Trip Report Florida Fresh Spring March 2018

Hello all and welcome to my trip report! I've been back for about a week but I've been slow to upload pictures and I actually caught a pretty nasty cold that has had me down the last couple of days.

So here's the intro:

Who: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad)
Where are we from?: Northern Wisconsin (So were were definitely in need of some Florida sun.)
When: March 10-17, 2018
Resort: All Star Sports (we stay value because it is the cheapest and we can use that extra $$ for good food and drinks)

Start of the journey:

We actually started our trip on Friday March 9 and drove up to Minneapolis and stayed at a hotel near the airport. Our flight was leaving early in the morning and we didn't want to have drive early in the morning to the airport. So we relaxed at the Hilton by the airport and had a nice dinner at the Mall of America. We did have a crazy experience at the pool area here...we were just getting into the pool and we saw a pre-teen girl get out of the hot tub and was walking quickly (not running) towards the pool and she slipped and her head banged like a basketball on the pool area floor. It was pretty horrifying. I was about to get out of the pool and go help her but her parents were there and helped her and got medical help. So that put a little bit of a damper on what turned out to be our only pool time of the trip but I'm sure the girl had a worse time of it then we did.

Me with my first beer of the trip at the Mall of America. It was a Surly Furious, a local brew.

Relaxing at the Hilton with a drink. A fancy rum and Coke for hubs and a Grain Belt (another Minnesota beer) for me. This was at about 7:30-8pm and we were basically falling asleep.

At the airport bright and early for our flight! The Caribou coffee place wasn't open yet, but I like their coffee so much better than Dunkin', Starbucks, or even McDonald's so I waited about 15 minutes for it to open before heading to the gate.

All aboard! We splurge a little bit and always get the big front seat when we fly with Spirit, it is almost like first class but without the booze and the meal.

Bye bye!

 

[Yano]

Following!! A bit late, but loving your TR.
Btw , I’m from WI too... On Wisconsin

 

[JenniferS]

Thanks for the recipe. I always have a hard time making gravy so it helps to have this recipe. I don't know what it is with me a gravy, I am a really good baker and cook but gravy is always hit and miss.

I am a terrible cook and baker - but I can actually make gravy. Go figure.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Now that breakfast was over it was time to head to the Magic Kingdom. Monorail was our transportation of choice.

By the way, here's what the temp was at close to 10 am...

First stop Jungle Cruise

Then it was time for a little small world and Peter Pan. We got stopped at the end of Pan which provided a nice photo op of Hook.

Then it was time for 7 Dwarfs.

 

[Rista1313]

Thanks for the recipe. I always have a hard time making gravy so it helps to have this recipe. I don't know what it is with me a gravy, I am a really good baker and cook but gravy is always hit and miss.

I always have to remember to have patience... it takes awhile to coagulate (spelling?) once you add the flour. And with adding the mushrooms, mine takes even longer.

 

[becca_]

Cold Disney weather is better than cold home weather!! (but still not as good as warm Disney weather LOL)

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Cold Disney weather is better than cold home weather!! (but still not as good as warm Disney weather LOL)

Right! I also kept telling myself that when I am back in the summer with the high heat and high humidity I will be wishing it was cooler!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After the Peoplemover we headed over to Big Thunder to use a fast pass but got stuck in the hub for a little bit by the Move It Shake It parade for a bit.

We finally escaped and made it to Thunder!

Then we headed out of the Magic Kingdom to go have lunch with my dad.

The route took us around the backside of the Magic Kingdom and we saw some of the back stage kind of stuff. Like these plants.

We had a nice visit with my dad, and soon we were headed back WDW and through the magic gate. This time we entered on Western Way over by Coronado Springs.

We didn't have to return the car until tomorrow, but with what we had planned for tomorrow it would just be easier to return it tonight. It was an easy return of the car to the Dolphin. We handed the keys to the valet and they gave us a receipt. Easy breezy! And soon we were at the dock waiting for the Epcot boat.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Our destination was the Biergarten at Epcot. Time for good food, beer, and music! At one point I asked Brad if he wanted to polka with me and he said no. To be fair, he doesn't know how to polka (although he is a good swing dancer). Growing up in Wisconsin polka dancing was one of our Phy. Ed units, guess he didn't learn that in Illinois.

..

..
My favorite, sauerbraten which they just called pot roast. Nope, so much better than pot roast.
..

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After dinner we headed out of Epcot to go to Studios for the Star Wars fireworks.

But first a fun photo in Japan.

We made it over to the Studios about 10 minutes before the Movie Magic show and found a decent spot. I like the Movie Magic show, I like all the little movie clips in it and that it shows Zorro briefly (love Zorro!) and Indiana Jones is my favorite movie franchise. So watching this is a treat for me.

Zorro!

And they stuck in some Wrinkle in Time stuff. I wonder how long they will keep it in the show since it didn't seem to do that well at the box office.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Then the Star Wars fireworks started and hubs was in his glory! After the show we lingered on a bench by the Chinese Theater so the bus lines would clear up. Sure enough there were only 6 people in line for our resort when we got out to the bus stop and the bus showed about about 2 minutes later. Soon after we boarded the bus we moved about a bus length away and stopped and stayed stopped for awhile. I think there was some sort of traffic jam or something. But shortly after we stopped I looked back and saw a family with a stroller get into our resort's bus stop, I felt bad for them because our bus was right there but they couldn't get on! And we sat there for almost 10-15 minutes.

 

[MinnieM123]

Really liking your photos of the Star Wars fireworks display!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I'm late, but I'm caught up! So many good meals already

 

[Gurt]

Im so behind with all the TR's im reading I didn't get chance to get on here over the UK Easter holiday but im all caught up now

 

[fractal]

Kona for Lunch, MK, Beirgarten then Star Wars overload. Sounds like a great day to me!

 

[MouseDreaming]

The flight went fine and we landed about 30 minutes early, so that is always ALRIGHT with me!

We usually enter the airport on the side of the Earport but we were over by the other WDW store and there was a heavy load of people around us so I only got this blurry shot.
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Magical Express wasn't insane at all. I thought it would be super crowded on a Saturday in spring break season but we ended up waiting less than 10 minutes to get on a bus and left shortly after boarding.

We always take these nerdy shots in the ME area.
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I was going to watch the video but shortly after Gus gave his safety announcements the feed cut so I pulled out a book. My husband thought it was super geeky that I was reading a book about the Haunted Mansion on the way to WDW. But hey, that is me...super geeky.
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Soon I could see paradise in the front window....
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And then we were there! Hurrah!

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We had done online check-in and had not gotten a notice about our room. There wasn't anyone in line when we walked in so we checked in and made a request about our room location and I put some gift cards on our account. They also offered us the deal for not taking housekeeping. I know it is a little controversial on here about taking it vs not taking it, but we decided to take money and run. We are fairly neat people and don't tend to make a mess so the $60 we got was used for food at Flower and Garden. It worked out fine for us. We called the third day in and got a more towels and soap (they brought a big bag of shampoos and soap). I plan to do this again when we go in July. However we will be there longer so we will probably schedule a couple days for our room to have a good clean.

So with that all taken care of we made our way to the bus stop and to our first park.
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Hooray! Ready for the Trip Report.

And if you are a nerd for reading that book, how much am I a nerd for sitting over here, thinking what is it called? And where can I get it? (By the way, what is it called, and where can I get it?)

 

[93boomer]

Great pictures!!! The good ones are making me hungry

 

[DryerLintFan]

It was time to head into World Showcase and start some munching. As we entered we started hearing loud music and saw a stage set up. The Steve Harvey show was filming episodes and it was the last day of filming. It was interesting to see set up, I guess, but I had no interest in attending the filming. I don't watch the show and we had some Flower and Garden food and drinks to try!

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Our first stop at Flower and Garden for food was La Isla Fresca, and what a great stop it was! We got the Jamaican-braised Beef with Pigeon Pea Rice and Micro Cilantro which we enjoyed a lot but I let Brad eat over half of it because I got the cake which he had no interest in. The cake was Tropical Mousse Cake: Layers of Passion Fruit Cake, Coconut Mousse and a Tropical Fruit Glaze with Fresh Pineapple, and this was fantastic and a new favorite of mine.

To drink Brad got the Tropical Freeze with Cruzan Mango Rum, he liked this a lot because he really likes mango drinks. I thought it was good too. It did have pineapple chunks on the top as a decoration and he was getting frustrated with them so I fished them out and ate them so he could drink freely. I also almost got Brad to try my beer here. My beer was Golden Road Brewing Tart Mango Cart Wheat Ale, and it had a very strong and pleasant mango flavor. I really couldn't tell it was beer at all and when I told him that he was tempted to try but then chickened out. Fine by me as I didn't have to share!
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Even though the above picture shows the food on a table we actually ate it on a bench across from the character meet and greet that used to have Duffy Bear.
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Next stop was Mexico!
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We got:
Pork Taco: Slow-braised Pork Taco served with Apple Relish, Goat Cheese and Chile de Árbol Sauce
Chilaquiles: Chilaquiles served with Chorizo, Mexican Cream and Cotija Cheese

Both were good, the apple really shown through on the tacos and Brad didn't care for that so I got to eat most of that. The Chilaquiles were really good. We planned an getting more another day but didn't. Now that makes me a little sad.
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Then we went down what we call the tropics path and where the orchids are during F&G. There weren't as many orchids there are I remember there being last year, but perhaps they just needed a little more time to bloom. It was still lovely though.
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Many many years ago i worked at Sears and Steve Harvey and two of his body guards came in. He was shopping for a new microwave, lol. You'd think he had people for that. Anyway, he's a super super nice guy. Funny and kind and really personable!

 

[DryerLintFan]

Actually we were also headed to the Dolphin to pick up a car rental. We were going to visit my dad the next day who lives about 1 1/2 hours north of Orlando. But Ample Hills is so close to the Dolphin, how could we not stop?

A couple pictures of construction while we were waiting for the boat.
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And a cool little duck.
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On the boat!
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And by the time we got to the Boardwalk, there was room for ice cream. We tried a few flavors at Ample Hills but I knew all along what I wanted.
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The Oatmeal Lace ice cream. Oh so delicious! I might have done a little happy dance after tasting it. I have done my research and I see I can order it on line from Ample Hills, but there is a $50 delivery charge. I haven't hit the point yet where I need to order it...yet. But it is nice to know that it is an option.

Look, it is so beautiful!
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When i want two months pregnant, Its-It came out with a pumpkin flavored ice cream sandwich. Problem was that they only sold it back home in the Bay Area (California) and I live in Ohio now. I didn't really have any pregnancy cravings except this ice cream sandwich. Man i wanted one so badly, but didn't want to pay the $30 delivery fee. My friend back home heard me talking to my sister about it, and she sent me a package of them. I made my husband clear out the freezer so there was room for them, because that package had THIRTY sandwiches. Best. Friend. Ever. And she didn't even know i was pregnant and craving them. Just sent them because she's amazing.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Kona for Lunch, MK, Beirgarten then Star Wars overload. Sounds like a great day to me!

Yep, it was a pretty good day!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Hooray! Ready for the Trip Report.

And if you are a nerd for reading that book, how much am I a nerd for sitting over here, thinking what is it called? And where can I get it? (By the way, what is it called, and where can I get it?)

It was The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion (second edition) by Jeff Baham. I bought mine off of Amazon.