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[Raeven]

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[pepperandchips]

I always love hearing about travel days... probably because we mostly drive to Orlando so flying is a special treat for us!

The last time I had this sandwich in December maybe was when they replaced the gouda sandwich with this

Oh no, I'm a bad Starbucks fan. I didn't know they had changed up the bacon egg and Gouda sandwich, it was my favorite! I'm glad this version at least wasn't as bad as the last time you had it but I still feel kinda

(It would be way cuter if a bunch of baby penguins with hats and briefcases had rushed onto the plane, but no such luck

Oh my gosh that gif is too cute. But what the heck southwest?!

Overall the room was okay, and it wasn't a terrible experience, but we aren't really looking forward to staying there again

Oh heelllllll no. I booked a king and paid extra for a king and the last time I was at the Dolphin they also tried to pull some shenanigans with giving me the wrong room type so they better not try this again. I'm sorry that you guys didn't have a great experience. Proximity to Epcot and Hollywood Studios is probably 75% of the reason why we stay at Swolphin so often so I totally get not loving it if you would have rather been near Universal.

We sat down in Knockturn Alley to eat this because it was so hot out. I only finished like half of it But it was really good! I'm just not a big ice cream eater

I had the butterbeer version of the soft serve and it was really rich. We couldn't finish ours either.

 

[Lesley Wake]

To answer all the people in my life that asked me this before we boarded the plane & all the people that asked this on the plane....no we could not see the hurricane from the plane.

I totally would have been trying to see it!

Overall the room was okay, and it wasn't a terrible experience, but we aren't really looking forward to staying there again. (We booked a nonrefundable rate for 3 days in Dec so we will be soon)

I’m trying to decide whether to go with them or not for my NYE trip next year. I did the math and based on likely rates, it would only be about $50 extra to go with BWV, then I get the Disney experience... I guess I’ll see how much I like it in December, as well as visit the Dolphin lobby!

Where I was determined to get some ice cream from Florean's. I got the strawberries and cream/chocolate:

Yummmm! That was one of the things I’m missing most about skipping now that I cut Universal from the December trip

A Go Puck is Universal's portable charger that you can "rent". You can only rent it for a full day (the website says you can do half day rentals but that isn't true at the MIB location) and it's $21, you can return it to one location in each park and one in Citywalk, and if you break it or take it with you by accident it's like $100+. I didn't want to rent one, but that was my only option so that's what we did.

Ugh, that isn’t a good deal at all! They need to get Fuel Rods over at Universal! $30 ($25 online or at an airport kiosk) and unlimited exchanging without needing to return!

 

[amalone1013]

We also had trouble with the TV (it would randomly mute

We had this issue too! I don't get it. We ended up just logging into Netflix since they had just added smart TVs. Luckily we remembered our password

It was nice, but then I noticed every room around ours had a balcony except for us

Haha, they do like every other room with a balcony and it costs extra. Your view is much better than ours.

They were kind of weird about it. We didn't get over there until late to check in because it was after we had been at MK for the day, and the guy was like, let me find you a good one... then goes, let me go check if this one is ready... and went in the back. So we were kind of thinking, maybe they noticed the note about our anniversary. And then we just had that view

That's frustrating about the king room too! We can survive a double, but we have a queen at home so now those feel very small. It's also something that irks me now with Swolphin - Swan has queens and Dolphin doubles, but earlier this year since Marriott took them over they made both hotels the same category/points cost/jacked up the points rate

I hope your December stay will go better. We really love it for walking to Epcot.

The Cowfish Has Officially Left The Building-Full-pound beef burger, creamy peanut butter, fried bananas, applewood bacon, brioche GF bun

Yummmmmm....

I had also just heard from @amalone1013 that they were on their way over. They had decided to buy a pass for multiple nights and had registered for the AP holding area so we'd get to see them this night too.

 

[pattyw]

Love the ice cream!!

And congrats on the score on MIB! I do horrible on that ride!

I like taking in the Halloween decor during the day! Too nervous during HHN to really look at the details!

 

[Raeven]

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[pepperandchips]

Ugh now I feel like they're going to do this again in December. I figured maybe it was because we booked through Hotwire, but if they do that normally than maybe that's why they tried it with us.

It really only happened to me once before - when we checked in for my bachelorette party we were supposed to have a regular room with two doubles that connected to a deluxe alcove with two doubles. When we got to the room the deluxe alcove had a king in it. (So it was the opposite problem!)

It worked because we were only 2 to a room but booked the double configuration so that everyone would have her own bed. We called and the person on the phone clearly didn't know what was going on, but we were honestly tired and didn't really want to move rooms anyway so we got some resort credit. I am for sure going to print the confirmation indicating the bed type this time, though.

 

[amalone1013]

I still thought it was far from Epcot But anything was too much walking in that heat.

It's a good chunk farther than Disney's resorts. Sometimes we take the boat to Beach Club and then walk because we still beat the boat. But it was so dang hot that week, it was way worse walking from S/D than it was last September or back in January when we were there!

Also we are probably biased in that we've been able to stay all on points there so far, and thus haven't had to deal with Disney Deluxe pricing So we are like, yes! Walking to Epcot!

 

[MeghanEmily]

A hilarious shirt that I didn't buy, but kind of wish I had:

I got the strawberries and cream/chocolate:

Ooh, this looks so good!

Next Up
Our first night at HHN

Woooh!

 

[cynditech]

Love love love your trip reports So excited to follow along! We're headed to HHN in about a month, super excited!

We were just at Disney and decided not to renew our AP's too - just weren't feelin it this time.

Can't wait to see your pics from HHN!

Have a great trip!

 

[shh]

And try for the targets in the windows they're worth more!

I did not know this...and will conveniently forget to share this helpful intel with spouse. Although I usually win anyway - but the bigger the margin, the better the bragging rights. lol

 

[cwiklamama]

Following! Love your reports. Thanks for always taking the time to do them.

 

[Raeven]

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[Raeven]

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[Raeven]

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[pepperandchips]

but it was a hilarious image since the guy seemed really scared of the duck and jumped in the air

Bahaha. That guy was going to have a TIME at hhn if a duck made him jump like that!

I'm going to guess we waited around 40 mins because by the time we got in the event had already started

Ugh! That's crazy!!! At least you were able to wait in the shade in the holding area.

Through the chainsaw clowns...

Nope! I'm a certified fraidy cat. I'd have wet my pants!!!

Like Goldilocks killing the Three Bears, Rapunzel's hair going alive and attacking, (I've just realized if I go into more detail I might say something too graphic for Disboards so I'll cut it there

Okay now I am curious, I'm going to have to go google....

but in the chainsaw clown area one walked up to Alyssa, and kind of air booped her nose which was hilarious (Like he didn't touch her but made a sound

What did she do!?

This scare zone was perfect! It had everything

I have no idea if this gif is going to work on my phone but I totally read that in the Stefan voice! Haha

but I guess they just mean for it to be a "curious gallery of evocative food and art" so I guess Pica-what sums up their decor choice well

Uh yeah... not sure what is up with that decor. As they revamp the resort they need to add this one to the list for an update. Apparently it used to be called Tubbi's, which I think is even worse since it either calls to mind obesity or Teletubbies It's gotten better since the recent refurbs but some of the pre-refurb circus looking theming at the Dolphin was just... inexplicable.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Haunted houses, and really all things horror freak me out....but I like your eyeshadow palette, so I guess that has to count for something!!

Wild how long the lines were that night!

 

[Raeven]

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[schumigirl]

I am loving your report!!!

But, need to read it properly again when we get home..........

Have to say, at first I thought Killer Klowns were awful and a waste of time,........then I got it.......it is actually very funny.......and the SA are so good there too........wish I’d appreciated how funny it was the first night.

Love your tops too!!!!

 

[amalone1013]

(We actually look super un-sweaty for how hot out it was).

And I know for a fact my face was very sweaty at this time...

We had so much fun in this house. I loved all the little details, and a large Critter puppet scared the bejeezus out of Alyssa and I. We thought it wouldn't move and then it did Spoiler alert: Plus there's a swamp yeti at the end that got us good.

This was my favorite too! I appreciated it even more the next night. And that puppet... the next night it was like, oh no, you were in this house and not SoE! And the Yeti!

I guess the plants wanted revenge?

I also thought the idea itself wasn't that great, and the uneven floor in the one part was uncomfortable to walk on and almost caused us to trip

This just seemed like a bad idea to me, with scaring people and alcohol booth everywhere...

Maybe they should put this picture in Scary Tales

(I've just realized if I go into more detail I might say something too graphic for Disboards so I'll cut it there)

Because @amalone1013 & Zack are wonderful, patient people and we all had multiple night passes they tolerated all my bathroom breaks due to the large amount of water I was constantly consuming and they let me kind of pick where we would go throughout the night.

And we were like, hopefully we're not bothering you guys just following you around!

We walked through the chainsaw clowns again afterwards (and Twisted Traditions), but in the chainsaw clown area one walked up to Alyssa, and kind of air booped her nose which was hilarious (Like he didn't touch her but made a sound).

I was like, oh no, what is he going to do to me... I thought he was going to start up his chainsaw or something.

(If you've been with it you might have seen the "paper people" as I've named them that look like they're made of shredded paper .) I did not care for them or the zone as a whole.

I like paper people. I liked all of the set ups for the different houses here, and the stilt people, but it wasn't too scary to walk through. Though I did watch them scare people on Sunday while Zack rode RRR a bunch of times.

(We're not at Universal at night a lot so maybe this is always there, but I just noticed this building has a Christmas tree upstairs).

The only reason I know there's a Christmas tree there is that is their Christmas store... which we went in last year looking for an ornament (because we started buying an ornament for each trip since the wedding, but that trip we bought one Uni and one Disney).

the klowns were nailing it too and were the perfect amount of menacing

They are everything I remember from the movie! I need to get it and watch again, and so Zack can see.

We actually had no idea where it was, and when we found the hallway Josh was stunned at the amount of food places in the Dolphin. I had known there were more just not where they were.

Josh was confused by the decor so he said "Pica-what?"

I just looked it up thinking maybe Picabu meant something and that's why there were all these birds, but I guess they just mean for it to be a "curious gallery of evocative food and art" so I guess Pica-what sums up their decor choice well.

It is so strange. Here is our empty fish tank full of weird things. It's like it doesn't fit in at the Dolphin at all to me.

He said it was just as gross as it looks. After looking at the menu, I decided nothing looked or sounded good, and after hearing how Josh liked his meal I was glad I skipped it.

Oh no, those do not look good! We had nachos and they were pretty good - probably the best of the trip because the ones we had at Pecos Bills were super salty and stale (I feel like that happened somewhere else but I can't remember now).

What did she do!?

He could see the fear in my eyes and must have decided he didn't need to be too scary to make me flinch