Spring break - we're not in college anymore Toto - Feb 2018 TR

but they're MINE!!!

I may elbow jab you.

I was blown away by VOL.

They are.... impressive.

I said because it's a sacrifice for the whole family and not just the service member.

Yes. It is. My DIL can certainly attest to that.

The FP line for SE was just as long (on the outside) as the SB line,

THis is the one ride that regularly appears that way.

Notice, not much lipstick or glitter left? I think at one point she decided she'd had enough and went to the restroom and wiped it off.

Hmmm, might have to take that into consideration.

The girl is floating in the air...
mag3-jpg.308228

Except that she's resting on his knees??
 
I also snagged an ADR for Biergarten, albeit a late one (1:20pm).

Yum!! Lucky snag! I've never been there, but it's on my list for future. Everyone always has good things to say.

Maybe it was another person like me who made the resi with more people and then had to lower it down.

Whatever the reason, you lucked out! It seems that sometimes there's better availability last-minute for ADRs than at 180 days! haha

For future though, if your dining party gets smaller than you expected, obviously it's nice if you can find a smaller ADR so you can release the larger one to a group that needs it and all... but if you have an ADR for a large group and you can't find one for a smaller group, you can just keep the big one and just go with whoever is going to eat. (i.e. if I had an ADR for 6, but it turned out to only be 3 people who could actually go, I could just show up with 3 people and keep the same ADR.) The only problem is sometimes if you have more people than your reservation is for, not less. They confirmed this for us when we booked very large ADRs for our wedding reception. They won't charge you any fees or anything as long as at least one person shows up for the ADR. Fun fact! :)


Nice one! This is so pretty.

She is typically not a huge breakfast eater, but loves her carbs so she surprised me this morning.

Love of carbs? PR and I have this in common.

I was surprised to find a paper pouch with bacon in it instead of the extra bacon ON the sandwich.

:laughing:

On the way there is where I think my best pictures of the trip...
ep1-jpg.308183

This is really nice with the monorail in it! Good shot!

I also really only like it if we're in row 1. People's feet hanging down ruins the effect.

I don't mind the feet too much, but what I do mind is being on the sides. We always ask for the middle section. The distortion on the side sections actually makes me quite motion sick. Blech.

I skipped right up the resort monorail ramp dragging PR along with me.

Good call! Most people don't know this trick.

I struggled with Dole whips or DISmeet.

It's a constant struggle...dole whip vs. anything that's not dole whip... :laughing:


Nice picture! It sounds like you had a lovely Dismeet!

She told me absolutely not, she didn't want to hang out with such a jerk that would stand them up.

Caroline! How rude! That totally sounds like @disneyAndi14. :laughing:

Well, turns out, maybe my nose would've been better. They pointed me towards POC and said it was near there. We were right near Pecos Bill's so the walk through by CBJ would have been a much more direct route.

Weird! Every CM in MK should know exactly how to get to dole whip, blindfolded! It's one of the most important things. I wonder if maybe they were thinking of the citrus swirl at Sunshine Tree Terrace? Not that that's really super close either... weird.

While we were enjoying our dole whip floats, we saw this guy. I cannot imagine how hot those costumes must be in the summer.

:eek: I'm sure what you meant was that you can't imagine how hot Wendell's FUR must be for him in the summer! Of course! :thumbsup2 :laughing:

I had planned to let PR go and then use my magicband to go again. She loves Frozen and FEA, I do not. I like Olaf and the ride physically hurts my back when it goes backward and hits whatever and changes direction. The CM at the entrance said I have to swipe my MB first. No biggie, just reverse the order...use mine and then hers. Nope, we must go together. I explained it physically hurt my back and the ONLY reason I did the FP was for her. Too bad, so sad, you must go. Right before we got to the ride, I explained to the guy there exactly what I'd explained outside. Let me talk to my manager and we'll see what we can do. Shortly after, the person in charge of the ride...can't for the life of me remember her name, but she was great. Just stand over here sir and when she gets off, we'll just let her ride again. Score! I told her I appreciated it so much and I can imagine she has a lot to watch, so I thanked her profusely for allowing PR to ride twice and not forcing me.

Frankly, I'm shocked that they let you do this with how the whole DAS system is set up, since it's you who has trouble with traditional queue lines and not PR. I'm not surprised that the first CM was so difficult about it, because I'm sure they would have people trying to walk all over them if they didn't have to enforce these kinds of things. But I'm so glad the manager could help you out and PR got to ride FEA! It looked like she really enjoyed it!

She opened a door that said CM only and show me their control center for FEA. As a geek, I was like, wow and totally didn't even think about the camera. It was cool to see and I thanked her again.

No way! That's soo cool! A little magical moment. :)

She looks so happy here...I love it when my princess is happy!

Just what I'd expect from a doting Dis-dad!

According to DW, PR has me wrapped around her little finger. I don't agree, but when we're at Disney, it's fun time. Okay, so maybe she does. Sheesh, tough crowd.

Hmmm...DW might be on to something here. ::yes:: But I think that everyone should get a little special treatment at Disney, so I have no judgement! We like to spoil each other a little at WDW, too. :goodvibes

Well, Tiffins replaced biergarten and VOL replaced Celtic woman.

Wow!! That's high praise!! VOL have such a beautiful sound. I did my first degree in Music—vocal performance, so I have very high standards for choral music. They did not disappoint. :)

This may sound kinda funny, but there are times you can have too many FPs and they start messing with the wrong ones.

Yep! I've been there! :laughing: But I guess it's a good problem to have!

Several of these items ended up coming home with us because my eyes were way bigger than our stomachs and we had so many other treats at different times, we never got to our other caramel stuff.


Yummmmm!
 
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I love PR's face paint!

thanked the Phonecians for creating our alphabet. :wave: @ariane37.
;) :thumbsup2


Neither did the caramel apple. I had it cut into slices so I wouldn't break or lose a tooth trying to bite into it...it was a rather large apple. I also figured PR would want a couple of slices, but she opted for a chocolate car
I always forget to stop in here so have only been twice; luckily I remembered last month and brought my friend Cathy in for the first time. I've never gotten the caramel popcorn though as popular as it is, I always go for the huge dark chocolate sea salt square :cloud9: I also keep telling myself someday I'm going to try a Disney caramel apple and when I do, I need to remember to have them slice it. So much easier to eat I'm sure!
 
In the words of the cowardly lion....Lemme at 'em, lemme at 'em, put up your dukes.

:laughing:

Well worth it.

That's what I keep hearing!

Yeah, back to FN. :woohoo: :rotfl2:

:laughing:

I still like him after all these years. Figment was my sole memory of EPCOT for many years and still the fondest.

My kids were like that.
First time I took them (4 & 8) that was their favourite ride.
I took them again when they were 8 & 12 and... "We used to like that??"

I'm not much into shopping and certain countries interest me much more than others, so there are still aspects of WS I like less than others, but way more than when I was young.

Agreed. Some countries are better than others.

I don't know how Canada felt about or reacted to Viet Nam

It's a bit of a split actually...
We harboured about 30,000 draft dodgers from the US.... but at the same time, about 30,000 people volunteered to go fight.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/rewind/the-vietnam-war-canada-s-role-part-one-1.3038110

but I've always gone out of my way to shake the hand of and salute any Viet Nam vet I've come across. They were doing what their country told them to do and fighting a war that was impossible to win given the restrictions put on them. They served their country and followed orders and got spat (and substitute an h for the p as well) upon. I know we can't undo the past, but they never got the recognition they deserved.

That's good of you.... and I suspect that more people are doing that now.
At least I hope so.

It was okay. Not the best Chinese I"ve ever had, but definitely not the worst either. Given the limited selection and the price, I won't be chomping at the bit to go back.

This falls in line with the majority of what I've heard.
Usually it's "meh" or "not good". On occasion I hear "Good".

No...I think I just happened to snap the picture when he was starting to have her stand back up.

ah

The turtle was only so so. I mean I like chocolate, caramel and pecans, but the balance was just off I think.

Really! Huh. You'd think it'd be the opposite.

I was considering foot transplant surgery not new shoes. ;)

:laughing:

I'm the one with the big eyes, toothy smil and big nose. Does that help?

Yup!





no.
 


Finally caught up!
I have a confession on Dole Whips. I have never had the float nor a plain Dole Whip. I have had only one Dole Whip in my life, and that was with rum - interesting it was at Epcot, during the Flower & Garden festival way back in 2013. It was at the place right before Canada - Refreshment Port, I think. I don't know if they still have them there. Probably not. Anyway, the only Dole Whip I had, I didn't really enjoy (I know, should take my DisDads number away!). I think it had more to do with the rum. My drink of choice is rum & coke/pepsi but I really don't enjoy straight liquor. It was just too strong for me and didn't add any enjoyment to my Dole Whip. If I'm being honest, the frozen fruity snack I prefer is the citrus swirl - orange/vanilla Dole Whip. It used to be straight up frozen orange juice, but just recently changed to orange Dole Whip, so I'll have to compare the next trip.
 
I decided once I knew what days my family would be joining us I (yes I, it was a unilateral decision) wanted to catch my favorite (at the time) restaurant at Disney. Biergarten.

Solid choice.

She tried to ignore me again, but I said there's a chocolate chip muffin with your name on it and I can take it back. She was up!!

So that's the secret?

(there's no such thing as too much bacon)

Truth.

On the way there is where I think my best pictures of the trip...

Very nice! I wish they'd leave the flowers around the lagoon year-round. It looks so much better that way.

Soarin' is not my favorite anymore. I liked the old one better.

I've heard that quite a bit. Sorry it was a downgrade.

As we passed the character greet area, I noticed on MDE the baymax wait was 5 minutes. Score, let's go meet baymax. Once inside, I had great disdain for the lying, scheming MDE. The wait was 30 minutes.

That's quite a difference!

Thankfully for Caroline (or maybe regretably) the DISmeet won out.

Good work!

She told me absolutely not, she didn't want to hang out with such a jerk that would stand them up.

I totally believe this. :rolleyes1

While we were enjoying our dole whip floats, we saw this guy. I cannot imagine how hot those costumes must be in the summer.

Brutal.

Neither of us could finish our dole whip float. It hadn't been that long since breakfast and no matter how good it was, it just wasn't happening. Ever noticed in Star Wars where Vader or Luke are contending with the force? That's what throwing away a not empty Dole whip float was like.

Throwing away a Dole Whip!! That's a cardinal sin!

Just stand over here sir and when she gets off, we'll just let her ride again. Score! I told her I appreciated it so much and I can imagine she has a lot to watch, so I thanked her profusely for allowing PR to ride twice and not forcing me. She sat there and talked to me the whole time. I mentioned I'm in IT. She got a grin on her face and said follow me. She opened a door that said CM only and show me their control center for FEA. As a geek, I was like, wow and totally didn't even think about the camera. It was cool to see and I thanked her again. I literally was so surprised and thrilled I got to see geeky stuff, I completely forgot to get her name. I've seen many control centers in my career, but I've never seen a Disney ride control center!!!

Very cool! And very nice of the CM.

Biergarten knows how much I love it, so thankfully it wasn't resentful that Tiffins was my new first love. It told me it was fine with sharing my affections

That was easy. I wonder if that works in all walks of life.

Unfortunately, this was the second buffet where PR wasted my money. Do you see a pattern developing here? Sometimes, she eats like Sarah :-)wave: @Captain_Oblivious). This week, the food warrior did not show up.

Sarah is usually dependable. My oldest son, Dave, kills me. I'll have a story for you later in my TR.

I was blown away by VOL. The only bad part...they were facing the other direction, so the photo is not their best side. Their final song was a tribute to military and I was expecting a montage of the theme songs from each branch. Instead, it was You'll never walk alone. This was one of the songs Celtic woman did and that was my favorite rendition. Well, Tiffins replaced biergarten and VOL replaced Celtic woman.

VOL is wonderful. Glad you got to hear them.

He was quite puzzled and asked why I thanked him. I said because it's a sacrifice for the whole family and not just the service member.

Well said!

Our car (well mostly PR's...I just kinda watch her do her thing - the plasma engines were my idea - I like speed!):

I'm totally going with the plasma burner next time.

Notice, not much lipstick or glitter left? I think at one point she decided she'd had enough and went to the restroom and wiped it off.

That's how I feel about it, too.
 
Just wanted to let y'all know...I am still alive. Started the new job on Monday and I'm loving it. The only drawback is it's downtown and I'm riding the bus, so less time to do things once I get home. I might take my tablet with me next week (has a real keyboard) so I can at least type up the TR days while I'm not fighting rush hour (the good part of riding the bus).

I should finish up the next day (MK) today or tomorrow.
 


Whelp, obviously, I didn't get it done over the weekend. I worked on it during the commute today. Don't worry, I ride the bus, so wasn't being stupid....well no more stupid than normal. Hoping to have it done by Thursday or Friday.
 
Hey there! :) Getting a few minutes during my night shift to say howdy to folks. Hope all's well at that new job and life in general is going okay.
 
Hey there! :) Getting a few minutes during my night shift to say howdy to folks. Hope all's well at that new job and life in general is going okay.
Thanks Liesa. Job is going well, just getting used to the new schedule. I leave fairly early in the morning to catch the bus. After getting off the bus, a few blocks walk to work. By the time I catch the bus and we sit in rush hour traffic and I finally get home, it's been about a 10-11 hour day. Not leaving much time for the DIS. I do read on the bus ride(s), but it's on my phone, so quoting is tough and multi-quoting almost impossible.

Working from home today, so not quite as early since my commute is about 20 steps to my office (well 12 stairs to basement and then about 8 steps).

Here's a picture I took at work yesterday. Had a lot of reflection off the glass, but I was trying to capture the sunrise.
work_sunrise.jpg

No, I didn't take it through the blinds...that's just more reflection. Maybe next time, I'll go to the other corner of the building and the reflection won't be so bad.
 
By the time I catch the bus and we sit in rush hour traffic and I finally get home, it's been about a 10-11 hour day.

Long days.

on my phone, so quoting is tough and multi-quoting almost impossible.

Yeah. It's definitely not easy. I'll do it a little bit... but.... not fun.

No, I didn't take it through the blinds...that's just more reflection. Maybe next time, I'll go to the other corner of the building and the reflection won't be so bad.

When you buy (if you buy) that fancy camera, get a circular polarizer and you can get rid of that.
 
Thanks Liesa. Job is going well, just getting used to the new schedule. I leave fairly early in the morning to catch the bus. After getting off the bus, a few blocks walk to work. By the time I catch the bus and we sit in rush hour traffic and I finally get home, it's been about a 10-11 hour day. Not leaving much time for the DIS. I do read on the bus ride(s), but it's on my phone, so quoting is tough and multi-quoting almost impossible.

I hear ya. Definitely have much less DIS time than I used to after I got my latest position. It's life.
 
Long days.
Yep. Double edged sword...both good and bad.

Yeah. It's definitely not easy. I'll do it a little bit... but.... not fun.
::yes::

When you buy (if you buy) that fancy camera, get a circular polarizer and you can get rid of that.
It's when...will be soon. I'm looking at going back to da world in September (gotta make those APs worth it) and I'll want to practice before then so I can give y'all more than 2 or 3 decent pictures. I may end up putting the pictures on my website and link to them so I can have more than 10 per post and I don't have to crop the crap out of them to make them small enough.
 
It's when...will be soon. I'm looking at going back to da world in September (gotta make those APs worth it) and I'll want to practice before then so I can give y'all more than 2 or 3 decent pictures. I may end up putting the pictures on my website and link to them so I can have more than 10 per post and I don't have to crop the crap out of them to make them small enough.

I think that's what others have done too. I don't have my own website. Wouldn't know where to begin, or if it's worth it. One more thing to maintain. I got enough already.
 

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