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]

Day 5 continued
Since it was apparently the day for swapping Christmas presents my Mom got us tickets to La Nouba for Christmas so we headed over there!

Jill bought these pants in Animal Kingdom in case anyone was curious haha

The theatre is actually way smaller inside than I thought it was. You aren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck some in!

Our seats were in the first row all the way to the left and they were awesome! This was our first Cirque show and we all really enjoyed it. I was sad to see that this particular version is closing in December! If anyone else has seen it we all picked our favorite acts (aside from the clowns who we all loved): I picked the muscular guy who does the silks (duh), my Mom picked the little girls (I think they are called diablos) and Jill picked the couple that did the silks. We would all recommend seeing this show if you get the chance!
After our show we had a VERY long wait for the bus, but eventually made it home and crawled into our beds

Next up: Day 6! Holllyyyyywoood

 

[kaitertot5249]

We all really enjoyed our meals!!! It was all excellent!

All of the food from Art's looks delicious! I don't normally visit Disney Springs when I visit Disney but all of the reviews that I've seen for this restaurant make me REALLY want to make my way over there. I think I just need to plan a trip that's longer than a weekend I just need to find someone who will come with me!

 

[littleroo]

I finally caught up!! Loving this report and learning so much!! V and A is definitely on my must do list. My kids loved all the animal pics!!

 

[LadyBelle]

What are room shoes?

I think it's a loose translation for slippers. I think in the Japanese culture, since they take off their shoes when entering a residence, they have "room shoes" to use. I have a coworker whose mom is Korean, and they do something similar (different name for them I think).

 

[Doc Disney]

All of the food from Art's looks delicious! I don't normally visit Disney Springs when I visit Disney but all of the reviews that I've seen for this restaurant make me REALLY want to make my way over there. I think I just need to plan a trip that's longer than a weekend I just need to find someone who will come with me!

Aw yea you need a travel buddy for longer trips! We really love Disney Springs for all the food and drinks it has to offer Chef Art Smiths is sooooooo good! I can't wait to go back !

 

[Doc Disney]

I finally caught up!! Loving this report and learning so much!! V and A is definitely on my must do list. My kids loved all the animal pics!!

Aw thank you so much! I felt like I posted too many animal pictures....so I'm glad you enjoyed them! You definitely need to do V and A someday!

 

[Doc Disney]

I think it's a loose translation for slippers. I think in the Japanese culture, since they take off their shoes when entering a residence, they have "room shoes" to use. I have a coworker whose mom is Korean, and they do something similar (different name for them I think).

Ah that makes perfect sense !

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6
This morning we woke up around 7:30 and headed to Capt. Cooks for breakfast.
My Mom and I were feeling a real breakfast this morning so she got Mickey Waffles

I ordered Tonga Toast because I had heard so many amazing things about it!

It was good, but a bit too sweet for me. Overall probably wouldn't get it again...don't hate me everyone
We walked by these boats everyday saying we were going to rent one and it never happened

Our wait for a HS bus was long because the AK one broke so they transferred everyone to our bus. It was like the airport all over again
Whatever, we finally made it to HS

HS was already open by the time we got there so we couldn't rope drop anything. We also talked ourselves out of riding T of T for some reason so we wandered around a bit. We walked by Olaf's M and G and it was a short wait so we hopped in line

I asked Olaf how he felt about the cold weather and he pointed to his background as if to say he would prefer summer
After Olaf we headed to Star Tours (switched our T of T FP to that)

We had a great ride as usual and we went to Wookiee planet for the first time

Next up: HS continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued
After Star Tours we did something I always wanted to do...(plus it was indoors aka warm)

The wait for this was fairly quick and the meet and greet areas are so cute! I actually never got my pictures with Minnie (I asked for them, just waiting for them to be sent).
I always freeze around Mickey

After this we had some time to kill so we went to the Launch Bay since Jill had never been there before.

Jill was wearing a Star Wars shirt, you just couldn't see it

The Storm Troopers were on patrol

The Jawas were out and Jill really wanted to take a selfie with one but we kept missing opportunities so we never got one.

After this we headed to One Man's Dream. There was not much else to do as it was packed this day

Next up: One Man's Dream continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued
In general it annoys me that people rush through One Man's Dream, but now that Moana is in there too its extra bad
Well, we spent time in there

They had the new Belle live action dress in there

We were able to see a preview of Beauty and the Beast the day before the movie came out which was cool. And as we all know it was an amazing movie
We STILL had a bit of time before our FP so we watched the brief part of the March of the First Order that is on the stage

Finally it was time to head towards our FP
No, not here!

Here!

I dont think I ever noticed that the FP entrance is called the Artist Entrance before

I do not remember ever seeing these screens before

Shockingly my Mom decided that she would ride this ride alone . She almost backed out when we were actually in the loading line but we wouldn't let her...because we are mean Apparently the guy next to her was giving her some tips about the ride and she was like yea, its my favorite ride and he shut up then
It was NOT easy to look like I was sleeping haha

It was clearly very crowded this day

Next up: HS continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued

It was somewhere around 11:30 at this point and we were getting hungry, but I wasn't too keen on anything in HS. We actually forgot about PizzeRizzo until like a week later. I did have the idea to check out the Tune-In Lounge to see if we could grab something there but it was already packed so we just decided to head back to the hotel for lunch.

We headed to Capt. Cooks and we all got pepperoni flatbreads

After lunch we went back to the room and it wasn't ready yet so we headed to the pool. It was sunny, but it was still cold so we sat by the pool with pants on and towels on. Look how happy they are

There were actually people swimming in the pool...like it was so cold I have no idea how! Everyone else sitting by the pool was also wrapped in towels

At some point I looked like this

For some reason both my Mom and I fell asleep at the pool. Again, I never nap...and now this is nap number 2!!!
While we were sleeping Jill left us and went to the bar . She sent us a picture to guess where she was...as if it was hard since everything is on the second floor of the lobby! We met up with her briefly but decided to go back to the room. However, our room was getting cleaned so we headed back to Capt. Cooks haha. My Mom wanted an ice cream so she grabbed a Mickey Bar. This picture is terrible but the whole purpose of me posting it is so you can see those kids in the background.

There were a huge pile (as I kept calling them) of teenagers siting on that fake grass forever. Mind you it was like 50 degrees and they were all in bathing suits . This is when I know I'm old...because I find this weird. It was also very clear they were on some sort of school trip and they were not staying at the Polynesian which was only slightly annoying because kids were trying to play on that (fake) grass and they were taking up almost the entire thing.
Anyway, finally our room was ready and we came back to an awesome surprise
Towel animal!

This was our room number...we loved this room!!

Next up: Epcot

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued
After relaxing in our room for awhile we finally got ready (while jamming out to Bruno Mars) and walked towards the TTC

Unsurprisingly the Epcot monorail was down so we ended up having to take a bus

For some reason when we got to Epcot my Mom's MB wasn't working...it ended up being because she needed an "updated" photo....I was like have we ever had photos to begin with?! So odd.

First thing up was Photopass!

It was actually incredibly nice out at this point and Jill felt like she was getting too much sun so we headed to Mouse Gear so she could get a new hat. She ended up buying the same hat that I have
We did not have a ton of time before our dining reservation so we grabbed some drinks from the Mexican Flower and Garden booth.
I got the Hibiscus Margarita and Jill got the Watermelon White Sangria
This were both really great!

We found a Photopass CM who we recognized from past trips. He is one of the best CMs ever so we were delighted to find him again

Next up: dinner time

 

[Courtney6682]

Shockingly my Mom decided that she would ride this ride alone . She almost backed out when we were actually in the loading line but we wouldn't let her...because we are mean Apparently the guy next to her was giving her some tips about the ride and she was like yea, its my favorite ride and he shut up then
It was NOT easy to look like I was sleeping haha

Next up: HS continued

Good thing she didn't have the seat mate I had once...he sat down and said...''Have u ever seen Final Destination 3?'' Sooo funny!! But I had to dash his hopes and say that I use that line on my daughter allllllll the time LOL!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued
This would be our final resting place (for dinner ) but we wanted to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour first

Some lights for you

Finally we checked in for dinner

Next up: actual food

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued
We were seated just one row over from the water at San Angel Inn so it was a nice view
Hello nachos...and my Mom who clearly didn't know I was taking the picture

I ordered the Carne Asada

The meat itself wasn't super tender, but overall I enjoyed my meal.
My Mom and Jill both ordered the Polo a las Rajas

They both really enjoyed their meal as well

After Mexico we walked around a bit exploring World Showcase

We had one more drink on our Must Try list so we headed over towards the Boardwalk
Hello Beach Club pool

Hello Swan

Next up: drinks!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued

Our final destination was the Dolphin. It was a long walk but we finally made it!

I genuinely did not think we would make it to this final drink because Todd English's does not have the easiest hours. I ended up moving our San Angel dinner up just for this
Drink 6/6 was the Smoking Red Sangria! Our drink challenge was complete! What started off as a silly idea ended up being one of the best parts of our trip because it forced us to try new things and go new places and we really had a blast doing it!

I wasn't digging the Sangria so I ordered a Burnt Orange

That drink was so yum! This place in general was super cool. If it wasn't just a bit out of the way I probably would be there more often!
We asked the waiter to take our picture and originally he took a plain one but then he decided that he should make the sangria smoke again and light my orange again. He was like "it will be fun!!!!"

While we were sitting there I was dreaded the long walk back to Epcot so Jill and I ordered an Uber while my Mom was in the bathroom. None of us have ever taken an Uber before so we snuck it in before my Mom freaked out about it
The only problem was that we had no idea where the lobby was in the Dolphin so we ran around a bit

Thankfully we made it in time for our driver and we hopped in a strange mans car and went home . It only cost like $8 and it took 10 minutes which in my mind made it wayyyy worth the money!!
Back at the hotel it was almost time for Wishes so of course I went out to watch it. My Mom watched it with me this time

Next up: More Wishes

 

[RyPat]

Day 5 continued
We had the weirdest waiter. His name was Anthony and he must have said "nice to meet you" at least 10 times. Like every time he came to our table . Anyway, the restaurant was super cool and he said Art Smith himself is there a lot. He also gave us a good history of Art Smith himself which was good to hear.

Ate here last September, Art Smith was walking around and stopped to chat with every table (he even cleared a few tables), it was cool... and yes, the chicken was delicious...

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued

Next up: more Wishes

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued

Sorry can't stop...more pictures...

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 6 continued

Ok sorry guys, Wishes overload! Can't help it! I love Wishes so much
Next up: Day 7 - last full day