A September 2011 Trip Report about a trip with lots of firsts!!!

Some of the firsts include:

-Traveling in September!- my family has always gone during summer break, it was amazing to see the difference in crowds and heat!

-Flying!- It was my first time flying! EEK!

-First time dining vegan and gluten-free- other times we have went to WDW I was vegetarian and still ate dairy and eggs, so cutting that out and realizing my intolerance to wheat, I knew this trip was going to be a whole new experience!

-First time with a signature dining experience!- well, technically when we went in 2009 we went to sci-fi, but I think Kevin and I just got grilled cheese and fries... haha

-First time not worrying about money!

-First time traveling alone with my boyfriend away on vacation!

-And last, but DEFINITELY not least, first time taking it easy at Disney!!

Ok, on with the trip!!!

We left bright and early on Sept 13th, 2011! 3:30am to be exact! Fed the pups, double checked our packing lists to make sure we had everything, did mah hairzz, and headed off to the airport in Buffalo! We got to the gate while it was boarding because I forgot my video camera in the car at first and had to go all the way back, probably not the best idea, but I needed my camera!

excited for Disney..
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..apparently terrified for flying
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Kevin likes flying though!
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"When do we get to that!?"- (Kevin easing my nerves...) hahaha
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Flying JetBlue was great! For some reason since it was such a small plane it made me less nervous. Maybe because it wasn't full of the stressed out people you see in the movies. And the airport itself was small, too. According to Kevin it was less hussle and bussle and also less confusing compared to Boston.

So, we landed early. The pilot said it was due to shortcuts. I'm pretty sure we were in the sky so I'm not sure what shortcuts you can take hahaha.

Around 10am we got on the Magical Express!! This was a first also!

Kevin was so excited that he tried snapping tons of pictures on the way to the resort.

"How come every time I try to take a picture of palm trees there's always a pole in it?"
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And this sign always gets me everytime, but my eyes were closed and I almost missed it!

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME WE WERE ABOUT TO GO THROUGH THE SIGN!!"
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We got to All Star Music!!!!!! We chose the resort for a few reasons. We wanted our trip to be care-free and we decided we weren't going to worry about money while in WDW, so we decided to budget in other ways here and there. Our way of doing that was booking in March during the 20% offer at the cheapest resort! We booked a preferred room though, we ALWAYS go with the preferred rooms. Another reason is because we have stayed here before as well as the other 2 All-Stars, we liked this one the best. We didn't ever go for the free dining option because we knew it wouldn't even be worth it. We never did before, and knew we would't spend as much as we saved with the 20% off.

So our room was ready right away! Surprise! We got a couple snacks and headed to drop off a couple things in the room.

I got BBQ chips. The ingredients were animal product free (as long as you don't mind refined sugar) and it said "gluten free" on the package!
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Kevin got NutterButters, despite the name they are accidentally vegan! (again if you don't count the refined sugar!) I don't have a picture of the package (even though I tried to photograph everything we ate for future reference, but I never thought to get a picture of these even though Kevin got a package everyday).

I guess this would be a good time to say this- Kevin and I do NOT eat like this at home! The last time I had potato chips before this trip was MONTHS ago. I even drank some soda while in Disney. I haven't had soda since probably the last time I went to Disney 2 years ago, and even then I don't think I had any. We eat mostly fruit and some veggies at home, so you can imagine that this food kind of brought us a down a few hours after eating it and we had to change our eating habits a bit because the mid-day naps were becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity! All that fat was taking a toll! Not to say we stopped eating like that, just cut back and added more and more fruit and salads each day..

So back to the hotel! I got really excited

"TAKE A PICTURE!!!!!"
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We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom right away!!!! It's been a tradition to visit MK first. We like to sit in the seat they have on some buses that's directly behind the driver, and this bus had that seat so this ended up being our view:
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Are we there yet!? Can you see the castle!?!?
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flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
AWESOME pictures!!!

Sorry but I just scanned through it so far. I am Trip Report exhausted from working on mine all freaking day.

You guys look like you had a SUPER fun time doing anything you guys got a picture of. Look forward to seeing more....Miss Gaga sorry...I had too...but not just the makeup or clothes...you actually do look like her.

I will have to start reading yours!!!!

Miss Gaga you say? I seem to be getting that a lot lately! Maybe I should become a fan of hers! hahaha
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
I will have to start reading yours!!!!

Miss Gaga you say? I seem to be getting that a lot lately! Maybe I should become a fan of hers! hahaha

A fan of hers? Naaahhhh. Fan of her music? Yeah. She makes good music but she is a person is full of ish.

She hates fame and all that but she wears meat suits out in public...She also said she wrote Edge Of Glory about her grandfather...How the hell can that be about her grandfather when it's pretty much about hooking up with a dude? She CAN sing and put on a show though.
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Way too serious a conversation for a TR though!

You are like me on the airplane...The idiot who hates flying but sits by the window...lol
 
Hi I just read your whole trip report. I am super excited now for our trip next week and can hardly sit still here at work. Have you been told you look a lot like Lady Gaga??? I bet you have...So cute!!!Anyway thank you very much for all the info. I hope it won't be crowed there next week, we have tons and tons of plans. Take care ok. :wave::sohappy:
 
Love your TR. It looks like you both had such a great time. I can't wait to read more. I leave for a vaca. with my full family (first ever) on Saturday and I can't wait.

The tiara is great. I got one for this trip so my niece and I could match. Thanks for posting!
 

Disneygal1

Well-Known Member
AMAZING trip report. I am hooked! You two are such a cute couple. I love how you hold each others hands on the rides, so cute. I also will add that I am surprised that Disney has so many vegan options. I never noticed that before. Anyway, keep up with the great report!:wave:
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
Way too serious a conversation for a TR though!

You are like me on the airplane...The idiot who hates flying but sits by the window...lol

haha I know! I wasn't sure if it would make me feel better about flying or even more scared!!


Hi I just read your whole trip report. I am super excited now for our trip next week and can hardly sit still here at work. Have you been told you look a lot like Lady Gaga??? I bet you have...So cute!!!Anyway thank you very much for all the info. I hope it won't be crowed there next week, we have tons and tons of plans. Take care ok. :wave::sohappy:

I have been told! haha I'm glad you are so excited!!! Reading all the other TRs on here got me excited for my trip too!!!

Love your TR. It looks like you both had such a great time. I can't wait to read more. I leave for a vaca. with my full family (first ever) on Saturday and I can't wait.

The tiara is great. I got one for this trip so my niece and I could match. Thanks for posting!

Aww I keep saying I want to bring my 2 year old cousin sometime and buy here a ton of princess stuff too!!!!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
We knew it was about time for us to head back to get ready for our dinner reservations (aka take a quick nap). Tonight was Boma!!!

On the way out we stopped to admire this little seating area. We had to take a detour to get to it because of the parade, otherwise I'm not sure we would have ever seen it in the first place!

hoot hoot
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oh noooo!
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raaa!!
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then over the railing we caught this guy bathing. Watching the birds at the farm do this is one of our favorite things!
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Then we decided it was REALLY time to go!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
We went back and I THINK we took a nap at this point. Not sure though, our trip was full of naps though. Then we got in line for the bus for Hollywood Studios.

Handsome!
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We checked in and the man noticed we had allergies and assured us that our waiter would get a chef when we were seated.

What a great restaurant!
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I asked Kevin to take a picture of the buzzer so I could use it for the scrapbook, but he took a picture of the entire area that I was holding the buzzer in. We thought the miscommunication was funny. I was like, "Why would I want a stupid picture of that!? hahaha!"
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the waiting area looking on the restaurant. The buffet is on the left.
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another view of BOMA
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LOVE the way this is painted!
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the princess patiently waiting for her royal table to be ready!
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flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
We were buzzed and went to the counter. We were seated and EXCITED! Our waiter came over promptly and said he would get a chef.

Waiting for the chef we took some excited pictures
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Allison came over and took us around the buffet. I will post pictures of the food labels so you can see the names of the foods that are ok for vegans and celiacs, but I need to edit those first, so for now, here are our full plates.

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This was a lentil salad that had feta cheese. When Allison pointed it out, she said, "I'll make you a version without cheese." It was AMAZING!
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She also pointed out that all the bread was wheat, so she went in the back and made me these. They were AMAZING with the 3 different hummuses!!!
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and of course, no fancy dinner is complete for us without my favorite drink, a pina colada (not very African I assume), but this one was DELICIOUS!
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I'm happy to say that a majority of the things in the buffet happened to be vegetarian, and the only things that weren't vegan were because they were made with butter, with the exception of that lentil salad with cheese. Other than that there only seemed to be one entree with chicken and one table where they were carving meats (it was sad to see such long lines there since it seemed like people were eating at an expensive signature restaurant filled with tastes of Africa only to get meat and potatoes. SERIOUSLY soooo many people had very monotone plates with just that, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't "African" style meats. TRY SOMETHING NEEEEWWWW!!!!") Oh well, I shouldn't concern myself with other's choices, to each his own!

But back to options. Of the vegan options I think maybe 4-5 weren't celiac friendly. I'll get into more detail later, but it was either because it was couscous, or one dish was made with soy sauce, or it was the bread and pitas. Other than that I would say EAT HERE! Even if you love your meat, don't be turned off! It has amazing atmosphere, great disney service, and new flavors that your taste buds with tingle at!! Plus buffets in general are great, if you don't like something, just get up and get something else!!!!!

More to come on Boma!!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
AMAZING trip report. I am hooked! You two are such a cute couple. I love how you hold each others hands on the rides, so cute. I also will add that I am surprised that Disney has so many vegan options. I never noticed that before. Anyway, keep up with the great report!:wave:

THANK YOU!!!
and yes I was really worried when booking the trip at first. I think the only park I got frustrated at was Epcot. They had vegan options, but it was hard to find gluten-free as well, unless I wanted a salad. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough though!
 
Love your trip report! Thank you so much for chronicling the vegan and vegetarian options - my husband and I keep mostly vegetarian diets for health reasons, and it's great to know that there are foods that we'll be able to eat while in WDW :)

Also, I am incredibly jealous that you were able to get a cone with your tofutti in MK. Every time I ask for a cone with my toffuti, they forget it in the bustle of the "anti allergen" lock down they have to go into the serve the tofutti. Or look at me like I have 3 heads and will drop dead if they give me some sort of normal ice cream accessory. I miss getting to eat ice cream on a nice crisp sugar cone :(
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
Love your trip report! Thank you so much for chronicling the vegan and vegetarian options - my husband and I keep mostly vegetarian diets for health reasons, and it's great to know that there are foods that we'll be able to eat while in WDW :)

Also, I am incredibly jealous that you were able to get a cone with your tofutti in MK. Every time I ask for a cone with my toffuti, they forget it in the bustle of the "anti allergen" lock down they have to go into the serve the tofutti. Or look at me like I have 3 heads and will drop dead if they give me some sort of normal ice cream accessory. I miss getting to eat ice cream on a nice crisp sugar cone :(

hahaha I like the "anti allergen lock down" comment!!!!!!!!! Yeah i don't know how we got a cone!! Kevin didn't end up eating it though, JUST IN CASE!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
Kevin anticipating diving into some delicious delights!
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These are the only 2 pictures we really took of the food actually IN the buffet, and unfortunately it was just of fruit and salad stuff (I feel like that's the cliche thing for vegans to eat, even though we eat such a variety of food!!)
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light fixtures or scary African monster?
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"Take a picture of the Mickey chairs" (and me making a stupid face)
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drink menu FANCY
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and our waiter took a picture of us!
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Allison made us some Tofutti ice cream with berries!
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So here is a collection of the pictures Kevin took of some of the signs at the buffet. All were vegan, most gluten free. We didn't take a picture of all the foods we could have, (like fruits and the salad bar) but you get the idea!
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I HIGHLY recommend the Chakalaka!!! I got 3 plates of it on top of the Basmati Rice even though I couldn't fit anymore!!! Kevin tried it on the Peanut Rice (which I couldn't have because of soy sauce) and he liked that, too. There was also another hummus that I didn't include a picture of, but the sundried tomato hummus was to DIE for. Especially with those chips Allison made for me! (And remember that the Lentil salad has cheese, but she made it for us special without.)

All in all we thought Boma was WELL worth the price and plan on eating there again next time!!!
 

WDW_Princess24

Active Member
I'm back on board!!! See, I told ya! So glad you guys enjoyed Boma. We went to Sanaa for the first time last week and fell in love with it, and with the AK lodge!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
I'm back on board!!! See, I told ya! So glad you guys enjoyed Boma. We went to Sanaa for the first time last week and fell in love with it, and with the AK lodge!

hahaha I believed in you!! I HAVE to try Sanaa!!! I wanted so badly to stay at AK Lodge after seeing it at dinner. Did you stay there?
 

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
Loving your TR! Also, thanks for sharing a link to Farm Sanctuary. I'm not far from you at all, and I am embarrassed to say I didn't know that we had such a wonderful facility so close to us!

I'm strongly considering going vegetarian, so I appreciate you sharing your meals and perspective. Great job!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
Loving your TR! Also, thanks for sharing a link to Farm Sanctuary. I'm not far from you at all, and I am embarrassed to say I didn't know that we had such a wonderful facility so close to us!

I'm strongly considering going vegetarian, so I appreciate you sharing your meals and perspective. Great job!

Come visit before the end of October and take a tour!!! You'll learn a lot about the animals we care for and factory farming, and you can hang back and ask someone in the "People Barn" more information about going veg! Everyone who works here is very friendly and happy to educate. Plus you get to hang out with, pet, and interact with cute animals (and they are great ambassadors for the reasons to go veg!) There are also helpful resources in the gift shop! It'll help get you more informed on whether or not you want to go vegetarian!
Ask for Kevin or Angie while you're here and come visit us!!
 

flipadeeflop

Active Member
Original Poster
After dinner we were getting sleepy, but still wanted to hang out and take pictures around the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I think we secretly wanted to pretend we were guests staying there, since it would have been our first choice if we had the money.

the pool. We were quite envious!
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Kevin took a great long exposure of the flamingos. Figures it was the first time he forgot to bring his tripod (he got a gorilla pod right before he left), but he used the fence post to steady the camera anyway.
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the grand entrance
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haaaiiiii
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All-Star Music doesn't have this!!
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"TAKE A PICTURE OF THE HEN!!"
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We headed back to the hotel shortly after and slept the night away.
 

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