Surprise…I’ll Be Home For Christmas! Trip Video Updated 4/17

[xoSamma]

Surprise…I’ll Be Home For Christmas

Can you hear it? Can you feel it?
I'd say there's something
magical in the air, wouldn't you?
Why it's the spirit of the season,
a season that sparkles with its own
magic and memories.


Now you can travel near or far,
look high or low, and you'll always find
there's no place like home for the holidays
Cause after all home is where the heart is.



Sam

I'm Sam! Disney lover, AP holder, DCP alum, future Golden Oak resident. I’m obsessed with school bread, CoP, fort wilderness, and basically everything Disney.



Erin

Erin my lovely friend who puts up with my Disney obsession by buying an AP and coming on so many trips with me! But with so many trips we are still getting her to learn how to find her way around animal kingdom.


KC

We call him kiss…the birthday boy of the trip! He was born and raised in the same Disney loving family.


When: December 11-16
Where: All star Movies
Why: Surprise, Kiss’s 23rd birthday, celebrating Sam paying off her student loans.​

 

[xoSamma]

Table of Contents

Trip Video!

December 11
Welcome Home!
Our Never Ending Unmusical Day
Drinking Around The World: Holiday Edition
Club 33, Pasta and Panchito!

December 12
Hooray For Hollywood
Help I've Hit a Wall
Welcome to the Grotto, Start Guzzling
Running Around The Kingdom

December 13
A Morning In Future World
We're Here For The Snacks
Not So Scary Very Merry Christmas
Text Me Something Silly
Attack of the Country Bears

December 14
Walt Disney Marceline to Magic Kingdom Part 1
Walt Disney Marceline to Magic Kingdom Part 2
Eating Like A Skipper
Special Meet Special Greet

December 15
A Quiet Morning At AK
We're Following the Leader
Holiday Hoop!
Fueling My Fort Obsession


December 16
Last Morning In The Kingdom
Let's Take The Splash Out Of Splash Mountain
Now It's Time To Say Goodbye​

​

 

[xoSamma]

Welcome Home!


This was one of the longest planned trips in the making, or so it felt, since I like to book trips very last minute. However this one took some serious planning…in secret.
Now if we got this correct we started the planning around march/april, after we were told “It would be really fun if you guys could come” from a girl who was bringing friends with her too celebrate her sweet 16. That lead us to…why not surprise her and just show up! It was at first an idea that Erin threw out and just like 3 years ago when she not so seriously asked me to go to Disney, I said yes and started planning.

​

1. Take percussion - this started early into the planning. Back in May while we did our July FP selections I made sure to put everyone on my friends list on “plans we share” this would help keep all our plans hidden from those on this trip….or so we thought.​
2. Spy on the inside - Miss sue was on her own trip at the same time however she was able to see everyones plans.​
3. Booking - we originally booked AoA when it was me and Erin, the CM hub didn’t have their holiday discount until super late and I was taking any chances with not getting a room. So the cheapest for us was AoA, and the thought of having our own bathrooms was a great perk. Plans changed, dates switched and we ended up going with AS Movies (mostly to keep it cheap and I wanted to see the new refurb rooms)​
4. Figure out the surprise - This was honestly up in the air, I personally wanted to do it in person to see the reaction, hence the reason for needing a spy on the inside. ​
5. Make it a great trip - we added on the DP and with so much time to plan I stumbled upon the tours and decided to book one…whoops. ​

Its Disney Day!!!


Does your disney travel day start any later than 6am? No, not if I can help it. It was a lovely Tuesday morning, with a wake up call of 3:30am. Kiss slept through his alarm and decided to not wake up. But all was ok and we still made it to the airport on time. Pa was gracious enough to drop us off on his way too work. And while we were on our way Erin was already there, checked us in, and got our luggage tags and boarding passes…what a friend!
It was a pretty dead morning at the airport, we went through an empty security and were shocked when there wasn’t a line for Tim Hortons. It was already a great start to this vacation….(or so we thought)
We found our gate and waited to board. This was our “planning” time. Should we still go with the surprise? At this time we were honestly over it and we honestly got no where.

At 5:40 we were off into the sky on our way to florida. Nothing all that exciting, tried to sleep but with the hamilton soundtrack on Peggy woke me up with her powerful runs.

We landed by 8am and rushed over to the ME. However as we waited to get off the plane Kiss looked at me and goes “I left all my magic bands at my computer at home” Strike 1 of the day. He had his AP card on him and we knew we could just go to the front desk at the resort to get a knew one.
As we waited to leave I think Erin got a bit anxious cause the next thing I know she was off face timing the kids. Well I guess this was how we were going to surprise them. Nick answered, they were all still sleeping, he didn’t even get that we were on a bus with mickey ears on, Emily (the birthday girl) woke up and she caught on right away. She was in disbelief, shocked, stunned, ect.

While the FaceTime call wasn't the “wait at the exit of a ride and surprise them” idea, it turned out a lot better. This way we weren’t paranoid going to the parks and being seen. Plus we could now go about our day without having to plan it out.
Our ME driver was AMAZING! He was funny, he came down the isle and talked to everyone. And before we took off he told us he would have people coming around with snacks, drinks, and hot towels. Now if only that was a thing.

We were all headed to Movies, and when we got there are room was not ready. Erin went to change in the bathroom, Kiss and I headed to the front desk, got him a nice basic grey band, then we all went to get our refillable mugs.
With the room still not ready we put our bags in storage and headed off to our first park of the trip. Erin was shocked when I didn’t plan MK first…Animal Kingdom here we come. It was a brisk morning in Florida, I’m pretty sure today didn’t even reach 60. But we all know AK is 10 degrees warmer than any other park, plus the sun was shining.
We arrived to AK around 10:30 and first up was getting our AP. Kiss renewed his so he didn’t have to do anything. Erin and I purchased new ones, so while we waited in line I pulled my ID out and Erin freaked out. Strike 2 - Erin left her ID in her bag back in the storage at the resort. She went back to Movies by herself (and we are thankful for choosing All stars since it was only 5 minutes away) I took her backpack so she didn’t have to go through bag check when she came back, then Kiss and I headed into the park. Making our way into the park we were still waiting for that 10 degree warmer weather…it never came.
First up get some buttons and take some photos.

We didn’t know what to do since we didn’t know how long it would take Erin, so we headed into the gift shops (mostly for some warmth), browsed till we couldn’t browse anymore. Then we found ourselves at Its Tough to Be a Bug. With no wait why not?

It’s been a while since I watched this show but who doesn’t like a big ball of poop?!

Things I still refuse since when I was little: Letting those bees sting me in the back. I honestly don’t think I have ever experienced it.
Things I still love: the bugs running under your butt and hearing everyone scream when it happens.

The tree of life is a no service area and at this point I had no clue where Erin was. What I did know was that our Dinosaur Fps were going to end. So kiss and I headed over to Dinoland. We waited for Erin, in the long obnoxious FP line.

We were crawling like snails, we had a not so very happy man in front of us complaining to the CM. Which they replied that the ride was down and that this was the busiest time of the year.
We made it inside, but just in side when we came to a stop. It wasn’t worth the wait, plus we didn’t have Erin and our Fps for Everest started. So we jumped ship, found Erin and headed to Everest.
Also lets all talk about how Erin found her way to Dinosaur. She said she needed a map, but hey progress my friends.

​

 

[figment52]

YEAH! Sam is back with another trip report. 2019 is off to a good start.

 

[momplus3]

Another Sam report! Very exciting!

 

[Mom2m&k]

So excited to read your new report!

 

[rosegoldmonorail]

following!

 

[xoSamma]

YEAH! Sam is back with another trip report. 2019 is off to a good start.

HAPPY 2019! thanks for joining along on the fun again!

Another Sam report! Very exciting!

Welcome welcome welcome!

So excited to read your new report!

So excited your joining along!

following!

Welcome!

 

[xoSamma]

Our Never Ending Unmagical Day

Everest is always a good idea…even if it is only 50 degrees and you freeze your face off in the process. Also shoutout to the lady who ended up covering up my grandma shark in the photo, but I wouldn’t be mad if she was just over the baby shark craze, cause same.

It was officially lunch time and we were all pretty excited. While we weren’t on our way to our usual pandora noodle bowl (may they rest in peace after the menu change) we were in for a good meal. After this past July and doing the DDP, we decided we should do it cause why not. So just like last time we all got to pick a meal we wanted to do. And this time we tried doing “new” restaurants. Today we stuck to the “new” with Kiss’s pick.
Welcome to Yak and Yeti.

It was a packed check in area and it seemed like everyone who came in after us was getting their tables before us. We probably waited 3-4 rounds of the waiting area getting super full were you can’t move to completed empty.

FINALLY we were called and I think we were all ready to eat.
But before we thought of any food, first we had to order drinks (and this is the biggest perk of the DDP)
I went with the famous Yak Attack - Mango Daiquiri, Don Q Cristal Rum and Wildberry Flavors
Erin got the Big Bamboo - Don Q Coconut Rum, Don Q Cristal Rum, Banana Liqueur, and Tropical Fruit Juices
And Kiss went with the Snap Decision - Yak & Yeti’s Woodford Reserve Bourbon Personal Selection, apricot brandy and Crisp Apple Reàl Infused Syrup, topped with Fever-Tree Ginger Beer

Coming here I knew what a wanted a while before, so here’s just your basic, yet delicious sweet and sour chicken.

Erin got the chicken lo mien, which she said was good she just wish it had more noodles and less carrot slices.

Kiss - well i’m guessing he went with the Korean beef. whatever it was he scarfed it down fast.

Our waiter, Christopher, was great. So good in fact that Erin decided that she would fill out the survey left at our table. And if I was still a CM he would be getting a four keys card.
Somehow during our meal we got on the topic of my DTD days, I think it started with how Kiss has never experienced christmas time is disney and how I always talked about how I disliked MVMCP because I wasn’t home for christmas on my DCP. And with my past with DTD kiss goes “zone 11…no good” retweet that!
After our entrees we still had our dessert to get through. So while we waited for that to come out we discussed the plan for the rest of the day. I got the text saying our room was ready, so we planned on going back to the room. Take a little nap and then head off to Epcot. Who’s ready to drink around the world holiday edition?! We were all preparing ourselves for probably another let down. But the biggest let down for Erin? Having to drink in mexico, “it’s spicy” how she describes tequila.
Dessert finally made its way to the table. And while we all thought Chris was so great, he forgot to bring some forks to eat said dessert. Now this would be such an easy thing to fix how ever we were ready to be done with our meal and he seemed to get lost.
So heres to eating chocolate pudding cake with a knife.

Kiss got lucky with the extra table place set next to him so he had a fork to go with his pineapple upside down cake.

Once finishing lunch it was 2ish. So we decided to call it a day at AK, head back to the resort, take a nap and bundle up for a chilly night ahead of us.
Photopass will always be our downfall when we say we are going to leave.

Then it was back to Movies. We were all super excited getting off the bus and heading to the room. All that was available was preferred rooms when we booked so we knew we would be getting a nicely located room.
Well thats what we thought. We were placed in the dalmatian building in the very back wing, how that is preferred? Beats me. That wasn’t the biggest problem in the world. When we opened the door we were hit with hot smelly wet towel air. And the smelly air wasn’t even the problem.
Erin was the first one to point out the biggest problem when she said “Where’s my bed!?”
STRIKE 3.

Now honestly the only reason I booked resort was for the new refurbed room. So we had two options, deal with our not so preferred smelly old room or see if we could change rooms. I was all about seeing what could be done.
So we headed down to the front desk. Kiss and Erin sat from afar while I went up and talked to the CM. Normally I would never do this, in the real world I would just deal with what I was given. However talking to CMs is different than talking to normal people, they have to be nice to you and try to make your vacation as magical as possible. So I asked if there was at any way possible to change our room to a new one and I made sure to add the “if not that is totally ok” because at the moment I felt like an annoying guest.
I kid you not this CM stood there with a phone up to her ear for a solid 15 minutes saying nothing. I was confused. And the next thing I know she was asking me if we wanted to decline room service, and get a disney gift card in return. We went with that option. And that gift card would come in handy later that night.
So with a gift card sent to my email we still didn't know if we got a new room. But after 5 more minutes on the phone she hung up and said we would be in the fantasia section. They reprogramed our bands, gave us a one time use card to get into the old room to get our luggage. We thanked her and we were on our way!
The struggle of moving our luggage was real. We were on the 3rd floor and I had two bags, because my mother decided to use me as her christmas gift personal shipper. Our new room location was prime in the preferred room locations. We were on a corner room right outside of the main pool on the first floor. Honestly I’m glad I went and asked to be switch.
The old All Star Movies can’t come to the phone right now….why? Oh cause she’s dead (actually you can still find it in the dalmatian)

You can hate on value resorts all you want. But they are seriously changing the game and its beautiful!





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[Grumpy's Wife]

So glad there's another Sam trip report to read.

 

[momplus3]

We are booked at POP in September 15-21 so we could get a refurbished room. Also, ASMovies was not on the free dining special.

Not sure what your travel plans are for this year but if you are at WDW during my trip, it would be great to meet you!

 

[xoSamma]

So glad there's another Sam trip report to read.

Thanks for joining along on another crazy trip report of mine!

We are booked at POP in September 15-21 so we could get a refurbished room. Also, ASMovies was not on the free dining special.

Not sure what your travel plans are for this year but if you are at WDW during my trip, it would be great to meet you!

I original wanted Pop but it wasn't available. You'll love the new rooms they are so nice.
I wish I was there during your trip, it would be so nice to meet you. I'm actually going to be there a month before you in August. I'm hoping to get a fall trip in for MNSSHP but probably not until october.

 

[xoSamma]

Drinking Around the World: Holiday Edition

With the whole changing room fiasco, we didn't have much time for our planned relaxation before a long night ahead of us. Kiss and Erin charged there phones and relaxed while I tried to add a little christmas touch to our room.
The new refurb room has a whole little “kitchen area” your coffee maker and fridge. I dubbed this the perfect spot for our dollar store tree. I got little ornaments and battery lights for it and I never took a photo of it….so thats cool. Then on the hooks I got us cheap stockings that I had stuffed with small gifts for them to open each morning.

Now for my gifts I had it set for a gift every morning, so it wouldn’t start till tomorrow morning. I told Erin about this idea before she left and when she found out that I didn't get anything for my own stocking she decided to get some things. Before we left for Epcot she demanded that I open up the first gift, as she laughed…so we all know its something Sam probably won’t find funny.
Me being extra wanted to sit by our knew tree. Now once Erin pulled down her bed she goes “watch out for the corners” since the bed frame stuck out and guess who rammed her shin into about 2 minutes late….this girl.
After feeling like the world was ending, the pain went away and I sat by the tree. The gift was a sloth ornament, which later became the tree topper. However Erin knows how much I dislike sloths. so theres that.
By 4pm we were headed off to Epcot. I’m a fan of the bus times on the app now, it is so nice. When we got to the bus stop it was a tad windy and I was nervous on how chilly it would get once the sun goes down. I came prepared this trip…aka flashback to our last Jan and when we froze to death. So with that I made sure to wear some fleece lined leggings under my jeans and brought down my varsity jacket. I also texted Brittany (who if you are new to my TRs, is one of my friends who I met in college, we did the DCP together, she moved to florida and is now a teacher) she was meeting us once she got out of work, but I asked if she had any scarves or beanies.
Once we got to Epcot it was the….ready to drink?! We did the whole Drinking around the world thing not even a year ago back in January for Erin’s 21st birthday. I was unimpressed and said I would never do it again. Well here we are, same year, and I think it was actually my idea. To my defense tonight we will be doing the holiday edition, so the special drinks only for the Festivals of the Holidays.
We decided to change up the order and start with Canada.
Erin and I went with the Unibroue Éphémère Strawberry and Rhubarb. I had high hopes for this beer, however it wasn’t as fruity as I wanted it to be. rhubarb is super tart but I got none of that here.

Kiss went with the Frozen Coffee with Tap 357 Whisky. His first sip was all whisky thanks to them not mixing it. But besides that he seemed to enjoy it.

A plus about this holiday edition drinking, was that you got a smaller size for a less amount. My belly liked that and not being too sloshy and my credit card liked not spending so much. Win win.

Welcome to the homeland

We decided to walk around the pavilion, which rarely ever happens. But I knew not to get lured down into Oh Canada…I learned at a young age that you can’t sit in there. Just a quick little walk to see the waterfall and then we were off to the UK

The UK didn’t have a fancy stand for the festival so we had to go inside the pub. What a shame.
Kiss was ok with this since he knew what he wanted right away. I knew what I didn’t want….the welsh dragon.
But before we even made it to the pub we got stuck at the nearby stand where Erin got lost in the Bohemian Rhapsody merchandise. While she was raving over the shirts, I made a new UK friend who was working said cart. Didn’t get his name, but he asked if we were AP. After some small talk he asked where I got my jacket, I didn’t lie…so I said Cast Connection. Right away I got the “oh your a cast member?!” I use to be, he then told me how he was just there this morning and got so many things, every loves a good discounted CM store. Another guest came up to ask a question so it was the perfect time to head on our way.
Once arriving at the pub the first task was trying to find a spot at the counter. We found a small clearing and shimmied our way in.
Kiss went with a black and tan.

Erin got the nasty melon toothpaste and today I went with a classic Pimms Cup.

The Pub is always hoppin, so once we got our drinks we made a mad dash out of there.

The band was playing, we hung out, Brittany was on her way and told us not to move.
Whoops…we headed to France.
This was the one stop I was looking forward too. Today also seemed like a great crowd night, there was never a line at any of the stands so we kept getting our drinks super fast.
I went with the popular Spiced Rum Punch Slush: Spiced Rum, Rhum Clement V.S.O.P., Orange and Pineapple Juice with Cinnamon.
10 out of 10. The only bad thing about this was that it was hard to drink, slushies are great in the Florida heat, not so much chilly temperatures.

Erin once again went to the back to get the ice cream martini, which shocker once again she didn’t finish. Maybe one day she will learn.

This was one of our longer stops, mostly because we both got icey drinks so it wasn’t chuggable and we also had to stop moving so Brittany could find us. We sat outside of the ice cream parlor in France and I put the gingerbread sorbet on my list of snacks to get before this trip ended…spoiler I never went back to get it and I’m kind of disappointed about that.
Brittany soon was in front of us, I tried to pun my drink off on her since it was just to cold for me. She decided it would be better if she bought one for herself. That would give me more time to finish mine before we got to Morocco.
The sun was setting, it was getting dark, meaning the rest of the drink pictures are not going to be good. The Morocco stand was after the pavilion, so we lost Erin to the normal drink stand (because she wasn’t really staying with the whole “holiday edition” but thats ok, get what you know you like)
Erin got a strawberry daiquiri

Kiss (which he tried spelling Morocco…) got the casa beer

And I went with the The Andalusian “Poinsettia” Cocktail: Sparking Wine, Orange Liqueur and Cranberry Juice topped with Orange Blossom Water. And just like everyone’s review said…it did taste like a flower, not awful but not something I would get again.

Everyone in the group now had a drink in their hand and we were ready to dominated the last 7 countries.

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[Lesley Wake]

We sat outside of the ice cream parlor in France and I put the gingerbread sorbet on my list of snacks to get before this trip ended…spoiler I never went back to get it and I’m kind of disappointed about that.

Same here! I had it on my list, but I ended up getting a cold and loosing so much of my appetite, about 75% of the things I had planned to try and eat ended up not happening! Oh well, another trip!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What a fun evening!

 

[xoSamma]

Same here! I had it on my list, but I ended up getting a cold and loosing so much of my appetite, about 75% of the things I had planned to try and eat ended up not happening! Oh well, another trip!

Oh no that doesn't sound fun at all! But hey just another reason to go back again right?!

What a fun evening!

And its only just beginning!

 

[xoSamma]

Club 33, Pasta and PANCHITO!

We were almost at our half way mark, but first up Japan!
It was very apparent that no was else was sticking to the “holiday” edition like I was because right when we got to Japan both Erin and Kiss headed to the garden house.
Kiss got the hot sake…which honestly sounds awful

Erin went with the delicious tokyo sunset

While we were near the QS sign Erin asked if she could get noodles. She became obsessed with the udon noodles inside at Teppan Edo and I told her over the summer how she can get udon at the quick service. She remembered that and asked if she could get them…well she was unaware that it came in a soup and not just the noodles themselves. So that was a pass on the noodles. And instead we headed to the front of the pavilion where the festival booth was.
While I was looking at the menu, we saw some familiar people heading towards us.
The birthday gang was also at Epcot tonight, we stopped and chatted for a short bit before we both headed in the other direction of each other.
I still needed to get my Japan drink, so I went with the Cinnamon Apple Cider: Plum Wine, Orange Juice with Lemonade and Apples. Still confused how they get apple cider from this with the only apples are the apple pieces floating. Besides the name, I enjoyed it.

The struggles when you aren’t the chugger…

Next stop America!
We officially hit the mid way point…and it only took us 1.5 hours. Cheers to that.
Since we did the first half so quickly we ended up taking the next half slower. First reason was because by America Erin had 3 drinks in her hands….

Here in America got the Shipyard Eggnog White Porter…eggnog beer…gross. He seemed to like it, I guess you need to like eggnog to like it, I don’t personally like it. So I didn’t even bother to try this.

Instead Erin and I went with the Orange Blossom Brewing Cranberry Kringle Pilsner. This was good. I enjoyed this…Erin did not. And I’m pretty sure it ended up going to Brittany.

Like I said we started to take our time. We spent awhile in America. It was nice though, we had a table and just sat and chatted. It was the “catch up on life” moment of the trip. Brittany talked about her job and told me how she always tells her students that she wouldn’t have passed our college math classes without me. But same!
As we were sitting I remembered how club merica as we called it back at F&W 2013 with the chase lounge. It was now becoming Epcot’s Club 33. So in a way I’ve been in a club 33 right?!

And when in America…you use there bathrooms. Hands down mine and Brittany’s favorite bathroom on property. I mean thats a normal thing right? All I can say is these bathrooms are always clean, no one is ever in them and they are huge. 10 out of 10.

While we were leaving the good old USA, the Candlelight processional was about to start. Erin has never experienced it and I didn’t plan it into the schedule since we didn’t know the person tonight and the last/first time I did it NPH was the narrative and you can’t beat that.
So we stood in the standing area, Erin asked what it was…just Baby JC and his story. We watched the babies in the choral group start walking in. And yes they were all babies! We all know that most of them are CPs and both brittany and I regret not trying out for it on our program.
We didn’t stand there too long before we decided to walk away, just enough for Erin to know what its all about. And with that we were back on route to finishing the showcase. Next stop Italy. Once arriving to the holiday stand Brittany would not let me buy an expensive wine…far enough. So instead we bought the highly talked about 4 cheese pasta. The amount of times I saw a picture of these noodles in cardboard on instagram and people raving about them was a lot. I also know that people rave about a lot of food that never lives up to said hype. So this was going to be a test to see if it does.
The picture doesn’t do it justice, a main reason why I didn’t think this would be good.

Once we got our fancy mac and cheese we tried to find a spot to sit…we ended up sitting on the stairs where brittany lost her binki as a baby (the weird things you remember when your friends tell you things)
After the first bite we were all hooked, like can this please be a usual thing in Italy and not just on the festival of the holidays menu?! Now me being a good friend I split my snack credit on this with Brittany, but part of me wishes I didn’t because it was that good and I wanted more once we finished.

Erin loved it so much that she went back up to buy another one.
During this time I was doing my ranting about my work situation and the new girl who refused to change diapers….it a toddler room. And next thing I know Brittany is just shouting random butt pastes. The daycare life man.
There was no stopping, we were off to Germany. The last time I went to F&W Brittany and I got the pomegranate beer and it was a 10 out of 10. So I was happy to see it be added to this festival. But apparently they have it at the UK pub all year long…so the more you know.
In germany I went with the cider flight, Possmann Pure Hard Apple Cider, Possmann Pure Hard Black Currant Apple Cider, Schöfferhofer Pomegranate Hefeweizen

The Hefeweizen won in a land slide, all were good but it was the best of the three.
We took our flight to go and headed over to China. Erin wanted a thing of rice since that has become her thing while at Epcot. We however lost her to the bathroom…

I got her rice and 2 plum wines.

Both Brittany and I tried it and it was not worth the Erin hype, there was no 10 out of 10 for this. It was dry and just plain rice…wheres the sweet and sour sauce?! It needed something.
She took her plain..very plain…rice to Norway. I was excited about this one, I was excited to see the new bakery and get myself a school bread.

I was so excited, went up to the counter and asked for a school bread. The CM goes “I’m sorry we are all out” Then I look over heart broken and see a guy with 3 school breads to go. A little upsetting. So there was no bake goods purchased tonight, I then was reading the menu to see if they sold the pear hard cider inside, I didn’t see it. Striking out in Norway tonight. (later on in the trip I found said hard cider in the fridge section right when you walk in)
We decided to get some viking coffees. These are Kiss’s favorite, I thoroughly liked it when I tried it. Brittany got hers hot while kiss and I went with iced. As we were walking out Kiss goes “Oh no….these aren’t french vanilla you wont like this” then Brittany goes “You like this Sam?” It was not sweet at all like the last time so if you do get it make sure to ask for the french vanilla version cause its a lot sweeter.

Erin wasn’t a fan of the viking coffee on our last drinking around the world trip so she passed on Norway and enjoyed her rice.

I think my favorite part about this night was all the old memories we kept bringing up. Here in Norway we brought up our DCP and our move in day. The day our roommates who we never met came up to us and asked if we got candy on our beds…I was pretty excited to get some candy. Turns out it was just Kiss and Randy putting 1….ONE sour patch kid on each bed. Kiss still says to this day it was an ice breaker and “hey they came up and talked to you” That was the start of Brittany and I not really talking to our roommates….thanks kiss.
With that we headed to our last pavilion! Mexico here we come. On our way over we decided to go inside and get THEM CHIPSS!!! I haven’t had the chips in a long time. They seem to always change them.
But before we went inside I stopped at the festival booth outside. When I was getting in line all I hear was “I FOUND FRIENDS! LOOK I FOUND FRIENDS!” Apparently while the kids went the other back in Japan, their mothers were on this side of the showcase. We said our hellos before they told us they just finished the showcase and were going around again.
Here in mexico I ended the night with the Noche Buena Margarita: Libélula Joven Tequila, Cranberry and Lime Juices and Agave Nectar topped with Lime Foam and Sprinkles

We headed inside and waited for a table at La Cava del Tequila, it wasn’t a long wait all.
We ordered a thing of chips for the table with some queso and guac. Although it wasn’t the real chips, or what the chips use to be. They were ok. The queso was great and I learned that I don’t like guac all that much.

Before we ended our night at Epcot we had one last thing we needed to do…lets go see us a PANCHITO!

What a star

It was chilly, we were ready to sleep, so we decided to head out and call it a night.
As we were leaving the showcase we saw a Photopass CM hanging out by the tree. Of course we had to stop, and while we thought we were gonna get a picture with the tree we were pleasantly surprised.

And like always, its a process to leave a park

We parted ways with Brittany, we caught our bus back to Movies and slept so good after being up at 3 this morning.




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[Lesley Wake]

Once we got our fancy mac and cheese we tried to find a spot to sit…we ended up sitting on the stairs where brittany lost her binki as a baby (the weird things you remember when your friends tell you things)
After the first bite we were all hooked, like can this please be a usual thing in Italy and not just on the festival of the holidays menu?! Now me being a good friend I split my snack credit on this with Brittany, but part of me wishes I didn’t because it was that good and I wanted more once we finished.

Darn, that was on my list, but I didn't end up getting it! I was worried Italy wouldn't be that good, as all the reviewers say!

 

[xoSamma]

Darn, that was on my list, but I didn't end up getting it! I was worried Italy wouldn't be that good, as all the reviewers say!

I was the same way, however I was in need of using my snack credits for the day. So I decided to give it a go and accept the let down. But I was very surprised and glad I got it!

 

[xoSamma]

Hooray For Hollywood

Our first full day in Disney means no sleeping…but does a Disney vacation ever mean sleeping? This morning we were heading over to Studios. Are main mission was TSL, as that seems to be the thing everyone goes there for now. However after we planned this day, Disney announced the Before/After hour events. And this morning just happened to be Studios special ticketed event, so the idea of getting on slinky dog was out of the question.
Right as we were about to leave the room I noticed queso over my sleeve on my jacket. We all know how I’m quite a messy person and can’t have nice things. I was able to wipe it off easily and we were out the door by 8 and got to the park around 8:45. The “new” bus loops made it a “fun” walk to the front of the park. With walls up it was hard to know exactly where we were, I knew it was the parking lot, but we didn’t know how long the walk way was….and let me tell you it is quite the walk.

We finally made it and followed the rest of the crowd to toy story

Before even getting into the land itself we first noticed the slinky line, It was practically all the way to the DVC booth outside of the land. Now honestly this probably wasn’t even that long of a wait since the line was still closed for the before hours event. However we decided to bypass it and check out the wait for Mania. Everyone seemed to be in line for slinky since we walked right on to toy story mania and honestly my arm was not ready for it.

I may have been rusty this morning but I still managed to beat Erin. Although kiss broke 200,000 and I still am unable to do that.
We didn’t have all that much planned for this morning at Studios, we had our FPs, but we still had some time before we could use them. So after mania, we headed over to find the new Ham Sugar cookie addition. This was my favorite addition for christmas time.

Across from the Ham cookie in front of the saucers were some more christmas decorations.

Kiss enjoyed these not so little green alien ornaments.
At this location there was also a Photopass CM, our favorite. The only thing we wished was that it was for the ornaments and not the Alien in the saucer with the claw.

TSL is small and since we weren’t willing to wait in line for Slinky and had no interest in the saucers there was not much left to do in this area. Before we left we grabbed some breakfast at the lunchbox, which was decorated with some popcorn garland.

I fell in love with the raspberry tart over the summer, and honestly I didn’t think I would like it. But alas they took it off the menu for christmas time and added a cinnamon cranapple tart. Once again everyone was raving about it online, they all said it was basically like an apple pie. I like apple pie! So both Kiss and I got one.

I did not understand what the hype was about. I did not enjoy it at all. It was really dry, not enough filling inside and I only ate about half of it. I feel bad for anyone who missed out on the raspberry tart because of this one, that was the real winner.
After an unimpressive breakfast we headed out of TSL and over to Sunset boulevard.
First up ToT, we left Erin behind and got our one way ticket to the twilight zone.

Somehow I got stuck on the side in the back….this is the worst seat for me. It only becomes a problem right at the end before getting off. I personally don’t like the ventriloquist doll and you never know where he will pop up. Today I was lucky and he was on the other side of the elevator. That was a close one.
We found Erin at the exit and headed over to RnR.

After scoring some backstage passes for aerosmith, we were out of things to do. We accomplished everything we needed to get done today. We could have left the park and been happy, but we had to wait for my lovely sister to arrive at the park before work.
We made our way down sunset boulevard and I asked the dreaded “What do you want do?” question. One thing I have learned was this question never gets us anywhere. No one ever makes a decisions and I always feel bad making all the decisions. So instead I just sat on the curb and waited for someone to decide on what to do.
Spoiler alert: No one made any suggestions. So instead we sat there and listened to the star wars show. This gave me an idea, I stood up and said “I’m going to fuel Erin’s love for star wars” and headed off to star tours.

Our tour was good? I wasn’t the rebel spy…so there’s that. One day.





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