Watch out for the Yeti! - Sept 25-Oct 1, 2008 - Trip Report

We actually have some of the same days planned. :lmao:

We will be at Epcot on Monday, because we didn't want to go on the weekend during F&W fest. And possibly Spectro that night.
We will also be at AK Tues am. Our TH ADR is for 8AM. Hope we are up in time!

It will be interesting to read your report.

Have a great time!!!
 
I’m back! The vacation was amazing and I’m already thinking about the next trip. (Hopefully in March for the Princess 1/2 Marathon.)

I'm going to try and get my trip report started this weekend, but no promises since I'm going to be moving. Plus the VP of my department at work mentioned a possible last-minute business trip to New York this upcoming Sun-Tues. I don't think it's going to happen but I won't know for sure until tomorrow.

But stay tuned to read about our impressions of Comedy Warehouse, stoutness exercises with Pooh, the Expedition Everest Challenge, our attempt at drinking around the world, and much more!
 
Sorry I haven’t started the trip report yet. I’d really like to before I forget the fun details of the trip, but the last week has been just crazy. I ended up going to NYC for work after all. A free trip to NYC is always nice, but I wish the timing had been better. I got a chance to stop by the World of Disney store on 5th Avenue. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get my photo taken with Goofy and Donald. It was fun just being surrounded by the Disney spirit again.

I’m all moved into my new house, but still need to unpack. Because of the NYC trip, I had to reschedule my cable and Internet installation until this Sunday. (I’m posting this from work.) So hopefully on Sunday I’ll be able to start posting some photos and the first entry for my trip report.
 

I'm still trying to sort through my WDW photos, but in the meantime here are some photos from the World of Disney store in NYC.

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I found these guys tucked away behind the staircase and thought they were so cute just sitting there looking out the window.

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These critters caught my eye as I was riding down the escalator and I rode back up again to get a closer look. I don't recognize the Disney connection. Anyone know what they're from? Song of the South is my best guess. :confused3

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I was just in time to catch the last character meet and greet of the day. First up was Goofy.

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Then I met Donald in his NY Fire Department uniform. I asked Donald how Daisy is doing and he gestured that she was out shopping! :laughing:

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Great pics. Hope the unpacking is going well.

The unpacking is going slowly but steadily. I was planning to get a lot done last weekend but stupidly tripped, fell, and scraped up my knee really badly on Saturday morning. So I ended up taking it easy for the rest of the weekend.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me. I'm finally going to post my first trip report entry!
 
Day 1

Our flight was uneventful and we landed in Orlando around 4:45pm. As we were making our way over to the Magical Express check-in area, I saw a lot of families carrying WDW shopping bags who were obviously returning home after their vacations. It made me a little sad to think that would be us in a week. But Troy told me to stop being silly – why was I thinking about leaving when we hadn’t even set foot in WDW yet?!?

This was my first time using Magical Express and everything went very smoothly. It was nice not having to stop at the baggage claim. It felt like our vacation started the minute we stepped off the plane. When we got on the bus, I happened to pick seats directly behind a group of four girls who were also doing the Expedition Everest Challenge. We had a bit of fun eavesdropping as they enthusiastically discussed their plans for the weekend. It didn’t seem to take that long to get to WDW and All Star Sports was the first stop (as usual).

I was so excited to finally be back at WDW. I’ve stayed at All Star Sports in the past and it felt sort of like coming home. I had forgotten how big and bright everything is, but at the same time there was a hint of familiarity. We ran into a slight hiccup checking in (the Cast Member was new and didn't know how to handle a Disney Visa Rewards card), but before too long we were off to check out our room for the next seven days.

We stayed in Building 7 which is football themed.

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Our room was on the opposite side from the field. Even though we were on the ground floor, it was very quiet and only a handful of people passed by our room. Here’s the view from our window.

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I had requested a king bed, but unfortunately the only available rooms had two double beds.

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Here’s a close-up of the towel Mickey head.

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I liked the detail here on the coat rack with the silhouettes of the Fab Five.

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Overall I thought the room was a great value for $61/night. The beds were comfortable and the size was just right for the two of us. There was plenty of table/counter/shelf space for us to spread out and settle in. One day I’d like to stay at a moderate or deluxe resort, but for now I’m happy with the value resorts.

Coming up next… Downtown Disney
 
I agree with you, bypassing the baggage claim area and heading straight for a bus is a great feeling.

Great pics of your room!

Looking forward to more. Are you unpacked in your new home yet? We moved into our new house July 21st and we just barely got rid of the last box.
 
Great so far, I will stay tuned for more.

Thanks! I've started writing the rest of Day 1 so it should be up fairly soon.

I agree with you, bypassing the baggage claim area and heading straight for a bus is a great feeling.

Great pics of your room!

Looking forward to more. Are you unpacked in your new home yet? We moved into our new house July 21st and we just barely got rid of the last box.

That makes me feel better about my pace. :) I still have boxes here and there around the house. What I really need to do is get the kitchen organized. Right now I'm using the stovetop to set aside things that need to be be recycled. :rotfl:
 
Day 1 continued

After checking out our room for the next week and freshening up a bit, we were ready head out to Downtown Disney. We took the bus over to the Marketplace. Our goal was to find the Customer Relations desk to pick up our park tickets, but on the way over we wandered into various shops that caught our eye. Of course, I had to stop into Pooh Corner and say hi to Eeyore.

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At Customer Relations, we picked up our tickets. I liked how the tickets were themed to the Year of a Million Dreams.

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Now that we had our tickets, it was time for dinner. On the way to Pleasure Island, we passed the Lego store and marveled at all the lego creations.

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We decided to see how long the wait at Raglan Road would be since we didn’t have an ADR. The first hostess said 15-20 minutes, but then another hostess asked if we minded sitting at a high bar table. That was fine with us, so we were able to be seated right away.

I ordered Kevin’s Heavenly Ham and Troy had the bangers and mash with a side of chips.

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Our server saw me taking photos of the food and offered to take our photo together.

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The food was just okay. Troy loved the chips and I really liked my potatoes. But we both thought the meat in both dishes was too dry.

After reading so much about Ger’s Bread and Butter Pudding, there was no question about what I wanted for dessert. We ordered one to share.

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I was hoping this would be the saving grace of the meal, but I think my expectations were too high. The sweet sauces were delicious, but somehow the whole combination of flavors and textures just didn’t come together for me. We caught about 15 minutes of the entertainment as we were finishing our meal. It was enjoyable, but not enough to make up for the lackluster food. I’m glad we tried Raglan Road because otherwise I’d still be dreaming about the bread pudding. But overall I didn’t find it to be a very good value.

After dinner, it was time for Comedy Warehouse. I had really enjoyed Comedy Warehouse in the past, so I was glad we were able to catch a few last shows before it shut down for good. I think we went to 10:25 and 11:35 shows. Carol Stein was on the keyboard that night and she was fantastic. At least one of the comedians was an alum of the show who had returned to be part of the “closing festivities”.

For those that don’t know, Comedy Warehouse is an improv comedy show where they ask for ideas from the audience and then craft short skits or songs about whatever the audience has suggested. The reason I like it so much is that it’s not only humorous, but clever as well. I’m incredibly impressed by how quickly the comedians can think on their feet. I know I couldn’t come up with a tenth of what they do even if I had an entire day to think it over. Troy really got into the whole audience participation aspect of the show, but I was too shy to yell things out.

It was around 12:30 when we got out of the second show. I would have really liked to stay for the last show of the night but we were both tired so we just caught the bus back to All Star Sports.
 
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy Raglan Road as much as you had expected. It's not one of our favorites, but like it well enough if we have the DDP.

I wish we had the opportunity to go to the Comedy Warehouse. As I was reading your report I remembered a friend telling me about it when she went about 10 years ago. It would have been fun to see.
 












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