Trip Report A Very Merry and very expensive 50th Birthday Celebration

Who: Brian and I
When: November 12-19
Where: Pop Century and Cabana Bay
Why: My 50th Birthday

Hello again everyone! My husband and I were able to make it back to Orlando again this year to celebrate my 50th birthday. I have to be honest I was not looking forward to turning 50 this year so a figured spending some time in the sun at 2 of my favourite places would help make it a lot more magical .



Our flight left at 2pm and we had a connection to catch in Ottawa. Due to the weather our flight from our home to Ottawa came in a bit late so it was a race to get to customs. When we got there they would not let us through because our luggage had not been transferred yet. I think I've mentioned before that I have really bad anxiety so I had a panic attack in the airport. It was embarrassing but I cannot control it and it can be quite scary. I was shaking and couldn't catch my breathe and trying hard to keep it together. Luckily for me Brian was able to get someone to help us with the luggage situation and they finally let us on the plane. The airline ended up holding the plane for all of the passengers that were running late so thank goodness for small miracles.

The good news is when we were at the airport in our hometown I saw someone who knows me from my job and she works for the airline we flew with so she had our tickets upgraded to 1st class on both flights! What a wonderful surprise that was for both of us.

Sunset

Menu for 1st class


We played it safe and we both got the cheese and fruit tray and I got a margarita because I really needed it .


We arrived in Orlando at 7:20pm and this is the next picture we took almost 2 hours later...


We quickly checked in, dropped off our luggage and hopped on a bus to Disney Springs to get a late dinner at Polite Pig.


After a delicious meal we did a little shopping until 11pm and then it was time to head back to Pop to unpack and get some sleep.
We really wanted these 2 decorations but they definitely would not fit in our luggage .

 

[k8einwdw]

Can’t wait to hear about your trip!

 

[erstwo]

Happy belated birthday! I was trying to tell if your menu was Delta/ Air France - because the same thing happened to me in Toronto on my way back from overseas! (I was in customs but my luggage was still on my last plane and I wasn’t allowed to go through!) I begged to be let through. Said I didn’t even want my luggage back - I just wanted to get home (it was a looong business trip)
My story didn’t end as well - ended up stuck overnight, no luggage. Home the following afternoon.
Excited to hear about your trip.

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Looking forward to your adventures this trip!

 

[Beastly74]

Can’t wait to hear about your trip!

Thank you for following .

Happy belated birthday! I was trying to tell if your menu was Delta/ Air France - because the same thing happened to me in Toronto on my way back from overseas! (I was in customs but my luggage was still on my last plane and I wasn’t allowed to go through!) I begged to be let through. Said I didn’t even want my luggage back - I just wanted to get home (it was a looong business trip)
My story didn’t end as well - ended up stuck overnight, no luggage. Home the following afternoon.
Excited to hear about your trip.

I am sorry to hear about that happening to you . It was very stressful but in my situation I would rather it happen on the way home then the start of our vacation lol. We really lucked out that the airline was willing to help us. The guy that wouldn't let us through was not happy as he kept telling the agent if our luggage doesn't make it then that is on them and it would NOT be his fault. There was another gentleman in the same situation and he was upset because he had a big meeting to attend in Orlando. We all agreed that we did not give a you-know-what if our luggage did not make it to it's destination. The airline we flew with is called Porter and it was our 1st time flying with them. I do not blame them for what happened as the weather was the biggest issue.

Looking forward to your adventures this trip!

Thank you! Happy to share our trip with everyone as it helps keep the magic alive a bit longer .

 

[Beastly74]

Continuing our walk back to the bus...



Love all the Christmas decorations .

We ended up waiting quite a long time for a bus and when we finally got back Brian went out to take some pictures around the resort and I stayed behind to do some unpacking.

We took this picture from the bus.





Brian sent the next picture to one of his friends and said "I don't think we are in Canada any more!" lol



Our room was near Roger Rabbit. Unfortunately it was a bit of a walk from the lobby and the Skyliner and our view was of a parking lot and a few trees. I guess that is what you get when you book a standard room. I was trying to cut costs this year because of the exchange rate so we only did a 3 night/2 park days and no park-hopper. We also did not buy photopass for the 1st time because I could not justify the cost for only 2 full days. But I was just excited to be back for our 7th trip to Disney World

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm following! And Happy Birthday!

 

[Beastly74]

I'm following! And Happy Birthday!

Thank you for following and for the birthday wishes .

 

[Beastly74]

I had a shorter work day today as it was a personal development day. I work for a day care and ECE's are required to do 10 hours of PD time a year. Some of it we do on our own time and some of it we do as a group. It was nice to get up this Monday morning knowing I had a short day .

Wednesday, Nov 13

I got up at 6:30am and started getting ready and Brian followed shortly after. At 7 I stopped to get a VQ for Guardians and then we were out the door by 7:20. The line-up for the skyliner was already long but it moved fast so we made it to early opening at Epcot.

It was a beautiful morning.


We rope dropped Remy's with about 3/4 of the early risers so it ended up being a longer wait than expected (longer than it was last year) but the wait remained high the rest of the day.





Epcot had already been fully opened for about 20 minutes by the time we finished the ride so we decided to walk around World Showcase and take some pictures as it was quite empty.





In my last trip report I had mentioned that I was making an effort to live in the moment instead of just rushing around. I tried hard to do that this trip too but when you only have 2 full days it can be a challenge for someone like me .

 

[Beastly74]

I forgot to say that we have a new addition to our family. Last year I mentioned in my trip report that we had lost one of our cats to kidney failure and our little girl cat was diagnosed with cancer 6 months later. In April of this year Brian got a phone call about a puppy that was still available and at the time Rin, our female cat, was still with us so we were very hesitant. However, it worked out and they got along fine (although we always supervised them together). I am very glad we made the decision as our house would have felt so empty. I have not been able to adopt another cat yet but in time I will be ready.

Meet Jax! He is 10 months old now.






He is definitely a daddy's boy .

 

[Beastly74]

We stopped at Joffrey's in America and I got a banana coconut latte. It was okay.


We strolled through Italy and then stopped in Germany to check out the miniature train and get a delicious treat to share.








So sweet but so yummy!


The weather was perfect and we were just enjoying our morning .

 

[Beastly74]

I love stopping to look at the miniature train set-up in Germany. I have been a fan of miniatures since I was a little girl and have been collecting them for over 30 years now. I have been trying to add a few "Disney" touches to the dollhouse that Brian bought me many years ago. I hope you all don't mind me sharing some .
The pillow on the right has a mickey symbol.

Please ignore the dust on the tiny bookshelf lol. The little dragons are from China in Epcot and the Star Wars spaceships are from Hallmark.


I bought the pin below this trip and used it for a decoration.

There are a few Disney references on the living room bookshelf.

I added the little Joy sign to the bottom of the wreath.

My favourite piece is the miniature painting of Sleeping Beauty's castle on the wall. It is even signed by the artist.
Also notice that the Lady of the House has on a Pooh t-shirt .

Finally the Christmas tree - no Disney in this picture but I think it is cute.


Someday I will get around to painting the walls and doing the floors but for now I love finding new little things to add to my collection.

 

[cgersic]

Oh my goodness, the touches in the dollhouse!!! I've been obsessed with miniatures since I was little myself. Can we see a photo of the whole thing?

 

[Beastly74]

Oh my goodness, the touches in the dollhouse!!! I've been obsessed with miniatures since I was little myself. Can we see a photo of the whole thing?

I would love to show you pictures of the whole dollhouse lol. Thanks for asking .

The dollhouse is a very simple design (no stairs) and Brian had a local woodworker make it for me before we got married. Someday I will get around to refinishing the windows, floors and walls but for now I am just enjoying my collection.


Side of the house...

And each room...



Wow I really need to dust that office .




I also have a gazebo.

Inside the gazebo .


Maybe it is strange but looking at it just makes me happy. Everything is kept in the spare bedroom with my Disney collectibles.

 

[Beastly74]

Okay back to the trip and our leisurely walk around World Showcase.

We checked the wait time for Frozen but it was already 45 minutes so we continued on to Mexico to enjoy a little boat ride.



Then we left World Showcase but don't worry we went back to explore it some more later the same day.




I wanted to look around Journey of Water again so we headed there next.




So pretty .

 

[erstwo]

I would love to show you pictures of the whole dollhouse lol. Thanks for asking .

The dollhouse is a very simple design (no stairs) and Brian had a local woodworker make it for me before we got married. Someday I will get around to refinishing the windows, floors and walls but for now I am just enjoying my collection.


Side of the house...

And each room...



Wow I really need to dust that office .




I also have a gazebo.

Inside the gazebo .


Maybe it is strange but looking at it just makes me happy. Everything is kept in the spare bedroom with my Disney collectibles.

Not strange at all! I love doll houses! Some of my favorite things in museums are the miniature rooms downstairs at The Chicago Art Institute, the Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and industry and Queen Mary’s dollhouse at Windsor! I could spend hours at each exhibit.
If the Queen could be into miniatures - I think it’s okay for the rest of us!

 

[donaldtoo]

I love stopping to look at the miniature train set-up in Germany. I have been a fan of miniatures since I was a little girl and have been collecting them for over 30 years now. I have been trying to add a few "Disney" touches to the dollhouse that Brian bought me many years ago. I hope you all don't mind me sharing some .
The pillow on the right has a mickey symbol.

Please ignore the dust on the tiny bookshelf lol. The little dragons are from China in Epcot and the Star Wars spaceships are from Hallmark.


I bought the pin below this trip and used it for a decoration.

There are a few Disney references on the living room bookshelf.

I added the little Joy sign to the bottom of the wreath.

My favourite piece is the miniature painting of Sleeping Beauty's castle on the wall. It is even signed by the artist.
Also notice that the Lady of the House has on a Pooh t-shirt .

Finally the Christmas tree - no Disney in this picture but I think it is cute.


Someday I will get around to painting the walls and doing the floors but for now I love finding new little things to add to my collection.

Your dollhouse and miniatures are very cool…!!!
You probably already knew this, but as well as being into trains and railroading, including miniature trains, Walt Disney was also very much into miniatures in general.
The video below is a bit long, and the Disney Museum rep seems short on his knowledge at times (pretty sure I could take the job and be much more prepared ), but you may find it enjoyable anyway, as did I…!!!

 

[Beastly74]

Not strange at all! I love doll houses! Some of my favorite things in museums are the miniature rooms downstairs at The Chicago Art Institute, the Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and industry and Queen Mary’s dollhouse at Windsor! I could spend hours at each exhibit.
If the Queen could be into miniatures - I think it’s okay for the rest of us!

Thanks, it's hard to find people that appreciate my love for miniatures and for Disney .

Your dollhouse and miniatures are very cool…!!!
You probably already knew this, but as well as being into trains and railroading, including miniature trains, Walt Disney was also very much into miniatures in general.
The video below is a bit long, and the Disney Museum rep seems short on his knowledge at times (pretty sure I could take the job and be much more prepared ), but you may find it enjoyable anyway, as did I…!!!

Thank you for sharing that video. I knew that Walt Disney enjoyed trains and railroads but I did not realize he had such an appreciation for miniatures. I definitely should research that some more .

 

[Beastly74]

We walked over to The Seas to ride Nemo and Friends but the wait was too long (or at least it was in our opinion) so we took our time looking around the huge aquarium.


Then we decided to grab a couple snacks from the Food and Wine booths. First up was the fry flight at the Fry Basket booth and we also got the pickle fries (which I thought we had gotten at the fry basket last year but this year we found them at the Muppet lab).
Great shareable snack



After our snack/lunch our VQ for Guardians was ready so we quickly made our way over for the coolest ride in the galaxy. I'm sorry but I forget the song we got on the ride . When we got off I checked for a ILL but there were none left. I was mentally kicking myself for not buying one that morning. I hate paying money for 1 ride but for this ride I would happily part with my hard earned cash (even with the crazy exchange).


We continued on to Spaceship Earth to learn about the history of communication again.

Only 1/2 of Brian's face showed up so I edited him out.


Nemo had a reasonable wait time so we joined the search.

Shellfie!


Next it was time for the lemon poppyseed cake at Earth Eats.

Oh my! This was fantastic and the view from our seat was amazing too.

 

[Beastly74]

After our delicious dessert we decided to visit Figment.


And then it was time to head back to explore World Showcase. We started in Canada, our beautiful Country.

Found Remy. As we were leaving I told Brian that we should look for him in the other countries too but by the time we got to the United Kingdom I completely forgot . Squirrel brain!




The fish and chips smell was calling our names so we shared one. I am sure it is smaller than the last time we got one.

The view from our table...



While we were sitting I checked the wait times and saw that Soarin was down to a 20 minute wait (it was 40 earlier) so we quickly finished up and headed back that way. Since we were there we had to do LWTL of course. We were both a bit disappointed that it was not decked out for the holidays yet. I guess we missed it by a week.


By the time we came out of the land pavilion it was already dark.


Would we finally get to finish World showcase?