Trip Report College Graduation Celebration: Inappropriate stories, crazy cast members, taking selfies, and FOOD

When you're post vacation depression finally settles in, what must a crazed WDW fan do? Make a trip report, of course! As I type this trip report in 60 degree weather in the boring Chicago suburbs, I hope to bring magic to your home, in addition to some many, many laughs. Enjoy!

Reason: Cassie (my best friend since the 2nd grade) and I's (Jessica) college graduation! After a four grueling years of schooling, we figured we earned a much needed all girls trip to WDW.

Here's a photo of the cast with some brief information about us to make you a little more familiar with us.

From left to right:

Jessica (me, 22): I received my B.A. in elementary education at the University of St. Francis with additional endorsements in special education and middle school social science and language arts. I hope to be obtaining a teaching job at the primary level for the upcoming school year!

Jodi (my sister, 20): Jodi is a hair stylist, and is also attending junior college to eventually obtain a degree in business or communications. Jodi is actually applying for the Disney College Program in August.

Rachel (Jodi's best friend, 20): Rachel also has her cosmetology license. While going to the same college as Jodi (they are in some of the same classes), Rachel works a ton as a waitress.

Cassie (my best friend, 22): Cassie has a B.S. in Psychology from University of Illinois. Cassie will be attending grad school in the fall at Midwestern University to earn her masters in occupational therapy. Cassie did the Disney College Program last year and graduated from it. She has lots of inside knowledge!

I have made trip reports before, so feel free to check them out:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...hot-days-fun-times-and-plenty-of-food.762909/

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-years-at-the-happiest-place-on-earth.878566/

Now, onto the report!

 

[LAKid53]

Plan: Leave May 18th. Spend the 19th & 20th at Ann Maria Island. 21st: Disney for 7 nights!!!

Off We Go!

Jodi, Rachel, and I got up at 3:30 am and left at 4:30 am. Let me tell you, it was painful to sleep about 2.5 hours, but well worth it. We had to pick Cassie up at U of I since she had graduated the day before.

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Here's us at 4:30!

It took a little under two hours to get to Cassie's school and then we were off to Valdosta, Georgia, our planned rest stop.

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Driving out of Illinois takes about 5 hours, so we were very happy to see this sign!

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We drove into a lot of rain storms on our way down and luckily they occurred while I was driving- since we drove my car down.

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I drove to the Georgia state line and then had Jodi take over.

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At around 8:00 we arrived at Valdosta. We stayed at a Holiday In Express. In my opinion, we made great time. It was really nice to be able to take a shower and get a full night sleep, especially after only sleeping 2.5 hours the night prior, haha.

The next morning, we went to the most luxurious and best tasting breakfast joint in the south, The Waffle House. Now, don't even try to disagree with me. As Jodi and I would say, "It's our jam." We love it so much that we always have to make a stop when we're down there.

Can you believe how much we were able to "fit" into a midsize sedan trunk?! Although we did have a few times where we were unable to close it...
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Hello, beautiful
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You're jealous of my all star breakfast.
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Next up: Arriving in Florida!

You and my dad both think Waffle House is fine dining - and my mom made the most amazing waffles. When visiting us here in North Florida, he'd go for breakfast, lunch, a snack. I'd stop by their hotel room and ask my mom where my not present dad was. "Oh, he's at Waffle House. He was hungry". Their hotel was next to a Waffle House, lol.

 

[Disneygal1]

Day 4: Going to Epcot Renders Your Park Hopper Useless: Rewind

For some reason, I missed uploading some countries we visited!

When we came back from our future world adventures, we stopped in Mexico first.

We visited in hopes of being able to go on the Three Callebrerros (SP?), but the line was insane, and we just could not wait it in. I did go to the bathroom, which I'm pretty sure is technically for the restaurant customers, but I especially enjoyed the little girl next to me refusing to her mother that she would go potty whilst singing.

Off to China! I took in a lot of details during this visit.

We just love our fans!

 

[Disneygal1]

You and my dad both think Waffle House is fine dining - and my mom made the most amazing waffles. When visiting us here in North Florida, he'd go for breakfast, lunch, a snack. I'd stop by their hotel room and ask my mom where my not present dad was. "Oh, he's at Waffle House. He was hungry". Their hotel was next to a Waffle House, lol.

I do not blame your dad! It's not called the Waffle House for nothing!

 

[Disneygal1]

Day 4: Going to Epcot Renders Your Park Hopper Useless: Part 7

Whoops, I got my day just a tad mixed up.

Here are some more photos from Italy...

He's King Titan, right?

I have no idea who these guys are, but they are cool!

Before Morocco, we went to Japan.

This store is INSANE, but amazing! I was really excited to show Rachel the bug snacks, but I could not find them! I almost believe they no longer sell them... Whatever the case, I'm not really a bug eater, so I bought a ton of rice candy since they're my favorite.

OKAY, can anyone tell me if this is LEGAL?!?!

THEN, we went to Morocco. Here are some of the last pictures I took there.

We decided to head on over to the UK before dinner.

 

[Disneygal1]

Day 4: Going to Epcot Renders Your Park Hopper Useless: Part 8

This photo is not meant to be artistic; it's simply meant to show you the insanity of the amount of people down there!

I love this pub and would have loved to get a drink, but it was crazy busy. Notice the recent graduates???

This night was Cassie's choice, Via Napoli. I was really excited to try this restaurant since I had never eaten there before.

Okay, so I am so bad, but this was a total accident. Via Napoli's check in desk is so large, that is was almost impossible to see a queue. Well, my oblivious self, went straight up to the desk and check our party in. Little did I know until after the girls told me, but there was totally this family technically in front of me, and the dad looked like he wanted to kill me. Sorry!

We didn't wait too long to be seated.

Decisions, decisions

 

[Disneygal1]

Day 4: Going to Epcot Renders Your Park Hopper Useless: Part 9

As we were seated, a CM began filling our waters. We had the menus in front of us, and we started to ask a lot of questions since we had never eaten there before. The CM seemed a bit flustered and kind of answered our questions. We soon realized that she wasn't our waitress, but she was our water girl, haha. We felt so bad.

I decided to order an appetizer since I was absolutely starving.

Cassie and I ordered wine to pair our pizzas with. The CM wasn't that helpful with wine pairing suggestions and basically said anything would go. I have to admit, I did not like my wine since I like more of a sweeter beverage.

Haha, we're so dramatic.

Okay, so we waited a pretty long time for our pizzas. I mean we were starving, and we waited about 30 minutes for our food to arrive. I mean, we would have been totally fine if we had bread, but we were like kind of dying...

Finally, our food came!

OMG, GOOD. I'm a Chicagoan. Ya know, the pizza capital of the world? Yeah, well this was AMAZING. And that's saying a lot. I am a pizza connoisseur and let me tell you, I hate Florida pizza (sorry, Floridians), but I was shocked at how good my pizza was. AND it didn't have any sauce! But it didn't need any! Ahh, I can't get over it...

Cassie's

Jodi's

Rachel's

During our meal and after, this young, Italian-well obviously- waiter kept coming up to our table and specifically would ask how my food is. Oh and he asked what I ordered, as well, so it was before the meal, too. Now, notice how I am saying, "I." This is specifically because he would only talk to me, no one else at the table. I was a bit taken aback by this, and the girls could swear he was flirting with me, but it was... interesting.

Once we were done with our entrees, we ordered dessert. Yes, the young, Italian waiter man approached the table again and asked me what I ordered for dessert. I told him tiramisu, and he told me that the dessert was like touching the heavens. Classic.

As we were waiting (for a long time, at that), I noticed these two girls who just got seated outside. Within a few minutes, they were given BREAD. What on Earth is this?! Do the people outside just get bread????? Our waitress came by before our desserts, and I just had to ask about this. She told me, "Yes, we have bread. Our customers can request it." Umm, excuse me? We specifically told our waitress that this was our first time and for her not to mention the bread made me very, very aggravated since we were dying before our meal.

Since the restaurant thought only one person was celebrating, we got one celebration dessert. Cassie and I were completely fine with this and shared. The singing and clapping is a bit awkward, but kids would love it.

Jodi's dessert

Rachel got doughnuts, sorry no picture!

Cassie got Tiramisu, too. Did I touch the heavens? Yes. Did the young, Italian waiter approach me to see if I liked the dessert? Yes.

My review on Via Napoli: I highly recommend going to this restaurant as I thought the food was amazing. I also highly recommend that you order the pizza since Via Napoli is famous for it. Oh, and you must get the Tiramisu, too. Now, as for customer service, I have to say our waiter didn't do a great job. Perhaps, she had to many tables to attend to, but she was not very helpful for first timers. We hardly were ever checked on, and the fact that we weren't informed with basic information about the bread is rather frustrating. Will this stop us from going back? Absolutely not. Waiters are a hit or miss, and maybe today just wasn't a good day for her, so all is forgiven because the food was amazing!

 

[Goofnut1980]

Aww, thank you! Isn't that apron great? I just love this subtle Mickeys. You must try the ice cream! It's suppose to be really good, and I wish I did try it. How exciting about your vacation!! I'm so jealous of the time of year you are visiting. I'm sure the crowds are real low!

The ice cream is to kill for... it is sooo good!

 

[Goofnut1980]

I do not blame your dad! It's not called the Waffle House for nothing!

here in Ohio we call it the Awful House... but it's so freaking good! hahaha nothing better after a night on the town!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for the great updates! Loved to see World Showcase Last October we were in Epcot just a little while. We didn't walk around the lake... to crowded and more important way to hot! We will do next October I guess

 

[Mickey2422]

We enjoy the pizza at Via Napoli as well. We have a reservation during our upcoming trip in November - can't wait

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Those pretzels are adorable!!

 

[coachwnh]

I have to say our waiter didn't do a great job

Seems like I've been reading this alot about Via Napoli lately on this site.

 

[ArtieJim]

Day 2: Coolest Summer Ever Part 4

I seriously take too many pictures...

You can never have too many WDW pictures! Especially if they're included in a TR! I'm so late reading this, but it's great so far!

 

[Mickey2422]

Continuing to enjoy your report...and the food pictures. Looking forward to more!

 

[Mr Anderson]

Day 2: Coolest Summer Ever Part 1

I have a confession to make. We sleep in, especially me. I kind of have this issue where I can go to sleep at 4 am and wake up around 1. My body clock is weird. Luckily, the girls sleep in, too. They just don't have insomnia like me, haha. Anyway, everyday of this trip we "slept in" till at least 9:30, which was really messing with my summer body clock. (I am telling you this because this will end up explaining another part of a story later).

Ever since Jodi was little, she has adored the Disney wake up calls. So of course, she just had to have a wake up call everyday. There were two issues with the wake up calls (I'm sure this has been discussed, but it's been a while since I've stayed in the hotels. I'm a Fort Wilderness girl.): Firstly, the wake up calls have been changed in a disappointing way. No longer will Mickey and Goofy call you. You will just answer the phone to a recording informing you on what is happening for the day. I feel sorry for the kids who will never have memories of answering the phone to Mickey and his pals letting you know it's time to get up for a magical day (I loved this too). Honestly, though, why Disney??? Secondly, our wake up calls were rendered useless as Jodi would simply pick the phone up, hang up right away, and go to sleep. Yep, so we never got up when we were suppose to.

Quite surprisingly, we got up earlier than the rest of the days on our second day. This was mostly due to the 24 hour event, and we had a lot packed into our day.

After getting ready, we headed over to the food court for breakfast. I'm not a breakfast person, and I consider coffee to be a meal, so I often skipped my quick service credits (more on that later). I had coffee, and the girls all had the same thing:

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Looks delicious.

Oh and I have a funny story regarding coffee. I drink my coffee with 2% milk. Always have and always will. Well, I noticed the only selection at the food court was cream, and I just do not like cream in my coffee. I asked Cassie about it since she worked at the All Star Sports food court during her Disney College Program. She told me that the food court does, in fact, provide milk for its guests and that you just have to ask for it.

So, I approached a cast member at the register and just as they were about to get someone to get me some milk, a creepy manager was overhearing the convo and offered to help me. I obliged, and he took me to the drink station. He went into the station's little room (I think it may be a large refrigerator) to grab the milk. Once he came back, he was about to pour the milk in my coffee! There's a lot of things wrong with this situation. One, I wasn't ready since I hadn't put my sugar in yet, and I always put sugar in first so it can melt. Two, no way in heck am I going to allow him to pour milk into MY coffee. I mean, I know the EXACT amount I need, and I am very particular with my coffee.

As soon as he tried to poor the milk in my coffee, I told the manager to stop (politely) and asked him if I could pour the milk in my coffee. He informed me that I could not do that and that he had to do it- to which I replied, "Really? That's strange." Lmao, I was infuriated. I told him I wasn't even ready yet, and he offered to wait for me and basically hover over me as I prepared my drink. UHH, no. I am not 12. My lord.... I basically told him to get lost by saying I would rather do it alone and would ask later. After I prepared my coffee, I asked another cast member at the drink station. She grabbed the milk and GAVE ME the carton to pour the milk myself.

This had to be one of the strangest incidents I have endured regarding coffee, and let me tell you, there are crazier stories to come...


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I love taking candids.

After breakfast, we headed to my car to drive over to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, which I somewhat despise. Sorry guys, that lot is huge, and I'm not a fan of having to take the monorail or ferry to get to MK.

Of course when we got there, the monorail was "out of service," so we had to take the ferry.

As we were getting on the ferry, were told by a cast member that being upstairs is better because the people upstairs are the ones to exit first. This concept made no sense to me, but we decided to test his theory out.

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This was also my first time being able to have a "complete" view of the ridiculously priced Polynesian bungalows. They were impressive, but oh my, there are way more than I thought. Cassie and I both voiced that there are just way too many, and I almost think the amount is unnecessary.

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When parallel to these, you can hardly see the Polynesian.

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They are cool, though. I mean, there's a pool and everything (National Lampoon's Vacation reference). And just look at those net chair things! So yeah, I have a love-hate relationship with these things.

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Happy, happy

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Oh, oh! There it is.....

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More to come...

The color on your photos really pops! Did you edit them yourself?

Enjoying the TR so far!

 

[Mr Anderson]

Loving your report and pictures so far!! It's keeping my Disney depression at bay

I'm totally with you on the Disney depression - we usually go in September, so that's a tough month to get through with no Disney trip. This year we're driving down to San Antonio in September, so at least we'll have fun... but still, it's no Disney

A couple of WDW trips back, it hit me pretty hard before I'd even left... when we rode Soarin' for the last time (and literally our last ride for the trip), I will be brave enough to admit I literally teared up.

 

[SleepyPuppy]

I have enjoyed following your report. One thing I have learned is that I will no longer have any apprehension about the length of my trip reports. Do not misunderstand my meaning in that statement because if I did not find yours most interesting I would have stopped reading long before the battery on the Kindle Fire went belly up. I mentioned on another TR that there is so much subtle information posted in a TR that can be helpful to one who is anticipating a future visit to WDW reading thoroughly is worthwhile. The old saying that “A picture is worth 1000 words” is exceedingly spot-on and in the case of great pictures the picture to word equivalency should be at least 1001.

Your comments on CM exhibiting behavioral indiscretions is something I frown upon. When WDW was brand spanking new they hired 5000 to 6000 employees. Disney was always highly ranked as a wonderful place to work. They were able to choose from the cream of the crop from the application pool. As the needs for more employees increases with the growth of the resorts the number of available high quality applicants diminishes.

We stayed at the GF back in the early nineties several times on a Disney package plan that used tickets for meals. Each ticket/meal provided the wait staff a guaranteed 20% of the total bill as gratuity. The Disney meal plans now require the guest to supply the reward for service rendered. If the service sucks we should vote with our pocket books and perhaps a message will be delivered that better service is expected. A good tip should be earned rather than a naturally expected outcome of employment.

 

[Mr Anderson]

Day 2: The Coolest Summer Ever Part 9 (OMG day 2 is soo long!)

*Spoiler Alert* I must say, I was a little disappointed to find out that the gray stuff simply tastes like vanilla frosting, but I guess what else could it taste like? I guess it just has a lot of hype. It was good, though.

Somebody else may have already divulged this, but, the grey stuff used to be completely different than what you had.
On our fist visit to BOG, back in good 'ol September 2013, the Grey Stuff (note the capitalization here) was whipped cookies & creme flavored panna cotta. It. was. SUPERB, delicious, amazing; it had some substance to it.

On our SECOND visit to BOG, in December 2014, the grey stuff (hey, no caps!) was very, VERY lackluster. Here I was, expecting the delicious cookies & creme panna cotta... and what I received was actually, basically, cookies & creme flavored whipped cream. Thinking that maybe they busted out the "good version" for dinner only, I had it again for dinner... same deal. Same boring, weaksauce grey stuff.

I guess the panna cotta version was taking too much time to make? I dunno, but I wish you'd been able to experience the REAL Grey Stuff that everyone went gaga over. I miss it... it was oh-so-very delicious.

 

[Mr Anderson]

Day 4: Going to Epcot Renders Your Park Hopper Useless: Part 9

As we were seated, a CM began filling our waters. We had the menus in front of us, and we started to ask a lot of questions since we had never eaten there before. The CM seemed a bit flustered and kind of answered our questions. We soon realized that she wasn't our waitress, but she was our water girl, haha. We felt so bad.

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I decided to order an appetizer since I was absolutely starving.
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Cassie and I ordered wine to pair our pizzas with. The CM wasn't that helpful with wine pairing suggestions and basically said anything would go. I have to admit, I did not like my wine since I like more of a sweeter beverage.

Haha, we're so dramatic.
View attachment 103108

Okay, so we waited a pretty long time for our pizzas. I mean we were starving, and we waited about 30 minutes for our food to arrive. I mean, we would have been totally fine if we had bread, but we were like kind of dying...

Finally, our food came!

OMG, GOOD. I'm a Chicagoan. Ya know, the pizza capital of the world? Yeah, well this was AMAZING. And that's saying a lot. I am a pizza connoisseur and let me tell you, I hate Florida pizza (sorry, Floridians), but I was shocked at how good my pizza was. AND it didn't have any sauce! But it didn't need any! Ahh, I can't get over it...
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Cassie's
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Jodi's
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Rachel's
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During our meal and after, this young, Italian-well obviously- waiter kept coming up to our table and specifically would ask how my food is. Oh and he asked what I ordered, as well, so it was before the meal, too. Now, notice how I am saying, "I." This is specifically because he would only talk to me, no one else at the table. I was a bit taken aback by this, and the girls could swear he was flirting with me, but it was... interesting.

Once we were done with our entrees, we ordered dessert. Yes, the young, Italian waiter man approached the table again and asked me what I ordered for dessert. I told him tiramisu, and he told me that the dessert was like touching the heavens. Classic.

As we were waiting (for a long time, at that), I noticed these two girls who just got seated outside. Within a few minutes, they were given BREAD. What on Earth is this?! Do the people outside just get bread????? Our waitress came by before our desserts, and I just had to ask about this. She told me, "Yes, we have bread. Our customers can request it." Umm, excuse me? We specifically told our waitress that this was our first time and for her not to mention the bread made me very, very aggravated since we were dying before our meal.

Since the restaurant thought only one person was celebrating, we got one celebration dessert. Cassie and I were completely fine with this and shared. The singing and clapping is a bit awkward, but kids would love it.
View attachment 103107

Jodi's dessert
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Rachel got doughnuts, sorry no picture!

Cassie got Tiramisu, too. Did I touch the heavens? Yes. Did the young, Italian waiter approach me to see if I liked the dessert? Yes.
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My review on Via Napoli: I highly recommend going to this restaurant as I thought the food was amazing. I also highly recommend that you order the pizza since Via Napoli is famous for it. Oh, and you must get the Tiramisu, too. Now, as for customer service, I have to say our waiter didn't do a great job. Perhaps, she had to many tables to attend to, but she was not very helpful for first timers. We hardly were ever checked on, and the fact that we weren't informed with basic information about the bread is rather frustrating. Will this stop us from going back? Absolutely not. Waiters are a hit or miss, and maybe today just wasn't a good day for her, so all is forgiven because the food was amazing!

I hate that you had an unfortunate "miss" and it soured your experience - great to hear it won't affect your future visits, though! We ALWAYS go to Via Napoli when we visit Disney and their service is normally phenomenal. And by the way, if you like cherries, Italian cookies, & ice cream, their Coppa di Brutti Ma Buoni dessert is FANTASTIC.

Thanks for the report! It has been helping put me in my "happy place" through a very tough week at work!

 

[Disneygal1]

Apologies to those I've left behind. I PROMISE I will get this done as soon as possible. I got a job as a third grade teacher, so my life has been hectic, but I promise I have not abandoned this thread!