Trip Report "the Good, the Bad and the Sleepy"

Has it really been two weeks since we got back?! I debated about doing a trip report but like all of you I can't seem to stay away. This may end up being a short condensed report but then again maybe not since I'm so indecisive. No notes were taken and everything is kind of a blur, I'm just giving you warning ahead of time. Also a lot of my pictures were taken on my phone so some of the quality may not be the best. We purchased the Memory Maker and so glad we did. I never am able to get pic's of all of us on any vacations so this really helped and the ride photos were fantastic, the kids loved posing for them. Now on to the report!!

Here we are!!

We're:
Katie
Terrie
Jake
Emma
Zack

Katie brought a friend along who will show up in future pictures. We will call her Friend.

We left Indiana July 21st at 3:00am . This worked out perfect since Joe is usually up at this time for work. Due to construction and breaks we didn't arrive to Orlando until 9pm. We had 2 full days planned and stayed at Hilton Embassy Suites.

Large Connect Four anyone?

We also ate at Giordano's!! Thanks @lostpro9het and @imahistorygeek !

Had some elevator dancing

And some serious games of Ping Pong

Although we had a great time Disney was calling so off we headed to Beach Club for some Dinner . We were having The Kitchen Sink for dinner!! We only could get a reservation for 4 but had 6 in our party. When we checked in we let them know what we did and Joe and I offered to sit out if it was an inconvenience. With smiles and not fake ones they said "no problem but it may take longer". We waited about 20 minutes and were called to our table. As soon as Katie asked if they still make an announcement for the Kitchen Sink the lights went off and the waitress started her routine!! It was a great new experience for us and would recommend it!!

We headed to the Board Walk to see what was going on over there!

Because we didn't want to leave Disney Property yet we took a boat to HS to watch the Star Wars fireworks from outside the gates.

It was nice but none of us are Star Wars fan and I'm sure it was much better from inside the park. When the flames went off we felt the heat from where we were!

We decided to head back to Hilton. We weren't to sad, we knew we'd be back very very soon.

 

[lostpro9het]

Has
We also ate at Giordano's!! Thanks @lostpro9het and @imahistorygeek !
View attachment 155720

My stomach literally just growled! Looks so good.

Following along!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Today is the Day!! It's Sunday July 24th!! Will we see @Tuvalu or @MerMom1981 ?

We packed up and drove a whole 2 miles to our resort! We stayed at All Star Movies since we decided to get two rooms. This worked out great since we had two bathrooms and could shut the door in between the rooms if needed. I will say I really missed the beauty of Riverside. All future trips we will most likely have only 4 of us or less and from now on won't stay at a Value.

We drove to the resort and hoped on a MK bus and were at the park by 9am! We really utilized the fastpasses our first day. Ithink we used a total of 6 maybe 7 FP+ that first day. We rode BTMR, Splash, Pirates, HM, Small World, SDMT all with practically no wait.

Obligatory photo

We also watched Mickeys Philharmagic. I love this show and that's why we watched it but it was also a great escape from the heat!! As I mentioned in my live report it was hot! Actually overwhelming at times. I wanted to name this report the "I'm melting trip report" but Katie picked otherwise. (Sometimes you got to let them win)

For lunch we went to BOG. And yes even though it was 145 outside I got my beloved french onion soup!!

Now I love the ambiance of BOG but Jake was the only one who truly liked his lunch. He got the braised pork. (i think that's what it's called). I searched high and low for Tuvalu but as she told me before she was gone before our reservation.

 

[HurricaneHanna]

Following!

I've been to Beaches and Cream many times but I've never seen The Kitchen Sink in person. Your photo shows more detail than I've seen before. Is that cake in there?! Also- I was happy to see the little bowls on your table for each person. I thought everyone just ate directly out of the sink. This is precisely why we never order it. Yeah- I'm a germ phobe.

The pork dish at BOG at lunchtime is amazing!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Following!

I've been to Beaches and Cream many times but I've never seen The Kitchen Sink in person. Your photo shows more detail than I've seen before. Is that cake in there?! Also- I was happy to see the little bowls on your table for each person. I thought everyone just ate directly out of the sink. This is precisely why we never order it. Yeah- I'm a germ phobe.

The pork dish at BOG at lunchtime is amazing!

There is cake, angel food cake. Also brownie's, banana's, milky ways, strawberries just to name a few. There were a few things in there we didn't like but we would still do it again, as long as we have seperate bowls!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

We hit a few more rides.

By now it was around 2 or 3 I'm guessing. We hopped on a bus for ASM. I had previously gotten a text saying one room was ready so we all drug in our luggage to that room and within a few minutes the other room was ready. After returning home we found out @SarahBella82 was two floors below us!

After relaxing for awhile we continued with our plans for the day. That was going to AK. Today was the last day that Dinosaur would be operating so we wanted to make sure that we had a chance to ride it.

We arrived at AK and it was glorious. The park wasn't crowded at all. If i recall we ate at Yak and Yeti quick service then rode EE

 

[Zipadeelady]

We made our way to Dinosaur and hopped on, we only rode it once. I do wish we rode it at least once more that night. For some reason I can't get my photopass picture to load so i'm moving on.

After Dinosaur we rode Primeval Whirl. I'm in the minority but I love this horrible ride.

We gave EE another try and the kiddo's figured out where the photos are taken so eveyone was told to dab.

As you can tell Jake isn't as cool as the rest of us. He doesn't know how to dab.

I have to make a confession. After adding this photo i realized it was from a different night. Sorry not going to start over but I will tell you that we definitely did the KS this night and I wasn't to impressed. We waited in line and it was still so hot plus we were getting tired from such a long yet great day. We hit a shop or two on the way out and while the others shopped I watched some of the Tree of Life show.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I want to add that between EE and Dinosaur we ran into this performer. He was outstanding. I hope Disney continues to have these performers throughout their parks. I tried to add the video but can't get it to load so you'll just have to take my word.

 

[HurricaneHanna]

@Zipitidoda , is that a harpist? It's a little dark and I can't quite tell.
I agree with you, the in park performers definitely add something special.

 

[Zipadeelady]

@Zipitidoda , is that a harpist? It's a little dark and I can't quite tell.
I agree with you, the in park performers definitely add something special.

It is a harpist. He was amazing. I really wish I knew how to load a video.

 

[HurricaneHanna]

I've never loaded a video so I can't help
I do want to say- in your top post you apologized for the quality of your pictures. Not necessary. They look great (only the one was a little dark) and your trip report is so far an enjoyable read. I give you lots of credit for taking pictures at all. I never seem to get around to it. In fact, after my trip last month I was going to do a trip report but I had so few photos that I decided no one would want to read it.

 

[englanddg]

It is a harpist. He was amazing. I really wish I knew how to load a video.

To load a video to the site, first host it somewhere else (youtube, vimeo, dailymotion, etc). Then grab the link and paste it here. The forum software will likely figure out the rest on it's own (e.g., put the video tags in the right place for you).

 

[Zipadeelady]

@englanddg you are the best!! Thanks so much!

 

[englanddg]

@englanddg you are the best!! Thanks so much!

My pleasure.

 

[MerMom1981]

Has it really been two weeks since we got back?! I debated about doing a trip report but like all of you I can't seem to stay away. This may end up being a short condensed report but then again maybe not since I'm so indecisive. No notes were taken and everything is kind of a blur, I'm just giving you warning ahead of time. Also a lot of my pictures were taken on my phone so some of the quality may not be the best. We purchased the Memory Maker and so glad we did. I never am able to get pic's of all of us on any vacations so this really helped and the ride photos were fantastic, the kids loved posing for them. Now on to the report!!

Here we are!!
View attachment 155718

We're:
Cady
Teresa
Joe
Emily
Zane

Cady brought a friend along who will show up in future pictures. We will call her Friend.

We left Indiana July 21st at 3:00am . This worked out perfect since Joe is usually up at this time for work. Due to construction and breaks we didn't arrive to Orlando until 9pm. We had 2 full days planned and stayed at Hilton Embassy Suites.

Large Connect Four anyone?View attachment 155719

We also ate at Giordano's!! Thanks @lostpro9het and @imahistorygeek !
View attachment 155720

Had some elevator dancing
View attachment 155721

And some serious games of Ping PongView attachment 155722

Although we had a great time Disney was calling so off we headed to Beach Club for some Dinner . We were having The Kitchen Sink for dinner!! We only could get a reservation for 4 but had 6 in our party. When we checked in we let them know what we did and Joe and I offered to sit out if it was an inconvenience. With smiles and not fake ones they said "no problem but it may take longer". We waited about 20 minutes and were called to our table. As soon as Cady asked if they still make an announcement for the Kitchen Sink the lights went off and the waitress started her routine!! It was a great new experience for us and would recommend it!!
View attachment 155723
View attachment 155724

We headed to the Board Walk to see what was going on over there!
View attachment 155725
View attachment 155727

Because we didn't want to leave Disney Property yet we took a boat to HS to watch the Star Wars fireworks from outside the gates.
View attachment 155728

It was nice but none of us are Star Wars fan and I'm sure it was much better from inside the park. When the flames went off we felt the heat from where we were!

We decided to head back to Hilton. We weren't to sad, we knew we'd be back very very soon.

So glad to hear that you got a table at Beaches & Cream without too much trouble! That was not my experience ;-(
I agree that The Kitchen Sink is a fun experience for the family.
Following along! Hoping I see myself in an accidental cameo! ;-)

 

[Zipadeelady]

July 25th is Epcot!!
Friend decided she didn't want to get up so we left her to sleep the morning away.

Katie is always willing to pose with me!

We arrived at Epcot at opening and went right to Joy and Sadness! This was a goal of mine and I was so excited. We did have a bit of a wait already and Emma was not happy with me for making us miss a short wait time for Soarin. Our FP was a mess this day. I thought that Soarin would have a shorter wait time with three screens and TT has a single rider line so I got our tier 1 FP for Frozen a little later in the day. It messed us up a bit but live and learn.

We rush over to Soarin but it was already a 45 min wait but I loved the new video and felt it was worth it for my first time!! Even if Emma is still being grumpy.

We ride Living with the Land then the kids left us to ride Mission Space so we head to Nemo, we just can't handle Mission Space anymore. I blame it on getting older, actually I blame all my issues with getting older. Once were back together we go into the Living Seas. We haven't done this in years. We spent most of our time watching scuba divers and the turtles.

We head over to World Show Case for lunch and our Frozen FP. We wanted to try new things so stopped by Katsura Grill. I posted this pic on my live report but I'm going to post it again.

This was my lunch. Do you see how the beef looks like canned dog food? That's what it tasted like. Not a fan. Won't be back.

Everyone was getting grumpy due to the heat so we went to our FP and rode Frozen. Jake said he was not impressed. The girls and I thought it was nice. Not wasting future tier 1 FP's on it in the future. If I walk by and the wait isn't horrible i'll ride it again.

Back to the resort we go for a short swim and then were off to HS!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Were back on the bus for HS!! Bus service has been great so far! Jake decides to hang back with his Sam Adams rebel IPA for the night. Which in my opinion was a mistake this night ended up being a great night. I managed to get a few extra FP for this night and we rode TS, TOT, RR and ST. All twice except for ST.

They loved posing for the pictures and in this one they all wanted to look bored. I don't know how they did it with the take off on RR but they did a good job.

Zackwas ready to go back to the resort but I haven't seen Fantasmic for the last few trips and I told them all to go back if you want but Momma's staying. (I love that they're all older and i can do that, actually I threaten that many times)

I love this show...even the Pocahontas part.

After the show we headed to the bus and back to the resort for a late night swim. We only got about 15 minutes in before they closed the pool.

 

[deanna88]

can't wait to read more about your trip, I'm 10 days out and all the trip reports, keep making me more and more excited

 

[Zipadeelady]

can't wait to read more about your trip, I'm 10 days out and all the trip reports, keep making me more and more excited

Oh how lucky!! Have a great time. Ride Splash for me.