Spook's September 2015 pre trip- COMPLETE

September 13 We headed to Animal Kingdom this morning. There seemed to be quite a crowd at bag check but the once we were inside the park, it wasn't too crowded. Our first stop was the safari where we saw lots of animals, even the cheetahs and lions! About halfway through the ride, it started to rain. By the time we got off it was pouring. Lightning was also in the area so all of the outdoor attractions were closed. We went to meet Mickey and Minnie and then grabbed lunch at Restaurantosaurus. It was still raining when we finished eating so we decided to head back to the room for a nap.

We spent the evening at the Boardwalk and watched a few of the acts which we really enjoyed. We grabbed a pizza from the Pizza Window, did some laundry and then packed up since we were switching Resorts in the morning.

September 14 Checked out of the Boardwalk and into Beachclub! Our room wasn't ready so we walked over to Epcot. Rapunzel was greeting guests at the entrance so we got our picture with her. We had the lucky combo from Joy of Tea in China for lunch ( egg roll, chicken pocket, pork bun and ice cream) which was pretty good. We were really feeling the heat today so we cooled off in some shops and then did Ellen's Energy Adventure. We went to Innoventions but pretty much all the attractions are now closed ( at least it was cool inside). We headed back around the World Showcase and browsed the store in Japan and got some pockey. Our room was ready by this point so we headed back. The room setup was basically the same as Boardwalk except we had a HUGE balcony! Our view was lacking though, just trees and a noisy road. Our room was also much closer to the lobby and gift shop than our Boardwalk room was so that was a plus.

After our luggage was delivered, we walked over to Hollywood Studios. We watched Lights, motors, action, Frozen sing a long (which was pretty funny), and Fantasmic. We were pretty tired after that so we decided to call it a night.

September 15 Slept in this morning and then went for lunch at Beaches and Cream. It was our first time there and we will be back! We split a turkey sandwich and onion rings, both of which were delicious. Then we split the No Way Jose sundae. YUM! Huge and amazing! We saw the famous Kitchen Sink and boy is it massive.

After lunch we headed to Fort Wilderness to visit a wonderful cast member we met there earlier in our trip. She had told us to come back today because she was helping us find hidden Pascal pins. We got there and she had found 2 for us! We actually ended up with the full set by the end of the trip. We then walked over to Wilderness Lodge before heading to Magic Kingdom for the Halloween Party. We had a FP to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella. Afterwards we made our way towards Thunder Mountain to meet KenJ, JanJ, MrHub and Scrappy. We rode the Haunted Mansion and the Mine Train before heading to Gaston's for a ghost cupcake. These cupcakes are only available during the party. We arrived about an hour after the party started and they were already sold out! What?! They sure dropped the ball on that one. We then parted ways and Erik and I headed to Pecos Bills for some dinner. Once we were fed and watered we went trick or treating, rode the go karts, watched the parade and fireworks and then saw the last showing of the new Hocus Pocus stage show in front of the castle. Neither of us had seen the movie but we enjoyed it anyway. We finally did watch the movie on Halloween just a few days ago. After the show, we went back to our room to pig out on candy!

September 16 Slept in again this morning since it was a late night. We headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping and DisneyQuest. The Astro Blasters broke down but were back up and running in about 10 minutes. I'm going to miss that ride. After playing more games we had a late lunch/ early dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. My BBQ chicken pizza was amazing! Erik loved his mac and cheese. We realized while shopping that we are now officially Pin crazy! It's pretty fun to trade and look for ones you want to collect. We headed back to the room around 7 to max out in the room ( it was weird having a non park day!) with some tea and snacks.

I loved the stage show! Watching the movie just made me understand where the songs and stuff came from

September 17 We got up early this morning and headed over to the Belle Vue Lounge at the Boardwalk. On certain days they offer a free tour called the Ballyhoo tour. Basically the tour talks about Atlantic City and the inspirations that lead the Imagineers to create the Boardwalk Resort. We really enjoyed the tour and had a great guide. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and we even got free ice cream Afterwards we headed over to Epcot to have lunch in Norway ( ham and apple sandwich and sweet pretzel with almonds. Both were great). Tummies full, we hopped on the monorail to the Poly in hope of doing a DVC tour of the bungalows. Sadly they were all occupied so we had to settle for a tour of the Studio The Studios were really nice but I really wanted to check out the bungalows because a tour is our only hopes of ever setting foot in one (unless we win the lottery ).

After the tour we headed back to our room for a rest. Next we grabbed a bus to Magic Kingdom then took the boat to the Grand Floridian. We had dinner at Gasparilla Island Grill. This was our first time at the Grand Floridian. It's very nice but not really our style. Seems to classy for us I want to stay there for a night though just to say I did lol. After dinner we met up with MrHub, Scrappy, JanJ, KenJ, Jmed and Joe ( an another couple but I can't remember their names ) As we were waiting to board what we thought was a pontoon boat, we discovered that MrHub had tricked us all! We were boarding the Grand One! And Grand it is! 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchenette with stove, TV's everywhere! Talk about luxury. Once we boarded we cruised around Bay Lake for a bit then lined up right in front of Cinderella castle for Wishes. It was a blast! Thanks again MrHub and Scrappy! The view was great and no crowds! After Wishes, we were treated to a viewing of the Electrical water pagent.

After the cruise, we all went to Trader Sam's at the Poly for a drink. I very rarely drink but I decided to get a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum. Oh. My. Goodness. It was SO good! It tasted like juice! I forget what Erik got but mine was better After our drinks we headed back to our room. It was a bit of a trek as the parks were all closed so we had to take a bus to Downtown Disney then get a bus to Beach Club ( yes we really are too cheap to take a cab ) It only took us an hour though so we didn't mind. Once we were back it was off to bed.

Poly DVC Studio and Trader Sam's drinks

September 18 Slept in a bit today then headed to Animal Kingdom. We had FP+ for Dinosaur, Festival of the Lion King, and Everest. We arrived at the park just in time for Festival of the Lion King which was as great as always. We were in the elephant section today. After the show we got some watermelon and a jalapeno stuffed pretzel ( a must every visit to AK). We rode Dinosaur next. The standby line was the longest we've ever seen. Maybe because of the heat? Anyway, we were on in no time thanks to our FP. We had some time to kill after so we walked one of the trails. Lots of birds, fish, ducks and even a family of gorillas with two little babies. Our last FP was Everest and I'm not sure why, but it seemed more intense than usual. Still a great ride! We had a late lunch at Harambe Market. We had walked by earlier and it was packed but at this late in the afternoon it was almost empty Erik had the gyro flatbread and I had the curried corn dog. Both were excellent. By the time we finished eating, it was nearing park close so we headed for the exit.

After resting in the room for a bit we decided since we were staying at Beach Club, we HAD to check out Stormalong Bay. We floated in the little lazy river for a bit, then hit the slide a few times. It was a little weird having sand bottom pools but it was cool. Once we had our fill of swimming ( which doesn't take long lol), it was time to fill our bellies. We shared a Mickey Kitchen Sink from Beaches and Cream. It was glorious! And I love the Mickey pants sink you get to keep. Looks good in my Mickey themed kitchen lol. We hung out on our balcony for a bit before calling it a night.

Stormalong Bay

September 19 Today started out with breakfast at Cape May Cafe. The food was excellent and Donald was much friendlier towards Mister (see photo below of last visit). Minnie seemed to be rushed ( I find there's always one character that rushes by) and we had just missed Goofy when we sat down and he hadn't made his way back around by the time we left We left stuffed and decided to lounge in the room a bit to digest. We took a nap and then headed for Magic Kingdom as there were extra magic hours until 1AM. We arrived in time for our first FP which was Space Mountain. The People Mover seemed to be broken down again with the lights on so we could once again see some of the tracks inside Space Mountain. We wandered around a bit before our next FP at Buzz. Erik won again (cheater).

We were finally hungry again so we walked over to Contempo Cafe for a turkey BLT sandwich and a banana split blondie. The sandwich was awesome but the blondie wasn't anything special. After dinner we headed back to MK and did the Country Bear Jamboree. This was a first for Erik and I apparently went on my first visit but couldn't remember it at all so it was like a first for me as well. It was no Captain EO, but it was still alright. The Electrical parade was starting so we watched it before heading to Splash Mountain for our final FP. We got the front row but only got wet instead of soaked. While we were plunging down we could see Wishes which was cool for the 30 seconds We then made our way back up Main Street to the Chapeau. I was hoping maybe they'd have some Orange Bird ears ( I can't find them anywhere! Not even ebay ). Of course they didn't have any, BUT, they had Tangled ones! Tangled is my favourite movie ever and I was so excited to see those ears! They were so new that most Cast Members hadn't seen them yet. I got tons of compliments about them. Of course, we now had to go see Rapunzel so I could show off my new ears. She of course loved them and hadn't seen them yet. Next we did Mickey's Philharmagic and Peter Pan. The new queue is pretty cool. By the time we got off Peter Pan, it was just past 1AM so the park was closed. We got on a bus and went right to bed when we got to our room.

September 20 Our last full day We started our day at Downtown Disney for some last minute shopping. It was crowed and HOT! We were going to have lunch at Earl of Sandwich but the line was absolutely massive so we decided to just wait and eat back at the resort. I had a pepperoni flatbread which was really good. After lunch we did some laundry and took some pictures around the resort. We then headed to Epcot for FP's for Soarin, Turtle Talk with Crush and the character spot. We also did Nemo and Living with the Land.

We had dinner at my favourite spot- The Garden Grill The food was amazing as usual and it seems now they've added a second dessert. Cupcakes! We ended up boxing up the cupcakes and eating them later because we were so full. All the characters were awesome and we saw them all twice. After dinner, we were too full to do much else so we went back to the room. Sadly, we had to start packing. The Tragical Express was picking us up at 8:05AM

September 21 Check out day ( We got up and packed the last few things then headed down to get some breakfast. All too soon we were on the bus to the airport. Security wasn't too busy and we made it to our gate with lots of time to spare. The flight was ok. We weren't seated right beside each other ( both on the aisle seats). Once we landed we flew through customs, got our luggage and then took the shuttle back to the hotel to pick up the car.

Overall, this was yet another amazing trip I wouldn't rush back during September though. It was too hot and the crowds weren't any thinner than our other trips. Although, I did hear multiple people saying that it was much busier than usual. I think October/ November are my favourite. However, we're heading back in January so I'll take it