Trip Report It bodes well for me if speed impresses you

In what possibly (and I stress "possibly"), may be the quickest return to WDW that even the exalted @Tuvalu may not have achieved, I will be returning to the parks!

My return from my most recent trip will be 28 days. I will await @Tuvalu 's response to know if she has returned quicker than that. My confidence is high that she most likely has. Could I have messaged her to find out? Sure. But where's the fun in that!

Was this trip planned. Nope. How did it come about?

My good friend who has many DVC contracts and rents out rooms called me about a reservation he had for Boardwalk, (water view) that he needed to rent and it was less than 30 days out so canceling would be a hassle. He offered me an extremely tempting price and I couldn't say no.

But first, I had to run it by the young, hot ball and chain, aka my wife!

Did she say yes? No. Did she say she would think about it? Yes!

Quick back story on my wife. She does not care for Orlando weather between May and October. Any of the other months she is game! I reminded her that this trip would be in her "good to go" window and that she should join me! The seeds of temptation were planted. I let them marrinate without any further discussion for 48 hours.

I currently have several dogs that would be good prospects for training at Disney as well.

Also, keep in mind we have a 10+ day trip booked for the Christmas Holliday. I wasnt sure if she would be cool with travelling down soon only to return within a month and a half.

Did I leave Disney park walk through videos playing on the TV when I left for work each day (before she woke up) in a subtle effort to narcissistically manipulate her emotions? Of course!!

Did it work??????

 

[riverside]

Next stop was Baseline to see an old friend. Its Mike!

We always enjoy seeing him!! We missed him a few weeks ago. We were at HS on a Saturday & he’s only there on weekdays.

 

[wdisney9000]

Monday ctd...

After Star Tours I headed back to the resort to freshen up and then off too..

Burboun Steak, the new bar at The Swan. This place used to be Shulas Steak House. My goal was to check the vibes and see how the new restaurant looks so ill know if it will be a spot we want to visit at Christmas. And aslo to watch the Dallas Cowboys for Monday night football!

I stated with their old fashion.

It was excellent and made properly.
I noticed immediately that not much has changed from the layout of Shulas. Aside from new art on the wall and the sign out front, I wouldnt have known they changed it.

I ordered a NY Sour for my next drink.

It was excellent, and again it was made properly. The egg white could have been a bit foamier but it was still great.

The bartenders and service here are top drawer. It was a good experience and I have a feeling we'll be back at Christmas.
We headed over to an old favorite of mine to finish watching the game, Crews Cup at Yacht Club. I used to visit here much more often pre covid when they had the cheeseburger. It was by far the best burger on property IMO. Sadly it never came back after covin.

But they dog have prime rib sliders and I wanted to give them a whirl, especially after trying the sliders from Martha's Vineyards (Beach Club) the night before

Edith found a comfy spot. The sliders are definitely different from MV. You only get 2 but they arw quite large for sliders. Amd it comes with kettle chips. This was a good meal and slightly beyyer than the sliders at MV. Bith are a good choice.

We headed back to the room for bed after we finished.

 

[wdisney9000]

I am, still, trying to wrap my head around what on earth that man was up to! He was lucky Edith is so well trained!! You handled the situation very impressively and I am disappointed the CMs didn't do anything. At the very least, notify security of the odd behavior!

I really think he was going for a law suit. Either that or he flat out was just a rude person who doesnt like dogs.

Ive encountered plenty of people out in public who simply dont like dogs and they'll tell me they dont appreciate a dog being in there. Its never gone past rude comments or someone walking extremely close to the dog which is why I think this guy was looking for a law suit/pay check.

And in defense of the CM, she didnt have much time to react by the time she noticed. Im sure she would have called security if i asked and in hindsight I perhaps should have. My brain was fried in the moment and I was just glad it was over.

The main thing going thru my mind during the guy ramming me was Edith. If she had decided to snap it would t have been pretty, but she is trained well enough to know not to, but you still never know. Me staying calm and chuckling at the guy was probly the best thing for her not to care.

 

[wdisney9000]

We always enjoy seeing him!! We missed him a few weeks ago. We were at HS on a Saturday & he’s only there on weekdays.

And he actually remembers people. The first few years I knew him I always wondered if he was just skilled at making people feel like he remembers them lol.

It was a few years ago, I asked him if he actually remembered us and it would be fine if he didnt since he sees so many people but he said "of course I do, yall are from Atlanta!

I think its easier now that I usually have a dog with me. Last night I stopped by and, George (whose been there for years) recognized me (granted I saw him a few weeks ago) and asked about the dogs. Hes a really nice guy too. It was him and Mike last night. Megan is the girl bartender that ive seen the last few years as well. Shes super sweet.

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday

Today was @Tuvalu favorite park! Animal Kingdom!

A quick note on behavior of fully grown adults at the bus stop at the Resorts. There were a lot of people waiting for the MK bus. When the AK bus pulled up, the 15 or so people trying to board had a rough time getting as everybody had crowded the loading area when the bus pulled up in the event it was a MK bus.

Did they move out of the way? Absolutely not. Then another bus pulled up behind the AK bus and it actually was a MK bus. Chaos ensued. Adults literally running and right into Edith and I. I just stood in front of her. There was an elderly couple next to me trying to get to the AK bus, but noooo, Yoga fueled soccer mom and On Cloud sneakers dad with double wide stroller dang near trampled them.

Whats crazy is, the bus hadn't pulled up all the way and opened the door. And its not like the bus is going to pull off right away. And it was empty! No excuse for adults to act like that. But I digress.

As we entered, the park there was a CM with a little terrarium (i think thats what its called). She had a camouflage spider in it. If you blow up the phot you can spot on the underside of the wood

Zootopia sign is up at the Teee of Life

And then...it was walls,

And more walls,

And finally

The ride was in better shape than I expected. A few effect and AAs not working but overall it wasnt bad.

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday ctd...

I fetched Edith from the kennel at Dinosaur

Over to Everest, after an 87 minute walk around the walls. Jk its not that bad.

The kennel at Everest is on the platform right next to the ride. I took a picture from where I was standing in line to board.

You can see Edith in the crate on the right side of the photo

And she could see me lol. If you look closely you can see that she "loafs" like a cat. She proble learned it growing up around our 75 cats

@Longers status for the ride. And the girl in front me was teasing the boy (who clearly had not ridden before). She kept saying "this might be the part where we go upside down"!! It was hilarious

I grabbed a Tigers Eye beer after we left amd headed to the Safari!

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday ctd...

Edith was ALL ears on the Safari!

Lots of activity from the animals and what would have been a very enjoyable ride was marred by 2 absolutely non stop screaming children. They were about 3 and 5 years old. And mind you, working wirh puppies and dogs has given me patience beyond the average person and I completely understand children are gonna be children, but this was different.

This wasnt a fussy baby that the parents couldn't help. The kids were screaming the animals names multiple times then screaming (not speaking) multiple times "I see the Elephant " or insert animal name. Im talking 10 times in a row and the mom just threw fuel on the fire by saying "yes, you can see it, what is it" instead of shushing them after the 5th time.

Then one of them just started screaming "my arm hurts" for several minutes. The driver and passengers were all clearly frustrated. We literally couldn't hear half of what the driver said. The kids were full volume the ENTIRE ride.

I did look back several times and could see other people just starring at the mom who clearly didnt care one bit. It was by far the most annoying time ive been on a ride at Disney.

We had a few minutes wait to unload and I asked the driver what the red nu.bers on the radio device are

She told me its a mile counter so they can time their speed better, but she said it also resets randomly (which its not supposed to) so they dont use it as often. I did see the number change twice and thats why I was curious.

She did tell me that when you see the signs on the Safari such as on the bridges or other ra dom spots, if they have a number, its a mile marker. Ive never noticed. She said the numbers are incorporated into names so they blend in. Now ill have to ride again an look!

After exiting, I needed a beer, or 3 lol.

 

[riverside]

And he actually remembers people. The first few years I knew him I always wondered if he was just skilled at making people feel like he remembers them lol.

I always felt like he truly does remember us. I figured it had to be our Baseline shirts that we always wear or the fact that we tend to hang out there for quite awhile!!

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday ctd...

We headed to Pandora hoping the tranquil vines would relieve our headaches from the Safari

Edith was not a fan of moving around a little for FoP

Saw this cool scooter license plate as we exited

I had to trek back to Dinosaur to get a shirt for C. She wanted something original from the attraction and I saw a shirt earlier bit didnt want to lug a bag around all morning. So.back we went!

I acquired the shirt!

And a beer at Restaurant Osaurus for the walk back

Edith enjoyed the cold rock as I drank my beer near the exit of the park

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday ctd..

Bus Edith

I decided to try the blueberry lemon cake.from Cake Bake when I got back to the room.

Ill say the cake was very good. But $25 good? No. Its a large slice and could easily feed 2 people for a dessert. But it wasnt anything mind blowing. It wasnt as spongy as I prefer.

Im gonna try another cake, something different and see it is. Overall its good because it feeds 2 people, but again, its nothing thats a game changer for the Disney dessert scene IMO

 

[luvinthemajik]

Tuesday ctd..

Bus Edith

View attachment 891577

I decided to try the blueberry lemon cake.from Cake Bake when I got back to the room.

View attachment 891578

Ill say the cake was very good. But $25 good? No. Its a large slice and could easily feed 2 people for a dessert. But it wasnt anything mind blowing. It wasnt as spongy as I prefer.

Im gonna try another cake, something different and see it is. Overall its good because it feeds 2 people, but again, its nothing thats a game changer for the Disney dessert scene IMO

It photographs well though, I drooled a little

 

[wdisney9000]

Tuesday ctd..

After a break we went to HS. I wore my new Disney shirt so the goal was to get some pictures!

First photo stop was Runaway Railway

Might as well ride since we're here, and because I made a LL. We were the last to leave the theater and the CM showed us a different kind of hidden mickey!

Its on the right side once you walk thru the exploded screen

Another photo stop afterwards

And one more stop on Sunset

And again, since we're in the neighborhood, might as well ride!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Love the shirt 9000.

 

[wdisney9000]

After the Studios I was sent on another recon mission for C.

We are trying to decide which Italian restaurant to eat at for our Christmas trip. We haven't been to Ill Mulino (the glue that holds @lostpro9het together) in years so she asked me to go check it out.

I had a seat at the bar area and within minutes, it was not looking good. It wasnt exactly looking bad, but I could sense something. #unagi

I noticed the waitresses wear black shorts and black pantyhose. One of them had a large, very noticeable rip running down the back of her leg. I understand things happen but perhaps they should have a plan for an occurence like that, such as extra pantyhose in the back?

My waitress was very nice and came over quickly. I ordered an old fashion. She asked if I was ordering food, I said yes, but not now. Appx 10 minutes later she came back and asked if i was ready to order yet. I said no. She said OK, would you like your drink for now? Uhhhh, yes! Lol.

Edith was asleep under the table

She brought my drink a few minutes later. I requested no smoke. It came with smoke and a cover to keep the smoke in.

Aside from the smoke error, it was not a good old fashion. I also requested light syrup. I think it had extra syrup. It tasted so sweet I could hardly taste the whiskey

I ordered the arrancinin to go. I saw a few plates come out and they didnt look tempting. I was messaging C and we decided to switch the plan. I would get arrancini from here and then stop at Tratoria amd get theirs and do a comparison . I got my order amd headed out.

Up next was Tratoria.

I was seated pretty quick. Ordered and old fashion to compare.

This was one was proper. And no smoke.

Their bread and oil was quite good

I ordered the arancini and decided to try a pizza as well.

Back at the room and let challenge begin!

Tratoria is on the left side of photo (with the melted cheese all over it) Ill Mulino on the right

Tratoria was the winner. Ill Mulinos was not bad. It was just plain Jane.

For the pizza

Delicious! I ate the whole thing. Edith had some crust.

Overall, Ill Mulino wasnt a bad experience aside from my drink. The vibe was just more "tring to be NY fancy"

I was discussing with C that perhaps Tratoria was the way to go for Itian dinner, the she messages me a screenshot for a reservation at...Topolinos Terrace lmao!

After all my recon, she went another direction.

 

[meggo819]

And again, since we're in the neighborhood, might as well ride!

What a happy photo bomber!

 

[wdisney9000]

Wednesday
I needed a very slow and chill day. We hadnt been running around like crazy but 4 days pf parks had taken a slight toll.

Edith is usually up and in my face if I so much as roll over in bed. But today, she laid ther like a slug. This picture was taken after I took her on a quilc walk to use the bathroom . She went right back to bed.

I took my time getting up and we had a slow morning. I decided on a plan for thr day and it required us getting over to the MK resorts.

We eventually mosied into Epcot around 1030. They recently released a gingerbread pin series.So I stopped by to pick up one in particular

The Figment gingerbread pin!

Stopped for some photos beifre heading out. Edith can be so photogenic when she wants to

And then she can also look like this

She cracks me up.

After photos we hopped on the monorail and and switch over at TTC to get to Polynesian

I was not on a specific mission, but more of a fun adventure. But first thing was first began i began

Of course, her ears were up for this photo.L o l

After that picture let the games begin! My goal was to have a whiskey drink at each of the monorail Resorts, which I figured would be a very fun way to take it slow for both of us

Had to start things off at wailulu, grill with my new favorite old fashioned

The banana old-fashioned!

The weather was absolutely amazing.And I could not have picked a better spot with a better view.

 

[luvinthemajik]

Wednesday
I needed a very slow and chill day. We hadnt been running around like crazy but 4 days pf parks had taken a slight toll.

Edith is usually up and in my face if I so much as roll over in bed. But today, she laid ther like a slug. This picture was taken after I took her on a quilc walk to use the bathroom . She went right back to bed.

View attachment 891758

I took my time getting up and we had a slow morning. I decided on a plan for thr day and it required us getting over to the MK resorts.

We eventually mosied into Epcot around 1030. They recently released a gingerbread pin series.So I stopped by to pick up one in particular

View attachment 891760

The Figment gingerbread pin!

Stopped for some photos beifre heading out. Edith can be so photogenic when she wants to

View attachment 891779
View attachment 891778

View attachment 891781

View attachment 891782

And then she can also look like this

View attachment 891759

She cracks me up.

After photos we hopped on the monorail and and switch over at TTC to get to Polynesian

I was not on a specific mission, but more of a fun adventure. But first thing was first began i began

View attachment 891761

Of course, her ears were up for this photo.L o l

After that picture let the games begin! My goal was to have a whiskey drink at each of the monorail Resorts, which I figured would be a very fun way to take it slow for both of us

Had to start things off at wailulu, grill with my new favorite old fashioned

View attachment 891762

View attachment 891763

The banana old-fashioned!

The weather was absolutely amazing.And I could not have picked a better spot with a better view.

Love EE's " ears up and body at attention" when she's ready to show herself off, she cracks me up as well

 

[NomadLounger]

Wednesday
I needed a very slow and chill day. We hadnt been running around like crazy but 4 days pf parks had taken a slight toll.

Edith is usually up and in my face if I so much as roll over in bed. But today, she laid ther like a slug. This picture was taken after I took her on a quilc walk to use the bathroom . She went right back to bed.

View attachment 891758

I took my time getting up and we had a slow morning. I decided on a plan for thr day and it required us getting over to the MK resorts.

We eventually mosied into Epcot around 1030. They recently released a gingerbread pin series.So I stopped by to pick up one in particular

View attachment 891760

The Figment gingerbread pin!

Stopped for some photos beifre heading out. Edith can be so photogenic when she wants to

View attachment 891779
View attachment 891778

View attachment 891781

View attachment 891782

And then she can also look like this

View attachment 891759

She cracks me up.

After photos we hopped on the monorail and and switch over at TTC to get to Polynesian

I was not on a specific mission, but more of a fun adventure. But first thing was first began i began

View attachment 891761

Of course, her ears were up for this photo.L o l

After that picture let the games begin! My goal was to have a whiskey drink at each of the monorail Resorts, which I figured would be a very fun way to take it slow for both of us

Had to start things off at wailulu, grill with my new favorite old fashioned

View attachment 891762

View attachment 891763

The banana old-fashioned!

The weather was absolutely amazing.And I could not have picked a better spot with a better view.

Wailulu Grill’s banana old fashioned is worth the trip every time! I love how Edith can pose when she wants to.

 

[wdisney9000]

Wednesday ctd...

Over to Disneys Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, or if you wanna make me puke in my mouth, " The Flo" .

Had to check out construction on the new lobby bar first. Its looking pretty good IMO. Also looking like its gonna be slammed 24/7

Considering how popular this resort is for the tourists, they should have made it bigger, but who knows.

I didnt consider that all the actual bars at GF dont open until 4 pm. Yikes! But I was in luck, the pool bar was open!

Edith found a comfy spot.

I ordered an old Forrester

Ive never been to GF pool bar but it was nice. Similar to Hurricane Hannah's at BC. Ill definitely be back.

Next it was off to the monorail. Edith is not a fan of the monorail doors closing. She stays very prepared until they close

 

[wdisney9000]

Wednesday ctd...

Our next stop was Steakhouse 71!

The bar was empty. Good for me as i didnt have to wait for service and the bartender seemed eager to have something to do.

She recommended this bad boy

This was the Cocoa Boulevardier and it was awesome. Im not a big fan of chocolate style drinks but she assured me it was similar to the banana old fashion at Wailulu in the sense that it doesnt kick you in the face with the flavor. She was correct. And I think the fact it was so slow allowed her to put a little extra passion into it lol.

And with that, my monorail whiskey crawl was complete. I called C to tell her what my day was and we will most likely do this in December. I didn't drink too much to be tipsy, but enough to be feeling good.

And it was back to the monorail to head to Epcot...