Trip Report COMPLETED: The “Let’s see if this dumb thing works” Treat Yo Self Christmas trip report!

All the PTR funtivities can be had here, including who we are,:
The Treat Yo Self Christmas pre-trip report

Friday the 18th 11ish o’clock
The DW and I decide to ditch work a little early and check the DD out of school early today to make sure we have plenty of time for our Star Wars showing in McDonough at 3:40. So we check the DD out and make our way for some to-go lunch. A relatively short pit at Zaxsby’s and we’re finally on the road and soon cruising down GA400 towards McDonough. Our last few trips through the ATL on the way to The Bubble have been nightmares which is why we left a little early today. Well, surprisingly, today was the exception! We cruised right through town and my worries of being late for the movie became concerns of “what are we going to do when we arrive two hours early?!” Thankfully, I guess, Henry county helped me out by having the worst traffic of the trip…FOR NO REASON AT ALL! Anyway, The delays we faced there offset the great time we made but we still had an hour to kill. This worked to our advantage as the DW forgot her sunglasses at home and we needed a few toiletries for the trip so we popped into Super Target for a bit, made our purchases and enjoyed a SB coffee before making our way to the theater.
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Finally, it was time!
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We happened to be in a theater full of some fanatics so there was much cheering and applause throughout the movie. I personally really enjoyed it despite the many similarities it had to New Hope. The movie even brought the DW and DD to tears! I won’t spoil it for anyone as to why. So with The Force Awakens under our belt we made for Tifton, about another two hours. Henry County did its best to squeeze the last bit of traffic tolerance out of us as we left town. Soon we were in Tifton checking in to the Hilton Garden Inn, great place BTW! I was immediately sent on a dinner run to try out Marcos Pizza for some subs. What was supposed to be a 10 minute drive turned into a hobbits tail of which I thought I may never return. Long story short about an hour later I’m back at the hotel with dinner for the ladies tired and ready to eat. After some discussion as to when the ladies want to arrive at the Bubble, as that will dictate when we should leave, we hit the hay with visions of Siths and BB-8s dancing through our heads…ok, my head.

Saturday the 19th 05:30
Up and at’em! Time to get our Disney on!!! We make quick work of getting to the car, hitting Starbucks again for breakfast and make for The Mouse House! A few hours later and we’re crossing the state line most uneventfully and before you know it where on the turnpike! Have I mentioned how much I love the SunPass? Seriously, if you go at least once a year it is worth not having to stop and deal with your coin tossing skills. Soon we had arrived!!
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The enjoyment was short lived, though, as it was realized the DW only packed one pair of jeans for the trip and she was worried she would need more since the temp outside was high 50’s. We look probably the longest route EVER to Walmart to pick up some emergency jeans for the trip. It was not so refreshing to see that the Walmarts of Orlando are much like the Walmarts of Dahlonega….Anyway, after that detour we were back in The Bubble ready to get our BCV on!
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It was here where we met Guard Shack Joe from New York! As we approach I’m ready with my MB and ID for him to scan and review. Joe blesses us with what might be the quote of the trip, and on the first day too!

[ThickNewYawkAccent]
Oh, you’ve got your band ready. Stupidest idea Disney ever had. Let’s see if this dumb thing works…
[/ThickNewYawkAccent]

I think Joe is awesome BTW. Wouldn’t ya know that stupid little thing did work! The light went green and we were on our way to self-parking! We grabbed our overnight bags and made for bell services as our room was not quite ready yet.
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Cape May had not yet ruined the smell of the lobby as it was still early. The beautiful gingerbread display helped too!
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So with our bags checked we were off to Epcot by foot to test out the waters for lunch!
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Unfortunately, well and fortunately, for us the cold front was on its last day here in Orlando so we would not be enjoying Stormalong Bay today. I was a little bummed out for the DD as I wanted her to try it out but there will be future trips. So with our bags checked we made for the international gateway at a leisurely pace. It was pretty cool out and the crowds, at least at EC, were lite. We talked back and forth about lunch spots and we were leaning toward Chefs de France but they didn’t open for a another 20 minutes so we kept on our way and figured we would back track for lunch.
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As we approached Frozen…I mean Norway the wonder fragrance of Laila was inviting when we saw this:
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DW and I got excited as we met Geir here a few years back and the DW has been wearing Laila since 1999. We rushed into the shop as it had just struck noon. We quickly made our way to the back of the shop and then again to the front but no Geir!?!? I approached a CM at the counter and she acted as though she had no knowledge he was supposed to be there, despite the fact there were headshots of Geir on the counters for him to sign. She said if he were to be there he would be there but she thought his last day was the previous day. I told her the sign was still out front promoting his appearance. Well we decided to go visit the Three Caballeros to give Gier time to show up. Sadly when we returned the sign was gone :(. Oh well, wasn’t meant to be but it’s time for lunch!

On our way back we were still debating the menu of CdF when we passed Nine Dragons. I remembered @fractal posting about his great experience here a while back and bounced the idea off the ladies. The DW had heard some seriously mixed reviews, as I had in the past, but we were hungry, never experienced Nine Dragons, and it was on TiW so why not? We walked right in and were seated in less than five minutes
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The DW went with Steamed Pork Buns with Spicy Sauce
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The DD went with Pepper Shrimp with Spinach Noodle
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I went with the BBQ Pork with Egg Fried Rice.
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To our pleasure everything was great! The food and atmosphere was very nice. Service was slightly slow considering the restaurant was far from busy but that did not detract from the great food. With bellies full we made our way to future world to see what was up with the Innovations.
 

myhappyplace

Crazy Cat Lady
Premium Member
Yay, enjoying your trip report so far!!

Totally agree about the SunPass, so glad we do that...just makes it all so simple! I leave a little bit of money on it all the time, so sometimes on on our trios, I hardly have to add any at alk!

Know what you mean about the Cape May smell....and I'm not a seafood person :/ DH really wanted to stay at Beach Club for our next trip, but figured we would save it for a fall trip, so that we could utilize the pool. We do love that leisurely walk through the IG for sure, though.

Looking forward to more!
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Interesting that DW & DD's dishes had red onion - I don't think I've ever seen it used in any Chinese restaurants in my lifetime. o_O

I was glad we ate here. I had read a lot of reviews, ranging from mediocre to just plain bad. I was really surprised by the taste of our meal. Honestly, I didn't think any of our food tasted like one would expect from the traditional American Chinese restaurant. I was expecting heavy sauces and tons of water chestnuts.

The food was really good and I'd definitely eat there again. It exceeded my expectations.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So we made our way to SE for a quick journey through time before heading into Innovations East. SOT had a sizeable wait so we decided to try something new, to us.
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This was a fun little experience about making healthy choices. The interactive games were entertaining and obviously had a good message. We were genuinely more interested in the Colortopia experience but it was down the entire day. We would be back for this experience later in the week though and I’ll cover it then.

About the time we exited Innovations the DW & DD decided they wanted a snack so it was snack time. DW went with the Buffalo Bleu popcorn:
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It was not my cup of tea but I’m pretty sure she liked it. I just remember red fingers and lots of flavor.
The DD went with a cone from Port of Entry, it didn’t last long…
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It was right at this time that we got the text. Our room was ready!! As I’ve mentioned before in the PTR, this would be our first experience in a 2bdrm villa so we were pretty excited to experience it. We made for a hasty walk through Canada and England stopping only long enough to snap this pic before hitting the exit.
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Soon we were turning down the secluded path between BC and EC towards the BC DVC building and then to our room
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We decided to rest for a bit before heading out to HS for the night. I really believe that Jacuzzi tub in the master bath makes a 1-2bdrm stay worth it! The room, while clean, was in need of some attention. But nothing that detracted from our stay. We were very happy with the location and space we had.
 

RyPat

Well-Known Member
Soon we were turning down the secluded path between BC and EC towards the BC DVC building and then to our room
I really believe that Jacuzzi tub in the master bath makes a 1-2bdrm stay worth it! The room, while clean, was in need of some attention. But nothing that detracted from our stay. We were very happy with the location and space we had.

Staying in a 2 BDRM Beach Club Villa in April... thanks for the preview!
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Not sure if it's the lighting, but it's not the cheeriest color scheme. :oops:

That sometimes happens with pictures. But when you actually see a guest room in person, often your impression will change for the better.

I actually like the photos he shared; I could get a decent perspective on the design and layout. (I've never stayed at that property, so it was pleasant to catch a peek!) And lastly, I like to see a different style like that when I'm on vacation--something the opposite of what I have at home. Makes me feel like I'm really getting away for a nice break in the routine. The modern, sleek design lines of his villa appealed to me, in that sense. (My style at home is more cozy, like Little House on the Prairie. :) )
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
I like to see a different style like that when I'm on vacation--something the opposite of what I have at home. Makes me feel like I'm really getting away for a nice break in the routine. The modern, sleek design lines of his villa appealed to me, in that sense. (My style at home is more cozy, like Little House on the Prairie. :) )

My daughter loved BCV theming. She said she wanted me to decorate our house just like it. Yeah, no. :)
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after a nice rest we decided to go check out HS for the evening. We had no ADRs for the night and felt like winging it would be fine. We arrived at the boat dock to see about 20 other waiting. After about 10 minutes a boat arrived and it was PACKED! Only about 5 folks got off and 5 were able to get back on. The captain said it would be another 20 minutes for another boat so we figured we would walk. We made the walk from dock to HS bag check in 18 minutes! The only issue this evening was that it was a bit chilly, last cool night of the trip actually.
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Soon we were inside and really had no plan of what we wanted to do. We made our way towards ST and decided to brave the 40 minute wait, not bad really. We were quickly introduced to the scenes added for the new movie and were racing around Jakku following the Millennium Flacon getting information from Finn and BB-8. We then jumped to Coruscant. This pairing would be the new normal for us this trip as we rode ST three more times and every time it was Jakku then Coruscant, not so random anymore I guess. Being in a SW mood we made our way over to :
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I won’t bore you again with tons of pictures here again as the product is pretty much the same as it was in my last TR. I will just go ahead and put this right here for obvious reasons…
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After Watto’s we made our way to Osborne’s for the opening display of the evening, we didn’t stay long as we had plans to come back for a more in-depth viewing later.
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After a brief Osborne’s display we were ready to use our fast passes for TSMM. They are still called fast passes right? Here is the “Fast Pass” queue just to make it to the first spot to scan you band! It took us about 10 minutes to get there alone!
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It was about another 10 minutes until we got our glasses and a few more until we were scoring points, I was top scorer again :).

After TSMM we decided to hunt down some chow. HS is probably our least favorite place to eat but we were here and we weren’t ready to leave yet so we made due. Having an amazing experience last time at Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge, we made for that refuge once more.
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The DW and I went with the Derby Sliders and Crispy bites again but also tried the cobb salad, all very good again. I apologize but we were so hungry I neglected to snap a pic of dinner. I did, however, nab one of our favorite brews to wash it down with :hungry:.
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The DD did not care for the menu there so I told her I would go forage for better options for her while we waited for our food. I found out that Dockside Diner had a holiday menu running, so I texted a pic and the DD approved of the fried chicken. The DD made real quick work of it so it could not have been that bad.
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HBDL is a fun spot to sit back and enjoy some great food and drink while enjoying some great people watching. We relaxed and enjoyed the music being mixed on the stage while folks were coming and going.

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After dinner we dropped in to ToT for a bit.
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It was feeling late, but really wasn’t, and we were ready to head back and relax for the night. We opted for the walk again as the boat queue was crazy long.

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When we returned I noticed something on the gingerbread carousel that I hadn’t noticed before. A Donald Santa sitting on the top!
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We took advantage of the Jacuzzi tub again as well as a bottle of red before heading to bed
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I can’t speak enough about how awesome it was the DD having her own living area and us having ours. I think we may be at least 1-bdrm folks from here on out. Tomorrow is check out of BCV and check into SSR.
 

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