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.......

 

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Been following along and enjoying your photos and commentary. One thing that stood out to me was the relatively empty seating at Cosmic Rays -- never seen that before, from any of the times I've been there, down through the years! You were very lucky.

Really enjoyed your nighttime photos of the Japan pavilion area and the fireworks --nicely done.

Thank you

And it was lovely and quiet in Cosmic Rays - like you say it’s normally chaos in there. We were lucky.

Glad you’re liking the photos

 

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Saturday 17th Nov

Good new it was warmer today - hoorah.

We had a lazy morning for us and arrived in Epcot around 10.30am. We had decided to head straight to WS for a leisurely stroll.

It was lovely and quiet as I guess it was between F&W and the festival of the holidays and it was the weekend that I guess most people left so others could arrive for thanksgiving week.

It was a beautiful day - look at that blue sky.

 

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This was another shop i’ve Never seen this quiet!

 

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As we strolled around we traded a few pins and just took in the scenery and appreciated just how quiet it was.

And took some selfies!

We were getting hungry as we approached France so we headed in - Chris had a cheese and bacon rim, and a palmier and me a Citroen tart.

Our trip around the world completed we headed to the single rider line at test track which was a 15 min wait.
The person loading seemed to miss some of the cars out of single riders which I thought was quite strange as the queue would have been far less if she had loaded properly - maybe I need a job!

Before leaving Chris picked up a Mickey ice cream sandwich, I wasn’t feeling it (these don’t do much for me) so I had a bite and left the rest for him

We finished up our morning by taking a couple of pictures on our way out

funny this picture shows festival of holidays in the background but I thought that started on 18th - oh well.

Where were we headed next?....

 

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When we checked in we were given some magical extras which included Winter wonderland free play for us both.

We played 18 holes on the winter course (I didn’t realise they had a winter and summer course!) The cost would have been $22- so we were grateful for a freebie.

We headed to the first hole and I got a hole in 1 on my very first shot

Action shot from Chris

Not sure I duplicated Minnie’s pose as well as she does it.

This hole was fun. Water kept spraying so we both had to do our best to try to stay dry.

 

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I’d never seen this on a crazy golf course.....

You got the ball into this and it span round and dropped the ball from the top - can you see my purple ball?

Action shot as it fell!

I still didn’t get a hole in 1 though....

The result was a tie which I was happy with given I was playing a golfer and I don’t have a clue.

It was around 4ish by the time we had finished but we were heading off somewhere else now - there’s no time to hang around when you’re in Disney...

 

[Songbird76]

Thursday 15th Nov

we had decided last night that we needed to have a run this morning - I started running again this year just to help with feeling better and losing some weight - when I say run I go out 3 times a week but normally only do a few miles and stay put about half hour but that helped me lose a stone this year and I feel so much better about myself.

We headed out and had a lovely run around the lake - we were only gone around 15 mins but it was a good way to brush off the cobwebs and help us not feel guilty about ice cream (not that we were anyway)

It was definitely colder out today than it had been - the cold front was coming. It was still around 73 degrees so we were still happy it was a bit chilly first thing but it turned out to be a nice day.

We showered and quickly made our way out to the bus stop to head to MK.

We headed straight to buzz then Chris went on space mountain Then we headed to the tea cups, HM, and then the carousel

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Then we headed to cosmic rays for lunch - and pretty much sat all alone.

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After lunch we headed to BTMRR, we were obviously happy to be riding again..

I really don’t know what Chris was doing! Maybe pointing to the drop laughing as I still had the camera out?


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Then we headed to HM, under the sea, 7DMT, and then TTA and then

Ice cream!

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We both decided part way through we shouldn’t have had 1 each - we were actually struggling to finish them.

I present to you the left overs - sorry but I just couldn’t finish it all. I blame the chocolate brownie - it was huge.....

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We had lost the heat of the sunshine and I didn’t want my cold to come back so I suggested to Chris going shopping to the outlet shops on Vineland. I wasn’t too bothered about shopping but I knew he wanted to look and I would rather he did when the weather wasn’t warm so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. Also my cold had gone and I was starting to get cold and I didn’t want it to come back.

We had a pretty successful trip I bought some new trainers as the ones I had bought with me had caused me some issues.

I also managed to get a jimmy cricket ornament that i had seen before and had considered buying for $54.99 which I purchased for $14.99 in the Disney outlet - there were only 3 of them left.

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With a few more clothes for us both we headed back to the resort for something to eat and were back in room tucked up in bed by 9pm.

Where did the brownie sundays come from? I must put it on my list...and did one of them have mint ice cream on it?

 

[disneypearl]

The pictures of World Showcase are wonderful! It looked like such a beautiful day, and warmer too!

 

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Where did the brownie sundays come from? I must put it on my list...and did one of them have mint ice cream on it?

The brownie sundaes can normally be found in Hollywood studios across the road outside the beauty and the beast show (I think it’s called Hollywood scoops)

We did find in MK at the ice cream parlour but hadn’t seen them in there on previous years.

The mint ice cream one I am sure is a special for the holidays but was in MK - its a peppermint sundae and the Peter Pan float is a lime ice cream - both from storybook treats (opposite the 7DMT ride entrance)

One thing I’ve learnt is check the menus as things change so whilst these may not be available something else will be.

I’m excited your adding ice cream to a list!

The pictures of World Showcase are wonderful! It looked like such a beautiful day, and warmer too!

Thank you & it was a beautiful day.

 

[Rista1313]

The brownie sundaes can normally be found in Hollywood studios across the road outside the beauty and the beast show (I think it’s called Hollywood scoops)

We did find in MK at the ice cream parlour but hadn’t seen them in there on previous years.

The mint ice cream one I am sure is a special for the holidays but was in MK - its a peppermint sundae and the Peter Pan float is a lime ice cream - both from storybook treats (opposite the 7DMT ride entrance)

One thing I’ve learnt is check the menus as things change so whilst these may not be available something else will be.

I’m excited your adding ice cream to a list!



Thank you & it was a beautiful day.

I want to try that peter pan float so much... I hope they keep it for at least another year!

 

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I want to try that peter pan float so much... I hope they keep it for at least another year!

I will keep my fingers crossed for you. It was very refreshing on the hot days and didn’t fill you up like some of the ice creams which I could have just had as a dinner some days.

 

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We arrived in AK and could see instantly that the car park was busy ( ayne this was where everyone was.)

We ended up parking miles back in Yeti.

We entered and headed straight for the safari as we had a FP. The wait Time was 45 min at 4.30pm

Just after we turned this corner we cut the whole of the corner off!
We were heading in a straight direction towards the elephants!

Well that was a first!

We were then back on the normal route

We straight off here to EE for our next FP and then found somewhere to eat.

 

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It was approaching 6pm by the time we had eaten and we had a last FP - yes we were headed back to FOP!

Pandora still looks nice at night but I did notice it wasn’t as vibrant as it was last year.

This FP queue is great - we’ve never had to wait

We enjoyed our ride as normal and then headed out to enjoy some more of Pandora at night

 

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Trying to capture the floor!

 

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We watched some of the tree of life awakening

And then we made our way out....

But we weren’t heading back to the room! Oh no..... We had other plans

 

[MinnieM123]

Those are some excellent nighttime photos of Pandora!

 

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Those are some excellent nighttime photos of Pandora!

Thanks

 

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We arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 7.15pm. When we arrived We had to park way back in Ursula 339 that is the furthest away we have ever parked - we resigned ourselves to the fact this might just turn out to be a trip to just see the fireworks. Even during our 2 week trip there had been limited days to watch HEA due to several MVMVP nights so I guess everyone was here to do the same thing!

We had hoped to do a few rides but soon decided upon entering that wouldn’t be possible.

So our first stop would be to get an ice cream! Well why not? There is something so satisfying about sitting in the MK eating ice cream and despite all the crowds there was only 1 person in the queue in front of us!

Finding somewhere to sit was not so easy! Every single spot was taken until we were lucky that someone moved so we acted quickly and sat down. After we finished though we were curteous enough to move so others could sit too.

We finished our ice creams and headed back to the hub to find a spot for the fireworks. We had stayed in the hub but not too close.

It’s quite amusing watching people squash themselves in, blocking aisles etc. Those poor cast members that night earns their salaries.

There were a LOT of people behind us - leaving wouldn’t be easy!

It’s so beautiful I may have cried!

 

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

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

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!