Trip Report COMPLETED: The “Let’s see if this dumb thing works” Treat Yo Self Christmas trip report!

All the PTR funtivities can be had here, including who we are,:
The Treat Yo Self Christmas pre-trip report

Friday the 18th 11ish o’clock
The DW and I decide to ditch work a little early and check the DD out of school early today to make sure we have plenty of time for our Star Wars showing in McDonough at 3:40. So we check the DD out and make our way for some to-go lunch. A relatively short pit at Zaxsby’s and we’re finally on the road and soon cruising down GA400 towards McDonough. Our last few trips through the ATL on the way to The Bubble have been nightmares which is why we left a little early today. Well, surprisingly, today was the exception! We cruised right through town and my worries of being late for the movie became concerns of “what are we going to do when we arrive two hours early?!” Thankfully, I guess, Henry county helped me out by having the worst traffic of the trip…FOR NO REASON AT ALL! Anyway, The delays we faced there offset the great time we made but we still had an hour to kill. This worked to our advantage as the DW forgot her sunglasses at home and we needed a few toiletries for the trip so we popped into Super Target for a bit, made our purchases and enjoyed a SB coffee before making our way to the theater.
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Finally, it was time!
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We happened to be in a theater full of some fanatics so there was much cheering and applause throughout the movie. I personally really enjoyed it despite the many similarities it had to New Hope. The movie even brought the DW and DD to tears! I won’t spoil it for anyone as to why. So with The Force Awakens under our belt we made for Tifton, about another two hours. Henry County did its best to squeeze the last bit of traffic tolerance out of us as we left town. Soon we were in Tifton checking in to the Hilton Garden Inn, great place BTW! I was immediately sent on a dinner run to try out Marcos Pizza for some subs. What was supposed to be a 10 minute drive turned into a hobbits tail of which I thought I may never return. Long story short about an hour later I’m back at the hotel with dinner for the ladies tired and ready to eat. After some discussion as to when the ladies want to arrive at the Bubble, as that will dictate when we should leave, we hit the hay with visions of Siths and BB-8s dancing through our heads…ok, my head.

Saturday the 19th 05:30
Up and at’em! Time to get our Disney on!!! We make quick work of getting to the car, hitting Starbucks again for breakfast and make for The Mouse House! A few hours later and we’re crossing the state line most uneventfully and before you know it where on the turnpike! Have I mentioned how much I love the SunPass? Seriously, if you go at least once a year it is worth not having to stop and deal with your coin tossing skills. Soon we had arrived!!
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The enjoyment was short lived, though, as it was realized the DW only packed one pair of jeans for the trip and she was worried she would need more since the temp outside was high 50’s. We look probably the longest route EVER to Walmart to pick up some emergency jeans for the trip. It was not so refreshing to see that the Walmarts of Orlando are much like the Walmarts of Dahlonega….Anyway, after that detour we were back in The Bubble ready to get our BCV on!
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It was here where we met Guard Shack Joe from New York! As we approach I’m ready with my MB and ID for him to scan and review. Joe blesses us with what might be the quote of the trip, and on the first day too!

[ThickNewYawkAccent]
Oh, you’ve got your band ready. Stupidest idea Disney ever had. Let’s see if this dumb thing works…
[/ThickNewYawkAccent]

I think Joe is awesome BTW. Wouldn’t ya know that stupid little thing did work! The light went green and we were on our way to self-parking! We grabbed our overnight bags and made for bell services as our room was not quite ready yet.
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Cape May had not yet ruined the smell of the lobby as it was still early. The beautiful gingerbread display helped too!
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So with our bags checked we were off to Epcot by foot to test out the waters for lunch!
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, December 20th
Gooood morning!
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It was already a beautiful day out today. We had no where we had to be early today so we slept in a bit and was leaving beautiful BCV around 8:30 heading towards SSR. It was a short ride over to SSR and I promptly made my way towards check-in. I really held no hope this early and sure enough our room wasn’t ready. I was asked for my cell number so they could text me when the room was ready. Not 30 seconds after I gave the CM my number I received a text stating our room was ready!!! Since I was still “checking-in” with the CM I asked if this was accurate and he said “yup”! Hooray! So we were on our way to Grandstand, which just happened to be the first bus stop too! After finding a mostly close parking spot we made for our room and it was only 9:00!
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Still to come
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So the DD really wanted to try mini golf while we were down there this go. We figured today was as good a day as any since we didn’t have any plans until later in the evening. The DD also began talking big game about how she would best us easily….oh little did she know, but more on that later.

This was our first time here and I’ve got to say the theming was fun!
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This was great right here; there was a sensor in the hole so when you would go to retrieve your ball the snowman would spray you with water! DD tried unsuccessfully getting it out unscathed.
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This was a fun one too, I couldn’t believe my garbage phone actually got the ball as it shot out of the pole.
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A few more holes and our final scores coming up!
 

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
YAY! Another TR!

I had to laugh at the beginning about the "Hobbit tale" because I just finished The Hobbit about 2.5 weeks ago (and now I'm reading LOTR)

I also had to laugh at "let's see if the dumb thing works!" too funny!

Really enjoying the TR so far. That room at BCV looks amazing.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Wow! So many great pictures! Have to comment on Winter Summerland first; that place is so cute!! I've been by it many times, but never went in there. Actually, some of the theming there reminded me a lot of Blizzard Beach, and I'm wondering if the same design team worked on both. I think both venues are fairly close by each other, so maybe it's true.

Really liked the Donald Santa on top of the Gingerbread carousel! (I love Christmas, and I like seeing the Disney characters in their holiday "roles".) I also like your Osborne Lights display photos, and I noticed something in your second photo that I have not seen in anyone else's photos yet. There was a blue Star of David on one of the buildings. I thought that fit in perfectly there with all the other pretty lights, and it acknowledges that some guests might also be celebrating other festive occasions, while visiting WDW at Christmastime.

The Derby menu had some very appetizing choices. All in all, you certainly had a very happy day! It's great when you spend a bunch of money, and you actually feel like you've got your money's worth! :happy:
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I also like your Osborne Lights display photos, and I noticed something in your second photo that I have not seen in anyone else's photos yet. There was a blue Star of David on one of the buildings. I thought that fit in perfectly there with all the other pretty lights, and it acknowledges that some guests might also be celebrating other festive occasions, while visiting WDW at Christmastime.
You'll see later when I post the pics from the night where we really take in Osborne that they even have a menorah and a spinning dreidel!
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Continuing on
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As you can see the DD got a lesson in challenging her folks! Awesome Parents 1:Moody Teens 0.
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Having just competed in a hefty round of athletic competition we were all ready for lunch. We decided before we left that we wanted pizza and we wanted that pizza to be off property. The DW did some investigative work and found a highly rated pizza joint just outside DTD. We left Winter Summerland for Flippers and were there in just a few minutes despite the roundabout way we got there… The menu here looked good and the pricing was what you would expect from a tourist town. We opted for the cheese bread and a large pepperoni pizza to share
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IMO, the food was GREAT, BUT the sizes run SMALL! One thing I really liked about Flippers is they will give you fresh garlic, basil and oregano as sides for your food at no extra charge, I’ve never experienced this at another restaurant before and it was really nice! With bellies full we made for the grocery store next door for some drinks and breakfast items before making our way back home.
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After returning, the DD decided she wanted to hang out and relax for a bit. The DW and I decided to head out as it was still early enough to take in a park and come back for a rest before dinner and MK.

Up next: Disney Transportation roulette, Paradiso, and MK
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
Yes I did, and soon you will see that too. :D

So you were the guy who bought the $6,000 Stormtrooper uniform.... My soon to be son-in-law just bought the huge TIE fighter. It is now hanging in a place of honor in their Star Wars themed game room. Goes so well with the collectors lightsabers displayed on the wall, the Vader PS4 I got him for Christmas and all the posters and pictures from several SW Weekends. Yeah, we are a Star Wars family.

I walked out of Launch Bay with the one sixth replica of R2D2. He goes so well with my Sphero BB-8. I was really hoping the remote controlled Millennium Falcon actually flew, because it would have come home with R2. Yeah, that store is Star Wars nirvana. Probably best to leave that credit card behind and forget it's linked to your magic band, lol.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey all! Sorry for the delay, crazy busy weekend followed by the first day of classes here on campus. The crazy weekend included our wrestling team winning the area tournament by scores of 57-21, 59-9, and 57-18. This marks only the second time in school history, both while I was coaching, that we’ve won this event and means we get to travel to Macon this weekend for the State tournament:
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Ok, we’re not here for wrasslin news ,though, so on with the show!

Last I left you we had just returned from a nice lunch at Flippers. The DD decided she wanted to hang out at the room but the DW and I were eager to explore some. Where to explore, like deciding what to have for lunch, can be a hassle, “You pick” “No, You pick” ”I don’t care, where do you want to go”, you get the idea. So we chose to let Disney Fate decide and played a little Disney Transportation Roulette, first bus to come decides where we are going! Any guess what bus came first?
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So, obviously, the bus for AK came first and we decided to grab some Joffrey’s before we entered. The park seemed to be unloading for the day, fine by us. The DW loves the trails so we made for the Pangani Forest first, not before visiting the TOL first.
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Just chillin
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Here we have baby gorilla cousins wrestling around for about 5 minutes, very cute.
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So after Pangani we walked over to Maharajah, I’ll have more pics to add of this trek when we return to AK later on. After that trek we decided to check out the new refreshment stand that replaced the FP kiosk at EE:
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This place was HOPPING!! We opted to share a Maduro Brown Ale. My Untappd notes say I gave it 3 out of 5 and noted it was “Lite, not bitter but not a lot of flavor”. I must have been high on pixie dust because now that I reread my comments Im not sure why gave it a 3 out of 5. Anyway, time was running and we decided to head back so we could clean up and rest a bit before our dinner at P37 and a night at MK. On the way out this superstar was just strutting his stuff.
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Still to come: DTD, P37 Dinner,and MK.
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Just now started reading! Sounds like a great trip. Can't wait to read about Launch Bay. I'm heading down in a couple of days and am hoping I can convince my friends to spend some time there. One of them isn't the biggest SW fan, but maybe she can just go do something else for a bit. ha!
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Congratulations on your wrestling team's area win!

The baby gorilla pictures are so cute! When I was there back in May, I saw one baby gorilla and his mother was trying to teach him to roll down hill. So, she'd roll down the hill, and then look up at him to roll down too. But he didn't "get it" -- all he wanted to do was run down the hill to meet her, and he'd jump on her and want to play! It was so funny to watch.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just now started reading! Sounds like a great trip. Can't wait to read about Launch Bay. I'm heading down in a couple of days and am hoping I can convince my friends to spend some time there. One of them isn't the biggest SW fan, but maybe she can just go do something else for a bit. ha!
IMO, it's awesome. The waits should be short when you go. The M&G lines move fast too.

Congratulations on your wrestling team's area win!

The baby gorilla pictures are so cute! When I was there back in May, I saw one baby gorilla and his mother was trying to teach him to roll down hill. So, she'd roll down the hill, and then look up at him to roll down too. But he didn't "get it" -- all he wanted to do was run down the hill to meet her, and he'd jump on her and want to play! It was so funny to watch.
Thanks! The cousins were really having a great time of it. If I had any camera of worth, I'd have a ton of action shots.

Congrats on your win! You have girls on the team, too???

Also, after rereading your comments, how would you rate that ale now, if not 3 out of 5?
Thanks! Heck yes we have girl wrestlers! She has been wrestling since the 6th grade and is the Girls State Champ as well as the Girls Southeast Regional Freestyle Champ!

I think I'd roll it back to a 2-2.25.

Other than this site, the only social media site I use :hungry:
I've only been using it for less than a year now but really enjoy it.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after a little nap time at the room it was getting close our ADR. We made a short walk past the Grandstand pool then passed the club house and found ourselves at the boat dock. As fate would have it a boat was just pulling away. It was manybe 10- 15 minutes later and the next boat arrived.
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As you can see the skies looked a bit ominous but thankfully no rain at all. In fact, we went 8 days without experiencing any rain!! Soon we were docking and we entered the maddening world of Disney Springs! We walked from one end to the other scouting out locations we wanted to hit up. Some spots included the Galactic Outpost, The Ganachery, and Basin. For the most part the place was shoulder to shoulder but there were some peaceful areas.
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The Ganachery actually had a queue outside just to get in so we decided to wait a little bit on that and made our way for the Galactic Outpost. Obviously this was a repurposed store but you’d thing they would have taken the branding items not relevant to SW down
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Perhaps the evil queens face was a part of the building’s structural integrity?!?!? Probably my favorite piece in the whole shop:
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As for the rest of the stuff at Galactic Outpost, it could all be had at Wattos and Launch Bay. With the queue at The Ganachery still long and Basin at the other end of the pier we decide to check into our ADR a little early. Paradiso37 was not terribly busy so they were able to easily accommodate our early arrival. The weather was decent so we opted for the patio seating
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We decided to grab a pitcher of P37 while we looked over the menu.
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My Untappd notes say it was “creamy and a buttery, not bad for a draft”. I gave it a 2.75 out of 5. If there is one problem with Paradiso its their menu is to big! I have a hard time settling when I see multiple things that I like. The DD, on the other hand, decided she didn’t want anything to do with this place but this was more of her being a teen than it was a slight against P37. We decided to go tapas and ordered several things to share. We had:
Crazy Corn
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Chicken Quesadillas and the Steak Quesadillas
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Chips and dips
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And finally mac & cheese for one grumpy teen
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Dinner overall was good not great. The crazy corn was significantly smaller than the last time we ate here. They also took some menu items away since the last time too. We probably won’t be back but that may have more to do with our disdain for DTD. The place just doesn’t do anything for us. While we finished up our meal I noticed that the queue for The Ganachery had gone down so I suggested the ladies go check it out while I pay the bill. They picked up a couple of chocolates and these two bars
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After that we made for Basin so the DW could get a few Alka-Seltzer bath balls…I don’t know, they fizz and smell like flowers and stuff. We decided to do room delivery here and asked them to include our chocolate bars, which they did, so we wouldn’t have to carry anything at MK. We then hit up the Christmas store where we got another mickey ear ornament as well as some mickey lights for our Christmas tree in our room, also had these items delivered. With FP+ times looming at MK we made for the Contemporary bus stop. Thankfully as we walked up a bus just unloaded so no wait!!

Coming up next: MK at night and a photoshoot in the morning.
 

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