Trip Report COMPLETED: So why is it you’re cruising so much now: A NYE TR that doesn’t contain cruising. Now with Tuna/Egg talk!

No real back story here or PTR to reference. We’ve been to the bubble many times. We’ve gone during Spring Break, Christmas, 4th of July, and even Memorial day. We realized we’ve never done NYE so we figured we’d give it a go. I mean, surely everyone will go home on New Year’s day leaving an enjoyable park experience with lite crowds the rest of the week, right?

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So if you don’t know us by now I guess that rock you were under didn’t have any internet or you just have a strong distaste for sarcasm, poor grammar, and pictures of decent food. This trip included the DD and would be the first trip we drove to in over a year, getting back to our roots and all.

The beginning of the end:
We had a plan of leaving the cold and wet North Georgia Mountains by 04:30 on NYE morning. I’m proud to say my ladies stepped up and were AIS by the deadline. Now, I have a standard 1-stop itinerary for our road trips to the bubble and can make it there in less than 7 hours provided we stick to the itinerary. My copilots decided we needed more stops. All this to say we made the Orlando area in about 7 hours 10 minutes. Now typically we hit 429 and take Western Way into the bubble to avoid the I-4 madness. This trip, however, the DW decided she wanted to hit the Disney outlet so I-4 here we come!

We have never been to this outlet but on the way down the DW read about parking horror stories but I was insistent we do it so she could check out the outlet. All I can say is DAYUM! Whomever designed the layout of that outlet needs to be taken out back and flogged. It was lunch time on NYE and this place looked like it was running a 75% sale on a Black Friday. I did one pass through the lot and decided to drop the ladies off so they could hit up the store while I looked for parking. Fast-forward 20 minutes and the DD calls saying they are ready to go and I still have yet to find parking. I’ll let the DD describe the inside of the outlet since I only got to see the parking lot.

After the outlet we hit up Publix to get our Entenmann's donuts, a WDW staple. We were in and out in minutes and on our way to DTD for lunch.

As we approached the parking deck we noticed they changed the flow of traffic coming from the parks to DTD. You now have to drive past the green deck and u-turn back to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if that direct all traffic coming from the parks to the new deck across the street when its complete and start charging for the green deck. We quickly parked and I was pleasantly surprised to see lite crowds at DTD, this gave me hope! DW and I wanted Polite Pig for lunch but the DD loathes BBQ. We walked over to Morimoto CS to grab her some noodles to go. The portion was huge and she enjoyed it. We made our way over to PP, grabbed a table, and enjoyed some food.

DW went with the sausage and Brussels sprouts
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I went with the pulled pork sandwich
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We shared Ravenous Pig by Cask & Larder. Untappd Notes: 4/5 A nice lite Belgian that almost wants to be sweet.
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The food, as usual, was excellent. The ladies must have been hungrier than me, or motivated to shop, as they smashed their lunch and decided to head to Basin to get some bath bombs while I finished my lunch. By the time I finished and met up with them we got the room text!
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
[TANGENTTIME]
SCORE!!! I've been scouring the DVC site daily for something good on Mother's Day, before our cruise, and hit the jackpot this morning! #bookendscompleted
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Also, I started up a Beer Exchange event for the cruise and we're up to 16 participants already! Looking forward to May.
[/TANGENTTIME]
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
[TANGENTTIME]
SCORE!!! I've been scouring the DVC site daily for something good on Mother's Day, before our cruise, and hit the jackpot this morning! #bookendscompleted
View attachment 342125

Also, I started up a Beer Exchange event for the cruise and we're up to 16 participants already! Looking forward to May.
[/TANGENTTIME]
Its a great feeling when youve been scouring the DVC site and then you open it back up to check and BAM! There is an opening! Its the same feeling as finding money in your pants pocket when youre about to put them in the washing machine, lol.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Its a great feeling when youve been scouring the DVC site and then you open it back up to check and BAM! There is an opening! Its the same feeling as finding money in your pants pocket when youre about to put them in the washing machine, lol.
It's like being Charlie Bucket and finding that money in the storm drain.


So after Slinky Dog Letdown we gave Alien Swirling Saucers a go. Its so hard not using the acronym for this ride. Yes, I'm quite juvenile. The queue themeing was well done. I really liked the open Buzz toy box.
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As we exited we got to catch some toy soldiers doing their thing too. They were very good and I could swear the "new recruit" was one of the drummers from DL.

 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So we had our fill of TSL and decided to make our way out after the toy soldiers were done. Something caught my eye that I thought was both hilarious and sad at the same time. Does anything sum up current WDW better than "Grown Up Drinks" on Woody's Lunchbox menu?
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I don't know why this struck me so much but it did. Heck, I'm all about enjoying some libations at WDW, and I know I'm part of the problem, but this just seemed off to me.

Anyway, we continued on and for whatever reason, #imacatperson, I really took to this ornament. It was conveniently located right next to Holiday Buzz.
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We trekked across the park for some ST action. As we approached the queue we noticed that some padawans were about to be trained. This is actually one of the shows we really enjoy. I mean is there anything cuter than a 5y/o female youngling in pink sneakers taking on Vader. I'll help you, no, no is the answer.
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Spash007

Well-Known Member
You're not alone in using the acronym for swirling saucers. I'm not only a child, but I also am too lazy to sound out multiple syllables when I can just say one. I have got to think they did that name on purpose to get laughs from the adults though
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after enjoying the Jedi cuteness we took a spin on ST. We had an older series that included the pod race, Coruscant, and of course ending with GE.
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We were approaching lunch and decided to hit up the best thing HS has to offer.
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We shared a board and pretzel.
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The DW and I also shared a Marlin porter.
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After our lunch HS was starting to bust at the seams so we decided to hightail it out. We took the boat to BCV and decided if we got the room text we hit the pool otherwise we'd hope in the car and head to AK. We got to BCV and no text so we walked on through made for AK.
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As we crossed the bridge we noticed this, see it?
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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As we exited Gorilla Falls our first FP was ready. We detoured the 120+ minute wait at Soarin over Avatar. Even the FP line wasn't very F. Still, SoA is the only redeeming quality of this black light nightmare of a nook.
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As we exited we got the text that our room was ready! So now we had to decide if we stay for our EE and Dino FP or head to the room. We opted to get our EE on then head out.
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As we made our out we saw a CM feeding some of the primates. This was the first time we had ever seen a CM in the water interacting with the animals like this.
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
I never realized what the acronym for Monster's Inc. was until now... :hilarious::hilarious: Y'all need a few shakes of pixie dust to get your minds up out of the gutter! ;)
Go to Disney with teenagers and queue up for it... lol although mine didn’t say anything (they feared the momma too much to) the silly giggles and the fact that American Pie was one of my favorite movies made it blatantly clear somebody messed up 😑😳
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We made quick time from AK back to BCV. We tried to bypass Joe and use our magic band to open the gate but it wouldn't work! I tried the DW's and and still no good. Jow walked over and asked f we checked in, we told him yes and that we received the room text. He quickly said, "Oh, so you haven't entered you're room yet! You gotta enter your room before your band will open the gate.", lesson learned. With a wave of his hand, Joe raised the gate and we were on our way. A quick walk and an elevator ride later and we reached our room. Unbelievably all our bands worked again!
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After a nice afternoon by the pool I made my way back to the room to make dinner for the ladies. We planned on two meals in the room this trip since we had a full kitchen. After diner we walked over to EC and just strolled around with no real plans
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We stopped in china for a bit and enjoyed some of the live entertainment we typically skip. The hat juggler was struggling tonight but the yoyo jazzercisers were on point.


We continued around WS and took advantage of a no wait ride in mexico.
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We ended our night with a visit to Nemo & Friends. We were scoping out the tank we would be swimming in on Thursday. The dolphins were especially playful tonight.


As we left N&F the DD made a great observation of SE's reflection in the pool and I must say it did make for a fine iPhone photo.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday.

Today was more of a chill day. We had FPs for MK later this afternoon but the morning through lunch was dedicated to relaxing. Relaxing to the ladies meant shopping at DTD. Relaxing to me meant.
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I had most all the pool to myself this morning and coming fresh off of watching Birdbox had me creating memes on the iPad.
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The weather was near perfect and the sun was drying up the clouds quickly. I spent about 4 hours at the pool before driving to DTD to meet the ladies for lunch. Today's lunch is provided by the Letter H. H as in Hell yes Homecomin is probably the best addition to DTD since the redesign.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We really love this place. The portions are huge, the prices are decent, the service is excellent, and they have so far remained consistent which seems to be rare for new restaurants in WDW that open to a big game then get lazy and fizzle. For hydration the DW went with The Local:
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Since I haven't tried them all yet I went with another moonshine flight. The accompanying pickle juice mix is soooo good. I know it sounds weird but, DANG, that juice is it!
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I finally got to try the eggs this trip. I've always wanted them but since the DW despises eggs I never could get them since I couldn't eat them all. The DD shares my love for deviled eggs so we shared them. They were good basic eggs though I was expecting something a little grander. Great presentation, good eggs.
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The DW and DD also shared the fired chicken and mac&cheese. Again, huge portions making sharing easy.
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I went with my "go-to", the thigh high biscuits. Its so hard to deviate from these because they are just so good. I like getting the hot honey on the side and dipping as I go.
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We had another fantastic meal and cant wait to go back. We let our TiW card expire since our travel plans have shifted to open waters. Homecomin does have an AP and DVC deal so we still got a discount today.

We still had a few hours before our MK FPs so we made for the BCV for some pool time. As we were walking to our room we noticed a little turtle party as we crossed the bridge.
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The DW and I made for the pool while the DD decided to stay back and use one of the bath bombs in the tub. As we walked by Cape Stank, I mean May, the DW pointed out pretty cool piece of shell art behind the host desk. I've walked by this piece many times and never noticed it.
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We relaxed at Stormalong for a while. I brewed it up while the DD went with a Category 5.
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imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Homecomin' - Seriously some of the best chicken I've ever had. I know fried chicken. I'm a few minutes down the road from the "Poultry Capital of the World." Fried chicken is a staple on pretty much every menu.

I always get the fried chicken at Homecomin' and I see no reason to deviate because it's that good. Honestly, the biscuit can go. It's a less tasty version of Red Lobster's cheddar biscuit. I'm so glad the server talked me into the mac and cheese that one time, because IMO, it's the best on property for simple mac and cheese.

The drink - The Local - I loved this drink. You can taste the coconut (it's not overwhelming) and it's just a refreshing drink. I think it would be even more amazing in the warm weather. If you're wondering about the coconut, I think it's the same type that is used on coconut cake. It was sweet.
 

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