Trick or Treat & Eat Some Sweets! Oct 2018 TR - LInk to new TR 5/17/19!

[QueenJen]

And while he was at Walmart picking up the coffee pots, he found a Tampa Bay Buccaneers t-shirt.

I'm sure much more reasonably priced than any other store.

Another thing Jim did while solo at Disney Springs was to make me two different Pluto pressed pennies.

Also, when he stopped at the front desk of our resort to check in, he picked us up Anniversary pins since our 20th was a few days before this trip

Aww...what a nice hubby, thinking of you while solo.

We hiked to the front of All Star Sports and then through some parking lots over to All Star Music. It took us about 10 minutes to make it to Bell Services at All Star Music.

Wow - still dark at that hour.

I would love to buy into DVC but haven’t been able to convince Jim. That’s not a purchase that I can make without his approval!

Would love to buy DVC - we also like to travel other places. I could see us going every 3 years which would allow us to still vacation elsewhere. Hubs is a softy and if I said we could vacation this way and had the $$, he would be all over it. Just don't have the extra $$ to commit - saving for retirement.

We were only a few people back from the front and this was the scene behind us.

I managed to pull ahead of him during the last game and won by a hair.

Way to go!

 

[buzzrelly]

Another thing Jim did while solo at Disney Springs was to make me two different Pluto pressed pennies.

Also, when he stopped at the front desk of our resort to check in, he picked us up Anniversary pins since our 20th was a few days before this trip.

Aw, so thoughtful!

We were only a few people back from the front and this was the scene behind us.

Yowza!

Our ride photo didn’t come out that well thanks to the weird shadows that morning.

At least you got a photo…five times and nothing

And then he kicked Jim out so that I could have a picture with just him. He wanted to pose like dogs so that’s exactly what we did.

Cute! And I love your bag

 

[Ensusieasm]

Can’t wait to find out how you got to go to the Halloween Party for free.
Great report so far!

 

[ljcrochet]

I could not get over the crowds on the 20th.
Looks like you had a fun morning before the rest of you family arrived

I love DVC. I was so glad we bought in in 2008ish. Even now living 3 hours from WDW it is fun to plan or not plan last minute trips.

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you were able to get to DHS early enough so Jim could ride Slinky Dog!

That does stink that you had to wait so long for TSMM though.

Cute pics with Pluto!

Sounds like you finished everything up just in time for your family to arrive!

 

[BlvInMagic]

It goes without saying that I am a bit Disney obsessed but then again I think most of us on these boards are. I mean, who in their right mind spends hours reading about other people’s Disney trips?

You have me cracking up! It's funny.... because it's TRUE!

 

[Pluto0809]

CRAZY!! I had that too and while I started at the front, I was jostled to further behind. Just not as fast as I was a few years ago. Still 15 minutes isn't bad!

I love the new queue for TSMM! So many cool things to look at and I LOVE the ViewMaster disk. Brought back so many memories.

That whole rope drop thing was just crazy! I'm hoping there will be an Extra Morning Magic offered in May so I can avoid that mess.

Of course it was your fault!!

PS My Facebook just started reminding me of my WDW memories from the trip when we met a few years back!! I can't believe it's already been YEARS!!!

Awww, that was such a fun trip. We need to get back there together again someday!

Well at least they're all east of the Mississippi in any case LOL

True! He grew up in Erie PA where there were no professional teams. He picked up the Pirates from his Grandpa who loved them, the Red Wings because he could listen to them on the radio and the Bucs because he has an uncle who lives in Tampa and used to send him gear.

He did a good job with getting you pennies, buttons AND even buying you some Pluto gear! Rob would be like, "oh, you wanted buttons?"

It's funny because I would have never thought to get the buttons. But Jim loves wearing them so he picked them up. I guess being an introvert I'm not as fond of the attention as Jim is.

But, of course!!

He loves those Devil Horns!

Good God, I'm so glad you told me before I dragged Jimmy on this like a big liar, "Oh, Jimmy, you'll love it!!"

Just make sure you board the car first. There is definitely a huge thrill factor difference between the two seats.

Wow! Those crowds were crazy!!

Crazy was an understatement that day! But I guess that's pretty much how it is every day right now.

Thank goodness I convinced Chad! I've been wanting to buy in for 15+ years and finally all the pieces fell into place summer of 2017! Maybe you will get him convinced soon. Look into resale!! Much more economical.

I'm not sure I will ever convince him. He's just too cheap!

Definitely sounds like you guys did well!

Yeah, 15 minutes wasn't bad at all. I guess I was hoping more for the experience I had in August. But it was much less crowded then because it was EMHs that morning. Regular rope drop was so much crazier than EMH rope drop!

Sounds just like my DH!

Jim's gotten better over the years but yeah, he's not much of a thrill seeker. But at least he's OK waiting for me on a bench or going off to do his own thing for a bit while I ride the bigger rides.

 

[Pluto0809]

Hey! Me too! Started April, 2012.

Mine was a fall 2012 trip. I had no desire to write TRs but then some friends kept bugging me about it and well 6 years later and 16+ trips I'm still at it!

Think Jets games are pretty much sold out all the time.
But.... dang those tickets are $$$$$$$$!
I won't go unless I win tickets or someone's getting rid of them for cheap. (neither of which happens)

Thrashers tickets were not expensive at all. We used to get a 6 game package every year which was around $600 I think. Not bad for 12 tickets! I think they were just desperate to get people into the stadium. It was kind of sad, when we went to see the Red Wings, the whole stadium was dressed in red. I guess that comes from Atlanta being a transplant city. There are a lot of people here that have moved from other parts of the country including Jim and I.

Huh. Especially if you're far from the food court. Get that. Smart!

It did turn out to be an excellent idea.

I may have? Or maybe just... in the driving zone and just zipped along, oblivious.

I guess they can be easy to miss. I was watching them this morning and the walls separating them from the regular lanes are pretty high.

That walk to TSL is crazy, can you image the walk to Galaxy’ Edge, it will be scary

I love all your pictures of TSM queue! Your score is great, I still haven’t passed 150,000!

Galaxy's Edge is going to be insane! I'm not sure I want to try that one for a few years at least.

I usually get somewhere around 170,000 to 180,000. I've only gotten over 190,000 twice. Someday I will break that 200,000 mark!

Hmmm.... interesting. He bought it because... collects them? Second favourite team? Because he was there?

I think it was just because he was there. I don't think he likes the Lightning much if at all.

I really like those!

He's been slowly decorating our garage with different tin signs, some new, some from antique stores.

Nice of him. Do you collect pressed pennies too? Or just because they had Pluto on them?

I do collect them. I mostly try to get Pluto ones but there aren't a lot of those so I've gotten other characters over the years. I also like to pick them up from other places. I got some from Sea World this last trip.

Not surprised. I hear those things are going like hotcakes.

They are! I went for those first and still couldn't get them till our 5th day.

Love this shot!

Thanks! He's a bit of a nut if you hadn't figured that one out.

Not too bad. I've stayed at ASMu several times, but have never trekked to the other two resorts.

It's not really a far walk but there's also not an easy route to get from one to the other.

No. You ducked earlier when Jim was with him on the tennis court.

Wow. I've only recently heard of the mess there. I didn't know it was that bad.

Well maybe it's not that bad but boy it was hot that day which made it worse. It is quite a bit further than the old stops used to be.

Huh! I couldn't do that... but would like to. Does that a lot?

Yep. He even brought his book to the local hockey game we went to last weekend and read during the intermissions.

I am renting points for the first time for the May trip, but... can't see myself buying DVC. I like to go to too many other places.

I say that too but then I just keep going back to Disney.

Wonder if anyone took advantage of that fact.

I wasn't paying attention but I'm sure that some people did.

Whoa! Packed!

It was crazy that day!

Well that's not right. At all.

It was definitely a free for all that morning.

Yeah, that's not bad. Better than several hours... in the heat!

Yep, 15 minutes was worth getting run down by a stroller.

I've heard of several people complaining about that ride photo.

And it seems to only work half the time. We didn't get a photo later that week when we rode.

Good to hear! Can't wait to (hopefully) try it next year.

Hope you are able to get a FP because it really is a fun coaster.

I read this and... missed a word somewhere. I thought the line for the bathroom tripled in size. And then...
"She has a FP for the bathroom???.... wait..."

Sometimes that would be nice to have at Disney!

Bit on the longish side, but... since you can't FP it anymore (at least not if you want SDD)...

Yeah but at least the line is inside and air conditioned! Plus it moves pretty much all the time so you at least feel like you are getting somewhere.

Didn't even know there was a third track.

Yep, they added it recently to help with the lines. When you get to the front, instead of sending you up the steps you go to the right and down a different hallway.

I can just see that.

Pluto was very insistent that Jim go away so we could have some alone time.

Good thing you had that FP.

 

[Pluto0809]

I'm sure much more reasonably priced than any other store.

I'm sure it was!

Aww...what a nice hubby, thinking of you while solo.

He gets it right sometimes.

Wow - still dark at that hour.

Yep, we were up and going really early that morning. It was still kind of dark on the bus ride too.

Would love to buy DVC - we also like to travel other places. I could see us going every 3 years which would allow us to still vacation elsewhere. Hubs is a softy and if I said we could vacation this way and had the $$, he would be all over it. Just don't have the extra $$ to commit - saving for retirement.

I do like to travel to other places but for some reason I just keep coming back to Disney. I don't know if I'll ever convince him, he gets really nervous about spending money sometimes.

Way to go!

Thanks!

Aw, so thoughtful!

He did good that day!

Yowza!

It was pretty insanely crowded that morning. Didn't you start at Epcot that day? Was it bad too?

At least you got a photo…five times and nothing

Wow! We were one for two that week. Didn't get a photo on our second ride.

Cute! And I love your bag

Thanks!

Can’t wait to find out how you got to go to the Halloween Party for free.
Great report so far!

Thanks! I'll get to the free ticket story when I start day three.

I could not get over the crowds on the 20th.
Looks like you had a fun morning before the rest of you family arrived

I love DVC. I was so glad we bought in in 2008ish. Even now living 3 hours from WDW it is fun to plan or not plan last minute trips.

It was definitely crowded that morning but I expected it being a Saturday.

I wish I had gotten into it back when you did! It seems like it was a much better deal at the beginning than it is now.

Glad you were able to get to DHS early enough so Jim could ride Slinky Dog!

That does stink that you had to wait so long for TSMM though.

Cute pics with Pluto!

Sounds like you finished everything up just in time for your family to arrive!

Luckily Jim is a morning person and had no problems going for rope drop.

I'm not sure what was going on with TSM, guess it was just over all crowded that day.

We did get everything in I wanted to that day. Well we may have headed up to the front to meet Donald if we had time but it wasn't a priority.

You have me cracking up! It's funny.... because it's TRUE!

It is true!

 

[Pluto0809]

Rockin’ Away the Afternoon

When we left off, Jim was in the bathroom near Launch Bay and I was waiting for the rest of our gang to find us. When Jim came out of the bathroom they had not arrived at our location yet so I called Mom to see where they were. They said they were just coming through the arch by the Little Mermaid show and I spotted them right away. After some hugs and talk about their journey, we decided to check out Launch Bay. They are not as into Star Wars as Jim and I are but Launch Bay was new since John and Jocelyn had been to Disney. I only took a few pictures as we walked fairly quickly through the building.







No one wanted to do any of the meet and greets, Jim and I had done them all on previous trips, so we looked around the store for a few minutes and then headed towards Sunset Blvd for our first FP of the day, Tower of Terror.

I will tell you that my picture taking from this point forward on this trip was pretty slim. I think I was way more into the moment on this trip and just didn’t think about pictures. Not a bad thing for me but not a good thing for this TR. Normally I take a ton of pictures in the line for TOT but this time you only get two and they aren’t the best.





And here’s our ride photo. We all really enjoy this ride but both John and I came off a little nauseous. He has some motion sickness issues like I do. I still love the ride but it’s almost always a one and done for me.



Somewhere during this time we got our room ready texts. We were in the Rock Section, Building 3, 3rd floor, rooms 3603 and 3602. I was pretty disappointed because I had requested 1st floor and near transportation for Mom. I was at least hoping to get the 1st floor request. I would have loved to be in the Jazz section but I knew that was iffy because a lot of Jazz is the family suites and I think some of it might be preferred rooms.

We still had quite a bit of time yet before our lunch ADR so we stood for a minute and discussed what we would do next. John and Jocelyn wanted to see a few shows so we decided to catch the Little Mermaid show since it was short. I figured we had just enough time before lunch so we got in line. We just missed the cut off for a show so we had to stand outside for a bit but luckily it was under an awning. It really was boiling hot that day, something I didn’t expect for an October trip.

I know I’ve mentioned it in the past, but for those that are new, Mom has some blood sugar issues. She is supposed to eat small snacks all day to keep her sugar level up. Well on this day, she had only had a coffee and some crackers because she said she wanted to save room for lunch. I’m pretty attune to her and realized while we were standing there that she wasn’t feeling well. I asked her if she wanted to get out of line and she said yes. We were right next to the fast pass line so she and I ducked under the railing and exited that way. I told the other three to go ahead into the theater and we would see them after. I found us a bench in the shade and got out our little fans to get mom some air. John is also pretty attune to her needs so he hopped out of line and ran to a nearby cart and grabbed a banana and PowerAde for her.

I didn’t want John to miss the show so I told him to go ahead back in line and I would take care of Mom. I have seen the Little Mermaid show many times and was fine missing it. So he did and I sat there and made Mom eat the banana and drink some of the PowerAde and she eventually started to feel better. Of course I got to hear her tell me what a pain she was and that she was never coming back to Disney again. For the rest of the trip we were all pretty diligent in reminding her to eat and drink!

The others joined us after the show and their only comment was that it was short. Kind of like the cliff notes version of the movie. Personally I love the Under the Sea part of the show but after that I get bored with it so I wasn’t sad at all to have missed out.

It was now time for our lunch ADR and it was right next door at Hollywood Brown Derby. This restaurant was a new one for all of us. I checked us in about five minutes before our ADR time and it took around 10 minutes before we were seated. We were all super thirsty thanks to the heat that day so we were boring and all ordered water to drink.

For our meals, Mom got the Shrimp and Grits (Andouille-crusted Shrimp, Cotswald Chive and Onion Grits, Poblano Cream Sauce, Mango Pico de Gallo, Espellette Oil).



Jim got their signature dish, the Cobb Salad and added shrimp (Finely Chopped Greens, Turkey Breast, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes, Crumbled Blue Cheese, Avocado, Chives, and Cobb Dressing).



John and Jocelyn started with an appetizer size of the Cobb Salad that they shared and then they both got the Braised Beef Short Rib (with Truffle Pomme Frites, Mushroom Ragoût, M2 Sauce). I also got this same dish.



I’m going to be honest and say I wasn’t thrilled with my dish. As you probably all know by now I’m extremely picky. I didn’t touch the mushrooms, Jim took those and added them to his salad. The Short Ribs were pretty fatty which I don’t care for and it was small for the price of $24. I’ve never had anything with truffle before and I probably never will again because I definitely didn’t care for the flavor of the fries. I ended up giving about half of mine to John and Jocelyn. Mom said her dish was good but also pretty small. I asked Jim what he thought of his salad and he said it was just OK. He went on to say that he likes the Cobb Salad he gets at Zaxby’s, which is a chain restaurant here in the south, much better. Guess neither of us are "fancy" food kind of people. Overall not my favorite place and I probably won’t go back any time soon. But as always, I’m glad I gave it a try so I could form my own opinion. I know a lot of people really enjoy HBD.

We did look over the dessert menu, but nothing sounded good to us so we skipped that.

After we finished, John wanted a picture in the restaurant so Mom took a picture of the four of us.



At lunch, John mentioned that he wanted to see the Muppets show because it was one of his favorites. We still had plenty of time before our Alien Saucer Swirl FP so we went to visit the Muppets next. Once again I present two pretty crappy pictures from the waiting area.





While we were in the show, my phone buzzed and I checked when we got out. It was a text from @buzzrelly here on the DIS. We were trying to coordinate a meet but unfortunately were never able to connect. We texted back and forth for a while be we were always on opposite sides of the park. We did figure out that we were both at HBD for lunch at the same time but had missed each other somehow. I was bummed we couldn’t meet up and I’m looking forward to meeting her during the epic May trip.

It was now time for our Alien Saucer Swirl (I’m going to abbreviate that as AS2 since you can’t type out the actual initials here on the DIS) so it was time for John, Jocelyn and Mom to see Toy Story Land for the first time. We took our time walking in but I didn’t bother with any pictures because it was wall to wall people. Everyone was pretty impressed with TSL and we spent some time admiring all of the details.

We made it over to AS2 (it’s about as far into TSL as you can go) and got in line. We all took turns riding single throughout the trip and this ride was my turn. That allowed me to get a picture of the other two groups.





I really love this ride. I know it has “swirl” in the name but it’s really more of a whipping motion. The cars travel in kind of a figure eight and as you go around the curves you slide around a bit. Jim hates rides that spin and he loved AS2. When the ride finished up this time it came to a halt pretty fast and jerky. I was kind of surprised but thought maybe I just didn’t remember that from riding it in August.

But then when we got off, they herded us, not out the exit, but back through the orange entrance gate and over to the other side (there are two separate rides kind of like Dumbo) and told us to stand on the same numbers as before. Everyone was confused and wondering what the heck was going on. A CM came over and explained that someone on our ride had stood up and the ride had to be stopped abruptly. The CM apologized for the quick stop and told us to please not stand up during the ride. Then we were allowed to ride again on the other side. Mom choose to ride with me this time because she said that Jim wasn’t holding on and slammed into her when they went around one of the curves. We ended up getting two almost complete rides thanks to whomever stood up the first time!

We had a good amount of time between our AS2 FP and our one for Rockin’ Roller Coaster so we decided to check out the wait time for Toy Story Mania. Unfortunately when we got there, the ride was down. The FP line was all the way out to the entrance and the standby line was completely closed.

Instead we headed over to One Man’s Dream to get out of the sun. Mom headed straight to the back and found a seat on a bench while the rest of us wandered through the displays. Then we slowly made our way via the shops down Sunset Blvd to RNRC to use our FP. Well, at least Mom, John, Jocelyn and I did. Jim refuses to ride RNRC. I got him on the ride one time and he said never, ever again. So I made him a Star Tours FP at the same time. He headed that way while the rest of us headed down Sunset.



For some reason, the FP line for RNRC was backed up all the way to the entrance. It took over 15 minutes to get to this point which is right inside of the building.



While we waited, I hopped onto MDE and made us a 4th FP for the 5:30 pm Frozen show. With the RNRC line moving so slowly, I wasn’t sure if we would even make it but everyone was starting to get tired and didn’t really want to stay for the 6:30 pm show.

We made it to through the pre-show and into the loading area after another 10-15 minutes. It was then that we noticed that they were sending every other car out empty. No wonder it was taking so long! Jim also texted at this time to ask where we were. He was already done and waiting outside RNRC for us to finish.

We finally made it onto the ride and it was well worth it for the awesome ride photo we ended up with. I think this was the best one from the whole trip, John's face is just the best!



And I managed to survive the ride. As I’ve gotten older, I ride this one less and less because I come off of it feeling nauseous and achy. But it wasn’t too bad on this day. It was kind of ridiculous that we waited almost 40 minutes in the FP line but then again they did seem to be having some technical issues.

We were all feeling slightly hungry after RNRC so we stopped on the way to Frozen to get some Mickey ice cream. The others got Mickey bars but I had to be the rebel and get the ice cream sandwich. I just prefer them over the bars.



We made it over to the Frozen Sing a Long with plenty of time to spare. My only reason for getting the FP was to avoid standing in the standby line which has zero shade. We were able to get into the holding area immediately and even found some seats along the wall opposite the entrance doors. I was not too worried about rushing into the theater since there aren’t really any bad seats. Once the doors opened and we entered, this is the view we ended up with.



I got a few pictures during the show.







At the end, they went way overboard with the snope. We were all super sticky by the time we left the theater and I also somehow managed to snort some up my nose which made me cough for a bit.

This was the first time that John and Jocelyn had seen the show and they were not impressed. They figured that it would have more of the movie characters in it rather than the two generic historians. Thinking back to the first time I saw the show, I pretty much felt the same. But after seeing it a few times I’ve come to appreciate it for what it is. Of course the historians really make the show and if you get a bad one, it’s nowhere near as good. This was unfortunately one of those times we got a bad one. The female historian was way over the top to the point where it was more annoying than funny.

After the show, we decided to call it a day. Jim and I were a bit tired due to our early morning but it was nothing compared to John, Jocelyn and Mom. I think they were up around 2 or 3 am to head to the airport. We also had a very long day coming up the next day. So we made the long hike back to the buses and caught one back to the resort. I didn’t pay particular attention to bus wait times this trip but for the most part we had good bus luck. There were only two times where it wasn’t the best but I’ll talk about those when we get there.

We made it back to the resort and stopped at Bell Services to pick up the luggage we stowed that morning. We also asked about our Garden Grocer order but they said it had already been delivered to our room. We had ordered breakfast items, water, soda and some snacks for the room. We trekked back to Rock Inn and up to the third floor to our room. I managed to take zero pictures but just imagine the All Star Sports room with a music theme. We took a roundabout way to get to our rooms but once I figured out a more direct route (cutting behind the Jazz building), the walk was really not that bad. And I loved being up on the 3rd floor. It was super quiet, I don’t think we ever heard noise outside our room. It didn’t hurt either that we were right around the corner from the elevator which cut down on walking.

We spent a bit of time trying to arrange our room. It was a bit tough with three adults because the All Star rooms are pretty small. Plus we couldn’t block the connecting door between our room and John and Jocelyn’s room. In the end, Jim’s big suitcase went on the table, Mom’s two suitcases went on the chairs beside the table, my big suitcase went on the luggage stand under the window and my smaller suitcase ended up next to the sink. We were definitely a bit cramped but we made it work.

Everyone was getting a little hungry so we headed back over to the food court to get some dinner. Mom and I both got the kids chicken tenders. This was about half the food of the adult version but it was perfect for us that night. Plus it came with grapes or apples and a small bottle of water or carton of milk.



Jocelyn got the Fresh Berry and Walnut Salad served with Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Vinaigrette.



John got the kids Salmon with rice.



And Jim got the Sausage and Peppers Sub - Pork sausage, peppers and onions on a hoagie roll with house made chips. He also got some kind of sweet bread, banana I think, for dessert.





After dinner, we all split up for a bit. John wanted to check out the arcade. He loves to play pinball and wanted to see what versions they had. He ended up in the arcade quite a few times playing the Star Wars pinball machine. Jim headed back to the room and Jocelyn, Mom and I headed to the concierge desk. Jocelyn and John had decided to waive Mousekeeping for the week. They received a $60 gift card for doing so. Mom needed to add her credit card to her magic band so she could use it for charging. When you check in online, you can only add one credit card so we end up at the desk every trip to take care of that. We also talked to the CM about our Magical Express reservation. For some reason, when Mom went to check in with DME at the airport, they didn’t show a reservation for her. I know I signed us up, I had the confirmation e-mail to prove it. But I’m guessing that something went wrong when I changed things around. And sure enough, there was no reservation back to the airport showing in the system. The CM fixed that and also made sure I was on the same bus as the other three. My flight was 25 minutes after theirs but there was no reason for me to hang out at the resort for a later bus.

We decided on a place to meet the next morning since Mom and I would be coming over for breakfast but the rest would be eating in the room and then Jocelyn headed back to the room. Mom and I decided to take one spin around the gift shop before heading back. And of course I found something that Jim said I needed “like a hole in my head”. But I already had the Stitch version and needed Angel to match! I almost bought her in August but didn’t have the room in my suitcase then.



We went back to the room after that, finished arranging the room and I took a minute to decorate our window for Halloween before we headed to bed for the night.



I did manage to find two pins to trade for on this day.



And my Fitbit stats for the day.



Up Next: A Magic Kingdom Morning

 

[pkondz]

Mine was a fall 2012 trip. I had no desire to write TRs but then some friends kept bugging me about it and well 6 years later and 16+ trips I'm still at it!

Me too. I was following someone else's and was encouraged to write. Here I am.

Thrashers tickets were not expensive at all. We used to get a 6 game package every year which was around $600 I think. Not bad for 12 tickets!

One Jets ticket ranges from $100 for nosebleed to $300. That's one ticket.

It was kind of sad, when we went to see the Red Wings, the whole stadium was dressed in red.

I guess they can be easy to miss. I was watching them this morning and the walls separating them from the regular lanes are pretty high.

I probably noted them at the time... then deleted it from the memory banks since it didn't apply to me.

He's been slowly decorating our garage with different tin signs, some new, some from antique stores.

Nice!

I do collect them. I mostly try to get Pluto ones but there aren't a lot of those so I've gotten other characters over the years. I also like to pick them up from other places. I got some from Sea World this last trip.

You have varied collecting tastes. Plutos, bears, elephants, pressed pennies.... I'm sure there's more.

Thanks! He's a bit of a nut if you hadn't figured that one out.

It's not really a far walk but there's also not an easy route to get from one to the other.

Maybe through the parking lots? Do they share? I could look... but I don't want to.

Yep. He even brought his book to the local hockey game we went to last weekend and read during the intermissions.

Huh! I think if I didn't have my phone, I might do the same.

I say that too but then I just keep going back to Disney.

Don't we all!

Yep, 15 minutes was worth getting run down by a stroller.

And it seems to only work half the time. We didn't get a photo later that week when we rode.

Wow.

Hope you are able to get a FP because it really is a fun coaster.

Nope.
We're gonna try to rope drop it I think because that's the same day we're doing AK (only so many days at WDW this trip) and we need to FP FOP.

Sometimes that would be nice to have at Disney!

FP would stand for Fast Pee.

Yeah but at least the line is inside and air conditioned! Plus it moves pretty much all the time so you at least feel like you are getting somewhere.

Good point!

Yep, they added it recently to help with the lines. When you get to the front, instead of sending you up the steps you go to the right and down a different hallway.

Plus they've moved it haven't they?

 

[pkondz]

When we left off, Jim was in the bathroom near Launch Bay

Using his FP! Right!

They said they were just coming through the arch by the Little Mermaid show and I spotted them right away. After some hugs and talk about their journey,

Don't you mean their voyage?

I will tell you that my picture taking from this point forward on this trip was pretty slim.

That's okay, because...

I think I was way more into the moment on this trip and just didn’t think about pictures.

... sometimes you need to take a break and just... be in the moment.

Normally I take a ton of pictures in the line for TOT but this time you only get two and they aren’t the best.

Actually, I really like that one.

We all really enjoy this ride but both John and I came off a little nauseous.

Huh. So not just spinning, then.

We were in the Rock Section, Building 3, 3rd floor, rooms 3603 and 3602. I was pretty disappointed because I had requested 1st floor and near transportation for Mom.

Yeah, that's a bit away. Could've been worse, I suppose.

John and Jocelyn wanted to see a few shows so we decided to catch the Little Mermaid show since it was short.

Ah. A voyage after a voyage.

It really was boiling hot that day, something I didn’t expect for an October trip.

One word... Florida.

Mom has some blood sugar issues. She is supposed to eat small snacks all day to keep her sugar level up.

I can relate. My mom has similar issues. She has to eat.

I’m pretty attune to her and realized while we were standing there that she wasn’t feeling well.

You're a good daughter.

I sat there and made Mom eat the banana and drink some of the PowerAde and she eventually started to feel better.

Good!

The others joined us after the show and their only comment was that it was short.

Yeah... that's about the best part of it.

That looks good!

Jim got their signature dish, the Cobb Salad and added shrimp

I've heard of the Cobb salad.

As you probably all know by now I’m extremely picky.

Have some corn!

The Short Ribs were pretty fatty which I don’t care for and it was small for the price of $24

Too much $$ for too little ribs.

I’ve never had anything with truffle before and I probably never will again because I definitely didn’t care for the flavor of the fries.

Hmmm... Not sure if I've had it myself.

I asked Jim what he thought of his salad and he said it was just OK.

Sorry to hear that.

Once again I present two pretty crappy pictures from the waiting area.

Ooooh! Ahhhh!

While we were in the show,

You were in it? Cool! What parts did you play?

It was a text from @buzzrelly here on the DIS. We were trying to coordinate a meet but unfortunately were never able to connect.

That's too bad. So close, yet...

We did figure out that we were both at HBD for lunch at the same time but had missed each other somehow.

... so far.
You guys could've shared a table.

It was now time for our Alien Saucer Swirl (I’m going to abbreviate that as AS2

I've seen that AS2 before. Also A$$.

I really love this ride. I know it has “swirl” in the name but it’s really more of a whipping motion.

Yeah, ASW.... that you can type.

Everyone was confused and wondering what the heck was going on. A CM came over and explained that someone on our ride had stood up and the ride had to be stopped abruptly.

Ohhhh...

The CM apologized for the quick stop and told us to please not stand up during the ride. Then we were allowed to ride again on the other side.

Nice!

(Note to self. Stand up on the ride.... )

Jim refuses to ride RNRC. I got him on the ride one time and he said never, ever again.

Not a fan?

So I made him a Star Tours FP

Interesting that that one doesn't bother him. I know it bothers me a little.

For some reason, the FP line for RNRC was backed up all the way to the entrance. It took over 15 minutes to get to this point which is right inside of the building.

Huh. That is unusual.

It was then that we noticed that they were sending every other car out empty. No wonder it was taking so long!

Yep. Guess that would explain it all right. Wonder what was up?

Great shot!

And I managed to survive the ride. As I’ve gotten older, I ride this one less and less because I come off of it feeling nauseous and achy.

Hmmm... I understand that.
I've stopped doing Space Mountain because of the jarring and I know it won't be long before this one goes too.

The others got Mickey bars but I had to be the rebel and get the ice cream sandwich. I just prefer them over the bars.

I didn't even know that existed! Why did nobody ever tell me?!?!?


I know what I'm having next May.

this is the view we ended up with.

Not bad!

At the end, they went way overboard with the snope. We were all super sticky by the time we left the theater and I also somehow managed to snort some up my nose which made me cough for a bit.

So you were snorting snow in Disney, were you?

This was the first time that John and Jocelyn had seen the show and they were not impressed. They figured that it would have more of the movie characters in it rather than the two generic historians. Thinking back to the first time I saw the show, I pretty much felt the same. But after seeing it a few times I’ve come to appreciate it for what it is. Of course the historians really make the show and if you get a bad one, it’s nowhere near as good. This was unfortunately one of those times we got a bad one. The female historian was way over the top to the point where it was more annoying than funny.

I've never seen the show (I'm not generally a fan of Disney shows, so...) but I might in May. Good to know.

We also asked about our Garden Grocer order but they said it had already been delivered to our room.

Convenient.

And I loved being up on the 3rd floor. It was super quiet, I don’t think we ever heard noise outside our room.

Oh! Well... good, then!

After dinner, we all split up for a bit. John wanted to check out the arcade. He loves to play pinball and wanted to see what versions they had. He ended up in the arcade quite a few times playing the Star Wars pinball machine.

I love playing pinball. It's been a loooong time, though.

Jocelyn and John had decided to waive Mousekeeping for the week. They received a $60 gift card for doing so.

I can't do that. It's tempting, but... I go on vacation to have someone clean up after me!

We also talked to the CM about our Magical Express reservation. For some reason, when Mom went to check in with DME at the airport, they didn’t show a reservation for her. I know I signed us up, I had the confirmation e-mail to prove it. But I’m guessing that something went wrong when I changed things around. And sure enough, there was no reservation back to the airport showing in the system. The CM fixed that and also made sure I was on the same bus as the other three. My flight was 25 minutes after theirs but there was no reason for me to hang out at the resort for a later bus.

Glad you got it all straightened out.

 

[buzzrelly]

I asked Jim what he thought of his salad and he said it was just OK.

I loved it! That was the only Cobb salad I have ever had though and I wasn't disappointed at all.

We were trying to coordinate a meet but unfortunately were never able to connect.

That was a total bummer!

We did figure out that we were both at HBD for lunch at the same time but had missed each other somehow.

Yea, crazy! Bad timing, I guess!

I was bummed we couldn’t meet up and I’m looking forward to meeting her during the epic May trip.

Same

We ended up getting two almost complete rides thanks to whomever stood up the first time!

Who does these things?? But good for you

We finally made it onto the ride and it was well worth it for the awesome ride photo we ended up with. I think this was the best one from the whole trip, John's face is just the best!

Looks fun!

And of course I found something that Jim said I needed “like a hole in my head”.

Ha! Typical husband!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

They are not as into Star Wars as Jim and I are but Launch Bay was new since John and Jocelyn had been to Disney. I only took a few pictures as we walked fairly quickly through the building.

I'm sad that I never did get into Launch Bay on my last trip. But none of my family besides me like Star Wars at all, so I just didn't want to deal with dragging them through there. It does look like there are some interesting props there.

I would have loved to be in the Jazz section but I knew that was iffy because a lot of Jazz is the family suites and I think some of it might be preferred rooms.

I think all Jazz is preferred now. When I was researching my room request in August, some time ago preferred was only Calypso but now it's both buildings.

I know I’ve mentioned it in the past, but for those that are new, Mom has some blood sugar issues. She is supposed to eat small snacks all day to keep her sugar level up.

I'm familiar with this kind of thing. My oldest DD is Type 1 Diabetic so sugar management is important, and hard to do at Disney. We generally find her sugars get high because of all the treats and big meals, but it can easily go low with all the walking and if you eat less.

(I’m going to abbreviate that as AS2 since you can’t type out the actual initials here on the DIS)

The 13 year old boy in me is terribly disappointed with the AS2 abbreviation

At the end, they went way overboard with the snope.

Interesting. This happened to my family too, but I thought it may have been because we got the last show of the night and they were trying to get rid of all the snope for cleaning or something.

And I loved being up on the 3rd floor. It was super quiet, I don’t think we ever heard noise outside our room.

I was also on the 3rd floor in Calypso and found it nice and quiet. Definitely a trade off for convenience compared to 1st floor, but I think I preferred it.

 

[thumper*]

Isn't he so thoughtful and sweet. Your early morning crowd at DHS sounds nut's. Gotta say that all your meals at Brown Derby looked small.

 

[ArielSRL]

Somewhere during this time we got our room ready texts. We were in the Rock Section, Building 3, 3rd floor, rooms 3603 and 3602. I was pretty disappointed because I had requested 1st floor and near transportation for Mom. I was at least hoping to get the 1st floor request.

My requests were not 8nitiakky met in October for Pop, and I wasn’t actually there when check in occurred bc my MIL and stepson and girlfriend arrived first. But they got it handled and we ended up where I wanted.

It really was boiling hot that day, something I didn’t expect for an October trip.

Yep, it was just as hot, if not hotter, for our Oct trip as our June trip.

I know I’ve mentioned it in the past, but for those that are new, Mom has some blood sugar issues. She is supposed to eat small snacks all day to keep her sugar level up.

My dad is type 1 diabetic (since he was 18 years old, 52 years) so I’m very familiar with this.

it was right next door at Hollywood Brown Derby. This restaurant was a new one for all of us.

Overall not my favorite place and I probably won’t go back any time soon.

I’ve only eaten there maybe once a long time ago, so I’m sure we’ll try it at some point but I haven’t been in a rush.

At lunch, John mentioned that he wanted to see the Muppets show because it was one of his favorites.

One of DH’s fave as well.

I really love this ride.

We skipped it in October but I hope to ride it in June.

We ended up getting two almost complete rides thanks to whomever stood up the first time!

Wahoo!

We finally made it onto the ride and it was well worth it for the awesome ride photo we ended up with. I think this was the best one from the whole trip, John's face is just the best!

Love it!

And I managed to survive the ride. As I’ve gotten older, I ride this one less and less because I come off of it feeling nauseous and achy.

I haven’t done it in forever bc it does get harder as I get older, as well.

And I loved being up on the 3rd floor. It was super quiet, I don’t think we ever heard noise outside our room.

I always request high floor for this very reason.

 

[QueenJen]

I think this was the best one from the whole trip, John's face is just the best!

Great photo!

 

[Steppesister]

I didn’t want John to miss the show so I told him to go ahead back in line and I would take care of Mom. I have seen the Little Mermaid show many times and was fine missing it. So he did and I sat there and made Mom eat the banana and drink some of the PowerAde and she eventually started to feel better. Of course I got to hear her tell me what a pain she was and that she was never coming back to Disney again. For the rest of the trip we were all pretty diligent in reminding her to eat and drink!

Good to be overly careful with the heat and lack of sleep in the mix!

Overall not my favorite place and I probably won’t go back any time soon. But as always, I’m glad I gave it a try so I could form my own opinion. I know a lot of people really enjoy HBD.

Oh, I'm so bummed you didn't like it! It's one of my favorites at WDW. Maybe more for nostalgic reasons though. I've only ever had the salad and rolls which were fantastic.

I really love this ride. I know it has “swirl” in the name but it’s really more of a whipping motion. The cars travel in kind of a figure eight and as you go around the curves you slide around a bit. Jim hates rides that spin and he loved AS2. When the ride finished up this time it came to a halt pretty fast and jerky. I was kind of surprised but thought maybe I just didn’t remember that from riding it in August.

This actually makes me kinda want to try it once. I was a bit shy of it thinking it was more of a "kiddie" ride, but it's good to hear adults are enjoying it too.

But then when we got off, they herded us, not out the exit, but back through the orange entrance gate and over to the other side (there are two separate rides kind of like Dumbo) and told us to stand on the same numbers as before. Everyone was confused and wondering what the heck was going on. A CM came over and explained that someone on our ride had stood up and the ride had to be stopped abruptly. The CM apologized for the quick stop and told us to please not stand up during the ride. Then we were allowed to ride again on the other side. Mom choose to ride with me this time because she said that Jim wasn’t holding on and slammed into her when they went around one of the curves. We ended up getting two almost complete rides thanks to whomever stood up the first time!

Interesting way to handle that! Seems fair too!

Buaahahahahaha!!

At the end, they went way overboard with the snope.

Yuck!! Too much of a good thing!

 

[MaleDisneyBeliever]

Following

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you were able to take care of Mom pretty quickly and she started to feel better!

Nice getting a bonus ride on AS2!

Your RNR ride photo came out awesome!

Sounds like a really great first day