Two Castles & a Dumbo Double Dare for Good Measure-Sep13 *Newx5 2/3-AK Epcot & MNNSHP

[Disneyluvr81]

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!! Now that things have calmed back down, I can get rolling on finishing my TR...only have 50 days until we are back for Princess Weekend and I am bound and determined to finish this report before our next trip!!

Day 8 – Part 4: Welcome to Poncho World!

By the time we needed to head out to Epcot to make our dinner reservation, the storm had been raging for over 2 hours and while it had let up some was still pouring by the time we pulled in to Epcot!

We made the dumb decision to grab our little dollar store ponchos instead of busting out the heavy duty ones we had bought a couple years prior and regretted that decision as soon as we got off the bus. It was raining so hard and so windy, the ponchos were barely providing coverage. There was no line for bag check and as soon as we got in the park we broke down and bought the Disney ponchos! While expensive, they at least were keeping us drier!

Welcome to Poncho World, Population: Epcot!

The rain had cleared out the park and the walk to Germany was definitely a soggy one! I still find it comical all of the ponchos!

While early for our reservation at Biergarten, we checked in anyways and for as crowded as the area was, we were able to get a small table while we waited to be called. It was so nice to be out of the poncho.

We waited about 15 minutes before being called in and were seated with a family of 4 and another couple. We were on the upper level towards the back of the restaurant which didn’t give the greatest view of the stage.

I would like to say we had great interactions with our tablemates but unfortunately, not so much. Neither family was rude or anything but everyone ended up keeping to themselves, there no interaction at all after the initial "Hi". Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for the table behind us. One of the women at the table was beyond obnoxious and I swear spoke just to hear herself speak. While she was loud before the performers came on stage she made sure everyone around her could still hear her once they started performing – cause you know, not like any of us wanted to actually hear the band!

Rude guest aside, luckily the food itself was so good and one of our favorite meals of the trip. Our server was also great about ensuring the plates got cleared and drinks refilled quickly!

I have to mixed feelings on the Biergarten because we would both give the food 5 out of 5 but unfortunately, the atmosphere 3 out of 5 only due to other guest. With that said, I still recommend it if you appreciate German food or are open to trying something new and don’t mind sharing a table with others.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 8 - Part 5: When You Wish Upon a Star

The rain had all but cleared out by the time we finished dinner and it was nice to walk back to the front of the park poncholess.

Of course, we had to stop at the pin station for B, since he wasn’t able to do it on our way in.

We got lucky with a bus pulling up quickly to take us back to WL and even though we had just come from dinner, stopped in the lounge to grab a couple desserts - we planned to have our own little dessert party back at the room.

We got back to the room with just enough time to get my tripod all setup and ready to go...tonight was one of the main reasons I was so excited for our view...being able to watch Wishes from our balcony!!

Once Wishes was over, we both crashed pretty quickly and we were both looking forward to finally having our sleep in day the next morning!!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 – Part 1: Lazy Mornings

Saturday, September 7th had been deemed our take a break day for the trip. We decided to spend the morning at Downtown Disney, which started off quite hazy/foggy and gave the appearance of the weather being much cooler than it actually was.

We grabbed a quick breakfast from the lounge.

The view from the 7th floor is just beautiful!

We’ve never had great luck with Downtown Disney buses but this morning, we walked up just as one was pulling in. Great start to the morning!

We made out way in to the Marketplace and I couldn’t pass up pictures at one of my favorite picture spots.

With no real plans we made our way to the pin store – B was one a mission to see the big huge pin board.

Unfortunately, we were much to early and after pursuing the pins we continued on to TrenD. I had gotten gel nails right before we left that had started peeling off and was hoping to find black nail polish to cover the spots that had come off. While I wasn’t able to find black but they did have a really pretty dark burgundy that ended up working out well.

From there, it was B’s turn to pick a store. He was hoping to find Disney Infinity items and Once Upon a Toy didn’t disappoint. We were able to add a few more pieces to our collection.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 2: Movin' On Up to the West Side!

Next stop for us was World of Disney for souvenir shopping and we spent a good amount of time in the store. It was nice being there early before it got crazy busy – it really gave me a chance to check out all of the details throughout the store.

We continued our way through DTD and over to the West Side area. We had never actually walked all the way through before and it was nice to get to see it before things start getting changed up in the coming years.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 3: Think of the Happiest Thing...

I had one goal for the morning and still wasn’t sure if I would be doing it alone. B is not a big fan of heights and up until the trip was not 100% sure he would be able to do the Characters in Flight balloon with me but once we got up to buy the tickets, he was fine with the thought of it.

We were the very next group and only waited for a couple minutes. The haze made the views not as impressive as they would have been on a clear day but it was still amazing to be able to see everything from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom.

There was no one waiting when it was time to go down so we were able to stay up a few minutes longer – which was a nice, unexpected treat.

Back on the ground, we were both ready for lunch and made our way back towards the Marketplace, making another quick stop in the pin shop to see if the board was out. Unfortunately, B struck out again!

Prior to Earl of Sandwich opening up at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney, I would have said our lunch destination today would have been Earls. But, now that we have access to it whenever we go to DL, it gave us the opportunity to try what turned out to be a just as fantastic counter service!

I couldn’t pass up trying the macaroni and cheese and B got a cheese pizza.

Both were beyond tasty and the waiter who brought our food surprised us with soft serve ice cream for our anniversary. Was such a sweet gesture!

Wolfgang Puck Express definitely gets 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

By the time we finished lunch, it was starting to get quite hot and crowded (we figured it would since it was a Saturday). Our luck with the buses had run back out and we waited forever for a bus to take us back to WL. It was on the bus that I realized the tank top I was wearing was bleeding and the undersides of my arms looked like I had gotten in to a massive boxing match. So much for my outfit for the day!

We spent time back at the room, where we found this little guy waiting for us.

I was able to get most of the staining off my arms before heading out to spend the remainder of the afternoon/evening back at Epcot (yes, we are back at Epcot for the 4th evening this trip, hehe).

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 4: Welcome to Your Future

We grabbed a couple PP pictures and made out way over to Spaceship Earth and walked right on. Epcot was a best park for the day and it didnt disappoint.

We love the little videos you get put in to at the end of the ride  so cute and corny!

No real surprise here, of course our next stop was the Pin Station so B could trade and I did what I did best while he was trading, walked around and took pictures hehe!

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[TalkDisney2Me]

Read through all of this TR and your mini marathon one. RunDisney TRs are some of my favorites! Good luck in your training for the Princess Half.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Read through all of this TR and your mini marathon one. RunDisney TRs are some of my favorites! Good luck in your training for the Princess Half.

Thank you so much and welcome!!

I am really looking forward to doing Princess for the first time this year. The call of the Glass Slipper and Pink Coast to Coast medals was to much to pass up! I am hopefully going to do another combined trip report for Tink and Princess weekends. Will definitely post a link here if I do.

Thank you for the well wishes on the training - I hope yours is going well too. Are you doing the 10k too or just Princess? Will this year make you a legacy (if so, that is so cool - I would love to legacy with Dumbo but won't be here for this year's races). Will you do any sort of costume for the race(s)?

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 – Part 5: Rain, Rain Go Away...

Surprisingly there was no wait for the Character Spot and while we had great interactions with all of the characters and the character handlers, we liked it so much better before the refurb when you got to meet Donald and Goofy too!

While we had quite a few dinners in the World Showcase so far, we had barely spent any time exploring it and that was our plan of attack for the afternoon. The skies were getting dark again and once again, we didn’t bring any rain gear with us and made our way towards the World Showcase, hoping we wouldn’t repeat the prior day’s thunderstorm.

We made our way counter clockwise, starting in Canada. I so wish I could live in that little cottage!

England was our next stop, although it was more of a pass through since the winds had started to pick up and the thunder was getting louder and closer.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 6: It's Raining on My Slushie!

We made it to France and were able to grab a Grey Goose and Grand Marnier slushie before the rain started coming down.

Both of our drinks were infused with Florida rain water as we made the made dash to a covered alleyway in France to ride out the rain.

It only lasted about 15 minutes before it let up enough to head back out – we had shopping to do!

B and I both love going in to Mitsukoshi’s and could spend WAY to much money if left to our own devices. B’s goal was to get at least one new Gundam.

My goal was pick a pearl, something I have done every year since our first trip in 2007. While it seemed insanely crowded, I only had to wait a couple minutes until it was my turn.

I always go for the ugliest, most “hairy” oyster and it has worked out well (I have gotten one black pearl, several silver pearls and the white/cream ones I do get our always big).

My ugly little oyster didn’t disappoint and I got a large cream pearl.

I decided to have it set in a pendant and give to my mom to thank her for taking such good care of our bunnies over the summer while we had our condo on the market.

The rain had officially let up completely by the time we were ready to continue our way around the World Showcase.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 7: They Have a Cave Troll

We stopped in Germany to pick out a nice stein (he collects them) and mustard as a thank you present for my dad.

By the time we made it to China, B was starting to poop out so I left him on a bench in the shade while I walked through the China Pavilion. It is just too gorgeous!

Norway was our next stop and we were ready to ride something, even if it was Maelstrom.

The posted 10 minute wait turned out to be at least double that but we weren’t gonna complain too much as it felt good to be in the air conditioning. B’s “excited for Maelstrom” face hehe!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 8: Fiesta Time!

We didn’t stop to watch the movie at the end of the ride…maybe next trip…

I was surprised to see how lush the greenery was on the roof, I don’t think we have ever seen it flowering like that before but so cool!

Last, but not least, on our trip was Mexico and the Three Caballeros. I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food so am pretty particular about where we eat Mexican food but one of these days I am going to muster the courage to try out the restaurant in this pavilion!

By the time we finished in Mexico it was getting close to our ADR so we made our way over to Future World, stopping in the Duffy store so B could pin trade.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 9: Look at All the Human in the Human Tank!

Once again, the storm coming through left behind a beautiful sunset!

Our ADR tonight was at Coral Reef, someplace we hadn’t been back to since our honeymoon in 2008.

We checked in a few minutes before our ADR and went and sat down in the very crowded waiting area where we waited and waited and waited and then waited some more to be called. It was getting a little frustrating seeing families who had checked in way after us getting seated but all that frustration went away as soon as we were brought to our table….RIGHT next to the tank! I was bouncing in my chair, I was so excited!

Our server came over shortly after we were seated to grab our drink orders and we were able to watch a dive group swim around the tank as we waited to place our order, get our food. It was cool that they got to come up close to the glass and wave at all of us!

Our server brought up the bread with our drinks and they were so good – we both thought that had a sourdough taste to them, which we love.

For our dinner, I order the Lobster pasta with a Caesar salad to start. Good lord, I could have made a meal out of just the salad, it was huge!

My pasta was very good and I was surprised at not just the amount of lobster but how big the chunks were. It was super filling and after the big salad, I was barely able to finish half of it.

B got the New York steak and said it was very, very good. The mashed potatoes reminded him of the ones they serve at Sunshine Seasons.

Neither one of us had any room for dessert, which was a bummer as I was looking forward to getting the chocolate wave. Like on our honeymoon, Coral Reef did not disappoint and get a 5 out of 5 for us. The long wait to be seated wasn’t fun but being at a table next to the tank more than made up for it.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 9 - Part 10: We're Following the Leader...

It was quite late by the time we finished dinner and as we made our way out of the park, we stumbled across an area with the lighted floor tiles near Innoventions. Neither of us had seen these before and we had quite the funny experience trying to get pictures of them. Shortly after we walked in to the area a family with two young children came in the area. The little girl was having fun running around but the little boy, who was maybe 2 took notice to me taking pictures and decided that everything I was paying attention to, so was he. It was so cute and comical. I made sure to give the parents a big old smile to let them know the little guy was a-okay in my book. It still makes me giggle how infatuated he was with following me and the camera around!

We grabbed a couple more pictures of Spaceship Earth on the way out before making the long trek to the bus stop.

We stopped in to the gift shop at WL to purchase a few DVC items before heading up to the room for the evening.

I apologize to anyone in advance who isn’t a fan of frogs, you can scroll through these next 2 pictures quickly! As we passed one of the windows on the 7th flood we noticed these two little guys.

How in the world they got up 7 stories, we have no clue but they were having a bug buffet out there. There were so many little gnats, moths, mosquitoes, etc hanging out on the window that they barely had to move to catch one. Quite impressive!

It’s always nice to come back to a turned down bed. I wish it would magically happen to our bed in our condo!

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[TalkDisney2Me]

Thank you so much and welcome!!

I am really looking forward to doing Princess for the first time this year. The call of the Glass Slipper and Pink Coast to Coast medals was to much to pass up! I am hopefully going to do another combined trip report for Tink and Princess weekends. Will definitely post a link here if I do.

Thank you for the well wishes on the training - I hope yours is going well too. Are you doing the 10k too or just Princess? Will this year make you a legacy (if so, that is so cool - I would love to legacy with Dumbo but won't be here for this year's races). Will you do any sort of costume for the race(s)?

I am just doing the half. I would have loved to do both but couldn't take that much time off of work.

I missed the very first Princess so I am one year off This year will be my 5th Princess in a row. It is such a fun race! Hopefully the weather will be better for us this year than it was last year!

I haven't ran in any specific costume in the past, but this year I am going to attempt to be Chip from Beauty and the Beast.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 10 – Part 1: The Day We Finally Get to Hollywood Studios

Sunday, September 8th was finally our Hollywood Studios day. Out of the 4 parks, it is our least favorite and Sunday just worked out to be the best day to go crowd wise. We didn’t stop at the lounge for breakfast this morning because we both wanted to try Starring Rolls.

We made it to the park before opening and I was super excited to see the Monster’s University topiary.

Bag check went quickly and soon we were lined up with the mass of people waiting to be let in. We got lucky and picked a fast moving line and we made it in to the park quickly.

We deviated from everyone else rushing towards Toy Story and took our time, grabbing a couple Photopass pictures along the way.

Our destination for the morning was Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. We grabbed a fast pass for Tower before heading over to RnR.

We literally walked through the line and were on in just a few short minutes. RnR is a ride we really only do once a trip because it usually bangs my head around too much but this time it felt a lot smoother. We were towards to middle of the car, so not sure if that helped. We were delighted to not get “Dude Looks Like a Lady” for our soundtrack. In all our rides ,that is the only song we ever heard.

Tower of Terror was next and there was still no line! Score!!!

We’re in the back left corner!

The two big thrill rides out of the way, we made our way back towards Starring Rolls for breakfast.

This was a new to us stop and B was really looking forward to a cinnamon roll since they have sugar frosting instead of cream cheese (he hates cream cheese on anything but bagels). B gave it two big thumbs up.

I had grabbed a chocolate chip muffin only to discover a strawberry parfait on the way to check out. Well, you know, everyone loves a parfait and I did what any discerning Diser would do, I got both! Calories don’t count on vacation, right?!?

Both were very good although the parfait gets the 5 out of 5 stars from me!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 10 - Part 2: You've Just Entered, The Twilight Zone

While we were eating breakfast, we realized we could get another fastpass and after checking my line app to see if they were still available for Toy Story and made our way in that direction. We were able to snag fastpasses for later in the afternoon.

Not quite ready to use our FP for Tower again, we decided to give the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow a try. Neither of us knew really anything about it and anything in air conditioning couldn’t be that bad.

I have to say, we both enjoyed it. Me more so since I am a big Pirates fans but we hope it is still around in April when we will be there with our niece and nephews because the boys would get a kick out of it!

By the time we finished with Captain Jack, we were getting close to the end of our FP window for Tower so we booked it across the park to make sure we didn’t miss it. I am glad we got the FP because at that point, the line was now close to 30 minutes for standby.

We got seats in the front this time! Makes up for our DCA picture getting sucked in the Twilight Zone just a week before!

With our 2nd ride on Tower finished up, we had decisions to make about which shows we wanted to during the rest of our time at DHS. After much discussion, we decided on Indiana Jones and the Lights, Motor Action Stunt Show. Indy would be starting within about 30 minutes so we made our way over to the theater.

We saw this show for the very first time in January and loved it. We got lucky and snagged front row seats on the left side of the stage.

It was nice not having to contend with people’s heads and made it easier to get some good pictures of the show!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 10 - Part 3: Look More Indy Pictures!!

Sorry, this update is all Indy pictures!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 10 - Part 4: Turn Right to Go Left!

I promise, we did more than just the Indy show! Hehe!

We had quite a bit of time to kill before Lights, Motor, Action so we made our way towards the Street of America. Even though the line for Star Tours was short we passed up riding this time around.

We stumbled upon the Lighting and Mater meet and greet and it had almost no line  of course we had to jump in!

From there were wandered the Streets of America and I was happy to find a PP back there. We had fun getting pictures with him  he had us facing so many different ways to get multiple locations!

At this point, we were both hot and hungry and grabbed a water and Mickey pretzel from the ODV cart in the area and found a bench in the shade to relax for a bit.

I had wanted to see the Monsters University meet and greet and, like the Cars characters, the line was quite short. Love Mike and Sully!

We popped in to the Muppets gift store so B could pin trade and by the time he was done, they were starting to let people in to line up for Lights, Motor, Action.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 10 – Part : Lights, Motor, Action!

As with Indy, we got great seats almost dead center right behind a handicap section. No one ended up sitting in those row so once again, we had an unobstructed view of the show.

It seems like I always find Mickey clouds while we are at DHS!

The CM directing people where to go was such a hoot to watch – he was up dancing the entire time and seemed like he was genuinely having an awesome time!

We hadn’t seen the show since our honeymoon in 2008 and while most of it is the same, we were happy to see the addition of Lightening and Mater!

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