Trip Report 2 broke guys and the 40% off trip (deluxe!)

Yes, yes, I know we just got back. We went in the middle of December, then again for Christmas, then again in the middle of January, and now - our third month in a row…

When: Feb 2-4
Where: All-Star Music, and All-Star Music (you’ll see.)
Who:

Tony

And Brian

Wait, wait - that’s not right. Pretty close, but not right. Let’s try again.

Tony

And Brian

OK but those were reject “blooper” pics from our last TR. Here’s one where we’re overdressed:

That’ll do.

And…Mickey.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Uncharacteristically, the Nomad folks did not want us hanging around. (In our experience, servers have always gone out of their way to say, “Take your time.” ) Maybe because this was a bar. They were still friendly, just signaling it was closing time.

But it turned out to be just the right amount of stalling. We exited Animal Kingdom dry, our ponchos living to see another…30 minutes? We’ll see. The sky is dark.

Rather than take the bus to Epcot, we’re taking it to Beach Club, so we’ll have a shorter walk to World Showcase. Hoping we miss the rain!! But there are more places in Epcot to dip in and hide.

The wrinkles: our Test Track time has gone from 6:45 (see how perfect that would have been after Tiffins?) to 8:59. The park closes at 9, but we have Deluxe after hours until 11. I’m thinking they’re going to kill it by 9 (or not allow new riders after 9.) We have an 8:45 ADR at Ale & Compass because dinner at 4:10pm would not last me until morning!

We are rolling the dice.

 

[RememberWhen]

Happy paper anniversary! Love the room upgrade! That view is awesome. So glad she was able to work some magic for you.

Also I had zero interest in geo 82 until your pictures. It looks awesome. Thanks a lot…!

 

[93boomer]

We unpacked, rested for about 10 minutes, and had to get ready for 40% off dinner #1 at Tiffins - not a quick trek, and we had a little rain shower.

View attachment 870741

Getting better, right? Pics maybe a month apart. Less flabby. Worth eating lotsa salads.
Before…and after.
View attachment 870746

 

[Tony the Tigger]

D’oh!

NBD.

I think B was a little relieved.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Also I had zero interest in geo 82 until your pictures. It looks awesome. Thanks a lot…!

It is pricey, but at least go once!

If I can get a res, I think it’s a bday stop.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We stayed dry on our way to Epcot’s back door.

Of course, everything at the front of the park was now a walk on. Everything in World Showcase was an hour wait. (If we’d only taken the bus to Epcot!)

What to do?

Old faithful.

The only walk-on in WS.

Had to crop the heck outta my neck in this pic.

By the time we were done, we had to catch a friendship boat back to Yacht Club.

When you exit the boat, you have to walk through this mini-lighthouse replica to go anywhere.

As I walked through, I turned sideways and put my arms up with bent elbows like when you go through the security screener at the airport. Brian was cracking up (in my mind.)

It’s all an adventure!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Quick summary: when I rearranged things at 3am, I forgot Ale & Compass was only 40% off for breakfast & lunch. So we rushed over there from Epcot when we could have stayed at Epcot & made things easier. I remember a lot of things. I also forget a lot of things.

Ale & Compass dinner was better than expected.

Checked the tip board at 9:30, and there were still enormous waits for the good rides at Epcot.

So…

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Here we are!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And I fell asleep while curating all the fireworks pics I took!

My phone camera was picking up a lot of smoke, it looked better in person.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Fun from the balcony, and no rush to exit the park afterward!

B was asleep by the time this started.

…and I was, just after it ended.

 

[littleroo]

Certainly not a terrible way to fall asleep!! Love it!! Have a great day!!

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Love your fireworks view (and jealous). I was in the crowd trying to exit Magic Kingdom, it was crazy.

And good taste on the Chakalaka, I had it on Sunday at Tiffins, it was really good. One of my favourite restaurants, definitely the best inside a park.

 

[pkkurz]

Awesome pictures. Enjoy

 

[93boomer]

@Tony the Tigger hope you are having fun with all that rain. Make it stop

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Love your fireworks view (and jealous). I was in the crowd trying to exit Magic Kingdom, it was crazy.

And good taste on the Chakalaka, I had it on Sunday at Tiffins, it was really good. One of my favourite restaurants, definitely the best inside a park.

It became my favorite red from the first time I tried it - which I believe was at Tiffins. They also have it at Jiko and Skipper Canteen!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Credit where credit is due!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This morning did not look very promising (!)

When I first woke up at 4am, the channel that had been showing Jaws 2 when I fell asleep was on an infomercial (I think.) I put on local news, and they were saying this was the worst rain day of the week. A tropical system was crossing Central Florida from East to West, and might strengthen in the Gulf on the way to NOLA (where we’re going in 2 weeks.)

They made it sound like a poncho wouldn’t help. Squall-like bands of very heavy rain (and we live in South Florida; we know what that means.)

My weather app showed high chance of rain from 10am until 7pm.

I looked out our sliding glass doors.

Oh, boy.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I thought maybe we could get to our 11:50 Whispering Canyon ADR partly dry, and take it from there.

Before we left the room:

Better? It wasn’t raining yet.

Also before we left the room:

In short, the water in the room would be turned off overnight. Probably NBD.

I always tell tourists to ignore the weather predictions and just do their thing. Florida is mostly “anything goes.” I did not take my own advice. I watched the app.

We had our ponchos in our pockets, and Brian brought an umbrella, prepared for the worst. Maybe we’d end up going to the movies to see Superman?

I had read there was a boat from here to Wilderness Lodge. I also had never stayed here before. We went down the elevator and out the back where the pool is, looking for said boat. All we found was this:

Why would it start at 3pm? Were we even in the right place? I still don’t know, but we didn’t have time to figure it out. The sky could open up with heavy rain at any moment. I called a Lyft.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This place was packed like everyone was getting 40% off - and trying to get stuff done before the downpours!

When we’ve dined here before, our servers could usually tell we were not so on board with the schtick. Our server today was great, but kept asking us if we wanted ketchup or hot sauce.

Nice try!

I ordered a pulled pork sandwich (duh!) with sweet potato fries so I wouldn’t need ketchup! B had an omelette. A skillet seemed like too much.

While the pork was very good quality and flavor, and not at all fatty, it was dry as a bone. There was no sauce at all. I didn’t know the rules, and if there would be a hoopla if I asked for BBQ sauce, so I had to occasionally force it down with a drink. I think it’s the first pulled pork sandwich ever that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Again, it tasted good, just really dry.

Our server started to get the point that we wanted to get out of there (the weather was coming! How much longer could it possibly hold out?) She was lovely, and brought us an anniversary cupcake.

Will all this anniversary stuff hurt our “real” anniversary in September?

Probably doesn’t matter - hoping for a Key Largo visit!

Being in a hurry, we chose to Uber to Hollywood Studios. If we could get to Tune-In Lounge (Julie!) before the skies opened up, we were golden!