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

I know...I've been awful about keeping up with people's TRs and PTRs...and I certainly have done nothing to my most recent PTR...but I thought I'd give you all a mini TR for our recent trip to FL. As usual, I took a ton of pics, had lots of fun adventures, and could use the TR to help get by the post-trip depression. And we made our way inside the WDW bubble...twice...so, I think it totally qualifies for a TR!

First off, if you're new to my reports, I'm Sandy. I go as HouCuseChickie on here and TiggerTrigger on some other Disney groups/sites.

This is DH...

And the two crazy kids in the pics are Kendall and Sammie.

This report won't be as long as one of my traditional Disney reports, but I'm going to cover some of the highlights of our road tripping, full details and pics of everything we did involving WDW, bits and pieces from some of our non-Disney adventures this trip (since some people like to combine things like this with Disney trips- i.e. might give some people ideas), and my outside of the park tribute to the "animal kingdom" in the wild in FL.

I have to post some cake updates tonight over in the dining section, but I should be able to get a chunk of this posted tomorrow night. Soooooooooo, stay tuned

And yes, we really went to FL in August to cool off. More on that tomorrow!

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

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

they think it's *girlie* LOL

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

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...

I can't believe how fast the girls are growing up!! OMG That cake is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I feel you pain hang in there!

they think it's *girlie* LOL

It's too bad because neither of the meals at 1900 are particularly girly. The vibe is nothing like Akershus or CRT. Sure, Cindy is at dinner and a number of little girls gush over Prince Charming, but Lady Tremaine and the Stepsister are the real show. In theory, Hatter and Alice (even though the breakfast is Mary's) should carry the breakfast vibe the same way, but ultimately the point is English storybook characters.

I can't believe how fast the girls are growing up!! OMG That cake is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!

It's really kind of terrifying! Kendall is becoming such a tween. Loved the cake...sooooo happy with the job done by the GF bakery

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Chapter 5- continued...

So, we were getting ready to leave the GF and take a trip around the monorail...

And our monorail has arrived...

Something about getting inside of a monorail car that says "I'm really at WDW!"

But seeing this beauty sure drives that point home...

And of course, the Contemporary...

Tried getting the Poly, but just not working well this time from this vantage point...

Boats!

At the MK station...

The train was actually in the station when we first pulled up and we got to hear the whistle, but I wasn't able to get a pic.

It's also really tough to see this and not get out and head in...

Still, it's just such a blessing to be there in any capacity.

Seeing Space Mountain got the Disneyland discussion started...

Pulling up to the Contemporary...

Skies also starting to look a bit dark out there...

There was the tough choice of heading into the Contemporary (my fave) or the Poly (to see the changes since November) since we were pretty pressed for time, but the possibility of seeing Donald in Chef Mickey's, the Mary Blair mural, the 5-legged goat, and just being in the Contemporary was too much for me to resist.

So, hellooooooooooooooo mural!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

At this point, it was just taking pics of anything and everything...

And now time for some character spotting in Chef Mickey's. First up is Pluto...

I didn't have my telephoto lens out, so the best I can do is crop one of the pics so you can be certain it's Pluto.

Goofy

And the pics are awful, but yes...I saw Donald...

DH was getting antsy, so no time to wait for Mickey and Minnie. I snapped a pic of the 5 legged goat...

And it was time to head back to the approaching monorail and board...

Funny, but this car actually smelled like a monorail car. LOL

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Gotta get a pic of this pretty before leaving the Contemporary...

So, back on the monorail and everyone is getting into posing...

And we're off...

Still looking pretty dark out there...

Still looking decent in MK...

Boats...

Little bit of WL...

Looking out on the Poly as we approach the TTC...

Someone looking sad about having to leave WDW after we just got here...

Pulling towards the Poly...

Here I'm just being ridiculous I popped by head out for a sec to try and get a pic of the back of the idol from the Boutiki window...

Yes, he's that blue sort of blob.

And someone is feeling better, but I think those flip flops are off because of the darn blister.

And pulling back up to the GF...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I realized upon our arrival that I never took a pic of the Mary Poppins topiary when we were down at 1900, so I had to remedy that...

And now just snapping pics as we head out to the car. It went SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast!

And we passed lots of friendly CMs on the way out. I know some people get this overly stuffy feeling from the GF, but we were greeted by more CMs during our time there than anything in the Contemporary. In fact, I don't think a single CM said a thing to us in the Contemporary. We also definitely felt the chaos at the Contemporary more than the GF...not that I mind it...but there's a certain quiet and ease at the GF.

Ugh...and we're back in the car getting ready to leave the bubble.

Chapter 5- to be continued...

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

It's too bad because neither of the meals at 1900 are particularly girly. The vibe is nothing like Akershus or CRT. Sure, Cindy is at dinner and a number of little girls gush over Prince Charming, but Lady Tremaine and the Stepsister are the real show. In theory, Hatter and Alice (even though the breakfast is Mary's) should carry the breakfast vibe the same way, but ultimately the point is English storybook characters.



It's really kind of terrifying! Kendall is becoming such a tween. Loved the cake...sooooo happy with the job done by the GF bakery

I personally think Ron is scared to death of the Family Tremaine (but that's just between us) LOL I can picture you on K's 13th bday ... yes, I WILL send you the components for Lapu Lapu's ... you're gonna need them!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

As we were driving off, DH and I both remarked about the weather. While it was definitely warmer at WDW than it was in south FL, the heat felt very manageable. Of course, in all fairness, we weren't out walking around in a park all day, but we were there around lunch time and I would have been good to be outside all day. And it didn't help that DH told me again around this time that he wished we were staying, but this was good since it got the discussion going for next time. More on that in a bit.

So, time to say good-bye to the GF...

And leaving the MK area...

I see the dolphin up ahead...

My brother invited me to join them at the Dolphin this November for a Thanksgiving WDW trip, but with the darn DL/ski budget, there's just no way. It's too bad because I could have worked in the time off

Can see little bits of TOT here...

And the Earful Tower! Woohoo- 3 icons in 1 short span! Kind of reminded me of one of our trips in the 80s when MGM was under constructions and we were all excited to the see the Earful Tower from the road.

I guess we were taking the western way out. We passed CSR on the way out...

I really hate it when the signs start directing me to roads outside of the bubble...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was pretty cool...after leaving property, we could see several parts of WDW that I've never noticed from that stretch of road...including the Contemporary and the castle.

And while it would hours and hours before we saw it...we'd be leaving the state of FL and entering AL by dinner time...

We had talked about stopping in Biloxi, MS or even Slidell, LA for the night, but we were making such good time that we decided to keep driving. It really didn't hit us how much we wanted sleep until we got into the Houston area. Seriously, we were really tempted to stop for the night less than an hour from home. We got home around 4am to a house that was close to 90 degrees. And sadly, there was a Disney related casualty (from the heat) waiting for us...

Yes,that's the big white chocolate Cinderella Castle from our previous cake. I guess it can handle it being 85 in the house, but not so much temps in the 90s. Oh well, it's made a nice snack. LOL

I'm kind of shocked with how sad I felt having to leave WDW and how much DH would be impacted by it as well. As he put it, I know we're going to Disneyland instead this year and it's great to do something different, but we're already missing some of the things we won't see from WDW. That being said, we will start thinking about WDW after we get back from Disneyland. Still, that can't even seriously cross my mind until 2016. I mean, there's a group I follow from another forum and I might do a trip involving one of their Give Kids the World fundraisers or even one of their cruises. Or we may try and swing it next summer before K turns 10. I also know we'd really like to work in a split stay between WDW and Uni. I don't know what the construction timeline is going to be for SWL and TSL for DHS announced yesterday, nor do we know an exact date for Avatarland...but that might also impact trips. Still, I've got a couple of months of major stress at work coming up, so if I'm not on here as much...you'll know why. But either way...I promise you a Disneyland/CA trip report come the time

Thanks for reading! Kind of crazy to spread this little thing out over 3 pages, but it was fun

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I personally think Ron is scared to death of the Family Tremaine (but that's just between us) LOL I can picture you on K's 13th bday ... yes, I WILL send you the components for Lapu Lapu's ... you're gonna need them!!!

I could use them now, and she's only turning 9!

 

[Figgy1]

I personally think Ron is scared to death of the Family Tremaine (but that's just between us) LOL I can picture you on K's 13th bday ... yes, I WILL send you the components for Lapu Lapu's ... you're gonna need them!!!

13 skip the other components and go straight for the rum! officially a teen is the only excuse you need!

 

[Jessica Meier]

I still say we should do a girls only trip. That way we can do whatever we want and I can do research for being a Disney TA!!! Girly breakfasts and silly meet and greets and high tea and whatever else we want!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

13 skip the other components and go straight for the rum! officially a teen is the only excuse you need!

I'll take the rum now. I have plenty of reasons for it

I still say we should do a girls only trip. That way we can do whatever we want and I can do research for being a Disney TA!!! Girly breakfasts and silly meet and greets and high tea and whatever else we want!

That would be awesome!!! And once we're past the CA trip...and I deal with my depression (I know the best cure )...it may be a possibility.

 

[Figgy1]

I'll take the rum now. I have plenty of reasons for it



That would be awesome!!! And once we're past the CA trip...and I deal with my depression (I know the best cure )...it may be a possibility.

I hope things get better soon!

 

[Figgy1]

I still say we should do a girls only trip. That way we can do whatever we want and I can do research for being a Disney TA!!! Girly breakfasts and silly meet and greets and high tea and whatever else we want!

I'd love to do a girly vacation!