Team No Sleep - A trip of Firsts - May 2018

[tehSAC]

Here we go again, another quick report to share with you all.

This time it stars Me and my sister Erin. :fanfare: woo hoo! LOL

The reason for my trip was not Disney (shock I know), but it was for a conference that I attend each year at this time. So this was a work paid for trip, but limited time to enjoy Disney.

My sister was in town from California for a few days, so we met up and had a good ol time. She has a client that supplied her with some tickets to the park, so we had to go right. Also this would be the first time in 17 years since my Sister set foot inside one of the parks in Orlando. So we dubbed this the trip of firsts for a number of reasons. What those reasons are, well we will get to that here soon enough. So without further adieu, lets get this bad boy started.

Timeline: Sunday May 6th, 2:30 AM

Here I am waking up to a blaring alarm I had set on my phone. I'm rubbing my eyes after 2 and a half hours of sleep wishing I could go back to sleep. However I have a plane to catch and the Magic Kingdom is calling my name. After a quick shower, and a cup of tea, my mom is at the house picking me up to take me to the airport. My wife and two daughters are awake to see daddy off, and i'm out the door. 35 minutes later I'm waiting at the southwest counter waiting on the employees to fire up the computers. A short while later, my bag is checked, I'm through TSA, and heading towards my gate. If you know me personally I hate to be late, so if it means I have to sit and do nothing for an hour and a half, I am perfectly content not being late. However since I'm in Indy, and its the month of May, I gotta stop and take a picture of a race car.

IMG_7468 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

After taking a little stop at the race car and reading about its history, I take a little stroll to the gate, load some tunes and enjoy a little downtime. Around 5:05 I'm boarding my private jet, you may have heard of them, Southwest Airlines. Anyway if you haven't, they let you sit anywhere, and give you a little snack during your flight. Very posh stuff!

It was a cloudy flight the last half of the flight but overall a great flight.

IMG_7470 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

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7:40 AM, 2 hours later, I am on the ground in Orlando, receiving a hundred texts from softball parents. I may not have mentioned, I am a softball coach and the parents were loosing their minds that I was going to be gone a week. LOL

IMG_7480 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

I also noticed as we landed it was a bit overcast. The forecast wasn't very promising, but hey I was in florida, I'm gonna live it up. I was quickly off the plane, road the monorail over to baggage claim and was surprised that the first bag that was in baggage claim was mine. First magical moment of the trip! I was in the car, and on the road out of MCO at 8:20. I'm making awesome time, but I realize I wont make it to rope drop. I'm perfectly fine with that, but I do want to get there ASAP. After picking up my sister we make a quick trip to Walgreens for some ponchos (ill regret that later) and water, then on the road to the MK. We parked the car at 9:30 AM, and were on the Ferry to the MK around 9:50. My sister had never been on the Ferry as all of our past trips we stayed on site so no need for the ferry. That would be the first of many first for my sister. As we set off, the skies opened up and it was a deluge. Typical Florida rain storm. Good thing we grabbed those ponchos!

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It was poncho city, but I didn't mind. I was at the Magic Kingdom!

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[tehSAC]

So we left off at a soggy Main Street USA, and I’ve been up 8 hours already. It’s all good I’m gonna push through. Our first fastpass isn’t until 1, so lets hit up some rides before the crowds really pick up. Speaking of fastpasses, two weeks prior to leaving I logged on to see if I could get those prized fastpasses everyone wants. I picked up one for Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarfs, and Peter Pan. 2 of those rides would be firsts for me, and honestly I was a bit nervous about them. I’m not a thrill ride guy at all, but I was gonna give it a go.

Anyway, lets get to it right?

We headed off towards Adventureland and decided the Jungle Cruise would be our first stop. The wait was 15 minutes already, but I’m okay with that. We can get out of the rain for a bit, and looking at the radar hopefully the rain would stop before we took our cruise. Now I will admit, Jungle Cruise isn’t my favorite because the skippers can be so hit or miss. Sadly the skipper we would have would be a miss. Couldn’t hear her very well and well she just didn’t have the personality I feel like you should have for this attraction.

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However I am not here to complain, and we all have our “off” days, so lets make the best of it. My sister and I made the best of it, and at the moment we got off the boat, it started to rain once again. Good thing we still have those poncho’s right? Oh and speaking of, when we were waking into the park they were handing out ponchos. Yes I said they were handing out ponchos. I did not see an exchange of any cash. They had a cart next to the park maps and handing them to anyone not wearing a poncho or asking for one. I found that to be odd and our server later in the day was as surprised as I was.

So where was I? Oh yea, ponchos and it was raining. Lets head to my favorite attraction, Pirates Of The Caribbean. As we were walking we noticed they were getting the stage ready for the Jack Sparrow “show”, and I mentioned I would like to try and catch that if it was still going on after we finished up Pirates. Now, I must pre-cursor the next bit as I did something I am ashamed of, but it was honestly a mistake. I’ve been to the parks enough to know better but I was so focused on my Disney App and a conversation I was having with my sister I didn’t realize what I was doing. :crowd: So what was that Paul? Come on we want to know? :crowd:

I jumped over the chain to throw something away, and continued down the Fastpass path, when I didn’t have a fastpass. :ashamed: So let me try and explain as I hear sirens in the distance…… I was wearing a back pack and my back pack had two spots for water bottles. Well I was also carrying a bottle of green tea and finished as we entered the queue. I spotted a trash can and hopped over the chain and threw it away. As I turned around, there was Erin and we started to talk about wait times and such. So we stopped and loaded my app. She and I started to walk ahead and the next thing I know I’m walking down a path and being greeted by a cast member asking how many there was in our party. I said two, and then turned to my sister and whispered, “uh we just went down the wrong path, we skipped the whole standby line, we are in the fastpass line.” She was confused, and I explained what we had just done waiting for our boat. She was so worried we would get kicked out, but nothing was said or done. Trust me, I won’t do that again, my little Jiminy Cricket was shaming me the rest of the day.

As soon as we boarded our boat, I was trying to forget what just happened and focused on the ride itself. Since I was there in October some items had changed and I wanted to see them in person. I don’t agree with the changes but hey, that’s the world we live in now, and you have to accept it. I pointed out skull rock before the beach scene, and noticed they had removed the mermaid skeleton. The new auction scene was pretty meh in my opinion, but like I said, gotta accept it and move on. We de-boarded our boat and headed up the ramp. The first thing we saw was a box of stuffed Pirate Mickey’s and my sister says “Look Cowboy Mickey’s!” I had a great laugh at that and said “hey are you sure about that, we just got off Pirates”. She looked all embarrassed and we had a good laugh. As we walked out we caught the end of the Jack Sparrow Show. Standing near Tortouga Tavern after the show, his sidekick came by us walking backstage and asked me if I had any little pirates at home. I said, yes I have two, and he handed me two scrolls of paper to give to them back home and said “Jack needs a couple more crew, make sure they get back down here soon.” I thought that was pretty cool, and the girls both enjoyed their scrolls when I returned home.


Next up was another first, but for my sister this time. She had never had a dole whip float, and I was about to change that right then! Plus I was starving. She enjoyed it, and joked about getting another before the end of the day, but we never did. I however before the end of my trip made a journey over to the Poly to get one. More on that later.

IMG_7486 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

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^^ LMAO ^^

We slowly enjoyed our whip, and made our way over towards the Hall of Presidents. No I didn’t want to see the Hillary Trump, I wanted to view Great Moments in History with the Muppets. We enjoyed the show for awhile, until it was too crowed for us, plus my 10 yr old was trying to Facetime me, and I needed a spot where I could hear her. Soon after that call, we made our way over to the Haunted Mansion which was a 10 minute wait. That was fine by me, we had some time to kill before our Fastpass at 12:15. What better way to kill time right?

Next up would be a first for me, but I will leave that to the next post here soon.

 

[tehSAC]

Okay its been a busy weekend, so lets see, where did I leave off?

Oh yes, we just finished the Haunted Mansion, and we are headed back to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Now this would be a first for me. I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom plenty of times, but I am not a thrill ride type of guy, and well I decided hey lets just go for it. However first I needed to hit up the restroom, and we chose the ones near splash mountain. Upon exiting said bathroom I would see an Asian man slip on the floor and nearly go face first into a urinal. Now I don’t speak any Asian languages but I think I understood him in that moment. I helped him up off the floor, and made sure he was okay before I walked out.

So we had our fastpass and was quickly whisked onto our train. I actually requested the front seat and the cast member happily fulfilled my request. Most of you reading this have ridden BTM, so I will spare you the details. My sister and I were laughing so hard after the first section I don’t remember much. However I do know I had a great time and planned on going back hopefully towards the end of the day. This is a must do for me from now on!

So we had a little time to kill before our late lunch and we decided to do another first for both of us. Country Bear Jamboree! There was no wait, as we walked up right when they opened the show doors. Upon sitting down I realized I had been going for nearly eleven and a half hours. I enjoyed the show, but a nap would have been great. LOL

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At 2:00 PM we had a reservation for lunch at Skipper Canteen. Another first for both of us. We arrived a few minutes early and just enjoyed a few minutes of relaxation in the waiting area. 10 minutes passed and they were inviting us in and sitting us in the middle of the mess hall. Our server was great and suggested the chicken and the steak. So my sister had the chicken and I had the steak. The steak was one of the best steak’s I’ve had in a long time, but the rice was the star of the meal for me. I even asked for a second bowl of rice. My sister didn’t understand why I wanted another serving of rice because she thought it was bland. However the server would tell us that hers was just white rice and mine was cilantro lime rice. So she tried mine and agreed it was awesome.

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We spent nearly an hour at lunch but it was a break that was needed in my honest opinion. The park was still open for another 8 hours and we had a few more lands to explore still.

 

[Menagerie]

Also from Indy and I was there the same time as you. Had some pretty wet shoes by the end of the day.

 

[tehSAC]

Also from Indy and I was there the same time as you. Had some pretty wet shoes by the end of the day.

Oh yea me too. Tried to avoid the puddles but it just did not work out that way. I loathe wet feet, but pushed through!

 

[tehSAC]

Lunch is finished and we have decided to make our way over to Tomorrowland. The wait times did not look too awful, so the plan was to head towards Laugh Floor first. Upon exiting Skipper Canteen it was raining again. On go the ponchos and we are on our way. Our feet are pretty soaked by now, but I was at the Magic Kingdom. Wasn’t going to let that ruin my day! Oh and a slight disclaimer, some of these photos are from my sisters phone, and I had to screen shot some of them. The quality isn’t the greatest.

So like I said it was the Laugh Floor first, which we had little to no wait for. Upon exiting I checked the wait times for Buzz and it was at 10 minutes, so that was a no brainer. I was no Galactic Hero, but still had a great time. On the way out my sister did a little shopping as the Aliens are one of her favorites. I was okay with that as it was raining again and I really didn’t want to put on the poncho again.

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The line for the people mover was pretty long, at least it looked like it was. After taking a closer look it was mostly people just escaping the rain, so we hopped on the people mover for a nice relaxing ride. This is one of my favorites, and personally enjoy riding it at night, but we would never make it back over during the night.

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The rain picked up a bit so we donned the ponchos for the final time of the day, and made our way over to a spot with a little cover. My daughter was facetiming me so we stopped to chat with her a bit before heading towards Storybook Circus. I had my mind set on something that I had back in October. We opted to skip the Teacups, which I regret, but hey I couldn’t do everything. I pointed out to my sister all of the details of Storybook Circus’ walkways, and we also stopped to watch Seven Dwarfs for a couple minutes. Then I mentioned the treats within Big Top Souvenirs that I had my heart set on. Specifically a half lemonade half strawberry slushie and a peanut butter cookie. Yes we ate less than a hour and a half ago, don’t judge me. I got my treats, and my sister opted for a mickey ear brownie thing. We enjoyed these items as we slowly strolled towards Ariel. The wait for Ariel was 10 minutes, so we got in line and had a good chat about life and memories of past trips when we were kids. Honestly one of the highlights of the day for me. Funny how the simplest of things become the most memorable.

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After our journey under the sea, we took a look at the app and decided we needed a bathroom break and then we were going to head towards It’s a Small World. We took a quick peek in Gaston’s Tavern mainly to show my sister the massive brick they call a cinnamon roll. We witnessed 3 families each working on one. They look fantastic, but the lethargic look on their faces told me to stay far away from them! LOL




....

 

[tehSAC]

Hope all had a great holiday weekend! I’m gonna try and get a few more posts completed this week for you.

So we just finished with a bathroom break, and decided we should take a ride on the happiest cruise that ever sailed. This is my wife’s and eldest's favorite attraction. It was a nice slow ride and another good break for my feet.

IMG_7505 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

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My Favorite

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After we exited the ride, we took a look at the app and saw Pooh was around a 15 min wait, so we headed there because it was close to our next fastpass. My sister had never experienced this attraction so another first checked off of her list. She enjoyed the ride and I pointed out Toad and Owl at the beginning of the ride for her.

It was close to 5:30 PM now, so we decided to find a spot to sit and face time my daughter. Found a spot near the new castle walls and made a call home. We chatted for around 20 minutes, and I’ll be honest I started feeling like I was loosing some energy. Wasn’t sure if I was coming down from the sugar high or just being up and going for 15 hours was doing it to me. After our call, we packed our bags and headed towards Seven Dwarves. This would be a first for both of us, and I was a bit nervous. We quickly went through the fastpass line, and they placed us in the first car. From the initial start of the ride I was all smiles. I was bummed that it was so short, but I had such a good time. Really wanted to have another go, but the standby line was never under an hour for the rest of the day.

IMG_7514 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

Afterword’s my sister wanted a few photos of the castle, so we took a stroll through the castle so she could get a few photos. I took a walk to Casey’s and got us some ice water, and met her back near the partners statue. I also took a photo for myself.

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I noticed there was no wait for Philarmagic so that’s where we headed. Another first for my sister, but funny enough, she fell asleep during the show. I had to give her a good little nudge after that to wake her up. LOL As we were walking out, she would say “I really need some caffeine, where can we get some?” I thought Pinocchio’s might have some. We walked in and sure enough there was coffee on the menu and that’s what she ordered. She also grabbed me a water and we found another spot to relax before our fastpass for Peter Pan.

 

[tehSAC]

Where I left off, we were waiting for our fastpass slot to open up for Peter Pan. We actually went back to the castle wall where we sat earlier and just enjoyed another little break. That fatigue was hitting us hard. I was looking at wait times for Seven Dwarfs and Big Thunder hoping we could do one of those again before we would leave. However their wait times were still a bit too much for us. We decided that after using our next fastpass we would see if we could grab another for either one of those attractions.

Peter Pan was great, but too short. I love that ride, but always disappointed at the end because it goes by so quickly. When we finished we made our way back towards Haunted Mansion with a stop at the Rapunzel Bathrooms. I started looking for fastpasses and sadly there was nothing available for BTM or SD. Again the wait times were just too high for us at that moment. If we were not so tired, I think we would have waited for each, but we were running on E. At least I was. We decided on one last ride on my favorite, Pirates, and then we would head out and get dinner at the Poly. It was a quick wait for Pirates, and throughout the queue, we talked about George the Ghost hoping for a ride breakdown while we were on it. Sadly that did not happen. LOL

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As we were heading towards the hub we briefly considered another Dole Whip, but we dropped that idea and kept on chugging towards the hub. People were gathering around the hub and along main street as it was getting close to 8 PM. Gotta get that prime spot, but this time we wouldn’t be staying for the fireworks. I was on fumes, and needed something to eat.

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When we made it through the exit my sister asked what was the best route to the Poly was. I gave her all the options, and she chose the resort boat. Another first for both of us! I’m good with that, a nice boat ride would be fun and relaxing.

IMG_7842 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

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We were off the boat, and in Captain Cooks by quarter to nine. I ordered the BBQ Pork Nachos, and my sister had a flat bread pizza. We found a spot outside overlooking the pool and enjoyed the fireworks, or at least the first half of the fireworks from there. We walked by the Pineapple Lanai, but skipped out on the Dole Whip. We were stuffed!

IMG_7844 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

Knowing there would be a rush to the parking lot after the fireworks, we decided to start walking to the TTC, and to our car from the Poly. The fireworks had just finished as we got halfway there, so I knew we would be okay.

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We caught the tram, and soon after we were back in the car headed to the hotel. The park was open for 2 more hours that night, but neither of us could go any further. We had a great day, but this wouldn’t be the end of our adventures.

 

[tehSAC]

So Monday was my first day of the conference, and I felt pretty awful to be honest. Pretty uneventful and no need to fill in my day here in a trip report. However I did have a little Disney fun that evening after a nice nap.



My sister had never seen the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I was craving a POG Juice Slushie, so I suggested we should head over there for some Dinner. I thought I might be able to find a late reservation for Sanaa or Boma, but that wasn’t the case. So we decided The Mara would suffice, and I could just have my slushie with the meal. There was hardly anyone in there, and we just sat and enjoyed our meal and had another nice conversation. As for our meals, I had the falafel and my sister had some sort of chicken and fries.



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After our meal, we took a walk around the pool, viewed the savanna from multiple locations, and did a little gift shop browsing before heading out for the evening.



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We got back to the room around 10 PM and passed out pretty quickly. Tuesday would be another day of the conference but in the evening we would do something special together.

 

[tehSAC]

Tuesday was another day at the conference, but before I headed there, I took my sister to do a little volunteer work. A little backstory before I describe what kind of volunteering.



Our youngest sister was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 9 years old. After a year and a half of treatment she was in remission and in July of 2000 we went to Orlando for her Make-A-Wish trip. We stayed at the Give Kids the World Village on this trip, and it was an amazing experience. I hope none of you ever have to visit this place for your children, but know if you do, your child will be treated like a King/Queen. When you are a Make-A-Wish kid at the end of your trip, you are given a gold star and they place it on the ceiling. For the rest of your life and your immediate family can visit up to three times a year with all of the perks everyone else receives when they visit.



So my sister wanted to give back a bit, and she spent her entire day in the Salon or other areas around the village volunteering. After the conference, I changed quickly, and headed down to the village for a little special presentation for us. My sister did not visit the building where they keep the stars all day just so we could see our sisters together. I arrived a little after 5 with instructions from the front desk that I could not leave without having some icecream.



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We took a short walk to where they keep the stars and that was the first time in 18 years we stepped foot inside the Castle of Miracles. The amount of stars inside this building, well its hard to fathom. They have had over 160 thousand kids come through since they implemented this little special touch in 1995. I cannot lie, being a father of two little girls, I couldn’t hold back the tears. It was tough for me to see my sister and parents go through it when she was sick, but being a father it really hit me hard. I had to excuse myself before the volunteer arrived so show us our sisters star. Now I was shocked when they told us that there had not been a log of where the stars were placed until about 3 years ago. They have recorded and photographed almost 10 thousand, but have yet to do my sisters. So they had to pull the dates of when we were there, and find a description of a general location of where her star is. Now to put it in perspective, these stars are about 10 feet above your head and you could fit one inside the palm of your hand. So a ladder was brought out, and the search began. After 20-30 minutes, the star was found, and the volunteer took a few photos for us.



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After we saw her star, we took a quick walk to find the condo we stayed in, and then off to the ice cream parlor for a sundae. Nothing too much other than that I feel like I am able to share with you. This was a very personal thing for us.



After this we decided we’d like to visit Disney Springs for the evening. The last time my sister had been there was in the late 90’s so this was going to be quite a new experience for her.

 

[tehSAC]

So after Give Kids the World, we took a drive over to Disney Springs. I wanted to do a little shopping for my girls back home, and was eager for my sister to see Disney Springs for the first time. Like I said, it had been since the late 90’s since she had been to Downtown Disney/Disney Springs. We parked in the lime garage, level 3, and was quickly in the thick of things. I would say we walked around for an hour or so, browsing the shops and thinking about food. I purchased some items for my oldest daughter at the newly opened Disney Style store, a tinkerbell costume for my youngest, and a couple star wars items at the outpost.



DS1 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



DS2 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



We sat down near Characters in Flight, and check the Disney App for places to eat. I suggested Enzo’s but we didn’t really want to spend that kind of cash. Eventually we settled Dluxe Burger. That wasn’t cheap either, but was pretty darn fantastic. I think we sat and talked, and facetimed with the girls for almost an hour and a half. It was getting late and I still had some shopping to do for my wife. I also had to find some pins for the girls.



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We walked towards World of Disney and checked out what they had to offer there. It was sad to only have half the store to browse as they are refurbing the store, but that’s okay, time was limited. Speaking of the World of Disney, anyone else feel like they could spend an entire day in there? I know I think I could. We skipped the free chocolate at Ghirardelli and made our way over to Marketplace Co-Op. My daughter likes to watch the Tim Tracker and before I left the visited one of the Disney Outlet at Vineland, and showed an Orange Bird Dress that my daughter loved. I took a quick trip over to Vineland during lunch earlier in the day, and they had none in her size. So I thought, hey it originally came from the Co-Op – Cherry Tree Lane, so lets take a look there. They had some, but nothing in her size or style she wanted. ☹ I did buy her an orange bird necklace and bracelet. Plus I got her some kick butt Orange Bird shorts at Disney Style. She was all set IMO. Now my wife, I hadn’t purchased a thing for her, but soon found something that I knew she would love. Both my wife and oldest daughter love It’s a Small World, and there in front of me was a Dooney and Bourke wallet with an It’s a Small World print. Perfect! Her birthday is right around the corner, this is gonna be the gift for her.



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Photo taken after I had given it too her.



I also saw this awesome It’s a Small World print nearby, but my wallet was already crying. LOL



DS3 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



We would walk around for another hour or so buying a couple pins, and oogling at the snacks inside Goofy’s Candy Company. We were both exhausted and decided we need to head out. I needed to get up early the next morning to take her to the airport. On our way out, my sister requested that we sit down and relax for a bit, before heading back to the car. Now what was about to happen kinda floored me. When she planned on coming down she told me that she was going to head over to epcot and spend the day there while I was in the conference Monday. She did that and I was jealous during dinner that evening. She has a client that works for Disney who provided her with a couple tickets. I created fastpasses for her using my app so she could enjoy her day alone at Epcot. Well to my surprise she would surprise me with a ticket to Epcot for whenever I could go. I knew I had half a day to myself on Thursday so why not! Trust me I did not hesitate to try and make fastpasses for that day before we left. Haha!



So this report is not over yet.

 

[tehSAC]

So lets try and pick up from where I left off. So Tuesday evening my sister presented me with a ticket to another day in the park, Epcot to be exact, and when I got back to the room I made fastpass plans for Thursday afternoon. I wasn’t expecting to get much, but was hopeful I’d get at least one of the popular attractions. Since I couldn’t get there until around noon, I was pleasantly surprised I was able to get a Fastpass for Soarin. I also grabbed one for Living with the Land, and Mission Space. The plan for the day was to take it easy and just enjoy a park I had not visited since 2012.



Wednesday was a full day of conference fun and indoor kart racing that evening. However during lunch I found myself on a quick little trip to the Poly. Had to have one final Dole Whip



Made my way out behind the over water cabins, and enjoyed this wonderful pineapple treat.



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Thursday I woke up, packed a change of clothes, and headed to the conference. I gotta be honest it was hard to focus, but it was a good 4 hours of learning. I said my goodbyes as it was the end of the conference, and then headed towards Epcot. The wait times did not look too awful. Pointed the car towards epcot and hit the gas. When I arrived I was happy to see the parking lot wasn’t too full. Made my way to the tram with a huge grin on my face.



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Since I had no bag, I was quickly into the park and headed towards Sunshine Seasons cause I was hangry! However I had to stop for a couple photos first.



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I stopped in on the way to the Land Pavilion to say hi to Baymax, but did not actually do a meet and greet.



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Then it was off to the Land for a meal at Sunshine Seasons. In past visits I had never eaten here before, but always saw photos from here. The strawberry shortcake was on my list as well. Ended up with Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes, Corn Bread, and that amazing Strawberry Shortcake. Mmmmmmm



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Took my time with lunch, as I had a fastpass for 12:50 for Soarin. An attraction I had never experienced before.

 

[tehSAC]

After lunch I headed towards Soarin. This was another first for me. I did a little research waiting in line and saw that most were saying that the best spot was in the middle. Well I sat in the middle in row two, smack dab in the middle. What an awesome ride, I really enjoyed it. I stopped outside of Soarin and checked wait times, Living with the Land was at 5 minutes, so I hopped onto that before leaving the pavilion. Sadly I did not see the Nine Pound Lemon. What gives, did they remove it?


I took a left and headed towards the Seas to visit Nemo. Another 5 minute wait, score! Upon exiting the ride, I had to check out their reef tanks. Keeping reef tanks is an hobby of mine, so checking out what they had going on, was interesting to me. I had a conversation with a family of what each coral was, and different types of fish they keep as well.


Oh and a quick little plug, here is my little Nano which was featured on another forum I frequent last month. https://www.nano-reef.com/featured/2018/surveyman46123-10-gallon-im-nuvo-fusion-nano-reef-aquarium/



9 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



38 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



I spent around 20 minutes here, before I decided to go see a little purple figment of my imagination. Again another quick wait of 5 minutes, I was really making great time. It was close to 2 by now, and I had already done 4 attractions. Earlier in the day I had dropped Living with the Land from my fastpass plans, hoping to land something else later, but the crowds were so low I really didn’t need to schedule anything else. Spaceship Earth was a 10 minute wait, so I went ahead and headed that way. However I made a quick stop at the pin station near the fountain to grab a couple pins for the girls back home. That would end up being a slight mistake as by the time I got to Spaceship Earth it was a 25 minute wait. That’s all good, gave me a little time to re-coup, and try to score another fastpass, and take a look at available snacks I might want to try later. The wait was quick and soon I was in some AC.



7 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



8 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Honestly Spaceship earth is one of my favorite attractions at EPCOT. I was happy to say that the ride seemed a bit slower than I remembered.



After Spaceship Earth, I walked over to Mouse Gear for a quick look, but mostly for the AC. It was close to 3, and I still had World Showcase to browse.



10 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr

 

[tehSAC]

I left off leaving Future World, heading towards a slow stroll through World Showcase. I’ll be honest, I didn’t take too many photos walking through world showcase. Sure I took some photos, but really just want to enjoy it at a slow pace, and only took photos of things that really caught my eye.



There was no rhyme or reason on why I chose to head towards Canada, but that’s the way I went. Started off by walking the back way through to the Canada show, near the waterfalls, and exited through the main entrance to the pavilion. Next up was England and I checked out a few shops, and sat in the back of the pavilion and had a quick call with the girls back home. It was a quiet little area, and a nice little break. At this point I was starting to feel it honestly. With my sickness earlier in the week, and my full day non-stop on Sunday, I was spent. Plus all these calls back home, I was really missing family and ready to get back home. Thankfully I would be flying home early the next morning. Knowing that, I pushed through, and made sure I enjoyed the rest of my afternoon in EPCOT.



11 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Next up was France, and I really wanted some treats. I walked to the back of the pavilion and picked up some macarons and a chocolate croissant. These were excellent and reminded me a lot of the ones my wife and I snacked on in Paris when we visited before we had the girls. There I hit another roadblock and made me miss my wife all over again. Haha, I am so sappy…..



12 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



13 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Next up was Morocco, and this was one pavilion I wanted to explore. I find the architecture of that part of Africa to be very interesting and I knew the background of this pavilion, so I really wanted to explore. I was blown away by the detail and feel of the pavilion. Leaving the pavilion was tough because I was constantly finding little interesting things to look at. Definitely have to come back and look around some more!



14 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



15 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



16 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



17 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



18 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



19 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



20 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



As you veterans know, next up is Japan. Spent close to 30 minutes in Mitsukoshi, as I wanted to see the drum show at the temple. I found a spot with a good view and enjoyed a little frushi while the show was going on. Again another great little break, my feet loved me for it as well.



21 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



22 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Well lunchtime is finishing up, so I will end it here. About midway through World Showcase. Hope to finish up this report within the next couple of days. I know it hasn’t been the best of reading, but hey I’m not a best times seller. LOL

 

[tehSAC]

After enjoying the show in Japan, I made my way into the American Pavilion. Thirsty and needing a break from the heat, I grabbed a water from Liberty Inn and found a table to relax at for a few minutes, and people watched. Pretty uneventful but a nice little break before heading to Italy.



23 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



I made a quick pass through Italy. Wished I would have taken a little more time here, but for some reason there were so many people in that pavilion. Overwhelmed would be an understatement. Moved on to Germany, and knew I wanted to spend plenty of time here. My wife’s loves Christmas and I knew they had a Christmas shop here as well. She collects nutcrackers, and wanted to see what they had to offer in the shop. I was floored at the prices of their nutcrackers, and quickly moved on. LOL Browsed the caramel shop, but passed on picking anything up. It was hot, and I really didn’t want anything sweet.



28 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



27 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



29 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



24 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



25 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



26 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



I walked back over to Italy to see if it was less crowded but no change. Next time I guess. I went out by the water to catch a little breeze and take a couple photos.



23 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



On my way into the small little Africa portion of World Showcase I stopped and took a picture of the Timon and Pumbaa and ran into a high school friend. We caught up for a few. Each of us follow each other on Instagram but haven’t seen each other since we graduated. Was a great little surprise.



30 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



I strolled quickly through China and Norway and enjoyed the little details of each pavilion. I thought about trying the school bread in Norway, but again my sweet tooth had packed up and moved away for the day.



31 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



32 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Walking into the Mexico pavilion I was excited to see they had some Día de Muertos exhibits. Wandered around enamored with the exhibits and the chill of the AC. Debated purchasing a couple little trinkets, but moved on and took a little boat ride with the three caballeros. There was 3 people ahead of me boarding a boat, but not a single person behind me. I had a boat to myself and I told the CM I was going to take a siesta. She laughed as I lied down on the first row as the boat left the station. I was tempted to enjoy the whole ride on my side, but I was a good kid and sat on my rear end.



Upon leaving the attraction I found a spot to sit down for a second. Wanted to plan the next couple hours out to limit the amount of time on my feet and in queues. Now I need to admit something, I had never been to EPCOT after the sun had set. As kids we did not frequent this park as my sisters thought it was boring, and my mother would not let me go on my own. The last time I had been there we only spent a few hours because my oldest was only 4 at the time and she wanted to go swimming. Well it was a goal of mine to see the park after sunset, but my energy level was slim to none. Was starting to feel like it wasn’t going to be a goal I would accomplish.



41 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



I walked over to Test Track and the wait was 45 minutes for single rider. I passed and moved towards Mission Space, and took a little spin on the green side. The wait was only 5 minutes, so why not. I was unimpressed with this attraction, but was hoping it would waste a little time and the Test Track wait would be shorter. My hope would be squashed as it went up to 65 minutes. Well safe to say I moved on, and made my way back over to the fountain near Spaceship Earth. Here I found a spot to sit and came to the conclusion I was spent and really didn’t have the desire to keep going. Yea it sucked, but I still needed to pack, and I had a very early morning.



42 by PaulSAC1854, on Flickr



Another reason I decide to leave early as part of me wanted to experience the park at night with my family, which leads me to my conclusion of this trip report. I loved being able to experience the Magic Kingdom with my sister, and Epcot alone, but there was always this little bit that was missing. That was the smiles and laughs of my little girls. I’m not sure if many of you are following me on Instagram but 90% of my posts are of my kids. They are my life and when I am not around them, something is missing. I’m not sure if it was guilt, or knowing how much they would have loved to be there as well, or a combo of both. Outside of my family, my fish tank, and traveling, I love everything about Disney. Learning new little tidbits and such keep me hooked when it comes to Disney parks. I want my kids to feel that fondness I have for the parks, and make memories like I did when I was a kid. Unfortunately Disney isn’t a trip that is in the cards every year for us. Trust me I wish it could be, and I cannot lie that I find myself entering contests often, and saving what I can towards another trip. My oldest loves to watch Disney Vlogs nightly, and has a huge desire to visit Tokyo. I am grateful for the time I have been given to experience Walt Disney World, but I long for more time in the parks with my kids. This will not be my last trip report, but it may be some time before you read one of mine again.



Thank you for following along, and I look forward to reading your reports in the future.

 

[gr8leg8]

thank you for a great report!
I loved the photos

I can relate to wanting to share the experience with family. .

 

[tehSAC]

thank you for a great report!
I loved the photos

I can relate to wanting to share the experience with family. .

Thank you for following along. Enjoyed sharing it with you all.

.

 

[dianachaney77]

I enjoyed reading your TR!

The strawberry shortcake from Sunshine Seasons looks delicious. I don't know how I missed it when we were there in October as it is one of my favorite desserts. I will have to try that out next time we are there.

The dole whip floats looks so good right about now, especially since it is still 99 degrees here in Central CA. Only 34 days until I can enjoy one at WDW!!!

I know what you mean about feeling like something was missing since your wife and daughters weren't there. I have visited DL two times without my DH and DS and it just wasn't the same. Of course I had fun, but I always felt like something was missing. I just prefer to share those experiences with them!

 

[gr8leg8]

I'm sure your girls enjoyed their goodies.
The Small World purse/wallet must have been a big hit!

 

[tehSAC]

I enjoyed reading your TR!

The strawberry shortcake from Sunshine Seasons looks delicious. I don't know how I missed it when we were there in October as it is one of my favorite desserts. I will have to try that out next time we are there.

The dole whip floats looks so good right about now, especially since it is still 99 degrees here in Central CA. Only 34 days until I can enjoy one at WDW!!!

I know what you mean about feeling like something was missing since your wife and daughters weren't there. I have visited DL two times without my DH and DS and it just wasn't the same. Of course I had fun, but I always felt like something was missing. I just prefer to share those experiences with them!

Yes it was amazing. I had seen photos of it before and knew I had to get it. Yes, I had fun obviously, but sharing these experiences with my family would have made it better.

I'm sure your girls enjoyed their goodies.
The Small World purse/wallet must have been a big hit!

Oh yes, my wife enjoys her wallet.

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