"We've gone too far"-A sister trip with surprise guest Irma! Sept 2017 - Completed 4/16

[Lesley Wake]

Humm I've seen pictures of these resorts but never noticed how the landscaping works into the theme.

Yeah it was very cool! I honesty didn't take much notice until I walked into the Lion King section and they had such lushness and taller trees! It's the details that Disney has which just take you to a different world!

 

[ariane37]

Well I'm way behind, sorry! Life has taken over my DIS time unfortunately......... your pictures are great! We stayed at AoA a few years back for a couple nights because I wanted to try a LM room - those are the standard rooms not suites. I agree the theming is fantastic and I think it's a great resort for kids with a really good food court. Yup, price is a con and so is the distance that the stadard/LM rooms are from everything else. But you can't argue it's themed well!

I didn’t exactly want to spend 2 hrs at MCO which I could spend at WDW so decided to just head straight to Pop!

Ugh, I hate the time I HAVE to spend in airports so I'd be telling me sister "see you at the resort"!

When I walked up there was literally 2 people in the entire area. Shortly afterwards another family of 5 came up into a different line. But then, 2 minutes after arriving (I had been taking time stamped notes on my phone), they put me on a bus! That bus was also super crowded, with maybe 3 people on it already , so the driver told me to go ahead and take the first row. They also boarded that family of 5 and I guess waited to see if anyone else was coming, but by 6:50 we were off!

You certainly lucked out and I'm jealous lol. We used to have luck like this but our last probably 5 trips, ME has sucked as far as how long it takes us to get on a bus and for that bus to leave. We'll routinely sit ON the bus for 30 minutes which I think is worse than waiting in line. Steve keeps saying we're taking a taxi on our next trip but then we end up on ME............

here is a photo I found online-again not shaming any CM, just the uniform designers! And it seems like they do so much with the "groovy" theme, they could come up with some fun outfits!

Ew, poor CM's. I've never stayed or even visited Pop and actually have never even seen their uniforms, and those are sad. Like no thought whatsoever went into them

I thought it was good, but not eye-opening amazing

This is how Steve and I felt after our one visit to Homecomin'. Well, I don't even know if Steve would consider it good. I had high hopes based on reviews I'd read. I think I ordered wrong (got a salad) but Steve had the same sandwich your sister did and wasn't impressed at all, and our mac and cheese was super duper dry and unappetizing.

 

[Raeven]

Into the Cars Section. It was cool to see, but after spending so much time in Cars Land, where the cars actually move, it’s a little underwhelming!

I can't wait to go to Cars Land in the future, but for now I'll have to make due with checking out AoA. I really want to next trip! I think Mater is the cutest!

Only problem is the price! Its definitely more on par with moderates/deluxes, and I know you get a suite, but it still would seem pretty cramped

It's true. I really want to stay in the Mermaid rooms for a shorter trip, but the no discounts isn't great, and the suites are about the same price (or more than!) some moderates and deluxes.

I thought Lady and Tramp icons were cute

We stayed in the 50's section when we went!

But it just seems weird to me how some of Pop is Disney icons and some is generic decade items. I get that those movies came out during that time, but it seems like it should be one or the other

I think maybe it's because the hotel is about pop culture in those decades and while Disney movies were part of it and it is a Disney hotel, they're trying to show some of the other decade items too.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Big News!

I will be adding another update today - still haven't gotten the photos from my sister though . You know, it's not like she had anything else to do, besides work, and planning her 10-yr high school reunion and all!

But, I do have big news! I'm going back to Disneyworld! In March!!!!!

I just started up a new PTR, so you can find all details there! Footloose and Fancy Free-March 2018 PTR!​

 

[balty74]

Love your trip report so far! Can't wait to see how you weathered the storm and hear more Disneyland comparisons. DH and I have both been there before, but never together and we'd love to take our son

 

[Lesley Wake]

Sorry-I know I promised this yesterday, but life got in the way; someone at my company was fired for poor work and missing deadlines and I ended up taking some of those projects on, which, of course meant the deadlines had already blown by and I basically had to redo everything! But now...on with the show!

Part 3 “It’s like your first day of school!”

Now that I was done exploring, I came back to our building and there was a lifeguard handing out free play cards for the arcade, so I got one for future use (I think they were trying to make up for the pools being closed for lightning in the area, even though it was sunny and blue skies at the actual hotel). Lauren and I figured we could maybe use during the hurricane, but then Disney decided just to put them all on free play during the storm! We ended up giving to some random kids in the arcade when we checked out.

Checked on the disboards and facebook groups and saw these meme, which just made me laugh!

When I got back I rested a bit and it was almost time for my sister’s 1:30 work phone call. We planned to head to Epcot once that was over. It was also only with work colleagues so I was allowed to make noise in the background . While she finished up the call, I packed up my park bag.

By 2:10, we were onto my very first park: Epcot! You can see we fought with the crowds for a bus!

My view of Lauren I would have often during the trip…

The bus came only a few minutes later and we got a private ride over on an empty bus (please excuse the weird panorama)!

Lauren said I was so excited, it seemed like my first day of school!

More Skyliner construction

We arrived pretty quickly and got thru the empty security area to scan in for the first time…and then promptly proceeded to exit the park again! I bet you’re all say-Lesley? What? Why would you enter then leave? Well, we first had to activate my sisters tickets (she had a 7-day park hopper), then we went back out and added 3 more days to her tickets for $31. We still didn’t know the closure schedule and this would allow us to make fastpasses for the next two days as well as keep the ones for the rest of our days. We would also then be able to go to a park the morning of the Halloween party. In the end, she ended up using 8 days, so has 2 leftover. She still needs to figure out if Disney will make up those days; originally she hoped to get a 2-day park hopper (basically extending the expiration date of her previous ticket), which was what led to me planning the upcoming March trip. Now she has decided she just wants a refund ($20)...


After we got all that taken care of we chatted with the CM at the ticket booth (an older lady) and she found out it was my sister’s first time in a hurricane. My sister didn’t realize what was happening and why I was cracking up laughing, but then the CM slid this over to her and Lauren was so hysterical!

(I don't know if you can read the writing but the pin says I'm Celebrating My First Hurricane! Lauren's birthday was also the week before, so she wore a birthday button for the first couple days and got countless Happy Birthdays!)

Finally, we were entering Epcot for the first time, for real! Since I had free photos with my AP we took full advantage of that (ending up with 538 downloaded photos/videos, etc at the end)!

Also, I don't know if you can tell who we were "Disneybounding?" My shirt is a bit of a giveaway though...


And here marks the beginning of our obsession with Magic Shots…we really tried to hunt down as many as possible!

Cont...what would be my first ride?

(Also, , what layout do people prefer? I keep experimenting with center/left justified, just photos or text?)​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We ended up giving to some random kids in the arcade when we checked out.

You probably made some kids day!

The bus came only a few minutes later and we got a private ride over on an empty bus (please excuse the weird panorama)!

It looks like you bent the bus in half! Ha!

After we got all that taken care of we chatted with the CM at the ticket booth (an older lady) and she found out it was my sister’s first time in a hurricane. My sister didn’t realize what was happening and why I was cracking up laughing, but then the CM slid this over to her and Lauren was so hysterical!

Too Funny! But a great souvenir!

 

[Dentam]

That hurricane meme is hilarious - can't believe I never saw that one!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Tomorrow we're heading to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland! Should be super fun! Also Lauren and her boyfriend are finally going to get new APs, so I will no longer need to go alone (though I probably still will occasionally)!

Day 1, Part 4 "You don't need a Fastpass"

I have to say, I love the logo and design for Food & Wine signage this year. It is really my style, cute and fun!

As we were waiting for the photopass photographer, I was able to book us some FPs for the day. First priority-Test Track (for later that afternoon). But they also had a Spaceship Earth one for immediate use, so I grabbed that one. I delayed getting a third one until I could think more about a ride strategy! ​

So, onto my first WDW ride ever: Spaceship Earth! You know, I honestly didn't know there was a ride in the "golf ball" until I started researching for this trip. I had always just assumed it was there for decoration and was empty space inside, or maybe just an educational exhibit!

Well, as we walked up to Spaceship Earth, we went to scan in, and the CM stopped us and said, "You don't need those fastpasses, there is no wait, go ahead". My sister had accidentally already scanned at that point, so it created some weirdness in the FP screen for MDE, but I went ahead and let mine expire to burn a Tier 2 FP.
​

And when the CM said no wait, she meant, literally there was no one in line! We ended up boarding and there was no one in any car in front of us for as far as we could see, or behind us (so probably about 10 cars in each direction)!

​

I liked the ride, it was cute and well done. I would definitely go on it again, but we didn’t end up doing it this trip. My sister said she and her boyfriend went on it 3 times during their trip because they kept falling asleep in the middle!

I got to control making the future.

We thought it was funny that Lauren was the one playing checkers, as it would more likely be me!

Next, we were pretty hungry, as we had only shared the bounty platter and it was nearing 3:30 (I think maybe we had some snacks in the room-leftover airline supplies-but I don’t remember). So we decided to check out our first Food & Wine booths.

(this was actually from a week later as they had taken down the signage and decorations in prep for the hurricane.)

We stopped at The Cheese Studio and each ended up with the Braised Beef “Stroganoff” [served with tiny egg noodles, wild mushrooms, and Boursin garlic and fine herbs cheese sauce]. My sister also got the Pinot Noir. I wish I had gotten the Cheese Trio, as I watched them putting those plates together for other guests and it looked good! Originally I had hoped we would stop by the booth another day, but you know how that goes…

(We also each got it without the pickled onions, which I had heard about from reviews but it wasn't mentioned on the item description)

(a pic of the Cheese trio courtesy of The Disney Food Blog; honestly it is much more appetizing in person!)​

We both thought the stroganoff was good, but very salty. I don’t know if there was something up with my palate this day, or if I’m just not used to enough salt (I tend to cook with a minimal amount and just add what’s needed at the end), because almost everything I ate was so salty!

A photo of the Wine and Dine Studio, but you can see they already took down the signage in prep for Irma. They had some nice wine bottle art sculptures too.

I thought the Next Eats sign was cool and there was a lovely grassy area where people could lounge (though it was in direct sunlight so I expect it could get pretty hot) but we didn’t end up eating at any of those booths.

(photo courtesy of EasyWDW, as I forgot to get one)
​

Cont. In which I design an alien racecar!​

 

[mamamelody2]

I got behind, but I'm caught up now!

Super big EWWW to the feet in the plane. What's wrong with people???

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 1, Part 5 "We've gone too far already"

After eating, we decided to head towards Future World West. Figment topiary! Very cute!

Onto our next ride-Journey Into Imagination with Figment! Another complete walk-on.

(Photo is actually looking back at the line from our ride car!)

This ride…um…I don’t know. Maybe a bit too cheesy for me. Maybe I need to give it a second chance though…if there's not a wait this March, I promise, I'll give it another go! Also a bunch of the screens weren’t working, so that probably didn’t help!

It was getting to be time for our Test Track FP, but first, another photoshoot! If you couldn't tell, we were wearing our Joy/Sadness Disney-bounding outfits, so had to re-enact the classic photo

And some regular ones, as well as a magic shot! In the magic shot it looks like Tink is looking back at me, like, WTH?

And a Magic Video!

On our walk over to Test Track, something happened that would continue to happen throughout our trip. This bird (a crane?) was walking along and some kids just decided to chase it. And even after it flew away, they just kept running and running after it! With their parents just nonchalantly walking along not caring! Its like-this bird is a living animal and does not deserve that stress and verbal abuse! Afterwards we ended up having to walk by it but did so slowly and gave it as much room as possible.

Ok, onto better things-Test Track! We had a Fastpass but I think the standby line was only something like 20/30 minutes. Because it was my first time, my sister let me be in charge of the car. I call it an Alien Smartcar on acid…it has a tail! It was high on efficiency but low on power.

I wish they had the stations set up where you could print out a card of your car and I would totally do it, but those didn't open until about a week after we left. I was talking with my sister later and thought they could totally 3D-print the cars and sell them at a premium! They already do the avatar 3D printed dolls, can you imagine how much money they'd made on kids and adults designing and printing their own cars?!?

The car itself didn’t do too badly! My sister scanned her band too at the entrance and it seems like the one she and her boyfriend designed was still stored on it, so that one got to race too! It beat me, but only by a few points.

I liked the ride, but I do have to say I prefer Radiator Springs Racers. They are definitely different, even though it’s the same vehicle. I wasn’t a fan of the inclement weather test, as it jarred me too much! The speed test was pretty cool though!

As we walked away from Test Track I made the half-hearted suggestion that we go on Mission Space. Lauren: “We’ve gone too far already”. That mantra became a running joke-anytime we considered doing something which would have involved backtracking (even if that backtracking was about 10 ft), one of us would say “we’ve gone too far already”. So, it became the title of the trip report-when I told Lauren, she nodded and said-that fits!

Cont...how many laps of World showcase would we end up doing?​

 

[thumper*]

I'm going back to Disneyworld! In March!!!!!

Yay

This is funny

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

My sister said she and her boyfriend went on it 3 times during their trip because they kept falling asleep in the middle!

​

That is too funny.

This ride…um…I don’t know. Maybe a bit too cheesy for me. Maybe I need to give it a second chance though…if there's not a wait this March, I promise, I'll give it another go! Also a bunch of the screens weren’t working, so that probably didn’t help!

The ride is just ok. It could be an amazing ride if they really tried to reimagine it. Like a room where you actually feel like you are upside down and not just looking at things hanging from the ceiling.

Too Funny!

Cont...how many laps of World showcase would we end up doing?

Is it not considered backtracking if you just keep circling around?

 

[Raeven]

Checked on the disboards and facebook groups and saw these meme, which just made me laugh!

Me too although not at the time because I was still nervously checking the weather.

I have to say, I love the logo and design for Food & Wine signage this year. It is really my style, cute and fun!

It was cute! Josh wanted to eat the giant pop up ham.

Originally I had hoped we would stop by the booth another day, but you know how that goes…

I wanted to try a cheese tart sooo bad and we never made it back there!

This ride…um…I don’t know. Maybe a bit too cheesy for me.

But the song is so fun

 

[Lesley Wake]

The ride is just ok. It could be an amazing ride if they really tried to reimagine it. Like a room where you actually feel like you are upside down and not just looking at things hanging from the ceiling.

Yeah-that would be super cool!

Is it not considered backtracking if you just keep circling around?

We would end up going clockwise from Mexico-Canada and then counterclockwise, back to Norway and Mexico! We weren't exactly the most efficient with our walking this trip! My original itinerary had us being super efficient trying to minimize backtracking. Then all those plans got thrown away and we did a whole lot more retracing our footsteps than expected!

 

[Lesley Wake]

First, I finally got my sister's photos! Turns out she definitely didn't take as many as me (I don't think many people do ), so only a couple backdated ones!

A selfie in line for the bus!

"First day of school" picture and my Sadness bow (please excuse the messy ponytail).

We also had a fun evening at Mickey's Halloween Party, but I'll wait to post that trip report/those photos until I finish Day 1! Also, I fully realize how many photos I took and how long this Day 1 post is getting! I think it just was everything was so new and magical! I think the later days have less photos (well, relatively), since there were more repeats...

Day 1, Part 6 “Can you translate?”

One final, very important stop in Future World for the day: meeting Joy and Sadness! It wasn’t too bad of a line, so we went ahead and the group of people in front of us loved our outfits! We chatted with them and turns out the boyfriend was a CM who was off these couple days and was “Friends with JJ” from the Muppet America show in MK. We promised to check out the show after the hurricane (I actually ended up seeing the boyfriend/girlfriend the next day at MK but I had just taken a big gulp of water so couldn’t say hi, and then the Muppets show we did see didn’t have JJ ).

As for the meet itself-it was awesome! If you couldn’t tell my sister had a halo headband for Joy and I was wearing fake Sadness glasses.

Joy immediately came over and gave Lauren a big hug.

Sadness was a bit shyer, but was also very excited to see me! She also liked my glasses and pointed out her own ones.

Joy and Lauren took lots of photos together, as expected.

​

Meanwhile, Sadness kept trying to tell me something and I just couldn’t understand! Eventually the handler and photographer and even Joy and Lauren tried to figure it out!

Turns out, she was trying to hold up 2 fingers making 11, since Riley was 11 and Riley wasn’t an adult, so Sadness didn’t know what it meant to be an adult, which led back to my shirt (which "Adulting sucks")! Once we figured that all out Sadness went down on her knees and was lifting her hands in praise! I wish we had gotten that photo on camera, but everyone in the room was laughing too hard!

A wonderful first character experience at WDW!​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 1, Part 7 “I can’t find Remy!”

Now, onto the World Showcase! First, some pics of the Food and Wine signage and topiary BBQ Mickey (sorry it is so dark, a cloud just came through)! I also picked up a Remy Hide and Squeak Scavenger Hunt Map.

The Greece, Thailand, and Mexico booths; we didn’t get anything from here, I just liked the design. I actually really liked all of the booths and how each one was designed for its country. DCA has had its own F&W festivals in the Spring of the past 2 years but I think each booth is the same and very generic.

You can see storm clouds starting to collect over the World Showcase and as we started walking to Mexico it began raining harder, so we ducked into the pyramid.

AND THAT MY FRIENDS WAS THE ONE AND ONLY TIME IT RAINED WHILE WE WERE IN A THEME PARK! Yup, we went in September, brought a pack of 20 disposable ponchos, and never needed them! That’s not to say it didn’t rain-there was a hurricane after all, it just never did it when we were trying to walk around outside or go on rides! Pretty unbelievable!

Now, onto Mexico. We immediately went on Gran Fiesta Tour because we were worried there might be a rush of people hoping to get out of the rain (in actuality, it probably stopped raining soon after we got inside). Another literal walk-on. We did have to wait a tiny bit as they sent one boat through with just a single couple, but don’t know what that was about! I think they were even a bit surprised!

This ride too..yeah, lets just say I’m really hoping Coco does well at the box office and they can retheme it! If not that, then bring Elena of Avalor over! Right now it just feels like a weird, animated postcard/guidebook with half of the screens not working. I guess it could be considered relaxing and some parts are cute (I like the fireworks and Donald piñata), but I don’t think it’ll be a repeat for me until it gets redone.

When we were done, we wandered through the gift area where we saw mini sombreros. Lauren tried to convince me to get one for my cats (I dress them up, yeah I am that person!) but I declined. We also saw 2 decent lines-looks like one was for La Cava del Tequila, and the other was for a photo with Donald Duck (the meet and greet had been moved inside due to rain).

Next, onto Norway. I really like the outdoor styling of the Sommerhaus and all the other buildings in the showcase! Anna and Elsa didn’t have much of a wait, but we were doing that another day. We also went in some shops but didn’t buy anything since we would have to switch hotels with the purchases!

We did a quick stop in Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe and saw these adorable Frozen mini cupcakes! But we didn’t get anything as we had a big (and expensive) dinner coming up that night.

It was also around this time that I realized I hadn’t been looking out for Remy in my scavenger hunt. I checked all around the Norway showcase, but couldn’t find him (and I wasn’t the only one as I saw a couple with the maps looking around everywhere). So I figured he was really well hidden and I would just have to keep looking…

The China booth (ended up going here another day), also with sign removed, and Africa

Over to Germany where we saw the miniature train tracks…but no train (another pre-hurricane removal). I think we also stopped in some of the stores. Also check out those crowds in the background…remember this was a Friday night, during Food & Wine, at around 5:45!

Onto Italy, where my sister grabbed a Prosecco and we just took a little bench break. During that break I was able to grab us a Fastpass for Frozen Ever After between dinner and Illuminations! (I think I forgot to mention I had gotten us a Tier 2 Mission Space FP but we never ended up using it so I let it expire)

Past America, where we originally wanted to check out the gallery, but it was closed off, so we just continued onwards. We also skipped Japan (for now).


And no Remy… Started to get a bit annoyed at myself that I couldn’t find him!

You can see some other pre-hurricane protection measures

Explored Morocco a bit.

Over to France. I think this was my favorite showcase. As we walked into the back shops area we passed by the entrance to Impressions de France and the CM leaned out the door and shouted after my sister-Happy Birthday! That was definitely the funniest of all the Happy birthdays! We had a lot of ride operators, food people, custodial staff, and just general CMs and guests wishing her a happy birthday! I tried to keep track the first day but it got to be too much and after a couple days she actually stopped wearing the button entirely.

I really liked the shop in France and scoped out some Macaron stuff (didn’t end up getting it). My sister also saw some wine glasses she wanted, which she got later (but there’s more to that story).

Over the bridge and through the woods to Grandmothers house…oh wait… over the bridge and into the UK! (although my grandmother was from England, and her extended family still lives there, so I guess that song could make sense)

Again, super crowded!

We stopped in the tea shop where my sister grabbed some so she could have tea in the hotel. We also chatted with some other CMs, as I lived in the UK for a year doing my masters program (University of Leeds). I think we gave them some tips on Netflix shows to watch while they were stuck inside during the hurricane!

I liked the royal table egg people, especially the lady in back who knows something!

Cont.. Dinner in our homeland!​

 

[kde175]

Hi there, I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to let you know that I am following along. We were supposed to fly down on Friday night, 9/8, but ended up cancelling. We have re-scheduled for January.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Hi there, I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to let you know that I am following along. We were supposed to fly down on Friday night, 9/8, but ended up cancelling. We have re-scheduled for January.

No one is ever late to the party! I think I saw you post on a different TR and noticed you had missed due to Irma! I hope your plans go well for January! I really wanted to see Festival of the Arts, but I'll have to leave that for another year.

 

[kde175]

No one is ever late to the party! I think I saw you post on a different TR and noticed you had missed due to Irma! I hope your plans go well for January! I really wanted to see Festival of the Arts, but I'll have to leave that for another year.

We are so excited for the Festival of the Arts! We've never been to WDW in January, so this will be a first for us.
Em was so excited to be staying at Beach Club in September as it's her "dream" resort, and was pretty crushed when we had to cancel. I couldn't get it for her in January, so we're going with her second choice, which is the Treehouses at Saratoga Springs. I'm waitlisted for Beach Club, but she's thrilled to get to see the Treehouses. Now we're trying to talk a few friends into joining us since the Treehouses sleep 9 and we're only 3.