Trip Report Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Back to the World We Go! *COMPLETED*

Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely. I am your host ~ your trip report host. Here in the following pages you'll see how the Tuvalu family survived Spring Break 2017. Kindly sit back and relax please, and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now......

Well, that's not exactly true. You are free to FIND YOUR WAY OUT at any time. Although I hope you stick around for the tour. There's bound to be drama.

The deets:
Cast: Moi (Tuvalu), Benevolent Husband (Woody), and the only reason we braved Spring Break madness ~ our Teacher Daughter (Em)
Dates: April 1-8, 2017
Resort: Port Orleans French Quarter

Along the way you'll encounter the slowest cast members ever hired by Disney. Farewell performances of Wishes (were there tears?) The awesome Blue Angels flyover. A Magic meet-up with another mother/daughter pair equally obsessed with WDW as Em and me. And the BEST TRANSPORTATION EVER.

You'll also discover the answers to the following questions: Are Spring Break crowds really that bad? (I'll give you a hint......YES.) What the heck happened to the Trolley? And the flagpole? Is the Red Card really gone? Can you get a same-day ADR for Be Our Guest? What about 'Ohana?

And the most-pressing question of all: Will Woody be doomed to sit on a hard chair in our room chained to his PC and phone all week?

Now as they say, "Look alive" and we'll continue our little tour.

 

[Tuvalu]

Poor Woody worked past the 5 o'clock hour. He'd only had a 20 minute lunch, most of it spent waiting for his sandwich at the food court. (BTW, I'm still waiting on a reply from Punam.)

Dinner with his girls would brighten his day. We drove ourselves to our destination.

Hey....weren't we just here, Em?

Can't resist the Poly pull!

Which restaurant would it be? Kona? 'Ohana? Capt. Cooks?

This one:

Did I get this 7:10 pm 'Ohana ADR exactly 180 days in advance?
Nope.....last night.
It IS possible.

Regrettably, it was a mixed-bag dining experience.

The bad: slow service ~ both our waiter and his assistant (who brought the meats); no macadamia nut butter for the bread; the skewered chicken was chewy thigh meat, not white meat; and only 3 chicken wings (tips, not drumettes) in our appetizer bowl.

The salad was yummy.

On his first (infrequent) pass by our table, I asked our waiter why only 3 chicken wings? He said that was protocol but he would bring us more if we wanted. (Um, yeah!) The plate he brought had six wings ~ 5 tips and one drumette. (Who's getting all the drumettes??!!)

The good: the potstickers; skewered beef was tender, lean and cooked to perfection; the bread pudding was spectacular; the manager brought over a surprise box of chicken wings to take with us.

Get ready to salivate:

We left 'Ohana a mere five minutes before 9 pm Wishes. We watched from the Poly beach where it was windy and (hard to believe) cold!

No tears tonight either.

 

[Tuvalu]

After church this morning I walked down to the bus stop to go home and what did I see sitting on the bench? A full-but OPENED!-package of chocolate Entenmann's donuts!

Bummer the box was open....too bad you couldn't "grab and go."

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Bread pudding drool. Why do I torture myself !!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

Minnie outfit for Tuvalette, body cream for DIL and pillow for Em

LOVE the outfit for Tuvalette!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Bread pudding drool. Why do I torture myself !!!!

Sorry I should have that pic under a spoiler to shield it from your view

 

[Tuvalu]

LOVE the outfit for Tuvalette!!!

I knew you would!

 

[imahistorygeek]

@Tuvalu, @imahistorygeek, @lostpro9het, and others concerned:

After church this morning I walked down to the bus stop to go home and what did I see sitting on the bench? A full-but OPENED!-package of chocolate Entenmann's donuts! (And an assortment of other lovely items)

How could someone just leave those sitting there!?

 

[LadyBelle]

We took the cancer pathway to Tomorrowland

The what pathway?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I am ready to admit it might just be me, but Father's face looks different. Or it could be his sweater. Or the apron. Something about him is off (hairstyle?) Lots of bonus points to the person who can clear up the mystery for me!

Something is off with dad in COP. My first thought was the hair. It's just a whole bunch of odd.

I think it is the hair.

I think the gay mafia has been working on him for the last two years. I think I've mentioned in my own trip reports he seems gayer every time I see him – the sweaters, the haircuts...

Watch for the 2022 refurb where an extra scene is added: Dad has left Mom and moved to San Francisco with "Bud" but the family still all chat together on FaceTime with their iPhones.

This way everyone will be like, "yeah, I guess I could see that coming since the 1960s."

And with that, I'm goin' down to meet the boys for a little sass-parilla.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

*Ahem, I think you also had already saved your grapes from some meal as well. While it is true that Vacation You spends a little more money than Real-Life You, the Scotch You insists on saving uneaten perishable food items in your purse.

View attachment 202064

You are cracking me up!

 

[Tuvalu]

The what pathway?

Sick joke comment. A designated smoking area is part of that path, but smokers tend to use the entire walkway from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland to light up. It's annoying to us non-smokers who enjoy fresh air when walking.

 

[Tuvalu]

I think it is the hair.

I think the gay mafia has been working on him for the last two years. I think I've mentioned in my own trip reports he seems gayer every time I see him – the sweaters, the haircuts...

Watch for the 2022 refurb where an extra scene is added: Dad has left Mom and moved to San Francisco with "Bud" but the family still all chat together on FaceTime with their iPhones.

This way everyone will be like, "yeah, I guess I could see that coming since the 1960s."

And with that, I'm goin' down to meet the boys for a little sass-parilla.

And you crack me up!
Thanks for affirming my observations too.

 

[dizfan917]

I do enjoy following along on your visits!! It's almost like being there myself. ...minus the heatstroke and the crowds... but also minus the food and the fun and the joy of experiencing all that WDW has to offer .

Thanks for "taking me along!"

 

[LadyBelle]

Sick joke comment. A designated smoking area is part of that path, but smokers tend to use the entire walkway from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland to light up. It's annoying to us non-smokers who enjoy fresh air when walking.

Ah, that makes sense. I believed I walked that path. And I agree with you. Blech!

 

[Tuvalu]

I do enjoy following along on your visits!! It's almost like being there myself. ...minus the heatstroke and the crowds... but also minus the food and the fun and the joy of experiencing all that WDW has to offer .

Thanks for "taking me along!"

My pleasure! Thanks for joining us.

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, April 7

We had a very fun last day. The end.

The part of me that wants to have this TR completed before leaving on my next trip would be content with the sentence above.

But there's a bigger part of me that would never be satisfied with such a lazy conclusion.

So onward we go!

In anticipation of a very busy day, MK had EMH at 7 am. Em and I decided we didn't need to be there at the crack of dawn. We finished the Entenmann's for breakfast and were out the door by 8:30 am. Woody had hoped for some park time with us but that wasn't going to happen.

It was a much cooler morning than earlier in the week. But it made park touring pleasant.

Em requested Haunted Mansion first. We took the Liberty Square bridge to get there.

But the attraction was down and the CM said they hoped to have it open in a little while. Since we were in the neighborhood, a visit to the Tangled toilets was in order.

Though we had FPs later for Adventureland attractions, I suggested going there now and riding them standby since the wait times were short.

 

[Tuvalu]

Here comes our ride!

Our skipper was quite clever.
"We are not out of the woods yet! <pointing> Tree, tree, tree...."
"This is a special kind of bush.......it's an ambush!"

But she did not have anything clever to say about the missing rhinoceros.

Are these dudes really that scared of hyenas?

Here we are in another boat.

'Bout ready to see some scurrilous pirates!

 

[Tuvalu]

Upon disembarkation, I canceled our FPs for Jungle Cruise and Pirates and booked Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. I was surprised to find FPs for Splash that started in only 10 minutes.

Em and I were even more surprised to see this:

Splash was down.....yet I was able to make FPs for it?

"Bonus fastpass!" Em declared. Sure enough, moments later I received the notification.

 

[Tuvalu]

Remember my tease at the beginning of this report about a Magic meet-up?

It's time for the big reveal.

(And the real reason I couldn't cut this trip report short. )

Though our paths have crossed on two previous vacations, we have never had more than a three-minute conversation. That was about to change.

Presenting.......

......the two most Disney obsessed mother/daughter duos from WDWMagic who visit the world more frequently in a year than most people do in a lifetime.......

Tuvalu, Em, @Doc Disney and Mom Mary!

And for this monumental occasion, we picked the most inept Photopass photographer we could find.
(To be fair, it's a great shot of the rock formation in the background. )

We shared about our week and Em and I were privileged to hear about @Doc Disney's experience at Victoria & Alberts before she was able to post about it. (See what happens when your Disney visits fall so closely together? ) We had a wonderful time chatting and it was all too soon before we parted ways.

 

[Gabe1]

That place is a gold mine and always has been. One of the few reasonable times to stop by there is around 11:00 AM (I'm sure the hours are seasonal). Then you can get a seat inside or out and there's not a long wait for ice cream. That works well if you feel like having a delicious sundae at 11:00 AM . . .

(But, yes, I've done that a few times down through the years--I've made the early "pilgrimage" to Ghiradelli's -- and a hot fudge sundae made for a tasty lunch!

Me too!