"When I went it was all lights, and music, and Mickey doin' his magic." — Aug. '18 Disneyversary TR — Completed (Finally!!) August 20, 2021

Eventually we were discovered by a cast member who told us that we were absolutely not supposed to enter the park until we were met by a guide at the front gate.
Then why'd ya leave the gate open people. Sheesh!

ePmAPR6.jpg
This is awesome. Go you!

All in all, this was an amazing experience! I highly recommend it if you're looking to splurge on something new at Disney and you want to try something a bit more adventurous.
This does sound like a great and different experience. No chance I'm ever getting close to a surfboard, but Casey would probably love to do it.

pparently, since we hadn't bought a waterpark ticket, and the park was about to open, we had to be immediately escorted out and weren't given the courtesy of a quick visit to the changing rooms.
Now this is even more ridiculous than making you go back to the entrance.

We made the stupid-long walk out of DHS (is this still a thing now!? I can't wait till this isn't a thing!)
It better not be because this was like some sort of death march!

She turned to the daughter, gestured to the people on the tram, and snapped, "There's nothing to do here! That's why everyone is leaving!" :laughing:
And more perfect works have never been spoken.

It was a lovely spot to spend our nights, and it made us feel pretty bougie. I did find, however, that because I had such high expectations of the Grand, I was probably more critical of our room/stay than I would have been elsewhere.
That certainly is disappointed. Sounds like our experience at Beach Club. I wanted to love it so much but they clearly hadn't taken very good care of it.

We didn't receive our bread or drinks until we'd been at the restaurant for over an hour past our reservation time, meaning that we'd been seated for 30+ minutes.
Our service here has never been great, but this is absolutely absurd.

I was so hungry and tired, in fact, that I didn't bother telling our server that my steak was bland/under-seasoned, dry, and overcooked (around a medium well, when I'd ordered medium rare.) My vegetables—which consisted of a bowl of green beans topped with two carrots—were boiled, naked/plain, and cold.
Speaking of absurd!!!! I can understand why you wouldn't have sent it back after that long though. Our steaks have never been anything short of perfect but I guess even Yacthsman can screw up every once in a while.

Then he made me feel kinda guilty for not having told him earlier when he could have done something about it, but service had been so slow that I honestly hadn't really been interested in waiting for another steak to be cooked.
Now that is what you should have said to him!

If you're not familiar with the story, Come From Away is inspired by the story of the 38 flights that were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, on 9/11, and it explores the stories of some of the folks who came to be referred to as the "plane people," as well as the residents of the town. I expected to like it, but I ended up loving it. If you ever get the chance, don't pass up an opportunity to see it.
I've never heard of this. We love Broadway shows but this one isn't even on my radar. I'll have to check it out.

♥ ♥ ♥

I was able to secure an annual passholder preview slot for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
Woohoo!!! We got in too on the first day.

Other things to share about this trip... so we will be arriving, likely, on August 20th at some point (depending on how quickly we can drive down from Canada.)
Drive fast lady! I leave the morning of the 19th
 
Then why'd ya leave the gate open people. Sheesh!

Right!? Really though! If you don't want me to go inside somewhere, don't leave it wide open for me. Surfing was expensive, and I got up hecka' early, and I did NOT want to miss it! :laughing:

This is awesome. Go you!

Thanks! I was so pleased with myself for doing the cool hard thing! It was a lot of fun.

This does sound like a great and different experience. No chance I'm ever getting close to a surfboard, but Casey would probably love to do it.

Oh my gosh, Casey would have a ball learning to surf!! She'd probably be really good at it, too.

That certainly is disappointed. Sounds like our experience at Beach Club. I wanted to love it so much but they clearly hadn't taken very good care of it.

That's so unfortunate! We're at the Beach Club in a few weeks, so hopefully we'll have a better experience. But it sounds like a few of the resorts could really use a refresh.

Speaking of absurd!!!! I can understand why you wouldn't have sent it back after that long though. Our steaks have never been anything short of perfect but I guess even Yacthsman can screw up every once in a while.

Yeah man, it was really disappointing! I wonder if this may have to do with the allergy thing though. It's not an excuse, but it's a pattern I'm noticing. I had the same issue at Jiko. I wonder if the allergy chefs have their expertise in all things allergies, so cooking the perfect steak isn't their strong suit...not that that's an excuse because I feel like if you're gonna be a chef you need to be able to master the basics. I dunno. :confused3

Now that is what you should have said to him!

I wish I had!! Oh well.

I've never heard of this. We love Broadway shows but this one isn't even on my radar. I'll have to check it out.

It was excellent! It's beautifully done, and it really gives you a little taste of what Newfoundlanders are like, and east coast Canadian hospitality, etc. And the stories are really beautiful.

Woohoo!!! We got in too on the first day.

That's awesome!! Congrats!

Drive fast lady! I leave the morning of the 19th

Hmmm....I don't think that'll be physically possible unless I invest in a much faster car. Maybe the evening of the 19th, but definitely not the morning. I'll watch for you out the window while we drive!
 
For the first time in our lives, we were going to try surfing!! 🏄‍♀️

COOOL!! That sounds fun!

Eventually we were discovered by a cast member who told us that we were absolutely not supposed to enter the park until we were met by a guide at the front gate. We all walked all the way back out of the park again, just to wait another five minutes for a guide who was running late, just to walk all the way back in again. #Disneyefficiency

Okay, that's just stupid. I did that once in the Canada Pavilion for hte show because no one showed up forever. Do your jobs, People.

(Side note: apparently Typhoon Lagoon had just gotten a new, much louder fog horn sound, and it was continually scaring the bejeezus out of our instructor, who was used to the old one.)

LOL!! That'd been funny to see!

Eventually I just got the hang of when to stand up and made it up on my own.

YAY!

But as I waited for my second turn, a funny thing happened. I started brainstorming about all the things I could have done differently to improve, and I started feeling determined to give it another shot. And I did! Each time I tried, I did a little better, had a little more of an adrenaline rush, and felt more and more excited to try again.

I admire your resiliance. Good on you!

offered to send us all his photos if we gave him our email addresses. I expected to receive a dozen photos or so, with maybe a couple of me and N. It ended up being hundreds! Some of his photos were very good, and most of what you see in this update is thanks to him.
That's the best! totally what humans should be like.




Love those 2 best. You 2 look awesome!

After the class was done, I was a little peeved to find out that we weren't allowed to change out of our wet things before leaving.

Completely unacceptable. That should have been told to you up front at the very least.

Our ride on AS2 (<-- lol)

LOL!

Then she followed it up with a sassy, "...or not!" I couldn't believe it!

Super not okay or cool. I'd have snapped back.

It was a lovely spot to spend our nights, and it made us feel pretty bougie.

It's the schwankdiggity!


Come From Away is inspired by the story of the 38 flights that were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, on 9/11, and it explores the stories of some of the folks who came to be referred to as the "plane people," as well as the residents of the town. I expected to like it, but I ended up loving it. If you ever get the chance, don't pass up an opportunity to see it.

I've wanted to see this for so long. Maybe someday I'll see it in POrtland and try for it.


Ever since I saw it on FB I was wondering what the part above the building is. Help?
 


Nice tat! You're braver than me.

Your August trip sounds great, lots of interesting adventures coming. Sounds like you'll need to do another trip report.
 
COOOL!! That sounds fun!

It really was. :goodvibes

Okay, that's just stupid. I did that once in the Canada Pavilion for hte show because no one showed up forever. Do your jobs, People.

My thoughts exactly.

I admire your resiliance. Good on you!

Thanks! It paid off!

That's the best! totally what humans should be like.

::yes:::lovestruc

Love those 2 best. You 2 look awesome!

Thanks, Liesa! I felt pretty cool once I got the hang of it, have to say! Except when I'd wipe out and emerge a spluttering mess. :laughing:

Super not okay or cool. I'd have snapped back.

I was tempted. Didn't seem worth it, but I certainly wasn't impressed!

I've wanted to see this for so long. Maybe someday I'll see it in POrtland and try for it.

I really hope you get the chance someday! It was so so very well done.

Ever since I saw it on FB I was wondering what the part above the building is. Help?

So the building is actually situated within part of the land of the globe, in this particular case, the continent of Africa. So what you're seeing above it is the Mediterranean (with a black outline around the land, and bits of the spaceship-earth-y type background below it.) And then above that would be your various European bits.

Nice tat! You're braver than me.

Your August trip sounds great, lots of interesting adventures coming. Sounds like you'll need to do another trip report.

Thanks so much! And I really hope I can keep the momentum going here, and then get another trip report going afterwards to share all the fun new stories!
 


Good tip! I'll see what we can do! It sounds like a pretty fun spot. I love me a good piano player! My college roommate was an awesome pianist and I miss listening to him improv whatever we asked him to play. I assume some nights are busier than others? And it's probably harder to get a table if you're not there early in the night some nights?

Yes, they definitely are. Sunday in particular is very busy (I guess I should mention now that it's a cast member night lol), but if you get there right as they open you can get a seat. It will pack in behind for sure, but you'll definitely be able to get a seat if you get there for when it opens for sure.
 
Beautiful tattoo! I think it suits you perfectly and it's a great representation of both Disney and Epcot. :goodvibes

The surf school at Typhoon Lagoon sounds hard! I bet you were tired after that event. It shocked me that they wouldn't let you change clothes, though. Like, how long would it have really taken to allow everyone to do that? Silly rule...

Hmm, that's a valid observation about staying at the Grand. I feel like I would be the exact same way. This is Disney's flagship resort, you expect perfection.
 
It really was so kind of him! And lucky for us that he happened to be there for our particular class! Some pretty entertaining photos for sure :laughing:
Amazing photos, indeed! And I'm so impressed that you both did so well! Personally, it all sounds a bit overwhelming to me, so even more kudos to you both!!! :goodvibes :thumbsup2

I thought so, too. It only would have taken a few minutes. It's not like we were going to try to sneak into the park or anything. I just didn't wanna drive to breakfast in a wet bathing suit. Oh well.
Exactly! :sad2:

I'm sorry to hear that!! You're right that it's very rare, but when it does happen it really leaves a bad feeling. CMs are people, and you never know what's happened to them leading up to those moments, but it doesn't make it feel any better when it happens.
Thank you. Not only was I hurt by her attitude, I was absolutely mortified :guilty: I hope her day got better!

Keegan managed to blend two of my EPCOT loves, Spaceship Earth, and Illuminations, into one beautiful and seamless globe, which is exactly what I asked him to do. He incorporated nods to Flower and Garden, and the Canada Pavilion, and even hid a little Hidden Mickey for me.
This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! What an amazing job he did! It's perfect :goodvibes

I love that this tattoo shows my love for Disney parks, but more than that, it's a symbol of progress, human resilience, and new life.
Yes. All that. Yes. :lovestruc

I was able to secure an annual passholder preview slot for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
Woohoo! That was a pretty nerve-wracking couple hours, wasn't it?! I got in too! August 19 from 1-5pm :hyper::hyper::hyper:

Another exciting "first" for this trip will be that I get to attend Food and Wine for the first time!
Yay! I'm bummed I'll miss it by several days. You'll have to enjoy it for me ;)

I'm hopeful that I will also get the chance to meet up with a few other DISfolk who will be down there at the same time.
Would love for that to happen!
 
If you ever get the chance, don't pass up an opportunity to see it.
I would love to see Come From Away, for somewhat obvious reasons I guess, but I’ve heard such good things about it too.

I was able to secure an annual passholder preview slot for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
Yay! Very exciting. I’ll be looking forward to reading everyone’s reports about it. I hope you enjoy it.
 
What a unique experience doing the surfing class! I'm glad you guys had fun! And so nice of the person to send you all those photos!

Boma sounds like a good way to cap off the morning!

Sounds like a fun time at DHS!

I'm sorry your meal at Yachtsman wasn't good :( That's disappointing!

I loveee your tattoo, so beautiful!
 
On the topic of movies, I also went to see Toy Story 4 recently with a friend, and I really enjoyed it! I still maintain that Toy Story 2 is the best Toy Story movie. Obviously
Really??? Ok, I guess I'm of the age that Toy Story came out when I was still into Disney movies. TS2 came out when I was at an age that I didn't care for "kid" movies and then TS3 hit that nostalgic tone. TS2 is good but I've just never made that deep connection with that one.
After nearly 5 hours sitting for my first tattoo, it was nearly finished and looked like this:
Wow!!! That's awesome! I missed the illumination globe part until you explained it, but I loved seeing spaceship earth as part of it. Really neat how it incorporates your love of Disney and all these different components that have significant meaning to you!
What prompted me to write about this trip is that just yesterday, like many of my other DISfriends, I was able to secure an annual passholder preview slot for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
That's awesome!!!!
I expect that it's gonna be a pretty exciting time when all is said and done, and if I ever manage to finish this trip report, then I'll be sure to start another one to tell you all about it!
Well even if you don't, you've got to come back and tell us all about your experience at Galaxy's Edge!!
 
Beautiful tattoo! I think it suits you perfectly and it's a great representation of both Disney and Epcot. :goodvibes

The surf school at Typhoon Lagoon sounds hard! I bet you were tired after that event. It shocked me that they wouldn't let you change clothes, though. Like, how long would it have really taken to allow everyone to do that? Silly rule...

Hmm, that's a valid observation about staying at the Grand. I feel like I would be the exact same way. This is Disney's flagship resort, you expect perfection.

Thank you! It's healing up nicely, and I feel really good about it! The art is beautiful, and it means a lot.

Right!? I can't believe we couldn't change our clothes! But it was a really fun adventure, otherwise.

Amazing photos, indeed! And I'm so impressed that you both did so well! Personally, it all sounds a bit overwhelming to me, so even more kudos to you both!!! :goodvibes :thumbsup2

Thanks! It was something that Nathan's always wanted to try, so I really did it for him...but then I ended up liking it, too!

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! What an amazing job he did! It's perfect :goodvibes

Thank you so much! I'm really impressed with what he came up with. It's nothing like I envisioned, but it's really beautiful and reflects exactly what I wanted it to.

I would love to see Come From Away, for somewhat obvious reasons I guess, but I’ve heard such good things about it too.

I highly recommend it! Being from Newfoundland, you'd connect with it, I'm sure. And it's so well done! Hopefully you'll have the chance someday.

What a unique experience doing the surfing class! I'm glad you guys had fun! And so nice of the person to send you all those photos!

Boma sounds like a good way to cap off the morning!

Sounds like a fun time at DHS!

I'm sorry your meal at Yachtsman wasn't good :( That's disappointing!

I loveee your tattoo, so beautiful!

We had a lot of fun! It was an excellent morning, with surfing, then Boma.

And thanks! I'm really pleased with it!

Really??? Ok, I guess I'm of the age that Toy Story came out when I was still into Disney movies. TS2 came out when I was at an age that I didn't care for "kid" movies and then TS3 hit that nostalgic tone. TS2 is good but I've just never made that deep connection with that one.

I'm sure it's just because I'm biased. I watched it A LOT as a kid. It came out when I was six (dating myself here!) If I'd wake up from a nightmare and not be able to sleep, my mom would turn it on and plunk me in front of the tv so I didn't keep anyone else up in the house. But I love the characters! The introduction of Jessie and Bullseye was an excellent idea. Nathan is a few years older than me though, and he would agree with you 100%.

Wow!!! That's awesome! I missed the illumination globe part until you explained it, but I loved seeing spaceship earth as part of it. Really neat how it incorporates your love of Disney and all these different components that have significant meaning to you!

Thank you! I'm so pleased with what he came up with, and how he incorporated all those elements. And it looks pretty cool, too. :goodvibes

Well even if you don't, you've got to come back and tell us all about your experience at Galaxy's Edge!!

Definitely! I'll have to ask Nathan for help with writing about that bit. Otherwise it'll be a lot of "and then we went to this place, which, apparently, was important and cool," and "we saw this guy who had a cool lightsaber," etc.
 
So, after reading that your artist's choice of Africa might be random, no real significance... my jaw hit the ground. I couldn't believe it, then started questioning if I was thinking about the wrong person in my recent binge-reading/lurking spree of TRs.

Africa... AKL... Giraffes.... Finding your "home" (Canada/proposal) within AKL... it's too perfect. (Sure, that view is often shown in Illuminations pics, but I don't tend to believe in coincidences.) I LOVE this tattoo... absolutely LOVE it.
 
Highly recommend! It felt a bit swanky for us in terms of budget and level of service, but it would be lovely for a special meal. The birthday coupon really does make it more affordable as well—i.e. we only paid for one $56 steak, rather than two $56/$54 steaks!—and I seem to recall you have a window of a few weeks to use the coupon.
I may have to try this in the next week or two then...my birthday was end of last month and due to sad family issues, wasn't even considering Disney on my birthday, much less even able.

Haha yeah, interesting was one word for him! He kinda seemed like a movie character or something. Quite a guy.
What movie? The shining meets revenge of the nerds, perhaps?

You're correct on both counts. It was actually quite good. I preferred it to the typical bread/rolls that are server for gluten free folks.
It would be cool if you could find the supplier or get the recipe.

You don't look like a souffle person. 😋 But according to Nathan it was quite tasty.
So...what does a souffle person look like? Intelligent? Is that why you're saying I don't look like one? ;)

I mentioned this above in response to Liesa's comment, but I'm really still very much an "auto" kind of amateur photographer, and only venture outside that comfort zone occasionally with minimal proficiency. Having this camera is nice motivation for me to learn more about how photography works, so I've invested in a couple of books, and am hoping to find some time to possibly take a class or two in future.
Well said. That pretty much describes me also.
 
And If the server had tried to guilt me, that's when confrontational me would have come out and pointed out those very details. :rotfl2: I can only bottle it up so long. :rotfl:
What he said!

Yeah... I might (might!) have been tempted to say "Well since it took half an hour for just bread to arrive, I didn't dare order another steak. We have FPs for tomorrow that I don't want to miss."
And him too!
 
I’m still here and have been lurking along with the last couple of updates. :flower3: Your surf school adventure looks really exhilarating! You two really are brave. Happy almost-versary! Do you have an itinerary somewhere or a PTR for your upcoming trip?
 
So, after reading that your artist's choice of Africa might be random, no real significance... my jaw hit the ground. I couldn't believe it, then started questioning if I was thinking about the wrong person in my recent binge-reading/lurking spree of TRs.

Africa... AKL... Giraffes.... Finding your "home" (Canada/proposal) within AKL... it's too perfect. (Sure, that view is often shown in Illuminations pics, but I don't tend to believe in coincidences.) I LOVE this tattoo... absolutely LOVE it.

Thanks so much! I'm pretty pleased with it.

I may have to try this in the next week or two then...my birthday was end of last month and due to sad family issues, wasn't even considering Disney on my birthday, much less even able.

I'm so sorry to hear that. But I do hope you get a chance to check out Shula's at some point! Sending positive thoughts to you and your family.

It would be cool if you could find the supplier or get the recipe.

I know I've read what the brand is before, but I can't seem to bring it to mind. I know a lot of the Disney restaurants use the Deanna's gluten free rolls, which aren't terrible or anything, but they're definitely not my favourite.

I'm hoping I/we might be one of those dismeets. Our SWGE preview is the 17th from 1-5.

Ooh, I'm glad to hear you got an AP preview, too! We won't be there yet on the 17th, but possibly another day or another time. I hope you have a fantastic preview! I'm looking forward to comparing notes with you and other Disfriends after ours.

I’m still here and have been lurking along with the last couple of updates. :flower3: Your surf school adventure looks really exhilarating! You two really are brave. Happy almost-versary! Do you have an itinerary somewhere or a PTR for your upcoming trip?

:wave: Thanks! Hard to believe how quickly two years have gone... *shudder* I don't have an itinerary or PTR or anything posted this time around! Blame laziness, or anxious paranoia at sharing my detailed plans on the internet...probably just laziness, really. :laughing: But I'd be happy to message you with my more detailed plans!
 

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