Trip Report Been Back for 10 Months, what better time to write the TR...

Hey oh! I'm back on the boards! There was a long time when I was just too exhausted from working 14 hour days/not being at a computer at work for said 14 hours where I wasn't on these boards much, if at all. The combination of the work hours + not knowing when we'll be back in WDW meant I had to keep away or else I'd find myself longing for the lost World... Disney World (lost because I won't be there for a while). Well, I'm back at a desk job since February and slowly started reintegrating myself into the boards since. After much reading, and much more reading, and some talking with my gf about how "I should really write that trip report" it's finally time that I really DO write THIS trip report.

For those of you who don't know (or remember since it's been so long), I'm AJ and my travel partner/gf is Alex (Lexi on the boards). Here I am bothering her before we enter Animal Kingdom:
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Nice necklace she has there right? Yeah, I found that on the street outside a restaurant after we had dinner one night. BOOM!

Our dates down in the World were October 9, 2013 (yikes) to October 16, 2013. A nice eight down jaunt during the Food and Wine Fest (a triumphant return, we'd been during 2010, but skipped it our next trip).

Any way, her and I teamed up to work on the PTR for this trip about, oh... 16 months ago. For all the things I don't remember being written by the two of us you can click this link. I hope you enjoy gratuitous food photos and a lot of digression because it is now time for what you actually came for, a Trip Report!

Day 1, October 9:

After a disappointing night of staying up late to watch the Rangers get dismantled by the by the SJ Sharks in San Jose (of course the game started at 10 PM) it was an early wake up call to catch the first flight out of JFK on JetBlue down to MCO (who on these boards really doesn't know what MCO is? We're all obsessed, we all know the airport code). We always end up getting the cheapest flight down there from JFK, it helps that Alex's parents live a 15 minute drive from the airport and that JetBlue gives the "one free checked bag per person" since our trips to WDW are the only time I'll travel with a suitcase.

We landed at MCO a little before 10 AM and were on our way to the DME bus. I won't get over how great DME is, I just throw a pair of shorts and a few other essentials in my carry-on in case our bags take longer to get to the hotel than expected. By 11 AM we were at our resort and in our room. We were thrilled that our room was ready when we got there (we've yet to have an issue with this, fingers crossed, knock on wood, whatever you want to say about that). We were staying at Pop Century and we're pretty impressed with the room to be honest. We had stayed at All-Star Movies back in 2010 and weren't too sure what to expect from Pop. All told, we were happy with it. Growing up in the 90's I wasn't too pumped when I found out our room number:

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I was hoping for the 50's, 60's or 80's (even though I was born in the 80's, maybe that's why I have an affinity for the decade). Any who, here's a shot of our room:

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Not too shabby eh? We prefer the two beds because we like to live as if we're in an episode of I Love Lucy. That's actually not true, the second bed always end up being something or a souvenir/park maps space.

I don't remember where I spotted this (there might be more of this in this TR considering it was 10 months since we were there), but I'm glad I got a shot of it:

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Is it me or is 1986 the easiest year on this to spot? Maybe because it's the best year ever, without it, you wouldn't be so lucky to have this awesome TR to read. Also, without it, there'd be some serious funny business going on in the space time continuum.

Enough of this resort business, we didn't come here to spend time in the room (which is why we booked a value). We were in WDW and it was time to hit the parks! What better way to get yourself in the Disney spirit on your first day in the World than by making your first stop Magic Kingdom? Is there a better way? There really isn't.

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Hello beautiful, you big lush green bush you. Oh, wait, I mean you back there! Isn't she a sight for sore eyes? (That's a phrase I've never understood, if my eyes are sore I don't want to be seeing any sights, I want to close my eyes. Depending on how sore maybe with a bag of ice on them.) Anyway! We wasted no time heading over to Tomorrowland (because it's the best) and hit up Space Mountain (because it's the best). You can't tell it's us in this photo, but I know it is. We're like shadow people (except much less horrifying):

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Having gotten the momentous "First Ride" taken care of it was time for the (to me, in this case) less momentous "First Meal." For this we went over to Cosmic Ray's. It's something of a habit for us to get some QS meal when it comes to the first meal of the trip, something about being up since 5 AM and being on a plane for a few hours doesn't lend itself kindly to an elaborate sit down meal the first time I eat while I'm in WDW. (One or both of us would probably fall asleep at the table.) So what did this delicious first meal consist of? Alex decided on the kid's chicken nugget meal (because WDW has some awesome chicken nuggets, and lets not even get into the fries, they're the best) and I went with a plain old hot dog. Plain. Old. Hot Dog. Except when I hit up that sweet fixins' bar! Plain old hot dog? NAY! More like AMAZING CHEESE DOG WITH DICED ONIONS!

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This is not really the type of meal that lends itself to a review in this space, it gets the job done. It's very good (I like hot dogs more than any normal person should, and WDW has some good dogs) and after being up rather early and on a plane it's good enough to supplement the adrenaline we work on on our first day in the World. After lunch we decided to grab a pair of Fast Passes to Buzz because, well because we could still. We knew that this would most likely be our last chance to get legit paper Fast Passes, so we got as many as we could. Look at these beauties:

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Don't get me wrong, I think the Magic Band is pretty awesome. We only had one or two little hiccups while using ours on this trip when it came to Fast Pass usage, getting in the room the only reason it wouldn't work at the end of long days would probably be user error/laziness/exhaustion. There is something about those little paper tickets getting spit out of those Fast Pass machines though that I will miss. Oh well, onward and upward, or whatever they say.

To be honest, from what I remember there wasn't much of a line for a lot of the rides we got paper Fast Passes for. We did it more for a little collection of our own, when we did need to use the we would, but for the most part, we still have them. Back to Buzz, basically every on ride photo we have from Buzz throughout our three trips Alex and I have the same general look on our faces. That look is something like this:

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I get very, very into this ride. Very into it. After such an intense spin on Buzz we decided to relax a bit on the PeopleMover.
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 2:

The main reason Alex and I tend to spend so much time in the Seas is because of the greatest oceanic mammal around (ok it's not really an ocean animal, but you get it):

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Big Lou and Sweet Vail! A real couple of awesome manatees.

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Lou is the top photo and Vail is the bottom. Look how much wider Lou is, that's what an extra three hundred pounds will get you I guess.

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We could've sat down in that spot for hours! We didn't though, we wanted to head elsewhere. We said goodbye to our manatee pals and these guys as well:

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We decided to take a Journey Into Imagination with every one's buddy Figment.

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Alex had never ridden the original version of this ride, but she loves this one. I like it, but it's tough to go against the original. Still a lot of fun though. I'm curious if any one actually uses the FastPass+ for this ride, or even Captain EO. I can't imagine any one using FastPass+ for Captain EO, we did it once and that was all we needed. It's a nice novelty, but come on, get something new in there. It was nice to bring it back after Michael Jackson passed away, but for such a maligned star it's interesting that WDW has kept it around for four years (it's half way to the length of time it originally was there). Any who... Hello? This is London calling...

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I gotta be honest, this ride makes me a bit dizzy. Can't imagine why:

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ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 3:

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Oof, even looking at those pictures has my head hurting. Figment is always a fun one though. When I was younger my brother had one of those Figment baseball hats, any one remember those? Now the baseball hats Disney sells are all those weird stretchy hats (the character hats any way, at least during this trip that's all they had). After Figment it was time to get down to business. You know where this is headed. Food and Wine time, sorry if I make you hungry, but we nailed it today (for the most part). First up:

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We were very impressed by this booth and by "we" I mean, I was impressed with the Kalua Pork Slider (with sweet and sour Dole Pineapple Chutney & Spicy Mayonnaise). Alex was a little upset they didn't have Kona Longboard (which you can find on tap at the Poly, and various other places in WDW). I was happy they had the Pipeline Porter, don't know if you can tell from this TR but I'm a big fan of porters (have I mentioned that enough yet?). Alex decided to go with the Aulani Sunrise featuring Ocean Vodka.

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Outstanding! I could've stayed at this booth all day. Not only is the Pipeline porter great, but so is the Big Wave Golden Ale (I didn't get one though, I have had it however).

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I love good looking tap handles. The only thing I would change about the Hawaii booth would be switching out Kona Brewing Company for Maui Brewing Company, that is nothing more than personal preference though, by no means is it a knock at Kona Brewing, they have great beers, I just prefer Maui Brewing (their coconut porter is outstanding, and the Bombshell Blonde is incredible too). I think a big issue with Maui is that I don't think they have any east coast distribution whereas Kona has become easier and easier to find, which I love. Oh, you came to read a trip report, not my views on Hawaiian brewing companies, right. This guy came here to try and eat my food!

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And he brought some back up, they were ready to rumble:

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ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 4:

Next up, old faithful, the booth that's always crowded because of their standard menu year after year:

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That's right, America Junior. Sorry, after watching countless hours of The Simpsons the past couple weeks I had to slip that one in there. Kidding aside, this booth is great. What's even better is that you can get a taste of two of the best dishes served at Le Cellier for a much more reasonable price. Alex and I had lunch at Le Cellier on our previous trip (before they became a full on signature restaurant and took the amazing burger off the menu) and we gotta be honest, we could do without it. Yachtsman is the place to go for steaks, but I digress. Alex couldn't resist that filet and I had to get the soup:

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I love that soup, although it was in the high 80's - low 90's this day and eating a piping hot soup was not the best idea. It was still great though, best way to combat that heat was of course to get a Moosehead. I love that stuff, can't get enough, it's tough to pass through the Canadian pavilion and have me not end up with a Moosehead. Alex was impressed with the filet, especially considering it's basically just kept under heat lamps at the booth so it's constantly cooking and you obviously can't order it to the temperature you like (see you better like it more well done than rare here), but she lucked out, it wasn't as rare as she prefers (which is very) but she was pleasantly surprised, especially since she didn't it think it was too spectacular when we ate in Le Cellier. We had ourselves a nice high top table in the shade so we decided we were going to stay put for a bit. Seeing as how all we'd eaten today was soup and a small sandwich and Alex only had that small filet so we decided to grab something at the Refreshment Port. They had their own section in the F&W passport and a special F&W menu. Alex decided to head over and pick us up some food. While she was doing that, these two came up to me:

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They must love the Food and Wine Festival. So from the Refreshment Port Alex decided to go with the Fried Chicken Chunks with Dole Pineapple Sweet & Sour Sauce, while I went with Fried Shrimp that had the same sauce. I also had a Frozen Dragon Berry Colada featuring Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum:

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One word that sums this all up. Eh. Alex said the chicken had too much breading, the shrimp was the same. This one is a pass. As a back up I went over to the Greece booth and got myself a Chicken Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce and some Ouzo. Opa!

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This was very tasty, I wished there would have been more. I wasn't such a big fan of the Ouzo, but you can't win them all. And if any of you reading this are thinking, "wow, he's had a lot to drink in a short amount of time," you're absolutely right, but I wasn't going to let that slow me down. We had had enough standing still, so after our nice little break with all that food we were on the move. I wanted another Fisherman's Pie from the Ireland booth and decided to give the Bunratty Meade Honey Wine a shot, because why limit myself to single digit ABV percentage drinks? I mean, right?

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I got a picture of the Fisherman's pie this time! Remember what I said about eating the soup from Canada today and the heat? The pie was hotter, that layer of mashed potato on top really held in the heat super well, this is one thing I should've eaten at night while it was cooler out, but man it was good. Here's the inside:

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I'd already eaten the piece of lobster that was sticking out of that part, but it was definitely there and a fair amount of it as well. The honey wine was very sweet, I can't say I liked it or didn't like it, it was drinkable but not something I'd seek out with excitement. Our third FastPass+ time was approaching and was for the newly redesigned Test Track! So we stayed at the World Showcase because we didn't feel like walking back over that way, not after we'd started eating and drinking. We ended up skipping Test Track altogether on this trip, but we were OK with that. We're not huge fans of it, I'm sure the refurbishment of it turned out great, but we were OK missing it this time around. As any one knows, France was next. So how could we go to France and Alex not get the Grey Goose Lemon Slush? Impossible. I also decided to beat the heat by trying out L'Artisan des Glaces (as this had newly opened not long before we got there). I apologize for the lack of photos of this place, but here's this:

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Alex found out that if you ask for a regular cup they'll poor it into one. The strange thing about this is that they still pour it into the plastic martini glass and then dump it into the regular cup. When they do that it only fills up about half of the cup. That ice cream is the Coco-White Chocolate Ice Cream. Ho-ly crap. It was great! When I ordered it the girl behind the counter gave me a big smile and said that that was her favorite flavor but not a lot of people order it so she was glad that a young stud like me ordered it. She left out the young stud part, but we all know she was thinking it. Highly recommend giving that one a try. We decided to keep moving since the ice cream was easy to eat on the go and Alex was all set with her drink. We had seen this guy a couple times during the day and were finally able to get a picture of him when we made it to Morocco:

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What a cutie! He was so fluffy. Poor guy was pooped from a day at the park already. That's Levi, Alex talked to the owner who said that he was training Levi. Part of the training for Levi is going to WDW to see how he does with such large groups of people, what a lucky dog! I'm sure he's doing a great job now as a service dog.

That's it for today. As always, come back tomorrow. I'll most likely finish up Day 6, thanks for reading!
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What a great day at the parks. You have some really great pictures of your day at MGM and you got to do some things that might be closing not to far in the future. There is always room for Caseys hot dog any time of the day or night. Following along.

Thanks for sticking with it! I'm always worried that certain things at MGM will close (especially the Backlot Tour). I was bummed to read that they closed the AFI exhibit, I wonder how the ride exits now. And Casey's will now be a staple of my WDW trips.
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 5:

Since we were already in Morocco, I figured there was no better time to have a go at the Kefta Pocket:

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For any one having trouble reading the subtext for the kefta pocket it says, "ground-seasoned beef in a pita pocket."

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Sorry I didn't get a picture with a good view of the beef itself. I won't mince words here on this one, this was terrible. It was over cooked ground beef, like a bad hamburger. I really couldn't taste the seasoning, so I'm not sure what it was, it tasted like unseasoned ground beef and the pita was stale. No thanks. Oh well, plenty of other options out there and luckily for Alex we were just a short walk from Japan, we all know what that means:

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I decided to abstain from imbibing in Japan because I had my eyes set on a few drinks at the Florida Local booth. For those of you that missed the menu for Florida Local in one of my earlier posts, here it is again:

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I had to give that Florida Orange Grove Key Limen - Key Lime Wine, and since I knew i'd be a small pour that I'd finish fairly quickly I decided to give a try at the Cigar City Brewing Florida Cracker Belgian-style White Ale.

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I trust you all know which is which. That key lime wine was super tart, to me anyway. I know I said I expected a small pour but this was more than I expected, especially for the price. It was a very refreshing splash of wine though, but I think it's definitely an acquired taste. If you're up for something different, I highly suggest you give it a try. The white ale was more flavorful than a regular white ale. I'm not sure what made me order this since I usually stay as far from white ales as I can, but this was very nice. While we were sitting down enjoying our drinks and talking about Levi we noticed this:

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Now, a service dog is one thing. A dog in a stroller? That's pushing it...

We hadn't spent much time in Italy last time we were wandering around so we wanted to enjoy ourselves there:

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I've never been to Italy myself, but if I go and I can't see Spaceship Earth from where I am, I'll be pretty upset. After being in Italy for about two minutes Sergio started doing his thing:

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It went from these dozen or so people to a lot more than that very quickly, so we decided to keep moving...
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 6:

And we stopped at:

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We decided to split the Kielbasa & Potato Pierogi with Caramelizied Onions & Sour Cream since Alex is a fan of pierogi and I am a fan of kielbasa.

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Oh, and I got Okocim Brewery, Okocim O.K. Beer. It seemed like another run of the mill lager. Don't get me wrong, I'd drink it all day if I could find it easily, but yeah, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Would I drink it again? Absolutely. Alex wasn't a big fan of the sour cream that was on the pierogi, but I thought it was pretty tasty, although it was a bit thick. The kielbasa was great, I just wish it were a bigger piece, but that's what you have to understand when you're at F&W - you're not getting full meals, or even appetizer sized portions in most cases, but enjoy what you enjoy and don't be afraid to try a little of everything. Since we were practically in Germany we wanted to get some daytime pictures. It seems that a majority of the times we're in Epcot we take our time to the point where we always wind up in Germany at night, but not today:

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I want to live in the Stein Haus.

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I never noticed how docile that dragon looks, but it's not stopping St. George from giving him the business!

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After our time spent in Deutschland it was time to go for flight #2:

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Same deal with flight #2 as flight #1. Beers are 1-2, top left and top right, then 3-4, bottom left and bottom right. #1, Radeberger Pilsner was a refreshing lighter beer (for this flight it was lighter at least). #2 BraufactuM Palor was a little more of a full beer, more than the tasting size of this and I'd be full and ready for a nap. #3, BraufactuM Roog Smoked Wheat Beer was very tasty. The combination of the wheat beer with the smoky flavor really came together nicely. #4, BraufactuM Darkon is a very heavy beer, beers like this one are not the best on a hot day and any more than two in one sitting is too much. This one tasty a little nutty as well, much like the Dunkel in the first flight. Continuing on our journey we made a pit stop at the Outpost for a Budweiser, but after that it was on to the South Korea booth:

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I had to give that Kimchi Dog with Spicy Mustard Sauce a try, and why not, while we're here, give the Soju Fruit Slushy featuring Jinro Chamisul Soju a try:

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I wish I could tell you I had cut that hot dog in half and split it with Alex, but that's what they gave me when I ordered it. IT'S A HOT DOG! GIVE ME THE ENTIRE THING! This left me the most disappointed out of anything we ordered at F&W, I was fully expecting a full hot dog. That straw in the slush was massive because the drink was almost a solid block of ice, it was very sweet as well. The drink, I can take a pass on, the hot dog I'd get again, but I'd most likely be upset that it's only half a dog again. For $3.75 it's hard to be ok with a half a hot dog. I get a package of hot dogs at my local supermarket for like $5 (good hot dogs too, not Sabrett or crap like that.)
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 7:

In case any of you wanted a closer look at that half hot dog:

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Next up was our favorite booth, China!

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You knew those pot stickers were happening again as soon as I said "China," but I had to give a try to the Black Pepper Shrimp with Sichuan Noodles. OUTSTANDING I SAY! And look at that portion size! Alex and I were both in love with this dish (Alex, minus the shrimp, but I thought it was all great). Here's a closer look:

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A good amount of shrimp and a whole plate of noodles! The China booth did it again! Once we'd filled ourselves up at the China booth it was off to Norway to have some fun, we made another friend!

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Alex was happy that she was taller than this guy (nice sandal tan):

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The vikings are attacking!

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Guess they didn't see that waterfall, because they're gone now:

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We weren't up for waiting 45 minutes to ride Maelstrom so we went to the one ride we knew would be a walk on (isn't it always?):

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This ride is so great, I think it's highly underrated. How could you not want to spend time with these three amigos?

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Did any one watch Legends of the Hidden Temple when they were younger? Did they steal the Olmec from the set after it was canceled? I'm pretty sure that's him down there, or one of his many many brothers:

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That's it for tonight! Thanks for reading! Come back tomorrow for more and hopefully the end of our Day 6!
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 8:

After our tour with the Three Caballeros we decided no way to enjoy Mexico even more than by getting some food. Alex really wanted some chips and cheese dip, so she went for that at La Cantina de San Angel:

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She also likes to dip her chips in sour cream, that up there is what she got when she asked for it. This was a bit of a head scratcher, but I guess sour cream really isn't the easiest thing to keep fresh at a QS spot, although I would expect a spot in Mexico to go through sour cream quick enough to not need to give those things out. I didn't even know those things existed before we saw them. As for me, I opted to head back over to the Mexico F&W booth to give a try to their Taco de Rib-Eye with Salsa de Chipotle (steak taco with smoked red pepper salsa) and also got myself the Rice Pudding:

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The taco was definitely very good, but I preferred the shrimp taco that they had as the other option. The rice pudding was rice pudding. By me saying that it wasn't a bad rice pudding means that it was good. Kind consistency, it wasn't watery (which can turn rice pudding into a soupy disaster). The Mexico booth was definitely a hit with me (since Alex doesn't eat any of that stuff). Muchas gracias, Mexico, bien hecho amigos. After our little break in Mexico it was time for me to stop at the Brazil booth for a beer:

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Since they only had one beer, the Kaiser Brewery, Xingu Black Beer was what I went with:

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That was definitely one dark bar. I have to be honest, for a beer as dark as that one up there this baby was smooth. Wasn't as thick as I'd thought it would have been, a nice surprise, had a nice malty taste and some hints of coffee in there as well. Alex get herself a bottle of Bud Light (for shame) and she was thrilled to try out her souvenir from the German pavilion:

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We actually ended up running into a couple of Germans while she was using this and they thought it was the greatest koozie they had ever seen and wanted to know where we got it. When we told them over at the German pavilion they were thrilled. They let us know that the English translation for what was stitched into the koozie was how they say "Last Call" out in Germany. How about that! That's why that guy wearing the loderhosen is sprinting. It was approaching our favorite time at the park so we decided to just stroll around and get some pictures:

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(This next one is from a little earlier in the evening)

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Between the Magic Band, F&W mini gift card and a Cystic Fibrosis bracelet I always wear I had my things on my wrist than a middle school girl.

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I look like I have something seriously wrong with my spine in that photo.
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 - Part 9:

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Before we decided to call it for our last night in Epcot (we were committed to Magic Kingdom the next, and last, night of our trip with FastPass+'s that I refused to break) I decided to grab one for the road while Alex was getting herself one last Grey Goose Lemon Slush (for the day):

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Picked up a Beer Kronenbourg Blanc over here. Here's a NOTE for any one that's reading this that might be going to the F&W Fest: If you see a menu at one of the booths that serves beer and only one price for the beer, it means they're pouring it from a bottle so you're getting it in a 12 ounce cup (which is the middle option at any of the booths with taps), just something to keep in mind. Anyway, here's the Kronenbourgh Blanc:

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Yeah, it's very blurry, but I had to take that photo myself because the line for Alex's slush was very long and I did this while waiting for her to meet back up with me. I wasn't a big fan of this one, I didn't enjoy it like I did the other white beer I had had earlier in the day. If you're a fan of white beers, wit beers or blancs than I don't know why you wouldn't like it. Me, being not a big fan of that type of beer, I could've done without this one. Alex and I decided to head out before Illuminations, we didn't feel like being in with the crowd tonight so we made our way to the International Gateway to spend some time on the Boardwalk before calling it a night.

Since Alex got herself a double and I had a full beer we were determined not to have to throw away our drinks (which the CMs WILL make you do if you try to exit with them, even at IG, I know) and we had our resort mugs with us today we decided to just simple pour our respective drinks in our respective resort mugs and wish the CMs a nice night and walk out of the park. Easy as that. That's how you can leave Epcot with your drink. I'm not going to say that we brought our resort mugs to the park today for that reason, they did have soda and iced tea in them when we left the hotel for the park today, but I will say we did know absolutely what we were doing. Keep that in mind folks.

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I decided it was margarita time since there is a margarita at the Boardwalk now (Joe's Marvelous Margaritas), and since I was getting a drink why not get a Mickey pretzel as well? While I was doing that Alex decided to play around with the different settings on her camera, hope you all like to look at the Boardwalk Bakery!

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I wasn't away for more than three minutes but she was firing through those settings. We have like five more of those. And the fruits of my labor while she was doing all this?

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Oh yes, my friends. There are so many wonderful things on that table right there. Patron Anejo Margarita on the rocks with a salted rim? Check! ($12.95 + tax WELL SPENT, highly suggest spending the extra $2.50 to get premium ingredients.) Plastic cheese in a cup? Check! MICKEY PRETZEL?!? CHECK! Alex was happy to find a regular Bud in one of those tall aluminum cans-bottle things. And another plus of the resort mug? We were able to fill that at the Boardwalk Bakery since it was acting as the in-house QS spot for the Boardwalk Inn at the time. They said that the new RFID mugs would only work in the resort they were purchased at, but ours worked here. Not sure it would still be the case, but hey, it's worth a shot. I don't consider it "stealing" or "taking advantage of the system" for the price they make you pay just to use one of these for a week.

Here's a quick story I forgot to mention since I'm on the topic of the resort mugs and I'm at the end of Day 6. The first night of our trip we decided to stop in the Everything Pop! food court to grab a small bite (breadsticks, because really, what other snack is worth getting at these spots?) and to pick up our resort mugs for the trip since we knew we'd use them. We can't just get one and share it because Alex really likes Coca-Cola and I prefer Sprite or root beer if I'm drinking soda, but nine times out of ten I just get the Gold Peak Iced Tea. Anyway, we take the mugs to the register, the CM rings them up and then she says there was an issue with one of them. She scanned it again, we paid, filled our mugs and were on our way back to our room to unwind after our long day. When we got back to the room I checked the receipt (as I always do with receipts, especially on vacations) and I noticed that we were only charged for the breadsticks and ONE mug. OK, but they both worked. Interesting. I knew since we weren't going to go back for anything more to drink that night and I would most likely be heading over to get us a couple of fill ups in the morning while Alex was getting ready I'd take the receipt then and let whomever know and pay to activate the second mug if there was an issue.

Come the next morning, I head over to Everything Pop! fill up Alex's mug with Coke and then decide to try to fill up mine as well to see what would happen. Something I thought was odd when I filled up Alex's is was the date that the display showed the mug was good until. It said Valid Until 10/23, a full week after we were checking out. OK, I won't complain about that. Now to see if mine would work. I put it under the Sprite dispenser as the instruction say to, hit the button and it filled up my mug! Here's what's even crazier, the valid until date for mine was 10/30. A FULL TWO WEEKS AFTER WE WERE CHECKING OUT. Now, some people probably have much better morals than I do and would have said something to a CM at a register, maybe to pay for the time they were going to use the mug (a week) or try and get it reset to only work for the time they'd be there. But, I gotta be honest, paying as much as we do to go to WDW and paying as much as we do while we're AT WDW, come on, this is a little blessing in disguise. Something I think we all on the boards like to call a little bit of "Disney Magic," am I right? We ended up paying to activate two mugs for a total of five weeks (one week for each mug that we were there, plus an extra three combined). I'm not going to complain about that. We did pay it forward on our last morning however. After finishing our drinks that morning we saw a mother and daughter carrying about five mugs to the register so we gave them the two we had and let them know the situation. We just told them to give them a good wash, and to spend the saved money on something fun. They couldn't be happier, it's the little things in WDW that make people happy. We've been gifted FastPass tickets (under the old system) and it was a great feeling, so we're glad we could make that mother and daughter happy (and to save them close to up to $40).

Anyway, that "quick story" about our resort mugs turned into the most I've written about anything in this TR. Oh well. That is, however, the end of Day 6 and the end of my writing for today. Come back tomorrow when I start Day 7, a day full of exploring three resorts, three parks and one signature restaurant (plus Downtown Disney). I'll put it out there now, Day 7 is going to take a LONG time for me to write, but it will get finished. Thanks for reading every one!
 
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ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
OK, so I didn't start Day 7 last week. I have a few entries in me tonight, so get ready, here's goes nothing.

Day 7 - Part 1:

We wanted to spend some time out in Downtown Disney today since it felt like we were barely there all trip (aside for that pit stop at Pollo for Alex to grab lunch the one day). After spending so much time in the parks it was definitely a nice change of pace to stroll around DTD. We had a couple of seminars booked for the F&W Fest, so we figured we'd kill the time (one was at 2 PM the other 4 PM) outside the parks. And there's never anything wrong with the Lego sculptures:

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Since we hadn't yet eaten and noon was creeping up we decided to stop for some lunch. We couldn't seem to agree on where to eat. We didn't want to head over to Raglan Road because we knew we would never leave, Alex doesn't like seafood so we weren't going to bother with Fulton's. Portobello was definitely a good option but seemed a little too fancy for what we were looking for. Once we realized we weren't looking for anything in particular and all of those are very particular styles of food we knew there was only one place for us...

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That's right! We were having lunch at T-Rex! We were actually pretty excited for this, we have no problem with campy things and what's more campy than a prehistoric themed restaurant? Not much. This place is awesome though, I will say that:

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We're going to definitely request this booth next time we go (and there definitely will be a next time), I doubt we'll get it though because it's just the two of us, but it's worth a chance.
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 - Part 2:

Don't think I'm finished with those T-Rex pictures yet:

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This place was so much fun to just walk around. As great as it is, lets be honest, we were here for the food. Annnnd drinks:

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Those two drinks look the same but in different vessels, the reason for that is because the giant one on the right is in a huge frosted glass. It's actually a beer on the right (Alex got a Budweiser, of course). I decided to get a little wild with my drink and ordered a Category "5" (I don't know why the 5 is in quotations on the menu, but it is. Actually I know exactly why, it's because), it continues Skyy Citrus Vodka, Midori, Malibu Coconut, 99 Bananas, sweet & sour and pineapple juice. Now that I've typed it out, I don't know why it's five in quotes, I thought there were five types of booze but it's only four and six total ingredients. I have no idea why I ordered, this is not something I would ever order, any where or even make in my home. I hate flavored vodka, don't care for Malibu (although that's just a brand preference, I do love coconut rum), Midori I can take or leave. I guess I was just really in the mood for a drink with banana liqueur. The drink wasn't terrible, but next time I'll try something else. I got to keep the glass, so that's cool I guess. It sat in our apartment until about four months ago and then we threw it out because we have way too much glassware (so it lasted six months and was never used again). As for that giant Bud? Alex loved it! Although she had a tough time picking up the glass since it weighed like twenty pounds:

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Since we were two of only about twenty people in the restaurant (DTD was fairly empty and it was barely noon when we went in) our food came rather quickly. Whenever we go somewhere with French Onion Soup Alex will order it 95% of the time, especially a place like this. So, first up was:

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Now, don't let the lightning in this fool you (since it looks pretty gross in the picture, I mean what's up with that cheese?) this was some pretty good French Onion Soup. The broth wasn't too light (which is gross) nor was it too dark (like burnt, pretty much). My favorite thing about Alex ordering French Onion Soup is that I don't have to, I always feel weird when we order the same thing, but the reason I don't need to is that she eats most of the cheese, a fair amount of broth and half the bread. I love onions, and the fact that she doesn't eat any of the onion is great because I have a nice onion soup to eat when she's had her fill of it. As for my appetizer? Well, I couldn't decide on one that I definitely wanted and Alex said she would try some of this or that I decided to go with the Supersaurus Sampler:

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I wish I had a better picture but this is the best we could do with the light. From top to bottom there was the Brachiosaurus Bruschetta, Onion rings and T-Rexadillas, and finally, Chili Con Queso Dip with tri-color chips. The menu says it serves four, but I think I had 3/4 of it on my own. Should we go back I wouldn't hesitate to order this again, especially as a meal... again. The T-Rexadilla was loaded up big time, I didn't expect such a thick quesadilla, it was delicious. And here's a tip for any one that might order this sampler, dip the onion rings and quesadila into the chili con queso. SO GOOD! Even the bruschetta I didn't expect to be as good as it was. Not only did I think it was good, but Alex actually tried it and liked it (most likely thanks to the balsamic vinegar that was on it), but holy cow. I could use one of those right now, well, not now, but sometime this week. Since we didn't want to stay too long at T-Rex we only went with appetizer (but, seriously, that sampler was like two meals). Once we decided we'd had enough we took some time to walk off all those eats when we ran across this:

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I really love WDW's fall decorations, I'm a big fall fan. During our walk I tried to talk Alex into a couple games of bowling since the last time we were down there Splitsville was under construction, well now it was open:

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But, we didn't go. We were going to grab a drink from the bar but there was no bartender back there so we couldn't tell what was going on. We did not end up bowling at all, I think if we hadn't eaten at T-Rex we might have so we could have gotten some food as well, but the bowling wasn't going to happen for us today. Once we'd hit House of Blues we decided to turn around and head back to do some shopping at Days of Christmas. We had been seeing some ornaments during our trip that we really wanted, but hadn't picked up so we figured what better place?

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We got three fun ornaments that I'm not full sure how to describe. One of them was shaped like Space Mountain, another was Haunted Mansion themed and the third was one that neither Alex or I can actually remember, but there was a sale that was three for the price of two. So that was nice. They're fun ornaments, if I can dig out our ornaments I'll throw up a picture of the three. This is where we ended our time at Downtown Disney, and where I end my writing for the evening. Come back tomorrow when we tour a couple resort areas and do something other stuff that we very much enjoyed. Thanks again for reading!
 
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SharonD

Well-Known Member
Whew - just read all of your report up to this point - I feel like I've been drinking and eating around the world, and having a great time! Really enjoying your report.
 

ArtieJim

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 - Part 3:

Since when we were last at WDW the Art of Animation was still under heavy construction (the parking lot wasn't even paved) so we decided since it was opened completely while we were there we decided to take a walk around the grounds and explore what we could. For those that don't know all the guest room parts are actually all enclosed, which is pretty awesome, as opposed to the other value resorts (and I think most of the moderates even, CBR for sure) are more of a motel style where the doors lead directly outside. I call that motel style, but I guess it's more of a tropical style, having stayed a lot in forested areas of Pennsylvania and upstate NY when I was growing up that's what all the motels were like, so what do I know. Any way, check this stuff out:

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What a cool lobby. We could have stood in here for hours and looked at all the art work along the walls. As for the outside? Well, this resort has plenty to look at:

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And that's just the start!
 

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