Trip Report The Emmy and Matt’s Birthdays and Audrey’s First Trip Trip Report…!!!!!

Who: myself (Steve), my wife of almost 35 years (Carolyn), our 3 grown children (Megan, Matthew -Matt turned 31 during our trip- and Sarah), our son-in-law (Daniel), and our 2 granddaughters (Emory, “Emmy”, turned 5 during the trip, and Audrey turned 2 in June)…!!!

When: Oct. 3rd to Oct. 8th, 2023.

Where: AKL, and our first deluxe resort stay. My dear DWifey found some crazy deal online and we stayed for about 65% off regular room rates…all the beautiful women in my life do this, they find deals…!!!!!

Anyway, this is us…!!!!!

 

[kimberlymautz]

Thanks so much…!!!
Cool, and a happy belated birthday to Liam…!!!
Between friends and family, we have a lot of October birthdays, including mine on the 20th…!
Anyway, thanks for following…!!!

Happy Birthday to you too then! Definitely a busy month - but how fun?! LOVE it!

 

[donaldtoo]

Happy Birthday to you too then! Definitely a busy month - but how fun?! LOVE it!

Thanks...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

So, a slight interlude to this TR here…!!!

I’m a designer for a small architectural firm (34 of us, including the 4 partners), and every year we have a Halloween costume contest, plus the firm provides breakfast…last year it was bagel breakfast sandwiches, and this year it was breakfast tacos.
Anyway, this year our marketing department (one person ) threw out the idea of dividing coworkers into 4 groups, and having them decorate the front spaces of our office…our lobby, our residential conference room, our commercial conference room, and our storage room, as another contest. Small trophies/statuettes were given out for the decorating contest, and cash prizes for the costume contest. The cash prizes were doubled this year…$100 for 3rd place, $200 for 2nd, and $300 for 1st…!!!
Also, all partner/client meetings were scheduled outside the office for the last 2 hours yesterday, and all day today…!!!!!

Breakfast tacos first…!!!!!

2 pics of our lobby, 1 of our residential conference room, and 1 of our commercial conference room, respectively (forgot to get a pic of the storage room ).
I work with a buncha’ sickos…!!!!!

Patti, who came as a Transformer that actually transformed, won the $300 first prize for the costume contest…!!!!!

And finally…
A little mingling, and the group that decorated the residential conference room did these CGI caricatures of each of us…check out my Mickey ears, as yes, the entire office knows of my fondness for Disney…!!!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Saturday, October 7th, and Matt’s 31st birthday, continued…

After Imagination and Guardians, we all headed for Frozen…!!!

My pics inside the attraction are pretty bad, but, my disappointment was short-lived, because of some tasty treats…School Bread and Eplekake, from Kringla…!!!!!

Up next…
Three Caballeros…!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Saturday, October 7th, and Matt’s 31st birthday, continued…

Even as El Rio del Tiempo, we have always loved this attraction, as it just has a good feel to it…!!!
It appears I also actually got some decent pics this time…!!!

On a side note…
How many here are old enough to remember when the Acapulco cliff divers were a pretty regular feature on “ABCs Wide World of Sports”…?!!!!!

Up next…
We head for Test Track…!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

On a side note…
How many here are old enough to remember when the Acapulco cliff divers were a pretty regular feature on “ABCs Wide World of Sports”…?!!!!!

I do!! (Loved that show -- used to watch it with my brothers on Saturdays -- enjoyed Jim McKay's sports commentary.)

 

[rshell68]

How many here are old enough to remember when the Acapulco cliff divers were a pretty regular feature on “ABCs Wide World of Sports”…?!!!!!

ME!!

 

[donaldtoo]

I do!! (Loved that show -- used to watch it with my brothers on Saturdays -- enjoyed Jim McKay's sports commentary.)

ME!!

I figured some would…!!!
Jim McKay…
“The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.”…!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Saturday, October 7th, and Matt’s 31st birthday, continued…

It was a little after noon when we started headin’ to Test Track, but, first we took a bit of a detour, as, earlier, we forgot to get a pic of Figment Popcorn Bucket with his statue…!!!

Just as we got to the inside part of the TT queue, Emmy found her new ride…!!!

Shortly after that, the line stopped moving. After about 7-8 minutes, the CM made the announcement that the ride was down, and they didn’t know how long it would be down…you know, the usual…!!!!!

We decided to head to Club Cool after that, as I wanted to load up on my beloved Beverly…!!!!!
No, really, I’m one of those weirdos that actually loves Beverly…!!!!!
We tried all the different flavors, but, when I tried to get Emmy to try Beverly, she giggled, and shook her head no…she was havin’ none of it.
Found out later that “Aunt Sassy” (Sarah) had preempted my Beverly strike by warning Emmy beforehand…darn, foiled again…!!!!!
Anyway, a pic of my beloved Beverly below…!!!!!

Then, with us all feelin’ a little hungry, we headed for Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey…where I had neither a brew (which is very unusual for me ) nor wings.
I had the crispy Brussels sprouts with Buffalo sauce, plant-based blue cheese, and plant-based ranch.
This all looked and smelled like heck, but, was actually very darn tasty…!!!!!

A little later, I found myself with Shirley Status in the restroom, and really admired the modern wash basins…!!!

Up next…
The Land pavilion…!!!

 

[fractal]

Happy belated birthday to Miracle Matt!

Yes, I do.

 

[donaldtoo]

Happy belated birthday to Miracle Matt!

Yes, I do.

Thanks, and I'll pass on the birthday wishes to Matt...!!!

Hahaaa...!!!!!
Gotta' love that classic intro to WWoS...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Saturday, October 7th, and Matt’s 31st birthday, continued…

So, after the ugly, stinky…yet tasty… Brussels sprouts place, we headed to The Land…!!!
This has always been a favorite pavilion, even before Soarin’ made its appearance…!!!!!

First thing we headed for was Living with the Land…!!!
Emmy and Audrey really enjoyed it, and I spied a Hidden Mickey that I had never even heard of or seen before…!!!

Of course, we did Soarin’ before we left, and Emmy had a blast…!!!!!!!
On the other hand, I wish I had pics of Carolyn’s facial expressions during the ride, as the glances I took her way were priceless…!!!!!
She hates flying, and she hates rides like this, but, she was a trooper for Emmy…!!!!!

Up next…
Sea creatures…!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Saturday, October 7th, and Matthew’s 31st birthday, continued…

After The Land, we were off to The Living Seas/Nemo.
I remember when this pavilion was just The Living Seas…loved those hydrolators…!!!!!

Anyway, we rode Nemo first, and then checked out the displays and aquarium.
Again, Emmy and Audrey enjoyed Nemo, and were also really fascinated with all the real sea creatures…so much fun watching them explore…!!!

Up next…
We finally make it on Test Track…!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Sometimes, real life gets in the way of trip reports…
We had a dog situation here over the weekend to the tune of, well, 19 Benjamin’s.
Fortunately, the dog (Ranger) will be fine, but, good grief…!!!!!

Saturday, October 7th, and Matt’s 31st birthday, continued…

We finally got to ride Test Track, and it was yet another attraction Emmy wanted to turn right around and ride again…!!!!!

Then, we headed for some time travel, as we really love Spaceship Earth…!!!!!
Not sure what happened to make my pics so cruddy on SE (especially since I got so many good ones on TLM and IaSW), so I only included 2.
Mine and Matt’s pics turned out fine for the ending sequence, but, we have no clue who the strange girl/woman is we’re playing hovercar checkers with…?!!!!!

Up next…
We head to World Showcase for a little food…….and a beer…!!!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

We finally got to ride Test Track, and it was yet another attraction Emmy wanted to turn right around and ride again…!!!!!

I was surprised to read this -- I would have assumed that TT might have been too intense for little Emmy. But, I guess she's a thrill ride fan!

 

[donaldtoo]

I was surprised to read this -- I would have assumed that TT might have been too intense for little Emmy. But, I guess she's a thrill ride fan!

Here ya’ go, Minnie…a little bit of follow up…!!!
I wanted to post these last night, and thought I had them, but, Megan did. I texted her late-ish last night, and she sent them this morning.
And yes, during our trip she went from Barnstormer, to BTMR (twice), and then TT…a little thrill ride junkie, and just look at the beautiful car she created…!!!!!!!!

 

[littleroo]

Could she be any cuter???? I definitely think girls are braver then boys at that age.

 

[fractal]

Here ya’ go, Minnie…a little bit of follow up…!!!
I wanted to post these last night, and thought I had them, but, Megan did. I texted her late-ish last night, and she sent them this morning.
And yes, during our trip she went from Barnstormer, to BTMR (twice), and then TT…a little thrill ride junkie, and just look at the beautiful car she created…!!!!!!!!

View attachment 753395View attachment 753396View attachment 753397View attachment 753398

Big smiles!

 

[donaldtoo]

Could she be any cuter???? I definitely think girls are braver then boys at that age.

Thanks so very much, and I’m definitely not gonna’ disagree on the cuteness factor…!!!

As far as the bravery thing goes, I think girls are, generally, more measured /smarter in their approach to bravery. Us boys did plenty of “brave” things back in the day…as least as far as we knew, anyway…!!!!!
For quick comparisons sake…
“Hey, I think I’ll ride this awesome thrill ride, that millions of others have ridden before, that has a perfect safety record, and it sounds like a buncha’ fun…!!!!!” vs. “Hey, let’s build a buncha’ carppy homemade wooden ramps, set ‘em up on the concrete sidewalk with trash cans in between ‘em, and see how many trash cans we can jump…!!! What could possibly go wrong…?!!!”
Maybe a bit of an oversimplification, but, I think you get my point…!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Big smiles!

Yep, smile-fest all around…!!!