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 Meet Belle

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

 

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We went to World of Disney and picked up a few things – Emily got a Chip (from Beauty and the Beast) coffee cup and I got some Minnie PJ’s that I had my eye on. We also picked up the backpack that was $20 with a $50 purchase. We then just wandered around...

We then went into TrenD

We didn’t find anything we had to have. We then walked over to the pin store and picked up a few pins that we had wanted. We made our way over to the Christmas shop from there.

Such a cute ornament! We contemplated getting it but decided against it.

Emily and Brian posed for a family picture

 

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We decided to stop in for a snack at Rainforest Café.

They had patio seating that overlooked the lake and the temperature wasn't too bad, so we sat there.

Brian and I shared a bloody Mary and then we each had a beer. The chicken quesadillas were very good and plenty for the three of us to share.

Still the view from the patio:

Amphicar! I would love to ride in this some day!

After our snack, we just strolled around taking in the sights and sounds of DS.

 

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Posing for a picture?? Lovely!

We stopped in at Sprinkles to get a cupcake.

Emily and I are huge Cupcake War fans....or should I say we were - I haven't seen a new episode in a long time!

Emily got a chocolate with chocolate frosting, Brian got a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and I got the sea salt caramel. Emily also got a chocolate shake. They sell frosting shots there too, but we didn’t try any of those. While Emily waited for her shake, Brian dove into his cupcake, but I didn’t want anything sweet yet as I still was a tad hungry and wanted to stop somewhere for another small bite of something.

Emily was interested in going into the Under Armour store, so we went that way. While she went into shop, Brian and I went to the Polite Pig for a drink and a snack. We sat out on the patio - it was a nice evening to sit outside.

Their pretzels are sooo good! The sauces they come with are the hit. Very, very good!

We were getting tired, so we made our way back to the resort. The bus stop was a little bit of a walk, but didn’t have too long of a wait before a bus showed up. We were back in no time and were back to the room about 10:00. Big Bang was on so we watched that and then went to bed right after.

How on earth is tomorrow the last full day in Disney?!

 

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And just for fun!
Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur
happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr

 

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My goodness, where has the time gone - it feels like so long since I've been here, but...teenage drama + my dad in the hospital = . But I am going to finish this TR!

Thursday, August 24th

We slept in a little again this morning. We didn’t set an alarm, but probably should have so we could make it into Magic Kingdom close to opening. But we got up at 8:00 and got ready to head out. The bus stop for Magic Kingdom was packed – I mean packed!!! So three buses later, we were on our way. We made it over to a very busy Magic Kingdom! We hadn’t been there since Sunday, so when we got there, we saw that all of the Halloween decorations were up I have always wanted to see the Halloween decorations and couldn't believe we were finally seeing them!

They are just as amazing as I could have imagined!!!

 

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We made our way over to Tomorrowland.

They look good, Brian!

Our first Fast Pass was for Space Mountain, but it was still a bit early to use it. We were going to do Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor first, but the first show wasn’t until 10:00 and it was only about 9:30. So we did the People Mover first. There was no line, so we got right on. I only took one picture!

Then we did the Carousel of Progress, which I am so happy we did as we didn't catch it last time we were there.

A little blurry, but I was being sneaky

 

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The things you notice when you really pay attention....I never noticed the Mickey Nutcracker on the fireplace!!

Then we used our Space Mountain FP.

I just love the SM queue!

The ride is nostalgic so I like to go on it at least once, but man is it rough!

 

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We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we stopped at Joffrey’s and got a donut and muffin to share. Emily also got an iced cappuccino. Can you get much healthier than this?

After "breakfast", we went over to Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor.

Standby was 20 minutes and it seemed to go by pretty quickly. As we were in line I checked us in for our flights for the next day The theater holds a lot of people so we were in on the next show.

It was hilarious! I just love how much you laugh during the show and how interactive it is. I would love to see the behind the scenes to see the faces behind the monsters in the show!

Our next FP was for 7DMT, so we headed that way.

The FP line was a little backed up but not terrible. We made our way on pretty quickly and had another fun ride - although I don't think the little boy in the row in front of Brian was having too much fun!

 

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We then made our way over to Journey of the Little Mermaid.

The standby line again was 20 minutes and there was quite a line, but the line rarely stopped moving, so it was a slow walk in, but we didn’t ever stop too long. *A little photo heavy!

 

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I really enjoy this ride. I love how colorful and bright everything is! And of course the music is so catchy

We stopped at Gaston’s Tavern to take a peek inside as Emily was hoping to get a picture on the big chair, but a guy was sitting there on his phone, so we weren’t able to.

 

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We made our way over toward Splash Mountain as that was our next FP. We didn’t ride It’s a Small World yet, and I really enjoy riding this at least once a trip, so Emily and Brian were nice enough to ride with me (their preference is not to ride it). Standby said 15 minutes, and it was that, maybe a hair more. The line seemed to move a little slower than it usually does.

As we were waiting for our boat, we overheard a lady in the group of girls behind us scream at the cast member because she had asked to sit in the front two seats (we were in the third seat, so they would have been behind us two rows). She even said something along the lines of “are you deaf, we asked to be seated in the front two rows.”!! Unbelievable how some guests talk to CMs. I would have been so embarrassed if I were one of the girls with her.

Lots of IASW pictures coming your way!

Just hangin around!

 

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I love the Polynesian area of IASW!

We then made our way to Splash Mountain for our final FP.

The FP line was very busy. It actually took a good 15 minutes to get onto the ride, but it was still quicker than standby! As we were waiting in line, we discussed what we wanted to do afterwards. Emily asked if we could go on Pirates one last time. It had been down most of the morning, so told her we’d walk past it to see if it was open on our way out of the park.

I took lots of Splash pictures too!

 

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A few more!

 

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And just a few more!

Splash was fun as usual. We actually got quite wet, which felt awesome. Of course because it was so hot, we didn’t stay wet too long. We made our way out of the park. We walked past Pirates and it was still down with a long line waiting to get in when they did open. So we left the park. Goodbye MK, hope to see ya real soon!

We then made our way over to the bus stops. Of course we had just missed the bus, but we were first in line to get on the bus when the next bus came…which took forever!!! I think because we were hungry, it felt longer than it actually was, but we finally made it back to the room about 2:30 only to find this sitting in our room

Oh well, we still had an afternoon of sun and an evening in Epcot planned!

 

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We made our way down to the pool and were lucky enough to find a table with an umbrella We went and grabbed some lunch at Hurricane Hannah's and brought it to our table and enjoyed our lunch in the shade. Emily and I each had chicken nuggets - they were so good!

Brian had a chicken wrap and he said it was very good as well.

We finished lunch and then swam for a while. The pool water seemed a little cooler and a little higher than the past few days, so we’re thinking maybe they added more water overnight?

We decided to try a mini Mickey sink from Beaches N Cream since we have wanted to do that for a long time and our table was right outside Beaches N Cream. So I went in and ordered. The restaurant is just so cute inside! We tried to get an ADR here as we really enjoy the food, but were never able to snag one.

Two tables getting Kitchen Sinks!

YUM

It was delicious! We weren't even able to finish this one, I couldn't imagine ordering a Kitchen Sink! But we were able to take the cute little Micky sink home with us

The time had come – our final pool time was coming to a close. We were so lucky – we were able to get down to the pool every day of our trip! We got back to the room about 5:15 and got ready to go back into Epcot for the evening. As we were in line at Splash Mountain, I was able to snag a FP for Soarin’! So we went in early enough so we could walk through World Showcase first and then catch the tail end of the FP for Soarin’.

 

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Off to Epcot!

We started by way of France.

We of course had to stop and get the Grand Marnier Orange Slush!

Oh my goodness I forgot how good this drink is! Brian and I shared the drink and then we wandered over to Morocco to listen to the band that was playing.

 

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Emily has wanted a henna tattoo for a long time and they had a shop in Morocco that did them, so she had one done. It was $20 and she just did a Mickey head.

I can’t believe how good of a job they do free-handing the tattoos! Awesome job.

From there we just kind of strolled. Just taking in everything knowing it was our last night in Disney.

We grabbed a beer at one of the kiosks in America and just kept strollin!

 

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We were making our way into Germany and as we were approaching, a guy asked where Brian was from (he was wearing his “Drink Wisconsibly” t-shirt) and I blurted out Wisconsin! Well of course, he said pointing at Brian’s shirt and Brian told him what town we were from. Turns out he was just in our town the weekend before dropping his son off at the University! He asked if we had ever been to these two restaurants they had been to and they actually are places that we have been to many times. It’s amazing the people you meet when you wear a t-shirt from where you are from

We took some time that evening to really enjoy the trains in Germany - we usually just skim and walk by, but it wasn't very crowded in the area.

I love the Germany area - so quaint!

 

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A bit more of World Showcase.

Pretty flowers!

Our FP was coming close to being up, so hustled over to the Land Pavilion.

Who doesn't love Patrick?!

So sad he has to put his ears away

 

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Emily took this shot from the ride But it turned out perfect!

We still hadn’t had dinner yet, so we stopped in Sunshine Seasons after Soarin’.

Brian and Emily were going to get chicken Caesar salads and I was looking at the Asian counter. They both looked at the Asian counter too and decided on that instead! I got the Mongolian beef.

Emily got the sweet and sour chicken (the picture I took is really blurry!) and Brian got the spicy shrimp stir fry with noodles

Everything was wonderful and very hot! I really do enjoy that place with the variety they offer.

Our final attraction this trip was Spaceship Earth, and I love that it was!!

After SE we took one last stroll through Mouse Gears.

As we were walking back toward the International Gateway, Illuminations was going on, so we paused for a bit and watched. But we didn’t watch long, we slowly made our way out of Epcot.