Trip Report **Completed** It's My Birthday (and its a hot one...)!

Hey guys my computer isn't here yet but I really want to start my TR so I'm slowly uploading pictures hoping my computer can handle it So, it will be a slow start but here we go!!

Who?
Just my Mom and I (Mary and Megan)...as if you don't know us by now

When?
July 4- 14th!

Where?
The Polynesian

Why?
I'm off all summer and I always wanted to go to Disney for my Birthday so why not!

T-1 Day
I finished residency the Friday before leaving but this day was insane for me trying to get a bunch of training and applications done before I left. I was also trying to finish ALL our packing...since we are not light packers... These are just my two suitcases

Anyway we were finally all set to go and we were out for a quick walk before bed when my sister called me and told me Max (my nephew) was having trouble walking. Long story short she had to take him to the ER but it all turned out OK and it was just swelling in his knee from his recent ear infection. Luckily we knew all was OK by like 10:30 and could still get some rest!

Day 1 - July 4, 2017
We had a later flight (aka not 6 am) so we could sleep in a bit, but we were going to Disney so I still woke up at 6am I still didn't drag myself out of bed until 7 am though, don't worry
We got ready and took our usual "kidnapping" pictures

Soon enough it was 8 am and we were off to the airport !
Southwest in our airport had a new self check in thing so we tried it out. This gave my flash backs to when I flew out of Canada to Punta Cana and struggled with self check-in but this was much easier and it only took me a few minutes to figure out the luggage tags The whole thing, however, made my Mom very nervous so she was glad I was doing it
When we brought our luggage to the counter the worker was saying that we MUST be going to Disney World (based off the DME tags and the Minnie Mouse suitcases) and how he and his coworkers go to Disney several times a year too We were lucky to have TSA pre-check and the TSA worker was so sweet about our matching shirts and saying she loved them. Anyway, the whole experience was very pleasant and I looked at my phone when we were through and it was 8:27 am. Drove to airport, checked luggage, and went through security all in 27 minutes
We were pretty hungry so checked out the Anchor Bar's breakfast menu but we were not feeling it (and we are creatures of habit) so went to get our usual bagel breakfast

Petey was there of course

We enjoyed our bagels then headed to our gate to wait. It was a VERY slow airport day (probably since its a holiday) so it was kind of nice to relax in the quiet. Soon enough we were on the plane!
When I got up in the morning my Lambie (yes I have one) was on the floor by my carry on. I had no idea how she got there but it was like a sign that I had to bring her so I did

Magic Bands unite!

We were lucky enough to be seated in row 3 and there was a dog behind us which made it even better
Our flight was actually about 20 minutes longer than usual but we entertained ourselves with The Keepers from Netflix (love that you can download stuff to use offline) and we had a fantastic flight crew!
You all know what happens first at the airport (well besides the bathroom...)! The fonorail!!

Next up: down to DME!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 8 continued
These rolls were so yummy!

Betsy Ross was making a flag while we were there

I missed it because I had my back to them but the people behind us were apparently having major issues with the price of their dinner. Not sure how you don't know that before going into dinner . They were so mad they left before dessert!
Anyway, turkey, pot roast, and pork roast The stuffing is also there hidden under the turkey.

We skipped the pork, but the Turkey and the Pot Roast were super yummy! As was the stuffing
Gravy and mashed potatoes

Mac and Cheese and corn

I was most excited to try the Mac and cheese because I had heard such great things about it. Sadly it was cold...we usually don't say anything but my Mom did mention it so they brought us out new Mac and cheese. Still we didn't like it... It was not very cheesy and not a good ratio of noodle to cheese I'm not super fond of spiral noodles for some reason anyway. We felt bad so tried to eat more of it since we said something about it being cold Everything else was so good though!!
Well, they brought out our dessert singing Happy Birthday to me

The whole small part of the restaurant we were in started singing and clapping for me too Yet again I asked for it and was totally embarrassed when it actually happened
Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake

This did NOT disappoint!! I really loved this dessert. It was perfect for my Mom and I because she ate the ice cream and I ate the cake
Overall (aside from the Mac and Cheese ) we really enjoyed our meal. We aren't super super into turkey and Thanksgiving food (sorry @Tuvalu ) so thats why we hesitated about eating there but we are so glad we tried it. We can not wait to go back someday
It stopped raining when we got outside, but it was very foggy

Next up: more MK

 

[Doc Disney]

We went from delicious cupcake pictures to salads?
Not fake news, I hate salad.

Sorry! Dessert picture in the next post I promise

 

[12in12]

You redeemed yourself with the Oooey Goooey Toffee cake

 

[Doc Disney]

I am going mainly for work! I work at a college, and I'm tagging along with an MBA group and documenting their study tour in Rome. Couldn't talk them into paying for it though . We'll pretty much just be in Rome and Treviso, but I should have plenty of time to explore on my own I can do a trip report in the chit chat section when I get back! It'll be at the end of next month.

I'm so jealous even if it is for work. I wish I could go to Italy for my job! Can't exactly convince them I need to see patients in Italy

 

[Doc Disney]

I lived in Italy for 18 months and miss the cheap and wonderful pizza and coffee.

Thats incredible!!!!

You redeemed yourself with the Oooey Goooey Toffee cake

Haha I figured you would like that

 

[Doc Disney]

This made me spit my water all over my keyboard at work So much for discretely reading trip reports while I'm supposed to be working

Sorry....

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 8 continued
My goal was to finally watch Happily Ever After in the park after dinner but I underestimated just how crowded it would be. We did eventually find some spots down Main Street.

I'm sure I mentioned this before but I am short...like 5'1" short....so I will spare you *most* of my terrible pictures since I couldn't see over people

Well, because of where we were standing we couldn't see a lot of the projections but it was definitely better seeing the fireworks from the park I'm sure I even teared up a bit.... Happily Ever After was growing on me more and more. Its super overwhelming, though, to be honest with all the fireworks, projections and lights.
After the fireworks we headed out of the park and back to the Poly for bed

Next up: Day 9

 

[sheriffwoody]

I'm so jealous even if it is for work. I wish I could go to Italy for my job! Can't exactly convince them I need to see patients in Italy

It's kind of a miracle that it worked out! I usually have weddings during late sept/early oct, but I happened to be open on the weekend they're leaving! I do have to come back a day or two early for another work event, so I'll miss Venice . Thankfully our students do a lot of cool stuff, and sometimes I can sweet talk my way into photographing them! This is my first time out of the country though, so I'm super nervous.

Also, that ooey gooey cake looks SO GOOD! I have got to try it. I've already got dining booked for our next two trips, but someday. @Tuvalu has talked it up so much, and now you...

 

[Doc Disney]

It's kind of a miracle that it worked out! I usually have weddings during late sept/early oct, but I happened to be open on the weekend they're leaving! I do have to come back a day or two early for another work event, so I'll miss Venice . Thankfully our students do a lot of cool stuff, and sometimes I can sweet talk my way into photographing them! This is my first time out of the country though, so I'm super nervous.

Also, that ooey gooey cake looks SO GOOD! I have got to try it. I've already got dining booked for our next two trips, but someday. @Tuvalu has talked it up so much, and now you...

Italy is a great place to start! The people are so friendly and the good is great! You will love it That cake is so yummy !!!! You definitely have to try it out someday

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 - July 12, 2017
Sorry guys if I'm going fast, trying to get through my TR before my next trip
We got up this morning and after breakfast headed to Disney Springs. We had another water park day planned and would have done Blizzard Beach but we had one goal in mind at Disney Springs (and that's where the transfer is for TL)! The driver was awfully confused why we were on the DS bus so early
Why were we on the bus so early?

It was balloon time (Characters in Flight) and it was finally open! Woohoo!! I mentioned it before but this was a gift from my Mom for my residency graduation! As we got closer I got more nervous because I didn't realize how high it actually went
When we went up to the window to pay it was half the price we thought it was going to be! Apparently there is an Early Bird price...who knew!

We thought we were going to be alone but a family of 6 joined us as well.
We were in our bathing suits and cover ups

My Mom's scared face

The only reason I mention the other people is because they let you walk around on the balloon while its moving but we really couldn't because they were there. We probably could have walked around them but I didn't want to be rude. The higher we went up the more I didn't want to walk around anyway

Next up: more balloon

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 continued
Luckily the side we were on was the Disney Side. I didn't really care if I saw the other said anyway since it was just Orlando

Sorry about the netting in the picture

Epcot!

The Contemporary and Grand Floridian

Saratoga Springs

Overall the ride is about 7 minutes long. We both agreed that it was cool, but we probably wouldn't do it again I'm also not sure I would pay full price for how quick it is

Next up: Typhoon Lagoon

 

[amjt660]

Thanks for the insight on the balloon
I agree that 7 minutes is really short.
For example the London Eye takes about 25 minutes for a complete revolution and that felt like a good amount of time

Max

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 continued
It was still fairly early in the morning but we had nothing else to do so just hopped on the Typhoon Lagoon bus. We got a nice comfy bus to ourselves (temporarily anyway, we waited and more people showed up ).

We waited only a few minutes outside the park before they let us in for rope drop

I have no idea what was on my camera lens in the picture...

We went to the side of the park again so we can get in the same spot and get on Miss Adventure Falls again

This is my I'm hot and I don't want my picture taken face

As soon as the park opened we got the same seats as last time and we hopped right in the Miss Adventure Falls line. Did I ever mention that we are creatures of habit? There was a slight delay in the opening of Miss Adventure Falls so we only went on once so that we could go on Crush 'n' Gusher before it got super busy.
We wandered around a bit after those two fun rides. I checked out the big kid slides (Humunga Kowabunga) but wasn't feeling them

Instead we went on Castaway Creek

Next up: Typhoon Lagoon

 

[Doc Disney]

Thanks for the insight on the balloon
I agree that 7 minutes is really short.
For example the London Eye takes about 25 minutes for a complete revolution and that felt like a good amount of time

Max

Yea its so short! I feel like 80% of the time is going up and down!

 

[deanna88]

Day 9 - July 12, 2017
Sorry guys if I'm going fast, trying to get through my TR before my next trip
We got up this morning and after breakfast headed to Disney Springs. We had another water park day planned and would have done Blizzard Beach but we had one goal in mind at Disney Springs (and that's where the transfer is for TL)! The driver was awfully confused why we were on the DS bus so early
Why were we on the bus so early?
View attachment 220355
It was balloon time (Characters in Flight) and it was finally open! Woohoo!! I mentioned it before but this was a gift from my Mom for my residency graduation! As we got closer I got more nervous because I didn't realize how high it actually went
When we went up to the window to pay it was half the price we thought it was going to be! Apparently there is an Early Bird price...who knew!
View attachment 220356
We thought we were going to be alone but a family of 6 joined us as well.
We were in our bathing suits and cover ups
View attachment 220357
My Mom's scared face
View attachment 220358
View attachment 220359
View attachment 220360
The only reason I mention the other people is because they let you walk around on the balloon while its moving but we really couldn't because they were there. We probably could have walked around them but I didn't want to be rude. The higher we went up the more I didn't want to walk around anyway
View attachment 220361
View attachment 220362
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View attachment 220366

Next up: more balloon

This is on our list of must-dos this trip. Every time we tried last year, the weather was bad, and they were closed!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 continued

We could see the balloon from the top of Mayday Falls

Look at this nice picture my Mom took of me Clearly there was a lot of water on the lens

After Mayday Falls we headed to the Wave Pool

We had a case of the giggles and it didn't help that in one wave my Mom lost her sunglasses and instead of finding them just stared at me saying she lost them I found them pretty quickly but then the next wave hit and I lost my hat (which I had JUST said I wouldn't lose because of my hair holds it on).
We had a blast in the wave pool as usual
After the wave pool we were ready to leave the water park so we headed back to DS. A coworker of mine suggested we try Frontera Cocina so we went there!

They have some pretty cool lights

I'm not sure my Mom was 100% convinced about eating here because its different than the usual Mexican restaurant menu, but she was a good sport.
I started off with the Atomic guacamole. This is guacamole with habanero salsa on top

It was SO good! It was just the right amount of spice and the guacamole was so fresh
My Mom doesn't like guacamole (although she did try some) so I ordered her chips and salsa (despite her telling me not to ).

Next up: more of lunch time

 

[Doc Disney]

This is on our list of must-dos this trip. Every time we tried last year, the weather was bad, and they were closed!

It took us easily 4 attempts to do it! They were ALWAYS closed! The best advise I can give you is try to do it early in the morning They seem consistently open in the morning!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 continued

For lunch I ordered the Carne Asada (for making soft tacos)

My Mom ordered the Grilled chicken (for making soft tacos)

This was her face because she couldn't understand why they didn't just make the tacos for her

In the end we both really enjoyed our tacos! However, we should have split because with the appetizers it was WAY too much food. Shocker - us not sharing food Had I not eaten nearly and entire plate of guacamole I would have been able to eat more but I think I ate one taco. Plus the tacos came with guacamole too...so much guac ! My Mom was happy we tried it and she tried something "new"
It started pouring when we were eating lunch...we were planning on heading to Ghirardelli but I did not have a rain coat or a poncho (and we had a ton of stuff from the water park) so we decided to head out.
My Mom and I slowly walked toward the bus stop so as not to slip. We did do a quick sprint when we saw the bus was actually there. So I got on the bus and my Mom was behind me and next thing I know she was on the ground . She slipped getting on the bus, pulled some young guys arm on the way to catch herself then got up so quickly. It all happened so fast I couldn't even believe what happened. We still can't decide if the bus driver saw or not because he didn't say anything. My Mom apologized to the guy whose arm she grabbed and she sat down next to me. I felt terrible but I could NOT stop laughing (I did make sure she was OK first). I told you we had a case of the giggles this day . I don't mean like slightly laughing, I mean tears coming down my face laughing so hard my stomach hurt. I mean my Mom was laughing too . Her knee did get slightly hurt so we made sure she iced it when we got back to the room. Poor thing still has some trouble with it though so now I do feel bad for laughing for about 30 minutes on the bus ride home. Thankfully besides the guy whose arm she pulled there were only a few other people on the bus who missed the whole thing and missed our laughter.
Anyway, back at the hotel our room was being cleaned so we went and got a treat from Capt. Cooks
Cupcake for my Mom

Chocolate Chip Cookie for me

My Mom said her cupcake wasn't as good as the Minnie Mouse one My cookie was fine, I'm sure I ate like 3 bites
After our room was done we went up and relaxed in the room. It stopped raining so we headed over towards AK because thats where we had evening Fast Passes.
My Mom was clearly tired

We did leave early for AK because we decided to head to Animal Kingdom Lodge first since I always wanted to see it I had actually been to Kidani village before (because of Sanaa) but my Mom never saw any of it.
While we waited for the AKL bus the sky looked like this...aka not promising for our outside FPs this evening

We made it!

It was just as beautiful as I imagined


Next up: more AKL

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 9 continued

We went outside to explore first

There was a lot of lightening in the area and not many animals out obviously. It was still beautiful to explore! We Face Timed my sister and nephew for a little bit to show him a few animals and the lodge

Next up: more AKL

 

[12in12]

I love Jambo at AKL, it is my favorite resort. Sorry your mom fell, at least you checked first if she was okay before laughing. I broke my ankle years ago stepping in a pothole while walking with my sister. Her response was laughing at me while telling me I am so dumb to not watch were I am going.
In her defense she didn't realize how bad it was until a few minutes later. So if you ever go to Bali watch out for the deep potholes!