Trip Report Already? 2 broke guys for 2 more days of Music & Mickey! Live-ish!

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.

 

[RememberWhen]

The very last day of August. 8/31!

Alas! I will be down there (non park trip) the first week of August. But I’ll leave happy birthday vibes for you.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Even though we were dragging it out, the appetizers didn’t seem worthwhile, so we got right down to dinner.

View attachment 857666
That pot roast was mine, and @Tuvalu didn’t lie - it was fine! Like very good fine, not just so-so fine. Come on, fine rhymed with mine.

I have never had pot roast on toast before. (What is this, a rap song?) Brian didn’t think it was unusual. Especially with mashed potatoes, seemed odd, but no complaints.

When I have left over pot roast we will make "Manhattans".... basically its a layer of rolls, mashed potatoes, shredded roast then I drown it in brown gravy. Maybe calling it Manhattans is a Midwest thing . But it does look good, minus the naked green beans.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Green beans are useless without olive oil and a few twists of sea salt & garlic.

I hated string beans until I had my MILs version (described above, and you can just imagine her Bronx Italian accent saying GAHlick). My mom used to just boil them. Yuck.

All of this. ^

Circles in the windows are based on the bottom of Beer bottles which used to be in many of the historical/much older 'pubs' (public houses on which the Rose and Crown is based) used to have windows like this.

Aha!

Alas! I will be down there (non park trip) the first week of August. But I’ll leave happy birthday vibes for you.

My phrase for the summer is: don’t tempt me!

I may take one of various methods of transportation and my happy AP at any time!

When I have left over pot roast we will make "Manhattans".... basically it’s a layer of rolls, mashed potatoes, shredded roast then I drown it in brown gravy. Maybe calling it Manhattans is a Midwest thing . But it does look good, minus the naked green beans.

This is foreign to a NJ Italian, but sounds like it works!

 

[Swissmiss]

My phrase for the summer is: don’t tempt me!

I may take one of various methods of transportation and my happy AP at any time!

Personally I think you also need to go to WDW about 3 weeks before your birthday.

 

[Tuvalu]

Personally I think you also need to go to WDW about 2 weeks before your birthday.

FTFY!

 

[Swissmiss]

FTFY!

You just got to see Tony. Give the rest of us a chance

 

[Tuvalu]

You just got to see Tony. Give the rest of us a chance

There’s never too much time with Tony!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The Plaza was super loud. I don’t remember it that way from previous visits. Must have been the time of day. No big deal. It was a good stop!

Still a pretty big mob when we walked out. All the patio tables just outside, full of people, reminded me of:

 

[Tony the Tigger]

There’s never too much time with Tony!

Looks like I missed ya “by that much” on Wednesday! Here we go…

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Did ya ever learn a lesson, forget, and have to learn it again?

There’s a reason we typically do one park in the morning, take a break in the afternoon, and then see a different park in the evening.

The reason is: years ago, we realized park hopping was too much of a time waster. No matter the means of transportation, or which parks, it takes a huge amount of time.

Yet on this day, we reenacted The Odyssey, hitting 3 of 4 parks plus a pool for not much time each.

As he walked, pretty exhausted and beaten up, from the front of All Star Music to the Hillbilly Hoe-Down section a hundred miles back, Brian mentioned the trip had felt rushed. That was his reply when I asked how the trip went, knowing he had to get up at 5am to make a 9am flight home. Diabetes has taken a toll on his body for 40+ years, especially his feet. And I had dragged him all over Mickey’s green World.

If my brain fires on all cylinders, I have to remember the two parks per day thing with a little more intention.

I agreed it felt rushed - even more than when we used to stop at Best Friends Pet Care three times a day to drop off, pick up, and visit Kylie. (Maybe having a car saved more time?)

And I suspect the LL system vs FP factors in. When you don’t do many attractions, it can feel like a whole lot of walking with less payoff.

How did we forget that lesson?

Even so:

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We slept pretty well. I was half asleep when B announced he was headed up to the main building. (When he pre-booked his Uber, it was from the lobby rather than our room.) He told me to go back to sleep and not walk him to the front. I was too groggy to argue. He said the other half of his triple turkey club sandwich was in the fridge for me.

After a few minutes, I “came to” and realized I had about 7 minutes before his ride came. I still had time to go see him off. I texted to see if he was still there? No answer. I called. No answer. (This is typical. ) I walked 3,000 miles from the depths of Alabama country to the front of Melody Hall, to see the back of his head sitting in a chair with earbuds in.

I sat with him for a few minutes until his ride arrived.

Then I had a thought: since I was already there, and it was 6am, I could ask about late checkout.

My goal was to get maybe an hour by the pool, and have a few minutes to shower before heading out to the parks.

The CM was polite, said she’d put in my request, and I’d hear back by 9am.

I went back to the room, finished the turkey club for breakfast, and fell back to sleep.

 

[erstwo]

The Hillbilly Hoe Down section!!!!!!! Omg

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The Hillbilly Hoe Down section!!!!!!! Omg

I mean…

 

[Tony the Tigger]

(OK just kidding - not insulting the audience!)

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I woke up about a quarter to 10. No red blinking light on the phone (so no message.) I dialed the front desk and asked if I may have missed the call. They said my account was noted that my request had been declined. (That’s unusual.)

I asked, “May I explain?” She said of course, and I politely dropped that since bell services misplaced our bags for 7 hours on Monday (I know, cringe Karen ) I thought an hour or two on the back end would be helpful. I said I hoped that did not sound unreasonable. She said absolutely not, and she would check with management about an override. I thought I had it in the bag!

Once again, never heard back. I wasn’t going to ask again. At some point, you have to start packing to get out on time! So, no pool today. All good. Now what?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Oh, come on - after that morning, I needed a drink to kick things off!

I mentioned my Dad’s bday was 4/26. Know what else I never noticed was 426 in such a light color?

The address of the Tune-In Lounge!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Yes, of course I started with the Tune-In. I had mentioned it to Julie the day before, and I don’t like to disappoint.

I was there by around noon, I think. (Had to wait about 15 minutes to check my & B’s bags with ASM bell services.)

A lot of the following will sound eerily familiar:

I met Crystal and her husband (and friend/sister?) at the Tune-In, and hit it off quite nicely. I drank my Crown with vanilla concoction, and ended up buying a round of shots. Crystal declared us friends who would definitely see each other again, Julie came out to give me a hug goodbye, I did zero attractions, and - learning absolutely nothing from the previous day - I hopped onto the Skyliner.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

That last pic was from the last SL station. My ex’s mom always liked dragonflies. Her husband/his dad recently passed away. I posted it to them to let them know I was thinking about them. (Chris was the guy who first brought me to WDW.)

Why the heck did I put myself through this trek again?

The pretzel bread pudding from Germany. I’d been meaning to try it for months. Finally!

It was very nice, totally worth $4.95. Will it become a staple? I doubt it, but there was nothing not enjoyable about it, and I washed it down with a grapefruit Schofferhofferoffererer beer.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Technically, I had enough time to catch the concert, but…

Neither the Plain White T’s the day before, nor Haymarket (who?) that day appealed to me.

I would have loved to have seen Jon Secada tonight, though!

Since Germany and Norway are so close together, I passed on the school bread, and continued a brisk walk to get to my next destination.

As @Tuvalu and I agreed on Monday, Epcot was especially beautiful (although my pics were meh.) You know one of those days when it’s just warm and sunny and bright - and those colorful flowers and topiaries everywhere really do the trick. It was clean and gorgeous, made you appreciate just walking around.

 

[93boomer]

Technically, I had enough time to catch the concert, but…

View attachment 857921

Neither the Plain White T’s the day before, nor Haymarket (who?) that day appealed to me.

I would have loved to have seen Jon Secada tonight, though!

Since Germany and Norway are so close together, I passed on the school bread, and continued a brisk walk to get to my next destination.

As @Tuvalu and I agreed on Monday, Epcot was especially beautiful (although my pics were meh.) You know one of those days when it’s just warm and sunny and bright - and those colorful flowers and topiaries everywhere really do the trick. It was clean and gorgeous, made you appreciate just walking around.

View attachment 857923View attachment 857924View attachment 857925

We agree. The flowers and colors were outstanding this year! It looked like they did more this year.