Keeping up with the blog, which this time involves yet another milestone and more on our Disney Quest to experience every attraction during these passes. We had just over a month left.
Yesterday, Asa and I celebrated 15 years together. That's kind of crazy right? I mean, it's not decades and decades or anything. But those 15 years sure have flown, you know? Also worth noting it was 11 years ago that we got engaged. We're not always together on our dating/engagement anniversary. So we don't always get to celebrate it. But, this year it fell on a weekend and 15 seems like a big milestone. So we decided to celebrate with a weekend away the only place we know to go- Disney World!
Look, I know there are other destinations out there, in Florida even. But, it's just so convenient and fun. You don't have to worry about activities- there's PLENTY to do. You don't have to worry about where to eat- there's something for every budget. You can be as chill as you want, or as ambitious as you want. You can stay up late or get up early and you'll always find something to do. And like, I just don't have to plan all that much to pull together a great Disney trip.
But, we're getting towards the end of this Disney Quest I set us on 10 months ago. Now we can't just run around hitting whatever- and A LOT of experiences take place at certain times. I summoned my inner Cort Sattler, and made my very first index card o fun for our day at Epcot (truth me told I made a google keep file and then transferred it to an index card because google-doc-o-fun didn't have the same ring to it.)
First up we hit Spaceship Earth. Of course we do this one like every time we go to Disney, and so we decided we were going to do it in every language. This time it was Spanish, but that means we only have English left, and then we can check it off our list.
Plus we went on Spaceship Earth on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing- so it was kind of fun to see the scene of the family watching the moon landing on TV. Fun fact: Everything was in Spanish except for the record of the newscast on TV and the playing of 'one small step for mankind'.
We actually have a plethora of characters on our list. If you know Disney, you know the character lines can get out of control. But, there is actually a times guide that says when the characters are going to appear. Arrive about five to ten minutes before the character shows up and you'll be met with a line of very few people (if any at all). The majority of the people show up when they're walking by and see the character, which makes the line long almost instantly. Asa and I were the first in line for Alice, and by the time we took our picture and were on our way, I kid you not there was at least 30 people in line (and those lines move SLOW). Thanks to the index card o fun we were in and out of there in just a couple minutes with another thing checked off our list.
#41 Meet a Wonderland Friend in the United Kingdom
Basically I had the Index card-o-fun follow around the World Showcase so we wouldn't be ping-ponging all over. And I built in a little time for an early lunch. I'm telling you if you're trying to eat on the cheap at Disney you HAVE TO stop at Les Halles. It's the bakery tucked way in the back of the french pavilion. Everything you see here kept us going for hours and clocked in at $16.
After lunch we headed over about 5 minutes early to see Belle. She had a line of a couple people waiting for her to arrive, but again, since we were there before she was- it took us all of a couple of minutes before it was our turn.
#42 Meet Belle in France
I hadn't seen most of the videos around the world until we started our quest. Except for Canada when James was visiting, per his request. We'd watched the China one a couple of visits ago, but still hadn't made it over to France to check out theirs. Plus, you know, at this point air conditioning sounded lovely.
#43 Impressions de France (Film)
It's actually a nice looking video. It's not as.... fuzzy? as China's. The film isn't super popular though. So, actually pretty soon instead of being on the :15 and :45 of each hour, it's only going to be once and then there's going to be a Sing-A-Long with Belle.
After France we made our way over to Morocco to meet with Jasmine. We arrived about 5 minutes early and had about three groups in front of us. She has a really awesome themed indoor nook instead of just standing outside. While we waited for the group in front of us to finish up, we noticed a book in Arabic and tried to use google translate. It kind of worked. I'm sure it's totally a legit writing though, Disney doesn't phone it in on the small details.
So, the app lists this as
#44 Meet Jasmine in Morocco
BUT she happened to be there on our particular visit with Aladdin as well!
Lets take a second to talk about the characters.
I am not as much of a fan of meeting the 'face' characters. They're always in character, and as a grown adult it can be a little strange. I mean, give me a Chewbacca or Sully or Pluto hug anyday. Look, I know it's a person in there- but I don't even care. Get a hug from one of those costumes and you think 'I'll never, ever be too old for this!' Plus, then you think how great their job is. They just get to hug people all day! But, the face characters can be hit or miss. Jasmine and Aladdin though? They were super funny and engaging. They played off each other really well, and I rather enjoyed the story about Abu's anchovie baklava.
#45 Matsuriza (Drummers performance)
These drummers were good- but it was kind of a repetitive show. If you're down for one drum show, but not another, I'd stick with the Jammators. They're more engaging. It wasn't bad, but just no big wow factor or anything.
Up next we backtracked a bit back over to Morocco for
#46 Morocco Band Stage Show
These guys (and girl) are pretty great. They're engaging and super talented. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch them again, but if I was walking by at the right time I'd certainly stop for a bit to hear them again.
By now our Index-Card-O-Fun told us it was time to head to the American pavilion. Honestly, I don't think I've ever stopped here, outside of the Food and Wine Festival or the Flower and Garden Festival. During the festivals they have 'The Smokehouse' here and it's always delicious. I'm super excited because they are getting rid of the old menus at the historically terrible counter service place and replacing it with barbecue. I think they realized how popular the Smokehouse was, and are trying to re-create it year round (and I am here for it!)
But the American Adventure also hosts a couple of attractions (three to be exact- but we were only able to squeeze in two this time around).
#47 American Heritage Gallery
This little gallery features Native American artifacts and some interactive exhibits. It's a nice little stop to nose around and get out of the heat.
Then we were headed to the
#48 American Adventure (Indoor Stage Show)
This show is all about American history. It's still mostly in the glossy Disney way- but at least better than the previous Hall of Presidents- which is the same sort of thing, where Andrew Jackson was hailed the white mans hero. Anyway, I don't know, patriotic stuff has a different undertone for me since Trump was elected. Ugh. But, still the screens and the animatronics are pretty impressive here. It's like you get to see Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Fredrick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony in person, and that's pretty cool.
The show ran longer than I expected it to, so we missed the Voices of Liberty. We'll have to catch them next time. Instead we moved on to Germany where we saw
#49 Stage Band in Germany (Margret Almer & Bavarian Band)
The woman can yodel! For real, stop and see this one. She's pretty amazing.
Over in the African Outpost, they have all kinds of Lion King merchandise. The ears are super cute, but all I could think was 'man, these would be hot!'
We had managed to get some Frozen Fastpasses. Though we've been on this a couple times this year, it's still a fun ride. Also, without any festivals or anything going on over the summer, Epcot has been relatively not too busy, so it's not hard to get Fastpasses within the 30 day window.
And of course, if you're in Norway and you're looking for cheap eats you should stop by the bakery for some school bread! It's more roll than donut, but more sweet than savory.
I figured if we looped back around to Pluto at the front of Epcot the line would be much shorter mid-day than it was in the morning. Luckily, I was right and we hardly had to wait at all!
#50 Meet Pluto at Legacy Center West
That puts us at 50/70 items on the Epcot list, or 71.4% done with Epcot. We're hoping to go again on the 3rd and almost close it out (I know we'll go at least once for the Food & Wine festival so we will be able to do any clean up then.
By now the weather was closing in, and it was nearing check in time at our hotel, so we thought it best to leave before the downpour began.
Usually, I would never recommend staying at an off Disney property when you're spending your whole trip at Disney (if you're doing Universal/Seaworld/beaches/whatever I can see not staying on property). But, if you have a free hotel stay, then it's just fine in my book. There were some issues at our Daytona hotel, that I mostly complained about because our neighbors kept smoking, resulting in our room smelling like smoke whenever we had our balcony doors open- and a giant sign on the door that said if you smoke in your room you'll be charge some crazy fee for cleaning. I didn't want to be on the hook for that, plus it shouldn't take 8 hours to get coffee. Anyway, we were rewarded with a free Hilton stay, so we decided to use that at the Hilton Bonnet Creek right near Disney.
It's near Caribbean Beach Resort, and right off the main drag where Disney Springs is located. And while the room was fine and comfy, it just didn't have the Disney magic. And, the Disney transportation wasn't as convenient or nearly as frequent as it is at a Disney resort.
But the location was good if you have a car and you don't mind driving. After we settled in and dropped our stuff we headed over to Disney Springs for dinner. We decided we were finally going to try Pepe. A couple of months ago a new Spanish restaurant called Jaleo opened, and this is the counter service counterpart. We've heard good things- but we've also heard it was pricey. To be fair $14 for what they call a 4 inch sandwich is a little crazy. But I did really want to try it. Luckily, it's bigger than 4 inches, so it was enough to share with Asa, along with the bravas chips. The sandwich was steak and peppers on some spanish bread, and it was amazing. The steak was cooked perfectly, the bread was crispy and soft at the same time, and the peppers were sauteed to perfection. The chips, with the bravas sauce were good too. Probably not worth the $6 price tag, especially given that the new Coronado tower opened with another spanish place and you can get that vary sauce on a whole slew of actual potatoes for $8 (and a passholder discount!). But, I'm glad we tried them.
Splitting the sandwich and the chips were fine, but we knew that wouldn't cut it for dinner for the both of us. Since Pepe is right down by House of Blues, we decided to finally try out their bread pudding the Disney Food Blog raves about. You don't need a reservation even for this one if you can find a spot at the bar. I don't think the picture does this thing justice. It's HUGE. Like, before we we got it we were talking about what we might eat next, and after we finished we were both way too full for anything else. Theres two generous squares of the stuff stacked on top of each other. The only thing the dish could use more of is the whiskey butter topping. For real, next time we ask for extra.
House of Blues used to be right across from Disney Quest, but that has since closed. There's a new NBA experience place opening the middle of August, but the attached store just opened like last week, so we went in to nose around.
They have some crazy stuff in there. Like, you can get a shoe for $900. Sure, it's signed by Shaq, but like- ONE SHOE FOR $900!
Or for a cool $1100 you can buy a signed Steph Curry jersey.
It was starting to sprinkle again, so we thought after that it was best to head back to the hotel.
Luckily by the time we got back the rain was done and the pool was back open. If you check out this hotel everyone raves about the pool and the lazy river. But here's the thing- it's like all one thing. There's a lazy river you can take around, but there's two pools you could stop off in if you wanted to.
This was great when there were hardly any kids in it. But, less great when there's a million people fighting for tubes and bumping into you.
The place has a nice view too, off in the distance you could see Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and even see a little of the fireworks. That night we just hung out and had some snacks that I brought from home.
We were able to get a noon checkout so in the morning we had time for a pool trip.
This is where we discovered it's an awesome pool set up if it's not packed, but otherwise, it can become a bit too much. Luckily since we had come so early in the morning we had plenty of time before it started to get crowded.
I'm not sure I would stay there again, unless of course I had another free stay. The thing is with resort fees (which we also waived) and parking (which we did have to pay- so the whole thing cost us $29) I just don't see it ever being cheaper than a Disney resort. And I would stay at almost any Disney resort over the Hilton Bonnet Creek. I mean, it is nice. The pool was a great temperature, and super fun when it wasn't crowded. Everyone was friendly. But, it's also generic. And I can see it getting really pricey really fast (the resort fee is $45 a night!)
We decided to go have some brunch before we headed over to the parks again, so we went over to the Grand Floridian. This place does not disappoint.
Asa, of course, got his eggs Benedict flight. You get three benedicts on one plate: traditional, chorizo and LOBSTER. They're all good, but the lobster is especially amazing. You can get any of those as a meal, or you can get all three.
For me, I like their topping for the pancakes and/or waffles. While they have a lemon curd, blueberry and granola that always peeks my interest, I actually have the stuff to make that at my house (and Asa makes it for me every once in awhile). So, while I'm there I usually get the dried cranberry, Chantilly cream, and mandarin oranges. Truth be told, I could probably make this one at home too, but I don't know, they have REALLY good chantilly cream. Now, you can get this as a meal with a whole stack of pancakes. Or, if you're like me and know that's way too much you can just order a side of one pancake. (Fun fact: it's also much cheaper this way!)
Either way, it's a delicious meal I can highly recommend. Plus if you're looking to find Disney breakfast outside of normal breakfast hours, this stuff is on the lunch menu at Grand Floridian cafe until 2 pm every day. So you can get breakfast at Disney and still sleep in. What a deal! Plus, you get to be at the Grand Floridian, and that's not too shabby either.
After brunch we headed over to Hollywood Studios. Truth be told, I'm getting just the teeny tiny-est sick of Hollywood Studios and Epcot. With our 'Theme Park Select' Annual Passes we have been blacked out of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom since May. Now, with Galaxy Edge opening in Hollywood Studios the end of August, we won't be able to go again until a weekday in January 2020, so it's good we're getting everything in now.
Our first stop for our Hollywood Studios Index Card O Fun was
#26 Star Wars: A Galaxy Far Far Away
It's a stage show, where you'll see the old and new crew. You get a little C3PO and Darth Vader and a little Rey and Kylo Ren. It's worth a look-see, it happens on the half hour all day, so you have plenty of time to catch it. I wonder how much of the Star Wars stuff will stay spread throughout the park once Galaxy's Edge is open and running, or if it'll try and consolidate it just to Batuu.
Since Hollywood Studios has a lot of construction and such going on right now, they don't have a super long list of attractions, and they even list some kind of lame ones. Like:
#27 Star Wars Photo Ops
But, at least it's easy to check off the list.
Next Up we decided to check out
#28 Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple
You have to be 12 and under to participate in the Jedi Training, and our kids never did it while they could, so I actually had never seen the show. It's kind of awesome though. The kids are trained in using light sabers and then Vader and Kylo Ren come out and they show off their skills. Some of the kids are super excited about it, which adds to the awesomeness of the show.
I was hoping to get the Tower of Terror as one of our Fastpasses for the day. I'm not sure when that started being impossible to get. For real, even at the 30 days out timeframe it's hard to get one. We might just have to end up waiting in line for it. But even that is crazy. The whole time we were there it was a TWO HOUR wait, at least. So, we settled for a Toy Story Mania fastpass instead.
Asa managed to get his top score ever, so he was happy about it.
We thought we might finish up Hollywood Studios, so I suggested we get a lunchbox tart just in case we can't have one until 2020.
I don't know what it is about these things, but I love them. The seasonal ones are always the best- for summer they have a lemonade blueberry one. Plus, you can mobile order so there's no waiting in line. The only tricky part about Woody's Lunchbox is it can be hard to find a seat. But if you get the tart you don't even need one. You can eat it on the go.
It's always hot here, you know, because I live in Florida and it's July. But, midday on Sunday was particularly rough. I know everyone back in Ohio was in the middle of a heatwave too. But, I always think it's funny how everyone freaks out about 100 degree heat. I'm like, oh geez, how do you survive. It's 100? Yikes. Also, stop making fun of me then when it's 35 and I'm freezing.
Anyway, us Floridians know a thing or two about keeping cool. Nobody needs to tell us to stay in the shade when we can and drink plenty of fluids and slather on the sunscreen. We know this. It's a way of life. So when we're getting hot we head to the air conditioning- this time we went inside Monstropolis.
#29 Meet Mike & Sully at Walt Disney Presents
Again, I'm telling you, a Sully hug is the best thing in the whole wide Disney world.
Mike, meanwhile, tried to be in the middle of our picture. He likes to be the center of attention.
Eventually we got a good one.
The Disney Quest list is an ever changing compilation of Disney attractions. Things disappear and get added all the time. For awhile
#30 One Man’s Dream Walt Disney Film
disappeared, and became a preview for Toy Story 4. But it was back, so we decided to re-add it to the list just to check it off. It's a 15 minute documentary on Walt's life and worth the stop.
The doors to the theater opened at the end, and we could see the heat had given way to one of those ever famous Florida afternoon thunderstorms. This year I really decided to embrace the fact that we can't really plan on the weather ever being correct. Today, google told me it wasn't going to rain. I kid you not less than a minute later there was thunder-followed by a torrential downpour. So this year we got our rain jackets and decided we'd power through. We hung out under the awnings for a bit before it trickled to a heavy sprinkle and then got in line for the
#31 Disney Junior Dance Party
Until pretty recently, the last year or so, this used to be Playhouse Disney and it featured all the characters from the boy's Disney watching days. But it's since changed to a Disney Junior Dance Party.
Some characters I don't really know- BUT there was still Doc McStuffins (one of Hayden's faves! Although he wasn't thrilled when we texted him to tell him he was missing a dance party with her) And Timon was there, although he's on some show called Lion Guard I hadn't heard of before.
While it's different than it used to be (those screens are something!) it still has some of the same elements. Instead of confetti from the ceiling, leaves fall. You still get bubbles too- and this time it also snows!
Hollywood Studios is mostly shows, so after our Dance Party we were headed off to see
#32 Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage
This one hasn't changed too much since the last time we saw it (years ago), and it mostly is just a stage show of all the songs in Beauty and the Beast. It's fun if you've never seen it before, but personally once you see it once, well, it's a one and done kind of event for me.
We thought about hanging around for Indiana Jones and the Frozen sing-a-long. But, at this point there's only a few things left to do and we didn't want to come back into the park for just one or two things, so we decided to call it a day.
We're at 32 out of 39 at Hollywood Studios, or 82% The only one that might be tricky here is the Tower of Terror. So, we'll see how that turns out on the 3rd.
If you're keeping track of all the parks that makes us at 145 out of 252 for a total of 57.5 % Now, that's kind of a long way to go, but we'll see what we can do. In just a couple weeks Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will be open for us again, and I can't wait!
We decided to head over to Disney Springs before we went home and have some dinner. By now it was raining off and on again, but we figured it wasn't too far from the lime parking garage to Polite Pig.
Plus the Polite Pig Butcher Board for Two is where it's at. Also, I have got to figure out how to make the bbq cauliflower like they do. It's killer. The new seasonal succotash is also pretty yummy, if not a little too spicy for me.
We got home around 9, and Calib was already home from work. The boys had an uneventful weekend, but did bring in a couple of packages from Prime Day. I finally decided I wanted another kindle, and since we used points we got one for free on Prime Day. I haven't done much with it yet, but I'm glad to have a kindle again for reading. (I'm thinking it'll also be great for recipes and projects around the house- what with the bigger screen and all).
Other than our weekend away, we've just been hanging out, enjoying the lazy days of summer. The pools are cooling down a little now thanks to all the afternoon rain, and at the very least Asa and I manage to go on his lunch.
One day I took a bike ride around the whole loop without Asa, since he was working- but I made sure to show him my progress by texting him a picture at Connerton and the Grove.
I had some peaches near the end of their life span so I made some slow cooker peach butter. It turned out pretty good, but I'm pretty much the only one who likes peaches, so I have a whole lot of it to eat myself.
Our puzzle mod podge worked out good, now I just need to get a frame.
The blanket fort is still up and going strong. Although, it seemed a little Wicked Witch when I went out there one day and saw Hayden's socks sticking out.
Hayden has had a couple library things lately. Asa tagged along one day and reserved a study room to work from the library.
Peyton and Hayden have decided to save up for a trip to CEO Taku in Orlando in September, so I made them a goal board. We also told them if they can get the electric bill and water bill below when I budget for them I would donate the savings to their funds. So now I find them checking the water softener to see how many gallons we've used per day and discussing conservation methods.
Meanwhile, Hayden is hoping to earns some money at the fair so we've started to work on some projects for that.
And in dogs news, Etta was quite thrilled we were home for our weekend away, while Porkchop still hasn't figured out thunderstorms pose no actual threat to him at all.
Next Up: Asa is on call starting Friday and Calib is headed to Ohio tomorrow, so I won't have much to report for awhile.
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