It Really is a Whole New World...Mother Daughter May 2017 TR! (Updated 8/26!)

[VAtink]

Love all your PP pictures!

4 rides on Splash, what a great way to start the day! Sounds like a nice morning and you got out of there right as the crowds were picking up!

Thanks! It was a great start to the day, and we really did have fantastic timing, it's amazing how quickly the park filled up! Nice to head out when everyone else is heading in!

4 in a row, way to go! that sounds like the perfect AM to me!!

It really was such a perfect start to the day! Splash is our favorite ride, so we were hoping to get on it more than once. Definitely did not expect to get on it 4 times!

 

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Part 9: Some food, some flowers, and a whole lot of cheerleaders!
May 11th

We hopped on the resort monorail since the express was closed off. Is this normal? I feel like we used to take the express to TTC, but they had the entrance at MK roped off this trip.

Anywho, we made our way up the ramp to see a monorail waiting so we rushed over and hopped on and a moment later we were on our way! We got off at the TTC and headed over to the Epcot monorail. We love heading back to the YC this way after a morning at MK. Plus we were getting hungry and wanted to pick up some of the food from the flower and garden booths for lunch.

We had a short wait for the Epcot monorail, about 10 minutes, although at that point it had become so hot outside it felt a lot longer! Just as we were starting to melt, the monorail came, and off we went! It was a quick ride over, and soon we were circling Spaceship Earth checking out the crowds below. We love being able to see how crowded the park is before we get off! The park didn’t look nearly as bad crowd-wise as MK, which we were relieved to see.

When we arrived we made our way slowly, very slowly, down the ramps. This is the one part that drives us nuts, the ramps when you first get off are so narrow, and there always seems to be a very slow moving party at the front no one can get by, so we have to just shuffle slowly to make it down. When the ramp widens at the bottom though it is SO nice and we just take off. Wish they could make all the ramps that wide!

We headed over to security to have our bags checked, then I dutifully walked over to the metal detector for the additional screening I assumed I’d be flagged for. But something magical happened, the security guard looks at me like I’m crazy and asks what I’m doing, so I tell them getting screened, and she goes “no, you don’t need to do that, just go ahead.”

WHAT?!?!? But, I always get the additional screening! Maybe when I’m hot and tired I look less threatening?

After getting over my shock, we made our way over to the entrance only to see a rather surprising site. Throngs of cheerleaders! Oh my goodness, there were so many of them! I have never seen so many tight ponytails with ribbons in my life! They were all gathering around the entrance, but not going through, so we squeezed by them to scan our bands and get into the park. Once through it was a bit better, until we got around spaceship earth to see more large groups of cheerleaders. So much for an empty park! Looks like we arrived right at the same as them, so bad timing on our part.

Our goal was to head left around World Showcase since we had already tried most of the food booths to the right. Unfortunately, it seems all the cheerleaders were also going that way to get to FEA (cannot even imagine what the wait time jumped up to when they all arrived!). So we shuffled along with the groups until we got to our first stop, Mexico!

I wanted to try the next drink on my list of must-dos, so ended up getting the Hibiscus Margarita! It was good, but I preferred the elderflower one from the previous day.


Hibiscus margarita.

After picking up my drink, we re-joined the crowds and continued our way around World Showcase. The most amazing thing happened when we hit Norway though, most of the crowd headed to FEA and ahead was the most beautiful sight, a practically empty park! Yippy!!!

We made our way over to Lotus House at China for our first food items. I had my eye on the spring rolls, and my mom decided to try the spicy chicken lettuce wrap and the dragon pearl. We picked up our food and found a table in the shade.


My spring rolls, pardon the half eaten one, I was hungry!


My mom's lettuce wrap and dragon pearl.

The spring rolls were good, and the chicken was ok, the one we had was super fatty but at least the flavor was good! The dragon pearl surprised us, we weren't expecting it to be so good!

On our way over to our next stop we spotted a photopass photographer….yes!!!!! So we made our way over and got our picture with Snow White and the Seven...er...one dwarf!



After our impromptu photoshoot, our next stop was Italy so we could grab our favorite drink, the frozen limoncello margarita! So good and so refreshing on such a hot day!

We took some pictures after getting the limoncello margarita of the topiaries.

So pretty!

We then made our way over to America to stop by the Smokehouse where I got the beef brisket burnt ends and the beer flight. We grabbed a seat at the shaded picnic tables and enjoyed a nice little break while we ate our food and sipped our drinks.

I swear I took pictures of the food and drinks here, but I cannot find them anywhere now. Starting to think my camera randomly eats pictures since this is not the first time this has happened!

The beef was good, although I had high expectations for this dish and it didn’t quite measure up. The beer flight was great, although the maple beer was so heavy it was hard to finish!

It was so hot that day, so we cut the break short so we could spend some more time at the pool! So off we went to Stormalong bay!

We loved that we could look out our room to see how crowded the pool was and to scope out empty chairs! So we quickly got ready, scoped out some chairs, and made our way down to the pool!

It was pretty crowded again, and by the time we got downstairs the chairs we had scoped out had been taken. Fail.

We wandered around and eventually found two chairs so set our stuff down and hopped in the pool! Perfect mid-day break!

After about an hour of splashing around and turning into prunes, we headed back to the room to rest up before our next big evening!
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[emilyhuff]

I love your moms tapestry of nations shirt! That was my absolute favorite parade, I wish they would bring it back!!!

Love the trip report!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a nice time strolling through World Showcase! Glad you were able to get to the pool for a little too!

 

[pucknasty]

i have heart eyes for the yacht club pool.

glad you guys were able to enjoy cheerleader-less breaks at epcot!

 

[Liz Z]

Loving your review Eagerly following along
My adult Daughter and i will be staying at the BCV(1st Time) and Port Orleans FQ over Christmas New Years week.

So looking forward to Stormalong Bay.

 

[TXMNie]

Goodness, all the cheerleaders! Looks like you were able to beat them and still enjoy yourselves! Stormalong Bay is a perfect afternoon break!

 

[chb]

I'm loving your trip report! I just got back from a trip with my daughter for her graduation. WHY did I not take more pictures of both of us. Lesson learned. You and your mom look like you are having so much fun. Can't wait to see the rest.

 

[rdkeim]

Really enjoying reading about your mother/daughter trip! I wish I could have taken my Mom when she was young enough to handle it but sadly that ship has sailed. My DH and I are going in early December. Hoping I can get a good discount for BC, YC or the Boardwalk area. Right now we're booked at POFQ, which I love, but I think the convenience of being able to walk to Epcot or HS would be great. Hope the rest of your trip goes as well as your first couple days!

 

[VAtink]

I love your moms tapestry of nations shirt! That was my absolute favorite parade, I wish they would bring it back!!!

Love the trip report!

Thanks! She got so many comments on it this trip, I love how many people remember that parade and loved it just like we did! On our last night we stayed in Epcot after Illuminations for a while to people watch, and we loved that they played the tapestry of nations song. Perfect way to end the trip!

 

[VAtink]

Sounds like a nice time strolling through World Showcase! Glad you were able to get to the pool for a little too!

Yeah, once we got by the crowds it was fantastic. We loved checking out all the topiaries and special gardens, and of course the photopass photographers!

A mid-day visit to the pool is always a must for us. Having that pool be stormalong bay just makes it extra special!

 

[VAtink]

i have heart eyes for the yacht club pool.

Haha, don't we all? It's so perfect!

glad you guys were able to enjoy cheerleader-less breaks at epcot!

We were too, so glad they all headed over to FEA and didn't follow us to see the other countries!

 

[VAtink]

Loving your review Eagerly following along
My adult Daughter and i will be staying at the BCV(1st Time) and Port Orleans FQ over Christmas New Years week.

So looking forward to Stormalong Bay.

Thanks! That sounds like so much fun! I wish I could convince my parents to do a Disney Christmas one year!

 

[VAtink]

Goodness, all the cheerleaders! Looks like you were able to beat them and still enjoy yourselves! Stormalong Bay is a perfect afternoon break!

HAAA! Basically what we said. It was nice to get around them, but we found them again later in the trip at other parks!

 

[VAtink]

I'm loving your trip report! I just got back from a trip with my daughter for her graduation. WHY did I not take more pictures of both of us. Lesson learned. You and your mom look like you are having so much fun. Can't wait to see the rest.

Thank you! That sounds like such a fun trip with your daughter! What a special way to celebrate graduating!

I know how it is with the pictures, for years ours would be of part of the family, never all of us. The photopass photographers have helped greatly, plus other guests who have offered to get shots of us all together!

 

[VAtink]

Really enjoying reading about your mother/daughter trip! I wish I could have taken my Mom when she was young enough to handle it but sadly that ship has sailed. My DH and I are going in early December. Hoping I can get a good discount for BC, YC or the Boardwalk area. Right now we're booked at POFQ, which I love, but I think the convenience of being able to walk to Epcot or HS would be great. Hope the rest of your trip goes as well as your first couple days!

Thank you! Good luck with that discount, we're hoping to head back in the fall again, but we're also waiting for a discount! Fingers crossed!

 

[xlsm]

I am so behind on every report I'm reading!! It's a crash course of catch up today!!

the Elderflower Pineapple Margarita. Yum!

this sounds good!! It was on my to do list and I missed it!

our room was ready!

That's such a relief!! I've always been relatively lucky with rooms being ready, because there is nothing like collapsing onto a resort bed after a long and busy day!

Georgette (our awesome check in CM) put us in a great room! It was newly renovated and looked out onto the pool, Stormalong bay!

The room and view are gorgeous!!

First up, a classic Mai Tai. It was good but SO strong.

this looks really good, too!

The food came out almost immediately, it was a white fish, my mom thinks it was halibut, and the braised beef short ribs. Both were amazing, we would eat there again in a heartbeat!

Yum!! I love hearing about this whole experience!!

I ended up getting the decaf with a godiva white chocolate cordial.

that sounds like exactly what I'd have picked. White chocolate EVERYTHING.

HAHAHA!! He looks so thrilled - I love it!

The CMs were talking about some squirrel issue, we trying to figure out if they were talking about a real squirrel or an animatronic.

This made me laugh unreasonably hard

We also managed to ride Splash 4 times in an hour, so we were super happy!

High five, that's incredible!!

We hopped on the resort monorail since the express was closed off. Is this normal? I feel like we used to take the express to TTC, but they had the entrance at MK roped off this trip.

It was under a scrim the week I was there...weird they had it roped off!

so I tell them getting screened, and she goes “no, you don’t need to do that, just go ahead.”

During my week everyone was being ushered through the metal detectors at all four parks...I'm glad you got the free pass here and missed your usual random selection!

I had high expectations for this dish and it didn’t quite measure up.

Agree. Mine was a greasy nightmare and I was so disappointed!

 

[VAtink]

Wanted to pop in to share some exciting news...we're going back to Disney World!!!!!

So long story, my mom is a semi-retired teacher, which basically means she only has a job if there aren't enough teachers already. Well, this upcoming year was the first year ever they had a surplus in teachers and didn't need her. This obviously was not great news, my mom loves her job, and especially loves the financial stability of the regular paycheck. We had talked briefly about returning to Food and Wine prior to her finding out she didn't have a job next year, but once she found out that was off the table.

Well, something magical happened, and she was just notified they shifted the staff around and she has a job next year!!!!!! So she has agreed that since we loved Food and Wine SO much, that we had to go back this year! YAY!

We're still debating between the week of September 18th or the 25th, but soon we'll be booking and I am so stinking excited to be going back!

 

[Liz Z]

Wanted to pop in to share some exciting news...we're going back to Disney World!!!!!

So long story, my mom is a semi-retired teacher, which basically means she only has a job if there aren't enough teachers already. Well, this upcoming year was the first year ever they had a surplus in teachers and didn't need her. This obviously was not great news, my mom loves her job, and especially loves the financial stability of the regular paycheck. We had talked briefly about returning to Food and Wine prior to her finding out she didn't have a job next year, but once she found out that was off the table.

Well, something magical happened, and she was just notified they shifted the staff around and she has a job next year!!!!!! So she has agreed that since we loved Food and Wine SO much, that we had to go back this year! YAY!

We're still debating between the week of September 18th or the 25th, but soon we'll be booking and I am so stinking excited to be going back!

YAY!!! So excited for you both Love the Food and Wine. Have a wonderful time. Where will you stay this time?

 

[VAtink]

YAY!!! So excited for you both Love the Food and Wine. Have a wonderful time. Where will you stay this time?

Thanks! We are so excited. We'll likely stay in the Epcot area, need to see where we can get the best price and where there is still availability! Not used to booking this late! Hoping for YC or BC, but we'd be happy with the Boardwalk as well. As long as we can walk to the food goodies we'll be happy!