Trip Report **COMPLETED** The Tale of Two Trips (finally moving on from the PTR)

Hello everyone!!! I'm sorry for the long delay, but I am finally starting my TR I apologize in advance for the insane amount of pictures I got a new camera and took over 3000 pictures and videos! If you did not read my PTR I went on two trips in the span of a few weeks...hence the title I will split them in two but keep it all in the same thread. Also, I have a lot of last minute residency requirements to navigate through the next few weeks or so so I'm sorry if this takes me forever! Anyway, enough of me rambling - let's begin!

First trip!
Who?
From left to right: Me (Megan), my Mom (Mary), and my sister (Jill)

When?
March 11, 2017 - March 18, 2017

Where?
First time staying an entire trip here...the Polynesian!

Why?
I had to take an exam in Kissimmee on the 14th and I got the whole week off from work to go My Mom and sister came along for the ride.

 

[Doc Disney]

Awkward!!

It was ridiculously awkward. Every time we glanced over she was staring at us and we couldn't help but giggle

Never particularly cared for Storybook Circus; yet, I'm really enjoying your evening photos of that area. Seeing it all lit up, gave it a whole different feel from the daytime.

I agree with you! During the day it is probably my least favorite part of the MK. My sister Jill won't even go in the Big Top Treats tent or whatever its called But, at night it is beautiful!

 

[Doc Disney]

Now I want to eat at Crystal Palace again. I'm starting to feel like @prfctlyximprct with all of this back and forth ADR reconsideration.

I have a hard time recommending this one since we really didn't care for it...haha

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4
This morning we planned on sleeping in, but "George's" Mom woke us up screaming at her kids
Well, since we were up we decided to check out a new place for breakfast so we headed to the boat dock

I made a reservation while on the boat for Trails End

When I went to check in they didn't actually have our reservation in the system yet so they made us a new one. They were saying something about there being two systems or something, but to be honest they just seemed behind the times because this wasn't an issue anywhere else
The place was DEAD inside so we had a bit of a chuckle that they made us a reservation
They call the good POG juice moonshine

I look exhausted Thanks "George"

Next up: continued Trails End

 

[lostpro9het]

They call the good POG juice moonshine

What was its proof?

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
Trails End has some interesting decorations

We really enjoyed our breakfast at Trails End! Its $20 a person for a huge selection of food. Plus, its nice to be at a buffet without having to worry about characters coming to your table. The waiters were super friendly too

When we were leaving we headed down to the boat dock and encountered a huge line. However, the line was for the MK and the boat to the WL was waiting for us so we sprinted down the dock. The CM was like "I can take you but it will add at least 20-30 minutes to your commute." I was like what? He must have realized I looked confused because he said going this way would add on 20 or so minutes to get to the MK. I was like oh, we are going back to the WL........our resort. He was like "oh sorry..." Way to assume buddy

After our breakfast we got ready and headed down to the bus for DS. Our final destination was not DS, but instead Typhoon Lagoon. I miss the old days when Typhoon Lagoon had its own bus, especially since literally everyone on our bus was going to TL. Oh well!

The bus to TL was packed! At one point a little boy rested his head on my bag and his Dad was mortified He was saying they are still trying to teach him personal space
TL had already opened by the time we got there, but despite long lines of people buying tickets it otherwise wasn't too crowded

These pictures are from later in the day (a bit out of order) hence why it looks crowded

Next up: more TL

 

[Doc Disney]

What was its proof?

If only it wasn't 0....

 

[Emadsen]

I laughed that your mom announced how Piglet is your favorite. Snow White annoys the heck out of me, and last time I met her at CRT my friend told her proudly how she was my favorite and then she made a big deal out of it....

 

[LeighM]

My sister Jill won't even go in the Big Top Treats tent or whatever its called But, at night it is beautiful!

The Big Top Souvenirs tent is my happiest place within my happy place LOL. I love the smell in there from them making all of that sugary goodness. I asked a CM once if they piped in that smell but she said it was all from their baking.

 

[Doc Disney]

I laughed that your mom announced how Piglet is your favorite. Snow White annoys the heck out of me, and last time I met her at CRT my friend told her proudly how she was my favorite and then she made a big deal out of it....

Omg thats the worst! Thankfully Piglet didn't hear my Mom

 

[Doc Disney]

The Big Top Souvenirs tent is my happiest place within my happy place LOL. I love the smell in there from them making all of that sugary goodness. I asked a CM once if they piped in that smell but she said it was all from their baking.

Haha thats funny! I dont mind it actually but Jill unreasonably hates it

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
We wandered around TL and headed towards Mayday Falls and then Castaway Creek

This is the new family raft ride, but the wait was 30 minutes so we did not go on. Its pretty neat though because you don't have to take the raft up, they ride you up on a huge conveyer belt thing

I actually never knew where Crush 'n' Cusher even was until we saw the signs for it so we headed over there to look at it and decided to try it out even though it looked scary! See @Tuvalu we finally did it

Crush 'n' Gusher was so much fun!!!! I'm sad it took us this long to find it
After this we took a few spins in the wave pool then headed out

Next up: DS

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
Since we had to go to DS anyway we decided to get off and walk around a bit
We ended up at Ghirardelli so my Mom could get a Sea Salt Caramel Sundae

I got some popcorn, which is never really all that good at DS. Luckily I moved our dinner reservation back a bit so I stopped eating the popcorn and waited for my own treat

After snack part 1 we headed to the crystal shop and my Mom surprised me with this super cute partners statue glass block!!! Its so pretty
We actually went back to the Co-Op after this to check out the dress shop but they ran out of small sizes in the IASW dress. I was SO mad at myself for not buying it the first day. I was going to buy one of their Belle dresses but in the end realized it was impractical and didn't look that flattering anyway I feel bad because I made my Mom stick around and watch me try on things for like 15 minutes and we were carrying pretty heavy bags from the water park . My Mom said she overhead the shop manager asking the other workers how they were doing on sizes and if they needed to order more and they said they were fine and no . Oh well...
Anyway after this we headed over to where I wanted my snack!

Poutine! That guy in front of me was super annoying and took like 10 minutes to decide what he wanted

Yum!!! It was so good! It was a good amount of food too so I made my Mom eat some
We headed out of DS after this and back to the hotel
Back at the hotel we were stuck in the room for a bit because it looked like this outside

Since we can't sit still we decided to wait out the rain at Geyser Point

Next up: More Geyser Point

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued

We just ordered some drinks. I chose the Northwest Iced Tea

And my Mom had the Black Cherry Lemonade

We both again really enjoyed our drinks and sat there for about an hour relaxing
Finally the rain stopped so we headed towards the bus stop

We somehow ended up on the bus with a bunch of people trying to find Hoop Dee Doo. I was worried for them making it on time because it was already close to show time and I don't think they realized the bus would drop them off at the front. I hope they made it!
Hello old friend (AP line)

We headed over to The Land after this!

Next up: The Land

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
Fake Land enthusiasm from my Mom

After Living with the Land we checked out the Visa M and G and it had a short wait so we hopped in line

For some reason I am always unreasonably nervous around Mickey. He pointed to my hat and I said "I'm on your hat....I mean you're on my hat"

Next up: TT

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
For some reason I have like zero recollection of this day but I guess we had a FP for TT after this

Test Track had a very long FP line because the rain had it closed for awhile. We were behind these two girls that literally would not stop whining about the wait and saying its the reason they hate TT....then why go on it I say??

Look at how cool the sky was!

After this we headed over towards France since it was finally time for dinner Originally we were supposed to be eating at 50's Prime Time but canceled it in exchange for Chefs de France (shocking I know...). We had not been to Chefs de France in about 3 years

I can't tell you how many times before this trip my Mom and I talked about sharing meals....we know beforehand we can never eat a full meal but hungry Disney selves never remember that so hungry selves ordered the three course meal. Did we split a three course meal..no...no we didn't
We both started off with the French Onion Soup. This alone could have been a meal by itself...so yummy!

Bread...should have avoided it but didn't

Next up: France continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
For entrees my Mom ordered the Gratin de macaroni

This was fine, but not great. We should have remembered that from past trips ...
I ordered the Beef Short Ribs

Those were incredible! I am not a polenta fan so I avoided that side of the plate. I felt like I kept eating and eating and still ended up with a ton of food left over....ahhh why do we do this to ourselves !?
For dessert we both got the creme brûlée

It had been a few years since I had this and it was every bit as good as I remembered. Overall our meal was good but I think we turned ourselves off from it by ordering too much food and feeling gross after We will probably take another few year hiatus from it
The plan was to watch Illuminations but we were very tired so headed out instead and watched some of it from the bus stop.

One of the nicest things about being close to the MK at night is hearing the electrical water pageant. For whatever reason, though, this night it was like crazy loud Anyway, soon enough it left and off to sleep we went

 

[joshsprincess921]

We had the same thing happen to us with a same day reservation. We got there and they asked if we recently made the reservation and I said a couple hours ago. She called another cast member over and told them to check us in. He hopped onto the other computer and said something about two different systems, etc.

 

[amjt660]

We go to Chefs almost every trip because my wife loves the idea of eating dinner in France
The quality and service is not a good value for the dollar and we will also be taking a hiatus from it as well.

" I am on your hat" - Priceless

Max

 

[Doc Disney]

We had the same thing happen to us with a same day reservation. We got there and they asked if we recently made the reservation and I said a couple hours ago. She called another cast member over and told them to check us in. He hopped onto the other computer and said something about two different systems, etc.

Who knows...seems like they should just make it one system then Luckily every other time I did it this trip it worked out OK

 

[Doc Disney]

We go to Chefs almost every trip because my wife loves the idea of eating dinner in France
The quality and service is not a good value for the dollar and we will also be taking a hiatus from it as well.

" I am on your hat" - Priceless

Max

I would agree...service is only so so and quality isn't super great
Mickey makes me nervous