Trip Report COMPLETED (finally!)....Did we move to WDW? Nope just a two week trip!

Hello WDW Magic friends and welcome to my trip report. I have done a few trip reports in the past of both WDW and Disneyland. My most recent report was a Spring Break trip to WDW. So if you've read one of my reports before....welcome back friends! If you haven't read one before....welcome new friend!

A little background information

People going: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad), you'll see enough of our pictures later.

"People" we are leaving behind to go on our trip: Our miniature schnauzer Kapono, she keeps trying to come with us though. She stays with my sister and her family and Kapono has some fur cousins to play with there and is well taken care of which is a relief for me and Brad too I guess.
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Our travel days July 4 -July 19. The days actually spent in WDW would be the 5th-19th. We live in Wisconsin but very close to Minneapolis/St. Paul so we fly from there. It wouldn't be a bad drive to the airport in the morning, but I like to stay near the airport the night before departure.

Since we were going to be in WDW for so long we got a lot of comments from friends joking with us that we must be moving in, hence the title of the report here.

Our Resort: All Star Movies. We don't spend much time in the room so all we need is a clean place to sleep, shower, and store our stuff. We really aren't pool people, although we do use the pool, but if we built in a lot of pool time we would stay at the Beach Club again! Side note: The first time we ever tried to stay at the Movies we were upgraded upon check in to the Beach Club! We didn't ask for it, the magic just happened, it was the best deluxe accommodations for All Star prices! So now whenever we stay at the Movies we keep our fingers crossed on check in day!

Okay so let's start shall we....

On July 4th we spent most of the day with my sister and her family and left Kapono at her "vacation home" for the next two weeks. We drove up to the Minneapolis airport area by the Mall of America, and made a quick stop at Sam's Club for one more discount Disney gift card. The Sam's Club was closing, actually it was 10 minutes before their posted close time and the lady at the door didn't want to let us in. We literally had to go over to a stand near the register and get a gift card, she even called her manager who said it was okay to let us in. We departed the store 3 minutes before for the posted close time! Take that lady! Anyway, it was dinner time but neither of us wanted to sit in a restaurant we just wanted to relax in the hotel room for the night. So there was a sub place and a Lee Ann Chin (Minnesota based Chinese take out chain), and Chinese won out. So we got our take out and checked into the hotel for the night and ate our take out, and watched a Capital Fourth on PBS. Which was fantastic this year with John Stamos as the host. :inlove:

Us with our Chinese take out!
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Our flight left early, but we are early birds so despite being 5 minutes away from the terminal we got there early. Plus we were too excited to sleep! Funny thing, we flipped on the tv while we were getting ready and the Steve Harvey show was on and it was one of the Epcot episodes from earlier in the year that he was recording when we were there in March. We don't normally watch that show and we didn't go to the recording but we saw it being on as a good sign that the Disney gods were with us!
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We arrived in Orlando after an uneventful flight. We enjoyed some movies and tried to nap but again we were just too excited to sleep!
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Magical Express load went quick and soon we were HOME!
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And despite doing online check in and requesting early arrival our room wasn't ready. But that was fine, we had to stop at the front desk any way. I had lots of gift cards in my purse that we wanted to put on our account, we wanted to decline Mousekeeping, and make sure our room had a good position for the 2 weeks. Now we did decline Mousekeeping but we did have our room serviced twice while we were there. We are fairly neat, and I'm always tidying up the room anyway even with Mousekeeping so we figured we could survive without having it every day. Plus with the extra money we would be able to enjoy a good meal or some good drinks at Trader Sam's. So with all that squared away we put our carry ons with bell services and headed to the bus stop with a quick gander at the gift shop.

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Next up: Disney Springs!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
My Disney Dooney and Harvey's addiction was getting out of hand so I've slowly been selling some of my collection. I tell my husband it's because I'm "adulting" but I really think it's just to make room for newer pieces that I might love more LOL. Eventually they'll make a Rapunzel purse right? I need room on the shelf for that LOL.

A Rapunzel and Flynn Rider bag would be great. I was really tempted by the Disney Dogs Downey’s but I couldn’t get my head around the price. But for Flynn and Rapunzel I could find a way to justify it!😀
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Liking the corned beef rather than the Reuben as well
We went to Montreal and a had a 16 Ounce smoked meat sandwich
( ok actually I had to eat half of the meat with a fork because it was too tall - yes I only appear to have a big mouth!!)

The jazz hands is a great gesture to not block the person behind you

Max

I have heard good things about those Montreal sandwiches. It is a city I would like to visit one day as not just for the sandwiches! I hear the poutine is good too! 😃😂
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Agree! That was so thoughtful and kind of you. I cringe when I hear people planning ways while in line to ruin the ride phots others or block them in pictures. :bored:

Thanks! I can’t imagine planning to ruin pictures for people. That’s just mean. We do goofy poses sometimes but it is for fun and it makes us look ridiculous but hopefully doesn’t ruin any picture.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Jazz hands lol...I do that too, unless I’m in the last row. Then it’s Reach for the Sky!😄

Also, where is a pickle for sale in MK? I’ve never seen that!

I will raise my hands too if they aren’t blocking anyone. Haha... reach for the sky!

The pickes are in the little food market in Liberty Square near the Hall of Presidents. They are big fat pickles and near the registers. Pickles seem to be a bigger thing in Disneyland than WDW and can found in more places out there and in more varieties. My hubs likes the spicy ones in Disneyland the one he had at the Magic Kingdom in WDW was just dill but he liked it.
 

CoreNovawarAMM

Well-Known Member
I will raise my hands too if they aren’t blocking anyone. Haha... reach for the sky!

The pickes are in the little food market in Liberty Square near the Hall of Presidents. They are big fat pickles and near the registers. Pickles seem to be a bigger thing in Disneyland than WDW and can found in more places out there and in more varieties. My hubs likes the spicy ones in Disneyland the one he had at the Magic Kingdom in WDW was just dill but he liked it.
Now that I think of it, I vaguely remember seeing pickles there. They might have been at that little fruit shop on Sunset Blvd. as well (just after the Pixar shop on the left side of the road if you’re looking at ToT). Interesting!
 

CoreNovawarAMM

Well-Known Member
Thanks! I can’t imagine planning to ruin pictures for people. That’s just mean. We do goofy poses sometimes but it is for fun and it makes us look ridiculous but hopefully doesn’t ruin any picture.
The old camera angle on 7DMT was better than the new angle. The old angle was steeper, so you could see everyone in the photo, even if hands were up. We like to do silly poses too!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued....

We got up from our nap and decided to head to Trader Sam's. Once we got to the Magic Kingdom it started to sprinkle and when we were close to the monorail it started to pour. We escaped without getting too wet. Once at the Polynesian and to Trader Sam's we found the inside packed and a 45 minute wait. No thanks. Hubs wanted to go to the bar at the Wave but that didn't seem very scenic to me so I suggested Mizer's at the Grand Floridian.

We had a view outside and were able to hear the band for most of our time there. The bar wasn't that busy but the waiter was really slow and seemed to screw up everyone's orders around us. We never got the waters we asked for a couple of times but it wasn't a huge deal. We had a nice time and enjoyed the music especially. I had a local beer and Brad got a Rum and Coke (so boring I didn't even take a picture of that).
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We had to head out after awhile to make our dinner reservation. We missed one monorail but another came shortly afterwards.
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Our dinner reservation was at the California Grill. We never request a table by the window, but we do request not be be seated at the long banquette area (where one person stares at at large wooden carving on a wall), and we are always willing to wait if needed. But no extra waiting and I was thrilled with the table we were seated at.

This was the view: YAY! I guess we would be able to watch the fireworks from our table tonight!
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I had a beer from Miami. I liked the sound of the name and the can it came in was pretty interesting. It was okay taste-wise.
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B got a Mai Tai, which I'm always amazed he likes because he professes to hate pineapple.
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I decided on the Sonoma Goat Cheese ravioli and it was really tasty. I was hesitant about the mushrooms but they were crispy which gave the dish a fun texture.
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And Brad got the tuna three ways as he appetizer. He loves this dish.
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DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
I will raise my hands too if they aren’t blocking anyone. Haha... reach for the sky!

The pickes are in the little food market in Liberty Square near the Hall of Presidents. They are big fat pickles and near the registers. Pickles seem to be a bigger thing in Disneyland than WDW and can found in more places out there and in more varieties. My hubs likes the spicy ones in Disneyland the one he had at the Magic Kingdom in WDW was just dill but he liked it.
Back in the day, I remember pickles in big oak barrels in country type stores everywhere. (Telling my age) I loved them and always had to have one. My great Aunt lived in California and when she visited she brought huge Dill pickles from there, she said were pickled in pineapple juice. Best pickles I have ever had! I always still get at least one pickle at WDW.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I showed you the view to my left this was another view I had.
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Another view from the table.
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Our entrees came. Brad got some fish thing, I think it was grouper. Again, he liked it I did not try it.
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A few weeks prior I had been in Florida with a friend of mine, we spent 2 nights at Disney and one of those nights I told her (yep I didn't ask) that we were eating here. Then she could see the MK fireworks since we were spending the one day she agreed to go to a park at Epcot. She loved the meal here by the way.... Anyway, I ordered the oak fired fillet with the truffled mash potatoes. That night when I tasted the truffle mash potatoes and the steak with its sauce all together it was heaven! Literally I had goosebumps on my arms. It was so good. So I knew I had to order it again. No goosebumps this time but it was still fantastic.
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It got darker and closer to firework time. I was happy that I didn't have to rush through dessert and we could just take our time and view the fireworks with dessert if need be.
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Yummy french press coffee! I'm strange coffee in the morning helps wake me up and after a nice evening meal it relaxes me.
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The chocolate cake, yummy!
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And time for a show....
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After Happily Ever After we had already settled the bill so we were able to hightail it over to the elevator before the flood of people from the observation deck and to the monorail. We took the bus back to the Music. Because we were in the Might Ducks section of the Movies we were closer to the Music bus stop than the Movies bus stop, it was only 1 1/2-2 minutes walk compared to the 4-5 minute walk to the Movies bus stop. It was a great end to the second day!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Back in the day, I remember pickles in big oak barrels in country type stores everywhere. (Telling my age) I loved them and always had to have one. My great Aunt lived in California and when she visited she brought huge Dill pickles from there, she said were pickled in pineapple juice. Best pickles I have ever had! I always still get at least one pickle at WDW.

My mom always mentioned getting pickles out of big barrels too. Side story.... Even though I hate pickles I recently decided to make some for my husband, just a quick couple day refrigerator pickle recipe my great aunt made. Hubs said they turned out good. Our town's summer festival has a pickle making contest and he said I should enter them. I don't think they are that good.
 

CoreNovawarAMM

Well-Known Member
I showed you the view to my left this was another view I had.
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Another view from the table.
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Our entrees came. Brad got some fish thing, I think it was grouper. Again, he liked it I did not try it.
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A few weeks prior I had been in Florida with a friend of mine, we spent 2 nights at Disney and one of those nights I told her (yep I didn't ask) that we were eating here. Then she could see the MK fireworks since we were spending the one day she agreed to go to a park at Epcot. She loved the meal here by the way.... Anyway, I ordered the oak fired fillet with the truffled mash potatoes. That night when I tasted the truffle mash potatoes and the steak with its sauce all together it was heaven! Literally I had goosebumps on my arms. It was so good. So I knew I had to order it again. No goosebumps this time but it was still fantastic.
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It got darker and closer to firework time. I was happy that I didn't have to rush through dessert and we could just take our time and view the fireworks with dessert if need be.
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Yummy french press coffee! I'm strange coffee in the morning helps wake me up and after a nice evening meal it relaxes me.
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The chocolate cake, yummy!
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And time for a show....
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After Happily Ever After we had already settled the bill so we were able to hightail it over to the elevator before the flood of people from the observation deck and to the monorail. We took the bus back to the Music. Because we were in the Might Ducks section of the Movies we were closer to the Music bus stop than the Movies bus stop, it was only 1 1/2-2 minutes walk compared to the 4-5 minute walk to the Movies bus stop. It was a great end to the second day!
What a great view of the fireworks!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Day 3: July 7 It's an Animal Kingdom Day and we are ready for a WILD time!

To start our day we had the breakfast of champions at our resort before heading to AK.
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Once at Animal Kingdom while about 96% of the people headed to Pandora we headed to the right and roped dropped Expedition Everest. Brad can't do back to back rides but I got 5 rides in and he rode on every other one. I love those Pandora crowds because it leaves Everest a walk on!
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Once the queue for Everest started to get more of a wait instead of a walk on we headed to Dinosaur only to find that it was down. Oh well.
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We headed back to Asia and did the jungle trek there. Unfortunately the tigers weren't very active this morning but a lot of other things were.
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