The Trip Full of Spontaneity TR July 22-26 - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We are back home safe and sound, and mostly unpacked. So here we go! I will start off by saying this will probably be my last trip report since Photobucket has gotten to be so stupid. I'm sad about that, but until something changes, it can't be helped.
July 22, we got up at 1:30 am. We finished packing the essentials. We were picked up by our friend at 2:30 am.
How did I sleep? Horribly. We had terrible storms that night. The kind where the thunder cracked right over your head. I got to seep about 20 pm and I woke at 11:30 at, so really I was up before 1:30. My husband slept that long. But oh well, not the last time I went on hardly any sleep.
We got to the airport and through security without an issue. The were boarding our flight very quickly trying to beat the next storm rolling in. And we made it, just barely! No sleeping on the flight for either of us. Due to the storms, many people were going Standby since their flights had been canceled the night before. So we were squished in like sardines.
We landed a bit ahead of schedule. Yay! We had to wait longer than I've ever had to wait at the Magical Express, but eventually we did get on the bus and there were no technical issues.
This Passholder thing is a lovely thing.
No text about our room, but we had always been super lucky with that so I wasn't surprised. We were the first stop! Before long we were at Coronado Springs.
We were hungry! We checked on our room at the front desk. We were going to be in the building I requested, but or room was not ready yet. We headed to the food court, but it had just closed to transition to lunch. Okay then, let's head to Disney Springs! See the spontaneity? It's just beginning. I had a couple of things in mind.
First we stopped at Morimoto Street Food to try a sample of their famous ribs.
The ribs come with three pieces. They pixie dusted us a fourth. They were delicious and definitely lived up to their reputation.
Christmas in July was happening. It was fun because even though it was hot, we were hearing Christmas music.
We hit up my favorite store, The Basin
After buying a couple of things, we stopped in a new first.
We got our free sample of chocolate.
Then went next door and got our favorite Rocky Road ice cream. Somehow we've always managed to skip over this. It was delicious.
Still no room text, so we went to the Co-op. Warning, lots and lots of pictures coming up. Just that morning, new purses had been released.
Tim stopped in this store.
Christmas in July! You could even meet Samar in the Christmas store.
Anyone drooling yet? I was
And then I saw this. And fell in love.
So it got shipped home for us. Remember in June when my family hugged each other while watching Happily Ever After? This. It was too perfect.
Afterward we got some poutine and heard the weather rolling in. Still no room text.
The wind was starting to pick up, so we headed for the brick building before you get to the buses to finish eating. It was good, and now I can say I've had it.
It started to pour. I put on a poncho because I had my iPad in my bag and didn't want to risk getting it wet. Tim did not put on his poncho and wished he had. We were dripping wet. We got back to the resort and sat in the lobby to wait. We started chatting with Sara, the Guest Experience Manager and talked with her about an hour. She went to check on our room twice and while it wasn't done the first time, the second time she told us our room was done and had been upgraded to a water view room. I was in 8A and we were in the refurbished rooms which I wanted. Best of all, it had stopped raining!
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Thank goodness the storms the night before didn't forebode poorly for your first day at Disney, which seems to be off to a good start. I remember getting an e-mail about all those new purses. Sweet!
By the way, don't give up on TRs. Consider uploading to Shutterfly which does not charge and you simply have to click on each photo to copy it and then paste it into your TR.
We found our room easily. We were happy that we were very near the Dig Site pool, and very near Transportation. It was perfect. And then we stepped inside. Gorgeous!
We got a corner room!
We got our luggage within minutes and rested for a bit. We got freshened up and headed to Epcot.
I had a Fastpass for Frozen the Character Spot and Frozen Ever After. I missed the Character Spot Fastpass because of our room not being ready but the Standby time wasn't bad, so we headed there. This pictures coming up later. We then headed to Frozen Ever After. Now I had pumped myself up to ride this because I really hate drops.
We got in the boat and got around the corner for Sven and Olaf and the boat stopped. The lights came on.
They shut off the water. We got walked of the ride. That was a first for us. Well, at least I rode the ride, even if it wasn't all the way through.
Our walkway
At this point we were running a little late for Lecellier. However when I explained why we were late, they just laughed and said no problem. They were used to it. Oh, we were given Fastpasses for anything in Epcot but Illuminations, that expired the following Monday.
We didn't have to wait long before we were seated. They printed off these special anniversary menus for us to keep.
I already knew what we were going to get. Tim did spend some time talking to our server about ordering the Beer Flight.
The pretzel bread dipped in that beer cheese soup is indeed delicious.
We ordered the Porterhouse for two. It came with lobster mac and cheese and loaded mashed potatoes. The mac and cheese was barely warm, so we weren't fond of that. But it wasn't ice cold, so we just ate the potatoes which were delicious.
The steak was very good. Though Tim had a better one later in the trip. We were too full for dessert and passed after she brought out the menu, but our wonderful server sent this out anyway.
Not only was this adorable, it was very good.
The champagne and strawberries were lovely too.
We headed out of the park and didn't stay for Illuminations. We were too tired. I noticed we could see the Star Wars fireworks from our balcony.
It had been a lovely first day. We slept very well!
Thank goodness the storms the night before didn't forebode poorly for your first day at Disney, which seems to be off to a good start. I remember getting an e-mail about all those new purses. Sweet!
By the way, don't give up on TRs. Consider uploading to Shutterfly which does not charge and you simply have to click on each photo to copy it and then paste it into your TR.
I will look over your TR tomorrow as getting late. I know your frustration about PB as it's just corporate greed and they think they can get away with it. I'm hoping it bites them in the rear and they have the sense to see how many customers they will lose by charging with their top plan just for 3rd party hosting. It's just ludicrous and they must have the most moronic people making these decisions!
I'm not going to spiel too much more as I've voiced so much about this on the thread regarding this. DMA started it and glad she did! Just makes no sense going from paying nothing from the hosting to $400 a year (one payment) and now a beta contract offered to some (like myself and Shadowryter as we received yesterday on Thursday). Get this and grab your heart! ..... They are offering one month plans at $59.99! Are they serious? That's $720 a year for something I was getting for free! I know it includes the ultimate plan of photo storage but just looking for hosting plans. Don't need the extra storage yet but probably soon as 72% full with free plan at 10 GB. Called P500 plan as 500 equals GBs. YIKES! Perhaps they devised a plan to screw their customers in connection with the US Congress as something they'd do!
Here's the link to the thread. I've said way too much already! Time to get rid of Congress and start from scratch and term limits! That's it on politics for me here as it's PP! I'm just too honest and could never run for public office!
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 07-29-2017 at 12:05 AM..
Awesome start to your magical trip...no airport delays despite the nasty weather, a wonderful art piece that will forever conjure out that happy loving family moment, a couple heaping sprinkles of pixie dust and some wonderful food...definitely a wonderful start to a Disney vacation.
Please don't make this your last trip report, as then you're just letting Photobucket win. Do look at some of the other options - and there are some more posted in the Photobucket thread now as well. I don't want their actions to be responsible for ending trip reports on these boards.
I certainly intend to keep going and I hope others will. I will look at other sites to see what works for me and at least I'm in a more fortunate position and know my photos will remain in existing trip reports for almost a year (June 2018), so that's something, but I'm darned if one company is going to beat me.
So glad you've started! What a wonderful first day!
I felt the same way about writing TRs when I first heard from Photobucket.
But since other options have been mentioned I'm thinking I will just switch over to one of them for my next TR. Shutterfly sounds like the best bet.
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I know your frustration about PB as it's just corporate greed and they think they can get away with it. I'm hoping it bites them in the rear and they have the sense to see how many customers they will lose by charging with their top plan just for 3rd party hosting. It's just ludicrous and they must have the most moronic people making these decisions! 
Just makes no sense going from paying nothing from the hosting to $400 a year (one payment) and now a beta contract offered to some (like myself and Shadowryter as we received yesterday on Thursday). Get this and grab your heart! 
Time to get rid of Congress and start from scratch and term limits! 
PassPorter Guide Author
We love Le Cellier!! Your "Moose" dessert is adorable!!! 
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