Trip Report A Magical Spoxy Honeymoon (November 10-21, 2014 - Completed)

Introduction: Hello! My name is Christine (28) and along with my husband Kyle (28), we both celebrated our Honeymoon at Walt Disney World from November 10 - November 21, 2014.

Day One: November 10, 2014

We left for Florida at 6:30 AM after packing the day beforehand and eating dinner at PF Changs with my father. We flew Southwest and flight was pretty uneventful. We arrived at the airport and grabbed our luggage, which actually arrived on time for this trip. I packed WAY too much for this trip, like 2 jackets and 5 pairs of different but very cute shoes too much. There we were, two Texans with our cowboy boots about to embark on a wonderful week and a half at Disney.

It was either Disney or Europe, but as the wedding was pretty costly, we decided to save Europe for our one year anniversary. We took our bags (we both had large rolling bag and a large duffel) and walked over to the car rental terminal(which seemed like it was half way across Florida). Since we booked online, we were able to skip the counter and head straight out to the garage to pick out a car, which to me was pretty nifty. After some discussion(we could have even have chosen a minivan at the same price as an economy car, but as it was just the two of us we didn’t need that much car), Kyle picked a cherry red Ford Fiesta hatchback (he would have a slight love affair with this car for the rest of the trip) and we were on our way.

We drove into Disney and the first thing I noticed was primary colors on the welcome sign. We had arrived at the most magical place on earth! We were able to get free dining for our trip, but as a consequence we ended up in a Pirate Room at Caribbean Beach. Even though we had credits to be activated, we decided to first go to downtown Disney before checking in. We parked by Disney Quest and walked all the way across Downtown Disney to Earl of Sandwich, which was ridiculously crowded. I know people say that it only takes about twenty minutes to get through a long line there, but we weren’t really feeling like waiting that long for a sandwich. Slightly dishearten, we walked back across the land of Downtown Disney to Wolfgang Puck’s Grand Cafe while taking in our surroundings. Downtown Disney is very much under renovation to become Disney Springs, but being the children of planners we loved looking at the renderings of the proposed buildings. I cannot wait to come back when it is all finished.

At the Grand Café, we decided to eat a full meal as the offerings at the express side were not doing it for me that day (come to find out they do have good offerings, just wasn’t in the mood for them). The décor in the restaurant was reminiscent of the early 1990s and brought back strong feelings of nostalgia for us. There was a strong use of primary colors, especially yellow and red which fueled my 1990s nostalgia extravaganza.

I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with fries and Kyle had the BBQ chicken pizza.

Both were excellent, especially after a long day of travel. After lunch we headed to the Caribbean Beach Resort to check into our room before heading to EPCOT.

We checked in at the Customs House, which was pretty neat. It had fans rotating in the ceiling and a very tropical feel. The gentleman who checked us in was very friendly. I believe he was from Norway. He gave us our happily ever after pins and we were off in our Ford Fiesta chariot to see our room.

 

[Spoxy]

Day Four: Fed up in Animal Kingdom

To preface this day, I am just going to say that it was just one of those days where things did not go to plan and I think we were a little burned out. By this point in the week, we had already logged over 39 miles of walking so we were tired. I ended up not really enjoying the park, but I do not think it was park’s fault. Had I gone to the park earlier when less tired and had not had to deal with the large amount of crowds during the previous days, I would have fully enjoyed the park. We ended up missing half of the things that make the park wonderful, but that means that I have an excuse to go back and fully enjoy the park.

Today was the first time for both of us at the Animal Kingdom. We parked in Unicorn, which for some reason I thought was funny. As we departed our mythical animal, we walked into the park and immediately I knew this was going to be a different experience. There was not a huge marquee greeting us as with the other parks. Instead, things were more subtle. We stopped to get a picture, which ended up being a problem because a family without a photopass cut in line and another family freaked out on them. Awkward times, for sure. It kind of set the tone for the rest of the day.

We entered the park and immediately felt claustrophobic. There were large construction walls up everywhere for the Pandoraland that is scheduled to open soon. I could not see the Tree of Life and we were disorientated since navigation was tough. We finally figured out where we were going and headed to our first ride of the day, Everest! What an awesome ride! It’s so much fun, especially when you reach the top of the mountain and go backwards. My only complaint about the ride has nothing to do with Disney but fellow rude guests who throw their hair bands on the top of the mountain. It takes away a little bit of the magic of the ride and quite frankly I don’t want to see anyone else’s old scrunchee on top of Everest.

It was on this ride that we saw the podium that the ride operators use to gauge the lines. Kyle learned here to always take a look at what the actual wait time for the ride was compared to the posted wait time. In most cases, the actual time was much less than the posted time. Very smart Disney, very smart, under promise and over deliver. The line was short so we rode three times.

After Everest, we had another fastpass for Dinosaur, but that wasn’t for a little while and we were getting hangry (hungry angry). After some wandering around(they really need some breakfast options at the park), we ended up at Pizzafari. The line was short, but for some reason things were not moving at all. We finally ordered and were waiting for our food, when a woman behind us decided that she needed a gluten free option.

Now, I understand that people have allergies and sensitivities to gluten and they really need to be careful about what they eat. It was obvious, however, that this woman had read or seen somewhere that gluten free meant losing weight (I know this because she tried to swap one thing with gluten for something else with gluten because she was not educated in what had gluten and what did not). So, while they were educating her on her gluten intolerance, they made us wait for our food. They actually asked us to step behind her so they could look at the big binder of allergies together. It took FOREVER for us to finally get our breakfast.We had the bounty platter which was good, but is actually more robust at the resort (when will we learn), and we ate and sat as far away from that woman as possible. Unfortunately, we never took a picture of our bounty. Boo.

After our breakfast, we hit Dinosaur. It was a lot of fun, but I wish would have gone on it when I was more rested as all I really wanted to do was to stay seated. We decided to not go on any more of the rides in Dinoland thinking we could hit them later, which was a big mistake. We would not return to Dinoland for the rest of the trip and now I have to go back to ride Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin.

We decided that we were hungry again, and that meant only one thing…Flame Tree BBQ. We had been reading up on this place for months now and I could not imagine a better place for lunch. We were waiting there when they did the opening ceremony which was cute. We figured we should get in line when they first opened because the place would a mad house later. This was another mistake as the line was the longest when they first opened. Anyway, we waited a pretty long time for our food. There were several large families who sent a representative up to the counter, only to not know what everyone wanted. So, they would have to call them over to ask them and then lot of people who did not understand how their dining credits worked needed a CM to explain it.

This would have been no big deal, if we had not already hit that magical point where you’ve been around too many people at Disney and need a bit of a break from things. There is a reason why they say take it a little slow. We finally got our food and sat down in the outside courtyard to eat. We shared the combo plate with an order of onion rings had the Key Lime custard thing for desert. It was SO GOOD! The ribs were cravable (and this is coming from someone who lives in the Texas Hill Country), the chicken moist and the onion rings were like the ones at Prime Time, so out of this world. The BBQ sauce is also excellent. Then came the desert, so tasty! It was tart and sweet and kind of like the good Jello cheesecake. I loved lunch!

 

[Spoxy]

Day Four: Fed up in Animal Kingdom (continued):

So with slightly higher spirits we headed to Africa to hit the Kilimanjaro Safari. Thank the heavens up above for the fast pass for Safari since the line was crazy. As we entered the holding area for the ride vehicles, we witnessed the melt down of all meltdowns. This poor mother was literally wrestling her three year old son, who was screaming bloody murder because he did not ride to ride the after they had probably waited for an hour plus. I felt so bad for her and the poor kid. It just was just a bad situation. I think they had to exit the ride before even getting a chance to go on it.

We entered the ride and I sat next to the open area to get pictures. I got a bunch of nice pictures, until my camera informed me that my SD card was full. No problem, I went to put the new one that we had bought special for the trip in and discovered it had been lost. I was so upset. The new one had a lot more space than my current one. I had to delete a bunch of pictures from the SD card, while trying to remember if I had already saved them to my home computer. As I sat there frustrated at the loss of the card (which also wouldn’t have been a problem if we had not hit the overtired wall), we wrapped up at Safari and headed back into the park.

We decided to get a Dole Whip with rum, as we had gone more than an hour without eating something in a Disney park. They sell the Dole Whip at a stand with seating behind it. Now my husband is a very nice Texan boy. I, on the other hand, get a Chicago attitude when I have been around too many crowds. It’s a war and I am going to win. There was only one table when we went to the seating area. Okay, no problem. We’ll grab that table. Right after we sighted the table, a family came in out of nowhere. My husband offered them the table, which they took without even saying thank you. It was like, of course you lowly person would give us the table…peasant. So there we were, tableless with melting Dole Whips. I was not happy with him. We finally sat on a little piece of stone around the corner when I realized that my Dole Whip had melted all over my new sweatshirt during the transition. Then, when I went to clean off the sweatshirt, I noticed the huge hole in the front (Disney needs some better merchandise). To say I was done, would be an understatement. Plus, there was not much flavor added from the liquor and it cost a lot extra. That’s it, I’m done…

We stopped to have our picture taken one more time by a very nice photopass person. She told us she loves Animal Kingdom but felt EPCOT is little pretentious, so to each their own. We quickly left the park, never to return for the rest of the trip. Maybe next time will be better when we are not overwrought and construction wraps up on some of the things that they’re working on.

We headed back to the room and decided to check out the pool which hosts a waterslide! We took my poor holey sweatshirt with us to be exchanged or returned. We played at the pool for a while which was fun, I bet it would have been really neat for a kid. Then we headed over to the food court and gift shop to return my sweatshirt. I ended up returning it, as they did not have the one I had at that shop. Feeling better (I wasn’t sure if Disney accepted returns from their park shops, so I was relieved to know that I wasn’t stuck with a $40 holey sweatshirt), we shared a semi-tasty monster cookie and a super-tasty banana peanut butter cupcake. We walked around the grounds a bit, which were beautiful and lush. Disney does a great job of making you feel like you’re in a place.

After an afternoon of exploring the resort and the pool, we headed back to the pirate ships to get ready for our next adventure…Boma!

We got dressed and headed over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. What a cool place! The lobby is huge, clean and very interesting. We had a few minutes until our reservation so we watched the animals being fed. It was so cute to watch the giraffes. One actually chased the food truck wanting more. It kind of reminded me of our dogs dancing for their food. They were doing the marshmallow cook out which was really neat in the surroundings and as twilight was starting to hit, I got some great pictures.

As we descended down the stairs of AKL, we saw the cool bar and the set up of Boma and Jiko. This place was very well designed.

We put our names in and waited about ten minutes to be seated. Once we were seated, we gave the waiter our drink orders and hit the food! I went to the meat station first, where a minor tragedy happened. As I was waiting for my slice of medium rare prime rib beef roast, the gentleman before me did not complete the pass of his perfect end of goodness. So beautiful and so on the counter. Because of sanitary concerns, the beef was whisked off never to be seen again and he got the last piece from that roast. The next roast was overdone, so I was a sad carnivore. I really hope someone in the back ate that beautiful piece.

I filled up my plate, as did Kyle. The food was so good, and we were excited to come back for our breakfast reservations later in the trip. Then at the end of the already too good meal, our waiter surprised us with Mickey Oreos to celebrate our honeymoon. So sweet!

After dinner, we shopped a little bit and headed over to Epcot.

This was our first time back in Epcot after Food and Wine ended and it was amazing how much more open the park felt without the outdoor kitchens. We hit Spaceship Earth and then rode Finding Nemo, where the lines were absolutely non-existent. We spent about ten minutes taking pictures in the mouth of Bruce the Shark, and then headed to the World Showcase where Illuminations was about to begin.

We had hoped to get some caramel corn from Germany to take with us to Universal the next day, but they were closed by the time we got there. We did get to have the very awesome experience of seeing Illuminations by walking around the world during the show since the park was not crowded at all. It was so cool to see what the show looked like from many different vantage points. After Illuminations, we slowly walked out of the park and made our way back to the room.

Up next…We cheat on Disney.

 

[Mom@disney]

So sorry you had to see Animal Kingdom for the first time with all those walls up. It truly is a gorgeous park that has a fresh feeling to it. Hopefully you can give it another try when it's done all the construction. I have always wanted to try Boma, but the rest of the family did not want to take the extra time needed in travel to go. How long did it take you?

 

[Spoxy]

So sorry you had to see Animal Kingdom for the first time with all those walls up. It truly is a gorgeous park that has a fresh feeling to it. Hopefully you can give it another try when it's done all the construction. I have always wanted to try Boma, but the rest of the family did not want to take the extra time needed in travel to go. How long did it take you?

We look forward to going back to Animal Kingdom on our next visit. There is so much that we missed that it will be like going to a whole new park all over again. We'll also go earlier in the trip when we're not feeling the effects of going non - stop for three days.

Boma was awesome! It's now a must do on every trip for us. We had our rental car, so it only took us about ten minutes to get from Carribean Beach to AKL. Having the rental car was such a time saver because we could maximize our time before having to hit our ADRs and allowed us to go to Universal easily.

My husband stalked the rental car sites for the best deal and we ended up with a car for $164 for 10 and a half days. Having the car worked out so well that I don't think we'd ever not do it in the future.

 

[FlaggNL]

We had the same when visiting Animal Kingdom. A lot of walls because of works in progress. I think when you visit AK in a year or 2 it will be complete different! Still enjoying your report and following along!

 

[mrdrift]

It's sad with all the wall up making everyone so tight that you feel claustrophobic. But you made a good day out of AK regardless of the crowds. Captured some really good pictures of the wild life. One again the food from Flane Tree looked awesome, just can't get enough of that place. Following along.

 

[Mom@disney]

I think I'm definately going to have to go to Boma on our next trip, but I'll have to wait a couple years for that a rental car sounds good for days like that...where disney transport would just take too long. Plus, hubby loves to drive. Thanks for the info

 

[Spoxy]

We had the same when visiting Animal Kingdom. A lot of walls because of works in progress. I think when you visit AK in a year or 2 it will be complete different! Still enjoying your report and following along!

I think so too. We can't wait to go back to see the progress.

It's sad with all the wall up making everyone so tight that you feel claustrophobic. But you made a good day out of AK regardless of the crowds. Captured some really good pictures of the wild life. One again the food from Flane Tree looked awesome, just can't get enough of that place. Following along.

I think on a light day that the walls would have been fine, but they definitely make you feel the crowds. Flame Tree was amazing though. We still think about it.

I think I'm definately going to have to go to Boma on our next trip, but I'll have to wait a couple years for that a rental car sounds good for days like that...where disney transport would just take too long. Plus, hubby loves to drive. Thanks for the info

I think Boma totally justifies the rental car! My husband likes driving too, something about not trusting other drivers, I dont know The rental made the trip so much easier, I cannot even tell you. Plus with free parking, I think it ended up saving us money if we consider our time as money while at Disney.

 

[Spoxy]

Day Five: We Cheat on Disney

When we last left, Kyle and I had decided to cheat on Disney. We bought the two day Universal Studios ticket package before we left on the trip. Last year, we took our first trip that did not involve family time ever. I had a former coworker who had gone to Universal and loved it, so after my husband got a new job in a new city and we tendered our resignations….we decided that were going to Universal. We took a taxi to EPCOT for a single day and of course loved it, but we still really liked Universal as well. While planning our honeymoon, we were actually afraid that we would run out of things to do at Disney (I know right, silly us), so we made the decision to go to Universal two days of the trip. This ended up being a big mistake (more on this later).

We had planned on eating a nice breakfast at Friendly’s (I love that place, but they don’t exist in Texas) then heading to the park, but after 4 days of non-stop fun I had a hard time getting up and we ended up just grabbing pastries at the resort as we were worried about the crowds due to the new Harry Potter world (we knew better, as the food at Universal is not good and we should have had a more substantial breakfast). So we got to Universal Studios, and it was crowded but not too bad. We hightailed it to the new Harry Potter World, Diagon Alley. I have to say, it had some of the best theming I had ever seen. It really did feel like you had stepped into Diagon Alley. Even the entrance was pretty neat. They had to station a castmember (not sure what they are called at Universal) at the entrance to let people know how to get in. The dragon was impressive and would breath fire on the tourists every 15 minutes or so, and everything really did feel like London (I spent 3 months there during undergrad). The only problem for us was that the Leaky Cauldron had a very fishy smell that permeated the entire land.

We immediately got in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. The line was fairly long the first time as everyone else had the same idea as us, but the posted wait time was only about 30 minutes. The outside queue was nothing special, but inside with the lobby of the bank was pretty neat. The glass chandeliers were spectacular. It was about this time that more camera trouble plagued me. We had charged our camera fully, but for some reason it was showing at only 10 minutes of battery life. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement! We decided to switch to taking pictures with our phones which have pretty good camera (better than even my original digital camera) and made due for most of the day.

The ride itself was fun, but I prefer straight up roller coasters and the story line did not make sense to the plot of the books or movies. You are on a tour of Gringotts with Bill for some reason, even though he is hiding, when Harry, Hermione and Ron break out of the bank. The special effects were cool, and the way the rollercoaster track moved was neat, but the storyline was weak and some of the 3D wasn’t the best. Personally, I like the idea of rides that explore the world of the characters without having to be directly in the story line. A straight up mine train adventure would have been more fun to me. The re-rideabilty of the ride was really not there unlike Star Tours. I am not sure if this ride will stand the test of time.

We rode the ride again, because it was there and we were there. Then we got some frozen Butterbeers at the new shop/bar thing (again great theming, it looked like it was hundreds of years old). We ended up finding Knockturn Alley, which was dark and had a little black magic store with villain merchandise. The shops were neat, but everything was SO Expensive and they were out of a lot of things. I found one sweatshirt I liked at a semi reasonable price ($50) but they were out of my size and only had XXXXL. We looked at the different shops throughout the park, but everyone had different things and never that sweatshirt. I will say though, that the quality of the merchandise is much better than Disney’s currently. We bought a lot of mugs on this trip only to find out that the Disney ones state clearly not dishwasher or microwave safe… Argh, really?

So, after we fully exhausted our Harry Potter Diagon Alley tour we decided to head over to our favorite Universal park, Islands of Adventure. We took the Hogwarts Express over and I have to say once again the theming was magnificent. There was even a little newsstand, and I really did feel like I was standing in King’s Cross Station. We boarded the train, which was a ride in its own right, and was pretty neat. Each compartment looked and felt like the Hogwarts Express. We got the Dementor show, though I am sure they are all pretty much the same, and it really was kind of scary.

The train dropped us off at Hogsmeade and we made our way to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is a good dark ride, with lots of twists and turns. Last year we got stuck in the spider scene and I was not a happy camper, but luckily that did not happy this time.

After the ride we headed over to Jurassic Park for lunch (we knew it would not be good, but we were hungry and the portions at the three broomsticks are tiny). We decided on the cheeseburger, fries and milkshake combo. The milkshake and fries were excellent, the cheeseburger not so much. The milkshake was like the frostys at Wendy’s used to be, creamy and icy. The hamburger was obviously a lower grade meat with lots of fillers. It’s funny how Universal will put so much time and money into theming but then have crappy food! I, once again, love the theming of this area. While were eating lunch, it felt like we were in that scene with the kids eating desert before the velociraptors show up.

 

[Spoxy]

Day Five: We Cheat on Disney (continued)

It was a pretty cold day, so we could not go on any of the water rides without being miserable for the rest of the day. Sadly, Islands of Adventure is a lot of water rides, so from there, we headed to Suessland. We rode the Suess Train which was cute, the Cat in the Hat, and Kyle’s favorite, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I love this land! There is not a single straight line in it. I cannot wait until we have young children to take here. We also got to ride the Suess Carousel which is an awesome ride! It not Prince Charming’s Carousel but it is nice. It was in Suess land that we got one of the best cookies of the trip (once again don’t judge, we had deprived ourselves for like months before this J). It was sugary and buttery and huge for the money.

We headed over to Marvel Land (wish Disney World could do something with the Avengers, but alas). I rode the Hulk, by myself, again. Kyle said he would try it but we got to the entrance and it was like he was repelled by a magnet, next time maybe (of course, for being the guy who would not go on the Mine Train at our local Six Flags, he was doing very good). The Hulk is a very fun ride. I love the beginning when he says I think I have it, then he doesn’t and you shoot out of the tunnel. My only complaint is that I am between sizes on the restraint and it never as secure as I would like it to be for a big inversion ride. I want to be part of the ride vehicle, but I am always jostled around in my seat. Out of all the times I have ridden the Hulk only once was able to get that thing to be secure. We went on the Spiderman ride, which is in my opinion is one of the best of the dark rides. You actually feel like you are moving. The effects are fun too. We then realized that we had exhausted all the rides we could have at Islands of Adventure, so we headed back to Universal Studios.

We made our loop around and rode many of the rides. Disaster! was closed and Twister was not really our cup of tea (it is something that happens here, in fact one of the tornadoes showing on the TV in the queue took place in the town north of us - it wiped an entire subdivision off the map killing several people). I rode Rip Ride Rock It Roller Coaster, which was fun, but I do not wish to repeat. I waited a long time in the single rider queue when I finally got on the ride and was strapped in. Then, right as we started to move, one of the people in my car decided they could not do it. So they undid the restraints as we were still moving and let her out. Then, we started back up again but my restraint wasn’t secure. To say I was afraid that the restraints were not going to do their job was an understatement, especially since there is only one restraint and its across your hips with nothing tying it down. I remember yelling “hey, my restraint is undone” and they nonchalantly just pushed a button and the restraints went back to where they were. I am not sure if anyone even checked it after. All I know is that I was scared and did not ride again. The funny thing too is that I no longer get that stomach clenching feeling on roller coasters anymore. It just feels like I am flying, which I think is pretty cool.

After my near death experience, we headed to the Mummy, one of Kyle’s favorite rides. This is a ride that actually scares me, but he loves it. I cannot get him on the Hulk to save my life (my greatest hope in life is to someday produce a child that likes rollercoasters as much as me so I have someone to go on all the rides with) but he will ride the Mummy all day if I let him, which is fine because it is a good ride from a roller coaster stand point. The Mummy effect at the beginning was down, which I was fine with as that is the hardest part for me.

Following the Mummy, we headed over to ET. First a little background: growing up, I had always seen the commercials for Universal Studios with the kids riding with ET saying you too can ride with ET. I was a little too young for the movie, but boy did I want to go to Universal Studios to ride with ET. So, I was elated last year when I found out ET the ride was still around and kicking. So we get on the ride last year and make it ¾ of the way through when the entire thing shuts down and we are forced to evacuate through the ride, which was actually pretty cool (apparently it is not as cool for the people who get stuck in the moon scene and have to use ladders to get down). It was down the rest of the trip and we never got to ride it again. My childhood desires let me down again (I also really wanted that pony).

So, this year I decided it was time to try it again. Well… we waited in the queue and had just walked onto the platform and sat down on the ride, when it broke down again! We were evacuated from the car and placed back in line. We decided to stay and see if they could get up and running again. During that time, we talked to a very nice castmember who talked about how much she loved the Little Mermaid Ride and that it is apparently pretty hard to get into Disney as job. After another 30 minutes, we gave up. It’s just not happening. We rode the Woody the Woodpecker ride several times and walked by ET one more time…AND it was up and running. We waited in line again, got to the front of the line…AND they put us in a car with all Brazilian tourists who yelled and talked loudly during the entire ride from the moment you first lift up to moment you come down. They were speaking Portuguese, so we couldn’t even understand the jokes. They may have been funny. I mean come on, though! It’s a 5 minute ride. Make fun of it after or at least let the two hapless people not in your group in on it too. So, I have come to realize that I am just not supposed to enjoy that ride.

It started to get dark about this time so we hit Transformers and found our way out of the park. We exited trough the old Hollywood section. I will say it probably looks more like real Hollywood than DHS but it’s not really magical. All in all a good day, but I think I prefer Disney now.

We headed back to the World and decided to eat at AoA again, because pasta. This time I actually deviated from the pasta bowl when I saw something really cool. As it was getting close to Thanksgiving, they had a very interesting special plate. It was a stuffing waffle, with turkey and green beans. SO GOOD! Oh my…so good. I got in line for the special and thought that I was going to beat Kyle by a long shot since he went to the pasta line. Not so much. The people at this station were having some growing pains and were not anticipating when things would need to be replenished. There was one woman who we would have to deal again later who seemed to be in charge of the station.

They ran out of the green beans around three people ahead of me and had not even started the preparations to make more by the time they got to me. I watched the woman nonchalantly walk around and throw green beans on a griddle, so at least there was hope. To make matters worse, there was a gentleman behind me who did not speak English and wanted a special dish that they did not have. It took 3 people to help him (not his fault at all, one of the few instances of poor customer service on their part, as all he was asking for was something very simple and they refused to grant his request for some reason). Meanwhile, I was waiting for 15 minutes to receive my food after ordering but I honestly think that is just a pitfall of eating at AoA. Luckily, I had grabbed my Mickey Cupcake before getting in line because otherwise it would have been gone. Kyle tried the regular AoA cupcake. It was okay, but the Mickey one was better.

Kyle beat me out of line and found us seats.

The food was amazing again! I really love this place! It was very unique. We then explored the resorts some more, because come on how often do you get to pose with Eric’s statue? Finally, we headed back to the pirate ship after another great but long day.

Up next… We go to Flying Fish!

 

[mrdrift]

I don't think of going to Universal is considered cheating, it gives you an appreciation of what Disney has and what Disney should build in there parks. The whole Harry Potter lands are so real like that makes you feel that you are in the movie. One of my family favorite places to visit in Orlando. I agree with you that Disney should do something with the Avengers like Universal did. Following along.

 

[FlaggNL]

I totally agree with @mrdrift ! Disney can learn a lot from how Universal did the HP part and off course we all want Disney to do something with Marvel, but when I am informed correctly Universal has the rights for Marvel until some day in the future. And during these rights Disney cannot build any attraction based on a Marvel character. On the other hand Universal can learn a lot from Disney about shows and parades. And I am curious about the Avatar land Disney is building. Can it compete with HP? Off coruse following along!

 

[Spoxy]

I don't think of going to Universal is considered cheating, it gives you an appreciation of what Disney has and what Disney should build in there parks. The whole Harry Potter lands are so real like that makes you feel that you are in the movie. One of my family favorite places to visit in Orlando. I agree with you that Disney should do something with the Avengers like Universal did. Following along.

I totally agree with @mrdrift ! Disney can learn a lot from how Universal did the HP part and off course we all want Disney to do something with Marvel, but when I am informed correctly Universal has the rights for Marvel until some day in the future. And during these rights Disney cannot build any attraction based on a Marvel character. On the other hand Universal can learn a lot from Disney about shows and parades. And I am curious about the Avatar land Disney is building. Can it compete with HP? Off coruse following along!

Yes, that is what I've heard as well. I know Disney is doing things overseas with the Marvel brand, so it will be really cool to see how those rides turn out!

 

[Spoxy]

Day Six: Park Hopping and Flying Fish

Today was the day we just hung out in our room and did nothing… Just kidding!

Okay, so today we made the breakfast mistake again. Now, to preface this morning experience, I don’t get hungry, I get HANGRY (hungry angry). I know this about myself and typically eat regularly for the safety of others, but at Disney, I was so excited to start the day, that I would put off breakfast which always ended up being a mistake. Today was no different. We got up, got some coffee and headed straight to our favorite park, EPCOT! We had fastpasses for MK later in the day, so we decided to wander around to hit what we could. We went single rider on Test Track, which was very nice because you get to skip most of the line. I think we were in the cars within 15 minutes while the stand by wait was over an hour. I got in a car with a family of young children (love the fact that you can enjoy this ride with kids) and Kyle got in a different car, which made for a funny awkward photo. The ride was fun, but I wish I could have seen the original iteration of it. It is very Tron like now.

We hit Mission Space and then decided that this was the day that we were going to try Boardwalk bakery. So we walked out of the park through World Showcase and to the bakery. It was a beautiful day and there was a small wedding happening in the pavilion, how perfect! It was so sweet to see the people. It was a wedding of about 30 people (perfect to me), the photographer seemed very detailed orientated and they were posing the leaving scene when we walked by. They even had a horse and carriage and an attendant to make sure that everything was coordinated. Disney does it up, I have to say.

After snooping without looking like we were barging in on their day (a little jealous, not going to lie, should have done a Disney wedding. I think my family would have enjoyed it better too). We headed to the bakery, we walked through the doors not expecting too much of a line at 10 am and bam, one of the longest lines we waited in at Disney. We would have just left if not for one thing… the Mickey Oreo bonbon cupcake that I had been ogling for like 6 months. So we waited and waited, and people watched (which if you haven’t noticed yet, it is one of my favorite things. I love to watch all the little mini-dramas going on around me. People fascinate me. So, please never think that I am being derogatory towards anyone, I just think they are interesting. I am very much a wallflower).

So, while we were in line there were two interesting guys in different sections of the line. One guy was Vinnie and he could not figure out the system to save his life. I mean the poor guy got to the front of the line and could not figure out what to order, and his kids didn’t help matters as they kept changing their minds and then came an issue with his refillable mugs that stopped the presses. This pretty much shut down the place until they could get his stuff in order. The rest of trip we would look for this poor Vinnie, but never saw him again. The second situation was not as charming.

I have to say that during my time at Disney, I saw way too many parents being borderline abusive to their children. Yelling obscenities at them, threatening to hit them in public, and it made me angry and so sad. There was guy ahead of us who spent the entire time in line telling one of his kids that she was not as good as the other (that’s going to cost some money in physiatrist bills later) then proceeded to the counter only to be rude to the Castmember. Come on dude, how can you be so angry when you're staring at tasty looking baked goods?

We finally got our cupcakes and coffee and headed outside to enjoy the morning and our food. There was someone filming a low budget travel show which was pretty entertaining. We took the obligatory pictures and I went to take my first bite of cupcake I had been dreaming about...and yuck! Whipped cream icing! NO!!!!!! I hate whipped cream icing with a passion. I typically can't pass up cake, but if a whipped cream icing anything shows up I suddenly have more willpower than ever thought possible. Whipped cream icing is evil and should be punished by its buttercream overloads.

Kyle’s was better but not great. As they say the best laid plans of mice and men. Sad and angry that we wasted so much valuable park time on a bad cupcake, we headed back into EPCOT.

We decided to take the monorail to MK and spend some time there (in retrospect I think this why we ended up not going back to Animal Kingdom, it is the only park that is far out and we ended up parking our car at one park most days and using the monorail or boat to get the other parks).

We entered the park, and went for food since our cupcakes were meh. We ended back up at Columbia Harbor House in the afternoon and I got the Lobster Roll and Kyle got the fried shrimp platter. Kyle liked the fried shrimp, but the lobster roll had a bit too much mayo for me.

 

[Spoxy]

After that, we went to Adventureland and walked up and down the Swiss Family Robinson Tree. I know the tree has historical significance but it has been a really long time since the show was out so I have no idea what the story line is about. I would love for them to make a movie today based on the attraction.

We got another ice cream (don’t judge), where Kyle tried to order the holiday cookie ice cream sandwich and was very disappointed when he got chocolate chip cookies instead of holiday sugar cookies. I got my usual, which was awesome.

Splash Mountain wasn’t bad but Thunder had a long line. But when in Rome, ride the thunder. Anyway, I got some great pics of the ride while waiting which I wouldn’t have gotten just walking through.

We also made our way on Haunted Mansion and a few other rides.

We hit up our fastpass for Mine Train, which was our first time to ride it during the day. We definitely prefer it at night…feels much faster!

 

[Spoxy]

We had reservations at Flying Fish that night so it was time to get ready for dinner. I am a strong believer in dressing up for fancy dinner. It just sets the tone for the rest of the experience. Plus, we were going to MK afterwards and I would get some great pictures with our nice clothes on. We had a bit of trouble figuring out where to park, but once we found our free but not willing to pay a surcharge lot at the Boardwalk, we were in business. We entered though the Boardwalk and wowie, so graceful. Another someday hotel for us. We found Flying Fish and it was hopping. We gave our name and walked outside to look around. The Boardwalk definitely needs some more entertainment for the evenings. We saw the clubs and promised to go back sometime later in the week (once again didn’t happen, next time. He still owes me a dance!).

We were finally called in a seated in the kind of back room. I could already tell this was not going to be the super fancy experience that Narcoosees was to be later in the week. We were seated next to another couple who were gracious enough to take our picture. It turned out great!

Then our waiter came around and gave us our drinks and bread. I ordered the cucumber drink with a cucumber garnish coming from the land and Kyle ordered the same.

The bread was fantastic, and the butter was divine. We then waited and waited and waited. We finally ordered, and I got the surf and turf filet and potato wrapped grouper and Kyle went with steak. Unfortunately, the restaurant was very loud and there was a huge table of people celebrating someone’s 21st birthday, and with everything in the restaurant being concrete you can only imagine how loud that was. Also, there were some interesting interpersonal dynamics going on with the people in the restaurant. After the first couple left (yes, that’s how long we waited), another couple came in and refused to talk to each other (we know this because they had the tables so close together we could have sat in their laps). I mean come on, if I am spending this kind of money on dinner, I’m talking my tablemate. Then there was a family that forgot they had children and they had hit the wall. So, lots of tension in the room.

Despite the atmosphere, the entrees were excellent. Desert came out and it was one of the best of the trip! I had the Banana Napoleon and Kyle had something chocolatey with cherries. Very tasty.

The best part of the restaurant is you have to go through the candy shop next door to use the loo…very clever Disney, very clever. As we went to three different two credit restaurants, I will give my thoughts on each. To recap this fancy dinner, I would say if you have children and want a nice meal that will also keep them entertained this is a good place. But, if you want a quiet romantic meal this is not your place. Food was excellent, ambiance and waiter were interesting to say the least, but of the three we visited, this was our least favorite. Would I go again, most likely… is it my first choice, no.

 

[Spoxy]

After dinner, we went to MK because we wanted to get pictures in our fancy clothes and we also wanted to take advantage of extra magic hours. We ended up getting a lot of awesome pictures and closed the park down at one in the morning.

Up next: Blizzard Beach Adventures!

 

[Mom@disney]

First of all, you looked gorgeous all glamoured-up. Love your photos on this night @ MK. sorry your cupcakes were not what you were expecting. It's funny, I make homemade pretzels, from scratch. On our last trip the kids were so excited to try Mickey pretzels thinking they have got to be much better than moms, but they were disappointed. Lol. They said that Im such a good cook, I ruin going out to eat for them...gotta love my girls.
There is an old movie ( I think from the 60s) "Swiss Family Robinson". It's really good, you must try to watch it.

 

[mrdrift]

Great day at MK, all of the food looked really delicious. You two are a great looking couple together and the pictures with the castle proves it. Who won on Buzz? Following along.

 

[Spoxy]

First of all, you looked gorgeous all glamoured-up. Love your photos on this night @ MK. sorry your cupcakes were not what you were expecting. It's funny, I make homemade pretzels, from scratch. On our last trip the kids were so excited to try Mickey pretzels thinking they have got to be much better than moms, but they were disappointed. Lol. They said that Im such a good cook, I ruin going out to eat for them...gotta love my girls.
There is an old movie ( I think from the 60s) "Swiss Family Robinson". It's really good, you must try to watch it.

Thank you so much! We like to cook, so we run into that problem too where we have high expectations for food and then end up thinking that we make just as good or better ourselves. It definitely does ruin eating out because you think about how much you're spending versus what you could make it for at home. Sometimes its just worth it to have someone clean up for you!

We've added Swiss Family Robinson to our Netflix queue and look forward to watching it!

Great day at MK, all of the food looked really delicious. You two are a great looking couple together and the pictures with the castle proves it. Who won on Buzz? Following along.

Thank you! I think dressing up for the parks for at least one night is now a requirement for us. Kyle beat me each time on Buzz. I like to think that he has a distinct advantage because I didn't grow up playing video games. Eventually I gave up and just started taking pictures of him shooting everything. He didn't notice because he was "in the zone."