Trip Report Fun With Friends & Family!! Vol. 2-7

As I'm attempting to organize my photos(they're still playing Pulp Fiction tricks on me & for the life of me I can't figure out how to get them back in order) I'm realizing that with the sheer amount of people in this TR it could get awfully confusing. My apologies, in advance. Fortunately though, out of the 18 participants in this TR there are only 6 that you've never met so hopefully it won't be too bad!!

Along with the participants there are a few other confusing factors in this TR. Dates, resorts & flights, naturally!!
As I said to someone the other day while doing a presentation, "I live this therefore it's like second nature to me but I can see where it could be confusing to someone else"(not referring to this trip-I was doing something for work.) I told them that at anytime if it got to be too much of a whirlwind to please stop me & have me clarify things. I invite you to do the same!!

If I haven't scared you away at this point I want to say welcome to you all & hope you enjoy following along!!

WHEN:
In regards to my family:
For me: Tuesday, January 17th(started out as the 19th) - Tuesday, January 24th(was supposed to be the 23rd)
E, J & R: Thursday, January 19th(late) - Tuesday, January 24th(was supposed to be the 23rd)
C, D, A & E: Thursday, January 19th(late) - Sunday, January 22nd
D, S, K & K: Thursday, January 19th(early) - Monday, January 23rd

WHERE:
E, J, R & myself were booked at SSR. I was in charge of booking the room. A few weeks before we left I happened to notice that instead of booking a 1 bedroom villa I somehow only booked a regular room!! Thank goodness I noticed it ahead of time but the bad news was that there were no more 1(or 2) bedroom villas available.

With my tail between my legs I ended up getting us 2 rooms at POR!! It could be worse, right??

C, D, E & A were staying at SSR while D, S, K & K were at Pop Century!!

WHO:
These awesome friends!! Do they really need an introduction??

Then there's these friends!! Who I happened to run into by accident!! Remember my friend, A, that passed in December 2021? I had been going down once a month to see her & would stay at Disney since it was so close to her house. Here's her daughter & husband!! It was so great to see them & spend some time with them!! And it was so strange how I ended up running into them. One of those, IMO, "things that happen for a reason." I'll get into that later!!

We had a surprise, awesome end to our trip by being able to hang out with @Darstarr & Ant!! I was excited for them to be able to meet some of our crew(including Spillsie!!-right @Darstarr!!)

Here's where it's going to get really confusing--the family!! But, you know all of us but 4 so hopefully this won't be too painful!!
Here we go:
D(my youngest sibling, has only been to Disney once as a child & once as an adult, swore up & down he would never go there again, can't stand it there-I'm sure you get my drift. Then he meets his girlfriend & she wants to take her kids to Disney for the first time. Now, here he is!!)
Myself, niece E, nephew J
D's girlfriend S & her son & daughter, K & K(more confusion!!)
Mickey's not part of the family but in a special way he is!!
Sisters C & E(remember last TR when I said it made them sound like nuns!!), BIL D(my sister C's husband & R's cousin-more confusion), niece A & last but not least, R!!

Ok, now here we go!!

Here I was, traveling solo. Originally, I was supposed to fly down Thursday evening with E, J, R, C, D, E & A. But, in talking with a special friend of mine I found out that she was going to be there on Thursday so I changed my plans & flew down Tuesday evening after I got done working so we could spend some time together!!

I went to Primanti's & got a turkey, bacon club sandwich.

Time to leave gloomy Pittsburgh behind!!

Right before I put my phone into airplane mode I found out my room number!!
BTW-the reason it only says 1 guest is b/c initially when I decided to add 2 extra nights on my trip I didn't want to pay for a 1BR at Saratoga just for myself so I decided I would stay at POR for those 2 nights then take the boat down(with my luggage) on checkout morning then finish out the trip at Saratoga. The good news is once the whole stay was switched to POR I didn't have to change rooms after the first 2 nights!!

 

[riverside]

I'm definitely going to need @Tuvalu's help on this one to fill in the blanks.
I believe they were staying at POR also?-or was it FQ?

Regardless, we had a dinner reservation at Via Napoli!!

And looking at the size of that pizza I believe we shared it!!

Such a fun dinner with these lovely ladies!!

Somehow a R&C picture feels different without the rest of the family!!

Em & I took a ride on Guardians. I can't remember what song we had-maybe she can?

Then it was time to head on out.

It was truly a great time as it always is with them!!

And as I mentioned earlier, I did see Bob again!!

 

[lindawdw]

You certainly got to enjoy some nice meetups with forum friends on this trip! It's such a great perk being able to take the boat from Port Orleans Riverside to Disney Springs! This feels like such a relaxing trip so far!

 

[Tuvalu]

I'm definitely going to need @Tuvalu's help on this one to fill in the blanks.
I believe they were staying at POR also?-or was FQ?

April 1, 2023 - Em and I were staying at French Quarter.

And looking at the size of the pizza I believe we shared it.

We did!

Em & I took a ride on Guardians. I can't remember what song we had-maybe she can?
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And I ran, I ran so far away…..

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[riverside]

You certainly got to enjoy some nice meetups with forum friends on this trip! It's such a great perk being able to take the boat from Port Orleans Riverside to Disney Springs! This feels like such a relaxing trip so far!

Yes, I did!! It makes the trips that much more special!!
I love taking the boat. It's such a nice change from the buses.
I'm starting to enjoy relaxing more on trips than constantly running!!

 

[riverside]

@Tuvalu
Thank you very much!! I knew I could count on you!!

 

[riverside]

The rest of the crew had arrived the night before. The plan was to meet at HS. So, I'm sure you can guess where the meeting spot was going to be!!

E(sister) & E(niece)
I think this was the time where @Tuvalu & @TrolleyFollower91 witnessed E's seriousness about rope dropping Baseline!! Actually, I'm pretty sure it is b/c I believe this is her picture!!

Our favorite table with some of our favorite people!!

A so wishing she could partake!!

This is the only picture I have of us on a ride for that day. I'm sure we went on other rides but I have no clue what they may have been.

I do remember leaving the park a little earlier than normal so we could go swimming.

I headed back to POR then took the boat to DS then walked over to SSR.
Shhh-don't tell that I was utilizing a pool at a resort I wasn't staying at!!

It wasn't the feature pool so is it really that big of a deal?

We had dinner a few different times at their villa. I can't remember what we had which days & since my pics are all over the place that's not helping me. So, here's a few. We obviously had all this at some point.

And this is absolutely a life changer!! If you ever have the opportunity to try Skyline Chili do so!!
It's native to @LisaBelle's area & she was sweet enough to bring this.
And lucky for me the store I work at sells the chili & the chili spaghetti in the frozen varieties. My team members laugh at how much I purchase it!! She definitely got me hooked on this!!

After dinner I headed back to Riverside. I do recall a major downside of this trip(and I assume it's b/c it was spring break). The line at DS to get the boat back was absolutely insane. I remember waiting for something like an hour one time. I think it was this night.

 

[riverside]

As I'm looking at pictures things are starting to come back to me-like the long lines at DS. We didn't spend much time in the parks b/c they were absolutely packed!! I'm sure we did more than 1 or 2 attractions every day but I just don't have photographic evidence.

I haven't seen her in awhile so this was a nice surprise!!

It had been awhile since I ate here so I was excited for this reservation!!

Ahem, look who's hand is in the PCB....

I remember E(niece) really liking her burger.

I had the Lo Mein with shrimp. Excellent!!

Yep, it was crowded!!

 

[riverside]

We were again leaving the park early. However, A had never been on Kali River Rapids & really wanted to go on but yet was afraid to. No one else wanted to get drenched so I took one for the team.

She was very nervous while we were in line.

And while on the ride.

Before....

After......

Yeah, we got it pretty good!! But, she liked it so I was happy about that!!

We headed out & had a repeat of the night before. Swimming & dinner!!

I love this picture!!

 

[Minnie1986]

One last one with my buddy, Patrick!! And, in looking at my pictures I was wrong. I saw Bob again the next night!!
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Beautiful morning at Riverside!!
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The weather was nice & I didn't have anything going on until early afternoon so I hung out at the quiet pool near my room.
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I got ready then took a boat to DS.
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I was so excited to finally be able to meet @LisaBelle & her wonderful family!!
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We had a wonderful afternoon together at Jock Lindsay's Hangar Bar!! Lots of great conversation with great friends!! The only one missing was their daughter-I believe she was working but I did get to meet her on a future trip!!

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Before I headed back to POR I stopped in a few stores. I went into Sephora(for a comb-more on that in a minute) & was super excited to see these Clinique products that I use 50% off!! I usually wait until they are 30% off online to buy them but this was even better!!
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Unfortunately, they didn't have much there but I bought what they had!!
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Now, about the comb. I can't remember why we were talking at lunch about me buying a comb but we did. I have(had) this flimsy comb in my travel bag that I really didn't like & wanted to buy a new one so that's why I went into Sephora to begin with.
No thanks, not at that price!!
View attachment 815244
I ended up buying one back home after that trip!!

With that I headed back to POR!!
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I absolutely LOVE the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Cream, and their cream makeup remover

 

[Swissmiss]

USD 46 for a comb???

 

[lindawdw]

Your nieces and nephews are so lucky to have you as their aunt! They can always count on you to go on rides that the other adults have no interest in, and you are such a generous person Patti. We haven't dined at Yak and Yeti in so many years, but I'll have to add it to my rotation on a future trip!

 

[MickeyCB]

A few days later @MickeyCB & Gary stopped by my work. He was able to get his knife!! I'm glad he got it & liked it!! Unfortunately, what has since happened to it is not good. I will let @MickeyCB share the story if she wants.
View attachment 813718

Always love your TRs. And I just got some "paper" for @MickeyCB at DLP - after years of not having any, there were maps of the parks.

Crazy that I happened to come on here tonight and saw this. It's been a very long time since I've posted, but I do engage in some lurking. I still have to catch up on the rest of your report but wanted to respond when I saw this from you.

And just awww and thank you again, Patti, that was a wonderful moment for him, he was so tickled you took the time to get that for him!

Regarding the knife mishap, @riverside was alluding to the fact that while selling my home in Pittsburgh in the last few months I had an insane amount of stuff I had to get rid of and engaged an auction house. THAT WAS HORRIBLE!! There are literally too many issues to put in this post but one that upset me so much is they removed Gary's knife collection, 3 full crates of knives from the house "for cataloging", before the kids could go through them, and some went missing and this was one of them. Was it valuable, of course not, does it have huge sentimental value, of course! I just absolutely never use the word hate, but I hate them to my bones.
We have been in touch with them via a "strongly worded email" as Jack says, any Titanic fans out there? (And they supposedly have found and are shipping a few back to me. (I'm in California now.)

And thank you @Swissmiss very much for thinking of me. I am literally still living out of a suitcase (2 months now), in my daughters office but the end is in sight with renovations finishing up and a hopeful move in next Saturday. And those maps will be a wonderful addition to my paper collection and a wonderful treat with all of the last year of crazy! (I sold 50 bins! of Mickey stuff with the huge downsize I had to do but NONE of my paper items!)

And Patti, I apologize for diverting from your fun trip report to whine about all of this.

 

[Swissmiss]

And Patti, I apologize for diverting from your fun trip report to whine about all of this.

I don’t think you have ever once whined on this forum - even during your most difficult times

 

[cgersic]

Crazy that I happened to come on here tonight and saw this. It's been a very long time since I've posted, but I do engage in some lurking. I still have to catch up on the rest of your report but wanted to respond when I saw this from you.

And just awww and thank you again, Patti, that was a wonderful moment for him, he was so tickled you took the time to get that for him!

Regarding the knife mishap, @riverside was alluding to the fact that while selling my home in Pittsburgh in the last few months I had an insane amount of stuff I had to get rid of and engaged an auction house. THAT WAS HORRIBLE!! There are literally too many issues to put in this post but one that upset me so much is they removed Gary's knife collection, 3 full crates of knives from the house "for cataloging", before the kids could go through them, and some went missing and this was one of them. Was it valuable, of course not, does it have huge sentimental value, of course! I just absolutely never use the word hate, but I hate them to my bones.
We have been in touch with them via a "strongly worded email" as Jack says, any Titanic fans out there? (And they supposedly have found and are shipping a few back to me. (I'm in California now.)

And thank you @Swissmiss very much for thinking of me. I am literally still living out of a suitcase (2 months now), in my daughters office but the end is in sight with renovations finishing up and a hopeful move in next Saturday. And those maps will be a wonderful addition to my paper collection and a wonderful treat with all of the last year of crazy! (I sold 50 bins! of Mickey stuff with the huge downsize I had to do but NONE of my paper items!)

And Patti, I apologize for diverting from your fun trip report to whine about all of this.

Oh Cindy, it's nice to "see" you on here! It's also nice having an update as to where you are and how life is going, so thanks for jumping in and thanks Patti for getting her here Sorry to hear about the fiasco with the auction house - it's so hard to find a good one. Lastly - 50 BINS????

 

[riverside]

I absolutely LOVE the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Cream, and their cream makeup remover

I love so many of their products. My favorites are their makeup remover wipes, eyeliner & lash primer. And, of course the cleansers!!

USD 46 for a comb???

I know, right?? I about fell over!!

Your nieces and nephews are so lucky to have you as their aunt! They can always count on you to go on rides that the other adults have no interest in, and you are such a generous person Patti. We haven't dined at Yak and Yeti in so many years, but I'll have to add it to my rotation on a future trip!

I do like the ride. I just never want to get drenched!!
It had probably been 5 years or so since I had was there. Glad I went back!!

Oh Cindy, it's nice to "see" you on here! It's also nice having an update as to where you are and how life is going, so thanks for jumping in and thanks Patti for getting her here Sorry to hear about the fiasco with the auction house - it's so hard to find a good one. Lastly - 50 BINS????

I'm guessing 50 bins might be an understatement!! You wouldn't believe all the neat things she had!!

 

[riverside]

Crazy that I happened to come on here tonight and saw this. It's been a very long time since I've posted, but I do engage in some lurking. I still have to catch up on the rest of your report but wanted to respond when I saw this from you.

And just awww and thank you again, Patti, that was a wonderful moment for him, he was so tickled you took the time to get that for him!

Regarding the knife mishap, @riverside was alluding to the fact that while selling my home in Pittsburgh in the last few months I had an insane amount of stuff I had to get rid of and engaged an auction house. THAT WAS HORRIBLE!! There are literally too many issues to put in this post but one that upset me so much is they removed Gary's knife collection, 3 full crates of knives from the house "for cataloging", before the kids could go through them, and some went missing and this was one of them. Was it valuable, of course not, does it have huge sentimental value, of course! I just absolutely never use the word hate, but I hate them to my bones.
We have been in touch with them via a "strongly worded email" as Jack says, any Titanic fans out there? (And they supposedly have found and are shipping a few back to me. (I'm in California now.)

And thank you @Swissmiss very much for thinking of me. I am literally still living out of a suitcase (2 months now), in my daughters office but the end is in sight with renovations finishing up and a hopeful move in next Saturday. And those maps will be a wonderful addition to my paper collection and a wonderful treat with all of the last year of crazy! (I sold 50 bins! of Mickey stuff with the huge downsize I had to do but NONE of my paper items!)

And Patti, I apologize for diverting from your fun trip report to whine about all of this.

No apologies necessary!! That's why I figured I would leave it up to you if you wanted to share what happened!! And it still angers me every time I think about everything you went through with them!

 

[riverside]

Same view as the night before except for now it's light out!!

I met up with everyone at MK.

I mobile ordered my lunch & joined them. They had just got their food. There was a CM wandering around & when he found someone with a birthday he would announce it & have everyone sing to them. The kids(right before I got there) told him I was coming & it was my birthday that day. So, when he made his announcement & everyone started singing I was totally caught off guard-esp. b/c it was nowhere near my birthday. They did their best to embarrass me & they succeeded!!

We caught the end of the parade after lunch.

Got stuck here for a bit. I wasn't complaining!!

Then we headed off into the wilderness.

Then it was time to go. The crowds were way too much!!

 

[riverside]

We hopped on the monorail. J was complaining while we were at MK that he forgot his sunglasses. E bought him another pair. I haven't seen them since that trip!! Every trip since she throws a dig at him about not bringing these sunglasses that he just had to have!!

First stop-Polynesian!!

They got sushi from somewhere there-probably Captain Cook's?

Drinks from Tambu Lounge!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Clearly you didn’t get the memo to wear a red Presley Motors tee.

The sushi came from Kona Island.

(Captain Cooks doesn’t have sushi.)

 

[riverside]

Second stop-Grand Floridian!!

You many wonder what the look on E's(niece) face is about. E(sister) was driving us all nuts b/c she had noticed that there was a photographer taking people's pictures with Cinderella's glass slipper. All she kept saying is that she wanted to get her picture taken with the slipper & she wanted her evil stepsisters in it.

She was so excited that we finally gave in. Her persistence(maybe it was the Lapu Lapu talking) was driving us crazy!!

Be careful what you wish for E!!

Ok, we did take one nice one!!

After our(her) photo shoot we took the monorail back to MK so we could get the buses.

I believe the plan was swimming & dinner again. I remember not feeling the greatest. I'm sure part of the reason was b/c it was my last day & I had to be up at 4 the next morning for my flight. I don't have any pictures from being at Saratoga with them that day so I'm sure I just headed back to POR to start packing up for my departure the next day.