Mr. Catperson's Solo Trip Report, as told to me

Finishing up Day 5, when hubby left AK he headed back to Saratoga Springs and just chilled for the evening. Ate granola bars as a snack, since he'd had a late lunch, and relaxed in the jacuzzi (he loves those jacuzzis). He decided he would go back to DHS Thursday, but asked me to rearrange his FastPass+ reservations. Originally, the first one was shortly after rope drop, and he didn't want to have to get up that early.

On to Day 6 - DHS.

Hubby managed to get up relatively early - not rope drop early, but early for him - so he headed to the Saratoga Springs counter-service restaurant for breakfast. He got the breakfast platter (whatever they call it), which included a Mickey waffle. (Photo below.) "It seems like sacrilege, hacking Mickey to pieces," he commented. He declared the Mickey waffle just as good as the ones at Cape May Cafe, so all's well that ends well. Then he waited for the bus for DHS, and watched several other buses go by before his finally arrived. "I frequently just miss them," he said; "If I only hadn't had that cigarette, LOL."

He thought he heard Harry Potter music on the bus - surely that can't be, he said. I reminded him that John Williams also composed the music for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, so he might be hearing something of Williams's that reminds him of Harry Potter. He agreed, saying it did sound like Williams's music. While he was riding the bus, I gave him the weather report for his return home - he'll be going from summer to real winter in just a few hours, since the forecast for Saturday and the following week has it unseasonably cold here. "That's the worst part," he said, "besides just coming home in general."

Once at DHS, hubby snagged at Toy Story Mania FastPass for 6:40 p.m. in addition to the FastPass+ he already has for earlier in the afternoon. He wasn't thinking - he has a Boma reservation for 7:45! I reminded him, and offered to try to change the Boma reservation for him. Good news, I was able to get him a 9:00 p.m. reservation, so now he can use the FastPass and still make it to dinner on time. (I also cancelled the original reservation, of course.)

While I was working on the ADR, hubby made his way to the Backlot Tour. He mentioned that the planes had been made over with eyes to resemble characters from the summer movie Planes (photo below). He mentioned that the tour narration still mentions the Lights! Motors! Action! stunt show, so I looked it up, and apparently it will reopen November 22 (tomorrow). So I guess it wasn't closed to make room for something awesome like Star Wars Land or whatever. Just normal maintenance.

On his way to his MuppetVision FastPass+ he snapped a photo of the creche near the Osborne lights (see below). Then at the Muppet theater, he snapped the Miss Piggy statue. He said the FastPass+ was wasted on this show; it didn't get him any kind of better seating, and the standby line was so short it didn't get him inside any faster. After Muppet Vision, he headed over to Star Tours, hoping to get a different ride than he'd gotten earlier in the week. But no luck, he got the same one. (Correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't they have more than one tour on this ride? I've never done it due to motion sickness issues, so I don't know.)

Next on the agenda is his FastPass+ for Toy Story Mania, and he is heading there as I write this. More to come on the rest of the day.

Photos:

Day 6 - DHS continued

After Toy Story Mania, hubby got a regular FastPass for the Tower of Terror, one of his favorite rides, and killed time by getting in the Rock'n Roller Coaster single rider line. He commented that there was a minor 5-10 minute delay at the roller coaster for what he called "barf patrol," and you can guess what that meant, I'm sure. He mentioned that the cast member on duty was probably thinking, "I didn't come to work for Disney to do THIS!" He also mentioned that while walking past a DVC sales booth he overheard the CMs saying that it's almost the last week of the month and their numbers are way down. Guess DVC sales aren't doing well at the moment, so if you want to buy additional points this might be a good time.

Next on the agenda was Tower of Terror, twice - once on the regular FastPass and once on a FastPass+. Then hubby did some shopping and bought himself a Mickey pretzel. Good, he said, but not Pennsylvania pretzel good. Certainly not Auntie Ann's good. (But they sure are cute.) Hubby thinks Auntie Ann should cozy up to Mickey and get them to sell her pretzels. After that, hubby took what he called a rest break; in this case it meant hopping a bus to the Polynesian to try to get a photo of the beautiful Christmas trees in better light. And he succeeded, see below. He also snapped a photo of an adult beverage he indulged in while at the Polynesian. Nothing fancy, but he said it was good.

After doing a little shopping at the Polynesian, hubby caught the bus back to DHS to use that last Toy Story FastPass and also to ride Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster one more time. He even managed to fit in one last visit to the Osborne lights before heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge for his Boma ADR.

It turned out he didn't need the later reservation; he arrived a few minutes before the original 7:45 reservation. So he killed time wandering around the gift shop (he even bought himself some Mickey ears) and getting something called a "chocolate martini" at the bar. I wondered about that; couldn't imagine how you could add chocolate to a martini and have anything worth drinking. Well, it turns out it's called a martini because it's served in a martini glass. There's nothing in the drink that has anything to do with a real martini (unless you count the vodka, but that's a vodka martini, not a regular martini).

He checked in at Boma early and was seated early, and the lighting was good enough for some photos of the food. Hubby was especially impressed by his server. His favorite Boma soup, the carrot ginger soup, happened not to be on the menu tonight, and when hubby raved about it to his server, she went next door and brought him a bowl of a squash soup that has similar flavors. And then went back and got him another bowl. Disney service at its finest. But after two bowls of squash soup and a bowl of ham and bean soup, hubby couldn't finish all the food on his plate and had NO room for dessert!

After dinner, hubby headed outside, sat by the campfire for a while, and checked out the silhouettes of animals beyond the fence. Then it was back to Downtown Disney for more shopping. (Not sure how he's going to fit all his purchases in suitcases that were full when he left. Hope he's eaten most of the breakfast food and snacks he brought along with him.) He snapped a photo of porcelain Disney characters done up for Christmas, see below, that looked really cool, and then headed back to Saratoga Springs for the night.

Photos:

And by the way, I finally got a call from the veterinarian. Oreo doesn't have cancer, but her thyroid levels are quite high in spite of already being on medication for that problem. But that's still a much better diagnosis than cancer.

I think maybe I will go get an Auntie Ann's pretzel - since I'm home, I can have the real thing. And I can live with its not being shaped like Mickey Mouse.

I would also be willing to miss a Disney vacation for hubby. Yeah...I think I would...

We're going to start Oreo on a different medication (she currently gets methimazole). If that doesn't work, then we'll look into the iodine radiation treatment.

Vettelover, maybe we should nickname Oreo "Cookie." She'd learn it eventually. Our problem is, we also have a calico cat named Oriole. And they both respond to both names. Gets confusing at times.

And thanks, everyone, for the good words. Today is hubby's last full day. He spent the morning just lazing around his condo, and in just a few minutes as I write this he and DisneyDee will meet up at DisneyQuest. I've requested a photo.

Day 7 - Mostly relaxing and hanging out with DisneyDee, plus Epcot EEMH

Hubby took it easy Friday morning, picking up purchases he'd had delivered to the resort and sorting through them in his condo. He sent photos of a couple of items, a T-shirt for himself and a Tower of Terror-themed Clue game that he bought as a gift for friends of ours (see below). He was also communicating with DisneyDee via text message, working out the logistics of their meet-up. (Hubby isn't a regular here at WDWFG, but we both met Dee last year at WDW and he looked forward to catching up with her again.) The original plan was for them to meet outside DisneyQuest around 1:30, but that got backed up to 2:00 and switched to Earl of Sandwich - no problem for hubby since he loves EOS. He sent a photo he took on the Saratoga Springs ferry to Downtown Disney and then sent one of Saratoga Springs from the DTD boat dock. His building is on the left facing the trees.

I forgot to ask hubby to take a picture of his sandwich, but fortunately caught him when it was only half eaten. It's Caribbean jerk chicken. Dee got the chicken chipotle avocado sandwich hubby tried last Saturday; hubby commented that he liked that sandwich better than the jerk chicken, but of course they were both good.

Dee mentioned to hubby via text that she had brought a pin from Hong Kong Disneyland for me, and hubby thought it would be nice for him to get a couple of pins for Dee and Chrissy (sorry if I spelled that wrong, Dee). He got initial pins, a D for Dee and a C for Chrissy. I don't have photos of those, but there's a photo of the Hong Kong Disneyland pin below. And it has a KITTY!!! Marie!

After lunch they went to DisneyQuest as originally planned and did the Buzz Lightyear bumper cars, the Aladdin virtual magic carpet ride, the Jungle Cruise river rapids, and of course Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for Buccaneer Gold, which is one of my favorite attractions in all of WDW, major parks included. Dee took a photo of the two of them posing with Wreck-it Ralph, see below.

Dee had a ticket for MVMCP, so she and hubby parted company and hubby stuck around DisneyQuest to play arcade games and design his own roller coaster in the Cyberspace Mountain attraction. Then he returned to Saratoga Springs briefly before catching the bus to Epcot for EEMH.

The original plan, before I decided to stay home with my sick kitty cat, was to spend more of the day at Epcot, so hubby missed two of his three FastPass+ reservations - Spaceship Earth, which he didn't really mind missing, and Test Track, which was easily skippable today because he has another FastPass+ there tomorrow. His final FastPass+ was for Soarin' with a window of 7:30 to 8:30, and he arrived at 8:15 and is probably riding as I write this. Or at least getting ready to ride. I'm not sure what he'll do after that, so more to come.

Photos:

Day 7 - After Soarin'

That was the only attraction/FastPass+ hubby reallyreallyreally didn't want to miss today. After that, he headed over to the World Showcase for dinner. First stop was Joy of Tea in the China area for some egg rolls (and they are really good egg rolls) along with a mixed drink that had mango and ginger in it - I'll have to look it up to find out what it's called. Then he made his way around the lagoon to Morocco to try the lamb shawarma, which he accompanied with a Moroccan white wine. Neither of us had ever had shawarma before, but after Tony Stark said he wanted shawarma after defeating the bad guys in The Avengers, we both wanted to try it. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed the shawarma, and said the Moroccan wine was a very good dry white.

After accidentally throwing his phone out with his dinner trash and getting a CM to retrieve it for him, hubby decided to head out early so he could pack. Departure day, bummer for him. (Here is the one advantage to skipping the trip - I don't have to deal with departure day and post-Disney depression.) On his way out he took a photo of a holiday display near the bridge between the World Showcase and Future World. I haven't downloaded all the photos yet, so they'll follow in another post.

Tomorrow, after checking out, he'll be back at Epcot to do a few more rides and meet up with Dee and her DW for lunch.

Lamb shawarma, and the holiday display I mentioned above.

Thanks to Dee for taking it. And I love that hubby is wearing his giraffe Mickey ears.

The giraffe print ears are from Animal Kingdom, although I'm not sure whether hubby got them at the park or at AKL before his Boma ADR. Maybe they're available both places.

Day 8 - Departure Day

Hubby slept late, I think. At any rate, he got a late start. His first communication with me was a photo of a racehorse statue at Saratoga Springs, which I assume he took when he dropped his luggage off and checked out. Then he hopped a bus to Epcot. He originally had three FastPass+ reservations - Mission Space, Test Track, and Turtle Talk with Crush - but he completely missed the Mission Space window and made it to Test Track with just a couple of minutes to spare. Photos below depict a concept car, hubby's car design (which he said didn't do well because he designed it to be fuel efficient), and some real (and really cool) cars.

Next stop: Club Cool for more soda. Of course he started with Beverly, and then tried the other flavors again. He asked me whether they'd had the Greek pineapple Fanta before; I responded that I didn't know, but most of the flavors are new, so probably not. He really liked it and said he knew I would love it, too (how do you not like pineapple?).

After a bit he sent me a photo of DisneyDee and her DW inside The Land pavilion. They chatted for a bit and then split up; Dee and DW stayed in The Land for lunch, while hubby headed back to the World Showcase to try to fit as much international food as possible into his trip. He decided to get a counter-service bratwurst and potato salad in Germany, photo below.

And that was probably it for the day - a smoke break, walking back to the main entrance, and then catching a bus back to Saratoga Springs might be all he had time for if he wanted to get to the Magical Express in time for his 4:00 departure. If he did anything else, I'll mention it later.

Photos:

Last picture. I asked hubby for this one, and he snapped the next bus that came along. Good thing, too, because HIS bus was one of the boring yellow Mears buses. That's no fun at all.