Spook's November 2013 2 week Trip Report-Completed!

Day 1 Arrival Day
Our flight from Toronto was at 10:35am. It was pretty uneventful (which is good i guess). We arrived in Orlando around 1:20pm. I love that we just get off the plane and head right for the ME We had a short wait before getting on the bus, then had 3 stops before us. Since we were at All Star Movies, we stopped at Coronoado Springs, All Star Sports and Music first. When we got to our resort, our room was ready so we dropped off our stuff and headed to the W&D expo. We got our race stuff and wandered around a bit. We didn't buy anything since they were out of the shirt I wanted We went back to our resort, grabbed a pizza and called it a night.

Day 2 HS and Race Day!
We attempted to go to EMH at HS from 8am-9am but that didn't happen. Instead we ended up getting there around 9:30am. We had Fastpass+ for Toy Story Mania, TOT and the Great Movie Ride. All the rides were good. I even won on TSM We had lunch at Studio Catering Co which was new for us. I had the spicy buffalo chicken sandwich and Erik had the greek salad. I liked the sandwich although the chicken was too big for the bun. I'm not a fan of greek salad so I didn't try Erik's, but he said it was good. We also hit up Writer's Stop (another first) for the much talked about carrot cake cookie. It was awesome! We also had a strawberry muffin which was yummy too.
We headed back to the resort around mid afternoon for nap to rest up for the race. We caught the bus to the Wide World of Sports around 7pm. The race started at 10 but since we were in Corral L (the very last corral) we didn't start until about 10:40. Not only did we start in the last corral, we were in the back of it! We had our work cut out for us but we managed to do ok. The race was great and I can't wait to do it again My knee acted up and by mile 10 we became walkers. I was disappointed but at least we finished. We had a time of 3:06. We were hoping to be under 3 hours but oh well. It was our first half so we're proud of what we did. We hit the afterparty for a bit and tried a couple things from the F&W Festival. We got back to the room at 4:20am

Awww that's too bad I was holding him pretty much the entire time but I guess he wasn't in view lol

Day 3 Epcot
Since we didn't get back to the room until 4am the night before, we needed to sleep in Once we got up we headed over to Epcot to use our Fastpass+ for Maelstrom and Test Track. I didn't mind the new version. We made a very ugly truck that I'm sure would be a disaster in reality Is it just me or are you on the outside track longer now?
After Test Track we headed over to the Land for our reservation at the Garden Grill. This is my favourite restaurant We went there for the first time last trip and loved it so we of course had to go back this trip. Well, this time around it was even better! Mostly because of our waiter Patrick. He was GREAT! He had really funny (yet cheesy) jokes, made sure we had everything we needed and then because we were celebrating our anniversary, he not only brought us out a special dessert but serenaded us as well! He sang Bella Notte from Lady and the Tramp but changed the lyrics from Bella Notte to "your anniverary". It was great. The food and characters were all fantastic too. The characters were loving Mr Penguin, he was a hit for sure. Unfortunatly the same can't be said for Cape May Cafe, but more on that later
After a wonderful time at the Garden Grill we headed to our Soarin fastpass. Even though i'm not a fan of heights, i can handle this ride. We decided to beat the bus rush and skip Illuminations since we had to get up early the next morning plus we'd be back at Epcot again to watch it then.

Day 4 Magic Kingdom
Today was an early start as we were doing the Behind the Steam Trains Tour at MK. We caught the bus at 6:45am The tour was fun. Erik is more into trains than I am so this was more for him but I had a great time as well. We went backstage to where the trains are parked and maintained, saw how they started them and rode around the park. We then learned more about Walt's love for trains and how he had his own mini train in his own yard. It was very interesting and we even got a special pin The tour lasted about 3 hours.
After the tour we wandered around the park. This was our first day at MK so far this trip so we checked out the Tangled area which we hadn't seen before. Tangled is my favourite movie so I was excited to see it even if it is mostly bathrooms and a rest area. We found 8 hidden Pascals, but I read somewhere that there are 10 so we'll be trying again next trip We had lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. I had the BBQ chicken flatbread and Erik had the Caprese one. Both were good. We also got a hot fudge cookie sundae from Storybook Treats. That was really good!
We hit up some rides while we were there too of course. We did BTMR, space mt, Buzz, and the haunted mansion. We also did the Tiki Room since we've never done it before. It was ok but I wouldn't rush back lol. We headed back to the resort around 3pm planning to hit the pool but instead we hit the nap zone. By the time we got up it was time for supper, then we just relaxed in the room for the night.

We thought we'd have to take a cab but they told us at the front desk that due to breakfast reservations and such, MK buses start running at 6:45am. We were very happy about that!

Thanks! Maybe next time we'll crack the 3 hour mark
Erik isn't a morning person either, I was surprised he wanted to do the tour lol

Day 5 Boardwalk

We got to sleep in a little longer today. We had a breakfast ADR at Cape May Cafe. It was our first time there and after hearing the good reviews we thought we'd try it out. It did not disappoint I'm not a big breakfast person ( I'm not a fan of eggs, pancakes, waffles) but I still managed 2 plates! The food was good as were the characters. Although I still think the character interaction at Garden Grill is my favourite. We got another special little dessert for our anniversary and a certificate. We also got pictures with Minnie, Goofy and Donald. Mr was again popular with Minnie and Goofy but Donald was not a fan. He didn't think much of Mr's mickey ears. He gave them the thumbs down and signed our autograph book "Donald Duck #1". He even dangled poor Mr upside down and threatened to eat him There are pics of that following this post.
After breakfast we wandered around the Beach Club resort. We were on a mission to check out all the DVC resorts. The Beach Club was nice but seemed more classy than I had expected. I thought it would feel more laid back and casual. Maybe it was because the Yacht Club was next door. We headed out to stroll around the Boardwalk and then went to check out the Boardwalk resort. It seemed pretty nice as well. We also noticed that they happened to have a model room open We went in and looked around, saw what the studio would be and the 1 bedroom and next thing we knew, we were in a van on our way to Saratoga Springs for the DVC tour! We met with our guide Josh and learned about how DVC works etc and then went to look at the models. We saw the ones for Aulani, AKL and GF. I quite liked the look of AKL. GF seemed WAY to classy for us. I mean tv screens in the bathroom mirrors? Really? After our tour we enjoyed the free ice cream and were given fastpasses (which we never ended up using )
We went back to our resort and went for a swim. We decided that since our time at the Boardwalk was cut short due to the tour, we headed back. There's a lot more action there at night. We had dinner at the Boardwalk to go kiosk (cheese sticks and fried ravioli mmmm) then finished it off with an apple tart from the bakery (another mmmm). After a bit more walking around, we called it a night and headed back to the room.

On a side note, we called the Timeshare Store tonight to put in an offer on a BLT contract

That's good to hear!

Day 6 Animal Kingdom

We arrived at AK shortly after 9AM and walked around a bit before doing a Bugs Life. We had Fastpass+ for Dinosaur, Everest and the Safari, all of which were good. We rode the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch but didn't get off there. We just wanted to ride the train We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ which was another first for us. It was really good! I got the chicken with cole slaw and baked beans. I loved the beans! The chicken was good too but a little hard to pick through. Erik had the ribs which he also enjoyed.
After lunch we headed over to check out AKL. It was nice and had a very calm and relaxing feel. it was cool to see the animals roaming around too. If our DVC goes through, we'll definatly try and stay there sometime (even more so now after reading how much Disneydoc loves it )
We left AKL and headed to MK to watch the Electrical parade. While we were waiting we hit up the speedway, small world and pirates. For some reason we had a really hard time finding a place to eat. Pecos Bills was packed and everywhere else we went was closed or had nothing on the menu that interested us. We decided to split a Mickey pretzel and a churro and then grab a pizza at the resort. The parade was great. It's one of my favourites. We beat most of the bus rush by skipping the fireworks.

Day 7 Downtown Disney

We slept in again today then headed to Downtown Disney. We did some shopping then headed over to Disneyquest. We learned how to draw Mickey ( Erik's was better than mine) and did the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We spent a couple hours there playing different games. Erik was hooked on Fix it Felix lol. We left and headed to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner. I had the chicken pot pie which was awesome! I still think about it! Erik had the mac and cheese which was pretty good as well. After dinner we headed over to Ghirrardelli. Can you believe this was our first time here? We got the Domingo sundae (bananas and hot fudge) and boy was it good We then headed back to the resort for some tea and laundry.