Party of 1, plus 1,000! My solo DIS adventure! 2/19 New TR Started!!

I feel awful because I am not coming with an update for my Trip Report (mostly because I haven't had a chance to upload my photos), but yet another update on our upcoming trip. Last week I was having a very hard time trying to decide where to book. I am trying to make this trip cost effective, but the thought of booking at Pop again made me wince. The whole mosquito issue really put a bad taste in my mouth and I decided to go ahead and contact Disney and let them know about the situation instead of just stewing about it. So I emailed them last Friday and they were very quick to respond and I got an email back on Sunday. I called the customer service person this morning and they ask me some additional questions and apologized and gave me two complimentary nights at any value resort. He assured me that they would let the management at Pop know of the issues, I don't know how much good that does.

Anyways, I received my email with my case number and called C.S. and booked a Little Mermaid room for the beginning of our trip. Not ideal since Erik and I will not fit on a double bed together, but it was free. They did offer a paid upgrade to the suites, but the cost was crazy so I said no thank you.

After booking the room I started thinking... if they offered an upgrade for AoA, would they let me pay to upgrade to a moderate? :confused: So I called back and got a SUPER sweet C.M. who said it would be no problem at all. I told her that I was looking at POR since I can get a room with the pull down beds, but I was waiting for the AP discount before I decided completely. She was very quick to let me know that she could book me additional rooms with a very good discount. So she priced it out for me and for the 5 nights at the beginning of our trip it was going to be $571.96 for POR! :eek: I could not pass that up! That basically comes out to $114 a night (with tax included)!!!!! When I got the confirmation email it shows that she applied a 40% discount, which is way better than what the AP discount would come to.

Disney definitely made my day and made up for the mosquito situation! :jumping1:

Now I have three days until my 180 days and I have no idea where we are going to eat!
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Wow, @PrncessA - What a great illustration of "old style Disney customer recovery" that I SO loved hearing, and I'm SO happy for you!! That's totally awesome!! pixiedust:
 

I knew that I would be tired after a long night of partying at Epcot, and DHS is definitely not a full day park, so I had planned my DHS day to start late. My first FastPass didn’t start until 2:15pm and my goal was to lounge around the resort until at least noon. The mosquitoes in my room had unfortunately changed my plans.

After a restless night of sleep, or less than 4 hours honestly, I finally gave up and got up at 6:30am to head to the front desk. I ask to speak to a manager and after the CM talked to him and he looked me up and down with a rude stare he finally came over to talk to me. I gave him the rundown of my issues with the dead bugs in my room. He pushed back and had a whole list of excuses such as:

I must be leaving the door open too long when I go in and out.

There is construction at the resort so I should expect this.

This is Florida.

I was not happy. I told him that I have stayed at WDW many times before and had NEVER had issues like this. That many of my friends were currently staying at POP and none of them were having this issue.

He gave me two options. He could send in housekeeping to vacuum up the dead bugs or he could change my room, but I needed to have my stuff packed up and ready to move by 10:00am. I explained that I had had a late night and was planning on sleeping in and ask if there was a possibility that either there was a room available now or I could *shudder* stay in my current room later. The answer was no to both. I wasn’t happy about the “vacuum” option so I went with option 2.

To be honest the entire situation was handled by the manager incorrectly. He made me feel like I was being unreasonable for asking for a clean room. I was very unhappy with the resolution. See my previous post about the resolution, which I am very happy with.

I was dead on my feet so I headed back to get a couple more hours of sleep. I put a clean towel over the pillows, since that is what was haunting my dreams, and tried to get some more sleep. I was so tired I slept through my husband’s calls and texts that morning…

I finally did get up and pack everything up, which was a pain, and head out of the room at 10. I wasn’t really feeling breakfast that morning. So I brought along my left over Homecomin’ mac and cheese to heat up in the food court.

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It didn’t really hit the spot… so I knew I would need a good lunch. I really took my time at Pop, stretching it out as long as possible because it was hot outside and DHS doesn’t have a lot of indoor rides with no wait… well they don’t have a lot of rides period! This day will go pretty quickly for my trip report… well because I didn’t do much.

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I finally headed out to DHS and was greeted with a pretty crowded day. Not what I was hoping for, but with so little to do at DHS it pretty much always seems crowded there anymore. I didn’t have any plans to meet up with anyone for quite a while so I was pretty free to do whatever I wanted.

Kitty cat

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Since I could really take my time I walked through some of the shops and found some cute Orange Bird merch.

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Was passed by some Citizens of Hollywood

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And stopped to watch the Star Wars Stage Show

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I also stopped to make some FastPasses which are now forbidden, so we won’t discuss them now except to say I don’t remember what I got them for and I didn’t take notes so I will have to go off of memory.

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Since the mac & cheese wasn’t settling well in the heat, I picked up a frozen lemonade and headed into One Man’s Dream. I am always afraid that this will be the last time I get to see this attraction.

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I considered waiting to see Star Lord and Baby Groot, but the line was not moving.

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Instead I headed to what I believe was my first rogue FP, Toy Story Midway Mania, I can’t see myself waiting in line for it so it had to be.

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For some reason photobucket didn’t like my TSMM photos, but I did okay and was the highest score in my car. That happens when my husband isn’t with me…

I decided since I didn’t have anything better to do I would ride the GMR since the standby wait wasn’t too long, glad I did this as it would be my last time.

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My family is actually really upset that this ride is going. We really enjoy it and my husband is super bummed that he will no longer be able to see the Alien scene. I know it is outdated, but I like the cheesiness of it. I even enjoy the Wizard of Oz scene, even though the movie totally gives me the creeps.

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I got the gangster sequence again, I now wish I had ask for and waited for the cowboy sequence because I have ever only gotten it once.
 


After that I decided to use another rogue FP for a new attraction for me, the Frozen Sing-Along.

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The FP really doesn’t do anything for you other than allow you to wait longer under cover than in the sun. I was able to sit on a ledge and let the hordes of people in ahead of me.

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And watch the cute preshow.

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I sat almost all the way to the right of the stage about halfway back and that was just fine.

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A lady who was about 60 set beside me and we struck up a conversation that broke my heart. She was at WDW with her daughter’s family. They came every year, and this was the first trip since her husband passed away. He had gotten sick the day they returned from Disney the year before and had passed away rather suddenly. I was nearly crying, she was crying. It just goes to show, you NEVER know what a person is going through.

The show itself was actually very cute and I enjoyed it, even though Frozen is not one of my favorite movies.

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I was starting to really feel my lack of food and I thought about heading into the Backlot Express after my next FP, but I was feeling like a sit down meal was calling my name. So I headed over to my first scheduled FP a little early, since the window opened at 2:15pm.

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While I was in the line I searched the app to see what restaurants had availability.. Low and behold I found one for a half hour later! I booked it right before my trip.

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I had some time to kill before my ADR so I decided to go into the Indiana Jones gift shop…

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Other than this cute Indy Mickey, there wasn’t much that caught my eye.

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I really did almost buy him. DH is a huge Indy fan. The themeing is pretty cool though!

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Finally I began making my way over to my very late lunch or very early dinner, take your pick. Where was I eating?

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This was the first time that I was eating her since our not so great experience in 2009, and I was excited. I checked in and went to the restroom to freshen up. This weird room outside the restrooms reminded of my tiny 2 & 4 year olds dancing together in 2009. I was missing them a lot a this point in the trip.

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I say weird room because it is obviously a waiting area for the Brown Derby, would it hurt them to add a few chairs? They have almost no seating in their waiting area.

It wasn’t too long before I was seated. I was seated in the upper area to the left as you enter… and I felt so alone.

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My waiter was OK, not great but not bad. By the end of the meal I had guessed that I was his last customer and he was waiting for me to leave so he could leave. I could be wrong but the fact that he practically grabbed the bill out of my hand after I added the tip and signed it made me think this way. I did take my time with the meal, but he was very eager to have me move on.

I could pick up on the urgency immediately and I had a feeling that if I didn’t space out my ordering everything would be delivered at once. So I ordered my wine and perused the menu.

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I really loved the bread service, but at that point I could have ate my weight in it!

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For my meal I ordered the crab cake appetizer and the Brown Derby Cobb for my meal.

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The crab cake was very good, although a bit small. It had alot of crab in it and tasted very fresh. About two bites into my crab cake my salad was delivered… luckily it was cold so I didn’t mind. I just had them set it on the other side of the table while I enjoyed my crab cake. They also had to go get me the correct dressing, since I do not like cobb dressing and had ask for ranch. Classy I know.

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That salad was very good, but just that, a salad. In the Chicagoland area we have a local chain that makes a much better chopped salad. I took my time eating, enjoying the AC, the unlimited water and meal. My waiter ask me a dozen times if I needed anything, but I was determined to take my time. He could have passed me off if he didn’t want to stick around. I was not going to rush through my meal because he was in a hurry. I did pay the bill before I finished my wine, and after that I didn’t see him again. I did enjoy my meal, which was good food mixed with questionable service.

Next up: Sunset Blvd, Pixar Live and another Dis meet.
 
Ahhhh you have a TR!! So thrilled that I found this! So many fun and exciting experiences; Trader Sams (I'm a fan of the tiki tiki tiki tiki run!), Jodi Benson concert (ahhmazing!), celebrating reaching $500K in person (how awesome was that!), spending time with Disers (shout out to Phil (TheMaxRebo!) and of course your new Dooney!

Bummer about the bugs in the room. Yeah.... that Manager was no help. Glad you had a satisfying resolution with Guest Relations.

Coincidently, we are returning to WDW in February as well. Our dates will overlap. I completely expect that we will run into each other at MK again. Plan on it! :p

BTW, I saw the photos of Lorelie on FB for Seuessical show and she was adorable! Great job with the costuming.
 
I thought I posted my reply! My mind is slipping lately!

Brown Derby was a big surprise for us in 2015. We'd read so many mixed reviews. I'm sorry your service was so bad. It takes away from the meal for me. Having been a server and bartender for close to 10 years, it means a lot to me that service be good. But I'm glad you enjoyed your food!
 


First, I am very glad to see the update for your current trip and how well Disney handles it - super great you are going to stay at Port Orleans!

Contrast that to the Pop manager - that is just wrong. There is just no scenario where you should put it back on the customer as being their fault there are bugs in the room!

Sorry about the rough start to your day. Seems like your time of just wandering at DHS was going well though and very glad you decided to wait for GMR given it is now closed (we too really liked the ride but did think it needed a refresh/update - just maybe not as something as drastic as is happening)

Sorry your server at HBD wasn't better. We've found we enjoy the lounge outside better as cheaper, no ADR needed, and some tasty food (and drinks) on the menu (though no AC)
 
Congratulations on graduating - thats such a big accomplishment!
Your solo trip sounds like so much fun!! Yuck to those mosquitos but I am glad you contacted management..
 
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Ahhhh you have a TR!! So thrilled that I found this!

Thrilled you found it as well!

So many fun and exciting experiences; Trader Sams (I'm a fan of the tiki tiki tiki tiki run!), Jodi Benson concert (ahhmazing!), celebrating reaching $500K in person (how awesome was that!), spending time with Disers (shout out to Phil (TheMaxRebo!) and of course your new Dooney!

It was such a fun trip!

Bummer about the bugs in the room. Yeah.... that Manager was no help. Glad you had a satisfying resolution with Guest Relations.

I am lucky it was me in the room and not Erik or Ethan. For some reason they attract mosquitoes and Ethan is allergic to the bites. We would have been out of there immediately!

Coincidently, we are returning to WDW in February as well. Our dates will overlap. I completely expect that we will run into each other at MK again. Plan on it! :p

YAY!

BTW, I saw the photos of Lorelie on FB for Seuessical show and she was adorable! Great job with the costuming.

Thank you! Her next show is Mulan... I dread the costume process.

I thought I posted my reply! My mind is slipping lately!

It's the summer, it drains you of rational thought! LOL

Brown Derby was a big surprise for us in 2015. We'd read so many mixed reviews. I'm sorry your service was so bad. It takes away from the meal for me. Having been a server and bartender for close to 10 years, it means a lot to me that service be good. But I'm glad you enjoyed your food!

I understand what you mean, my mom was a career server so I know what good service is.

First, I am very glad to see the update for your current trip and how well Disney handles it - super great you are going to stay at Port Orleans!

I am very glad to be headed back, it is such a beautiful resort!

Contrast that to the Pop manager - that is just wrong. There is just no scenario where you should put it back on the customer as being their fault there are bugs in the room!

I couldn't agree more!

very glad you decided to wait for GMR given it is now closed (we too really liked the ride but did think it needed a refresh/update - just maybe not as something as drastic as is happening)

I really think that they could have updated this ride and kept it, but I guess it really doesn't fit the "theme" anymore... although I am a bit confused on what the theme actually is. I don't see how this new ride will fit in either...

We've found we enjoy the lounge outside better as cheaper, no ADR needed, and some tasty food (and drinks) on the menu (though no AC)

I had thought about the lounge but the promise of AC and a crab cake won out. I didn't see the crab cake on the Lounge menu.

Congratulations on graduating - thats such a big accomplishment!
Your solo trip sounds like so much fun!! Yuck to those mosquitos but I am glad you contacted management..

Thank you! :welcome:

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A quick life update is in order I suppose... although nothing grand has been going on.

The kids started school and are now offically in 5th & 7th grade. This summer went way too fast! Notice the dead plant in my planter? I should not be allowed to buy plants!

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It feels like they are growing up at lightening speed! Here they are on their first day of school ever! :sad::sad::sad:


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Even though the summer is winding down fast, we do still have a couple of fun things lined up, including the Indy Disney Meet this weekend. I had planned on spending Sunday in Indianapolis as well, but both kids have sports commitments (one is a picture day that we can't miss) so we are heading back early Sunday morning. :(

I am going to try and get the rest of my trip report finished ASAP. Just trying to upload the rest of the photos. I start school next week, but I have a 2.5 hour break between two of my classes that I am sure I can fill with trip writing and planning!

As for PTR news, I don't have much. I hit my 180 days and I didn't even get up to make ADR's! Since then I have made a couple, but I don't know if we are going to eat at TS a lot. So far I have a Tusker House late breakfast and a Trattoria al Forno breakfast for Lorelai's birthday. I am waiting for Disney to release the reservations for February's Narcoosee's brunch, since our anniversary falls on a Sunday. I am sure we will also add a Kona dinner and possibly Homecoming to the list by the time the trip comes around. If the Star Wars Dessert Party is still running we might do that as well since the kids have never done it, although it would be my 3rd time. :cloud9:
 
I can't believe I haven't updated this in so long! I have been super busy, which isn't an excuse, but is the truth. I have been planning our upcoming trip, planning a friend's trip, working full-time, working part-time and going to school 3/4 time. The kids have been busy with sports and school, and if I never had to ask if they have homework again I would be blissful. Next semester I am going to school full time, along with both jobs. I feel like I am going crazy trying to keep up with it all sometimes.

Some things that have happened since I last posted:

Had one of Erik's co-workers (K) over to help her with planning her Disney trip. She lost her husband last year, and New Year's is a painful time for her and her kids (twins 12yo and 3yo), so they are going to WDW for the first time. She knows how busy it will be, I am just trying to help her plan the best possible senerio. She is working with a travel agent, who to be honest should be ashamed she is planning Disney trips. I am glad she came to me, because YIKES.

I picked up her planning well after the 180 days and the dining alone was laughable. Their plane doesn't arrive until after 6pm on the 28th, yet her TA had a 6:30pm dinner at 1900 Park Fare... they are staying at AoA.

On NYE she had them eating lunch at 12:30 at 50’s Prime time and dinner at 4:30pm at the same place! They have the dining plan 6nights and she had them scheduled for 8TS meals, one of them was a signature! In addition there were days with ADR’s in different parks, they don’t have a park hopper!!! K wouldn’t have had any idea… she wasn’t even sure how the dining plan worked. I gave the TA the benefit of the doubt, since it is the busiest time of year, that maybe ADR’s were hard to come by. So I made a list of what I thought they would like, after finding out what types of food they like and if she wanted character meals, ect., and set to looking for ADR’s. Guess what? It wasn’t hard at all.

They are now booked at:

BOG (lunch)
1900 Park Fare (dinner)
Homecomin’ (lunch)
Hollywood and Vine (breakfast for 3yo)
Akershus (dinner)
Tusker House (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)


I booked her FP’s a while ago as well, I can’t imagine what they would have looked like if I hadn’t gotten involved.

On our trip front things have become a bit more formalized. Not sure what I shared before, but so far here are our plans:

2/5/18-2/13/18 (Flying in late, after work and school)
Port Orleans French Quarter 2/5-2/11
Poly Deluxe Villa 2/11-2/13

So far I haven’t really made a lot of ADR’s or plans. I have tried, but I feel like we have been enough now where we kind of want to go with the flow. Plus we are not on the DDP, so we are being very selective about our dining.

Right now I have:

Tusker House late breakfast
Bon Voyage Breakfast
Kona Café breakfast (but I might change that to dinner or keep both)

We actually are looking forward to stepping away from being so reined in by ADR’s and eating at some CS restaurants. Pecos Bills, Sleepy Hollow and Satu'li Canteen are on the list. I am also thinking about a Dessert Party and Narcoosee’s brunch for our anniversary.

I really need to nail down our plans since our FP day is coming up soon. We are 70 days out today! Lorelai is taking a big interest in the planning and has a list of FP’s she wants. This is the new phase of our Disney Vacations. Since this trip is over her birthday, she gets to plan one whole day…

Here are some photos from the last few busy months as an update:

Made a trip to Indy for the Indy Dis Meet and it was so much fun. It is great fun running into the same people every year who love Disney as much as I do. I also have meet a few of my very close friends there, so it is special to me. Raised a lot of money for GKTW and saw the incredible YeeHa Bob perform.

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Ethan was so excited to meet Bob!!
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I was too:
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We had some non-Disney Halloween costumes:

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Went to Oktoberfest and had some Disney beer... or Schofferhofer Hefeweizen Grapefruit Bier.
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And went to many sporting events for the kids:

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And finally we took a long weekend vacation to the Wisconsin Dells to get away from it all.

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Definitely not Disney, but it was nice to get away from everyday life for a while.

Next up I promise to update my report and finish it ASAP!!


Jeoutnya22NdeakP2
 
Very nice, @PrncessA , thanx for sharing. Your kids are beautiful. And your friend is so blessed to have you! I have run across many "Disney Travel Agents" over the years who have made my jaw drop at how much they DIDN'T know. And it's even more sad to see people blindly taking their poor advice. As always - just READING about your life makes me TIRED!
 
I had made plans to meet up with a Dis’er with our overlapping TSMM fast passes, but it looked like she wasn’t going to make it. Our communication was on Facebook and wasn’t that fast. So I headed over for another round of Midway Mania.

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Then I headed to get in the single rider line at RRC….

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Do I look scared? I think I just look goofy.

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Let me just preface this by saying… DON’T USE THE SINGLE RIDER LINE AT ROCKIN’ ROLLERCOASTER!

The line was barely moving… I was in the single rider line for an hour! The only reason I did not jump out of the line was because it was pouring outside and I figured it was better to be in line than out of it. But it was soooo slow and I was worried that I would miss Pixar Live!, which I really wanted to see. FINALLY, I made it into the preshow room, but guess what people, it takes forever from there if you are in the single rider line there as well. The moral of the story don’t use the single rider line, EVER!
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Anyway, I finally made it on the ride, but the lady sitting next to me was very unhappy about riding with me. She wanted it to be just her family and practically told me to get out. No kidding.

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After my awful RRC wait, it was still POURING but I ran over to the theater right as the show was beginning. I enjoyed the show, my kids would not have. Not enough action. My husband would have loved it!

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Every now and then a character would pop out in between songs…

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I was really looking forward to the finale where all the characters come out… but it didn’t happen. What a let down!

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After the show I headed over to use my ToT fast pass that I was able to move after my crazy long wait at RRC. It seriously was terrifying. I don’t know if the last time I rode it I was too busy focusing on my kids with me, but this time it was just me and I was seriously freaking out. I usually look like nothing can spoil my Disney high in my Photopass photos, but this one shows just how crazy scared I was!

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I was ready for a break! I decided to head over to the Launch Bay even if I was too early. I sat down on one of the benches inside and relaxed. After a bit of relaxing I decided to confront Kylo Ren since he scared the bejeezus out of me last time I met him.

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I was much more prepared this time but he is still an awkward meet. We had a “conversation” about what happens when you don’t go to college… you become a Sith Lord!

I went back out and checked in for the dessert party (and my next Dis Meet) then went back in and sat down to check social media and wait for more Dis’rs to arrive.

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Not too much later Kat (Raven’s Girl) found me and we decided to go meet Chewbacca and BB-8 together.

BB-8 Selfie

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From the other side:

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BB-8 was cute but extremely awkward!

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We headed back out and even though there were other Dis’rs at the party… who we were messaging with on Facebook we only ever found two others. My memory is not good of this night. I was really enjoying the open bar and specialty cocktails. Plus I really enjoy the red bean dip and pita. I could also eat my weight in the Darth Vader cupcakes.

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I did have a long conversation with a Dis’r from Canada, and for the life of me I cannot remember his name. He was sans kids and wife, but they too were headed back down pretty quickly. We were walked out for the fireworks and I suggested to Kat that we move as far to the right as possible. She is tiny and I wanted to make sure she had a good view point.

I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I did the first time I saw it, but I really do love this show.

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Kat decided to head out a bit early to beat the crowds to the boat launch, so we got a selfie before she left. I considered coming with her and heading over to the Dis Meet at Jelly Rolls, but I had a very early morning the next day so I decided against it. Plus I had really had more than needed from the open bar at the dessert party.

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After the show I followed the crowd out of the park and to the POP bus stop. One bus came and went without me… when a charter bus pulled up. Yay comfortable ride back to Pop. I sat in the very front of the bus and checked my email for my new room number again. Same building at least!

Finding my room was not as easy as I though. I got turned around and walked around 3 or 4 times, I would blame the open bar but I think it was just my sense of direction. Finally I found my new room and lucky me, NO BUGS! Not one!

I unpacked a bit and crashed, because I had a VERY early wakeup call the next day!
 

When I say early! I mean early! This was my AK day and I had big plans and thanks to my great friends I was able to achieve them!

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My alarm went off at a crazy early 5:30am. I dragged my aching feet out of bed and quickly got ready. I was STOKED to get to AK!

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At 6am I was knocking on Kat & Tim’s door, because we were all headed to AK for EMH! They thought that I was crazy (this was their 3rd trip to Pandora this trip) and I was planning on riding the bus and meeting them later. But being the great friends that they are they were concerned that buses wouldn’t get me there in time so they offered to get up before dawn and go with me in their car. They really are the best!!


We pulled up to AK in no time and basically got the 5th parking space! We got in line and only about 20 minutes later or so they let us into the park and “walked” us to the entrance of Pandora. I say “walked” because it was more like a steady paced stampede. I personally would have walked a bit slower, but Kat and Tim were committed to being one of the first people on the ride that morning I believe, or they are just way more in shape. Probably option B!


They finally stopped us at the entrance and this is what was behind us!

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YIKES!

A few minutes before 7am they began walking us in two different directions… toward the same ride. It was strange and even though we were in the front we were not the first to enter the ride. It didn’t really matter because there was no wait no matter what. I really wanted to slow down and take some photos of the queue but it was impossible with the horde behind me. I decided if I was up for it I would come back that night and stand in line to enjoy the queue.

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What can I say about FOP other than WOW. It was amazing. I can also tell you that I was terrified that I wouldn’t fit on the ride. I am not a small person, not huge, but not small. But my biggest concern was my calfs, which are much larger than a normal persons. They always have been, even when I was “skinny”. But just to let you know I fit with no problems whatsoever.

After FOP we walked around just a bit and took photos. I took more with my camera, but these are what I have on my phone:

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While walking around we saw that Navi River was only 20 minutes, so we decided to ride. It was a walk on. No photos...

After Navi River we still had a bit of time to walk over to safari before our breakfast ADR, so we took a ride with the animals and it was AMAZING. It was the most active I have ever seen the animals. The painted dogs were running around and even the lion was walking around. Of course all of these photos are on my camera, not my phone, so no proof. But I am sure everyone has saw photos of the safari before…


We still had more time before our Tusker House ADR but we were starving so we went ahead and went to see if they could seat us now. They were great and got us in immediately. I love Tusker House, it is easily one of my favorite restaurants on property. It is one of only a handful that we have scheduled for our trip next month. And this trip did not disappoint! YUMMMMM! I love the combination of American breakfast foods and the more exotic African food.

Look at the glorious pile of Disney bacon!
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Nutritious right?

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Also the character interaction is amazing! As a table of 3 adults they spent just as much time with us as tables with children.
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Our breakfast was fantastic and turned out to be a graduation gift to me from my fantastic friends. I love my Disney friends!

We had a fast pass for the safari, and who doesn’t like seeing animals roaming around, so we headed back over to take another ride. I decided to live stream on Facebook during our ride since the animals had been so active that morning, but of course they saw me coming and hid… so my Facebook video is full of a lot of background and not much else. Exciting right?

After our ride we went to look at the gorillas and boy were they putting on a show! How cute are they?


We really didn’t have many plans in AK at this point. We walked around and took photos of random things, most of which are on my camera. We sat in a little alcove and enjoyed the view of the Tree of Life for a while.

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Decided to walk over to Expedition Everest and take a spin in the single rider line, which is the best way to ride EE if you don’t have a fast pass. The line said 10 minutes but it took less than 2 before I was on the ride. In sharp contrast to family the night before, the family I was placed with told me to smile big because I would be in their family’s albums for years to come. LOL

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After our decent, Kat and I decided to sit and relax for a while while Tim took the opportunity to ride EE 4 or 5 more times. We walked over to the ROL seating area and found a shaded spot and just relaxed and caught up. At this point I was getting close to my Navi River FP+, so I bid my amigos goodbye, found my favorite "hidden" Mickey...

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And headed over to Pandora to explore a bit more…
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I just can’t get over how beautiful this place is.

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The themeing is amazing:

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After another beautiful ride on Navi River (a ride that I would never wait more than 20 minutes for)...

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I stopped by the drums to watch (and live stream) the show. Pretty cool.


At this point I was HOT and getting a bit hungry so I decided to head over to Satu’li Canteen and try out some food. I did the mobile ordering and just ordered the Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse and a Dreamwalker Sangria. No photos, sorry. The mousse was fantastic! I don’t know I will get another on our trip since I want to try the Lumpia, but it was really good. The sangria was disgusting. Really gross. YUCK! I plan on trying the margarita from Pongu Pongu in February and I am sure it will be much better.

At this point I was spent and decided to head back to the room to get some rest. Kat and Tim decided to spend the entire day at AK, but I had late night plans that make a midday break necessary.
 
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Right as I got back to Pop the heavens opened up and it started raining, really raining. I bolted back to the room and hoped that the rain would be short lived and I would miss most of it sleeping… but I didn’t. When I woke up it was still raining, not as hard but rain nonetheless.


I donned my pancho and headed out undeterred. On the way over to AK I changed my Dinosaur fast pass to when I arrived and headed on over splashing through the puddles as I went. The line was next to nothing anyway, but I proceeded through my FP line and went back in time:

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After my ride with the dinos, I did a bit of shopping for Ethan and picked out one of the huge stuffed dinosaurs that they have in the giftshop, then headed over to Flame Tree BBQ to meet up with Kat and Tim.

I was starving at this point so I decided to eat here for the first time. It was pretty good, but the beans were pretty gross so I didn’t eat them.
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Kat and Tim were sitting down by the water at FTBBQ, so I headed down to sit with them. It was really raining at this point and no one else was down there with us, we sat there for about 2 hours just talking. Occasionally a CM would come by and say hi. We were weighing our options with Rivers of Light since we had our ROL dining package vouchers, but the rain won and we decided to stay where we were. Others joined us in our idea to watch ROL from the back.

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Unfortunately they did not play the music for ROL and the view with the rain was bad. We decided to cut and run before the crowds left the show. We parted ways at the Tree of Life, with Kat and Tim headed back to resort as they were leaving early in the morning. I instead belined it over to FoP, my goal… to actually stand in the queue.


When I got there the standby line said 2 hours, but the standby line didn’t seem that long when I got in line. After walking through the queue that morning I knew how much of the queue was left, there was no way it was two hours long. I estimated an hour tops. About 5 minutes after I got in line a CM walked through the line and someone ask him how long he thought it would be from that point and he too said 2 hours… I scoffed.


The queue and fantastic! So much detail and story telling!


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Sure enough it took me exactly one hour from the time I got in line to the time I got on the ride. An hour that was well worth it. The queue itself is an attraction.


After my ride I headed over to get a snack from Satu’li canteen. Not sure why, I don’t remember being very hungry. But I got the kid’s tofu bowl so I couldn’t have been starving. It was ok, bland, but that was my fault as I didn’t get the adult version with a sauce.


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The tofu was really good and crispy, which I enjoyed, and the slaw was good.


I thought about staying to wait for a awakening show on the ToL, but the rain was picking up again so I head back to Pop to pack up and get ready for my last day on my solo trip, at my favorite park!
 
Not sure how many readers :wave2: I still have since this report is taking so long! But I have set my goal to finish it, and I will if it kills me! :crutches:

For our trip in 21 Days I am planning on doing both a TR and a Dining Report. I am interested in how not having the dining plan will effect our eating habits!

Just a few updates on our plans:

Southwest changed their flight prices, and I moved us to flying in EARLY on 2/6 now instead of late 2/5. I did this for quite a few reasons: 1. It will save us almost $200 between the room cost and additional food costs. 2. It gives me a bit of a credit with Southwest, which is good because I really want to change our flight home... it looks like a lost cause though, because the flight prices going home are not dropping. 3. We can let Magical Express get our luggage and not have to worry about it. 4. No stressing about getting home from work and the kids from school and rushing to the airport.

So our new dates are 2/5-2/13. With 2/5-2/11 at POFQ and 2/11-2/13 at the Poly. WOOHOO

In another twist of fate, the Poly sent out an email saying the Lava pool will be closed for referb while we are there...

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Seriously I am upset about this! The kids were so looking forward to this pool. I guess the bright side is that it has been so cold in Florida that the kids might not want to go swimming anyway.

I have finalized our plans! Well, as final as they are ever really going to be.

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Here are our "finalized" plans:

Day 1: Arrive MCO 9:30am... Epcot all day!!
Highlights: Festival of the Arts! Food!!!
We have a FP for Frozen, so we will try and do standby during EMH for Soarin' and/or TT.
ADRs: None! Food booths!

Day 2: #4Parks1MagicalDay (Well that is what the shirts say that I am having made. LOL)
Highlights: DHS (TSMM and ST, maybe RRC), AK (Dinosaur and EE), BREAK, Epcot (FP for TT, and others if time permits), MK (Happily Ever After and EMH)
ADRs: None! Satu'li Canteen, Counter Service in MK

Day 3: "Sleep In" and head to Disney Springs then head to DHS
Highlights:Possibly the Jedi VR?, Star Wars fireworks for the kids
I am seriously thinking about doing the dessert party... again. But $69 per "kid" is ridiculous. I can see paying it for Erik and I, we can drink $69 worth of adult drinks, but the kids?
ADRs: None! Thinking Earl of Sandwich or Polite Pig and Baseline Tap?

Day 4: MK EMH morning!
Highlights: Would like to try to get over to Tom Sawyer Island, I know the kids will love it.
I am leaving the evening open. We might head over to Epcot for a little while. Thinking about heading over to POR for some YeeHa Bob as well.
ADRs: None! Columbia Harbor House for lunch, Food booths, River Roost Lounge

Day 5: AK EMH (or Pandora or bust day), break, MK evening
Highlights: EARLY day, as we plan on being at AK by 6:30am for a 7am EMH. Ride FoP, Navi River and then do an early morning Safari! We have FoP fast pass as well.
ADRs: Tusker House brunch. Not really a brunch but a very late breakfast, dinner at MK probably Pecos Bills

Day 6: Check into Our Anniversary! Epcot of course!
Highlights: Spending the day in our favorite park!
ADRs: Kona Cafe for Erik and I. Not sure about the kids yet. Either they will 1. both be at Lilo's Playhouse, or 2. just Lorelai will be at Lilo's and Ethan will be in the room or 3. they both will stay in the room. We are going to play it by ear for what they want to do. I have a feeling it will option 2, Ethan will be really jonesing for some phone time at this point. After Kona, Erik and I are hoping to get some Trader Sams time. We know the kids would love to see Trader Sams, so we might go early when it opens with them and have pre-dinner drinks.


Day 7: Our baby turns 11! She planned this day down to the minute! MK, Boardwalk, Epcot, Break, AK

Highlights: 8am opening for MK! Ride a couple of her favorite rides ( Little Mermaid for sure), Minnie Van (hopefully) over to Boardwalk, late late breakfast with her favorite princesses (and princes), walk through Epcot (maybe ride a couple rides if we can), head back to the Poly to hopefully swim, AK evening with another FoP fast pass, dinner at her favorite restaurant!
ADRs: Trattoria al Forno breakfast, no adr for Rainforest Cafe, but we are Landry's members so we will just walk over when we are ready.

Day 8: All good things must come to an end.
Highlights: possibly swimming
ADR's: Kona Cafe breakfast
IF I can move our flights later we will add a day of tickets to theirs and head over to MK. We are also thinking about upgrading their tickets to AP's as well... but I don't think that is really going to happen. But Erik might surprise me!

So that is our trip in a nutshell!







 
Hi! Still following along. I seriously love your DIS trip! Your AK Day was fun filled, even with the rain. I agree 100% that the FoP line is worth a walk through. I waited more than an hour but it was a cool queue!

Plans look great for your upcoming trip. I can’t believe your little lady is 11! I think she was 6 when I “met” you here. Time just flies. I adore that she planned her special day.

Can’t wait to see how this trip ends and how the next one goes, super jealous of all your WDW vacays, btw.
 
I'm still here reading along! Your AK day seemed like a long day, but you got to see and do so much. A real shame about all the rain, though, since ROL really is a beautiful show. . .
 
As always, I was sad to wake up on my last morning, but I was really missing my family and actually wasn’t looking forward to visiting our favorite park without them. It felt like I was cheating on them!

I don’t have one photo of what I did for breakfast that morning, so I am guessing I might have skipped it. Instead I drug my luggage toward bell services, only to be told that airline check-in was around the back of the building. So I went ahead and gave them my carry-ons and drug the big suitcases around the building… I was hot and cranky way too early in the morning, and the CM’s at the airline check-in did not help. They do NOT have a cheery disposition to say the least.

Finally I had my bags checked and I got on the bus headed for the magical land of orange slushes and chocolate domes! Or Epcot as others call it.

While on the bus I called my husband and ask him a very serious question, would we be going back to WDW within the next year? And if so, should I upgrade to an AP? He said yes!

I got off the bus, ran through security and beelined for a ticket window, since the guest services was packed. In no time at all I was the proud owner of this little beauty!!!!!


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I didn’t have much of a plan for this day, but I do remember really needing caffeine and a coffee cake so I headed to Starbucks. Reason #542 why I never felt alone on this trip: While in line to order (which was crazy long and way out the door) I met two fantastic guys who were at Disney for the weekend with their nephew who they had custody of. They were Florida residents and were taking advantage of the last weekend of their AP’s before the summer blackout. We talked throughout the entire 30+ minute line, which made the line sooooo much more bearable. Being alone during this trip made it so much easier to really talk to strangers and hear some interesting stories.

Green Tea and coffee cake in hand I headed toward the World Showcase. This day is a bit of a blur and I think a combination of missing my family in our favorite park, the late nights, and the heat was really getting to me. I headed over to make it to my first FP+, Frozen Ever After. I attempted to get some photos, and got a few that were okay.

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I completely forgot that they took a picture of you… so yeah, my photo is goofy.

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After Frozen I really needed to cool off, so I back tracked to Mexico and headed inside. My goal, Cava de Tequila! I put my name on the list and decided to walk over and take a ride through Mexico since the wait was 45 minutes.

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I love the fireworks!

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I headed back to Cava and found out that my name hadn’t moved at all. Did I want to wait? I looked at the app for ADR’s for lunch and saw one for Biergarten. I was really craving some sauerkraut so I booked it and headed over. They didn’t have my name in the computer, but they added me and handed me a pager.

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I didn’t wait too long before it went off at the same time as a group of 3 guys. I figured we would be sitting together. I was very happy they were my dining companions, because they looked like they would be great conversation, I was right. They were visiting WDW from Mississippi for gay days and were staying at the Fort. They were big Disney fans, one was a prior CM, and they were all very personable and kept the conversation going. The family we sat with were already at the table and actually left pretty quickly after we were seated. They didn’t acknowledge us when we sat down or when they left…

I took exactly one photo of my food, my last plate:

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I’m not big on desserts at buffets. I did get this lemon thing I believe, but one taste and I knew it had coconut in it. I hoped that the one bite I had would not make my tongue swell. I only got it because one of the guys suggested it for me. I however LOVED every bite of my nodel gratin, schnitzel, pretzel bread and sauerkraut. I think I ate three helpings of it with my glass of reisling. (When in Germany!)

I bid my dining companions goodbye and headed on. I didn’t do much…

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No photos, but I stopped in Japan to do some candy shopping for the kids. I picked up 4 or 5 different candies and some cookies that looked like koala bears with chocolate in the center. These were huge hits.

I stopped in France of course...

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The patisserie had too long of a wait so no chocolate dome for me. :(

I was really missing my family at this point. The world showcase is our jam, so I headed out into Future World.
Pretty sure I did a pass on Figment, but no proof. Then I headed to my favorite, Spaceship Earth.


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Saw my future:

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Then as a last minute thing, I ducked into Ellen’s Universe of Energy. I am so glad, because while it was not the most exciting ride ever, I actually enjoyed it. I thought the kids would have liked the dinos.

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I am sure they will like Guardians of the Galaxy even more though.

I stopped in MouseGears in search of the semi-giant Stitch plush that I knew Lorelai would love. Then headed to the bus. I took some selfies but I will not share them because the heat had made my face swell 3x’s it’s normal size, and no one needs to see that!

Back at Pop I got something to hold me over, and I wished I hadn’t because YUCK!
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The soup (which I think was minestrone) had no taste, which was better than the quiche which tasted like garbage.

This was the saving grace:

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YUMMMMMM!

I relaxed until it was time to head outside and hitch a ride back to MCO.

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I made it through security in no time, but when I got to the gate I found out my flight was delayed. I hung out at the gate for a while but it was crowded so I headed to the food court. I talked to my husband, watched some Netflix and finally headed back to the gate. Turns out the flight was delayed, BUT then changed to being back on time. I barely made it! Luckily the front seat aslie was still available, SCORE!

I made it home pretty late, grabbed my luggage, my family picked me up and we were on our way home. Well almost… Lorelai had to pee, like really pee and it took us forever to find somewhere open. There was a lot of drama and tears. Home sweet home!
 

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