UPDATE 1/20!! Bickering, Barfing, and Bug Bites

[Simba22]

That breaks down to about 3 hours and 42 minutes just WAITING.

Side note: Sorry folks, for that long hiatus! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Lumar and I spent yesterday cleaning the apartment so we could get the Christmas tree up, but by the time we finished cleaning we were exhausted. Today, we weren’t home most of the day (went to see the new Harry Potter movie!!) so it will get put up tomorrow.

As far as my trip report goes, when I last checked in with you guys, Lumar and I had just narrowly avoided a bear attack and fell asleep sometime around 3:30am.

On the morning of Sunday the 24th, the alarm clock went off (after only 3.5 hours of sleep) at 7am. We were supposed to be going to breakfast at Cape May Café.

That did not happen.

Pretty much, from today on….you can just throw out the itinerary I had posted in my PTR. What ends up actually happening is similar to the original itinerary…but not really.

OK so we finally get out of bed at 9am, decided to skip breakfast, and headed to DHS at 10am. We stopped for lunch at Rosie’s All American, where I had a cheeseburger and fries and Lumar ordered chicken nuggets and fries. I was so hungry that I actually forgot to take pics. But I’m sure you can imagine a cheeseburger, nuggets, and fries.

Fair warning…for some reason, I never takes pics at DHS and today is no different, so bear with me.

After eating, we headed over to ToT but it had a 40 minute wait so we decided to wait and come back later in the day. RnRC had an 80 minute wait so we got FPs for it. Truthfully, even though we still hadn’t gotten to ride TSMM on this trip, my only goal for today was to see Fantasmic. Other than that, I didn’t really care what we did. So we did a lot of mindless wandering and some shopping.

Around 1:30, we finally made it over to Pixar Place and this is what was waiting for us:

We decided to get in line to meet Buzz & Woody, to see if the line would clear up a little bit.

Now, tell me truthfully if this has ever happened to you…..You say something that’s common, everyday, terminology…but as it’s leaving your mouth you know it’s wrong and your brain just can’t figure out why it’s wrong. That’s what happened to me here. This was our conversation:

Me: Wow…100 minutes…..I really don’t want to wait that long.
Lumar: No, me either….but what else are we gonna do?
Me: (Looking around) Well we could go in here (points to the Meet & Greet building across from TSMM)
Lumar: For what?
Me: To meet Buddy and Wooz
Lumar: (Blank stare)
Me: What?
Lumar: To do what?
Me: To meet Buddy and W…. ohhh….I mean Woody and Buzz. I KNEW that sounded wrong coming out but I couldn’t figure out why!
Lumar: Uh….huh…..

So we get in the 15 minute line and when we get to the front, we discover that it’s only Buzz, but that’s acceptable because we’ve never met him before.

By the time we got out of the Meet & Greet, the line for TSMM increased to 110 minutes. So we kept wandering, eventually stopping at Studio Catering just so we could sit down and I could take some notes.

When I was done, we headed back to ToT, which had a 20 minute wait. So we got FPs instead and headed to The Sorcerer’s Hat for some pin trading. The parade was starting, so we decided to try TSMM again to see if the line would be any shorter. It was still 110 minutes. We really didn’t want to stand in a line for that long but we figured if it took the full 110 minutes, we would get out of there around 4:45 and our ADR at Sci-Fi was for 4:50, so we decided to just wait. It ended up being only 80 minutes, but probably because a lot of people kept leaving the line. I was winning all the way until the last two levels and then Lumar pulled ahead and won:

We checked in at Sci-Fi at 4:40 – a full ten minutes early which is phenomenal by our standards. Of course, THEY were running behind, so we were seated at 5pm. I have no complaints about the food in general…but their menu is just so limited. I wish they would either change it, expand it, or both.

I had the ribs and a fantastical Oreo milkshake:

And Lumar ordered two appetizers as his meal; the onion rings and 7 Bean and Beef Chili:

For dessert, we had the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cake (which was probably the best part of the meal, aside from my Oreo milkshake):

Again, not terrible and the food was fine….but it’s just not my favorite place to eat.

Moving on….. After dinner, we used our FPs to ride RnRC then used our FPs for ToT. By then it was 7:25 and since I was determined to get into Fantasmic tonight, we headed to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater to get in line for the 9pm show. We were talking about how crazy it was to line up 90 minutes early for the show, but when we got there, we found that there were already a few groups of people waiting. I made Lumar stay with the mob while I went to Hollywood Scoops for my favorite: Mint Chocolate Chip Cone (it just tastes better in Disney World!)

They finally let us into the theater at 8:30pm and we got PERFECT seats! Right in the middle of the Mickey section (center stage), no poles, no overly exaggerated tall people in front of us. Just perfect…Disney perfect!

So between the 90 minutes for Fantasmic, the 80 minutes for TSMM, the 15 minutes for Buzz, and the 20 minutes to be seated for dinner...we waited for 205 minutes. I don't know if that's good or bad but it's an interesting way to look at things. Or maybe I'm just exhausted and need to go to sleep....

So, aside from missing breakfast at Cape May (which I’m still sad about because I really wanted to go there, we did everything we set out to do and had a great Disney day!

Coming up next: Back to Epcot, and we finally solve the “Bear Mystery!”

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Ali. Sorry you missed Cape May for breakfast (it is our second favorite character breakfast). Your food looks yummy at Sci Fi (I love the onion rings that Lumar ordered). I love the picture with Buzz!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Just make sure that you guys go to Cape May next time!

 

[Nermel9]

OMG that is so weird you said Buddy and Wooz...I said the same thing when we were there, every time we walked by their little meeting area I thought about meeting them but it looked like the line was so long and one time my brain got all messed up and I said that too! I wish we waited to meet them...I'm seriously dedicating a whole day on my next trip to character hunting!

Your Sci Fi dinner looks good, we ate there for the first time and I tried that Oreo milkshake, SOOOO good!

ps-I started my TR you know, come on over!

 

[jenny105]

I blame Buddy and Wooz on lack of sleep.

We ended up waiting nearly 2 hours for TSM but ended up missing our ADR at Sci Fi because the sign only said 70 minutes. Pretty much the opposite of your experience!

 

[sjs314]

Wow on the Fantasmic seats , Last time we were at WDW Spring break of 2009 the day we went to DHS it was so crowded we did not stay long, TOT and RNRC and we left and went over to Epcot so I am still waiting to do TSM You know how you plan you will get back to a particular park but then never do that is what happened to us that trip, oh well.

I think the food at Sci Fi is good enough it is just I am not a fan of the sitting side by side, especially if you are a group of 4, it just make it had to talk.

Good update, still waiting to hear about the "bear" lol

 

[Simba22]

Great update, Ali. Sorry you missed Cape May for breakfast (it is our second favorite character breakfast). Your food looks yummy at Sci Fi (I love the onion rings that Lumar ordered). I love the picture with Buzz!

I think for our next trip I'm only making two breakfast ADRs (Ohana and Cape May) and I'll make them for the mornings after our "off" days. Hopefully we'll be nice and rested and actually be able to get up in time! No complaints here on the Sci-Fi food...I just wish they offered more. I'm glad we decided to stop and meet Buzz! He was a new character for us and it was fun!

Just make sure that you guys go to Cape May next time!

Definitely! It's already on my preliminary schedule!

OMG that is so weird you said Buddy and Wooz...I said the same thing when we were there, every time we walked by their little meeting area I thought about meeting them but it looked like the line was so long and one time my brain got all messed up and I said that too! I wish we waited to meet them...I'm seriously dedicating a whole day on my next trip to character hunting!

Your Sci Fi dinner looks good, we ate there for the first time and I tried that Oreo milkshake, SOOOO good!

ps-I started my TR you know, come on over!

Wow that IS weird! I swear, I KNEW it sounded wrong coming out, I just couldn't figure out WHY it was wrong! We tried to do a lot of character greets on this trip. I didn't do as many as I wanted but we did a lot of new ones so I'm excited to do the scrapbook for this trip!

Oreo milkshake.....

I will come over as soon as I'm done replying to everyone!

I blame Buddy and Wooz on lack of sleep.

We ended up waiting nearly 2 hours for TSM but ended up missing our ADR at Sci Fi because the sign only said 70 minutes. Pretty much the opposite of your experience!

I would agree with you...except I've done the same thing on at least one other occassion with different words and NOT in WDW....so I think my brain just malfunctions sometimes

Ugh! TWO HOURS!? I would have left the line and gone to dinner!

Wow on the Fantasmic seats , Last time we were at WDW Spring break of 2009 the day we went to DHS it was so crowded we did not stay long, TOT and RNRC and we left and went over to Epcot so I am still waiting to do TSM You know how you plan you will get back to a particular park but then never do that is what happened to us that trip, oh well.

I think the food at Sci Fi is good enough it is just I am not a fan of the sitting side by side, especially if you are a group of 4, it just make it had to talk.

Good update, still waiting to hear about the "bear" lol

Our seats for Fantasmic were PERFECT! I was so happy! And yes, I know all about planning and then having it all go out the window! Just keep reading and I'll prove it!

I'm not a fan of the seating either, however I found out on this trip that you can request a regular table. They are limited and they're towards the back of the restaurant, but if you have more than 2 people you can request it when you check in.

The Great Bear Mystery shall soon be solved! I have all the pics loaded into Photobucket, I just have to type it all up!

 

[bkandreu]

I love your trip report so far! I'm ready for more!! allll the food looks SO good!

 

[jenny105]

Ugh! TWO HOURS!? I would have left the line and gone to dinner!

By that time, we were so far along in the line, that we didn't want to leave. We would've just wasted 2 hours for nothing!

 

[2princesses2princes]

You know the sad thing here is that I had to read your post about Woody and Buzz a few times before I even caught on to what happened. It's like I knew who you were talking about so I didn't even catch the humor for a few minutes. Geeesh. Glad you were able to experience the ride though, that's high on the list for my kids, but 80 min in line with 4 kids, i don't think so. So we'll see how it goes.

 

[Simba22]

I love your trip report so far! I'm ready for more!! allll the food looks SO good!

Thanks! I have TONS more pics to post!

By that time, we were so far along in the line, that we didn't want to leave. We would've just wasted 2 hours for nothing!

I guess that makes sense! I don't think I would last that long in a line!

 

[Simba22]

You know the sad thing here is that I had to read your post about Woody and Buzz a few times before I even caught on to what happened. It's like I knew who you were talking about so I didn't even catch the humor for a few minutes. Geeesh. Glad you were able to experience the ride though, that's high on the list for my kids, but 80 min in line with 4 kids, i don't think so. So we'll see how it goes.

OK I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem, then!

On your DHS day, get there before rope drop and after you're all inside, have one person bee-line to TSMM to get FPs. Your tickets have to have been scanned at the gate in order to get the FPs, but if you try to get all of you to the machines at once it will slow you down. We just couldn't get up in time to get there so we got stuck waiting in line.

 

[onescgirl]

I love the Stitch photo. I wish we had a Stitch photo .

You look so adorable in the picture w/Buzz

We ate at Sci-fi for the 1st time & that Oreo shake was sooooo good!!!

Something just doesn't sound right when you say "We only had to wait 80 minutes".

 

[Simba22]

I love the Stitch photo. I wish we had a Stitch photo .

You look so adorable in the picture w/Buzz

We ate at Sci-fi for the 1st time & that Oreo shake was sooooo good!!!

Something just doesn't sound right when you say "We only had to wait 80 minutes".

I heart Stitch! I schedule wake-up calls specifically to hear Stitch! Most people avoid him like the plague but we love him!

Thanks! The Buzz pic is one of my faves!

Oreo Shake!!!!!! I would love one right now! (even though it's almost 11:30 and I'm supposed to be getting ready for bed!)

I know! "ONLY" 80 minutes!

 

[Simba22]

We slept kind of late today, and decided to skip breakfast and just eat lunch when we got to Epcot. We left for the bus stop at 10:30am and waited……and waited…….and waited….. And finally, a bus for Epcot came at 11am. This was the longest we waited for a bus on the whole trip. Here we are….waiting…..

When we arrived at Epcot, we headed straight to World Showcase. I was starving! I decided to stop in China at the Lotus Blossom Café for some Orange Chicken.

Lumar originally intended to go to Norway for lunch, but decided to get fried dumplings (pot stickers)…

….Then stop in Norway for dessert!

While we were there, we rode Maelstrom which was a walk on, and we got to ride in the front of the boat! Woohoo!

We left Norway (although I seriously considered buying the $40 lotion they sell because it smells so freakin’ good!) and headed to Italy for my dessert!

As badly as I wanted to try a cannoli, the gelato is just too dang good! While we were there, Lumar ordered a Primavera slushie because it was really hot out! Around 88º according to my notes.

Next we headed back to Future World to check the wait time/FP situation for Soarin’.

We took this pic in a gift shop at beginning of WS:

The stand-by for Soarin’ was 70 minutes and the FP return time was for 7:30pm. We skipped both options and headed for The Seas and went on the Nemo ride, then wandered around the aquarium for a little while. Look at what we found!

We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon wandering aimlessly around World Showcase.

Lumar in Japan:

Donald was out in the Mexico pavilion so we got in line! Yay!

It was really funny because there was a little girl in line in front of us to meet Donald who had fallen asleep in her stroller. The mom wanted to have Donald take a pic with her anyway and he was OK with that…however he noticed that she had a Mickey sticker on her shirt. He peeled it off and flicked away like it was a booger or something. Then Lumar and I walk up….Lumar is wearing a Mickey hat, a Mickey t-shirt, Mickey shorts, and Mickey socks. Donald refused to take a picture with at first so here is me and Donald:

And then Donald finally allowed him into the picture:

It was getting close to out 5pm ADR time so we headed back to Germany! We found this ridiculous hat (although there was one that looked like a drunk chicken which was even MORE ridiculous):

Then Lumar had to prove to me that only 2 items are needed to juggle….not 3. To me, if you have two hands and two objects, that’s pretty simple and shouldn’t be considered juggling.

Then he found this display of cowbells and had to ring them all as we walked by:

We checked in at Biergarten right at 5 and got seated right away. We were alone at the table for a little while and we were center stage for the band but they were in the middle of their last song when we sat down and didn’t come back out before we were done.

This is Lumar’s plate:

And this was mine:

The pink piece that looks like bologna…pretty much is. It was good though!
They had fried chicken which was pretty good and roast chicken which was ok but rather dry. Lumar said the mac & cheese he got was fine, and the salad was tasty. ButI was looking forward to dessert! I took a whole plate:

Starting with the small bowl and moving clockwise:

Vanilla custard/pudding – not bad. I would have liked it to be sweeter but it was yummy.

Apple Strudel - I wasn’t a fan. I’m used to warm apple pie with sweet, soft apples. This was served cold and the apples were more tart than I like.

Chocolate Cake – If I remember correctly, this had mousse in it and I’m not usually a fan of mousse…I’m not crazy about the texture of it. But from what I remember, this one was not bad.

Bavarian Cheesecake – By far, the best part of the meal, IMO. I loved it!

And this is Lumar’s dessert plate:

All of his are the same as mine except that instead of the pudding he got what they call a Florentine Cookie but it was essentially just peanut brittle. He said the brittle was good, the cheesecake was good, the strudel would have been better warm, and the chocolate cake was dry but good.

Overall, we liked Biergarten well enough, but were not overly impressed with it. Lumar had wanted to order a beer with his dinner but our server never actually came back until we were done eating dessert so he never got a chance to order it.

At some point earlier in the day, we had been texting with Heather. They were going on the Haunted Carriage ride at Fort Wilderness that night and found that there was room for 2 more people so we decided to tag along! We were supposed to be there by 8:30pm so we left Epcot at 10 of 8. A bus didn’t come to get us until 8:18pm. I was freaking out because I felt like we were making them late and throwing the whole thing off schedule. Of course, we then get to Fort Wilderness and have no freakin’ clue about where to go. We finally figured it out and made it over there at 8:45. Heather and Brad even surprised us with a box of Zebra Domes (they were staying AKV)! I had always wanted to try them but never got to and I was so excited! They were melting quickly so we shoveled them in and saved a couple for later on. They were REALLY good and I can’t wait to get more!

So we get loaded into our carriage and our driver introduces us to the horse who would be carting us around: Dave.

Our driver (whose name I don’t remember and didn’t write down), tells us that Dave is a breed related to the Budweiser Clydesdales, which explains why he was so enormous. We learned however, that Dave was also either quite stubborn or has a fantastic sense of humor…I can’t decide which. Maybe both.

Here we are waiting to start our ride!

I think Heather may have a picture of Dave but don’t quote me.

So we’re loaded up and we’re sitting around talking about the infamous bear attack. Before I even mention anything about a bear, the driver overhears us and starts to laugh. He told us how all of the local wildlife, from rabbits, to birds, to snakes, and even the alligators, have pretty much learned how to move through the underbrush in silence…except for one animal. I believe his exact words were “if you hear this thing coming at you, you would swear it was bear coming through, but it was probably just an….

Wait for it…..



Wait for it…….



Armadillo.


That’s right. An arma-freakin-dillo. I didn’t even know there WERE armadillos in Florida. So apparently, based on what our driver told us (and what he described sounded exactly like what we witnessed), it was most likely an armadillo in the bushes that night and not really a bear. Darn.

So with the Great Bear Mystery solved, we start on our trek. The whole premise of this Haunted Carriage ride is that you are wandering around Sleepy Hollow, following the same path that Ichabod Crane followed the night he disappeared in the legend. You’re also getting the whole backstory on the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman. I don’t want to give anything away, but at the end of the ride, there is a part where your horse is supposed to start galloping and pulling you really fast through the woods. Well Dave was not having any of that. It was funny because it kind of killed the anticipation that was building through the whole ride but we were cracking up. The driver is like “come on, Dave! Get moving!” And Dave was like “no…no….I think I like this pace.” It was a lot of fun though and I recommend it, if you’re ever there at Halloween and need something different to do!

We decided we were all getting hungry so we hopped on a bus to DTD and made a bee-line for EoS. There was no one there so we ordered pretty quickly. Of course, it was also around 10pm and they were getting ready to close.

I had ordered a Chocolate-Banana smoothie which I had to wait for so Lumar got started on picture taking with a little assistance from Heather:

I finally came back to the table and dug right into my tuna which was fabulous:

And of course the smoothie was insanely good:

After we were practically evil-eyed out the door (at like 11:30!), we said our good-byes (for now!) and headed back to our resorts for some shut eye!

On the next episode: Resort Day and MNSSHP!!

 

[2princesses2princes]

You know I was guessing it was an armadillo. We actually saw one on the sidewalk at the Pop when we were there in 04. Of course I didn't have my camera out so I missed it. Crazy looking things, never seen one in person.

Thanks for all the food pics, they look so tasty. I didn't care for Biergarten too much, we decided we probably will not go there again, which is ok, since Epcot has so much to choose from.

Thanks for the tips on TSM as well. I think that is what we'll do, once we ge throught the line I'll send Dan straight to the FP as I mosey foward with all 4 kids, that's our best bet I am sure.

The haunted carriage ride sounds fun as well. Too bad dave wouldn't cooperate.

 

[Simba22]

You know I was guessing it was an armadillo. We actually saw one on the sidewalk at the Pop when we were there in 04. Of course I didn't have my camera out so I missed it. Crazy looking things, never seen one in person.

Thanks for all the food pics, they look so tasty. I didn't care for Biergarten too much, we decided we probably will not go there again, which is ok, since Epcot has so much to choose from.

Thanks for the tips on TSM as well. I think that is what we'll do, once we ge throught the line I'll send Dan straight to the FP as I mosey foward with all 4 kids, that's our best bet I am sure.

The haunted carriage ride sounds fun as well. Too bad dave wouldn't cooperate.

Armadillos never even crossed my mind. I think Armadillos, I think Texas, or New Mexico, or something. I NEVER associated them with Florida. It was just funny the way the guy described it! "Armadillos....you'd think a bear was coming after you!"

Yeah, I think we won't be going back to Biergarten for a while. It wasn't bad, but I would rather eat somewhere else. And there are so many places to eat in Epcot, that I'm actually thankful that I can cross one off the list!

No problem about the TSMM thing. Unfortunately, we were never able to use that advice because we just couldn't get up on time but for people with better control over their snooze button, it's great!

We had a lot of fun on the carriage ride and it was totally unplanned. It was so liberating to do something NOT on the schedule! And I think the fact that Dave was marching to the beat of his own drummer just made it even better. It was a totally unique experience!

 

[sjs314]

Omg too funny about the Armadillo- I am not sure if I ever saw one or not but like you I would not expect to see one in florida, I know it would have scared me too if it ventured out where I saw it, I mean do they attack?

I already had the haunted hayride down as something to do our next trip, I am thinking of eating at Trails End since we have done HDDR a few times, about how long did the Haunted Hayride take? I am thinking we can take the boat from CR to FT Wilderness, but I think it sounds fun and it is something we have never done.

Can not wait to hear about MNSSHP since this will be our first time going to it, I mentioned to DH he will have to dress up and he looked at me with that "fat chance in Hell" look

 

[Nermel9]

OMG that gelato looks soooo good!

The Haunted Carriage ride sounds like it would be a lot of fun! I would love to do something like that some day, if I go during Halloween, I will definitely have to remember that!

LOL I can't believe it was an armadillo! We see them all the time when we are in Disney, they're always wandering around in the grass on the side of the highways!

Mmmm...Earl of Sandwich! I always get the tuna melt there, yum!

 

[Simba22]

Omg too funny about the Armadillo- I am not sure if I ever saw one or not but like you I would not expect to see one in florida, I know it would have scared me too if it ventured out where I saw it, I mean do they attack?

I already had the haunted hayride down as something to do our next trip, I am thinking of eating at Trails End since we have done HDDR a few times, about how long did the Haunted Hayride take? I am thinking we can take the boat from CR to FT Wilderness, but I think it sounds fun and it is something we have never done.

Can not wait to hear about MNSSHP since this will be our first time going to it, I mentioned to DH he will have to dress up and he looked at me with that "fat chance in Hell" look

I have no idea if they attack or not! I think they probably rely on making load noises to scare potential threats away. And it was 3am so it was
probably sleeping and we scared the heck out of it.

I think it was probably around an hour or so but hopefully Heather or Brad will hop on and help me out with that. I have no concept of time. Seriously.

This will be our 2nd party for this trip and it's the main reason we continue to go to WDW in October. It's so much fun! And dressing up is fun! Especially if you can do a theme for the whole family. We often find that there are more people dressed up than not.

OMG that gelato looks soooo good!

The Haunted Carriage ride sounds like it would be a lot of fun! I would love to do something like that some day, if I go during Halloween, I will definitely have to remember that!

LOL I can't believe it was an armadillo! We see them all the time when we are in Disney, they're always wandering around in the grass on the side of the highways!

Mmmm...Earl of Sandwich! I always get the tuna melt there, yum!

The gelato WAS amazing! I would love some right now! So creamy and chocolatey! YUM!

You should definitely check out the carriage ride. Since you guys drive everywhere, you would have a much easier time getting there than we did and it was something fun and different to do. Thanks again to Heather & Brad for letting us tag along!

I have never seen one! Although we are always on a Disney bus and I'm usually messing with me cell phone or something. I'll have to start paying attention to the road!

And BTW...the rain we had today was so awful, the ceiling in the living room is leaking!

I heart the tuna at EoS! I'm picky about my tuna and this is the best on property, IMO, hands down.