Wait while I take a picture, I cant eat any more, NO KIDS! Sept 2012 Trip Report

If you need a little background on me any my wife please visit my Pre Trip Report HERE.

So with no more delay here it goes.....

We had counted down from 344 days for our arrival day. Finally it was here and all was set. So we hit the road around 8am EST and headed I-75 Sound Bound!!

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Not too eventful during our trip. However I must point out while needing to fuel up before leaving Georgia we decided to visit what we felt was a pretty good deal on fuel. $3.69 per gallon.

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After I swiped my card and started fueling I noticed the price was a lot different from what was on the sign. I told my wife. Wow this gas is $3.74 a gallon. Confused I kept pumping and started looking around. Then my eyes were finally able to focus on the VERY tiny notice on the right side of the HUGE Citgo sign. Notice picture zoomed in below...

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Needless to say when you first get into Valdosta, GA and see a Citgo gas station, just drive a few mile further down and you will find plenty of gas stations with the same pricing and no need to pay with cash or a special gas card. Stay away from Citgo!!

Anyway nothing was going to get me upset so off we go with a tank full of gas and before we knew it....

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The Florida State line and Ron Jon Surf shop signs!!! Ahead of schedule and making great time!

Of course my first stop when entering Florida is...

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Thats right!! The I-75 Florida Welcome Center!!

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Nothing like finally being back in Florida! This is by far my most favorite State Welcome Center!

Pat was kind enough to offer me a free cup of Orange Juice and Grapefruit Juice.

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After that its always fun browsing the brochures.

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So we are back on our way and once we get on the Florida Turnpike the signs point the way!

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But before you can get there you have to pay the toll!!

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And once you go through a lengthy countdown and make all your ADR's and travel all that way...

You arrive here........

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Britt

Well-Known Member
I always wonder at the "sign" picture, how many people are taking that EXACT same pic at the same time...HAHAHA

YAY! Cant wait to read more! And I fully understand about usually being behind the camera, there are few pics of me, that I didn't take myself in my trip report! haha (actually...I dont think there are any)
 

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nothing like crossing the arches entering Disney World. Its like once you cross those arches you leave the rest of the world behind and vacation finally starts!

Not long after that were looking at Wide World of Sports to our right.

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That means only one thing...... Make a left at the light on Victory Way

Pass Art of Animation,

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and once again my wife and I arrived back home at POP for our third stay!
Its so nice to be home....

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Has anyone ever thought what if they didnt have my name on the list at the security gates?? I do almost every time. Hahah. But they always do. So after a brief stop at the security gate..

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Were finally here!!!!

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Couldn't wait to walk back into Classic Hall.

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So we went to the Online Check In line and I was eager to find out where in POP we were staying. They had us staying in the 50's! I love the 50's and have stayed there before so I asked was it possible that we could stay somewhere in the 60's. Well the cast member helping us was glad to check..

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and were in the 60's! Bottom floor too. Perfect.

Now time to go see our room.

If you have never seen a POP Century room well here you go...

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There you go. Thats it. hahaha. Two shots got it all covered except the bathroom. But its a bathroom.....

And the view from our window overlooked the lake toward Art of Animation.

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So far great start. Loved our room location and its an awesome feeling to be back at POP.
 

Semantje

Active Member
Great Begin! Everything went great and smooth. A good way to start a vacation. $3.74 a gallon?!!! Whooo we would kill for that around here. I did a calculation and we pay a bit more than $9 a gallon and no there are no road taxes included cause we pay them seperate. Hmm maybe we do have to move to another country lol.
 

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great start, can't wait to read the rest of it.
I am working on it. I took almost 3000 shots while there. I havent had much time to go through all the shots yet to weed out the keepers.

I took all of the shots except for the ones of the drive down. My awesome wife put up with me telling her what to do to get those. hahaha. Shes awesome.
 

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Okay back to this whole Trip Report thing. Not a pro at this so hang in there with me while I try to put everything in order.

First off I was very happy with our travel down to Orlando. I wanted to be checked in by 3pm and when I took a look at the time once we got unpacked in our room it was 3:05pm. AWESOME! We had an hour to burn before I wanted to hit the bus for the MK to catch the monorail to the Poly for our 5pm ADR for Ohana. So after a short rest in the room here we are waiting to catch our first bus!

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After a short wait were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

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Cant you just see the excitement!!!
By the way thats me on the right and my lovely wife on my left.

After a enjoyable ride to the Magic Kingdom we exit the bus and head to catch a Monorail to the Poly. Noticed the nice wrapper of the Avengers movie on one of the Monorails.

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Finally at the Poly. After making these ADR's 180 days prior we are finally here!!! Not sure if I have discussed my love for the Poly or not. Really love this resort and hope to be able to stay there one day.
Once we checked in for our dinner reservations we sat by the window watching everyone outside and took in all the beautiful sites of the Poly. We saw a couple who were just married getting their pictures taken.

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And I took a few shots of the lobby.

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After about a 15 minute wait we were finally seated. We were seated right next to the main aisle and after being seated we were warned to keep our legs out of the aisle for the coconut race. I didnt pay too much attention to that as I was so pumped to finally be on vacation but I will soon find out why.

Okay I have my priorities so the first thing in order is to start my beer tour. First on the menu...

Island Lager.

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Very light tasting beer. I must say it was refreshing and a good start. I wasn't disappointed. But as I always say... "Even the worst beer I ever had was just wonderful." This was far from being a bad beer. To be honest I didnt have a bad beer my entire trip. Everyone of them were great!

Wife opted for a Fuzzy Navel.

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Okay time to bring on the food!
First up was the Pineapple-Coconut Bread.

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Good bread but I need something with more substance!

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Now were talking! Honey Coriander Chicken Wings and Pork fried dumplings both which were awesome! Keep in mind we skipped having lunch on the road to save room for this dinner. Glad we did.

Next up Egg Noodles tossed in a peanut sauce and vegetables. You can also see the bowl of mixed greens in the background. However, I am a carnivore so I don't pay much attention to this... Bring on the protein.

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Now were talking. Oak Grilled Chicken and Asian Barbecued Pork Loin. I am not much of a person to comment on chicken but the chicken here is awesome!

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Add some Marinated Sirloin Steak and some Spicy Grilled Peel - n - Eat Shrimp made me a happy guy!

Continuing the beer tour with Pale Ale and I found my favorite beer of the night.

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So next time try any of these two beers when you visit Ohana..

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nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
How many pictures can you post at a time?? Wasnt sure so starting again where I left off....

Okay I am going to spend a minute talking about this..........

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'Ohana bread pudding served a la mode with Bananas and Caramel Sauce​

Sorry that I already tore into it before I snapped this picture. The waiter brought this out and poured the banana and caramel sauce all over it and I lost it. This was awesome!!! I asked if he could bring some more caramel sauce out. He said of course. I said okay its too good to be true!!!

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YUM!!
We were so right in skipping lunch for this meal. It was by far one of the best dinners we had on property. If you haven't experienced this yet then you need to. Let me make a recommendation. If you are traveling as adults I would suggest not sitting right next to the aisle. Here is why...​
They have a coconut race down that aisle and to me it seemed my table was in danger of being knocked over by children with brooms knocking a coconut down the aisle. Maybe I am just being silly but knowing how some kids have no sense of they need to just push the coconut down the aisle rather than trying to see how hard they could hit it made me just slightly concerned. They were really close to my table and spilling my beer would have been a HUGE party foul.​
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Anyway, all of them were well mannered and we had no incidents. I was on my guard though....​
So dinner was awesome, I had my belly full it was time to pay what the Dining Plan wouldn't pay and waddle out stuffed. On the way out I did grab one shot of the grill...​
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Then we passed the Kona Cafe and I said I would be back in a couple days to take on some Tonga Toast.​
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With our Leis around our neck were off to the Magic Kingdom for Night of Joy!​
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Next stop Magic Kingdom!!​
 

WDWmazprty

Well-Known Member
YEESSSSS! As you can tell by my avatar, I love Tonga Toast! Also, Ohana bread pudding is my favorite dessert in all of the World! My keyboard is being drooled on as we speak. =)
 

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
YEESSSSS! As you can tell by my avatar, I love Tonga Toast! Also, Ohana bread pudding is my favorite dessert in all of the World! My keyboard is being drooled on as we speak. =)
These are my favs too. I do recognize your avatar and have a picture very similar but it will have to wait until I get to that part of my story.
 

mickey2008.1

Well-Known Member
I cant wait to read this TR! A serious beer man, food lover, and a couple of disney geeks just like me and my wife. Your wife had to put up with picture taking too, as I know, that's alot to ask for. Good for you two.
 

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hahah. Third post and I am still on my arrival day. Hope I am supplying enough detail and visual stimulation for the masses. I will continue....

So here we are!!!

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First stop is City Hall to get our Anniversary Buttons. 3 years!

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And as we make our way though the crowds leaving the park for the special event it was hard not to stop every 5 feet to take a shot of the castle and Main Street. However I knew I would be back when the park was less crowded so I was able to move on.

Tonight is the last night of Night of Joy. If you have never heard of Night of Joy well visit this LINK.
Although we were pretty tired we were really looking forward to seeing a few acts there that night. Plus I had never been to a concert at the Magic Kingdom. Whole new experience.

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What a crowd that had already gathred up at the Main Cinderella Castle Stage for LeCrae. We decided to come back and check out some other stages around the park.

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This was the stage for Chris August but before he came out they were showing another concert going on at the next stage for Kutless. We sat there for a little while as it was too crowded to get to that stage for that show. However they did put in two sets that night.

We went back to the Cinderella Castle stage and found out the crowd had doubled. So we stayed and waited for the show to start.

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Not too much else to report on this night except for enjoying the concerts. Here are a few shots of LeCrae during his show. We were pretty far back so the shots were not as good as I would have wanted. But we never tried to get right up front. We were happy sitting further back and listening.

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After his show was up we walked around Adventure Land for a little while and headed back to listen to Third Day. One of my favs.

Didnt bother with trying to get close of this one but as I said before we fun to just sit back relax and listen.

Last shot of the night before we had back to POP for much needed Rest.

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Our arrival day is over. Everything worked out just perfect and the Disney Magic has just begun.

To be continued...........

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nngrendel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I must also add the sound system for these shows was awesome. I have seen some outdoor concerts before and the sound be less than okay. However the sound was great. Would love to see another concert there at the Magic Kingdom.
 

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