Mickey, Harry Potter, and Shamu Walk Into a Bar

Welcome, y’all, to my trip report. Now some of you may be disappointed in the (somewhat distasteful) name that I chose for this particular trip report, while others may be upset in the lack of actual bars in the trip report. However, you will not be disappointed in the amount of photos, fun, and new adventures that my family went on during our 10 day stay from May 5- 15. I won’t waste too much time on the introductions because I plan on getting into more detail as the report continues.

The cast again, in case you forgot, included: myself (Rachel); husband, Jordan; mom, Disneybird; pops; grandmother; sister, Amanda; brother-in-law, John; nephew, Victor; niece, Julia. Yep, that’s a big ‘ole party to travel with.

Now on with the show.

May 5, 2012

I’m including this day for one very special reason: my husband graduated from college on this day! Three years after returning to school I was very proud to watch my husband walk across the stage to receive his Bachelor’s in Bible and Theology. Many people often ask if I am older than my husband considering that I have my Master’s. He is actually three years older than me, but he lived a much cooler life than I did before he went back to school. He backpacked through Scotland, traveled the country playing music, and traveled to different parts of the world doing missions work. On the other hand, I went to school…fun.

Still, I was very proud to see him receive his diploma, and this entire trip was planned to celebrate his graduation, as well as his new position at the church where we attend. He worked very hard leading right up to graduation. Trust me, writing exegetical papers, memorizing hundreds of years of history from the Nicean Councils, and debating Calvinism vs. Arminianism made for a very exhausting last semester. So, I was excited to spend a relaxing 10 days with a stress free husband.

We were hoping to have an additional reason to celebrate while we were in WDW, as well. Last July I received my Masters of Arts in Teaching. I am certified to teach History 7-12, with an add-on in Language Arts. For the past year I have worked at the high school where I did my year long internship in the testing department and as a tutor in English and U.S. History. Unfortunately, the school did not have a teaching position for me, but I was blessed to have a job regardless. Honestly, the best way to get a job in a school is to stay in the school. Rumors started circulating about three months ago that a position would be opening in the Social Studies Department. The department rallied behind me to be the person to fill the position in case it came open. I even had several meetings with members of the administration to discuss job opportunities. However, as it got closer and closer to our trip it seemed less and less likely that there would be a position open. The week before we left for vacation two different people on two different occasions approached me and suggested that I start looking at other schools for jobs. They were both looking out for my best interests and wanted to make sure that I could find employment. While I appreciated it talk about a devastating blow. On top of it all this came during my busiest week of the year, the week of End of Course testing (I was able to take off the entire next week because my job is based on hours, which I built up enough of during the week of testing.). So, I was so ready to just get out of town and away from the craziness for awhile. I planned on using these 10 days not having to or wanting to think about jobs.

The day and a half leading up to Jordan’s graduation were very hectic in our little household as Jordan’s mother and brother came down from Maryland to stay with us. Packing and resting beforehand became a little rushed. Still, Saturday morning I was ready to pop out of bed and get going with everything. Fortunately, Jordan’s graduation was early in the morning because we had a very long drive ahead of us.

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Blurry but this was the best I could do.

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All smiles afterwards

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Once graduation was over, my parents met us over at our place for lunch before hitting the road. We hit the road around 1:30 for a long journey ahead. The ride down was uneventful, and traffic wasn’t bad at all. We stayed off-site for the night at a Comfort Suites. My mom was nice enough to get Jordan and me our own room for the night. Once we got there we were so excited to be starting our vacation that we literally jumped up and down on the bed.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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We checked in at ‘Ohanas and did not have to wait too long before we were seated. Dad came back from Tampa to meet us for dinner, so we had the whole family together. As soon as we were seated the entertainment for the night, the ukulele player came out. Victor tends to be shy, but I was glad that he actually wanted to get up and join the rest of the kids even if they were right beside our table.


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It had been several years since we had eaten here last. I wasn’t as adventurous of an eater then, so I really don’t remember eating much other than the meat. After looking at menus and seeing other people’s photos from the restaurant, I had no doubt that Jordan and I would at least get our money’s worth. The boy can most definitely eat.

Throughout dinner Julia pretty much wanted to be anymore except in her own seat eating out of her own plate. She roamed the entire meal something Victor would have never been able to do. She apparently found the food on dad’s plate to be quite good.


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This is the face of a monster:


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After we ate and ate and ate to our hearts’ content it was time for dessert to be brought out. I’m typically not a huge fan of bread pudding, but this was delicious. The banana and caramel sauce that you can put on top really made the dessert for me.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
At some point during dinner Victor said that he wanted to see fireworks. Jordan and I had already planned on heading over to the Magic Kingdom with my parents to do a few things before the park closed, so naturally they were volunteered to take Victor with them.

By the time we got into the Magic Kingdom we only had about an hour to kill before MMY show started. We agreed to meet back up with my parents near the flagpole just before the start of the show. While my parents took Victor to go do a few things, Jordan and I went to do the only thing that we wanted to do which was ride Space Mountain.


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After a few rides it was time to make our way through the crowds of Main Street. We only made it to the castle hub before it was announced that the lights would be dimming and the show would be starting. So, Jordan and I just stayed in our spot to enjoy the show.


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We both loved MMY. Several years ago around Christmastime I went to Disneyland and saw a similar presentation projected onto the exterior of It’s a Small World. I loved it then, and I was really excited to hear that there was a similar show now being projected onto the castle. We were both in awe during the entire show. I didn’t even try to take pictures because I wanted to enjoy it for everything that it was. Since we had such good spots we just decided to stay here for Wishes. This was Jordan’s first time seeing Wishes with the castle being front and center to where we were standing. During our other trip we saw Wishes twice, once at the Contemporary during dinner at California Grill and again on the beach of the Grand Floridian. It was still magical, but there is just something about being in front of the castle that makes it that much more special. Being there that night was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was so nice not having to worry about anything and just being able to enjoy the moment. This is vacation.
 

LeCellier.Lover

Well-Known Member
First off "Congratulations!" to you husband for graduating! :sohappy: What better way to celebrate than in Disney with your family!
I'm LOVING your TR so far! You and your husband are adorable together and your niece and nephew are just too cute! :) Haha!
I'm glad you guys got to eat at Ohana because I LOVE that restaurant and I also think that the bread pudding with the banana and caramel sauce is the best part of that meal! :slurp:
Can't wait to read more!
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
First off "Congratulations!" to you husband for graduating! :sohappy: What better way to celebrate than in Disney with your family!
I'm LOVING your TR so far! You and your husband are adorable together and your niece and nephew are just too cute! :) Haha!
I'm glad you guys got to eat at Ohana because I LOVE that restaurant and I also think that the bread pudding with the banana and caramel sauce is the best part of that meal! :slurp:
Can't wait to read more!

Thank you so much! I was very pleasantly surprised by 'Ohanas and the bread pudding. Give me ice cream and bananas and I'll love any dessert!
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
May 8, 2012

Today Jordan and I woke up early to head over to Islands of Adventure. We already had our plan of attack set out – get there early and head straight to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to ride Forbidden Journey before making the loop around the park. Jordan and I are definitely Harry Potter fans. Now we had no intentions of coming to the parks and buying merchandise, but we did thoroughly enjoy the books and movies. The last time we were here in January 2010 they were still working on this part of the park, and we were excited to finally see Hogwart’s up close.

Before we left for our trip my mom let me borrow a small camera pouch that would slide through my belt for my p&s. When we went to Universal last time we had to rent a locker for practically every ride that we went on. They were free for the first hour, but they were a hassle to deal with. My plan was to just use the camera pouch to hold my camera, id, phone, and some cash for us. When I went to go look for my p&s about a week before we left I could not find it. It is very unlike me to misplace something like this, and I looked everywhere that I could think of. I tried to remember where I last took it and just kept coming to two conclusions: 1) I left it somewhere; or 2) Jordan found it and put it somewhere obscure and then forgot about it. Yes, I secretly blamed my husband. Well, the day before we left I was looking for our charge cables for our flip video. After Jordan and I searched our place again for something that was missing I decided to look in the box for my Nikon because I keep extra cables in there. Well, the cables were not in there, but I was surprised to find my p&s in the box. I ran out to show Jordan what I had found. I was completely guilty of doing something that I accused my husband of doing. The best part was when he said, “Good because I was a little annoyed at you for losing it.” I looked at him and said, “I was annoyed at you because I thought you misplaced it.” See, good times.

Once we entered the park we turned right to cut through Seuss Landing. This is definitely the way to go if you want to get to the WWoHP.

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Walking into Hogsmeade was definitely a sight to behold.




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However, walking up to Hogwart’s was the absolute highlight. It was really incredible and very impressive.

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And here we are awkwardly standing in front of Hogwart’s.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The queue was equally impressive with a lot of detail and many nods to the series. It had been about half an hour since the park opened and the line was backed up to the greenhouse area. We ended up waiting for about 15 minutes, but it was nice to be able to enjoy the details throughout.

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The sorting hat was really neat. It was probably my favorite part of the queue.

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The Forbidden Journey was a good ride. The mix between screen footage and actual props was very similar to the Spiderman ride. The ride itself was a bit disorienting at times. To be honest, Jordan and I didn’t really pay much attention to the characters and dialogue as we were going through the queue, so the story felt a bit random and anticlimactic. When we rode it again we actually paid attention to the dialogue throughout the queue, so we understood our purpose for being there. It was still anticlimactic though. I won’t say too much about it because it is definitely a ride that needs to be experienced, but considering the similarities in regards to the type of ride that it is, Spiderman is better.

We expected to only be able to ride Forbidden Journey in the morning because the park would get progressively more crowded throughout the day, so after our first ride we went to see how long the line was. It was posted at roughly an hour. We decided that once was enough for us because there were other things that we wanted to do for the day.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Since we were over here we decided to go ride the Dragon Challenge. During our last trip here the castle was undergoing extensive refurbishments, so we had to cut through a long outside area to get to the ride. I knew what the castle part of the queue used to look like, so I was excited to see the new touches. The queue is decked out for the Triwizard Tournament. When you first enter you see banners in support of each of the wizards.

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There is a nice view of Hogwart’s, as well.

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Hagrid’s



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The Weasley’s car

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Once you enter the building it looks like a tent is set up with the Goblet of Fire in the middle.

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The trophy is on display in the next room.



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As you continue on you will find the golden eggs from one of the challenges on display.

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The queue is very long and very dark. After twisting and turning your way through the queue you will eventually come to choosing between the Chinese Fireball and the Hungarian Horntail. We rode the Hungarian Horntail (formerly Ice) first since we did not get to ride this side during our last trip before going back to do the Chinese Fireball (formerly Fire). The Chinese Fireball is my favorite side. We rode Dragon Challenge 6 times (3 on each), and we spent more time walking through the queue than we ever did waiting to board the ride.



We went through some of the shops (by some I really mean the only ones that we could go in to without waiting in a ridiculous line. I’m looking at you Olivander’s.).



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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loved this!

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Having exhausted ourselves here for the time being we went back through Seuss Landing to Marvel Super Hero Island. It was time for one of my absolute favorite coasters: The Hulk.



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We met Dr. Doom. I will add that the character attendants here were not that great. There was absolutely no organization to meeting the characters.

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After posing with Dr. Doom it was time for what I consider to be the best ride at this park.



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At around 20 minutes this was the longest line that we waited in all day. It was made worse by being stuck behind a large group of middle school students, which always begs the question: did I act like that at that age? No, I didn’t.

After being saved by Spiderman, we headed on to Toon Lagoon.

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Toon Lagoon offers a great view of the Hulk.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Jordan wanted to go on Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. I really could take or leave this ride. Honestly, I find the last drop to be a little terrifying. We were going to grab a locker to put the camera in before the ride so I wouldn’t have to worry about my camera getting wet. We went over to the closest locker rental place to find out that it would cost $4 for the first hour! Seriously, Universal? The price went up exponentially after that. Word to the wise, if you plan on going to IOA either don’t bring a bag with you or have arrangements to leave it with someone during the ride. I made Jordan sit in front of me as a human shield to protect me against the massive amounts of water that would undoubtedly be crashing onto us. I will note that the ride is a little less terrifying since the addition of lap bars.

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Next on our list was Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. I really enjoy this ride. This was only the second time that Jordan had been a ride on this type. His first was at Dollywood where you have a good chance of not getting wet. I let him know that we would be getting soaked. There is no avoiding water in this ride. Several things are designed throughout the ride to fully drench you.



“Someone else’s vacation memories forever captured by complete strangers.”



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Here is how we looked after we had ridden both water rides. It is harder to tell on Jordan since his shirt was dark to begin with, but he is thoroughly soaked.

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We were getting pretty hungry at this point, so we walked back to the Wizarding World to eat lunch at the Three Broomsticks.



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Three Broomsticks doesn’t have your typical theme park fare. Don’t eat here if you want a cheeseburger. We split a fish and chips accompanied by a butterbeer. For those of you wondering what butterbeer tastes like, it tastes like glorified cream soda with an emphasis on the cream. It was very smooth going down.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Three Broomsticks was pretty crowded, but we found a nice, quiet place to eat outside with a nice view.

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Inside Three Broomsticks



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After lunch it was time to go on Dragon Challenge again.

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Now this story is not for the faint of heart. My husband is definitely a manly man with manly man functions. Our first ride on Dragon Challenge after lunch obviously conjured up some things within his own chamber of secrets. So, as we are going through the line a second time there is really nobody around except for a foreigner about 10 feet in front us and a group of adults about 50 feet behind us. As we are twisting and turning in line my husband looks back at me at one point and grins. I knew exactly what he did and snarled my lip at him. We make two more turns in the never-ending queue when we hear behind us, “Someone let a bomb off in here!” I died a little inside. If it wasn’t for that guy in front of us, I would have absolutely bolted. Jordan and I were laughing so hard that no sound was coming out. It was terrifying and hilarious all at the same time.
 
I gotta say, I much preferred the queue of FJ than the ride. I found it waay too intense (I don't really like the dark) and it was really loud. I closed my eyes for the dragon...spiders...dementors... so I didn't really see much.
Can't believe your married to that guy, ewwww! I would have bolted too.
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
I just died laughing at that last part! And our new CEO is like 5 feet away from me. AWESOME! Now I hope he doesn't ask why I was just laughing hysterically or else I'll have to explain to him "Forgive me but I was reading a trip report rather than working!" Oops!

I like Spiderman better than FJ as well. I can keep my eyes open throughout the entire Spiderman ride. I had to close my eyes on FJ when the screens were in front of us and we were "flying" gave me such a headache and made me nauseous. Yuck!!

The last drop on Ripsaw Falls is a doozie. First time we went on I thought I was going to go flying out! The lap brs definitely make it better!!

Butterbeer = deliciousness!! I couldn't believe the lines to get it or the lines for the other shops! I went for the first time Thanksgiving week and the line for Olivander's was almost 2 hours!!!
 

LeCellier.Lover

Well-Known Member
OMG! THANK YOU for posting about IoA and WWoHP! I'm going there with my friends when we go on our trip next Thursday and I'm scared for the FJ.... I don't know if I should go on it or not :( Haha! I forgot though how much was in IoA so now you've refreshed my memory! ;)
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I gotta say, I much preferred the queue of FJ than the ride. I found it waay too intense (I don't really like the dark) and it was really loud. I closed my eyes for the dragon...spiders...dementors... so I didn't really see much.
Can't believe your married to that guy, ewwww! I would have bolted too.

The queue was phenomenal. The queue in itself was an experience. I wish the ride had a bit more to it. I found it a bit disorienting and felt like I was just rolling around for the most part.

I'm just glad that the guy in line in front of us didn't speak English. I'm sure it would have been an interesting conversation that he would have heard.

Hey, sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Great report so far!

Well, the man definitely didn't hold back in what he had to do! :D

Thanks!

I just died laughing at that last part! And our new CEO is like 5 feet away from me. AWESOME! Now I hope he doesn't ask why I was just laughing hysterically or else I'll have to explain to him "Forgive me but I was reading a trip report rather than working!" Oops!

I like Spiderman better than FJ as well. I can keep my eyes open throughout the entire Spiderman ride. I had to close my eyes on FJ when the screens were in front of us and we were "flying" gave me such a headache and made me nauseous. Yuck!!

The last drop on Ripsaw Falls is a doozie. First time we went on I thought I was going to go flying out! The lap brs definitely make it better!!

Butterbeer = deliciousness!! I couldn't believe the lines to get it or the lines for the other shops! I went for the first time Thanksgiving week and the line for Olivander's was almost 2 hours!!!

Haha - this website is definitely a work killer!

The back and forth between the screens and props while being tossed and turned made the whole experience a bit haphazard for me.

I had not been on Ripsaw Falls since they added the lap bars. I didn't know that they had them, and yes I always felt like I was just going to go flying out. I planned on using Jordan as my anchor for the ride.

The shops over there were awful! I thought that they were so small and everything was crammed in together. I have no idea how long Olivander's was when we were there, but I could not justify waiting any amount of time, especially not 2 hours!

OMG! THANK YOU for posting about IoA and WWoHP! I'm going there with my friends when we go on our trip next Thursday and I'm scared for the FJ.... I don't know if I should go on it or not :( Haha! I forgot though how much was in IoA so now you've refreshed my memory! ;)

I didn't have any problems with FJ. It just didn't like up to all of my expectations. It is a dark ride that will toss you around. Have fun at IOA! Let me know if you decide to go on FJ.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our disgusting time on Dragon Challenge we went to Seuss Landing and rode Cat in the Hat. It was a walk-on, which was surprising because the Seuss Trolley Train Ride had quite a long wait. Then, we headed back over to Marvel Island. We did a lot of walking today. We ducked into an arcade and noticed that there was a pinball in the loading chamber of this machine.

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Since we were over here I asked Jordan if he wanted to ride Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall. We walked right on to this ride, too. If you have never done this ride you really aren’t missing much. Jordan even said that he would have been mad if he had actually waited for this ride.



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Although we had already been on everything that we had wanted to ride we were not ready to leave yet. We continued walking on and found ourselves in the Jurassic Park area where Jordan found Camp Jurassic. There was hardly anyone around, so we spent some time climbing the ropes.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
At this point we were about ready to go, but we wanted to head back over to the Wizarding World to see how the line was for Forbidden Journey. Of course we had to do both sides of Dragon Challenge again. We really expected not to be able to ride Forbidden Journey again thinking that the line would be absolutely ridiculous at this point. However, we were surprised when only 15 minutes was posted. This was around 3:00 P.M. By the time we stopped in the line it was much shorter than it was that morning.

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We actually paid attention to the story being told throughout the queue this time, so the ride actually made a bit more sense (still anti-climatic). At one point while in line Ron casts a spell that goes wrong and it began to snow in the room. It was really cool.



At 3:30 we left IOA having done everything that we wanted to do and headed back to our resort.



We rested at the resort for awhile before we headed over to Epcot with my parents and grandmother to eat dinner at Via Napoli. Every afternoon around 5:30 we had a short Florida rain. The one today did produce a nice rainbow for us as we were walking into the park.



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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The sky was partly ugly with more looming storms, but we did see a beautiful sunset.


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We made it to Italy and checked in at Via Napoli.



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I really enjoyed the décor of the restaurant, but I wish we had been seated in the main dining area. We were placed in a side room that did have a lot of windows down one side, but the room was very loud because of the low ceilings. For dinner we ordered the largest pepperoni pizza on the menu. Five of us were splitting the meal, and it ended up being plenty for us. They actually had to wheel our pizza out on a cart. I got a good laugh out of that. I think it was the first time that my dinner was actually wheeled out to me. I really liked the pizza. The crust was just right, not too thick and not too thin. All of the toppings on the pizza were just right as well. I know a pizza will be good when I cut into it and further have to cut the cheese away because it has stretched out in melted goodness.

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We had great service there, but we got tickled at one point because either our waitress was very passionate or very ticked off at one of the other servers. Since we don’t know Italian, we couldn’t tell which, but we did have fun trying to make her expressions into nice and friendly conversation. Towards the end of the meal it sounded like someone started bombing the place, but it was just that Illuminations had started. I was impressed with Via Napoli, and I would like to go again to try some more of their pizza offerings. We stayed safe with ordering pepperoni, but there was no way that we were all going to agree on a pizza.

Once we got back to the resort Jordan and I went out to the pool. It was my only time at the pool during our whole trip. Jordan said he wanted to take me around, so we would swim in one pool before hopping out and getting into the next one. Unfortunately we only had about 30 minutes to swim before the pool closed, but we were able to go to the small pool that was located just outside of our room. We decided to get into the hot tub to just relax after a really long day of walking. The hot tub there is pretty large and another couple ended up joining us. We didn’t strike up a conversation with the other couple. I think all 4 of us just wanted to enjoy the quiet for a few minutes. That was broken pretty quickly when a woman and her young son came over and jumped in. They sat on opposite ends of the hot tub and continued to talk loudly to one another across the hot tub. Considering the situation it was annoying but it soon became amplified when her son continued to go back and forth between the hot tub and the pool. Eventually a friend that he made at the pool came over with him, stuck one foot into the hot tub, and proceeded to yell and jump around that it was hot. So much for a quiet night. We left soon after.
 

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