Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

Welcome to my newest Trip Report. For those who don’t know me, I am Jen.

That’s my Daughter Claire with me.



We just got back from an amazing vacation with several family members.

We traveled Nov. 1st thru the 15th, 2012. We rested our headed at 6 different places on this trip, and though it wasn’t always easy to keep moving from place to place, I am happy to have tried some new resorts out and stayed at some familiar ones as well.



This trip came about over a year ago. My Mom’s cousin Vicki wanted to take a trip with her and my Aunt Mary. Her Daughter Katie also wanted to come along.

After some talking and planning it became a group of 16 traveling. I was elected ring leader since I have quite a bit of Disney experience.

Plans were made, some were changed, and some were a little slower at making decisions than others.

My husband Skip is what is known in the Disney groups as a resistor and he decided NOT to come along. He was not so happy about the amount of time I was going to be gone.



The dates for the cruise were set first, Nov 4 through the 8th on the Disney Dream. We all planned to arrive a day early and stay at the Residence Inn near the port. Soon I decided that I must add a few Disney days, and so did everyone else eventually. I thin decide…heck lets add some more, and Claire and I ended up staying 3 more days after the rest left.

Then after doing some research and with a heads up from my good Dis-friend Carey, I was alerted to the fact that the last Halloween party was on Nov. 2nd. How could I pass that chance up? So Claire and I decided to fly in a day earlier than everyone else to hit that party. Claire and I also decided to fly out of Columbus. My family lives near the Toledo, OH area, and the best direct flights are out of Detroit. My youngest sister, who was not going on the cruise, lives in Columbus, and I was able to get a decent priced direct flight from there, so Claire and I drove down Nov. 1 and spent the night before our early flight.



Plans were finally all set in stone and we just had to wait for our time to arrive. Not an easy task, but we all managed.



Let me introduce you to the crew. This is a picture of a picture. My sister has the CD with the actual digital copy, but hasn’t yet loaded it to the computer, so I had to go with this for now till I can get a copy.

In the back row, left to right, we have my parents, Joe and Paula, next to them is my Uncle Geoff. Next to Geoff is cousin Vicki and her son in law Thad. Next to Thad is Pete, Vicki’s husband and then me. Aunt Mary is on the end, she is married to Uncle Geoff and my Mother’s sister.

Down towards the front, left to right, is my nieces Alexis and Abby with their parents Rob and Gail. Gail is my sister. Front and center is Claire. Behind Claire are Jude, and Katie. Katie is married to Thad and is Pete and Vicki’s Daughter. And then we have baby Luke in the stroller. He is only about 9 months old and what a cutie he is.



This trip had the usual ups and downs that most every family will have, but I have to admit things went much smoother than I planned. We never felt the need to kill each other for the most part. LOL

We had several cruise newbies and several Disney World newbies as well.



Please join me in reliving a very magical trip with all the places we traveled and all the people we met along the way!

 

[jenseib]

I took pictures as we walked around in there. Some of the pictures are of things happening, but looking at my pictures I really can’t tell which ones are just random shots and which are from the mission.











This one is from the mission. See the lighted numbers on the bottom of the piñata’s?

















I believe there was a clue here, but I don’t remember what it was.

 

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And this was a clue as well.




On with our Mexico mission……I believe this Skeleton did some sort of dance.





And I think the parrot talked to us.





One thing I did notice was that there were several others doing a mission here as well and they were not going in the same order was we were, so I am guessing each country has several different mission orders to keep people from bumping into each other too much.


We had a few people ask us what we were doing as well and we told them and many seemed interested in trying it out as well, but I did warn them that it was kind of long.


I don’t remember if our mission took us outside or if we just went out to decide what to do next.





But I did take several pictures while we were out there.





I think Claire was trying to convince me to do another mission, but I was telling her not right now, but maybe later and we put the communicator in my backpack.








The decision was then made to go back inside Mexico and ride the Gran Fiesta.

 

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We always enjoy this simple ride.

 

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I always try to take a picture here and it never turns out nice.

 

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And I always try to take the ceiling fireworks, and again, I just can’t catch them right.








Once we got done with Gran Fiesta we headed back out once again.





We pretty much did a leisurely stroll around World Showcase.

















I don’t think I have never been in Karamell Kuche, so I believe we went inside quickly and took a look around. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures. We didn’t buy anything either. (Maybe I went in on my solo trip in 2011?)

 

[jenseib]

It was now close to our lunch time ADR and we headed that way.























Via Napoli!





I have read many reviews about this place. Some love it, some hate it, and some say it’s just OK. So I went in with an open mind, but I was kind of excited to eat here.

 

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We didn’t have to wait too long to be seated, mostly it was due to a slower staff at the check in desk.


This place was MUCH bigger than I thought it was.








We checked out the menus.




This place was just really neat inside. I loved it!

 

[jenseib]

We made our orders and bread was served. I have to say I was slightly disappointed we had a female server. I had heard how hansom all the men were there and I was hoping for a little eye candy. LOL!





Before long our appetizers arrived.


Claire got the fruit dish which had many of her favorites in it.





I believe I got the Arancini - fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu.





These were fantastic and I could’ve eaten a whole plate of just these.


After a bit our entrées came out. Claire went with basic pizza. I had heard they really don’t allow changes to what’s on the menu, so we just got her cheese pizza.





I am not sure if that is true, but I didn’t want to upset the balance of things.





I got a pepperoni pizza.





I took some of my pepperoni and put it on Claire’s pizza for her. The waitress saw it and worried she had brought Claire the wrong pizza, and I assured her it was right and that I just added a few pieces of my pepperoni to it.


The pizza was awesome. We loved every bite. I don’t know how I have read some bad reviews of the place because everything was heavenly too me. But I guess if you like a thicker crusted pizza (which I don’t) then this might not be that great for you.

I don’t think we could eat all of our pizzas. It was a lot, but I know I packed away as much as I could in my big ole gut! (no wonder I gained weight this trip).


We made dessert orders and I ran up to take a few pictures of the ovens.

 

[jenseib]

I guess I didn’t take a picture, but they were pulling out a pizza that was HUGE! I couldn’t believe the size of it. It would take up a table. I have since been told it’s called a meter pizza (I am sure it has a fancy Italian name) because it is 1 Meter long. I did the conversion and a meter is over 3 feet long.


I sat back down and told Claire about the huge pizza and soon our desserts arrived.

I believe Claire got the Vanilla Gelato.





I got the Zeppole di Caterina - Ricotta cheese fritters, served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. YUM!!!!!!!!








My Dis Friend Karin has had these a time or 2 when she has visited and they always look so yummy and it was on my bucket list to try. They did not disappoint at all. VERY GOOD! I just wish I had more room to eat them all.


We did have a wait for our bill. Our waitress was a little slow and I had a hard time understanding her and I think she had a hard time understanding English. Perhaps she was new. She wasn’t bad, just a little slower than I like.


While waiting to pay the bill the Meter pizza came by and I pointed it out to Claire whose eyes got really big. It was delivered to the table next to us and there were only 3 people sitting there. They had to put it on a stand as it was so big for the table. We couldn’t imagine how they were going to eat it all. Maybe next year when I go with my parents we can order one too.


We finished up and got ready to roll out of the place. We were so stuffed and it was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. This is now a must do place for me.

We left Via Napoli and back into the beautiful sunshine.








I know I have said it several times, but I am a huge fan of Disney at Christmas time with all the decorations.








I think Claire had to go to the bathroom, so we went in search of one and found one in America, which was the first time we ever used them there. I have to say, we still have not made it into the pavilion yet and I hope to remedy that someday.


I think this next picture is funny. The theatre is closed, but evidently the birds stand guard to be sure no one enters. One looks like he might be a little bored.

 

[jenseib]

I think we just wandered around a bit till it was time to head up front for our Soarin’ Fastpass time.

 

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And now it was getting closer to our Fastpass time so we headed that way.










Continuing our journey to Soarin’.

 

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I think we stopped and had a seat here for a bit.





And then on to Soarin’.





The line moved quickly and before long we were Soarin’ over California and having a great time.


We then headed over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends.














Claire always loves this ride.

 

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And after the ride we went and got in line for Turtle Talk with Crush. Another favorite of Claire’s.








Claire kept pointing out fish for me to take pictures of while we waited.





We took Mr. Rays Pop quiz and sent the certificate to my email.





We were then let into Turtle Talk and we enjoyed the show. Claire was slightly disappointed that he didn’t talk to her, but she has had interaction before and I reminded her that you don’t always get chosen every time.


Back out we went for a few more photos.







Claire wanted to do another Agent P mission, so we headed towards the UK.





I pulled the phone out of my back pack and we found it no longer worked. Some we found a kiosk and they told us that they are only good for about 15 minutes after a mission ends. After that you have to get a new one. Good to know. I guess I thought they would keep working when you clicked on it and would give you a choice of another country.

So we got a new communicator and headed to the UK for our next mission.

 

[jenseib]

Again, I took pictures as we went around, so of the special effects and some just randomly, but I can’t tell which are which in most photos. I will say this mission was much better than the one in Mexico.











This mission had us going in and out of different buildings.

















The phone booth gave us a golf ball.





I believe later we had to exchange the golf ball in the Tea Shoppe. (Either that or we had to deposit it somewhere else, I no longer remember for sure) They gave us a packet of tea there. We don’t drink tea, so it’s probably still in the pantry somewhere now.





Hmmm……looking at the picture I just posted, that might’ve been where we deposited the golf ball.

 

[jenseib]

This is around the back of the Toy store and the end to the mission. Doesn’t he look creepy?








And then we took a picture of ourselves in the window.





And we turned around and who do we see? Pooh and Tigger walking by.








After that we deposited the phone as we were done with all the missions we would be doing that day.









This mission was so much better. I liked that we had a bigger area to do things in and we were in and out of several of the buildings. Claire liked that we had to actually handle physical things too. She thought that was so much fun.

 

[jenseib]

We headed out towards the main drag after our fun mission and caught a glimpse of Characters in Flight up in the distance.





Believe it or not, we kind of felt ready to leave. Yes we really shortchanged Epcot this trip, but we had done all we cared to do. Test Track was still getting refurbished, so we wouldn’t have a chance to ride that.

We stopped for our first photopass pictures of the day.















Claire asked if we could stop in Club Cool one more time before we left though.

 

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We enjoyed a couple more drinks and Claire tried her favorites once again.


Claire also wanted a snack before we left so we stopped off and got her one. I might’ve gotten a pretzel or Mickey bar at this point too, but I didn’t take a picture.





On our way out we stopped for another photopass picture. This guy was so much fun.





He said it was so nice to have some normal people as for the last few months he has been taking pictures of drunks from the Food and Wine Festival (which had just ended the day before).





Then we decided to get silly.








He was totally cracking up.








I have no clue now why we made this face. But we were having a good time with this guy.








And after those pictures we headed out towards the bus stop.

 

[jenseib]

We made it back to AoA in good time.

We were greeted with some water art.














Claire and I had not been over to the Cars section yet and we planned to remedy that right this very moment.

















Claire then realized she should be in some of these pictures.

 

[jenseib]

Though the area was kind of quiet, there were 2 other families doing the same thing we were, and they were kind of rude about it. One was foreign and played dumb …the other…was just dumb. As you can see in the next picture I tried to get the picture without the kid in it, but it was impossible. They would NOT move from the spot, even though it was obvious I was trying to get a picture of the car.




















I really think this is the best themed area of the resort. They really went all out.

 

[jenseib]

How cute are these cone cabanas by the pool?