Trip Report **COMPLETED** We're 3 happy chappies, with snappy serapes. You'll find us beneath our sombreros! Sept 2018

*Record scratch* *Freeze frame*

Yep, that's me. So you're probably wondering how I got myself into this situation.

Long story short... I'm no longer at Disney World Kaitlyn and I returned home last Thursday and have been settling into our new place and finally only got wi-fi yesterday. For those of you who didn't get around to reading my pre-trip report, my friend Kaitlyn and I moved into our first apartment a couple weeks ago, just a few days before we left on our trip to Disney. She moved from Saskatchewan to my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We have been to Disney together once before in April 2015 in celebration of our graduation from University (along with 2 other friends). Kaitlyn has been back once since then, and I have been back to the World a few times since, including my family trip in February which my sister @krause wrote about.

Here's a quick review:
Who: Myself (Emily) and my friend, Kaitlyn. Here we are with the Big Cheese himself.

Now, you may be thinking, “she says there’s only two people on the trip, but her title references the 3 caballeros”. Not to worry! We’ll get to that.
What: Pure, unadulterated Disney fun!
When: Thursday, September 13, 2018 to Thursday, September 20, 2018
Where: B Resort and Spa (a Disney Springs Resort Area Hotel with EMH and bus system).
Why: For fun, mainly. It was also a great way to kick off our being roommates!
How: With determination and by emptying our wallets

Our travel day on September 13th started early. After finally falling asleep around midnight, we were up and at 'em at 3:40AM and in the taxi on the way to the airport by 4:10. We were very much looking forward to the change in weather.

Luckily, Winnipeg's airport is both small and near the centre of city so it only took us about 15 minutes to get there (we probably could have been there a minute earlier but had to stop for a skunk that was crossing the road! I really wish I had got a picture of this) and were through security by 4:48, through customs and at our gate by 5:15!

We made it to our layover in Minneapolis by about 8:00. Our flight to Orlando boarded and departed just after 9AM. And, finally, we landed in Orlando shortly after 1PM.

Fonorail selfie!!

Coming up: Our first-ever attempt at Uber… good or bad?

 

[Songbird76]

Haha pretty much!

Yes, she was at the front of the line, yelling at me from across all the cash registers between us If she got to the front of the line more than 10 seconds after I did, I would be very surprised. She was not held up at all. In fact, she was long gone by the time we were out of there (thank goodness, I did not want to see her again!). While I definitely didn't deserve to be on the opposite end of her bad day, I mostly felt bad for her. I'm sad that something in her day or life made her think it was okay to talk to me that way. It was also sad that she didn't just put a damper on my day, but potentially on other's days as well.
It's disappointing to hear that you have seen very similar situations. I don't get why people get so obsessed with being "cut" in line, especially by only one or two people. Their complaining about it takes longer than if they were to just wait for those people to make their order. At least it is the exception, not the rule.

Yeah, and it does seem to help that other people didn't play into the drama. I suppose the people who are obsessed about it do it because they can. Maybe that's the example that was set for them when they were younger. I also experienced it at an airport to go through security, except we were actually ahead of the people in the line for security and it was stopped. A woman and her daughter entered the line behind us and as the line got going again, they pushed past us. I looked at DH and just rolled my eyes. The line kept stalling and we went ahead and past them back when it got going again, and then she starts telling her daughter, who looked about 9 or 10, that some people were just in such a hurry, and those people were followers of Satan and would go to Hell for being so rude and cut in front of people. She kept this up for probably 20 minutes, making sure we heard every word, trying to shame us into letting her cut in front. I kept thinking....what does the daughter make of all this, because she HAS to know that it was actually THEM who cut in front of us...we had been in line for several minutes before she came up to the end where the line stopped. Unless they were both COMPLETELY oblivious or we were invisible, she basically was telling her daughter they were going to Hell for cutting, and what horrible people they were, so rude. What a message to give her kid. We didn't say anything, just let her rant away...if that's how she wanted to spend her time, I won't let it ruin MY trip.

 

[Crazydisneygirl]

I am loving your post. We were there Sept 9-19 and I meant to do a trip report. But since I did not take notes of when/where/what, I found it very difficult. I did however, mark all my photos. My son spend every day using his snack credit at Ample Hills . His favorite was the red velvets ice cream. I agree it was hot and busier than I thought it would have been but still had a great time.

 

[amjt660]

Ok, I will try.....

" the exchange rate on the Canadian dollar is what???"

" Gaston doesn't want to marry me?"

" this Beverly drinks tastes awesome!!"

" I need to carry my passport with me just to get a drink??"


Max

 

[AKemily]

Yeah, and it does seem to help that other people didn't play into the drama. I suppose the people who are obsessed about it do it because they can. Maybe that's the example that was set for them when they were younger. I also experienced it at an airport to go through security, except we were actually ahead of the people in the line for security and it was stopped. A woman and her daughter entered the line behind us and as the line got going again, they pushed past us. I looked at DH and just rolled my eyes. The line kept stalling and we went ahead and past them back when it got going again, and then she starts telling her daughter, who looked about 9 or 10, that some people were just in such a hurry, and those people were followers of Satan and would go to Hell for being so rude and cut in front of people. She kept this up for probably 20 minutes, making sure we heard every word, trying to shame us into letting her cut in front. I kept thinking....what does the daughter make of all this, because she HAS to know that it was actually THEM who cut in front of us...we had been in line for several minutes before she came up to the end where the line stopped. Unless they were both COMPLETELY oblivious or we were invisible, she basically was telling her daughter they were going to Hell for cutting, and what horrible people they were, so rude. What a message to give her kid. We didn't say anything, just let her rant away...if that's how she wanted to spend her time, I won't let it ruin MY trip.

Yikes, that's awful! I feel very bad for that child.

I am loving your post. We were there Sept 9-19 and I meant to do a trip report. But since I did not take notes of when/where/what, I found it very difficult. I did however, mark all my photos. My son spend every day using his snack credit at Ample Hills . His favorite was the red velvets ice cream. I agree it was hot and busier than I thought it would have been but still had a great time.

Thank you! I took general notes in my phone but not a lot, so it's getting harder to remember what we did and the funny things that happened as time goes on. I really need to wrap this thing up! I can't blame your son for using his snack credit at Ample Hills every day - it's so good!! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. Glad to have you reading along!

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Ok, I will try.....

" the exchange rate on the Canadian dollar is what???"

" Gaston doesn't want to marry me?"

" this Beverly drinks tastes awesome!!"

" I need to carry my passport with me just to get a drink??"


Max

Ahahaha I love it! I think the first one is my favourite Thanks for the laugh, Max!

 

[AKemily]

Alright, I'm gonna try to wrap this thing up by the end of the month. What do you all think, can I swing it?

After the Brazilian cheese buns, we wandered around Morocco, which is Kaitlyn's favourite pavilion. I have to admit, I don't think I ever went to the back of it before. It's beautiful! Now my second favourite pavilion after Mexico The authentic mosaics are stunning.

Now that I'm going back through my pictures I realize that we went to France before the Brazil booth. Sorry folks, I got way too excited by the cheese buns. We wandered around France and I don't think I had been to the back of the Pavilion before either. Who knew how many stores were back there?! I'm excited for the Ratatouille ride. I think that it's an underrated movie.

(I was continuously awed by how huge the GotG coaster building was. It looked bigger in life than it does in the above picture. Putting aside whether or not this ride will fit within Epcot's "theme", I think this ride will be awesome. These movies are so fun.)

After Morocco we went to Japan and wandered around a bit.

I have to make a correction to something I said earlier. I thought Kaitlyn had forgotten her passport on our Epcot day too, but it turns out she had it. I was just so upset by the mean lady that I forgot this little detail. Kaitlyn ordered for us this Fuji Apple Cocktail from the F&W booth in Japan. It was yummy! Kaitlyn just looked over and said "oh my goodness, that drink was amaaazing" so I think she liked it even more than I did

 

[AKemily]

We then wandered Germany for a while and found a nice bench in China to sit down on for a while. We were feeling ready for another drink after that so Kaitlyn went and picked up the Mango Lassi with Sōmrus Indian Cream Liqueur from the India booth. This was yummy too but the mango chunks on time were very sour. I think the CM asked Kaitlyn if she'd like to not have the mango chunks - perhaps that was her warning to us and we just missed it. The ingredients in it also didn't seem to want to mix together so it was like juice and then alcohol. That being said, there could be worse things

It was just before 7 now and we decided to head out of the WS.

We decided we would go ride Figment and/or Living with the Land. Anyone see an issue here? That's right. Figment and LwtL both close at 7. We got to Figment just seconds after it closed and, after heading to the Land, found out that we were out of luck there as well. We were in the area anyway, so we rode Nemo again.

Then we did Turtle Talk, as Kaitlyn hadn't seen it before. It was a chaotic show. I think it was just exactly the time where kids were just getting their second wind and a little delirious after being in the Park all day. Their questions were ridiculous. But Crush handled it well and we still had a good time.

Heading out of that section of the Park, we took a peek to see how long the lines were for Baymax and Joy & Sadness. Baymax's line wasn't too bad so we hopped in. Not 5 minutes later, we got some healing hugs.

Haha, actually when hugging Baymax it feels like you are for sure going to knock the person over in there Like seriously, it looks like we're tackling him!

Also as you go into hug him you can see where all the women who came before you left their giant makeup smudges, and you just know in your heart that you too will make a makeup smudge

All in all a fun meet though!

 

[AKemily]

We then did some shopping at Mouse Gear and then went to find our FP spot for Illuminations.

I love when the pavilions light up!

An enjoyable show as always, we began to head out of the park. I think we missed the 9:30 bus by a couple minutes and had to wait for the 10:00 one

Thoughts on the day? It was by no means my favourite day ever at Epcot. I blame the mean lady, the heat, and sleeping in. Never sleep in at Disney World. As @krause says, you can sleep when you're dead. While none of them are even close to being my favourite rides at Disney, I am a little disappointed we didn't do Figment, LwtL or Test Track. There's always next time. We didn't see all the pavilions but we spent some time in many that I never really spent time in before. Food & Wine was great but I enjoyed it less this time, I think due to the heat. I enjoyed Club Cool, meeting Baymax, and Ample Hills (I know that one doesn't really count as Epcot). Overall, another successful day at Epcot. I'm looking forward to the new things that are coming its way.

 

[AKemily]

You may remember on our day in Animal Kingdom I had mentioned to Kaitlyn that we could change our second AK day to another park, perhaps Epcot. After our Epcot day, I'm guessing you can guess what we did. We obviously headed back to Animal Kingdom!

We weren't totally sure how we would fill our day, but we decided to see something neither of us had before. You may think it's crazy, as we had fastpasses for it later that day, but we decided we wanted to see the Flight of Passage queue. We got in line with the rest of the world, waaaaay down the bridge that spans from Pandora to Africa to the tune of a 60 minute wait. Here was where we got in line:

I think this is considered Africa at this point. We discussed bailing but decided to stick with it. The line moved fairly quickly once the park actually opened. It had to stop every now and then as it crossed a main path within Pandora and they would have to let those people pass through the line.

Eventually, we had the otherworldly views we were looking for.

 

[AKemily]

I liked the contrast of the Pandora part of the line to the RDA part. I found the lab part quite interesting. The water and magnet thing was super cool looking, especially since I have no idea how it works

(Caption this, @amjt660!)

Finally we were at the front of the line and ready to get connected to our avatar. I hate how long the opening videos are. They're too much. And that guy is super annoying. Did I say this all already when I talked about our first day? It's still true.

We enjoyed our flight and got right back on to use our fastpass It was funny because the people in front of us in the fastpass line asked if we had done the ride before and we said we actually just got off from waiting in the standby line and they were like "us too!"

As for the line? I don't think I'll be willing wait in it again until the day that the wait times become much shorter, but it was nice to see and know what was on the other side of the mysterious glass in the fastpass line. No regrets!

By the time we got off our second banshee ride I was very ready for something to eat. We headed to Pizzafari for an early lunch. It was just opening as it was just after 11 at this point. I had the pepperoni pizza and Kaitlyn had the Caesar salad. My pizza wasn't anything special but it hit the spot. Kaitlyn's salad had very little dressing and she did not enjoy it at all. I think it also had about 3 croutons. For some reason, my little side one salad way more dressing than her full one.

I had never been in Pizzafari before - it's so cute!

 

[AKemily]

I have been forgetting to look at my notes so missed some small details from our AK morning. The first thing of note we had by far our fullest bus ride to the Park, and because it was AK, we had to drop off at Epcot first. We were seated at the back of the bus and before we even arrived at Epcot there was a little girl (probably about 3) in the seats in front of us who threw up all over herself and her mom. It stunk up the bus all the rest of the way to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. That being said, we were super impressed by how prepared the mom was (I don't think she was expecting the vomit and probably didn't think she'd use outfit number 2 for both of them so early in the day but she was very ready to handle the situation and her and her husband were very discreet). Their little girl was very upset but she was a super mom.

Also, the posted wait for FoP was 60, but the guy at the end of the line said 75. I do believe it ended up being closer to 75 (the touringplans line app said 36. It seemed to be very inaccurate all week).

Getting back to our regularly scheduled programming... after Pizzafari we went to our second fastpass of the day - Kilimanjaro Safaris. I'll try to keep the animal pics to a minimum.

5 pics! How's that for restraint?

We made our way over to our 3rd FP.

And then we made our way to the top!

It would appear we asked for the front row.

After that, we headed in the direction of a more underground location.

 

[AKemily]

We took our time making our way under the tree...here I will not show picture-posting restraint.

Disney's cleverness never ceases to amuse me. Never mind their attention to detail...

 

[amjt660]

"Hi , I'm Emily and this is my boyfriend who is training for the "how long can I hold my breath under water, turn blue and still survive " contest."

"If you like this one you should see the other selfie I took - you know the one that shows the right hand side of my face!!"

"and this is why we need selfie sticks in Disney"

Max

 

[Swissmiss]

@amjt660: Max, what would we do without you and your great sense of humor?

 

[AKemily]

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"Hi , I'm Emily and this is my boyfriend who is training for the "how long can I hold my breath under water, turn blue and still survive " contest."

"If you like this one you should see the other selfie I took - you know the one that shows the right hand side of my face!!"

"and this is why we need selfie sticks in Disney"

Max

Love it! Although I hope I can do better than that guy

 

[AKemily]

Now, originally when we had planned our second AK day we saw that the park closed at 8 and thought the we might head to Disney Springs for the evening. After our first, very accomplished AK day we figured we could go to Disney Springs in the afternoon instead. It was around 1:30 when we started heading out of the Park. We wandered around the trails on the way out.

By this point in my report you may have figured out that I don't have a hot clue about Disney transportation. You may have already spotted our problem. The problem being? Busses to Disney Springs from the Parks start at 4PM. We were going to have to figure out an alternate route.

We briefly discussed our options, but let's just say I had a hankering for beignets. It wasn't very long before our bus arrived.

(Why do we need another Freaky Friday movie? You can't beat Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis )

 

[AKemily]

When my family went to Disney in February we stayed at POR and did go to FQ one morning for breakfast. My mom got beignets at the time but I think I was too full up on Mickey waffles to eat one. By later in the day, I had completely forgotten about the leftovers. So when the chance arrived to have them on this trip, I knew I had to take it. Also, the boat ride to Disney Springs sounded really nice.

We arrived at the beautiful POFQ shortly after 2:00.

We grabbed our Mickey beignets from Sassagoula Floatworks and then headed straight for the boat dock.

Honestly, I do think this resort is beautiful, but the alligators freak me out a little bit. Especially this one.

With no boat (or people) in sight, we made ourselves comfortable in the shade to dig into our treat.

It wasn't Kaitlyn's cleanest work

I felt a little bad leaving our sugar pile behind but I wasn't quite sure what to do about it at that point.

 

[AKemily]

I should mention, the beignets were amazing. We "had" (more like "got") to wait as they finished frying so they were really fresh and warm. We couldn't believe how much sugar was in the bag. I think there was more sugar than beignet

We got on our boat and had some serious #ShirleyStatus on the way to DS. Talk about a peaceful boat ride! I'm so glad we took time out of our AK day to do this.

 

[Rista1313]

Now, originally when we had planned our second AK day we saw that the park closed at 8 and thought the we might head to Disney Springs for the evening. After our first, very accomplished AK day we figured we could go to Disney Springs in the afternoon instead. It was around 1:30 when we started heading out of the Park. We wandered around the trails on the way out.

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By this point in my report you may have figured out that I don't have a hot clue about Disney transportation. You may have already spotted our problem. The problem being? Busses to Disney Springs from the Parks start at 4PM. We were going to have to figure out an alternate route.

We briefly discussed our options, but let's just say I had a hankering for beignets. It wasn't very long before our bus arrived.

View attachment 328505
(Why do we need another Freaky Friday movie? You can't beat Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis )

are you kidding... you mean they can't beat Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris! (circa 1976) you knew it was a remake right?

 

[AKemily]

Once arriving at Disney Springs, I stood in the fountain for a while to cool off Then we carried on into the Christmas store. I bought a castle ornament and Kaitlyn got a Moana one, as well as an ornament for her parents. Our ornaments are on our Disney-themed tree now!

(It's supposed to light up but it appears the battery is dying )

And the rockettes were back for those who are still looking for them

Then we meandered through Once Upon a Toy, the World of Disney, the LEGO store and Disney corner (the temporary store replacing half of World of Disney). I found a few things for my nieces and nephews, including a stuffed Eeyore and Pua that made fitting everything in our carry-ons on the way home very interesting. My one nephew is obsessed with his Pua though so it was all worth it

Apparently I did not take many pictures of our shopping experiences as my next pictures are our travels back to AK. Of course, when we got to the bus stop we remembered... no busses from DS to the Parks. Can someone explain to me why, though? I don't understand.

We hopped on the nearest bus which happened to be to OKW. On the way to OKW, there was a family with a little girl (maybe about 4) who were sitting in the very back seats of the bus. The little girl had clearly just had a very special afternoon at the Bibbidy Bobbity Bootique. She was very excited and not sitting still in her seat. All of a sudden, the bus in front of us stopped quickly for a red light, which meant our bus driver had to slam on the brakes. The little girl took a pretty good tumble into one of the poles. This would have been bad enough but her father cursed out the bus driver, yelling at him from the back of the bus, using all sorts of words that shouldn't be used in front of a four-year-old. I think the little girl would have cried anyway but I think the shock of her father screaming at the bus driver made it even worse. She bawled all the way back to her hotel. I felt sad for her that her father reacted this way and that her perfect afternoon came to such a quick and bitter end. I hope it perked up again once they made it back to their room.

Once at OKW, we only had a short wait.

While waiting, a family that was clearly going to the Halloween Party came out in group Pinocchio costumes. I wish I had taken pictures, it was great! And Pinocchio is not one you see very often.

More #ShirleyStatus on the way back to AK

On the bus I finished up the last of the (now very squished) beignets.

 

[AKemily]

are you kidding... you mean they can't beat Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris! (circa 1976) you knew it was a remake right?

Haha, that I did know I thought I might get some reactions out of that one But hey, the Lindsay Lohan version is the Freaky Friday of my childhood.