Trip Report Start & Finish=Tragical/In Between=Magical

Hi Friends!! Before I dive into the details of this trip I just wanted to give a quick explanation about the title. Nothing serious happened to anyone. There were some down moments at the beginning & the end, hence "tragical". R actually came up with the title for this TR. I had to tweak it a bit but overall it was fitting & I was happy with it so here we are!!

WHO:

You probably remember most of us(we were the same crew that was there in July 2021 but we're minus my nephew, JC this time).
The "adults"(& I use that term loosely & not b/c of the my sisters & I ) from left to right are C, myself, R, E & D.
In the front row we have E, A, & J!!

WHEN:
Thursday, July 7th-Thursday, July 14th(R, E, J & myself)
The rest of the crew arrived on the 1st & didn't leave until the 17th so they were there quite awhile longer than we were!!

WHERE:

Beach Club Villas!!

I know, you've gotten used to the Riverside crew staying at Saratoga in recent days. Why Beach Club then?? E is a funeral director & there was a funeral directors convention during part of our trip at the Yacht Club so it made more sense to stay there than at Saratoga(don't worry, next month we will be back there)

The rest of the crew stayed off property for a bit, then transferred to Saratoga for awhile then spent their last few days at Beach Club.

I'm super excited to share this trip with everyone & I hope you all enjoy it!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

Today was an Epcot day!! R had his fill from the night before & decided to stay at BC. E was heading to the convention so it was just J & I!! The rest of the family was going to AK b/c they were doing the Wild Africa Trek that day!

We hadn't rode Nemo the night before so we went there first.

What is this?? No worries, it moved pretty quick.

We went to the second level and had fun observing the animals for awhile.

Then we headed here--shh, don't tell E!!

J's good at keeping that secret. He knows his mom isn't big on him drinking pop.

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

We headed to TT next. I swear he loves designing the car more than the ride itself!!

And here is the finished product!!

He played in here for a bit before we headed out.

It was time for lunch & I had yet to try the Regal Eagle Smokehouse. I read J the menu & he was fine with it so off we went!!

I really enjoyed the decor inside.

Oops!! I forgot to rotate this picture. Everything was very good though!! I would definitely eat there again!! I love all the different sauces they have there.

And the reason we didn't get the smores brownie that @Tuvalu highly recommends.....

J loves getting a funnel cake in Epcot so I promised him we could. It was nice getting it earlier in the day b/c there wasn't a long line like there normally is in the evenings!!

As if I hadn't already let my nephew have enough sugar between the pop & the funnel cake we stopped in Japan for one more treat!!

Shaved Ice for him & a Kirin Light for me!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

It was early afternoon & it was still pretty quiet in WS.

But we decided it was best we leave b/c of this....

On our way out we saw Daisy with a short line so we hopped in it.

I didn't think J would be thrilled about it but he was!!

I was more thrilled than him though. He had a talk with me on the way back to BC, "Aunt Patti, you do know that she's not real, right? There is a person inside that costume."

We made it back to BC before the rain came through.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

We headed to TT next. I swear he loves designing the car more than the ride itself!!
View attachment 679922

And here is the finished product!!
View attachment 679923

View attachment 679924

He played in here for a bit before we headed out.
View attachment 679925

It was time for lunch & I had yet to try the Regal Eagle Smokehouse. I read J the menu & he was fine with it so off we went!!
View attachment 679926

I really enjoyed the decor inside.
View attachment 679927

Oops!! I forgot to rotate this picture. Everything was very good though!! I would definitely eat there again!! I love all the different sauces they have there.
View attachment 679928

And the reason we didn't get the smores brownie that @Tuvalu highly recommends.....
View attachment 679929
J loves getting a funnel cake in Epcot so I promised him we could. It was nice getting it earlier in the day b/c there wasn't a long line like there normally is in the evenings!!

As if I hadn't already let my nephew have enough sugar between the pop & the funnel cake we stopped in Japan for one more treat!!
View attachment 679930

Shaved Ice for him & a Kirin Light for me!!
View attachment 679931

Just returned from our trip and can confirm we ate at the Regal Eagle a few times Kids meals were really good value.

Sorry our meet up didn't get to happen and hope J recovered in time for your flight home. We travelled back to a wet & gloomy UK last Thursday, arriving back home mid-day on Friday. Missing the Florida warmth now

 

[amjt660]

"Aunt Patti, you do know that she's not real, right?

Max

 

[MickeyCB]

He had a talk with me on the way back to BC, "Aunt Patti, you do know that she's not real, right? There is a person inside that costume."

Aww come on J! Cindy's got to have something to believe in!

 

[annienevells]

J is a lucky dude - best auntie ever!

 

[riverside]

Just returned from our trip and can confirm we ate at the Regal Eagle a few times Kids meals were really good value.

Sorry our meet up didn't get to happen and hope J recovered in time for your flight home. We travelled back to a wet & gloomy UK last Thursday, arriving back home mid-day on Friday. Missing the Florida warmth now

I would definitely put it in the "high priority" category to eat at. I really enjoyed it!!

I'm so sorry too!! Unfortunately, he did not. We ended up getting a late checkout(12 instead of 11) so he could sleep longer. Then, we were homeless. We weren't being picked up until 6 that evening. We sat by the pool and after the Tylenol kicked in his fever broke so we went swimming for a bit. But, it came back a few hours later. On the plane he was sleeping but was yelling at E & I in his sleep to leave him alone. It was almost like he was hallucinating(probably from the fever). She said it continued throughout the night & he ended up not going to school the next day. He kept telling us that "his brains hurt"!! 2 days later I was at work & got the most awful headache I have ever had. I could barely see straight b/c it was so painful. I never had a fever but I'm assuming that I probably had a touch of what he did. I told E that if that's what he had I felt awful for him b/c I had never experienced that much head pain.

Glad you got back safely!! I'm missing the Florida warmth myself. Pittsburgh is pretty much the same all the time--wet & gloomy. It's cloudy here a great bit of the time(@MickeyCB can attest to this) & it's supposed to rain tomorrow & Sunday. Sunday looks like a washout!!

Aww come on J! Cindy's got to have something to believe in!

I know, right??

J is a lucky dude - best auntie ever!

Aww--thanks!! He makes it easy b/c he's a pretty cool kid!!

 

[MickeyCB]

It's cloudy here a great bit of the time(@MickeyCB can attest to this) & it's supposed to rain tomorrow & Sunday. Sunday looks like a washout!!

Aww come on J! Cindy's got to have something to believe in!

I know, right??

One time Aleisha said that to us. She was 7.
She asked if there was a Santa Claus. My response was always, well what do you think?
She says, well I know there's not an Easter Bunny because dad is always like, mommy- the Easter Bunny, mommy- the Easter Bunny.
She goes on to say, It's a tough world out there, a kid has to have something to believe in!
I told Gary after she left the room. She'll be 16 driving a car before I tell her there's no Santa Claus!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

At some point we decided to go to HS. Since R hadn't gone to Epcot that morning we walked over & he scanned in & walked right back out. E ended up having to do the same a bit later. What a pain. Thank goodness we were so close.

I pointed out to J that Daisy was really on the move that day. He rolled his eyes at me...

Even though he has never seen the movie R really likes the Frozen show so we went there.

The snow machines must have been working overtime that day b/c it looked like a winter day in Pittsburgh!!

Unpopular opinion, I know, but I can take or leave this one. What really does it for me is Daisy. I can't stand that part.

We were laughing b/c the bar was so far from J.

Yet so close to R!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

At this point E had arrived. I'm sure you're expecting us to eat here but, shockingly, we did not!!

But we did stop here for a beverage!!

At least we got a little feel for 50's!!

The bar was not crowded in the least.

I got the margarita, R got Dad's Electric Lemonade & E got the Magical Star Cocktail. J still collects the glow cubes!!

E let J have a shirley temple. Remember, she didn't know about our visit to Club Cool that morning

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

J really wanted to ride RNRC. R doesn't ride it & E wasn't feeling it so they carried on at 50's while we headed there.

I never noticed the lava lamps until that day. I remember having one when I was a teenager!!

I think he was getting tired of the selfies!!

Now that he has fallen in love with this ride he wants to sit in the front row. He always asks me to ask for it. I gave him the same answer I always give him. You want it, you ask for it. Which he did!!

We got stopped here for a few minutes.

One of the last on ride photos you'll ever see of us. My AP renewal was the next month & I was/am not paying for it!!

With that it was time to leave to get to our dinner reservation!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

We were all super excited to try something new!! I had heard pretty positive things & hoped we would feel the same!!

I really enjoyed looking at all the old pictures they have up.

We only had to wait a few minutes.

The different sauce selections for the steak.

We started with a bottle of red.

The rolls were excellent!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

We started out with a crab cake appetizer.

Along with some shrimp.

I got the Whipped Horseradish Cream for my sauce. It was AMAZING!! As were the side of mushrooms!!

That's R's. For the life of me I can't remember what sauces he & E got. But they both got something different and we all tried each others.

J got fish. I know it's a kids meal but really?? It reminded us of the small piece of salmon he got at 50's one time.

We were all very happy with our meals. The service was great & I loved the atmosphere. The food was excellent & shockingly, we thought the prices were very reasonable. Especially for everything being a la carte. I would definitely recommend giving this a try!!

Yeah, J was over the pictures!!

Some sights from the monorail.

I think E was hollering at him for sitting on the ground, yet again....

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JULY 11TH

We transferred to the Epcot monorail to continue our journey back to BC.

I love going through Epcot on the monorail. R said that he had never done that before so that was a first for him!!

Lots going on in there.

Will it ever get done??

We decided to stop for some PP pics. And this, my friends, is reason #1001 as to why I wouldn't think of paying for it.....

Absolutely atrocious!! The angle, the lighting-I could go on & on. Through no fault of his own R looks plain ridiculous. Almost like he's non human or something. I have quite a few more I could share but I think I've made my point.

We just passed through Epcot without doing anything. R wanted to hang out in one of the lounges so we stopped at Martha's Vineyard for a drink.

My lousy selfie is almost better than those PP pics!!

 

[riverside]

One time Aleisha said that to us. She was 7.
She asked if there was a Santa Claus. My response was always, well what do you think?
She says, well I know there's not an Easter Bunny because dad is always like, mommy- the Easter Bunny, mommy- the Easter Bunny.
She goes on to say, It's a tough world out there, a kid has to have something to believe in!
I told Gary after she left the room. She'll be 16 driving a car before I tell her there's no Santa Claus!

Love it!! That is hysterical!!

 

[riverside]

TUESDAY, JULY 12TH

Today was another convention day for E & R didn't want to leave as early as we did so J & I were on our own again!!

I bought him a Baby Yoda MB when we first got there so we went to the Brown Derby Lounge so I could link it for him.

Ordered shrimp cocktail.

J & I had fun playing multiple games of tic tac toe!!

Chip N Dale were out having a picnic!!

He talked me into this.....

I do not like the first row at all. Scary!!

 

[riverside]

TUESDAY, JULY 12TH

We stopped for a some PP pics after we checked out of the hotel.

At this point R had made it there so it was time for lunch!!

This is one of R's favorites so we had to make sure we got it in!!

 

[riverside]

TUESDAY, JULY 12TH

The rest of the family(minus E) had arrived & all the kids wanted to ride TOT so, lucky me, I got 2 rides in that day!!

Can you see us? Yeah, me neither.

R was excited that Launch Bay was open again so he took the opportunity to say hello to some friends!!

J & his Aerosmith t-shirt!!

My sister & BIL sat this one out so it was just the kids & I.

 

[riverside]

TUESDAY, JULY 12TH

R was so excited with his Launch Bay experience that he asked us to go with him again to see Chewy.

He's like a little kid at Christmas.

It was a fun interaction & I'm glad we paid him a visit!!

After that we parted ways. They were staying at HS for their dinner reservation. We headed back to BC. We had some time to go in the pool so J & I went to the quiet pool that was right near our room.

We met up with E for dinner. Our reservation was at Cape May. They are back to the buffet instead of serving everything family style. We had a really nice waiter who went to one of the same colleges as R. We had a great time there & the food was good. The only issue was that I forgot to take pictures!! This is all I have!!