Trip Report Food & Wine with a Long Line, but plenty of Sunshine! (and beer)

Trip reports are great and there's so much to know...
climb aboard explorers, its time to gooooo!

Welcome everyone to my overdue trip report! Apologies again for the delay and for a complete lack of updates and pics while we were actually in WDW, but there was a reason for that. Well, it was actually due to a mistake but we turned it into something new for us in terms of this TR. Allow me to explain. About an hour after we were on the road my wife turns to me and asks, "did you grab the camera bag out of the office"? I paused, then slowly turned my head to look at her as my bottom lip rolled up against my teeth in the manor which you make an 'F' sound. It was like the scene in the movie Christmas Story when Ralphie slowly says, "ffffffffudge". Although I didnt say fudge, well neither did Ralphy actually, but anyway... we realized that we had left our camera back at home. Ugggghhhhhh!:arghh::arghh::arghh::arghh: There was no way I was turning around since we were already an hour into the trip. We both had our phones and we figured it would have to do.

Then she drops another bomb on me. She reminds that her phone memory is full and she cant take pictures. She had an issue syncing her iphone to her laptop to transfer pics and after a long call with tech support they told her she would have to bring her phone in and they would take care of it. Of course she hadnt brought it in yet which left us with one phone capable of taking pictures for the trip. I recently upgraded to the LG 4 (or whatver its called) and it has a great camera and decent battery. In that moment, my phone became Obi-Wan Kenobi because....it was our only hope! So after a short discussion we decided that the best plan was to take pictures and video and conserve battery whenever we could which would mean not going online to often, especially Instagram, which for some reason is a battery killer for my phone. No Instagram!:bawling::bawling::arghh::arghh: This was gonna be tough, lol. Then my idea for this TR was born. We wanted to take more videos this trip for Food and Wine and I proposed that we do a mash up of a normal TR mixed in with some videos and reviews. We thought when we returned home we could do a video review of both of us going over the events of the day as well since we wouldnt be able to get everything on film in the event my phone died during the day (which it did, EVERYDAY!)

So thats how this bad boy is gonna roll! We will write a summary of the day with pics and then add our video at the end which will be us at home going over the day. We made the first video last night and had a lot of fun. It took several attempts because Akira and the cats decided to all act up once we started (youll see in the video). But if anybody doesnt like videos or doesnt want to watch, I understand. But if you wanna get to know us a little better, give the vid a try. Hope you guys like it! Im gonna post this part now and then begin day writing day one and post it within the hour. Sorry for no pics in this part, I just wanted to explain what we would be doing. There is plenty of good stuff ahead, dont worry!
 
Click to expand...
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Oh my! You sure looked menacing with that light saber!! :rolleyes: ( :hilarious: :hilarious: ) And then you threw in the bonus footage--I was terrified! :eek: ( :joyfull: )

You two have such a good sense of fun, and it's delightful to read (and watch) all your trip antics. :happy:

As for the "trainer" cast member, the reaction was bizarre. The parks are always mobbed with people, and with so much visual and audible stimulation, it's easy for anyone to accidentally step out of place. Very often, there is no bad intent at all; it's just being distracted. Hence, if a trainer can't "roll" with that, WDW needs to get rid of that trainer, pronto. As you said, the trainer could have provided a teachable moment, but blew an opportunity right there.

Wanted to comment on the FP+ "reserved" time for TSMM. If the line was that long, what's the purpose of them having it in the first place? Seems kinda useless . . .
 
wdisney9000

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
Oh my! You sure looked menacing with that light saber!! :rolleyes: ( :hilarious: :hilarious: ) And then you threw in the bonus footage--I was terrified! :eek: ( :joyfull: )

You two have such a good sense of fun, and it's delightful to read (and watch) all your trip antics. :happy:

As for the "trainer" cast member, the reaction was bizarre. The parks are always mobbed with people, and with so much visual and audible stimulation, it's easy for anyone to accidentally step out of place. Very often, there is no bad intent at all; it's just being distracted. Hence, if a trainer can't "roll" with that, WDW needs to get rid of that trainer, pronto. As you said, the trainer could have provided a teachable moment, but blew an opportunity right there.

Wanted to comment on the FP+ "reserved" time for TSMM. If the line was that long, what's the purpose of them having it in the first place? Seems kinda useless . . .
Click to expand...
Yes, my light saber skills are quite shocking, lol. I have about 3 basic moves that i just recycle over and over, haha.

The trainer situation was just odd, (oops, thats a bad word, im told). I only mentioned it because it was one of those "did we just see that" kinda moments you have when your at WDW. People watching has practically become a sport for us. Throw in some beers and we could sit there for quite awhile just watching the Universe unfold as it will.

I didnt even mention that we just abandoned hope for TSMM FP+ that day. It seems to be a more common occurrence in Trip reports that you hear someone speak about or post a photo of how long the FP+ line was. Ive got several that I will post for the coming days of our TR. Its just ridiculous for the money the spent on MM+, IMO. I love the MDE app, but you can keep fp+. I havent seen any change in wait times compared to legacy in the 6 or 7 trips we have taken since FP+ first came out. We definitely got more FP used in the day with legacy though. That, Im sure of.
 
wdisney9000

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Day 2 part 3

Ughhhh, I had typed out most of day 2 part 3 and then computer shut down and I lost it. Thanks Microsoft for making an operating system that constantly needs to update.

So we left HS and hit the pathway towards the Boardwalk. Ive yapped before about how much we prefer the pathway instead of the Friendship Boats for various reasons such as exercise or time with family. This time Ill quickly rant about the timing factor. As we left the park there were no boats at the dock nor did we see any coming down the waterway. In our experience, if there is no boat in sight, its usually quicker to walk. We love timing the pathway against the boats and this was perfect. As we reached the bus area we could see a boat heading in. By the time we reached the bridge, the boat was docked and still loading. It took off shortly after we passed the bridge. By the time we reached the Boardwalk Resort pool it had almost caught up to us. We still made it to Beach Club before the boat did with plenty of time to spare. Mission accomplished! We did not walk anymore quickly than normally either. The pathway wins again!

So we entered the lobby feeling good about our pointless victory of the boats, but this would soon be dashed. It was a little after 3 pm (about 3:10) and as I got to the front desk the CM told me our room was not ready. Uggghhhhh! Oh well, we know that DVC check in can be as late as 4 pm so we decided to hit the Marketplace and grab a snack. Heres where I got really frustrated. I snacked in the breezeway outside the Market place and I noticed the family who was just at the front desk when I was who had just arrived. I know this because I heard them talking with the CM next to us. They were being escorted to their room!:mad: I thought it was odd that we checked in at 8:30 am and were still waiting but I shrugged it off. I decided to keep an eye on the front desk and this only made it worse. I watched 3 separate groups arrive, go to front desk, and then get escorted to their rooms with their luggage right away. Now it was about 3:30. I watched as two more groups arrived and got escorted to their rooms as well. And yes, some were going to DVC wing as well. I dont know what Disneys system is, but its extremely aggravating to watch people who are just arriving get a room and we had been waiting nearly 7 hours.

Now its 3:50 pm and still no call from front desk. We had to plug my phone into an outlet because my battery was about to die. I watched another group get a room and thats when I told my wife I was going to the front to ask why we were still waiting and everybody else walking in was getting a room. That may sound like I was being a brat, but when you watch group after group walk in with their luggage and then get handed their packets and they stroll by you with big smiles on their faces, you just wanna slap one of em' and steal their magic band, go to their room and turn on Stacey and blast the AC then crack open a fresh beer!

My wife was in a better mood than me and told me to wait with her and if by 4pm they hadnt called, she would unleash me unto them!!! At 3:58 my phone buzzes. Its a text asking me to come to front desk. As much as I wanted to debate the check in process and give the CM a bit of my frustration, I was just happy something was happening and decided to keep my mouth shut. She gives me our little packet and then hands me an envelope with my name on it. I said thank you and we headed off. We were glad to see we got a room on the top floor, which is what we prefer. As we enter the room we immediately felt better as we were greeted with the aroma of a freshly cleaned resort room. Im not sure how to describe the smell but Im sure you are all familiar with it. Then upon tossing our bag on the bed we see something on the table thats normally not there......

20151017_160824.jpg


A chocolate Mickey figure with chocolate covered strawberries. There was also a not from Mim Flynn, the resort manager. It was nice touch after the long wait. If that wasnt enough to make us feel better, we opened our patio door to the biggest balcony we have ever got at Disney resort. It was HUGE and overlooked the DVC pool.

20151017_160923.jpg


When my wife is this happy, life is good, lol. We snacked on some strawberries and they were delicious!

20151017_161128.jpg


We relaxed for awhile and then grabbed a shower to be fresh for the evenings festivities. We figured we would attempt to hit a few booths at Food and Wine to grab some food before starting our monorail beer crawl!

We each gabbed a beer for the walk to Epcot and headed out. It was great weather and we were ready for some food! Within minutes of entering the park we saw every F&W booth we passed JAMMED with people and long lines. It was worse than before. We quickly went from the hopes of enjoying some exotic fare of F&W to this.......

20151017_184418.jpg

chicken tenders from Electric Umbrella. It was funny because as packed as World Showcase was, EU was EMPTY. We walked right in and got our tenders. We enjoyed our less then exotic meal on the patio and in all fairness the tenders were good and they hit the spot. We had the patio to ourselves which was nice. We decided the time we saved not waiting in lines at F&W could be used to ride TT before going to the monorail. Single rider wasnt that bad.

20151017_190516.jpg
20151017_191859.jpg

After the ride we headed to the monorail to get our crawl started!!!!

A monorail pulled in as we approached and right as we got the top it filled up. After a few minutes, the fully loaded monorail was still in the station. About ten minutes go by and its still there. 5 minutes later the doors open and they announce it is delayed. It wound up being around another 10 minutes until they finally announced that monorail lime was stuck on the track and had to be towed. We debated going to the buses but we could see the hordes of people heading there and decided to wait it out. Took about 5 more minutes and they got the all clear. Shortly after, another train arrived and we were on our way. The monorails are just in bad shape all around. No amount of new carpet will help the aging fleet. Of course as we got close to the TTC we got delayed again. After switching at TTC we made our way over to start our crawl at The Contemporary!

Ok, So I think I need to reboot computer again since HP needs to update now. Ill get back to the crawl soon! Sorry for short post with few pics but I dont wanna loose all this, lol. Ill be back shortly!
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
So happy that you both received a pleasant room with a lovely view! My guess is that your room was delayed a bit, due to your requested preference. (I'm not giving the hotel a pass here; just mentioning that the others that were checked in ahead of you, may not have had your specific, location requests.) The note and treats from the resort manager were a nice gesture. I'm sure that helped.

As for the issues with the monorail, I'm praying they really fix/upgrade the entire system. From what I've been reading on the forums during the past year or more, it's starting to turn into a fleet of broken toys . . .

Looking forward to more of your TR! :)
 
lostpro9het

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
catmom46 said:
I was confused because you keep posting the same bottle, but different brews, so I looked up the website. Basically Gold City Growlers is like Sparkletts, but for beer?
Click to expand...
HA! I can see the confusion. GCG is a shop that has 20 different brews on tap at any given time, but no home delivery like Sparkletts. I like it because it allows me to try different breweries.
 
acrab3t

acrab3t

Active Member
Loving your TR! BC is my favorite resort. My husband and I are also huge SW's nerds and are anxiously waiting for the premiere. Yes, we will be dressed in full gear ( look at my profile pic). We have tickets for the Thursday evening and also Friday morning. I am like a child waiting for Christmas.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom