Trip Report Feelin' hot, Hot, HOT!

How on earth are we back already! But, that's the way it always goes when you go on vacation - you're back before you even know it! We had a great trip with many new experiences, new foods and great, great memories! We had an interesting flight down, a more interesting flight back (details later!) and if you hadn't guessed, it was HOT!

I'm still getting my notes and photos organized, so I will update this TR soon, but wanted to share that the "G" Family has a new addition!! Prior to our trip, we had filled out an application at our local Humane Society to adopt a kitten. We received a call on the Friday we were getting packed up to leave that our application had been approved and that we could pick up the kitten any time that worked for us. I explained we were heading out of town for a week and asked if we could pick her up after we returned and they of course said not a problem. So now we had something fun to look forward to upon our return! When we got home this past Friday, we weren't even in the door 15 minutes and we drove over to the Humane Society to pick her up:happy: Meet Belle:inlove::inlove:

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She is just the sweetest thing and is very loved in our home!

Be back soon! I see lots of TR's I need to catch up on too:)
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm so glad you all climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. Granted, no a/c (and believe me, I hate the heat), but I always enjoy going up to the top. I love the older attractions like that one. Also, when I was a kid, we had to read the book in school, and it was one of my favorite books. Enjoyed the movie as well. :)
Oh I am too! I love all of the older attractions myself...but the other two:confused: That's why I was surprised Emily wanted to go!! I would do this, Tiki, CoP and IaSW all day long because they were my favorites as a kid...but we have to share:joyfull: I've never seen the movie, but I think I would really like to see it!

What is this sharing a Master's cupcake of which you speak? :eek:

And Nutella and fruit taste even better on a Belgian waffle. (The more you know. ;))
I know, I know!! After we ate it, I don't think there will ever be sharing again! At first Emily was being a typical teenager - I told her to try it; she said no...I said try it again...she said no. Finally Brian and I were like fine, more for us and of course she then gave in and ate most of it!

I'm planning on making Belgian waffles this weekend now! I need to get to the store though - Emily ate all of the Nutella this week - plain!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Following along! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip! It's always a sweet treat when an extra fast pass is loaded! Especially since you each got three for the family! :p I put a reminder for a Sleepy Hollow Fruit Waffle in my phone! I love the coffee at Sleepy Hollow!
Thanks for following! Agreed - I actually was surprised when she offered them to me as I wasn't the slightest bit upset that my band wasn't working. I understand technology can be a pain sometimes, so just went with the flow. But it was a great perk for the few minutes I had to stand there waiting! Definitely try it - I was a little hesitant because I had never had Nutella before, but oh my goodness Nutella is so good!

I need to get one of those waffles when I go back!
Super cute Haunted Mansion tank!
Yep - you need to! If you like waffles, fruit and chocolate, you'll like it!

Thanks!

Aaahhh! We were at the MK that day too!! It was crazy hot wasn't it?!

I've never tried to fruit and nutella waffle...but now I want to lol!!!

Love the HM tank you bought!
Oh shoot - to bad we didn't see you! It was crazy hot. The whole week was that way - no relief ever it seemed! But if we're going to be hot and sweaty - may as well be in Disney:happy:

Next time - especially since you have an AP;)

Thanks - it's a lot cuter in person too!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After lunch our last scheduled FP was for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. The FP line was quite backed up because it had been down earlier that morning so there were a bunch of guests cashing in their paper FP’s. But the line moved pretty quickly and before too long we were on our way!

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Whoa that nose and those nails:joyfull:

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We really do enjoy this ride! Short but lots of fun!

It was getting to be about 1:30 by now, so we decided to use up the last two FP’s before we left the park because we weren’t going to be heading back that evening and didn’t want to have the FP’s go to waste. So we used the first one on Jungle Cruise, which we hadn't been in a couple of years:grumpy: Every time we go past this ride, it's always an hour wait. But with the extra FP, we walked right on the Nile Nellie:happy:

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Our Skipper was Trina – she was hilarious! We laughed the entire cruise. She had all of the great puns and never skipped a beat!

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gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And a few more!

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Our final FP we used on Pirates again! Emily chose the last ride and we’re glad she did! We all love the ride. I think Brian and Emily figured out where the camera was. Yep, I still didn't! I love looking at other people's expressions on the ride photos:hilarious:

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We decided to make our way out of the park and head to the pool. It was starting to cloud up so we weren’t sure how much time we’d have so we headed toward the exit. But would we actually leave?
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nope! We were just approaching the corner by Casey's and we hear music coming...We look over and it's the Festival of Fantasy Parade - and we had never seen it:jawdrop: (I know - we're usually back to our room by the time the parade rolls around). There was just enough space in the taped off area that the three of us could squeeze in. I'm so glad we stayed - the parade was so good. I'll just post some of my more favorite ones since I'm sure you've all seen way better than mine!

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I just love how the Cast Members interact with the kids - there was a little girl on the other side of the street dressed as Tinkerbell and she was waving so hard at Tinkerbell on the float - well Tinkerbell saw her and waved just as hard back to her and started blowing her kisses - oh my goodness it was the sweetest thing!! Then the little girl was crying after the parade was done wanting to see Tinkerbell again:inlove:

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gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Last of the parade pictures!

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Of course Main Street was packed, but we managed to maneuver over to the other side by the Plaza and head out of the park before the parade finished. We got over to our bus stop and were able to get on pretty quickly. The bus was packed and we had to stand. Not a huge deal to stand as we had done it most of the trip, but honestly I don’t think the driver had the air conditioning on as it was soooo hot!!! Everyone was complaining it was hot on the bus, so it wasn't just us!

But we finally made it back to the Beach Club about 3:00, got changed and went down to the pool. We swam and relaxed for a while. We decided to order a drink from the server walking around the pool deck area – I had a Pina Colada and Brian had a margarita. Emily also ordered some chicken nuggets to snack on. We had a nice leisurely afternoon.

We went back to the room to start getting ready for dinner. Our reservation wasn’t until 9:00 at the California Grill, but we decided to do something we hadn't ever done - hop over to the Poly and the Grand Floridian to have a drink at each resort and take some pictures. As we were getting ready, it had started to rain. We were going to walk through Epcot over to the Monorail, take the Monorail over to the Ticket and Transportation area and then hop over to the resort Monorail. But we didn’t want to walk in the rain, so we decided to Uber instead! Now I have been in an Uber before, but I have never ordered an Uber before (doesn't exist in my small town!) So I had logged into the app thinking it would be at least a 15 minute wait before the driver was there, but I got a message back that the driver would be there in 5 minutes – yikes! So we hustled down to the front of the resort and our driver was there waiting for us. We chatted with the driver on our way to the Poly and he had asked what we had done so far on our trip. We told him we were in Epcot the night before and said we had gone to Via Napoli for dinner. He said he works there five nights a week! Small world! We told him how amazing the pizza was and he said everything they use, down to the tomatoes and the water are all imported from Italy. The things you learn in an Uber! We got over to the Poly quite quickly (although he almost didn’t turn into the resort until I told him that’s where we’re going!). It was only $9 for the ride! What a deal!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We walked into the Poly and immediately noticed the waterfall was gone – we knew it was gone, but we hadn’t been inside the lobby since it was actually gone – I had only seen pictures. Brian and Emily mentioned it right away that they missed the waterfall. But it did look really nice with the open concept. I liked it.

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We looked around the gift shop for a bit, but didn’t buy anything. We went to find Trader Sam’s – I had read about how hard it was to get in and they sometimes had a waiting list to get in. But we found it over in a little corner of the Poly and were able to walk right in! It was busy and there was only two seats at the bar, but we took over that little corner of the bar and enjoyed our time in there!

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Brian ordered a beer and I had the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tik, Rum – it was really good. Almost like a Pina Colada on ice vs. blended and a hint of cinnamon on top.

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Emily had the Skipper Sipper and she really liked that as well.

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We really enjoyed our time there and would definitely like to go back again! I love the way the staff interacts with the guests (we didn't find that at our next stop!).

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Off to the Grand Floridian!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our drink we headed out to board the Monorail and head over to the Grand Floridian. When we walked into GF, Basin was to the left of the doors, so we went in there to check things out. It smelled heavenly! We didn’t buy anything, so we walked around the resort as we had never been in there before.

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The inside of the GF is absolutely beautiful. However, I don't know if it made me feel like I really wanted to stay there. I almost felt like it was too upscale? I don't know what it was, but I'm glad we actually made it there so we could finally see the inside. We attempted to go outside and walk around to take some pictures but it was a steady, good drizzle at that point and we didn't want to get all wet and didn't have our ponchos with. So we headed back upstairs to Mizner's Lounge! It was quite busy and they only had one server for the entire place - it took forever to get her attention so we could place and order! And there was one table available but only had one chair next to it, so we grabbed the table hoping another chair would be available soon, so Brian sat on the window ledge and I sat in the chair and Emily walked over to Basin and bought some body scrub that she had her eye on earlier. We just ordered a beer:hungry:

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Meanwhile, we heard a lady screaming “f” you and started laughing but being very rude at the same time. The bartender had to go over to her and ask her to keep it down:rolleyes: After we finished our beer, another table opened up with three chairs so we moved over there and ordered one more beer. They also had this wonderful nut snack mix that the server brought us. We were enjoying our time there just visiting!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then made back over to the Monorail to make our final stop - the Contemporary. We stopped at the Fantasia gift shop to look around. Didn’t buy anything but most of the gift shops have the same merchandise anyway! We were a little early for our 9:00 reservation, but we checked in at 8:35 p.m. They told us it would be a bit before our table was ready, which we understood since we were so early, but we could go up to the restaurant and wait at the bar and they would send me a text when our table was ready. Well we weren’t even into the elevator and I had gotten a text that our table was ready! We were taken to a booth in the middle of the restaurant and had a great view of lots of things going on around us.

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We ordered our drinks - a glass of chardonnay for me and a very good, very refreshing, great year Bud Light for Brian, and our server brought us some bread and butter. Very delicious! Oh my goodness, the lavender focaccia bread they serve:hungry::hungry: wow.

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We ordered our meals then but he told us they would wait to cook everything until Happily Ever After was finished, so we made our way out on the balcony to watch. It was actually a gorgeous evening after the rain had gone. We were able to take our drinks out and enjoy the show from above! (Sorry, these aren't the greatest pictures, but enjoy anyway!)

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The music was piped into the balcony area so we could hear everything perfectly and could actually see quite a bit of the projections on the castle. It was a great show!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After the show, we all went back into the restaurant. We had just a few minutes and before we knew it our dinner was served. Emily and I had the filet with risotto.

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Oh my word...this was so amazing!!! My mouth is watering as I type this and I'm not even hungry! So good, so good, so good, so good! Brian had the Ribeye and he said it was amazingly good as well.

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After dinner, Brian and I each had the Bunnahabhain (say what?) 2-oz pour:

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I mean for $720 a shot, why not get two:jawdrop::hilarious: Nope - we shared the beignets instead and they were so good!!

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I would love to have one of these wine chillers in my house:)

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Very, very happy with the meal we had! Since it was so late, we decided to just Uber back to the Beach Club vs taking the Monorail to the MK and busing back. It was worth the $10!:)

We crashed as soon as we got into the room. We were so happy with the day we had and everything we got to do! It rained most of the evening, but it worked out since we were resort hopping anyway! The second Disney day was just as much fun as the first:happy:
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
I so need to eat at California Grill! Your pictures had me drooling, as I would definitely order the filet! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing the price on the 2 oz pour thinking you really did each get one!! I was very relieved to scroll down and see you were just teasing us!!
 
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DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
We walked into the Poly and immediately noticed the waterfall was gone – we knew it was gone, but we hadn’t been inside the lobby since it was actually gone – I had only seen pictures. Brian and Emily mentioned it right away that they missed the waterfall. But it did look really nice with the open concept. I liked it.

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We looked around the gift shop for a bit, but didn’t buy anything. We went to find Trader Sam’s – I had read about how hard it was to get in and they sometimes had a waiting list to get in. But we found it over in a little corner of the Poly and were able to walk right in! It was busy and there was only two seats at the bar, but we took over that little corner of the bar and enjoyed our time in there!

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Brian ordered a beer and I had the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tik, Rum – it was really good. Almost like a Pina Colada on ice vs. blended and a hint of cinnamon on top.

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Emily had the Skipper Sipper and she really liked that as well.

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We really enjoyed our time there and would definitely like to go back again! I love the way the staff interacts with the guests (we didn't find that at our next stop!).

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Off to the Grand Floridian!
I missed the fountain too. :( I loved Trader Sams, but in 2015, I had the Uh Oa' and drank it by myself after having a a Backscratcher and Long Island ice tea at Tambu Lounge. I was fine til I stood up. Love the effects in the bar though. Also enjoying your pics of MK, we did not go back after the fateful MNSSHP rain out day. We had plans to our last day, but Irma made us leave early.
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
We are eager to try Trader Sam's on this trip! Glad you enjoyed the atmosphere and drinks! :):p I've never been in the GF, I'm sure it's amazing, glad you were able to check it out! We also have Cali Grill dinner reservations during the fireworks, so we are really looking forward to that. I'm terrified of heights, so I won't be on the balcony, and I hope I can still see the fireworks from the big crowd at the windoq:jawdrop::mad: Lucky for the Jungle Cruise fastpass!!!! :p

I have zero idea where the camera is on Pirates, so I'm sure I'll look distracted when the pic is snapped!:geek:
Looking forward to day 3!
 

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