Where are we, Jersey? Bye, Phoenicians! An August 2017 TR * NEW DINING/TR LINKS*

[wdwnut61]

Have fun and can't wait to hear all about your training. I really enjoyed it last year.
If you do get to tour HRH take lots of pictures

 

[Raeven]

pcot, to check out the Festival of the Arts! Very excited about this even though it doesn't get the reviews that F&G and F&W get. Still cool to experience something new! Plus, food and drink booths

It sounds really cool! It sounds like they added a lot this year too.

but we know we're joining in the Mardi Gras festivities at Universal Studios again by riding the floats!!! Myself, Cathy and one other agent who did the training last year, Pam, rode on the Phoenix float last year and it was the highlight of the training:

I heard they changed up some of the floats again for this year, usually I think they have them for awhile but they changed some last year too.

Not sure if I'm excited about this or not. Usually I'm just excited over food, but @Raeven and her BF Josh didn't love their breakfast there so.....IDK.

I'm hoping the a la carte menu has something good on it for you, we only got to try the buffet!

Besides riding the float I'm super duper excited about this, especially since I don't like water parks BUT, I've never been to either Disney water park so it'll be something completely new to me, and while I was there for training last year it wasn't open yet.

I can't wait to see Volcano Bay, but I also don't like waterparks. We've had Disney waterpark tickets since our first trip, and I don't think we'll ever use them. I got caught up in the excitement and bought them

1. my restaurant better be good and 2. my restaurant better be good.

I hope you get a good one!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Enjoyed your report! Have a wonderful trip, hope you give us a report when you return!

 

[ArielSRL]

Great wrap up! Looking forward to hearing about your training trip!

 

[Tracy161]

we know we're joining in the Mardi Gras festivities at Universal Studios again by riding the floats!!!

Whaaaaaaat?! That is SO cool!!!!! I hope you have a great time!

Either way I'll be happy because I'll be throwing beads at peoples' heads again.

And who doesn't love that?!

Thank you for sharing another great TR with us! I'm sad to see it end, but happy we'll get to read about your next trip!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Hi Ariane! I hope you have a wonderful "quickie" trip, so jealous!!!! It looks like the temps have gone up a bit, so that's awesome! It got cold in Florida for awhile...

Your August trip was a total success! You all got to try some new things and stuck to some of your old time favs!!!

Can't wait to hear what March has in store for you. We leave in 47 days!!!!!!! I can't wait to see Timmy. He's having the time of his life!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I can't wait to hear about your TA trip and then your March plans.

 

[ariane37]

Hey all! I'm back from my trip! I'm going to answer your comments soon and I think I'll do just a little trip report and add it here I had a great time my two days in Disney and loved spending time with Cathy there and her & Pam in Universal. It was also great meeting so many of the other agents and especially my boss for the first time. Stay tuned!

 

[Tracy161]

I think I'll do just a little trip report and add it here

Yes, please!

So glad you had such a great time! Looking forward to the full report

 

[wdwnut61]

Hey all! I'm back from my trip! I'm going to answer your comments soon and I think I'll do just a little trip report and add it here I had a great time my two days in Disney and loved spending time with Cathy there and her & Pam in Universal. It was also great meeting so many of the other agents and especially my boss for the first time. Stay tuned!

Welcome back
Looking forward to hearing all about it

 

[Smilelea]

Glad you're back! Looking forward to reading all about it!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Welcome back!!!! I can't wait to hear all about your quickie getaway...LOL!

 

[ariane37]

Oooh, I wanna try this sometime! I'm thinking we'll go for our anniversary trip in August.

I wish we'd gotten to Jellyrolls but sadly we didn't Still on my list though!

Which one is the big one now? The one on Vineland or the one on I-Drive? I feel like I heard/read somewhere that I-Dr used to be big and then it got shrunk and now Vineland is the better one? I dunno!! Anyway, I went to the one on Vineland Ave last May and I wasn't impressed at all. But I think it probably depends A LOT on when you're there whether it happens to be better or worse selection. There was lots of clothing (a LOT of cruise stuff, but some other stuff, too,) but I wasn't shopping for clothes so I didn't find much.

You know I'm not positive but I think the big one is the one on I-Drive is bigger I'm honestly not sure which one we went to when lol! The one we went to this year was different than last year; it was a bit bigger but not much. It did have more stuff though and the outlet center as a whole was larger.

I'm actually pretty surprised you've never been to a Disney waterpark.

I'm NOT a water parks person We have a water park 10 minutes from us - it's not the size of Volcano Bay or the Disney parks but it's actually a good size - and I HATE it. Luckily Chris doesn't really like it either and Ricky goes alone with his friends but when they were younger and I had to go I dreaded it.
Funny though I've asked the boys if they want to go to a Disney water park just to switch it up, thinking Ricky would say yes and he always says no! Fine with me

I'm hoping the a la carte menu has something good on it for you, we only got to try the buffet!

Yeah.......as you know so did we. Not a fan. I didn't even look at the regular menu since I knew we were limited to the buffet but thinking stuff like eggs, pancakes, etc. that are on the buffet wouldn't be any better ordered as an entrée

I can't wait to see Volcano Bay, but I also don't like waterparks. We've had Disney waterpark tickets since our first trip, and I don't think we'll ever use them. I got caught up in the excitement and bought them

lol! Since I haven't ever even been to a Disney park I can't compare them to VB, but VB did look neat. I think people who love water parks do/will really enjoy VB.

Enjoyed your report! Have a wonderful trip, hope you give us a report when you return!

I'll hopefully start my reporting over the weekend!

Great wrap up! Looking forward to hearing about your training trip!

Thanks! Should be coming up soon!

Thank you for sharing another great TR with us! I'm sad to see it end, but happy we'll get to read about your next trip!

Thank you for the nice words

It looks like the temps have gone up a bit, so that's awesome! It got cold in Florida for awhile...

Temps were most definitely warmer than the previous weeks thank goodness! However only one day could be categorized as actually "warm". Most days we only took our sweatshirts off for maybe an hour or two and all evenings we definitely needed them. But better than the temps in NY for sure

Can't wait to hear what March has in store for you. We leave in 47 days!!!!!!! I can't wait to see Timmy. He's having the time of his life!

So glad Timmy is loving it, I had no doubt he would Yup eventually I'll get around to posting our March plans lol

I can't wait to hear about your TA trip and then your March plans.

And I hope you and Dana have a great time later this month!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I'm NOT a water parks person We have a water park 10 minutes from us - it's not the size of Volcano Bay or the Disney parks but it's actually a good size - and I HATE it. Luckily Chris doesn't really like it either and Ricky goes alone with his friends but when they were younger and I had to go I dreaded it.
Funny though I've asked the boys if they want to go to a Disney water park just to switch it up, thinking Ricky would say yes and he always says no! Fine with me

Haha no way! I'm surprised they say they don't want to do a Disney waterpark, but that works out well for you, so that's easy! I'm not a fan. The Disney ones are perfectly nice, and I think I'd like them more than waterparks elsewhere, but still. When we renewed our APs this year, we downgraded one level because the only reason to keep the platinum plus was for the waterparks, and we won't use them.

 

[buzzrelly]

I promised I'd come back and do a wrap up, and I'm back! A few days before I leave for my next Disney quickie Here's a little rundown of how that'll go:​

Just seeing this now but I was following on Facebook and looks like you had fun!

We then have some "training" which includes touring this place:

Besides riding the float I'm super duper excited about this, especially since I don't like water parks BUT, I've never been to either Disney water park so it'll be something completely new to me, and while I was there for training last year it wasn't open yet.

I'm kind of jealous about this…we have decided to skip Universal this April and booked a three night cruise on the Wonder, instead. VB is the only thing I'm sad about missing

So there's my extremely long rundown of my quickie trip! Now to wrap up our August trip; we had fun. Bye.

Hey all! I'm back from my trip! I'm going to answer your comments soon and I think I'll do just a little trip report and add it here I had a great time my two days in Disney and loved spending time with Cathy there and her & Pam in Universal. It was also great meeting so many of the other agents and especially my boss for the first time. Stay tuned!

Welcome back! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[heathsf]

Ooooooh I love it!

Was there a strike going on? IDK, but I'm going to pay careful attention next month. Both to any missing dolls AND to whether or not the dolls at the end have faces behind the masks......

We were going to HS to ride the Great Movie Ride for the.last.time

By the time we got up there the wait was 90 minutes.

That's crazy! Even 45 minutes is a long time for RD but you knew to expect it...

We went from 8:30, to 9:30, to 11 to midnight to like 8:25! Oh I was thrilled, and I ran!!!!!

Wow! Good thing you were there to hear the announcement! That's crazy!!!

Can't wait to hear about your trip last week and more about your March plans.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Welcome back! Still sad we missed each other. Next time!

 

[ariane37]

MY ALMOST SOLO DISNEY/UNIVERSAL TRIP!
DAY ONE: ARRIVAL/MK​

I'm so happy you guys are interested to read about my trip!! So I'm calling it "almost solo" because even though I went on the Universal TA training last year, I flew down with Cathy and we didn't go to Disney first. This year I flew down by myself and met her there and we did Disney first, so it was my first time at Disney with no family members. It was different, but.......I can't say I didn't like it! I will say there were definitely times I missed them all and I'm extremely glad we have our March and August trips planned.

My flight was leaving from Westchester at 10:20am. The plan was for Chris to get dropped at a friends house to get the bus with him; Ricky would be leaving for school before we had to leave. Of course we ended up with a 2 hour delay, which only meant Chris spent more time at his friends and Ricky had to make himself breakfast. Which = pre-packaged mini muffins for him since he didn't want to make the effort to use the toaster oven #teenageboys. Not my concern though and despite some frozen roads my flight left on time!

Unlike our last few family trips, I got on line for ME, waited about 3 minutes, and was boarding:



And even better, we were pulling out before my butt was even settled in the seat! Steve was pretty jealous. Cathy had arrived about an hour before me and was hanging at our resort waiting for me. We were both starving but she was holding off until I got there which was more than I would probably do because of my problem with HANGER.
I was bad at taking pictures when I first got to CSR because I wanted to get to my room and then get FOOD, and it was also chilly and windy so I did stop to put my sweatshirt on. Not cold but chilly. We had gotten a room in Casitas 3 which was where our room was back in 2014 when my family stayed and, I think, the best section. Steve and I were in Casitas 4 back in Nov. and had a refurbished room, and we had a refurbished room again of which I took no pictures. Don't worry, there will be PLENTY of resort room pics when I get to the Universal part of my report! I found our room, Cathy and I said our hello's and decided we were too hungry to make it to a park so Pepper Market it was. This was Cathy's first time at CSR and while she thought the refurbed room was cool except for the lack of carpet, she was surprised at how many construction vehicles were around. I will say the construction was more evident than when Steve and I were there in Nov. I still don't think it was to the point it would impact your trip since it isn't affecting amenities, but they are working in more areas so more vehicles are around.

Once in Pepper Market we both went Mexican; I got the
Tacos
Choice of seasoned Beef or Chicken served with Black Beans and Rice:



I got beef. They put the meat on plain and then ask you what toppings you want so I got tomatoes, cheese, and guac. There were onions, cilantro or as I call it, dish soap, and honestly I can't remember what else. But OMG these were delicious as were the rice and beans. And a HUGE portion, I couldn't even finish all 3 tacos and I was starving. The meat is of the pulled style FYI.

Cathy got the
Cheese Empanada
Crisp Tortilla filled with Monterey Jack Cheese, topped with Queso Fresco and Tomatillo Salsa.
I really wish I had taken a picture because besides looking pretty she loved these. I did eventually start taking pictures of her food, and while she looked at me funny the first couple times she understands my DIS-ness and finally started asking me if I needed a picture before she began eating I think I'll keep her.
Once finished we took a walk down to the convention area where we "borrowed" large-ish handfuls of various brochures you don't necessarily find at the front desk, returned them to our room, and we were off to our first park!

We had decided to visit all 4 parks in the 2 days we had. I was fine with not accomplishing much since I'd be back soon. Cathy hasn't visited as often as I have and was happy to have the extra days, and is planning on going in July so basically let me plan. We were starting in MK and had our FP's for:
BTMRR
7DMT
Enchanted Tales with Belle*we have 8 boys between us counting my stepsons, don't judge!*

It was PACKED. It was also a Friday, with morning EMH so obviously not the recommended park to be in. We managed but OMG wait times were high!! We were within our first FP window so went right to BTMRR and were then in our window for ETwB. However on our way there Cathy noticed the line for HM was at 40 minutes and wanted to stop Ummmm, ok It actually wasn't bad and we were on in 20 minutes. It was so crowded in the stretching room and the CM kept telling us to move all the way back; I moved almost all the way back but I can't stand being squished against the wall so I stopped about 2 feet short of it. All of a sudden, some guy starts poking me in the arm and says real loud, like he thought I couldn't understand English, and yells, "YOU HAVE TO MOVE BACK!!!" poking me the whole time he's yelling. Cathy knew I was on the verge of punching him so she was laughing hysterically plus she could see the look I was giving him in the almost pitch black room; I just looked at him, turned to her, and said to her, "what the *^%&???" Don't worry, not loud enough for little ears to hear! But dude, keep your hands off me!!! It was like when my kids were little and would tap my arm continuously going "momomomomomomom" except this kid was 6 ft tall and weighed in at about 200lbs and was not related to me.

During our time in the queue and once on the ride I kept telling Cathy trivia I'd learned during the Marceline to the MK tour so I think she was glad when the ride was over. We had 3 minutes until our ETwB FP window ended and we did want to do it, so we walked at a rather leisurely pace through the crowd to test the "you can scan in 10 minutes after your FP window ends" theory. Guess what?





It works! Cathy had never done this attraction before and I only did it once with the family when it first opened. I forgot to tell her it was "interactive" (honestly didn't think about it) so she hid behind tall people so as not to be picked for a part. I do think this is adorable! I've never told clients NOT to do it, but now that I've had a refresher I need to make sure to tell clients, especially those with little girls, that they really HAVE to do it.

It was now time for our 7DMT FP so we went right next door and got right on. I took horrible blurry pics I won't share. I would however share our ride photo, but MDE is being stupid right now and is saying my password, which I've had forever, is incorrect So maybe by the time I do my next update it'll work? Who knows, it's Disney IT!!!!

I'll stop there and continue with our first evening when I return, in which we venture over to Epcot to experience (very little) of the Festival of the Arts and are treated to more poking, drunk-dad style

 

[Raeven]

I will say the construction was more evident than when Steve and I were there in Nov. I still don't think it was to the point it would impact your trip since it isn't affecting amenities, but they are working in more areas so more vehicles are around.

There was a lot of construction when we went, but we never heard or saw any of it unless we were on the bus driving by it which was nice.

Cathy got the
Cheese Empanada
Crisp Tortilla filled with Monterey Jack Cheese, topped with Queso Fresco and Tomatillo Salsa.
I really wish I had taken a picture because besides looking pretty she loved these

Ooo I had these once they were good!

All of a sudden, some guy starts poking me in the arm and says real loud, like he thought I couldn't understand English, and yells, "YOU HAVE TO MOVE BACK!!!" poking me the whole time he's yelling.

That's so rude! But also really funny to picture

 

[disneyAndi14]

What do you mean, you don’t like to be poked by a man in the dark

Your first day sounds fun so far and your food at the Pepper Mill looks really yummy.