Trip Report Double Double Dip Trip June 2017 (Completed!)

Hello all and welcome to my trip report. My husband, Brad, and I just got back from a WDW trip and a Disney cruise on the Dream. Why am I calling it a double double dip? Well, we checked in and out of WDW twice, our cruise was a double dip (2 stops at Castaway Cay), and we had 2 birthdays to celebrate. So sit back and relax and enjoy my trip report.

Dates of vacation: June 18 to July 1

Resort: Pop Century (both times)

Cruise: Disney Dream

Travelers: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad)

I'm tagging a few people that have followed my past reports. If I missed you, sorry, but please follow anyway. If you are new, welcome. And if I tagged you and you don't want to read, no problem! :)

@figmentfan423 @MinnieM123 @Cesar R M @donaldtoo @MySmallWorldof4 @MOXOMUMD @JenniferS @PacNWTigger @Tuvalu @Gabe1 @betty rose @Songbird76 @sheriffwoody @bee @blgauger @BuddyThomas @fractal @93boomer @MouseDreaming @Wrangler-Rick @PUSH @Mr Ferret 88 @amjt660 @Minnesota disney fan


June 18: Our first day of vacation was not a Disney day. We live near Minneapolis (about 1 hour 15 min from the airport) and we decided to spend the night before at a hotel so we didn't have to get up so early. When my husband got home from work around noon we headed over to Minneapolis and went to one of our favorite spots, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. We go here a lot and I was hoping to catch the peonies in full bloom but we missed the full bloom by about 4 days. That was disappointing as it is my favorite flower, but there were still some peonies and the roses were blooming nicely. We had a nice time walking around, and a local symphony was giving a concert so we listened to that for a bit. Hubby was pleased when they played a Star Wars medley. So here are some pictures.

The peony walk, as you can see not in full bloom.
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Some of the roses.
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The Arboretum often has changing botanical displays and so for these might be my favorite. It is a kaleidoscope and the bowl with the flowers spins, it is fun to look through.
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After the Arboretum we headed to the Mall of America and did the Flying over America attraction since I had a 50% coupon. It is a take on Disney's Soarin. We had done the America version here before and they were running a limited showing of Flying over Canada so we opted for that. It was fine but no Disney. Although the seats at the Mall of America version are more comfortable.

Dinner that night was a the Hard Rock Cafe, we hadn't eaten at a Hard Rock in years. Neither of us could make a decision about where to eat so we settled on this since it was a few steps away from the exit of Flying over America. Now when I say settled, that soon changed when we started eating our burgers, hubs got a special Memphis burger and I had a Guinness burger. We both had herbed fries. And the meal was fantastic. Sorry no food pics of this, perhaps on another visit.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
The bus at Epcot dropped us off at the TTC and by then the rain had stopped, just a couple drips but it was sunny again. Our destination was the Polynesian. We decided even though it would be more fun to ride the monorail the security line was just too long to justify such a quick trip. So we took the path to the Poly. We did not have enough time to go to Trader Sam's :(, 'Ohana was our destination today. We haven't eaten at 'Ohana since 2015. It used to be a must do for us every trip but after a couple so-so experiences we decided to give it a break. But on a whim one night back in March I had a hankering for 'Ohana's wings and noodles so I looked and an ADR was open. We were both looking forward to giving it another go.

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We had a nice table with a decent view and the music is so great in there. It does make me long for Hawaii again.
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I'm ready, empty plate is ready to be filled. Oh by the way, the long table next to us with the little kid, at one point during our meal everyone sitting at that table was on their phone for a decent amount of time. I thought that was kind of sad, 10 people with nothing to say to each other. :( But then again maybe they had been together for days on end and had nothing left. :bored:
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Looks good right?! The wings had a nice flavor but the skin was really soft and the noodles were mushy and had no flavor at all. It is like they forgot to put any sauce/seasoning on them. I don't usually complain but the noodles were really bad and I had been looking forward to them. Our server stopped by soon after I had tasted them and removed them from my plate back in the dish, hubs did the same. I told her (nicely) about how disappointing they were and she brought us another helping. A manager actually brought them out and apologized. The new noodles were better but still lacked something.
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No pictures of the meat, but we did enjoy the skewered meats and the peanut sauce a lot.
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Dessert was good as usual. Sometimes I miss the more simple pineapple and caramel sauce they used to serve. However, the caramel sauce with the ice cream...:hungry:
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So will we go back to 'Ohana? Yes, maybe. We were both stuffed when we left and enjoyed the service, atmosphere and certain foods, but it is not a must do anymore. There are so many places we like better now that are in the same price range.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
A few more shots of 'Ohana.
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Then we had good timing with the monorail and we were going through security as it arrived and headed to the Magic Kingdom. The plan was to watch Happily Ever After than go to Big Thunder and maybe Pirates. We watched Happily Ever After from the middle of Main Street and enjoyed it. We were happy that we could see the projections better than we thought we would be able to. Although the kids on the shoulders were a little annoying but not as annoying as the people who can't pull the balloons out of the air for the show. There was one lady with a balloon who kept dancing around during the show so the balloon kept going all over, it would be one thing if it was in one spot but it kept moving. I noticed other people were annoyed too. I told hubby if we had been closer to her she probably wouldn't have had a balloon after the show (it was tied to her back pack so it would have been easy to untie....:cautious:).

Balloons before the show = pretty and nice but during the show :(:mad:
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After the show we were tired and decided to not use our Big Thunder fast pass and head back to the Pop for the night. Which that was lucky for us, because for some reason Big Thunder went down and our fast pass rolled into an anytime fastpass that we used the next day!:)
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
This reminds me of a great parenting moment we saw on our way over to PizzaRizzo. So here's the story: we were walking past the Chinese Theater by the bathrooms and in the direction of Star Tours/Muppets, when the music starts to play for the March of the First Order (or the parade of the Storm troopers as I call it). Anyway, this dad and his little girl (probably about 5-6 years old) are walking in the opposite direction. The music starts and the guy grabs the little girl's hand and starts to run saying "hurry up we gotta see them" (the storm troopers weren't even visible or even close to that area yet only the music is playing). Then the little girl stumbles but the dad doesn't slow down, and is dragging this girl on the ground for about probably a good 15-20 feet and finally her cries reach his ears and he realized she was dragging on the ground. By now her knees are bleeding and she is rightfully sobbing, all so this grown man could watch Storm troopers. It made me so angry. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but geez buddy the world wasn't going to end if you didn't get a first row look at the Storm troopers that weren't even close to that area yet. Hubs and I just watched in horror, it was like it was slow motion. I felt so bad for that little girl, now her day was ruined and would be in pain for days because of her dad.

Truly, the worst behavior incidents I've seen in the parks has been far more prevalent from the adults, than from
the kids.
 

susan lees

Well-Known Member
After lunch we watched Muppets and then moved on to our next fast pass at Toy Story.

This reminds me of a great parenting moment we saw on our way over to PizzaRizzo. So here's the story: we were walking past the Chinese Theater by the bathrooms and in the direction of Star Tours/Muppets, when the music starts to play for the March of the First Order (or the parade of the Storm troopers as I call it). Anyway, this dad and his little girl (probably about 5-6 years old) are walking in the opposite direction. The music starts and the guy grabs the little girl's hand and starts to run saying "hurry up we gotta see them" (the storm troopers weren't even visible or even close to that area yet only the music is playing). Then the little girl stumbles but the dad doesn't slow down, and is dragging this girl on the ground for about probably a good 15-20 feet and finally her cries reach his ears and he realized she was dragging on the ground. By now her knees are bleeding and she is rightfully sobbing, all so this grown man could watch Storm troopers. It made me so angry. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but geez buddy the world wasn't going to end if you didn't get a first row look at the Storm troopers that weren't even close to that area yet. Hubs and I just watched in horror, it was like it was slow motion. I felt so bad for that little girl, now her day was ruined and would be in pain for days because of her dad. I wanted to go tell the guy how stupid he was to run for something like that and that she deserved at least a nice ice cream treat, but he did look very concerned about his daughter and was doing a nice job of comforting her. I just hope he realizes how stupid he was.


Then we rode Toy Story. I won again, someone was a little upset and was "yelling" at me to tell him my secrets. Not really yelling but forcefully asking.
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I saw this cute little scene near the little shop area.
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And looked at this area and thought about how it would be a lot different next year at this time.
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We went into One Man's Dream to enjoy the AC, kill some time before our next fast pass, and for me enjoy the old Disney artifacts.
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I found a picture of Flynn to admire. Brad caught me in the act. :inlove: #cartoonboyfriend
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We still had some more time to kill and the line for Starlord and Baby Groot was about 20 minutes so that was the perfect amount of time. I really didn't care about meeting Starlord, well unless it would have really been Chris Pratt then that would have been different :inlove:., but I loved Baby Groot in Guardians Vol. 2. I love that he is so cute, and I just love it when Baby Groot dances! We have similar moves. I would have been just fine with just us and Baby Groot in the picture, but it seemed rude to ask Star Lord to step out of the way. So I let him be in the picture too.
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Talking to Baby Groot
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And Baby Groot! I AM GROOT! I am Groot? I am Groot.
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It never ceases to amaze me the number of parents we've seen dragging their kids to something while said child is visibly distressed. My kids are now grown up and I don't think I ever did that but hope not. I can't wait to see the new toy story land completed when we are over next year.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
It never ceases to amaze me the number of parents we've seen dragging their kids to something while said child is visibly distressed. My kids are now grown up and I don't think I ever did that but hope not. I can't wait to see the new toy story land completed when we are over next year.

Toy Story Land should be pretty neat. I watched the video online about them finishing the track and that was pretty exciting.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
The bus at Epcot dropped us off at the TTC and by then the rain had stopped, just a couple drips but it was sunny again. Our destination was the Polynesian. We decided even though it would be more fun to ride the monorail the security line was just too long to justify such a quick trip. So we took the path to the Poly. We did not have enough time to go to Trader Sam's :(, 'Ohana was our destination today. We haven't eaten at 'Ohana since 2015. It used to be a must do for us every trip but after a couple so-so experiences we decided to give it a break. But on a whim one night back in March I had a hankering for 'Ohana's wings and noodles so I looked and an ADR was open. We were both looking forward to giving it another go.

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We had a nice table with a decent view and the music is so great in there. It does make me long for Hawaii again.
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I'm ready, empty plate is ready to be filled. Oh by the way, the long table next to us with the little kid, at one point during our meal everyone sitting at that table was on their phone for a decent amount of time. I thought that was kind of sad, 10 people with nothing to say to each other. :( But then again maybe they had been together for days on end and had nothing left. :bored:
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Looks good right?! The wings had a nice flavor but the skin was really soft and the noodles were mushy and had no flavor at all. It is like they forgot to put any sauce/seasoning on them. I don't usually complain but the noodles were really bad and I had been looking forward to them. Our server stopped by soon after I had tasted them and removed them from my plate back in the dish, hubs did the same. I told her (nicely) about how disappointing they were and she brought us another helping. A manager actually brought them out and apologized. The new noodles were better but still lacked something.
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No pictures of the meat, but we did enjoy the skewered meats and the peanut sauce a lot.
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Dessert was good as usual. Sometimes I miss the more simple pineapple and caramel sauce they used to serve. However, the caramel sauce with the ice cream...:hungry:
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So will we go back to 'Ohana? Yes, maybe. We were both stuffed when we left and enjoyed the service, atmosphere and certain foods, but it is not a must do anymore. There are so many places we like better now that are in the same price range.
That's too bad about the noodles. It was so good when we went last year. It was one of our favorites, and the server was amazing. When he saw DS wasn't eating, he went and got a hotdog for him at Kona. I'm actually glad they changed the dessert...I don't like pineapple. I can tolerate it in small bits mixed in with other flavors, but blech. It would be nice if they offered more than one thing though.
 

dizfan917

Well-Known Member
O'hana looks like a great place to eat, but I keep reading so-so reports about it... I wasn't able to book it for our November visit, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset. I guess we'll be content with those yummy pulled pork nachos and some cocktails at the Tambu Lounge next door.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
So remember the title of the report is double double dip, so we had our first double dip on the cruise with two stops at Castaway Cay and now we are back to WDW and our second double dip and it makes it a true double dip because we are staying at the Pop again.

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It's always a thrill to pass under the gates.
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We checked into the Pop before returning the car. Of course at about 8:30 in the morning our room wasn't ready but we decided to check and see if any room was ready before storing our bags with bell services. And since we were going to be there for one night, we really didn't care if it was close to the bus area or anything, we just wanted a room. And we were lucky there was a room ready, it was in the 70's section and a short walk to the bus stop. The cast member that helped us could have been a bit more friendly, she seemed a little disgusted with us trying to get a room early. And really we would have been okay with them saying we had to wait, we just wanted to try so it wasn't like we were being snotty with her or anything.

Anyway, so Brad and I went back to the car to drive over to the 70's building to put our bags in the room. I thought it would be a short drive because we could drive over to the next parking lot, the next turn, it was so close! By the way it is important to note, we often stay in the 70's section in the very building we are now currently assigned, our first stay we were in the 90's section and cut through the parking lot every day, the parking lot we should be headed to . Brad should know this, we have walked past this parking lot SO many times.

So Brad drives out and I tell him it is the next right turn, and he tells me no it isn't because the sign says 80's and 90's not 70's. I say it is where we need to go. I even have the map in my hand and try to show him. But he is a little snippy and sure he is correct and tells me I'm wrong. So he continues to drive to the sign that says 70's-80's parking and he drives up to the the side of the 80's building (the one in which the computer pool is in front of). We are far from our room. I point this out to him (he is in a mood for some reason, so I'm using a nice calm voice) and he snatches the map from my hand and sees that the parking lot we should use was the one I had pointed out. So he grumbles and gets turned around in this parking lot and blocked for a minute or two as a construction semi and truck block the way for a moment. We finally get over to where we pull up right in front of our building to unload our suitcases. As we turned in he makes a comment about them not having 70's on the sign so it wasn't his fault. I knew it wasn't the time to be like "I told you, you should have listened to me" so I just rolled my eyes so he couldn't see, but we did have that "I told you so conversation" when he wasn't in his little mood, because he apologized for being a baby and not listening to me. He did admit that he should have remembered where to go and once he passed the correct turn he realized I had been right but didn't want to admit it right away. :cool:
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So anyway, bags were now stored in the room and we had to go return the car. We had to stop for gas before returning it, and there was a nice view as I waited.
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This time he listened to my directions and it was an easy drive and return of the car to the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista. Now our next problem was how to get to Hollywood Studios. We could Uber (that was voted down quick by Brad), walk to Saratoga Springs and take their bus, but I inquired when the next shuttle from the Wyndham was leave and it was scheduled to be there in one minute. So we took their shuttle. It was fine, but it made me thankful for the Disney buses. It looks like their shuttle shares with a couple hotels, we stopped at another one (I think it was the Hilton) and people had been on the bus when we got on so there was probably at least one other hotel. Plus this shuttle was going to both Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom, two parks worth of people wanting a spot on the bus. It got a little crowded. The shuttle did play the Disney Must Do's on tv screens, but it was the must do's from a couple years ago, so really the shuttle was a time machine. :) Like I said the shuttle was going to 2 parks but I thought that was okay because we would be passing Hollywood Studios first so that's where we would stop first right?! Nope, we went to the Magic Kingdom, actually the TTC first, waited about 5 minutes there and then to Hollywood Studios. :grumpy: Oh well, we had fastpasses lined up, and we were just there for some bonus time, but still..... Anyway, seeing that shuttles are shared between hotels, and the drop off points, I was pretty sure off property wasn't for us unless we had our own transport. Oh plus, the line at the TTC for security was like :jawdrop:, plus then having to ferry or monorail over. Nope, I'll stick to my Magic Kingdom bus stop via Disney buses. I will say though that the Wyndham did look very nice inside the lobby and the staff was friendly.

Bye-bye car!
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A cool Pandora promotion on the floor at the Wyndham.
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It's something about men and directions. It's an innate thing with us. Happy to see others experience some drama. :D
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
O'hana looks like a great place to eat, but I keep reading so-so reports about it... I wasn't able to book it for our November visit, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset. I guess we'll be content with those yummy pulled pork nachos and some cocktails at the Tambu Lounge next door.

You can get some of the 'Ohana menu items at the Tambu lounge. The wings are on the bar menu and I think the dessert as well. So you could get a little 'Ohana tasting.
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
After lunch we watched Muppets and then moved on to our next fast pass at Toy Story.

This reminds me of a great parenting moment we saw on our way over to PizzaRizzo. So here's the story: we were walking past the Chinese Theater by the bathrooms and in the direction of Star Tours/Muppets, when the music starts to play for the March of the First Order (or the parade of the Storm troopers as I call it). Anyway, this dad and his little girl (probably about 5-6 years old) are walking in the opposite direction. The music starts and the guy grabs the little girl's hand and starts to run saying "hurry up we gotta see them" (the storm troopers weren't even visible or even close to that area yet only the music is playing). Then the little girl stumbles but the dad doesn't slow down, and is dragging this girl on the ground for about probably a good 15-20 feet and finally her cries reach his ears and he realized she was dragging on the ground. By now her knees are bleeding and she is rightfully sobbing, all so this grown man could watch Storm troopers. It made me so angry. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but geez buddy the world wasn't going to end if you didn't get a first row look at the Storm troopers that weren't even close to that area yet. Hubs and I just watched in horror, it was like it was slow motion. I felt so bad for that little girl, now her day was ruined and would be in pain for days because of her dad. I wanted to go tell the guy how stupid he was to run for something like that and that she deserved at least a nice ice cream treat, but he did look very concerned about his daughter and was doing a nice job of comforting her. I just hope he realizes how stupid he was.


Then we rode Toy Story. I won again, someone was a little upset and was "yelling" at me to tell him my secrets. Not really yelling but forcefully asking.
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I saw this cute little scene near the little shop area.
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And looked at this area and thought about how it would be a lot different next year at this time.
View attachment 222179

We went into One Man's Dream to enjoy the AC, kill some time before our next fast pass, and for me enjoy the old Disney artifacts.
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I found a picture of Flynn to admire. Brad caught me in the act. :inlove: #cartoonboyfriend
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We still had some more time to kill and the line for Starlord and Baby Groot was about 20 minutes so that was the perfect amount of time. I really didn't care about meeting Starlord, well unless it would have really been Chris Pratt then that would have been different :inlove:., but I loved Baby Groot in Guardians Vol. 2. I love that he is so cute, and I just love it when Baby Groot dances! We have similar moves. I would have been just fine with just us and Baby Groot in the picture, but it seemed rude to ask Star Lord to step out of the way. So I let him be in the picture too.
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Talking to Baby Groot
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And Baby Groot! I AM GROOT! I am Groot? I am Groot.
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That Star Lords really looks like a 70's adult movie actor lol! XD
 

*Flynnderella*

Well-Known Member
Yeah, he was a little disappointing. When I was in California at DCA their Star Lord was better looking, a closer match to Chris Pratt (although I didn't take a picture).

It was a good job I realised/my sister loudly informed me quickly that it wasn't actually Chris Pratt when we were there because I was about to barge the queue, dive through the exit and jump him!!! :inlove: that guy definitely wasn't him!! :joyfull:
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Mini-golfing was fun and each hole has some fun gags and the views are very nice as well.
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So who won? Brad says it was a tie. However, one of his shots bounced off the rim of the cup and didn't go in. He claimed it did or at least would have if the lip of the cup hadn't been raised and didn't count another stroke for himself. I didn't seem to have a problem with the lip being raised on that one. So, I claim that I really won because he should have actually got it in the hole. What do you guys think?

The kiddo pirate party was in full swing by the time we finished.
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The show in the main theater was Cars 3. I don't think the seats in this theater were made for sitting for two hours, the rows are close together and it was difficult to stretch out my legs. So I was uncomfortable for most of the time. I did manage to fall asleep for about 10 minutes during the movie. I don't think I missed much though. Overall I did think Cars 3 is better than Cars 2 but I wasn't totally impressed with it either. Maybe I'll have a different opinion when I rewatch it in a comfortable recliner at home, and stay awake (maybe) for the whole thing.

We did get popcorn though. And I got a Perrier, I was pretty excited to have some bubbly water. I really don't drink a lot of soda and I was getting tired of Diet Coke as my only non-alcoholic bubbly.
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No, Brad. That's not how this works. Lots of unfortunate events happen all the time in sporting events. If Tiger Woods was putting and a bird pooped on his golf ball and it made it veer slightly to the right, he wouldn't get that point just because. Sink it in the hole, or no point.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
No, Brad. That's not how this works. Lots of unfortunate events happen all the time in sporting events. If Tiger Woods was putting and a bird pooped on his golf ball and it made it veer slightly to the right, he wouldn't get that point just because. Sink it in the hole, or no point.

I told him about all of you people who have agreed with me and he still claims it was a tie. He knows I stink at sports and he is good at golf so the couple times I have beaten him at mini-golf he hates it. I don't think he will ever concede defeat to this.
 

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