Monthly Archives: October 2021

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part Four

I met up with Steph, Lauren and Ryan after they used their third Fastpass for Haunted Mansion, and we set off to see some of Magic Kingdom. I don’t have many pictures from this evening, but we did wave to some Country Bears as they passed by –

We just walked around the park, enjoying each other’s company. I hadn’t seen Steph and Lauren in a few years – they live on the other side of the country of me. They live in different provinces from each other, so they don’t even see each other very often (and actually – at this point Steph and Ryan were living in different provinces from each other). We spent quite awhile just taking in the ambiance of Magic Kingdom, walking around the different lands. At one point, we stopped at Peco’s Bills so they could grab a quick bite to eat – I don’t remember what was ordered, but I think all three of them shared one meal – we had a late reservation coming up and no one wanted to ruin their dinner. Eventually we decided to actually do more than just walk around.

The first Fastpass the three of them had earlier in the day was for Peter Pan’s Flight, but due to a flight delay they had missed their window. However, the ride just so happened to be down during part of their window, so their Fastpass had changed to an unlimited experience pass – which meant they could use it for any ride in MK they wanted to that day. They decided to stick to their original plan, and used it for Peter Pan (which still had a huge standby line). I didn’t have a Fastpass for it, so I told them to enjoy and I’d wait for them by the exit. During this time, my Mom had texted that she had finally arrived at Old Key West – without any luggage. It was lost, and the airline had no idea where it was.

I lost it. Here I was, standing alone by the exit to Peter Pan’s Flight bawling my head off – like I’m talking giant tears streaming down my face, sobbing, the whole nine yards. A concerned cast member came over and asked if I was ok – that poor man. I think he was expecting a generic I’m fine, or I’m just so happy to be here or I’m just overwhelmed. Yeah… that’s not what he got from me. In between sobs I told him my Mom had no luggage, my uncle was in a coma, I was getting married in 3 days, I was happy to see two of my best friends for the first time in 2+ years, and I had realized that morning I didn’t pack enough underwear for the trip (yup, I told this poor cast member that). He just looked at me with wide eyes, gave me a little pat on my shoulder, said “there there” while he backed away slowly haha. It’s been almost 4 years since this happened, but in the moment it was a lot to handle. I definitely needed that cry.

My friends gave me a hug when they got off, which helped a lot. I pulled myself together, and got onto the app. I was able to grab a Buzz Lightyear fastpass, and the window opened in 10 minutes. So off to Tomorrowland!

When we arrived, the ride was a walk-on – so we decided to enter the standby line first, and then circled around and used our Fastpass. We waved to animatronic Buzz, and Lauren and I got on together…and of course my gun didn’t work. I’m not amazing at Buzz, but I’m definitely not this bad! Luckily the gun did work the second time around haha.

Our on-ride photos for this make me laugh so much! I was looking super pleased with my broken gun, and my face was still all blotchy from crying, my hair was all disheveled from a busy day – and Lauren was living her best life haha. We have so many photos together over the years with Lauren giving me bunny ears – always “gettin’ me good!” And Ryan was so intense haha.

The castle was looking very pretty – I love the Christmas lights they put on it –

By this point, it was time for us to head out. We said good night to the park, and headed out to catch the monorail. While we were riding the monorail, we actually saw the Electrical Water Pageant, which was a really unique viewpoint. We exited the monorail at the Polynesian, where we met up with 9 others from our group – and the 13 of us had a great meal at ‘Ohana!

We all Uber’d back to our hotels and crashed – it was almost midnight by this point..

I also need to show this screenshot from Luke’s FitBit haha – he actually took this right after he finished his marathon – he had even more steps by the end of the day haha.

Fitbit Steps: 20,849

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part Three

After reaching the Ticket and Transportation Center on the monorail, we got off. I asked the group if they wanted to catch the other monorail to get us to Magic Kingdom, or if they wanted to take the boat – group consensus was boat. This was something I’d never actually done, so I was looking forward to it. It was really busy, and had a huge line (which was a bit surprising since it was early afternoon by this point) – but we still got on the first boat that came by. It was my first time on the boat from the TTC – and I took zero photos. Oops.

We entered the park, and… I don’t remember what we did. I have terrible notes from this afternoon, and not many pictures. I think Laura and Cathy were hungry, and Jill went with them (I think they ended up eating at Tortuga Tavern?). I do have this picture of the Adventureland sign?

I do remember I had been texting my Dad, and he was on his way to MK to meet up with me. I seem to recall I found a bench close to the front of the park, and just sat there by myself people watching for quite awhile. It was nice, and sometimes you just need some alone time. Eventually I realized that Dad’s phone wasn’t receiving my texts, and I had no way of getting in touch with him to let him know where I was. As I was sitting there trying to figure out how I’d find him, I heard my name – I looked up and Lisa was standing there! She let me know that her and Trevor had ran into my Dad at the MK entrance (lucky bounce!).

It was close to time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, so Main Street was getting pretty busy. We were able to weave our way along the sidewalk and reach the Hub. We walked past a few people holding giant foot-long hotdogs – and Lisa, Trevor and my Dad decided they wanted one too. So off to Casey’s Corner! Read about it here.

After everyone was full, we continued into the park. We decided to stop at the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the four of us went to see the show.

Earlier in the day, I had grabbed a Fastpass for Splash Mountain for a few of us – it was the last day to ride it, as it was going down for a refurbishment beginning in the morning. We were now in the window, so my Dad and I headed in that direction. I have no idea where Lisa and Trevor went after the Tiki Room – they might have come with to say hi to Luke’s family?

It’s probably a good thing there weren’t any children in our boat on Splash haha – my Dad was yelling a few obscenities as we made our way down the big hill hahaha. He was white-knuckling that bar in front of us, and told me I was so brave for putting my arms up haha. (Spoiler alert – at the end of the week he declared Splash Mountain his favourite ride so I guess he wasn’t that scared of it). Despite the look on Jill’s face, she also enjoyed it. Laura hates heights, so she wasn’t a huge fan – but I’m happy she tried it! Cathy had been on it before.

Around the exact same time, Larissa and Devin were over in Hollywood Studios braving the Tower of Terror. I have no idea if they made it to their other two Fastpasses, or exactly what they did after we split from them, but I do have this Photopass picture of them on the ride –

After Splash, we went for a snack at Aloha Isle. There was talk about going on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride, but the line was too long (??) so we headed over to Fantasyland so Cathy could go on the Carousel (apparently they are her favourite). I was a huge grump and refused to go on it with everyone – I think even my Dad might have even gone on it? I took zero pictures. The group decided to head back to OKW and take a bit of a break before our super later diner reservation, so they all headed out to catch a bus together. I have no idea if they went straight to the buses, or if they stopped along the way – it was probably for the best that they left, I don’t think I was the best company at that point. Sorry to those around me that evening!

I spent a few minutes alone, trying to shake the miserable mood I was in. I was texting my two bridesmaids, they had arrived today and after checking in to their room at OKW, they had come straight to Magic Kingdom. Their flight was a bit late, so they were later than they thought they’d be getting to the park and had missed their first fastpass – but they had made it in time for their Splash Mountain one –

In the very front is Lauren, who I met in 2007. She is one of the funniest people I know, and always makes me laugh – we’ve had some adventures over the years haha. She was one of the few who had been to Disney before, but it had been years prior – and she hadn’t stayed on property before. This trip renewed her love for Disney, and she actually booked another trip shortly after getting home – she went in 2019 with her Mom and one of her sisters, and had another trip booked for 2020 (which obviously she had to cancel due to the pandemic). She’s been asking me when my next trip to WDW is, so I know she’ll be joining us the next time we go 🙂

In the second row is Steph, who I met in 2006 during our freshman week in university. Beside her is her boyfriend at the time, Ryan (they are now married). Steph has always been the responsible, smart one of our friend group – but she was always willing to join us on our crazy shenanigans’! This was the first time to a Disney Park for both her and Ryan, and I’m sure they will join us again one day (when we take our children together)!

Disney, Food Review

‘Ohana – Supper – January 7, 2018

Our first big group meal was at ‘Ohana. We had made the reservation pretty late, at 9:45pm so everyone could enjoy their day. Luke and his family, along with my Dad took a Minnie Van from Old Key West to the Polynesian. This was back when the prices were actually fairly similar, and with five of them it just made sense to order a van. Luke actually doesn’t remember any of this, he was exhausted – but we looked at his Lyft ride history and found that they had called their ride at 8:14pm.

Since they were there so early, they headed outside to the Tiki Terrace for a drink, and they watched the Electrical Water Pageant. Luke had… this to drink? I’m assuming it’s the Spikey Pineapple – Barbancourt Pango Rhum blended with Pineapple Soft-serve. He seems to recall my Dad buying it for him? Look – I’m writing this almost 4 years after it happened so the little details are a bit blurry haha.

Enjoy a single blurry photo of the Electrical Water Pageant haha –

Devin and Larissa arrived separately, after spending a few hours at Hollywood Studios that afternoon they had gone back to their room at All Star Music to freshen up before catching an Uber to the Polynesian. I arrived with Lauren, Steph and Ryan, the four of us took the monorail over from Magic Kingdom. And my best friend Ashley and her husband Mike took an Uber from Old Key West. This was actually the first time I got to see Ashley in Florida (I was at her house the day before we had flown down, she was the one who watched our dogs for the first 3-4 days of our trip). Ashley and Mike had spent the day at Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure so they could see the Harry Potter land – I can claim responsibility for getting Ashley hooked on the Harry Potter books years prior haha.

I believe we had originally made this reservation for 20 – at the 180 day mark when we made our ADR’s, we didn’t have a 100% accurate guest count, or know the exact dates/times of everyone’s flights. When we checked in, we just let them know we were actually a group of 13 – this happened numerous times over the next few days, and it was never an issue that we showed up with fewer than expected.

Since it was so late, the restaurant was not 100% full, but it was still fairly busy. They weren’t able to sit all 13 of us at one table, but they were able to get us tables side by side – Luke’s table had 6 (Luke, Laura, Cathy, Jill, Devin and Larissa), while my table had 7 (Lauren, Steph, Ryan, Dad, Ashley, Mike and I).

This was an easy meal with a large group, since it’s a set menu that is served family style. We did have it noted on our reservation that Larissa was vegan, and one of the chefs came over to talk to her. She gave them complete control and told them to make whatever they’d like for her – I didn’t see it or take pictures of it, but they apparently brought her a giant stir-fry filled with lots of veggies and tofu, and she said it was delicious. So never be afraid of any Disney restaurants if you have a special diet – the chefs will always take great care of you!

Almost everyone at Luke’s table just went with the soft drinks included in the cost of the meal, but my table went fancy haha. I can’t remember exactly who had what, but someone (I think Lauren) ordered a Lapu Lapu – Plantation Original Dark Rum and Tropical Fruit Juices served in a fresh Pineapple topped with Bacardi 151 Rum, $14.25 (I just checked, and this same drink now costs $18 as of October 2021). There was also a Whiskey Breeze – Jim Beam Black Extra-aged Bourbon, Cointreau, and Lime Juice with flavors of Guava and Mango, $11.25 ($14 as of October 2021), and a bottle of Stella, $8.25 (I believe that was Ryan’s), and a bottle of Coors Light, $5.25 (sounds like my Dad’s order). Two people decided they wanted Frozen Pina Colada’s, $9.25 – but they wanted it served in a pineapple. Turns out this is something they can do, it’s just a $5/pineapple upcharge! I was really exciting and ordered a Coke. As for pictures of the drinks – I have this single blurry odd-angled one which you can kind of see a pineapple…

On to the food! This was difficult, I hadn’t conditioned everyone to let me take pictures first, so as soon as the platters were placed on our table everyone started digging right in haha. This meal starts with the Pineapple Coconut Bread – which I always find to be really dry, and not even butter can help it. Don’t waste valuable stomach space on this! The appetizer salad is nice – nothing special but I appreciate some vegetables while in Disney since I never eat enough healthy things on vacation.

I took a photo of my sad looking plate for some reason? A single chicken wing, a single potsticker, some dry bread, one piece of broccoli and a small pile of noodles – I guess I was on a diet to make sure my wedding dress fit? I must have ate more than this…

They did bring us out a second main platter, and I managed to get a decent picture of it before everyone started digging in – Honey Coriander Chicken Wings, Pork Dumplings, Teriyaki Noodles and mixed vegetables –

The stand-out item for me are the noodles.

The servers also came around skewers of chicken thighs, steak and shrimp – I probably passed on all of them. I don’t eat seafood, the steak is typically cooked around medium and I’m not a fan of dark meat chicken. Basically – this meal really isn’t worth it for me (but I’ve ate there 3 times now for supper…)

Of course, the meal finishes with the amazing ‘Ohana bread pudding – this is my favourite part of the entire meal haha. The caramel sauce is so good – I believe Jill was loving it over at Luke’s table too.

I think everyone really liked this meal – at least we didn’t hear any complaints, and my table finished off two of the main platters haha. Lauren actually returned to WDW the following year with her Mom and sister, and they ate supper at ‘Ohana twice that week haha.

I had let the server know at the beginning of the meal that I had a Tables in Wonderland card, which was supposed to give a 20% food and beverage discount for up to 10 people. When they brought me the bill, they had actually applied the TIW discount to all 13 of us! This was awesome! I paid for the meal, and everyone just gave Luke or I some cash over the next few days.

This was by far the largest restaurant bill I’ve ever paid for haha –

Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $34.11 Savings this Meal: $125.40 Total Saved: Full cost of card + $91.29

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $91.60                                                                                 Actual Cost: $73.27 (just Luke and I counted here)                                                  Over/Under: Under by $18.33                                                                              Remaining: $1145.90

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part Two

After Test Track, Laura and Cathy decided it was time for a coffee. They found a Joffrey’s stand close by and found a spot to sit down to enjoy. The other four of us – Jill, Devin, Larissa and I – went and jumped into the standby line for Mission Space: Green side.

After our trip to Space, we went and watched marathoners for awhile, cheering them on. We were predicting Luke to finish sometime between noon-1pm, so we still had time before he’d be making his way into Epcot, so we decided to grab some food and headed over to Sunshine Seasons. When we got down there, Cathy made a comment about Soarin’, and how it was one of her favourites from her previous trip years ago – I had intentionally not scheduled a Fastpass for that for anyone, as we had a special surprise planned involving that ride so I just made a nonchalant comment about the long wait time haha.

After checking out the menu, Laura and Cathy decided they weren’t hungry, and left to go wander around. The rest of us ate though – Larissa is a vegan and Sunshine Seasons had decent options for her, which is why I suggested it. You can read about my meal over here.

Once we finished eating, we noticed that Living With the Land was a walk-on. I knew that Larissa would love this, so I led the way over. Laura and Cathy had rejoined us, so all 6 of us went on this.

While we were riding, Luke texted me. He was unfortunately not going to finish the marathon, and been swept from the course around the 32km mark for not maintaining the minimum speed required. He was currently being loaded onto a bus which would take him to the finish line (just past Epcot). While training, he had a knee injury that set him back (he was actually diagnosed in 2021 with severe arthritis and a torn meniscus in his knee – which I’m sure dates back years), and he was sick in December which derailed his final month of training – so he knew this would be a possibility. However – he still ran 32km that morning! 32! I was so proud of him! There’s no way I could have accomplished something like that today.

The 6 of us set off to go meet him by the finish line. Once we exited Epcot we were basically walking just beside the actual race route, so we watched dozens of people in the final km of their full marathon. By this point all of the true athletes had long since finished, so these were just regular, everyday people accomplishing one of the greatest achievements – I always find it very motivational to be near the finish line of an event like this!

The walk was actually farther than I thought it was going to be – but there was no way I was about to complain while seeing all these people who were about to finish a full marathon!

Eventually we found the area just past the finish line, where Luke had been dropped off. Even though he didn’t finish, he still received the medal and the special marathon ears, and we made him pose while we all took pictures of him haha

Also – I can’t seem to find any of Luke’s Photopass pictures from the marathon, and now I’m questioning if I ever downloaded them – major fail on my part. I feel terrible if that’s the case… He didn’t really stop for any of the characters though because he felt like his pace was off right from the beginning, and he wanted to make it as far as possible, but there should have been photos of him actually running. The only picture he has on his phone is this one – Richard was out cheering on the racers so Luke stopped for a selfie. For those who don’t know, Richard was a long-time greeter at the Grand Floridian, and he was a very well-known man in the Disney Wedding community. He sadly passed away a few months after this trip, at the age of 92.

After congratulating Luke, we all split up. Luke went alone to catch a bus back to Old Key West so he could shower, eat and have a nap. Devin and Larissa headed back into Epcot, walked over to the International Gateway and exited the park. From there, they caught a boat over to Hollywood Studios (this was their only real option to see that park, so I had set up their fastpasses for that park). Laura, Cathy, Jill and I went in a different direction, and hopped on the monorail. It was time for us to park hop, and introduce Luke’s family to their second Disney park!

January 7, 2018 – Part Three

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part One

I woke up briefly as Luke was getting ready at some insane hour (I think he was out the door by 4am to catch a bus?) – but I quickly went back to sleep after wishing him luck and telling him how proud I was of him.

I didn’t sleep too long though – my alarm went off and I was out the door around 8:30. At the bus stop, I met up with the three members of Luke’s family who had already arrived in Florida – his mom, Laura, sister Jill and Aunt Cathy. My Dad had decided he wanted to sleep in and hang around the resort for a bit this morning, so he did not join us at this time.

Introduction time! Laura, Jill and Cathy were all sharing a room at Old Key West from Saturday-Saturday (we had walked them through renting points). Laura had a 5-day park hopper ticket, while Jill and Cathy each had a 4-day hopper (they spent a day at Universal together to check out the Harry Potter sections). This was the first trip to a Disney Park for Laura and Jill – Cathy had been before but it was years ago when her now-adult son was still young. They had spent time the day before checking out Disney Springs, so I was excited to take them into their first park of the trip!

Our destination this morning was Epcot! After getting through security, we stopped at guest services to activate their Canadian discount tickets. I was messaging two of Luke’s friends who had arrived the day before as well, and were also meeting us at Epcot – and then we realized we were standing less than 10 feet apart haha. They were also in line to activate their tickets – when you purchased tickets using the Canadian discount, you had to show proof of citizenship at guest services in order to activate them.

Time for another introduction! Devin is one of Luke’s long-time friends, and a groomsman in the wedding party. He and his wife, Larissa, had booked a room at All Star Music from Saturday-Thursday using the discounted room block we had set up through our Disney wedding planner (it was a crazy good deal – like $101/night or something!). Neither of them had ever been to a Disney Park before, but they were very excited about it!

After everyone was all set, we entered the park!

After stopping for a few pictures, we headed off for our first Fastpass of the day – Spaceship Earth! Devin and Larissa had their Fastpasses set for Hollywood Studios later in the day, so they were just going to use the standby line – but when we arrived there wasn’t a wait at all! We decided to drop our Fastpass and just use the regular line so we could all enter the ride together. Devin and Larissa sat together, Jill and Cathy sat together and I went with Laura (my Mother-in-Law). I don’t think we planned on making similar faces, but this turned out hilarious haha –

After we exited, I checked the app and encouraged Devin and Larissa to run over to Test Track – the standby time was listed as 20 minutes which is excellent for that ride, so they took my advice and started heading over there. Jill, Cathy, Laura and I actually had a Fastpass for Test Track, so we went in that direction as well, but we did stop to cheer on some of the marathon runners making their way through the park (I love being in Epcot on marathon day – we were there in 2016 and it’s what inspired Luke to even attempt a full marathon).

The Jamitors were also out this morning, so we stopped to enjoy them for a few minutes –

And then it was Test Track time! I think Laura and Cathy had the same reservations as my Dad the day before as they approached the ride, but they both ended up really enjoying themselves. Since there were four of us, they split us into two pairs for the design portion of the queue line. Laura and Cathy designed one car, and I let Jill take control of the second one (I’ve been on this ride a few times, I wanted to let the first-timers truly enjoy it!). Here’s the creations haha –

And our on-ride photo – I’m the one in the front with the sunglasses, Luke’s sister Jill is directly beside me, Luke’s mom Laura is directly behind me and Luke’s aunt Cathy is in the middle seat in the back row. The other two were single riders.

We hung out in the post-ride area and waited for Devin and Larissa to exit (we had beat them, thanks Fastpass (and also RIP Fastpass). We didn’t have to wait long until we were all back together again.

I had everyone from our group linked to me as Friends and Family through the Disney account. I also had the super fancy Annual Pass for this trip that was valid in both Disneyland and WDW, so I was able to download the Photopass pictures for every single person – Devin and Larissa are in the front row of this Test Track car, facing away from the camera haha –

Disney, Food Review

Aloha Isle – January 7, 2018

After Splash Mountain, we decided to grab a snack and went to Aloha Isle. The line was quite long, so I used mobile ordering, and bought myself a regular Dole Whip, which I shared with my Dad. I think Jill and Lisa also each got one – but I have no photos to prove this, only a picture of mine –

This was as delicious as always! It’s not a Disney trip unless you’ve had a Dole Whip (or three or four haha).

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $4.78 (Used mobile ordering)                                                                     Over/Under: Over by $4.78                                                                              Remaining: $1219.17

Disney, Food Review

Casey’s Corner – January 7, 2018

After Lisa, Trevor and my Dad spotted the foot long hotdogs and decided they wanted one, we placed Mobile Orders for Casey’s Corner. I had actually never ate here (I’m not a huge hotdog fan), but I was interested in trying their fries! I’ve rarely met a french fry I didn’t love – and I knew Casey’s had shoestring fries – my favourite! Plus it had been like 3.5 hours since I’d last ate haha.

My Dad and I decided to share an All Beef Foot-Long Hot Dog and an order of French Fries – $11.70 total. I don’t have a record of the exact cost of each item – but I’d like to point out that today, in October 2021, the exact same order would cost $16+tax, so about $17. That’s over a 45% increase in less than 4 years – that is absolutely insane. Shame on you Disney. We’re just talking about a plain hotdog and fries here – even at $11 they would have been making a huge profit. Anyways, rant over. Here’s a picture of said hotdog and fries –

I only had a bite or two of the hotdog, and about a third of the fries. The hotdog tasted like a hotdog, and the fries were good! The bottle of water in the picture was one my Dad had brought from the hotel room, it was one from the welcome bags we gave everyone.

Would I go back to Casey’s? I did on our 2019 trip with Luke. At today’s prices though – probably not. I can find something much better than a hotdog for that price.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $11.70 (Used mobile ordering)                                                                 Over/Under: Over by $11.70                                                                           Remaining: $1223.95

Disney, Food Review, Food Review

Sunshine Seasons – January 7, 2018

I had ate at Sunshine Seasons back in 2016, and enjoyed my meal so I decided to get the exact same thing haha.

Pork Chop with BBQ Sauce and two sides (mashed potatoes and green beans) – $13.99

This doesn’t look all that appetizing, but it really was quite good! And yes, I like pepper and coated everything in a generous serving of it haha – I do that with a lot of food (I just typically take my photos before dumping pepper all over it). The potatoes were creamy, the pork was juicy and the green beans…. were standard Disney green beans. I ate the majority of this plate.

I also grabbed a Coconut Macaroon – $3.49

I’m definitely in the minority with this hot take, but a macaroon is far superior to a macaron.

This was tasty – not dried out at all, and just the right amount of chocolate.

I enjoyed this meal in the company of Jill, Devin and Larissa. Jill had the same thing I did, and the other two ordered two of the vegan selections offered that day – I didn’t take pictures of other people’s food.

No Table in Wonderland savings offered here.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $22.12                                                                                 Actual Cost: $18.62                                                                                         Over/Under: Under by $3.50                                                                           Remaining: $1235.65

Disney

January 6, 2018 – Part Three

I checked wait times on the app, and led Dad over to Mission Space. It was only about a 10 minute wait for the green side before we were circling the Earth in our spaceship. 

Luke was texting me, after taking a bus back to Old Key West and a brief stop in our room (I think he brushed his teeth and changed his socks?) – he caught the boat to Disney Springs. He actually had the entire boat to himself, and sent me this picture –

He met up with his family, and I think they browsed a few stores before heading back to the resort?

Next up for my Dad and I back at Epcot was a Fastpass I had grabbed while we were sitting at the Indiana Jones show waiting for it to start – Test Track! As we approached the ride, Dad looked at me and said “you’re taking me on that? It’s going pretty fast, isn’t it?”. I convinced him he would be fine, and he ended up really enjoying it! 

After this, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, so we caught a bus back to OKW. We stopped at the main lobby, Dad had to check in to his own room for the rest of the week (he had originally booked a room from Saturday to Saturday, but then we had difficulty finding a flight that day, so he flew in on Friday. By this point, OKW was all booked up due to Marathon Weekend, so we had added him to our room reservation for one night). They gave him his room number and new Magicbands, and then bell services told us to hop in their golf cart. All of Dad’s bags were in our room, which was in a different building than his room so I thought it was great of them to help us move them.

Of course, we get to Dad’s room and his Magicband won’t work. I texted Luke, he was in the next building over with his mom, aunt and sister, so he came over to stand with Dad’s stuff while the bell services guy took Dad back to the front lobby. I ran back to our room to quickly get changed and ready for the evening. Once Dad got back, I helped him move everything into his room, he quickly got ready and the two of us headed out. By this point, Luke had gone back to Disney Springs with his family.

I called an Uber for Dad and I, and we headed off to Orlando to see our first ever NBA game! Neither one of us are huge basketball fans, and we don’t live in NBA markets (there’s only one team in all of Canada, the Toronto Raptors), but we are both huge sports fans in general. The Orlando Magic on their own isn’t enough to make me excited enough to go to a game, but Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers happened to be in town that night, so I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Luke was actually really sad he wasn’t coming with us, but he had to be up at a ridiculous hour the next day for the full marathon. 

The Uber ride felt like it took forever, we hit some traffic at one point that slowed us right down. We eventually made it, and our driver let us know that the arena was not in the greatest neighbourhood – we should head straight back to Disney property as soon as the game ended. When we arrived, I immediately started to get out of the car, but my Dad was so confused- I had forgot that this was his first experience ever with Uber (he lives in a really small town that doesn’t even have normal taxi services). He started pulling his wallet out, because we “still had to pay the man, but where’s the meter to tell us how much this ride cost?”. The Uber driver started laughing as I explained how it worked, that everything was done through the app, and the ride would be automatically charged to my credit card on file. As we were walking towards the arena, Dad was trying to give me money – “that must have cost at least $60 or $70, we drove for over half an hour”. Needless to say, he was completely shocked and discovered a new love for Uber when I showed him that our ride had only cost $24…

These tickets were my Dad’s Christmas present from me, but we were still in the nosebleeds – tickets were expensive thanks to Lebron being in town. We stopped to grab food from some place called Gringos Locos inside Anway Centre – I took a picture of the name, but no pictures of our food. Dad actually paid for my food, so I didn’t include this in the food budget for Luke and I. 

When we reached our seats, there were people sitting in them. I tripled checked to make sure I was in the right spot before I asked them to move – their seats were two rows back so I don’t know why they thought our seats were that much better? Two rows doesn’t make much of a difference when you’re practically at the ceiling already? They seemed a little put-out that I asked them to move out of the seats I had paid for…

Anyways, the game started, and Dad and I enjoyed it. It’s still not my favourite sport, but I’m really glad I can now say I’ve been to a game live. I actually got really into the NBA the next year, it was quite an exciting time to be Canadian and see the Raptors win the championship! 

During half time, a lady on a unicycle rode around the court while balancing bowls on her feet/head. I googled her, apparently she’s really popular for NBA half-time – Dad and I were entertained!

At some point, back on Disney property, Luke and his family had found themselves at Amorette’s. The four of them decided to split these two delicious desserts – the Key Lime Cheesecake and the Mickey Mousse. I have no idea who paid for these, so they didn’t get counted in our food budget. I’ve had the Mickey Mousse before, and it’s very good. According to Luke, that key lime cheesecake is amazing.

Back at the game, I was texting my Maid of Honour, Ashley – she was at the game with her husband, but they had splurged on seats in row 12 at center court. I was also texting one of Luke’s best friends (and groomswoman), Lisa – she was at the game with her husband as well. All four of them had flown in that day (and on the same flight, although they hadn’t met before), and they were all staying at All Star Music for the night. There was talk about the 6 of us taking an Uber together after the game and possibly heading to Disney Springs, but Ashley decided she just wanted to go to sleep, it had been a long day of travel. Lisa and her husband Trevor were interested though, so after the game my Dad and I met up with them. My Dad immediately took a liking to Trevor, and the two of them talked about their shared love for the Toronto Maple Leafs for the entire drive haha.

Dad was once again amazed at Uber – Lisa had a $25 promo code so our ride back to Disney Springs cost $0.12 or something silly like that. It actually took us awhile to get an Uber after the game, we ordered one but the guy didn’t understand where we were. None of us were familiar with where we were, but we had followed a large crowd to what appeared to be a fairly major intersection. We were watching the little car on the app, and it seemed like the driver kept making wrong turns… eventually he found us and we made it to Disney Springs.

We were dropped off at the far end of the Springs by the now-defunct Cirque du Soleil. We decided we wanted a drink and a small snack, and since no one had any suggestions I led us to Homecomin’.

By the time we finished eating, it was late and we were all tired. We walked over to the bus stops, where Lisa and Trevor caught the All Star Music bus (their hotel just for the one night, before moving over to Old Key West the next day), and Dad and I hopped on the Old Key West bus. Dad and I were in different buildings, but I had talked to the front desk and every single one of our friends/family staying at OKW were in the Old Turtle Pond area. It was so nice to all use the same bus stop!

By the time I got into my room, Luke had been asleep for hours – he had a very early wakeup coming!

FitBit Steps: 15,477

Disney, Food Review, Food Review

Homecoming / EOS / NBA Game- January 6, 2018

Luke and his family ended up back at Disney Springs while my Dad and I were at the hockey game. The four of them split these two delicious desserts from Amorette’s – the Key Lime Cheesecake and the Mickey Mousse. They didn’t get counted in our food budget, as Luke didn’t pay for them. I’ve had the Mickey Mousse before, and it’s very good. According to Luke, that key lime cheesecake is amazing.

They decided on something quick, easy and inexpensive for supper, and ended up at Earl of Sandwich. I have no photos, and no idea what kinds of sandwiches Luke purchased, but I do know he bought two of them – one to eat now and one to bring back to the room to eat tomorrow afternoon after the marathon.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $31.95 (We had no idea where Luke would end up eating, so we just estimated $30)                                                                           Actual Cost: $17.02 (2 sandwiches)                                                                                   Over/Under: Under by $14.93                                                                           Remaining: $1285.95

While at the NBA game, my Dad and I grabbed food from some place called Gringos Locos inside Anway Centre – I took a picture of the name, but no pictures of our food. Dad actually paid for my food, so I didn’t include this in the food budget for Luke and I. 

After being dropped off at Disney Springs, we decided we wanted a drink and a small snack, and since no one had any suggestions I led us to Homecomin’. By this point, it was fairly late so we had no trouble walking up and getting a table immediately for the four of us.

Our server, Anthony,  was a little intense at first, trying to explain the entire menu, offering recommendations for food and drink despite us saying we were just there for something small. He finally got around to asking if we had ate at Homecomin’ before, and everyone looked at me. I explained that I had just been there less than a week earlier, and we would be back on the upcoming Wednesday for my wedding reception. He was so excited about this, and was full of questions for me the rest of the night. I was a little put-off by this guy at the beginning but by the end of this meal I ended up loving him – he genuinely cared about his job and the food he was serving. He made a comment at one point about going to check his schedule to see if he was working Wednesday so he could try and serve my Wedding – he must have asked because, spoiler alert – he was one of the designated servers assigned to our private reception.

For this meal, I went with my favourite, the Moonshine Mash – watermelon infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup, $12, and Dad had a can of Michelob Ultra (his beer of choice at the time). We decided to share the Thigh-High Chicken Biscuits – three biscuits topped with Chef Art Smith’s famous fried chicken thighs and bread and butter pickles. Drizzled with honey, $15. I also had to get another piece of Chocolate Pecan Pie – a 100 year-old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe. Served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $10. It’s just sooo good! I don’t remember what Lisa and Trevor had, and I didn’t take a single picture of our food – I only have a picture of our receipt haha. Also – Anthony gave us a discount on our meal, despite the fact that I didn’t have my Tables in Wonderland card with me – which was so nice of him, and not something he had to do!

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $31.68                                                                                         Over/Under: Over by $31.68                                                                           Remaining: $1254.27