slices

13 hours ago, Travisma said:

We went in got our magnets,  were able to get them for my daughters also by showing them pictures of their pass cards.  Couldn't do my granddaughters since her card was expired (we got her a new one on the way out and also updated ours).  We got some photos taken overlooking the tree ( my oldest bought a year memory maker and linked us) then we headed out to meet everyone at the hotel.

 

 

Wish I'd thought of doing this to get the magnets. My wife and daughter went to AK for the day on Saturday(given  the state park we were meant to be at was closed) but I didn't end up going, so I didn't get a magnet.

Might just be me, but when I read the headline I thought it was another themed bathroom 🙂

8 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

I will make judgment after I watch Tim Tracker stay there.

I'd be very surprised if Disney doesn't invite him to stay there for free.

My wife picked up a couple of buckets at the weekend and spent most of yesterday evening looking at SVGs. I think she's hoping to make a couple for my daughters girl scout camping trip at the weekend.

Thanks for the review, I was hoping to eat there next time I'm in Epcot, in a few weeks.

I suspect I won't be renewing my APs next year.

11 minutes ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Are we taking bets?  I'm guessing... the "slow" season will be $225/night with topping out around $275/night.

I just saw someone comment on FB, that $480/night was a "deal" for a cabin rental.  Mercy... we haven't stayed at a resort in years, but $480/night is a "deal"?  I'm sorry, but that's just crazy.  No wonder 2 or 3 families try to smoosh in there.  

I think I commented on that post. Stayed in a cabin for Thanksgiving 2 years ago, and it wasn't far off that. Unfortunately it's comparable to the other  6 person suites on property price wise.

1 hour ago, DaveInTN said:

This seems consistent with the rumors about the Meadows area becoming the primary focus and central "heart" of the Fort, and the Settlement shifting focus toward the new resort.   And being Disney, you gotta pay for that proximity.   No different than 100 and 200 being considered preferred solely due to proximity to the Settlement, even though they are actually tight, cramped loops.   

I wonder if additional amenities are coming to the Meadows, or if this is just a case of marketing.   Tell the folks this is where they want to be, and they'll come.   

I guess it depends how much the settlement is shifting to the new resort.  If they go as far as labeling part of the new resort I would be surprised if the Meadows  didn't get a new restaurant. Given that they can't really call the cabins moderates without a table service restaurant on site. Assuming the cabins don't move that is.

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 9:49 AM, Travisma said:

 

On 6/4/2019 at 9:49 AM, Travisma said:

My wife made one for us with Musket Mickey.

 

 

Looks like a cool idea, I got my wife a cricket for Christmas. Do you have the musket mickey svg ?

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

For a low low price of $249.95 (no AP discount applies) you can have a minion follow you around and hold them for you when you go on a ride or have to go potty. If you go a sit down eatery, it's an additional $39.95 for your helpers meal.

Wouldn't that be at Universal.

Yes, looking forward to this, I've just gone through all the plain colored ones.  Might well pay to upgrade my band for my October Fort trip.

The plan for checkout day was to grab takeout breakfast while we packed up and then go to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. I'd just taken the EZ down, when it started raining really heavily. Wasn't much we could do but keep on packing up, and putting everything away wet.  Ate breakfast huddled under the awning, just before taking it down. 

After that, we decided to skip the parks and go straight home.

 

 

Was dry when we got back so were able to dry everything out.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Great trip report. 

Did you know those farmhouse meatballs aren't meat?

When we tried that booth, we had a debate about what the meat was. To me it had a pork/lamb flavor going on. 

It turns out that they're some kind of vegan voodoo concoction. 

That a dirty trick they're pulling in that booth. 

TCD

I was vaguely aware that there was a vegan food booth,  although I'm not sure my daughter was she asked for the meatball, she ate though. My Mum is vegetarian, so I've had a number of meat substitutes over the years. For not being meat, these meatballs were definitely some of the best I've tried.

1 hour ago, DaveInTN said:

  Making matters worse is the choice they made when crafting HEA to replace Wishes to include all of the projections, making the real estate in front of the castle even more desirable.  That decision has led to the escalation in property values we are seeing in front of the castle....people are willing to pay more and more just to secure their spot, when in years past you could get the same essential show from multiple locations throughout the park for Wishes.  This is like a corrupt City Councilman voting to place a subway station right next to the apartment building he owns, thereby driving up values and rents.  Disney changed the show, molding people's viewing habits and creating increasing competition for a select few viewing areas, then cashes in by selling access to those areas.  

The Mouse is a greedy SOB.  

Agreed, I don't know I would have paid for a dessert party if trying to get a view of the front of the castle wasn't an issue.

If I've got the prices right this is more expensive than doing both CRT and the after fireworks dessert party. Unless I'm missing something the only extra is the West Plazza Garden Viewing? Does anyone know where this is?

I'm really not bothered about doing CRT anytime soon. I have done the regular happily ever after garden dessert party and quite enjoyed it(My son wouldn't have coped with the fireworks otherwise). I might even be inclined to book the after fireworks party at some point (mostly as a way of dealing with crowds).

However, if I'm doing a dessert party that's quite a lot of food anyway, including some savory items. I certainly wouldn't want to do the dessert party right after a big table service meal, and the certainly not pay more than the two experiences combined just to get a different view.

You would think no one was hungry again that day, well a while after we got back to the Fort. My wife and I were discussing what to make for dinner, and both kids walk into the camper asking to go to Trails End. It was our last night there and they felt like the trip wouldn't be complete otherwise. Fair enough, but I've booked it for a bunch for our October trip as we've only done dinner there so far.  Although this is the one time we went over budget.

A quick stop at the arcade after dinner.

 

Followed by a quick play

The experience was slightly lessened by the fact that right after this photo was taken a little boy maybe 3 or 4 years old decides to pull his pants down and do a wee under the playset!

Bus back to the site rather quickly after this ended up taking both kids to the see movie which was Toy Story 3.  We stopped to fill up our drink cups at the pool,  second odd experience of the night.  This was close to 8pm so fairly quiet by the drink refill stations, there was a mother with a bunch of kids using the ice dispenser of the drink station to fill gallon zip lock bags and placing them in a small wagon. She most have easy had a dozen. Didn't want to pay $2 a for a bag of ice from the machines I guess.

 

Anyway, we got over to the campfire and did s'mores, surprisingly both kids wanted to stay until the end of the movie, despite almost being asleep on the benches. Last night and all.

 

 

 

The bowl-like the table cloth was from Target last summer.

 

Epcot was mostly about Flower and Garden but did manage some rides,  first Living with the Land which I hadn't done before. I  think I would have appreciated the view from Graden Grill on previous trips a little more if I had done this earlier.

By the time we had done this, it was gone 11 so time to start around the World Showcase.

We had scoped out menus beforehand. Fist up was Flavor Full Kitchen, we had the salmon and the kids got a blood orange Aqua Fresca each.

We found the playful garden, snagged some comfy seats and stayed there for a while. Really liked this, kids had a good time and nice and easy for one of us to run out to get snacks and drinks. We also got a dedicated Flower and Garden gift card each, since last time we did an Epcot festival we ended up spending most of our food budget there!

Honey Bistro, honey mascarpone cheesecake, and the tandoori chicken flatbread.

Brandy Barrel Honey Ale

Citrus Blossom, they were out of Orange Bird cups, but we got the slushy drink anyway.

Citrus shortcake.

Crispy citrus chicken.

TropiCannon Citrus IPA.

Pinnaple Promanade, Frozen Violet Lemmonade

Pineapple Soft Serve

Pineapple Mana Wheat

We left the playful garden after this and at my son's request headed towards Mexico.

 

A quick stop in the shops and the kids decided to take up pin trading.  Not a bad hobby really, better than spending their  gift cards on plastic tat

Trowl and Trellis, farmhouse meatball.

Tropical Wonderland Wheat Ale.

Didn't get anything to eat in Mexico, but did go on the boat ride which seems to be a favorite of my son's.

Lotus House, spring rolls, and wontons which the kids shared.

Bubble tea, the kids liked it, not impressed myself.

 

Beef shank, I got this because I knew I needed to eat something and figured the kids would eat most of the wontons and spring rolls. My daughter still had about half of this.

Jasmine Beer

We were tired of walking after this and had a fast pass for Soarin', surprisingly my daughter just wanted to go back to the site while my son wanted to do Soarin'. Out of the four of us, I was the only one who had done it before, so my wife took him while my daughter and I headed back.

After one last photo.

 

 

 

 

Last full day was Epcot, we'd been there when Flower and Garden was on two years ago but didn't really see much of it. This time my wife was disappointed that they didn't have all the Orange Bird Merchandise they did the previous year but was excited to get the sipper until they sold out of them!

Before that breakfast,  had planned on a later start, so a bigger breakfast at the site this time.

 

 

 

We got to Animal Kingdom around 10. Hadn't been to the park before,  despite eating in Rainforest  cafe there.  We had a fast pass for Primeval whirl so straight to DinoLand.

A quick stop to see DeVine first.

After Primeval Whirl my wife took the kids in the boneyard to play, while I got a photo with Donald Duck.

 

Lunch next, I had planned to just grab a quick service in DinoLand but my son wanted to sit down and have noodles, so we ended up at Yak and Yeti.

I have a Landry card, so always nice when other people are getting told it's a 90-minute wait, and on showing my card we get told 5 minutes. Nice that there are two Landry restaurants in the park, although I would say this is the better of the two.

 

He got his noodles.

Sweet and Sour chicken.

Honey chicken.

I went for something a little different and got the Chicken Tika Masala.

Fried wontons for dessert.

Just before lunch I'd rearranged our fast passes, and snagged on for Dinosaur. My wife didn't want to ride it, so she got a photo with Launchpad instead.

I believe he was asking who took a bite out of her ears.

Unfortunately, Dinosaur was closed and my son was getting tired,  so after a quick play on boneyard, my wife took him back.

Which meant my daughter could take advantage of our fastpass and drag me on Everest. 

We grabbed icecreams and went back to the Fort after this.

Rest of the day was fairly quiet,  mac and cheese in the instapot for dinner.  After dinner, we went for a swim. Only at the Fort will you find a group of 8-year-old boys, in the pool discussing the merits of buying various sizes of new versus new campers!

 

13 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Cute tablecloth. Your set-up looked so nice ☺️

Yes, that was it and I was the one who commented on it.  I think it looks horrible out on the lawn.  A person’s site, no problem...but on the lawn of a common area , out in plain sight?Eyesore.

Thanks for all the pics and details of your trip.  It’s been great to follow along!

Thanks, the table cloth was from Target last year.  Agreed on the antenna, plus I would expect to see this more at places like state parks where you don't have cable TV.

 

 

 

17 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Good to hear.  Mine came with one and a pot ring.  Man the extras are expensive if you want to add on.

I bought both, got a lot of use out of the griddle, the pot ring I think I've only used once.

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

Did you know you can get a griddle plate for your roadtrip?

Makes it a breeze cooking eggs, grilled sandwiches, etc.

Yes, I have one, this was just some breakfast sausages so didn't use it. Photo's of it coming up though.

I was up early the following morning, as my daughter was up early. Ended up making her a sausage sandwich, really need to get a better light near the grill next time.  She had breakfast and then went back to bed. I stayed up and made more breakfast.  This was a little unplanned I wanted to get over to AK for extra magic hours so I'd planned on a light breakfast, as it was by the time everyone else got up and dressed we got to AK about 10am.

Visitor as I was eating breakfast.

I took a walk while people were getting ready.

This intrigued me, that's a lot of golf carts for a small tent.

Took my bike out for a bit after this, before getting the bus to Annimal Kingdom.

 

 

Meanwhile, at Hollywood Studios, they watched the Beauty and the Beast stage show and Indiana Jones, before going to Sci-fi for lunch.

It goes without saying they had a nicer lunch than me. They both had burgers and milk shakes, keeping with the theme.  This was my daughter's request, but they both enjoyed it and my wife was quite pleasantly surprised that the seat was a lot more comfortable than she feared.

They did star tours after this but came back to the site afterward as the motion of the ride didn't agree with my wife.

I took both kids down to the cabin pool for a bit while had a rest, taking some snacks with us. I refuse to use the vending machine there.

Got back to the camper and started dinner.

One thing I didn't forget this time was the tin foil, burgers, and bacon, cheese potatoes in foil packets, nice and easy on the grill. No photos as I was too busy, cooking and eating.

My son wanted to go to the campfire after this.

Someone in the 900 loop had decorated along the path from the group camping area, which made the walk easier. Was surprised at the level of Easter decorations in general.

Really surprised at this,  he isn't normally overly keen on photos with characters but after his s' more he asked for a photo. Did some dancing as well.

Didn't stay for the movie though.

Impressed with this golf cart we passed on the way back.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the camper he had a bit of a rest while I got more setup done. I was about to make us lunch when he started feeling better and wanted to go to the pool.  He asked if we could go to the meadows pool so we could eat there.  Not exactly my favorite quick service but I had wanted to get a couple of the new refillable cups this trip. Grabbed lunch and the cups at the meadows snack bar and did some swimming. 

Finished setting up when we got back.

My son wanted the road trip by the charcoal grill, next time  I'm putting it closer to the camper. 

After we had changed and got everything up, we relized we hadn't packed some of the bbq tools. The problem with leaving some tools in the camper from last time but not easily be able to get to things.  My son was quite happy for a trip to Meadow's trading post.

Past this on the way there, was this the one a few people had commented seeing over the last couple of months?

Got a few things at the store, including a magic band keeper for my son who has sensory issues his at times. Also got a set of these.