Trip Report The “More SunPass than the average Florida resident/Can you believe this is happening?” Trip Report.

*****Disclaimer*****​

This is my first trip using a GoPro as my primary form of image capturing. With this comes some trial and error that I learned along the way so I do apologize for the occasional fuzzy picture as well as the excessive amount of pictures I am about to bombard you with. Additionally, I am not known for my wordsmithing as I favor the 1’s and 0’s over the A’s and B’s so I apologize ahead of time for the inevitable grammar and spelling typos that will surely come your way. That said, I do hope you enjoy the following!

So here we are, Surf ‘n Turf trip number four! For all the funtivities about the who/what/when/etc have yourself a nice read here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/18-years-of-marital-bliss-means-it’s-time-for-some-surf-n-turf-action…-again.915877/

So after about five and half hours of sleep I was up bright and early at 04:00 with the DW soon up to follow. The DMIL, who was staying over to watch the DD, saw us off and we ended up pulling out of the house around 04:40 to avoid the madness that is Atlanta traffic. We had to make a quick stop to fuel up first:

We chose to avoid eating until we got through downtown because I didn’t want to risk getting caught in anything the ATL could conjure up. Soon we were on the south side and ready for some breakfast. We passed a sign for Truett’s grill, Chick-fil-A founder, and thought this sounded good, I love me some spicy chicken biscuit action! We took the exit and made our way to the grill only to find out that they didn’t open for breakfast until 06:00!! Alas, it was only 05:45 and I was on a mission to not waste time so we hopped back on I-75 and made our way south. We ended up dining at a Chick-fil-A in Macon only to learn that the spicy chicken biscuit has now become a regional item!! I pressed the server to make sure she knew what state we were still in and that the idea of a spicy chicken biscuit not being available in Truett’s home state was just plain nuts! So the DW and I settled for a pair of chicken biscuits but had the fortune that a Dunkin Donuts was right across the street so we were able to secure some good coffee for the trip.
[TangetTime]

True story: I actually met Honey Boo Boo at this very Dunkin Donuts during the state wrestling tournament about three years ago. Now aren’t you jealous!!!

[/TangentTime]

We would only stop one more time for fuel and restroom access during our travels. We did, however, pass a most entertaining car fire as we entered into Florida. I felt a bit bad for the folks watching their car crisp up and even worse when we eventually passed the FD traveling north about 5 minutes later. What, amazingly, felt like a short seven-hour ride, we had arrived!

We navigated our way from Western Way to MK’s main gate. Needless to say I was ready to get to the Poly. Here the DW nabbed a pic of me without knowing, it wouldn’t be the last she would get of me.

Soon we were in the Poly’s lobby talking in the wonderful sights and smells.

We made our way to the front desk to learn our room was not ready. We anticipated this and packed our bathing suits and some libations in a tote for an afternoon poolside before our early evening fastpasses. We made for our car and moved it to the DVC parking lot when we got the call…

 

[Tuvalu]

"Laundry"

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

Love your trip report! Thx for all the pics and happy anniversary.

 

[lostpro9het]

Awesome upgrade. so......which one of you got to sleep on the water pageant roll out bed?

Laura took the water pageant roll out, I took the Stitch roll out...

"Laundry"

See above...

J/K,


The master bed was super comfy, or we were just super tired. Either way, the roll outs were simply decorative for our purposes.

 

[lostpro9het]

Now that photobucket is done being a moron I can get back to this trip report. I mean, less than 40 days till our next trip so I better get a move on!

We made our drive over to AKL Kidani, traffic was lite and the weather was beautiful. We hit the front desk somewhere between 9 and 10 and our room was ready! We quickly made our way to drop our stuff off before heading to EC. We had another wonderful savanna view but were in a rush to hit the park so not much animal watching was done on this day.

We opted to take the bus to EC and had almost no wait for the bus and soon we were there.

Our timing was nothing short of perfect as once we paced SE Beaker and Bunsen had just arrived!

After getting our Muppet science on we made for The Land to catch a ride around the world before heading to the DVC lounge.

I must be a true sentimentalist because I still don’t care for SATW as much as I did SOC. I miss my pine and orange .

Still to come: DVC lounge, some lite drinking around the world and catching up with an old friend.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I'm not sure how I really feel about the new Soarin. I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's just not as real as the previous version. I was still in awe and I cried a little bit at a second viewing.

I believe what makes the new version amazing is that it's things that I will (more than likely) never see in my life. I'm a history major. Ancient Egyptian history is one of my favorite time periods to read about and study. To be able to see the pyramids (or a CGI version of them) via the new Soarin is a big deal.

Another thing I like is being around people who have never seen Soarin. That first time on Soarin is breathtaking in both a good and bad way. It's exciting and scary at the same time. For some Disney guests, this is the only international travel they will ever do. I love that excitement, the gasps, and the clapping (yes, even this) at the end. And I love that Disney has this type of experience.

As frequent WDW travelers, I feel we can become a bit jaded in our views of new attractions. We see them with the eyes of an experienced WDW-goer. I'm guilty of nitpicking new stuff. I've built up the expectation of what it should have been instead of just enjoying for what it is.

With all that said, and being the experienced WDW that I (and Sean) am, I still love going to WDW. There's always something new to experience even if you've seen or done that experience a million times. This next trip (December) will be something really out of our element.

We have decided to bring my parents.

 

[lostpro9het]

We have decided to bring my parents.

Yes..and I'm so excited too

 

[lostpro9het]

After Soarin for a bit we made our way over to Imagination! We mainly wanted to check out the new DVC lounge and opted to skip any journeys in this nook.

It took us a minute to find the actual lounge as the amount of signage for the location was nonexistent. Soon we found the gatekeeper and passed her our DVC card to gain entrance and made our way to the lounge.

I’ll be honeset, I was genuinely surprised by the amount of space and how relaxing it was to sneak up here, grab some refreshments, and just rest in some AC. There was plenty to do for all ages, even complementary ipads and computers for use.

There was no shortage of recharge ports available all over the place. Additionally, if you neglected to bring your charging cable the CMs would gladly provide you with a loaner cord to charge your device! I would love it if this lounge became a permanent resident for DVC members. It was so nice to just recharge for a minute in a relaxing environment. We probably hung around for 20ish minutes before making our way into the WS in search of some lunch and libations.

 

[imahistorygeek]

FYI - You have to go to the CM desk and ask for the K Cups.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after taking in the DVC lounge we made our move to World Showcase via Canada. We were on the hunt for lunch but were not terribly interested in the food kiosks as EC has probably the best QS option in Tangierine Café. So we set out counter clockwise passing through England and France before reaching our Moroccan destination.

We didn’t want to overdo it on lunch since we had a 5:30 Sanaa ADR so we shared the vegetarian platter and a side of olives. Not being a huge fan of the Casa beer offered at TC I made my way out to the juice bar which has a larger selection of imported beer. We went with an Efes and an Estrella. I ranked them both at a 2.75 out of 5 and would drink them again but in no rush to do so.

With bellies full we made our way to Japan and China to pick up some gifts for the DD.

We made a short stop at the America pavilion to check out the Chase Visa lounge, sorry no picks. The CV lounge offered up some nice AC but it wasn’t as nice as the DVC lounge.

Coming up: Meeting an old friend, some pool time, and Sanaa.

 

[lostpro9het]

So continuing on, we made our way towards Italy when Laura wanted to taste some sparkling red wine (Banfi Rosa Regale) she had read about so we popped in to get a glass for her. Im pretty sure she enjoyed…

Next we made our way to Germany where we sampled a pretzel from the cart and I sourced an Erdinger Dunkel (3 out of 5) from Sommerfest, FYI, this is a great place to get large drafts on the cheap, well Disney cheap.

Next was a quick stop in China to pick up the DD some paper lanterns. FWIW, the terracotta army is not on display as they are previewing Shanghai Disney in its place .

As we continued on we saw the sign…

For those of you that remember our Christmas funtivities you will understand why we didn’t immediately get excited. Laura has been wearing Laila for a looooooong time and I started wearing the Geir about a year or so ago and enjoy it. We met him on an anniversary trip a few years back and had a great experience with him, got his autograph and took many pictures. Sadly all those pictures got deleted before we got home and we have been hoping to bump into him again. Well today was the day!! He is still a super nice dude and very approachable. We asked his assistant to take a picture of us and I swear it was as if I asked a monkey to perform advanced calculus while riding a bike backwards! She truly meant well but it probably took the three of us, Geir included, six minutes to explain how to take a picture then a few more minutes for her to take a picture that didn’t look she took it while riding BTM! Anyway, we exchanged a few pleasantries and our back story and it was another great experience AND the picture made it home!!

Still to come: Dinner and a night safari.

 

[imahistorygeek]

The CM in Italy looked and acted like she'd rather be doing anything else at that moment. I think paint drying may have been more entertaining for her. I get it though. It probably gets a bit monotonous.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after our visit with Geir we continued our way out of the WS and went to check out the craft beer venue housed in the Odyssey center. I had high hopes in the offering but that was quickly dashed when I saw the beer line up. So we just poked our heads in and took two pics and made our way for the exit.

On the way out Laura decided she had to have a new phone case so we popped into MouseGear to pick one up. She was happy so that meant I was happy.

As we passed SE we noticed Daisy was practically standing all alone off to the side so we decided to pay her a visit before we exited the park.

As we left the park we had the fortune of a bus waiting on us so we quickly hopped on and were soaking in the AC as we made our way back to Kidani. The animals were out and we snapped a few pics before heading down to the pool.

The weather was pretty wonderful out and we still had a couple hours before our Sanaa ADR so we made our way to the pool where it was surprisingly not very busy. After recent dramatic price increases at the Maji pool bar I decided to do some research and source some of my favorite Maji beer offerings in a can. Golden Monkey is a solid tripel that I give a 4 out of 5 and the Vital IPA is a really good IPA that I gave a 3.25 out of 5. So we relaxed pool side for a couple hours still contemplating the amazing Poly experience we had just had while excitedly thinking about the Dream that was to come the next day.

There was no shortage of entertainment thanks to the kids activity hour, here they are getting their dance on.


Still to come: Sanaa, AK at night, and boarding a Dream.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after some R&R we made for the room, cleaned up, and then headed back towards the lobby for Dinner. We decide to make a pit stop at the community hall to play with the photo booth first, though.

We passed through the lobby then made our way down stairs for dinner.

I can’t say enough good things about this place. We’ve consistently had excellent service, excellent food, and wonderful ambiance while dining here. Some folks are afraid, cough cough @prfctlyximprct, but dang you just need to give it a chance! An obvious must when dining here is the bread service, just awesome. After a few trips here we opted out of the nine accompaniments and only get the three, we end up wasting too much with the nine. We like to go with the Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, and the Coriander Chutney. For dinner, our go-to meal is sharing the Potjie with double butter chicken and ordering an extra bowl of rice, soooo good.

With bellies full we made for AK. We had FPs for EE and the Safari. We didn’t have a whole lot planned for tonight as we had an early morning at Kona then a drive to the port still to come. It was interesting to say the least experiencing Ak at night. The animal offering is nowhere near as entertaining as it is during the day and that should be expected, I mean they gotta sleep too. So this was more about taking the park in during a different hour. Riding EE at night was a lot of fun. The safari was “ok” it is an abridged version as they cut out a portion of it and you miss the primates and some of the elephant area. What was really cool about the night time safari is apparently the animals normal sleeping areas are really close to the vehicle path so you do get a lot of up close encounters with sleeping animals. We left the safari and made for the gate but not before watching the Tree of Life change.

Still to come: Kona in the morning and boarding a Dream.

 

[lostpro9het]

Sleep came surprisingly quickly the night before boarding. As is our cruise day tradition we had Kona ADRs early this morning and we were up by 06:30. We quickly arrived at Kona to find we were a few minutes early and the restaurant was still setting up. About five minutes later and we were being seated. I had one gripe about our dining experience today and that was we were the first to be seated in the ENTIRE restaurant and they chose to seat us in this tiny nook in a dark corner!! I mean, WTH?!?! Anyway, we were greeted with a card thanking us for coming back to Kona:

We decided to split a coffee press, which is now up to $8, and The Big Kahuna. The coffee and food were good as always and we got to use our TiW so there was another win.

After a fine breakfast and a quick look around in the Poly’s gift shop, again, we made for the port! It was during this leg of our trip that I made an observation and consequently the title for this TR. While we were speeding through the SunPass lines at the toll booths I noticed many Florida residents pulling over to pay cash for the tolls. It was here that I realized BOTH of our vehicles have a Florida SunPass attached to them to avoid the stop for tolls and I realized that “We may have more SunPass than the average Florida resident”. I wasn’t sure if I should be feeling pride or sadness in that fact but either way it is what it is…

In what was probably the quickest 45ish minute drive we were soon eclipsing the bridge to the port! We made our way up to level three of the parking deck, got in line, and passed our luggage on to the porter while waiting to enter the port check-in area.

Still to come: Checking in, Cabanas for lunch, and more veranda space than we could have imagined!

 

[lostpro9het]

Soon we were making our way through the security checkpoint and within minutes we were checking in! For all that is involved with the preboarding process Disney has it down pat! We were quickly logged and had our keys in hand with a Navigator to read over while we wait. We scored a boarding group of 2! There is obviously plenty of people watching to be had while port and a few other sites to take in.

It wasn’t long before we had a visitor come by to say hello.

Soon they were announcing the “Family of the Day” and we began boarding!

Still to come: Checking out the boat, Cabanas, and my Castaway Cocktail…

 

[imahistorygeek]

I feel as though I have one pose in most of these pictures. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I have found a new shirt. Our daughter loving refers to it as the "dorito shirt." It's Lularoe and it's comfortable. I believe my blue dress (my Disney go-to apparel) only makes one appearance on this cruise.

 

[oliviosis]

I feel as though I have one pose in most of these pictures. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I have found a new shirt. Our daughter loving refers to it as the "dorito shirt." It's Lularoe and it's comfortable. I believe my blue dress (my Disney go-to apparel) only makes one appearance on this cruise.

I have several of those shirts and recognized that as a LulaRoe Randy immediately. Love mine too!

 

[mcstensrud]

I feel as though I have one pose in most of these pictures. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I have found a new shirt. Our daughter loving refers to it as the "dorito shirt." It's Lularoe and it's comfortable. I believe my blue dress (my Disney go-to apparel) only makes one appearance on this cruise.

Oooh!I thought it looked like a Candy Corn Shirt. sorry

 

[pezgirlroy]

I feel as though I have one pose in most of these pictures. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I have found a new shirt. Our daughter loving refers to it as the "dorito shirt." It's Lularoe and it's comfortable. I believe my blue dress (my Disney go-to apparel) only makes one appearance on this cruise.

Can I ask you an odd question: I suspected this was the Lularoe Randy shirt. I have been very tempted to get one but have been unsure of the size. We look to be around the same size. Would you mind sharing the size? So odd I realize I have hijacked the thread with this question.

 

[lostpro9het]

I don't mean to interrupt this fascinating LulaRoe conversation...... but here are a few more pics.

So once we popped inside the boat we made for guest relations to double check our on board credit and to book the wine tasting seminar. I grabbed a few pictures as we made our way to the queue.

We booked ourselves the wine seminar during the Nassau day as we have no interest in getting off the boat that day and really enjoy the peacefulness of the ship when most folks are out. After our visit with GR we made our way topside to get some lunch. It was still early and it would be about two hours before our room would be available for us to use. We anticipated this and packed our swimsuits and had planned on some R&R while waiting on our room. The madness had not quite made it up to the main deck so I was able to get a few calm pics.

Still to come: Cabanas lunch, Castaway Cocktail by the adults pool, and our room is ready!