Trip Report Me, Mickey and Medicare!!

Welp, the time has come. You know how the decades are the big birthdays? There is one I have found that seems important to celebrate at the half decade. Yep, 65! I decided if I was going to have to start carrying around a Medicare card that I was going to have a go big or go home party. And I did in one of my favorite places ever, Disney!
As one family member rudely said when I told them of my plans, see my jaw not on the floor.

Whatever. With fairly short notice, maybe a month or less I decided that I was going to go visit Seth. I moved to Sacramento this year and to say it was stressful is the understatement of the century. My daughter and family were going to Texas for Thanksgiving and with my birthday only a few days before I decided to treat myself. I asked Seth if he minded hanging out with me if he could get off of work and he said sure and was able to get the days.

So, the particulars were-dates, Nov. 20-Nov. 25.
For the first time ever I stayed off site at the Tuscany Hilton as I am saving our DVC points to use in March because the whole family will be going again and staying at the new Poly Towers. (And that takes a whole bunch of points.)
It was just Seth and me.
When I was trying to think of a name for this TR I asked Seth his opinion and he said he didn't mind if only I was in the title as long as he was in the report!

I was going to start the report with travel day but it seems all of the pictures that I thought I downloaded have disappeared!
So I will have to use the only photo I can find for this first post, a fairly blurry photopass pic, to start the report off and I will be back as soon as I find the gazillion lost pics!

 

[Swissmiss]

Can someone help me out here? Thanks, in advance and again, please hang with me as I really would like to get this report rolling.

Try saving a copy of the picture and changing for a jpeg extension (but make sure it is a copy first so you don’t lose it).

 

[fractal]

NOV. 20-TRAVEL DAY
Okkie dokie, let's hopefully get on with the show!
I left off with pretty much nothing because despite loading around 400 pics or so onto my computer all but 10 or so disappeared!

I booked this trip less than a month out and as I am leaving from Sacramento now it is much more annoying. No more 2 hour directs from Pittsburgh!

Anyway, I booked to connect through Denver and then a few days later I was thinking, you know, it's November. Maybe Denver isn't such a hot idea so I changed to go through LAX. (I know, everyone thought I was nuts but I was pretty sure there wouldn't be snow there.)
But, what to my wandering eyes should appear? On the radar they were showing a hurricane in the gulf that would maybe impact Florida on Wednesday, my arrival day. Seriously?!

So I crossed my fingers and headed for the airport in the morning for a 7 am flight. I cut myself a little short thinking it's such a small airport and on the way there I missed a turnoff and ended up going about 10 miles in the wrong direction! (I still use my GPS to find the bank out here!) I started to sweat a little, but did make it in, found ground floor parking right across from the check in area, and had 45 minutes to spare! Whew!

One thing I didn't mention was I completely forgot you can book LL's ahead of arrival now, 3 days with AP, and so the night before I was scrambling to book some and really, learn how to use the system at the same time. Tiers, how to change, etc. I mentioned this to Seth and he was so excited to ride Tiana's but it was the one I couldn't get. But, after refreshing multiple times the day before and day of...score!

View attachment 829780

So, I got to the airport on time. Had an uneventful flight to LAX and my new gate was only 2 away, same concourse! And only an hour in between flights. The travel gods are cooperating!

Seth thinks I'm nuts when I asked him about the storm, and even sent a doppler pic showing Orlando getting hit as my flight is supposed to land. Mom, he says, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Our flight took off with no difficulties and landed even a little ahead of schedule with no rain in site.

As he lives in Orlando he picked me up at the airport. There was a pretty big delay in bags getting to the luggage area, which was just as well because the airport traffic was bananas as it was cranking up for the Thanksgiving influx.

We arrived at my hotel early evening and check in was easy. I had a very nice one bedroom at the Tuscany. It is a time share but rents rooms as Disney does.
(I was going to show pictures of the hotel but see below, I am having technical difficulties.)

I need help from the Magic family here and I apologize for the stop and start of this TR. I can't continue because of the following.
When I open the file/folder on my computer that contains this trips photos, I only see a few pics. There is a drop down box on the right lower corner that has "custom files'" When I change it to "all files", all of my photos are visible but when I try to use the "attach files" in the TR, I see the following notice.
"The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension. The following extensions are allowed.jpg, jpeg, png.pdf.gif"
It allowed the image of my LL's as I added above, it allows me to add GIFs but none of my other photos.
I can't show you a photo of the problem because, well you get it.

Can someone help me out here? Thanks, in advance and again, please hang with me as I really would like to get this report rolling.

Are these photos you took on your phone or with a dedicated camera?

 

[MickeyCB]

Try saving a copy of the picture and changing for a jpeg extension (but make sure it is a copy first so you don’t lose it).

Ty, I took your advice and was able to make a copy. But the same thing happened when I tried to use the copied photo.

Are these photos you took on your phone or with a dedicated camera?

They are taken on my phone (as I have done for multiple years.) Then when I get home I transfer them to a pictures folder on my HP computer. I have never had this happen before. Transferring is always a pain in the bum and time consuming, but once transferred I have never had problems using the "attach files" tab on the TR when making a post.

I am editing to add, that I tried to post directly from my phone and the pics say jpeg and were accepted in the post. So it appears something is wrong with my computer/files/way I transferred them?

Thanks to both of you.

 

[fractal]

Ty, I took your advice and was able to make a copy. But the same thing happened when I tried to use the copied photo.

They are taken on my phone (as I have done for multiple years.) Then when I get home I transfer them to a pictures folder on my HP computer. I have never had this happen before. Transferring is always a pain in the bum and time consuming, but once transferred I have never had problems using the "attach files" tab on the TR when making a post.

I am editing to add, that I tried to post directly from my phone and the pics say jpeg and were accepted in the post. So it appears something is wrong with my computer/files/way I transferred them?

Thanks to both of you.

Did you try attaching the photos from your phone to your posts here or are the photos now deleted on your phone?

 

[MickeyCB]

NOV 20-TRAVEL DAY CONTINUES, I PROMISE!

Ty @fractal and @Swissmiss, I found a bit of a work around, to at least get some of this report going, but it is quite laborious.
(And just in case anyone is curious or runs into the same problem.) Apparently there is some setting on an Iphone that helps compress/save space or something that produces photos in a HEIC format. I have no idea how mine switched to that but it isn't compatible with the format to post here. I am still trying to straighten this all out, so far each pic individually has to be converted to a JPG format.

Anyway, Seth picked me up from the crowded airport and we made it to the Tuscany.
They have a main building where you check in and then multiple buildings containing the rooms.
These are a few pics of the hotel at night.

Front view of building 7 where I stayed. These buildings surround a large pond/small lake that I could see from my balcony.

This is the view from the balcony. I think it is a very pretty view.

That walkway apparently takes you over to the pool and bar area. I never went over because it was 60 degrees or so most of the time I was in Orlando. I forgot to take any room pics, but it is laid out in a similar fashion to the one bedrooms at Disney. Full kitchen, dining and living area. These have one bathroom and a large bedroom that you can go out onto the balcony.

I took the following photos the next morning before Seth picked me up.
Balcony view again, daytime.

And the front of the building where he picked me up each morning of my stay. Curb service is nice!
It is a gated complex but he was able to enter with a room key provided to us.

Coming up, MK day and my birthday rolled into one!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Congrats on your move and milestone birthday!!

 

[erstwo]

The resort is beautiful!! Love seeing alternate hotel options - there are so many in Orlando and it’s hard to know which ones are actually nice.
So nice to have curbside service- looking forward to the rest of the report (sorry about the photo upload issues!) and happy belated birthday!

 

[MickeyCB]

Congrats on your move and milestone birthday!!

Ty very much!

The resort is beautiful!! Love seeing alternate hotel options - there are so many in Orlando and it’s hard to know which ones are actually nice.
So nice to have curbside service- looking forward to the rest of the report (sorry about the photo upload issues!) and happy belated birthday!

Yes, I agree. I have never stayed anywhere except Disney for many years and I thought this place was very nice. It was probably the same price as a value but with a lot more space and amenities. The obvious drawback is getting back and forth and either using uber or a private car. The other thing nice about this place is because it is so spread out they have 24/7 golf carts that will come get you and take you around if needed on property.

 

[MickeyCB]

NOV 21-MK DAY!!

Seth picked me up maybe 9:10ish and we were headed under this beauty at 9:26!

It's weird for me to experience using the parking lots because we stay on property so frequently and rarely use a car. As Seth has an AP and is local he has become quite familiar with the parking system (as he reminded me with a little attitude when I tried to make a suggestion.)

We decided to take the Monorail as it was a pretty chilly morning. After a quick trip through security we started to head for the direct Monorail but it was blocked by security to go up the ramp so we got on the resort one.

Our first pic was to prove, we're herrrreee!

We both had to initiate our new AP's and I took this pic for our wonderful Darstar who loves these bathrooms!

After initiating our passes we headed in.
(And by the way, I got a little attitude from the CM when I asked for a card.) She asked me if I had my old one and I didn't and she said they are phasing them out, but she would kindly give me this one, one last time. I'm a little salty about the card thing because DVC already did this too and I like the cards for various reasons, one of which is they are a wonderful collectible and not everyone has a freakin phone!! Some people, if they have a phone at all, still prefer a flip phone.
This whole subject will be important with another issue during our HS day.

Anyway we headed on in and I got all the wanted tingles!

Main Street USA! Yay!! Coming around that bend is always the best!

We had timed our arrival so that we wouldn't have to rush to our first LL, Tiana's. So definitely time for a castle pic!

Love this photo pass pic!

You can see how not crowded MS is. I didn't realize it was a party night and it worked out fabulous for us regarding crowds and lines that day.

We headed over to Tiana's to use our LL and it was a blast! The ride is really fun and well done.
(And really good timing because right after we rode, the ride went down for quite awhile!)

A wonderful start to my birthday day! Where to next?!!

 

[LeighM]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

 

[Songbird76]

I'm a little late getting here, but I'm ready to party!!! So excited to hear about your adventures!

 

[MickeyCB]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Glad you're tagging along!

I'm a little late getting here, but I'm ready to party!!! So excited to hear about your adventures!

Not too late, just getting rolling!

 

[MickeyCB]

MK DAY CONTINUES!

We exited Tiana's and as I said above, shortly after, the ride went down. I don't know how long it lasted but we were so glad we got to ride.

Before we got on Tiana's I saw that Big Thunder had only a 10 minute wait, when we got off it said 20 minutes so I quickly dragged Seth up the ramp, he was protesting the pace, and it ended up being probably 25 minutes. But the line pretty much moved constantly. And we had an excellent ride.

After we tapped into Tiana's I got a LL for Small World. So cute! Seth made a little video of each room to send to the girls. And as I type this I realize we never sent those! Oops! I will show it to them this weekend as I have already told them about the March trip. (And my daughter wants to punch me for that because they have memories like steel traps when they want to, but no concept of time.)

Prior to getting on Small World we mobile ordered for Columbia Harbor House. Seth had looked at the menu and as he's a vegetarian he was concerned but found a sandwich on there he was comfortable eating. The only thing was I forgot to hit "we're here" so we had a small wait for our food.

We found a table in the wonderful area that overlooks the walkway below.

Seth was really excited to find out the mushroom roll he found was delicious as up till now he and Jake have complained that there aren't a lot of decent vegetarian options in the MK.
I had chicken tenders, but even though I'm not vegetarian I would definitely try his sandwich next time I'm there.

The picture is blurry but you can see the people walking below.

After that I got us a LL for Buzz and as we were walking over I asked Seth if he would like dessert and we saw this sign for a treat that looked delicious at The Friar's Nook. We decided to share.

What we ordered...

And what we received!

Oh well, it tasted great!

We had a little time before our Buzz LL and Pooh was only a 15 minute wait. The CM said we could take our ice cream in the line, it just had to be finished prior to riding. So we hopped in line.
It was really nice. An unhurried treat and a reasonably quick line!

While in line I saw this fence and sent a pic to my Disney txt squad and asked if the dots looked like the same thing to them that it did to me. And they agreed, yes!
It's ok to act juvenile when you turn 65!

Next, we rode Buzz. We decided on our faces for the ride photos and this was supposed to be serious, but I just couldn't!

And then Seth had a little IG bragging to do!
I have never, not once!

After that, People Mover was literally a walk on! How could you not?!

My phone charge was dropping so I went into the store by space mountain to purchase one of the fuel rods. I figured Seth could use it when he visits.
I took this photo as I wanted you guys to see the stand-by wait time for Space Mountain but the digital display doesn't show. It was, no lie, 5 minutes! And you know you're getting old when both of you pass on it because of how jarring the ride is to backs and necks!

After this we walked back to to use our Haunted Mansion LL. I do have multiple other folks ride photos, just not ours.

Anyway, we'll pick this back up again as we head to ride my favorite of all Disney rides!

 

[MickeyCB]

MK DAY CONTINUES!

After riding HM we headed back up the hill (after a stop at Rapunzel's place), to my favorite ride in all of Disney. Much to my shame I did purchase LL for this but it was (one of many) birthday gifts to myself today!

The poor guy in front of me looks a little frightened, or at minimum not having a good time!

After that we headed back down the hill to ride another LL reservation, Pirates!
Again I totally messed this one up.

After that we were planning out our last few hours of the day. We wanted to ride the train which we had not been on in years, but also wanted to do some shopping in the Emporium.
We had a 5:45 Skipper Canteen reservation with about an hour and a half remaining. So we decided to walk to the Frontier train station, ride it to the front of the park, and then work our way back up MS to shop and back to the Canteen for our dinner reservation.
We decided to do things in this order because we weren't sure they would allow us into the stores once the party had started after our dinner reservation.

It worked out reasonably well. We got a nice train ride but then ran into the party influx which made the Emporium a mad house.

But, I was so excited because while everything was decorated for Christmas I saw a woman walk past with one of the Halloween Wreaths they had this year. I asked a CM if they had any Halloween items left over and she pointed to a corner at the far end of the store.
It might not seem important to some one else, but when I moved I lost the big Halloween wreath Gary and I made together with the Main Street ones as my inspiration.
You might remember this from several years ago when I posted a pic.
He cut the back end off of a vintage bucket, put a candle in it and I made the wreath. I remain very upset that no one can remember seeing it or knows where it went in the chaos of the move.

But, they had this!! Only one left and I snatched it up! I told Seth it's a new memory we're making with this one. Our fun day we had today at the MK.
I've learned that at a reasonable cost, Disney will ship items you purchase back to your home. This was $9 to ship and I think it's nice not to have to lug an item home and it's fun to get something in the mail later from your trip.

But, this biggest coup of the day happened next!
I had really wanted one of this years Mickey popcorn buckets, he's dressed as an elf, but they were supposedly only available to Christmas party goers. As we were walking back up MS to go to our dinner reservation there was a popcorn cart and I saw, yep, them selling the elf buckets!

I got so excited and told Seth. Let's get in line and see if we can buy one. The worst that can happen is they will say, sorry no can do. And as Seth wanted the current normal round one we figured we could at least get that one.
There were about 10 people in line and when it was our turn we stepped up and I said, we'd like one of the Elf buckets and one regular. They said sure, we paid, and ran in case they changed their mind!

You would have thought I won the lottery, getting the opportunity to spend like $40 or something!

After the adrenaline rush we took a moment to appreciate how pretty the castle looked as the sun was going down.

After that we took our time and sauntered over for our dinner reservation.

 

[fractal]

Love the popcorn bucket story!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

That Halloween Wreath had your name on it for a special reason. So pleased you got the popcorn bucket. What a fab day you both are having.

 

[MickeyCB]

Love the popcorn bucket story!

It was a really fun moment!

 

[MickeyCB]

That Halloween Wreath had your name on it for a special reason. So pleased you got the popcorn bucket. What a fab day you both are having.

I was very excited to find it and the popcorn bucket, it was a great day!

 

[MickeyCB]

MK DAY CONTINUES

We took our time as we headed back to the restaurant because I think we still had 20 or 30 minutes to check in.

On the way there an elderly couple, the husband in a wheelchair, were trying to take a picture here and Seth is really good about offering to help in these situations and he took a picture of them together with their phone.
It's a cute backdrop.

Once we got to the restaurant I told Seth I would ask if we could check in early and he was sure they wouldn't let us. But, he was wrong and they did. We probably only waited 5 minutes and were seated.

Our waiter was very funny with the jokes, but either they talk fast or my hearing is already going. (Medicare and all that.) I didn't catch all of them but did the proper response, smiled and nodded.

Anyway, we started out our meal with the Brazilian Cheese Bread Seth requested and this is a photo (of the empty plate), because we devoured them and I forgot to get a pic. They are served with cream cheese chimichurri sauce.
And sorry, I realize this looks disgusting, but they were delicious dipped in this sauce.

I used to really like the "tastes like chicken" dinner but they changed the sauce in the last year or so and @Tuvalu recommended the steak and I am glad I took her advice. It was really tasty.

Seth got the Curried Vegetable Crew Stew, it's plant based and he said it was very good. It is his go to there.

After our fine meal we had our dessert. It was one of the Mickey cakes you can order on property and have it delivered to your restaurant.
It was absolutely delicious! You know how some of these desserts look better than they taste? This didn't disappoint and wasn't outrageously priced either at $39. The outer part was was soft and the cake inside was super soft and dense. It is one of those that a little slice goes a long way.

It had little Mickey heads of a raspberry (maybe) type sauce on the edges.

We only ate a small portion of it and Seth took it home in the bakery box they supplied.

After that fine dinner we waddled out and headed down MS.
It was so pretty all lit up for the holidays. But, boy I miss the dream lights!

And finally our very fun birthday day came to an end.

But not before we grabbed a pic on the way out in front of one of my other very favorite Disney things, the Toy Soldiers!!

Ahh well. It was a great day and we slowly made our way out of the park. Seth was so cute and said several times he thought it was a fun day and hoped I had fun too.
I told him, I really really did.

Up next, tomorrow is Epcot day!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

There were about 10 people in line and when it was our turn we stepped up and I said, we'd like one of the Elf buckets and one regular. They saidsure, we paid, and ran in case they changed their mind!

Your whole first day sounds….