Who says Disney is just for the kids?! An adults trip (with a little bit of work sprinkled in) - February 2024

[MamaMouse0920]

Ugh, I’m so frustrated by that. I’m extra sensitive to people coughing and sneezing in public these days, but can’t handle watching someone cough on my food!

Right?!?! Like I understand people have allergies or asthma or tickles in their throats or whatever and I'm not exempt from that, but I just feel like in certain scenarios (handling food, on a crowded airplane, standing face to face <6 feet away from someone etc) it is NOT rocket science to either step away, or at the very least clear your throat into your own shirt or something??? In this day & age you should not under any circumstance be a grown adult and just freely hacking into the wide open air. It makes zero sense.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Tuesday, February 27th: Day 4 - Conference (day 2) & Coronado Bar Crawl

I snapped this picture as I limped toward the Convention Center, thinking I'd have just enough time to swing by and pick up the provided box lunch (knowing it obviously is not 5 star quality food but hey, it's free!)



...and then this one only a few minutes later!



Me going:

So I scooted back to the room, surprising Matt with my newly free afternoon!! We changed into our suits, grabbed a Yuengling each & parked ourselves at the quiet pool near our room!






anyone in the medical field want to play "Guess That Surgery" from Matt's multiple visible scars in this photo? Ha! Not pictured are his trach scar & his ICP bolt scar- kid's been through the wringer!


It was a beautiful afternoon - perfect weather, a gentle breeze, it was just the perfect way to spend an afternoon. We hung out by the pool til about 2:45, returning to our room where we packed/cleaned/organized a bit, since Matt would be leaving the next day While we were at the pool, housekeeping had come by, which incidentally was the first and only time they did despite the "every other day" we had been told (so in theory they should have come Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday). Oh well, it was just the two of us and we'd barely spent any time in our room so it's not like the garbages were overflowing or we had run out of towels etc. If I had my family with me and were paying for a moderate resort though I would have been slightly more bothered by this, but I suppose the squeaky wheel gets the oil so maybe they thought since we hadn't complained, it wasn't a priority? Who knows.

After getting Matt's stuff all packed up & ready for his departure the next day, we took a quick nap til about 4:30 when we got up and ready for dinner! The plan was to stay at the resort, checking out Coronado Springs' many restaurants and bars. As I was just finishing up with my hair, I added our name to the walk-up list at Three Bridges which had an estimated 75 minute wait. No big deal, we'd switch our plans up a bit and get a pre-dinner cocktail at Barcelona Lounge first then. So that's where we headed!



Stopping for a sunny/sunset selfie on the bridge, passing the bustling Three Bridges restaurant (poor Matt did not have his sunglasses!):



We entered the beautiful Gran Destino Tower and found our seats at the bar:



The bartender approached us shortly after to take our drinks, me pulling out my phone and showing him a picture of my gin & tonic I ordered last year -- apologizing that I didn't remember what it was but maybe he could identify it from the unique color?? He said he'd try & whipped me up this beauty:



Which was delicious!! I decided to recreate a picture I had taken last year with my coworker S when we visited 'the gin bar' as we called it, and sent it to her saying:

"Hi from The Gin Bar!"



Which I'm sure she loved, seeing as she was sitting in cold Minnesota while I was in paradise

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Tuesday, February 27th: Day 4 - Conference (day 2) & Coronado Bar Crawl

As we sat and enjoyed our drinks (Matt just getting a beer), we mentioned to the bartender that we'd better close out after our one-and-done in case our name is called at Three Bridges and we needed to get out of there quickly. He said no worries, he'd pour my drink into a plastic cup if needed. What a guy!

That ended up being the case as we got the text to start heading toward Three Bridges around 6:20- so he poured my leftover cocktail in a "to go" cup and we were on our way!



I commented to Matt that we were on a selfie spree and were basically just taking dozens of the same picture over and over again so we decided to switch things up for our next one:





Sorry y'all. Find your nearest eye-wash station immediately.

Soon enough our table was ready so we found our seats & snapped a better selfie while we waited for our waitress:



It was a beautiful evening- the weather was perfect (it had cooled down but was definitely tolerable!), the view from Three Bridges is unmatched, and we just had a great time celebrating our last night in paradise together.





When the waitress arrived to take our drink order, I decided since I had a gin drink at Barcelona I may as well stick to that to avoid mixing drinks & so I asked for the Santa Maria Collins

Santa Maria Collins $16​

Beefeater London Pink Gin, Lime, Strawberry, and Club Soda

Which was suuuper fruity & sweet (but not gut-rot sweet) and was really tasty! Matt ordering a beer of some sort, I didn't make a note but I'm sure it was a local IPA. The waitress also brought us 2 glasses of free champagne to celebrate our anniversary! What!! We were feeling the love, that's for sure!

For dinner I ordered the Pork Carnitas Tacos, & Matt got the Steak Frites.

Pork Carnitas Tacos $21​

Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Chipotle-Pineapple Salsa, Salsa Borracha, Cotija, Pickled Vegetables, Black Beans and Rice

Steak Frites $26​

Char-grilled Market Steak, Smoked Paprika Fries, Chimichurri

Him obviously getting the Chimichurri on the side As we waited for our meal, we enjoyed our champagne and drinks - the sun had now fully set and we were once again in awe of this resorts beauty. I tried capturing a picture but felt super creepy since there were people sitting there, ha!



As we sat and chatted, I noticed a hidden Mickey on our table - how cute!



In no time at all our food arrived and holy moly did it look/smell amazing! My carnitas especially with the beautiful spread --



This was my first time tasting a pork rind, and I commented to Matt that my taste buds honestly couldn't tell if it was spicy, salty, or sour! Can anyone whose had pork rinds before comment on which it's supposed to be?! Or is it really all 3 flavors in one little crunchy chip thing??

The food overall was DELICIOUS. Super super good, and I left feeling much fuller than I did last time (last time I was here I ordered the warm cheese dip and was underwhelmed at the portion size!). After our dinner we made our way to the Dahlia lounge waaaaay up high in the Gran Destino Tower. It was after 9pm by this point, and on our way from Three Bridges to the Tower we passed by the Movie Under the Stars! They were watching Princess & the Frog and it looked like a good way to spend the night if we had the kids with us.

I didn't take a picture of the lounge (it was pretty busy anyway, so it probably wouldn't have done it justice) but I just have to share a picture of this place- it is stunning! Courtesy of the Disney website:



It's so beautiful! And the views... omg! We sat at the bar & chatted with the bartender, him ALSO gifting us with 2 free glasses of champagne!!! Oh my goodness!! We felt so lucky this entire trip- the love & Pixie Dust was overwhelming!!! What a seriously special way to celebrate 10 'ears' with my love. Wiping my tear away & thanking the kind bartender profusely, after we finished the champagne we were ready to order our last drinks for the night. I noted that of the three gin options on the menu, based on the descriptions I couldn't figure out which one would best suit my taste and asked to pick his brain a bit. He asked me what I liked, I answered (sweet & not tasting anything like pine cones- which made him laugh) and he replied "I'll whip something up". A moment later he presented me with this, another beauty:



Complete with pineapple & blackberry garnish. It was delicious! Sweet but not too sweet, this resort was really starting to turn me into a gin gal! Matt got his usual beer, again I didn't make a note but I'm sure it was an IPA.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Tuesday, February 27th: Day 4 - Conference (day 2) & Coronado Bar Crawl

As we sipped our drinks, we let the bartender talk us into an order of the delicious warm churros

Warm Churros $9.50​

With Chocolate Sauce



Which were, as you can imagine, delicious and really hit the spot - it was a perfect way to end the night on a sweet note. We also caught some glimpses of Epcot's fireworks from our seats! I would highly recommend coming here for a nightcap if you can, and if you can time it with fireworks, even better!

After we devoured those churros, finished our drinks and paid our bill, we bid adieu to the beautiful Tower and made our long walk back to Ranchos a little after 10pm. It was a really great day, and we were both super sad that our time together had come to an end. Matt's flight was at 1:30pm the next day so he had to leave for the airport around 11am. I had a full morning of conference activities ahead of me so I wouldn't really get to see him much, but this last night together was really the perfect sendoff/end to an amazing anniversary trip.

Up next: Wednesday, February 28th: Day 5 - Conference (day 3) & Bethany's solo night

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Wednesday, February 28th: Day 5 - Conference (day 3) & Bethany's solo night

We woke up around 7:30, both of us terribly mopey & sad that Matt was to be leaving in a few hours. We missed the kids of course and I'm sure he was excited to see them later that afternoon but it's always hard to go back to reality after a perfect trip. We headed down to the cafeteria/QS area and grabbed a breakfast kids meal of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, and sausage links. We (I) ate it relatively quickly and I made my way to the conference at 8:15 while Matt returned to the room to finish getting his things together/try to relax a bit before he had to leave for MCO.

I attended my morning breakout sessions from 8:15-11, me sneaking out 5 minutes early of my last session to say a quick goodbye to Matt, then returning to my last breakout session til noon. The afternoon of the conference on the last day is dedicated to "Hands On Clinics" which don't pertain to my job so we just ignore those courses and consider the conference done by 12pm on that last Wednesday. Woohoo! I was happy to be done with the conference (not that I didn't enjoy it or learn a lot, it just gets to be a lot with so much information being thrown at you over the course of 3 days) but was still super sad that Matt wouldn't be there to enjoy the new freedom with me.

After the conference concluded, I returned to my room, ate a quick lunch (the leftover Box Lunch from the day before- just a cold sandwich, bag of chips, and an apple) before changing into my suit and sat by the quiet pool til about 1:45pm. I was feeling a bit unproductive so I returned to the room at that time and packed as much as I could (obviously leaving out only the things I would need tonight/tomorrow morning), feeling a little bit better after that. I was however worried about the weight of my suitcase.... it was 50# exactly when we left Minneapolis and I had added a few things to my luggage and didn't have a scale... so it was a total gamble on whether or not I'd be hit with those extra weight fees.

Around 2:45 I grabbed my book and this time headed to the big pool, however it was so loud/busy that I barely sat there for 30 minutes before packing up AGAIN and this time heading toward the hammocks near the Tower where I relaxed and read for several hours.



I actually ended up very slightly burning my knees in those few hours haha! As if they didn't have enough problems going on, I guess add sunburn to the list

Eventually around 4:45pm I decided I was getting pretty hungry so I returned to the room to shower/get ready for dinner- with absolutely no idea where I was going to be eating. Matt had landed by this time so we were back to our texting conversation & he was on his way to pick up the kids from grandma & grandpas.

The walk-up wait time for Three Bridges was insane, I want to say 3 hours or something crazy?! Either way I wasn't waiting 3 hours to eat so I knew I had to find a different restaurant- either Rix Sports Bar & Grill, Maya Grill, or just the quick service/cafeteria. I opted for Rix's, getting a seat at the bar where I ordered a beer & hoped to read more of my book (it was really good and I didn't want to stop reading!!)



Eventually I got started chatting with my bar-neighbor, another conference attendee. I didn't end up reading any of my book, and instead just spent the evening chatting with some new friends and drinking way more than I thought I would, ha!! For dinner I ordered a breaded chicken melt:

Bases Loaded Tender Melt $17​

Breaded Tenders tossed in your choice of Sauce, Tater Tots, shredded Cheese Blend, Bacon Bits, Scallions & Cotija Cheese

Which was basically buffalo chicken strips on a bed of tator tots, with cheese/bacon/scallions on top.



It was tasty with ranch poured on top but it was SPICY! So spicy my mouth started to hurt so I only ate half.

As I mentioned I ended up ordering 2 more beers over the course of the evening & spent the time chatting with several other conference attendees that were sitting nearby at the bar. One of them had a rental car and offered to drive me to Ranchos after I had mentioned my sore knees but I was like "uhh, nah I'm good" haha and headed out shortly after that. I'm sure he was just being nice but also, no.

I returned to the room & facetimed the kids quick, after saying goodnight I read a bit more of my book and went to bed around 11pm, which incidentally was the latest I had stayed up thus far, ha!

Up Next: Thursday, February 29th: Day 6 - Departure

 

[Skywatcher1206]

I am loving your trip report!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thursday, February 29th: Day 6 - Departure

I woke up at 7:30am but stayed in bed and finished my book. It was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot. After my book was done I showered & finished packing, now totally ready to go. Boo! We had quite a bit of our Walmart order leftover so I posted in the Disney Pass-It-Along group and someone picked everything up around 10:30am. When I opened the door to hand her the goods I noticed it was very dark & drizzling/misting out. Oh no! That was going to make for a not-so-fun long trek to the lobby to catch my Uber to MCO. I sat in my room & scrolled social media (I also used the time to finalize a couple video recaps I had made of the trip - I'll share those in my next post) until it was time for check out, 11am. I left the room at 11am precisely (relieved to see the rain had stopped) and lugged my giant suitcase all the way to the lobby. I checked the menu for the Barcelona Lounge but nothing really jumped out at me and ultimately decided I'd just pick something up quick at the airport.

I requested my Uber and it arrived instantly, with literally zero waiting time. During the drive, I started to feel super nauseous - the car stunk quite a bit & the driver was all over the place zooming this way and that, and I think that's what made me start to feel sick. We actually had one really close call where I braced myself for the accident but thankfully he stopped just in time. To make matters worse, we encountered some really rough traffic at the airport- it was literally stop and go the entire time til we got to departures. I got to the airport a little later than anticipated (11:50am) and was thankful to set foot on solid ground! Come to find out a few days later a portion of my ride was refunded, perhaps because of the traffic? I didn't give him a bad rating or anything and still gave 5 stars & 20% tip so I can't think of any other reason for the refund, but I guess I'll take it.

I dropped my luggage off at the SkyCap and walked around the Disney Store briefly (smiling to myself because that is the very store my grandma used to work at, which made her be considered a Disney CM and got us lots of perks!), but it was pretty much everything we had already seen at all the gift shops throughout our trip thus far so no purchases were made. On my way from the Disney Store to the security area I noticed a left-behind Frozen balloon (purchased at one of the parks) at one of the garbage bins that I very seriously considered grabbing but ultimately decided against it. In hindsight I wished I would have, since the Disney Store not even 20 yards away would have deflated it for me and I could have had it re-inflated upon returning home and would have absolutely made my kids' entire month. Oh well, hindsight. I stopped at a nearby bathroom to dump out the water in my water bottle which was where I caught a glimpse of the sleeping traveler!! I hadn't seen him in YEARS. Decades, actually. He was an absolute icon throughout my childhood as we were in and out of MCO 5x a year probably- so I of course had to take a picture and send it in my family's group chat saying "he's still here!"



Matt had no idea who/what this guy was or what the story was, so we filled him in and I made a mental note to show him & the kids when we're back in May, or again when we go in August.

Chuckling a bit at the fact that that statue must be as old as I am, I made my way to security which was a nightmare. I found the line for TSA Pre-Check and was through relatively quickly. I was thankful to have Pre-Check because MCO is so often a zoo, this day being no different.

Eventually I hopped on the Fake O Rail (front car this time), and was whizzed even further away from the Mouse than I care to be



As I approached my gate I struggled to decide what to eat - I was still feeling a bit queasy from the rough Uber ride over here but also had that weird feeling where you aren't quite sure if maybe eating something would actually make you feel better? Whatever the case, I ultimately settled on Burger King, ha! I got in the long line & waited my turn, finally making my way toward the counter where I ordered a whopper jr with fries. I filled up my pop cup, and stood receipt in hand as I waited for them to call my number. And I waited. And waited. And waited. I eventually interrupted the young worker and asked if I missed my number somehow (I hadn't) and he said he would look into it, but it was still several more minutes til he handed me my bag. Oy vey! At least I can assume that it's fresh??

I walked away, bag in hand, thinking how funny it was that I spent about 3x waiting for that Whopper Jr than I did waiting in line for security, and probably longer than I sat in any line at WDW (with the exception of GotG obviously!). I made my way back to the gate and sat down where I ate my burger & fries. The burger was okay at best and the fries were downright gross, I ate maybe 4 and tossed the rest. I haven't had BK in a long time (we don't eat a lot of fast food at home, it's a bit of a rare treat) so maybe things have changed but blah!! It was not good and I was not too happy about the $15 I just spent as I tossed it into the nearby trash bin. Upset but at least with a slightly fuller tummy, I had an hour & a half til take off so I started the second book I had brought with me on this trip - though admittedly it is currently sitting 6 feet behind me on my nightstand, barely touched since that day so it clearly isn't nearly as gripping as Verity was, ha!

Soon enough it was boarding time, so I joined the throngs of people getting on the plane and found my seat, only to discover there was someone sitting in it. I was to be in the middle seat, and all 3 seats were filled- no big deal, this happens all the time (airlines are notorious for changing seats at the very last second) so I certainly wasn't agitated or anything, just pointing out that I think you're in the wrong seat. The person in the aisle apologized and stood up, saying he didn't realize he was in the wrong row, but I tried to stop him saying "oh actually I'm in the middle seat". The person in the middle seat DID get a little agitated with me and said "I asked him to switch so I could sit by my partner, I assume that is okay with you?!" kind of snarky. No lady I don't mind at all, but I'm a little confused by the attitude here... and if you wanted to sit by your partner why didn't you pick the seat.....next to your partner? Probably hoping the flight wouldn't be full and there wouldn't be anyone in the middle? Who knows- either way it's not that serious, so I plopped myself down in my new aisle seat, relieved that I had a bit more leg room to constantly extend/flex my knees to avoid that increased pain from sitting.

We eventually took off around 2:30 (which was the scheduled departure time), but I had a brief moment of panic when my phone buzzed and alerted me that my AirTag was no longer with me. Uhhhh, what?! It's in my suitcase and that suitcase better be in the belly of this plane!



The blue dot being me (on the plane) and the pink hearts being my suitcase. Yikes! I texted Matt that screenshot in a panic, but when I did the "where's my bag" feature on the Delta App it was saying the suitcase was on the plane.... but I have to trust the AirTag, right?! At that point it was out of my hands and there really wasn't anything I could do so I turned on my movie (picking Barbie this time, ha!) and switched my focus to that. It was an uneventful flight and around 5pm we landed, the AirTag finally showing my suitcase arriving to MSP as well (whew!). I texted Matt that I had landed so they should leave our house now and it would be perfectly timed for them to arrive and me to grab my bag. After debarking the plane I hobbled my way down to the baggage claim- this time I had absolutely ZERO shame in asking the young guy next to me if he wouldn't mind grabbing my suitcase off the carousel since I had some mystery knee issue going on, which thankfully he said he would do no problem.

Bag in hand, I rolled outside just at the time Matt had pulled up-- the kids' windows were rolled down and they were squealing with joy "mamaaaaaaaa!" - I was so happy to be home!!

We stopped on our way home and grabbed a pizza (I was not about to do any cooking and neither was Matt!), and after dinner I busted out the mega-load of Gideon's cookies- remembering what the Gideon's CM had suggested we do:

1. Keep at room temp. DO NOT PUT IN FRIDGE.
2. Within 3 days of purchasing your cookies (this was Day 3), unwrap them from their parchment paper & cut them into 1/4ths.
3. Re-wrap them in their parchment paper, labeling a sandwich size Ziploc with which flavor cookie it is. Place the re-wrapped cookie (now cut in 1/4ths) inside the Ziploc, and place in freezer.
4. When ready to enjoy, take the cookie 1/4 (..or a couple) and let come to room temp for about 30 mins.



So after enjoying a couple 1/4ths that night, that is exactly what we did! And let me tell you... they have been delicious every single time we've taken them out of the freezer. Obviously not as good as same-day, but considering I can enjoy a Gideon's cookie any time I want from 1,500+ miles away...... yeah I'll take it! I just am hoping that this stash of Gideon's and my last bag of Stitch Sour Belts will last us the next 52 days until I am in Disney Springs again! We are going on a cruise (non-Disney, unfortunately) mid-May out of Port Canaveral and our flight home doesn't leave til freaking 9:30pm....!! Ugh! So we will have basically 10am-6pm to do whatever we can think of (for free/cheap) in the Orlando area. Obviously I am thinking Disney (duh) but not going into the parks.. any suggestions??

Anyway, to wrap this TR up- it was truly a magical, wonderful, romantic week away with my better half! We had the best time, were crazy spoiled in terms of luck with crowds, weather, pixie dust (all that champagne!), and short wait times. We didn't have any encounters with rude guests or CM (grumpy CM from Epcot aside, but that's not a big deal - everyone has bad days!), something that unfortunately seems to be on the uptick these days. It was such a fun getaway and was really really hard to come back to reality, but thankfully we have another trip on the horizon - August! Will we melt? Yes. But will we have an amazing time at our favorite place on earth? Also yes! We are staying at AoA for TEN MAGICAL NIGHTS and I am so stinking excited!! Only 138 more 'sleeps' to go, and I seriously can't wait!



In other news, DS3 (will be DS4, ugh!) turns 4 right after we get back from the cruise and has requested an Up! themed birthday party, so I will update this TR with pictures after it's done! I'll also probably start a Pre-Trip Report this summer

As always, thanks for following along & if you have any questions/comments/advice let me know!! See ya next time!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Oh, as promised - here was the video I made for my social media! I swear we're not alcoholics let me remind everyone that this spanned across 5 days/nights.......AND we didn't have our kids with us!

Now that you've read the whole TR, see if you can pinpoint each 'cheers' with each location/drink!

Cheers!

 

[erinch]

Do you know which Etsy person you got your ears from?
And where is the adorable crossbody bag from?

 

[Disney102015]

Great TR! I am adding all your gin drinks to my “must try” list for Coronado this summer!

And your balloon countdown calendar is SO cute!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Do you know which Etsy person you got your ears from?
And where is the adorable crossbody bag from?

Ears: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MagicGlamBoutique

(the bows were my daughters, I wrapped a black pipecleaner around the base of the ears & then clipped the bow on (I was worried about damaging the leather with the alligator clip) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0967SH64Y?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share


The cross body was an Amazon DIY by yours truly!

Bag: https://a.co/d/fApoo4D
Patch: https://a.co/d/51oVtIq

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Ears were https://www.etsy.com/shop/MagicGlamBoutique

& cross body was an Amazon DIY by yours truly!

Bag: https://a.co/d/fApoo4D
patch: https://a.co/d/51oVtIq

@erinch if those links don’t work send me a PM- I can’t tell if they’ll go through

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Great TR! I am adding all your gin drinks to my “must try” list for Coronado this summer!

And your balloon countdown calendar is SO cute!!

Great idea! The one at the Barcelona was my favorite- it was something Mediterranean??? But maybe just show them my picture & they’ll be able to figure it out

And thank you! I am way late to the game and literally just a couple weeks ago invested in a Cricut and I am getting my moneys worth with these Disney DIY’s!!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Enjoyed your report! We love CSR especially the Gran Destino Tower!
Dahlia and Three Bridges are such favorites. I had the churros twice in December!
It sounds like you had a wonderful time despite the sore knees! I always bring KT tape and this works wonders!

 

[jrmint427]

I enjoyed your trip report! Thank you for sharing!

Around 2:45 I grabbed my book and this time headed to the big pool, however it was so loud/busy that I barely sat there for 30 minutes before packing up AGAIN and this time heading toward the hammocks near the Tower where I relaxed and read for several hours.

I immediately saw Verity and was going to ask what you thought! An afternoon in a hammock reading for several hours at Disney sounds like the perfect way to spend time.

I woke up at 7:30am but stayed in bed and finished my book. It was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot.

So glad you liked it! You flew through that!

I stopped at a nearby bathroom to dump out the water in my water bottle which was where I caught a glimpse of the sleeping traveler!! I hadn't seen him in YEARS. Decades, actually. He was an absolute icon throughout my childhood as we were in and out of MCO 5x a year probably- so I of course had to take a picture and send it in my family's group chat saying "he's still here!"

Okay I thought that was an actual man you were taking a picture of... I've never seen or heard of that statue before!

so I started the second book I had brought with me on this trip - though admittedly it is currently sitting 6 feet behind me on my nightstand, barely touched since that day so it clearly isn't nearly as gripping as Verity was, ha!

What was your second book? It's going to be hard to find something to top Verity!

So we will have basically 10am-6pm to do whatever we can think of (for free) in the Orlando area. Obviously I am thinking Disney (duh) but not going into the parks.. any suggestions??

Brunch at Topolino's? Followed by walking around Disney Springs? (and getting a refill on your Gideon's stash?)

We are staying at AoA for TEN MAGICAL NIGHTS and I am so stinking excited!! Only 138 more 'sleeps' to go, and I seriously can't wait!

How exciting!! We loved AoA. Can't wait to hear more about that trip!

 

[PoppyJ]

Really enjoyed reading your trip report, sounds like a fantastic trip!!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

What a great trip overall! I haven't done Gideon's yet. Maybe this trip (although I am cake focused for my birthday so probably my fluffy butt doesn't need cookies too.) Oh, and I MUST do the make your own popcorn at MK. Now, tell me why you all didn't love FlameTree. Because that place is my JAM!! But, I'm also not a smoked meat fanatic so maybe I'm just ignorant???

Can't wait to see pictures from the birthday party and then hear about your cruise and your August trip!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I immediately saw Verity and was going to ask what you thought! An afternoon in a hammock reading for several hours at Disney sounds like the perfect way to spend time.

Yes I was absolutely sucked in!!! Could not put it down! I was in a book club prior to COVID but then COVID + babies + life happened and we sort of just dissipated.. but this book I was like "DANG-- this would be a great book club book!"

Okay I thought that was an actual man you were taking a picture of... I've never seen or heard of that statue before!

Yes!! He looks SO real! He used to just be sitting somewhere in MCO on the carpet but I think people harassed him (maybe damaged?) too much and I believe about 5 years ago they put him behind glass. I don't know the story other than us seeing him (my mom successfully convincing us kids that he was real for many years) every single time we went to MCO!

What was your second book? It's going to be hard to find something to top Verity!

It's Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and in theory it should be super good (first page is the very beginning of a hostage situation of rich folks in a 3rd world country) but I can't seem to get into it

Brunch at Topolino's? Followed by walking around Disney Springs? (and getting a refill on your Gideon's stash?)

I have a strong feeling that after 6 days on the cruise we are probably not going to want to eat anything but Topolino's is on my list for August!!

So far for that one day in Disney, here's my list of free/cheap activities:

• beignets @ POFQ
• AKL to see animals
• Wilderness Lodge for that bison burger even though like I said we will likely not want to look at food for a while, ha!
• ice cream at Boardwalk (same point as above, lol)
• Fort Wilderness - s'mores, chip & dale singalong (is that still a thing?), horse stables, Cinderella's carriage, fishing

How exciting!! We loved AoA. Can't wait to hear more about that trip!

We've never stayed at AoA! We had initially booked CBR x7 nights with the free QS dining plan when that promo was out, but then like 2 days after we returned from this Feb trip decided to price compare to add in a few more nights (for some reason 7 just didn't feel like enough to cure these Disney Blues) and our TA ended up finding us a Little Mermaid room (not ideal but whatever) for TEN nights, an EXTRA park day (park hoppers) for $100 cheaper. Now that is some Disney Math I can get behind!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Really enjoyed reading your trip report, sounds like a fantastic trip!!

Thank you!! It sure was!! I am feeling strongly inclined to make adults-only trips a semi regular thing!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

What a great trip overall! I haven't done Gideon's yet. Maybe this trip (although I am cake focused for my birthday so probably my fluffy butt doesn't need cookies too.)

Did you see the cake at Gideons?!?!? Hint Hint

Oh, and I MUST do the make your own popcorn at MK.

I say this every time after we leave!! -- MUST MAKE IT A PRIORITY NEXT TRIP!!

Now, tell me why you all didn't love FlameTree. Because that place is my JAM!! But, I'm also not a smoked meat fanatic so maybe I'm just ignorant???

I honestly think it was a combination of a few things - 1. the hype we had heard about it leading up to the trip. It's almost always better to go into things with lower expectations to avoid being let down - and that honestly could have been a huge factor in our disappointment. 2. We did not care for the BBQ sauce and I strongly think that if we had just asked for the sauce on the side (or nixed it altogether) it would have been at least 50% better! Sauce can really make or break something, especially when it's absolutely slathered on!!

Can't wait to see pictures from the birthday party and then hear about your cruise and your August trip!!

The cruise I'm kind of dreading a bit (we are in an interior room, oof. + DS3 has had a history of car sickness so I shudder to think about being stuck in rough seas in an INTERIOR room with a puking kid. That & the tendency of awful norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships is LITERALLY my worst nightmare- no exaggeration) but I'm trying hard to pump myself up for it. It is one of the newer Carnival ships and has all the Dr. Seuss stuff on it so I'm hoping we (the kids) have a blast and the positives outweigh the negatives

The party has been a struggle to come up with ideas for- so wish me luck on this one!! Up is a hard theme, ha! Other than hot dogs & chocolate (Snipe bait) I can't really think of anything to do in terms of food! Anyone have any suggestions?!?!