I’ve got a Valentine’s Date at Disney!

When – February 14-18, 2013

What – Valentine’s Day Trip

Who – Just me and the hubs!

Why – We had actually planned on going with the kids this weekend since they had a 4 day weekend. We booked it quite a while ago and then the kids ended up having all kinds of conflicts. So we cancelled and went at Thanksgiving instead! So while their lovely faces were in that trip report, this one is adult only!

Around the middle of January, Stephen remembered that his favorite soccer team, DC United, was going to be playing at Wide World of Sports over President’s Day Weekend.

He said, “Man I wish we could still go to Disney in a few weeks.”

I was like, “Um, honey? WE can still go to Disney!”

Oh yeah!!

So we bought some plane tickets, scrambled to find some places to stay on points and we were booked!

As a bonus, good friends and fellow KK agents Heather (@DisneyHeather) and Missy (@polymissy) were going to be there at the same time. And Richard (@Master Yoda) was coming up for the day on Saturday! Woo hoo! Friends everywhere! What fun this was going to be!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Sunday – February 17, 2013 – Last full day!

This morning we slept in a little. When we woke up Stephen asked if I could give him the pictures I took from the game. Right then. With no editing or cropping.

Does he not know me at all?

So I got him to go get us some breakfast and I got to work! While I was editing, Mousekeeping knocked to see if we were still there and about to leave? It was about 9 am at this point.

This seems to be a recent phenomenon of the last year or two. Mousekeeping trying to hurry you out of your room on the morning of check out.

It really bothers me!

I appreciate that they’re busy and that people (myself including) love having their rooms ready early, but that room is mine until 11. I don’t want to feel like I’m inconveniencing someone by taking my time on my last morning.

I guessed (very incorrectly) that we’d be another 45 minutes, and 45 minutes later they knocked again. Admittedly my fault that time.

Stephen politely said it would be closer to 10:15 and I kept working. At 10:15, they knocked again.

Really?

At 10:30 I was done so we decided to leave the room and go to the lobby for the uploading process. When we opened the door, they were actually standing outside the door waiting.

It was 10:30!!!!!

It really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

While we sat in the lobby, I started to get a feel for how cold it was outside. And it was crazy cold. Crazy!!

But we were finally on our way! We dropped off our bags to be transferred to Saratoga Springs (yes our third resort) and then caught a bus to Downtown Disney.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

You can see how cool it was by how everyone was dressed. No one wanted to sit down in the shade. Everyone was standing in the sun:

I entertained myself by taking pictures. I decided to carry the behemoth lens today – the 70-200. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take everything I wanted with that lens, but I thought it would be fun for a different perspective.

These flowers were wayyyy behind us.

After we got off the bus, our first stop was Destination D where we looked for some Vinylmations for the kids.

For lunch we settled on Raglan Road which was fairly empty.

Menu:

With my giant lens there was no way I could take food pictures. Well that’s not true, I could have taken pictures of food on other people’s tables, but not mine! It was way too close! So the iphone it was -

Soda bread:

Stephen got the ham. So. Much. Ham.

I got Fish and Chips again! It was great!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After we ate, Stephen wanted to walk to Saratoga Springs, I voted to take the boat!

I lost. We walked.

We cut through the pool to the lobby.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

There wasn’t a long check in line.

We were in Congress Park this time. It’s super close to Downtown Disney which I loved.

Back to a one bedroom! Yay! No way my lens was taking a picture of the room. Phone to the rescue!

I only got the bedroom area for some reason! I apologize to trip report readers who wanted to see the living area. Photo fail.

Look what was on the side of the building we were in!

Our view the other way:

I need these on my porch:

We called for our bags and waited a little while for them to be delivered. I may or may not have fallen asleep for a little while.

Then we were off to the bus! I must admit, when I opened the door from our warm and toasty villa and felt the air outside, I was tempted to go right back inside. In fact I think those words did leave my mouth.

Oh the shame!

But we couldn’t. There was so much more to do!

And more will be coming up tomorrow! I should be able to finish the rest of the report tonight! Thanks for reading!

 

[Tiggerish]

Your trip sounds like it was a blast!

Random remarks:

We were at Wilderness Lodge last week in a 1BR. Our room was the mirror image of yours! I may just borrow your photos and tell people they're mine.

Love all your memes, you are so clever.

@Master Yoda, LOVE that t-shirt!!

Resort-hopping: pain in the neck, or oodles of fun? My hubby would never go for it, but I'd give it a try. It's fun to settle into a new room (and take photos of it)

Soccer uniforms are so much...briefer than the other pro sports, aren't they? Makes them so much more interesting.

I noticed last week that I liked the new Characters in Flight balloon much, much better than the old one.



Glad I got in before the report is over (just barely)

 

[Master Yoda]

@Master Yoda, LOVE that t-shirt!!

Thanks! The wife and I always fight over who gets to wear that one.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Your trip sounds like it was a blast!

Random remarks:

We were at Wilderness Lodge last week in a 1BR. Our room was the mirror image of yours! I may just borrow your photos and tell people they're mine.

Love all your memes, you are so clever.

@Master Yoda, LOVE that t-shirt!!

Resort-hopping: pain in the neck, or oodles of fun? My hubby would never go for it, but I'd give it a try. It's fun to settle into a new room (and take photos of it)

Soccer uniforms are so much...briefer than the other pro sports, aren't they? Makes them so much more interesting.

I noticed last week that I liked the new Characters in Flight balloon much, much better than the old one.



Glad I got in before the report is over (just barely)

I saw your instagrams, Sibohan! Borrow away, lol!

Resort hopping - both! It's not very fun to pack up and not really settle. But it is very fun to try different places. So not that we've done it on a couple of trips, I'd say I like staying in one resort the entire trip, but I don't mind hopping when we need to.

They are - interesting.

I like the new balloon too!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We couldn’t decide for sure which park we wanted to go to tonight, Magic Kingdom or DHS, so we let the busses decide. The first bus was to DHS! Perfect!

Look behind us! That’s how close we were to Downtown Disney:

Hello MGM! I mean Hollywood Studios! Here’s the RFID –

We’re in!

As we were walking in a couple stopped us and asked if it was just the two of us and if we would like their DVC Fastpass! Sure! Thank you nice couple!

My first goal was a red velvet cupcake! As we approached Starring Rolls I could tell by the lack of a line that I was too late for that goal.

Curses!! Why oh why does it close so early?

Popcorn would have to suffice.

While we snacked we walked over to Star Tours to grab some Fastpasses.

Then we wound back through the Streets of America. It’s kind of empty without the Osborne Lights!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I was excited to see the last American Idol of the day was about to start. I just can’t get enough of that show!

I listened carefully, and the words were no “flash” photography not “no” photography, so I took a couple of pictures.

Hi judges! The contestants were all young girls so I felt like the judges really tried to make most of their comments positive which I appreciated it. Even the mean Brit!

I always like to take a picture of the winner! Just in case I see them on TV one day!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We went right to Star Tours after the show. Us and everyone else. Look at the Fastpass line!!

We visited Hoth and Naboo and thoroughly enjoyed them both.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We wanted to end the night at Magic Kingdom, so after Star Tours, that was our destination! We saw a bus for the Contemporary, so we decided more walking was in order and we hopped on that and then walked to the Magic Kingdom.

Look. True Love.

We were thoroughly confused by all the chairs on Main Street. It almost looks like the Candlelight Processional at Disneyland! Then I remembered – Kelly and Michael were there! Ah man! I should have been watching for them! I heard Michael was at Animal Kingdom the same morning we were!

We followed the natural gravitational pull back towards Fantasyland. My goals for tonight were two-fold – pork shank and Dole Whip.

If you have noticed most of my goals involve food, well you’re right. Don’t judge.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

A beautiful castle towered in the distance. I would love to know how tall this castle really is.

And here we go – hear the angels? Pork Shank for Instagram!

It was exactly like everyone has said. Super delicious - fall off the bone tender meat. I was very impressed.

Next we wanted some Dole Whips. Our vacation certainly wouldn’t be complete without them.

When we got to Aloha Isle it was completely empty!! No line at all!! What is this world coming to?

The cm’s were actually out front dancing and waving signs trying to get people to get one! So we got two!

Instagram!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That was really all we had planned for the night! We did a little shopping and we tormented the cm’s in the Emporium when they saw our Dole Whips. They were so jealous.

Oh, I forgot one thing! When we were walking through the store, I had my lips on my straw and was sipping a little and absently biting on my straw and pulling it up and down in the ice cream to soften it up.

Did that make any sense?

Well, as tends to happen when you are stupidly doing that, the straw popped out of the ice cream at one point and splattered a half circle straight up in front of me.

Unfortunately for the college age girl I was passing at that exact second, that half circle got her form her waste up to her head.

Oh. My. Word.

I was horrified. And yet not as horrified as she was I’m sure.

I turned about 50 shades of red, apologized profusely and ran away as quickly as I could.

Stephen asked what happened and I’m pretty sure my answer was something along the lines of, “Oh nothing, Honey!”

So, so sorry to the beautiful college girl whom I splattered with Dole Whip.

We exited the park and got in line for a bus to Saratoga and one pulled up pretty quickly. When it pulled up and the lights came on, everyone in line gasped. There looked like there were, no kidding, about 100 teenage girls taking up every available inch of space on that bus.

It was a complete and total circus act when they started extracting themselves from each other’s personal space and flooding off the bus. They just kept coming!!

The bus driver said there was 64 teenage girls standing amongst the other guests who were seated. I think I believed him.

I ended up sitting next to two little girls who were adorable. They were looking at my pictures on my phone as I scrolled through them and whispering about them as we rode. So cute!

At one point one of them asked the other what was the longest line they stood in all day. The other one said, “Peter Pan!” They both then agreed it was worth every second. I loved that.

We got off our bus at the main stop because we needed to print off our DME vouchers. In my non-planning for this trip, it’s possible I never signed up for return transfers. It’s possible.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We then hoofed it back to the room. Did I mention how cold it was? There was a giant warm bath calling my name as we walked back. Our flight was at 7 the next morning so DME was coming ugly early. It was only about 9:45, so we had some time to warm up and relax before we went to sleep.

When we got to our room, Stephen waved the key in front of the door. The light flashed green – and then orange.

Hmmm.

He tried again. Just orange this time.

One more time. No dice.

I tried mine. Same thing.

I commented what an incredibly cruel joke this would be.

And it was. That door was not opening under any circumstances.

Stephen was ready to make the long walk back to the lobby and I said, “No way am I walking back there!”

I got out my phone, looked up the number for the Saratoga Springs operator and called. They listened to me and then transferred me to the front desk.

The gentleman, whose name I will leave off, told me he would send someone. He asked what color the light was, and I very clearly told him it was orange.

He said we must have locked the door when we left.

What? Did you just imply that this is my fault somehow?

Surely not.

I asked him to please hurry as we were freezing.

We waited 20 minutes and, no shocker, never saw a soul. I called again. The operator transferred me to another person because the first man was busy.

She apologized and said she would call again.

I told her how unhappy and cold I was. She said they were coming. She said all the problems were triaged and some other people must have needed help first.

I asked her if people needed more help than being stuck outside their room in the cold?

20 minutes later and guess what? Nada.

I called again and spoke in a measured but firm tone.

Stephen may say I was screaming bloody murder, but I’m sure you guys would take my word over his right?

They told me there was only one guy who could come help the people who were locked out. I asked if there were a lot of people locked out?

She backtracked very quickly.

I told them I was not hanging up until someone could tell me where this guy was and when exactly he was coming.

She finally assured me he was on his way that moment.

About 5 minutes later he did pull up. And came upstairs with his master key. Which, what do you know – WOULDN’T OPEN THE DOOR!!

He said, “Oh the light is orange! I need a different key for the ORANGE lights.”

I almost threw my Dole Whip cup at him.

But there was a tiny bit left in the bottom.

So he left us again.

I may have cried, but thankfully he was only gone about 10 minutes and this time the key worked. After approximately one hour of standing in the cold, we were finally allowed back in our room.

NOT very magical.

My Dole Whip which I had milked for every last sip, did help a little –

We went inside, I went to the bathtub and Stephen immediately went to the phone. The DME bus was now coming to get us in about 5 hours. Stephen asked for the manager, explained what happened much more calmly than I would have, and asked for the hotel to pay for a cab to take us to the airport at 5 so we could get back that hour of sleep.

They agreed and I was instantly happy. Perfect solution!!

We didn’t even have to drag our bags to the lobby! Yay!

So with that little fiasco finally over, our Valentine Vacation was done. The last few hours notwithstanding, it was a wonderful getaway. We enjoyed the relaxed pace, loved the Wide World of Sports, and especially loved getting to spend time with friends.

Thanks for reading!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

How very UN magical that last hour was!! If they only have one person to do lockouts, they should at least tell you "Hey, we only have one guy, it might take a bit. Maybe you should go somewhere to warm up" rather than tell you over and over that he's on his way. That would really irk me too!

But anywho, you had your Dole Whip, so at least that's a positive right there! I just discovered the local dairy freeze near us has Dole Whip!! No floats, just the Dole Whip. And they have it in like raspberry and strawberry flavors too I read. May have to try that out. I'll just close my eyes and eat it and pretend I'm at Disney, not at some tiny dairy freeze in South Portland, ME

Sounds like a short but sweet trip for sure!! And as always, your pictures are fabulous! Thanks for sharing!!!!!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

What a terrible way to end to your last night! I would have been furious! I'm glad Stephen was there to calmly request they pay for your cab.

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

How very UN magical that last hour was!! If they only have one person to do lockouts, they should at least tell you "Hey, we only have one guy, it might take a bit. Maybe you should go somewhere to warm up" rather than tell you over and over that he's on his way. That would really irk me too!

But anywho, you had your Dole Whip, so at least that's a positive right there! I just discovered the local dairy freeze near us has Dole Whip!! No floats, just the Dole Whip. And they have it in like raspberry and strawberry flavors too I read. May have to try that out. I'll just close my eyes and eat it and pretend I'm at Disney, not at some tiny dairy freeze in South Portland, ME

Sounds like a short but sweet trip for sure!! And as always, your pictures are fabulous! Thanks for sharing!!!!!

It was UN-magical! That is exactly how I would have described it. And you're right, if we had any idea it was going to take an hour to get into our room I would have walked back and sat in the lobby to get warm.

Local Dole Whip! That is so exciting! Strawberry flavor sounds awesome!

Thank you for reading, Darolyn!

What a terrible way to end to your last night! I would have been furious! I'm glad Stephen was there to calmly request they pay for your cab.

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!

It was, Ashley! But thank goodness Stephen was there. Calmer heads prevailed.

Thank you for reading!

 

[DisneyHeather]

We followed the natural gravitational pull back towards Fantasyland. My goals for tonight were two-fold – pork shank and Dole Whip.

If you have noticed most of my goals involve food, well you’re right. Don’t judge.

The very, very best of goals. I wholeheartedly approve.

 

[miriamsolana]

Super fun report to read, as always! Thanks Tammy, you are so funny! and all of your pictures are great..

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Oh my. That is kinda tacky for mousekeeping to hover like vultures for you to leave. I don't think I'd have been so nice. "We have the room until 11. Hopefully we'll leave by then. No promises. Good luck." LOL!

Oh dang! Those red velvet cupcakes are so yummy! Somehow I doubt popcorn would've sufficedn for me. Heehee! The pork shanks ARE delicious! Never been a Dole Whip fan but I totally admire your level of dedication to consume one when it's cold out AND the sun has gone down.

Um, your straw incident w/the college girl (<--that doesn't even sound right!)....well when you were describing having the straw in your mouth and working it I was totally giggling like a 13 year old because that didn't sound right either...'specially from YOU. I mean, it's like hearin' my grandmother slip a swear! Sounds so much dirtier out of her mouth! LOLOLOL! So funny!

The hour long wait in the cold for a room opener. That's awful! I was secretly hoping Stephen was on the phone asking for Mickey to come snuggle y'all or rub your feet until you were warm...but the cab sounds like a nice option as well. Heehee!

Your pictures, of course, are killer. Just when I think you've outdone yourself I'll scroll and OH! Gosh, look at THAT one!!!!