Trip Report Ice cream, BTMRR challenge and a Magical time .....Completed

Hi and welcome.

I’ve been home from our trip a week now and the cold, wet UK weather is depressing me so I’m going to get this TR started.

For those of you who have joined me before you’ll know I’m a bit mad on Disney - like everyone here I know but I literally just can’t get enough and really absorb every second of my time in the world. I also insist on ice cream every day when on holiday so expect ice cream photos along the way.

So the details.....

Myself and my husband Chris

This was our 23rd visit to the world with all stays being 14 days or more with the exception of our special bonus March trip this year. It had been 229 days since I stepped out of the world and I was so ready to go back.

We left on the UK on 7th November and were scheduled to leave America on 21st November - (more on that Later as there were a few bumps along the way)

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (home) - all trips to Disney except my extra March trip have been here. I love Riverside, it’s just so peaceful after hectic days in the park and it had been a whole year since I had been here.

Isn’t it beautiful?

And as for the rest of the TR title those of you who follow @Tuvalu TR’s will know she tags me in the BTMRR pictures. We both have a love for the ride and I curiously asked her how many times in a year she thinks she rides. So we’ve been counting and having a friendly challenge even though I thought I would never stand a change of winning it’s going to be fun to see how it turns out.

I managed to get an additional trip in this year during March and ended that trip on 7 rides (so maybe there was hope for me to win). @Tuvalu is there now though and is currently on 18 rides for the year........ So how many did I end up at?

So let’s get this started.......

 

[Rista1313]

Not the best pictures I’ve taken but I thought I would share anyway

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We made our way out with the masses and decided to take the ferry.
While waiting we were treated to this.


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We made it back to our room by 10.15pm which we were really pleased with given the crowds.

We’d had a really full day - 3 parks and golf!

We didn’t get to bed until 11.15pm though.

We have a routine every night to get everything ready for the morning and put it on a table - that way you can’t forget anything you want, cap, lip salve, filling water bottles for the fridge, ticking all the rides we’ve been on so it’s on our park maps (does anyone else do that?) etc

Not sure why it took so long this night but it did.

Next up Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday and obviously he invited me to Disney to celebrate!

I love some of the HEA pics where you can see the silhouette of the Walt/Mickey statues.

 

[fractal]

What a great day you had in the World! I keep saying I'm going to play one of the miniature gold courses, looks like fun.

Love the ears on SSE pic!

 

[Longers]

I love some of the HEA pics where you can see the silhouette of the Walt/Mickey statues.

Thank you

What a great day you had in the World! I keep saying I'm going to play one of the miniature gold courses, looks like fun.

Love the ears on SSE pic!

The golf was fun and what made it even better was it was free! We played the majority of the holes twice as the group in front and behind was slow so we were lucky.

 

[Longers]

Sunday 18th November - Mickey’s 90th birthday

We had debated going to Magic Kingdom again for Mickeys birthday but we would be spending our last 2 days there so decided to go to Epcot. It’s funny as this holiday started I said to Chris we hadn’t spent much time in Epcot but we certainly made up for that as we got towards the end.

We made sure to collect our birthday button as we entered and then headed straight to spaceship earth.

From there we headed to LWTL.

We finished our ride and decided to stop at sunshine seasons for a snack. We were planning on just chilling out a bit today and to just enjoying whatever we ended up doing especially after our epic day yesterday.

We decided to go to see figgy. (Figment). But the queue was literally out of the building - we didn’t have the desire to queue so we just headed to WS


We took a full tour around Wa stopping to look at some of the festival of the holiday merchandise and found this which we thought summed up things pretty well.

We then stopped at France for a croissant and a meringue - for years we never stopped here and now we can’t stop.

We had FP for the afternoon in HS so we headed out via the boardwalk.

New skyline photo.

The mural had been painted.

I also spy some work on the ratatouille ride over there.

We decided it would be quicker to walk than get on any boat and it was a nice day so why not.

 

[Longers]

And no there isn’t anything else in this picture it is just grass. It’s just something that reminds me I am in the USA. - If you’ve read my previous TR’s you’ll have known this was coming

More skyline construction.

 

[Longers]

We made it to HS (we think before the boat did). However that walk just around all the construction was long!


We’d never done the walk all the way though and without those construction walls that walk would be even quicker still.

First stop on arrival was our RNRC FP

We then decided on a Lemon slush while we watched Beauty and the Beast. This is such a lovely show and I got to see the love of my life the beast.

To be continued - sorry I need some sleep!

 

[Longers]

Merry Christmas to all my WDW Magic friends

 

[Longers]

We left beauty and the beast and the Citizens of Hollywood were out so we had to stop to watch. Chris loves watching these guys and we have been known to just go to HS to see them.

Our SDD FP had opened up so we headed there next.

 

[Longers]

We got the back row!

I tried to take some pictures on the way round

 

[Longers]

We decided to take a few piccies before heading out.

 

[PacNWTigger]

I love that last pic! It looks like SlinkyDog is having a blast!!

 

[Longers]

As we were leaving TSL I saw Brett (guy behind the Magic on Instagram) walking past.
He used to work in MK and was guy behind the Magic and I’ve looked in previous years and never seen him.


I mentioned it to Chris and he said let’s go and say hello. I said no his working let’s leave him. Chris grabbed my arm and literally pulled me! He said “you’ve been following him for years lets go”


He ran off to catch Brett as he looked to be leaving and I followed behind.
Chris doesn’t remember what he said to him (probably something about his nutty wife wanting to meet him)


What a lovely man! I got put in his little black book! He literally had loads of names in there. I think he tracks everyone who says hello. We had a lovely chat and I was so pleased to finally meet him. It was even more special as we nearly missed him again as this was our last trip to HS this holiday and it was Mickey’s birthday.

We left the park and jumped on an Epcot bus. It was amusing watching people get off the bus when it arrived - 1 person went the wrong way and everyone followed. Then they would all come back last when they realised that wasn’t the way to the entrance.

Myself and Chris have done various things in the past before just to see how many people follow. The human race is quite amusing at times!

We arrived at Epcot and got off the bus. I was tempted to go in....

We decided to just pick the car up and to see how long it would take at 5pm from Epcot to the villa we are staying in with the family in Aug. (It was around 35mins)

We left from the villa on a little fact finding mission on what shops, food establishments etc there were nearby and how longing would take to get to them.

We found a target!

You’ll remember from previous reports I’ve wanted to go here to see what it’s all about. I didn’t really think much of it - maybe because I went to Wallmart first in the USA I prefer that more.

I did take some random pictures of pizza for my nephew and cereal.

I think one of the things my youngest nephew is looking forward to is US shops!

We stopped at some other shops on the way back to Riverside for an early ish night

 

[Longers]

I love that last pic! It looks like SlinkyDog is having a blast!!

I can’t take the credit for that one - Chris very rarely has the camera but he did on this occasion - he’ll be chuffed someone commented on it!
Thanks

 

[riverside]

You’ll remember from previous reports I’ve wanted to go here to see what it’s all about. I didn’t really think much of it - maybe because I went to Wallmart first in the USA I prefer that more.

Trust me.....Target is WAAAAAYYYY better than Walmart!!

 

[Longers]

Trust me.....Target is WAAAAAYYYY better than Walmart!!

Maybe I won’t write it off just yet then and will give it another go on our next trip. It’s nearer to the villa than Wallmart anyway.

 

[Songbird76]

As we were leaving TSL I saw Brett (guy behind the Magic on Instagram) walking past.
He used to work in MK and was guy behind the Magic and I’ve looked in previous years and never seen him.


I mentioned it to Chris and he said let’s go and say hello. I said no his working let’s leave him. Chris grabbed my arm and literally pulled me! He said “you’ve been following him for years lets go”


He ran off to catch Brett as he looked to be leaving and I followed behind.
Chris doesn’t remember what he said to him (probably something about his nutty wife wanting to meet him)


What a lovely man! I got put in his little black book! He literally had loads of names in there. I think he tracks everyone who says hello. We had a lovely chat and I was so pleased to finally meet him. It was even more special as we nearly missed him again as this was our last trip to HS this holiday and it was Mickey’s birthday.

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We left the park and jumped on an Epcot bus. It was amusing watching people get off the bus when it arrived - 1 person went the wrong way and everyone followed. Then they would all come back last when they realised that wasn’t the way to the entrance.

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Myself and Chris have done various things in the past before just to see how many people follow. The human race is quite amusing at times!

We arrived at Epcot and got off the bus. I was tempted to go in....

View attachment 336254

We decided to just pick the car up and to see how long it would take at 5pm from Epcot to the villa we are staying in with the family in Aug. (It was around 35mins)

We left from the villa on a little fact finding mission on what shops, food establishments etc there were nearby and how longing would take to get to them.

We found a target!

View attachment 336255

You’ll remember from previous reports I’ve wanted to go here to see what it’s all about. I didn’t really think much of it - maybe because I went to Wallmart first in the USA I prefer that more.

I did take some random pictures of pizza for my nephew and cereal.

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I think one of the things my youngest nephew is looking forward to is US shops!

We stopped at some other shops on the way back to Riverside for an early ish night

Does the size of Walmart/Target kind of overwhelm you? My kids were so enthralled the first time they stepped into a Walmart. We just don't have stores like that here...even the grocery stores are only a fraction of the size of grocery stores like Albertsons and Safeway, and the selection here is miniscule. Here, you might have one shelving unit for the cereal, whereas in the US, you have an entire aisle. And I don't remember the UK being any different than here in the Netherlands, so I was just wondering if it was surprising to you, going to a US store...especially a Walmart where you have not only the grocery side, but then clothing, electronics, health and beauty, gardening, etc...

 

[Longers]

Does the size of Walmart/Target kind of overwhelm you? My kids were so enthralled the first time they stepped into a Walmart. We just don't have stores like that here...even the grocery stores are only a fraction of the size of grocery stores like Albertsons and Safeway, and the selection here is miniscule. Here, you might have one shelving unit for the cereal, whereas in the US, you have an entire aisle. And I don't remember the UK being any different than here in the Netherlands, so I was just wondering if it was surprising to you, going to a US store...especially a Walmart where you have not only the grocery side, but then clothing, electronics, health and beauty, gardening, etc...

I guess i’ve Never thought about the size too much as we do have fairly big stores here that do both food/clothes etc - what did surprise us one year was having tyres in a store and a few other random things we wouldn’t find.
The cereal aisles are something else though - so many different choices!

 

[Longers]

Monday 19th November

We woke today and headed straight to Epcot - it was really busy although if we are totally honest we knew that into thanksgiving week it would be but as it was my birthday (20th Nov) we’ll get to that day shortly - I had politely requested we stay! And Chris agreed.

We had already decided during these last coup,e of days it might just be walking, taking things in and just enjoying watching everyone else run around like mad fools in the crowds.

We decided to go to look at the manatee, and aquarium but the Nemo queue was 35 mins and we didn’t fancy waiting so we just went in via the back exit.

We then headed out to world showcase for a nice chilled out stroll hand in hand - we sat for a while on a bench and enjoyed the sights and sounds it was nice to take things easy for a change.

We ended up at the outpost when I declared “let’s have an ice cream” - Chris wasn’t going to say no to me so we started to queue but a child just got one and it was runny - so we decided to leave that and find one later.

Chris decided on an ice cream sandwich but I was going to wait in the hope of something later!

 

[Longers]

Look at all these ears!

These were my favourites but I never bought them!

I love the new purple ones they have out now though! They might have to be purchased.

Next we headed to guest relations - and then wish we had stopped in the morning when there was no queue!
The queue was out of the building but we got chatting to some people while in the queue so time passed quickly

But what were we doing?..........

 

[blreinsel]

I just bought the purple ears last night!