Trip Report 2 Broke Guys - on a boat! 😃

Been debating when to post this. Some of you are already aware of our upcoming trip. (First cruise ever!) What came in the mail today inspired me to get started on this pre-TR:

My very first passport.

Note there is only one. Currently we are joking that I’m going alone because Brian’s got rejected. I’m sure his will arrive Monday.

When: September 5 to 9, 2022. Translation:

Who are going: Tony & Brian

Who is left out: Kylie, our nearly 14 year old German Shepherd Chow-Chow rescue.

Although she’s having a bath on the back patio right now, the pic of her is from a recent drive to the Florida Keys. We pretty much bring her on all trips now, including WDW. As she has aged, she doesn’t take being left alone as well, even with a trusted sitter. Even for one night.

So although we are very concerned about her, we’re trying to arrange multiple people visiting the house more often than just the sitter would, and offering the sitter extra money for more quality time. (Guilt money, for sure.)

And that will likely be the biggest out of pocket expense for this trip (except maybe the passports) because, true to form, we are doing this 4 night Bahamas cruise out of Miami (including all drinks, fancy meals, liquor tastings and souvenirs) entirely on Chase Disney Visa Rewards Points.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Hmm...Best Friends Pet Care at WDW has availability for Kylie 8/30 and 8/31...

ETA: Hmm...The Cabins are available on the same dates, as is Port Orleans Riverside (both take Kylies.)

Everything has to line up just right! Gotta check park availability...

ETA: our favorite Julie is working at the Tune-In Lounge both evenings...

ETA: all parks are available.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Hmm...Best Friends Pet Care at WDW has availability for Kylie 8/30 and 8/31...

ETA: Hmm...The Cabins are available on the same dates, as is Port Orleans Riverside (both take Kylies.)

Everything has to line up just right! Gotta check park availability...

ETA: our favorite Julie is working at the Tune-In Lounge both evenings...

Sounds like the stars are aligning....

 

[Tony the Tigger]

BFPC booked.
Cabins booked. (Had to put $5 on a credit card to prove we are FL residents, the rest on Chase rewards. That's never happened before, but OK!)
ETA:
One-day park hopper tickets purchased. (Verified we are FL residents to skip will call. That's never happened before, either, and it's FAB.)
Reservation made for Epcot on the 31st. (Hop to HS in the afternoon. Who knows - may hop again later...)

I think that covers everything, right? (Yes, all on rewards points.)

Plans subject to change, but I'm thinking:

Drive up either Monday night (stay at La Quinta) or Tuesday morning (directly to the cabin.) (Has it ever not been the night before?)
Chill out on Tuesday, walk the dog to pick up resort lunch. Possibly take her to BFPC in the evening if we want to book a nice resort dinner. (Possibly? Do you even know me? OK, for now, it's "possibly." But I mean, BFPC is already booked!)
Wednesday, try to get Brian up as early as possible with the "but it's my birthday" argument, drop off Miss Kylie at BFPC, head to Epcot. Do non-food things until World Showcase opens, then do all food things.

Afternoon break. LOL.

Possibly (why do I keep using that word?) visit the pup on our way to HS after afternoon break. Try to do one thing before we go see Julie and she gets me all alcohol-ish. Play it by ear from there, but I can already see a scenario where we go to MK just for CoP and stuff.

Will be careful because there is no way we are getting COVID before the cruise which is four days after we get home!

OMG this is a pre-trip pre-trip report (?)

 

[Tony the Tigger]

There really couldn’t be better scheduling for the above plans - early open Epcot and super late MK!

 

[Darstarr]

OMG this is a pre-trip pre-trip report (?)

Possibly!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

(With all my lucky numbers! 3, 13, 33.)

Soon, we sail. But tonight, we ride!

Booked a La Quinta in the area (free on Wyndham points ) and after work/dinner/rush hour traffic, we’ll take the drive up - with the pup!

Hopefully we get early check-in at the cabin tomorrow, but this is the latest I’ve ever done online check-in so..?

Plans have come together. Tomorrow will be a relaxing resort day. Pool time, chilling - dinner has not yet been booked! Rolling the dice and checking the app now and again.

 

[93boomer]

View attachment 663117

(With all my lucky numbers! 3, 13, 33.)

Soon, we sail. But tonight, we ride!

Booked a La Quinta in the area (free on Wyndham points ) and after work/dinner/rush hour traffic, we’ll take the drive up - with the pup!

Hopefully we get early check-in at the cabin tomorrow, but this is the latest I’ve ever done online check-in so..?

Plans have come together. Tomorrow will be a relaxing resort day. Pool time, chilling - dinner has not yet been booked! Rolling the dice and checking the app now and again.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The party starts now. Just went shopping.

 

[erstwo]

What?? So exciting. Looking forward to Kylie's - I mean - your trip to WDW! Hoping for lots of photos!!!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

OK, it’s not a La Quinta, it’s a Ramada. We’ve stayed here before. It’s…acceptable.

But we’re here! Drove from 9pm-12am. (That means B is driving all the way home on Thursday )

He just went right to sleep. I probably should have, but I just ordered IHOP via Uber Eats.

Waiting for our WDW room text in the morning - hoping it comes before our noon “late checkout.” If not, we take Kylie to BFPC early and possibly hit the pool. (They’d let us do that, right?) Or just grab lunch. (Pulled pork!)

Why not? I was at the gym at frickin 8am with a trainer this morning. I think that covers all eating for the next 48 hours.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

When I got a text from Disney at 8:30AM, my heart jumped. Alas, it was, “Your room is not ready, but please enjoy the resort.” I am hoping it will be ready by our noon checkout time so we don’t have to drop Kylie off at BFPC so early. But if we do, we’ll grab lunch/hang by the pool.

As for dinner: I’m in kind of a weird mood. Typically I’m looking for the fanciest schmanciest with oddball menu items. Typically, I don’t mind watching the app all day until something amazing pops up.

Eff that, I’m almost 51.

I do not feel like dressing up. I packed one polo shirt and that’s it. We will be dressing “up” (ish) several times on the ship next week for Palo & Remy. Today, I just want to chill. At this late hour, the best options were mostly at Disney Springs. That’s another whole project - parking, walking, crowds.

So…when in Rome:

Since we’ll be in a nearby cabin, and there’s nothing on the menu we’d order that calls for ketchup, this seemed like a solid choice - and I don’t have to worry about it all day.

I know @Tuvalu and Em like the burnt ends nachos here, and we ate lunch here once with B’s cousin years ago. I think we’re going to go straight (ha!) for the AYCTE skillets. If we each get a different one, it pretty much covers all the bases. (One is more beef and pork, the other more chicken and salmon.) We’ll see how it goes! I’m psyched.

Holy cow…and as I was typing this, our room ready text came! Time to mosey on over. Woo hoo!

 

[Tuvalu]

You like pulled pork?

The traditional skillet has a TON. Like 50% of the meat in the skillet. One rib, one chicken thigh, one slice of brisket, one half piece of sausage (cut in half). Don’t get me wrong, the meats are all good - but this recent change of mostly pulled pork felt very cost-cutting to me. Yes, it is AYCTE but asking for more ribs and brisket (for 2 people that ordered the skillet, it’s priced per person) resulted in receiving 2 ribs and 2 brisket slices….so ONE for each.

The land and sea skillet offers only chicken thigh (and plant-based sausage) for meat. The upside is we were able to share a lot of our pulled pork with our dining companion (who raved about the salmon and mushrooms!)

I’m not trying to be a downer (we all really enjoyed our meals) but wanted you to be aware in advance of what you’ll receive tonight. Ask if Gus Gus is working, he’s great.

Wish I could join you!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Waiting for B to get his Claritin.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

You like pulled pork?

Oh, I am the original pulled pork ho. (As you know! There’s at least one pulled pork sammy in every TR )

The rest sounds great. I thought the BBQ cauliflower and the portobello sounded very good as well. And I dig vegan sausage. So the two skillets w/sharing sounds perfect!

Meanwhile:

Apparently Orlando got hella rain yesterday. I recently participated in the summer Imagineering competition on this site (came in second!) and one of my ideas was a dark boat ride through Dagobah (where Yoda lived in Empire Strikes Back.) Well, there was so much rain here, it has come to life behind our cabin!

Keeping an eye out for Yoda.

 

[MinnieM123]

Waiting for B to get his Claritin.

KYLIE!!!!

By the way, the cabin is cute inside.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

KYLIE!!!!

By the way, the cabin is cute inside.

Oh, she said my cabin is cute.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We stopped at drive-thru check-in to declare the doggie. ($50 fee per day.) The very nice woman said she would be right back to check if they had any more doggie packs (the Pluto bowls, mat, etc.)

They did not. Before I could even show a hint of disappointment on my face (I’m pretty sure! ) she offered to cancel one of the $50 fees.

Woo hoo! I’ll take it. (Doggie Dust?)

We found our cabin, unpacked, and finished last night’s IHOP for breakfast (I ordered extra, expecting as much.)

The rest of the afternoon did not go as planned, but in a good way.

We did *nothing*

I made the mistake of acting like a tourist and looking at the weather (in Florida. I live here. I should know better.) It was supposed to be completely cloudy/rainy the rest of the afternoon. The pool seemed like a longshot. With that, why take Kylie to the kenne…

Before I could finish that sentence, Brian took a nap. Kylie took a nap. I took a…relaxing afternoon in front of the TV with minimal business interruption.

There was really no point dropping Kylie off by this time. She’ll be fine here while we go eat. It’s very different from a hotel. It took longer on the phone canceling that reservation (over an hour) than it will take to eat.

So, we had some Crown Royal Vanilla (Nature’s Perfect Alcohol) and snacks (we never even went to lunch!) and continued being teased by thunder but it never rained. (It was actually sunny on and off most of the afternoon. We would have done OK at the pool. But - whatever happened was exactly what was supposed to happen. These two lightweights needed naps. )

Getting ready for din-din, a mini tour of Wilderness Lodge (it’s been years) and an early start to a park commando bday extravaganza tomorrow.

Feeling: chill.

 

[93boomer]

We stopped at drive-thru check-in to declare the doggie. ($50 fee per day.) The very nice woman said she would be right back to check if they had any more doggie packs (the Pluto bowls, mat, etc.)

They did not. Before I could even show a hint of disappointment on my face (I’m pretty sure! ) she offered to cancel one of the $50 fees.

Woo hoo! I’ll take it. (Doggie Dust?)

We found our cabin, unpacked, and finished last night’s IHOP for breakfast (I ordered extra, expecting as much.)

The rest of the afternoon did not go as planned, but in a good way.

We did *nothing*

I made the mistake of acting like a tourist and looking at the weather (in Florida. I live here. I should know better.) It was supposed to be completely cloudy/rainy the rest of the afternoon. The pool seemed like a longshot. With that, why take Kylie to the kenne…

Before I could finish that sentence, Brian took a nap. Kylie took a nap. I took a…relaxing afternoon in front of the TV with minimal business interruption.

There was really no point dropping Kylie off by this time. She’ll be fine here while we go eat. It’s very different from a hotel. It took longer on the phone canceling that reservation (over an hour) than it will take to eat.

So, we had some Crown Royal Vanilla (Nature’s Perfect Alcohol) and snacks (we never even went to lunch!) and continued being teased by thunder but it never rained. (It was actually sunny on and off most of the afternoon. We would have done OK at the pool. But - whatever happened was exactly what was supposed to happen. These two lightweights needed naps. )

Getting ready for din-din, a mini tour of Wilderness Lodge (it’s been years) and an early start to a park commando bday extravaganza tomorrow.

Feeling: chill.

Enjoy your evening. Sounds like a good start to your vacation. Enjoy your bday extravaganza tomorrow!!!

 

[MickeyCB]

Keeping an eye out for Yoda.

Or for freakin snakes!!

 

[erstwo]

While I’m sad I don’t get to see a photo of Kylie with her Pluto bowl, I love the photo of Kylie in the cabin with (what I assume is) her Mickey!
I hope you have/ had a great dinner!