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!

 

[MickeyCB]

It isn‘t too bad. I do NOT like heights and I was very nervous about it. But I made it across and if given the opportunity, I would definitely do the trek again.

Totally agree, it's been several years as I said above but would do it again in a heart beat. I think at this point we will have to wait till the grand babies get old enough. They get big mad when they are left out of things!

 

[MickeyCB]

AK day continues-

We went back to Yak and Yeti after Everest to see if we could be seated by the grouch muffin.
Seth was able to get my membership card loaded on my phone.
The guy must have gone to the break room and ingested something or did some yoga because he was nice as pie when we went back.
We were seated probably within 10 minutes.

I've never eaten here before and loved the theming inside.

We were seated promptly and had a wonderful waiter.
Seth ordered the Beyond Burger and said it was really good. It is served with sweet potato fries.

I think I ordered Honey Chicken, honestly not sure, cause you know... tastes like chicken!
But I do remember that it was delicious.

After our late lunch we headed over for what we thought would be our last ride on Dinosaur.
Stopped for some pics, Seth loved the birds.

Last dino ride? Maybe, maybe not. I genuinely don't have feelings for this ride one way or the other, but definitely liked Indiana Jones at DL.
My only gripe is, Disney could you please start adding instead of replacing attractions?

After that we headed to Pandora for another favorite.

Another aside, Gary adored FoP and when we were at Aulani 2 years ago Seth got this tattoo. He did it secretly on his own for his dad.
It's significance is apparently every time Seth and Gary would exit the ride they would fist bump and Gary would say, "Sivako!" I didn't know that story till the tattoo.

So, we as they say, rode in his honor.

After, we wandered around taking in the awesome sights.

And 10 points for anyone who knows where these little cuties were!

 

[erstwo]

AK day continues-

We went back to Yak and Yeti after Everest to see if we could be seated by the grouch muffin.
Seth was able to get my membership card loaded on my phone.
The guy must have gone to the break room and ingested something or did some yoga because he was nice as pie when we went back.
We were seated probably within 10 minutes.



Another aside, Gary adored FoP and when we were at Aulani 2 years ago Seth got this tattoo. He did it secretly on his own for his dad.
It's significance is apparently every time Seth and Gary would exit the ride they would fist bump and Gary would say, "Sivako!" I didn't know that story till the tattoo.
View attachment 833801

So, we as they say, rode in his honor

to the first part (the grouch)

And - so sweet - to the second (the tattoo and the story behind it)

 

[MickeyCB]

And - so sweet - to the second (the tattoo and the story behind it)

It is a neat story, and a lovely memory for Seth.

 

[MickeyCB]

Happy New Year to all who have had the clock strike 12!!
Still a few hours to go here on the West coast!

 

[Swissmiss]

Happy New Year to all who have had the clock strike 12!!
Still a few hours to go here on the West coast!

Happy New Year to you!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Happy New Year to all who have had the clock strike 12!!
Still a few hours to go here on the West coast!

Happy New Year!

 

[MickeyCB]

AK day continues-

After visiting Pandora we started to head out of the park.
I saw this fun item at a popcorn stand that I NEEDED to add to my collection!
I figure I now have a nice mix of big, medium and small Mickey pumpkins to display next year.

On our way out we wandered through the stores but didn't find any thing we wanted. We saw the Merry Menagerie yet again.
I was thinking for this puppet how you would really have to get along or you could really mess your partner up!
"Go right, no I don't want to go that way!" "Watch out for that little kid, I saw him!"

We headed out and decided to go to Disney Springs (miss calling it Downtown Disney sooo much!) I loved sitting on the busses at night going there and the announcement of the mans voice, "sit back relax, you're on your way to Downtown Disney!"

Anyway, as Seth was driving we were looking for parking not a bus stop.
Check these photos out!

But Seth used to work down here and he said no way they are all filled and headed into one, I don't remember which, and sure enough there were some spots. Go Seth!

I thought this was a beautiful view.

We wandered around a little. I bought Seth some clothes at Uniqlo that he was supposed to put aside for Christmas but now that I think about it, he was supposed to take a pic of them under the tree to prove that and I don't recall getting one!
We went into World of Disney and it was truly a zoo! Disney Springs the weekend before Thanksgiving. What were we thinking?!

Seth wanted to fill his popcorn bucket, and no lie, so did half of the population of NY.
There were apparently only 2 popcorn carts in all of Disney Springs, and as he approached the front of the line they ran out of popcorn.
Keep in mind, as the popcorn lowered more and more in the little popper, no one apparently thought it might be a good idea to start making more.
It was, I do not lie again, 20 minutes and he was the first in line for the new batch. Of plain ole popcorn. There were 15 people after him that I know weren't going to get some because...you guessed it. They guy didn't start to make more as it went low again.

I felt like it was time to abandon ship so we mobile ordered from Deluxe Burger, but once again I forgot to push we are here, and it was a solid 30 minute wait there.
We decided to just do take out and get out of Dodge.

As we were exiting the garage, all of the floors had this sign up!

Seth took me back to the hotel and once again, I ate takeout in my dining room. It was very nice to sit quietly and have dinner after a pretty long day.

Tomorrow is our last park day and we are headed to HS!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

That's one of my favorite photos that you shared here. The garden is holiday festive, and yet restful, at the same time.

@MinnieM123 Definitely! My first thoughts of MickeyCB’s Living with the Land pictures were let me sit in there with a cup of tea and wander at will. It would be delightful!

Thanks again for posting MickeyCB!

 

[MickeyCB]

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DAY-NOV 24!

Last park day, boo.

Oh well, I think we made the best of it.
Seth, my private uber, picked me up again around 10 and we saw this cute sign outside of the park around 10:20.

And in no time were inside the park.

I love love these dancing Minnies, but what happened to the candy cane ones?!

Loved these!

Another aside-I get that things have to change but why does Disney have to continually remove some beautiful, and striking decorations. Anyone remember this? Loved it so much and it made such an impact.
Memory lane.
Hard to believe that second one is 12 years ago already and the first one probably 15 or 16?!

Any way, back to Nov. of 2025.

We made our way into the studios and as we had a little time till our dining reservation we decided to go see the Muppets. In all of my years going I can't remember seeing the show before (though I do have some vague memory of it), so I decided I should before I no longer had the opportunity.

It was cute and I am glad to say I saw it.

As we wandered around we came to the snowman by Mama Melrose's (may she rest in future peace).
I again had a vague memory of taking a pic of the kids here and asked a very reluctant Seth to strike this pose.

And sure enough when I got home I found this one from 2011! Oh baby, time goes fast!

Sorry for all of the throw back pics, but as we did a lot of our trips in Nov./Dec. this one triggered a lot of memories.
After this, lets head to lunch!

 

[erstwo]

I love the throwback pics!

 

[MickeyCB]

HS day continues-

After leaving Muppet land, we headed through the tunnel to Galaxies Edge to make our way to our early lunch dining reservation.

And as I am typing this I realize we never once discussed getting on Rise and I was never able to get any LL for it or Slinky. The crowds and wait times were insane that day at HS.
A few photos as we were headed through.

We had an early reservation for Roundup Rodeo, I think 11:30 and we were seated fairly promptly after checking in.
I didn't realize how much Seth likes this place and the day before we were trying to figure out where to eat today and we looked and there were a fair number of reservations available.

We were seated in a rather inconvenient spot, right at the exit to the kitchen and I felt bad because Seth faced the wall the entire time, but he said he didn't mind. This was my view, right at the split between the 2 themed areas.

They were very kind as they brought out both a plant based plate for Seth and a regular carnivore one for me. Again, way too much food for 2 people and I felt bad at the waste.
It was all very good, I really like the watermelon side.

After lunch we had a LL for Runaway and headed that direction.

In line there was a sweet man in front of us who had this sweat shirt on that I really admired. He was pushing his wife who was seated in a wheel chair through the line and they told me he bought it "years ago" and I was picturing all of the trips they must have gone on together over the years. I thought how cool it was that they still love Disney enough to surmount the difficulties of travel as they age and still go there.

A neat piece of artwork in the queue.

After our chaotic ride we headed back towards Toy Story land but had some time to burn before our next LL.

 

[MickeyCB]

HS day continues-

After Runaway we started sauntering back to Toy Story Land. We had a fair amount of time before our next LL and as there weren't a whole lot available we chose to keep it. It was for A.S.S., what an acronym. Someone had to know.

Anyway, as we headed over I looked at the standby sign in front of TSM and it was an actual Christmas miracle! It said 20 minutes when it had been a solid 60-90 all day. I grabbed Seth and said c'mon look at this. And he was extremely doubtful that was real. But I said, wait in line or wait out here on the pavement?

So we entered the queue and fast walked all of the way into the first room. It was awesome! EXCEPT for these 2 little boys, and I mean little, maybe 7 and 9 years old? They were by themselves. They were cute but kept riding up our fannies and I told Seth to let them go and he decided to dig his heals in and wouldn't step aside. So for the next 21 minutes, because that was how long it did take, the boys chose to be in our personal space.

Pretty soon we were riding and had a great time!

Is it better to be accurate or win? I can tell you Seth's answer to that!

Then as we were exiting the ride and came up to the top of the ramp to the main walk way we saw the funniest thing.
The 2 little boys had apparently got away from their parents somehow and as they approached the mother she was speaking in another language (I only caught a smidgen of English in it I understood), very loudly and fast, and it was accompanied by a swat to the oldest ones head! Apparently the parents were not happy that they had no idea where these boys were for about a half hour. And I can imagine how that must have felt for the mom.

Mom was big mad! I love you, now let me beat you to death!

If I spoke their language I could of been helpful and explained they were up our fannies for 20 minutes or so.!!
It was quite hilarious.

And another fun fact, the standby for TSM jumped back up to 60 minutes while we were in line!

We headed to our LL and crazy as it sounds the standby wait time was listed at 80 minutes!
I've never ridden it before, but never ever would I wait that amount of time. It was fun but not 80 minutes fun.

We had a LL for Tower of Terror but not till later (and again nothing was opening up for LL's) so we decided to hop to Epcot and do a few things over there. We headed back out of the park to catch the very fun Skyliner.

I was so excited (sarcasm), I was able to get us a LL for Figment while on the skyliner. So we headed over there.
I txtd @Tuvalu, @riverside and our Darstarr and said you know it's a bad day when you're burning LL's on Figment!

 

[MickeyCB]

HS/Epcot day continues-

We headed to Epcot and after we exited the skyliner we strolled towards our Figment LL. That was also crazy as the standby line was out the door for this attraction!

We had a nice ride and decided we would visit the DVC lounge if there was no wait time.
Seth was a little grumbly at first that it would be a waste of time. When we got up there and he realized he could have drinks and snacks he changed his mind. Interestingly they now seat you unlike before where you just wandered and found seats. It probably makes sense and they can accommodate more people that way.
Views from inside the lounge.

We finished up our rest and snacks and headed back out.
The sun was starting to set and it was pretty out.

We got back on the skyliner to head over to HS for our last ride of the trip!

 

[cgersic]

The selfies together just make my heart smile!! You can tell he's your kid!

 

[MickeyCB]

The selfies together just make my heart smile!! You can tell he's your kid!

Ty, it's so nice to have those moments as they grow and mature compared to the "do we have to?"

 

[Swissmiss]

Ty, it's so nice to have those moments as they grow and mature compared to the "do we have to?"

100% agree. I have been seeing this more and more with my daughter (a 19 yo) who really stepped up (along with her BF who lives with us) this past summer when I had a stupid domestic accident. So much so that the other morning I sent her a text to tell her I am so proud of the adult she is becoming (yes, we communicate by text even when we are both home - thanks to the amazing soundproofing that was achieved when this apartment building was built)

 

[MickeyCB]

when I had a stupid domestic accident

I hope you are doing ok and it's nice to have family you can rely on.

 

[MickeyCB]

Lets wrap this trip report up and put a Christmas bow on it!

We left Epcot and headed back to HS via the skyliner and entered the park.
We stopped at the little kiosk at the entrance of the park for Seth to pin trade.

This was the view as everything was all lit up now that it was dark.
So so pretty.

We made our way to Tower of Terror and had a great ride. Stand by was around a 100 minute wait or something crazy. I don't remember exactly, but as we exited it had dropped considerably.

We caught one of the light projections as we headed out, it was really neat.

We hit a few stores too.
I got a nice long sleeve shirt and I bought Seth a small Loungefly he was supposed to put away till Christmas. I almost bought myself the cute Mickey candy apple Loungefly but I talked myself out of it because I don't use the small backpacks unless I'm at Disney and figured enough was enough.

This was a cute display in one of the stores on the way out of the park. I love bottle brush trees!

We exited the park and drove back to my hotel.
I packed up my gear and Seth picked me up the following morning to take me to the airport at a decent time, 9 am.
My flight wasn't till 11 or so but he had to work that day so I just took my time, went through security and had a leisurely lunch.
I had an uneventful flight and got back to Sacramento early evening.

It was a fun non stressful trip that we both enjoyed and I'm glad I got to celebrate my birthday there.

Thank you all for following along, especially with the rocky start with the photo problems.

I'll be headed back with the whole crew the end of March and staying at the new Polynesian Tower with DVC points and it will be fun to see if the naysayers are correct and it's the Polyday Inn or a lovely resort. I'll report back.

TTFN!

 

[Tiggerish]

Enjoyed this report very much, and looking forward to the March report!