Trip Report Everything is So Contemporary (Fall Anniversary Trip)

EDITED 07.07.17 - Photobucket has updated their policies so my photos aren't displaying. I'll try to switch them all over to Flickr eventually!

Pre-trip report here

Who: Me and my husband
When: Sept 28-Oct 2
Why: Our third anniversary (Oct 6, we celebrated early)
Where: Bay Lake Towers, rented points

Hey y'all! We've been home less than 24 hours, but I want to get a roll on this report before I forget everything. I have the world's worst memory, so I'm doing this partially to be able to look back at it for myself and recall my experiences. But I'm also doing this for all the other Disney fans like me who love reading trip reports

Day 1: Road trip!

We got up early Sunday to head out. I think my goal was to leave the house between 7 and 8, and we got out around 7:40. Not bad! Sadly, we had to drop our best buddy off at his new home for the week. He loves it there because he has a little pup friend, but we miss him so much.

We finally tore ourselves away from him at about 8:30, and off we went! We had about a 12 hour drive, and it seemed like we stopped about every 2 hours for either food, bathroom or gas. We never stop for more than about 5 minutes, so it doesn't add much, but it helps us not go crazy.

The scenery between our home in West Tennessee and the Georgia line is lovely, so that kept me entertained. Unfortunately, beyond that, it gets quite boring. I spent a lot of time reading a political satire, Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, which I finished on the trip. It was good!

It ain't a road trip without a little fast food! Gas station coffee (Pilot, especially) and fast food are two reasons I love road trips. And beef jerky. And sour gummy worms. And those 79 cent huge sodas!

I was sooooo looking forward to the orange juice at the welcome center! It was closed by the time we got there, and I was bummed. It's fine though because I don't even like orange juice. I'm just a sheep who doesn't want to miss out

I don't know if you can tell from that picture, but I realized about halfway down that I was having an allergic reaction. My face was getting swollen and bumpy and burned a little. I've had a few issues with beauty products, so I wasn't entirely surprised. I had just bought the Aveeno CC cream to use under my powder, and I guess something in it is an allergen for me. Not the best way to start a vacation, but I figured as long as I didn't use it again, I'd be alright. Glad my husband loves me no matter how bumpy my face is! ha

The drive was smooth (unlike my face). We got a SunPass, so we cruised through the tolls with no cares. I think it ended up deducting about $4 on the drive down, and then $3 on the way back. We got in around 10 (we lost an hour going from Central to Eastern) and checked in at a Fairfield Inn and Suites for the night. It was close to WDW and a really nice place! The decor was great, it was quiet, and the staff was friendly.

We didn't waste much time getting to sleep because we had an early day!

Up next: Brews, Breakfast and MUCH more

 

[fractal]

Great updates! The pic of you and your hubby soaking wet in the room is a keeper! We always bring ponchos, but usually forget them in the room on rainy days.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Great updates! The pic of you and your hubby soaking wet in the room is a keeper! We always bring ponchos, but usually forget them in the room on rainy days.

We have definitely learned the value of a poncho. I think on that day, even with a poncho, we would have been miserable. It was just pouring non-stop until lunchtime! I hate having wet feet, so I was doomed.

 

[draybook]

Do you guys take 240 East, or do you take the pathway through He(ck)ll...Hwy 78? The stretch from Memphis to Birmingham is some of the most boring and desolate scenery I've ever seen.

 

[Sandurz]

Great pics, solid beer talk, excellent food choices - definitely on board with this report! Nicely done.

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report! Thanks for the share! Excellent pictures!! Can't wait for more!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Do you guys take 240 East, or do you take the pathway through He(ck)ll...Hwy 78? The stretch from Memphis to Birmingham is some of the most boring and desolate scenery I've ever seen.

We go down under Nashville (a new bypass that is AWESOME) then on to Atlanta and down from there. It's a combo of I40, I24, I75. The Birmingham route would probably have way less traffic, but it takes a bit longer so we play roulette with the Atlanta traffic! It wasn't bad this time.

Great pics, solid beer talk, excellent food choices - definitely on board with this report! Nicely done.

Thanks for joining! Lots more food and beer (and a couple of other drinks) to come.

Great report! Thanks for the share! Excellent pictures!! Can't wait for more!

Thanks for following! Yours is coming up really soon, right?!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for following! Yours is coming up really soon, right?!

yeah!! 9 days to go and we are on our way to WDW!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Day 3 (continued): Reunited at the Boardwalk!

We headed back to the resort to get ready for dinner. We were going to the Boardwalk, and for some reason I thought it would be easy to ride the monorail to Epcot and walk through to the Boardwalk. It wasn't horrible, but I am thinking that was probably the most roundabout way we could have gone.

After waiting for the monorail to get going for about 10 minutes, we were finally off to the TTC and then on to Epcot. I took a picture of my favorite area of the festival, the craft beer We finally arrived at the Boardwalk after about an hour of travel time. Let me tell you, this area took my breath away! We hope to stay in one of these resorts on our next trip.

Who is that sophisticated looking lady reading on the bench? Oh, no biggie, just one of my best friends!!! Kelsey met us over there to eat at Big River Grille and hang out for a bit. She moved down to St. Petersburg at the end of July and this was the first time I've seen her since. We were roommates for a long time, up until I got married, then we still got together at least weekly, so it's been really hard not having her around. I was just thrilled to see her again!

The restaurant wasn't busy at all, so we got right in and sat by the brewery rooms, which was cool.

Once again, I can't remember what I got, but it wasn't on the menu. They had run out of a couple of brews and had added some new ones. My husband got the Red Rocket Ale. Both were ok, but we weren't blown away. I feel like these micro breweries are always hit or miss with me. I guess this wasn't really a "miss" though, because the beers were still decent. I didn't feel compelled to try more though.

This was a solid burger! I got the hickory bacon, I think Kelsey got the regular cheeseburger, and my husband got the Kobe burger. We were satisfied with the meal, and it was pretty affordable compared to the rest of our meals on property. It was a really good spot to catch up with Kelsey though!

We had a little photoshoot outside the restaurant in the orange sunset light. I'd rather look orange than blue! haha

Selfies win, always. We walked around the Boardwalk area for a while and went inside the Boardwalk Inn and looked around. There was a couple in there that struck up a conversation with us. They were from Jersey and said this was nothing like the Jersey boardwalk like it's supposed to be. I assume it's modeled after vintage version though, right? Like the old days. I really don't have a clue though...never been to Jersey. I don't really care what it's modeled after, I love it.

I convinced them to stop and watch a show. It was cute! I love how they pull kids into the show. We watched him solve a Rubik's cube with a blindfold on, which was impressive. No one ever taught me how to do it, but I might have been good at it back in the day. I was a math star in high school! I've lost it all in my old age

We wanted to get back through the International Gateway before the park closed, so we parted ways. This time with no tears because I'm actually going to visit St. Petersburg next month! So excited for that. As my husband and I made our way back through World Showcase, he stopped and grabbed the warm chocolate pudding from Ireland. We got this another year and love it. I may be wrong, but did it get smaller? It was like one tiny bite!

We didn't pause to watch Illuminations, but I wanted a picture of Spaceship Earth at night. I didn't have to wait too long for the monorail to come by. I was hoping to get some fireworks in that space to the left of SE, but they didn't get quite high enough. Oh well! Also, this is one of those shots where I was really missing my work camera (I shoot a Canon 5D Mark III). It would have handled the low light better than my Fuji X-E2, but I don't feel comfortable taking my business equipment on vacation.

We left the park, and didn't have too much trouble getting back to the room. There was a man carrying a little girl down the ramp at the TTC and she said (in the cutest little girl voice) "I'm not tired, but my legs are." It was the cutest thing ever!! And I can definitely relate.

While we were getting ready for bed, we heard some pretty loud music. What the?

It was the water pageant, which I'd never seen. It's so strange! It was neat to watch it from the room though.

And with that, we sleep!

Up next: Hollywood and more foooooood

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I so wish I could see your pictures!! (I'm at work, and they don't come up here!) so I will have to visit this at home! The Boardwalk IS a gorgeous resort. We stopped to take a look when we were there too. Holy cow!

 

[Mom@disney]

I'm very much enjoying your report and I do have to say, so far your memory is very good. Ariel and Merida are my favourites so I love that tattoo that you snapped. We always bring our ponchos, always have an argument in the morning over whether or not to bring them ( I say bring them...hubby says not to...hubby wins), and we always end up needing them. But a rainy day in Disney is always better than a sunny day at work.

 

[sheriffwoody]

But a rainy day in Disney is always better than a sunny day at work.

A big amen to that! Even just hanging out in the room to wait out the rain is better than work.

Thanks for following along!

 

[Tuvalu]

We were going to the Boardwalk, and for some reason I thought it would be easy to ride the monorail to Epcot and walk through to the Boardwalk. It wasn't horrible, but I am thinking that was probably the most roundabout way we could have gone.

Walking from BLT to the MK bus depot and getting on the Boardwalk bus would have saved your feet a ton of steps .

 

[sheriffwoody]

Walking from BLT to the MK bus depot and getting on the Boardwalk bus would have saved your feet a ton of steps .

That's what I thought of about halfway through Epcot I guess at least I walked off some of that huge burger!

 

[fractal]

Enjoying this report and pics. Its so...contemporary!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Day 4: Hollywood and more foooooood

This is the point where I stopped writing in my little notebook every night, so I'm sure I'll forget things here and there. Hopefully the photos are enough to carry the report! The plan was to get up and hit Hollywood Studios first thing. We wanted to blast through as much as we could before lunch and then go to Epcot and eat. Since we were going to Food & Wine again, I wore my sushi shirt.

I frickin love this shirt. I found it at this random junk store on the sleeziest street in Nashville. There was so much ridiculous crap in there, I loved it. I actually got quite a few comments on it from cast members. I also wore my "Chewie, We're Home" button and it was big hit.

It took about 10 minutes for a bus to come, then it felt like another 10 to get everyone loaded on (2 scooters). Everyone squeezed in like sardines and off we went for...not kidding...a 35 minute drive. Why? They must have some pretty bassackwards routes for those busses to take because any time we got on the bus it was at least a 30 minute drive. Anyway, when we walked in to those dark clouds, I was feeling a major sense of dread. It wasn't calling for rain, so we didn't bring ponchos! Well, I just crossed my fingers and in we went.

Make it a stretch! First stop was Rock N Roller Coaster standby. It was about a 10 minute wait, and we wanted to get it done before hitting our FPs for the day. I love this ride! The music and the cool glowing props just make me smile and dance the whole time. It's so much fun, but I always feel really disoriented when I get off of it.

So nice to see this in all it's glory, and with clear skies! I never realized how huge it is, because well, it was a little overshadowed. We didn't end up riding it this trip, but we do love The Great Movie Ride, especially me. Film is one of my "interests" I guess. I have a group of friends that gets together at the end of each year for a "list party" where we discuss our top 10 films of the year. It's seriously just people talking about movies for 6+ hours. THE BEST. (ok back to the trip)

Next up was our first FP+ and the first time on TSMM for both of us! We weren't willing to make the mad dash to it at rope drop on our first two years, and last year it was down while we were at the park. So, this was a completely new experience for us.

I'm the loser, but I'm proud of my accuracy! I was trying to get the targets with the most points.

We LOVED it! We've done the one in California, but it wasn't nearly this much fun. I hate that we waited so long to do this, but I'm glad we've done it now. The theming in the queue and the ride itself is exactly what I love so much about Disney.

We stopped by Watto's Grotto. They didn't have any BB-8s out, but they had this interactive Yoda. We loved looking around this store, and I think my husband could have spent several hundred dollars just on Lego. I would have loved to buy one of the beautiful pieces of art, but I just bought a sticker book for a friend's son. We pulled ourselves away and went to see The Muppets.

I'm afraid it might be our last time, so I tried to soak it all in. I love the Muppets, but I don't know how much longer they can hang on. The new primetime show isn't hitting like I was hoping it would. I really enjoy it, but others seem to be disappointed. Alas, sometimes things just go out of style

So our stop at Muppet Vision made us about 5 minutes late for our FP for the Frozen Singalong. I was really disappointed, but I tried to disguise it and we agreed to just skip it rather than waiting around. I told my husband we could compromise by having a singalong in the car on the way home. He said "sure, you can do that. In your head." I can't sing even a little, so I spared him the dying cat sounds in the car ride.

We stopped in One Man's Dream and took it in at a leisurely pace since it will probably be gone soon. We skipped another ride in our haste to get to done with Hollywood Studios...Star Tours. I hated to do that, but we've ridden it a ton, and it wasn't a huge deal. We did go ahead and use our last FP.

I hate *HATE* free fall rides, but my husband won't ride stuff without me, and I know he loves it. I also really love the theming. I just pretend like I'm ok and ride it with him. It's all I can do not to cry, but I'm a good actor. Since I had my camera, I just took pictures the entire time to keep myself occupied. It did help a little!

Lord, help me. You should see the video. It's this face the whole time.

Ok, so this was our last stop at Hollywood Studios. We usually spend a whole day here, but we really wanted to take in more of the Food & Wine fest, so we cut HS and AK short this year. Both are getting huge improvements, so we didn't mind as much knowing that soon there will be so much more to see.

Never. Again. They should rename these boats, because "friendship boat" makes it sound pleasant. It was so hot and stuffy in there and we lingered at all 472 stops for like 10 minutes. It took around 40 minutes to get to Epcot, and I wanted to punch that boat right in it's stupid triangle nose. If we do this again, we'll ride to Swan and Dolphin and just walk the rest. Or walk the whole thing if we can.

Sorry about the rant. This was just an awful experience, and I expected it to be nice and peaceful. Maybe if they used the open boats, it would be. But that closed up boat with no air was like being inside the 5th circle of hell.

Ok, picture count is getting to high, so I'll do the fooooooood in the next post.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Day 4 (continued): foooooood

Since we were right there, we went ahead and got the one thing we've made into a tradition.

My husband's aunt and uncle (and dog sitters) suggested these fish n chips when we went on our honeymoon, and we tried them. We loved them, so we've gotten them each year since! I feel like you used to get more though. Oh well, more room for kiosk food. Anyway, I love coming to this counter because the accents are to-die-for. We also enjoy sitting by the water to eat.

Next we went by Ireland again

I got the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale. It was disappointing. Just like the Guinness before it, it was thin and watery and NOT cold. Such a shame, but at least it was refreshing on a hot day. The lobster and seafood fisherman’s pie was absolutely delicious! I read somewhere on this forum or on Facebook that someone said it was inedible. They must have gotten a bad one, because ours was amazing. I wish I had a recipe for it.

Just a note, the photos aren't great of the food. I had like .5 seconds each time to get a shot before I got the death glare from my husband.

Opa! We stopped at the Greece booth next. People were yelling "Opa!" constantly. It was a fun atmosphere. The chicken gyro with tzatziki sauce was very nice. The pita (?) was a bit stiff and hard to fold over, but the chicken and other fillings were very tasty. The Tzatziki martini featuring Crop Organic Cucumber Vodka and BOLS® Natural Yoghurt Liqueur....not so much. It was $8 so I pretended to like it, but it was not good. Cucumber vodka sounded really interesting, but it was rather gross.

The Dominican Republic area was so well themed! It felt like you stepped out of Epcot and onto a beach somewhere with some local food trucks. It was such a nice set-up, and the cast members here were so friendly.

One of my favs from the festival, Lechón asado: Roasted pork with mangú, pickled red onion and avocado. The flavors worked perfectly! Can we just pickle everything, please? I hate red onion, but it was really delicious pickled.

Moving on, my husband wanted something sweet, so we stopped at the Desserts and Champagne booth.

I was interested in the porter thing, but he wanted the cream soda float with caramel ice cream. It was like heaven in the tiniest little cup! I need to see if I can make this at home, because it was a perfect treat. We never did go back for the porter float, so hopefully they'll have it next time we go.

Since we already had pork, I decided to go with the Tuna Poke in Hawaii. This was in my top 5 for sure! Sorry the color doesn't look very appetizing in the photo, but there was no shade around to take a picture. It's not that orange, I promise! I'm a sucker for anything sesame, so this was right up my culinary alley. More please!

All the food and the heat were really getting to me, so we ducked into the Mexico pavilion to rest and check out our dining location for the evening.

I don't recall coming in here before, but my husband insists that we have! Like I said, I have a terrible memory. We rode the Three Caballeros, which I actually enjoyed. The story was pretty badly done, but it was relaxing. With a little rest, we continued on.

This is the Beijing roasted duck in steamed bun with hoisin sauce. I loved the filling, but I'm not a big steamed bun fan. My husband wasn't a fan, but he's a duck snob. I think this was a bit too fatty for him, but we may have just gotten a bad batch. I wish we would have tried some other stuff here, but I was fading! Apparently I'm not as much of a heavy-weight eater as I thought.

We stopped in the gorgeous China pavilion.

I think my husband could tell that I was about tapped out on the food front, so we agreed to head toward the exit. We did stop by the craft beer on the way out.

We got the Flight #1. I regret not getting the second one first, because we never did come back, and #2 sounded better. Here's what was included:

–Brew Hub Keybilly Island Ale, Lakeland, FL
–Two Henrys Blueberry Vanilla American Wheat Ale, Plant City, FL
–Orlando Brewing Grateful Pumpkin, Orlando, FL
–Swamp Head Wild Night® Honey Cream Ale, Gainsville, FL

None of them stopped me in my tracks, but they were all refreshing. I should have taken notes on them. I do remember the Two Henrys gave off a major blueberry scent, and it was pretty heavily present in the taste as well. It was unique!

Hot and tired, we headed back to the room. I decided to try out the pool because I desperately wanted to go down that slide! It took me about 15 minutes of sitting in a chair to work up the courage to do it. I finally did and grinned all the way down! I should have done it again, but I was a little paranoid about my phone and kindle being unattended (under my hat, but still). I relaxed in the pool for a bit, then read on the chair. I was only down there for about a half hour, but it was enough to refresh me for the evening!

Up Next: Dinner in Epcot, best Margarita EVER

 

[Mom@disney]

I really don't like the closed boats either...they should be banned.

 

[worldfanatic]

II guess there's a reason the open back part of the friendship boats always fill first.

 

[bee]

Never. Again. They should rename these boats, because "friendship boat" makes it sound pleasant. It was so hot and stuffy in there and we lingered at all 472 stops for like 10 minutes. It took around 40 minutes to get to Epcot, and I wanted to punch that boat right in it's stupid triangle nose. If we do this again, we'll ride to Swan and Dolphin and just walk the rest. Or walk the whole thing if we can.

Sorry about the rant. This was just an awful experience, and I expected it to be nice and peaceful. Maybe if they used the open boats, it would be. But that closed up boat with no air was like being inside the 5th circle of hell.

UUUGGGGGHHH I hate those boats!! We made the mistake of taking one from Epcot to DHS last trip. In July. My DW and I just kept looking at each other like "Is this real?? Are we sitting here being this hot on vacation?!?!"

 

[sheriffwoody]

I'm really glad I'm not the only one that hates the *Enemy*ship boats. Hopefully this trip report helps some future Hollywood Studios/Epcot hopper avoid this deplorable transportation method!