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.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Sad real life update. We had to cancel our California trip for this summer. I knew it was coming, but it still stings. This is the second time we’ve had to cancel a trip out west. Maybe we should stop planning them?

That is very very sad. But, maybe you can switch it for a mask wearing WDW visit?! You'll still be at Disney!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That is very very sad. But, maybe you can switch it for a mask wearing WDW visit?! You'll still be at Disney!
So our plan for now is to turn our short September trip into another week-long birthday celebration similar to the one in this very TR.
I definitely understand. We had to cancel our plans to go to Disneyland this September :confused:.
So sorry you had to cancel. I think the worst part of it is how out of my hands it is. I hate that helpless feeling.
 

Beastly74

Well-Known Member
So our plan for now is to turn our short September trip into another week-long birthday celebration similar to the one in this very TR.

So sorry you had to cancel. I think the worst part of it is how out of my hands it is. I hate that helpless feeling.
Very scary times. We were only going to be able to afford that trip because my DH worked for Westjet so cheap flights. Unfortunately he lost his job (along with thousands of other people there). Thankfully I am still working. Keeping sane by reading and writing trip reports lol. So thank-you for sharing your trips 😃.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Very scary times. We were only going to be able to afford that trip because my DH worked for Westjet so cheap flights. Unfortunately he lost his job (along with thousands of other people there). Thankfully I am still working. Keeping sane by reading and writing trip reports lol. So thank-you for sharing your trips 😃.
So sorry about your husband losing his job. This is really quite a mess we’re in. I am furloughed, but do have options to work in the Houston area if need be at the moment. Currently our unemployment(separate from the rest of the US) is paying fairly well, so it’s not worth it for me to find housing, expose myself to the virus, etc. I’m glad that you’re still working! And I’m glad I can help keep you sane. I think writing them is helping me keep my sanity as well!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday September 11, 2016 continued.

We returned to Diagon Alley for a tour of Gringotts Bank.
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The dragon is a nice effect. It causes quite a bit of congestion though!

We danced with the minions, or minlings as our niece calls them.
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There’s the Mystery Machine, but the gang was nowhere to be seen.
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We found them eventually!
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A’s birthday was the main topic of discussion. Along with where to find Scooby snacks!

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Scooby was petting me! 🤣

We spent most of this day doing rides, so there aren’t very many pictures. We did have to stop for our mandatory globe photos!
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We left the park in the afternoon, satisfied with the number of attractions we were able to do. We got a nap in and headed for dinner. There was a Giardanos pizza within walking distance of our hotel.
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The pizza was appropriately cheesy! We waddled back to our room with our leftovers and called it a night.
 
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday September 12, 2016.

Universal day two. Having experienced a large majority of the attractions multiple times the previous day, this day we met a lot of characters. Universal had a ton of randomly placed characters out this trip. This was a bit surprising given how dead the parks were!

We ran into the Lorax in Seuss Landing.
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Over at the studios I finally found Homer!
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One thing I do like about Universal is how their character meets feel much more organic. Characters can be seen roaming, or off in their own little spot. There is rarely a large crowd gathered around them, you just sorta accidentally find them.

The Despicable Me gang was having a little party just down from Homer and Marge.
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Several times a day one of the character floats from the parade will come out and have a little street party.
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We always have to meet spongebob squarepants after we have a ride on E.T.!
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You may notice that I am almost always holding that refillable mug in these pictures. That’s because it was 70000 degrees that day (and most of that week), so i was constantly drinking water or power aid.

A was curious about the daytime parade, so we started toward the front of the park to see it. Hello Kitty was hiding out by herself.
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We know nothing about Hello Kitty, but our niece C loves her so we sent her this picture.

We easily found a spot just before the parade started.
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The spongebob section was a highlight, along with the Despicable Me float seen in the other pictures.

They were strangely obsessed with the Easter movie Hop.
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They should probably just leave the parades up to Disney! 🤣

A little more Universal coming up.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday September 12, 2016 continued.

Next up was Shrek and Donkey!
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Donkey is a lot of fun. There’s a live puppeteer who heckles you!

We took the hogwarts express over to Hogsmeade to have some butterbeers. The Three Broomsticks was quiet that time of day.
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Butterbeer is much better than fishy green ale!

We said goodbye to universal and headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. We chose the Millers Ale House near the hotel.
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Ribs for Me.

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Shrimp for A. It was opening weekend for the NFL and Monday night football was on, so the place was packed. We still had great service, and had a good time!

Coming up: We finally get into “the bubble”!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday September 13, 2016

We were up bright and early to head into the Disney bubble for the remainder of the trip!
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Our home for the rest of the week. I spy some scaffolding.
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We arrived super early to try and rope drop MK.

Our room was ready when we arrived. I stopped by the front desk to get us our birthday pins.
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Still my favorite lobby. I can smell this photo. Is that weird? Does this happen to anyone else?

They were in the process of building Copper Creek Villas and cabins. They left these pins for us. I don’t remember the construction being an issue for us. In fact, it actually ended up giving our standard view an upgrade to a castle view!
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We were able to make it to MK in time for rope drop. We headed to Tomorrowland first.
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Starting the day off in defeat. Looks like A is trying to check my score to make sure she won.

Peoplemover was next.
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Our first FP was for space mountain.
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Even back then we knew how to “nail it”. @Tuvalu would be most impressed! 🤣 The person behind A looks like they’re just praying we survive!


According to the time stamps on these photos, we ended up on splash about an hour later.
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Looks like a good time was had by all!

Our new friend “yellow shirt lady” joined us for a picture in front of splash mountain.
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It’s a safe bet that we used our third FP on big thunder mountain. Although I have no way of proving that. This was shortly after they integrated FP selection into the app, and we had already learned how to manipulate the system, so we scored quite a bit of FPs that day.

We stopped for pics in front of everyone’s favorite toilets. We had another new friend join us. We’ll call her “grey shirt girl”! Also look how light the crowds are. This is usually a crazy choke point!
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The last two pictures were taken 30 minutes apart. The sky has darkened quite a bit, but the clouds gave no relief to the oppressive heat and humidity.

Up next: More MK.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday September 13, 2016 Continued.

We continued making our way into fantasyland.
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Despite the ominous skies, the deluge was still several hours away.

Looks like we headed under the sea next.
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Everyone act excited!
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Of course there’s no need for us to act excited when we’re in an empty Magic Kingdom!

It was nearing time for the Festival of Fantasy parade. We had a late lunch/early dinner planned at Crystal Palace, so we decided to try and watch the parade in the hub so we could check in for our dinner right after the parade.
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They were doing quite a bit of work on the castle it appears.
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This PP photographer looked bored.

We gave him something to do for a few seconds.
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The parade was quickly approaching but there was plenty of space available.

We watched the parade near Casey’s Corner. Not the best place for photos, but that’s ok!
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It was a significant upgrade over the parade we watched the day before!

Up next: More MK
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday September 13, 2016 continued.

After the parade we checked in for our lunch/dinner at crystal palace.
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The CM working the check in window must have noted our birthday pins. They had our table decorated with confetti. Tigger was the first to greet us.
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The main bear was next, he appeared just as i was headed to the buffet!
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Next was our favorite. Our dog we always called Eeyore had just passed away a few months before our trip. Meeting Eeyore has always been a happy reminder of Charlie the dog for us.
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Last but not least was Piglet!
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The characters really spent a lot of time with us. Thanks to a mostly empty restaurant I’m sure.

They brought us a birthday card signed by the characters.
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And birthday cupcakes!
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We had another fantastic meal at crystal palace!

Up next: Mickeys Not So Scary Tropical Storm!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday September 13, 2016 continued.

We left our dinner full and happy. The park would be closing for MNSSHP soon. We went to pickup our wristbands in Tomorrowland.
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We also got another ride in on Space Mountain.
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I can only do SM once a day these days.

Even though the party hadn’t officially started yet, lines for the more popular M&Gs were already quite long. We decided to start our night on the Adventureland side of the park, so we started that way. Stopping for pictures in front of the tiny castle along the way.
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So is the castle supposed to be way off in the distance, or does beast live in a tiny castle?

There was a little rain storm approaching, so we decided to catch the final showing of the Country Bear Jamboree. It started raining pretty hard while we waited for the show to start. By the time we left the show it was absolutely pouring! We donned our ponchos to do some trick or treating in the rain, hoping it would let up in time for the parade and fireworks.
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They were doing a magic shot just outside the Tiki Room.

We ended up in Tomorrowland. We collected our treats from stitch and CoP. We were hoping to see Lotso Bear, but he wasn’t meeting because of the rain, which still showed no sign of letting up. We settled for another ride on Buzz since it was a walk on.
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I eventually gave up on the poncho. It was pouring rain, but I was so hot under that thing that i decided I’d rather just let the rain fall on me. The Aladdin characters were meeting in Adventureland under an awning, so we went there next. Even though the meeting was inside, the line was outside. Fortunately not many people were interested in standing in the rain. Aladdin and Abu had just rotated in when our turn came.
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Abu was a lot of fun!

By now it was after ten. The announcement was made that Hallowishes was delayed(the first parade had already been cancelled). Many people started heading for the exit. We hung around on Main Street hoping to wait out the rain.
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The music was enjoyable and festive! We stood under an awning and watched a poor CM walk up and down Main Street with a squeegee trying to keep it as dry as he could. He wasn’t having much luck!

Up Next: Fireworks?
 

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