We went back to Disney - A July '19 trip report - Updated 11-27 - THE END

I feel relaxed just reading about your cabana day! Sounds like it was just what you needed. We're not really beach/pool people but it's something I might consider for a "day off". Wonder what you'll do with the rest of the day?
 
July 9th
Best day ever continued . . .
I absolutely did not want to live our little slice of paradise, but at the strike of 2:00 PM, we were nicely, but firmly, ushered out of there. I made sure to tip the cabana lady since I didn't think the tip from lunch would go directly to her. She was very sweet and checked on us several times. I'm assuming the extra service was probably due to the few people at the pool that day. We went back out the way we came, but since we were not rushing to get back to our resort, I took some pictures on the stroll back to the busses.

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If we do this splurge on our next trip (okay, who am I kidding, we're totally doing this again), I want to try a cabana at Grand Floridian. Then I can compare the two locations!

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We boarded the bus and headed back to the resort. Since it wasn't raining (OMG), we decided to roam around the resort a bit. We were in the Jazz Building. I thought I had taken more pictures of the different buildings, but apparently there were only three that made the final cut.

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Tony - honey, I really like this car.
Me - yeah it's nice
Tony - can we keep it?
Me - that would be a solid no honey
Tony - pleeeeeeeeeease
Me - rolling my eyes, nooooooooooooooooooo

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There's a snake in my boot!!!

It's really a cute resort. The three year old inside of me just loves the theming. The late 40's reality of me loves the relaxation that the cabana provided. Basically I'm a complex person!

After the tour we had time for a small nap and to get cleaned up some. Since we weren't doing any parks today I had planned a dinner reservation at the Wilderness Lodge. One of the first movies I ever remember seeing was "Snow White". I used to call it "Snow White and the hi-ho men". On my desk at work I have several "Snow White" things, including a paper clip holder and mouse pad. So when they changed Artist Point to a character dining and I had the opportunity to meet my super secret crush Dopey (sigh), I knew that we had to go there. Tony has finally drunk the kool aid and no longer objects to character dining, so he was on board. Surprisingly, this was a hard reservation to get. I ended up using a reservation finder app to get it and once I got the day I wanted I was able to change it around to get the time that worked for us. This was another new to us resort. I felt like it was just one big set of Lincoln Logs!

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I may or may not have rode over the bridge a few times. It is as close to a roller coaster as I will ever get.

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Tony was in love with this resort as soon as we walked in. He is much more of an outdoor person than I am and the rustic feel of the place suited him well. He immediately told me that this was the next resort he wanted to stay in. I nicely reminded him this was considered deluxe and therefore had a deluxe price tag and for now we would just visit for dinner. We checked in and were told that there would be a little bit of a wait, which ended up being about 30 minutes. Since the theme for the day was just relaxation, I was fine to people watch and just spend time with Tony.

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Up next - meeting my childhood crush and the evil queen!
 
Never thought of renting a cabana. I'm pretty cheap when it comes to spending on extras. Don't do expensive restaurants or buffets, but the cabana looks like fun and great way to relax.
Okay I'm ready for the next chapter. lol

I'm pretty frugal/cheap also, which is why I had never done an extra thing before. But it was well worth the money. Even if the other cabanas had been full I still think it would have been just as nice and relaxing.

The next chapter is up and ready!

You two are just so cute.

We'd probably rent a cabana and fall asleep for four hours and then smack ourselves.

Awww, thanks. I'm pretty lucky.

Surprisingly we didn't lay down at all. The time went by quickly - and we lost the first 30 minutes due to being late. But if we had booked it for the entire day I'm sure a nap would have happened.

The cabana looks amazing!

I can never drink when it's even remotely hot outside, I always end up feeling even more miserable!

The cabana was amazing. I strongly recommend the splurge. There was a decent breeze going on that day and it didn't seem hot. There was a ceiling fan in the cabana also (I don't think I mentioned that originally) so that helped a lot.

I feel relaxed just reading about your cabana day! Sounds like it was just what you needed. We're not really beach/pool people but it's something I might consider for a "day off". Wonder what you'll do with the rest of the day?

That's the good thing about the 4 hour option. We only spent about 1 1/2 hours actually in the pool. The rest of the time was eating lunch and just relaxing. It was pretty fabulous.

My next chapter is up and ready to read!
 


Yes, Wilderness Lodge is awesome! I am speaking as someone who has only seen it in pictures. LOL
I would also love to stay there, but no way considering I can stay nearly a week at a Disney Springs resort compared to 2 nights at a deluxe. Did I say I'm cheap?
 
July 9th
Best Day Ever continued . . .
I decided to put up another post today because I know the rest of the week will be way too busy to get another one up. And since this was my favorite day of the trip, just revisiting the pictures has made me a happy camper.

But first, did anyone watch the livestream of the last Illuminations last night?

I hate that my allergies were so awful that my eyes were watery and the tears were spilling out. Thankfully nobody else was around to see me be a blubbering mess. Even the lost princess gets weepy at the oddest things (preview of our Magic Kingdom day right here).

Back to our regular programming . . .

I finally received the text that our table was ready. It had been about 30 minutes and we were ready to eat. The restaurant is kind of hidden in the back and I love that at the entrance/check in desk there is Snow White art. Oh how I wish there was room in the budget for one of these!

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We parked our ECV's and the very sweet cast member quietly asked if I would prefer a chair without arms on them. I said yes and thanked him very much. Fluffy gals and arm chairs don't always go well together. I don't like to be all pinched up and heaven knows I didn't need any more bruises! Because of this, we waited another few minutes, but when we got seated we were practically in the middle of the first part of the dining room. Tony was facing towards the Evil Queen and was immediately entranced by her. He couldn't believe how well she was able to stay in character while meeting the guests.

The cast member handed us the menus and explained that the appetizers and desserts were the same for everyone, and we just had to choose our entrée and drinks.

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I was just in awe of the place and had already determined before taking the first bite of food that this was going to be my favorite dining option of the trip (and I was right).

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Oh my.

Dinner began with the appetizers of Hunter's Terrine - chicken, black truffle, stone fruit preserve, house-made pickles, Wicked Shrimp Cocktail - soy, miso, avocado, Thai chili, greens and Mushroom Bisque - with a crispy mushroom. Now I never take food pictures because I find them so awkward, but the presentation was so fantastic that I couldn't pass it up.

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All of the selections were delicious. I do wish that there were a few more shrimp in the shrimp cocktail. But I had no idea at the time that there was going to be more than enough food and I would be completely stuffed by the time we were done.

As we were wrapping up the first course, Snow White herself came around to our tables. It was a little weird at first, but she flirted with Tony and admired his bald head. That made him blush and made me laugh.

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I do believe he was a little bit smitten with this princess!

Our entree's came out almost immediately after this character interaction. The timing is done very well.

I ordered the Royal Prime Rib Roast - horseradish mashed potato, carrots, popover, jus. Now you might be thinking that I had prime rib earlier in the trip. Yup, I did. Tony does not eat steak or roast, so when I have a chance to order it while dining out, I take the opportunity to do so. And this was the best choice.

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This was so good and I'm not ashamed to say I ate every drop of the roast.

I was so full.

Tony ordered Bashful's butter poached sustainable fish - Farro, Fava Beans, English Peas, Gremolata The fish was salmon, which is his favorite.

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He loved it and also ate every bite.

He was also stuffed.

Coming up - more character interactions!
 


Yes, Wilderness Lodge is awesome! I am speaking as someone who has only seen it in pictures. LOL
I would also love to stay there, but no way considering I can stay nearly a week at a Disney Springs resort compared to 2 nights at a deluxe. Did I say I'm cheap?

See, that's my theory. We really don't spend tons of time at the resort, which is why we always stay at the values. I just want to be in the Disney bubble. I think next time we are going to try and do Pop Century or Art of Animation. It's not quite value, but not quite moderate either! And in my budget.

You know, if you look carefully , I think I see skid marks on that bridge. Were you popping wheelies ???? You might be the lost princess but you still have to obey traffic rules.

Popping wheelies??? Me???? Never!!!! I am a law abiding citizen/princess and would never, ever, ever violate the traffic rules!
 
See, that's my theory. We really don't spend tons of time at the resort, which is why we always stay at the values. I just want to be in the Disney bubble. I think next time we are going to try and do Pop Century or Art of Animation. It's not quite value, but not quite moderate either! And in my budget.



Popping wheelies??? Me???? Never!!!! I am a law abiding citizen/princess and would never, ever, ever violate the traffic rules!

Hey, I see you crossing your fingers behind your back! lol

I'm a weird one who likes getting out of the bubble when I leave the parks. And really, there's not a lot of bubble left in some of the resorts, especially the moderates IMO. I like spending time in the pool and just lounging at the resort on non-park day. I love Disney, but just the park part I guess.

Artist Pointe looks great! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When its just me and DH, we don't do character meals. We don't do character meets in the parks, either. See, i told you I'm weird!
 
July 9th
More of the best day ever . . .
After the main course, the cast member came over to us and said it was our turn to meet the queen. We got into a very short line and waited about five minutes before it was our turn. I really like that they do it this way rather than waiting in an endless line and your food gets cold.

The Queen was nothing short of amazing. I explained to her that I was willing to trade Tony for Dopey and a prince to be named later. She then began to ask me questions about Tony and why I was willing to trade him. The photo pass photographer did an awesome job capturing the interactions.

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First I made the introductions. She seemed intrigued.

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The Queen gave Tony a little side eye glance.

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This is Tony's innocent look. I don't think the Queen was buying it.

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I was telling her all the great things about Tony - really trying to make the sale. She wouldn't miss Dopey at all with Tony around. At least Tony talks!!

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The Queen said that if he had all these great attributes, why would I want to trade him in??? Good point, I think I'll keep him. He is my very own Flynn Ryder!

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And then we had our posed picture. Just an amazing interaction. She took her time with us, but we were really up there about five minutes.

After we got back to our table, it was time for dessert. The cast member first brought us "The Hunter's Gift to the Queen - crackled maple popcorn, ganache heart".

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The presentation was cool, but in reality it was caramel popcorn and rejected Valentine's Day chocolate. For dessert, we both ordered the "Poison Apple -
dark chocolate-apple mousse, sour center".

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These were delicious, but good heavens, we were so stuffed that we each had just a bite or two and declared ourselves done. We settled up the bill and headed back out to the busses. Dinner took longer than anticipated, so it was after 9:00 by the time we got done. Getting back to the resort meant getting on a bus to one of the parks and then switching over to another bus to our resort. We waited a while for a bus to come and it was an EPCOT bus. The driver asked where we were going and we explained the situation. He loaded us on the bus and told us that he would get us back to our resort. I was a little confused, but just went along for the ride. When we got to EPCOT, he said that he made arrangements to change his route to go to All-Star Music rather than back to the Wilderness Lodge so we wouldn't have to change busses again. I swear I almost cried. Okay, maybe I did a little. We stayed on the bus while he loaded up more passengers and we went directly to ASMusic. After he got us unloaded I tried to give him a tip, but he said that he couldn't accept it. I really tried to give him some money because he totally went out of his way for us, but he said that he couldn't take it. So I just thanked him about 10 times for giving us pixie dust on the best day ever.

We went back to the room and snuggled down for the night. This was, without a doubt, the best day we had ever experienced at Disney. Not even this trip, but all the previous trips we have taken. First, it didn't rain - not one drop. This was the only day we experienced no rain. Everything from the cabana to the Evil Queen just made everything perfect. It was relaxing and fun all at the same time and you can't say that very often about a day at Disney.

Up next - we finally get to the Magic Kingdom!
 
Loved reading about your best day! Sounds like all the stars were aligned for you. What a great bus driver! He really did go out of his way to sprinkle some pixie dust. I'll have to give some serious thought to the Snow White dinner - or whatever it's called. Sounds perfect!
 
love love love your pictures with the Evil Queen. What fun! And WOW that bus driver. I hope you sent in a cast member compliment. Sounds like he deserves a big one!
 
Ok, finally caught up!

The cabana seemed nice! You can also try doing one of the water parks on a future rest day? I loved my half day at Typhoon Lagoon - very relaxing and I did 1.5 loops in the lazy river just basically napping! And plenty of tree cover over that river, so you don't get totally burned.
 
I want to do this meal so badly! But I dont think my family would like the menu at all. They're such picky eaters.

I love your pictures of the meal. Glad you had a great experience!
 
July 10th
Magic Kingdom
I just love Magic Kingdom days. It holds so much nostalgia - as I'm sure it does for everyone - and for sentimental value alone, it is my most favorite park. I always cry when I get my first glimpse of the castle. I love the parades and the music on Main Street USA and just everything about the place. It also gives me pangs of sadness because since my mom passed I can really feel her with me when we are at the Magic Kingdom. I hug the castle for her. We had big plans for our MK day. There were evening extra magic hours with promises of the park staying open until 1:00 AM. Our plans were to sleep in a little bit (so we could stay awake for EMH), ride rides, see shows, have dinner at O'hana, see fireworks and shut down the park. I was bound and determined to have the mojo from the best day ever to carry over thru to the rest of the trip. Will our luck hold out?????

Spoiler alert - not really - but most of the day was fine.

We didn't arrive to MK until close to 11:00 AM. And our first fast pass was as soon as we got there. I absolutely had to meet Mickey and Minnie in their celebration birthday outfits. By this point, Tony was no longer grumbling about photo pass pictures and got in line like a good little soldier. I think he might still have been on an Evil Queen high from the night before. Even though we were in the fast pass line, it still took at least 20 minutes to get to the room with Mickey and Minnie. They had us park our ECV's and Mickey came over to me and offered me an escort to the picture spot.

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Such a gentleman.

We got situated and posed for some pictures.

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I loved, loved, loved all the festiveness going on here. I've been at this spot before with Talking Mickey (creepy) and Sorcerer Mickey (fine), but celebration Mickey and Minnie were the best.

After meeting the couple in charge, we zipped across the street to check out the Emporium. Tony wanted to check out some new hats.

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Hmmm, not quite right sweetie. How about something taller??

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Yes folks - we have a winner!!! We spent some time strolling thru the Emporium. It is my most favorite store and I can remember when it was just a tiny store on the corner of Main Street USA and now it takes up most of the block. As we exited the store I got my first good look at the castle and just had to take a breath. My emotions were churning and I really had to focus to not get too upset. So we stopped for more pictures.

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Thanks for the pixie dust Tink!

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The sun was shining brightly and the temperatures were on the rise. It was going to be a hot, hot day! And humid, as my hair was already starting to frizz and we had only been outside for an hour. At least I was hiding my arm bruises better in pictures now. My boo-boo's were hardly showing anymore!

The next fast pass - well two really - were for Tony. First up was Seven Dwarves Mine Train. This was a hard no for me. First and foremost, I don't do coasters (which you should know already) and secondly, I knew that I would not fit. I was fine with it and sent Tony on his way while I found a shady spot across the way to wait for him. Surprisingly, Tony came and found me about 10 minutes later. He had a super pouty look on his face and said that he couldn't ride because his legs wouldn't fit under the lap bar properly. I was initially surprised by this but after I gave it some thought, I should have never booked this ride for him. I knew the ride was snug for fluffy people and the leg room was narrow. Since Tony had his stroke in 2007, his right leg is sometime hard to manage and maneuver. You might see him wearing a leg brace in some pictures. He really struggles sometimes. He explained to me that he just couldn't situate himself in the ride vehicle to ride safely so he had to do an early exit. So unfortunately he was upset and irritated and angry all at the same time. He works so hard to overcome the obstacles that the world has handed to him and this was something we just didn't see coming. It was his turn to pout and be grumpy, so I gave him the time to do that. We got a cold drink and found some shade and just took some time to regroup. His next fast pass was for Big Thunder Mountain, but he was not interested, so I moved it to later. It was hot, so we decided that some air conditioning would be needed. We went over to Tomorrowland and had some laughs with Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I tried to convince Tony to go on the Carousel of Progress, but he took a hard pass. It was not a great big beautiful tomorrow. At this point, I just asked Tony what he wanted to do, and after a few minutes he thought lunch might be a good idea. For ease, we just went with Cosmic Ray's, mainly because they had mobile ordering. I'm not going to bore you with pictures of a hot dog, cheeseburger and fries. It was most definitely nothing special, but the combination of food and more air conditioning put Tony in a better mood, so mission accomplished!

Up next, yes I would like a front row seat for the parade!
 
Hey, I see you crossing your fingers behind your back! lol

I'm a weird one who likes getting out of the bubble when I leave the parks. And really, there's not a lot of bubble left in some of the resorts, especially the moderates IMO. I like spending time in the pool and just lounging at the resort on non-park day. I love Disney, but just the park part I guess.

Artist Pointe looks great! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When its just me and DH, we don't do character meals. We don't do character meets in the parks, either. See, i told you I'm weird!

We have always stayed at value resorts and I just feel very immersed in the Disney bubble. I guess I just feel like the real world is all gone and I don't have to think or worry about it.

Artist Pointe was great. It took a while for me to convince Tony to do character meals. I'm up for all of it!

Loved reading about your best day! Sounds like all the stars were aligned for you. What a great bus driver! He really did go out of his way to sprinkle some pixie dust. I'll have to give some serious thought to the Snow White dinner - or whatever it's called. Sounds perfect!

We really did have a lot of mojo for this day. The bus driver was amazing because I was fully prepared to do the bus transfer. The dinner was delicious and the character interaction was fantastic.

love love love your pictures with the Evil Queen. What fun! And WOW that bus driver. I hope you sent in a cast member compliment. Sounds like he deserves a big one!

Yes, I did send an e-mail that night to compliment the driver. I knew I would forget his name if I didn't do it immediately.

The queen was just the best part of the meal. She was so into her role and never broke character. Major props to her.

Ok, finally caught up!

The cabana seemed nice! You can also try doing one of the water parks on a future rest day? I loved my half day at Typhoon Lagoon - very relaxing and I did 1.5 loops in the lazy river just basically napping! And plenty of tree cover over that river, so you don't get totally burned.

I've never done Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach. I think the best part of the cabana was the quietness of the day. There was practically nobody else there and we felt like we were on our own private island.

I want to do this meal so badly! But I dont think my family would like the menu at all. They're such picky eaters.

I love your pictures of the meal. Glad you had a great experience!

The menu was pretty limited but the food was so good. We try not to repeat restaurants for each trip, but I know we'll go back. We had a blast.
 
You had a great start - love, love the pictures with M and M. So cute! My heart sank reading about Tony's experience on 7DMT. I can imagine the disappointment. Hope you were able to shake it off and continue on with your day. Front row - that sounds promising!
 
July 10th - Magic Kingdom - continued . . .
After we had cooled off and gotten some lunch, I mentioned to Tony that if he didn't want to do anything else in Tomorrowland, we could head over towards the hub and see if we could find a spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade. He was agreeable to the idea, so we went in that direction.

Holy crazy crowds Batman - everyone and their cousin was waiting for the parade. And there was at least 30 minutes before it would reach the castle/hub area. But then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a roped off area with the handicapped sign on it. I told Tony to follow me and we inched our way over there. I asked the cast member protecting the area if we were okay to claim a spot in that area and he said absolutely. And in no time, we were shoulder to shoulder with our other ECV using pals. And when I say shoulder to shoulder, I absolutely mean it. The cast member was excellent in filling in each available inch of space so that as many people as possible could take advantage of the space.

The great thing about this spot is that we had an excellent view of the parade. There was nothing blocking us at all. The unfortunate thing about this spot is that we were literally baking in the sun. At that time, I broke out the hotter than the blazes of hell supplies - frozen washcloths. I brought washcloths from home and the night before I soaked them in cold water, put them in baggies and put them in the freezer in the refridgerator in the room. That morning, I put them in our insulated water bag. They not only kept our water bottles cold, but at that moment in time, I could have sold them for $1,000 each with no problem. A photo pass cast member was taking pictures. You can see one around my neck and on Tony's head under his hat.

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You can see Tony's chest was bright red. It was a smoking hot day.

We got a little pre-parade of the family of the day and the marching band. I didn't take any pictures because I started to cry. It is silly really. Or not, depending on your view of my crazy brain. If you have read any of my other trip reports you probably have noted that I'm a band geek from way back. My heart knows how hard these band kids have worked to achieve the goal of marching in this parade. One of my very dear friends who is a band director found out last spring that his little high school band (where we both went to school) will be in the Festival of Fantasy parade in March, 2020. Now when I say little band, they are little. Including color guard, they max out at about 35 students. They are small but mighty. So the combination of being so happy for Mike and his band kids, being in the Magic Kingdom, missing mom and just everything sent me over the edge. Poor Tony just didn't know what to do with me and my crazy emotions, so he just patted my back and gave me more water.

Poor guy, he just puts up with my craziness.

But, if you are in the Magic Kingdom the last week of March, 2020 and you see a little band from Stanton, KY, that's my friend Mike and the best band in the entire world. Please cheer loudly for them!

Anyway, I am happy to present the Festival of Fantasy Parade (feel free to sing along)!

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Okay, I've hit my picture limit. I'll continue on in the next post!
 
July 10th - Magic Kingdom
Festival of Fantasy parade - continued . .
Still more pictures - I took a lot!

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It is such a great parade.

We waited a while for the crowds to clear and took that time to decide what to do next. We had our dinner reservation for 'Ohana later that evening and I still had a fast pass for Tony for Big Thunder Mountain. His mood had improved significantly and I had stopped crying, so we made our way over to Frontierland.

Up next - a ride I had never done before!
 
Looks like a very fun day! Can you believe we have never stopped to watch this parade? Might have to make a point of it on our trip next month. Your pictures are great! We prefer night time parades and it baffles me that WDW doesn't have any!
 

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