Trip Report Tales From the Two Goofs Vault

Greetings again my friends. During my large amount of available free time, I have been working to digitally backup some of our old photos, as well as track down and backup any digital files as well. So far I have come across 3 Disney trips that I haven’t shared on these boards before. One from March 2019, one from September 2016, and another from June 2015. I will be doing these TRs from newest to oldest. Please note that I have no notes on our activities, so the pictures will likely not be in perfect order. I will try and provide commentary on things I do remember. So let’s get started!

Trip 1.

When: March 8-11, 2019

Who: Myself and A as always, plus our closest friends C and M.
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Where: POFQ for just one night, and Coronado Springs(more on why we did a split stay on such a short trip later).

Why: A top secret mission to photograph and celebrate C and M’s engagement.

A little background on how this trip happened.

C is one of A’s oldest and closest friends, he is the closest thing she has to a brother, and she does refer to him as her brother. He had been dating M for about a year at this point, and we all knew she was perfect for him. He’d decided to pop the question on their spring break trip to Disney. For months he had been asking A and I to come down with them to take pictures of the big event, and to celebrate with them(or console him if she said no!). It didn’t look like we would both be able to make the trip though. I finally agreed to at least get A a plane ticket and she was going to go alone for just the weekend and return.

Well as fate would have it, right at the 60 day mark I was finally able to secure the 4 days off needed to take the trip. Unfortunately there was extremely limited availability at the resorts. The only resort with full availability for the weekend was grand Floridian, which was at a non discount rate. We finally found 2 nights at Coronado, and one night at French quarter. We also purchased APs because we had already planned on being at WDW for several day’s in the summer, so it ended up being less to get the AP rather than buying separate tickets for each trip. I was also able to get the AP spring discount applied to our reservations.

With all of that business out of the way, we were able to make FP reservations right at 60 days! C wanted it to be a surprise for M that we were going to be there. We went along with this plan, but boy was it hard not to spill the beans at our super bowl party that year!

Day 0/Night1:

While I was able to get Friday-Monday off, A had no such luck, and had to work a half day Friday. This meant taking a later flight than normal. We had a 7:15 flight out of Dallas Love Field. Our plan was to be at the airport around 5:30. 5:30 on a Friday driving through downtown Dallas, what could possibly go wrong?! Fortunately while traffic was pretty heavy, and my phone told me to take the wrong exit one time, we still made it to the airport on time.

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Already a little tired before takeoff!

Our flight down went smoothly and a few hours later we landed in Orlando. Because of the time change, by the time we got down to DME it was approaching 11 pm. We were both more than ready to get to our room and get a few hours of sleep. Our bus only had a few parties on it. We stopped at riverside first, then French Quarter. Our room had been ready since lunch time of that day, so we went straight to our room. It was well after midnight when we made it to our room.

Apparently we knew that @Nunu would like some room photos at the time!😜
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Another boring redesigned room.

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The beads were a nice touch!

We finally got showered and in bed just before 1 am.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I like your t-shirt! I'm with you on FOP. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. Unfortunately, it's a bit too roller coastery for me and it was a one and done. My husband and my daughter loved it though!
Thanks, A made the T shirt for me. As for FOP, I just don’t get any kind of feeling of flight or anything. So basically all I’m thinking the entire time is that I’m watching a film on a giant screen, sitting in a really uncomfortable seat that moves too much.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
March 10, 2019 continued.

C told M that he wanted to walk to GF from their room at the poly. He made sure to carry on a fairly loud conversation with her so we could hear them when they passed by our hiding spot. We followed them from a distance, trying to be as quiet as possible. They stopped at the beach for a moment to enjoy the view...at least that’s what M thought!
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Surprise!

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M is pretty hard to fool, but she was definitely not expecting this! Thankfully she said yes! Eventually she noticed A and I were standing on the beach nearby, and we had a nice little reunion!

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The happy couple.

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Smoochy Smoochy
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FaceTiming C’s parents. After this M tried to FaceTime her parents with the big news, but they were traveling to the beach and didn’t answer. We told her we actually had a reservation at Ohana for the 4 of us that we needed to get to, so she agreed to just FaceTime them while we waited.

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We didn’t have reservations at Ohana though.

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Surprise number two! M’s parents had been waiting at Tambu lounge! They were traveling to the beach, but of course had to stop by and celebrate! M was beyond thrilled to see them. Her parents live in St. Louis, so she doesn’t get to see them very often.

We all celebrated with several rounds of drinks at the lounge. The CMs also brought us some Ohana appetizers as a way to say congratulations!

We also had plans for C,M,A,and myself to attend the Epcot fireworks dessert party. M’s parents were needing to get to their destination as well. I ordered us a Minnie Van, and A and I headed outside to wait while they said their goodbyes.
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The Minnie Van driver arrived super fast, and agreed to wait a bit for C an M to come down. He asked if we wanted our picture taken, I think we were too “sleepy”, yeah we were too “sleepy” to say no(M’s father was VERY generous at the bar)! C called and told us to go ahead without them, since M wanted to go clean up a bit before they went out.

Up next: A night at Epcot.
That is such a beautiful and thoughtful proposal! I don't think her answer could have been anything but a resounding "YES!". And then to have her parents there....how special. Though I would have been disappointed not to actually have an ADR for 'Ohana.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
So I got this email today.
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I was a little confused because while I do have a reservation in September, we let our passes expire in early March just before the closure. At the time the plan was to just get the gold pass before our next trip to save some money over renewing our platinum passes. Well then everything went crazy and they quit selling new tickets and passes. Anyways, I checked in MDE, and wouldn’t you know it, we each have ONE complimentary one day ticket on our account. No idea when or why they got there! So let me ask you all this. If you could choose just one park at WDW to visit, besides MK, which would it be? This may be a legit decision we have to make next week!
My favorite is Epcot because I LOVE the World Showcase, and as a singer, I can spend all day in the American Pavilion listening to the Voices of Liberty. But I am a huge nerd like that. I also love learning about other cultures, so the showcase in general is my cup of tea....and I also love Soarin', getting to see beautiful places without having to spend the money to go to the actual place. I've been to a couple of the places for real, and that ride just brings back good memories and makes me excited. (Again, nerd) So that would be my pick, but I realize a lot of people think of Epcot as a dud right now. I love education, SSE is fun, and a lot of my favorites are in that park.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My favorite is Epcot because I LOVE the World Showcase, and as a singer, I can spend all day in the American Pavilion listening to the Voices of Liberty. But I am a huge nerd like that. I also love learning about other cultures, so the showcase in general is my cup of tea....and I also love Soarin', getting to see beautiful places without having to spend the money to go to the actual place. I've been to a couple of the places for real, and that ride just brings back good memories and makes me excited. (Again, nerd) So that would be my pick, but I realize a lot of people think of Epcot as a dud right now. I love education, SSE is fun, and a lot of my favorites are in that park.
I’m leaning Epcot, even though it appears most of the live performers like voices of Liberty will not be performing. I too, am a huge major nerd who misses the more education focused Epcot dearly.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Real life update again.

Well we have everything finalized now. We will be spending five days at a cabin that sits on 43 acres next to a lake near Durango, Colorado. We’ll make a road trip out of it, with a stop near palo Duro canyon in Texas on the way up. We will be taking our faithful pup pickle with us as well! Our plans are to hike some trails, kayak on the lake, and just relax outside reading a good book or two(or three). We’ll be preparing all of our own meals, and don’t plan on spending much time near people other than to buy supplies. We’ll be leaving on July 12, and we can’t wait! I know it’s not the grand California plan we originally had, but it’ll be nice to relax and unwind out in the wilderness!
 
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Real life update again.

Well we have everything finalized now. We will be spending five days at a cabin that sits on 43 acres next to a lake near Durango, Colorado. We’ll make a road trip out of it, with a stop near palo Duro canton in Texas on the way up. We will be taking our faithful pup pickle with us as well! Our plans are to hike some trails, kayak on the lake, and just relax outside reading a good book or two(or three). We’ll be preparing all of our own meals, and don’t plan on spending much time near people other than to buy supplies. We’ll be leaving on July 12, and we can’t wait! I know it’s not the grand California plan we originally had, but it’ll be nice to relax and unwind out in the wilderness!

Sounds like a lovely vacation. Have a great time and you know posting a few pictures here is just fine with all of us! :)
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sounds like a lovely vacation. Have a great time and you know posting a few pictures here is just fine with all of us! :)
Honestly after doing a year of nonstop WDW trips, it’ll be nice to have a much more relaxing vacation where we just go with the flow. I’m sure I’ll share a few pictures here when I can. The cabin has no cell service and very spotty WiFi. We’ll be “unplugged” most of the week, which suits me just fine!

Yay for an adventure with Pickle! Have a wonderful time!
We sure will! I’ll make sure and take plenty of pictures of pickle on our adventures to share with you!
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
I’m leaning Epcot, even though it appears most of the live performers like voices of Liberty will not be performing. I too, am a huge major nerd who misses the more education focused Epcot dearly.
Amen to that. The first trip I actually remember to Disney, I was around 8 years old, and Epcot had opened a year or two before. It was so exciting and we LOVED it. We loved Journey into Your Imagination, World of Motion, SSE...my mother loved the Land pavilion, but at that time I was not very excited about tomato plants and dancing food. But we LOVED the World Showcase, and when we went to the American Pavilion, the Voices of Liberty were singing 50 Nifty United States. We were from Wyoming, and we cheered when they got to that and they stopped the song and came over to talk to us, because there was never anyone from Wyoming. There was just so much to do then, and it was so innovative. It's still my favorite park, but I miss the original Imagination attraction, and the World of Motion. Horizons creeped me out because of the field trip under sea. (I think that was it...I remember being scared that we would have to do that someday soon.) But we liked Epcot more than the Magic Kingdom.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 16, 2015 continued.

Ok where were we? A and I had just settled into our room. We headed out for lunch. Out first time at beaches and cream! We arrived a bit earlier than expected, and had to wait for the restaurant to open. We would be the first patrons of the day.
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A had a seafood sandwich. I had a cheeseburger that’s not pictured because i was so hungry by the time it got to the table that i devoured it. A loved this sandwich. They no longer offer it much to her dismay
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We weren’t really there for sandwiches anyways, right? I mean just look at the way I lovingly look at the no way Jose. It was definitely love at first sight!
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We ended up trying to walk off some of the ice cream by taking the walking path back to DHS. It was all about frozen at the studios that summer.
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We headed for Indiana Jones because there was a show starting soon. We ended up with pretty good seats.
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We used our first FP for toy story mania before catching the beauty and the beast show. We stopped for a few FP pictures along the way.
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This is the only time we’ve ever seen the beauty and the beast show. I wonder if it’ll ever come back now. I wouldn’t be that disappointed if they replaced it.
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Coming up: More DHS.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Enjoying your report, we are also considering a trip to Durango. We did find out the Narrow gauge train is not running at this time.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the report. Last I checked the train was running, but it was turning short before Silverton. I’m not too interested in paying full price for half the trip. We may do a rafting trip on the lower Animas instead, or we may just hang out on the little lake the whole time.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 16, continued.

After Beauty and the Beast it was time for A to finally get to experience my favorite attraction, Tower of Terror.
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We didn’t have a super exciting drop sequence. A definitely enjoyed, but seemed like maybe she expected more. ToT would have a chance at redemption later that day.

We headed over towards Star Tours next stopping for plenty of pics along the way.
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They seemed obsessed with keeping giant ugly stages up to block the view of the Chinese theater.
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We made it over to star tours for our ride. Muppets was up next.
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After muppets it was nearing time for dinner. We had dinner at Hollywood & Vine. There were no characters this time. The food was pretty good. We did the fantasmic dining package. Shortly after supper we made our way towards sunset to get ready for the show.
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Dining package seats are in a nice section right in the middle of the amphitheater.
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Coming up: More DHS.
 

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