Day 13 Monday 12th September 2016
Part 2 – Late night Magic Kingdom!
We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 9:30pm for a very quick visit, but it was SO BUSY GAH.
There were lots of people trying to leave after the fireworks, and lots of other people lining Main Street for the 10pm Electrical parade
As we walked down I witnessed someone being rammed with a stroller!
I thought that was just a DISBoards myth!
After weaving in and out of stores we eventually made it to the PeopleMover and rode it around twice!
Then we walked around to Liberty Square on our way to Splash, but the Electrical parade was causing chaos, so we rode Haunted Mansion first!
The line is much more fun at night.
(In fact, I think everything at Disney is more fun at night!)
We looked in Memento Mori, then followed the end of the parade around to Splash!
We finally made it to my fave at 10:45pm, and the standby line was only 5 minutes!
Jamie got completely soaked!
Somehow I avoided it.
Maybe I pushed my way onto the dry side of the log, I DON'T KNOW.
We came off the ride at 11:05pm when the park was closing.
I love catching areas of the park so empty!
We were eating at the new Skipper Canteen tomorrow night, so I told Jamie to “look at the menu”…
Which he did… literally.
Look at that stupid mischievous face.
I had to say “no, READ the menu!”
I found it extra amusing because that kind of humour seemed so fitting for a Jungle Cruise themed restaurant
Ah! So this is where all the people are!
We went up to the train station, i.e. my favourite photo spot.
We saw the kiss goodnight from up there!
I took this picture below, and when I looked back on it later my eyes kept being drawn to the girl in the middle who looks all lost in the crowd.
It reminds me of the poster for the movie The Terminal!!
We left at about 11:30pm and got the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge, arriving back at just after midnight.
Day 14 Tuesday 13th September 2016
Part 1 – Wolfgang Puck Express and Halloween Costumes
Good Morning!
Today is Halloween Party day!
We got up at 10am intending to go to Disney Springs, but we ended up lazing around a lot (late mornings were very common this trip )
We went down to the buses at 12pm and there wasn’t one due until 12:20, but there were people there who had been waiting for an hour already!
In total they ended up waiting an hour and a half!
We had some real problems with buses from Animal Kingdom Lodge.
It’s a shame because it’s definitely something I would take into consideration when deciding where to stay in future.
Anyway.
This weather doesn’t look like good Halloween Party weather…!
Soon we arrived at Disney Springs!
Saratoga Springs looked like the place to be with those blue skies!
The first thing on our agenda today was lunch.
I’d been wanting to try Wolfgang Puck Express!
Jamie ordered the meatloaf sandwich:
And I got the spaghetti and meatballs!
For dessert Jamie got a rice krispie treat, and I got vanilla bean cheesecake!
I think this is a really good use of a quick service meal credit on the dining plan.
It’s very good value for money, and it was delicious!
Unfortunately we left the restaurant to this…
We made a dash for World of Disney, and when we got there the air conditioning was freeeezing!
Torrential rain and harsh Disney air conditioning is not a good combo.
We got our Halloween Party "costumes" from World of Disney!
Jamie will be R2D2, and I’ll be Darth Vader!
(DIS-pro tip: My shirt was actually a kids large so it was cheaper )
Then we run-walked back to the bus stop, and waited 35 minutes for an AKL bus!!
We finally got back at around 4:15pm.
Jamie watched some football, and I popped to the lounge, spotting some African drummers along the way!
This was the scene on the way there...
And THIS was happening on the way back...!
You can see in the video I try to show how close all of this commotion is to some of the rooms!
If you like to take an afternoon nap, make sure you request AWAY from the lobby...
Then we got ready for the Halloween Party!
We left our room at 5:15pm for our Skipper Canteen dinner at 6:05.
But we waited ages at the bus stop, with no wait time listed under Magic Kingdom on the screen
Eventually the time for the next bus appeared on the screen…
5:58pm…
So annoying.
At least there was a really funny, crazy little kid dressed up as one of the Incredibles.
He was excited to see other people going to the party, and he really enjoyed us.
At one point he got his head wedged between a pillar and a trashcan, and when he pulled his head back his ears were being pushed forward, it was so funny.
His parents had to come and free him.
Anyway, with no MK bus coming until 5:58pm and our ADR at 6:05pm, Jamie suggested we get the next Epcot bus, then get the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
He is so knowledgeable, I’m so proud.
So that’s what we did!
We ended up arriving at Magic Kingdom at 6:05!
RUN!
Day 14 Tuesday 13th September 2016
Part 2 – Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (1)
After grabbing our wristbands and treat bags, we made a quick dash through the park to our ADR at Skipper Canteen!
We were only slightly late
I wasn’t hugely enthusiastic about the menu, but this place was fairly new at the time so I just wanted to try it!
Here’s what the 2016 treat bags look like!
I really wanted the souvenir mug but they didn’t have any!
That was also a reason I booked this ADR.
Boooo.
We started off with some bread and honey dip, which was really good!
For our entrees, Jamie ordered the strip steak:
And I got the sustainable fish, which was cod:
Both of our meals were OK, but after so many GREAT meals, this didn’t really stand out to us.
And as you can see from the photo above, there was also far too much liquid on my plate, so as I tried to eat the fish it just all ended up as like a soupy broth…
Dessert was good though!
We both got the Kungaloosh, which was a thick chocolate sponge with caramelized banana and ice cream.
That’s my kind of dessert, I love a banana-chocolate combo!
When we left the restaurant it was POURING rain UGH.
This was not ideal on party night.
We hung out under the shelter of the Adventureland restrooms for a while.
The rain wasn’t really dying down, so eventually we ran over to the Tiki Room trick-or-treat station, and collected a few rounds of candy
Then we got Jamie a poncho, which he was clearly happy about.
I was not very impressed.
But we made the best of bad situation, and trick-or-treated out in the rain for a while.
Is the weather making me miserable, or am I just in character?
Let’s go with in character.
There were lots of people dressed as ghosts...
So this was around 8pm.
There were no photographers out, characters were cancelled, Boo-To-You parade was cancelled, and all outdoor/partially-outdoor rides were closed!
After having such a great time at the party last year, I couldn't have imagined how much of an impact the rain would have.
It makes such a big difference.
At this point I was wondering whether they would give refunds, or discounted tickets to another party or something.
We rode the PeopleMover, trick-or-treated some more, then rode the PeopleMover again, and munched on some candies.
I was feeling a little disheartened.
But when we came of the PeopleMover, the rain was dying down, and some photographers started coming back out.
We got this one on the Tomorrowland bridge!
Then they played Celebrate the Magic!
And then HalloWishes started!
Thank goodness!!
I was really worried that was going to be cancelled!
I really like this show, especially after we got to see it a bunch of times from our balcony last year
Day 14 Tuesday 13th September 2016
Part 3 – Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (2)
After HalloWishes, we waited out in front of the castle for the Hocus Pocus show.
It was a bit delayed, and they only ran a short version because the stage was covered in puddles.
They basically only did the “I Put A Spell On You” part, but I wasn’t mad because I thought they were brave to come out at all, it was probably very slippy!
Then we got a spot for the late Boo-To-You parade!
After the earlier showing was cancelled, this 11pm showing was very busy.
We got a really good spot and everyone was sat down, until one guy on the front row stood up... which I guess he's entitled to do...
So we all ended up standing up.
We still had a good view though!
There were some funny women next to us who were super enthusiastic and waving at everyone, so loads of characters came right up to them!
You can see it in the video below, it was great!
This parade is so much fun, and the song is so catchy!
I find myself singing this all year round
It’s probably my favourite part of the Halloween Party, so I’m glad they ran it!
After the parade we got a photopass picture on Main Street:
Then we went to Storybook Treats to get a candy corn soft serve ice cream!
We thought it was just a naff, mildly flavoured ice cream, until we discovered pieces of candy corn in it!
They take you by surprise when you’re not expecting them
When we were done it was 00:15!
Time to head home.
As we were leaving they were running the full Hocus Pocus show, although we weren’t too bothered about that.
But at least some people got to see the entire thing.
We exited the park and got the bus home!
I’m really surprised at what a difference the rain made to the Halloween Party.
If it had carried on raining all night it would have been a disaster!
But I'm glad we stuck it out!
And HEY, it’s better than being back home in England
Day 15 Wednesday 14th September 2016
Part 1 – Opening day of Food & Wine Festival!
Good morning!
We started the day off blow-drying our shoes after last night’s very rainy Halloween party!
Then we went to Epcot for the first day of Food & Wine Festival 2016!
We got there for about 2pm.
OBVIOUSLY our first stop was Hawaii, where we got a pork slider each and a bottle of water.
Using snack credits for food and wine is a great thing.
So delicious!
This is always my favourite.
Then we went over to Canada.
We used one quick service dining credit to get two filet mignons and a cheddar cheese soup!
We had one week left at Disney to use 31 snack credits and 29 quick service credits by the way
Combining free dining Food and Wine Festival is perfect.
The filet is GREAT.
I really like the cheese soup too, but eating it in the scorching heat is a bit tough
We ate out by the lagoon with a lovely view.
Then we went into the Test Track exit to use the design studios there, so that Jamie could refresh his memory on how to build a super-car.
I took a picture of Jamie while he was waiting, and when I showed it to him he was horrified by his posture…
So he asked me to take it again and he would try to look straight…
Nailed it.
My car beat Jamie’s car over and over again!
He couldn’t seem to get it right today
I’ve never bothered to learn how to make a good car at Test Track, and Jamie always tries really hard, so I was feeling smug
On the way out I saw this COOL Disney bus set.
I know these are for kids but I genuinely like it.
I would like that Magical Express bus on my desk to encourage me to work hard and earn money so that I can go to Disney.
Then we went to the Festival Center in the Wonders of Life pavilion.
We got a free Ghirardelli sample of milk chocolate and caramel.
Can we use our Halloween party tickets here today to do a few rounds of trick-or-treating?
Then we checked out the chocolate sculptures!
These are definitely worth seeing!
HYMIE.
Very cool!
I wonder what they do with these after the festival?
Day 15 Wednesday 14th September 2016
Part 2 – More Epcot fun
Then we went to use our fastpass at Test Track!
We shared a station in the big design studio, and Jamie told me some new information that he definitely didn’t read about online
He said that the very first line you draw is crucial to getting a top final score.
The first line you draw has to get you 196 points.
Jamie drew a 192.
Then I drew a 192.
Then Jamie drew another 192.
Keep in mind there is a timer at this point, so when I drew the next line with quite exaggerated curves, Jamie got cross and said,
“I can’t tell if you’re joking around??”
Because he thought my line was terrible.
BUT BOOM.
It was a 196.
LOL.
Jamie sheepishly retracted his statement
With the help of my 196 line, he ended up with 231, i.e. top score of the day!
Here he is looking proud with his car on the board.
Then in the small design studio at the exit,
I MADE A 232.
And I knocked him off the board.
Haaaa.
Then we went to Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour!
We looked around the stalls first.
Jamie put his sunglasses on this skull
Are these cool or creepy?
I can’t decide.
Eventually we got to the ride, and we sat in the front row!
Ayyyy we have the stars to guide ussss.
So cute.
After the ride we walked through the craft beer place, then went to Club Cool.
The melon Fanta from Thailand is RADIOACTIVE GREEN.
It’s fairly tasty, but not very visually appealing.
I worried I would end up like radioactive Mr. Burns after drinking it.
I also tried the Greek pineapple Fanta which I liked better, it was less scary to drink
We really wanted to ride Soarin’, and the wait time was posted at 35 minutes which we didn’t think was too bad.
So we got in line!
We played the interactive game on the screens!
Although we couldn’t connect to it online, we still got competitive answering the questions.
We were on the front row of the middle section, WOO!
I think these are the best seats.
YAY SOARIN.
After the ride we headed out of Epcot through International Gateway.
Day 15 Wednesday 14th September 2016
Part 3 – Flying Fish
We were heading to the Boardwalk for a 6:10pm ADR at The Flying Fish!
DISNEY BUN.
This is where we spotted him.
There’s a new ice cream parlour in town.
We had some time before our ADR so we went to check out the Boardwalk lobby since I’d never been in before.
I thought it might seem a bit tacky but it wasn't at all and I actually really liked it!
And we found these chairs!
WHY do these exist.
We sat down in opposite armchairs and enjoyed the view of each other.
After a while we went for a stroll and I showed Jamie the scary clown slide at the pool!
A huge clown that vomits up tiny children is something that nightmares are made of.
Do people actually pay extra for a pool view here?!
I would not want to sleep next to this thing.
Soon it was time to check in at Flying Fish!
The menu is quite exotic and interesting.
Look at this FISH FORK.
The restaurant looks beautiful after it's recent renovation!
We were brought some bread which was fantastic. Possibly the best bread we’d had so far.
Jamie ordered the OCTOPUS which was a very adventurous decision!
It came with scallops, some sea bass and king prawns.
He loved it!
(I also tried some, apprehensively, and it was very good!)
I went for the less adventurous-sounding lobster Nero pasta, but it still looked very interesting and was presented beautifully!
The black stuff is the pasta!
This was amazing!
I loved this entrée so much!
It was a very unique take on a seafood dish, and so tasty!
I would go back and order that again, for sure.
For dessert we both had the Under The Sea, which is described as “Valrhona Chocolate, Chocolate Coral Sponge, Pistachio Sand, Dehydrated Milk Foam, Tasting of Three Sea Salts”.
Yay!
Thanks Flying Fish, this was great!
We left the restaurant and took a photo in the photobooth on the Boardwalk.
These will show up in your photopass account!
Then we took a stroll back over to International Gateway.
While Jamie used the bathroom at International Gateway, I bumped into Mily, who I’d met the other night in Magic Kingdom!
She was with her friend Jess, i.e. Jess from the famous DCP trip report here on the DISBoards!
We talked for a while, then some more of their friends caught up who I recognised from Instagram, it was so cool to meet all of them!
They had been at Food and Wine Festival, and were just heading over to hang out at the Beach Club.
Soon Jamie and I headed back into Epcot.
It had gotten very busy, being opening night of Food and Wine!
On the walk around we decided to just head to the front of the park to leave.
Day 15 Wednesday 14th September 2016
Part 4 – Magic Kingdom with Mily!
I was keen to go to Magic Kingdom, but Jamie fancied just heading back to the resort after our big meal.
So he headed home, and I went to Magic Kingdom!
I was messaging Mily, and she said her friends were going home so she came to meet me!
I arrived at Magic Kingdom at about 9pm.
I rode the PeopleMover while I waited for Mily to arrive.
Space Mountain’s lights were on!
I was meeting Mily by the popcorn stand at the right of the castle so I went over there to wait, but as she messaged me to say she was approaching, all of the lights went out for Celebrate the Magic haha!
OF COURSE that would happen.
Luckily we managed to find each other
First we rode Under The Sea, but we just chatted the whole way through.
Then we got a pineapple dole whip each!
Using my excessive number of snack credits, obviously!
It melted quickly but it was delicious!
We ate our dole whips by the Country Bear Jamboree and watched the Electrical Parade go by.
Then we decided to do some girly things that Jamie isn’t keen on doing, like meeting Princesses!
Mily lives here in Orlando and this is one of her favourite things to do, so that worked out perfectly!
First we went to Princess Fairytale Hall.
The line is pretty.
First we met Tiana!
She's just so cool.
Mily was so funny meeting the characters.
She just chatted away like they were best buddies.
Tiana liked my skirt!
I guess the green leafy pattern reminded her of the bayou.
She also asked about traditional English food, but fish and chips isn’t something we can really brag about
Then we met Rapunzel!
She was super enthusiastic and bubbly and we loved her.
She made sure we were travelling with our frying pans because there are lots of ruffians around
Next we met Ariel in her grotto!
Ariel was telling us that she’d just found a new human item, which was large and metal with a big hole in the middle…
Like a ring but much bigger…
We had NO idea what she was talking about
I think this photo is us trying to figure it out…
In retrospect, maybe she was talking about a crown…?!
Anyway, apart from the mild confusion, we had a great time with Ariel!
I like this picture a lot
Then we went back to Princess Fairytale Hall and met Cinderella, but the photopass pictures never went on my account
Oh well.
Trust me, it happened.
But in case I’m ever just scrolling through the photos of this trip report, I’ll leave this nice little Cinderella gif here to remind me that I did meet her too.
Cinderella pointed out that we had similar necklaces, and she gave us some tips on how to build and decorate a castle together!
She said that Gus and Jaq would help us, which I was very happy about.
I love those little guys.
We also met Princess Aurora who perfect and lovely too, obviously.
After that it was about 11:30pm.
We walked through the castle and up to Town Square to meet Tinker Bell and Mickey, but unfortunately their meet and greets were closed.
I did get to meet 5 princesses though so I can’t complain!
It had been a very successful character night.
We went into the Main Street Confectionary and they were giving out HUGE candy apple samples!
We ate our candy apple slices as we wandered back down Main Street and through the castle again.
Then we rode the carousel!
Mily found a horse with a gold bow on its tail and told me to take that one, because that’s Cinderella’s favourite horse!
Then we walked back towards the castle and saw Brett who is a popular instagrammer!
We chatted to him for a while and got a picture with him.
He took this sweet picture of us.
Then we headed back up Main Street to leave the park.
We saw the kiss goodnight and it was the perfect ending to a magical evening!
Mily got the bus with me back to Animal Kingdom Lodge so that she could come in and see the lobby!
Then we said goodbye and she left to get the cast member bus from there.
It was so much fun to hang out with her!
Then I went back to the room, and Jamie and I watched the new episode of South Park and fell asleep.
Day 16 Thursday 15th September 2016
Part 1 – Earl of Sandwich and Epcot
Good morning!
This morning I had some cornflakes in the lounge at about 10:30am.
Then Jamie and I went to the pool!
There were a few bugs but not as many as ususal so I managed to deal with it today, rather than rage-quitting.
We went in the pool for a dip and it was nice and spacious and refreshing.
We went back to the room at about 1pm and showered, then went to Disney Springs!
We were going to get lunch and do some shopping but we were running a little late and it took an hour from leaving our room to getting to Disney Springs
So we changed our plans and just went to get some lunch at around 3pm.
Jamie loooves Earl of Sandwich, so that’s where we went!
Jamie got the Italian:
And I got a tuna melt!
The woman next to us saw me taking pictures of our sandwiches and asked if we wanted a picture of us holding them
We've hit the peak level of Disney food pictures people.
This was a gooood lunch.
Sandwiches are probably our favourite lunch.
If you hadn’t already guessed
After our sandwiches we had 27 quick service meals and 29 snacks remaining…!
How ridiculous!
For that reason, we were going to Epcot to enjoy Food and Wine this evening
So we headed back to the buses.
For some reason there was no bus from Disney Springs to Epcot
So we waited at the Beach/Yacht Club and Boardwalk/Swolphin stops, and got the first bus that arrived to the Boardwalk!
We sat on the bus for a while before it moved because the driver was changing, and a Yacht/Beach bus pulled along side us LOL.
Of course.
We were not having a lot of luck with buses!
We departed at the Boardwalk and walked through to the pier.
As we walked past the new Ample Hills Creamery we were given a free sample of butter pecan milkshake!
It was really good, there were even big chunks of pecan in it.
I don’t think I could drink more than that sample size though, it was very rich!
As we walked over to Epcot some Japanese people walked by us, and Jamie became paranoid about what his t-shirt says, because we have absolutely no idea (is it even Japanese?!)
Have you seen the pictures of people in east Asia wearing shirts with random English jibberish on them… He was worried about being the English version of these people
There are many more “not-family-friendly” ones on Google too
So yeah, if anyone can translate his shirt, that would be great
We walked through International Gateway and at Jamie’s request, went straight to Spaceship Earth!
We needed a break between our lunch and our food and wine session.
Jamie played the game at the end, as always
Then I wanted to do the Mexico ride!
On the way to Mexico I spotted Jen and Tim Tracker from YouTube which was pretty cool!
It’s easy to spot Tim with that moustache
I didn’t stop them or anything though, I’m too shy to do that kind of thing
I love these three happy chappies in their snappy serapes.
After the ride we still weren’t very hungry, so we headed over to The Seas!
We skipped the ride and went straight into the aquarium.
We pretended to look at the dolphins, but really we were looking at these GOOD BOYS.
Day 16 Thursday 15th September 2016
Part 2 – Food and Wine!
OK.
Food and Wine time!
We walked through to World Showcase as the sun was starting to set, which was really pretty.
I like string lights.
First order of the day was of course, my favourite pork slider!
We got one each and a bottle of water.
YUM AND WOW.
It was turning into a beautiful evening at World Showcase.
Next we got in line at the China booth, and I was taking some pictures when I heard,
“Hi Katie!”
I turned around and saw the man, the myth, the legend himself.
No, not Mickey Mouse.
Some would argue better.
Our good friend @pkondz!
It was great to finally meet him!
We chatted briefly, but we had already planned to meet up in a couple of days time, so when we got to the front of the line we said see ya real soon!
From China we ordered a black pepper shrimp each and a roasted duck with hoisin to share.
Here’s were we ate.
The shrimp was very nice!
I liked the duck, but the hoisin sauce was a bit too sweet for me.
Then it was time to use our Test Track fastpass!
Remember how I said before that to get the top score, the first line you draw needs to score 196…
Well, Jamie drew three AWFUL lines in a row…
Then I tried ONE TIME and got 196
I’m glad I finally found my talent in life.
Here’s Jamie after the ride, taking credit for my achievement.
196 of that score is mine, really Jamie only made 36 points.
But when it makes him this happy, I’ll let him have it
Today’s top design:
Then we walked around World Showcase looking at Food and Wine menus, and decided to stop in Italy to get the pennete alla parmigiana, i.e. the chicken parm!
There were some cute Italian boys working there
Chicken parms!
The pieces of chicken were huge, but there were no knives to be found anywhere nearby!
So although it was really good, it was difficult to eat!
We had to get the whole piece of chicken on a fork and take bites out of it like this:
It was an amusing meal.
Now that we were full again, we wanted to head back to Disney Springs!
Since we weren’t sure of the bus situation between Epcot and the Springs, we walked through International Gateway again to get the bus from the Beach Club.
Day 16 Thursday 15th September 2016
Part 3 – UniQlo and Sprinkles
BEACH CLUB.
As we walked through to the Beach Club bus stops Jamie kept saying,
“Are you SURE the buses are down this way?”
He always likes to act like he knows Disney better than me.
And I was getting annoyed because errrm HELLO we stayed here before, I 100% know where the buses are…
I was really adamant.
…
Aaaand there was a ton of construction at the bus stop so they’d moved over to the villas.
So we walked all the way over there and got the bus to Disney Springs.
We went straight to UniQlo and I bought THIS amazing Alice in Wonderland Baby Oyster t-shirt.
This is still one of my favourites, I looove it!
I also bought this cute Pixar t-shirt:
I also absolutely love this Up t-shirt that I’d written down before, and seen Amelia wearing the other night, but they didn’t have it in my size so I figured I’d wait until later in the trip and see if it came back in stock.
(Spoiler alert, it didn’t, AND this ok-ish size below sold out too, and I’ve never been able to get my hands on it since! SADNESS.)
Jamie also bought this Mickey Mouse sweatshirt!
Isn’t he cute.
I love Disney boys
After UniQlo we walked over to the West Side, because we never venture down there, and they had a couple of new stores I thought Jamie would like!
Here is the first store I had spotted for Jamie, which is down on the West Side.
Superhero Headquarters!
And this is the second, the Star Wars Galactic Outpost!
We had a look around both of these and there was some fun stuff but we didn’t buy anything.
Then we stared into the window of the Candy Cauldron for a while and we caught some sugar cravings, so we decided to go to Sprinkles!
I got the banana-flavoured cupcake!
It was so good and soft and banana-y.
Jamie didn’t want a cupcake, so obviously he ended up eating half of mine
We sat outside to eat it with a really pretty view.
After our cupcake we got the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We got back at about midnight and called in at The Mara to get some drinks.
It was cool to see it completely empty.
Then we went back to the room and Jamie ate some of his brownie that he got from The Mara the other day.
He said it was very thick and rich and NOT the best idea to have right before bed
Day 17 Friday 16th September 2016
Part 1 – Be Our Guest and Magic Kingdom
Good morning!
Today we went to Magic Kingdom at 12:30 for our Be Our Guest lunch ADR!
The infamous Magic Kingdom Crane was out today!
Be our guest, be our guest.
Today we ate in the West Wing for the first time.
Now we’ve eaten in all three rooms!
I managed to snap the portrait switching to the Beast for a hot second!
We ordered our usual turkey sandwiches with green beans, but today we swapped out one of our dining plan desserts for a french onion soup to share!
Oh my goodness, I thought this was great.
It had a thick layer of cooked cheese on the top which I could’ve easily just peeled off, tipped my head back, and dropped it straight into my mouth.
Fortunately I am somewhat civilised.
Turkey sandwich:
Master’s cupcake!
As ever, YUM AND WOW.
Jamie was sad to leave the restaurant as we only had one more turkey sandwich ADR left this trip!
Apparently 5 turkey sandwiches in one trip were simply not enough…!
We went to ride the PeopleMover to let our stomachs settle, and spotted this Donald water art along the way!
Welcome to the Tomorrowland transit authority PeopleMover.
Your quiet and care-free highway in the sky
We noticed the wait at Splash was just 15 minutes, so we went to ride that!
We probably waited longer than 15 minutes, but I don’t care when I can listen to the Splash Mountain music loop!
Day 17 Friday 16th September 2016
Part 2 – Food and Wine
At 2:30pm we headed out of the park and got the bus back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Jamie watched some football and I caught up with my trip notes for a while.
We also got some coffee and milk from the lounge and just hung out for a while!
At about 5:30pm we got the bus to Epcot!
There’s always treasure at the end of a rainbow
It’s a Food and Wine kind of evening.
I love this photo below.
It feels creepy and dystopian.
Clearly it was nice weather for ducks, they were all out to play.
We went straight to Hawaii to get a pork slider but unfortunately they had JUST closed all of the festival booths due to inclement weather
We were annoyed because we had waited half an hour for an Epcot bus from Animal Kingdom…
I mean, the buses had been bad in general.
But now they had cost us a pork slider, and that just crosses the line.
There was a funny guy who was enquiring about the line at the same time as us, and he was like,
“I don’t mind getting electrocuted while I eat this, it’ll just give it a bit of a kick!”
We almost bailed and went to Hollywood Studios, but decided to ride Soarin’ and see if Food and Wine was back up and running afterwards.
On Soarin’ we were sat next to two precious young kids who knew all of the landmarks.
They were yelling out “THE EIFFEL TOWER!” and “EGYPT!” etc.
Jamie and I were very impressed!
Good job parents!
When we left Soarin’ the Food and Wine booths were back open!
WOOWOO.
We went straight to Hawaii and got three pork sliders!
We asked to use a quick service credit but the CM didn’t really understand and just took 3 snack credits from our dining plan.
Oh well.
We only got three because we wanted to use a QS credit but apparently some CMs aren't aware of that little tidbit.
But when it comes to pork sliders, the more the merrier I guess!
Our next stop was France!
We got a boeuf bourguignon each and a bottle of water!
The beef was really good and tender!
Next we stopped off in New Zealand.
We couldn’t decide on which of the three dishes to get, so we got one of each!
SO MUCH FOOD.
From left to right in the photo below, we had the lamb meatball, the seared venison loin, and the steam green lip mussels!
The meatball was my favourite!
Next we got the peanut butter and white chocolate mousse and a chardonnay from the Chew Collective over near future world.
The chardonnay was a bit too sweet for me, however the dessert was delicious!
I love anything with peanut butter, so this with the white chocolate was an interesting twist on your regular Reese’s chocolate/peanut butter type treat.
We were now pretty full and the park was about to close.
So we just went home.
LOL just kidding.
There’s extra magic hours at Hollywood Studios!
So we went to get the boat down from the Yacht Club at about 9pm!
We spotted the Star Wars fireworks from International Gateway again!
We must’ve come through at the exact same time as yesterday.
Day 17 Friday 16th September 2016
Part 3 – Hollywood Studios
YAY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS.
This really is a nighttime park if you ask me.
It feels so much cooler and more fun at night.
We arrived when the fireworks had just ended so everyone was heading out of the park!
We got ourselves a cute photo on Hollywood Boulevard
Then we went straight to Tower of Terror!
This is an attraction that is DEFINITELY cooler at night.
I posted these next two pictures with Stacey quotes to Snapchat…
When we took our spots at the loading bay by the elevators we got talking to a guy behind us who was this really high-energy, funny Dad guy.
I remember him saying that the only problem with the light September crowds is that you don’t get to really take in the theming in the lines.
He said he’d marched straight through the line at Everest and didn’t get a chance to look at all of the theming.
Of all the problems to have with your Disney vacation, I think this is a really good problem to have
He’s the guy sat in front of Jamie (front and centre).
YAY TOWER.
Then we went to Toy Story Mania as the standby line was only 20 minutes!
I won our “guess the car” game we play (I guessed Wheezy earlier in the line and that’s who we got), AND I won the game against Jamie, AND I won best in vehicle!
GO ME!
This is how hard Jamie worked his arm, and he still didn’t win
After Toy Story we checked the My Disney Experience wait times, and Rock n Roller Coaster had gone down from 50 minutes after we rode Tower, to just 10 minutes now!
So we headed back down Sunset Boulevard.
We had an amusing cast member just before the pre-show.
He was trying to get everyone to move down and he was saying things like,
“A fun piece of trivia for you guys, Aerosmith actually met by filling in all of the available space.”
You’d think we would be getting better at the sleeping face with practice, but I actually think we’re getting worse.
Jamie is definitely trying not to laugh here!
We headed out to the bus stop, and there was actually an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus there!
Hallelujah!
That was great to see after many bad bus experiences this trip.
We had to stand, but it was good to head straight home.
We got back to the room by 11:40pm.
I showered and got into bed by 00:45.
Day 18 Saturday 17th September 2016
Part 1 – Empty Tomorrowland
Hello!
I had some big solo plans this morning!
I was hitting up rope drop at Magic Kingdom, having my first breakfast at Be Our Guest, and then I was doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour for the first time!
I got up at 6:30, which was pretty rough after the late night last night.
But I had that Disney adrenaline because I was really excited for my tour!
I left the room at 7:15am and a bus arrived at 7:20, yay!
I arrived at the Magic Kingdom at about 7:40am and the welcome show had already started.
Eeee I love that show!
At 7:50 we were unleashed into the park…!
I headed straight to the PeopleMover to try to get some empty park shots from a high vantage point!
I was the first rider of the day!
Pretty cool!
I went to hang out in front of the castle before heading to my breakfast ADR.
Snapchat:
Soon I walked through the castle towards Fantasyland and Be Our Guest.
Day 18 Saturday 17th September 2016
Part 2 – Keys to the Kingdom, and DISmeeting!
I arrived for my Be Our Guest breakfast at 8:25am.
I sat right here at the side of the ballroom:
It was too early for me to be really hungry so I just ordered the lightest thing on the menu, which was scrambled egg whites, with some sausage, tomato and a fruit bowl.
It doesn’t look like too much, I think they do much better breakfast items but I just wasn’t really feeling it this morning.
However my favourite part of the breakfast was the pastry plate that came with it!
After my breakfast I headed out of Fantasyland and up Main Street to check in for my tour!
At 9am I checked in at Town Square theatre for the Keys To The Kingdom tour!
I was booked on the 9:30am tour so I was a little early.
I took a seat and waited for the rest of the group to show up.
Here’s my cute, very vintage-looking name badge.
And here’s my little pack that had my earpiece attached to it.
We were also given a bottle of water each, which was good because it was very hot this morning, and we were going to be out until about 2:30pm!
Our tour guides were called Anna and Sarah and they were just the sweetest people ever.
You could tell how passionate they were about the Disney.
It was really infectious!
OK so I didn’t really take any photos, but I want to write a bit about the tour.
However I also don’t want to give TOO much away because I strongly recommend doing this tour without reading too much about it first!
I think you should just go into it blind, you know?
So if you have plans to do the tour, perhaps skip over this big wall of text.
But if not, here’s a not-so-brief overview!
First we walked down Main Street making several stops along the way, talking about how the Magic Kingdom is like a movie/show!
The train station acts as the curtains, because you can’t see the castle until you walk through the station.
Then once you’re through the “curtains” the windows on Main Street act as the opening credits!
For example, since Roy Disney was the big producer of the park, his name is on the highest window on the first corner.
Another fun example is the window that says “Dolls – Miss Joyce – Dollmaker for the World” which is above the Emporium.
Miss Joyce refers to Joyce Carlson who created the dolls for It’s a Small World!
This window also says “Shops in New York, California, Florida, Japan and Paris” – referring to the locations It’s a Small World has been installed, so obviously the Disney parks, plus the New York World’s Fair!
(I guess it needs updating to include Hong Kong now!)
There are so many references in the windows down Main Street, it was a lot of fun to learn about!
We headed around to Adventureland and talked about the décor and the foliage, which was interesting.
Something fun that you can check out on Google Maps street view is that the foliage around the walkway from the hub to Adventureland is strategically placed so that Cinderella castle is not visible as you walk through.
As one of our guides said,
“There are no magical castles in Adventureland!”
We walked through Adventureland and our whole group got to skip the line and ride the Jungle Cruise together!
But instead of Jungle Cruise puns, this ride through was full of Jungle Cruise facts.
Something cool I learned was that Trader Sam’s loincloth is made of the material that used to be the veranda on the Jungle Cruise boats!
I hope that this represents quite an ominous backstory, rather than just homage to the original!
Next came one of my favourite parts.
We got to go backstage where Splash Mountain is!
We saw the Splash dam where everyone’s hats, shoes and bottles end up when they’re dropped in the ride.
Yes, I did say SHOES.
We also got to see some old props and things that needed repairing which are stored back there.
But the best part was going into the production warehouse where all of the parade floats are stored!
We saw all of the electrical parade (which is so weird to see in daylight with none of the light bulbs on!), and also the floats for Boo-To-You and the Christmas parade!
Then we talked a little about entertainment/character roles.
This might spoil a little magic for all of the believers out there, so,
SPOILER ALERT!
These are just a couple of things that I’ve always been curious about.
First of all, when Mickey is in the castle show he has sensory gloves that help him blink and open his mouth! Also, 'talking Mickey's' meet and greet has a livestream set up which connects to a cast member (who is actually sat in a room somewhere near Animal Kingdom). This cast member has a switchboard that controls what Mickey says, and they tell Mickey what they’re going to do, only about two seconds in advance of doing it!
Mickey really needs to be on his toes at that meet and greet!
Next we went to get lunch over at Tomorrowland Terrace.
Lunch was included in the price of the tour, and we had ordered when we checked in this morning, so the food was all out and in place for us when we arrived.
I had the chicken Caesar salad, which was actually very nice and refreshing on such a hot day.
There was a big piece of chicken with lovely fresh salad, cheese and dressing, as well as croutons and bacon.
I hadn't heard great things about Tomorrowland Terrace, but I enjoyed it a lot!
I was sat with some interesting people and we all shared our backgrounds and it was nice to chat to them!
One guy was from Kentucky, and he asked me as a Brit, what I thought of when he said “Kentucky”.
I was honest and said the only two things that came to my mind were the Kentucky Derby, and KFC
Thankfully I think he was amused by this.
KFC is a pretty great asset to your state if you ask me.
After lunch we went over to Haunted Mansion!
We learned some Haunted Mansion trivia, such as Madame Leota’s face is a woman who is actually called Leota TOOMBS.
LOL how funny.
Also her voice is the voice of Maleficent and Lady Tremaine!
Then we were taken in through the exit to skip the line, and we rode Mansion, YAY.
After the ride we learned how the ballroom scene works.
It’s a technique called Pepper’s ghost, whereby the real animatronics are located below the doom-buggy track, with light projected onto them through a glass window, which makes them look the way they do in the ballroom… somehow…
THEN came the best part that everyone was waiting for!
We were taken back into Fantasyland where Friar’s Nook is, and through a discreet little door, down to the utilidors!!!
I’m sure everyone here on DISboards is familiar with this, but for anyone who may not be, the utilidors are a series of corridors beneath the Magic Kingdom connecting each area for cast members to use and for park operations to be managed!
These are nothing to look at theming wise, but for Disney superfans like myself, this was very exciting!
As we toured through the utilidors we saw a lot of cast members, including Elena of Avalor after we had just seen her processional through Fantasyland!
We toured through the utilidors and learned a lot how they are used, as well as some wonderful stories about Walt and Roy!
Later on we exited the utilidors onto the little side street on Main Street, and that concluded our tour!
It was absolutely fantastic for any over-the-top Disney fans out there!
It’s a little pricey, but well worth the money in my opinion.
At the end we were given a Keys to the Kingdom pin.
And a sweet woman in our group had made some teeny tiny jars of pixie dust that she gave out to some of us!
How cute!
We finished at 2:45pm and I got the bus straight back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
I grabbed some coffee from the lounge, freshened up, and Jamie and I got the bus to Epcot!
My bag was packed up pretty full so I quietly left Jamie’s poncho behind in the room…
And OF COURSE it was pouring rain when we arrived at Epcot
He wasn’t impressed with me.
We made our way around to the Mexico pavilion which was super super busy, but we managed to locate our buddy @pkondz !
Aka Pedro, since he’s so cryptic about his identity here on the DIS, so that is what Lu and I call him.
And speaking of the legend herself, we then found Lu aka @BibbitybobityLu!!!
We all hung out in the Mexico pavilion and waited for a table at La Cava!
We chatted about our trips, and it turned out Lu was currently staying at the Poly in room 3510, which is the exact same room Jamie and I spent two weeks in last year!!
I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did
Pedro had some bags of delicious Canadian candy that he gave to us!
This was the contents of it.
And I gave Pedro his poker chip!
In case you forgot and that sounds totally random, Pedro told me he collects poker chips from Harley Davidson stores, but he wasn’t aware that there was a store at Disney Springs, so I stopped by to get him on the other day!
It turned out he had made his first trip to the Disney Springs store the other day, but had lost the chip he bought!
So that all worked out great.
We were soon invited to a table in La Cava Del Tequila and we placed our orders.
I got an avocado margarita, Jamie got a cucumber margarita, and Lu and Pedro got blood orange margaritas!
Tasty!
We were sat there talking for so long, I think the waitress wanted us to leave…
She kept asking if we wanted more drinks, then eventually said,
“Do you want any more drinks, or just the cheque?”
LOL.
We took the hint and headed out to food and wine, where we ordered 8 pork sliders from Hawaii!
On our excessive dining plan credits, obviously
Then we said goodbye to Pedro
It was so great to meet him (again)!
Lu, Jamie and I went to the Canada booth and got filets!
Then the three of us got the monorail to Magic Kingdom!
We got a locker to store all of the candy that Pedro had given us
It’s a Small World was finally back open so obviously we were all super keen to ride that!
Then we went to ride Space Mountain but the wait was 60 minutes…
We couldn’t possibly wait 60 minutes for Space Mountain.
So we waited 60 minutes for SPLASH Mountain instead
To be fair the wait time said 20 minutes, but the line was absolutely ginormous so we really should’ve used our judgement
Oh well, we had fun together in line!
We exited Splash Mountain just in time for the Main Street Electrical Parade!
We sat in Liberty Square right by the bridge.
We tried so shamelessly to get waves from the characters and we just had so much fun with it.
We started off getting some strong waves back, and one of the turtles came RIGHT UP TO US and it was so brilliant.
He could clearly tell that we were loving it and he just did a bunch of spins right up close to us.
Oh my gosh we loved him so much.
But when he left and no one would give us attention
Anastasia gave us a very quick wave... I think
Then all seven of the dwarfs ignored us and I lost all of my self worth.
But THEN one of the donkey boys from Pinocchio went crazy waving at us, and he literally shouted “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” at Lu all the way down the street.
Like he would not stop turning around and shouting back to us until he was out of site, it was fantastic.
And THEN the one and only PETE from the Pete’s Dragon float wished Lu a happy birthday on his microphone and told her to eat lots of cake!
That was brilliant because it’s definitely the best float.
After the parade it was 11:30pm and the park was closing, so we headed out!
It was soooo good to meet Lu!
She was so funny and sweet and pretty and just such an endearing person
Day 19 Sunday 18th September 2016
Part 1 – Animal Kingdom
Goooood morning!
I woke up so late today, I slept for like 12 hours.
I think I woke up at about 12:30pm.
Jamie went to get us a ham and cheese sandwich to share, since we had a dinner reservation at 6pm!
Then we went to Animal Kingdom, and went straight to watch It’s Tough To Be A Bug!
The best thing about us, you can’t live without us!
It’s tough to be a bug!
It made me emotional for some reason.
I honestly have no idea why.
It’s just so fun and silly and nice.
Then we went to see Festival of the Lion King!
We sat in the lion section.
I realised that two of the sections are steep and two are very flat.
I can’t remember which is which right now, but I will definitely be trying to get the steeper section next time.
I always struggle to see over the person’s head in front of me!
YAY.
After the show I had the same conversation with Jamie that we always have…
Me: “What was your favourite part?”
Jamie: “The tumble monkeys…
And the fire guy…
And the flying girl…”
Basically he loves all of it
It was really hot out so Jamie got a bottle of water and I got a diet coke, then we went to ride Everest with the fastpass I’d grabbed a couple of hours before!
After Everest it was 4:10pm so we headed back to the buses!
Day 19 Sunday 18th September 2016
Part 2 – California Grill! (1)
We went back to the room to get ready for our ADR, but we had waited a while for a bus at Animal Kingdom so we didn’t have much time.
We quickly freshened up and went to the Magic Kingdom bus stop, but a bus was just pulling away as we got there, GAH!
We decided not to risk another long bus wait, so we got an Uber direct to the Contemporary!
The Contemporary smells SO good, oh my goodness.
Supposedly the Beach Club, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian all share the same scent, although I’m pretty sure I’ve smelled it at Coronado Springs before too.
We’re eating at the California Grill this evening!
We checked in on the second floor, and were escorted up to the 15th floor where the restaurant is.
We sat down in the window and looked at the menu while we waited for our table.
Soon our table was ready, and we were taken into the back room looking out on Bay Lake.
I would much rather have been in the castle-facing room, but I guess this was our third time eating here and our first time not being in that room, so it’s ok.
It’s still a really pretty view out there!
Pretty boy, with a pretty tower in the background
We started off with some delicious bread.
We got diet cokes on the dining plan, and Jamie got a beer and I got a sparkling rose.
We saw this crazy giant bird that was swooping around and diving!
Does anyone know what this is?!
Here’s me trying to ignore the eagle of death about to smash through the glass and carry me off to its lair.
No big deal.
We weren’t sure whether to have any appetisers or not, so naturally we ordered three.
Here are our APPETISERS.
What the heck.
I got the goats cheese ravioli:
Jamie got the charcuterie.
And here’s the listing that came with it!
Our server Taz had told us that we could substitute one of our dining plan desserts for the cheese board, so of course we did that too!
And here’s the listing that came with that!
These were delicious.
My goats cheese ravioli was my favourite
Then for our entrees we both ordered the oak-fired filet of beef with mushroom risotto!
Delish!
Half way through eating my entrée I noticed that the sun was setting on the other side of the restaurant, so I got dropped my knife and fork and went out to the observation deck!
Day 19 Sunday 18th September 2016
Part 3 – California Grill (2)
I ran out to the observation deck mid-meal to snap some sunset shots!
I’d left Jamie behind but he soon came out to join me.
So beautiful!
I really think that sunset is the best time to come to the California Grill.
Lots of people want to come later on during the fireworks, but when you come for the sunset you can return later, show your receipt, and go and watch the fireworks from the observation deck anyway!
In fact, our server Ted told us that you can even come back another night, which I did not know!
We headed back to our table to finish our meals, and Kris aka @KnK must’ve spotted us walking through the restaurant, because she came over to say a quick hello!!
In fact, Kris said that she’d actually seen and recognised JAMIE first, which he was thrilled about.
That lead him to believe that everyone likes him more than me
Anyway, she was super sweet and charming.
Kris, it was lovely to meet you!!!
For our one dessert (since we’d ordered the cheeseboard) we got the chocolate pudding cake, which apparently I hadn’t learned my lesson from last time because it’s so so rich and difficult to eat after a big meal.
It’s a good thing we’re sharing right?
WRONG!
Taz brought us out a congratulatory cupcake!
When we were checking in to the restaurant they’d asked us if we were celebrating anything and we said no, but apparently it was our anniversary (it wasn’t)
Mickey sprinkles.
Surprisingly we managed to get through quite a lot of our desserts.
We had to sit and let our stomachs settle for a bit though!
Jamie kept doing this subtly horrible face that was really grossing me out.
What IS that.
It reminded me of a really obscure Paul Rudd moment in an interview with Jason Segal where he makes this face:
Gross.
Anyway.
We settled the very large bill (thank goodness for the dining plan!) and went out on the observation deck one more time.
We went down to the main floor and had a look around the Contemporary stores.
Then we walked over to the Magic Kingdom to get the bus home.
A bus was at the AKL station so we RAN with our full stomachs and it was hell.
But who knows how long we’d be waiting if we missed this one!
And of course the AKL bus stop is the furthest bus stop UGH.
Thankfully we caught it!
Day 19 Sunday 18th September 2016
Part 4 – Animal Kingdom Lodge
Jamie recovered quite quickly from his full-stomach.
This was him on his way back to the room.
We went back down to the lobby because we had some problems accessing our $100 gift card that came with our booking, so a CM at the front desk just put $100 credit onto our account
We chatted while he was processing this, because everyone had received an “amber alert” on our phones for something going on at Citrus Springs, so he pulled it up on the map to show us.
Then we were just browsing the map of Florida and we saw a place called Beverly Hills, and the CM was like,
“You’d be in for a shock going there by accident!”
We grabbed our refillable mugs and our arcade card, got some water and played a game of air hockey in the arcade!
Jamie won, but he did have a kid cheering him on and giving him high fives, so that was totally unfair if you ask me.
Then we played literally about 8 games of basketball and I won every single one
I used to play netball
Jamie kept going,
“Double or nothing!”
“Triple or nothing!”
“Quadruple or nothing!”
I’m sure he still owes me A LOT for that.
Then we just wandered around the resort a bit.
That face…
Jamie went back to the room, and I sat out here in these rocking chairs and caught up on some trip notes.
It was nice and peaceful!
Once I was all caught up on my notes I just wandered around and took photos of the resort!
Giraffe carpet.
Here’s our room!
There are several displays of African artefacts throughout the resort.
These are the stairs we took everyday that take you down to the lobby right by the shop.
Loincloth display:
Another interesting African artefact:
Tin can guitars from the Ivory Coast!
And now I’m on the bridge!
Straight ahead on the top floor is the club lounge.
These are my favourite.
Puppets from the Bozo People in Mali!
And this is a very intricate Chief’s staff from the Songe People of the Democratic Repuplic of Congo!
And finally, a good old Disney doormat!
I think I stayed out until like 1am on this evening, just chilling in the lobby and looking around!
I like to take some time to appreciate the resort!
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