Title Chosen: World of Friendship! October 2017 Girls Getaway: Aloha to the Poly/ MCO Hyatt p33-4

I hoped that we could meet you at Epcot that afternoon but we decided to relax at our resort instead. I’m sorry that I missed the chance to meet Kathy. I used to follow her reports.
 
What a fun time in Epcot sampling lots of F&W snacks and using some FP for rides! I love your nails btw, super cute!

How nice it must have been to meet up with Kathy! Our plans never lined up and we couldn't meet. Great pic!
 
Welcome Home!



Welcome Home!


We had accomplished everything we wanted to in EPCOT. Our plans for the evening were meeting up with ~Ninja for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. Since we were near the International Gateway, we had a stroke of brilliance.

We would visit our beloved Beach Club and take a bus from there to MK.


As we traveled on the pathway from the International Gateway to the resort, I took a couple of pictures.


Janet was a great model


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Shhhh! (This is the secret entrance)









The sun was setting


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A few weeks before our trip, Disney announced a new policy allowing pet dogs to stay with their owners at certain resorts, including the Yacht Club. As we walked to the Beach Club entrance, Janet noticed a dog out in the courtyard that seemed to be part of a wedding party (note the leash that matched the bridesmaid gowns)


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We stopped so I could get a picture of me at “home”. We also took a picture to pay tribute to our dear friend Rebecca.





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We spent a few minutes in the Beach Club Marketplace. Without having my family there to judge, I took the opportunity to snap a plethora of photos which I posted on the Beach Club FAQ:

Marketplace Photos 2017


As we were getting ready to leave, a CM came over to us and said “Hi!” so enthusiastically that I thought she knew us. I think I actually asked her if we had met before and she said

“No, but you two look so happy!”

And we were!


We walked through the lobby, where there was definitely someone missing, then walked out to the bus stop where I checked out the progress of the construction of the Yacht Club convention center.











I don’t think we waited very long for the bus and soon we were passing by the MK arch.


We were just a few minutes later than the 7 pm time we had planned to meet back up with our friend and find a spot for the fireworks.


Next up: Where’s ~Ninja?
 
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Yikes, I'm terribly behind getting to you latest report. So sorry about that! But I'm here now and all caught up. Your room at SSR looks really nice. Love the bed you made for yourself, very creative. The view of Disney Springs out your balcony was stunning! Must have been very nice stepping outside and seeing the Characters in Flight balloon.

You certainly did get a lot accomplished at Epcot, especially on an arrival day. I'm very jealous you got to meet Kathy! I think I would freak if I ever ran into either one of you in the parks.:rotfl2:
 
Glad you were able to stop by the BC :goodvibes
Love your pics of the sun setting and your walk back.
It’s only been a month and I miss the BC so much.
 


Great sunset photos and yes Janet is a wonderful model. You look so at home in your BC shot but most of all I love the tribute to Rebecca and I’ve no doubt that she was smiling down on you all :)
Great idea to go to MK via BC. Just perfect :)
 
Wait, what??!!! How did I not think about looking on the Dis for this trip report? I'm just seeing this now and I'm going to catch up on my reading.

:wave2:

:welcome:

Better late than never.

Plus, you were kind of there, so a lot is going to be review for you.

:goodvibes




Yikes, I'm terribly behind getting to you latest report. So sorry about that! But I'm here now and all caught up. Your room at SSR looks really nice. Love the bed you made for yourself, very creative. The view of Disney Springs out your balcony was stunning! Must have been very nice stepping outside and seeing the Characters in Flight balloon.

You certainly did get a lot accomplished at Epcot, especially on an arrival day. I'm very jealous you got to meet Kathy! I think I would freak if I ever ran into either one of you in the parks.:rotfl2:

I'm behind on my report too!

You definitely get a pass.

There were a lot of things I liked about SSR. There was so much space in the room and the views were incredible.

OMG, I would love to meet you on a future trip! It is amazing how such strong bonds can be formed between people who have not (yet) met in person.

:grouphug:


Glad you were able to stop by the BC :goodvibes
Love your pics of the sun setting and your walk back.
It’s only been a month and I miss the BC so much.

No matter where I am staying when on property, my heart is at the Beach Club! :love:

I love the resort at sunrise, and sunset and in between.

PDD- Post Disney Depression- is real!

::yes::


Great sunset photos and yes Janet is a wonderful model. You look so at home in your BC shot but most of all I love the tribute to Rebecca and I’ve no doubt that she was smiling down on you all :)
Great idea to go to MK via BC. Just perfect :)

Thanks!

It was only right for us to visit the resort that has served as the basis of so many of my friendships.

:grouphug:
 
Since we were near the International Gateway, we had a stroke of brilliance.

We would visit our beloved Beach Club and take a bus from there to MK.

Excellent plan!! I love how convenient the IG is. And I'm sure you didn't mind spending a few minutes at the Beach Club :)

As we walked to the Beach Club entrance, Janet noticed a dog out in the courtyard that seemed to be part of a wedding party (note the leash that matched the bridesmaid gowns)

How cute is this!? I know there were mixed feelings about allowing pet dogs in some resorts, mostly about cleanliness in rooms, etc. But service dogs have always been allowed at resorts, and it's not all resorts being affected, so I don't think people have much to worry about. But I think this is a sweet idea for a wedding!

I think I actually asked her if we had met before and she said

“No, but you two look so happy!”

And we were!

This is great!! I'm glad you were having a wonderful time, and that someone noticed and you could make each others' days better.
 
We feel like BC is Home, too. We’ve never taken a trip that didn’t include a visit to the BC. Now that the Marketplace at Ale and Compass has warm pecan nut rolls we’ve added a visit to the YC, too.

Your tribute to Rebecca was very sweet. :)
 
Excellent plan!! I love how convenient the IG is. And I'm sure you didn't mind spending a few minutes at the Beach Club :)

It really is convenient. The location and ease of getting into EPCOT really is my favorite thing about staying at the Beach (or Yacht) Club.

How cute is this!? I know there were mixed feelings about allowing pet dogs in some resorts, mostly about cleanliness in rooms, etc. But service dogs have always been allowed at resorts, and it's not all resorts being affected, so I don't think people have much to worry about. But I think this is a sweet idea for a wedding!

As you know, it is important to attend to every wedding detail- a matching leash for the best pet is a must!

This is great!! I'm glad you were having a wonderful time, and that someone noticed and you could make each others' days better.

This was such a fun interaction with the CM. We told her of course we were happy! We were sorry that she has to deal with so many people who were not magical throughout the day.

:goodvibes
 
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We feel like BC is Home, too. We’ve never taken a trip that didn’t include a visit to the BC. Now that the Marketplace at Ale and Compass has warm pecan nut rolls we’ve added a visit to the YC, too.

Your tribute to Rebecca was very sweet. :)

That's great that you are able to make it over to the BC even when staying elsewhere. I haven't made it there every trip, but I think I have at least gone by on the Friendship boats on the couple of occasions (I'm looking at you, 8th grade trips) I didn't have a chance to stop in.

Yum, the pecan rolls sound good.

I miss Rebecca. I am remembering last Christmas, it was warm and Mark and I went to the beach and took pictures of a sign that said "Hi, Rebecca" that I texted to her.

::yes::
 
Gorgeous, you always get the best sunrise pics.

Thank you!

Well, it is a big help that I am an early riser, so it isn't difficult for me to be around when the sun appears.

YIKES:scared1:

Your room is pretty I don't think I've seen pic of thee inside of SS rooms.

It was pretty scary and amazing watching the balloon. I actually called the girls out to watch when it was happening.

I hadn't really seen pictures from Saratoga either. I didn't do my typical over-board research before this trip and for the most part, I went with the flow.

HA!

:lmao:
 
Where’s ~Ninja?


It was around 7:15 when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom. The sun was setting.


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We walked around Main Street looking for ~Ninja who we figured would be somewhere around the hub, set up to photograph the upcoming fireworks. We didn’t find her so we sent a text. Turns out she was not at the park yet.

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I took pictures of the castle with all three of my cameras:


iphone

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P&S


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DSLR

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Once the Cast Members taped off the space in the Hub indicating where guests could stand, ~Ninja found a spot to set up our tripods. She helped me with the camera settings I needed to use and she instructed me to practice taking pictures holding down the shutter for 15 seconds.


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Meanwhile, Janet went to Casey’s to grab a snack- she returned and shared some French Fries with us, but since it was going to be another hour before fireworks would start, and it had already been a long travel day, she decided to call it a night and head back to Saratoga.


~Ninja and I stayed put and talked until it was time for the show.


I followed ~Ninja’s suggestion for photographing fireworks- “Spray and Pray”- Just keep taking pictures and hope some of them are decent.


I had trouble totally weaning myself from shooting a few with my Point & Shoot, so I took a few photos throughout the show with my trusty camera:


Fireworks- P & S

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Here is my first attempt at using my DSLR camera, a tripod and long-exposure to shoot the fireworks


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This one was a quick shot- not a long exposure. Note the dark castle and the crisp fireworks.



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Continued in the Next Post
 
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After Happily Ever After
Continued from Previous Post


After the fireworks show was over, the two of us planned to go to Haunted Mansion.


Problem was, we were going the opposite way from everyone else trying to leave the park. We got separated pretty quickly. I was still carrying my tripod with the camera attached because it was too crowded for me to stop and disassemble it.

I made it to Liberty Square and waited on the porch by Memento Mori, the Haunted Mansion dump shop. It was dark and difficult to see, but ~Ninja’s method of meeting up is to call out the name of the person she is trying to find. Soon enough, I heard her calling my name.

We reunited and got into the standby queue for the ride. Not sure how long we were in line. Maybe 10 minutes.


We each boarded our own Doom Buggy so we could ride alone and take pictures.


My DSLR camera still had the fireworks settings, so I used the P&S for pictures.



Most of the pictures I took were not good.






My pictures of Madame Leota were poor, but I did get some a couple of days later when my group went on the ride again:





I’m pretty happy with the banquet table shots. This is a special scene for me because on a previous trip, with my son and his 8th grade classmates, we got to go backstage here. We watched the part where the ghost-lady is blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

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After riding with 999 spooks who did not cooperate with my camera, we went to Sleepy Hollow to raise our spirits with a treat. As we were waiting in line, we saw an advertisement for pumpkin Mickey waffles.

YES, PLEASE!!!

We got an order to share and they were sooooo good. In fact, we would be back to get these again on the trip.



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~Ninja wanted to stay later- ride Pirates, take some photos of an emptying park. At this point, I was tired from my travel day and visits to both EPCOT and MK, so I took my leave.

I took a couple of pictures as I exited the park:


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When I got back to the room at Saratoga, Janet and Nannette were awake. Nannette was feeling much better. I hoped this was a good sign that she was on the road (or at least pathway) to recovery since the next morning was one of her top priorities on this trip- the Walking With Giants Elephant tour at Animal Kingdom.


We pulled out the mattress on the sofa bed for ~Ninja so she wouldn’t have to do it when she got back. I made my bed- literally- by putting the sofa cushions in my little corner as described in a previous post.


Today was an awesome start to the trip!

Next Up: Animal Kingdom/Pandora, Walking with Giants, Lion King
 
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