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

Day 8 Hollywood Studios

We arrived at HS just after 10am. Of course FP for Toy Story were already gone but luckily we had FP+ for later on. We wandered around a bit then grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet. We saw Muppet Vision 3D and rode TOT. We also did the new Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow. It was ok. I certainly wouldn't wait in line for it. At the end when we moved out of the room I thought we were going into another room but we were outside. I thought "that's it?!" At least the CM had some good jokes before we went in. We tried the butterfinger cupcake and it lived up to the hype We saw the first showing of Fantasmic. Since it was raining we were worried they might cancel it but the show went on
After the show we walked over to Epcot for dinner. We ate at Sunshine Seasons. I had the Mongolian Beef and Erik had, well, I forget the name but there is a picture! Some sort of sandwich anyways. Both were good. Mine was spicier than I thought it would be. For some reason I skipped the pumpkin cheesecake. I regret that decision to this day After dinner we headed back to the room for the night.

We also stopped at Club Cool. I liked the new flavours. Erik LOVES Beverly. On this trip, Mr decided to try the Beverly. I think his face tells it all.

Day 9 Epcot/MK

Today started off pretty wet so we stayed in our room until the rain let up. We headed to Epcot in the afternoon and rode Test Track, Soarin and Spaceship Earth. We wandered around for awhile then headed to La Cantina de San Angel for dinner. We decided to split the nachos (and then a funnel cake ). The nachos were good but we're not really big fans of the "plastic" cheese. Real cheese would have been much better. Funnel cake is always good We stayed and watched Illuminations and then boarded the monorail for MK which had EMH that night.
We were meeting up with Mase and Jess at MK. We planned to meet in Adventureland by Pirates but when we hit Main St the electrical parade had started so we got held up. We finally made it and found them quickly. We chatted for a bit then went on Pirates and then BTMR. By the time we were done, the park was closing so we walked together out to the buses. They were such nice people! It's too bad we got held up by the parade, it would have been nice to chat a bit more. At least we got to meet them

Day 10 Lazy Sunday

This was a nice lazy day We slept in, got some lunch then lounged by the pool. I think this was the first time we've ever lounged by the pool. Usually we're too busy in the parks ( I guess the second week helps lol). It was nice but not something I could do often. A couple hours for a day is enough. It was a pretty hot day so it was a good day to pick for the pool . We also had an ice cream cookie sandwich to help cool off. We got to pick the cookie and ice cream flavour so we went with chocolate chip cookie and mint chip ice cream.
Since we were staying at All Star Movies, we decided to walk to the McDonalds for supper to get our Big Mac fix. The walk was nice and not all that far. Maybe 10 minutes. When we got back we ended our night with tea and Mickey bars.

Day 11 Magic Kingdom

Happy Birthday Mickey We figured we'd celebrate his birthday by spending it at MK. There were EMH that night as well. We slept in a bit then headed over to the Contemporary for lunch. We both had the turkey BLT at Contempo Cafe which was yummy. We've never been to the Contemporary before so we wandered around to check it out. The gingerbread tree was really cool! We then headed over to BLT to see what it was like (another stop on our DVC resort quest). We both liked the look of it. Obviously we couldn't check out the rooms but the pool area and lobby were nice. It smelled so fresh and clean and was really bright. We really loved the short walk to MK as well.
Since it was Mickey's birthday, our first stop was to see the Big Cheese himself at Town Theatre. He talks now! He doesn't interact with you the way the Princesses do though. It seems he asks you questions and then has responses. It was a bit delayed too but it was still pretty neat. After wishing him a happy birthday, we headed out to use our Fastpass+. First stop was Peter Pan and then the Speedway. We also did the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor for the first time. Wow, have we been missing out! It was not at all what we had expected and is now a must do. it's hilarious.
We had dinner at Pecos Bills. We watched the fireworks which are always spectacular. We've never seen the projections they do on the castle before the fireworks before so that was really cool. During the EMH we took advantage of the lower crowds and did many rides. We did Winnie the Pooh, Carousel of Progress, Buzz, People Mover and Dumbo. It was a great day

I almost forgot to mention that we tried both the Citrus Swirl and Dole Whip for the first time. We have been missing out on both of these for years

Day 12 Blizzard Beach

The weather was great so we headed to Blizzard Beach. The park wasn't all that busy either We did the tobaggan racers ( as usual I came up short and didn't cross the finish line ) We hung out in the lazy for a bit and did some more slides. We even did Summit Plummit. I can only handle that once though, I find it a bit painful but still fun. As we're not big water people, we usually only last a couple hours at a water park so we snacked on some mini doughnuts then headed back to the resort. We also did the mini putt at the Winter Summerland. I really enjoyed it, especially since it was free with the vouchers we got We actually had tied scores so no one could brag.
We spent the evening at Downtown Disney. We went to DisneyQuest again and had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. It was actually our first time eating there Erik had the Caribbean Jerk Chicken sandwich and I had the Buffalo Chicken wrap. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a sandwich. The wrap was good though but way to spicy for me. Next time I'm going with a sandwich! We also wanted to try the brownie creme sandwich but they were sold out We improvised though with another sundae from Ghirardelli. This time we went with a hot fudge brownie sundae After last trip we decided to start collecting pins so on our way back to the bus stop, we did some pin shopping. I think we bought about 20 pins in the 14 days we were there

Day 13 Animal Kingdom

Today started early with a visit to AK. We rode Everest, Primeval Whirl, the Safari, Kali River Rapids and watched the Lion King. Luckily it was a warm day because we got soaked in the rapids! We wandered the trails while drying out and watched the kangaroos for a bit. There seemed to be lots of animals out and about on the safari I've never seen so many giraffes. It rained a little bit in the afternoon but nothing crazy. We were still wet anyway so it didn't bother us We had lunch at Pizzafari and snacked on a jalapeno pretzel and a Mickey bar before heading back to the resort to do some laundry.
We had dinner reservations at T-Rex that night. It was good as usual and we left stuffed We did a bit more shopping on our way out then ended the night in the room with tea, cookies and Duck Dynasty

Day 14 Last day

Today started out how we felt....gloomy It was raining but we grabbed our umbrella and headed to MK anyway. We wanted to see rope drop (we have never seen it before. We attempted last year but missed it. They did it at 8 for EMH and we thought it'd be at 9 for regular opening). So this year, since there was once again EMH we left earlier. The bus took forever to show up at the resort. We finally got to MK only to discover we missed rope drop by about 2 minutes We were really bummed out so we headed for Gaston's Tavern to try and cheer ourselves up with a cinnamon roll. It helped. Since it was so early and EMH the park was really empty. Everything was walk on We met some of the Princess' (Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora). We did Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, BTMR, Splash Mountain (we hardly got wet at all), Small World, and Buzz. We had lunch at Sleepy Hollow, I tried the sweet and spicy chicken waffle sandwich and Erik had a waffle with strawberries. Both were good. We shopped our way down Main Street then caught a bus to Saratoga Springs. We'd been on a mission this trip to check out as many DVC resorts as possible. We didn't look around Saratoga Springs to much though. It was just SO big! So we headed back to the room for a nap.
We spent the night at Epcot. The rain which had actually let up when we got to MK that morning and held off most of the day had started again. We did some shopping, rode living with the land and watched Captain EO. We shared a Troll Horn from Norway (mmmm) then called it a night since it was still raining. We grabbed a pizza and headed to the room to start packing

Day 15 Check out Day

Oh the dreaded day! We got up around 9am and grabbed some snacks for the plane and ate some leftover pizza. We did our final packing and headed out to catch the ME. It started to rain on the way to the airport. We got to the airport, passed through security and then had plenty of time to spare. We got some beef empanadas for lunch. They were ok. Not nearly as good as the ones from the Argentina booth at F&W. We had an uneventful flight, flew through customs and got a shuttle to the hotel where my parents were picking us up. We arrived home to snow and cold temperatures Time to start planning the next trip I suppose. And with any luck, it'll be our first DVC trip

The Troll Horn was really good and very light!

I've already started planning the next one ( computer, blanket and tea at the ready). I can't plan too much though until we here about our DVC so right now I'm studying the DFB for snacks to try

Yep that was the cinnamon roll. It was huge and soooo good!