longlostprincess
certified disney princess
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2016
tuning in!! loving the pictures, looking like it was a great trip!
It Really is a Whole New World...Mother Daughter May 2017 TR! (Updated 8/26!)
- Thread starter VAtink
- Start date
missangelalexis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
Gorgeous resort pictures! Perfect time to do it since it was still so early in the morning!
LOL that speed walking gif cracked me up..that's definitely what it's like when the rope drops and people rush off to the high priority rides!
I'm glad FEA ended up opening fairly quickly, you guys look so happy on your ride photo!
Great topiary and PP photos!
LOL that speed walking gif cracked me up..that's definitely what it's like when the rope drops and people rush off to the high priority rides!
I'm glad FEA ended up opening fairly quickly, you guys look so happy on your ride photo!
Great topiary and PP photos!
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Part 5: SO. Much. Food.
May 10th
We made it to Jardin de Fiestas around 10:55, and were surprised to see they were already open! Yay! We didn’t want any food from here, but I had my eye on three of the drinks, so we decided to stop there first to pick up my first drink of the trip, the Elderflower Pineapple Margarita. Yum!
Next up we stopped by La Isla Fresca since my mom couldn’t wait to try the Shrimp Skewer. We went to order only the hear the saddest thing, the kitchen was down. Noooo!
Fortunately, they said it should be up and running in 15-20 minutes. So we decided to wander over to the next booth with plans to head back soon.
We made our way over to the Berry Basket, where my mom’s #1 food item was, the lamb chop! We both got the lamb chop while my mom got the Founders Raspberry Ale. My drink was still pretty full so I skipped the mint julep I had planned on getting.
Lamb chop with Raspberry ale
Lamb chop with the Elderflower margarita.
The lamb chop was really good, and my mom really liked the raspberry ale. My margarita was still delicious!
After finishing up, we made our way back to La Isla Fresca and were thrilled to see they were open for business!
I got the Jamaican-braised beef and my mom got the Sugar Cane shrimp skewer. The beef was amazing, you didn’t need a knife, it was so tender. The shrimp was ok, my mom really enjoyed it, but I thought the beef was better.
The beef, yum! Still working on that margarita...
Shrimp skewer
Next up was the Pineapple Promenade. At this point it was getting super hot outside, so my mom decided the Pineapple Soft-serve Ice Cream with rum sounded like the perfect snack. That seemed a bit too heavy for me, so I got the Sparkling Pineapple Wine. The wine was ok, not my favorite, but the soft serve was really good!
My mom enjoying her soft serve (with rum!)
My pineapple wine.
While we were standing at our table enjoying our drinks I happened to check my phone, and surprise, our room was ready! We were so relieved, we really wanted to swim soon and didn’t want to deal with having to change in the public restrooms, plus we had a big night ahead of us so we really wanted some time to rest in the room in the afternoon.
We were starting to get pretty full, but I had one more item I really wanted to try, so we headed over to Northern Bloom where I got the Seared Scallops while my mom got the Beef Tenderloin and the beer flight. The scallops were fantastic, but the beef wasn’t anything special. I was expecting similar quality for the beef as at the Canada booth at Food and Wine, but it didn’t even come close.
The beef from northern bloom.
The scallops from northern bloom. By the time we remembered to take pictures we had already started sharing the food, so ignore the beef in the scallops and the scallops in the beef please!
The beer flight from northern bloom.
We were standing at a table in the shade finishing up when all of a sudden my mom started feeling really sick, like she might pass out. So we quickly found a seat for her in the shade and I ran and got her some ice cold water. Turns out coming to 97 degree weather from the 40s was a bit too much for her and the heat just knocked her down. She was ok, but it was a worrisome few minutes trying to convince her to drink more water!
Once she was feeling better, we headed back to the hotel to rest and for some pool time. By the time we got there she was feeling a lot better (phew!) so we decided to swim before resting up for our big night out!
We got back to the hotel and went to bell services to pick up our bags, then made our way up to the 4th floor to see our room!
Georgette (our awesome check in CM) put us in a great room! It was newly renovated and looked out onto the pool, Stormalong bay!
Wow, what a view!!! We could see the fireworks at night!
We loved the new room, it was so nicely done! The best part was the barn door separating the vanity area from the main room. It was nice to be able to have that extra privacy when getting ready.
I was also so excited to see the mothers day present I had ordered was already waiting for us in the room! What a great surprise!
The mothers day gift I had ordered for my mom waiting for us in the room!
After taking way too many pictures of the room, we got changed and headed down to the pool to cool off. It was seriously HOT that day!
We love love love the pool here. The sand bottom feel so good on tired feet! It was crowded, a lot more than we were expecting for mid week, but we still found chairs easily and in no time we were wiggling our toes in the sand bottom! Ahhhhhh.
We stayed down there for about an hour before we decided to head back to the room to nap since that 4:30AM wake up was starting to catch up to us. Yeah, kind of hard to believe that just a few hours prior we were still at the airport!
Next up…It’s a highway…in the sky!
May 10th
We made it to Jardin de Fiestas around 10:55, and were surprised to see they were already open! Yay! We didn’t want any food from here, but I had my eye on three of the drinks, so we decided to stop there first to pick up my first drink of the trip, the Elderflower Pineapple Margarita. Yum!
Next up we stopped by La Isla Fresca since my mom couldn’t wait to try the Shrimp Skewer. We went to order only the hear the saddest thing, the kitchen was down. Noooo!
Fortunately, they said it should be up and running in 15-20 minutes. So we decided to wander over to the next booth with plans to head back soon.
We made our way over to the Berry Basket, where my mom’s #1 food item was, the lamb chop! We both got the lamb chop while my mom got the Founders Raspberry Ale. My drink was still pretty full so I skipped the mint julep I had planned on getting.
Lamb chop with Raspberry ale
Lamb chop with the Elderflower margarita.
The lamb chop was really good, and my mom really liked the raspberry ale. My margarita was still delicious!
After finishing up, we made our way back to La Isla Fresca and were thrilled to see they were open for business!
I got the Jamaican-braised beef and my mom got the Sugar Cane shrimp skewer. The beef was amazing, you didn’t need a knife, it was so tender. The shrimp was ok, my mom really enjoyed it, but I thought the beef was better.
The beef, yum! Still working on that margarita...
Shrimp skewer
Next up was the Pineapple Promenade. At this point it was getting super hot outside, so my mom decided the Pineapple Soft-serve Ice Cream with rum sounded like the perfect snack. That seemed a bit too heavy for me, so I got the Sparkling Pineapple Wine. The wine was ok, not my favorite, but the soft serve was really good!
My mom enjoying her soft serve (with rum!)
My pineapple wine.
While we were standing at our table enjoying our drinks I happened to check my phone, and surprise, our room was ready! We were so relieved, we really wanted to swim soon and didn’t want to deal with having to change in the public restrooms, plus we had a big night ahead of us so we really wanted some time to rest in the room in the afternoon.
We were starting to get pretty full, but I had one more item I really wanted to try, so we headed over to Northern Bloom where I got the Seared Scallops while my mom got the Beef Tenderloin and the beer flight. The scallops were fantastic, but the beef wasn’t anything special. I was expecting similar quality for the beef as at the Canada booth at Food and Wine, but it didn’t even come close.
The beef from northern bloom.
The scallops from northern bloom. By the time we remembered to take pictures we had already started sharing the food, so ignore the beef in the scallops and the scallops in the beef please!
The beer flight from northern bloom.
We were standing at a table in the shade finishing up when all of a sudden my mom started feeling really sick, like she might pass out. So we quickly found a seat for her in the shade and I ran and got her some ice cold water. Turns out coming to 97 degree weather from the 40s was a bit too much for her and the heat just knocked her down. She was ok, but it was a worrisome few minutes trying to convince her to drink more water!
Once she was feeling better, we headed back to the hotel to rest and for some pool time. By the time we got there she was feeling a lot better (phew!) so we decided to swim before resting up for our big night out!
We got back to the hotel and went to bell services to pick up our bags, then made our way up to the 4th floor to see our room!
Georgette (our awesome check in CM) put us in a great room! It was newly renovated and looked out onto the pool, Stormalong bay!
Wow, what a view!!! We could see the fireworks at night!
We loved the new room, it was so nicely done! The best part was the barn door separating the vanity area from the main room. It was nice to be able to have that extra privacy when getting ready.
I was also so excited to see the mothers day present I had ordered was already waiting for us in the room! What a great surprise!
The mothers day gift I had ordered for my mom waiting for us in the room!
After taking way too many pictures of the room, we got changed and headed down to the pool to cool off. It was seriously HOT that day!
We love love love the pool here. The sand bottom feel so good on tired feet! It was crowded, a lot more than we were expecting for mid week, but we still found chairs easily and in no time we were wiggling our toes in the sand bottom! Ahhhhhh.
We stayed down there for about an hour before we decided to head back to the room to nap since that 4:30AM wake up was starting to catch up to us. Yeah, kind of hard to believe that just a few hours prior we were still at the airport!
Next up…It’s a highway…in the sky!
Last edited:
Glad your mom was ok. Ive definitely been there... coming from cooler temps to the heat and getting hit hard. It's especially hot around the world showcase.
The room looks great! I've been reading the AC is a little wonky in the new rooms. Did you have any issues with the room being too hot? Or getting hot when you slept?
The room looks great! I've been reading the AC is a little wonky in the new rooms. Did you have any issues with the room being too hot? Or getting hot when you slept?
iheartbelle87
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2010
I'm here and IN LOVE with TR! I was certain that I had subscribed and commented earlier this week... but nope, I can't find my comments anywhere. So, I'm really here this time! haha!
Anyway, you and your mom are ADORABLE and it looks like your trip was off to a great start, especially being there so early and getting upgraded! And now now I want to add pineapple wine to my 'to do' list for next week !
Anyway, you and your mom are ADORABLE and it looks like your trip was off to a great start, especially being there so early and getting upgraded! And now now I want to add pineapple wine to my 'to do' list for next week !
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Thanks, yeah, it was a scary for a bit there when she first started feeling bad, but fortunately she recovered quickly. We made sure to pop into the AC a lot more the following days to keep it from happening again!
The AC in the room wasn't horrible. It's definitely not the Disney ice box it used to be, but we were never uncomfortably hot. It did kick on over night a bunch of times, so that whole motion sensor thing I've read about didn't seem to be an issue. We just wished we could turn it down a tad lower, 68 sounds cool, but when it's mixed with FL humidity it felt a bit warmer.
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Haha, thanks! I would also recommend the elderflower pineapple margarita from Jardin de Fiestas, it was so good! Hope you have a great trip!
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Part 6: It’s a highway…in the sky!
May 10th (still)
We were able to take a quick nap and were so grateful our room was ready so we could. It was only around 2:00 in the afternoon, but we were wiped out from our ridiculously early wake-up and all the running around we had already done!
Around 3:00 I got up to start drying my hair and start getting ready. My mom had wanted to leave the room by 4:00 since she was really worried it would take forever for a bus to show up and there would be rush hour traffic (?). I went along with it since I knew if we did end up running late I would have a very stressed out mom on my hands!
We left the room at 3:57...making my mom VERY happy! The bus stop was empty when we got there, which we assumed meant buses had just come, and the bus wait times display wasn’t on, so we settled in for what we thought would be a long wait. Luck was on our side though, and we only waited about 5 minutes for the bus to the Magic Kingdom!
As always, the bus stopped by BC on the way, where there were a ton of people waiting, the bus went from being just my mom and I (and the driver) to completely full! Looks like BC was a bit more popular than the YC that week!
After loading everyone we were on our way! We had a training bus, and the CM who was doing the training decided to entertain us for the trip with the most ridiculously cheesy jokes. OMG, I loved it. Totally made my day!
It took about 20 minutes to get to the MK, even with my mom’s rush hour traffic. (ha!) Our plan was to take the path over to the Contemporary, so we were a bit confused when we had to go through security first. I had forgotten they had moved it, but it only took a moment to get through, so it wasn’t a big deal.
As always, I was randomly selected for the metal detector. I think I need to stop smiling at the security guys, every time I do they call me over for the random screening. Next trip I’m going to try to avoid eye contact and just sneak through…
The walk over to the Contemporary wasn’t bad, just a bit warm. Ok, actually it was downright hot, we were so relieved to get back into the glorious AC at the resort!
We arrived at the Wave super early, our check in wasn’t until 5:45 and it was only about 4:30. I went to see if we could check in, but was told not until around 5:40, so I suggested to my mom that we just go sit at the bar and get a drink while we wait.
My mom shot my idea down though because she really wanted to go see the mural since it’s been a while since we’ve checked it out. So upstairs we went! I had never actually been in the lower levels of the Contemporary and I was surprised by how un-Disney they were. I felt like I was in an office building.
We got up the two flights of escalators to the main level so we could check out that mural. The first thing my mom says when she sees it is “oh look, they’ve updated it!”
I look at it a bit closer. I’m not seeing what she’s talking about.
Um, mom? Still feeling that heat?
She then goes “well, it’s a lot smaller now, it used to go all the way up!”
Oh mom.
Trying really hard not to laugh, I guide her around the corner while explaining that the main mural was on the other side. HA. Sure enough, once she sees the other side she says “Yes! That’s the one I remember!”
After a good laugh, we decided to wander through the gift stores for a few minutes. We had chatted about someday staying at the Contemporary, but while browsing the store my mom comes over to tell me that she’s decided she doesn’t want to stay there anymore. I ask her why not and she says that it’s just not her style, that it’s too contemporary. HAAAA! Oh I love bad jokes.
Sadly our mural finding and store browsing only took about 10 minutes, so it was still ridiculously early for our dinner. We didn’t really know what else to do so ended up heading back down to the Wave to hang out at the bar and wait.
We only got water since we knew we’d be getting a lot of drinks with dinner. Around 5:30 we noticed people were starting to go into the roped off area, so we headed over as well to start Highway in the Sky dine around!
The area at the Wave set aside for the event is this oval shaped room right by the entrance and has a long bench running along the wall with about 6 small tables set up along it and some little poof seats around them. It’s also very blue. My mom and I picked a table and settled in to wait for the even to start.
Soon people started filing in and the hosts eventually arrived. One couple who had arrive around the same time we did ended up coming over to introduce themselves and asked if they could join us since the host had told them that we would all end up having to make friends on this dinner! We of course said yes, so they settled in on the poofs on the other side of the table from us.
I feel horrible, I completely forgot their names, but they were wonderful! We ended up hanging out with them at all the stops that didn’t have assigned seating.
The hosts had us all check in and get our massive lanyards. Disney does love these huge lanyards, this one may actually be even larger than the one we got for the burger block party in the fall! They explained as they handed out the lanyards that we would be at each location for approximately 30 minutes and they would give us a 5 minute warning prior to leaving.
Once everyone had checked in and found their seat it was time for the first drink of the night, a bay lake sunset!
(see...it's very blue in there)
It was so delicious! The couple who sat with us offered to take a picture of us, of course we said yes! We then returned the favor and snapped a picture of them.
While getting our pictures the food was delivered. It was the pea soup and it was so good, but so small! It was served in basically an espresso shot glass. I wish it were slightly larger, but I guess with all the other stops coming up it was good to keep the portions small.
Here's a picture of the soup:
Sorry for the poor quality, that blue light made pictures very tricky at this stop!
While eating, the chef came out to describe the food for us.
Soon after finishing the food and drink, the hosts let us know we’d be moving on in 5 minutes. They did a really good job keeping us on time through the whole event.
Those final 5 minutes went fast and we were quickly ushered out of the Wave and to the escalators to hop on the monorail.
This is where I had my minor SNAFU for the night. We all got on the escalators, and there was an elderly couple in front of me who I guess forgot that escalators continuously move even after they get off so decided once they reached the top to just stop and block the exit. Unfortunately those escalators are the narrow ones where you have to be in a single file line, so there was nowhere to go when those two stopped except for right into them! So me, and the people behind me, were dumped on top of this couple. I felt so bad, and made sure on the next escalator to wait til they were about half way up before getting on so they would have plenty of time to move out of the way!
After the little escalator incident, we were brought through security to get on the monorail. This was a bit of a cluster since we were mixed in with the non-event people, so it was easy to get separated from the group. I also noticed a bunch of people not in our group would elbow their way in to try to get ahead of us which made it trickier for all of us to stay together. We all made it through though and made our way up to a monorail already waiting for us. We all piled into one car, and I was so impressed when a younger guy gave up his seat for my mom! I hate to say this, but it’s so rare to see that kind of thing nowadays!
It was a quick ride and soon we at our next stop, the Polynesian!
...
May 10th (still)
We were able to take a quick nap and were so grateful our room was ready so we could. It was only around 2:00 in the afternoon, but we were wiped out from our ridiculously early wake-up and all the running around we had already done!
Around 3:00 I got up to start drying my hair and start getting ready. My mom had wanted to leave the room by 4:00 since she was really worried it would take forever for a bus to show up and there would be rush hour traffic (?). I went along with it since I knew if we did end up running late I would have a very stressed out mom on my hands!
We left the room at 3:57...making my mom VERY happy! The bus stop was empty when we got there, which we assumed meant buses had just come, and the bus wait times display wasn’t on, so we settled in for what we thought would be a long wait. Luck was on our side though, and we only waited about 5 minutes for the bus to the Magic Kingdom!
As always, the bus stopped by BC on the way, where there were a ton of people waiting, the bus went from being just my mom and I (and the driver) to completely full! Looks like BC was a bit more popular than the YC that week!
After loading everyone we were on our way! We had a training bus, and the CM who was doing the training decided to entertain us for the trip with the most ridiculously cheesy jokes. OMG, I loved it. Totally made my day!
It took about 20 minutes to get to the MK, even with my mom’s rush hour traffic. (ha!) Our plan was to take the path over to the Contemporary, so we were a bit confused when we had to go through security first. I had forgotten they had moved it, but it only took a moment to get through, so it wasn’t a big deal.
As always, I was randomly selected for the metal detector. I think I need to stop smiling at the security guys, every time I do they call me over for the random screening. Next trip I’m going to try to avoid eye contact and just sneak through…
The walk over to the Contemporary wasn’t bad, just a bit warm. Ok, actually it was downright hot, we were so relieved to get back into the glorious AC at the resort!
We arrived at the Wave super early, our check in wasn’t until 5:45 and it was only about 4:30. I went to see if we could check in, but was told not until around 5:40, so I suggested to my mom that we just go sit at the bar and get a drink while we wait.
My mom shot my idea down though because she really wanted to go see the mural since it’s been a while since we’ve checked it out. So upstairs we went! I had never actually been in the lower levels of the Contemporary and I was surprised by how un-Disney they were. I felt like I was in an office building.
We got up the two flights of escalators to the main level so we could check out that mural. The first thing my mom says when she sees it is “oh look, they’ve updated it!”
I look at it a bit closer. I’m not seeing what she’s talking about.
Um, mom? Still feeling that heat?
She then goes “well, it’s a lot smaller now, it used to go all the way up!”
Oh mom.
Trying really hard not to laugh, I guide her around the corner while explaining that the main mural was on the other side. HA. Sure enough, once she sees the other side she says “Yes! That’s the one I remember!”
After a good laugh, we decided to wander through the gift stores for a few minutes. We had chatted about someday staying at the Contemporary, but while browsing the store my mom comes over to tell me that she’s decided she doesn’t want to stay there anymore. I ask her why not and she says that it’s just not her style, that it’s too contemporary. HAAAA! Oh I love bad jokes.
Sadly our mural finding and store browsing only took about 10 minutes, so it was still ridiculously early for our dinner. We didn’t really know what else to do so ended up heading back down to the Wave to hang out at the bar and wait.
We only got water since we knew we’d be getting a lot of drinks with dinner. Around 5:30 we noticed people were starting to go into the roped off area, so we headed over as well to start Highway in the Sky dine around!
The area at the Wave set aside for the event is this oval shaped room right by the entrance and has a long bench running along the wall with about 6 small tables set up along it and some little poof seats around them. It’s also very blue. My mom and I picked a table and settled in to wait for the even to start.
Soon people started filing in and the hosts eventually arrived. One couple who had arrive around the same time we did ended up coming over to introduce themselves and asked if they could join us since the host had told them that we would all end up having to make friends on this dinner! We of course said yes, so they settled in on the poofs on the other side of the table from us.
I feel horrible, I completely forgot their names, but they were wonderful! We ended up hanging out with them at all the stops that didn’t have assigned seating.
The hosts had us all check in and get our massive lanyards. Disney does love these huge lanyards, this one may actually be even larger than the one we got for the burger block party in the fall! They explained as they handed out the lanyards that we would be at each location for approximately 30 minutes and they would give us a 5 minute warning prior to leaving.
Once everyone had checked in and found their seat it was time for the first drink of the night, a bay lake sunset!
(see...it's very blue in there)
It was so delicious! The couple who sat with us offered to take a picture of us, of course we said yes! We then returned the favor and snapped a picture of them.
While getting our pictures the food was delivered. It was the pea soup and it was so good, but so small! It was served in basically an espresso shot glass. I wish it were slightly larger, but I guess with all the other stops coming up it was good to keep the portions small.
Here's a picture of the soup:
Sorry for the poor quality, that blue light made pictures very tricky at this stop!
While eating, the chef came out to describe the food for us.
Soon after finishing the food and drink, the hosts let us know we’d be moving on in 5 minutes. They did a really good job keeping us on time through the whole event.
Those final 5 minutes went fast and we were quickly ushered out of the Wave and to the escalators to hop on the monorail.
This is where I had my minor SNAFU for the night. We all got on the escalators, and there was an elderly couple in front of me who I guess forgot that escalators continuously move even after they get off so decided once they reached the top to just stop and block the exit. Unfortunately those escalators are the narrow ones where you have to be in a single file line, so there was nowhere to go when those two stopped except for right into them! So me, and the people behind me, were dumped on top of this couple. I felt so bad, and made sure on the next escalator to wait til they were about half way up before getting on so they would have plenty of time to move out of the way!
After the little escalator incident, we were brought through security to get on the monorail. This was a bit of a cluster since we were mixed in with the non-event people, so it was easy to get separated from the group. I also noticed a bunch of people not in our group would elbow their way in to try to get ahead of us which made it trickier for all of us to stay together. We all made it through though and made our way up to a monorail already waiting for us. We all piled into one car, and I was so impressed when a younger guy gave up his seat for my mom! I hate to say this, but it’s so rare to see that kind of thing nowadays!
It was a quick ride and soon we at our next stop, the Polynesian!
...
Last edited:
TristiK
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2015
Love your report, I can't wait to see how the rest of the Highway in the Sky is! We also love the YC. Off topic question for you - how did you find the renovated room? We were all set to book the YC for our June 2018 trip but I've read some reviews on the BC/YC thread that state the removal of the carpet has made for very loud rooms and that the motion sensor activated a/c turns off while you sleep. Now I'm a little nervous about book there, every though we adore it!
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
We really liked the renovated rooms. We didn't have any issues with the AC, definitely woke up during the night and heard it kick on, so the motion sensor thing was not an issue for us. Our only wish was that we could turn it down below 68 degrees, we generally like it really cold when we sleep, and 68 felt just a tad warmer than we'd like.
As for the noise, it is noisier than before. We had a family next door one night, I think they had just arrived, and we could hear the kids running around the room and all of their conversations. It's funny though, we could hear the people in that room, but we couldn't hear the people in the room on the other side unless they were out on the balcony. So I don't know if we just had very loud talkers next to us, or if that one wall didn't have the proper soundproofing. Fortunately the following nights the loud family went to bed early so it wasn't really an issue for us, but we were surprised at how much we could hear than in previous trips.
iheartbelle87
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2010
this is totally something my mom would say too!
Sounds like you had a great bus ride!
Hahahah too funny!
Oy vey.
TristiK
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2015
I'm glad it didn't bother you! Noise during the day doesn't bother me and we can bring my daughter's sound machine for night. I was just really worried about sleeping in Florida in June with no a/c! But we love the resort and the area so much I was going to be really sad if we had to pick a different resort.
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Part 7: It’s a highway…in the sky! Part 2
May 10th (yup, still)
We were off to the Polynesian! Well, after a quick stop at the TTC. They kept the doors closed for our car at that stop though to keep the non-event guests out which I for some reason found very cool.
When we got to the Polynesian they had us huddle around I believe a manager (I wasn’t listening) who gave us a spiel on the resort prior to heading to the area set aside for us. They had us in the lobby for this stop, but they had planters with tallish plants around it to keep it a bit more private. When we arrived they had a guy playing the ukulele which was such a nice touch!
The manager (?) explained to us what our food and drink would be at this stop and soon the goodies started arriving!
First up, a classic Mai Tai. It was good but SO strong.
Next up was the goat cheese salad (well goat cheese with a piece of lettuce and a piece of a beet). It was small but so flavorful. I would definitely order that again in a larger size!
Next up was a spicy tuna roll! It was amazing, and actually a really decent size!
Our last item was a pork belly. The flavor was great, but the piece I got was almost all fat so it was my least favorite of the three items.
We had barely finished eating when we got the 5 minute warning, and soon after we were on our way back to the monorail! Once again we had to go through security. This time we had an entire monorail to ourselves! So we were able to all spread out for the short trip over to the Grand Floridian!
Upon arrival at the GF we were once again asked to huddle around a manager (this time I listened, he was the manager of Citricos) and hear a spiel about the hotel and restaurants before heading downstairs to the tea room.
When we got to the tea room we were all put in assigned seats. My mom and I lucked out, we were put at a table set up for three people, so our charcuterie plate was set up with an extra serving, but it ended up being only the two of us so we got extra!
We were surprised at how good this stop was. The champagne was such a nice touch and the cheeses and meats were so tasty!
Not the prettiest picture, we once again forgot to take it before diving in!
We finished up here quickly, and didn’t feel like we needed the full 30 minutes, but at least it gave us time for a much needed bathroom break.
After the tea room we were brought upstairs to Citricos! Once again we had assigned seats. They called off the names of each party brought us all back into the restaurant. We were seated at a table with a couple from Colorado who were very nice, but didn’t talk much.
The food came out almost immediately, it was a white fish, my mom thinks it was halibut, and the braised beef short ribs. Both were amazing, we would eat there again in a heartbeat!
We were given the option of red or white wine. The red was as the server put it “kind of like a chianti” and the white was a chardonnay. Both my mom and I got the red.
Our stop at Citricos was a bit longer than the others, I think we were there for about 45 minutes. After finishing up there, we were ushered back to the monorail to head over to our final stop, the Contemporary, again.
We arrived at the fourth floor viewing area for our desserts and cordials around 8:40, so we had more than enough time to grab food and drinks before the fireworks started. I tried both the orange cake and the chocolate, both were fantastic, but the chocolate was so rich I could only eat about half of it.
Sorry about the bad quality picture, at this point all the drinks were catching up to me!
For the drinks they had three cordials to choose from, and they made you put it in coffee, they wouldn’t pour you just a cordial to drink. They did have decaf though in case you don’t want that much caffeine at 9 at night! I ended up getting the decaf with a godiva white chocolate cordial. It was really good, and they don’t skimp on the cordials. The CM just kept pouring it in! They also had baileys and one other one I didn’t catch.
Soon the fireworks started. The viewing from there is just ok, it’s a side view so the fireworks are over space mountain instead of the castle and if you don’t get a seat you have the monorail beam blocking a lot of the higher fireworks, but it was nice to see Wishes one last time and not have to deal with the crowds.
We made the mistake of grabbing food when we got there instead of seats so ended up with the monorail beam in our view. Lesson learned! It only blocked the very high fireworks though so we had a good view of most of the show.
After the fireworks my mom and I had planned to head over to the MK for the EMH that night, but by the time we finished up our desserts and drinks we were fading fast so decided to just make our way back to the bus and call it a night, especially since we had planned to be back at the MK first thing in the morning!
It was such a wonderful first day (hard to believe it was only one day!), we did SO much and had so many new experiences! So far for new things we had:
1. Our first upgrade
2. New room
3. First flower and garden
4. First time on FEA
5. Highway in the sky dine around! (including first time at the Wave, the tea room, and Citricos!)
May 10th (yup, still)
We were off to the Polynesian! Well, after a quick stop at the TTC. They kept the doors closed for our car at that stop though to keep the non-event guests out which I for some reason found very cool.
When we got to the Polynesian they had us huddle around I believe a manager (I wasn’t listening) who gave us a spiel on the resort prior to heading to the area set aside for us. They had us in the lobby for this stop, but they had planters with tallish plants around it to keep it a bit more private. When we arrived they had a guy playing the ukulele which was such a nice touch!
The manager (?) explained to us what our food and drink would be at this stop and soon the goodies started arriving!
First up, a classic Mai Tai. It was good but SO strong.
Next up was the goat cheese salad (well goat cheese with a piece of lettuce and a piece of a beet). It was small but so flavorful. I would definitely order that again in a larger size!
Next up was a spicy tuna roll! It was amazing, and actually a really decent size!
Our last item was a pork belly. The flavor was great, but the piece I got was almost all fat so it was my least favorite of the three items.
We had barely finished eating when we got the 5 minute warning, and soon after we were on our way back to the monorail! Once again we had to go through security. This time we had an entire monorail to ourselves! So we were able to all spread out for the short trip over to the Grand Floridian!
Upon arrival at the GF we were once again asked to huddle around a manager (this time I listened, he was the manager of Citricos) and hear a spiel about the hotel and restaurants before heading downstairs to the tea room.
When we got to the tea room we were all put in assigned seats. My mom and I lucked out, we were put at a table set up for three people, so our charcuterie plate was set up with an extra serving, but it ended up being only the two of us so we got extra!
We were surprised at how good this stop was. The champagne was such a nice touch and the cheeses and meats were so tasty!
Not the prettiest picture, we once again forgot to take it before diving in!
We finished up here quickly, and didn’t feel like we needed the full 30 minutes, but at least it gave us time for a much needed bathroom break.
After the tea room we were brought upstairs to Citricos! Once again we had assigned seats. They called off the names of each party brought us all back into the restaurant. We were seated at a table with a couple from Colorado who were very nice, but didn’t talk much.
The food came out almost immediately, it was a white fish, my mom thinks it was halibut, and the braised beef short ribs. Both were amazing, we would eat there again in a heartbeat!
We were given the option of red or white wine. The red was as the server put it “kind of like a chianti” and the white was a chardonnay. Both my mom and I got the red.
Our stop at Citricos was a bit longer than the others, I think we were there for about 45 minutes. After finishing up there, we were ushered back to the monorail to head over to our final stop, the Contemporary, again.
We arrived at the fourth floor viewing area for our desserts and cordials around 8:40, so we had more than enough time to grab food and drinks before the fireworks started. I tried both the orange cake and the chocolate, both were fantastic, but the chocolate was so rich I could only eat about half of it.
Sorry about the bad quality picture, at this point all the drinks were catching up to me!
For the drinks they had three cordials to choose from, and they made you put it in coffee, they wouldn’t pour you just a cordial to drink. They did have decaf though in case you don’t want that much caffeine at 9 at night! I ended up getting the decaf with a godiva white chocolate cordial. It was really good, and they don’t skimp on the cordials. The CM just kept pouring it in! They also had baileys and one other one I didn’t catch.
Soon the fireworks started. The viewing from there is just ok, it’s a side view so the fireworks are over space mountain instead of the castle and if you don’t get a seat you have the monorail beam blocking a lot of the higher fireworks, but it was nice to see Wishes one last time and not have to deal with the crowds.
We made the mistake of grabbing food when we got there instead of seats so ended up with the monorail beam in our view. Lesson learned! It only blocked the very high fireworks though so we had a good view of most of the show.
After the fireworks my mom and I had planned to head over to the MK for the EMH that night, but by the time we finished up our desserts and drinks we were fading fast so decided to just make our way back to the bus and call it a night, especially since we had planned to be back at the MK first thing in the morning!
It was such a wonderful first day (hard to believe it was only one day!), we did SO much and had so many new experiences! So far for new things we had:
1. Our first upgrade
2. New room
3. First flower and garden
4. First time on FEA
5. Highway in the sky dine around! (including first time at the Wave, the tea room, and Citricos!)
Last edited:
suse66
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2008
I am loving your report! How fun that you and your mom share the love of Disney and can travel together (my mother thinks I am crazy for loving Disney, oh well!) You are staying at my favourite resort as well! I love, love, love the Yacht club! It is so nice to see the renovated rooms.
What a fun morning you had at Epcot! I'm glad your mom was ok, that heat can certainly be quite intense. Have you ever tried the cooling towels? I tried them last summer and found they really helped.
Highway in the Sky looks awesome! What a fun night! I was considering it for my trip this summer but wasn't sure how it would be as a solo diner. I may wait and hope it is still around when my DH and I go for our 20th anniversary trip in 2019.
What a fun morning you had at Epcot! I'm glad your mom was ok, that heat can certainly be quite intense. Have you ever tried the cooling towels? I tried them last summer and found they really helped.
Highway in the Sky looks awesome! What a fun night! I was considering it for my trip this summer but wasn't sure how it would be as a solo diner. I may wait and hope it is still around when my DH and I go for our 20th anniversary trip in 2019.
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Thanks! We have never tried cooling towels before, we'll have to try them next trip. We were a bit surprised how much the heat got to us. Usually we go in August after we're already acclimated to the heat, but going from 40s and 50s to the upper 90s hit us hard.
You can totally do Highway in the Sky solo. You have to share tables with other people at each of the stops, so you can make new friends throughout the night. We had a solo traveler on our trip, and she never had a problem. Everyone was very friendly, and by the end of the night we were all laughing and joking around together as if we've known each other for years. I'm sure all the alcohol helped with that!
TXMNie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2015
What an awesome view! Georgette did well!
Agreed. We ate at the Wave on our last trip and I was not super impressed with the decor. The highway in the sky dining experience looks neat! Loving the trip report!
missangelalexis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
Sounds like a nice time at Epcot sampling some different snacks and drinks! I'm sorry your mom started to feel ill, thank goodness it passed pretty quickly.
Highway in the Sky sounds like a fun experience!
Highway in the Sky sounds like a fun experience!
VAtink
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Part 8: We made it to our laughing place!
May 11th
We got up around 6:30 to start getting ready for the MK! Boy were we glad we skipped the EMH the previous night, we only ended up getting about 6 hours of sleep just coming home after Highway in the Sky, we would have been really exhausted had we stayed later!
Our plan for that morning was to check out the new opening, then visit our happiest place ever, Splash Mountain! We also couldn’t wait to get on BTM since it was down on our last trip in the fall.
Before heading out for the day, we took a look outside and wow, look at our view in the morning! Spectacular!
We made our way down to the bus stop around 7:20, and once again luck was on our side and a MK bus pulled up a minute later! We got to the MK just before 7:45 and was shocked to see how empty it was! There was no line for security at all, we walked right through and of course, once again I got selected for the random additional screening.
Once through the additional screening we went to scan our magic bands and get into the park…I was surprised to see it was already open, I thought it didn’t open until 8:00 and it was only 7:45! We ended up loving this new opening procedure, although we’re glad we were able to do the PPO breakfast in the fall to get the empty park pictures.
After getting into the park, I spotted one of our favorite things, a photopass photographer! So we booked it over to her to get our first MK pictures of the trip!
After our photo shoot, we made our way under the train station and onto Main Street! There were already people there, but it was not crowded at all.
We loved seeing all the Main Street vehicles out as well, we haven't seen many of them in years!
We decided to stop at the photopass photographers up Main Street first before it got more crowded, then do a little shopping afterwards while waiting for the park to open.
Off we went to photopass! We stopped at every single one up Main Street! We have a slight obsession with them. I'll spare you the boredom of looking at nine almost identical pictures from each of the photographers and only post the best few.
After the last photographer, it was only about 8:15, so we headed over to the shops to pick up some things. I ended up getting my pup, Dug, a squeaky toy and some Mickey ears.
Yeah, he’s not a fan of the ears…
I also picked up some dish towels for a present for my mom and got myself some as well. We had all our goodies shipped back to the resort so we didn’t have to carry the bag around all morning. I love that you can do this, but I do miss the days where they delivered it to your room directly and usually the same day. I used to love coming back from the park to find my purchases waiting on my bed! Oh well, at least they still ship it to the hotel!
We made our way over to the entrance to Frontierland where a small crowd had gathered for the opening, but it wasn't many people at all. My mom snapped a picture of me waiting.
See, not very crowded at all!
We were able to see a bit of the opening show, not the best view from where we were standing but we really enjoyed it still. Soon enough it was opening time!
I like the way they do opening here where the CMs lead people back into the lands so it’s not the crazy speed walking like we had in Epcot. After the split where a good chunk of the crowd went right to HM we were stopped again in Frontierland for a few minutes. So. Much. Waiting.
Finally they were ready for us and lead us back to our happy place! We had FP+ for Splash at 9:15, so our goal was to ride it first standby before it got crowded. So we got in line, only to find out that the ride was down! Noooooo!
So most of us quickly booked it over to the line for BTM, which at that point was stretched over by the entrance to Splash. While in that line, I looked over and noticed they were suddenly letting people into Splash! AHHHHH!!!!! So we all ran back that way. We must have looked ridiculous running back and forth like that!
Sometimes I think the CMs do this just to laugh at us...
Splash was a walk-on, yay! And soon enough we were in our log, front row! We got soaked, but loved every second of it!
I couldn't decide how I wanted to pose so ended up with a mix of screaming/princess waving. Oops!
When we got off the wait time only said 10 minutes, so we decided to ride standby again! There was no wait, we just walked right on, and once again we were in the front row! Also, once again, we got soaked! My mom got some videos this time around!
When we got off there was only a 15 minute wait posted, so we again decided to ride standby and save our FP+ until it got a bit more crowded. There was a few more people in line this time, but we only waited about 5 minutes before being ushered into, you guessed it, row 1 again!
Then suddenly, the ride broke down. Ugh. We ended up waiting about 10 minutes for it to start up again, so not horrible. The CMs were talking about some squirrel issue, we trying to figure out if they were talking about a real squirrel or an animatronic.
Eventually the ride got going again, phew! By the time we got off this time we were completely soaking wet, there was not a dry inch on us! It was already really hot out so it felt good to be that wet!
After the third ride doing standby, we decided it was time to use the FP+ as it was going to expire in about 10 minutes, so off we went again! This time we ended up in the last row, fail. But we did get three rides in the front, so no complaints! We also managed to ride Splash 4 times in an hour, so we were super happy!
By the time we got off Splash it was just about time for our FP+ for BTM, so we made our way over there. There was a slight wait, about 10 minutes even with the FP+, but not horrible. We were thrilled that we got put in the back of the train! My favorite spot!
It was a fun ride, I wish they did the photographs with this one, I had hoped when it was down in the fall for refurbishment they would add it. They did however have a photopass photographer at the ride exit, so we stopped to get our picture!
We had a bit of time after BTM before our next FP+, so I suggested we make our way over to Haunted Mansion, which my mom happily agreed to. The standby line for HM wasn’t bad yet, we ended up waiting about 15 minutes to get into the stretching room. I love this ride so much, it’s a must do every trip. This time we saw something new, at the part where the ghost joins us, they actually read our magic bands and he held up a sign saying “next stop, Virginia!” They didn’t do that in fall, so it was neat to see!
After HM we still had some time before our next FP+, so we decided to stroll through Fantasyland to take pictures and find any photopass photographers. Sadly, we didn’t see any on that end of the park. We kept making our way around, and soon found ourselves in Furtureworld. It was just about time for our FP+ so we headed over to Space Mountain!
We had about a 25 minute wait here even with the FP+, so while we were in line I tried to pick up FP+ for Buzz, but sadly the only ones available were after 7:30 that night so we wouldn’t be there. I looked to see if there were any FP+ we could pick up for our next ride, but most were gone for the day, or were only available in the late evening. Oh well, at least we got to see our favorite rides! Soon enough we made it to the front of the line and hopped in our rocketship and got ready to take off!
By the time we got off Space Mountain the park had gotten super crowded, but we had figured it might being the second to last night of Wishes. We decided to check to see what the standby wait was for Buzz since we love competing with each other on it. Sadly the wait for Buzz was 60 minutes by then, and we weren’t willing to wait that long, so we made our way out of the park and over to the monorail for our next adventure of the day!
May 11th
We got up around 6:30 to start getting ready for the MK! Boy were we glad we skipped the EMH the previous night, we only ended up getting about 6 hours of sleep just coming home after Highway in the Sky, we would have been really exhausted had we stayed later!
Our plan for that morning was to check out the new opening, then visit our happiest place ever, Splash Mountain! We also couldn’t wait to get on BTM since it was down on our last trip in the fall.
Before heading out for the day, we took a look outside and wow, look at our view in the morning! Spectacular!
We made our way down to the bus stop around 7:20, and once again luck was on our side and a MK bus pulled up a minute later! We got to the MK just before 7:45 and was shocked to see how empty it was! There was no line for security at all, we walked right through and of course, once again I got selected for the random additional screening.
Once through the additional screening we went to scan our magic bands and get into the park…I was surprised to see it was already open, I thought it didn’t open until 8:00 and it was only 7:45! We ended up loving this new opening procedure, although we’re glad we were able to do the PPO breakfast in the fall to get the empty park pictures.
After getting into the park, I spotted one of our favorite things, a photopass photographer! So we booked it over to her to get our first MK pictures of the trip!
After our photo shoot, we made our way under the train station and onto Main Street! There were already people there, but it was not crowded at all.
We loved seeing all the Main Street vehicles out as well, we haven't seen many of them in years!
We decided to stop at the photopass photographers up Main Street first before it got more crowded, then do a little shopping afterwards while waiting for the park to open.
Off we went to photopass! We stopped at every single one up Main Street! We have a slight obsession with them. I'll spare you the boredom of looking at nine almost identical pictures from each of the photographers and only post the best few.
After the last photographer, it was only about 8:15, so we headed over to the shops to pick up some things. I ended up getting my pup, Dug, a squeaky toy and some Mickey ears.
Yeah, he’s not a fan of the ears…
I also picked up some dish towels for a present for my mom and got myself some as well. We had all our goodies shipped back to the resort so we didn’t have to carry the bag around all morning. I love that you can do this, but I do miss the days where they delivered it to your room directly and usually the same day. I used to love coming back from the park to find my purchases waiting on my bed! Oh well, at least they still ship it to the hotel!
We made our way over to the entrance to Frontierland where a small crowd had gathered for the opening, but it wasn't many people at all. My mom snapped a picture of me waiting.
See, not very crowded at all!
We were able to see a bit of the opening show, not the best view from where we were standing but we really enjoyed it still. Soon enough it was opening time!
I like the way they do opening here where the CMs lead people back into the lands so it’s not the crazy speed walking like we had in Epcot. After the split where a good chunk of the crowd went right to HM we were stopped again in Frontierland for a few minutes. So. Much. Waiting.
Finally they were ready for us and lead us back to our happy place! We had FP+ for Splash at 9:15, so our goal was to ride it first standby before it got crowded. So we got in line, only to find out that the ride was down! Noooooo!
So most of us quickly booked it over to the line for BTM, which at that point was stretched over by the entrance to Splash. While in that line, I looked over and noticed they were suddenly letting people into Splash! AHHHHH!!!!! So we all ran back that way. We must have looked ridiculous running back and forth like that!
Sometimes I think the CMs do this just to laugh at us...
Splash was a walk-on, yay! And soon enough we were in our log, front row! We got soaked, but loved every second of it!
I couldn't decide how I wanted to pose so ended up with a mix of screaming/princess waving. Oops!
When we got off the wait time only said 10 minutes, so we decided to ride standby again! There was no wait, we just walked right on, and once again we were in the front row! Also, once again, we got soaked! My mom got some videos this time around!
When we got off there was only a 15 minute wait posted, so we again decided to ride standby and save our FP+ until it got a bit more crowded. There was a few more people in line this time, but we only waited about 5 minutes before being ushered into, you guessed it, row 1 again!
Then suddenly, the ride broke down. Ugh. We ended up waiting about 10 minutes for it to start up again, so not horrible. The CMs were talking about some squirrel issue, we trying to figure out if they were talking about a real squirrel or an animatronic.
Eventually the ride got going again, phew! By the time we got off this time we were completely soaking wet, there was not a dry inch on us! It was already really hot out so it felt good to be that wet!
After the third ride doing standby, we decided it was time to use the FP+ as it was going to expire in about 10 minutes, so off we went again! This time we ended up in the last row, fail. But we did get three rides in the front, so no complaints! We also managed to ride Splash 4 times in an hour, so we were super happy!
By the time we got off Splash it was just about time for our FP+ for BTM, so we made our way over there. There was a slight wait, about 10 minutes even with the FP+, but not horrible. We were thrilled that we got put in the back of the train! My favorite spot!
It was a fun ride, I wish they did the photographs with this one, I had hoped when it was down in the fall for refurbishment they would add it. They did however have a photopass photographer at the ride exit, so we stopped to get our picture!
We had a bit of time after BTM before our next FP+, so I suggested we make our way over to Haunted Mansion, which my mom happily agreed to. The standby line for HM wasn’t bad yet, we ended up waiting about 15 minutes to get into the stretching room. I love this ride so much, it’s a must do every trip. This time we saw something new, at the part where the ghost joins us, they actually read our magic bands and he held up a sign saying “next stop, Virginia!” They didn’t do that in fall, so it was neat to see!
After HM we still had some time before our next FP+, so we decided to stroll through Fantasyland to take pictures and find any photopass photographers. Sadly, we didn’t see any on that end of the park. We kept making our way around, and soon found ourselves in Furtureworld. It was just about time for our FP+ so we headed over to Space Mountain!
We had about a 25 minute wait here even with the FP+, so while we were in line I tried to pick up FP+ for Buzz, but sadly the only ones available were after 7:30 that night so we wouldn’t be there. I looked to see if there were any FP+ we could pick up for our next ride, but most were gone for the day, or were only available in the late evening. Oh well, at least we got to see our favorite rides! Soon enough we made it to the front of the line and hopped in our rocketship and got ready to take off!
By the time we got off Space Mountain the park had gotten super crowded, but we had figured it might being the second to last night of Wishes. We decided to check to see what the standby wait was for Buzz since we love competing with each other on it. Sadly the wait for Buzz was 60 minutes by then, and we weren’t willing to wait that long, so we made our way out of the park and over to the monorail for our next adventure of the day!
Last edited:
missangelalexis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
Love all your PP pictures!
4 rides on Splash, what a great way to start the day! Sounds like a nice morning and you got out of there right as the crowds were picking up!
4 rides on Splash, what a great way to start the day! Sounds like a nice morning and you got out of there right as the crowds were picking up!
shannie102
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2016
4 in a row, way to go! that sounds like the perfect AM to me!!
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