"See the Line Where the Guests Meet the Mouse? It Calls Me..." March 2017 *New Post 7/4*

[blancah76]

Following! Everything is going so perfectly so far, can't wait to read more!

 

[dolewhipsareforlovers]

following!! excited to hear the rest!

 

[gracer9977]

Following!!

 

[amazingact21]

Joining along! I can't wait to read about your fun Spring Break Disney vacation; it sounds like it was off to a great start.

 

[Tracy161]

Sounds like a great start to your vacation! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[WonderWoman28]

So excited to follow along

 

[dancingtodisney]

Following along!

 

[Euby]

Following as well

 

[smilerjones]

Joining in!

 

[AlliGirl]

Following along! Can't wait to read more

Yay! I see you are a Pop Century fan like us!

You both seem like so much fun! So excited to hear about the rest of your trip!

Thank you! The quote under your profile pictures is one of my favorites!

Following Along! Looks to be an exciting trip.

Wow, jealous of your upcoming Aulani trip!!!

Following along....sounds like a great start!

It was a great travel day! I hope you also have an easy departure day on your upcoming trip!

 

[AlliGirl]

Following! Everything is going so perfectly so far, can't wait to read more!

It was such a great, easy day! Thanks for following along!

following!! excited to hear the rest!

Yay! Thanks for following!

Following!!

Joining along! I can't wait to read about your fun Spring Break Disney vacation; it sounds like it was off to a great start.

It was a great trip that started off perfectly!

Sounds like a great start to your vacation! Can't wait to read more!!!

I worry a lot on travel days so the easy day was exactly what I needed to be in vacation mode!

So excited to follow along

Following along!

Following as well

Thanks! Your trip is getting really close! AKL is fabulous!

Joining in!

Yay! Your stay at Pop must be getting close! We are big fans!



Thanks for following along everybody! We are pumped to get more updates out knowing that we have so many great people to share our fun with!

 

[amy1115]

It was a great travel day! I hope you also have an easy departure day on your upcoming trip!

Me too! We usually drive (20 hours ) but I'm choosing to ignore my fear of flying so we can have a couple of more days on our vacation instead of spending
the time driving! A couple of adult beverages may be consumed before take off......

 

[FreddyMercury]

We usually drive (20 hours ) but I'm choosing to ignore my fear of flying so we can have a couple of more days on our vacation

Yea. Gotta say that it was totally worth the 6:00 A.M. flight if it meant getting to our hotel before noon. Drink as many adult beverages as you want. Let them judge. Planes be scary, yo.

 

[BippityBrittany]

following along! cant wait to read more

 

[AlliGirl]

I just wanted to let you guys know that our next update won't quite be up before the weekend is over! I worked on it for a long time today, but we ended up going our friends' house for dinner and didn't get to finish it quite yet. We fully intend to finish it tomorrow, Monday, night. However we are in the very early stages of planning a potential trip with our friends that would be a Disney trip unlike anything we've ever done before, only time will tell if we'll actually go through with it!

See ya real soon!
-Alli and Scott

 

[AlliGirl]

Travel Day Part Two: Disney Springs​

Where we last left you, dear reader, we had just passed under the magical arches announcing that it was official, we were on Disney World property! As I mentioned in our last post, we had also received our room assignment via text message while we were sitting on the Magical Express, perfect timing! In our last post, I forgot to include the screenshot of our spreadsheet for this day, there’s not much to it since our plans were pretty loose.

When we arrived at the second stop on the Magical Express, Pop Century, we saw that the Magical Express that we hadn’t made it on to was sitting right in front of us, so I guess we made great time! You know how antsy you get when you’re finally THERE and eager to just get going? It seems like something always happens in those moments. Well, there’s one designated spot for the Magical Express to pull into in front of the resort and unload from, and the Magical Express that was in front of us got stuck there for at least 5 minutes or more because some guests forgot to take their luggage with them. The driver waited next to the baggage he had taken out from below the bus for a couple minutes, presumably to see if the guests would come back for the bags, and then he was stuck with the bags and went to carry them to luggage services. All the while, we were so close to being able to unload, yet so far.


When we were able to pull into the correct spot, we hopped right off, made sure to actually take our bags with us, and popped inside the lobby. We were greeted by a line that I had to take a panorama of in order to properly display just how many people were queuing up there!

There was also a school group right inside the front doors, with several adults trying to pass out credentials to all the kids as they excitedly took pictures and talked. I was very glad to not be a teacher in charge, and instead be just a vacationer with no real responsibilities! I was already very happy that our room text had come before we arrived at the resort, but after seeing the line, I was ecstatic. In retrospect, if we hadn’t already gotten our assignment, I probably would’ve opted to just leave our bags without waiting in line to check in and headed off anyway and waited on the text.


We were in the 70’s section, room #218 (we think, we can’t remember exactly! BUT it was definitely the 2nd floor of the Big Wheel building).

We had requested “close to transportation” and “close to lobby” on our online check-in. We were pleased with our location and room, the walk wasn’t the shortest it could’ve been, but it wasn’t too long either. There was a path you could walk along the parking lot to get to the bus lane, but when you arrive you’re at the very farthest end and we ended up running to catch a bus we saw finishing up loading at least once.

Scott: After lifeguarding at Pop for a few months, I know it better than I do any other resort. I was happy with our placement in the 70's for one reason... No pool! No screaming children or poolside activities to disrupt our peaceful silence. Not like it mattered, because we were never even in the room while the sun was up.


So our flight touched down at 9:15 Eastern time, and we were in our room at 11:00. Disney’s free transportation from the airport is honestly awesome, comfortable, and the perfect transition into vacation mode.


We unpacked our bags, hung up our clothes, and freshened up a bit and were on the bus to Disney Springs at around 11:45. I liked that the bus narration now includes just a little bit of information about the different neighborhoods of Disney Springs.

​

This was our first visit to Disney Springs since May 2015, so a LOT had changed. It was easy to fill hours of time here for us, and I definitely suggest visiting here, and even allowing a big enough portion of your day that you can eat multiple meals and snacks here, if you’re interested in food like us!


We thought the drop off location for the buses was a little bit odd, because we walked into Disney Springs through a sort of alleyway instead of having a more grand entrance. But that may have had more to do with where the Pop bus drops you off. However, this little alleyway did have a restroom, and that was one of the things I noticed the most about the new areas of Disney Springs, there were so many restrooms!

​

Scott was feeling hungry and wanted a snack, so we hopped in line at The Daily Poutine, which was a place we knew we wanted to try. Did anyone ever get a chance to try the waffle fries with toppings from the Golden Oak Outpost in Frontierland? Goodness, they were DELICIOUS!!! In May 2015, we tried the poutine like variety with brown gravy and cheese curds, and we’re so sad that they disappeared shortly thereafter.

​

So, we were pumped to try this new poutine offering, and didn’t mind waiting a little while in line. It seemed like they were waiting on fresh fries, because the line was pretty backed up and then everyone started moving quickly. They had several varieties of poutine to choose from, including a seasonal variety for St. Patrick’s, and a couple unique beers and cocktails.


We thought that the classic poutine and the French poutine both sounded really good, but once we saw the massive portions being served, we decided to just split one order. We chose the French poutine, since this variety seemed a bit more unique.

​

After we had been waiting in direct sunlight for a little while, Scott sent me to go scope out somewhere to sit. Of course, the handful of tables and chairs directly in the area were all in use, so I walked a little further out and saw a large area of low stone walls shaded by trees. I joined Scott back in line, where we waited for our snack and then we made our way back to the area between the Lego store and T-REX. They had a new mural on the wall that many people were waiting to take pictures by. Later on, as we crossed the pedestrian bridge, we saw that there was a cool little offset with a couple tables that would’ve made for a nice seat, but I didn’t venture out that far, oops!

​

The French poutine was simply amazing. It was everything good: salty, cheesy, crunchy, and rich and flavorful from the mushroom sauce. We highly recommend this! We even spent a minute trying to capture just how nice and cheesy the fries were, because it wasn’t covered in your usual dry preshredded cheese, but fresh cheese that was nice and stringy as you pulled your next bite from the bowl.

​

Scott: Guys...... GUYYYYYYYS...Do you see that? Do you?? This poutine was made for me. If I made a list of my favorite foods, it would go like this: 1) Cheese 2) Potatoes in any form 3) Mushrooms 4) Anything smothered in any sort of gravy. First meal for this Disney trip and it was a massive home run. 10 stars.

Unless you have a large or very hungry family, we think one poutine is enough! Also, ours was served very, very hot, so definitely give it a minute to cool down.


After our hunger was satisfied, we talked about our plan for seeing all of Disney Springs. We decided to head to the very edge of the Marketplace, where the buses used to drop off and then wind back through the new areas. It can be difficult to see everything in Disney Springs because there are so many different areas and clusters of shops and restaurants now. Even when we were being conscious of this, we realized a couple times that we hadn’t seen this shop or that restaurant and had to go back and retrace our steps to find it.


So, we crossed the bridge, and headed back into the familiar territory of the Marketplace. We stopped in the Art of Disney, and then headed into the Christmas shop to look for a 2017 ornament. Scott wanted to collect the pin set of the old Epcot pavilion logos, and he spotted a cast member with two of the logos, but she was talking to some guests. We wandered all around the shop, checking out each of the ornaments, to see if any of them would be coming home with us. We’re honestly very picky about souvenirs. I rarely purchase anything extraneous or unnecessary, and combined with the fact that Scott is vehemently against glitter entering our home in any form, we didn’t find an ornament that quite fit the bill. Even after looking at all the ornaments, the cast member Scott saw when we first came in was still talking to the same guests, so Scott moved on and left the pins behind.

We also stopped in Mickey’s Pantry, and I was thinking I’d pick up some of my favorite Disney tea, Mad Tea Party Blend. However, I didn’t see any tins of this tea individually. Last trip, I bought a tin of loose tea that lasted for quite a while. There are still the same sets with boxes of various tea bags, however we’ve tried one of these sets before and found most of the teas’ flavors undesirable. This was one of the things I’d already decided to buy before the trip, and we never did end up finding it. So, maybe they aren’t doing the tins of loose teas anymore.


Scott and I then headed to a very random but special location to us: the place we met for the first time! There used to be a newspaper machine located back behind Ghiradelli’s, where Guest Relations used to be located before the Disney Springs overhaul. Back in this offset corner is where Scott and I first met, and then we sat on the low brick wall outside Tren-D and talked for a long time. We always have to take a commemorative photo in this area!

​

We went into the Marketplace Co-Op, where we saw a lot of tempting items! Unfortunately they didn’t have the items I was looking for, a set of glasses we purchased back in 2015 but have somehow broken both of since then. They were so cute! Oh well.


The Neverland line in the home area of the Co-Op is beautiful and classic. Scott picked up a really cool tumbler glass in the 28th and Main shop, which you will definitely appreciate if you have visited Disneyland’s Adventureland!

​

We have paid a quarter for a prescription from Shrunken Ned himself before, so this cup was a must have! Plus it was only $9.95, which is a lot lower in price than most of the 28th and Main merchandise, which tends to be very pricy! I really like several of the products in the TAG shop as well, but nothing I needed to take home. Have you guys seen the new dress shop added to the Co-Op?! Wow…even for $120, I may need some of those dresses! My favorite is the Alice and Wonderland themed dress, as I’m a big tea drinker, but the Mary Blair/Small World inspired dress is one I really want as well! Hmm…I may have to think about it on my upcoming mother/daughter trip (more on that later!)


We wound our way through the rest of the Marketplace and then headed back into Town Center on a mission to our next destination: The Coca-Cola Store.

Scott: Let me take a second to say that it is simply insane what they have created with Disney Springs. The area is gorgeous.

I’m a huge fan of Coca-Cola. I love the drink, but I also really love the classic red and white merchandise, so this was a feast for my eyes! There was so much awesome merchandise in here! Mostly, I saw things I’d like to have in my kitchen, but basically, if you can think of it, they had it. The quality of the merchandise was also really nice for the most part, and they even had some items specific to this Orlando location. We made our way to the elevator. This is a three-story building, with the first story being merchandise, the second story has more merchandise and the character meet and greet with the Coca-Cola polar bear, and the third story is the rooftop bar.


We were headed to the bar with a special experience in mind! While this rooftop bar is an awesome place to hang out, and provides nice views of Disney Springs, it did have one major issue. From where the elevator doors open, the entrance to the queue for the bar is on the opposite side. So each time an elevator full of people would walk into this area, it would cause an awkward conglomeration of people unsure of where to go. Therefore, for people that walked around and got in the queue, there were people coming out of the elevator, gathering in an area next to the queue and cutting them without realizing. I don’t know that I did a very adequate job of explaining the dilemma very well, but they definitely need some signage or ropes directing guests coming out of the elevators. When we able to make our way up to the counter, we ordered the International Tray off the Tastes of the World portion of the menu.

This consisted of sixteen sparkling and still beverages from all around the world. It only costs $8.50, so I was expecting each cup to be about an ounce of the drink, but we were surprised that each cup was about 4 ounces. You get two trays, each with eight cups, and a small envelope with a pamphlet in it. When you move each cup, there is a number below it that corresponds to the pamphlet so you can read each drink’s name and where in the world it’s from.

For $9 I thought this was a really fun experience! We also considered doing the float tray, but since each of those just had vanilla ice cream inside, and the flavors were very typical, we decided against it.


When we were seated with our drinks, we obviously stopped for a few pictures. I posted a picture with Scott and our drinks to Facebook, announcing that we were officially back in our happy place, and a flood of happy comments started pouring in, which is always fun.

We took turns reading to each other the flavor from the pamphlet and tasting them back and forth. Some of the flavors were pretty unusual or out there (including every one’s favorite from Club Cool, Beverly!) but none of them were offensive in any way to me, if anything I just found them interesting. There was a family next to us that took one milliliter sized sips out of each cup and acted as if a lot of them were repulsive, which I found funny.


When we first sat down with our trays, a random man came up to us and asked “what is this challenge?” I explained that it was just a selection of drinks that Coca-Cola sells around the world. I don’t know why he felt it was necessary, but he started saying something negative, indicating that it was weird and wished us good luck sarcastically on the “challenge.” I guess he thought we were going to attempt to drink all sixteen drinks or something? Anyway, I thought it was weird to approach random people and then act disapproving of their choice. It’s a really popular menu item, now let me drink some sodas in peace, dude!

Scott: He said something along the lines of "You actually paid money for that?"... Nah we walked up to the bar and said HIT US WITH THAT CHALLENGE and they just gave us these million cups of soda.. FOR FREE...


We had a lot of fun with this, and went back for more sips of our favorite drinks, but we definitely couldn’t have finished them all. Some of the drinks seemed like something you would sip, and not gulp down with a straw anyway.


When we left the rooftop bar, we were determined to not get packed back into the elevator again, as it was kind of a miserable experience the first time. We saw a sign indicating stairs and went through the door, but discovered it was a huge ramp wrapping around all three stories of the building. This ramp was a much better option as it was deserted, but it also had interesting information about Coca-Cola displayed along your walk. Plus, it provided you with a really cool look at the story behind this building. As with all of the new developments at Disney Springs, the Coca-Cola Store has a backstory that explains its place within the history of the Springs. The store has a modern façade, but when you walk on the ramp, you’re walking between the glass and metal of the modern outside and the “old” bottling factory that is the core of the building. I thought it was really cool and I recommend using this pathway to get up and down!

Scott: They were also playing some pretty hip tunes, and Alli could no longer keep her inner dancer at bay.

​

​

After we were packed to the brim with bubbly drinks, we ventured back out and continued our walking tour. Someday we really want to eat at Boathouse! Though, with Paddlefish now, it’s a tough decision between the two!

We had another destination in mind, but as were still full from our past two indulgences, we walked over to the West Side and visited the shops there. It’s funny thinking back to 2013 when we lived in Orlando, and we considered the West Side the “cool” area. Some of the shops over there were newer, or more themed (R.I.P. D-Street!) and that’s mostly where we hung out when we weren’t busy eating at Earl of Sandwich! Now, this walkway of shops feels pretty dated, in comparison to all of the gorgeous landscaping, fountains, and luxurious shops in the Town Center.


After we reached the other farthest point of Disney Springs, we made our way back to The Landing to check off another must-do for us: Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar.

I love that this is a more easily accessible themed bar reminiscent of the two Trader Sam’s. They didn’t miss an opportunity to theme every inch of this place, and we found it super cool!

We really enjoyed grabbing cocktails here and would recommend it to anyone as a welcomed break from the hectic walkways of Disney Springs. We came here in the mid afternoon, and it was basically empty. I hope that one day we can come here during the week for the happy hour menu! We just stuck to drinks, Scott chose the Scottish Professor and I got the Cool-Headed Monkey. We both really liked our beverages! We also thought the ice sphere “machine” was really cool!

Scott: I didn't think that a whiskey drink would be served in such a dainty glass, but I think I owned it.


While we were at Jock Lindsey’s, a friend let us know she was currently working at Guest Relations, so we stopped in to chat with her and catch up. Afterwards we were reflecting on the fact that we started with the company at the same time as her, and could be working with Disney in a higher position now as well. However, we love that we have a job where we get lots of time off, and we can afford to go on long Disney trips! It’s easy to see the positives on both sides.

After stopping in to Guest Relations, we were on our way back to the buses heading to our dinner location! I’m going to make that a separate post, since this one has already been very wordy!

 

[AlliGirl]

Travel Day Part Three: Dinner at Sanaa
​

With our adventures at Disney Springs wrapping up, we headed to get in line at the bus stop for Animal Kingdom Lodge. In case you’re curious, we left Pop for Disney Springs at 11:45 and arrived at Sanaa at 6:50, so in total we spent somewhere around six hours at Disney Springs (subtracting our travel time). I feel like we could have stayed for longer, if we were doing much actual shopping, like looking at clothes. There are so many amazing (albeit pricy) restaurants at Disney Springs, that dinner there would’ve been awesome too. We’re eying up Homecomin’ for a future trip as our first try at all the new delicious food. However, it’s such a tough choice now! Good job on that Disney!

Question for you guys: Have you tried any of the new Disney Springs restaurants: STK, Morimoto, Paddlefish, Boathouse, or Homecomin'? Thoughts? Was it worth the big price tag they come with?


So anyway, we had arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge for our Sanaa reservation! We have wanted to eat here for a very long time, but after trying Boma while we lived there, I think we were trying to eat at a bigger variety of resorts, so we never looped back. If you have read our prior posts, then you’ll know that Scott actually made this reservation as a surprise to me and revealed it through a scavenger hunt on the day our Magic Bands arrived. We arrived a bit early for our reservation, so we took some time to look around Animal Kingdom Lodge for awhile before heading back to Kidani Village.

​

Scott: I came to realize on this trip that I'm sort of obsessed with the light fixtures Disney uses in all of their theming. I took lots of lamp photos.

Also, the bus ride to the resort was maybe the coldest bus I've ever been on. It was a meat locker on wheels. So we warmed up by the indoor fire pit for a minute.

​

I have been lucky enough to stay at AKL twice, once in the Concierge level (delicious food and drinks, thanks CM discount!) so I love coming back here to visit. In addition, walking up to AKL one day back in January 2013 was the first time Scott and I ever held hands, so I love remembering that here as well.


Any of AKL’s restaurants are a great dinner location, especially on a non-park day like our arrival day, because there’s a lot to see: the gorgeous lobby, a fire to sit around, and of course the savannah of animals! It was pretty quiet out on the savannah because it was later in the evening, but it’s still such a pretty and peaceful place to sit and relax.

When we made it back to Kidani Village, which isn’t too long of a walk from Jambo House, we found Sanaa (which was actually a little bit harder than we first expected because we took a weird path) and checked in at 6:50 for our 7:10 reservation. We only waited for a couple of minutes before our buzzer went off and we were being seated.

​

Scott: REALLY cool light fixtures here.

I do think that two person tables often are a little less luxurious than the tables for larger groups, but that’s true of any restaurant whether it’s at Disney or not. It was dark, so a savannah view table wouldn’t have been a big advantage at this time anyway, though I’m sure that’s awesome when the sun is out!


You will find throughout our trip report that Scott and I are…well…we’re splitters. Yup. We split most meals y’all! My family always teases us about it. We are more interested in trying a bigger variety of food than we are in eating a big amount of one food. So a lot of times we go for splitting an appetizer and an entrée rather than each getting an entrée, but when we do, we usually split those too haha!


So, I’m sure you know what we got as our appetizer: the bread service! We went for the full range of breads and dipping sauces.

I love naan bread; it’s just perfect to me! Sanaa’s naan was awesome, and I liked getting to try a couple different varieties, though they weren’t all that different in my opinion. I loved the sauces as well, of course some of them weren’t as much of our favorites as others, but I found the selection they brought out to be a very wide range of unique offerings and we indulged in all of them extensively! I can’t imagine why you’d want to order the smaller bread service, because for just a few dollars more, you get to try a lot more sauces! I just double-checked and it’s two dollars more to go from the option with three sauces, to the option with nine sauces. Come on...who’s ordering three sauces?!


We decided against ordering any alcoholic beverages, and just opted for water or soda. The drink that I found most appealing was pretty similar to the drink I’d had earlier at Jock Lindsey’s, so I didn’t feel like I had to order it.


As our entrée, we got the Braavleis, which was a trio of grilled meats with vegetables. I’m not sure if the meats in this entrée rotate seasonally, but we had a porkchop, a lamb shank, and a sausage.

​

We really liked all of the offerings, though we found the lamb just a bit hard to eat (uncultured swine, we are). The porkchop’s skin was just a bit crunchy, but it was very tender inside and it made for an awesome combination. The sausage was incredible! Our waitress told us that they made it there at Sanaa, so I was intrigued to try it, and it did not disappoint! The flavor was very unique, while still incorporating everything that’s great about a traditional sausage, yum!

Scott: The sausage was out of this world good, and that's coming from someone who isn't a giant sausage fan. I was really excited about the lamb, but I just couldn't figure out how to eat it!! I ended up going caveman and trying to eat it like a Disney turkey leg. I ended up not being able to get very much meat, but at least I felt like a barbarian for a minute.


After dinner, we moseyed back out into the lobby of Kidani Village, and decided that as opposed to taking a bus back to a park (whichever one came first) and then waiting on a bus to Pop Century, we’d just call an Uber. After all, it was after 8pm and our day started with a 3am wake up call! This turned out to be a great choice. Our Uber arrived just a few minutes later at 8:15 and the drive only took 15 minutes. But the best part is that it was less than $9! I think that Ubers are a solid option for transportation between resorts if you don’t have a car at your disposal!


Once we got back to Pop, Scott knew exactly what my tired head and body needed: a trip across Hourglass Lake to go walk around Art of Animation!

​

Okay I admit, walking around AoA is very fun! Scott wanted to get pictures of all the big icons, so I followed him to and fro.

"Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?"
"They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing."

Scott: I'm not a massive Cars fan, but I am a massive Luigi and Guido fan.

​

Finally, after Scott had his photography fill, we headed back to Pop Century. We hung our decorations in our room window, which I think turned out really cute! This picture is from later in our trip.

​

Well, day one of our trip is in the books! As in…I wrote so much that I turned it into a book!


Thank you so much for reading, and I hope our words and photos bring you some Disney magic, no matter where you’re reading from!


Next Up: Our first park day!

 

[Christi0909]

Question for you guys: Have you tried any of the new Disney Springs restaurants: STK, Morimoto, Paddlefish, Boathouse, or Homecomin'? Thoughts? Was it worth the big price tag they come with?

I've only been to Homecoming, but it was SO good and we are going back in Sept! It's also very splittable! Definitely recommend it!

 

[amy1115]

So, I’m sure you know what we got as our appetizer: the bread service!

We'll be dining here for the first time in May and can't wait to try this! Sounds like you made the most of your first day!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Subbing! Looks like fun so far!