Trip Report Shortest Retirement in History?

Justin Bieber lasted 2 weeks.

Tom Brady lasted 40 days.

I, Tuvalu, outlasted them both. Not by much, mind you. Yet if not for the encouragement of some forum friends - along with some unusual circumstances - you wouldn’t be reading this.

Unusual circumstances, you say?

Around Thanksgiving my beloved Woody learned his presence was required at a work conference. In Orlando. At Universal.
Just down the road from Walt Disney World.

Woody said I could accompany him if he drove (rather than flew) to Florida. And that we could leave a couple days early and have some Disney time together.

Well you don’t have to ask me twice!

I’d be on my own during the conference. Since the majority of Universal’s attractions don’t appeal to me, it didn’t make sense for me to buy Uni tickets when I could visit WDW for free with my AP. Being solo, I thought it might be fun to do a live trip report so y’all could be my virtual companions!

Turns out I won’t be alone while Woody is occupied after all. Some friends that you have seen in my previous TRs (and one you haven’t) have offered to play with me. I can’t wait!

 

[Tuvalu]

Wednesday, con’t

I had one last request for Server Michael.

“Could you take our picture?”

He held his finger on the shutter and I got lots of this table shot.

He did not give back my phone. Instead he began to take random pics around the entire restaurant.

Beginning with this beauty….

Those are just some of the ninety six photos he snapped before returning with my phone.

(Y’all get the idea!)

 

[Tuvalu]

Forgot to mention the last thing Server Michael said to us.

“Bibbidi Bobbidi get off Mom’s property.”

Fairy Godmother approved?

 

[Laurenciaa]

I AM IN TEARS of your encounter at 50s Prime Time!! HOW GOOD WAS THAT :d

 

[MinnieM123]

@Tuvalu, I burst out laughing, reading your comments about CM server, Michael's antics! He was HILARIOUS!!

 

[Songbird76]

Wednesday, con’t

I had one last request for Server Michael.

“Could you take our picture?”

He held his finger on the shutter and I got lots of this table shot.

View attachment 768551

He did not give back my phone. Instead he began to take random pics around the entire restaurant.

Beginning with this beauty….

View attachment 768552

View attachment 768553

View attachment 768554

View attachment 768555

View attachment 768556

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Those are just some of the ninety six photos he snapped before returning with my phone.

View attachment 768559

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(Y’all get the idea!)

Love cousin Mike! Pretty sure that's who we had this past Summer. He caught me using my walkie talkie and told me he was going to tell mom.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It was too cold to stand out there anyway

“The cold never…”

I have to admit, I have never heard of Jersey Crumb Cake. Maybe because I live in Jersey it’s just what we call crumb cake? But growing up in NY, we also just had crumb cake, granted NYers would NEVER give NJ credit for anything

I’m guessing it’s Entenmann’s(?) That crumb cake was routine for us up there. (I preferred the vanilla cake with maple icing.)

 

[Tiggerish]

I’m guessing it’s Entenmann’s(?) That crumb cake was routine for us up there. (I preferred the vanilla cake with maple icing.)

The crumb cake was a staple (and yes, that's what they mean by Jersey crumb) but for us, the "chocolate flake cake" was da.bomb...

 

[Spash007]

“The cold never…”

I’m guessing it’s Entenmann’s(?) That crumb cake was routine for us up there. (I preferred the vanilla cake with maple icing.)

You got it! Now we have some bakeries with fresh crumb cake, but I was a happy kid when we had entenmanns for breakfast!

 

[LeighM]

I have to admit, I have never heard of Jersey Crumb Cake. Maybe because I live in Jersey it’s just what we call crumb cake? But growing up in NY, we also just had crumb cake, granted NYers would NEVER give NJ credit for anything

I'm a born and raised Virginian but we always called it crumb cake too LOL. In fact, I have never heard of "Jersey Crumb Cake" until this report. At first I wondered if they flavored it differently

 

[Tuvalu]

Since we have veered into a crumb cake discussion, I have a question for you NY/NJ folks.

My mom and her family put butter on crumb cake. Anyone else do this? (I don’t need “no”s, I am curious if there are any “yes”s.)

 

[donaldtoo]

Since we have veered into a crumb cake discussion, I have a question for you NY/NJ folks.

My mom and her family put butter on crumb cake. Anyone else do this? (I don’t need “no”s, I am curious if there are any “yes”s.)

Yes to the butter on crumb cake, and I’m from Texas, born and mostly raised here…!
I’ll put butter on a nice piece, and nuke it for about 10-15 seconds...!!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I put butter on crumb cake, other types of coffee cakes, and cinnamon rolls too (which someone recently told me was odd). I like the extra buttery taste and it makes it a little more moist especially cinnamon rolls which can often be dry.

 

[PineapplePrincess]

Finally caught up on both reports. Love, love, love Mama Tu's birthday trip so far! E & I were there at the same time, but I was not on the lookout for you. Still deciding if I want to do a trip report. Excited to read more!

 

[lindawdw]

I am finally all caught up with your TR which had me in stitches laughing at some points!!! First off, we so enjoyed our dinner with you and your family at Teppan Edo and found your cousin so funny!!! I can see he had you all laughing a good part of the trip! We do love our crumb cake here in New Jersey and when I was growing up, it was very normal to put butter on it but nowadays, we try to reduce the cholesterol intake. Thanks for the inside info on the Smuggler's Run ride although I'm not sure we are all adept enough to even follow the directions provided to switch to Chewie mode. I absolutely love that Boardwalk view you both had this trip! Michael at PTC sure brought a lot of entertainment to your lunch table.

 

[Tuvalu]

Yes to the butter on crumb cake, and I’m from Texas, born and mostly raised here…!
I’ll put butter on a nice piece, and nuke it for about 10-15 seconds...!!!

I put butter on crumb cake, other types of coffee cakes, and cinnamon rolls too (which someone recently told me was odd). I like the extra buttery taste and it makes it a little more moist especially cinnamon rolls which can often be dry.

We do love our crumb cake here in New Jersey and when I was growing up, it was very normal to put butter on it but nowadays, we try to reduce the cholesterol intake.

 

[Tuvalu]

Finally caught up on both reports. Love, love, love Mama Tu's birthday trip so far! E & I were there at the same time, but I was not on the lookout for you. Still deciding if I want to do a trip report. Excited to read more!

I was not on the lookout for you either!

Write a TR?

First off, we so enjoyed our dinner with you and your family at Teppan Edo and found your cousin so funny!!! I can see he had you all laughing a good part of the trip!

 

[Tuvalu]

Wednesday, con’t

S was very intrigued by the Skyliner when she saw it last night - “That looks like fun!” I promised to make it happen before our trip was over.

When we left 50s Prime Time we had about an hour until our Rise LL. It was the perfect opportunity to fulfill S’s request.

Ironically, she’s not in the only picture I took!

But she really enjoyed it. As did JB. Both were amazed by the ventilation in the cabin - they expected to be hot.

Upon our return to Galaxy’s Edge we waited in the breezy tunnel for our LL window to open. (The afternoon sun was surprisingly strong.)

The moment our group was called I received a second notification that Rise was down.

WTH??!!

Opening MDE, I saw that our LL had changed to a “Multiple Experience” pass, same as my brothers’.

Drat. Our day had been moving along so nicely. We decided to wait a bit longer in hopes that the attraction might reopen quickly. Our planned afternoon break was a must and we had plans for Epcot later.

A half hour passed before I went to check on the situation.

Cast Members were turning guests away, saying they did not know how long the closure would last. As disappointing as that was, I did what had to be done.

“I’m calling it,” I announced to my family. “There’s no sense in us continuing to waste time waiting here. Let’s go.”

It was the right decision and in hindsight one I should have made thirty minutes earlier. I found out later that Rise did not reopen until 8 pm!

BT and I power-walked ahead of our crew to Guest Relations at the front of the park. We needed to return the pixie dust we’d been so happy to receive this morning. An understanding CM cheerfully refunded our money for the unused ILLs.

Mom invited my brothers to Boardwalk to see our room. (I’m ashamed to admit that my first thought was, there goes my nap!) The six of us took the Friendship boat back to the resort. The Innkeepers Club staff was very gracious in allowing my brothers access to the club during our stay. After our room tour, Mom and BC had some one-on-one time in the lounge, while BT and I sat on the balcony taking in the fabulous view (@lindawdw).

I did manage a brief nap while BT took a business call. It wasn’t much, but enough to revive me for the remainder of the day.

 

[Tuvalu]

Mom and I met JBS in the lounge for evening appetizers.

I quickly took a few snaps of the offerings, missing some areas (and menu cards.)

Veggies up first.

Fancy schmancy salads.

Make-your-own charcuterie.

Mac and cheese and wild mushroom risotto.

Build-your-own meatball sliders (on ciabatta rolls) and ratatouille polenta.

As you can see by the spread, there was plenty of satisfying food and there was no need for us to have an additional dinner!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I see the Boardwalk club lounge is still top-notch I want to do that again someday! Maybe for our 15 year anniversary, we will splurge.

 

[lindawdw]

Taking the Skyliner as an afternoon break is a must do on all our trips to Disney nowadays. We really enjoy the peacefulness of the ride! Sorry about the LL for ROTR but at least you got a refund for it. That ride goes down way to much for the money that it took to build it IMHO. Glad you got to enjoy some time on your balcony taking in that fabulous view. I can't get over the amount of food they put out for you in the Club Lounge at the Boardwalk!!!