This place has really gone downhill since we checked in! - A September 2019 Trip Report. COMPLETED 12/31

Wow. The chilled towels. BWV is our home and never knew this. Tells you how much going to the gym is a priority. Lol.
Enjoying your report šŸ˜Š
 
I never would have thought to check the gym for scented towels but that does sound wonderful after a hot day at the parks!



I would have been thinking the same thing!



This is hilarious!!
Wow. The chilled towels. BWV is our home and never knew this. Tells you how much going to the gym is a priority. Lol.
Enjoying your report šŸ˜Š

I never knew they had them either! The Poly doesn't have a gym so when we stay there my dad uses the one at the GF, and I never ventured over there with him.

Dads love collecting condiments. Itā€™s a fate I hope to avoid, though.

I'm sure his list for an apocalypse bunker involves plenty of hoarded condiment packets.
 
Day 1, Part 3. Dinner, and Flappers on Stilts

After my dad hilariously pranked me into believing he was an idiot (juryā€™s still out) we drove over to Disney Springs to indulge in a restaurant that was new to both of usā€¦

The Edison!

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Protip for all of you struggling to get a reservation here. This is just one of the many Disney Springs restaurants that takes reservations both on the Disney website AND on Open Table. And if you canā€™t find a table on Disneyā€™s site, chances are good there will still be plenty on Open Table. AND the best part is that Open Table doesnā€™t charge you for last minute cancellations or changes. So if a restaurant is available on Open Table, I always book there first. Using this hack, we were able to get a reservation for 7 pm.

Besides the fact that we hadnā€™t tried it before, we picked the Edison because it participated in Magical Dining, which I touched on in my pre-trip report. If you havenā€™t heard of it, Magical Dining is an annual event in Central Florida where over a hundred restaurants feature special three course prix-fixe menus for $35 per person (there may be upcharges for certain items, add-ons and beverage pairings). Lots of restaurants in and around Disney participate, as well as plenty closer to my house. I always like to try out at least a few, as itā€™s a great way to sample menus from places where I might not normally go. Plus, a portion of what you pay goes to charity.

My dad and I both love 1920ā€™s aesthetic, so that was another big draw for us. Immediately we caught ourselves staring at the flapper on stilts outside of the entrance.

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I wish I could have gone here back when it was the Adventurerā€™s Club, but at least it was turned into something super cool! We checked in at the podium inside and were seated very quickly.

Our table was on the main floor, overlooking the floor below and a stage. We loved the projections all around the restaurant, which showed turn-of-the-century short films and cartoons.

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For drinks, my dad went with beer. He likes dark beers and will usually ask for whatever the darkest beer a restaurant has available. This one I think was some kind of coffee porter.

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The Edison actually had a really good mocktail menu! I went with the Acidic Hibiscus, which was delicious and refreshing. Not too sweet either. Too many mocktails are just glasses of sugar to me :sad:

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For our appetizers, I chose the deviled eggs, which had a big olā€™ piece of ham under it so my dad wouldnā€™t steal any from me (he tries to keep kosher), and my dad had a Greek salad.

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For our mains, I went with the meatloaf and dad went with his favorite entrƩe: fish and chips.

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I have to tell you, this meatloaf was amazing. The eggs had already kind of filled me up but I ate as much of this as I possibly could and took the rest home. It was soooo filling.

A few times during the meal, which was not rushed but also not too slow, I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom, as pregnant ladies tend to do. My one complaint about the Edison is the only bathrooms are on the bottom floor, which if youā€™re on the main floor can get very inconvenient, especially if you are me and have to go several times. But at one point, I made sure to stop on the way back to the table to snap some more pics of the restaurant.

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Love this Steampunk-y bar area.

The desserts were the only portion of the meal that didnā€™t wow us, or at least they didnā€™t wow me. We had a choice of a banana split, plain gelato or sorbet, or a milkshake. I prefer pastries to ice cream so none of these options got me particularly excited, but I went with just plain vanilla gelato. My dad thought I was crazy for not going with the banana split, which was his choice. It just sounded like way too much stuff! And when his arrived, I knew I made the right choice. He kept trying to get me to have some of his but I was already about to burst. I ate 2/3 of my dessert and figured that was enough. Looking back, maybe I should have gotten the milkshake as that would have traveled better for leftovers.

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Like I said, dinner was not rushed and service was great. We ended up walking out around 9 pm. Iā€™m not used to two hour meals at Disney, even when appetizers or desserts are involved. It always feels like the food comes out really fast and theyā€™re ready to turn you over as quickly as possible (even if theyā€™re nice about it). If weā€™d wanted to linger less Iā€™m sure that would have been possible, but we were really enjoying the atmosphere and drinking it all in. Iā€™m glad we got to try this restaurant. Would love to come back sometime for their burlesque show!

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On our way out, dad had me pose with the flapper on stilts.

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We werenā€™t in a hurry to leave Disney Springs, so we walked around a bit and ended up at the hat shop. There were some really wild options here, things that I thought looked cool but were very expensive and that I would never have a reason to wear. But my dad had his sights set on a Panama hat.

He caught the attention of a salesman, and they spent a good amount of time trying on the different options in terms of materials and sizes. This is a real old-fashioned hat shop, where they will fit your hat for you if youā€™re between sizes or prefer it to sit on your head a certain way. Very personalized service. Dad loved it. I got a little bored waiting for him, but hey, thatā€™s what phones are for.

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He picked this hat and I think he was on the fence about actually buying it, until the salesman produced a peacock feather that he ā€œfoundā€ earlier that day. It was small and fit just right in the band. That pretty much sold him on it.

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I think he looks quite good!

After the hat shop, we went over to the Marketplace Co-Op. I always like to see whatā€™s new in there. We browsed the little shops a bit, I lamented not being able to fit into any of the dresses in the Dress Shopā€¦for now. We also looked in the art store.

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Love this print of Figment. Oh how I miss the original Journey Into Imagination.

My dadā€™s brother loves Alice in Wonderland, so my dad took pics of some Alice prints for him. Didnā€™t end up buying anything though.

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By now it was pretty late, after 10, and weā€™d both been up since very early. So we decided to call it a night. We got in the car and headed back to the hotel. I recently fell in love with the comedian John Mulaney, so I played some of his clips for my dad in the car and then once we were back in the room. Theyā€™re NSFW, or I would definitely share them here. But if youā€™re cool with language, take a listen to the Back to the Future one! Itā€™s on YouTube. Or basically anything else by him. Itā€™s all funny. We unpacked and chilled out. I canā€™t remember what time we fell asleep, but it was probably around midnight. We set the alarm for 8:30 the next morning, and were looking forward to our first full day.
 


Protip for all of you struggling to get a reservation here. This is just one of the many Disney Springs restaurants that takes reservations both on the Disney website AND on Open Table.

That is good to know! It sounds like a great restaurant.

Magical Dining is an annual event in Central Florida where over a hundred restaurants feature special three course prix-fixe menus for $35 per person (there may be upcharges for certain items, add-ons and beverage pairings).

We have something similar where I live - $35 for a fixed price 3 course meal and $5 goes to the local food bank. It is a fun way to try new restaurants and awesome that some DS restaurants participate!
 
We have something similar where I live - $35 for a fixed price 3 course meal and $5 goes to the local food bank. It is a fun way to try new restaurants and awesome that some DS restaurants participate!

Yeah I think it's a pretty common thing around different cities. I'm glad that Orlando's lasts for so long. We're always able to get at least a few restaurants in.
 
Day 2, Part 1: Why do they call it nitroā€¦oh.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! This baby is currently kicking me so much I'm starting to wonder if she can kick her way right through, Alien style. That can't happen, right? *nervous laughter*

We woke up on time, and according to my notes, actually made it out of the room and on our way to Epcot in a reasonable timeframe, by about 9:30, which is unusual for us. Usually it takes more than an hour for us to get up and get ready, let alone leave the room and make it to our destination!

Before we left, of course, we ate some breakfast, which included hard boiled eggs with our recently acquired mayonnaise packets.

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I may have mentioned this before, but we are absolutely not rope drop people. I used to be, back in the days of paper Fastpasses and welcome shows. But now that both of those things are history, Iā€™ve found it works better for us to just take our time in the morning, and not put pressure on ourselves. In fact, this might have been the earliest we made it to a park during our whole trip.

We made our way towards The Land, and I stopped at the Canada food booth on the way to grab a couple of festival passports. I think a few people thought I was cutting the line, because I got some glares. Oh well!

Iā€™m also not a ā€œget to my Fastpass ride as soon as my window opensā€ kind of person. I mean, if Iā€™m there when it opens, sure, but Iā€™ve learned not to stress too much about it. I guess it helps that weā€™re lucky enough to go so frequently, but even when Iā€™m with people who donā€™t go often I donā€™t worry. We always make it there if we want to!

On our Epcot days, I try to schedule our Living With the Land and Soarin fastpasses back-to-back. That way we can ride one towards the end of the window, and when we get off, we can ride the other and not have to worry about coming back if we donā€™t want to. I love The Land but itā€™s a bit of a hike up to the building entrance, so itā€™s nice to knock out both attractions at once.

We rode Living with the Land first. I donā€™t know why, but this is like the third year in a row weā€™ve tried to look through our festival passports on this ride. It always seems to be the first attraction we go on and the right kind of ride to look through the book. But the lighting isnā€™t great and thereā€™s so much to look at, so I often give up partway through. I was excited to see the new video! Though I will miss the fabulous 80ā€™s hair of the Epcot employees in the old version.

Next was Soarin. My dad LOVES Patrick Warburton so he really never gets tired of this ride, at least not the pre-show. I love him too. In fact, I snagged this picture and made this post on FaceBook while we waited.

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We were in a really un-optimal viewing spot. Third row, all the way to the right. But Iā€™m past the stage now where I want to wait for a better seat, unless Iā€™m riding with someone who hasnā€™t experienced Soarinā€™ before.

On our way out, I asked to do a little photoshoot. I love the original Land theme song and wanted to snag a pic for another Facebook post.

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And of course, a father-daughter selfie.

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We decided to hit up some booths. My dad claimed he wasnā€™t very hungry (a common theme), but I was pretty puckish (also a common theme). Since we were nearby, I decided to get the cheese plate from the Wine & Dine Studio, which my dad of course shared with me.

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We loved it. Sadly I had to skip the wine pairing this year, but one thing I found during this trip was that since we went a month earlier than normal due to my dadā€™s work schedule and the high holidays, it was much hotter out, which meant I didnā€™t miss day drinking nearly as much.

Dad loves dark chocolate, so we got the nitro chocolate truffle from the Chocolate Studio. Iā€™d actually never had this before! Iā€™m not a big fan of caramel so itā€™s never been on my radar, even though I know itā€™s very popular.

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One funny thing was as we were waiting for the truffle, my dad asked aloud why it was called nitro, just as the cast member was taking the truffle out of nitrogen so she could smash it with a hammer!

Itā€™s not the prettiest treat once itā€™s been smashed, but it was yummy! I think we should have let it sit for a bit, though. It was so cold!

I do really love the area with all the Studio booths. And on this particular day it wasnā€™t very crowded. In general, it wasnā€™t a crowded trip at all. We lingered for a bit and enjoyed our treats before moving on.

It was time for our third Fastpass, Spaceship Earth, so we made our way to the front of the park. This is always a must-do for us, but Iā€™m glad itā€™s being upgraded. Love Judy Dench but itā€™s time.

Hard to believe, but it was already time for our DVC tour! We were told to meet the shuttle at the bus area of Epcot at 1:40, so we headed out of the park at about 1:30.

There were two DVC shuttles there, but we quickly figured out which one was the correct one, and soon enough we were on our way to the DVC preview center at Saratoga Springs.

We checked in, and it took awhile. Not because of a line or any issue, but because the cast member complimented my dadā€™s Indian Motorcycle shirt, so of course they had to talk about motorcycles for a little bit. I actually had found out earlier in the day that heā€™d been in an accident on his bike a few weeks before! And still had a nasty wound on his elbow. But he was still riding and still eager to talk about motorcycles with anyone who would listen.

We were led to a little waiting area after that, with drinks and small pastries for refreshments. They had coffee and such, but I immediately went for the POG juice. We donā€™t typically eat at restaurants that serve it, so I was eager to get myself a glass. I also got a couple of pastries. Almost as soon as we got stuff, though, a woman came out and said anyone touring the model would be leaving in two minutes, and we were not allowed to bring food or drink there. So I tried to scarf it all down, figuring we would be in that group.

But as it turns out, we werenā€™t! Since we were already owners, our original sales rep, Eric, came out to greet us. That was a really nice surprise. Heā€™s a great guy and it was nice to be able to continue our relationship with him. He said we could get more refreshments if we wanted, and then led us to an office down the hall.

I wonā€™t bore you with the details here, but we basically went over price points, concerns, how many points we thought we would need, etc. Then we went over to the model villas, which were in a building across the parking lot.

My dad and I took a ton of pictures here, so Iā€™ll just dump them all for you. We got to see both a Riviera studio and one bedroom. We were really impressed with both. I had some concerns when information about the Riviera was still being released. It didnā€™t look like very interesting theming to me, and I wasnā€™t sure about the location.

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But once we were in the villas, I felt much more comfortable. First, theyā€™re much bigger than the average villas in those same categories. I think Eric said the studios are the third largest on property (after Polynesian and Old Key West), and the one bedroom was clearly bigger than the model at the Boardwalk. Seeing the rooms in person also really helped me appreciate the theming more. It was subtle, but elegant.

One thing I really loved though, and my dad did too, was that the second bed is a murphy bed, not a pull-out couch. Thereā€™s still a couch and a coffee table, but the murphy bed actually folds down neatly onto both. Our biggest gripe about studios is that we lose space when we have to put the couch cushions and the coffee table aside when we pull out the bed, and with this there is no longer that concern. So not only is the room itself bigger, it also has these conveniences to save even more space.

My dad has always been against us getting a one bedroom, which I understand. Itā€™s double the points for the same number of people as a studio. But he did really like the one bedroom, especially the kitchen space and the whirlpool tub. He understood how that could come in handy at the end of a long park day. We may end up booking a one bedroom in the future now that weā€™ve seen it, but for right now the studios are going to give us the best value for our points.

After the tour we got our stuff from Ericā€™s office and got a shuttle to take us back to the Boardwalk. As of last week, we did end up purchasing 125 more points at the Riviera, so that tells you how impressed we were! I can't wait to stay there!

Up Next: The rest of Day 2: Resort time, more Epcot, and an unexpected activity!
 


Your dinner at the Edison looks quite tasty! I agree that the dessert options were lackluster - I prefer a cake or pie over ice cream, too! Thanks also for the tip about Open Table. I knew several Universal restaurants can be found there but I didn't know some of the Disney Springs restaurants are on it, too!

I am definitely a rope drop person, but I think it's nice that everyone is able to tour the way they like best. Fastpass+ definitely makes it easier to skip rope drop!

Wow, your pictures of the Riviera resort are stunning!
 
Your dinner at the Edison looks quite tasty! I agree that the dessert options were lackluster - I prefer a cake or pie over ice cream, too! Thanks also for the tip about Open Table. I knew several Universal restaurants can be found there but I didn't know some of the Disney Springs restaurants are on it, too!

I am definitely a rope drop person, but I think it's nice that everyone is able to tour the way they like best. Fastpass+ definitely makes it easier to skip rope drop!

Wow, your pictures of the Riviera resort are stunning!

It's a really great hack. Open Table seems to have WAY more availability than Disney. I wish more Disney restaurants participated. And yes, the Riviera was stunning. Really impressed and surprised me!
 
Day 2, Part 2: ā€œThe mere fact that you call it that tells me youā€™re not ready.ā€

It was a hot day so one thing was definitely in order: pool time! When we got back to the Boardwalk, we went back to the room, got our suits on, and headed down to the main pool. While I was getting ready, I snapped this pic of myself.

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Holy pregnant belly, Batman! And can you believe itā€™s only gotten huger in the weeks between then and now?

My doctor had cleared me to go on the pool slide, which I was excited about. We dipped into the pool for a bit to get used to the water, and then we headed up to the slide. We were pretty much the only adults there, lol.

Once I was on the slide, however, I was a little disappointed. Iā€™ve been on it before but Iā€™d forgotten how bumpy it is. It didnā€™t feel dangerous, but the pieces of the slide seemed like they werenā€™t latched together as smoothly as they could be, so it hurt my butt a bit. After a couple of rides I was done and spent the rest of the time just floating.

One cool thing about the Boardwalk pool was the availability of noodles. Made relaxing much easier. I just put one under me like a seat and enjoyed the water while my dad did some swimming. There were a lot of noodles in both this pool and the quiet DVC pool, so I never had a problem getting one if I wanted.

After a bit, we checked out the hot tub. I was allowed to put my feet in, but sadly not my whole body. It didnā€™t end up mattering, though. The tub was pretty much lukewarm. I still felt a little nervous so I just sat on the top step until we decided it was lame and went back to the room.

One thing weā€™d forgotten earlier that my dad was beside himself about was our popcorn bucket. Weā€™d gotten it during our February trip, and he became obsessed with making sure we broke even by the end of that trip. We did, and now he wants to milk it for all itā€™s worth. But heā€™s also discovered the maple popcorn in Canada, and will now only eat that variety. So after we freshened up in the room but before we headed out back to Epcot, we made sure we grabbed the precious popcorn bucket.

Instead of going down to the first floor like weā€™d been doing, I wanted to stop in the lobby to ask about a trivia night Iā€™d seen advertised on some signage at the Boardwalk. I love trivia, especially Disney trivia, so that sounded like a fun activity. I wasnā€™t sure where it was, so I asked at the front desk to confirm. It was in the Community Hall, and I was looking forward to trying it out! But first, we had some things to do in Epcot.

We had a dinner reservation in a bit, but I was peckish, so once we were through International Gateway I stopped at the France booth to pick up a must-have for me that I get every year: the escargot croissant.

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My dad wonā€™t eat this so I got it all to myself. I donā€™t know why I enjoy this dish. It really doesnā€™t seem gross to me, and I like the texture and flavor, especially with the croissant and the pesto sauce.

After that, we headed over to Canada for popcorn and beer.

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Look how happy he is!

We sat on a bench and people watched and munched on the beer for a bit, enjoying the evening that was finally cooling down. I really love that we donā€™t feel pressure to always be on the move during these trips. It was really nice to just be able to chill for awhile.

Our reservation was for 6:30, but since the trivia game started at 8:30 I didnā€™t want to cut it too close, so we headed over to Morocco for our dinner reservation to see if we could check in early. I think this was around 6 pm, maybe a little earlier.

Our destination tonight was Spice Road Table! My dad is a big fan of Restaurant Marakkesh and has been since I was a kid. But this time I thought it would be nice to try something new. Iā€™ve eaten here once before, and it was his first time. We checked in and were seated promptly on the patio, which was mostly empty. Moroccan food doesnā€™t get enough love!

The menu has changed substantially since I ate here back when the restaurant first opened. Seemed like there was not as wide a selection of small plates or small plate samplers; it seemed more evenly divided between small plates and large dishes.

For drinks my dad got some kind of beer I think, and I got an iced mint tea. I love unsweetened flavor teas. It was sooo delicious! Sadly, it seems I forgot to snap a pic of our drinks.

We took awhile to figure out what we wanted to do for food, but we settled on sharing the mixed grill and the vegetarian sampler, which consisted of vegetarian options from the small plates menu. I believe it was couscous, babaganoush with pita bread, stuffed grape leaves, and hummus fries (same as they serve at the kiosk, but without the sauce).

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Everything was sooooo good. Just looking at the pictures now makes me wish I could go back this minute. I wish more people would give these restaurants a try. It really makes me nervous that theyā€™ll have to change their menus if not enough people go there.

My dad snapped this pretty good pic of me. My pose is identical to one in a pic my husband took of me a few years back when we ate here. You can tell which one was taken by a professional photographer, and which one was taken by a dentist XD

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After dinner, we actually had more time until trivia than Iā€™d anticipated and we werenā€™t ready to leave quite yet. So we headed towards Japan and did a little walk around the world. We didnā€™t get any more food from the booths though, as we were way, way too stuffed from dinner.

In Mexico my dad wanted to take our traditional picture of us with sombreros, but we were saddened to find they werenā€™t at the shop outside anymore. Instead, we had to go inside to find them and get pictures, where the lighting was less than optimal.

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I wonder if anyone has actually purchased these, or if theyā€™re just used for photos. Seems like they would be a pain to get home no matter your transportation method, not to mention where you put them after!

We also road Itā€™s a Small Mexico, which I do love very much.

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Some more walking, and another traditional photoshoot. My dad always likes to get pics of me and my sister in front of and inside the red phone booths in the UK.

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We also poked around the tea shop in the UK, as we are big tea lovers. We looked at the tea timers and noticed that even though black teas have the lowest steep time, there was a lot of sand in that part of the timer vs. the green and herbal timers. We asked an associate about that and he said even though thereā€™s more sand in the black tea timer, the hole is bigger so it is in fact the shortest. I did an experiment and heā€™s right! Weird. I wonder why they donā€™t just make all the hourglasses identical; seems like it would save them a lot of effort. But whatever. We also learned that while you can technically reuse black teas leaves or bags, all the caffeine will be gone by the second steep.

Super nerdy stuff that you probably didnā€™t care to know, but we found it interesting!

While we were there, I also had the following text exchange with my husband, which will be relevant later, but also funny now if you're familiar with Arrested Development.

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Up next: Trivia night!
 
Your food at Spice Road Table looks so good! I've not been there (there are so many good Epcot choices!), but I love middle Eastern food so I really should give it a try.

I love the belly shot!
 
Your food at Spice Road Table looks so good! I've not been there (there are so many good Epcot choices!), but I love middle Eastern food so I really should give it a try.

You should! It's so good and so easy to get a table, as you can see!
 
Day 2, Part 3: Pop-Pop and the Bump

We left Epcot via the International Gateway and got back to the Boardwalk around 8 pm. There was a show going on, so we stopped a few minutes to watch.

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This guy was really funny. He had a bed of nails with a sledgehammer on a swinging arm hanging over them, and made a big deal about how it was going to come down on him and crush an egg that heā€™d taped to his forehead. Naturally, he needed a volunteer from the audience to check the authenticity of the nails, so he selected a little boy who was carrying a manatee plush. He had the boy put the manatee on a stand behind them, and at the end told the boy he could choose a prize, ā€œfrom anything on the prize stand.ā€ Of course his manatee was the only thing there, but the performer said this would make people jealous and think he was handing out free stuff! :rotfl2:

We headed over to the Community Hall at the DVC quiet pool after that. If youā€™ve never stayed at the Boardwalk before, or donā€™t know about the Community Hall, definitely take advantage if youā€™re ever able to. They have a variety of activities, some you pay for and some that are free. Lots of video games, movies available for renting, arts and crafts, board games, etc. We ended up being really impressed by this area and even though Poly is still our favorite resort, we liked staying somewhere with these kinds of activities available. It gave us more incentive to spend time at the resort, which on this trip especially was sorely needed.

We checked in for the trivia night and were told we were the only ones so far whoā€™d come over specifically for that. How weird! Word must have gotten out that I was participating and everyone knew not to embarrass themselves by challenging me. :smooth: Iā€™m sure that was it. We were given blank answer sheets and the cast members overseeing the event said that they would try to drum up interest among the people hanging out. I asked if it was Disney trivia and she said yes, in fact it was specific
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ally Disney move trivia.

Gulp. Thatā€™s actually not my strong suit. Iā€™m pretty much an expert at Disney parks trivia, and I do know a fair amount about the movies, but not as much. Okay, no worries. She told us to think of a fun team name and weā€™d get started soon.

Another thing thatā€™s not my strong suit: Fun trivia team names. I usually leave it up to my teammates to come up with something clever, but my dad didnā€™t understand the nuances of choosing a funny trivia team name, so he was no help. When I do come up with the name, itā€™s always some inside joke that wouldnā€™t be as appropriate for a trivia night at the Boardwalk Community Hall (like when my friend Emily was annoying me so I said the team name that night should be, ā€œEmily, Go Wait in the Car.ā€ It went over well, even with Emily). The cast member was able to drum up interest from a couple of people around us, who came up with names like, ā€œThe Fairies,ā€ but I didnā€™t want to be so conventional.

My dad has since decided heā€™d rather be ā€œSabah,ā€ than ā€œPop-Popā€ (which is the Hebrew word for grandfather and what I used to call his dad, so it seems more appropriate), but at the time he believed heā€™d settled on Pop-Pop. So with time running short, and with my brain utterly fried after such a long day, I came up with our team name. Pop-Pop and the Bump.

I cringe just looking back on it. I even cringed then, once the cast member said it out loud. But oh well. There are more important things than a funny trivia team name. I donā€™t know what they are, but once I figure that out, Iā€™ll get back to you.

Anyway, the game itself was surprisingly difficult. Some questions were easy, and some were not. One question was to name ALL of King Tritonā€™s daughters. I think I managed to get that one almost if not completely correct, and you could get partial credit for that one as well. But Iā€™m ashamed to say I didnā€™t know where Walt first produced his cartoons (his uncleā€™s barn) or the original title of Cars (Route 66).

But evidently I knew enough, because we still won!

What did we win? Iā€™m so glad you asked.

We won vouchers for an arts & crafts activity of our choice. These included decorating hairbows, painting clay magnets, or painting ceramic figures. I donā€™t know what they normally charge for those activities, but I have a feeling the prize was worth decidedly less than the gift card Iā€™d usually win at pub trivia (thatā€™s a lie. I never win at pub trivia).

My dad picked magnet painting, and I picked hairbow decorating. We received vouchers that were good for one week, and we decided not to redeem them just yet.

Instead, we went just outside the front doors of the Community Hall to play some pool.


Not billiards, right? Pool, because it has pockets. I learned that from The Music Man. Itā€™s confusing because it was also in front of a swimming pool.

Anyway, I hadnā€™t played in years, and when I did play I wasnā€™t very good. My dad is no expert but at least knows the rules (or so I thought) and something of a technique. For those of you not aware, one of the many side effects of pregnancy you might be afflicted with is difficulty keeping a hold of things, which is something I already had issues with but which has become 10x worse now that Iā€™m expecting. So that was frustrating. But we pressed on. And I won!

Well, not technically. I scratched at the end when I had to sink the 8 ball, so technically I lost. But my dad said that counted as a win, because thatā€™s what dads are for.

We went back to the room after that and dad changed into his suit. He wanted to try out the hot tub in the quiet pool. I stayed in my clothes because I just wanted to put my feet in, and I also brought down some last minute costume work I had to do before the party tomorrow.

The DVC side hot tub was definitely warmer than the main pool, but not by much. Still, I wouldnā€™t have felt comfortable going all the way in. I worked on my costume and chatted with Dad. After awhile, we headed back up to the room, chilled out, and went to sleep. We had some fun plans for tomorrow!

Up nextā€¦day 3!
 
Following along. I just had to comment on the trivia because I love doing that (Jeopardy is a must watch at my house) but I know I couldn't answer Ariel's sister's names! I would've just said 'They all begin with A':rotfl:
 
Following along. I just had to comment on the trivia because I love doing that (Jeopardy is a must watch at my house) but I know I couldn't answer Ariel's sister's names! I would've just said 'They all begin with A':rotfl:

I have no idea how I remembered them. I must have just listened to that intro song enough. The cast member said I got "most if not all" but by then she had my answer sheet. Let's see...

Adela, Adina, Aquata, Adrina, Attina, Arista. I think that's right??? Too lazy to look it up.
 
Day 3 (Friday, September 20th), Part 1: Pies are out, galettes are in

This day we got to sleep in, which was great because we knew weā€™d have a late night. I have in my notes that we didnā€™t wake up until 10! We might not even have set an alarm. Thatā€™s just how we roll at Disney.

We took our time getting ready too. Had our usual mayonegg breakfast. I know we took our time even though I didnā€™t specify it in the notes, because I remember that once we did leave, I was a little panicked that we wouldnā€™t make it to our first activity on time, and that didnā€™t actually start until 12 or 12:30.

It was time for our first Food and Wine event!

But first we had to find it.

The year before, weā€™d attended two events in the festival center, which was the former Wonders of Life pavilion and what will soon become the Play Pavilion. I hadnā€™t anticipated that it would already be closed for construction, so Iā€™d just assumed the activities would be there again this year. I rushed my dad through the Epcot entrance, and as fast as we could towards the Festival Center. But as we were about to leave World Showcase, all the way past Canada, I had a hunch. So I had the foresight to stop and ask a cast member if we were going the right way for a culinary demonstration.

We werenā€™t. Whoops!

Turns out the events this year would be in the events tent between the UK and Canada, which I had marched us right past.

So we backtracked. Oh well!

My dad wasnā€™t too annoyed, luckily. More disappointed because he always relies on me to know whatā€™s going on.

Heā€™d be lost without me. Everyone agrees. ANYWAY.

We made it to the tent with a few minutes to spare. We checked in and I asked my dad to wait so I could run to the restroom. Turns out there were some inside, which Iā€™d find out on a different day, but there were big signs pointing to the bathrooms outside of the entrance, so Iā€™d assumed that would be my chance to go. This was actually my first time ever attending an event in this space, so I had no other frame of reference.

It all worked out, and soon enough we were brought to a table towards the back.

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We did the culinary demo last year, and the one happening during our trip was about salmon. This one was about pastries. Yum! The speaker was from a bakery in Colorado, and he talked about cooking the perfect galette, which is kind of like a pie, except more enclosed. He expressed an aversion to pie. He feels like theyā€™re too messy, and a galette gives you the same flavors and textures.

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Of course, we also got to try a galette. Yum! I love berry treats.

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My dad was pretty full after that, but I was still in the mood for something. We headed over to the Hawaii booth. I was torn between the pork slider and the Spam hash, neither of which I could share with my dad anyway because they had pork. Iā€™ve actually made the pork sliders at home a couple times, and have had them many times at the festival. But Iā€™d never had the hash, so I decided to get that.

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It was sooooo good. Felt weird to eat something salty and savory after the pastry, but it definitely hit the spot and gave me what I needed to make it to dinner.

We walked back to the hotel. Even though it was only about 2 pm at this point, it was already time to get ready for the party! I had some last minute touch-ups to do and I knew we would take awhile to get ready, plus we had to factor in travel time to MK.

Unfortunately, we found a few pieces of my dadā€™s costume were falling apart, and the glue gun I had brought for just this potential problem was not working. Wasted a lot of time waiting for it to heat up, only to discover it wasnā€™t, and would not work in any outlet, even ones we confirmed were working. So I guess RIP glue gun.

If we hadnā€™t been staying at the Boardwalk, we might have been out of luck, but we werenā€™t! We went back to the Community Hall once we were mostly ready, and a very friendly cast member did her best to glue up the pieces for us.

Would they hold? Time will tell. For now it was time to head to the bus stop and get to our party!
 
Hope everyone had a good weekend! This baby is currently kicking me so much I'm starting to wonder if she can kick her way right through, Alien style. That can't happen, right? *nervous laughter*
You seriously made me LOL!!!!

As of last week, we did end up purchasing 125 more points at the Riviera, so that tells you how impressed we were! I can't wait to stay there!
That is sooooo cool. Congratulations! The Riviera looks amazing!
 
Day 3, Part 2: I can't eat anything that can still look at me

We had a pretty smooth ride to the Magic Kingdom. I think I remember we didnā€™t have to wait long for a bus at all, and there were no stops at other hotels.

We entered the park around 4 pm. We were mostly not in costume yet, as we did not want to change until the party officially started. But we did stop at the entrance to get our wristbands and party map.

Our first order of business was a Jungle Cruise fastpass. I tried to get FPā€™s for rides I knew would not be open for the party, or would not have special Halloween overlays. This one is always a crowd-pleaser

After that, we had a bit of time before our dinner reservation, and I proposed we make a pit stop in the Tiki Room. I knew it would be closing for the party, and as itā€™s one of my favorite attractions and this was our only Magic Kingdom stop on this trip, I wanted to make sure we didnā€™t miss it. It meant we might be a couple minutes late to dinner, but I knew that wouldnā€™t be an issue.

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We finished the show a couple of minutes after our ADR start time, but it was no problem, because we just had to walk a few feet to our destination: Skipper Canteen!

If you havenā€™t noticed, my dad and I donā€™t go for traditional, hard-to-get reservations. He has said this is one of his favorite restaurants on property, next to Restaurant Marrakesh. In fact, I think during our last trip he said this was his favorite, but I think it changes a lot.

We checked in and waited in the room near the entrance. Dad immediately left to go to the bathroom, and while he was gone our party was called to be seated.

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I was a little disappointed that we were seated in the main dining room. Last time we were in the SEA room and I really loved it. Smaller, quieter, and I liked the aesthetic more (Iā€™ve never sat in the third dining room). Iā€™m sure if Iā€™d thought about it, it would have been no problem when we checked in to be asked to be seated in there, but now that we were given a table, I knew it wasnā€™t worth it to make a fuss. Will just have to remember for next time.

I texted my dad that weā€™d been seated in the main dining hall, and this is where a predictable comedy of errors played out. I watched the bookcase entryway that I knew heā€™d come out of so I could flag him down, and a few minutes later, he emerged. I waved and yelled, ā€œDad!ā€ He looked like maybe he heard me, but didnā€™t try to hard to look around, shrugged, and headed back to the waiting room. I sat there, wondering if I should go after him, feeling kind of like, Iā€™m not that hard to see, just look a little harder. A minute later, he called me to ask where I was.

Sigh.

He sat down and soon we put in our drink orders. He ordered a beer and I ordered my favorite drink here, the Punch Line Punch. Sadly, I forgot to ask for it with the chili powder rim, but it was still tasty. Itā€™s a really good mixed fruit drink. Not too sweet, and very refreshing.

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We also ordered our favorites for our meals. I got the Tastes Like Chicken, with sauce on the side.

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My dad got the whole fried fish, which it seems I forgot to get a picture of, but Iā€™m sure you can picture it. Itā€™s a whole fish. Fried. Face and everything. I think tonight it was snapper. I apologize I forgot to get a picture, but you can definitely find plenty on the internet.

We enjoyed our meals, and shared bits of them with each other. Dad gave me some bites of fish. Honestly, itā€™s really good, but I donā€™t think I could ever order it. The idea of digging into it while it still has its face is just not something I can mentally get past. Iā€™d rather have him order it and give me some good chunks of meat.

During the meal my dad also changed into part of his costume. It seemed like an appropriate setting for good pictures with it.

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When I got up to go to the bathroom at one point I took some pictures of the bookcase tunnel. There are so many great hidden jokes and details here. Iā€™m actually involved in a podcast that highlights the fictional history of SEA, so I knew the other people involved would be excited to hear I was at the Canteen. In the podcast I play Mary Oceaneer (one of the mascots of Misadventure Falls at Typhoon Lagoon) so I had to get a picture of her fez.

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After our enjoyable meal, we settled the bill and headed out. It was almost time for the party to start!
 

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