The Great Character Escapade - An AKV Adults Only Trip Report

[dvc at last !]

Your challenge is amazing and it makes me tired already !

 

[dvc at last !]

I'll definitely be picking these up in October for sure!
Loving your trip report and looking forward to another!

Please save one for me I am going in November !

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I'll definitely be picking these up in October for sure!
Loving your trip report and looking forward to another!

Thanks! Hopefully my brother won't buy them all before you get there. We've already decided we need to buy another set and never open them. We didn't buy nice UV protective frames or anything, so if they fade, I'll have another set.

 

[dvc at last !]

Thanks! Hopefully my brother won't buy them all before you get there. We've already decided we need to buy another set and never open them. We didn't buy nice UV protective frames or anything, so if they fade, I'll have another set.

Oh No ! Tell him hands off and stop being so greedy - kidding of course !
2 sets ? Interesting idea.
Hope I did not mess with your TR asking so many questions.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[sara1215]

I am exhausted just reading this! How fun!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Oh No ! Tell him hands off and stop being so greedy - kidding of course !
2 sets ? Interesting idea.
Hope I did not mess with your TR asking so many questions.
Thanks for sharing.

Not at all! I love answering questions and finding out a little bit about people that are reading.

 

[quandrea]

Loving this report. I'm amazed how efficient the transportation was. Your posters look great. I had them in my hands back in June at Wilderness Lodge and put them back. Getting them in October for sure.

I'm waiting with bated breath for your next report. Don't know how you managed five resorts with a five year old in tow!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Loving this report. I'm amazed how efficient the transportation was. Your posters look great. I had them in my hands back in June at Wilderness Lodge and put them back. Getting them in October for sure.

I'm waiting with bated breath for your next report. Don't know how you managed five resorts with a five year old in tow!

The transportation between parks really shocked me. Everyone always says allow an hour to switch parks, but it was much closer to 30 minutes for us. I definitely wouldn't worry about park hopping in the future.

 

[TeeterTots]

I know it's not quite the same, but the disney store online has the posters at the same price!

 

[franandaj]

That's some amazing Character hunting. I would not be able to get out of bed the next day if I did something that ambitious! Congratulations!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

That's some amazing Character hunting. I would not be able to get out of bed the next day if I did something that ambitious! Congratulations!

We were not exempt from the difficulties of getting up the next day! Dinner was almost the first meal of the day!

 

[dvc at last !]

We were not exempt from the difficulties of getting up the next day! Dinner was almost the first meal of the day!

Funny !

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Last I left you we were headed out of the Magic Kingdom, slowly hobbling to our car. Now, getting to your car that you've abandoned in a closed park is no easy task. We first had to find our way to the Ticket and Transportation Center, then off to the side, in a sort of out of the way area we were able to find an epcot bus. The whole thing just seemed kind of shady. We then took our bus over to Epcot and had to wander through a completely empty Epcot parking lot to our car. It reminded me a little of one of Grizzly's post apocalypse shows and I was just waiting for a zombie to come out and eat us. By the time we got back to our car we needed to start the extremely difficult task of following Disney street signs. Why this is so difficult for us I will never understand, but we often struggle, getting lost at least once a trip. Well this time we missed our Animal Kingdom exit and ended up on International Drive. I was kind of hungry, and the road name reminded me of IHOP, so I suggested we find an IHOP and sure enough within a single block an IHOP appeared as if the Fairy Godmother herself had placed it there just for us. I ate the most delicious banana pudding pancakes. At least I think they might have been delicious, at this point though it was 2am, we had walked 18 miles that day, gotten completely drenched in the rain, and had started with only 5 hours of sleep, so in reality they could have been fried skunk stuffed pancakes and I probably would have had the same reaction.

After a filling late night snack we headed home to shower and snooze. And this is where the evening/early morning went down hill, and really showcases the differences between Grizzly and I when faced with the same problem. Remember the shower that didn't drain from a few posts ago? The shower they were supposed to come fix today? Yeah that shower. Well, upon arriving in the room, I happily hop in the shower, only to find it still was not draining. My solution to the problem...are you ready for this one? Take a quick shower! That's right folks, I hopped in that shower, scrubbed quickly, and jumped right in the bed and fell asleep. Grizzly on the other hand, chose to start World War III with the maintenance staff. I do agree that he was given the run around, and they changed their story many times on him on whether or not they had actually tried to fix it while we were gone, but seriously, it was 2am, this war could be fought another time. At 3am I was woken up by Grizzly yelling into the phone something along the lines of "THEN YOU NEED TO GET US A NEW ROOM TONIGHT!" followed by him slamming the phone down. I'm now half awake yelling at Grizzly that there is no way on earth I am switching rooms tonight and he better get his act together. Of course someone, not sure who, calls back immediately, and I fall asleep. I think if I remember correctly the amazing industrial plunger owner had gone to the wrong room, so it took literally hours to get them to show up at our room so Grizzly could take his precious shower. I was still grumpy at Grizzly in the morning for being so rude to the staff on the phone. If I had awake when he was growling at them I would definitely have died of embarrassment. So unfortunately our amazing character hunting day had a kind of bitter end, but we made up quickly and got on with our vacation.

We had no alarms set for the morning, and the only plan was Hoop-De-Doo Review at 4pm. We woke up at 12:45!!! Up next, our review of the Hoop-De-Doo review plus a brand new game we invented for the rest of the trip. Join me as I wrap up the next few days of our trip.

But for now, I need to go rest my arm. I'm glad to find out I can still type, but I'm actually a little sore after typing just this small post. I crashed my BMX bike in a race yesterday, and likely have a broken elbow. Blah! Sure is going to be fun trying to write on the board in a week when classes start. Yikes!

 

[franandaj]

Sorry you had such a traumatic day at the end. That was pretty much an amazing effort on your part.

So unfortunately our amazing character hunting day had a kind of bitter end, but we made up quickly and got on with our vacation.

This kind of stuff happens to us all the time. Hopefully not on vacation, but at home it can turn in a moment and then we have Grumpy and Bashful. Glad that things got better quickly.

 

[dvc at last !]

Grizzly wanted a room at 3am - sounds great asking for a new room but who wants to move at 3am ?

Will write more later - should be packing for a trip tomorrow to DC.

Visiting Daughter and her Hubby for a few days.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Wiped out from our grand escapade we slept all the way until 12:45. The shades were pulled tight, so as we laid in bed before getting up we each guessed at the time. We both thought it was probably around 11:00am. You can imagine our surprise when we realized we only had a few hours until dinner. Except we had a slight problem. We were famished. There was no way we were going to make it until dinner. So we threw on our swimsuits and some clothes, and went down to Sanaa for our favorite meal, the bread service. We shared a bread service and each had a safari amber. It was a perfect light lunch to tide us over. While we were at the bar, the bar tender accidentally opened a Tusker, a beer from Kenya. He asked us if we wanted to try it, and now we have a new favorite beer. Also, if you're counting, that's free drink # 5 for this trip. A couple anniversaries ago it was the trip of free cupcakes, this was the trip of free drinks. I think I liked this option better.

After our snack we rode the waterslide a few times before heading back to the room to shower and head over to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review. I wore a dress! Probably not a big deal for most people, but it is if you're a tomboy and don't particularly like dresses. We took Disney transportation over to the Wilderness Campground, and once again were on a boat wondering why on earth people like the boats so much. I'm fairly certain I could swim faster than the boats.

This was our first time at the Hoop-Dee-Doo. I've heard great things about it, but then again I've also heard great things about the boats and Bay Lake Tower, and I've come to learn that you just need to try everything yourself. So here we were trying the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review. My main concern going in was that the 'all you can drink' would be severely slowed down due to it being a family friendly Disney restaurant. Not that I had any intention of getting rip-roaring drunk, I just didn't want to feel cheated. Well within about 2 minutes of being seated I realized my concern was ridiculous. I had literally taken a single sip of my delicious Yuengling when a second one appeared right next to it. Sipped the second, and voila, a third! It was like magic, only better because it came with alcohol and it was all prepaid! For the seating we had bought 3rd class seating up in the bleacher section, I think they may have called it something else, like balcony or something fancy like that. For some reason though, they sat everyone down on the ground floor. They must have had some huge cancellation or something, because I had tried to buy nicer seats, but none had been available. We were at the 4:00pm performance, and with that time I also expected the place to be packed with kids. Not the case! There were some kids, but I definitely didn't feel odd being a couple there. As for the entertainment...I loved it. Very cheesy indeed. It was grand! I am, however, very glad I didn't bring my 5 year old son. He would have been bored I think, also, lots of the lyrics were said really quickly, and I imagine it would have been really hard for a 5 year old to pick up on what was being said. So very glad we didn't bring my beast, and very glad we went in general. I will definitely be back. Also, the food was pretty yummy. I would definitely recommend this show, especially if you are a group of adults looking for a fun night out.

After hooping it up we made our way over to Epcot. Here we ate some delicious things, mostly from Germany, and one not so delicious thing. The White Elephant drink, frozen coca-cola with Amarula mixed in was quite disappointing. For a non-soda drinker it was way to sweet for me, and even Grizzly who loves all things with sugar thought it was just meh. Here though we started playing our new game. It was called "spot the romper". Every year when we are down at Disney we find out what the new clothing trends are. One year it was Crocs, another it was bright neon sneakers. This year is the year of the romper. Don't know what a romper is? You are lucky! A romper is a one piece piece of clothing which should only be worn by young girls, preferably age 2 or younger, but for some reason has gone mainstream. They typically look like a tank top up top, then there is some synching, followed by attached shorts. Now, as if the article of clothing isn't unflattering enough, apparently the romper manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to only make rompers in the ugliest of patterns. Think patterns so ugly that they were even rejected by the mumu manufacturers and the table cloth makers. So as we walked around the World Showcase we played 'find the romper'. Sometimes we just whispered 'romper' to one another, other times we would just squeeze each others' hand. Well, when notified that there was a romper in the near vicinity, the best way to spot it was to quickly scan the crowd for the ugliest patterned clothing you could find. IT WAS ALWAYS THE ROMPER. Once the romper was spotted it was almost inevitably followed by a gasp indicating shock at just how ugly the whole ensemble was. These things are seriously the most hideous of fashion trends we have ever seen. Our favorites that we found included rompers for the modest person featuring attached pants instead of shorts, and an MC Hammer romper with those persian/genie pant bottoms. After a fantastic evening of find the romper we headed back to our hotel to watch a movie and relax.

I sent Grizzly down to find a movie. He was sent to get Rapunzel. He comes back up and said "They didn't have Rapunzel, but they did have a movie called Tangled, but instead I got Enchanted." Silly Grizzly! He didn't know that Tangled was the Rapunzel story. Good thing I absolutely love the movie Enchanted.

Coming up next, our actual anniversary, including breakfast at BOG, an afternoon of Frozen fun at Hollywood Studios, and our first ever dinner in Cinderella's Castle.

Here are my favorite pictures taken in Epcot:

 

[sara1215]

Love your dress!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Love your dress!

Thanks! It was a sporty sort of dress that I found at Kohls. Turns out, dresses are waaaaaay more comfortable than shorts and t-shirts when its really hot out. I'm kind of a dress convert now, at least at Disney in the summer.

 

[quandrea]

Those pictures of you two are just lovely. You look so happy together.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

So it's the 20th now, the day of our actual anniversary. We had two plans for the day, breakfast at BOG at 9:30am and dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table at 7:30pm, in between we were going to wing it. This was our first time for breakfast at BOG. It left a lot to be desired and was ridiculously expensive. No matter what you order, it's $19.99, and I felt like what we got was maybe worth $10.99 at the most. I chose the meat and cheese plate, and it was one or two tiny pieces of cheese and then mostly a prosciutto type meat. There was a baguette with the meat and cheese, but it was hardly enough to go along with all the meat and cheese, which wasn't very much to begin with. I very quickly ran out of baguette and was left with salty meat that wasn't worth eating on its own. The only thing slightly redeeming about this meal was that it came with the assorted pastries, and the chocolate croissant was delicious. Grizzly ordered the doughnut thing. It was just okay, fairly edible, but again totally not worth $19.99. We left unimpressed, and will not be back for breakfast.

We rode Space Mountain after breakfast. The posted time was 30 minutes, the Lines Ap time was 18 minutes and the actual time was 38 minutes! Neither was right. We also took a quick second to ride TTA and were disappointed to find the lights on in the Space Mountain portion of the TTA. They ruined the best part of the ride! Didn't they know it was our anniversary? No kissing for us. We headed off to Hollywood Studios so I could check out the Frozen Summer of Fun. On the way we stopped at the Poly bar only to find that it didn't open until 1:30pm and it was only 11:30. Woe! So we trotted to the Poly bus stop where we found a cast member announcing the buses as they arrived. I completely didn't get this. Does being rich make you unable to read the giant signs on the front of buses? Is it too exhausting for these upper class Disney guests that they can't possibly read a bus sign themselves? Tell me! What is up with the bus announcer?! So every bus that drove up the bus announcer announced the bus destination. It was completely and utterly bizarre, and totally unnecessary. I hope the Poly's dues don't go towards paying for the bus announcer. We managed to read the bus title on our own and got on the Hollywood Studios bus. Here is my take on the Frozen activities we saw in HS:

Frozen Sing Along: This was a mediocre attempt at a show. The only redeeming quality were the two historian characters who were down right hilarious, so I spent my time watching them and their cheesy dancing. The big let down for me is that it didn't sound like anyone was actually singing along. Without people singing, it was just like watching a really bad children's sing along video, and I can watch that at home.

Frozen Parade: This has a special name, perhaps Frozen Coronation Something or Other. This was actually a short and sweet little parade. Although I don't remember seeing Sven.

Olaf Summer Something: Painful with about 2 seconds of fun at the end. If you enjoy a good torture session or just like beach balls, stand up front or close to the stage for the best experience. Olaf's flurry is pretty cool at the end.

We meandered back to meet Sully and Mike because we had skipped them the day before. I asked Sully if I could get a selfie with him and he nicely obliged:

but then I turned around to leave only to find Mike standing there in my way, arms up in the air and foot tapping angrily. I had totally insulted him! He insisted I get a selfie with him too. Sully jumped in as well. This was pretty much the highlight of my day:

Some entertaining signs around the Monster's Inc meet and greet:

On our way back to the Magic Kingdom we again stopped by the Poly to try and get a drink. We were much more successful this time and managed to get me a fireball (yummy but small) and Grizzly a backscratcher. Can you believe we managed to hold onto that darn backscratcher the entire night and even brought it home? We actually use it all the time to push hot wheel cars off my son's track.

Dinner was at Cinderella's Royal Table. This was my first time in the castle. I must say, I really enjoyed my meal. I especially loved the fried pork belly appetizer. I had no idea what it was when I ordered it, but it turned out it was like a giant piece of bacon. Yum! I asked the waitress if I could have it for dessert too. She said she would look into it, but I think she forgot because I ended up with my regularly scheduled dessert.

We hit up the mine ride with a fast pass before finishing up some window shopping and heading back to the hotel. This trip I had become obsessed with finding some Disney dishes to replace our 30 year old plates we use at home. Unfortunately, with the exception of the ride themed snack sized plates, there were no plate options that were just right, and believe me we looked at tons of plates! We did however find a souvenir that we will be picking up next Christmas. At the Memento Mori store outside Haunted Mansion, they sell portraits that when you look at them one way, it is a portrait of you, but when you look at them at a slightly different angle they look like a ghost from the Haunted Mansion. We are going to get one of each of us, and probably put them in our stairway like normal families put family portraits. I can't wait!

Despite wearing our buttons all day we didn't receive a single free cupcake. We did however receive lots of happy anniversary wishes which was good enough for us. Funnily enough, when we went back 2 weeks later, every time we scanned our fast passes at a ride it came up on the system as our 13th anniversary. I thought that was interesting since I thought celebrations were tied to trips and hotel reservations.

Tomorrow we head out, but our flight is at 8:30 pm, so we spent some time checking out Downtown Disney (the parking garage is amazing!!) (Yes, i'm actually going to write about the parking garage!) and an escape room place called Escapology. Stay tuned for our trip wrap up.