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

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 7, 2017

Brad's Golf Time:
Brad has golfed Magnolia and Lake Buena Vista courses and has liked both. He has wanted to do the Palm course but every time he tries to get a tee time it is closed for maintenance or something. That happened again, so he decided on the Magnolia course. About a week before we left Disney Golf called and they had to close Magnolia for some impromptu maintenance, so they moved him to the Palm at the the same time. He was pretty pumped!

As I said before he left our room at the Pop and got a complimentary taxi to the course. He had the first possible tee time, oh and he books the Sunrise 9 which includes some non-alcoholic drinks, a breakfast sandwich, greens fee, and cart. I can't remember the price, but he says it is a good deal. He also told me that there is now a Sunset 9, but I don't know the details on that. He doesn't know if he will do that because he would have to give up his afternoon nap for it or lose park time.

Anyway, I don't have much commentary about these pictures since I wasn't there and he isn't here right now to tell me. Oh he was also really happy that he wasn't paired up with anyone. He likes to golf alone a lot.

And no this wasn't his golf cart. I think it was just there for display or for an upcharge maybe.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 7, 2017

So while Brad was golfing I finished my breakfast at Kona then headed to Hollywood Studios.

I really like the passholder entrances. A couple times we got behind people would either weren't passholders or didn't know how to do the band and finger scan, that was a little annoying.

I got there shortly before rope drop and headed with the herd to Toy Story Mania, then I headed to my favorite in the park, Tower of Terror. I was able to ride twice before Brad texted that he was in the park.

Isn't this really creepy!?

Once I got the text I headed down Sunset to meet him by the Great Movie Ride. I was halfway there and he said he was watching the March of the First Order. I found him videoing for Facebook and stood across from him waving like a crazy lady. He didn't see me of course, he was too wrapped up in the Star Wars but laughed later when I made him rewatch his video.

We had about 30 minutes before our fast pass for Toy Story, GMR was only a 20 minute wait, so in we went. The wait was actually shorter. We were put in on a bench with a family of 4, and I think the mom was super peeved. She was trying to take up space so we couldn't enter, but we did anyway.

Time to be a Toy!

I won, Brad was mad. It made me happy.

As we exited we got a nice view of the construction.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 7, 2017

We also met the new Cars car, Cruz.

And left the Pixar area for Star Tours.

The fast pass line was backed up so we got to watch a little of the training academy.

And now a look at construction from Star Tours.

And unbeknownst to us, this was the last time we would see this Muppet Vision sign.

Then we headed back to Tower, I have wanted a picture of the sundial for a long time, but never too one. Luckily 60 minutes was not our wait time.

amjt660 · Jul 7, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
Awesome! No offense to any of our Canadian friends but I think the America version is better, but that might be because I recognized more of the American locations. The Canada sure had some pretty places though.

Yay, you are are! And yes add Homecomin' to your October trip.

No offence taken from this Canuck

Max

amjt660 · Jul 7, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
No, That was a golf cart/luggage cart at the Pop. I just took a picture of that while waiting. Sorry! My Uber was an accura.

Ok
But the golf cart uber would have been a better story.......

Max

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 7, 2017

amjt660 said:
Ok
But the golf cart uber would have been a better story.......

Max

Yes it would have been. Maybe next time!

donaldtoo · Jul 7, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
June 19: We're Going to Disney!!!

Our flight wasn't super early, but we were still glad we had stayed the night and were able to "sleep in" a little and drive basically stress free to the airport.

When we booked our flights many months ago, we must have had hit some sort of sale for Sun Country (a regional carrier) and first class was only $50 more a person than coach. So we decided to go first class. Other people on our flight must not have hit the sale or decided not to upgrade because out of the 12 possible seats it was only half filled.
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Here we are!
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I may have had 4 of these....coffee with Bailey's. To readers of past trip reports you may remember that my husband tends to stick to one alcoholic beverage, so he enjoyed a rum and Coke.
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Up in the air!
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We landed! I was hoping to catch a glimpse of WDW from the air, but it was too cloudy. Being in first class has a couple advantages like easy access to the bathroom, but being first off the plane means I get to the Magical Express area faster!

We were in row 7.
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And within about 5 minutes of scanning our band at the first desk we were on the bus.
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I took a picture of this reflection while we were waiting. Why? No clue.
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And then Gus started his spiel.
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Cool that y'all where able to get first class for such a great price. We've been in first class twice by being bumped up to it. Makes coach feel like your flying in a Greyhound bus. Which, I guess, essentially, you are...!

We've seen parts of WDW a few times from the plane, either on approach or shortly after takeoff.
Flying in on the night of our first family trip on July 4th, 2001, we actually saw the fireworks over MK. And we've had great views of Epcot at least twice on the way home.
I think we saw MK one other time, as well.

myhappyplace · Jul 7, 2017

We are eating at Homecomin' on our December trip, and now the deviled eggs are on my list!!

Enjoying your report!

Tuvalu · Jul 7, 2017

So after our Poly breakfasts, we could have ridden Toy Story together, followed by ToT. :banghead:

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 8, 2017

donaldtoo said:
Cool that y'all where able to get first class for such a great price. We've been in first class twice by being bumped up to it. Makes coach feel like your flying in a Greyhound bus. Which, I guess, essentially, you are...!

We've seen parts of WDW a few times from the plane, either on approach or shortly after takeoff.
Flying in on the night of our first family trip on July 4th, 2001, we actually saw the fireworks over MK. And we've had great views of Epcot at least twice on the way home.
I think we saw MK one other time, as well.

That would have been really cool to see the fireworks from the plane.

myhappyplace said:
We are eating at Homecomin' on our December trip, and now the deviled eggs are on my list!!

Enjoying your report!

Thanks!

Tuvalu said:
So after our Poly breakfasts, we could have ridden Toy Story together, followed by ToT.

Oh man, that would have been fun. So chances are we probably passed each other that day.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 8, 2017

Time for lunch. We didn't have any table service plans and decided against quick service, so we decided after our TOT fast pass to go to the Brown Derby Lounge for lunch. It had only been open for about 15 minutes and we had no trouble getting a table. There was a nice breeze and we were under shade so it was very pleasant.

I got the margarita sampler.

It included mango, lime and pomegranate. Mango was my favorite, but I drank the lime one first because I didn't want the salt to run into it too much and become too salty. If you look in the background you will see a full sized mango margarita, that was Brad's. No rum and coke! (Although mango margaritas or daiquiris are usually his back up)

We each got the sliders (waygu beef and duck) Both are fantastic and a favorite food of ours.

We also shared the beef arepas, these were okay. Tasty but not necessarily an order again.

The view from our table. It is a nice place to sit and people watch.

After lunch we went to Launch Bay. Brad wanted his picture taken with BB8 since he had his shirt on.

He also found a Jawa

I found the bar.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

A couple more Studios Pictures

Brad with his BB8 buddy.

Then the line was short for Kylo, and he still scared Brad. The BB8 shirt probably didn't help.

Before leaving I led Brad over to the Tune In Lounge to get something. I told him we were going somewhere and he had to follow me.
We ordered chocolate peanut butter milkshakes, yum. Sorry no picture.

And we sat on a bench at drank/ate them before heading back for an afternoon swim and nap.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

When we got back mousekeeping was cleaning our room so we hung out on a staircase nearby with this view.

After a swim in the bowling pin pool (I will save you from those pictures!) and a refreshing nap we headed out and wound up here. Any guesses on where we are going?

If you guessed Magic Kingdom, you would be wrong. We headed over to the Polynesian for Trader Sam's. I fell in love with Trader Sam's in Disneyland and I love in in WDW too. Brad went with a zombie and I got the Castaway Crush. This drink is really good and the lime juice helps cut down on the sweetness, as a lot of TS's drinks can be really sweet.

We got a snack of the battered sausages and tried the roasted chicken and pork bahn mi sliders. The sliders were okay, but we both wish we had gotten the Kalua Pork tacos we had had before. The sausages were good as always.

After relaxing at Trader Sams we decided to enjoy a boat ride to the Magic Kingdom.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

At the MK we used our fast pass for Big Thunder and decided to see what kind of spot we could find in the hub for Happily Ever After. It would be our first in park viewing of the new show. We fun a spot by a rail which was fantastic, It meant that no one was going to be standing directly in front of us. So when those kids went up on shoulders we wouldn't be directly blocked. So we camped out there for about an hour and ten but that was fine. We people watched and I amused myself taking pictures.

We had watched the live stream a couple times at home and listened to the soundtrack a lot, so we already liked the show, but when this got done we were speechless. It was just a WOW moment.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

June 21: Happy Birthday Brad!

For Brad's birthday breakfast he picked Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We have been meaning to eat here again for awhile but we kept canceling it so today we made it. Really he wanted unlimited bacon for his birthday!

So here are some shots of AKL. We took an Uber over there and were early as we usually are so I explored and he relaxed in the lobby.

Brad in the lobby

It was comforting to know it isn't just my camera that fogged up with condensation. I thought the window looked cool (no pun intended)

Then down to the restaurant.

My plate...

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

We had the a 7:35 am reservation and were one of the first people seated so we thought we would have had plenty of time to make it to opening of Magic Kingdom. Well when we got to the bus stop at the lodge this is what we saw. It really made me long for the nice organized queues of the Values, this kind of thing makes me nervous. Most people did organize themselves into a nice line that went quite aways towards the lodge. Of course you always have people that are above standing in line. There was a lady with her husband and maybe an 8 year old that went right up to the front. The husband tried to tell her there was a line and then she looked at everyone in line and told her husband, "No this is where the bus stop is for the Magic Kingdom and this is where we will be, I'm not going back there." I was going to say something but it makes hubby uncomfortable so since it was his birthday I stayed mum. We ended up on the same bus with her and she ended up getting the last available seat , so I may have glared at her for a little while and wished her an unmagical day (in my head not out loud). But again it made me thankful for the organized bus queues of the values.

So despite the bus situation we were still on track for making it to rope drop at MK, until I got stuck for 20 minutes in this line.

(I took this picture about half way through my waiting time.) I get that security needs to happen and I don't mind the metal detectors, but 2 times this trip I got stuck waiting 20 minutes to enter. It was very frustrating and didn't seem very efficient. Brad went through the no bag line so I texted him to just find a spot on a bench and relax. He probably could have taken a nice bacon enhanced nap!

Finally we were in and it took awhile for the frustration to melt away, but after a quick trip to Neverland I was doing better.

Brad wanted to watch the Muppet show but we only caught this part of it today.

Soon after a few more attractions it was time for a snack....If you noticed what shirt I was wearing you might be able to guess the snack. Yep one of the best snacks in the MK, if not THE best, a citrus swirl! YUM YUM YUM!

Then it was time for Brad to meet up with some "friends".

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

I had one happy birthday boy after this!

Then we wandered Main Street and got a front row view of the Trolley Show. We were so close it was freaky and cool.

Then through the castle and to our 7D fast pass.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

And here we are being nerds on 7D

It was pretty hot and we decided to take a break before our 4th fast pass, so we got some water and sat by Gaston's.

Then we headed over to the Little Mermaid ride.

Once we entered the fastpass line I got asked to carry this. And I thought immediately of you @Tuvalu . I asked hubby to take a picture of me with it and he thought I was crazy. I just told him it was a Magic thing and he then just shook his head and said okay.

Next we took a ride on the rails, a nice Grand Circle tour.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

From steam train to magnetic train..

Then we needed a little fuel it had been quite awhile since breakfast and that citrus swirl. We decided to try the new hand-dipped corndogs at Sleepy Hollow. They were pretty good, not as good as Disneyland's but still much better than the corn dog nugget stuff at Casey's. The fresh chips were good too. We would have liked mustard with it, but there were no packets available and when Brad asked at the counter they said someone would be out with them soon. Well, we know what that means at Disney: no one will bring them out anytime soon. So we made do with ketchup. At least we had a nice view of the castle.

My sister wanted a Happily Ever After ornament so I stopped to get one but there were two styles. So I had to come back later once I knew which one she wanted.

Then we left for a little down time at the hotel before Brad's birthday meal.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 9, 2017

Brad had gone back and forth about if he wanted his birthday meal at the Boathouse or Moritmoto Asia. In the end he went with Morimoto.

I ordered a cool beer, Lucky Buddha

We shared some of the chicken wings

Brad got some sushi (none for me, fish are friends not food).

And we shared the pork belly bao

For main dishes we shared the duck ramen and the ribs. The ribs were fantastic. All in all Morimoto's was a good meal. Brad liked it more than me, but I don't lean towards Asian cuisine. Brad is always shocked when I suggest it. If I had my choice at Disney Springs I would pick someplace else but it is a good meal. Even the street food quick service is good, I like the cold sesame noodles there and the ribs are also there.

The atmosphere is really pretty and the whole place has a cool vibe.

After dinner we went over to Sprinkles to get Brad's free birthday cupcake. He wanted chocolate marshmallow and we shared that. We had to eat it inside as it was raining buckets after we ordered.

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

ajrwdwgirl

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amjt660

Well-Known Member

amjt660

Well-Known Member

ajrwdwgirl

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member

myhappyplace

Crazy Cat Lady

Tuvalu

ajrwdwgirl

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