Trip Report **COMPLETED** The Tail of Slinky Dog

Hey everyone!
We have been back for a week now so I suppose it is time to start our TR!

Who
Just my Mom and I (Mary and Megan)
This is a picture from our last trip!

When?
July 9-July 16 2018

Why?
To celebrate my 30th Birthday

Where?
The Grand Floridian - thanks to a pretty good bounce back or AP deal (I can't actually remember which one )

The title?
We are obsessed with Slinky Dog Dash - plain and simple

Day 1 July 9, 2018
I had to work most of my usual day before we headed to the airport. Why is this day of work always the LONGEST day of work?
My Dad was actually out of town for work so he couldn't drive us to the airport, but my brother in law Nick kindly offered to drive us (thankfully)
I was super stressed about leaving on time (I thought our flight was earlier than it was ) hence my flushed cheeks

Oh hey Nick

Of course we made it to the airport, checked our bags and made it through security in little to no time
We decided to eat dinner at our usual airport dinner place - Anchor Bar

We shared the appetizer sampler and some fries. Wings, boneless wings, mozzarella sticks I realize now this isn't the best of pictures to actually show the food

After our delicious dinner we headed to the gate to wait to leave.
Petey was ready to go

Soon enough we were on the plane!

Next up: finishing Day 1 (quick day!)

 

[LeighM]

The balloons in the magic shot picture looks different than the one I had a few years ago. I think I like these better.

 

[kybred72]

Reba's here! LOVE your pics! Enjoying the trip report and congrats on the house!

I LOLd when I saw 4 suitcases (which are adorable BTW) for 2 tiny people. LOL

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

Loving your review so far! Happy Birthday and congratulations on your house!

 

[Doc Disney]

I really like Old Navy but it’s hit or miss for me there anymore. Maybe I need to do a road trip up to Buffalo & see what they’re offering up there that we don’t have here in Pittsburgh!

Oh man - same. I haven't shopped at Old Navy in years but I was looking for something cheap and I lucked out!

Love that you are eating clean - and you look great, by the way! I'm trying to eat "clean-er" by substituting a salad for a lunch or a dinner, but man, the struggle so real! I cannot wait until we get to Disney next month, as I plan to enjoy whatever food looks good, "clean" or not!

Love that you guys tried out the henna tattoos, but you are right - not worth $30! You could have gotten a nice Pier 1 throw pillow for your new house for that amount of $$!

Thank you! It was nice to get a break from better eating but my stomach wasn't very happy with me for eating junk I know the price was a bit steep but at least they were cute (for a few minutes )

 

[Doc Disney]

Forgot to tell you - congrats on the house!! Woohoo!!

I'm late but I'm here

Thanks !!

well lots of things seen as im late as usual, I can't wait for Christopher Robin im crying at the trailer! Happy belated 30th Birthday, Congratulations on the house that's so exciting and lastly I love your park outfits you always great as does Mary.

Thank you so much! I cry at the trailer too

Reba's here! LOVE your pics! Enjoying the trip report and congrats on the house!

I LOLd when I saw 4 suitcases (which are adorable BTW) for 2 tiny people. LOL

Thank you! And yes...we have so much luggage. My Dad doesn't even comment anymore

 

[Doc Disney]

Loving your review so far! Happy Birthday and congratulations on your house!

Thank you And thanks for reading

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
I forgot to mention that I got new ears you can see in the last photo of the last post! The iridescent ones - What can I say I love a good trend! They are actually super comfortable as compared to the rose gold ears though!
Anyway - we planned on walking to the Contemporary but it was super hot so we took the monorail
Is it the Contemporary without getting Mickey ear pictures?

Anyway, we did indeed have dinner plans so we checked in to the California Grill and received our table ready text as soon as we got on the elevator.

Bread to start - with the weird oil it comes with. I didn't take any pictures but we did request butter instead

We also both started off with a cocktail.
I had a blueberry lemon drop martini. It was delicious!!!

Next up: more CG

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
My Mom had a side car

We started off by sharing the Sonoma goat cheese ravioli. It was delicious as usual!

I ordered the Oak Fired Filet of beef. I actually wasn't planning on ordering it because I knew I would barely be able to eat it but I really couldn't resist.

It was fantastic (as usual!!!). I could only eat about a third of it but it was still worth it. The potatoes were really great too.
My Mom had the pepperoni pizza. I did not have any of it but she said it was really good!

In our usual CG tradition we ordered a cake to celebrate my Birthday. I ordered it via email which was a little strange because usually you have to call. I only initially emailed to see if I could still get a small cake that wasn't that dumb chocolate Mickey one we had last time and somehow it turned into me ordering the whole thing online. Anyway our waitress was sweet and hid it from me like it was a surprise so I just went along with it We were at least surprised it actually showed up because the email thing seemed weird

The cake was adorable and delicious! As an aside - has anyone else noticed the table confetti and cards seem to have disappeared from the California Grill?
It was sparkly!!!!! (FYI we brought our own candles). Oh also, bonus, we never actually paid for the cake! It wasn't on the bill so I thought maybe they just charged it to the room but they didn't Oh Disney Magic....even if it was accidental

After our declicious meal we headed back to the GF. We relaxed outside for a bit and face timed our family before heading off to early bed

This sunset picture is from our balcony

Next up: Day 3 - with a VERY early start

 

[riverside]

I have a question for you. I’m taking my niece next month for her 16th birthday. We have reservations on our first night for California Grill. I would love to get her something to kick off her birthday trip. Here’s my questions—
Who do I call/email?
Do you know if you can get something other than a cake? She doesn’t like cake....

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

I had a blueberry lemon drop martini. It was delicious!!!

Ohhh blueberry lemon drop, I'll have to put it on my "drinks to try" list!

Your cake looks DELISH!! We had one at Aulani for our honeymoon and it was chocolate decadence!!

Can't wait to hear about your adventures on Slinky Dog!

 

[DisneyFreak]

View attachment 298236

The newest face palm meme!

 

[krisri18]

Thank you! I am lucky that most of my family is pretty handy not just my Dad I did many trips to New Orleans to help rebuild after Katrina and learned a ton of skills myself too which is nice



.....no.....just less furniture in my house

Furniture is overrated, Disney is forever.

 

[susan lees]

Your new house looks lovely. Congratulations

 

[Doc Disney]

The balloons in the magic shot picture looks different than the one I had a few years ago. I think I like these better.

I'm sorry I missed this!! I agree they look nice!

I have a question for you. I’m taking my niece next month for her 16th birthday. We have reservations on our first night for California Grill. I would love to get her something to kick off her birthday trip. Here’s my questions—
Who do I call/email?
Do you know if you can get something other than a cake? She doesn’t like cake....

wdw.contemporary.cake.order@disney.com
That is who I emailed. I really am not 100% if they do anything else but they are super helpful so I know they can help you out!

 

[Doc Disney]

Ohhh blueberry lemon drop, I'll have to put it on my "drinks to try" list!

Your cake looks DELISH!! We had one at Aulani for our honeymoon and it was chocolate decadence!!

Can't wait to hear about your adventures on Slinky Dog!

That drink was amazing definitely put it on your list! The cake was good too but I am not a huge sweets person so I could take or leave all cakes

The newest face palm meme!

 

[Doc Disney]

Furniture is overrated, Disney is forever.

Agreed

Your new house looks lovely. Congratulations

Thank you!!!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3: July 11, 2018
We got up just before 5 am. Thats right....5 am. Why? Because we are nuts and wanted to rope drop Toy Story Land which opened at 7 am. We planned on doing this for a few months before the trip but I wasn't sure we actually would . Neither one of us slept well because something at the California Grill both made us feel a little sick (just like an annoying amount of discomfort not a full blown illness). This happens almost every time so we finally decided it is probably the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli and next time we should just skip it. Anyway, we still managed to get out of bed.
We got ready and just missed a bus to HS so I ordered us a Lyft. However, the Lyft got stuck in traffic so I ended up canceling it and we took the bus The bus probably worked out better because it dropped us off right at the gate anyway.

We got there around 6:45 am and it was already open And...security was slow as molasses!!!
We raced over to Toy Story Land (with everyone else ) and we were blown away by how cute the area is! It is also much bigger than I expected! I mean there are small little details everywhere - they put SO much thought into it!

Slinky Dog Dash was posted as 25 minutes so we decided to wait...of course!

I could have taken a 100 pictures of the que - without exaggeration.

We sent this to our family who probably thought we were nuts for being up so early!

It is a bit weird that all of the que is outside and it was already pretty hot but there were a few fans throughout.

Next up: more TSL

 

[riverside]

I'm sorry I missed this!! I agree they look nice!



wdw.contemporary.cake.order@disney.com
That is who I emailed. I really am not 100% if they do anything else but they are super helpful so I know they can help you out!

Thank you very much!!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued

Even the garbage cans are adorable

My Mom and my uncle both love Yatzee so we sent this picture to him

I was a bit giddy if you can't tell from the picture

Here he comes!!!

On ride selfie!! In total we only waited 17 minutes! Woohoo!

I mean...honestly. What can I say about the ride other than we loved it!!! I think we laughed and giggled through the entire thing...maybe with a few tears mixed in because of how nostalgic Toy Story is for us! The whole ride is just so clever! Its really hard to explain until you ride it. The actual rollercoaster part of it was better than I expected too - definitely more intense than I thought it would be. We both said we felt like we did when we road Radiator Springs Racers for the first time in that we literally could not wait to ride it again! The wait was up to about 50 minutes by the time we got off though so we went along our way

Next up: more TSL

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued
We wandered around Toy Story Land a bit - just taking it all in.

Woody and Jessie had a short wait so we hopped in line. Jessie asked me how old I was turning and I said 30 and no lie they all laughed at me --- CMs and all

After Woody and Jessie we decided to ride TSM since it had a 5 minute wait!

Its a bit confusing when you walk in only because I think we are so used to the old que!

After TSM we headed out of Toy Story Land to grab breakfast .... but first....PP pictures! BTW it was only 8 am and we did 3 things in Toy Story Land!

Next up: more HS!