Trip Report A trip that never was - And always will be

My emotional state towards writing this trip report is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. How so, @wdisney9000 , you may ask? Well, many trip reports begin with people explaining how sad they are to be home and no longer in Disney World. I have had the old "Disney blues" many times myself. It is a gut wrenching feeling. But...not this time. I am not going through that emotional roller coaster of reminding myself that 48 hours ago, at this time of day, I was walking into Epcot heading towards Soarin'. I am glad to be home and leaving Disney World was not difficult nor sad, but not because it was a bad trip or because Disney World is getting old,.... No, no, no. It was one of the best family trips I have ever had, which would make one think that leaving would be even more depressing, yet it wasnt.

We have all experienced that sadness that begins to creep in the last day of your trip. You wake up excited to get to the parks but you are quickly reminded that when you wake up the next morning it will be time to take the walk of shame through the lobby with your luggage and your forced to see cars pulling up and families hop out whose trip is just beginning. You think to yourself, "that was ME just a week ago!!!:bawling::bawling::bawling:!!!!!" But in a strange twist of fate, that did not happen when we checked out. I was actually excited for the families whose Disney journey was just beginning. Normally I would want to smack that ear to ear smile right off their faces so they would be in pain like me. But nope. Not this time. I will explain why in just a bit. But I digress....lets get to the report already, shall we?

My parents decided it best to pick me up around 5 a.m. This would put us in Orlando around noon and we had an ADR for Biergarten at 2:55. I was up at 4:00 am and awaiting their arrival.

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Here is me at 4:55 waiting on the patio. I called my sister as I waited and they were just hitting the road as well. Keep in mind, my father still had no idea they were coming. My parents arrived at 5 and we were off!

We cruised though the city and had good traffic for most of the ride. Aside from my mom having to stop and pee every hour, we were making great time. Even saw some hot air balloons on the way which reminded me of soarin.

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There were about 10 hot air balloons, but this was the photo I got, lol.

I was texting my sister every hour or so to see where they were at and surprisingly we were only about 30 miles ahead of them.

Soon we were in Florida. As we passed all the anti-abortion signs it sparked a small debate on the subject which led to several other small debates, (remember, my father is a lawyer so debating/arguing is what he lives for). It helped pass the time and before we knew it we were pulling up to the toll booth. I texted my sister as we waited to pull up and she tells me they are at the toll booth as well!!!!! I look to my right and there they are.....right next to us!!!! What are the chances? --- We had rented a car, so had my sister, so luckily my dad didnt notice them, but still, we got a little nervous. I will NEVER forget the look on my brother in laws face, who was driving. It was a look of sheer helplessness, lol. We got through first and they slowed down to give us the lead. It was the first of many tense moments to keep it a secret that they were joining us.

Fast forward an hour or so aaaaaaaaand........

BINGO!

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We got to AKL around 12 (noon) and checked in, but the room was not ready.

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Such a great lobby and the smell wafting up from Boma makes it even better when you first walk in.

The CM noticed we had three separate DVC reservations. I explained we had to make 3 separate ones since not all days we available when we first booked so we added the days when they became available. He told he would link the three together so we would not have to change rooms. I thanked him, and then we cleaned up a bit and headed to Epcot for our Biergarten ADR.

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Mom and Dad at the bus stop.

On the bus ride to Epcot my dad started talking about the grand kids and how much fun they would have if they were there. He had even called my sister called my sister a few days before we left and offered to bring them and even pay for them but my sister told them the boys had Lacrosse camp and it was non refundable, (good one, sis!). He stared telling stories of all the memories of prior trips with the young ones. As my dad as deep in thought during his story telling, my mom gave me a quick look with a grin as if to say, "we got him right where we want him", and I slightly nodded back to confirm.

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We arrived at Epcot and there was a light sprinkle of rain which really cooled of the air. IT felt great outside.

Remember in my introduction of the TR when I said I wasnt sad to leave WDW? Well, thats because I did something I havent done in nearly three years. I picked up one of these little beauties ..........

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Yippie!!!!!!! Now I can return often which makes me not sad. Im sure some (or most of you) already figured this out when I said I wasnt sad to leave, lol. Now I can live that @Tuvalu life !!!


It felt like Christmas morning as the CM scanned my band and then proceeded to hand me the pass. Now all I need was a frosty cold one in my hand!!!!

But first...a picture with my old friend...

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I was able to move up the time on reservation at Biergarten so we only had about 20 minutes before it was a time to eat. I stopped off in Karamell-Kuche to tease @sheriffwoody and ser her a few photos of where I was.

Soon it was time to eat, and I had my had 1 liter hefeweizen in hand, cheers @lostpro9het !

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to be continued.........











 

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MinnieM123

Premium Member
Somehow she accidentally sends one to a group text with her, my mom, and MY DAD!!! But we got lucky... again. I have joked in my previous TR's of my sisters horrible choices for taking Disney pics and you can hardy tell they are at Disney

Luckily, this was one of those and it just showed the kids sitting down with ice cream outside the pool area. My dad said, "where are they" when he looked at the picture. My mom quickly came up with some response about my sister telling her about some new ice cream shop she was gonna take the kids. My dad then commented, "they are in bathing suits"

Without even thinking, I blurted out, "we are meeting up with my sister eventually". Yeah..., I am a complete idiot.

Words just can't express . . . :hilarious: :hilarious: :hilarious:
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Day 1 continued....

We left Everest and headed for Pandora! You will have to forgive my lack of photos as we just wanted to soak it all in for the first time and most everybody has seen a bazillion photos of Pandora anyway. But dont worry, I got tons of of other pictures for the several other times we returned.

As we strolled down the pathway leading to Pandora t was hard to quiet my mind as it was racing all over the place. Would it be as good as the pictures look? Would the land and attractions be worthy of the wait? Would I be able to once again experience that feeling of awe and amazement that I know Disney is capable of producing? But most importantly....Would there be beer???????

As we passed Tiffins and crossed over the bridge we could see the ground start glow beneath our feet. It was dark and the bridge was crowded. As we weaved through the large groups of people who seemed to think that standing directly in the middle of the path and spreading out was a good idea, the path suddenly opened and in the blink of an eye, all my concerns about being completely blown away were gone as I gazed upon the absolute beauty of Pandora!!! I am not joking when I say that it seriously takes your breath away. Day or night. It is AWESOME!!!!

This is where I would insert a picture.....If I had gotten one, but i did not, which I am glad for. My mother, father and I just took a brief moment to behold the amazing land before us. No cameras, no videos, no social media...just a brief moment in time at my favorite place with my parents that I will always remember.

My mother has become somewhat of a doom and gloomer (like myself) over the years with all the skyrocketing prices and the occasional cheap offerings, but in this moment, as we stood there admiring what Disney had created, she looked at me and slowly nodded her head and said, "this is how you do it!" I 100% agree. It felt as if time had stood still for us as we enjoyed the moment, then...in an instant...I felt a stroller slam into my foot and was bumped into by someone trying to get by.....but I did not care. I felt no pain in my ankle from the double wide stroller collision. I brushed off the person bumping into me as my heart was filled with excitement to go explore this new land!

We had a FP+ for FoP in about 15 minutes so we some spare time to look around. Most of it was spent at the waterfall area. It is just too amazing not too look at. Again, no pics. Sorry, not sorry. Soon it was time to ride some banshees!!!

Even the FP queue for FoP is cool. Nowhere near as much to see as the standby line but the attention to detail is awesome. We made our way into the pre-show.

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The pre-show has few odd moments and the scientist seems like he took 3 Ambien and a Xanax before filming. Not sure if they were going for a laid back vibe with his role, but it definitely came off as weird (IMO).

I wont spoil any of the ride, but i will say this. As we exited, I could NOT STOP SMILING!!! I had read (non spoiler) reviews of some people not enjoying it. I cant see how a person could NOT enjoy that ride unless they really tried hard to not like it. Mom, dad and I were gushing over it. The conversation went something like this ( I used ... to keep it spoiler free) "Oh my god, that part where you.....!!!!", "and then the part when you...!!!" "and did you see the.....!!!!" My dad was talking about how much the kids, (grand kids) would love it. My mom and I quickly shared another grin/head nod.

We headed to the River Journey and standby was not long since it was late (appx 1145) so we hopped on. It said 35 minutes but we only waited about 20. Again, another awesome queue. They even have a (themed) water fountain in the middle of the queue. The ride was what we expected. A very relaxing boat ride with TONS of visuals. We very much enjoyed it. And yes, the AA at the end is mindblowingly impressive.

By now it was late, we were tired, a little hungry and ready to relax. We caught the bus back home and my mom headed up to the room as my dad and I began what became a nightly tradition for our entire stay (yes, every night).

We hit the Mara (food court at AKL) in hopes they would be open, let alone have something hot to eat. To our surprise, the Mara stays open until 1:30 am! They have cold sandwiches and other fridge items, and whatever is left in the bakery display form the day,...but as we asked the manager if there was anything hot, he told us they serve the flat bread pizza up until closing. Yes!!!!! We both ordered the chicken flat bread pizza and took it up to the room to eat with balcony door open. The pizza was soooooo good and that is what became our nightly tradition. Again, no pics, we were way to hungry, lol.

That wraps up day one. Day two is where the fun begins and I will get to the story of my dads surprise, and in true @wdisney9000 fashion, nothing went as smooth as planned , but we pulled it off! Ill definitely get it started today after I finish with the pups. Its raining here in Atlanta which usually shortens the training day, plus its Saturday so its only half day of training anyway.

If anybody would like to follow my dog training account for daily stories.pics of dogs, training and puppy shenanigans, my Instagram is: Akira The Dutch . It is 90% dogs with random Disney references and pics thrown in. Thanks for following along and I promise, the rest of the trip was extremely well documented and if your wondering where the pics of beer are.....ohhhhh, just you wait. I have not yet begun to defile myself!!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Day 1 continued....

We left Everest and headed for Pandora! You will have to forgive my lack of photos as we just wanted to soak it all in for the first time and most everybody has seen a bazillion photos of Pandora anyway. But dont worry, I got tons of of other pictures for the several other times we returned.

As we strolled down the pathway leading to Pandora t was hard to quiet my mind as it was racing all over the place. Would it be as good as the pictures look? Would the land and attractions be worthy of the wait? Would I be able to once again experience that feeling of awe and amazement that I know Disney is capable of producing? But most importantly....Would there be beer???????

As we passed Tiffins and crossed over the bridge we could see the ground start glow beneath our feet. It was dark and the bridge was crowded. As we weaved through the large groups of people who seemed to think that standing directly in the middle of the path and spreading out was a good idea, the path suddenly opened and in the blink of an eye, all my concerns about being completely blown away were gone as I gazed upon the absolute beauty of Pandora!!! I am not joking when I say that it seriously takes your breath away. Day or night. It is AWESOME!!!!

This is where I would insert a picture.....If I had gotten one, but i did not, which I am glad for. My mother, father and I just took a brief moment to behold the amazing land before us. No cameras, no videos, no social media...just a brief moment in time at my favorite place with my parents that I will always remember.

My mother has become somewhat of a doom and gloomer (like myself) over the years with all the skyrocketing prices and the occasional cheap offerings, but in this moment, as we stood there admiring what Disney had created, she looked at me and slowly nodded her head and said, "this is how you do it!" I 100% agree. It felt as if time had stood still for us as we enjoyed the moment, then...in an instant...I felt a stroller slam into my foot and was bumped into by someone trying to get by.....but I did not care. I felt no pain in my ankle from the double wide stroller collision. I brushed off the person bumping into me as my heart was filled with excitement to go explore this new land!

We had a FP+ for FoP in about 15 minutes so we some spare time to look around. Most of it was spent at the waterfall area. It is just too amazing not too look at. Again, no pics. Sorry, not sorry. Soon it was time to ride some banshees!!!

Even the FP queue for FoP is cool. Nowhere near as much to see as the standby line but the attention to detail is awesome. We made our way into the pre-show.

View attachment 211854

View attachment 211855

The pre-show has few odd moments and the scientist seems like he took 3 Ambien and a Xanax before filming. Not sure if they were going for a laid back vibe with his role, but it definitely came off as weird (IMO).

I wont spoil any of the ride, but i will say this. As we exited, I could NOT STOP SMILING!!! I had read (non spoiler) reviews of some people not enjoying it. I cant see how a person could NOT enjoy that ride unless they really tried hard to not like it. Mom, dad and I were gushing over it. The conversation went something like this ( I used ... to keep it spoiler free) "Oh my god, that part where you.....!!!!", "and then the part when you...!!!" "and did you see the.....!!!!" My dad was talking about how much the kids, (grand kids) would love it. My mom and I quickly shared another grin/head nod.

We headed to the River Journey and standby was not long since it was late (appx 1145) so we hopped on. It said 35 minutes but we only waited about 20. Again, another awesome queue. They even have a (themed) water fountain in the middle of the queue. The ride was what we expected. A very relaxing boat ride with TONS of visuals. We very much enjoyed it. And yes, the AA at the end is mindblowingly impressive.

By now it was late, we were tired, a little hungry and ready to relax. We caught the bus back home and my mom headed up to the room as my dad and I began what became a nightly tradition for our entire stay (yes, every night).

We hit the Mara (food court at AKL) in hopes they would be open, let alone have something hot to eat. To our surprise, the Mara stays open until 1:30 am! They have cold sandwiches and other fridge items, and whatever is left in the bakery display form the day,...but as we asked the manager if there was anything hot, he told us they serve the flat bread pizza up until closing. Yes!!!!! We both ordered the chicken flat bread pizza and took it up to the room to eat with balcony door open. The pizza was soooooo good and that is what became our nightly tradition. Again, no pics, we were way to hungry, lol.

That wraps up day one. Day two is where the fun begins and I will get to the story of my dads surprise, and in true @wdisney9000 fashion, nothing went as smooth as planned , but we pulled it off! Ill definitely get it started today after I finish with the pups. Its raining here in Atlanta which usually shortens the training day, plus its Saturday so its only half day of training anyway.

If anybody would like to follow my dog training account for daily stories.pics of dogs, training and puppy shenanigans, my Instagram is: Akira The Dutch . It is 90% dogs with random Disney references and pics thrown in. Thanks for following along and I promise, the rest of the trip was extremely well documented and if your wondering where the pics of beer are.....ohhhhh, just you wait. I have not yet begun to defile myself!!

Great update - getting me even more excited especially about Pandora!

I was just about to ask about the beer...

Following you on Insta (cdikos9).
 

SSH

Well-Known Member
The pre-show has few odd moments and the scientist seems like he took 3 Ambien and a Xanax before filming. Not sure if they were going for a laid back vibe with his role, but it definitely came off as weird (IMO).

:hilarious: :hilarious:We thought the same thing. What is up with that? I also said at the time that they were probably going for laid back, but it really seemed like strange casting. Awesome, amazing attraction, but pre-show was a bit of a head scratcher.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
This is exciting that you really liked Pandora. You have an eye for quality, so this news is very impressive. I also like how you held off with photos, as you just wanted to soak in the atmosphere. Now THAT is what (most of us) have been missing for some time at WDW. Sounds like they finally got their act together with this new land. I'm psyched!

As for The Mara--that is, in my opinion, the best QS restaurant in any of the Disney-owned/operated hotels at WDW.

(Never used Instagram before--I tend to avoid most social media. However, I might try to check it out to see if I can see some of the dogs you're training, and also any updates on Akira's latest escapades!)
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Day two....

I slept like a baby on the pull out sofa, as my parents had the bed. We had the ADR for Cape May Cafe at 10:20 which is where we would surprise my dad. My sisters ADR was for 9:45 so they could arrive first and be ready. We were up and heading out the door around 9:45. Mom was panicking that we would not make it on time since we had to switch buses to get to BC. I whipped out my phone, requested an Uber, and within 2 minutes the driver was arriving at the valet station!

We had a very sweet young lady drive us to Beach Club. It took appx ten minutes and the cost was $7.92, and we tipped her a few bucks as well. I highly recommend using Uber if you need to get somewhere quick or just want to avoid the bus. Using Uber from the resorts is great. Not so much if your leaving a park. The drivers cant pull up to the entrance of the park.

We arrived at BC and I took a moment to take a deeeeeeeep breathe of the amazing smell of the lobby. Its almost as good as the lobby in Yacht Club...almost. lol. Remember being young and inhaling the fruity scented markers at school? Thats kinda the method I use to take in the smell of the lobby, lol. If you never partook in fruity marker sniffing as a child, you missed out, but you also probly have waaaaay more brain cells left than I do:eek:o_O.

My sister had text me to let me know they were seated and ready. Mom, dad and I lined up at the podium. It was pretty busy with the morning breakfast rush. My sister calls me to see where we are and I tell her we are at he podium at the front. She gasps and then tells me that they are seated directly to the right of the entrance in the dining room and my niece is at the buffet getting food and will need to walk DIRECTLY passed the podium to get back into the dining room. Mind you, my dad is standing DIRECTLY next to the podium. I walk into the main area and see my niece hiding behind the pillar (which is about 15 feet from where my dad is standing). I see my sister on the inside wall of the dining room giving my niece hand signals to stay still. My poor little niece looked like a deer in headlights as she stood their clutching her plate of food and crouching behind the pillar.

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I am standing directly between them to shield my dad from seeing her. My niece is looking at me like, "what do i do??!!!!" I quietly mouthed "STAY STILL". I still had the phone to my ear so i turned and my dad was chatting with my mom so I told my niece to go for it and I sort of side stepped in front of her just in case. My niece quickly rushed into the dining room and i turned around to see if we made it. We did! But my dad asks me, "what the heck are you doing?" I just said I was trying to see the buffet.

The waitress that had seated my sister knew the plan and came over to me to let me know she would seat us in a moment. So as we walk in she stops my dad and we explain that he gets to choose a "special character" since its his birthday and he was asked if he would prefer a villain or a princess. He looked a little puzzled and she explained it was a "new" offering at Cape May. He said he wanted a princess. She said, "great" , right this way and proceeded to lead us into the dining area on the immediate right when you enter My dad asked if we could sit in the main area because he likes it better out there. The waitress was great though, she explained he would like the private area more. My dad said he would rather be in the main area, so she told him, "just come in here for a sec, I wanna show you something". you can hear her telling him in the video. So he agreed and we entered. Here is thefootage from my sisters phone...



I love watching this because my dad sees them and does a double take real quick, the they yell surprise. It was great.

Here is the footage I got.



It did not go exactly as planned because we wanted my niece to jump out first, but it all happened so quickly that we just went with it so it wasnt botched up. As we sat down he told us he no clue whatsoever. Even with all the close calls from the day prior, he didnt think anything of it. He was very happy to see the grandkids and was all smiles. He. said it was the best surprise he had in a long time.

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Now it was time to eat!!!!!!

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To be continued.....





 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
I remember those markers @wdisney9000 . Thinking of them also made me nostalgic for the rubber cement. You know the one in the brown jar with a brush attached to the lid. Ahhhh I loved the 80's.
Ha I remember those and how about the brand new mimeographed papers? I can still remember the smell of the ink. :D

I love your TR! So fun! You are really bad at keeping secrets though. My now 6 year old kept a secret surprise birthday trip for her sister for 4 months!! :)
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
I laughed about how you said you just wanted to "see the buffet" when questioned by your father. :p

Congratulations on pulling off the big surprise for you dad's birthday!! Truly, I am stunned that you all managed to keep it a secret right up to the end. :hilarious:

So happy to see that he was pleased with the festivities and VIP family guests for his party! :happy:
 

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