Nibblesandbits Amazingly Wonderful Trip Report (Number 8) Sept. 11-19

Hello all and welcome to another fabulous installment of Nibblesandbits Amazingly Wonderful Trip Report! This TR also has been dubbed as Nibbs and WHF's (What's His Face, for those of you who have never followed me...and my hubby!) Free Food-o-Rama trip!

This trip took place during that wonderful time of the year known as Free Dining. I love going during this time of year, because the crowds are always so low...and the added bonus of getting all my food for free...that's just gravy...and who can pass up gravy?

The nuts and bolts for you!

Who: Nibbs and WHF
What: Free food and relaxing
Where: WDW (Yay!) and Pop Century as our hotel
When: Sept. 11-19
Why: did I mention the free food?


So, I've got lots of goodies for you all!!! What am I waiting on? Let's get this party started!!!!!

 

[krankenstein]

Do you have a picture of the Moroccan tile? It sounded interesting on the Podcast. :lookaroun :lol:

I can't wait for more Nibbs! :wave:

 

[DormaNesbit]

Ok I love the trip report so far but I agree with krankenstein, do you have a picture of the tile? (must be the glass of wine I'm having--no concentration!):wave:

 

[nibblesandbits]

Saturday Sept. 12
AK, MK & 1900 Park Fare

Today, I got up and went to the AK by myself. WHF really dislikes AK with a passion, so I let him sleep in while I explored a bit.

Although AK might not have been the best choice for today because it was raining pretty much all through the morning. Drenching rain. Good thing I had the umbrella!

So, first thing I do when I get to the AK is see my favorite show...Finding Nemo! I love watching the crowd's reaction to this show. They absolutely love it. BTW...so love Go With The Flow! Such a great, infectous song!

Then it was off to single ride Everest. Did this twice in a row.

I also did something for the first time ever this trip. I explored the Majarajah jungle trek. I LOVED this one. This is so much better than the Pangani Forest trail to me. I loved getting to see the bats...didn't know I'd be so intrigued by them. I also loved getting an up close look at the tigers. This is one of those great hidden gems they talk about.

From there, I headed over to KS using the pathway from Asia to Africa and I accidentally happened upon Baloo and King Louie!!!

 

[nibblesandbits]

Then it was off to go on an adventure...Safari style. Saw lots ofr great animals. Even got to see the cheetahs running around. After getting back from my 2 week adventure, I went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch, Flame Tree. Got surrounded by birds while there...always a good time.

After that, I left to go to the MK. I had a mission on this trip. First, it was to meet one of my co-hosts (Debbie) on the podcast for the first time ever. Also...she had never been on Splash and she promised me, on the air of a podcast episode, that when I went down, she would ride it with me! I was super excited to get her on it.

Caught the parade as I was walking in:

So, I (and WHF, whom I had caught back up with) met up with Debbie while she was eating a Dole Whip and once she had devoured it, we went to go see those pillaging pirates. We also got to meet Peter Pan & Wendy!

From there, it...was...time...

We got in line for Splash, with Debbie taking pictures at every turn. She'd never even been in the queue before. And I could tell she was getting nervous. Her only request while we were on the ride was to tell her when the drops would be. So, once we got on, I made sure to update her on everthing that was happening on the ride. This helped, because as we were riding along, she kept telling me how much she loved it. And once we got off, she hugged me and thanked me for talking her into it. She had officially conquered Splash! And I couldn't be prouder of her.

My partner in crime on Splash:

After that, we said good bye to Debbie and WHF and I headed over to FP Big Thunder and then we took in those lovable critters at the CBJ. After singing and hooting and hollering, we went and did the Carousel. This was my first time on the carousel at WDW!

Then we FP Peter Pan, saw Philharmagic and then we left the park. It was time for our ressie at 1900 Park Fare. As we were on our way out though, we saw CM playing and it looked like fun, so I ended up joining in after I took the pic!

 

[nibblesandbits]

We made our way over to the Grand Floridian by boat and got in the really long line to check into 1900 Park Fare. We had to wait a little bit and then were broght in. We were sat right next to the door when the characters came out, so we were the first table to get in on the action.

So, do you want my opinion of the meal? I liked the characters here (love the fact that you get to meet Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisers) and I think it's a great substitute if you can't get into CRT and are scared by the menu at Akershus...that being said...I DEFINITELY don't think it was worth the cost of $31.99 per adult for dinner. If I were paying for it, I would be very upset. The food is moderately alright and there really isn't much to choose from on the buffet. WHF actually thought the food was better off the children's buffet. I did love the strawberry soup they are famous for. I thought it was excellent and more like a dessert thing than an appetizer thing. However, the strawberry soup isn't enough to get me to go to dinner there again any time soon. Especially not without kids. You are definitely paying to meet the characters here...and I think there are other character meals that are worth the cost more than this one is.

Some pics from the meal:

Strawberry Deliciousness

After dinner, we hung around the GF for a while an then we headed back to the MK. We got on the TTA for the first time after the rehab and got stuck on it. Unfortunately, not in a spot where you could see anything. (Dang it!)

Riding on the TTA through Space:

 

[nibblesandbits]

Then we used our Peter Pan FPes and hurried over to Frontierland to use the ones we'd gotten for BTMR. We got on just in time for Wishes again, which is one of my favorite ways to view the fireworks show, when you still want to ride attractions too.

Nighttime MK shots:

Then we went back to the hotel. We were exhausted and realized we needed to relax a bit more on this trip. More than we had currently been doing.

Up next, a full day at the Studios!

 

[eagles]

great report. love the pictures. can't wait for more.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Um...so are you copping a feel on Peter Pan? :lookaroun:lol:

Glad to read your trip report! I am loving every installation! :sohappy:

 

[H20Babie]

I always love reading your trip reports! :sohappy:

And I agree, the Majarajah jungle trek is one of those things that unless you do it, you don't really appreciate.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Following along! I LOVE your enthusiasm! I also love the idea about hammocks at the Poly. I'm thinking next trip...possibly during Wishes.

I wanted to sit at them during Wishes, but I got mixed up on the time Wishes was showing that night.

Looks like Mexico was closed, there's no people!

Loving the report so far, Nibbliekins. :kiss: (Though it is making me hungry

Mexico was almost closed. It was also EMH nights...so...yeah...low people...

We are finally going to squeeze this in this trip.. savin' up the snack credits for it!

Great trip report and pics so far Nibbs.. looks as if you didn't get sick this time..

No sicklyness going on this time, thank gosh!

Loving it!

That is Drew and my hammock!..We visit there every trip and have for years..

Yay!!! Love it!

Can't wait to hear more Nibbs - I was lookin for ya but never saw you guys!!!!!

I know...same here.

Do you have a picture of the Moroccan tile? It sounded interesting on the Podcast. :lookaroun :lol:

I can't wait for more Nibbs! :wave:

I actually will get a pic for you. It's downstairs in the man's room.

Um...so are you copping a feel on Peter Pan? :lookaroun:lol:

Glad to read your trip report! I am loving every installation! :sohappy:

Um...so, yeah, looking at that pic...I have NO idea where I ended up putting my hand on Peter...so, eek! I could be one of the creepy people!!!

 

[nibblesandbits]

Sunday Sept. 13
DHS

So, as I had previously mentioned...today we decided we needed to take this trip a lot slower than we had been. For a few reasons, but the main one was because WHF felt we needed more relaxation. This was hard for me. I had planned and planned and planned and dreamed about our trip...and it's always very hard to delineate from something you've built up in your head. But, I didn't want WHF to be mad at me the whole trip, so I obliged...even though it was very hard to.

So, this morning, we slept in a bit and did something I had NEVER done before. We went down to the pool and swam. I have never swam on a Disney trip before. But it was nice to just get in the water on a hot, hot day.

After sitting by the pool and swimming a bit, we left and got to DHS around 1. First thing we decided to do was eat. (It was 1 after all). So, we went to one of our favorites, Pizza Planet.

From there, we caught the loveable Muppets, went and did Star Tours (which we did to remember it by...since it had just been announced at D23 that it was going bye bye earlier that weekend), and then we hit up the GMR!

After that, we treked over to wait in the longest line we waited for all trip, TSMM. This was around a 45 minute wait. And...I got to see one of my most favorite Cast Members...and wonderful member here on these boards...Joanna!

She was inside at the merge point letting the standby and FP people in. Hi Jo! Wished I'd gotten to see more of you!!! But I know you were SUPER busy!!!

So, WHF and I are very competitive in this game. And I typically win when we play...however, this trip...he beat me...

After getting beaten by him in TSMM, we did something new...something we'd never done before...and that was to check out the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular! All these years and I've never ever done it. I really liked it too. I thought it was much better than LMA! (Which I have yet to do again...)

From there, we went to see AIE. We got to see this in AP previews, so this was our first time seeing it since it had officially opened. We both really like this show.

 

[nibblesandbits]

But I found a whole new reason to really like this show. As many of you know, I was a huge fan of the Adv. Club and was very very sad when they closed it. But on this trip, I found one of my FAVORITE Adv. Club CMs! (He's the one on the Right)

I was so excited to see him because I didn't know he was still with Disney!!! He was always one of the funniest ones, IMO.

After that, WHF rode TOT, while I took the chicken elevator. (The one that doesn't drop you and make you want to puke.)

Then we did RNRC single rider...one of our favorites and our favorite way to ride...we hate waiting in line for that one. After that, WHF decided he wanted to see how the girl we'd seen win in AIE would do in the Finale. So, back we went.

This time, there was a girl who was 16 that day and sang Reflection. She was really good. We decided to vote for her because she was the only one who had a real chance on the show...and she won!

We then caught a showing of VOLM...and then, it was time to go visit Mom's kitchen.

You can't say no to the incredible Fried Chicken here!! It is just too good. And since WHF didn't eat desserts (although he later figured out that he could just get a scoop of vanilla ice cream everywhere and started doing that.) I got both for this meal...the famous Smores and the apple cobbler! (I took the Smores to go)

Then it was time for one last round on TSMM before the park closed. And once again, I got beat! Dang it! But at least my score got better this second time! Just not good enough.

The park was now closed though and it was time to go home.


Up next: a full day at the MK!

 

[popsicletrees]

I was so excited to see him because I didn't know he was still with Disney!!! He was always one of the funniest ones, IMO.

Ok, so I only went to the AC once right before it closed (a big regret on my part for only going once), but I recognize this guy! He was our favorite from the night. I'm glad that a lot of them stayed with Disney. I saw a few as street performers on my last trip. Loving the TR, Nibbs!

 

[Nicole220]

Nibblies! I see that hand on Peter's butt!

:lookaroun

Great report, Nibbs! :sohappy::kiss:

 

[Shere_Khan]

That was the same AI judge we saw on the 16th!

Also I think that was the same Peter Pan and Wendy!!!!

Love the report Nibbs!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Great report, Nibbs! I'm lovin' it!

I think you're gonna go down in history for getting a handful of Peter...Pan...:lookaroun....LOL!

Those ice cream cookie sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow are awesome. :slurp:

And isn't Casey's just yumm-o?! Not everyone likes it but we've always had a special adoration going on. It's best when you can get a seat in the bleachers. I love it.

It's awesome that even tho WHF doesn't like AK you still went ahead and enjoyed it by yourself. Very cool. I love love love the music from the Nemo Musical, too.

Can't wait for more!

:wave:

 

[DisneySam]

Great TR Nibbs!

"Go With the Flow" from the Finding Nemo Musical is one of my favorites! I always end up singing it the rest of the day.

 

[rlaeromech]

great report Nibbs. I love the pics and the overall spirit you write into the report.

I especially love the pics from the down angle looking up.. I feel like I'm in your shoes!!!

 

[wdwmomof3]

Great trip report!! We were there the very same week as you. :wave:

 

[DisneyBunny]

Glad you went swimming! It's slowly becoming one of my favorite things to do in Disney... Next time we're down here together we can pool hop together!