Nothing Can Stop Us Now! The End! Well almost, quick recap of Jan 22 trip! Update on April trip 4/21*

[disneyAndi14]

Hey Caroline! Catching up after almost of month of no DIS time! So sorry we missed each other this month; hopefully we meet up in 2022!

Yay welcome back to the Dis! I wish we could have seen each other this past trip. When is your next trip? We have at least 3 planned for 2022

Aren't they fun? We spent time talking to them last month as well.

They really were so cute and funny. I loved the decorations in Suess Land!

Love this parade, I think it's my favorite thing about Uni during the holidays.

We really enjoyed, Andi got a little bored and went to ride MIB but I stayed for The whole parade and had a decent spot!

Glad you liked it, I love it there! I find it fairly easy MOST of the time to get a walk up. And last month for our special Epcot party, some of our dishes were from Spice Road which I really appreciated!

It was such a good decision that day, I don’t know about you but the Holiday Kitchens were so packed when we were there! The food was delicious at SRT

LOL this burger cracks me up.

I know, it was tasty, it was on my list to try!

Gorgeous view from your Portofino room!

We loved our room and the view was beautiful!
Have a wonderful Christmas

 

[CruellaNY]

When is your next trip? We have at least 3 planned for 2022

Next up is March 6-11th after a night at Universal That's the only one in the books but you know there will be more!

Have a wonderful Christmas

Same to you and the family xoxo

 

[disneyAndi14]

Did we pay for Remy, did we do the cookie stroll, did we decide on something totally different?? Find out soon!

12/4/21 We decided to sleep in and go to DS mid morning instead of Epcot. We would be heading to Epcot for the evening.

A goal of mine was to see each park at nighttime.
I had bought the 50th refillable mug at POFQ and went to get us both some coffee and Mickey beignets. The beignets were delicious. Freshly made and powder sugary goodness. We got the 3 pack with the caramel dipping sauce.

We loved these, we each had one and split the 3rd one.

I wanted to take the boat to DS on this beautiful morning except the line was huge. We decided to do the bus instead.

We had made a lunch reservation on open table at 11:15 for our favorite Mexican place in DS. Frontera Cocina.

Our first stop was getting the 50th AP card and a button to celebrate Andi’s birthday. Her birthday had been on 11/26. She is now 22, so hard to believe!

DS was busy already at 11:00 am! We went to check in for our reservation and requested the outside patio if possible.

We did get seated quickly and had a really nice table out in the glorious sunshine. We could never sit outside at home so this is such a treat.

We love getting appetizers and margaritas from here and this is exactly what we did. I had the house made lime margarita and Andi had a spicy one. Both hit the spot.

We had the queso dip, chips, salsa, and the house made guacamole . Everything was very fresh and delicious. I also ordered the chicken taquitos. These are my favorite, very fresh, perfectly fried with a nice crunch and the Mexican cheese on top is so tasty. We once again had a relaxing lunch, this maybe the way to tour Disney now lol This report is mostly food related.






We finished up and walked around a little at DS, we checked out a few stores and the decorated trees. I loved the Coco one.

The Springs was getting very busy and crowded so we decided to head back to POFQ and rest for awhile. We took the boat back and it was such a nice relaxing ride.

By the way, I did book Remy again, however I paid the 8 dollars a person for us, so worth it. Our time slot was around 4-5pm.

Here are some pictures around the resort.








Stay tuned for the surprise hit of the trip!

 

[disneyAndi14]

The surprise hit of the trip!

It was time to head into Epcot, we made our way in and headed back to France. We checked out the booths along the way and jammed packed again. We did see Pierre Noel in France and listened to him for a few minutes.

There was a PP spot with Remy in a magic shot and we did this before entering the ride queue. Once we got to the ride, we couldn’t believe the difference with the paid attraction line, wow, I felt like a celebrity, lol. Virtually no wait at all. We were on and off the ride in a total of maybe 10 minutes at the most.

We got the front row of our rat this time and we liked it better then the back row. The ride is very cute. I would definitely pay to ride this again to avoid the long queue.

We left the crazy busy WS without getting one single cookie on the stroll, boo The wait times at the booths was just way too long for us.

We rode Nemo, looked at the aquarium for awhile and then headed out to watch the beacon’s show. Wow, why didn’t Disney think about lighting SE before 2021! It is amazing, I loved this. It is beautiful and changes the feeling of Epcot at night.






Absolutely lovely. We got a few pictures done with SE in the background.




We had a special dinner with Lesley and Karamie at 6:30pm Space 220!! This review complete with pictures is coming up next, spoiler best meal of the trip for so many reasons!!

I also was able to ride LWTL at night with the Christmas overlay, another AHA moment. Amazing. The narration is even different. This was one of the highlights of this trip most definitely. We were all full and tired after LWTL except Lesley she was staying for Harmonious.




Space 220 next

 

[disneyAndi14]

Space 220

We met up for our reservation and soon we were blasting off in space. This is a really cool experience as we ascend to our space station.
Vegetables growing in space


Once in the restaurant, it really is an out of this world experience.

Our table was not directly in front of the large windows, however we had an excellent view of all the space activity.

We even saw some nods to Star Wars with a few astronauts having a light saber duel and a tie fighter going by. There was so much going on out there, really a fun experience. This restaurant is a prixe fixed menu, including an appetizer, entree and dessert.

Andi had the Atomospritz to drink, this is the drink with cotton candy.

Thanks google, mine is a video and it won’t work for me.
I had the Celetial Cosmopolitan, loved both of these drinks and they packed a punch.

I started with the Starry Calamari, this was delicious, very tender with just the right amount of a light crispy batter. It came with 2 dipping sauces and my favorite was the roasted pepper aioli


Andi had the Blue Moon Cauliflower without the blue cheese dust

Lesley had the calamari and Karamie had the Big Bang Burrata and they both loved their appetizers.

I decided on the 8 oz. Filet Mignonette, this came with a Cabernet butter, potato leek croquette and haricot vert

I loved my filet, it was a perfect medium rare and tasted delicious. The sides were also yummy. I loved the croquette.

Andi had the Roasted free range chicken, she really enjoyed this and the brussel sprouts and mashed potato sides were delicious.


Lesley had the same as I did and Karamie had the Florida Red Snapper. She loved this. I had a taste and totally agree.

We really enjoyed the meal, our waiter was fantastic and the meal was paced just right.

Karamie and I had the StickyToffee pudding cake and this was another hit. It had a delicious caramel drizzle and toffee bits, loved it.


Andi had the Lemon Mousse, this was light with blueberries and lemon curd with a circle of white chocolate.


Lesley had the chocolate cheesecake. I had a little taste and this was a hit as well.

We were all shocked how much we enjoyed this meal and all 4 of us said it was the best meal we have had at Disney in awhile and was number one for this trip.

I highly recommend trying this experience at least once.

I have to admit when I first saw the menu, I wasn’t really impressed but wow it was awesome.

We enjoyed visiting so much It was really nice to spend the evening with my Dis friends.

Stay tune for the best day at AK, loved it!

 

[paradesintherain]

Yay for December trip!! Your meal at Frontera looks so peaceful. Fully agree, Space 220 was the best meal of my trip too. Maybe best meal I've had at Disney in a while. Totally took me by surprise! I also love that picture of us all in the restaurant! I think I missed the first part of December trip, so I'm going to go read that now.

 

[paradesintherain]

I did miss some! You make Universal seem so fun, I really need to spend some more time there.

I had the new sugar cookie cold brew

I loooove this drink! And I first had it at Disney so now it'll always remind me of Disney

Aww this is such a great photo! Well done, Andi!

Love this! I'm a sucker for pictures with parade/fireworks signs

 

[pkondz]

A goal of mine was to see each park at nighttime.

Mine too. The parks have a completely different atmosphere at night, don't they?

The beignets were delicious. Freshly made and powder sugary goodness.

Mmmm... yes please!

When I first saw this photo, I thought you were holding a gold, sparkling ornament!

I wanted to take the boat to DS on this beautiful morning except the line was huge. We decided to do the bus instead.

Really! I've never taken the bus from the Port Orleans resorts, only the boat.

We had made a lunch reservation on open table at 11:15 for our favorite Mexican place in DS. Frontera Cocina.

I've heard good things. Sounds like you had a good experience.

We could never sit outside at home so this is such a treat.

You could... you'd just need a parka.

Too kool for skool!

I also ordered the chicken taquitos. These are my favorite, very fresh, perfectly fried with a nice crunch and the Mexican cheese on top is so tasty.

That does sound good.

We took the boat back and it was such a nice relaxing ride.

I love that boat ride.
I think that makes POFQ/POR much more attractive as resorts.

They look like they're just out for a stroll.

We did see Pierre Noel in

Not sure if that's a typo or not? It's Père Noël. Father Christmas, not Peter Christmas.

What a great Magic shot!

We left the crazy busy WS without getting one single cookie on the stroll, boo

Well, shoot.

looked at the aquarium for awhile

I miss it. Need to do that again.

Wow, why didn’t Disney think about lighting SE before 2021! It is amazing, I loved this.

I can't wait to see it. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to maybe get there this summer.

That's a nice little effect.

We had a special dinner with Lesley and Karamie at 6:30pm Space 220!!

Oh!
Yours is the first review of Space that I've seen.

I also was able to ride LWTL at night with the Christmas overlay, another AHA moment.

I had no idea they did that.

The narration is even different.

But I even had less of an idea that they did that!

We met up for our reservation and soon we were blasting off in space.

Cooool

We even saw some nods to Star Wars with a few astronauts having a light saber duel and a tie fighter going by.

Hmmm... Not sure how I feel about that. I think Star Wars has enough coverage already.

Interesting plate/presentation.

We were all shocked how much we enjoyed this meal and all 4 of us said it was the best meal we have had at Disney in awhile and was number one for this trip.

Really!
Food certainly all looked good.

Love the view!

 

[Disneyhanna]

The trip sounds so much more pleasant when you are fully mobile again! Glad the party was better than Boo Bash, I know everyone loves Boo to You but something about seeing the Christmas floats with the soap snow is so special for the holidays! Such a great way to kick off the season! Looks like lots of good eats, I'm very intrigued by Space 220 and glad to hear you enjoyed it! I'm with you on just paying for Remy, I have yet to ride it but I waited 45-60 minutes twice in Disneyland recently and thought my legs would fall off, I am just not used to that after being so spoiled by FP. I think my limit is more like 30 min and even that is a stretch, so I will definitely follow your advice and pay for the ILL! Those lights on SE look so beautiful, that's a really nice picture of you and Andi in front of it!

 

[amazingact21]

Sounds like this trip had some really nice moments. SE at night is one of my top sights to see when I go back. Just looks so beautiful!
Great to hear such a positive review of Space 220. The prixe fixed menu makes me hesitate to try and book there, but it sounds like every course was a hit for you! Not to mention, it must have been a nice, relaxing way to end the evening after seeing how busy Epcot was and DS earlier in the day.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Loved you latest update of Epcot at night and Space 220. I am always wary of price fixe menus but your food did look very tasty and it sounds like a perfect way to end the day

 

[Steppesister]

Christmas time at Disney is so magical, I really loved it!

:

I know you have a trip coming up soon, I hope it is a really fun one!

OH me too! Have some DISMeets planned but tons of solo time.

DS was busy already at 11:00 am! We went to check in for our reservation and requested the outside patio if possible.

I'll have to remember there is a patio to enjoy here! I am super hoping my weather is nice enough for outside patio time!

We had the queso dip, chips, salsa, and the house made guacamole . Everything was very fresh and delicious. I also ordered the chicken taquitos. These are my favorite, very fresh, perfectly fried with a nice crunch and the Mexican cheese on top is so tasty.

Have an ADR here next week and still not sure what I"m going to order!

There was a PP spot with Remy in a magic shot and we did this before entering the ride queue. Once we got to the ride, we couldn’t believe the difference with the paid attraction line, wow, I felt like a celebrity, lol. Virtually no wait at all. We were on and off the ride in a total of maybe 10 minutes at the most.

Still on the fence whether I"m going to pony up for this or not.

We left the crazy busy WS without getting one single cookie on the stroll, boo The wait times at the booths was just way too long for us.

OH no! Cookie fail!

I also was able to ride LWTL at night with the Christmas overlay, another AHA moment. Amazing. The narration is even different. This was one of the highlights of this trip most definitely.

Another reason to get another Christmas trip in. This is a favorite ride of mine and I'd love to see a different rendition.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Yay for December trip!! Your meal at Frontera looks so peaceful. Fully agree, Space 220 was the best meal of my trip too. Maybe best meal I've had at Disney in a while. Totally took me by surprise! I also love that picture of us all in the restaurant! I think I missed the first part of December trip, so I'm going to go read that now.

The trip was wonderful and seeing you and Lesley was another highlight most definitely!
We love Frontera, it is always good solid food and a tasty margarita. This was the first time sitting out on the patio and we loved it out there.
Space 220 was such a hit. I am so glad Lesley got us all the reservation! It was my favorite meal of the trip! If I go again, I am getting your appetizer and entrée!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I did miss some! You make Universal seem so fun, I really need to spend some more time there.

We have really started to enjoy our time at USO, it was way less crowded there during our couple days and this really helped! I loved seeing all the Christmas fun there!

I loooove this drink! And I first had it at Disney so now it'll always remind me of Disney

I had my first at Universal, I have bought it at least 3-4 more times since the first one, yummy!

Aww this is such a great photo! Well done, Andi!

Thank you, as you notice not to many of Andi this trip, the ones I took she was not happy with, lol I do not have the phone photo skills down like she does!

Love this! I'm a sucker for pictures with parade/fireworks sign

Thanks for doing this, it is really cute and we didn’t get many pictures of our time together!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Mine too. The parks have a completely different atmosphere at night, don't they?

Yes, such a different vibe and at Christmas time even more so!

When I first saw this photo, I thought you were holding a gold, sparkling ornament!

Haha! It was so delicious and made to order, yummy beignets! Special touch shaped liked Mickey.

Really! I've never taken the bus from the Port Orleans resorts, only the boat.

We rarely do but the boat would have been over an hour I’m sure with the crowd waiting!

I've heard good things. Sounds like you had a good experience.

We love Frontera and Andi loves Mexican food!

You could... you'd just need a parka.

We would definitely need a parka and mittens, scarf, boots, etc…

I love that boat ride.
I think that makes POFQ/POR much more attractive as resorts.

It is so relaxing, we had a new captain training and the other captain was telling us how hard it is to steer those boats, it was interesting getting a lesson! Plus the weather was spectacular!

Not sure if that's a typo or not? It's Père Noël. Father Christmas, not Peter Christmas.

Oh I’m sure, not up on my French, lol either way he was fun to listen to!

What a great Magic shot!

It really is and we didn’t get to many PP pictures this trip so I’m glad we did this one!

I miss it. Need to do that again.

It was actually quiet in there amidst the busy bustling Epcot! We love the aquarium

can't wait to see it. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to maybe get there this summer.

I hope you get to travel to Disney this summer!

Oh!
Yours is the first review of Space that I've seen

Other than the vloggers on YouTube I haven’t seen any reviews either!

I had no idea they did that.

So cool and a must do if there at Christmas time!

Hmmm... Not sure how I feel about that. I think Star Wars has enough coverage already.

I love SW so it was cool to see. There also is a mission space vehicle out there as well!

Really!
Food certainly all looked good.

Yes we loved it! Food, atmosphere, and dinner mates!

 

[disneyAndi14]

The trip sounds so much more pleasant when you are fully mobile again! Glad the party was better than Boo Bash, I know everyone loves Boo to You but something about seeing the Christmas floats with the soap snow is so special for the holidays! Such a great way to kick off the season! Looks like lots of good eats, I'm very intrigued by Space 220 and glad to hear you enjoyed it! I'm with you on just paying for Remy, I have yet to ride it but I waited 45-60 minutes twice in Disneyland recently and thought my legs would fall off, I am just not used to that after being so spoiled by FP. I think my limit is more like 30 min and even that is a stretch, so I will definitely follow your advice and pay for the ILL! Those lights on SE look so beautiful, that's a really nice picture of you and Andi in front of it!

Hi there! Yes it was so much better without all the ankle problems!
I think adding the parade and fireworks elevated this after hours for me. Even getting snoap in my eye, I loved seeing the fake stuff covering Mainstreet.
Paying the ILL price is worth it especially during busy times!
I miss FP so much, it worked very well for us and Genie+ does not!
SE at night is amazing, that big beautiful ball looks even better now! I love it!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Sounds like this trip had some really nice moments. SE at night is one of my top sights to see when I go back. Just looks so beautiful!
Great to hear such a positive review of Space 220. The prixe fixed menu makes me hesitate to try and book there, but it sounds like every course was a hit for you! Not to mention, it must have been a nice, relaxing way to end the evening after seeing how busy Epcot was and DS earlier in the day.

Thank you! This trip was wonderful in so many ways, the crowds and dealing with ILLs and Genie not so much but everything else we loved. Christmas time at the Orlando Theme Parks is amazing to experience.
I did meet my goal of seeing each park at night and I am so glad I did!
I was thinking the time we were going would be less crowded but wow it felt like spring break/Easter time to us!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Loved you latest update of Epcot at night and Space 220. I am always wary of price fixe menus but your food did look very tasty and it sounds like a perfect way to end the day

Thank you! Nighttime in Epcot was beautiful and experiencing LWTL at night was amazing!
Space 220 was such a surprising hit I was going in with low expectations and wow I loved it. The atmosphere, experience and the food all 5 stars for me!

 

[disneyAndi14]

OH me too! Have some DISMeets planned but tons of solo time.

Have a wonderful trip!

I'll have to remember there is a patio to enjoy here! I am super hoping my weather is nice enough for outside patio time!

If the weather is agreeable I would sit out there, it is very quiet and beautiful! The inside of the restaurant is very nice but can be very loud with the high ceilings

Have an ADR here next week and still not sure what I"m going to order!

I recommend everything we had, so fresh and yummy!

Still on the fence whether I"m going to pony up for this or not.

I would definitely pay for Remy to experience it at least once. The virtual queue is still an average wait of 40 minutes and if it is busy even longer!

OH no! Cookie fail!

Big fail for accomplishing that on my list. Believe me I have made up for it this week with Christmas cookies at home. Ugh, sugar free diet starting soon, lol

Another reason to get another Christmas trip in. This is a favorite ride of mine and I'd love to see a different rendition.

Yes, who would think adding the Christmas overlay would change it up so much and make me very happy! Maybe it will still be there when you go In January, fingers crossed!

 

[disneyAndi14]

How can puppets make me so happy??

Before I start this update, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday season. We had a very nice Christmas weekend with both Jack and Andi here with us. We stayed small with just the 4 of us. It was spent visiting, eating delicious food, drinking yummy wine and cherishing our time together!

Now today, we are having a true Minnesota blizzard, yuck! We have at least 8 inches of new snow and the winds are whipping so much it is near white out conditions at times. Welcome to northern Minnesota in December!

I am very glad both kids left yesterday before the snow started.

Now back to beautiful Florida the polar opposite of Minnesota in the winter

Today was 12/4/21, AK day!

Andi and I started out early enough to make the 30 minute extra park time. I am not going to lie, this can be stressful. Ugh!

When we got into the park and it was already 8:28 and we were still being held back by the Tree of Life, we changed courses quickly.

The plan was to ride FoP right away, well we instead went to Navi River Journey. This was just way less stressful and way less mobbed!


This was a nice leisurely river ride with amazing colors and the large Shaman animatronic was working! We missed her in August. I heard she is down again and replaced with the screen so we were lucky to see her working.

I did pay for FoP at this time for later in the evening. We wanted to see the park at night and this worked perfect for us. Originally, I didn’t want to pay for the ILL selections, however, I decided this worked for us with the crowd levels high.

We headed to Dinosaur rode twice with very little wait.


Next up was Everest for Andi, she walked right on in the single rider line x 2, yay!


We decided on the trails next and wow it was amazing!

First, we saw the bats actually flying around and a CM feeding them. This was so cool. I have never seen the bats active, ever!!

Things got even more amazing, when the younger female tiger was pacing, jumping, and roaring, what?? This was so cool. The CM told us she was in heat and calling for a mate, bummer none available for her.

Her mom, was in another enclosure and she was very vocal as well, telling the daughter to chill out. This was very cool.

The trails were low crowds this early and we had a VIP experience. Pro tip, do not miss the trails at AK, amazing adventures can be had!!

The Gorilla trail was next and again amazing. We got to see Grace playing with her mom, she is 2 now! We also got to see the newest baby Ada clinging to her mom, it was precious. The teen gorillas were goofing around and Gino, the big silver back was just overseeing all the activity. No Genie+ or extra payment required for this wonderful experience!!

I was loving our morning here, no wonder this is my favorite park! Sorry no pictures, just to busy taking it all in!

I was texting with Lesley and Karamie. They had just entered the park. We planned to meet up later with them for an extra FoP opportunity, thanks to Lesley. It would be cutting it close to our lunch ADR at Sanaa but I was going to risk it!

Andi and I went to the front of the Tree and yay, we got to see the magical menagerie of the puppet animals! Another AHA moment. I loved this, these animals were so interactive and the CMs working with them awesome! I was feeling giddy and like a 5 year old girl watching this. Disney this is why I love you










This was a treat like none other and I fell in love with this experience. Both Lesley and Karamie did as well, they both bought the plush versions and have named their new friends!


After this, I did not think we could see anything better, well stay tuned because we sure did!!