Trip Report 2 broke guys and the deluxe bday 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]

We took the bus from WL to Epcot. Test Track had a fairly long wait, but Soarin’ was practically a walk-on.

While we were in the building, we made our way over to another relatively short wait for Living With The Land - but it turned into a long wait, as the ride went down when we were 2nd in line to board. I was tempted to get out of line, but it kept looking like things were almost ready to go, and then there would be a sigh of disappointment from the cast members. Eventually, it looked like they closed down one side of the control panel or something.

We boarded. It was barely worth it. Oh, look: plants. Growing.

What was meant to be an incidental stop on the way to snacking around the globe, took too much time. I knew I needed a bite before heading to the other side of the World. We walked a few steps, and split what was about the quality of a frozen $1 Budget Gourmet meal - but for 12 times the price.

It was worth it to not get hangry, and it meant I’d be more picky with any Food & Wine booths.

In fact, after hanging a right toward Canada, I didn’t order a bite until America.

But long before that - a banana’s foster beer?!

Was it any good?

I let Brian finish it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

In the good ole US of A:

Not bad.

Some fowl helped us to count.

1…

2…

3…

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We almost stopped at the China booth, but it was the only one with a line.

Instead, I more or less gave up on food and wine, and stopped at the “local” bakery.

School bread and non-alcoholic frozen coffee.

Except the cashier could tell just from the look of the cup that this coffee did have alcohol in it.

They repoured.

I guess all that beer had been too much for Brian. He did not want a shot in this drink.

We looked at the standby line for Frozen, but decided to let it go.

We even passed by the Three Caballeros.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I had taken some pictures to build a case:

What case, you ask?

Notice anything?

Tigger is grossly underrepresented in parks merch!

Especially for Halloween! Mickey isn’t black and orange. Tigger is! It’s a no-brainer.

Tigger needs new representation.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The room at our new hotel was ready, so we took the bus… Back to Wilderness Lodge!

Yes, our car was still there. We thought about going to the pool again today, but the weather didn’t merit it. However, we did use the sauna at the wilderness Lodge gym.

It was 180° in there!

We didn’t last very long.

There was a full shower with soap and everything in the men’s room there. Woo hoo!

We got cleaned up and got dressed.

There was one more thing I wanted to do before really leaving the resort this time:

The bar.

We enjoyed this place. Not very big, not very busy. The bartender was friendly and engaging. We would go back.

But we didn’t stay for two, we tried to learn a lesson from the day before, and not arrive at our second park too late. We put our change of clothes into the car, and I ran back in for one last thing.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Now where was that…oh, here it is!

Jealous?

View attachment 881570

No, ma’am!

 

[93boomer]

I had taken some pictures to build a case:

View attachment 882518View attachment 882519View attachment 882520View attachment 882521View attachment 882522View attachment 882523

What case, you ask?

Notice anything?

Tigger is grossly underrepresented in parks merch!

Especially for Halloween! Mickey isn’t black and orange. Tigger is! It’s a no-brainer.

Tigger needs new representation.

I agree.

 

[Tuvalu]

Now where was that…oh, here it is!
View attachment 882528

Here I thought you ended up purchasing the card holder.

And I was prepared with…

….we have one of those too!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I think we made the most of our last day at WL after checkout. We appreciated the opportunity to enjoy a Deluxe stay (again!) (I’m getting spoiled.)

But it was time to move to this other hotel, which I picked because it was “so close.”

Well, it was technically a half mile from the edge of Disney property, but that was nowhere near anything. I think the closest of any actual Disney destination to visit was 5-6 miles away.

The elevator was

Cool.

The room was decent.

Another elevator!

Where to, tonight?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Before I could pick a place for dinner, B was out like a light.

Magic Kingdom would be open until 11pm, but had extra hours for Deluxe Resort guests. I checked with our resident expert, and was reassured we were considered guests of WL until midnight.

What about after midnight?

I made an ADR, woke up Sleeping Beauty, and we drove to…the Riviera.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We were just barely on time, but luckily found princess parking right away, which helped a lot.

We took the now-familiar walk through to the elevator, and took it up to Topolino’s, arriving around 8:45pm.

Our server was wonderful. We received our drinks

…and went outside for…yet another rooftop fireworks show! This time, it was Epcot.

Just a few shots.

Mickey!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

At times, we’ve found Topolino’s to be on the level of Jiko (my second choice for tonight - we keep skipping it, lately!)

At other times, it’s been very salty.

There’s an appetizer on the menu that sounds good - a lamb gnocchi - we ordered it once, and detailed in our TR that it was inedible because of the salt.

I asked if they could make it with minimal salt. At B’s request, we also ordered the fritto misto.

Both delicious, and perfectly seasoned!

This calls for another drink.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What put Topolino’s over the top vs. Jiko today was a new menu item: Duck Á L’Orange.

Obviously, I’d heard of that dish, but I had never tried it before tonight.

After my first bite, I said, “Holy sh**!”

Second bite: “This is a revelation.”

Fan-taaaabulous.

Brian had the red wine braised beef cheeks. Another first - also delicious.

I knew I had made the best choice for dinner!

 

[93boomer]

We were just barely on time, but luckily found princess parking right away, which helped a lot.

We took the now-familiar walk through to the elevator, and took it up to Topolino’s, arriving around 8:45pm.

Our server was wonderful. We received our drinks

View attachment 882652

…and went outside for…yet another rooftop fireworks show! This time, it was Epcot.

Just a few shots.

View attachment 882645

View attachment 882646

Mickey!

View attachment 882647

View attachment 882648

View attachment 882649

Love your fireworks shots!!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Aside from getting a birthday pin, and leaving it on our table that first night at Cali Grill, I didn’t make much of my birthday as far as Disney was concerned. I didn’t wear the pin. I didn’t display it again.

When I checked in online for our dinner at Topolino’s, I realized it was midway between my birthday and our anniversary, and I checked off both occasions.

After our entrees, our server brought out an anniversary champagne toast…

…and a birthday crème puff (a fave my Grandma used to make.)

We were batting a thousand. Dare I press my luck?

I did.

I asked about a dessert for B. We settled on a NSA vanilla ice cream. (Off menu.)

That gave me cover to order the tiramisu crème brûlée.

If you look closely at the ice cream, it was served in high quality olive oil. No skimping on that dessert. I always appreciate that little bit of effort when it comes to B. It was better than the tiramisu!

Exceptionally well-done, all around, Topolino’s! Thanks, Mickey!

Despite our best efforts to get to MK asap, we had closed the place down.

A few parting shots.

A glorious evening.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

But we’re not done yet!

Time check: 11:18pm.

 

[Zipadeelady]

View attachment 882656

I knew I had made the best choice for dinner!

Do I dare ask.... Is that popcorn on Brian's cheeks?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Do I dare ask.... Is that popcorn on Brian's cheeks?

As a matter of fact:

 

[Tony the Tigger]

By the time we drove to the TTC, we could park anywhere, and found a decent spot.

While I didn’t want to rush around, I also didn’t want to risk scanning in after midnight. I don’t think they would let us enter after we turned into two pumpkins!

Time check: 11:48pm!

72 minutes! What could we possibly do?

Of all things:

(They did not scan our bands at the entrance.)

The logic was that Peter Pan was showing a little longer wait than we’d like, so we’d kill time at small world, and see if the line for Peter Pan had gone down by the time we got out.

Studio 54 at Small World?

Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop?

File under: things I don’t typically notice for some reason:

As we got to the end, I googled the new lyrics to prepare Brian to pay attention, as we had not heard them before.

We heard them. It was seamless, very nice.

Then our boat slammed into the boat in front of us. We heard that verse again.

And again.

And again.

But wait, there’s more:

And again.

And again.

We heard it no less than eight times.

It was kind of cool, though!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Our plan worked! Peter Pan was now showing a 20 minute wait. I figured it would be quicker than that. There was no visible line. Might as well do something we don’t do often, because the line is usually too long!

Now it was after midnight. They did scan our band at the entrance. They looked puzzled. They asked where we were staying. They looked puzzled.

I decided to take a stab at it: “we checked out of wilderness lodge this morning, been there since the weekend, maybe because it’s after midnight?” (Innocent, cherubic face, batting eyelashes, half-wishing we had just gotten in this line first…)