This Sparks Joy! A Feb/Mar 2019 Birthday Trip NEW 7/6 x2 THE END of an Amazing Healing Trip!!

[d-train]

Love reading your trip report!
Thank you for sharing!
So excited to be 5eremin about three weeks!

 

[cajunfan]

Wow. Page 5. I am a sloth.

So excited to join in again on another journey with you folks!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Woth2982]

I am here! I am caught up! Now I will probably get hopelessly behind again, but such is life lol!

 

[Ngwira]

Your trip reports are bomb.com. Can’t wait to read more.

 

[TakeMe2Disney13]

Joining in. I love your TR! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Djjsperry]

I have been reading all your previous reports and am now on your current one! 52 days and counting to my next trip planning on buying a year pass!

 

[Tracy161]

We definitely needed some food then so we opted for an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich.

Oooh, I LOVE EoS, but so rarely get there anymore (because I so rarely get to DS anymore). Your sandwich looked amazing!

I posted the pic of the Churro in my stories and said it was one of those "completely useless items that you just have to have" hahaha.

I also saw this hilarious shirt and said that this is my new Run Disney motto.

This shirt is amazing!

So happy that your trip was sparking so much joy

 

[Steppesister]

Yay!! Hi Liesa!

POR has a beautiful and grand looking lobby.

I was going to comment on the photo of it, but you beat me to it. It is so pretty!

I forgot how slowly these boats chugg along and realized that we were probably going to be late for our appointment at The Void! So we tried calling them but got their voicemail. I saw on their website that they would do their best to accommodate late arrivals and I also saw a lot of available times after ours during the day so we hoped they were able to just slide us into the next slot.

They are so slow, but if you're not in a hurry, so relaxing. I love them!

I got the musical purple guy and Steve picked the math nerd.

I first read that as, "Meth Nerd".

These purses were so cute but pretty impractical.

Yeah, I can see that. Teensy!

It was very heavy and filling though, but since it is 9 bucks for this, I'd hope that it would provide some sustenance.

OUCH!

Wow those 3 dishes filled us up way more than I thought it would. I think because it was also 80 degrees and we were getting used to the heat again. Little to no humidity though, which was great. I really love visiting WDW during this time of year as the weather is so nice!

All 3 were super rich, so I can see that. Plus add in warmth and... FOOD COMA!

 

[Mom2m&k]

So excited to see another trip report from you... and so much joy!

 

[chunkymonkey]

So I wanted to update you all on some vacation plans for our Epic May trip!
Steve and I have really changed it up and instead of going for just 6 nights, we're now going for 2 whole weeks! Long story short, we had to cancel our Alaska cruise because I had some family commitments in Singapore that were really close to the sail date and also Steve's dad is not doing too good health wise (he just had another brain aneurysm to contend with) so we decided to "postpone" Alaska until he can travel without too much concern. Since Steve and I didn't want to lose our placeholder Discount, we had to scramble to find dates that we COULD cruise that wouldn't cost us even more money and time away from work. So the Bahamian cruise that leaves on May the 6th worked perfectly for us since that was the original end date of our Epic Girls and Guys trip. Since we were extending we might as well add on more nights at the beginning of the trip! We had a flight change fee but that was met by some of our credit cards who pay for incidental airline fees so thank goodness for that.

We are now going to Orlando April 27 instead of the 30th and staying one night at Universal's Sapphire Falls to attend the Orlando Informer Meetup that night! (@lesleywake and @Malia78 will also be attending!). Then on Sunday April 28th we will move to POFQ for 3 nights! I'm so excited because I really love the quick service there. Our original plans at the WDW Swan are still the same but then on May 6th instead of boarding a flight home we head to Port Canaveral for a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Dream! I'm actually really excited to just do...nothing for 4 days. I didn't book a single port adventure, or onboard activity (they were all gone by this point anyways so I'd be lucky to even find something). The only thing I'd want is Palo brunch but it is not available. I settled for Remy dinner - but even though it's great and I'd love to do it again, there is a dress code and we weren't planning on bringing dress shoes and jacket for Steve and nice shoes for me. But I guess it's a small price to pay when you're going on a Disney Cruise! We will end our second week after disembarking with one night at AKL. We depart back home on May 11th instead of the 6th now. I will definitely update more on our Epic Trip PTR soon!

Also replies coming soon. Thanks everyone for your comments and the new faces and friends!

Day 1 Part 2: This is where I belong

When we last left off we were headed to The Land to ride Steve's favorite, LWTL, but first we made a detour to Mousegears to pick up the Figment passholder magnet! One of these beauties was given to @ArielSRL later that week.

When we arrived at LWTL we had a short 10-minute wait. Can't wait to see all the new stuff growing for Flower and Garden in less than 30 days!

After LWTL we went to fill up our popcorn bucket. My trusty Marvel Day at Sea popcorn bucket is probably my most re-used item that I bring to the parks. Now I get to bring it on a cruise too! We went to the kiosk in between The Land and Imagination Pavilion and if you didn't know already, they have flavors in addition to regular butter popcorn. They have caramel corn, cheddar, and buffalo blue cheese. We decided to try some buffalo blue cheese. I asked them to fill it half way with regular and add some of the buffalo on top because I wasn't sure if I would like it. It turns out, it's pretty good!

We happily ate the popcorn as we headed out of Epcot and to the Friendship boat. Amazingly there was a boat there and whisked us off to DHS! OK so it took like a good 30 minutes because it had to stop at all the resorts. When we arrived we headed to do our Star Tours FP. It turns out I had the time wrong and we were actually 20 mins late for it but they let us on anyways.

Honestly it was pretty empty inside so no real need for a FP anyways! So far in all my times riding this I've never been the rebel spy. It has to happen in my lifetime, right? #notcountingonit.

We made our way over to RnRC and someone stopped us to get a picture of their group and then they offered to take ours.

Also in passing I got a quick picture of Dee's Corner @natebenma - there were plenty of people sitting there today so didn't want to seem like I was taking pictures of them so tried to do it quickly, LOL.

Realized we had a few moments to spare so we split a drink from - I'm actually not sure, but it's that bar next to Rosie's All-American.
We decided on a Southside Fizz because the CM said it was the least sweet out of all the mixed drinks.

It tasted like a Gin Tonic - but maybe a little fruitier. It was pretty good and hit the spot as something refreshing with a kick. I don't know if it is a good idea to ride RnRC with a little somethin' somethin' in you, but hey, it did calm my nerves a bit because I do love this ride and ride it all the time, except when you first see this part as you walk into the loading area, you go OMG I can't believe I'm getting on this!

We did, however have an amazing ride on RnRC! Not so sure about the people in front of this though!

Wind-blown hair, don't care!

We were now headed to TSL for our Slinky Dog FP...only thing was...SDD was down! So there were lines and lines of people in stand-by as well as the FP line just...standing around waiting for some news.

It did not seem like there was much to do other than wait so we hopped on A.S.S. to pass the time, and maybe SDD would be back up when we were done. Well we got on what we thought was a 35 minute standby line for A.S.S. and it turns out it was closer to 45. Blech. We had to text Chunkysis pictures of this as she loves this ride just like she loves Tomater's Junkyard Jamboree in DCA! Finally after waiting longer than we had to, we finally boarded the ride.

It's a cute little ride but one that I'd never waste an FP on. Maybe only CS would! Oh and SDD was not yet up so we saw in our account there was an anytime FP already there.

We were feeling a little peckish so we went to Woody's Lunchbox and got Totchos - tater tots with cheese, chili, sour cream, green onion, yum.

All good things in a bowl!! See my joy??

Since SDD did not have a ETA of getting back up, it was pretty much done for the night since it was almost park closing time at 8:30pm. So at around 8:15 we decided to use our Anytime FP+ for TSM instead.

Oh that's me the winner!!! #joy

When we left TSL we headed back to Sunset Blvd to catch Fantasmic! which had just started. My favorite parts are the ones with the princesses and the very end, shown here:

If that boat doesn't spark joy in you then, well, why are you at Disney?!?

So no Slinky Dog but I beat Steve in TSM, all was ok! We caught the end of the Star Wars Fireworks as we were walking out of the park. We had to walk all the way to the buses which were still in their makeshift spots (but 10x better than it was last June) and our bus to Riverside was there! Can't complain about that!

When we got off at Riverside we decided to eat before finding our room otherwise I'd just complain about how hungry I would be all night but also too lazy to leave to get something. We checked out Boatwrights but they had just closed, so quick service it was. We walked around and tried to find something that sounded good but I honestly wasn't incredibly impressed. I thought there would be some more variety. Oh well, we decided on:

Grilled Flank Steak, and a Fried Shrimp Platter. i wish I could have gone to POFQ for their muffelatta but maybe next time! The food was basic but good and tided us over. I was full but it wasn't satisfying, know what I mean? Maybe I just didn't know what to order. Also I've eaten a lot of fried foods lately so I probably could cut down a wee bit!

OK!! Now it was time to see our Royal Room!!! I was so excited, but we really had idea where it was. We had to consult a map and figure our our room number from there. We crossed the bridge over the river, and into one of the mansions. And we kept walking and walking and looping around and after what seemed like 10 minutes finally found our door. We apparently faced the back, so our room was at the very back. We got a corner room though, not sure if that means anything but maybe we just have like an extra 10 inches of window space or something.

But here it is, the most amazing Princess room!

There was a "letter" embedded in the desk from Tiana:

There is so much attention to detail in the room. Stuff you merely glance at may be a recognizable design.

I am OBSESSED with these Genie faucets.

I kept turning the water on and off. I was like 5 year old who has discovered a new toy and kept on playing with it.

I also stared intently at the lights going off in the headboards. (And also pondered how I could never leave this room).

I think I belong here...in this room.
Not so much this resort, although I think it is lovely, I prefer POFQ just slightly more.
But they should really have Royal Rooms at EVERY resort, right? Imagine a Moana room at the Poly...

In the midst of my reverie Steve called Bell Service and they delivered our luggage, and my Amazon Prime order of water, some fruit, chips, and aromatherapy bath salts! See? I don't have to do anything and everything comes to me. I really am a princess when I'm here.

Coming up...a new day at MK!!
​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

It seems to be the trend with that girl's trip that y'all are extending them. No shade to it, that's amazing and more power to you! I'm sure it's going to be as amazing as it seems to be turning out to be.

So I don't belong at a Disney park if seeing Steamboat Willie during Fantasmic doesn't spark joy? What if my reasoning is it makes me long for the beautiful Mark Twain that's used at the finale at Disneyland's (*coughSUPERIORcough*) Fant?

I'd 100% be reacting the exact same way to the princess room. Guess that's what I'll be saving up my CP money for for a one night stay so I can just turn the fireworks on and off and play with the sink. Yup, that'll definitely be me.

 

[natebenma]

Thanks for the shoutout and always being in my corner! Or checking on my corner. Something like that!

I have missed reading about your adventures here- I have not had much free time to spend here on the DIS, and with what I do have, I am trying to keep my head above water over at the BC FAQ.

Plus, some Disney depression after not travelling to the World in 2018, first time in 10 years I have missed a visit. Spoiler Alert: I'll be turning that around in the coming year with an October WDW trip and Feb trip to DL/Maui.




Since I am *only* 5 pages behind on this report, might be a great place for me to jump back in.

 

[amalone1013]

So...it was Princess Race weekend and I could not find a room under 700 dollars for the Friday night of our trip, so what do we do in that case? We stay at the Hyatt Regency right in the airport! I use Hyatt free nights or points to book us a room there since we usually arrive after work, and sometimes it can be really late. Then we wake up early the next day and head on Magical Express to Disney! It has actually worked out well for us over the past few years so it's a little thing we've been doing to save some money and time.

I might do this on our next trip. It will be hard to convince Zack, because mostly we like to just get to the hotel and be there already. But SW has changed their flight time from Denver and now many days they land at 1:20am instead of 11:50pm

It was very heavy and filling though, but since it is 9 bucks for this, I'd hope that it would provide some sustenance.

Yum. I don't know how F&G food booths are, but I feel like everything at the Arts Festival is bigger servings/more filling (and thus more expensive lol). Last year we hit most of the booths in one day and when we sat down to watch the concert that night we were starting to regret it

We are now going to Orlando April 27 instead of the 30th and staying one night at Universal's Sapphire Falls to attend the Orlando Informer Meetup that night! Then on Sunday April 28th we will move to POFQ for 3 nights! I'm so excited because I really love the quick service there. Our original plans at the WDW Swan are still the same but then on the 6th we head to Port Canaveral for a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Drem!

Yay! We are looking at going from the 24th to 28th...

The only thing I'd want is Palo brunch but it is not available. I settled for Remy dinner

I just got to book things for our cruise this summer, I may have gone back and read all of your reports of Palo and Remy

My trusty Marvel Day at Sea popcorn bucket is probably my most used item that I bring to the parks.

I love that bucket, it's so cute! We just kept this one so far from the parks

It's a cute little ride but one that I'd never waste an FP on.

Zack and I maybe had a few moments of arguing last September because that ride had an hour long standby time and I was determined I could get a FP for immediate use... and I did!

When we got off at Riverside we decided to eat before finding our room otherwise I'd just complain about how hungry I would be all night but also too lazy to leave to get something.

I am well acquainted with this problem

I think I belong here...in this room.

Well, you ARE a princess!

Not so much this resort, although I think it is lovely, I prefer POFQ just slightly more.

These two moderates are at the top of my list. I've just been to cheap to pay for them over Pop so far...

 

[natebenma]

Your May (ok, April-May) trip sounds AMAZING!!!

I have only been on one Disney cruise, so I'm no expert, but I believe you can check for openings at Palo the first afternoon you are onboard. Fingers crossed!

I'm jealous of the epic meet-ups you will have in Disney. Wish I could be there, but spring is going to be crazy at my place. Nate will return from his semester abroad in New Zealand, but we don't know how long he will stay. He is applying for internships out west and in Alaska. Ben will be attending his first prom (Nate never went) and then he graduates in early June.

 

[natebenma]

And just like that... I'm all caught up!



BTW- great idea with the listing of your trip report links. They do start to build up, don't they!

Your reunion with Steve's family sounds really nice. I remember a previous DL trip where you visited his family, but I forget how far away they are.

******************************************************************************************************************

Great title for your report- so timely!



I love the Festival of the Arts picture pictures. So cool!

Looks like a fabulous first night at the Hyatt. Great room and fantastic looking food.

What a fun first day!

I don't go to DTD much, but the VOID experience sounded fun, and free Mickey bars and cute Photopass pictures and props???? Sign me up!

The only time I have been to Earl of Sandwich was on our first family trip in 2008. Sounds like it could be time for a return. Probably will happen when we are in DL in Feb. I want to get the roast beef and the Thanksgiving sandwiches.

Your EPCOT ears are perfect!

Loved the food samples you tried.

My friend Nannette introduced me to her flavored popcorn obsession near Figment. She loves the Buffalo.

What a gorgeous Princess room. Just right for you.

 

[pkondz]

Steve and I have really changed it up and instead of going for just 6 nights, we're now going for 2 whole weeks!

Wow! Big difference! With a cruise thrown in, no less!

One of these beauties was given to @ArielSRL later that week.

Nice of you.

Can't wait to see all the new stuff growing for Flower and Garden in less than 30 days!

We went to the kiosk in between The Land and Imagination Pavilion and if you didn't know already, they have flavors in addition to regular butter popcorn.

I didn't even know there was a kiosk there. But... thanks for the tip!

They have caramel corn

But wouldn't you go to Karamel Kuche for that? Yes, I know it'd be more cash, but... it's Karamel Kuche!!

It turns out I had the time wrong and we were actually 20 mins late for it but they let us on anyways.

Really! I thought the grace period was 15 and that's it.

So far in all my times riding this I've never been the rebel spy. It has to happen in my lifetime, right? #notcountingonit.

I can see it now.
Steve and Su-Lynn get on Star Tours. They are the only two riding...


Steve gets picked to be the rebel spy. Su-Lynn bursts into tears.

We made our way over to RnRC and someone stopped us to get a picture of their group and then they offered to take ours.

That's Disney in a nutshell.

Also in passing I got a quick picture of Dee's Corner

We decided on a Southside Fizz because the CM said it was the least sweet out of all the mixed drinks.

Heh. I'd be "What's your sweetest drink?"

except when you first see this part as you walk into the loading area, you go OMG I can't believe I'm getting on this!

You guys get it. The two in front of you? Not so much.

Wind-blown hair, don't care!

Looks good!

We were now headed to TSL for our Slinky Dog FP...only thing was...SDD was down!

poop.

It did not seem like there was much to do other than wait so we hopped on A.S.S.

That's I think the fourth way I've seen to say that. I'm a bit surprised it worked!

We were feeling a little peckish so we went to Woody's Lunchbox and got Totchos - tater tots with cheese, chili, sour cream, green onion, yum.

Hmmm... So let me ask you. Do you normally like tater tots? I mean without all the extras on it?

Oh that's me the winner!!! #joy

If that boat doesn't spark joy in you then, well, why are you at Disney?!?

Good point.

Fried Shrimp Platter

mmmmm.... Love fried shrimp. But there must be cocktail sauce. And I don't see any.

But here it is, the most amazing Princess room!

Nice! Lots of nice touches.

I am OBSESSED with these Genie faucets.

I've seen those before... you're not alone, there.

I kept turning the water on and off. I was like 5 year old who has discovered a free toy machine and kept on playing with it.

I also stared intently at the lights going off in the headboards.

Ummm.... You're looking the wrong way...

I think I belong here...in this room.

Imagine a Moana room at the Poly...

Holy crap! That's a great idea!

 

[cadien]

Our original plans at the WDW Swan are still the same but then on May 6th instead of boarding a flight home we head to Port Canaveral for a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Dream! I'm actually really excited to just do...nothing for 4 days. I didn't book a single port adventure, or onboard activity (they were all gone by this point anyways so I'd be lucky to even find something). The only thing I'd want is Palo brunch but it is not available. I settled for Remy dinner - but even though it's great and I'd love to do it again, there is a dress code and we weren't planning on bringing dress shoes and jacket for Steve and nice shoes for me. But I guess it's a small price to pay when you're going on a Disney Cruise!

I'm selfishly excited to see you're going on the Dream because that's the ship we're most interested in, although the itineraries are meh, so a trip report will be super useful.

​

It tasted like a Gin Tonic - but maybe a little fruitier. It was pretty good and hit the spot as something refreshing with a kick. ​

I LOVE Hendrick's and I'm inconveniently allergic to tonic, so this is like the perfect drink.

​

When we got off at Riverside we decided to eat before finding our room otherwise I'd just complain about how hungry I would be all night but also too lazy to leave to get something. ​

Separated at birth....​

​

 

[missangelalexis]

Wow! I'm sorry you had to postpone the Alaska cruise bur your new plans sound pretty great!!

Sounds like a good night at DHS. Stinks that slinky dog was down though!

The Royal Rooms always look so amazing! I'd love to stay in one one day!

 

[missjackiemcg]

All good things in a bowl!! See my joy??

MMmmmm, tatchos most definitely spark joy!!!!

When we left TSL we headed back to Sunset Blvd to catch Fantasmic! which had just started. My favorite parts are the ones with the princesses and the very end, shown here:

Those are my fav parts, too!! LOVE the boat at the end!

But they should really have Royal Rooms at EVERY resort, right? Imagine a Moana room at the Poly...

I am dying to stay in a Royal Room some day!! Love all those details, especially the little ottoman.

Your EPIC trip plan change makes me very jealous!!!!!!

 

[Cloe Colton]

Oooo love the new plans! And how awesome that now your cruise is so close!! When DH and I added on our Disney dream cruise to our trip last year it was seriously so awesome because it was only like two months out! lol now that I am planning one for March 2020 I feel like what is this waiting nonsense

Really seems like kismet to just extend your trip!!

I actually LOL'd at the people in front of you on RNR hopefully they were having a "who can look more bored contest" lol

Bummer that SDD went down, TSM is a fun alternative though! Especially when you are victorious! haha

Also, I agree about POFQ vs POR. I like the size and food court options much more than POR! I do wish that all of the resorts did some sort of themed room, you would think they would since most people would want to book them!