Trip Report 2 broke guys and the XMAS TTFN trip!

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]

I’m not sure exactly what time we arrived at Epcot (didn’t even take a parking lot pic!) but this picture (at the end of Test Track) was taken at 7:39pm.

How was the new version? I haven’t gone in so many years, I don’t trust what made the biggest impressions on me back then. I remembered the ride itself (in all previous iterations) being kind of boxy/warehouse-y/minimalist. I remembered the addition of “design your own car” the last time, which is now gone.

This version seemed waaaay more themed than what I remember, but I could be wrong (I don’t think so.) It felt like more of a complete thought, rather than just killing time until we go really fast for a few seconds. (I think it went faster, too.) Didn’t love the herky-jerky, but it was fine. Net positive.

The time on this pic was wrong, because I took it after our flight.

And then we were off to the main attraction of the evening.

Hitting our first stop towards the end of its window, and our second stop with no wait in-between, and our third stop with no wait in-between - and no long walks or rushing around - was magical.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We had done this ride on a recent trip, so it would be easy to compare this version, and see if all of (@Tuvalu ’s) hoopla was on point.

Hi, pup!

Blurry scarecrow. (Wicked!)

Ah, here we go.

OK. Kinda nice, but is that all it’s going to be? I’m trying to make a big splash here for the last moment of B’s Bday trip, and getting all Christmasy. I was mildly concerned.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And then we turned the corner.

Or, as they say at da club, “Now the after hours starts.” (Thump, thump, thump…)

Or, as Stefan would say, “This club has everything: Christmas lights, eggplant, giant reindeer-mouse heads on sticks with no eyes, fish, walking tours, and every kind of tomato ever grown.”

It was fun. A nice finish.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

My one fumble: I hesitated too long (by just a few minutes) and any remaining in-park ADRs were no longer available, nor any walk up lists. As many times as we’d done it, I was fairly certain we could have walked to Rose & Crown, for example, and been seated - but part of me didn’t want to ruin the neatness of what we had just done by then running and rushing to World Showcase on a maybe.

At this point, anything we could have booked was outside the park - and we could do that in a few weeks.

Parting shot of Epcot.

“I think I’ll miss you most of all.”

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Bringing it down a notch, we settled on stopping at the Publix at the entrance to our resort for a bite to eat in the room, and went to bed.

Once again, we demonstrate how you can have a great time, over and over, planning a handful of important things in advance, and the rest on the fly. There’s always something to do, and one visit to Epcot can be a completely different experience from the last.

For Christmas: had I known when I booked that B would have an extra couple of days off, I may have booked differently. As it is, I decided to slow down the drive up (in B’s truck this time) and stop for lunch on the 23rd with B’s brother #1 in West Palm Beach. Then we’ll visit/have dinner/breakfast with brothers #2 and #3 in Melbourne (where Brian grew up.)

We used some of the bonus IHG points from the timeshare presentation to book the Crowne Plaza on the beach in Melbourne that night.

That leaves us with a short drive to WDW on Christmas Eve morning. Hopefully, we get to check in early.

We will be heading up one week from today!

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Bringing it down a notch, we settled on stopping at the Publix at the entrance to our resort for a bite to eat in the room, and went to bed.

Once again, we demonstrate how you can have a great time, over and over, planning a handful of important things in advance, and the rest on the fly. There’s always something to do, and one visit to Epcot can be a completely different experience from the last.

For Christmas: had I known when I booked that B would have an extra couple of days off, I may have booked differently. As it is, I decided to slow down the drive up (in B’s truck this time) and stop for lunch on the 23rd with B’s brother #1 in West Palm Beach. Then we’ll visit/have dinner/breakfast with brothers #2 and #3 in Melbourne (where Brian grew up.)

We used some of the bonus IHG points from the timeshare presentation to book the Crowne Plaza on the beach in Melbourne that night.

That leaves us with a short drive to WDW on Christmas Eve morning. Hopefully, we get to check in early.

We will be heading up one week from today!

Hope you plans work out re Christmas Eve morning!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This is as good as our tree is getting this year. I just put some ornaments on while waiting for Brian to get in the car lol.

Stop #1 Melbourne Beach.

That’ll do!

The brothers:

The funny drink nobody ordered:

 

[93boomer]

This is as good as our tree is getting this year. I just put some ornaments on while waiting for Brian to get in the car lol.

View attachment 898782

Stop #1 Melbourne Beach.

View attachment 898783View attachment 898784View attachment 898785

That’ll do!

The brothers:

View attachment 898786

The funny drink nobody ordered:

View attachment 898787

Aww the tree is pretty!
That view!!

 

[RememberWhen]

I can’t believe you didn’t get that drink!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I can’t believe you didn’t get that drink!

Probably would have made things worse. Woke up 1:30am and got all kinds of sick for hours. Very dehydrated. Very much hurting right now.

I did not drink a lot. I’m convinced it was the ahi tuna tacos at 10pm.

Can barely move. Hoping meds kick in to get me through family breakfast before heading west.

 

[Swissmiss]

Probably would have made things worse. Woke up 1:30am and got all kinds of sick for hours. Very dehydrated. Very much hurting right now.

I did not drink a lot. I’m convinced it was the ahi tuna tacos at 10pm.

Can barely move. Hoping meds kick in to get me through family breakfast before heading west.

How awful! And yes, it does sound like the tuna tacos could be the culprit. Sending you healing vibes

 

[christine7257]

Probably would have made things worse. Woke up 1:30am and got all kinds of sick for hours. Very dehydrated. Very much hurting right now.

I did not drink a lot. I’m convinced it was the ahi tuna tacos at 10pm.

Can barely move. Hoping meds kick in to get me through family breakfast before heading west.

Oh no! Hoping you're feeling better quickly and can enjoy.

 

[93boomer]

Probably would have made things worse. Woke up 1:30am and got all kinds of sick for hours. Very dehydrated. Very much hurting right now.

I did not drink a lot. I’m convinced it was the ahi tuna tacos at 10pm.

Can barely move. Hoping meds kick in to get me through family breakfast before heading west.

Oh honey!!

Feel better!!! Yeah anytime it’s like that, it’s probably the fish.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Well, after a few minutes of family breakfast, I sheepishly apologized, excused myself, and went to sit in the car.

I did drive us to WDW in about an hour and 15 minutes. We received our “room not ready” text, but I politely explained my predicament to the CM, and let it be known I would not be picky about which room. She found something for me. (In the meantime, another CM came over and gave me a free iced gingerbread cookie. I pointed out to Brian: I wasn’t even wearing a birthday pin.

There will be a lot of horsey pics on this trip. (Hi, Dad!)

We are getting spoiled with all these nice rooms!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And yes, Kylie’s Mickey is there (not pictured.)

And yes, we’ve been having more serious discussions about adopting again. Soon.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We did not have much time to spare before our first ADR at 2:10pm. I drank some water to test my stomach.

Not super confident about that, we took an Uber to the GF.

It feels so Christmas-y there.

Brian ordered the drink I like that comes with ginger - they are still out of honeycomb! - and he drank most of it. I wanted to see if a few sips would help. I ate the ginger. (They do not serve ginger ale.)

I ordered this:

A hydrating fruit plate. Still to be on the safe side, I only ate a few bites, and I’m taking the rest to the room as I type.

 

[93boomer]

We did not have much time to spare before our first ADR at 2:10pm. I drank some water to test my stomach.

Not super confident about that, we took an Uber to the GF.

View attachment 898952

It feels so Christmas-y there.

Brian ordered the drink I like that comes with ginger - they are still out of honeycomb! - and he drank most of it. I wanted to see if a few sips would help. I ate the ginger. (They do not serve ginger ale.)

I ordered this:

View attachment 898953

A hydrating fruit plate. Still to be on the safe side, I only ate a few bites, and I’m taking the rest to the room as I type.

Hope that helps. Just eat light and no spicy foods today.

 

[erstwo]

So sorry about the sickness! Wishing you health! Thanks as always for sharing!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

While dining, I booked something I’ve never booked before at WDW.

It’s a mobile service, she’s on her way to our room right now. Much more expensive than what I usually do at home, but there were few options, and I am trying to salvage the evening. Let’s see if this helps. I’ve never used it for this kind of thing before.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

While we waited, our much smaller tree went up in the room. 3 feet this year versus 7 feet last year.

Most of these ornaments are from this year or last year. I like when stuff means stuff. Also, this tree can’t handle super heavy stuff lol.