2017: The Year of All the Disney Trips - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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since this is a logical pause point between segments of the trip, i'm going to add two 'things i was surprised i liked/things i was surprised i did not like' mini stories here.
these things may or may not have been covered in this TR thus far.
ahem...
something i was surprised i didn't like:
being in disney solo.
but wait, you say! tracy, you are the queen of disney solo! i know. i know. but for some reason, this time i was kind of meh on the whole thing. i believe i did a total of maybe six attractions during my 2.5 solo days in disney. i just wasn't feeling it.
of course, this could be because i go there all the time now and i'm not so into attractions anymore. and i did enjoy walking around and being there. but i was glad when my mom arrived, and i was even more glad when my husband arrived.
something i was surprised i liked:
i'm not usually super into the random entertainment in world showcase, but the band that was briefly at the stage in epcot's canada pavilion was AMAZING. they had a weird name that i don't recall and they were only there for two weeks, but during my time there i saw them THREE times. they were fabulous. i'm following them on facebook now, so i'll check there and report back with the band name. seriously, it was a highlight.
I still really miss Off Kilter who used to play at the Canada Pavilion year round. Can't wait to hear the name of the band that was there when you were.
I still really miss Off Kilter who used to play at the Canada Pavilion year round. Can't wait to hear the name of the band that was there when you were.
it took me way to long to find this on facebook but i found it! the band was bodh'aktan. they were only there for two weeks, but i believe it was their second or third visit to epcot so i'm certain they will be back.
i, too, missed off kilter. these guys more than made up for it.
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it took me way to long to find this on facebook but i found it! the band was bodh'aktan. they were only there for two weeks, but i believe it was their second or third visit to epcot so i'm certain they will be back.
i, too, missed off kilter. these guys more than made up for it.
I'll be checking to see if we're lucky and they will be at Epcot in late April/early May. Thanks!
before i continue with part two of this TR, i'm interjecting a note about our NEXT disney trip. which is in a few days. because of course it is. see also: the title of this post.
i hope this doesn't make this confusing. perhaps if i add a title?
I INTERRUPT THIS TRIP REPORT TO INCLUDE A MINI PTR
so we were initially going to spend a week in disney for my husband's spring break. and then, because many reasons involving me becoming somewhat disenchanted with disney on our last trip and mom missing out on half of HER trip, we decided to take the points we were going to spend at SSR and give them back to mom to use later this spring. so she and her husband will spend a week at BLT in may and my husband and i are going on a non-disney florida trip for his spring break trip (beginning this coming thursday).
except you know we can't ever NOT do disney. so here's what that trip looks like:
thursday: fly to orlando sanford. drive to the gulf coast and stay at a cheap riverside motel in homosassa springs.
friday: swimming with manatees!
saturday: kayaking weekie watchee!
sunday: drive to cedar key.
monday: be chill on cedar key. watch sun set. eat fish.
tuesday: here's where it gets tricky.
the original plan (and what we have booked currently) was to drive three hours south to st. pete and spend two nights at a downtown B&B, eating at nice restaurants and going to the dali museum.
but then last night my husband was like: i don't want to go to st pete. i want to go to the new-ish harry potter world at universal.
and i was like: that will cost too much.
and then i thought. and i looked. and was able to book a choice hotel on points for two nights right across the street from universal. which effectively enabled us to take the money we WERE spending on a room in st. pete and use it to buy tickets to universal.
which we may do. i'm still kind of up in the air about it, and currently have two reservations--on in st. pete and one at universal--both are cancelable up until 48 hours in advance.
thoughts on which is the better plan? keeping in mind that my husband has his nerd heart set on harry potter?
wednesday: either a day in st. pete or our full day between universal and islands of adventure.
thursday: up early if leaving st. pete, up slighlty less early if staying near universal. head to the swan to check in for our final three nights (on points). afternoon at flower and garden fest, evening at AK for rivers of light.
friday: more flower and garden fest, plus FPs in DHS and star wars fireworks.
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!
let's continue my three-part TR. we are now on part 2: mom arrives!
i last left off at the end of my progressive monorail bar crawl night with heather. i got up very early the next day to make it to rope drop at MK because it was day two or three of the 'new' opening show, now at the castle instead of at the train station.
i posted a review of this opening show on facebook, which i will copy/paste here for convenience sake. if you are facebook friends with me, you already read this.
An overly-detailed review of the new Magic Kingdom park opening show and set up:
-Being able to wait for the park to open in a large, non squished space is great.
-Casey's corner is open as early as 8:30, serving basic breakfast items as well as corn dog nuggets (yay) and a hash brown and bacon topped hot dog (I'll let you know next time.) This pleases me greatly. There's no line because most normal people don't want corn dog nuggets for breakfast and also they are all in line at Starbucks.
-There's a cast member standing at the end of Main Street loudly (like with a microphone) directing people with morning dining reservations to another sign in front of the pretzel cart. This is also highly unmagical and honestly kind of annoying.
-I give the new opening show a solid 'meh'. On a scale of one to magical it's...not. Keep expectations very low and don't be bummed if you miss it.
-After the 'show', cast members stop crowds at various places in the lands and walk them slowly to attractions to avoid mobs of crazy people running, which is great. I didn't rush at all--or even really decide where I was going in advance because I don't care--and I was on the second Big Thunder Mountain train of the day.
End Mini Review
after BTMRR, i headed in the direction of fantasyland, as i had a FP for the mine train. it was my only FP for the morning, as i changed our other two FPs to be later in the day so mom could join me.
the standby line for peter pan was something ridiculous--like 10 minutes. and i'd never done the stand by line for peter pan, because it's always something ridiculous--like 90 minutes. so i got in line. and i have to say, it was surprisingly lovely. it seriously added to the overall effect of the ride. i especially loved the shadow effects, tinkerbell, and the pixie dust. i will always do this on standby if the line is reasonable (though this was legit the first time i ever saw a reasonable wait time.)
so then i did the dwarfs and maybe had something to eat somewhere (i don't remember and apparently i didn't take photos of anything this day so looking back at my albums doesn't help me) before heading back to the GF to meet my mom!
mom managed to fly standby on an earlier flight, so she arrived by around noon. our reservation at the tea room wasn't until later in the afternoon. i called and tried to move it up, but they couldn't give us an earlier time, so mom ended up having a burger at the pool bar, as she was starving. there was a bit of confusion about one of her food issues (she can't have soy, but not like ALL things soy, just like no edamame or tofu or high-estrogen-containing foods) and i realized how very careful disney is about food allergies. we then enjoyed the resort for a bit--i believe she went for a swim--and then we headed over to the cafe for tea.
during tea, the skies darkened and it threatened to rain. apparently it did rain a some point--i believe while i was using the restroom, it was that brief--because after tea we went back to MK and it was all rainy and shiny and pretty in the sunset. we had two more fastpasses--for the haunted mansion and peter pan (which i didn't mind doing again). and then we hopped back on the monorail and continued on to BLT to have a drink at top of the world lounge and watch wishes, which in my opinion is THE ONLY WAY to watch wishes. it is so much more civilized.
while enjoying our drinks in the lounge, we met a woman and her elderly father as well as a couple who were semi-local (and obviously also DVC, as you have to be to be up there). i super impressed the elderly gentleman first with my drink order and then with the ensuing story about drinking pappy van winkle at an obscure liquor store tasting room in louisville kentucky (i like bourbon and so does he; he was very amused that i'm both a woman and somewhat young to be a bourbon fan. also pappy van winkle is like...a thing.) and then we ended the day with a stellar view of wishes.
it was a good day.
up next: mom wants to do ALL OF DISNEY IN ONE DAY. stay tuned!
Looks like a good day in the MK! That was an interesting story with the elderly man in the lounge!
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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!
have you been since diagon alley was added? i'm waffling because it seems like A LOT of money to spend for just one day. but the hotel is free so...?
That's a no brainer with the free hotel IMHO
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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!
Looks like a good day in the MK! That was an interesting story with the elderly man in the lounge!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
That's a no brainer with the free hotel IMHO
you should have seen how he perked up when i started talking about bourbon! it was awesome! (he was clearly experiencing some health challenges--he was in a wheelchair--but that didn't keep him from smiling!)
and yeah. you and my husband agree on the hotel thing. i see the point. it really does even out, money-wise. i wish we could make it a two day visit (i guess we could, but that would require getting up REALLY early in cedar key...or skipping disney for thursday.)
I've never been to US since HP. My last US trip would've been to the one in California in 1992 or 1993. But I love Harry Potter, and would LOVE to see the Wizarding World.
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