wendinator

I meant to post more about the experience of watching the NYE fireworks from the beach at the Fort- it's been several years since we've done it, but it's really not a bad experience.  In fact, it's kind of fun to be there with so many people.
For a long time, I would only buy Florida Resident Season Passes, which meant we were blocked out of the parks for NYE.  So, if we were at the Fort for NYE, we wouldn't be visiting the parks, and would spend the evening at the Fort.  They typically have a beach party on NYE, with music, dancing and activities from the youth staff. The last time we went, the twins were middle school age and the beach was wall to wall people at midnight.  There are a lot more drunk people on the beach on NYE than you will ever see the rest of the year.  One of our favorite memories is of a young drunk couple who were having a loud fight and break up right there on the beach a few minutes before midnight.  The guy was walking around carrying one of the rocking chairs from the Crockett's Tavern porch.  The twins can recite the whole argument word for word.  It was very memorable.
So, don't be afraid to go to the beach for the NYE fireworks.  It's fun.  And a much different vibe than any other night of the year.
TCD

The nice thing about the Pago Pago building is it's a relatively short/easy walk to the TTC to catch the ferry over to MK, so that's what I did at lunch.

I went to the Starbucks on Main Street and the guy could not have been more disinterested in my birthday... despite wearing my birthday button (which I only wore on my actual birthday, not the rest of the trip) and asking about using my birthday reward. No little happy face on the cup or anything. No Starbucks magic for me. But I did get to be on Main St for my birthday so that's plenty good.

I had some fun with a PhotoPass photographer on my way out. I tried flirting shamelessly with him but I expect I just creeped him out. I should really start acting my age now that I'm well into my 40s...


When this trip was planned/booked I knew I'd be here for my birthday so I thought quite a bit about where I wanted to go for dinner... So I booked us Hoop Dee Doo!

Bucket of salad? Check.

Tasty corn bread? Check.

Beans, corn, and spuds? Check.

Sad because you've already gone through your first bucket of meat? Check!

My sister was thrilled to see Chef TJ who came around because we'd indicated gluten-free. My sister asked him for the gluten-free cornbread and TJ said, "Sorry  - we don't have any". My sister was pretty disappointed until he  reached into his chef coat pocket and produced the gluten-free cornbread he'd had all along. That was good for a laugh. And they were generous with the refills too.
Speaking of refills... I ordered the white sangria and a lemonade.


When I finished the white, I figured I should try the red. Our server brought that AND she brought along her own special blend. The blend was fantastic! It's mostly white, with a bit of red, and a bit of orange soda. Amazing! I didn't finish the red - I was ready to float away with all those liquids.
The show was as good as always. They seem to enjoy themselves and I think they're often genuinely cracking up.

My strawberry shortcake came with a candle. 🙂

When we got outside it was raining but this time we were prepared with ponchos! I wanted to check  out the Trading Post so we went there and browsed for a bit, then took the bus back to the parking lot and drove back to the Poly. Not a bad birthday!

Sunday morning we finished packing and loaded up my sister's minivan. We told the kids that I had to return the rental car, so they'd follow me. But of course we weren't going home! I drove to the Poly and my  sister told the kids, "She probably wants a Dole  Whip for breakfast."
When I got to  the security  booth  at  the Poly I told the guy, "We're checking in, but the kids don't know that, so please tell them I'm getting a  Dole Whip for breakfast." He said no problem and my sister got through no  problem. We both parked and went inside.
My sister had already done online check-in, which meant that our Magic Bands were already valid... for things like the pool. Remember when we were there earlier in the week for breakfast and one of the kids tried his band on the reader at the pool and it didn't work?
So we went outside to where the Pineapple Lanai is and my sister said to that kid,  "Why don't you show your brother how the magic band reader only opens the pool door if you're staying here?". Well you should have seen the look on his face when the magic band reader light turned green and he could open the door! That's when she fessed up that not only were we not going home, but we had 2 nights at the Poly, 2 nights at the Beach Club, and 1 night at the GF. Best parents ever, eh?
We went back inside to the front desk and did another check-in. We all got leis, and they had a birthday button waiting for me! That was a nice touch.

My sister didn't decline any of the magic bands for this week so we got a set here. I customized mine and wished there was room for one more letter...

Our room wasn't ready but we were, of course, welcome to use the facilities. We all got changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool. I'm not much for swimming, but I can happily sit outside under an umbrella and watch the world go by. After a while I got peckish and went inside and upstairs to Kona Island. I forget exactly what it was I ordered (California rolls maybe?) but I remember thinking it was kind of expensive for what I got.

And good thing I didn't want to use chopsticks because the package they gave me was a little short...

After this it seemed like a good time for a little poolside adult beverage. I went to the Barefoot Pool Bar and got the Lava Flow.


It was tasty (I like coconut) but again rather pricey.
This year my Dad taught my sister's kids that there's often money underneath vending machines. 

Eventually my sister got the notification that our room was ready. Since it was a DVC room we were in Pago Pago. The room was ridiculously nice.

There's a little kitchenette area.

Two showers/one tub, separated by a door, and a sink on each side.



There's a double bed with lots of storage space under the foot of the bed, and drawers on either side towards the head of the bed.

The sofa is a pull-out bed (this is where the kids slept) and I believe there's storage inside that little coffee table. 

As for me... this credenza looking thing...

Is a pull down bed.

That's Stitch sleeping in a hammock in the artwork. The light above is a nice touch. I knew I'd be in these pull-down beds for the week without a night side table so I planned ahead and got some of those 3M "command" removable hooks and a small hanging organizer. It worked perfectly to hold my glasses/cell phone/etc.

There's a little sitting area.

The lamp is super cute.

There's a big balcony with two chairs and a table.

And a nice view of the monorail... and parking lot.

After we checked in and got settled I discovered I'd lost a cable I needed for my computer so I popped over to Target to get a replacement. When I got back we ordered dinner... 'Ohana room service! I can't find it on Disney's site but it's called the 'Polynesian Twilight Feast" and it's basically 'Ohana brought to your room. I believe my sister ordered it as 2 adults, 1 gluten-free child and it was more than enough food for the 5 of us.
Salad.

Noodles, pot stickers, and veg.

Big ole plate of meat and rice.

Buns

Two kinds of sauce.

These are the gluten-free buns

And gluten-free dessert cookies.

I didn't get a picture of the bread pudding but rest assured they sent that too along with the sauce.
After dinner the kids went back to the pool. I went to Trader Sam's with my BIL. Based on a TCD trip report I  ordered a Heart of Te Fiti. Can't go wrong with a light up drink.

My BIL got the shrunken zombie head. After our drinks we went outside in time to catch the MK fireworks. And that was the end of that day.

The nice thing about the Pago Pago building is it's a relatively short/easy walk to the TTC to catch the ferry over to MK, so that's what I did at lunch.

I went to the Starbucks on Main Street and the guy could not have been more disinterested in my birthday... despite wearing my birthday button (which I only wore on my actual birthday, not the rest of the trip) and asking about using my birthday reward. No little happy face on the cup or anything. No Starbucks magic for me. But I did get to be on Main St for my birthday so that's plenty good.

I had some fun with a PhotoPass photographer on my way out. I tried flirting shamelessly with him but I expect I just creeped him out. I should really start acting my age now that I'm well into my 40s...


When this trip was planned/booked I knew I'd be here for my birthday so I thought quite a bit about where I wanted to go for dinner... So I booked us Hoop Dee Doo!

Bucket of salad? Check.

Tasty corn bread? Check.

Beans, corn, and spuds? Check.

Sad because you've already gone through your first bucket of meat? Check!

My sister was thrilled to see Chef TJ who came around because we'd indicated gluten-free. My sister asked him for the gluten-free cornbread and TJ said, "Sorry  - we don't have any". My sister was pretty disappointed until he  reached into his chef coat pocket and produced the gluten-free cornbread he'd had all along. That was good for a laugh. And they were generous with the refills too.
Speaking of refills... I ordered the white sangria and a lemonade.


When I finished the white, I figured I should try the red. Our server brought that AND she brought along her own special blend. The blend was fantastic! It's mostly white, with a bit of red, and a bit of orange soda. Amazing! I didn't finish the red - I was ready to float away with all those liquids.
The show was as good as always. They seem to enjoy themselves and I think they're often genuinely cracking up.

My strawberry shortcake came with a candle. 🙂

When we got outside it was raining but this time we were prepared with ponchos! I wanted to check  out the Trading Post so we went there and browsed for a bit, then took the bus back to the parking lot and drove back to the Poly. Not a bad birthday!

Thursday was a bit of a rest day. My sister dropped the menfolk off at Typhoon Lagoon first thing in the morning and then she went to the Disney outlet store on International Drive. She got a good deal on an Avengers Dooney so she was pretty happy about that. We agreed we'd meet up at Disney Springs when she was done.
I checked MDE and managed to score myself a FP for FEA in the afternoon so that gave me a plan of Disney Springs in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. I also had a 5:45 dinner ADR for Jiko - I would have gone alone but the rest of the crew said they'd join me so I booked it for 5 people.
I always park in Lime. Love the little parking space indicators in the garage to let you know when a space is free/occupied. I wish more places had that but I can see how retrofitting would be expensive and painful.

We browsed some shops. My sister bought some shirts at Uniqlo. I'm always on the lookout for mugs/glasses so I did a quick skim for those at the World of Disney.
A trip to the Coke store was on my list of things to do, so we headed there. I'd heard about their float tray and knew it was something I needed to try. You have to take an elevator to the top floor to get to where they serve these. Note that the space up there isn't air conditioned and the music is pretty loud.
Anyway, here's the guy preparing our float tray.

And a bunch of float tray pictures.




I talked about the float tray here, including pricing.
If you're so inclined you can buy this giant bottle and get it filled with Coke product.

I shudder to think of how much sugar and how many calories that is.
In keeping with the fine tradition of "life is uncertain, eat dessert first" my sister wanted to hit up D-Luxe burger. I went with her just to keep her company. The line wasn't long but it was slow moving. One group ahead of us had a lengthy debate about their MagicBands and PIN. Then the group right before us decided to wait until they got to the register to decide what they wanted  to order, rather than say using the 15 minutes we'd been waiting in line. That drives me crazy! Anyway, sister ordered the kids meal which I think I'd do if I go there again, and about the time her food arrived is when I took my leave to head to Epcot.
I arrived a bit before 1 pm. Parking!

My FastPass for FEA was at 1:20 so that was good timing. I got to the attraction at about 1:15. I sat in the shade on the little curb by the FP tapstiles. And at 1:19... the attraction went down, the door closed, and we were asked to make our way from the entrance. Doh!
There was a PhotoPass photographer so I stopped for a picture. I asked if he had any magic shots but either he didn't understand me or he was new, or maybe there aren't any? Either way, I just got this picture.

After half a float tray clearly the logical thing to eat after that is... school bread. How could I pass it up since I was so close?

I decided I'd go do something I hadn't done in a while - the Reflections of China movie. I didn't take any pictures. I think I saw something recently that said they're looking to update the movie? It's pretty old at this point. Despite having to stand, at least it was air conditioned. I was disappointed to see that the Terracotta Warriors display is gone.
I wandered back to FEA and saw it was back up again so I rode. Somebody in the boat kept using his flash to take endless pictures. I expect they didn't turn out worth beans. Since I knew there was a ride photo, I took the opportunity to give them my best face.

I made myself a SSE FastPass. I never get tired of this so can happily ride it any time opportunity presents. Got stopped a couple of times, but not for too long.


Sadly the put your face on the screen thing wasn't working, so no goofy picture to share there.
I wandered a bit after this and happened to stumble on the Mobile Muppet Lab. I couldn't find any listings for this to see if it comes out on a regular schedule. Does anybody have any other information on it?

I kept looking around to see if could spot whoever was controlling it but apparently I wasn't clever or observant enough. This was way more creative than that silly iCan razor robot in Tomorrowland. Streamers! Bubbles! I thought this was great and would love to stumble on it again.
Next stop was the Fountain View (aka Starbucks) to get one of those orange creamsicle cupcakes. They are pre-boxed in a refrigerated case, so you can just grab and go.

The most interesting thing I learned from this trip to Starbucks is that they have a nice cold water dispenser in the area where you get the cream/sugar for your coffee. No waiting in line to get a free cup of ice water. You can just walk in and help yourself.
This cupcake was for sharing later, so at this point I just headed out of the park and back to the time share.
I went with my sister in her minivan to go pick up the menfolk from Typhoon Lagoon and then we went to Jiko for dinner. You can read about it here.  No excitement after dinner, just back to the time share for some time to relax and digest.

Wednesday was a Magic Kingdom day and we were there for rope drop.
This morning's parking reminder.

After we cleared security we had a little debate about ferry vs monorail. The kids wanted to take the monorail (no surprise there!) so that's what we did.
The kids decided that they wanted to do Space Mountain at park opening so we waited by Tomorrowland Terrace. Apparently this isn't a very popular place to wait, but I thought it was great. There was a place to sit, and a bit of air conditioning from the restaurant. I think there might even have been shade. I marked our waiting point with the red circle. The more popular place where everyone else waited I marked with a yellow circle.

When the CMs dropped the rope we headed straight to Space Mountain and I think we weren't any worse off.
We got in line for Space Mountain and then noticed that Stitch had come out. One of my nephews is a big Stitch fan so kid and his Dad went and got some pictures taken with Stitch. Stitch had fun playing with the ears on the kid's Stitch hat. :)

They rejoined us in line and it became obvious that the line wasn't moving and something might be wrong. A CM came out and let the line know that the attraction was down and would maybe be back up in about half an hour. I told the guys to go do the People Mover and I would hold their spot in line. Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, not long after they got on the People Mover, the Space Mountain line started moving. I got to the front... no boys. So I went to the back of the line... Made it to the front of the line again but still no boys. So I went to the back of the line again. This time they made it! 
I can do Space Mountain once and it's easier if I'm in the very front. Look - I'm already braced and we've barely even started. My BIL is a bit more relaxed...

After Space Mountain the boys did some more pin trading in the gift shop, then we headed over to Buzz. We waited in line much longer than I would have preferred, but we were already kind of committed by the time we figured out that the posted wait time wasn't accurate.
I really suck at getting a high score on this ride. I never know where it's actually aiming and which of those little red dots is mine. Suffice to say the lower score of the two was me, and the other was a nephew.

While we were on Buzz I got an email from Disney letting me know that my 10:15 - 11:15 am FastPass for Peter Pan had been modified because the attraction was down. The boys were pretty happy about this because they weren't really keen on riding Peter Pan anyway, and this gave them an extra FastPass for something else they'd rather ride. Score!
We went to the Lunching Pad and the kids got a cream cheese pretzel to share. We split up after this - BIL and one kid, me and the other kid. The kid I took had a date with the Harmony Barber Shop. We went there by way of a stroll through the Emporium. I'm always on the lookout for light weight, long sleeved, zip up hoodies. I always have one with me when I'm at the  parks - they're just so useful for either staying warm in overzealously air conditioned spaces, or sitting on for padding/heat protection. This one caught my eye.

I would have bought it but... I would have preferred all skulls and no Minnie, it had sparkles (I'm anti-sparkle), and it was $55 which sure seemed like a lot - especially when converted to Canadian.
We had a bit of a wait before it was our turn at the Harmony Barber Shop so we had time to look at the decorations. Anybody know who the guy on the right is? I'll let people answer and I'll post it if nobody gets it.

It was really crowded in that tiny little space and this is part of the reason why...

There was like 7 people waiting and then watching this one little kid get a haircut.
Did you know you can go into the Harmony Barber Shop and get some pixie dust put in your hair and then leave? I saw a few people come in and get some sprinkles put on and then leave - no haircut. It appears to be free. I'm a party pooper and would hate to have sparkles getting all over everywhere. With my luck I'd get them in my eyes. 
After the haircut, the kid and I went to the Jungle Cruise. iPad photographer!

I'd made us an ADR for the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch so we rejoined my BIL and kid there. You can read about the food we had here.
When at Disney we like to look out for CMs with the same name and get a picture taken. The CM who took us to our table was also a Wendy and she was happy to have a picture taken with me.

After lunch we split up again, same as before. BIL and kid were doing the Pirate's Adventure thing, and I took the haircut kid over to BTMRR - he used the Peter Pan FastPasses (mine and his) to ride BTMRR twice. It's his favorite ride. I waited for him near the exit of the ride and a PhotoPass photographer showed up and was taking pictures of people after the ride. I made sure the kid got his picture taken too.
I forget where the kid and I were going to go after this, but it was just about time for Festival of Fantasy to start up so we knew it was going to be tricky to get around. Fortunately I picked TCD's brain before this trip and knew just what to do. (Thanks TCD!)
This is the FoF parade as seen from the waiting room of the CBJ. It was perfect! Bench to sit on right in front of the window, sweet sweet air conditioning, no crowd, and you can see/hear everything just fine.

Once the parade was over since we were already at CBJ we decided to go in. We got seated and just as the show was about to start, BIL and kid showed up and joined us. The CM working this attraction was on fire and VERY funny. He made lots of great jokes and got the audience really into it. I made note of his name (Ben) so I could swing by City Hall.
We had a Splash Mountain FP so headed there next. We debated about who had to sit on the right hand side since you often get wet at the waterfall towards the end. I said I'd take one for the team and sit there. As it turned out I didn't get wet from that waterfall but I did get wet from some other random jet. It's hard to tell from this picture but the right side of my shirt is just drenched. It took a long time to dry out, even in August.

The PhotoPass pictures of me on this ride are always funny. I'm always screaming my head off. I think the one kid put his hat in front of his face because he was afraid of getting his face wet.

Since the kid had done a bunch of the Pirate's Adventure thing, he'd netted 4 FastPasses for Pirates so we decided to cash them in. This was their first time riding it since the PhotoPass picture was added. I told them in advance where/when it would take the picture. I put on my best cheezy grin.

After Pirates we split up again, only this time we swapped kids. The kid who'd done the Pirate's Adventure thing wanted to complete the rest of the maps, so that's what we did. If you haven't done the Pirate's Adventure before it's pretty neat if you can spare the time. It's a bit like the Agent P adventure at Epcot. They give you a map with a starting point and you zap your MagicBand and things happen, then they tell you to go to the next point and do the same. I did all of them when I was on my solo trip back in January. One of the points that wasn't working in January was working this time around and it surprised the heck out of me! It gave us a good laugh.


After we finished the last Pirate map and got the final set of collector cards and Pirate's FastPasses it started to rain a bit so we sat on a bench near the Tiki Room to plan our next steps and discovered somebody had left their cellphone behind. I picked it up and took it across to the CM who was wrangling strollers near Pirate's and fortunately the owner of the phone was standing right there, having relocated to take shelter from the rain. Talk about instant satisfaction for returning a lost item! I was pretty sure she was telling the truth - there was a Tesco card in the phone's case and they had the British accent to match. :)
Since we were so close to the Tiki Room I convinced the kid to go in with me. By the time we got out the rain sprinkles had passed and we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a Dole Whip. I asked for two vanilla swirl but somehow ended up with just two regular Dole Whip. Oh well - even non-swirl Dole Whip is still Dole Whip!

We'd used up our 3 FPs so I think I made us one same-day FP for MILF. The kid and I started heading towards Tomorrowland with stops along the way for pin trading. We must have stopped inside the Christmas shop because I took this depressing picture.

When we went in to get seated for MILF I tried to get us positioned so that my BIL could be "That Guy". We were so close! The guy to my left got to be That Guy (and he was a good sport about it) but at least my BIL still got picked to be Churros guy.

We were starting to get peckish after this and the kids like the toppings bar at Cosmic Ray's so that's where we went next. I did mobile ordering again.

 
I think I'd managed to make us a Haunted Mansion FP so we went there after Cosmic Ray's. Again we had another fantastic CM. He was very in character and really made it special. In the stretch room he stood in one spot and then as soon as it went pitch black for the thunder/lightning/noose part, he quickly relocated and stood really close right behind someone so when the lights came back on she got quite the scare. It was great fun and she got a good laugh. By the time we were exiting our Doom Buggy he was working the exit so I asked him, "What's your name?" and he pointed at his name tag that said Chris, but he explained "I'm really Callum". I said, "Thanks Chris Callum!"
We'd done enough by this point so started heading for the exit. I stopped at City Hall to thank Ben at CBJ and Chris/Callum at HM. I drove us all back to the time share.
Not as many steps this day as it felt like.

 
My sister had spent the day at the condo while we were gone and my first order of business when I got back was... putting chair socks on the legs of the chairs!

You probably think I'm crazy (and you're not far wrong) but I've stayed at this place several times before and the chairs they have at the kitchen table are very heavy, and they're on a tile floor. So every time you move the chair in/out it makes a lot of noise and makes me crazy. (And I'm sure the people on the floor below aren't too fond of it either.) So I got my Mom to knit enough chair socks for 7 chairs. She likes using up the tail end of yarn to make these, so of course they're a mixture of colors. A single one doesn't take long to make and she can do them while riding in the car or whatever. She's made me some for home too. My Mom is great!
The kids wanted to go swimming but my sister didn't want to go down with them so I said I'd go. While the kids were playing in the pool I was just sitting on a lounge chair playing on my phone... and watching these critters at the nearby garbage can buffet.

There were 3 or 4 of them that kept going into the garbage can to see what they could find. The one in the picture above has one of those plastic trays for fake orange cheese and nacho chips. They weren't shy at all.
On specific instructions from my sister about when to have them back, I rounded up the kids and we went upstairs and called it a night. And that was Wednesday.

I drove us all back to AKL. Even though my sister and family had to check out that day, they still had use of the facilities until the end of the day and that included the club lounge. I went up with the boys and saw someone there with a drink I knew I had to have.

That is a jungle juice mimosa! One of the many perks of club level is free beer, wine... and jungle juice mimosas. It was tasty but WOW did it ever go straight to my head after being out in August heat.
The kids went swimming and I sat poolside and watched for a while. I also took this picture because I was trying in vain to make a slide rule joke. As if anyone uses slide rules anymore.

Around 6:15 I headed back to AK - I had a FP for Rivers of Light and also wanted some dinner. The later you arrive, the further away your parking.

I looked on MDE to see if there were any tempting ADRs for 1 person available, but ultimately I decided I'd just hang out at the Nomad Lounge. You can read about my food here. I thought I could sit outside to eat but decided it was far too hot to be comfortable, so I sat inside at the bar. Chatted a bit with the barman who is from England and says "taco" the same way my husband does (Taa-co rather than Tah-co). Also talked a bit with some guys from Vegas (is anyone actually from Vegas?) who said they'd spent a year in Toronto and loved it.
My BIL and nephews came back to AK by bus and swung by the Nomad Lounge while I was there and we yakked for a bit, but then they left to do their FP.
One of the things I had on my to do list for AK was: "As you cross the bridge after leaving Kali River Rapids, there are buttons that can be pressed to deploy the elephants to spray guests on the ride. Just remember…what goes around comes around!" so I headed over to KRR to see about that. Sure enough I found the spot and the buttons.


(Not my hand.)
I hung out on that bridge and watched the rafts come and go - and watched lots of other people pressing the button. I think I rode KRR once in 1999 but not since then.
Just before 8 I headed to my ROL FP viewing area.

When I zapped my MagicBand the woman with the reader said, "Happy birthday!" which was interesting because a) I wasn't wearing a birthday button, and b ) it wasn't my birthday (yet) and c) I had no idea that it would display that on their screens. The Mouse really does know all.
It was a pretty sunset. And a hot night. (Weird pano of the seating area.)

As I mentioned in my Nomad Lounge food post, the FP seating area is on stone benches. Wow did the stone ever hold onto the August sun's heat! I had well toasted buns by the time the show was over. I was glad I had my thin zip up hoodie to sit on.
And you know those dispensers of insect repellant they have scattered around? The people sitting in front of me availed themselves of some of it... then grabbed onto their Disney Parks shopping bag... that promptly shed its blue ink ALL OVER one woman's hands. She looked as blue as a Na'vi. I had a few wet naps in my purse so offered them to her, which she gladly accepted. It took some of the blue off, but I bet she could still have convincingly posed for Photo Pass pictures as a Na'vi until she got to proper soap and water.
They had people selling $3 bottles of water in the stands but I bet they could have made a killing selling Mickey bars. I would have done anything for ice cream that night but had nobody to hold my spot in order to go get one.
ROL was an interesting show and I'm glad I went to see it but I can't see getting the same emotional attachment to it as say MSEP or Wishes.


 
When the show ended I went back over to see Pandora at night. I didn't bother trying to take any photos - I knew my phone would do a lousy job. It was quite crowded and I didn't stay long. I headed out of the park and to the parking lot. Instead of waiting for a tram I just walked to my car. It was a fantastic symphony of car horns as a large group of people all tried to find their rental cars at the same time.
Here was the day's AK step count. 13.77 km is about 8.5 miles.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a Magic Kingdom day with the BIL and nephews.

I don't have the photos to prove it but my digital bread crumb trail tells me that I did the Laugh Floor after this (henceforth abbreviated as MILF - you've been warned). I probably did MILF 3 or more times on this trip and not once did I get the bit they used to do where they pick people from the audience to be Mike/Sulley/Randall/Boo. Do you remember that? Here's a picture I took in Aug 2015 because the guy in the row ahead of me was picked to be Mike (with one I) - you can see my arm and phone in the picture.

That one was a lot of fun. Now they only do the bit where they can tell you the capital of any country. I hope I just got unlucky on this trip and that the Mike/Sulley gag is still in rotation.
This is also a good point for me to talk about FastPass. Was it here where I read the trick about refreshing MDE? If it was then thank you because I used it several times successfully. Here's the short version. Say you want a FP for MILF at 4ish but all it will give you is 7ish. Book the 7 pm FP then go back and edit it and say you want to change the time. Keep refreshing until you see a time you like better. It may offer you 6:something. Take that, then edit again and keep refreshing. Before you know it you get the time you want. This even sometimes works for different attractions. Want Pirates but can't get it? Book Haunted Mansion, then edit. Boom. Pirates appears. I have no idea why/how this works but it does. I suspect I had good luck with this because I was searching for a party of 1. Your mileage may vary for parties of 2 and up.
From MILF I went to City Hall to tell them I thought Kasha was a great Jungle Cruise skipper. They always seem so happy to have someone giving them good news. I imagine most of their day is unhappy people. I was done with the MK for the day so took the monorail back to the TTC and drove to the GF.
I know not everyone is a fan of signature dining and think it's not worth the money,  but I made myself an ADR at Citrico's to take advantage of their 30% discount for AP holders. You can read about that dinner here.
While at the Grand Floridian I noticed they had some Halloween merchandise out. I don't think it was there the day before when I went for tea. Either way,  Halloween is my favorite holiday so I was enjoying the merch.

That was it for excitement for the day. I drove back to the time share and did some laundry for my sister. Here's what my Fitbit thinks I did as a step count. 11.37 km converts to a little over 7 miles.

Tomorrow is my first park day with my BIL and kids. Stay tuned for rope drop at AK. My sister opted out of all our park stuff except for one.

Thanks for following along!
My sister and family were aiming to maximize their resort time (and were especially fond of club level) which meant I had the day to do with as I pleased. And I was pleased to do rope drop at MK.
I was at the TTC and in my parking spot just after 8 am. I took a picture of my parking row because I know otherwise I'll never remember.

This was my first time back at WDW since the security procedures changed, so that meant this was also the first time I went through security at the TTC. I think this distributed model works better than the centralized security at MK only. I didn't keep track but you know how sometimes after bag check they ask you to go through the metal detector as well? I swear on this whole trip there was only one time where they didn't ask me to go through the metal detector as well. But anyway.
I'm ferry people not monorail people and I was waiting for the ferry by 8:10.

After an easy ferry ride and breezing through the tapstiles I was still pretty early so decided to stop for a PhotoPass photographer.

Park didn't officially open until 9 so I went to the Emporium to get myself a gift card. As a Canadian it's a little easier on the credit card statement if you have one transaction of $100 onto a gift card rather than a bunch of little transactions. I had a tiny gift card that I got at Food & Wine a few years ago but my experience has been that the card is finicky when they swipe it so I decided a normal sized card would be better.

I got the one that looks most like my Miata. 🙂
Took this photo at 8:30. Looks like a nice day, eh?

You might also recall that today was the big eclipse day.

They had signs up about it at the park too.

While waiting for the park to open I found a nice table and chair inside Casey's Corner. I didn't bother to watch the opening show - I'd seen it before and it's pretty disappointing compared to the old train station show. Finally the park was open! Any guesses where I went? Where would you go at rope drop...?
If you said Sleepy Hollow for a Nutella waffle... you win! My thrill ride days are largely behind me.

Isn't it great to not have to share?

Now that I'd started the day off right, I headed to Pirates. It was a walk-on (no surprise). This was my first time riding since they added the ride photo just before the drop. Either it wasn't working or it didn't link to my MagicBand because I didn't get the ride photo. After that it was over to Jungle Cruise for my first FP of the day. I got given a red card, which was pretty funny considering there was literally no wait so all I did was carry it from one CM to another.

I was interested to note that the rhino is still being refurbed. But at least now instead of there being nothing at the totem pole there are hyenas. I wonder when the rhino is coming back.

I had a great skipper and I made a note of her name (Kasha) so I could swing by City Hall later. A good skipper makes all the difference with the Jungle Cruise, as you know. From here it was over to the Tiki Room. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea but it always reminds me of my Mom singing along, and I like those singing totem poles so I always go at least once.
After the Tiki birds I saw a PhotoPass photographer who looked lonely so I chatted with him for a while and got him to do another magic shot.

By this time I was ready for my Haunted Mansion FastPass.
You know the part where it talks about the hot and cold running chills? And there's that cold fan that blows? Yeah, that's where I got stopped. (Sorry for the grainy, low light photos.)


Fortunately I had a light sweater with me and fortunately I wasn't there for too terribly long. And I guess there are worse places to be stuck?
There was another PhotoPass photographer as you leave the Haunted Mansion so of course I had to get a picture there too. For some reason I really struggled to make the hitchhiking thumb gesture the photographer wanted. He was probably questioning his career choice by the time he was done with me.

I wandered around the Tinkle Tower area a bit and went into Memento Mori. Also saw this great kid on a leash. I know nothing about kids, but thought he might be a little old for this...

From here it was over to Country Bear Jamboree. It must be my advancing years because I also have a soft spot for the Bears too. If you're interested at all in why the Bears are worth keeping give this a read.

After the Bears I decided it was time for a train ride. When I was here in January and again in March the train was still closed for refurb. So I got on the train at Frontierland and took it just one stop over to Fantasyland.

As I was walking along the pathway towards Tomorrowland I noticed some scaffolding on the side of Space Mountain and saw they were painting.

I forget where I read it but somewhere I saw something that said, "Near the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Astro Orbiter in Rockettower Plaza, there is a courtesy phone provided by the Galactic Communications Network. Pick it up and listen to some of their party line conversations! You’ll be able to find out what movies are playing nearby, find out which criminals are on the loose in Tomorrowland, and even “order” a pizza!"
The good news was that I found the phone thing.

The bad news was that it didn't actually do anything as far as I could tell. Fail.
But that's OK because PeopleMover time!
MDE even kindly reminded me about the eclipse in case I'd forgotten.

To be continued...

Not a lot of Fort content unfortunately, but since TCD has trip report writing burnout I thought I'd share my recent trip (apart from the food photos I already posted). I won't feel bad if you don't read it all - I tend to write too much!
Back in about March my sister let me know she was planning to go for two weeks and asked if I was interested in joining. Since I got an AP in January this seemed like a no brainer so of course I said yes. For planning purposes the things we had to keep in mind were: 1. she was only telling her kids about the first week, so the second week would be a surprise, 2. we'd be down there for my birthday (yay!), and 3. the accommodations would be a mix of her time share on 192 and their DVC
My sister and her family started their summer vacation in the Canadian Maritimes with my parents and when that was over my parents headed back home and my sister headed south to Florida, making a few stops along the way. On Sunday, August 20 they checked into AKL for themselves and the timeshare for me. She set up her reservation with DME for 1 person from MCO to AKL, so when I flew down I hopped on DME to meet them. Is there anything better than seeing this for the first time?

When I arrived they were already poolside. I changed out of my jeans and runners into shorts and sandals in the Jiko/Boma bathroom - the handicap stall was occupied so I used a regular stall and all my wiggling around caused the toilet to flush at least 4 times. It was pretty funny but I felt bad about the water waste. They'd managed to get 2 nights at the club level so I rehydrated with a glass each of the lounge's water, lemonade (very sweet), and jungle juice (POG).

I knew that I'd be doing a bunch of different things from my sister and her family so I'd booked myself a rental car. My BIL drove me to where I thought the rental car pickup place was since I'd picked up a car from there before. But when we pulled in the parking lot it became pretty clear that I wasn't in the right place.

Fortunately there was a sign on the door with the address to the right place. When I got there it didn't look much better but at least it was actually open and staffed!

I picked up my rather beat up looking rental car and went to the time share to unpack my bags.

After unpacking I went to Target/CVS to lay in a few supplies. After that it was straight back to AKL to pick up one of my nephews who wanted to go to afternoon tea with me.
You can read all about our afternoon tea here.
After tea we popped our heads in a few of the GF gift shops. My nephews like to pin trade so are always on the lookout for interesting pins. I have a weakness for mugs/glasses and thought this one was cute.

But I also know I'm already out of cupboard space so I gave it a pass.
I don't have a lot of pictures after that. I'm pretty sure I was tired from travel so returned the kid to his parents, then I went back to the time share for some Zzz's in anticipation of rope drop at the Magic Kingdom the next day (Monday). We'll pick up there, which will be way more interesting than this!

Man, they really goofed on this.
The whole Hub area was reconstructed a couple of years ago to make more room and to ease congestion.
But, then they took away Wishes and replaced it with Happily Ever After (HEA), which is more focused on projections and special effects that guests can only see if they have a clear view of the front of the castle.  Wishes could be enjoyed from many different vantage points, but HEA really requires guests to be in the Hub area to best enjoy it.  Compounding the problem is that there is no longer a parade performed at night.  On busy nights, they would perform the Main Street Electrical Parade twice.  That would help to spread crowds out throughout the park.  Another issue is the fact that HEA is only shown about half the nights in October because the other nights are used for the hard-ticket Halloween party.  And the cherry on top is that they took away a good chunk of the fireworks viewing area by taking away one of the FP viewing areas and the Tomorrowland Terrace area and using that for a paid dessert party.
All of those things add up to a big mess.
They planned for this somewhat by providing for bypasses on both sides of Main Street.  But, they rarely use the one that runs behind the Emporium, and they don't always have the one by the Plaza Restaurant open.  Those should be open every night after the fireworks without exception.  But they're not.
I've been stuck in the gridlock, and I agree 100% that it's a very unpleasant and dangerous situation that Disney really needs to do something about.  The problem is that the fixes would reduce revenue or require more payroll, so Disney is just going to let guests suffer.
TCD

Well, it took us nearly a year, but the TCD Gang was finally able to stumble upon the Muppet Mobile Lab yesterday at Epcot.
When they asked for a volunteer from the audience, Twin #1's hand shot up (like it always does), and she was selected to be interviewed for a job as Professor Honeydew's Lab Assistant.  I am proud to say that she was hired (but then was promptly fired when Beaker complained).


The show was a lot better than I expected, and I scanned the surroundings very carefully to look for any suspicious person who might be controlling the animatronics and dialog.  I couldn't spot anyone.  But, this thing interacted with Twin #1, and asked her questions and responded to her answers.  I think the operator is hiding out behind one of the dark tinted windows on the back of Spaceship Earth. 
TCD

I don't have the photos to prove it but my digital bread crumb trail tells me that I did the Laugh Floor after this (henceforth abbreviated as MILF - you've been warned). I probably did MILF 3 or more times on this trip and not once did I get the bit they used to do where they pick people from the audience to be Mike/Sulley/Randall/Boo. Do you remember that? Here's a picture I took in Aug 2015 because the guy in the row ahead of me was picked to be Mike (with one I) - you can see my arm and phone in the picture.

That one was a lot of fun. Now they only do the bit where they can tell you the capital of any country. I hope I just got unlucky on this trip and that the Mike/Sulley gag is still in rotation.
This is also a good point for me to talk about FastPass. Was it here where I read the trick about refreshing MDE? If it was then thank you because I used it several times successfully. Here's the short version. Say you want a FP for MILF at 4ish but all it will give you is 7ish. Book the 7 pm FP then go back and edit it and say you want to change the time. Keep refreshing until you see a time you like better. It may offer you 6:something. Take that, then edit again and keep refreshing. Before you know it you get the time you want. This even sometimes works for different attractions. Want Pirates but can't get it? Book Haunted Mansion, then edit. Boom. Pirates appears. I have no idea why/how this works but it does. I suspect I had good luck with this because I was searching for a party of 1. Your mileage may vary for parties of 2 and up.
From MILF I went to City Hall to tell them I thought Kasha was a great Jungle Cruise skipper. They always seem so happy to have someone giving them good news. I imagine most of their day is unhappy people. I was done with the MK for the day so took the monorail back to the TTC and drove to the GF.
I know not everyone is a fan of signature dining and think it's not worth the money,  but I made myself an ADR at Citrico's to take advantage of their 30% discount for AP holders. You can read about that dinner here.
While at the Grand Floridian I noticed they had some Halloween merchandise out. I don't think it was there the day before when I went for tea. Either way,  Halloween is my favorite holiday so I was enjoying the merch.

That was it for excitement for the day. I drove back to the time share and did some laundry for my sister. Here's what my Fitbit thinks I did as a step count. 11.37 km converts to a little over 7 miles.

Tomorrow is my first park day with my BIL and kids. Stay tuned for rope drop at AK. My sister opted out of all our park stuff except for one.

Is this just a shameless attempt at getting more likes?
if it is, I will donate all the likes I get on this thread to your cause. 

I am planning a trip to assess the damage Irma did to the 3000 loop.  Beer lines are already scheduled for replacement, so mainly I will be focusing on the massage parlor.  I can't hook up the Outback, however, until I hit at least 650 likes.  So it's all up to you! 

Those that dont collect or play the game prob are not that excited, but I'd be on the other end of you so my excitement is at like a 8 or 9.  AND i love the country bear jamboree

Ours declared one yesterday starting this morning. It isn't some official being an idiot. By declaring an emergency they can start activating emergency services and the National Guard. It also starts getting federal government agencies like FEMA activated. In our case it is also what gets emergency equipment such as generators and fast water rescue pre-staged to known problem areas saving time for when it is really needed. In NC it also has the effect of invoking anti-price gouging laws which is what keeps gas from shooting to $10/gal. On the other hand if the governor waited and things went to heck in a hand basket everybody would be yelling he should have acted sooner.

Just outside of Test Track is a small food truck type thing called Taste Track that sells some interesting sundaes. We debated between the apple pie sundae and chocolaty churro sundae. In the end the churros won out, and four of us shared this. It was pretty much a standard vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce sundae with the addition of two churros.

It melted quickly in the August heat, but with four people it didn't take long to finish it quickly!
The hours are a bit weird, something like noon - 5. So if you're interested in going make note of the limited availability.

My sister and I swung by the Coke store at Disney Springs for their rooftop beverage bar. Note that it is outdoor seating (not air conditioned) and has some pretty loud music blaring. So if you're looking for cold and quiet, this isn't the place.
BUT they do have a float tray, and they do offer a 10% AP discount!
The tray has a liner on it that tells you what each of the flavors are.

My sister and I shared this so I didn't get to try all of them.

The cups are kind of small and the ice cream is soft to begin with so in August these are probably best consumed quickly or shared.
My favorite was the cream soda. I gave the grape one to my sister since I have bad memories of grape pop and she said that one was her favorite.

I went here twice on my recent trip. I like ordering the kid's meal grilled chicken sandwich. It comes with a drink and a small sundae that is super cute.

They use the cherry stem for the tail.

 
On the other visit I ordered the "Frozen Sunshine" - Rainbow Sherbet, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Seltzer blended to perfection topped with Whipped Cream and a Candied Orange Slice. I wish I'd remembered to ask them to hold the whipped cream (I'm not a fan) but otherwise this was really nice and refreshing.

 

If you scroll way way back you'll see I missed out on the ooey gooey toffee cake back in 2014. Well on this trip, that cake was mine! Went with my BIL and two nephews. We didn't want the big founder's platter so opted to order a la carte.
I ordered the corn fritters to start. Cut into one and discovered runny dough inside - they were WAY undercooked. Manager came and took them away, brought us new ones (cooked!) and took them off the bill. Sauce had a nice bit of heat to it.

I ordered the pot roast, which came with mashed potatoes and "vegetables" that turned out to just be corn. I was kind of hoping for something green like broccoli or beans.

My nephew ordered the roast beef too but wanted fries instead of mash. Look TCD! Thick fries!

Unfortunately I didn't get the pictures from my BIL of the clam chowder or pasta with shrimp. The pasta portion was enormous!
But finally I got my ooey gooey toffee cake.

I love the crunchy bits of toffee in it. Don't let that pan deceive you - it's not cast iron, it's plastic. We shared this amongst the 5 of us and I was already so full by that point that a few bites was enough for me.

I took advantage of the 30% off AP discount for reservations made before 6:30 or after 8:30 and headed back to Jiko.
We started with the Taste of Africa. L-R: mango chutney, raita, I forget..., and hummus. The raita one you were supposed to stir to mix in the green bits. All very tasty.

The rest of the fam shared the wild boar tenderloin appetizer and raved about it.

I neglected to take a picture but they also bring you some nice rolls with a fantastic goat butter. Wish I could find some butter like that at home.
I had the elk loin for my main and it's a bit hard to see from this dark picture, but although it looks weird, it was all very tasty. Those white marshmallow looking bits are pureed veg.

The kids both had the lamb shank - it was huge!
I really like the malva pudding, but I asked our server if they're still doing it in the same ridiculous configuration as they were when I was there back in March. He confirmed that they are still doing the weird shredded wheat bird's nest thing so I took a pass on the malva and had the Safari Sunset (carrot cake) instead. I loved the layer of lemon in it. Yum.

I've never had a bad meal here and it was nice to save $80 on the bill.

Our final dinner on my most recent trip was at Sanaa.
My sister said all she wanted was bread service, but I wanted to stuff my face with more than that. LOL.
Bread service doesn't come on that giant piece of wood anymore, it's on a smaller piece now.

If you look closely in the background of the photo you'll notice the two pieces of gluten free naan on a plate, and also a second tray of dips. When we ordered 1 bread service + 2 pieces of gluten free naan, they brought the second tray of dips just for my sister to prevent cross-contamination. Wow! Ended up having to get a few more pieces of bread to make sure we finished off all the dips. :)
The kids ordered an oxtail starter that they said was just OK. I didn't try any.

I went for the lamb shank. Why is it so hard to get vegetables? The green stuff was a bit like swiss chard/collard greens, and the "Tandoor Vegetables" were basically onions and some slivers of sweet pepper for color.

 I would have loved to have the kheer for dessert but I was too full (and overloaded by 2 weeks of sugar!).
My sister ordered the kid's meal butter chicken and it came with a dessert - Pumbaa's something or other. Chocolate pudding with Oreo crumble, candy rocks, and gummi worms. And green icing grass apparently.

 

Dropped my sister and one nephews off at Ohana for breakfast with Stitch and had some time to kill so went down to Capt Cook's for breakfast. I considered the tonga toast but needed a break from sweet so instead opted for the breakfast burrito.

It could have used a bit more time under the heat lamp since it wasn't very warm. It's served with a packet of sour cream (hiding) and some salsa (in the clear plastic tub) which help give it a bit more flavor. Apart from the bacon the contents are pretty bland.
20% AP discount so this was $6.21.

Made my first trip to Pandora and one nephew was on a mission for the blueberry cream cheese mousse so we hit up the Satu'li Canteen.

Wish I'd taken a picture of the inside - it's very purple. The top white part is a hard sugar, not a soft icing. He must have liked it because I didn't even get a bite!
I ordered the vegetable steamed curry pods.

YUCK! Stodgy doughy dry exterior. Inside curry was OK I guess (I like curry). Chips were your standard Terra vegetable chips. At this point I don't even remember whether I liked the slaw or not. I ate one pod here and then stashed the other in a Ziploc bag and ate it one morning for breakfast. I appreciate an alternative to chicken nuggets/burgers but I would not get this again.
Note that this was my first experience with Mobile ordering and it was a win. I did mobile ordering at Cosmic Ray's twice and thought it was great.