A Poutine Less Trip Report: Four Days of Zoology, Deluxe Resorts and Lots of Rain

And so I am back. While I do love typing up these reports, to do so means that you have to be back from your trip . However this was another successful trip and my 10th to the World. So it is official, I have now hit double digits! So may consider that a bit much but I say the more the merrier.

Tim was at home this time, which was a bit of a bummer after introducing him to the World. Everything that we did, I wished he was there and wanted him to experience everything that we were. It just solidifies how much I want him to be by my side for all trips. However, he was extremely supportive of me needing a much needed break from what is currently my reality and the stress that is flooding my life. He had jetted out to Vegas a month or two prior and knew how much fun I would have down there. When the opportunity presented itself to have a mini getaway with one of my best friends, he did not hesitate at all. He told me to have fun, not think of work and enjoy myself.

So on this trip, we had myself. To refresh of those who don't really know me, here's a brief bit of info:

I work in Food & Beverage, am a massive Foodie, a HUGE kid and lover of all things Disney. Mary Poppins is my all time favorite Disney character and Disney movie, followed closely by Toy Story and then UP. I am also a big Star Wars and Pirates fan. I am by no means a girlie girl and would rather by a pirate then a princess any day.

Although Tim could not join me for this trip, I had the absolute next best option. I re-introduce to you...dah dah dah dah... Jennie!

Jennie and I have been friends for almost 15 years. We met at our Dance School and have stayed such great friends throughout the years. She dropped in during my last trip in October several times with her boyfriend and this time was a ladies trip! Jennie left for the Disney College program 8 years ago and had been bitten by the Disney bug ever since. She is now a cast member and loves all things Disney as well. Like me, a giant kid and the biggest Star Wars fan I have ever met. It is completely her fault that I am the Star Wars fan that I am. She took three days off to hang and play with me. It amazes me and thrills me that she still enjoys playing in the parks as much as I do. Thankfully she put up with my craziness for these days and all the photos that came with it.

So here we go! Because this here is the wettest wild in all the wilderness!!!! :sohappy:

 

[MillerPoppins]

Around their pavilion, China had the animals that are each year presented in natural materials. They were quite unique I must say, but very different from anything else in any of the other countries.

We made our way into the main store. Yet again, this is another place that I had a history of dropping some dough. I have a few purses from here I love as well as some other items. But the store has been completely transformed. I have to say, some of the changes are understandable as there was a number of items there I could not see being sold frequently. Some other changes have been made to both merchandise and layout. Big noticeable change, the Buddha has different accommodations.

So we continued our trek through and discussed the different changes. Still there...these guys...

I didn't see the hats that I wanted for our next photo so I was kinda bummed. What were we going to do for China??? We made our way out to the entrance and my mind was going. We needed CHINA HATS!!!

And just like that, there they were! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!

I think these and the berets were my favorite of the day. Also, Jennie's tea must have been REALLY good cause we stood there for quite a bit while Jennie snapped and snapped. "What are you doing??" "Oh, I thought it didn't take...hehehe my bad". Wow...I was truly waiting for her to start chanting "Snow White clap clap clap!" next. But alas, no such luck!:ROFLOL:

And out of China we went...

 

[mamamouse]

Snow White clap clap clap LMAO!!!! Have another one Dad!:sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

Finally all caught up. I just returned from my quick work-related trip to Disney and your trip around World Showcase has me missing it so much already. I ADORE all the hat pictures. Seriously. And the commentary is top notch... I love the inclusion of all the silly little conversations you girls were having as you cruised from country to country.

Grand Man slushies for the win! Two days ago I was sipping on one myself. Ahhh! :sohappy: Super duper report, my friend!

 

[MillerPoppins]

Snow White clap clap clap LMAO!!!! Have another one Dad!:sohappy:

That Dad was amazing!

Finally all caught up. I just returned from my quick work-related trip to Disney and your trip around World Showcase has me missing it so much already. I ADORE all the hat pictures. Seriously. And the commentary is top notch... I love the inclusion of all the silly little conversations you girls were having as you cruised from country to country.

Grand Man slushies for the win! Two days ago I was sipping on one myself. Ahhh! :sohappy: Super duper report, my friend!

If you get to go to Disney for work, I need to switch careers! I so want to go back already! Thanks for reading Holly!

 

[MillerPoppins]

Next up was Norway, or so we thought. We took a look at Maelstrom that had a 40 minute standby wait and FP's were gone. Jen and I figured we'd come back in a bit to "Disappear Disappear!!!!" I got a few shots and then we figured we'd go see how bad the wait was for Test Track and some of the other Future World attractions since we skipped them in the morning.

But first, check out this buck toothed treat!

Alright, Norway, we'll be back...

As we were passing Mexico, we noticed a short line for a fluffy Mexican Duck. So we hopped in and once he arrived, he flirted as expected!

So we passed Mexico as well in search of Future World fun but got another fun "topiary?"

"But what about the avocado margarita" you say? Well Jennie's friends Keith & Denny were going to meet up with us so we figured we'd save that for them. As we approached Test Track, we found the single riders to be 40 minutes long which is how we expected to hop on. The standby line was 70 and FastPasses were gone. Well, it looked like Test Track wasn't going to happen this trip and sadly it did not. But if that's the only thing that wasn't done on the trip, it's really not that bad. We realized then that I had to pick up whatever souvenirs I needed for my nephews & niece because my bag had to be packed in the morning.

So we wandered into MouseGear to check out some merch. We did some pin trading and wandered around the store for some goodies. Jennie found this...

I picked up some stuff for the kids and had it sent to the front of the park for later. We stepped outside and were leaning against the gate to tuck away some money and my receipt to pick up the goods. Jennie was texting the boys to see where they were. Remember the sticker I got in Canada? Well it fell out of my purse and on to the ground. As I went to pick it up, a branch from the bush went right into my eye. I could literally feel the stick go right in to my eye ball. I jumped back and yelped in pain. Jennie freaked..."Do you want to go to First Aid!? OMG are you ok?" I asked if I was bleeding at all and she said no. I blinked a few times and made sure my contact was still there. Other then the initial shock, I was ok. The most pain I had was just some burning and a little itching (That's what she said! :lol but that's it. Talk about a scare though...never had a feeling like that before.

So back to Mexico we went and to the Boat Ride!

In we went and of course, over to the hats! This proved to be very interesting. If you hadn't noticed, Jennie is noticeably taller then me. So at first, I went with the big hat and Jennie grabbed the little guy.

Attempt #1:

Not so much...

Attempt #2:

Yeah...maybe a hat switch is in order???

Attempt #3:

 

[MillerPoppins]

Ok...last one.

Attempt #4:

We gave up on our hat conquests, at least we got the Mexican shot. So on to the Boat Ride! We cruised through Mexico in search of Donald and finally found him! Afterwards, the boys were at Le Cava del Tequila so we ran over and met up with them. It was so good to see Keith, who has been a long time friend of Jennies and I had played through the parks with before. Denny was new to the equation but any friend of theirs, is a friend of mine. We chatted for a bit before heading in. Jennie then told the boys of the "Guacamole Margarita" that we heard was delicious. :lookaroun Ummmm.....gross?? The boys faces said it all. Guacamole margarita??? That sounds absolutely disgusting. At this point, I am howling. To be fair, the main ingredient in Guacamole is avocado. Explaining this to the boys and ensuring that there are no chunks in this drink, or at least I hoped, they still were not convinced that this was not a good idea.

I was still determined. In we went, and up to the bar which was quite packed. We all checked out the menu and the boys were up in the air of what they were going to have. So Jen and I jumped up first. Jennie went with the Hibiscus Margarita which looked quite divine.

I stayed true to my quest and ordered my avocado margarita.

Ok if you like avocados or even if you don't, you need to try this. There wasn't a crazy overwhelming avocado flavor but it was very subtle. So much so, that I turned around and had Keith try it, who was the biggest doubter of this drink. He took one sip, registered the flavor, and then stated loudly "I'm getting that!" The boys stepped up and sure enough, Keith ordered the same thing. Denny went with a mango margarita. We wandered outside then and sat by the fountain to enjoy our drinks. Jennie's was loaded with tequila as was Denny's. If you do not like tequila or are negatively effected by it, DO NOT ORDER THESE!!!! They are holy filled with it. And rightfully should be with the price tag as these are not cheap. The avocado ones were not as potent but were taken down quite faster and smoother. Absolutely delicious! Truth me told, I wanted another one!

After catching up and giggling at many events through the day, we had to make our way over to Soarin as it was FINALLY time for our FP's. The boys walked over to the Rose Garden with us as we all finished our drinks. They headed off to go people watching as we made our way back to Future World.

We passed the gorgeous sand display for African Cats. Really impressive!

What's with the hippos? I thought this was a feline only show???

We passed the butterfly garden again. It was much less crowded then it was earlier which we took as a good sign for the rest of future world.

And finally, we were at the Land!

 

[MillerPoppins]

In and onwards we went to Soarin. We waited about a total of 15 minutes to get on the ride with Fast Passes and soon, we were flying over beautiful California!

After we came back down to Earth, it was back over to Nemo and Friends to try to go through the Seas.

Maybe someone can answer this for me...is the area where these cute little guys are stationed supposed to be a playground? While I never see any, do not climb on the fish signs, it doesn't exactly scream.."Hey let your kids climb and hang all over the fish" either. While I am not slamming children as I do love them, I really like this set up and can NEVER get a decent photo without waiting at least 10 minutes for a child to stop clinging to Nemo and his buddies. Kids throw shells, kick shells, push each other and basically put all their weight on these guys. Just a rant...had to get it out.

As we were walking in, we heard two familiar voices behind us...here comes Keith & Denny! Yay we could all go in!

We went in and rode through the seas with Nemo. We also continued to tease Jennie about the Guacamole Margarita (Poor thing) to which she told us that one day she would develop one that would delicious and we call could shut it... :ROFLOL:. Afterwards we played in the Gift Shop...

and then made our way to Spaceship Earth. BYE NEMO!!!!

I got a quick shot of Donald that I didn't get earlier and in we went!

 

[mamamouse]

yay I wished for more n here it is ,I also see that ure online so woohooo hopefully ure adding even more,I can't get enough i love a good tr!!!

 

[HollyBelle]

Maybe someone can answer this for me...is the area where these cute little guys are stationed supposed to be a playground? While I never see any, do not climb on the fish signs, it doesn't exactly scream.."Hey let your kids climb and hang all over the fish" either. While I am not slamming children as I do love them, I really like this set up and can NEVER get a decent photo without waiting at least 10 minutes for a child to stop clinging to Nemo and his buddies. Kids throw shells, kick shells, push each other and basically put all their weight on these guys. Just a rant...had to get it out.

Preach it, sister! I'm so totally with you on this one. It's rather obvious the setup wasn't designed to be a jungle gym for little ones. Poor Pearl, she always looks like she's in need of some serious TLC, no doubt due to the fact that she's never seen without a kid, or ten, crawling all over her at any given time.

I love all the sombrero hat-taking photo attempts. The hat pictures are very telling as to which side of World Showcase you started your day on.

Guacamole Margarita, please! :lol: Awesome, Jennie, simply awesome. :sohappy:

 

[MillerPoppins]

So after a ride through our Spaceship Earth (and some not PG rated jokes between us), we said goodbye to the boys and Jennie and I made our way back to World Showcase. It was now 7:20pm and we had a mission. We knew we'd be cutting it close but we had to get to Norway. It was our only country left without a photo/hat photo in there. Plus, hello? We needed to ride the Maelstrom!

We ran into a 20 minute wait but aw heck, let's go for it! It was that or the Canada film which I do love. But after all the walking we had been doing, a sit down boat ride was totally called for at this point. So we stood in line, reviewed some of our photos and then finally made our way to Norway! This ride is still so trippy to me but I enjoy it. Afterwards, we flew through the gift shop with one goal in mind before rushing to ROE, get the hat photo for Norway!!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Yet another trip, that I missed my Norwegian Bakery attempt. Oh well, but now came the fun part, trying to find a spot to watch ROE ten minutes before it's supposed to start. At this point, the park was now packed since Dinner hour. And so was every single part of the perimeter. So we took a random shot and went to the entrance area of World Showcase to see it. Again, to recap, I'm 5'2". There's 12 year olds that are taller then me. This was basically the worst viewing spot that I ever had for ROE but it was completely our own fault since we went for the Maelstrom. Side Note: Wouldn't the maelstrom be so much cooler if it was how it is at the end of Pirates 3? Throw a real maelstrom in there!

So we watched what we could and stayed for the whole show. But as soon as it was over, we turned and bolted. Out we went, past the fountain, past Club Cool and of course, past the giant Ball. We headed over to package pick up and got my stuff. Jennie actually hopped in line for it while I perused merchandise some more. And within minutes, our time at Epcot was over. I turned and waved goodbye to Epcot, a practice I do when I leave every park and we headed to the car. It was now past 9pm and we both needed something solid to eat. To DTD we go!

En route, we were debating where to go. I ruled out Captain Jack's Wolfgang and since I just ate there, Wolfgang's. So Jennie picked either T Rexx or Ragland Road. I was told to pick from there so I went with Ragland because I figured out of the two, it would be a bit quieter. We got there and headed in. FYI also at this point, I'm sporting a Wawa sweatshirt of Jennie's because it had gotten a bit cooler! We were sat within seconds at a nice high top table and had our order taken quickly.

Stepdancers and a guitar player alternated performances through the night which is cool. I particularly liked the guitar player playing John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads", a song that is close to my Family's heart. Our food however, did take a while. Finally, it arrived.

Jennie went with her old standard of a salad but it was a really nice looking one!

She said it was good but that was dressing was too fishy for her "anchovy overload" .

I went non healthy and got the Ragland Risotto with Grilled Chicken:

This picture does not do this thing justice. It was THE BEST meal of my whole trip. Cheesy, delicious, hot and devoured within minutes. Absolutely amazing. I would order this every time I went there. Jennie also order fries with truffle oil and cheese which they forgot and then brought out later. They weren't bad, but you couldn't taste any truffle oil.

I also went with my standard of a Miller Lite to end the night and Jen went with an Irish Coffee. Shortly after, we walked over to get another cookie and then headed home. What a great Epcot day!

To finish:

23,203 steps for the day.
9.88 miles walked.

Tomorrow: Hollywood Studios and a whole lot of Zoology! :sohappy:

 

[diddy_mouse]

So glad I'm following along!

You couldn't have asked for a more picture perfect day at Epcot. I think it's adorable how you two took hat pictures in each country, they do have some snazzy hats don't they?

I have promised myself that the next time we're at Epcot I'm getting one of those Gran Marnier Slushes. I didn't get a chance the last time my husband and I went since it was so crowded from the Food & Wine Festival (my favorite time of year.) And while we're in France....I liked the picture you posted of the t-shirt saying Vin, Pain, and Fromage (it was fromage, wasn't it?) I would totally sport that! The language nerd in me gives it a thumbs up.

Oh! I couldn't agree more with you about the poor Nemo characters getting attacked by children. I still have yet to get a shot of that area since it was built. Definitely one of those "Hey! That kid's climbing all over Nemo and kicking rocks I'm gonna do it too!" moments. Also I've heard too many parents say "Go on, get right up next to Dory! Climb up there so I can get your picture!" Grr...

Anyhoo...LOVE the report!

 

[Tiggerish]

Ditto on the Nemo "playground or photo op" angst... :fork:


Oooh, they've updated the rabbit topiary in China!! Rabbit is my Chinese zodiac "sign", and it's nice to see him standing up tall to acknowledge "our" year! Last year, and even last month, he was a rather timid, crouching Rabbit, but now he's proud! Can't wait to see him myself next weekend! :sohappy:

That artichoke/truffle oil pizza looked amazing.

Love this report, all the photos, and your commentary--isn't it amazing how much fun can be packed into even a short time at WDW?? :wave:

 

[Disneygal1]

I know...cries of disappointment from homes everywhere. Does anyone actually buy these? The beer steins I could get but the clocks? Really?

I love your TR! Very funny. Haha surprisingly, I have bought both several beer steins and a cuckoo clock from the German shop. My cuckoo clock was not a big one though, which made it easier to bring home. I do wonder if anyone buys the large clocks. Then again, I always use to think that those $15,000 Swarovski crystal castles never got sold, until a cast member told me that they sell about 10 a year!

 

[Ariel484]

Those margaritas sound delish! And thanks for posting the picture of the risotto...it looks amazing! I never noticed that on the menu before but I just may need to order that in June! :slurp:

Sorry you didn't get on Test Track...looks like you'll have to go back to the World!

 

[MillerPoppins]

So glad I'm following along!

You couldn't have asked for a more picture perfect day at Epcot. I think it's adorable how you two took hat pictures in each country, they do have some snazzy hats don't they?

I have promised myself that the next time we're at Epcot I'm getting one of those Gran Marnier Slushes. I didn't get a chance the last time my husband and I went since it was so crowded from the Food & Wine Festival (my favorite time of year.) And while we're in France....I liked the picture you posted of the t-shirt saying Vin, Pain, and Fromage (it was fromage, wasn't it?) I would totally sport that! The language nerd in me gives it a thumbs up.

Oh! I couldn't agree more with you about the poor Nemo characters getting attacked by children. I still have yet to get a shot of that area since it was built. Definitely one of those "Hey! That kid's climbing all over Nemo and kicking rocks I'm gonna do it too!" moments. Also I've heard too many parents say "Go on, get right up next to Dory! Climb up there so I can get your picture!" Grr...

Anyhoo...LOVE the report!

I'm glad I am not alone in my Nemo area frustration...it's really annoying! You absolutely must try the slushie! I promised myself I would last October when we went after hearing so much about it and it totally lives up to the expectation. I'm kinda kicking myself that I didn't get the Vin, Fromage & Pan shirt. Your language nerd = my foodie nerd. :lol: Thanks for reading!

Ditto on the Nemo "playground or photo op" angst... :fork:


Oooh, they've updated the rabbit topiary in China!! Rabbit is my Chinese zodiac "sign", and it's nice to see him standing up tall to acknowledge "our" year! Last year, and even last month, he was a rather timid, crouching Rabbit, but now he's proud! Can't wait to see him myself next weekend! :sohappy:

That artichoke/truffle oil pizza looked amazing.

Love this report, all the photos, and your commentary--isn't it amazing how much fun can be packed into even a short time at WDW?? :wave:

Thank you so much! We really did have an absolute blast for four days, it was awesome! Just wish it could have been longer! There's never enough time in WDW.

I love your TR! Very funny. Haha surprisingly, I have bought both several beer steins and a cuckoo clock from the German shop. My cuckoo clock was not a big one though, which made it easier to bring home. I do wonder if anyone buys the large clocks. Then again, I always use to think that those $15,000 Swarovski crystal castles never got sold, until a cast member told me that they sell about 10 a year!

Wow...well there you go, I'm glad I finally found someone who did! That's awesome. I used to think the same thing about the giant jade fountains they sold in the China store and the Asian rugs too. Who would come to Disney and purchase an oriental rug??? :shrug: Thanks for reading!

Those margaritas sound delish! And thanks for posting the picture of the risotto...it looks amazing! I never noticed that on the menu before but I just may need to order that in June! :slurp:

Sorry you didn't get on Test Track...looks like you'll have to go back to the World!

The risotto was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! I could eat that every day if allowed and didn't want to be the size of Heimleich. :ROFLOL: Thanks for reading!

 

[MillerPoppins]

Preach it, sister! I'm so totally with you on this one. It's rather obvious the setup wasn't designed to be a jungle gym for little ones. Poor Pearl, she always looks like she's in need of some serious TLC, no doubt due to the fact that she's never seen without a kid, or ten, crawling all over her at any given time.

I love all the sombrero hat-taking photo attempts. The hat pictures are very telling as to which side of World Showcase you started your day on.

Guacamole Margarita, please! :lol: Awesome, Jennie, simply awesome. :sohappy:

I know! The puffer fish is the only one who gets away from it because he's up highly and prickly!!! It's crazy! Yeah we got to talking about the whole "have your appetizer in your drink" idea and through that we could take it further. Such as "Buffalo Wings stacked in your beer" or "Spin Dip in White Wine". Condiments served on the side such as chips, blue cheese, etc. I probably just gave away a patented idea for a new hip restaurant in NYC!

 

[MillerPoppins]

Day 4-Zoology!

Day Four, my last day in WDW and with Jennie . This morning was our earliest wake up call yet as we wanted to get to the Studios for TSMM FP's. I mean, come on, anymore you have to right? So we were up at 7:15am to do showers and I also had to back my bag. We were taking all my stuff with me and heading straight for the airport when the park closed. I dragged my things together and off we went.

For being a former Caffeine addict, this was a lot for me to do each day before my first cup of coffee. I mentioned in the last report that there were some days where we headed into the park with no coffee. Well, we headed out each day without coffee each day! In the morning at home, I beeline to the coffee pot before anything else when I wake up. But when you are in Disney, it just seems worth the sacrifice.

So we arrived, had great parking and walked to the entrance. Overall, things didn't seem too bad.

I got through the bag check very quickly, however Jennie got stuck. While I waited, I snapped some photos.

This chick cracks me up and so does the commercial that they play for it. You go from tourist in the park to big stage star...and somehow you just managed to pack this outfit for the occasion...

Yeahhhh....Honey? Adam Lambert called..he wants his top back. (Love Adam Lambert BTW ) He'll actually pop back up later in the report...oddly enough.

So we jumped into the masses and waited for the park to open. I had a horrible thought as I was going to bed the night before though. Saturdays = EMH at 8am for Resort Guests. Last time Tim and I took part in this, the FP's for TSMM were gone by 9am when the park opened. Hopefully, this would not be the case today. Either way, it just meant more fun for us.

Finally, we started moving. Surprisingly, the cast member line was the longest. Hmm...not sure why that was but finally we got moving. As we got in, we made the obligatory race towards TSMM.

Another absolutely gorgeous day! It was a tad bit chilly this morning but who the heck cares!!! Jennie went with a tank top in an effort to get some color. I wanted some on my face as well since I was in the Sunshine State and all!

 

[MillerPoppins]

We made it to TSMM and found that FP's were available still AND they were for 12:30pm!!! WOOHOO! Not bad at all! We grabbed them and then took a wander around Pixar Place.

Love this area!

After taking a few pics, Jennie and I looked at each other and thought the very same thing...Breakfast/Coffee! So we made our way back over to Starring Rolls. Oh yeah!!

Pre-Coffee Photo...Ughhh...

And onwards. I was totally up for an iced coffee that morning. That way, the caffeine could be taken in faster then if it was hot. We had an infamous first visit to Starring Rolls last visit and tried the infamous Butterfinger Cupcake. While totally delicious, it was ridiculously sweet! A half of it was too much for me almost. This time, I was wanting to try the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake. However, Jennie isn't a cheesecake fan and I knew I couldn't tackle this beast on my own. Keith was supposed to be meeting up with us later in the day to play so my plan was to stop back. In the mean time we made our way in and I got some amazing Food ...hehehe.

There she blows!!!

 

[MillerPoppins]

Let the food keep flowing!

Ridiculous, right?

So what might you ask did we have from all this amazingness? Drum roll............DAH DAH DAH DAH.......a plain bagel. That's right, we split a plain bagel with plain cream cheese between the two of us. Pathetic, I know....

 

[mamamouse]

omg a bagel? well ure stronger than me girl cause i'd be eating everything in that place omg I mean look at all the chocolate!!!:slurp: