The Awesome Foursome takes on Food and Wine trip report

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The Awesome Foursome takes on Food and Wine trip report

Hi! And welcome to my trip report, we had a fantastic trip filled with lots of fantastic memories, there were a few things that did take the shine off parts but when all is said and done a not so magical day at Disney is better than any kind of day at home!!! I'm hoping this helps my post Disney blues as I count down to the next one! So let's get this show on the road!

To introduce us I'm Amy the leader of the pack so to speak I'm the planner of EVERYTHING! Then there is my mam who is my right hand woman! Sometimes I get eye rolls but that's okay! And the final members are my auntie and uncle still fairly new to the Disney obsession game but they have certainly been captured by it! This is us:

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Sunday 25th September

We packed up all our last minute items into the various cases, packed the car up and headed out about 1.40 Manchester Airport bound! It takes about 3-3 1/2hrs to drive down and we had the perfect weather to do so! We made it down with no major delays and found the hotel no problem a stark contrast from our 2015 antics where we ended up at the drop offs for a terminal by accident! We got there just after 4pm but couldn't see auntie and uncle so we fired off a text to see where they were all we got back was "lost" so after a quick phone call we realised they weren't far away they were actually round the corner but stuck in traffic and couldn't see where they needed to be, as I had just driven round I said I'd run round and direct them into the correct lane, now I should mention me and running don't mix well add in a bit of horrible British drizzly rain and you have the trifecta! It was also a bit further than I thought so I ended up out of breath! I eventually found them and guided them to the safety of the car park! We were staying at Clayton Hotel which we have stayed in before and just love the location and everything, the check in line was HUGE! But it moved quickly and before long we were headed to our rooms on the third floor I believe we were directly underneath our rooms we had last year haha.

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

When I had checked in I booked us a table for the hotel restaurant as we thought it would be a nice start to the holiday auntie and uncle shared a bottle of wine and me and mam had cider we got a portion of chicken wings and dough balls to share between us which I'm pleased we did there was loads of both and we still had 2 courses to come!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

For mains we had 2 steaks and 2 beef roasts, I forgot to take a picture of the roast but what's up with the funny coloured cauliflower?? Apparently it was nice I took their word for it and stuck to my steak haha having said that all of our mains were outstanding!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We managed to squeeze some pudding in so we had 2 Clayton gelatos and a sticky toffee pudding all of which were just amazing!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We finished our drinks had a good laugh and a bit relax before our stressful travelling day tomorrow headed up to the rooms and said goodnight as we both had relaxing nights planned of showers and general holiday prep and wind down.......or so we thought....

Maybe 5-10mins after we were in the room the fire alarm started going off! We headed out to the corridor where auntie and uncle had done the same thing we were about to head downstairs to evacuate and the alarm stopped...... we waited a few mins for an announcement or something and nothing came so we went back into the room and rang the front desk apparently someone had sprayed deodorant too close to the sensor and it thought it was smoke! Well that was my nerves shot for sure and that bottle of wine that we brought but had decided not to open got opened and shared swiftly you know to calm us down we got such a fright! Luckily after that it was an uneventful night and we went to bed easy ready for the very early start the next morning!

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Wed, 12/14/2016 - 15:02

danijrod

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i like the justification for the wine pahah!

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Fri, 07/28/2017 - 13:27

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Monday 26th September

We were woken up at 5am by the opening bars of the circle of life from the Lion King now me I love being woken up this way, mam.......not so much! But it worked and it was Disney day so we were up and about and ready to go! We were unusually organised this morning but I wasn't complaining! We were up, ready and packed up as we headed down for our breakfast.

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We aren't big morning eaters but we pretty much got it for free with the room so it would be rude not to! We ate enough to keep us going and the food was beautiful I just wish I could have eaten more, we met up with auntie and uncle and were on our way to the meet and greet car park in no time. now some of you may or may not remember the absolute nightmare I had trying to find the meet and greet car parking which resulted in us leaving the airport grounds unintentionally and ending up at the drop off for terminal 2 and being able to see exactly where we wanted to be not only once but twice before finally making it on the third attempt! But this year I was determined I would not make the same mistakes so I researched and researched and was on google maps, street view, google earth and was as prepared as I could be and thankfully it all went smoothly I had redeemed myself!

We dropped the keys off and headed into the terminal building, got through check-in, security and everything with very minimal waits and before long we were headed to the bar for pre-flight drinks!

Me and mam had ciders but auntie and uncle were the sensible ones who stuck with coffee and hot water!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We heard the announcements for the flight so we headed off to the gate and what should our plane be called? Tinker Belle! now I know it's a different spelling but I was SURE this would be the plane to finally get us in early we never seem to get that luck that all the other flights seem to have year round!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Before long we boarded and we were on the upstairs of the plane and it's so much calmer and quieter up there plus auntie who is an extremely nervous flyer prefers upstairs so anything we can do to make her journey more comfortable we will! Auntie, uncle and mam were sat on one side and I was sat on my own with another couple I didn't speak much to them but they seemed nice.

Now anyone who has ever read one of my trip reports before knows I'm an extremely picky eater so usually I stock up on food before and after and take crisps, sweets etc. to keep me going through the flight, I always get the meal on the plane but I usually never even touch it! However on the flight today they had teriyaki chicken so I thought I'd give it a go, I didn't give it much thought because I have ordered meals in the past and haven't liked them but WOW this meal was the best plane meal I have ever eaten! I ate all the chicken and most of the rice by far the most I have ever eaten on a plane ever! Please please Virgin Atlantic do not change the menu!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We also get a GU pudding which was white chocolate and raspberry which was super yummy I love these little puddings!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I watched my Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Alice Through the looking Glass and the Jungle Book all of which were amazing but the Jungle Book was visually fantastic, it's not one of my favourite Disney films and neither am I a huge fan of all the real life remakes they are doing right now but this just knocked it out of the park for me! Just over halfway through the flight we got our standard FAB lolly which is always welcomed I just never understand the chocolate part!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Not long before landing we also get afternoon tea which was cheese and pickle sandwiches, Crisps (or chips) but they are still lemon flavoured?! Yuck! And a chocolate caramel bar which for some reason has a taste to it " can't put my finger to it but I don't like it but I was nearly at Disney and my next meal was in sight!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

As we were getting ready to start our descent into Orlando I wrote up a few of my notes I took the time to write and I quote "as we were coming into land on Tinker Belle she looks to get us in on time" well clearly past me put a curse upon this as they advised us shortly after that there was a storm right above Orlando Airport and we couldn't land below you will find our flight pattern that we followed while avoiding the storm......

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I have to give credit to the pilot who for the most part managed to guide us around the storm so we didn't have too much turbulence but we flew around for about an extra 45mins or so but because we had been slightly ahead of schedule originally we only ended up being 30mins or so late of landing, when we finally did land we headed for security which as usual took forever! Once we were through and went to claim our bags we realised there was 3 or 4 cases exactly the same as ours and naturally ours was the last one I checked! We handed the cases back in so magical express could claim them at the other end and we were finally on our way to the main terminal building!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed off, checked in at Magical Express and headed to wait at our stop! We stopped at Old Key West, French Quarter and then us at Riverside they were headed to Grand Floridian after us I was a bit jealous I couldn't go visit! The journey seemed pretty quick so we were happy we headed in to check in and as we were we realised the rooms we had been allocated were in Alligator Bayou, we weren't very happy about being there and I had put on the online check in and on a fax I sent asking for Magnolia Bend, I know it's never guaranteed it just every other time we have always gotten our requests, I asked if they had any rooms in Magnolia Bend which they said they didn't until Friday so we did ask if we could be moved then, we were given the map to the room as we weren't exactly sure how to get to it in the quickest way possible, turns out the way they told us was actually the longest way to our rooms! We had collected mams ECV by now so we also had to find the ramp to the building and eventually to the room, we had paid for a garden view room however we didn't feel it was a garden view I've attached a couple of pictures you can let me know what you think.

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

There was also about a 2 foot drop off the end of the path straight down onto the ground which for mam in the ECV was really nerve wracking for her to get it into the room as one wrong move and its likely she would have been off the end, all in all it wasn't a great first impression of Alligator Bayou, we got into the room and the room itself in the layout wasn't much different but we felt like it was quite dark compared to the others, we also found all the drawers were like on the floor under the murphy bed which with mam having bad knees just wasn't practical at all, Auntie and uncle decided they were just going to stay in the room as they wanted to unpack, we were still firm we were going to move so decided not to unpack for now, I took a few pictures of the room on our arrival (a few days into the trip we realised that the move was going to take unexpected time out of our trip so we decided to just make do with the room and cancelled the move a few days in)

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

In an attempt to cheer us up a bit we decided to head down to Disney Springs on the boat and as soon as I was on that boat I was relaxed! I love Disney Springs both day and night and coming in on the boat is just the icing on the cake, put some rollercoasters in the mix I might never leave!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed to the World of Disney Store to collect our $200 gift cards we got as a promotion when we booked those babies came in handy! We headed to Cooke's of Dublin for food me and mam shared a Hog in a box which I'll admit doesn't look appetising but OMG you have to try it! It was gorgeous! Auntie and uncle shared fish and chips!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We managed to find our way to the bus stop through the new area I did not realise how huge the expansion was I thought it was one straight street through....NOPE! We found our way and got on the bus I think I was falling asleep on the bus too so it didn't take long to fall asleep once we got back it had been a LOOOOOOOONG day!

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Wed, 12/14/2016 - 15:27

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danijrod wrote:

i like the justification for the wine pahah!

I dare say if you got the shock we did you would have turned to wine too!

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Wed, 12/14/2016 - 20:22

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Yay for another trip report! I still need to finish mine from April Sorry to hear you were unhappy with your room. Hope the rest of the trip turns around!

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Thu, 12/15/2016 - 01:17

JMed

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WOW, I can't believe ANY resort has that view. Washed out sand and dead looking trees? I would have been disappointed in that too. Not that I sit in my room and look out the window the entire trip, but that looks pretty pathetic...

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Thu, 12/15/2016 - 08:37

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Allie wrote:

Yay for another trip report! I still need to finish mine from April Sorry to hear you were unhappy with your room. Hope the rest of the trip turns around!

you need to get on Allie! it did really dampen the trip for us but we did have a lot of magic with us for the rest of the trip!!!

JMed wrote:

WOW, I can't believe ANY resort has that view. Washed out sand and dead looking trees? I would have been disappointed in that too. Not that I sit in my room and look out the window the entire trip, but that looks pretty pathetic...

this was exactly how we felt in all honesty we didn't sit and stare out of the window longingly but everytime we came out of our room that was what we saw and with the drop off the end it added stress to mam worrying about being able to turn the ECV around it just wasn't what we wanted everytime we left the room!

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Fri, 07/28/2017 - 14:43

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Tuesday 27th September

I woke up pretty early (jet lag gotta love it!) mam wasn't far behind me so I headed over for drinks and decided to treat myself to a mickey waffle it was my first day what better way to start a trip!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Thanks to the aforementioned jet lag we left the room about 7.50 (this is like middle of the night for us normally!) and made it in time for the welcome show, we didn't go through the ticket barrier instead enjoying it from the middle section where they had the giant pumpkin and this was a super awesome view if you are ever running short for time I recommend stopping there and watching it as if you go through you are stuck to someone's back and can't always see!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I always shed a small tear at the welcome show I'm never sure why, we went through ticket barrier and suddenly any worries, cares or anything really just went away from me I was back! As we got to the top of Main Street we saw the princess Elena welcome was just starting I have no idea who she is but I like her! And she has a cute little song that stayed in my head all day!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed round to Adventureland and jumped on Pirates of the Caribbean First ride of the holiday! I love this ride so much I stopped taking pictures on this so much as I just love to enjoy it!

We headed up to Splash Mountain to use our FP but the wait was only 5 mins so we jumped on in the standby line and then went again using our FP! The pictures off this ride for us were priceless!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

MK_SPLASH_20160927_7814544057 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

MK_SPLASH_20160927_7814518965 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

As we were walking round just enjoying being back here we noticed the country bears were out doing their jamboree! It was so fun to watch but I couldn't get any good pictures! It was great to see the CM from the carts nearby joining in and the kids just loved it! I remember being involved in the jamboree when I was little myself! We had Peter Pan's flight next which we all love especially auntie and uncle they love Peter Pan anyway and it's become a bit of a first day ritual for me over the years, we jumped in line for It's a Small World which was a HUGE hit with auntie last year plus we have always loved it so it's a no brainer we got told by the lady assisting us that we were a very happy family which made my day! Grabbed a quick selfie while we were waiting!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I usually have to restrain myself because I always take too many pictures but I spotted in the distance on these new screens our names had popped up so I managed to zoom in enough just to see them! I love this feature I think it's really cool!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We had a bit of time to kill and as we were walking through fantasyland me, auntie and uncle decided we would have a ride on the carousel, mam doesn't particularly like to ride the carousel and with a bad knee I don't think it's a good combination anyway! We found 3 horses together and had a great time!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We still had some time to kill before our Be Our Guest Lunch so we headed up to under the sea and rode that it's such a cute ride I love it! We also rode the Dumbo's which are super cute! We also had a look in Big Top Souvenirs just to fill a bit of time up

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was finally time for our Lunch! I went up and checked in, confirmed our order and went to find a seat which we did no problem at all it was actually pretty quiet I was surprised! Food arrived and was gorgeous as usual we all had the pork which I think we can safely say is our overall favourite meal here! For desserts I had the masters cupcake, mam had the strawberry and auntie and uncle get the orange eclair.

We finished up and it was 7 Dwarfs Mine Train time this one always goes down well with our family and we got the first 2 rows! I love being at the front!

MK_MINETRAIN_20160927_7814817803 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was nearly Festival of Fantasy time so we headed off to the ECV area and got a spot, we saw the Main Street Philharmonic do their walk through I love watching them but until this trip I'd never seen them perform which I was always gutted about! As we were standing the clouds got darker and darker we saw lightening in the distance and then a few spots of rain and we knew what was coming, mam went to find some shelter and although the rain never arrived in full there was thunder and lightning in the area and they said the parade would go ahead but how long it would be was unknown so we decided to leave it for today and head back to the resort

We had a little relax at the resort for a while and we decided to head out to EPCOT for the evening we waited absolutely ages for a bus so by the time we got there we didn't have much time left but by golly we were gonna try our hardest! We got a round of 4 filets at Canada these are a firm favourite of ours and for us on the dining plan a bargain for a snack credit each! we also managed to catch a set of British Revolution!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We went and found a nice spot in morocco to watch the fireworks from and me and uncle went back to France to get some boef borginon to eat while we waited, we were going to get some drinks but we ran out of time so we stood and watched Illuminations, this is also become something of a tradition and honestly I wouldn't change it for the world! One thing we didn't realise when we settled ourselves in this spot was we were right beside where the firework from each country fires well it's fair to say we got one heck of a fright!!! Once the lighting came back to normal we decided to walk the long way round world showcase just so we could fully appreciate that we were actually back in the world, we finally made it back to the front of the park and out to the bus stop we went to Riverside Mill got some pasta and headed back to room pretty much fell into bed after a long day!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

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Fri, 12/16/2016 - 15:59

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Penny's gotten really into Elena lately and we actually really enjoy the show. I wanted to not like her since she got added to Princess Fairytale Hall so fast and that rubbed me the wrong way when Aurora has no regular meets anymore, but the show is actually really cute.

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Fri, 07/28/2017 - 21:17

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Wednesday 28th September

We had a bit of a later start this morning we left about 9am and headed for EPCOT, we headed in towards the land but realised we were way early for our FP so we diverted to the seas for a ride with nemo to fill some time in its so cute! We headed into the land and rode living with the Land I actually love this little boat ride so much and have since I was a child! We came off and were still too early for Soarin and the wait was too long to wait for us and we were pretty hungry so we decided to eat lunch first at Sunshine Seasons I was a rebel and instead of getting my usual pork I decided to try Mongolian Beef it was nice but it's a bit spicy for me but I'm so happy I tried it! Auntie got same as me mam had pork and uncle had chicken we all really enjoyed our own meals! For desserts we had cheesecake, Oreo cheesecake, some kind of cake that looks lovely but I honestly have no clue what it was! And chocolate cake, now this chocolate cake has been the topic of conversation since last October my auntie had desired this piece of cake for a long time and finally reunited with it she was over the moon!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was finally time to ride the new Soarin' we were all excited to ride it but I was worried it wouldn't live up to its previous version but oh wow it was absolutely on par if not better! I won't spoil it for the others but the added "extras" really made a massive impact on us!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We had enough of inside we needed heat so we headed round to the greenhouse guru booth to have a look at the tomato display, auntie and uncle grow a lot of plants so it was really interesting for them to see! We continued walking to the other side of future world to the festival centre, we had a look around but the chocolate display was something else it's just amazing they can do that with chocolate!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed back out and took a seat to wait for the JAMMitors, we sat in the sun but it was unbearable so we went to sit in the shade, before long they came out and me and mam moved around to watch them from the front they were amazing as usual I love their food and wine set with the cookers etc. haha!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was so hot and we were really hot and agitated so we thought it best to head back to the resort to cool down we did squeeze a ride on spaceship earth on the way out! we got back to the resort and I had a real desire for some cheesecake so we headed to the food court to pick one up had showers etc. and headed out to Hollywood Studios, just before we had left the room I managed to snag a FP for great movie ride as usually there are huge wait times......nope was just 5 but we used it anyway we ended up waiting longer in the FP line! If I'm honest this ride has lost its sparkle for me whether it was because it was quiet or not I'm not sure but there was literally no line yet they squeezed so many people on the line in front of us they ended up having to sit in separate rows, our guide was terrible we sometimes have difficulty hearing as it is but everybody was looking round a bit confused because nobody could hear her, I think we were in the gangster scene and it was just a bit lacklustre, you couldn't hear the gangster lady any better I just think in general this ride really needs upgrading I love the concept of the ride though so I really hope they give it the TLC it needs, I also love the end film! As we came out we realised it was time for the star wars show on stage to finish so we waited to get some pictures of the characters these are some of my favourites!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

When we came out people were starting to get a spot for the fireworks so we managed to snag what turned out to be a pretty awesome spot we were just to the right of the left blue sound pillar thing at the front of the section where they have the pathway " not far away from the dessert party area

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Like the day before the dark clouds started to come, lightening in the distance but I wasn't moving! We got ponchos etc. out but rain never came it blew over phew we were there a long time but I felt the time went quickly and before long it was time to start......well what can I say I was left speechless there is no way to even begin to explain what I saw I mean it was just out of this world your eyes needed to be in 6 different places all at once it was mesmerising and everybody must see it! I've attached a few photos but they do not do it justice!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Our 1 glimmer of hope in the clouds!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed back to the resort got our pastas and as we headed back to the room we noticed these creatures on the ceiling along the pathway to the rooms.......this will come in handy later in the TR trust me! once we ate we headed to bed!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

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Fri, 07/28/2017 - 22:35

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Thursday 29th September

We got up and left the room about 9 and just made it in time for our Toy Story Mania FP (I can only assume this was down to our super bad bus luck!) we were on the new track which was super cool! But for the first time ever I lost !

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed to use our Tower of Terror FP; auntie doesn't ride this as she has a fear of lifts, closed spaces and the dark so this really isn't the ride for her! We usually ride 2 and 2 using her magic band so mam gets to ride twice but auntie said she was happy to browse the shops while we all went on together which was great! It was a fantastic experience to have all of us together!

STUDIO_TOWEROFTERRORBRIDE_20160929_7816381903 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We went on star tours which just so happens to be aunties favourite ride! We had a new end sequence that none of us had experienced before which was super! I know some people get the same sequence over again but I don't think we have ever had a sequence repeated more than twice!

Auntie wasn't feeling too great so we headed for food to see if that would maybe perk her up we all had burgers it was one of those days when that's exactly what you need and it just hit the spot perfectly! They also all had parfaits for dessert but I went with the Darth Vader cupcake I loved the peanut butter section but the chocolate was too much for me tasted a lot more like dark chocolate and I'm a milk chocolate girl!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We decided to head out of Hollywood Studios as we were at MNSSHP tonight and auntie and uncle fancied a walk, I believe they walked to EPCOT and went to Disney Springs on the night

We headed back to the resort to get changed I wasn't dressing up more as Disney bounding I don't think anyone will have any trouble working out who I was??? Haha the outfit came together itself really so in my eyes the outfit chose me!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I once Disney bounded as Ariel and nobody knew who I was I was a bit bummed but this time couldn't have been different I had kids waving at me and heard one girl say "mom its snow white!" which really made my day!

Our bad experiences with buses continued we waited 40mins for a bus to come and it was full! We were told another bus was on its way but it was a good 20-30mins after that so I was really stressed but also really pleased we had left with plenty time to spare!

We arrived got checked in and received our bands and headed in, I love the new bypass area and especially the little bag of treats you get at the end with your trick or treat bag!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Once we were through we saw a little bit of the end of Mickey's Friendship faire from a distance then headed up to try and find the meet & greet for seven dwarfs, this was the only thing I really wanted to do being snow white was have my picture took with my men! We went to where they were previously meeting to find out they had moved! So once we eventually found them the line was huge and with still about an hour before the party started we thought we would be there for the night! The lady controlling the line said it would probably be about an hour from when they started meeting and that would be about 6.20 they started bang on time and even with 2 character "breaks to check on their diamonds" we were back out by 7.30! I was really impressed it was a great meet and I love the photos!

MK_SBCDUMBOVEHICLEICON_20160929_7816987188 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We went and did some trails and trick or treat locations we stopped for a quick dance at the dance party..... Well I say we did it more I did and mam sits at the side hiding her head in shame! Haha by this point I was getting super hot in my skirt it was one of those things that just seemed to radiate heat to the point of feeling like I may pass out so luckily I had brought a change of trousers with me! Sadly not snow white coloured but I was comfy so I didn't really care! We had a daft few minutes playing with the snapchat filters and some of these are my favourite pictures of the whole trip!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We did some more trails and were round in fantasyland and realised the first parade would be making its way round and looked SUPER crowded so we decided instead of battling with the crowds we would grab a bite to eat, we just shared a meal of chicken nuggets and fries but we subbed a dessert for breadsticks OMG they were out of this world! We get breadsticks with our pasta at the resort and they are gorgeous but these were something else! Oh man I could just eat some now!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Once we finished we headed to the hub to find a spot for the fireworks we ended up in the former FP area on the left side in front of Casey's we found a spot without blocking anyone's view and it was perfect, I didn't take pictures of Celebrate the Magic as I realised I had never just watched it I always had a camera in front of my face and it brought tears to my eyes I loved it anyway but it was extra special and I'm so happy I did this as its now changed, I did take pictures of Hallowishes because it's too amazing not too!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Once we had finished we watched the Hocus Pocus show which I was super excited about I love Hocus Pocus and this show completely lived up to everything I wanted it to be! we then headed round to the ECV area for FP it was very full but the area wasn't being managed very well as people were just sneaking in and taking up room for the ECV's we were late getting there so we were more than happy to stand back which we did but nobody ever moved these people which was a little annoying. The Parade as usual was AMAZING! Seriously I love it my favourite is the haunted mansion dancers and the villains section with the band but then again I love all of it!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I think I videoed the best bits!

By the time the parade passed us and we could get out it was 11.40 and had trick or treat locations in Frontierland and Adventureland, we headed up to Frontierland and hit those quickly and headed down to Adventureland, got round them as quickly as possible I came out of the penultimate location at 11.57 so I ran over to the last stop and she said it was closed with 2 mins to spare I pleaded with her that it was my last stop and I would have completed all the locations so she opened it back up just for me (I think she let a few others in too!) I ran down got my treats and ran back up just at the stroke of midnight! I was beyond happy! I gave the lady (whose name completely escapes me!) a hug and took a selfie (a very bad one there was hardly no lighting!) and we were on our way out got to listen to some more of the hocus pocus show and then walking down Main Street USA with the colours lighting up the building and the music just made it a completely amazing night!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We got back to the room and emptied all my bags of candy out....we had a LOT! We put it all back in bags and fell straight asleep!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

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Tue, 12/20/2016 - 00:45

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Your Snow White outfit is adorable!

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Tue, 12/20/2016 - 18:06

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Allie wrote:

Your Snow White outfit is adorable!

Thanks I was quite impressed with it!

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Danielle Jane Robson Create your badge

Wed, 12/21/2016 - 11:34

danijrod

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So many sweets!!!! ha! love it keep it coming

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Mon, 01/16/2017 - 17:13

Kristen K.

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So cute! Love your Snow White

Fri, 08/11/2017 - 09:58

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Friday 30th September

With us being up so late the night before we didn't wake up until just before 8am which didn't leave us a whole lot of time before we had to head out to Animal Kingdom, luckily we made it out by around 9.15 which is good going for us! We waited a while for a bus and I'm sure 2 came at the same time, whether or not that did happen or not I'm not sure but it ended up just being us 4 and another couple with a whole bus to ourselves!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We quickly realised it was such a quicker journey without the Blizzard Beach stop, me and mam don't really do the water parks, auntie and uncle do but I don't believe they had any issues with the additional bus required to get to Blizzard Beach.

Once we arrived we stopped for our entry pictures! We didn't do very well with pictures this year we need to try harder! And then once inside we headed straight to Africa so we didn't miss out Kilimanjaro Safaris FP, we had a great safari and saw loads of animals but not many pictures unfortunately

AK_ENTR_20160930_7817296206 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Our next FP was for Festival of the Lion King where we were expecting to meet Holly (alicemouse) and her husband Benn however they had been delayed by their buses so we went in separately and agreed to meet after the show was finished, the show was outstanding as usual I just love everything about the show it is all immersive and everything you could possibly expect it's an absolute must do for us! We also had one of the stilt walkers who took a liking to my auntie so kept appearing out of nowhere and in be prepared came up beside her to give her a fright she said she was scared but loved it!!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Once the show was finished I quickly spotted Holly and Benn so we had a quick chat inside as we were all walking out then mam, auntie and uncle headed to Flame Tree for food and I said I would catch them up, I stayed a while to chat it was great to meet you guys again it's always a pleasure and hope to see you again soon! While we were stood there was this random man on stilts came out, I found out after it was Muziki! We was very good and very happy walking on those tiny stilts!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I headed off to join rest of my family at flame tree we ordered the chicken, pork and ribs combo, I think uncle had something else but I honestly can't remember, it was beautiful but there is soooooo much food! I was a bit unsettled that this tall bird literally stared at me through the whole meal I was nearly on my poor uncles knee like it was eye level with me I wanted to take a picture but I was scared it would pounce on me! So mam did the honours I swear I have never been so terrified in my life of this bird!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

THE BIRD!!!
Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Once I got away from the bird we set off round to Kali River Rapids the plan was auntie and uncle to ride this while me and mam went on Expedition Everest (they don't like EE and we aren't fussed on Kali) but the lockers weren't working and they didn't want to take their bags on so we stood with bags while they rode I managed to get a couple of pictures but I didn't squirt them with water " trust me it wouldn't have been worth my life!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

Luckily they returned the favour so me and mam rode Expedition Everest and mam put both hands up (kinda) I was proud! unfortunately the picture has gone missing but lucky for me she was feeling brave on our next visit!

We were kind of stuck after this there wasn't any shows due to start near us and we had done most of what we wanted to do, we headed out to the exit and split ways auntie and uncle went to Blizzard Beach we headed back to resort to get ready as me and mam had reservations for Morimoto tonight i clearly had time to spare so kept myself occupied.........

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We got ready and all headed down to Disney Springs we wandered around for a bit then when it was time for our dining reservation we parted ways and we went in, first of all I have to just say the place is just amazing to look at those lights and everything are just out of this world! We didn't have huge expectations of this place we wanted to try it but a lot of brits that had been didn't really rave about it but we got a deal on something called a Magical Dining Month this year there was only Morimoto and STK on the offer in Disney but by the time we found out we could only get in to Morimoto we got a 3 course meal each off a set menu for $33 per person which we thought was really good! We started off with Pork Bao and I think it was a Dim Sum sampler it was a dim sum something both were fantastic plenty in them and quite filling I could have ate them all night!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

For main course I had the chicken Lo Mein and mam had I think the Beef Short Rib, again both were perfection absolutely delicious we couldn't get enough this meal was phenomenal and we still had dessert!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We had Churro Fondue and MM soda float, we weren't really sure what the soda float was but it was soda water and some kind of flavouring and those bubbles that burst in your mouth, I wasn't keen but mam loved it however my churro fondue (my first experience of a churro) was delicious and loved the dipping sauces, we both agreed this meal was amazing and would happily dine here again and definitely exceeded our expectations!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We weren't ready to head back to the resort so we headed in search of cocktails and found Jock Lindsay's! We found ourselves a lovely seat on the terrace overlooking the water and ordered The Fountain of youth (blue) and Reggie's revenge (green)

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

These were both yummy and we could have drunk eachothers too (and I intend to in the future!) clearly I was thirsty for cocktails as I finished mine while mam was way behind me!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I got informed off my best friend Danielle that she had just been soaked in a massive storm that was in the area " everywhere looked calm but we had seen lightening in the distance so we moved a table back just incase and I ordered a cool headed monkey oh this was yummy! We also settled the bill at this point I was being cut off!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We thoroughly enjoyed all our drinks and will certainly be back here it was a perfect end to the night we were happy and content as we headed back to the resort to go to sleep.......or so we thought!

Now a little back story here we had noticed that on a night when the lights were on these creatures were always around the lights they were like a gecko but like whit/see-through colour well they weren't really a colour they were bizarre there was at least one beside each light some even hanging off the ceiling which I found odd and have never seen a gecko hanging off a ceiling before so it became a game to find the creature next to the light on our walk to the room, now as we approached out room ours wasn't there and I made a joke saying "yeah it's probably in our room cosying up......" famous last words as we noticed this thing running around the ceiling! And I mean it was FAST! It eventually settled in the most awkward place ever in the millimetres between the curtain pole ending and the ceiling there was no way I was trying to get it so I rang the front desk and they said they would get someone, I wasn't taking my eyes off this sucker incase it disappeared so I pulled up a seat and stared it out!

Untitled by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

I was Snow White the night before the animals were supposed to flock round me yesterday not today when I wanted my bed! Around 30mins later a lovely man from horticulture arrived I could have kissed him he was here to save us he wasn't sure if he would catch it first go but he did! We were free! Let's just say everytime I entered our room I did a thorough check of all the ceiling space!

After all this excitement it was bedtime, cocktails plus animals' running on the ceiling tires you out!

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Tue, 01/17/2017 - 22:08

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Dude, the birds at Flame Tree are AGGRESSIVE! We had one all up in our business on our December trip, too!

Morimoto and Jock Lindsey's both look fabulous! I really need to make it to them!

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Wed, 01/18/2017 - 16:28

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Allie wrote:

Dude, the birds at Flame Tree are AGGRESSIVE! We had one all up in our business on our December trip, too!

Morimoto and Jock Lindsey's both look fabulous! I really need to make it to them!

I swear Allie never in my life have I been so terrified from a look!!! I mean I am terrified of most animals to begin with but it was on eye level with me!!!!

also Jock's is on my must whenever I can fit it in! It's a beautiful place in and out and Morimoto wasn't even really on my radar but i'm already hoping and praying its on the magical dining month again so I swing one of those deals again, between there and Homecoming I could eat there all trip and wouldn't miss anything!

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Fri, 08/11/2017 - 12:37

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Saturday 1st October

After last night's late night antics we were a little tired and dint wake up til around 9 but we had to get moving so we were dressed and out by 9.30 " minus any coffee! By the time the bus arrived due to our total bad luck with the buses we missed our Toy Story Mania FP but it was fine we picked up our happy Birthday Magic Kingdom Buttons and headed to Frozen Sing a Long

IMG_2523 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We love this show and the historians really make it for us! We headed round to Star Tours and got another different end sequence! Bu now it was time to head for lunch we went to ABC Commissary and really got a fancy for chicken burgers they were super yummy and the green beans were delicious I don't know what they do to them but they are so much better than British green beans I'll tell you!

IMG_2527 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was around this time when I realised how much of an amazing best friend I had Danielle and her husband decided they would head to Magic Kingdom earlier than they expected to as we thought the crowds might get busy I asked her if she would mind trying to get me the Magic Kingdom "I was here" shirt, we were planning on going to Magic Kingdom that evening but I was worried they might not have any left, she very nicely agreed and bless her cottons stood in the humungous line to get into the emporium and successfully managed to snag me a shirt! Dan incase I haven't thanked you enough thanks again you are a star!!!

Anyhoo we finished lunch and were a bit of a loose end we weren't sure what else we had to do at Hollywood studios as we had another night here in a few days but realised we had about 10mins to hot foot it down to beauty and the beast live on stage and we made it in time we had a great spot and thoroughly enjoyed it the only thing that annoys us with this and other shows is people getting up and leaving before the show is actually finished some of us want to see the end just wait those extra 30 seconds!

IMG_2528 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We hung on to let the majority of people out and we decided since we were done with Hollywood Studios but still had energy left in us that we would go to Magic Kingdom now and then try and go somewhere else tonight so we headed out towards the bus stop, when we arrived the Magic Kingdom bus had 4 ECV's waiting for it but the was an EPCOT bus so we ran over but he already had 2 ECV's on board but we decided we would wait for another and have a mini adventure, in the meantime another Magic Kingdom bus came so we decided I'd go ahead on my own and they would follow via EPCOT so onto the bus I got! I made it to Magic Kingdom in no time there was hardly any people around even when I got in, it was nearly parade time but I thought there was no way I'd find a spot to be able to see from but it was as if someone was looking down on me found a perfect view on main street as the parade was just coming down it was SUPER hot and the gang were still trying to get to Magic Kingdom so saw the parade in peace!

IMG_2533 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2541 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2548 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2554 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2566 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

little bit of back story to this picture as Mickey and Minnie were coming down Mickey dipped Minnie down for a really romantic "out of the movies" kiss and this was her reaction after it was one of the cutest things I've seen!

IMG_2648 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

The parade passed by and they still were nowhere near so I decided since I had my tink top on I best go meet the lady! It said 5mins but it was about 15mins in all but I didn't mind it as air conditioned! I finally got in to meet her and she was TINY like really tiny so in all honesty I looked like Baymax standing next to her! She loved my Tink top and said I need to make my own green dress out of leaves.....for the eyesight of fellow Disney parkgoers I'll stick to the top!!! Haha

MK_TSFAIRIESACHAR_20161001_7818748685 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

When I got out I had a text from mam to say they were nearly here so I found myself a wall and sat at the entrance to wait for them I felt like I was there a while and spotted auntie and uncle but they had lost mam at the magic band points she had got stuck in a middle of a queue with people behind her and a query in front of her! Eventually she managed to get through and we set up Main Street by this point we needed an ice cream fix so we headed to Plaza Ice Cream Parlour for Sprite floats, we stood to wait for them and went to have a drink.....it was just soda water yuck! So we took them back and they said something was wrong with the sprite so we changed to coke floats very refreshing!

After having 5 mins sit down I said we had to have a selfie in front of the castle on its birthday because we were there so off we went! As we got there mickey's friendship faire was starting so me, auntie and uncle went to watch it closer mam stayed in the shade!

IMG_2654 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2661 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2669 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

When it finished we could see the black clouds coming in so we decided we would head out and it was the right thing to do because the rain certainly came! I took this picture on our way back to room I find it hilarious Flora comes to mind........

IMG_2689 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We decided to just hang round the resort as the weather just didn't seem to get any better we headed to riverside mill to get food it was sooooo full! It took us an hour to get served and out! We took it back to room but there was a lot of juice in my pasta so when I took it out of the bag it just went all over me!! We ate, relaxed and slept!

Flora and Merryweather braving the rain for food!

IMG_2693 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

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Tue, 08/15/2017 - 07:58

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Sunday 2nd October

Me and mam had a lie in this morning auntie and uncle went ahead and we said we would meet them there well our bad luck with buses continued and then we got stopped by the Move it, Shake it parade!

IMG_2699 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2702 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We finally made it to our meeting place of the haunted mansion and got in line for our FP, me and auntie took the bypass which just relieves a lot of anxiety for her she loves the ride but the stretching room is just not for her! When we came out I had an email saying 7 Dwarfs Mine Train FP had been cancelled because it was temp unavailable so we headed to philharmagic before lunch and decided to try 7DMT after lunch, philharmagic was really busy! I have never seen so many people in 1 showing there was barely a seat spare and it took forever! By time we came out I had to run to check us in for lunch!

Now I did something daring at Be our Guest I've always been a braised pork girl but today I decided to have the beef sandwich!!!! Shock horror! It was really nice but I'm not sure I would have it again but I'm so happy I tried it!

IMG_2716 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

By the time we came out of lunch 7 Dwarfs was back up yay! We got in line and through in no time we love this ride so much!

MK_MINETRAIN_20161002_7819532417 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We managed to snag a FP for Winnie the Pooh it's such a cute ride but not worth the wait time! everywhere had such long waits so we decided to head to the ECV area to get a spot for the parade, I videoed the parade as there was a little girl back home who just loves all the princesses so I videoed it all so her mam could show her the next morning but she was so excited she got back up! I'd love to be able to see it through a child's eyes having seen nothing like that before some of the characters even waved our way which I was so happy about! Mam took some pictures and she got some good ones!

IMG_6299 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_6305 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_6311 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_6325 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We headed into Hall of Presidents to cool down as it was super hot which was great I love the patriotism Americans have I wish we had some of that in Britain!

IMG_2722 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

We decided to head back to the resort have a little freshen up and headed back out to EPCOT as we approached the bus stop I saw 2 familiar faces Danijrod and her hubby and they were also heading out to EPCOT bus arrived and I went and told them we had the ECV to get on she said no problem but started letting people on so I went back and said we were waiting to get on so she came to let us on she couldn't work the ramp eventually we managed to get on went to the remaining 2 bus stops but it took forever Danielle and hubby jumped off and got on EPCOT bus behind us but we set off regardless anyway we were on our way but instead of turning right to come out of the resort she turned left and we did a full loop of the resort but at about 5mph when we eventually did leave the resort we went a totally different way to EPCOT round by Hollywood Studios, Swan and dolphin etc it's the weirdest bus journey I had ever been on Danielle text me while we were still at the resort saying they were there! The whole bus journey took around 50mins its usually 10-15mins max!

Once we finally arrived we headed straight for World Showcase managed to grab Venison, Mussels and Lamb at Australia and New Zealand on our way round to America to see David Cook! He had a great set really enjoyed it and had a great view!

IMG_2727 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2728 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2729 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2731 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2735 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

It was nearly time for Illuminations so we nipped to Hops and Barley and between us got 2 lobster Rolls, a beef brisket and a carrot cake, we also got the frozen orange spiked tea, I didn't like any of them but the rest did, we watched the fireworks got a sneaky view of David Cook leaving then headed round to get the bus home, got some pasta and headed to bed!

IMG_2738 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

IMG_2740 by Amy Roberts, on Flickr

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Thu, 01/19/2017 - 14:21

LouisianaMike

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Great report and pics, Amy!! Looks like y'all had a blast!!

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Thu, 01/19/2017 - 15:35

Kristen K.

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amy1989 wrote:

Allie wrote:
Dude, the birds at Flame Tree are AGGRESSIVE! We had one all up in our business on our December trip, too!

Morimoto and Jock Lindsey's both look fabulous! I really need to make it to them!

I swear Allie never in my life have I been so terrified from a look!!! I mean I am terrified of most animals to begin with but it was on eye level with me!!!!
!

The bird may have been out to get your lunch, but I don't blame him! OMG - it's 9:30 in the morning here and now I want BBQ after seeing those Flame Tree pictures.

Thu, 01/19/2017 - 17:10

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LouisianaMike wrote:

Great report and pics, Amy!! Looks like y'all had a blast!!

Thanks!

Kristen K. wrote:

amy1989 wrote:
Allie wrote:
Dude, the birds at Flame Tree are AGGRESSIVE! We had one all up in our business on our December trip, too!

Morimoto and Jock Lindsey's both look fabulous! I really need to make it to them!

I swear Allie never in my life have I been so terrified from a look!!! I mean I am terrified of most animals to begin with but it was on eye level with me!!!!
!

The bird may have been out to get your lunch, but I don't blame him! OMG - it's 9:30 in the morning here and now I want BBQ after seeing those Flame Tree pictures.

Kristen I couldn't agree with you more I make sure I have food by my side when looking through food pictures!

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