Why Not Make It Three??? Or maybe FOUR?!?!? Or just MAYBE FIVE!!!!!

[tyandskyesmom]

I just got to work and checked my e-mails and i was super surprised to find one from my online travel agent telling me AP discounts were out for our trip and we saved $543.40!!!!!

One week from right now, Skyler will be in the shower getting ready for her last day with her Summer Camp kids, Tyler will still be sleeping most likely, and I will be sitting in my home office trying to concentrate on work not vacation!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

What a great surprise!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Well, we're home, and not happy about it!

We had a very different, yet wonderful trip. We got home last night at about 10pm. I'm at work and Skyler is at her first of two works today. Tyler is off until Wednesday and is supposed to be looking for another job...he's struggling with what to do with his life right now so please, wish him luck (and me patience!).

While we were gone we found out one of Skyler's favorite people died (the Tech Director for Nutcracker who she became close to during her two years as Clara) and that due to Covid-19 there will be no Nutcracker this year (auditions should have been in 2 weeks). We also found out that rather than being able to go to school one day a week (which she still was not fond of but was better than nothing) she will be remote for at least the first 6 weeks. We were expecting to have to pick up schedules early this week (which is the first highlight of the new school year) but so far no news on what classes she will have for her junior year...at home...on the couch. They did have try outs for Poms (she was varsity captain last year so she knew she'd make it) but since then IHSA has changed and Poms is in the most dangerous category as is football so not really sure what the season will bring. We're still waiting on dance schedules but we are assuming she is not going to get to teach at her studio. However, our local studio (where she is working for summer camp now and her studio competes against three times every year) wants her to teach (she still is in awe what being good at something and having a good reputation will do for you) and is thinking about giving her the competition teams to coach! She that's exciting!


I really wish i was done with the Christmas trip so i could start on this one but i will only confuse myself if I try to do both....so we have to get through Christmas first. I am going to try to update more regularly!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I'm looking forward to reading your trip reports. Sounds like you prob had little wait times so that would be ideal for a summer trip. Best wishes to Tyler in trying to figure out what to do. The job market is so hard now. My daughters are 19 and 23 and are in college and are living at home this semester and doing remote. My older one is getting a master's degree which is good bc there aren't any jobs out there now anyway. Are there any trade schools or colleges he is interested in? My younger daughter was in high school cheer all four years and I saw a post that there is no cheer this year in PA. There are a lot of disappointments now for the young people but hopefully better times someday. It's hard to come back to the real world after being in the Disney bubble, and I imagine even harder to come back to all these problems in the world.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I'm looking forward to reading your trip reports. Sounds like you prob had little wait times so that would be ideal for a summer trip. Best wishes to Tyler in trying to figure out what to do. The job market is so hard now. My daughters are 19 and 23 and are in college and are living at home this semester and doing remote. My older one is getting a master's degree which is good bc there aren't any jobs out there now anyway. Are there any trade schools or colleges he is interested in? My younger daughter was in high school cheer all four years and I saw a post that there is no cheer this year in PA. There are a lot of disappointments now for the young people but hopefully better times someday. It's hard to come back to the real world after being in the Disney bubble, and I imagine even harder to come back to all these problems in the world.

I'm looking forward to writing them!

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler...he has no clue what he wants to do! Where Skye has said since she was three that she was going to be a doctor, Tyler has never stated what he wanted to be when he grew up. At one point in high school (where he was all honors and AP classes and graduated Suma Cum Laude) he was thinking architecture then changed to mechanical engineering but then hit college and hit a wall. I think school was always just so easy for him that when he had to then be organized and self motivating, he did not know how. He is interested in a ot of things but now is at the point where he does not want to to the work. A really bad place to be as far as I am concerned. Everyone keeps saying he'll figure it out but I am getting concerned. He has worked since he was 17 but everything is part time and not a job an intelligent young man should be striving for. Video games are his thing but he does not want to go into computers. He has been in college since graduating at a local community college but has not done very well...i think this next semester will be his sink or swim. I have suggested various lines to go down but the work involved does not appeal to him. I really don't want him to have to hit rock bottom before realizing that he just HAS to get through some type of schooling/training to get to the job but he is struggling with that...and I don't know how to help him any more than I have done. I have to admit, it has caused quite a bit of arguments at home. I am hoping maybe seeing his baby sister (by 5 years!) working two jobs and having her own money to spend will make him realize what he does not have and want that...thus making him work harder towards it but we will see. At this point, I don't care what he does as long as it is enough to have him be able to support himself if/when he has to.

Skye had so many disappointments prior to coming home but she is doing ok. Her littles at camp missed her and were happy to see her. She is back working, and making money makes her happy because then she can save and spend...perfect in her world. We're still waiting to see how school/poms/dance will fare but keeping our fingers crossed!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Lets continue, shall we?

After we left Harambe Market we headed for a walk. Our first stop was Caravan Road for Char Siu Pork - served with Sticky Rice...

This was really good. I was expecting it to be like the entree I had had at Skipper Canteen before but it was much more tender an a more subtle taste to it. It is very small so if you want more than a taste, I suggest getting more than one. I liked it, the kids liked the sticky rice...LOL. Our total was $6.70.

We then stopped at Mr Kamal's Burgers (I never noticed the name have "burgers" on the end of it but that is what my receipt says...and they don't serve burgers???). We grabbed the Chicken Dumplings - served with Ponzu .

And an order of Mr. Kamal's Seasoned Friesavailable dipping sauces include saffron aioli, honey kimchi ketchup, and Tandoori honey mustard.

Well, me and the kids LOVE the dumplings...they are crispy on the outside and have great flavor. Some day we will order more than one of them but we are usually eating around so we don't want to fill up on them.

We also love the fries. For perspective...I enjoy a bit of spice, even to the edge of hot as long as the flavor is good...the kids have crappy taste in heat and will down a bag of Takis in no time...YUCK! So if trying to gauge the spiciness on us, i hope that helped...LOL. We also like the different kinds of sauces available in self serve dispensers for the fries. As weirdly as the kids eat, he love to try odd things. Tyler is not really a "dipper" but he enjoyed it here. And of course, we all like different ones! Our total here was $12.76 and it was 4pm when we paid.

There is not really much seating around these food trucks (which are basically across from each other so we took them to a table along the water overlooking the Tree of Life for a great view while snacking.

After finishing up snacking we headed deeper into Asia and around to the edge of Dinoland U.S.A.

We were able to walk right in to a seat at the 4:30pm of Finding Nemo - The Musical. We got to sit a few minutes before it began. At tome point during the show, a dog started barking. We were pretty far back in the theater but all those seats are good and you can see from anywhere. Plus it is always cool and dry in there and that is always a welcome thing!

We love this show and Skye and I always walk out singing. She wouldn't mind being Nemo or Squirt one day!

When we walked out of the show, it was pouring but it was on and off so we just donned our ponchos and umbrellas and carried on through DInoland.

I'm not really sure why I love this area so much...i mean, it is just a kitschy, carnival atmosphere and I may be in the minority but I would be sad to see it go. The decorations here at Christmas time are so fun and while Chester & Hester's is not what it once was, it is still such a fun shoppe. Plus...DINOSAURS!!!! We love dinos in our house!!!!

So at home the kids love Mr. Submarine's Buffalo Chicken Cheese Fries so when Tyler saw sign at Trilobites, that was our next food stop! We grabbed a Buffalo Chicken Chips.

And, well, are you thinking what I am thinking? Yep. The sign does not give a description of what is on them or how they are served. Normally, DIsney is great at providing that sort of info but not this time. So in addition to buffalo chicken and liquid cheese, they also have a blue cheese sauce and a relish that from what I could tell was a mixture of onions, celery, and tomatoes. I'm all good with that...even the blue cheese, which i don't normally use but blue cheese in Disney never seems too strong to me. SO I though they were wonderful. Skyler did not even try and Tyler liked the parts he could get out without blue cheese or the relish. All in all, I think these were a winner but next time we know what to ask for! it was 5:22pm and our total was $9.05. We carried these with us on the way to our next destination.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So next on the agenda was heading around to Flame Tree Barbecue. We do not usually frequent this place...again, we are probably in the minority here but it is not a favorite in this park. I mean, we like it but there is turning out to be so many good eats in Animal Kingdom that BBQ just is not one of our normally favorite cuisines. So we headed over, told Tyler what to get and we all went to find seats. The seating over here is awesome...lots of it, great views, and a lot of it is covered. Normally the kids like to sit by the fountain where the bird hang out so they can watch them steal food from people...we have always been big bird people (my parents have had a Yellow Naped Amazon, an African Grey, and a macaw since i was young) so they always find it fun. This time, however, it was still raining on and off so we wanted something under cover.

So we odered the Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Pulled Pork - Baked Macaroni and Cheese topped with Smoked Pulled Pork, Onion Rings and Coleslaw...with the pork on the side. Somehow we did not ge tthe onion rings and we didn't even notice until we were almost done.

Now, our opinion on this is two fold. The Mac & Cheese was what we expected it to taste like but it was much smaller and not very nicely presented. We did get the pork on the side because freaks don't like their mac & cheese with pork on it. The pork was pretty dry by itself but with the pre-packaged BBQ sauce it was great...I appreciate that they did not sauce the pork though because i tend to not like a ton of BBQ on my meat so I was able to put as much or as little as I wanted on it. I don't generally do coleslaw but i did taste it and it was not bad.

We also ordered the Ribs and Chicken Combo - Ribs and Chicken served with Signature Baked Beans and Coleslaw...per the online menu NOW...at the time it was a Sampler Platter and included pulled pork too.

So, we all really liked the chicken, the ribs were really good, and the pork was decent. The beans are great but the kids won't eat them and we already covered the coleslaw. Nothing is heavily sauced here so you are able to use as much, o r as little, as you want.

For dessert we also ordered the Apple Crisp Cupcake...that is seasonal. Ooohh, it was really good! The cake was apple spice flavored but very light. The topping was apples and cinnamon sugar...so it was sweet but not overly so. We all split this.

We all enjoyed our meal here tonight and we had great seats. Our total was 42.88...so it was not cheap at all! I am sure if the opportunity presents itself we will be back here but it is not someplace we run to each trip.

It was 5:30pm when we cashed out at Flame Tree so we while we were eating we were able to catch the back side of Rivers of Light : We Are One. Once the show was about to start one of the operators of the show came to stand right at the rail by our table with her radio. She told us we really needed to see it from the front (we had attempted a few other times but were rained out half way through and we find the seating horrible for this show) and then told us more about it. She said it was the highest tech show Disney had developed. She described some of the show and was really informative. She stood there the whole show watching while reporting back through her radio. She said it is part of production to make sure things go off as they are supposed to.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Oops, missed one...

After the show ended we headed over towards the Tree of Life.

And headed into It's Tough To Be Bug.

We strolled through Asia and Africa after the show.

At 7:40pm we stopped at Tamu Tamu for a Simba Sunset - DOLE Whip® Pineapple with Watermelon, Strawberry and Coconut-flavored Syrup.

And it was pretty dang good ! We all enjoyed it...it was 7:40pm and this cost was $5.85.

Until we ended up in front of the Tree of Life.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

After finally getting enough of the Tree, we headed up to the front of the park.

Skyler found an abandoned stroller and wanted to relive her childhood.

We made our way to the bus stop.

There was a bus there when we arrived but it was full so we had to wait on the next one. We made it onto the next one but Cary and Tyler were standing. We arrived at All Star Movies just about 10pm.

 

[vacapa]

Has Tyler looked into a degree in Esports? Honestly, I know nothing about it, but it seems like something that would interest him. Lots of colleges in Pennsylvania are beginning to offer that degree.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Has Tyler looked into a degree in Esports? Honestly, I know nothing about it, but it seems like something that would interest him. Lots of colleges in Pennsylvania are beginning to offer that degree.

I am not even sure I know what that is...I will aski him about it....thanks!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Once we arrived home, we decided we needed food...yes, AGAIN!

We stopped in at World Premiere Food Court and decided what to order.

A Group was out singing Christmas songs ... a really nice touch! I was feeling really wiped so as soon as we were all settled on what we were ordering I headed back to the room. I found this guy on the way...

You don't see snails in Illinois much so it is always fun to see wild snails (not the ones on the plate) in Florida!

When they got their food they came back to the room with it. Skyler ordered a Single Scoop Waffle Cone and finished it while waiting for the food AND DID NOT TAKE A PICTURE OF IT!!! But she said ti was a good ice cream cone.

We also ordered me a Lowfat Milk because I had a snack to eat in the room. I normally woudl not pay $1.99 for this timy thing but I wanted milk with my cookie or cupcake or whatever it was I was planning to eat with it.

We ordered the bowl of chili that was a side at thime but I do not see it on the menu now.

It was a pretty decent chili but I think it is really hard to mess up chil…the kids will not touch chili!

And then we got the Large Pepperoni Pizza Dinner -House-made Pizza served with a Salad and Bread Sticks - Serves 6.

All of this was good and plenty for all of us even if we had not ordered the chili and ice cream and milk! We enjoy the Disney pizza...now, when we go to a pizza place, we know what we are getting so is it the best pizza we've ever had? No. But it is pretty dang good for what it is!

They checked out at 10:05pm and it cost $43.71. It was still warm when they got back to the room and we all ate and headed off to sleep around 11:30pm!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

December 24, 2019 (Christmas Eve) started at 7am when we got up one at a time to do our thing. We were heading out of the room by 8:57am and at the bus stop soon after.

The sign says the next bus is due at 9:08am but we were on a bus at 9:04am, pulling out at 9:07am, and arrived at Epcot at 9:25am. There were long bag check lines so we did not actually enter the park until 9:45am.

We had Living With The Land fast passes due (9:50am - 10:50am) so we headed over there. We arrived at 10:01am and the stand by line was at 20 minutes. We were off at 10:17am.

After our ride through the land, we headed to Sunshine Seasons Food Fair for breakfast.

 

[Stasieki]

Catching up. Looks like a great trip so far except for a lot of rain. But I guess the plus is perhaps crowd levels were down?

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we went through Seasons, each of us getting what we needed. With the way it is set up here, it is easier for each of us to be involved rather than just sending one or two of us.

I chose the Breakfast Plate - with Eggs, Potatoes, Bacon, Sausage, and French Toast.

…also had a coffee...

Skyler ordered the Kid's French Toast - with sausage and served with choice of small lowfat milk, small chocolate milk, small juice box, small water, small whole milk, small soy milk, or soft drink.

Tyler ordered a Cinnamon Roll...DUH!

We had a Strawberry Shortcake also...

We were disappointed. Not that it wasn't good but it was completely different than what the Strawberry Shortcake has been in the past. It used to be more like a Napoleon, fresh layers of pastry, strawberries and whopped cream...this time it was more like a pudding cup. It was good but just not as good as it used to be. We probably would not get it in this version again,

Anyway, ll the food seemed fresh and was all good. I love the french toast, everyone else is eh about it. Otherwise we all kinda shared everything and had enough to hold us over to the next food stop.

It was busy in there but not crowded. So we were able to find a decent table pretty easily, this place is a madhouse at most meal times usually...I think everyone was getting their ride on first today.

We come to Seasons a lot. We usually hit it for breakfast because with all the good food in the World Showcase, we're not coming back for Seasons.

We were checked out at 10:25am and this all cost $32.86...a bit much for the breakfast we had but it is Disney so we expect it...can't beat the atmosphere!

When we were done eating we had some time before our next fast pass so we pulled out our Uno cards and had a game. Another table of older ladies near us was playing Uno too...we thought that was funny!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Catching up. Looks like a great trip so far except for a lot of rain. But I guess the plus is perhaps crowd levels were down?

Yes, this was probably our rainiest trip but it was cooler so it was a trade off...and sometimes cooler was not a good thing, especially if you were wet from the rain. But we were so used to sweating the seccond we walked out of our room everyday, it was a nice change.

Um, I don't think I'd say it was less crowded. I don't happen to think it is as unmanageable as most people do at that time of the year but we stay away from Magic Kingdom for the worst days/times. But all in all I would not say less crowded...you just have to take your time, know what to expect and PLAN.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we played Uno until about 11:48am and headed to Soarin' for our 11:55am - 12:55 fast passes.

We got to Soarin' at 11:50am. Stand-by was listed as 135 minutes! We waited a bit and were sorted into Concorse B and were given top row on the left side. We were off at 12:23pm. We had a fun ride as usual and headed over to Gateway Gifts.

We needed to purchase a Chip & Dale Scavenger Hunt Map! After the annual pass discount we paid $5.96 for it. We also grabbed a Cookie Stroll map. Skyler also bought a Passport to use in the World Showcase which was $11.07 after the discount. Then, of course, after she had paid for those two things Tyler found the The Child phone case he had wanted so he went back and got that ($29.81 after the discount).

Once we were done in there we had a Spaceship Earth for 1:05pm - 2:05pm. We headed that way at abut 1pm.

We has a small wait but it wasn't long before we were on. We were stopped for a few minutes here...

We love Spaceship Earth. We knew it was closing soon so we were glad to be able to ride some more! After we rode, we headed back to World Showcase.

We started in Canada. At 1:52pm we stopped at Yukon Holiday Kitchen for a Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie.

...and a Frozen Coffee...

...And the Seared Verlasso Salmon with Crown Maple Whisky Glaze, Parsnip Silk, Apple Chutney and Hazelnut Croquant...

We loved this cookie (we each sampled a quarter of it each), the salmon was great and had good flavor. I was the only one who would eat the side but I really enjoyed it. The coffee was coffee. These are definitely not meant to be shared so if you're eating to get full, you may need more then one but they are enough to sample and share and make your way around the world! Our total was $13.00.

We explored Canada a bit.

And then we moved on!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We moved on towards the UK...

We decided to sample in at Yorkshire County Fish Shop so ordered an order of Fish & Chips - two strips of fish served with chips.

We all love the fish and chips here so we split these between all four of us. It was 2:36pm and we spent $12.24.

And then headed on to France...

So we stopped at Le Marche de Noel Holiday Kitchen. We decided on getting the Bouchee a la Reine Traditionnelle - turkey and mushrooms in a veloute cream sauce served in a light puff pastry...

...which the kids did not want to try. I liked it all! It was a light cream not as heavy as it looks and everything blended well together.

Buche de Noel au Chocolat - "Christmas Log" - chocolate cake with dark chocolate Caramel Ganache.

...and as opposed to the other option, we all loved this and if there wasn't as much other foods to eat, we probably would have gotten more! It was 3:09pm ad this cost us $11.74.

And we headed over towards Morocco.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

L'Chaim! Holiday Kitchen was between France and Morocco and we needed a cookie.

We got the Black & White Cookie.

It looks fun but it was gross! None of us liked it. It had an artificial taste that stayed with you...and that was after only a quarter of a cookie...what if we had eaten a whole cookie?!?! Ya, we didn't finish it and we would NOT get this again!

We also got the Egg Cream - milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer.

This, surprisingly, we all liked! It was different and I don't know that it would be something we'd drink all the time but we would order it again.

We also grabbed an order of the Smoked Latkes with sour cream

Which everyone but Tyler loved! Skye wanted to get some more but I reminded her of all the other things around the World! And how cute is that sour cream Mickey???

We also had a Pastrami on Rye with housemade pickles and deli mustard.

Cary and I loved this little sandwich and I wished there was someplace to get a regular sized sandwich of this! The rye was really good and seedless (I hate the seeds) and everything was in good proportions. So some of this place was really good, some was ok, and some was bad.

We took it all over to the outside section of Tangierine Cafe to eat. There was plenty of open seats and we were able to relax and take our time. We were here at 3:40pm and we paid $14.75.

We journied onto Morocco next.

We grabbed some food at Sapphire Holiday Kitchen. First we had the Grilled Lamb Kefta Kebab and grapes with euro cucumber, red pepper, pickled pearl onions and harissa-cilantro dressing.

We all really liked this! The red sauce was a bit spicy but the white sauce evened it out.

We also got the Confit of Chermoula Chicken Drum with CInnamon Granny Smith Apple, Toasted Almonds, Brussel Sprouts, and Pinot Noir Glaze.

We all liked this too...some of us scraped the "stuff" off of it as much as possible but otherwise we all liked it!

Then we got the Sfenj - warm beignets, cream with cinnamon sugar and chocolate sauce.

These were, well, beignets! What more is needed to be said??? They were really good.

It was 4:24pm and our total here was $23.00.

ANd then we moved on towards Japan...

 

[tyandskyesmom]

In Japan we soon ran into Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen.

We ordered the New Years Celebration Soba - Buckwheat Soba Noodles in hot dashi soup woth Kakiage (vegetable tempura) and chopped green onion.

This was something totally different than anything we have had before. The tempura was odd in that is was sitting in the broth so it was not super crunchy. We found the soba noodles similar to regular noodles. THe broth was mild but had decent flavor. We all had some but I think Cary and I liked it best (of course) but the kids did like the noodles.

We also grabbed a Chirashi Sushi Tree - Sashimi grade Tuna, Salmon, Ikura, and Yellowtail with Vegetables decorated on a bed of rice.

This was really pretty! The kids wont eat sushi (although Skyler is intrigued and wants to like sushi but she has yet to try it!) so Cary and I had it all to ourselves...it was fresh and full of flavor. Cary is not usually a sashimi style sushi guy bit even he enjoyed it!

We were able to get a seat on a bench to eat. I was really surprised that they did not add more places to stop and eat for the festival. I know Disney is on a kick of removing seating but I really don't get it...make me happy and comfy and I'm bound to stay longer and spend more money!

Anyway it was 4:35pm and we spent $13.25 here.

So we headed into Japan...we love it in there! We could spend so much money in Mitsukoshi...even without liking Anime and Skyler HATES Hello Kitty! I am not sure why but she always has, ever since she was little!

Cary and Skyler like to get the prepackaged drinks in Japan and China so while at Mitsukoshi they got what is listed on the receipt as "Ramune SBerry Pet Hata" for $4.26.

We can actually get this one around here so I'm not sure why they bought it but they liked it. It is too artificial tasting for me but they were good...and the top is fun because it is like a marble that you have to pop onto the jar for it to be open to drink.

Soon we were moving on...