Trip Report Completed- We Went to FL in August to Cool Off

HouCuseChickie · Aug 13, 2015

figmentfan423 said:
Sounds perfect except for the disco fries issue! At least I can get Wa Wa coffee near Disney!

I actually debated about asking them if it was an off-menu item they could make, but I wasn't planning on ordering them so I didn't bother.

fractal said:
Nothing like a good Greek diner!

Wow - that is a long drive from Key Largo to Key West!

When we stayed at Islamorada a few years ago we decided to do a "quick" day trip to Key West. Didn't realize it was a 3+ hour drive. Glad we did it though. We have a few of the same shots behind the Cuban restaurant.

The big issue with driving in the Keys is that it's a single lane road and you're sort of at the mercy of the drivers in front of you. We got pretty lucky, but it's still not a short drive. Thankfully, it's a very pretty drive so you sort of lose track of time. Well, that's until you come back from the Keys and hit Miami rush hour.

sheriffwoody said:
THAT CAKE!!! I love it.

Thank you! Still kind of shocked that I came off of my cake break for it.

coachwnh · Aug 13, 2015

prfctlyximprct said:
A rainy day in Disney beats a sunny day anywhere else!

FlaggNL said:
you are in WDW so who cares about the weather?

Agree!!!!!!!

HouCuseChickie · Aug 13, 2015

So, I totally forgot a few food pics.

First- we got ice cream in Key West...and this place would serve Kendall. She explained all they do to ensure the safety of their patrons with allergies, so that made K a happy camper. I have no idea what DH had, but the girls each had Papa Smurf (tasted like fresh berries with marshmallows) and I had Passion Fruit sorbetto...and it had chunks of fresh fruit!

Second- on our last dinner at my parents' house, someone left me a hidden Mickey with some container lids.

Chapter 4- The Animal Kingdom OUTSIDE of Disney’s Animal Kingdom

OK, I’m not going to play like we saw this amazing menagerie of animals in the wild. I mean, we didn’t go on an airboat tour (although we talked about it for next time), this wasn’t Yellowstone, and I don’t think we saw anything larger than my parents’ golden retriever…BUT…we still saw some very neat things.

Around Ft. Lauderdale…

While various lizards and some creepy golden orb weavers made up some of our animal sightings, the free roaming iguanas were the most popular creatures. These are the guys that will fall out of the trees if it’s too cold.

Out on the boat…

So, aside from seeing some seagulls and wishing they could say “Mine, Mine, Mine,” we did have a really cool fish experience. There are some areas along the coast where you can tie up to these mooring balls. Many hit these areas to snorkel and scuba dive, but others tie up in this area to get live bait fish before heading farther out. We sort of did a blend. My dad took the oatmeal and oil mix they use to bring in bait fish and created a feeding frenzy around the boat. The pics aren’t great, but you can see that there are all kinds of fish in the water around the boat. We also brought up the tiniest crab ever when tying up to one of the balls.

In the Keys…

We really didn’t see a lot, but you can see some pinfish and sergeant majors in some of these pics. We also saw a number of osprey nests, but no ospreys. The only big bird we’d see this trip was a bald eagle just south of Ocala, FL.

In the park…

OK, these are my faves. The park across from my parents’ neighborhood has a number of burrowing owls. The owls are protected and weren’t very active due to the summer sun, but I was able to get some decent shots with my telephoto. They are tiny, but still, very cool.

In the lake…

As a resident of a neighborhood in a warmer climate with lots of manmade lakes, I know they are dumping grounds for people’s unwanted aquarium fish. My parents’ neighborhood is no different. While my pic of the trio of plecostomus fish that enjoy the shallows near their home didn’t turn out, I was able to get pics of a few other fish and get them to pop a bit with a polarizing filter effect.

Next up...

Chapter 5- Have Yourself a Disney Day (OK, 2 hours)

epcotisbest · Aug 13, 2015

Love the owl photos. Thanks for sharing.

Figgy1 · Aug 14, 2015

epcotisbest said:
Love the owl photos. Thanks for sharing.

Me too and the baby ducks! xoxo

HouCuseChickie · Aug 14, 2015

epcotisbest said:
Love the owl photos. Thanks for sharing.

I have a ton, but I didn't want to create owl overload. LOL

figmentfan423 said:
Me too and the baby ducks! xoxo

I think those ducks would have come home with us if permitted. Muscovy ducks are far from shy.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

Chapter 5- Have Yourself a Disney Day (OK, 2 hours)

WARNING- while I have provided an abridged version of the trip to this point, I will be reverting into my normal style. i.e. you're about to get hit with WDW picture overload.

So, I was really scared that we'd be late for our ADR, so the plan was to leave my parents' house between 7-7:30am. It's bad enough trying to make an ADR at the GF when you're in Epcot, but try making an ADR when you're a little over 3 hours away. We were making decent time and knew we were getting close when we saw this familiar fella at our final rest stop...

I started getting nervous since we were less than an hour from our ADR time and I couldn't gauge how far we were from the maingate. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before this came into view...

...and I'm tearing up by this point...

Obviously, this didn't require the planning of a full blown trip, but I hatched this idea months and months ago. I knew we'd be starting our drive home on the day before my birthday and I told DH all I really wanted was to stop by WDW for a small bday celebration. I switched ADRs a good 5x, worked with 2 different bakeries, and debated about working in a little extra time that would give me a proper WDW fix. I really wanted Cape May since everyone says we'll really miss Epcot when we're at Disneyland, but the YC/BC bakery was taking forever... so we switched to the GF and went with 1900 PF. It is my 2nd fave character meal, I think it's one of the cheapest breakfasts, and it was perfect for my #1 cake idea. More on that in a bit.

So, as soon as we crossed inside the bubble, I started looking out for SSE. I spotted it, but my first few pics look like this...

Thankfully, we hit a few clearings and I got these pics...

I was really just in shock that we were there...and not just a little pop in like the previous week. I guess I was in disbelief because here I go taking pics of a bus...

Of course I had to take sign pics just to show the change in road signage...

And of course, attraction signs...

(not that I have ANY desire to ride this any time in the near future)

We had another pretty thing come into view...

(E for Elias)

I guess it's also proof that we're seasoned WDW travelers. There were all kinds of people keeping right for the MK area resorts, but most were in discussions with the booth attendants over directions and making sure it was OK to drive through without going to the TTC parking area. We drove up- called out that we're heading to the GF- and were waved through with a smile...leaving everyone else in our dust. LOL

Monorail beam, but we still haven't seen a single one...

Almost time to make our turn...

But first...our first monorail spotting of the day...

Saw this DME bus shortly after making our turn. I see these and I always hope it's a bus of people making the happy trip and not the sad one back to MCO.

I sent @DisneyDebNJ these pics of the Poly as we passed by...

And now time to drive those final bits to the GF...

DisneyDebNJ · Aug 15, 2015

HouCuseChickie said:
Chapter 5- Have Yourself a Disney Day (OK, 2 hours)

WARNING- while I have provided an abridged version of the trip to this point, I will be reverting into my normal style. i.e. you're about to get hit with WDW picture overload.

So, I was really scared that we'd be late for our ADR, so the plan was to leave my parents' house between 7-7:30am. It's bad enough trying to make an ADR at the GF when you're in Epcot, but try making an ADR when you're a little over 3 hours away. We were making decent time and knew we were getting close when we saw this familiar fella at our final rest stop...

I started getting nervous since we were less than an hour from our ADR time and I couldn't gauge how far we were from the maingate. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before this came into view...

...and I'm tearing up by this point...

Obviously, this didn't require the planning of a full blown trip, but I hatched this idea months and months ago. I knew we'd be starting our drive home on the day before my birthday and I told DH all I really wanted was to stop by WDW for a small bday celebration. I switched ADRs a good 5x, worked with 2 different bakeries, and debated about working in a little extra time that would give me a proper WDW fix. I really wanted Cape May since everyone says we'll really miss Epcot when we're at Disneyland, but the YC/BC bakery was taking forever... so we switched to the GF and went with 1900 PF. It is my 2nd fave character meal, I think it's one of the cheapest breakfasts, and it was perfect for my #1 cake idea. More on that in a bit.

So, as soon as we crossed inside the bubble, I started looking out for SSE. I spotted it, but my first few pics look like this...

Thankfully, we hit a few clearings and I got these pics...

I was really just in shock that we were there...and not just a little pop in like the previous week. I guess I was in disbelief because here I go taking pics of a bus...

Of course I had to take sign pics just to show the change in road signage...

And of course, attraction signs...

(not that I have ANY desire to ride this any time in the near future)

We had another pretty thing come into view...

(E for Elias)

I guess it's also proof that we're seasoned WDW travelers. There were all kinds of people keeping right for the MK area resorts, but most were in discussions with the booth attendants over directions and making sure it was OK to drive through without going to the TTC parking area. We drove up- called out that we're heading to the GF- and were waved through with a smile...leaving everyone else in our dust. LOL

Monorail beam, but we still haven't seen a single one...

Almost time to make our turn...

But first...our first monorail spotting of the day...

Saw this DME bus shortly after making our turn. I see these and I always hope it's a bus of people making the happy trip and not the sad one back to MCO.

I sent @DisneyDebNJ these pics of the Poly as we passed by...

And now time to drive those final bits to the GF...

not only were you at my *home* but my old stomping grounds too! (Ft Lauderdale!) I cannot believe how big the girls are getting!!!!!!!!! (and yes we do send each other pics while on our vacations!!!!! LOL) tradition lives on!! xoxox

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

I can see the first little bits of the GF coming into view...

And more...

Woohoo!!! We have arrived!!!

I took a pic of the Welcome Home sign because we pretty much never hear it from any of the CMs. Of course, today would be a day when we would hear it. One of the ladies in the security booth gave us a cheerful, "welcome home." And I was THRILLED! I told her we were headed to 1900 PF for a meal, she checked my ID, and we were in!

I couldn't wait to get out of the car, but we had to drive around a bit to find an open spot in self parking...

Finally- we're FREE!!! You can tell since my car tint is no longer making the pics as dark. LOL

I took pics during our entire walk in, but it was tough. DH, for whatever reason, wanted to power walk. I had the girls in flip flops because I figured we'd be taking it easy. Poor Sammie had blisters from trying to keep up with his brisk pace. I still lingered behind a bit and was also completely energized because every CM we passed said wished us a good morning. It just screamed of Disney service.

They came out a little blurry, but Richard Gerth was out greeting guests at the GF...

About to head in...

We're in and Sammie decides it's time for a celebratory pic...

I decide to go into my normal pattern and take pics of lights and details...

Ultimately, I was just so happy to be there. Plus, I love the scent inside the GF lobby, so it was evoking all kinds of happy trip memories.

-to be continued...

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

DisneyDebNJ said:
not only were you at my *home* but my old stomping grounds too! (Ft Lauderdale!) I cannot believe how big the girls are getting!!!!!!!!! (and yes we do send each other pics while on our vacations!!!!! LOL) tradition lives on!! xoxox

I know. Small World!!! Literally!

I am actually going to do a comparison pic later on in this...from their first trip to 1900 PF in 2010 to now. Growing up at WDW

DisneyDebNJ · Aug 15, 2015

HouCuseChickie said:
I know. Small World!!! Literally!

I am actually going to do a comparison pic later on in this...from their first trip to 1900 PF in 2010 to now. Growing up at WDW

I do that w/CJ's pics LOL from 3 up, time goes SO FAST

Figgy1 · Aug 15, 2015

I'm sorry to hear about blisters! Hope they weren't too bad! xoxo

coachwnh · Aug 15, 2015

HouCuseChickie said:
I can see the first little bits of the GF coming into view...

My favorite!

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

DisneyDebNJ said:
I do that w/CJ's pics LOL from 3 up, time goes SO FAST

Tell me about it! I'm going to post K's bday pic on FB tomorrow and she looks like a total tween. She's going to be starting college before we know it!

figmentfan423 said:
I'm sorry to hear about blisters! Hope they weren't too bad! xoxo

Thankfully, it was a tiny fairly minor one.

coachwnh said:
My favorite!

I tell ya, I would have been happy to be stopping there for the night. There was just that great relaxing feeling when we were in the lobby.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

Chapter 5- continued...

So, I guess DH's big hurry was hoping they'd seat us early. With the exception of our 8am ADR experiences, we have always been seated on time or late at 1900 PF. Still, I was optimistic since there were tons of ADRs open on MDE. I snapped a couple of pics while we continued to wait.

The girls had gone over to one the little movie watching nooks during this time. We didn't realize K had swiped the buzzer, so we had to reclaim that from her during our wait. The buzzer actually went off right before we got it back.

(clearly, I'm excelling at blurry pics this day!)

As we entered the dining room, I turned to DH and wondered if we'd finally get a truly mad Mad Hatter. He turned back to me and wondered if we'd be seated at 'our' table.

- As far as the Mad Hatter goes, there used to be one at 1900 PF that was amazing, but we never got a chance to see him and all Hatters we've had after that were between meh to a little bit silly. I wanted one like this guy from several years ago who did the voice and was totally crazy in the role...and my wishes would FINALLY be answered. As we entered the dining room, I heard him hooting and hollering and then saw him running all over the place. YES! I was finally getting a meal with an awesome Mad Hatter.

- As for the table, there's a table right on the edge of the far side of the buffet right at the end of the aisle and we've been seated there on 75% of our visits to 1900 PF. We approached several empty tables as we were following the hostess, but she kept walking towards 'our' table. And wouldn't ya know it...we were seated again at 'our' table! Part of me wonders if they track this and plan it, but I can't see why.

So, we sat down and had juice in front of us pretty quickly...

DH and Sammie ran off to the buffet while K and I waited on the chef to come by to go over all of the allergy issues. So I do what I always do...take pics of lights while I wait...

It was actually kind of funny...the chef started talking with us just as Big Bertha started playing. It was nearly impossible to hear him. So we went on our tour of the buffet and something immediately caught my eye...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pecan sticky rolls I adore are back!

The chef also offered to bring K some safe doughnuts from the kitchen. They were left for her while we were up at the buffet, so Sammie thought they were special for her. We had to fight her a bit to get them back for K.

Now, I'd like to tell you that I got my $s worth, but this was my one plate of food. You'll see why in just a bit.

First off...the pecan sticky rolls at 1900 are smaller and far more gooey than the ones I tried at Gasparilla back in November. I'm sure they are pure evil, but they are GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! Yet, after trying the pecan sticky bun at BW Bakery last trip, I can now say for certain that these glorious little rolls are still not as good as the behemoth of a bun you can get at BW. Either way, I was happy.

Now what was missing...the cream cheese options for all of the bagels (the dill and the lox versions were my faves) and the lobster benedict. This was a late ADR, so I kind of wonder if the cream cheeses were just gone. As for the benedict, they shifted to a normal benedict, but DH got it and it was very...well...plastic-like....

Still, maybe it's an omen that my other faves were missing from the buffet this time. Why? One word (which shouldn't shock anyone)...
CAKE!

While many of you may know that Donald is my favorite character, Cheshire Cat is second and a meal with Hatter and Alice seemed like the perfect spot for a Cheshire Cat cake. Normally, they bring cakes out towards the end, but I told our server (who was great!) that I wanted it early so we could get some character interaction with it. She was fine with it...told me I was calling the shots! LOL

I told the GF that I wanted a 6", Cheshire Cat striped fondant covered cake, with a 2D edible image of him on top. The rest was up to them.

Prior to bringing out the cake, our server told us it was really cute. While I've never heard a server say a cake is hideous, positive server commentary has usually meant an above average cake design. And I LOOOOOOOOOOVED it!

Chapter 5- to be continued...

coachwnh · Aug 15, 2015

Thats a fun cake. The GF has never disappointed us. Glad it worked out for you!

DisneyDebNJ · Aug 15, 2015

HouCuseChickie said:
Chapter 5- continued...

So, I guess DH's big hurry was hoping they'd seat us early. With the exception of our 8am ADR experiences, we have always been seated on time or late at 1900 PF. Still, I was optimistic since there were tons of ADRs open on MDE. I snapped a couple of pics while we continued to wait.

The girls had gone over to one the little movie watching nooks during this time. We didn't realize K had swiped the buzzer, so we had to reclaim that from her during our wait. The buzzer actually went off right before we got it back.

(clearly, I'm excelling at blurry pics this day!)

As we entered the dining room, I turned to DH and wondered if we'd finally get a truly mad Mad Hatter. He turned back to me and wondered if we'd be seated at 'our' table.

- As far as the Mad Hatter goes, there used to be one at 1900 PF that was amazing, but we never got a chance to see him and all Hatters we've had after that were between meh to a little bit silly. I wanted one like this guy from several years ago who did the voice and was totally crazy in the role...and my wishes would FINALLY be answered. As we entered the dining room, I heard him hooting and hollering and then saw him running all over the place. YES! I was finally getting a meal with an awesome Mad Hatter.

- As for the table, there's a table right on the edge of the far side of the buffet right at the end of the aisle and we've been seated there on 75% of our visits to 1900 PF. We approached several empty tables as we were following the hostess, but she kept walking towards 'our' table. And wouldn't ya know it...we were seated again at 'our' table! Part of me wonders if they track this and plan it, but I can't see why.

So, we sat down and had juice in front of us pretty quickly...

DH and Sammie ran off to the buffet while K and I waited on the chef to come by to go over all of the allergy issues. So I do what I always do...take pics of lights while I wait...

It was actually kind of funny...the chef started talking with us just as Big Bertha started playing. It was nearly impossible to hear him. So we went on our tour of the buffet and something immediately caught my eye...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pecan sticky rolls I adore are back!

The chef also offered to bring K some safe doughnuts from the kitchen. They were left for her while we were up at the buffet, so Sammie thought they were special for her. We had to fight her a bit to get them back for K.

Now, I'd like to tell you that I got my $s worth, but this was my one plate of food. You'll see why in just a bit.

First off...the pecan sticky rolls at 1900 are smaller and far more gooey than the ones I tried at Gasparilla back in November. I'm sure they are pure evil, but they are GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! Yet, after trying the pecan sticky bun at BW Bakery last trip, I can now say for certain that these glorious little rolls are still not as good as the behemoth of a bun you can get at BW. Either way, I was happy.

Now what was missing...the cream cheese options for all of the bagels (the dill and the lox versions were my faves) and the lobster benedict. This was a late ADR, so I kind of wonder if the cream cheeses were just gone. As for the benedict, they shifted to a normal benedict, but DH got it and it was very...well...plastic-like....

Still, maybe it's an omen that my other faves were missing from the buffet this time. Why? One word (which shouldn't shock anyone)...
CAKE!

While many of you may know that Donald is my favorite character, Cheshire Cat is second and a meal with Hatter and Alice seemed like the perfect spot for a Cheshire Cat cake. Normally, they bring cakes out towards the end, but I told our server (who was great!) that I wanted it early so we could get some character interaction with it. She was fine with it...told me I was calling the shots! LOL

I told the GF that I wanted a 6", Cheshire Cat striped fondant covered cake, with a 2D edible image of him on top. The rest was up to them.

Prior to bringing out the cake, our server told us it was really cute. While I've never heard a server say a cake is hideous, positive server commentary has usually meant an above average cake design. And I LOOOOOOOOOOVED it!

Chapter 5- to be continued...

The only way I'll ever get to eat there is if we are down there at the same time. Boys won't go with me

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

DisneyDebNJ said:
The only way I'll ever get to eat there is if we are down there at the same time. Boys won't go with me

Do they not like it? I mean, I know everyone has their own experiences with the various meals. I have a few I'd prefer not to revisit, but I also have a never say never policy

HouCuseChickie · Aug 15, 2015

Chapter 5- continued...

So, this is a character meal and we did meet the characters. We just happened to meet all of them in the latter half of our meal. I thought it might be fun to do some comparison pics between 2015 and 2010, since that would mark the girls' first trip to 1900.

Mary Poppins 2015

Mary Poppins 2010

(no Sammie in this one...she was terrified of her hat)

Pooh 2015

Pooh 2010

Alice 2015

Alice 2010

Tigger 2015

Tigger 2010

Hatter 2015

Hatter 2010

Crazy little trip down memory lane!!!

Now, I want to backtrack a bit for this trip. As I noted before, Hatter and Alice were my primary focus/thought when planning this cake and it did not disappoint.

This is Alice's reaction to the cake.

She was initially concerned that the cake might disappear since the Cheshire Cat has a way of disappearing. She then called to the Hatter to see the cake, but he was several tables away and yelled some gibberish back at her. It was kind of perfect! We were warned that the Hatter would not want to share though if the cake was there when he came by. She was a riot though. A few tables after us, half of the table occupants were up at the buffet. So, she scurried up to them at the buffet and made them play follow the leader with her back to the table.

Now I mentioned before that Hatter this time was amazing. Seriously, it may have been our best character interaction ever. We've had some promising ones in the past that were mad with some, but not all, but as soon as I saw him with the young children at the table next to us, I knew that his was it. I snapped this pic of him starting to go into a rant about the toy snake of one of the kids at the neighboring table...

I know this wasn't him at our table, but he was so good that he commanded the attention of pretty much the whole room. Well, now it was our turn and he immediately focused in on the cake...

We got a lecture about sharing and how sharing is caring, and who wants to care? He wound up taking my seat at the table for a bit while he debated about taking my cake.

Shortly after Hatter left the table, I had to call the girls out on acting up. I guess I yelled "hey" loudly enough that Hatter heard me and yelled HEY back at me (while he was in someone else's M&G) and then said something silly about thinking I was talking to him.

Hatter and Alice also seemed to be having a good time with Mary Poppins. I don't know if the Mary Poppins CM was new or filling in, but they'd start saying things to confuse her, borderline fluster her. While it really was very entertaining and amusing, I felt like the girl playing Mary was having a hard time keeping up with their rhythm.

Well, now that we were done with the characters, it was time to eat cake!

It was a chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries, and a mix of chocolate and vanilla buttercream. It was DEEEELISH!!! And it even made it home with us to Texas. We were snacking on leftover cake until about Wednesday (so, 4 extra days of cake).

So, we were done with breakfast, but nobody was ready to leave. DH even admitted earlier that he wished we were staying for 3 or 4 days. I seriously think he's a Disney addict, but just can't admit it! Part of me really wanted to go shopping in the GF, but I really don't need anything and my Dooney obsession was recently quenched with my mom getting me the matching case for my reverse comic tote.

(pretty-pretty!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!)

So, we decided to head up to the monorail and take a journey around the resort loop...

Chapter 5- to be continued...

Figgy1 · Aug 16, 2015

DisneyDebNJ said:
The only way I'll ever get to eat there is if we are down there at the same time. Boys won't go with me

I feel you pain hang in there!