Trip Report Triskaidekaphobic Trip Report (live)

Hello All! Well, here it is our 13th trip report. I really have no actual fear of the number 13. In fact, I'm pretty certain that my 13th actual trip to the World was the first with my now 13 year old daughter, so 13 is sounding pretty good. And, we're hoping that this trip is pretty good as well.

For those who have not travelled along with us the past 12 times, we are a crew of 3 who all have a fairly unhealthy Disney obsession. Here we are on one of our few non-Disney related vacations:

My wife and I are both high school teachers (she teaches English and drama and I teach instrumental music), who happen to be at rival high schools in the same district and our daughter will be starting high school at another rival in the same district this fall. If you look through some of our past trip reports, you will find we have had quite a few amazing experiences at WDW and certainly more than a couple less than amazing experiences as well. This is also the first time in over a decade that we have been away from the World for over 12 months. It's been quite a long 16 months!

Once we get to Florida, I will try to put up a daily blog post with details of the day and some pictures. But that is still a week away. Up next...the Pre-Trip portion of the report which means (of course) far too much planning.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Fireworks time sure does bring out the worst in some people. We've just got back from a DLP trip and I appreciate its a smaller park but it was pretty much a free for all to view the show and everyone seemed in good spirits.
We've never done Epcot on 4th July so looking forward to your report. Happy 4th July:)

Hey! If you want some of our Epcot 4th of July history, here it is. Looking forward to this afternoon and this evening. It'll be a bit odd for me, not having the big camera and tripod, but hopefully that means I'll just relax and enjoy the show even more.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/12-days-of-live-trip-reporting.886042/page-3

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/live-trip-reporting-june-27-to-july-8-2015.901210/page-5

We'll be back this afternoon or evening or maybe even not until tomorrow morning!
 

wvdisneyfamily

Well-Known Member
Happy Fourth of July to all! It's a little before 8am and I'm letting the girls sleep in a bit. Today we move over to Old Key West before hitting Epcot for the 4th fireworks.

But first, last night! So, when I left you we had just sat down at a little after 7pm for the fireworks in the VIP section thanks to CM Kat. I don't want to get too far into personal feeling about the universe and the people in it, but suffice to say...sitting in that spot for a couple hours you realize very clearly that there are just a few types of people in the world - nice ones and total jerks. We felt pretty bad for CM Rudy (who is a former teacher and school administrator, so we knew exactly where he was coming from) who had the job of keeping the pathway around our side of the hub cleared. It's taped off. It's pretty clear. There are hundreds of CMs standing around waving light batons to remind you to keep moving, but poor Rudy had the job of actually clearing the people who wouldn't move. Not a fun job at all, but somehow he made it through the night and stayed in positive spirits. To the families just next to us and the group of CMs just behind us - you are great people and we had a blast talking to you! To the family who crammed in front of everyone around 8:15pm and then cursed up a storm when people got upset with you for pushing people out of the way - you are not so great people and I hope that somehow you find happiness one day (and ma'am, listen to your husband when he says 'maybe we should just find another spot' rather than cursing more - I doubt your 4 year old is learning a great life lesson here).

Enough of that! Fireworks!!! As many of you have followed our reports before, you know that I love to take fireworks pics with my Nikon and have even taken the tripod before and really worked on getting some perfect shots. Well, this year I didn't. At all. All of these awesome shots are courtesy @MeffysMom and her iPhone.
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Bear in mind, that these are just a couple of pictures from a 10 minute plus show and that everything that was going on in front of us, was also happening behind us over the lagoon - yes, they mirror the show completely over the lagoon so more people can see it. After the fireworks, we stayed and chatted with people some more to wait for the projection show, Once Upon a Time. It is really amazing what they have done with that technology. Here's just one picture, but the show really was amazing!

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It was just a little after 10pm and time to do some later night touring. First stop was It's a Small World - we had gotten FP+ after using up our other ones, so we didn't have to wait in the 20 minute line - yes, Small World still had a 20 minute wait after 10pm, that's 4th of July week for you. Then we kept a close eye on wait times and headed to Adventureland to ride the Magic Carpets (listed at 10 minute wait, but really about 3 minutes). Next it was over to the Jungle Cruise for the next to last boat to leave the dock - Skipper Alby (I think, couldn't see his nametag) had a different approach, but entertaining as ever. Now just a little past 11pm, we considered heading out, but then considered otherwise! Teacups time (maybe 5 minute wait). Well, not for me, but for the girls.
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And following that we rode Winnie the Pooh (about 10 minute wait) and ended the night with Little Mermaid (no wait). I still don't understand why Little Mermaid doesn't get more love. Yes, those of us who followed every second of it's development were a little disappointed, but it is certainly on par (in terms of quality of experience) with Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan - no, it doesn't have the nostalgia and history factor of Pan, but how on earth Pooh has longer waits than Little Mermaid I just don't understand.

Wow, far too much commentary in this post! Must be lack of sleep. We were on the monorail by 12:30am and asleep by 1am for sure!

I am a middle school assistant principal so I really get what you're saying about two kinds of people. I always tell parents there are two kinds of people in this world - the ones who raise kids that make other kids lonely at lunch and the ones who raise kids that don't let kids be lonely at lunch.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I am a middle school assistant principal so I really get what you're saying about two kinds of people. I always tell parents there are two kinds of people in this world - the ones who raise kids that make other kids lonely at lunch and the ones who raise kids that don't let kids be lonely at lunch.

That's a perfect way to look at it. My approach in high school music is problem solvers versus problem creators. I might have to switch to yours!
 

wvdisneyfamily

Well-Known Member
That's a perfect way to look at it. My approach in high school music is problem solvers versus problem creators. I might have to switch to yours!

No matter how you look at it, kids only do what they're allowed to get away with, and that's not necessarily defined by the rules but more like by adult behaviors - adult behaviors set the boundaries for acceptable.

Loving your report!
 
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susan lees

Well-Known Member
Hey! If you want some of our Epcot 4th of July history, here it is. Looking forward to this afternoon and this evening. It'll be a bit odd for me, not having the big camera and tripod, but hopefully that means I'll just relax and enjoy the show even more.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/12-days-of-live-trip-reporting.886042/page-3

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/live-trip-reporting-june-27-to-july-8-2015.901210/page-5

We'll be back this afternoon or evening or maybe even not until tomorrow morning!
Thank you :happy:
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Sorry for no live updates yesterday! But, here's the 4th of July recap. First things first...breakfast at the Poly. We had never had Tonga Toast, so we picked some up from Captain Cook's to eat before moving to Old Key West. Yup, that's some pretty darn good stuff. Not sure that I see it as quite the amazing, miraculous thing that some make it out to be, but quite yummy! Full of sugary breakfast foods, we packed up and moved over to Old Key West.

Of course, the dream is that the room is ready when we arrive at 9:30am, but the reality is that it wasn't. But we were planned for that, so a quick change into bathing suits and some nice, relaxed pool time. By the way... if you are the kind of person that puts towels out on pool chairs and then goes off and does something else, please stop reading my trip report. I can't stand that people do that!!!!!! We did find one chair for the three of us to put our stuff on while we swam, but there was no chance of finding three chairs to relax at - and the pool really wasn't that crowded with people. So, after our dip in the pool, we saddled up to the bar at the Gurgling Suitcase and enjoyed a couple drinks with some lunch. Here's the signature drink of OKW, the Turtle Krawl (and fun with the portrait setting on the new iPhone).
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Also, since it was the 4th of July we got to enjoy some activities - the parade of decorated golf carts was quite enjoyable (Housekeeping won the decorating contest) and our daughter made a couple of tie-dye shirts. For lunch, they were having a cookout, so we got a great lunch (half chicken with two sides) that was enough for all three of us (and only $14). We also got to meet up with Minnie in her 4th of July dress.
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Room was ready about 1:30pm, so we headed to the room to get unpacked and settled. And by 3pm we were headed to Epcot. Right as the storms hit. I guess we were lucky, in that we decided to take the bus and it was almost 40 minutes before a bus arrived, because it meant that we avoided walking out in the heaviest of the downpour. When we arrived at Epcot at 4pm, it hadn't really rained there, but was looking ominous (yes, less than 2 miles apart and you have torrential downpour and no rain...love Florida!) so we headed to the DVC lounge at the Imagination pavilion. It was nice to get to relax up there and have a soda (or coffee). Getting close to 5pm, we headed out to do some things (still no real rain). Soarin' and Living with the Land with FP+ were first up. It was our first time doing Soarin' at WDW with the new movie and we definitely enjoyed the Epcot ending. And Living with the Land is one of my favorite rides (edu-tainment :)). We still had a little time before we were planning to camp out for the fireworks, so we went back to imagination and did the Disney Visa meet and greet there (Minnie and Pluto) and then watched the Pixar shorts. It was getting close to 7pm, so we headed back to the America Pavilion area and set up shop for the evening. Here's our view - it's just on the Japan side of America.
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While there, we had some dinner - just a huge soft pretzel and American Dream frozen drink for our daughter, chicken and pork sandwiches for us adults - oh, and some of the last choice beverages available at Block and Hans. Yes, they really were some of the last beers, at 8:30pm they were almost out of beer; we got the last of one choice and there were only 4 left of the other choice (and they were already totally out of the other 6 choices!). Which seemed to be a theme - the Liberty Inn (where I got sandwiches) was still totally mobbed at 8pm (I was in line at just after 8 and didn't get food until 8:35pm) and from talking to the CM cashier, it was much worse than the past few years on the 4th of July.

Of course, Illuminations was awesome (my favorite show) and the 4th of July tag is simply amazing. Third time seeing it and I still just cannot mentally comprehend the number of fireworks going off at the end of the show. No photo can possibly do it justice, but here are a couple of attempts.
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After fireworks (and farewells to all our new friends along the fence), we headed around World Showcase toward Mexico just to enjoy the area and also check out the changes in Norway. We didn't actually ride the Frozen ride (that's later this week), but we did visit with Anna and Elsa. I must say, that Meet and Greet is very well done. The queue area is beautifully themed and interesting to look through (even though at this point there really was no line) and the meeting area is quite pretty as well.
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Then it was time to head out...but, wait! No line for Spaceship Earth, okay, sure. One more ride before we head out. I think I may have dozed off a bit in there as I can't remember what I'm supposed to do after I thank the Phoenicians. But it was after 10pm and we hadn't napped, so once back at OKW, it was quickly to bed and asleep. Now, we are off to Disney Springs for the girls to do a cake decorating experience at Amorette's Patisserie!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Happy July 5th Mid-day. Quick update with some pics for you. Up this morning and over to Disney Springs around 8am. We walked around a bit to check out the Landing area (new to us) before the girls did their cake decorating class at Amorette's. Here are a few pictures from the event that they enjoyed (while I made a grocery store trip and shopped a bit).
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The class started a few minutes before 9am and wrapped up a little before 11am. After that we did a little bit of shopping around World of Disney and then started our progressive lunch. Originally, we were planning on a number of destinations, but once we started, we were enjoying things a bit too much and just did two big stops with a little stop in the middle and at the end. First up was the Boathouse, where the girls each had a filet mignon slider (great deal, BTW) and we shared a plate of grilled asparagus. Oh, and the drinks (beer for @MeffysMom and a 'Bradford' for me). Our waitress was Tania and she was great!
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Then a quick stop at the Gelato shop for our daughter to get a small gelato. Many people consider gelato as a good palette cleanser. I highly doubt those people are thinking of peanut butter and strawberry gelato scoops.
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The next big stop was Jock Lindsey's Hanger Bar. Since it was still early and rather empty, we got the Diving Bell table and each enjoyed a specialty drink in there. @MeffysMom had the Reggie's Revenge, I had the Scottish Professor, and our daughter had the Diving Bell (lemonade and watermelon with lemon-lime foam).
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Despite only having the smaller plates at Boathouse, we decided not to get any more food as they had filled us up and we know that tonight is a big dinner at Splitsville. So, we headed back to Amorette's to finish off with some macaroons (lemon, salted caramel, and pistachio).
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And, now, back in the room and getting ready for a short nap before Splitsville and Typhoon Lagoon. Awesome morning with lots of fun, good food and drinks, and a little learning as well!
 

susan lees

Well-Known Member
Happy July 5th Mid-day. Quick update with some pics for you. Up this morning and over to Disney Springs around 8am. We walked around a bit to check out the Landing area (new to us) before the girls did their cake decorating class at Amorette's. Here are a few pictures from the event that they enjoyed (while I made a grocery store trip and shopped a bit).
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The class started a few minutes before 9am and wrapped up a little before 11am. After that we did a little bit of shopping around World of Disney and then started our progressive lunch. Originally, we were planning on a number of destinations, but once we started, we were enjoying things a bit too much and just did two big stops with a little stop in the middle and at the end. First up was the Boathouse, where the girls each had a filet mignon slider (great deal, BTW) and we shared a plate of grilled asparagus. Oh, and the drinks (beer for @MeffysMom and a 'Bradford' for me). Our waitress was Tania and she was great!
View attachment 213734 View attachment 213735
Then a quick stop at the Gelato shop for our daughter to get a small gelato. Many people consider gelato as a good palette cleanser. I highly doubt those people are thinking of peanut butter and strawberry gelato scoops.
View attachment 213736
The next big stop was Jock Lindsey's Hanger Bar. Since it was still early and rather empty, we got the Diving Bell table and each enjoyed a specialty drink in there. @MeffysMom had the Reggie's Revenge, I had the Scottish Professor, and our daughter had the Diving Bell (lemonade and watermelon with lemon-lime foam).
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Despite only having the smaller plates at Boathouse, we decided not to get any more food as they had filled us up and we know that tonight is a big dinner at Splitsville. So, we headed back to Amorette's to finish off with some macaroons (lemon, salted caramel, and pistachio).
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And, now, back in the room and getting ready for a short nap before Splitsville and Typhoon Lagoon. Awesome morning with lots of fun, good food and drinks, and a little learning as well!
I've never heard of a Bradford. That's my maiden name so will need to try one when we're over next year. What is in it?
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I've never heard of a Bradford. That's my maiden name so will need to try one when we're over next year. What is in it?

It was a small batch whiskey, ginger beer, and a little orange bitters. And surprisingly smooth and delicious for that mix. I was expecting more bitterness and more bite and was quite happily surprised with how smooth it went down.
 
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brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
But seriously (because there is no way I can't comment a little bit), the Splitsville DVC Member Night is a great event and a pretty decent deal. 2 hours of bowling, a drink and dinner with appetizers, plus socks. We have enough food for another meal (easily). The Moonlight Magic event at Typhoon Lagoon was a lot of fun - although it seemed to me like quite a few people for a limited event (bigger rides and slides were about 15-30 minute waits). See you tomorrow from Epcot!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Good morning one and all and happy Friday (it is Friday, right?). Yesterday was a good day of Epcotting all day long. We were up as early as ever (although a bit exhausted from the Typhoon Lagoon late night) and at Epcot about 7:20am for the 8am EMH.
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Soon as the gates opened up, we headed to Test Track, which sadly had some issues. In fact, the opening was delayed until 8:30am, but we stuck it out and were on the first car of the morning (seems to be a theme, huh?). Then we headed back to Frozen Ever After to get that in before EMH ended. The wait was about 20 minutes, but definitely worth it - especially for our formerly Frozen obsessed daughter. The animatronics on that ride are pretty darn amazing. Then we headed back into Future World to meet up with Joy and Sadness from Inside Out. It was the first time we have gotten to meet them and both were quite good in character. Then it was time for a ride with Nemo and Friends as well as a short visit with the resident manatees. Then a quick snack at Sunshine Seasons and some relaxing time in the DVC lounge. During that, we chatted up the DVC rep and ended up with a scheduled tour for later this afternoon. Not that we are planning to buy any more points, but the tours are always a good time.

It was about 11am at this point, so we rode Journey Into Imagination (despite the rather lackluster quality of that ride, we do like Figment) and then back to Frozen for another ride, this time with our FP+. After Frozen, we had used up those FP+, so we booked Soarin' for after dinner - just because! It was getting close to noon so it was time to get some lunch and hang out at the Rose and Crown with our friend, Carl. Although, really, Carl is everybody's friend isn't he? Certainly a master at his trade, assuming that his trade is personality - the bartending part is just extra (and he's amazing at that part, too).
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Meffysmom and I had specialties of the pub (bangers and chips and fish and chips) and our daughter had a sandwich from the Patiserrie in France. Fully fed, we stuck chatting with people for a bit and then caught Carol's first set of pub music.
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By her second set, we had talked with her quite a bit and somehow this ended up happening. Somehow, I think I knew it would happen one day!
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We did a little Elton John together and had quite a good time. But, by this point, it was getting on 3pm and time to head out to do some more Epcoterie. So, over to Canada for the circlevision movie and then back to France for Impressions de France. I really enjoy all of the Epcot films, and it was nice to get to do them in a relaxed fashion, without having to get to some other activity right away. Having begun taking in some culture, it was time to continue along those lines with dinner at the Biergarten. We managed to get in a little early (4:45pm) for our ADRs which meant we could catch two full sets of the band - absolutely love those guys. After dinner, we headed to China to catch that circlevision movie. By this point, we were getting pretty tired from a long day, so we did our FP+ for Soarin' and then headed back to the room.

Which brings us to today - the girls are both sleeping in while I get the laundry done. We will likely have some pool time later this morning and then head to our DVC tour followed by 1900 Park Fare and Magic Kingdom. See you later!
 

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brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Good morning, travelers! Yesterday was (no surprise) another great day. The girls were up around 9am and we got suited up and went to the Turtle Pond pool for some R&R - crazy, relaxing on a Disney vacation! We were there for a couple of hours and enjoyed just some nice down time of swimming and reading. But after noon, it was time to get going. Well, back to the room for some lunch (just leftovers, nothing exciting) and then... a nap! Yes, for real. But at 3pm we were ready to go to the DVC tour. Yes, we already own. No, we aren't buying any more. But, it is nice to see the models of the newer rooms and hear about some of the options with RCI exchanges (which we have yet to try) and also to meet and talk with folks from DVC. At about 4:30pm, they took us to our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Lots of new things on the buffet, which was quite nice. And... these people, of course.
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Always a good time at 1900 Park Fare. EXCEPT... (get ready, crazy old man rant coming)... parents these days. Whatever happened to actual parenting? Like kids getting in trouble for poor behavior? Or even just being stopped when doing things that are totally unacceptable? Things I watched happen in the tables surrounding us - 3 year old crawling on a table to get parents attention, multiple 2-6 year olds standing on chairs, one 3 year old standing on a chair stabbing family members with a fork (to which, one parent responded, "that is so cute"), one 2 year old yelling - just simply yelling constantly as parents ignored him to the delight of his siblings and this went on for about 20 minutes no kidding. Any of these would have gotten our daughter a quick visit to the hallway to be reminded that being in a nice restaurant and meeting the characters is a privilege and that kind of behavior will result in leaving said restaurant. I can't even imagine what my mother might do if I had acted like that (and, yes, I know you are reading along, mum!). Okay, rant over...but seriously, parents!!

Then we headed over to Magic Kingdom for some FP+ for Mine Train and Space Mountain, by which point it was 7pm and time to get prime spots for the fireworks - this was our first time seeing the new show, so we wanted to see it right. Which found us at the slight rise in the road just north of Casey's. Which was a great spot for viewing both the huge storm just to the east (yes, there was a tornado warning east of I4, which made a lot of people bail on the show).
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The new show was certainly a technological marvel and the fireworks and projections were amazing, but I'm not really sure it has much heart to it (is this the grumpy old main soapbox again), so I think I prefer Wishes to it. Which does make me a little worried about the impending change over at Epcot since Illuminations is my absolute favorite show.
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After the show, we headed back behind the castle (talk about swimming upstream!) to get pictures with the Tangled lanterns (will post later) and then ride Haunted Mansion with FP+ and Big Thunder (last few trains before 10pm). On the way out, we caught the Kiss Goodnight lighting show and then back to Old Key West. We did make a quick visit to the Gurgling Suitcase to share some of the awesome Mickey cake that the girls decorated - and it was quite the crowd pleaser. Today, Animal Kingdom - open to close (well not late night EMH)!
 

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