- I hate being sick
- Being sick is the worst
- Well… maybe not the worst worst. More like the 37th worst.
- Cause being sick isn’t worse than having soaking wet socks or getting cancer or the music of 21 Pilots.
- Being sick is slightly better than being in line behind someone who’s paying with a cheque in 2019 or blindly loving the next big thing on Netflix.
- You can only spit green for so many days before you just want to light your lungs on fire.
- I can only name like 6 of the 7 dwarfs but can never remember who I forget. Let’s see Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Sleepy and… that guy. Sneezy. Dang. Never would’ve thought Sneezy was the one I wouldn’t remember.
- The most hilarious part of being sick is that moment where you think you’re getting better right before you get a coughing fit that ends in a heave.
- Buckley’s – it tastes awful, and it works. And that’s okay if you can save an additional 15%.
Tag Archives: Disney
musin9s Jan 5 2019
- I don’t care whether someone stands or kneels during the national anthem at a hockey game. It’s only still there because it ensures revenue from 1 extra commercial break anyhow.
- I feel like my cat thinks it’s job is to wake me up if he thinks I’m about to have a bad dream in the middle of the night. Even though sometimes he interrupts me when I’m recording a podcast with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at a grocery store.
- A good way to wind down is to take 5 minutes away from it all and focus on deep relaxed diaphragmatic breathing. A good way to get wound up is to realize you can’t really do this too often without looking kinda crazy.
- A dog’s love is unconditional and a cat’s love is some conditional
- A restaurant I love shared a photo I took on their feed and now I completely understand Instagram food photos.
- Do records really sound better than CDs/high quality streaming? Or do people prefer them because it forces you to stop and just enjoy the music until it’s time to flip?
- If I had 101 Dalmations I’d 100% name one Dog Wick
- Sure social contact is nice, but have you ever had some really great soup?
- Perrier: for when you want a water, but also want it to be kinda spicy too.
Saana – January 2, 2018
Possibly my favourite meal from our 2017 trip was at Saana, so it was a no-brainer for us to return there. We did the same thing we did on the previous trip, and made a late reservation for after the park closed. (Technically I think Animal Kingdom was open until 9pm that night, but we left after the early show of Rivers of Light and headed over to AKL for our 8pm reservation).
We arrived a little early to check in, around 7:40, but they were running behind and we were handed a pager. We found a bench to sit on, and then we waited. It was pretty much 8pm on the nose before we were called and led to a two-top table by a window. It would have been a fantastic spot to animal watch if it wasn’t already dark out…
First up were drinks. I kept it simple with a Coke, but Luke ordered a Kande Coconut Cooler – a refreshing combination of Starr African rum, coconut, vanilla ice cream and orange juice, $10.
We knew exactly what we wanted to eat, and wasted no time ordering their Indian Style Bread Service – Traditional Naan, Garlic Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha and Paneer Paratha with Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Garlic Pickle, Spicy Jalapeno-lime pickle, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Tamarind Chutney, $16. There is one type of bread I don’t care for, but I can never remember which one it is so we just order them all (Luke likes all of them). I do wish they offered a coconut naan though, that’s my absolute favourite whenever I go to an Indian restaurant.
This was just as delicious as we remembered, and we really enjoyed taking our time trying out each bread with each dip – I even tried the super spicy ones. The hummus was much better than I remembered it being, but my favourite was probably the Tamarind Chutney – which isn’t a huge surprise, I eat that all the time with Vegetable Pakoras. Luke loves spicy, and his favourite was the Garlic Pickle.
For our main meal, we decided to share the Potje Inspired. I don’t see it on the menu, but they allowed us to choose 3 items (2 meat, 1 veg) for an additional cost – I don’t know if this has been discontinued or if you just need to ask for it. We were charged $37 for this. We actually ordered the exact same three items as we had the year before, the butter chicken, the chickpea wat and the braised beef. I somehow forgot to take pictures of any of it, we were hungry and started digging in as soon as it was brought to our table haha. So, here is a picture of what it looked like in 2017 when we ate there…
I love that chickpea Wat, it’s full of flavour, but isn’t too spicy. The butter chicken is ok, I’ve had better (we live in a neighbourhood that is predominantly Indian, so there are some amazing restaurants around us with incredible butter chicken, vindaloo, tikka masala, etc). The braised beef is tender and delicious.
This was another great meal at Saana, and it is one I’d have a difficult time skipping. Maybe next trip we’ll book an earlier supper so we can see the animals!
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $110.18 Savings this Meal: $12.60 Total Until Breaking Even: $97.58
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $98.52 Actual Cost: $53.68 Over/Under: Under by $44.84 Remaining: $2048.75
January 1, 2018 – Part Two
Our Uber arrived, and off we went once again to Give Kids the World! Today we had opted to do a different task, and had signed up for Food Delivery (I think it had a different, cute name, but I don’t remember what it was now). We were early this day, and knew where we were going – hurray for us! We checked in for our 11am-2:30pm shift, and were directed on where to go. Once we arrived, we were given a run-down on what to do. This was a little more extensive than yesterday’s instructions (scoop ice cream, wash your hands, wear a hair net, keep the place/scoops/blenders clean, don’t eat the food, etc). Today we were stationed in a little room by the main dining hall, with some telephones and computer screens. The families staying at the Village are allotted a certain amount of dining credits for their week (much like the Disney dining plan), and they are allowed to use these credits for delivery (basically like room service). They would call, Luke or I would answer the phone, ask for their room number and their order, and everything would get punched into the computer. The order would print out on a receipt in the main kitchen, where the volunteers working there would prepare it. The receipt would also print in the room Luke and I were in, and it was our responsibility to gather the drinks requested (cans of pop, bottles of water, milk, juice, etc). Once the order was ready, someone from the kitchen would bring it over to us, and one of us had to go deliver it. Before starting our shift, a manager had made us do a short little training course to prove we knew how to drive a golf cart, and then provided us with site maps so we knew where to go.
We started our shift just as the lunch rush started, so it was actually steadily busy. I really didn’t love this volunteer shift, I hate talking on the phone and every time I drive a golf cart I feel like I’m going to flip it (I know, I’m weird). Luke used to work at a golf course, so he was much more comfortable driving the cart, so I let him take most of the deliveries. I did enjoy seeing some of the painted fire hydrants around the village though, they are so adorable!
At 2:30, our shift was over and we were relieved by the next set of volunteers. We took our time walking back to the main building, taking some pictures of the village as we walked (since it was dark out when we left the night before).
We called an Uber, and had him drop us off at a Walmart close by. We wanted to pick up a few drinks/snacks to include in our welcome bags for our family, as well as a few things for ourselves to snack on. We figured we’d be there for an hour, maybe an hour and a half… that turned in to over three hours since we were enjoying looking at all of the unique things we don’t have in Canada. We went a little overboard on snacks for our friends and family, and I picked up some cute Disney souvenirs for a fraction of the cost in the parks (like a Mickey Mouse zip-up hoody for $24 – which does show up in later pictures on this trip!) We also picked up some alcohol (because that is sold in Walmart – crazy! Also the prices, so cheap!!
*No, I didn’t buy this, but $3 wine?! Seriously?!
I grabbed the necessities for making Mimosas on the wedding morning, as well as some plastic Disney Princess cups to drink them out of. #Fancy – but they looked cute in our getting ready pictures! (Sneak peek of more wedding pics)
Finally, 3 hours and over $400 later, we made our way out of Walmart pushing an overflowing shopping cart -oops! We knew we couldn’t fit everything into a regular Uber/Lyft, so we decided to stop being cheapskates and ordered the Uber XL (or whatever it’s called)…naturally a 15-person van pulled up for us hahaha. Luke and I just looked at each and laughed, shrugged and said “at least all of our stuff will fit in it”.
By this point, we were behind schedule, so when we pulled up at our hotel for the night, I immediately grabbed a luggage cart for our insane amount of Walmart purchases and a bell services attendant came over to assist. I explained that we were checking in for the night, but we had a dining reservation we were running late for, so we would come grab our stuff after we ate (we also hadn’t ate since our expensive sandwiches that morning, so we were hungry!). This wasn’t an issue at all, and we headed off to our ADR – 1900 Park Fare!
For some reason, we also had a reservation at California Grill that night, so we headed straight there after finishing up at 1900 Park Fare.
Once we finished our second meal, we headed back to the Grand Floridian to finally check in for a few hours of sleep. I’m a little sad we didn’t have much time to really the room, but it was the most comfortable bed we’ve ever slept in on Disney property. The room was also huge by hotel standards, and it was only a studio (not a 1-bedroom or anything).
The view from our room was pretty great!
As great as this room was, I don’t think we’ll ever pay to stay here. It’s very expensive, and – unpopular opinion – it felt a little uppity for us. The night we were there, it was over $800 – we stayed there for free. When you book a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding and set up a room block, the bride and groom are given a free night in any resort of their choice once they hit a certain number of confirmed room nights. We knew we’d never be able to afford to stay at the Grand on our own, so we were quick to choose this as our freebie.
Fitbit Steps: 7670
California Grill – January 1, 2018
We had it in our heads that we needed to watch the fireworks at least once from the 15th floor observation deck at the Contemporary Grill, and this was the only place to squeeze in a reservation. We knew we wouldn’t be hungry after eating at a buffet but we figured we would go grab a drink and an appetizer or dessert.
We finished up at 1900 Park Fare later than we thought we would, and headed straight for the monorail. As we arrived at the Contemporary, we heard the first fireworks go off, so we hustled over to the check-in counter for the Cali Grill and they quickly put us into the private elevator leading to the restaurant. While in the elevator, a cast member told us that as soon as we arrived at the restaurant, we should head directly outside and our table would be waiting for us once Happily Ever After was finished.
We took her advice and headed out onto the observation deck. We had missed less than 5 minutes of the 18 minute long show, and we knew we’d be seeing it later in the week so we weren’t upset. It was also a pretty cold night, especially up that high with the wind blowing , so the deck wasn’t crowded at all and we had no issues finding a great spot to watch despite being late. Most people were huddled inside, not brave enough to come out into the cold for a better view. It was a great view though, and we enjoyed Happily Ever After for our first (of many viewings on this trip). I honestly only took two or three pictures, I wanted to just enjoy the show.
Once the fireworks had ended, we made our way back inside, where our table was ready for us. We knew we weren’t hungry at all, so we decided to share an appetizer, eat quickly and allow them to turn over our table to another couple who would spend more money than us.
Like ordered a drink as well, the Blackberry Lemonade- which doesn’t appear to be on the menu any longer, and I didn’t get a picture of the description. It was $13, and Luke didn’t love it. The stir stick was cute though with its little monorail!
We wanted to share an appetizer, but there wasn’t much on the menu that appealed to a picky eater like myself. We ultimately ended up ordering the Pepperoni Pizza -House-made Pepperoni, Tomato Conserva, Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Basil-Oregano Pistou, $16.
I did not like this at all. I tend to like wood-oven pizza, but this had too much char on it, it tasted more burnt than anything else. I also hated the basil-oregano pistou (which is weird, because I tend to like the flavours of both of those herbs) – but I have no idea what a pistou is so maybe that’s the part I didn’t like?
Our server did bring us a basket of bread, and I did eat some of that. I enjoyed the fancy butter haha. I love bread, and I’m not difficult to please with that stuff…
Our total bill came to $29.19 after saving $1.60 on our pizza with my annual pass.
I know there are so many huge fans of California Grill out there, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Although, I do recognize that we did not give it a fair shot, neither one of us ordered a steak (or an entree of any kind for that matter). We actually have reservations for the brunch there on our trip next May, where we will be sure to show up nice and hungry and be able to give this restaurant another chance.
No TIW – blackout day
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $60.71 Actual Cost: $29.19 (before tip) Over/Under: Under by $31.52 Remaining: $2189.46
January 1, 2018 – Part One
We woke up relatively early, and called bell services. While we waited for them to arrive, we finished packing up the last few items, before handing over all our luggage. After two nights at Pop, we were moving up to a much fancier hotel for the night!
I also realized I had not taken pictures of our room when we first arrived since we were in a hurray to get to Magic Kingdom – what a bad trip reporter I am! I took the time to take some before we left – so ignore the fact that the bed isn’t perfectly made, etc.
*I thought the showers were pretty nice!
*A pocket door and full-length mirror separated the sink area from the toilet/shower
*I didn’t use it, but there was a hair dryer, iron and full-size ironing board in the room
*Again, ignore the terrible job at making the bed, I just pulled the blankets up so it wasn’t a crumpled mess. The bed itself was decent, and it was really nice to have plug-ins on either side to charge our phones at night.
*Even more plug-ins underneath the TV! I was impressed by the amount in these renovated rooms
*The safe is small, but more than enough for us to keep our passports safe! It was also used to keep our wedding bands safe, since we couldn’t wear them yet!
*I think this is a great use of space! Since it was just the two of us, we left it set up as a table for the duration of our stay, but I can see how it’d be a bit cramped if you had to leave it down as a bed during your trip.
*The headboard of the pull-down bed
*It was incredibly easy to pull down the bed/push it back up, I’m a weakling and I didn’t find it too heavy at all
*The clear-front mini fridges are pretty mini, they really don’t hold much at all…
We had been cutting through the parking lot to get to the buses/main building at Pop, since it was much quicker, but we decided to actually walk through the resort (seeing as how we were leaving, and still hadn’t done this…)
We went to Everything Pop food court, but we realized we didn’t really have time to sit down and have a proper breakfast, so we each grabbed a pre-made sandwich from the refrigerator section. I didn’t take pictures of them or the receipt but I had turkey and Luke had ham – both on white bread with cheddar cheese. If I remember correctly, they didn’t have any type of sauce on them, but they had mayo/mustard/etc packets to put on yourself. This food court typically accepts Tables in Wonderland, but it was still a blackout date so we paid full price – $7.50/sandwich. Not a great deal, but the sandwiches were decent and were enough food to hold us over.
Luke sat down on a bench by the front door to eat, and called an Uber at the same time. I ran over to the front desk to make sure I didn’t need to do anything special to check out of the hotel (there’s sometimes different rules since we’re International, plus I had booked our two night stay at Pop using the room block we had set up for our wedding). By the time I got back over to Luke, his entire sandwich was gone, our Uber was about a minute away and I hadn’t started eating – anyone who knows me, knows I’m the slowest eater on the planet haha. I ate half of that thing so fast! I hate eating in other people’s vehicles, so I shoved the other half into my purse haha.
We said goodbye to Pop Century, and headed off for another volunteer shift at Give Kids the World!
Homecomin’ – December 31, 2017
Easily one of our favourite meals from our 2017 trip was at Homecomin’. We actually loved it so much that we decided it was the perfect venue for our wedding reception- fried chicken while wearing a wedding dress? Yes please! We knew we would not be brave enough to enter any of the theme parks on New Year’s Eve, so we planned on spending time in Disney Springs that night. Despite having the reception booked at Homecomin’ the following week, we decided we needed to eat there on our own as well. We made a late reservation, 8:50pm since we were going to be volunteering at Give Kids the World until 6pm and we weren’t sure how long it would take to get back to Disney property.
After walking around Disney Springs, we checked in to Homecomin’ early where they told us we probably wouldn’t be seated until our ADR time since they were busy. They handed us a pager, and Luke decided to run to the public bathroom right across from the restaurant since we were expecting a 15-20 minute wait. Of course, the pager went off about 90 seconds later and we were led to a table in the bar side of the restaurant. – I was excited for a minimal wait since I’d been dreaming about their food haha!
We were handed menus which we didn’t really need since we knew exactly what we both wanted to order already.
Of course, first up were drinks! I ordered my favourite, the Moonshine Mash – watermelon infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup, $12. My drink was as delicious as I remembered it, and it was not the last one I had on this trip…
Luke opted for the Rumshine Punch – strawberry rumshine, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, pineapple juice and house-made grenadine, $12
For food, we both pretty much knew what we wanted before we even got there. Luke wanted a few appetizers so he ordered the Church Lady Deviled Eggs – HFK style whole deviled eggs, $12 and 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.
Luke had tried the deviled eggs the previous year, and they once again did not disappoint. I rarely (if ever eat eggs), so I skipped trying these. The chicken biscuits were a new item for us to try, but we’d read/heard lots of great things about them – and they were fantastic! I’m not even a big fan of chicken thighs, I prefer white meat, but this stuff was cooked so well I enjoyed it. I’m also not a big fan of pickles, so I did remove those from the few bites I had, but the honey was a nice addition to the already delicious biscuits. Luke loves their hot sauce, and added it to both his eggs and his chicken biscuits.
I wanted fried chicken, so I ordered Art’s Famous Fried Chicken – buttermilk brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried served with creamy mashed potatoes and a cheddar drop biscuit, $28.
At one point, Luke asked me if I was angry at him for something since I was being so quiet – I was just too busy stuffing my face with fried chicken that I didn’t even realize I wasn’t talking! I guess that’s a sign I was enjoying my meal haha. The chicken is so juicy and tender, the cheddar drop biscuits are amazing (I’ve heard that the secret ingredient in those is cream cheese, but I have no proof of this) and the mashed potatoes were creamy and delicious. I did have a side of gravy as well – which is southern sausage gravy and has a really great flavour!
At some point, Luke ordered another drink, a Muleshine – Tim Smith’s Climax Moonshine, peach puree, fresh lime juice and a splash of Q Spectacular Ginger Beer, $13.
Luke loves mules, so I’m surprised he didn’t start with this drink! He actually preferred his first drink a bit more, but there was nothing left of this one.
Despite being stuffed, there’s always room for dessert when you’re at Homecomin’ – there’s only a few options, but all the ones we’ve tried have been great!
We decided to share something, so we ordered a slice of Hamilton County Chocolate Pecan Pie – a 100 year-old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe. Served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $10.
This was amazing – my new favourite dessert! It seriously doesn’t look like much, but it was so rich and chocolately and filled with pecans – and those pecans by the scoop of ice cream were candied -yum! We actually have one of Chef Art Smith’s cookbooks, and Luke made this pie one day. It turned out really well, and was so delicious!
The place was really busy this night, since it was NYE. People were having a good time, and since we were sitting beside the bar we could see the amount of drinks the bartenders were making – it was a lot. The service was a little slow that night, since it was one of the bartenders assigned to our table – but no real complaints!
Our total bill came to $100.64 after saving 10% with my annual pass.
TIW black out day – But I was able to save 10% using my Annual Pass
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 Estimated Cost of this meal: $152.30 ( I budgeted more drinking, it was NYE after all! But, we were tired and didn’t feel like any more) Actual Cost: $100.64 Over/Under: Under by $51.66 Remaining: $2346.73
Next meal: 1900 Park Fare
December 31, 2017
We slept in a bit, but we were still up by 9:30 or so. We got ready for the day, and headed towards the main building to call an Uber to take us to the Grand Floridian.
As soon as we walked in the door, I spotted Richard! For those who don’t know, Richard is a long-time cast member at the Grand who was still working a few days each week as a greeter, despite being in his early 90’s. He’s a bit of a celebrity among the Disney Wedding groups, so of course I had to stop to talk to him, and get a picture with him!
He was so adorable, and so friendly! I mentioned that we were getting married at Disney, but he was sad we were holding our ceremony at Sea Breeze Point and not the Wedding Pavilion. He’s known for helping Wedding Pavilion brides with the train on their dress while pictures are being taken on the staircase in the Grand Floridian. He unfortunately passed away in June 2018, so I am very glad I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes during this trip <3
The Christmas decorations were all still up at the Grand, and I naturally had to take pictures of the tree (and of course, the lobby itself)!
The entire lobby smelled like gingerbread, I’m sure partly thanks to the giant gingerbread house they had set up there, which was so adorable! I’m fairly certain they were pumping the smell of gingerbread into the lobby as well.
We were starting to get close to our dining reservation, so we headed outside and made our way over to Narcoossee’s for their brunch.
While we were eating, we received a push-notification that Magic Kingdom had reached capacity- no thank you to being in those crowds! This was as close to the castle as I wanted to be on this day:
Once we finished our meal, we thought we had lots of time, so we decided to go for a walk around the resort. We followed the pathway all the way over to the Wedding Pavilion- even though it was not the location of our wedding ceremony, I thought it was a beautiful venue and I wanted to see Picture Point (located just outside it). They’ve since restructured the pricing, but at the time when we signed our contract for our wedding, it was an extra $2000 to use the Wedding Pavilion for an Escape wedding – I just couldn’t justify that, since that was enough to cover our reception at Homecomin’…
I had to take a picture of the Franck’s door, even though I never got to go through it. Disney offers three packages for weddings – Memories (basically an elopement – for the couple and 4 guests, cost was $2500 when we signed our contract), Escape (the couple plus 18 guests, cost was $5000 for Sea Breeze Point when we signed our contract) and Wishes (started at $12,000 and could go as high as you’re willing to spend). I initially was looking at Memories, and just having parents there, but Luke really wanted more so we jumped up to Escape. With the two lower tier packages, all correspondence is completed through email/phone calls – however if you are having a Wishes wedding you actually have an in-person planning session which is held at Franck’s (including cake tasting!).
Picture Point is so perfect with Cinderella’s Castle perfectly framed behind it <3
We called an Uber as we walked back towards the main entrance. We sat down on a bench, and watched as the estimated time of arrival kept changing – we had forgot about all the traffic trying to head to Magic Kingdom! We were heading to Give Kids the World for a volunteer shift from 3-6:30, but we were supposed to be there at 2:30 to sign in, get trained, etc. We had gave ourselves plenty of time to get there on a normal day, but not New Years Eve! What a rookie mistake, we should have known better! We eventually realized we were not going to make it there by 2:30, so we called the GKTW Village but they didn’t seem too upset by it. Our Uber finally showed up – no fault of the driver for taking so long, the lines of cars we passed as we drove away from the Magic Kingdom area was insane!
We finally arrived at GKTW around 2:50, so at least we weren’t late for our shift to start. It had taken almost 45 minutes for our Uber to reach us at the Grand Floridian, so we would have been there early if it wasn’t for NYE traffic.
For those who don’t know, GKTW Village is a non-profit resort in Kissimmee which provides week long vacations for the families of children with life-threatening illnesses. They work with groups around the world like Make-A-Wish to make theme park dreams come true. I believe I heard that about 60% of wishes involve the Orlando area (Disney, Universal, etc), so this is where they stay. Everything on site is free for the families – they receive meal credits to use throughout the week, theme park tickets, etc. There are a few little rides on site – a train, Merry-go-Round, etc, and lot of organized activities. A lot of the day-to-day operations of the entire resort are run by volunteers, so we had decided it was a good way to spend NYE since we didn’t want to go to a park.
We checked in and were led to the Ice Cream Palace where a supervisor gave us a quick run-down of what we needed to do. Our shift began at 3, and lasted until 6:30pm.
There were eight kinds of ice cream available, plus non-dairy options were kept in a freezer in the back room to avoid cross-contamination. The families staying at the Village had no limit on what/how much they could order – or when! The ice cream palace opened every day for breakfast! There was hot fudge and hot caramel for sundaes, bananas for banana splits, milk and mixers for milkshakes, sprinkles, Oreo bits, etc for toppings and a Coke freestyle machine for drinks (or floats!).
The ice cream shop itself was decorated with a CandyLand theme, and was very bright, colourful and fun!
Our 3.5 hour shift wasn’t overly busy, but it did stay steady. Even when we had downtime, we kept busy by wiping down tables, restocking ice cream, making sure the napkin dispensers were full, etc. Creativity was encouraged, and I made some crazy concoctions during our time there! A banana split with hot fudge and Oreo crumbs and a dozen cherries on top? Done! A milkshake with cherries and sprinkles blended into it? Done!
It was a really fun way to spend an afternoon, and all too soon our shift was over. It was dark out by this point, and we took our time walking through the village and seeing it all lit up. They actually celebrate Christmas one day every week, Halloween one day a week and have a birthday party for the children once a week, so I believe it stays decorated year round.
I’ve been asked a few times already how we went about even setting up this volunteer shift. It was actually very easy, you just need to fill out an application on their website, http://www.gktw.org/volunteer/
After we signed out, we called an Uber to take us back to Disney property. We were dropped off at Disney Springs and the driver dropped us off on the east side. I believe they are supposed to do drop offs on the west side by the old Cirque du Solieil building now, so I don’t know if this driver didn’t know that or if it was just easier with the NYE traffic. I prefer being dropped off on the east side, and it worked out perfectly for checking out the Christmas Tree Trail. Enjoy my million pictures from this!
We had lots of time before our supper reservation so we took our time looking at each tree, before walking around a very crowded World of Disney. We also stopped in Amorettes to see their Christmas display, but we decided not to buy anything at that point (which I now regret, as I never made it back there on this trip – Luke did, but he didn’t take pictures).
We were still a bit early, but we decided to go check in for our reservation at Homecomin’. We only had to wait a few minutes before they had a table ready for us!
Once we finished eating, we were tired and headed back to Pop Century. We packed up our stuff in preparation for our hotel move the following day, and were both asleep before midnight- we both woke up when we heard the fireworks and sleepily said “Happy New Year” before rolling over and going back to sleep. We are such party animals haha.
Total Fitbit Steps: 11,675
Disney Park Hot Takes
This is the internet. And because of that, it’s almost required to post unpopular opinions as facts. Personally, I love it when people drop hot takes. So I thought I’d hammer out some controversial statements – some WTFs about WDW&DL- because sometimes it’s fun to get stuff off your chest.
So here we go:
- The Disney Dining Plan is a tax on people who can’t do math. It makes no sense unless you’re big on character meals.
- Flight of Passage is great, but if you show up to the park 90 minutes before it opens to rope drop it – YOU STILL WAITED 90 MINUTES WHEN YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING YOU FOOL.
- Go ahead. Don’t spend $10/day on Max Pass. I will. And I’ll get double the FastPasses (plus get to feel superior about understanding what my time is worth).
- Mickey pretzels are not good. Mickey Ice Cream Bars only seem good because it is hot in Orlando.
- Germany is the best pavilion.
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is worth no more than a 25 minute wait.
- Peter Pan’s Flight is worth even less than that.It’s great that Magic Kingdom is getting more licensed restaurants.
- Lots of things that you remember as being better when you were younger only seem that way because that’s how you remember it.
- Nostalgia is very profitable.
- I’m aware of how weird it is for an adult to love Disney theme parks.
- Get the best service possible at restaurants simply by ordering alcohol.
- Sleeping Beauty is the most forgettable princess.
- Epcot is the worst park for kids and the best park for adults.
- Parades are alright. Waiting over an hour for a parade is insanity.
- The real terrorists are people who don’t stop farting in the standby line.
- the more people you add to a group on a Disney trip, the less enjoyable it becomes.
- The Happiest Place on Earth needs to have at least 2-ply toilet paper.
- Just because it’s expensive, it doesn’t make it ok to be rude to cast members.
- The main villains inside a Disney park are grossly inflated prices and tour groups full of spoiled, rude, not-properly-supervised teens.
- The Muppets are the most underrated IP Disney has in the parks.
- I feel like Beverley is supposed to be a palate cleanser to be sipped in-between the other soda pops at Club Cool but nobody else seems to get that.
- Mission: Space – Orange exists to make people puke and sell more Sprite in the parks because who buys Sprite anyways?
- There should be a 2nd Starbucks at the opposite end of every park. Not because I want Macchiatos. But because it just makes good business sense.
- Trader Sam’s needs a fastpass.
- The credit card bill you receive the month after you get home is the real life equivalent of a Marvel movie’s post-credits scene.
The outro was written by our wiener dog and the 6lb cat:
i000oo (cat)
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Final Thoughts – January 2017 Trip
This was only our second trip to Walt Disney World, but it was one to remember (see: Proposal story!).
It was our first time doing a split stay on Disney property, and it was so easy! Bell services were fantastic and it was so nice to not have to move our luggage ourselves. I’m not sure if we’ll ever do a full stay in one place again.
It was also our first time renting DVC points, and it was a smooth process- one which we’ve already used again multiple times! I don’t think we could ever afford to pay rack rate for the Deluxe Resorts, so DVC makes it affordable for us. We also loved both Old Key West and Saratoga Springs.
We used the dining plan on our first trip, but opted to pay for all meals out of pocket this time – which we definitely preferred. I don’t see us using the dining plan again.
It sucks that the half marathon was cancelled for Luke, but it gave us an excuse to attend a runDisney event in California since they allowed him to transfer his registration. I also ran my first ever 5k during this trip, which was so well organized and fun (I don’t see myself ever running a regular 5k though, runDisney events only!)
Overall, it was a great trip, and I’m so lucky that Luke loves Disney just as much as I do, and that we get to make these memories together <3