Trip Report The 3rd Wheel, 3rd Annual, 4th Time Disney Closed Trip

coachwnh · Oct 25, 2016

Enjoying the report. Loved the MSEP pictures!!! Those craft beer selections looked great.

samantha788 · Oct 27, 2016

sheriffwoody said:
Don't know how I missed you starting this! You will not feel bad about eating so much once you see my report...we were major pigs! haha. Also, that elderberry stuff from Farm Fresh that you mentioned, we got that too and I think it was my fav beverage! I wasn't even sure I'd like it, but it was so yummy.

Love your pictures of the Boardwalk. I'm jealous you did the slide...I wanted to, but my husband won't swim with me, and I was too nervous to go down it alone. Dumb!

Also, so glad they worked it out where you didn't have to move or pay more! That did sound weird when I was reading it. I feel like Disney goes way above and beyond for people in situations like that, especially at deluxes. I mean, my goodness, you're paying enough already!

The elderberry was really good! But Emily and JP weren't crazy about their so I finished it too...all that was pushing it haha.
You totally should have done the slide! Although, I would have done the exact same thing as you

It was really fun though!
I was so glad we didn't have to move and pay the difference. We really ended up getting the boardwalk for a steal haha, but after staying there it is more than worth the premium for the location, especially during food & wine. We found ourselves just stopping in because it was on the way

LeighM said:
Sometimes it sounds like you're writing parts of my trip bc they are so similar We didn't get letters at Riverside - maybe it's too big or something. I definitely can't complain about the food options at Riverside even though there were a lot of people that didn't know the lobby was open so they stayed in their room all day. I found it impossible to stay inside esp when I've seen worse storms. We would stay in our room for a couple of hours and watch Disney cartoons and movies then go back outside. I get really antsy when I'm stuck inside esp at WDW - it's just not natural

Haha we are exactly the same way!!
I was wondering how it was working at other resorts when the lobby is in a different building. We were told not to leave the building but we're lucky that the lobby and food options were basically inside. To get to Flying Fish you had to walk outside, but it was all under an overhang. If they didn't want us leaving the building, I couldn't imagine how they were handling places like Riverside.

LadyBelle said:
You should have vacationed here in NC.

Hahaha! I wasn't too upset about the hurricane not being very bad, meant getting things back to normal faster!

coachwnh said:
Enjoying the report. Loved the MSEP pictures!!! Those craft beer selections looked great.

Thank you!! I was so happy with the MSEP pictures

Craft beer...delicious!

samantha788 · Oct 27, 2016

We had heard that Disney Springs would be opening at 5:30 (I think?), so when we got out of the pool, we got ready to head there

We went down to the lobby just to check and they said it was opening but buses wouldn't be running for another hour or so. But Pluto was in the lobby so we said hi!

Then Goofy came back out! JP was over the characters by now and not understanding why we wanted more pictures

Why wouldn't we?! It's not like we had anything else to do anyway haha.
I love these :inlove:

Then Emily proceeded to have a photoshoot with Goofy

I think Emily exhausted Goofy of picture taking by this point hahah, she took her turn with him then we went back up to our room to hang out a little bit longer.

samantha788 · Oct 27, 2016

Buses were finally running so we were off to Disney Springs!

As expected, it was PACKED. Imagine all of Disney being stuck at their hotels for 24 hours, then one place opens their doors and EVERYONE runs there haha. Not everything was open either, but we wanted to get out and walk around. Emily had never been either so was looking forward to seeing it. My thought from the beginning was to walk all around then go to Splitsville for dinner.

Well, everywhere had at least a 3 hour wait. It was crazy, people were lining up outside any place that was open. Splitsville inside wait was 3 hours, but the outside area was seat yourself. People were intense trying to snatch tables. We found this one family and the women signaled to us that she would ensure we got her table when they were done. We told them to absolutely take their time, we were in no hurry and were very grateful that she would give the table to us. She said somebody did the same thing for them when they were waiting for a table, and we returned the favor for another family while we were eating. There was another woman we were watching circling around every table. Not saying anything or asking- just circling around

She then asked the family next to us for their table. They hadn't even gotten their food yet but said yes. The woman then stood over them. It was so uncomfortable to watch.
But we enjoyed Splitsville and being free from our room!

It was only appropriate for me to get a hurricane

It was really crowded still so after dinner, we just headed back to the hotel.

Next up...a jam packed, making up for lost time, last full day!

LeighM · Oct 28, 2016

We were lucky at Disney Springs. Because everyone was starting to line up outside of the open restaurants thinking the menu would be the same, we went to Morimoto street food window and they had most of their regular items available :happy:

And waited less than half an hour LOL. And had a table

Love those pictures of Goofy!!!

samantha788 · Oct 29, 2016

LeighM said:
We were lucky at Disney Springs. Because everyone was starting to line up outside of the open restaurants thinking the menu would be the same, we went to Morimoto street food window and they had most of their regular items available And waited less than half an hour LOL. And had a table

Love those pictures of Goofy!!!

Smart!!! I want to try Morimoto sometime, looks so good!

samantha788 · Oct 29, 2016

SATURDAY-OCTOBER 8th
Our plans for today were Animal Kingdom with our original FPs, EPCOT to finish up anything we wanted and missed from food and wine, 4:00 Hoop dee doo and Star Wars Fireworks at Hollywood Studios.

It was a BEAUTIFUL post-hurricane day! Blue skies & sunshine

We got ready and headed to the bus for animal kingdom, it was taking a really long time and the cast member working at the bus stop said everything was behind. We had been talking to her for a while then realized there was no way we'd make our fast pass window for Everest and she quickly whipped out her book and wrote us a FP to be used anywhere at Animal Kingdom. That was nice of her! She did the same thing for another family that came and was waiting too. I think they were really doing what they could to accommodate everyone.

While waiting for the bus, I get a call and recognize the 407-WDW number (I have problems). The women explained that bookings for hoop dee doo were accidentally opened for Saturday and Sunday but nobody should have been taking them, Fort Wilderness was still closed :cry:

Emily and I were confused because it was still in my app, I never got an email saying it was cancelled/closed, everywhere online (including our internal cast portal) indicated it was open, and just before going to the bus the resort concierge printed out our tickets and said it was on. We were again so disappointed, confused, and not totally convinced it was actually cancelled.

The bus to Animal Kingdom finally came and we were off.

Once we got there, we were in our FP window for It’s Tough to be a Bug. I don’t know why I made this, just to fill space I suppose. I thought JP would like it. I, on the other hand, HATE bugs and remember not liking it like 15 years ago but figured it was worth another shot. NOPE! Hahaha, I just don’t do good with it. JP got a good laugh out of Emily and I though.

[

Next – Expedition Everest!!

We stopped for a little snack after, sharing a mickey pretzel. I’ve never had one of these! They were good

samantha788 · Oct 29, 2016

Then we went to our final AK fastpass…the Safari! This was another must do request from Emily, which I totally support! Any chance to see a giraffe and I’m in! It definitely wasn’t the best safari we’d been on, not many animals were out but we did get a few good shots.

We said farewall to Animal Kingdom and were off to EPCOT.

On our way out, we figured we'd stop at guest relations and really get to the bottom of the hoop dee doo thing. Everything online still was showing it as open. At first, they came back and said they're getting conflicting information, they don't know if it's open or not. We were like okay but our reservation is in 4 hours - we NEED to know. They came back again and said despite it saying it was open every where and taking reservations, it is indeed not happening today :cry:

The back and forth was beyond frustrating the entire time. I know we got a phone call, and we were probably in denial, but it was just hard to believe when everywhere else said it would be open.
As Emily said, it's like they ripped your heart out, but it back when we got a new reservation, then ripped it out again...

Tiggerish · Oct 29, 2016

That stinks about Hoop Dee Doo.

Great pictures, especially the giraffe.

Tough to be a Bug was one-and-done for me, too.

Tuvalu · Oct 29, 2016

I always forget how much I hate It's Tough to be A Bug until it's too late.

Sorry about Hoop Dee.

LeighM · Oct 30, 2016

samantha788 said:
As Emily said, it's like they ripped your heart out, but it back when we got a new reservation, then ripped it out again...

That's how it felt for us with Ohana. We were at the Poly, dinner was in a couple of hours, and no one could tell us whether our reservation would be honored. After we left, we saw on social media that only reservations from guests of the Poly would be honored but no one called to tell us and we didn't receive an email. It's just a dinner reservation but still painful when you look forward to something for so long lol.

samantha788 · Oct 30, 2016

Tiggerish said:
That stinks about Hoop Dee Doo.

Great pictures, especially the giraffe.

Tough to be a Bug was one-and-done for me, too.

Thank you!! Love those giraffes!!

Tuvalu said:
I always forget how much I hate It's Tough to be A Bug until it's too late.

Sorry about Hoop Dee.

YES! I don't know what I was thinking, definitely not revisiting anytime soon haha

LeighM said:
That's how it felt for us with Ohana. We were at the Poly, dinner was in a couple of hours, and no one could tell us whether our reservation would be honored. After we left, we saw on social media that only reservations from guests of the Poly would be honored but no one called to tell us and we didn't receive an email. It's just a dinner reservation but still painful when you look forward to something for so long lol.

YES! Exactly. As I was writing, I was hoping I wasn't seeming too dramatic haha, but that is exactly it - it was something we were looking forward to and were really disappointed. The false hope just made it even harder.
That stinks that they didn't get in touch with you at all and were only taking Poly guests. It's not fair, especially if you were already there.

samantha788 · Oct 30, 2016

We sulked all the way to the bus stop, and we waited FOREVER for an EPCOT bus to come. Several MK busses had come and gone, we contemplated getting on one and taking the monorail, but decided we'd just wait it out.

Finally on the bus, planning our additional stops at food & wine

When we got to EPCOT, we stopped at Guest Relations again. And again, more waiting haha. I couldn’t make another fastpass for Test Track and that was one we lost Friday when the parks were closed. This was one thing, more than anything, we wanted JP to experience. Emily and I like it, but JP is a total car dude, we knew from start to finish he’d really like this. With no problems, guest relations was able to assign us a FP to use anywhere in EPCOT besides Frozen.

I was SO thirsty, we stopped at Club Cool on our way into the world showcase. We got JP good with the Beverly

When we got to the world showcase, we split again – JP and I went to Hawaii to grab a couple Kona Big Wave Golden Ales (one of my favs) and while there the Florida Orange Groves Sparkling Pineapple wine caught my eye so we got that to try too. This sounded like something made for me but I really didn’t care for it.

Emily went back to Farm Fresh for mac n cheese for all of us. She blended in with another group in matching neon shirts haha

After our snack, we went to Test Track! We let JP do the design and we just enjoyed. He loved it!

samantha788 · Oct 30, 2016

Back to the world showcase, we went to Germany. I was so thirsty I finished my beer before taking a picture haha.

Emily had the Schinkennudeln: Pasta Gratin with Ham and Cheese. This was really good & filling! Definitely one of the best values I thought across the festival.

We were pretty tired so decided we’d head back to get the one liquid nitrogen truffle thing and go hang out at the hotel.
On our way, we stopped for JP to use the restroom…Emily and I were sitting on a bench staring at the Desserts & Champagne booth when we remembered they have the hard root beer floats we wanted. They were really good!! And very messy haha

We finally made it to The Chocolate Studio for the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel. YUM!

We then walked backed to the resort and relaxed for a while.

After a bit, Emily and I were getting antsy and decided we wanted to go back to Hollywood Studios now instead of just going later for the fireworks. JP decided he’d come along too.

I was able to get a fastpass for star tours so that was our first stop.

samantha788 · Oct 30, 2016

Then we wanted to grab dinner and tried to go to ABC Commissary, except as we were walking up they were locking the doors. I didn’t realize they close earlier than other places. One of the cleaning people let us and another family in but an employee came and told us we cant stay and we have to go to the Backlot Express.
Not where we wanted but we didn’t really have a choice. We sat inside and the theming was cool, I don’t remember the last time I was there.

We picked up a beer and headed to grab a spot for the fireworks. We were back kind of far but still could see pretty good. I didn’t realize that this was unlike the previous star wars and frozen fireworks, where standing back would give a great wide perspective. With this show, it definitely would have been in our benefit to move closer…also could have explained why the street was so empty by us hahaa. Lesson learned for next time!

We all really enjoyed the fireworks

samantha788 · Oct 30, 2016

Afterwards, we knew we wanted to run to Toy Story Mania. There was some time between the end of the fireworks and Fantasmic so that’s where EVERYONE was heading. It was not easy to get to Toy Story Mania but we made it!
I was excited too because I’ve never gone through the standby line on this, we’ve always had fastpass, and because we got to go on the new track! We love this ride.

I think JP won? After, we hurried through the exit and were going to try to get back on but it was officially closing time. As we were walking out we noticed they were still letting people in to meet Woody & Buzz! We hadn’t ever done this M&G so ran right in. While waiting (there were only a few families in front of us), we saw they still were letting people into Toy Story Mania too even though the park should have been closed. That was cool of them

Buzz & Woody were so fun and fought over Emily & I haha. When we had our magicband scanned by the photopass person, they wanted theirs scanned too haha

Now the park was actually closed, so we headed out and wanted to go back to EPCOT. Fantasmic was going while we were walking, it was cool to hear during our walk! Emily & I were hoping we could get on Frozen and had been watching the waits all day, but it was crazy. We walked by and it was still 120 minutes a half hour before close. We decided we’d skip it and instead we went inside the Mexico Pavillon. They were both impressed and enjoyed our little boat ride.

When we got off, the Frozen wait was still over 100 minutes so we decided to run over to Soarin’ and get one more ride on that. This was a favorite for all of us.
The park was closed after so we headed back home to start packing up :cry:

Tuvalu · Oct 30, 2016

I tried the pineapple wine last year ~ like you, thinking it would be right up my alley.

It wasn't :depressed:

.

prfctlyximprct · Oct 30, 2016

I can't eat over how beautiful of a day it was after the hurricane! What a gorgeous blue sky!!! There really is a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday! And goofy cracked me up, I think you got him at every angle LOL

Ciara · Oct 31, 2016

I seriously love all your photos, they are amazing! Especially your pictures of the giraffes. They are so cute

I'm with you on tough to be a bug, I lean forward when they sting you! Haha

samantha788 · Oct 31, 2016

prfctlyximprct said:
I can't eat over how beautiful of a day it was after the hurricane! What a gorgeous blue sky!!! There really is a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday! And goofy cracked me up, I think you got him at every angle LOL

The next day was even prettier, made it that much harder to leave!! Goofy was so funny, I think he was over it by the time Emily stopped snapping pictures

Ciara said:
I seriously love all your photos, they are amazing! Especially your pictures of the giraffes. They are so cute I'm with you on tough to be a bug, I lean forward when they sting you! Haha

Thank you!! Haha yes on tough to be a bug!! I was sitting on the edge of the seat, feet off the ground, leaning forward haha

Trip Report The 3rd Wheel, 3rd Annual, 4th Time Disney Closed Trip

coachwnh

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samantha788

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samantha788

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samantha788

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LeighM

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samantha788

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Tiggerish

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LeighM

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