Trip Report - February 2023

[Noreen411]

What I would give to take a road trip in a car that has only 50,000 miles on it! That milestone is almost 100,000 miles in our (scratched up) rear view mirror!

Enjoying your trip report.

Hi. Thank you for joining.

Since I’ve been leasing my cars for years, I don’t keep them that long. Driving from Northern New Jersey to Tribeca (downtown NYC) for work was hard miles on the car. Stop and Go, Bumper to Bumper traffic was the norm. So a benefit of leasing is that car went back before too much wear and tear (hopefully). I would do a 15,000 mile a year lease and since I usually gave it back early since they always wanted to get you into a new lease, the most miles I’ve had on a car before returning it was around 45,000. Since Covid and working remotely more, I barely have any miles on my car (especially since this new one has spent more time in the shop than home). The con of leasing…you always have a car payment.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/5/23
We both went to the gym about 6:45. This is why we like to request the St Augustine section at this resort. The gym is large and open 24 hours. Often we are the only people using it.



We purchased Genie+ and made our first selection right at 7am.

We didn’t rush. We enjoyed our normal morning routine at Disney.

After the gym, back in the villa we started a load of laundry, used the jacuzzi, took showers, got dressed and made breakfast.

We also did a bit more organizing our stuff since we rushed through unpacking last night.

We got to Magic Kingdom a little before 11. We walked instead of taking the parking lot tram, then took the monorail from the TTC to the park.

We realized we like to start our trip at Magic Kingdom. It gives us that magical feeling right away.





I like this picture - it looks kind of like a postcard but Scott and I are there, bottom right


We walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse. This is a cute often overlooked attraction.


We headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is always a favorite. And I was on the side of the seat where I slid into Scott going around the turns instead of him crashing into me.

We took the Train around the park. We got on near Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, rode all the way around, and then got off in FantasyLand. We were happy to see the train working again and enjoyed our ride around the park.

We headed onto 7 Dwarves Mine Train next. I like this more each time I ride it. The first few times, I didn’t like it that much; it seemed like Big Thunder Mountain but not as exciting. Now I like it a lot more and can’t help singing along in the mine part along with the dwarves.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/5/23 Continued
We headed over to the Carousel next. There is something so fun about going on the carousel. I know it’s not the most exciting ride, but it always makes us smile when we ride it.

Haunted Mansion is always fun. We are never looking in the right place when they take the ride photos.




We headed towards Adventureland


Pirates of the Caribbean was fun. You can barely see us in the picture. We are near the back.


We watched the Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3. We don’t stake out spots for parades or fireworks like some do, but happened to be there when the parade was about to come through so we stopped to watch.


Peter Pan was next. This is such a sweet nostalgic ride.

There is something about being in Magic Kingdom, walking around, catching a parade, enjoying attractions…it’s just so magical. We were just enjoying being together on vacation.










We headed out of the park and back to the resort a little later.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/5/23 Continued
Later that evening we drove to the Polynesian. We had dinner reservations at Kona Cafe. We haven’t been to Kona Cafe in a while. Now that they’ve reopened we were excited to go.

We went a bit early to go to the Tambu Lounge for pre-dinner cocktails. Scott had Bombay Sapphire straight stirred. I had a Tropical Macaw which was an off-menu drink made with coconut rum and various fruity flavors. The bartender suggested it and made it for me. It was very pretty and tasted good.


We checked into Kona Cafe when it was time for our reservation and were seated quickly. We shared everything we ordered and had a nice variety of food.

They brought us a plate of rolls. They reminded us a bit of King’s Hawaiian rolls. I vaguely remember Kona Cafe used to have great pineapple bread (or maybe I’m mixing it up with somewhere else). These little rolls didn’t compare. We each took a bite but didn’t finish the rolls. We had plenty of other stuff coming.



We had the seafood pupu platter. This was pretty good. It was fried, but the breading was light and it wasn’t greasy.


We had the Polly Lolly Roll. I don’t like food that looked like it did when it was alive. Scott removed the shrimp head so I wouldn’t see it (after I took the picture). This was OK but a bit spicy.


We had the Surf & Turf roll. This was a bit different but also too spicy for me. I’m kind of a wimpy eater when it comes to spicy food. Scott enjoyed it.


We had the Big Kahuna Burger. This was the best item of the savory dishes we ordered. We both enjoyed this. And the French fries were good too. It’s rare that I meet a French fry I don’t like.


We were full but saw Bread Pudding on the menu and knew it would be the same one we love from Tambu Lounge and O’Hana so asked if we could order it to go. They packed it up great so we can put it together when we’re ready to eat it. We know it will be great.



We headed back to the resort. We put on the movie Hotel Transylvania even though we’ve seen it before. This movie always makes us laugh and reminds us of being at Disney since that’s where we first watched it. We don’t watch it at home, only at Disney.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 2/6/23
Scott went to the gym at 6; I went at 6:30. We bought Genie+ and booked our first selection right at 7

Back in the villa, our usual morning routine of laundry, jacuzzi, showers, and breakfast

We got to Animal Kingdom just about 10










Our first attraction was Navi River. This is a very serene and peaceful ride.


We headed over to Dinosaur and played some of the carnival games. We didn’t win any prizes but had fun playing.

Dinosaur is always such a fun time.



We headed towards Asia


Scott was going to use the Single rider line for Expedition Everest but it was too crowded.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 2/6/23 Continued
We went on the Safari. This is always enjoyable. We’re both animal lovers so appreciate seeing all the different animals out and about. This elephant looks like he or she is posing for a picture.



We took the train to Conservation Station.

We participated in the Animation Experience (Drawing class) and drew Pumba. This was so much fun. I’m not artistic at all so my picture didn’t come out that great.

My picture:


Scott’s picture:


We walked around the petting zoo area


Going to this section of the park was fun and something different to do at Animal Kingdom. We’re glad we took the time to go. We kept talking about how fun the drawing class was. We took the train back.

We went on Tough to be a Bug. This could be scary if you don’t know what to expect.

We saw the photographer doing the Little People picture that I like. I’m sure there is a different name for this. My head came out really blurry in the picture.


We wandered around the park some more. I think we did the gorilla trail. We enjoyed just walking around all the different lands, stopping in the shops, the weather was great so it was really nice.






I really like all the cute magic shots some of the photographers do. I noticed more often that we’ll have to ask if they have magic shots. Some would do them automatically but other times we would ask.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 2/6/23 Continued
We headed over to Nomad Lounge thinking we could have a pre-dinner cocktail here, but it was crowded and would have been too long a wait. By the time we got in we would feel rushed before our dinner at Tiffins.

Instead we went to Tiffins and checked in early. They were able to seat us a bit earlier than our reservation time. This is our first time trying Tiffins. We’ve had reservations here in the past but always ended up cancelling them for one reason or another. So we were excited to try a new place.



I had the Llama Libation and Scott had Bombay Sapphire with Olives.


For an appetizer we ordered the bread service. This was good. We enjoyed trying the different breads and spreads.


As we often do we shared our food.

We ordered the surf & turf. We also ordered the Lobster Mac & Cheese.



The food was very good. We ate everything on the surf & turf plate; it was that good. Scott really liked the Mac & cheese too.

The only downside to the meal was it felt like speed dining. We just took our first bite of bread and the entree was arriving. The waiter offered to bring it back later but we said it’s OK. I’m guessing maybe since it’s a restaurant in the park, they assume people want to get in and out quickly. We don’t want a meal to take hours on end, but don’t want to feel that rushed either. If we come back to Tiffins, we’ll be sure to tell them we aren’t in a rush.

We skipped dessert as we were too full; and we had dessert back in the villa waiting for us.

We really enjoyed everything we had at Tiffins so would definitely come back again.

Since my face was blurry in the little people picture from earlier we went back to that location to try to retake it, but the photographer was gone for the day.

We headed out and drove back to the resort. We wandered around some of the different areas of the resort. The weather is so nice that it’s really pleasant just wandering around.

Scott sat in one of the lounge chairs overlooking a pool in one of the other sections. This resort is pretty big and there are several sections with their own pools, fitness centers, etc. The fitness center in this section was much smaller than the one in the section we are in. You can use any of the pools/amenities in the various sections when staying on the property.



When we got back to our villa we had our Pineapple Bread Pudding that we brought home from Kona Cafe last night. This is so good, even the next day, it’s delicious.

 

[yolie912]

Enjoying your trip report.

 

[Noreen411]

Enjoying your trip report.

Hi. Thank you.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 2/7/23
We went to the gym about 5:45.
Just before 7, bought Genie+, and right at 7 booked our first attraction

Back in the villa, we did our normal morning routine of laundry, jacuzzi, showers, and breakfast before leaving for the park.

We got to Hollywood Studios just about 10

We headed over to the Star Wars section of the park to ride Smuggler’s Run. While walking through Scott posed at the little table. This is a cute ride. I’m not great at video games, but we did pretty good as pilots today.


We stopped for this cute photo and Scott laughed at my imitation of holding a gun. I thought it looked kind of like how Charlie’s Angels would have held a gun (I’m dating myself a bit here with that comment).



In Toy Story Land, Slinky Dog was temporarily down.

We walked around the area a bit and stopped at Woody’s Lunch box to pick up Pop Tarts. We had ziploc baggies to wrap them up for later.

We got both the raspberry and the seasonal poptarts. The raspberry one is my favorite. They aren’t as sweet as the pop tarts you find in the grocery store. The seasonal one tasted better than it sounds but I wouldn’t get that one again.






Slinky was back up and running so we headed over to ride. This is such a cute ride and so much fun.


We went to the Saucers next. I don’t normally like rides that spin (like the teacups) but this one isn’t just spinning in circles so I enjoy this. Especially if I’m on the side where I’m sliding across into Scott rather than him sliding and squishing me.


It was time for us to ride Toy Story Mania. We usually have a little bet going over who can get the better score; Scott always wins. However, today when we were waiting for the pop tarts Scott was googling tips for getting a better score on Toy Story Mania. Instead of competing with each other, it mentioned working as a team. Of course, we didn’t remember everything he read, but tried at least one of the tips. It was even more fun this way. We’ll have to read those tips again and try to remember at least one of them better.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 2/7/23 Continued
We headed over to Tower of Terror. This is always one of my favorite attractions. Not knowing when you will drop or how many times makes it even more exciting. I’m always screaming during this ride during the drops; but it’s a fun excited scream.





We watched the Beauty and the Beast show. The timing worked out that when we exited Tower of Terror it was about to start. The weather was so nice so we enjoyed watching. Often when we’re here it’s just too hot to sit outside but today was beautiful.


We headed over to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad. This is cute. The way it moves reminds me a bit of Remy with the trackless cars. It’s a shame they had to remove the Great Movie Ride since that was such a classic that we always enjoyed, but we like Mickey & Minnie’s Railroad too.




We went to Star Tours next. While this isn’t the newest attraction, it’s definitely fun. I don’t watch Star Wars so don’t get all the nuances, but I still enjoy it and like that there are different versions.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 2/7/23 Continued
We checked in at Sci Fi Dine Inn for our dinner reservation. I haven’t been here for years and Scott has never been.

We were seated in the front of the car. It was cute how we were the drivers and the people seated behind us later were the hitchhikers.



We both had soda to drink. We shared what we ordered.

For appetizers we ordered the onion rings and the fried pickles. I don’t like pickles but Scott does. He enjoyed the pickles. I like onion rings but not the actual onion inside, just the crunchy part; the texture of the actual onion in the ring is odd to me so I pull it out. I like onions in other things just not the onion ring inner.



We shared the special burger which had a beef patty, a shrimp and crab cake, arugula, onion, and pepper jack cheese (we subbed for cheddar cheese) and asked for the sauce on the side. The burger came with French fries.




We skipped dessert since we were too full and figured we would get something sweet later.

It was dark so the pictures didn’t come out that great. Everything was pretty good. But it was too much food. If we came back we would just get a regular burger; there was too much stuff on this special burger. We enjoyed our meal at Sci Fi. Watching the movie clips was funny too.

We walked around a bit then decided to head to Disney Springs. We ended up missing the turn so changed plans.
Scott said let’s go to Saltgrass Steakhouse for that carrot cake. We planned to get carrot cake the other night for dessert but ended up with the bread pudding instead (the burnt one).

I had a chocolate martini. I think Scott had a Grand Marnier and a coffee. We shared the carrot cake. It was really good.




After our dessert we headed back to the resort

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/8/23
Scott went to the gym at 6 and I went about 6:30
Just before 7 we bought Genie+ and right at 7 booked our first attraction

Our normal morning routine followed of laundry, jacuzzi, showers, and breakfast before heading to the park.

We got to Epcot about 9:45


We stopped to take pictures with a few of the photographers. I like that you know when you are lining up for this shot. Most of the time you don’t know what magic shots the photographers have.




We went to pick up our annual passholder Dumbo magnets. There was no line so we quickly had them. This picture is from later back in the villa.


We went on Test Track and used the single rider line. This is an easy way to ride and we usually end up maybe a car or a row apart from each other.





We went to the Figment attraction. This is cute. Figment in general is cute. It’s surprising how Figment has become so popular recently.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/8/23 Continued
We headed into World Showcase and did a few laps around. We enjoy walking and with the beautiful weather, walking around the countries was great. I’m sure I have some of the pictures out of order here.

We went on Frozen. This is fun. I don’t like rides where you get wet when you are dressed but since this is usually just a little sprinkle I like it.





We stopped to watch the American Adventure show since it was about to start when we were near there.












We went on Remy which is a cute attraction.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/8/23 Continued
We left Epcot and drove to Disney Springs.

We put our name on the virtual queue at Gideon’s then went to the Boathouse for lunch. Once we decided we would have lunch we cancelled our dinner reservation for tonight since we didn’t know what we would be in the mood for or when we would be hungry after eating a lunch larger than we normally do.

I had a Duck Duck Razz and Scott had Bombay straight with lime. My drink is adorable and tastes good too. It’s a lot stronger than it looks.



We started with 6 Sea of Cortez shrimp. So fresh and tasty.


The rolls they serve are great.


We shared the Yacht Club Club with fries. The Boathouse has the best fries at Disney. They split this for us so this is just half the portion. The sandwich was very good too. I gave Scott the pickle.


We enjoyed our lunch at the Boathouse.

We received a text from Gideon’s just as we were finishing lunch that it was time to buy our cookies. We bought 12 cookies: 3 chocolate chip, 3 cookies and cream, 3 banana chip, and 3 eternal flame (the February cookie of the month). They were already out of the crumb cake/coffee cake cookies that are my favorite. I think they are called coffee cake cookies but I always call them crumb cake cookies since they remind me more of a crumb cake than a coffee cake. We also got a slice of the cake of the month - eternal flame.

After walking around Disney Springs a bit, we headed back to the resort to freeze the cookies.


Scott tried a bite of the cake and said it was a bit spicy so I didn’t try it. The cake went in the fridge and Scott ate it over the next few days.


We planned to go to the pool, but by the time we got back and looked out, the sun was already behind the building so we figured we’d go to the pool another day. We watched a movie and just hung out for a little while.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/8/23 Continued
We drove to Hollywood Studios later.





We went on Toy Story Mania trying to remember some of the tips Scott read about previously but didn’t remember much of them. It was still a lot of fun.

We were planning to see Fantasmic but it was really crowded with people going in pretty early so we skipped it for tonight.

Scott wanted a pretzel and they always taste better shaped like Mickey Mouse.




We went to Tower of Terror which is one of my favorite attractions at Hollywood Studios.









We were getting a bit hungry so looked on the app to see what was available for dinner a little later and booked Trattoria Al Forno.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 2/8/23 Continued
We went to Abracadabar for pre dinner cocktails.

Scott had a martini and I had a white sangria. While the sangria looked cute with the Mickey Mouse ear limes, it tasted terrible, just like plain wine. The bartender even said he’s not surprised I didn’t like it, it comes from a box.



A man sitting next to me recommended the Hoodunit Punch and the bartender seconded the recommendation so I tried that. This drink was really good. Probably one of my favorite cocktails of the trip.


Later we checked in and were seated at Trattoria Al Forno

The bread was cute, different from last time. Instead of the larger individual loaves in a bag, we got a plate full of mini loaves. They tasted the same. I don’t like olives so avoided that part of the dipping oil.



We shared our food as we often do.

We started with the fried calamari which was good but a bit too salty


For an entree we ordered the truffle gnocchi and a side of shrimp scampi. The gnocchi was really good, pillowy and soft. Sometimes gnocchi can be too heavy but these were perfect. The shrimp was just OK.




For dessert we ordered the special 100th celebration chocolate cake. This was just OK, kind of reminded me of supermarket cake. Nothing is wrong with supermarket cake, but for the anniversary special cake, I expected it to be something more special.



We walked around the Boardwalk a bit, then headed back to the resort.

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying your TR! You have a relaxed touring style but still seem to have plenty of park/ride time. Figment is a favorite of mine but I sure wish they'd change the ride back to what it once was. Loved the Dreamfinder

 

[Noreen411]

Enjoying your TR! You have a relaxed touring style but still seem to have plenty of park/ride time. Figment is a favorite of mine but I sure wish they'd change the ride back to what it once was. Loved the Dreamfinder

Hi. Thank you.

Yes, we’ve definitely slowed down our touring style as we’re getting older. We used to be park open to park close commandos just running all day. Since we come to Disney pretty regularly we know if we don’t see something right now, we’ll see it another time. There are so many things we used to just run right past. I know many people don’t like Genie+ but I’m a fan of anything that keeps you from standing in long lines.

Agree - the old Figment ride was better, but I’m glad they brought Figment back. Remember the uproar when they first redid the attraction?

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/9/23
Scott went to the gym at 6:30 and I went at 7

We were talking last night about how in the afternoon when we wanted to come back to spend some time by the pool, the sun was behind the building and it was sort of chilly out. Maybe we should try to swim a bit earlier today.

We did most of our normal routine of laundry, jacuzzi, shower, but we skipped breakfast with plans to go to Disney Springs and have an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich.

We went to Disney Springs and started at World of Disney, then kept wandering and buying things in different stores. It was nice to wander around.

We went to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. Scott had the Italian combo with tater tots and soda. I had the original. This tasted so much better fresh and hot, sitting outside at Disney Springs. We enjoyed our lunch.






Gideon’s wasn’t doing a virtual queue today, just a standby line so we waited. We got 12 cookies (including the crumb/coffee cake that we love). They limit how many of the crumb/coffee cake you can get since they only have a set amount each morning and stop selling when they run out. I think it was 2 per person. We also found out they made a variation of the eternal flame cookie since the original one was spicy, the second version wasn’t spicy but had a similar flavor profile. We got a few of the non spicy Eternal Flame cookie (it may have had a different name). They had both versions of the cookie. We also got a Peanut Butter Cold Brew.


We headed out and stopped at Publix (grocery store) for a few items we needed.

We drove back to the resort to put our cookies and other items away. So you don’t think we’re little piggies eating all these Gideon’s cookies; we freeze them to bring them home. Then we sort of ration them maybe sharing one every two weeks or so hoping they last until our next Disney trip. We also give a few away since we’re always talking about how good they are.

It was a nice sunny day so we went to the pool for the afternoon. We went to the pool that we see from our balcony, right in the section we are staying in.


These next shots were taking in the morning probably on the way to the gym when it was empty but I’m including them so you can see what it looks like and what’s around it. There are hot tubs, the little kid slide on the pirate ship, the regular red water slide in the back, a bar, lounge chairs, tables, etc. Pool towels are readily available.








It was kind of odd not going to a park, but it was very nice to hang out at the pool, swim, go down the water slide, read my kindle, and just be on vacation.