakfast. We were promptly greeted and seated.


Scott had a bacon cheeseburger with a side of sausage. I thought it was an odd combination but that’s what he was in the mood for.



I had the banana caramel pecan stuffed French toast with a side of crispy bacon.



Scott had a Coke and I drank Sprite.

Everything we had was really good. If you are looking for a cute off-site place we would recommend Keke’s. There are several locations in Florida.

The sun came out so we went back to the resort and went swimming.