TR Bonus - 10/20-24/18 "I hope you like pictures of food” - New TR LINK added 3/12

[jrmint427]

I'm late jumping in, but enjoying the trip report!

Stitch came by really early at the beginning. But he really just posed for a quick photo, didn’t even offer to sign our book, and there was maybe 15 seconds of interaction:

This is really frustrating. We had a character meal like this where you realize how much you are paying just for the character interaction, and then it gets even more irritating if you don't have a decent interaction with each character.

We didn’t even wait for Mickey. We had been here at the Poly between waiting and eating for over 2 hours and it was enough – we had arrived on time for our 11 AM reservation, and it was after 1 PM that we were finally leaving.

I would have been annoyed at that point!

he girls had taken to call our Ostrich “Oliver” but while we were watching, he sat down in the corner and laid an egg!

How fun that you got to see her lay an egg! Even if it happens all the time, it's not something I've ever seen. We stayed at AKL on our most recent trip, but now I'm disappointed we didn't see any ostriches. We should have explored the resort more than we did.

My vote is for a separate trip report for your next trip, even if it is shorter!

 

[franandaj]

Too far behind to comment more than "I'm here! I read it!" As you might have noticed on my TR, nothing is happening either. When I get to my folks house, I'll have more DIS time.

 

[skier_pete]

This is really frustrating. We had a character meal like this where you realize how much you are paying just for the character interaction, and then it gets even more irritating if you don't have a decent interaction with each character.

I would have been annoyed at that point!

Oh, we were pretty annoyed. The only reason I didn't make a big deal is because our kids were "big" kids and it really wasn't like they really WANTED to see Mickey - even Lilo and Stitch wasn't a "must do" for them, I just though BFF would get a kick out of it all.

How fun that you got to see her lay an egg! Even if it happens all the time, it's not something I've ever seen. We stayed at AKL on our most recent trip, but now I'm disappointed we didn't see any ostriches. We should have explored the resort more than we did.

We never spend as much time watching the animals as we think. It's why I usually go for the value or standard rooms rather than spend the points for the upgrade. For only four nights though it was fine to have spent them. The girls paid more attention to their electronics than the animals. But they did enjoy seeing that Ostrich lay an egg!

My vote is for a separate trip report for your next trip, even if it is shorter!

So far it's running about 2/3rds in favor of the combined one. We'll see where it all lands - but I will probably go with whatever the poll shows.

Too far behind to comment more than "I'm here! I read it!" As you might have noticed on my TR, nothing is happening either. When I get to my folks house, I'll have more DIS time.

Hey I get it, I fall behind on a lot of other TRs. It's hard to have to time to read and post in too many. Sometimes I just read, but I do try to post as I know it's nice to know that people are paying attention! So even just saying "All caught up!" is nice to hear!!

 

[skier_pete]

Day 9 – Today was to be our second water park day – and we were headed to Typhoon Lagoon, my favorite of the two water parks. We ended up taking a Lyft over to the park and were able to get there just before park opening at 10 AM. We even had time to get a photopass photo.





We ended up going to the new family ride – Misadventure falls. The rafts weren’t quite as big as the family ride at Blizzard Beach, so we were pretty cramped all on the same raft.



We took a second spin on the ride right away before the line got long. Teenagers actually showing that they are having fun!




Next we went over and gave Crush n Gusher a ride – but DW stayed off the ride. We ended up going on one more of the tube slides before heading for the wave pool. The wave pool here is awesome with the giant smashing waves. Meanwhile DW and I also spent some time going around the lazy river.






The girls got tired out after a while and started playing in the sand. We got some more donuts to share as well.




We also got a small lizard come to visit us.



We stayed a little longer here than we had at Blizzard Beach, but after we got some lunch, the girls were ready to go back to the hotel. The girls I think were starting to wear down from the trip, and they again just wanted to spend the day relaxing in their room. We started packing up our stuff as well. We had to leave the next day, and wanted to get our bags all set.

DW and I weren’t as into the idea of just sitting in our room – so instead we did the most dangerous thing you can ever do at Disney – we went into Epcot on a Saturday during the food and wine festival. We only stopped at select booths, though…first stop was Ireland.



We got a sausage and one of the best things of the fest – the Bailey-Guinness Shake. (This one MAY make a re-appearance or two on our October TR!)




I was kind of surprised that the crowds weren’t as bad as I thought they would be.



We then stopped at Australia:



We got the Shrimp and the wine flight. There were both really, really good.



We then had the artists Pallet at the Cheese Studio. We didn’t really like any of these too much.



We obviously weren’t super hungry, because we were already full at this point. We debated for what to do – we actually even considered heading over to MK but we decided against it because we were kind of tired as well. Instead we decided to visit Joy and Sadness. The line wasn’t very long, but in the end it ended up being about a 30 minute wait even with only about 10 families in front of us. The meet was really cute, they are fun to talk to.




We headed over to Soarin’ and took a quick flight around the world. By this point, it was after 8 PM, and we decided to head back to the room. That didn’t stop us from getting a dessert – the awesome liquid Nitrogen Truffle at the Chocolate studio. (We got this again the next day for the girls.)





After this we headed back to the resort and continued to pack before going to bed.
Ride totals: Hard to say - maybe 4 at TL and only 1 at Epcot.
Step totals: 8,716 steps (3.3 miles) - this doesn't include TL.

Lastly, if you have not voted in the poll yet on whether I should just continue our October trip on this thread or not...please vote!!! I am feeling like I will do whatever the winning side of the poll suggests since I don't have a strong opinion on this one. It the meantime - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Next time - C'est Fin!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

For some reason I never make it to the water parks. Not sure why as I’m a sun worshipper and those donuts look to be worth the trip all by themselves!! “the most dangerous thing... F&W on a Saturday night.” It can be pretty brutal crowd wise but I’ve never seen the debauchery others report. That nitro chocolate is good! And now I’m missing F&W. I’m pretty neutral on where to put your next report... Only advantage to a separate thread is if it was a F&W-focused trip and you had something to that effect in the title you might pick up more readers curious about the festival. But i’ll read either way!

 

[amiskell28]

All caught up!

 

[skier_pete]

For some reason I never make it to the water parks. Not sure why as I’m a sun worshipper and those donuts look to be worth the trip all by themselves!! “the most dangerous thing... F&W on a Saturday night.” It can be pretty brutal crowd wise but I’ve never seen the debauchery others report. That nitro chocolate is good! And now I’m missing F&W. I’m pretty neutral on where to put your next report... Only advantage to a separate thread is if it was a F&W-focused trip and you had something to that effect in the title you might pick up more readers curious about the festival. But i’ll read either way!

I am pretty much always missing F&W when I am not AT F&W.

It didn't seem that bad this Saturday either - though there were definitely a lot of "party groups" - groups of 6 to 10 people obviously there to drink. Lot of bachelorette groups.

The water parks are worth it for the mini-donuts alone, but they are also definitely worth it overall.

All caught up!

Nice!

 

[SweetSerenity]

I'm glad your daughter and her friend had so much fun at the water parks!

 

[franandaj]

So I'm still in the trying to catch up and I did vote for keeping it here. I hope by the time I'm back here, I'm caught up elsewhere and ready to post here!

 

[khertz]

We have still never made it to a Disney water park, but with how much the kids enjoyed the indoor water park at our resort in Tennessee last month, I think they would really enjoy TL or BB if we can ever get ourselves over there during a trip. The wave pool looks excellent!

What a nice surprise to not have Epcot packed that afternoon for F&W.

 

[franandaj]

OK, I'm all caught up. Your choices at the Food and wine Festival looked pretty good. I will have to try that Guiness-Bailey's shake that sounds really good!

 

[skier_pete]

All right folks - the poll numbers have spoken - by a more than 2 to 1 margin we'll keep the October Trip Report going RIGHT HERE! What I'll do is adjust the title of the report to reflect the new dates - but you won't have to subscribe to a new thread.

But first we have to wrap up this one! So HERE WE GO!!

Day 10 – Packed up checked bags and brought our bags down to the airport checkin. Our flight was around 6:30 PM, so we really had a pretty long time to get to the airport. Our original FP for the day were at AK – including Flights of Passage, but we decided that we would rather just go to Epcot.

So we had our FP moved over yesterday and were able to get a fairly early FP for Soarin’




This time we ended up over on the side, and got the wonky Eiffel Tower. We then decided to use a FP for Nemo, which while there is rarely much of a wait for Nemo, this allows you to skip most of the long winding queue.





And everyone likes a Bruce shark mouth pick…




After Nemo, it was so hot that everyone wanted to get an ice cream bar. The adults shared theirs.




We stopped into the DVC Lounge in Imagination for a break. Love the free drinks and the view.




Once we were done here – the next (and last) stop was lunch at Chefs De France. We decided on this one somewhat last minute. (Maybe like a few weeks before the trip.) BFF was taking French is school, so we thought she would have fun meeting the French cast members and ordering a French meal.

DW and I took advantage of our Tables in Wonderland membership and ordered a bottle of Vin. French of course.



I ordered the duck 2 ways



BFF ordered the buttered steak with fries. This was unusual for her – we were told she normally doesn’t like steak, but she was being adventurous.



Even MORE unusual DD ordered the pork shank! This is way outside her normal tasting, though she does like pork with spatzle. It was a BIG portion – so she only ate half of it, but she did seem to enjoy it.



DW had the least daring meal of the bunch, the half chicken. All our meals were excellent.



BFF also wanted to try the apple torte – so she ordered that. She definitely liked it and shared it with DD.



DW and I had a crème puff, though I wasn’t really hungry so I think I only had a small bite of it.



And with that, it was time to leave the park…we had a little bit of time to wait for the Magical Express, but it was maybe only 30 minutes by the time we got back to the hotel. The only bit of interest was after we got on the ME bus, we had to swing by CBR – and in doing so we got to ride right next to the Riviera resort construction – next DVC resort.




With that – we were on our way to the airport – and winging our way home.

Overall, this was yet another great trip. The weather of course wasn’t great, but it was maybe only slightly worse than we expected – the first half of the trip we had some really extended long days of rain. The second half the rain was more like the normal 30 minute soaker, and much easier to work around.

The rest of the trip was pretty great. DD and BFF got along really well, except one day where DD annoyed BFF enough that she wouldn’t talk to her for a few hours – but I think it was more of a non-serious fight. They had a good time together, enjoying some time in the parks on their own, and also enjoying some time hanging in the room by themselves.

Step totals: 10,968 steps (4.2 miles).

 

[amiskell28]

Our original FP for the day were at AK – including Flights of Passage, but we decided that we would rather just go to Epcot.

What a lovely ending to a lovely trip. That food looks amazing!

But.... you gave up FoP fastpasses? I thought that was like breaking the law or something! (Coming from someone who's never been on it.... but will be with our FoP passes scored for 2/7 on day 60+2! Not bad for a 2 day trip!)

 

[skier_pete]

What a lovely ending to a lovely trip. That food looks amazing!

But.... you gave up FoP fastpasses? I thought that was like breaking the law or something! (Coming from someone who's never been on it.... but will be with our FoP passes scored for 2/7 on day 60+2! Not bad for a 2 day trip!)

I know - it's pretty awful right??? I figure someone got to enjoy it. We did get to ride the ride once.

 

[NJlauren]

At least I’m making it here before you started your October trip!

I took a bit of a DIS break but I just caught up! We are going on August for the first time this year so reading up on lots of August trip reports!

Looking forward to hearing about your next trip too

 

[dnllmz]

I finally caught up & just in time for a new trip report to start. Looking forward to the next one!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Thanks for sharing your adventure!

 

[skier_pete]

At least I’m making it here before you started your October trip!

I took a bit of a DIS break but I just caught up! We are going on August for the first time this year so reading up on lots of August trip reports!

Looking forward to hearing about your next trip too

I should be rolling into it pretty quickly - probably by the weekend.

I finally caught up & just in time for a new trip report to start. Looking forward to the next one!

That's the good news - we're just going to keep it going!

Thanks for sharing your adventure!

You are welcome - thanks for joining along!

 

[SweetSerenity]

As per usual, enjoyed your report. Ready for more

 

[franandaj]

And everyone likes a Bruce shark mouth pick…

It makes me think that I should take another for my profile picture since this one is over 10 years old!

DW and I took advantage of our Tables in Wonderland membership and ordered a bottle of Vin. French of course.

Ooooh. That's a nice one too!

BFF ordered the buttered steak with fries.

We are eating at Chefs de France in March, that looks good! I may consider the Steak Frites!

we got to ride right next to the Riviera resort construction – next DVC resort.

Wow that resort is huge!

Thanks for the great TR! Looking forward to your next one, as we are going back this year for F&W for a few days.