Another Birthday Trip, Oct 2019 - Day 9, MK Resort Walk, Hollywood Studios and Boardwalk Area Walk

[Lisa29]

The previous day is HERE.

*Disclaimer, one of my favourite days of every holiday is doing the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Resort walks so there are lots of photos for today. *

Apologies for the VERY long day in getting this day up.

Friday 11 October 2019

After a long day and late night the day before, I had hoped for a longer lie in than 8am, which is when Madison and Kaley woke up. We did take our time getting up and getting ready, having breakfast, etc.

We left at 9.35 to have a wander around the resort, the first on our resort hop today

We went over to the lobby first to get some more maps and to check we had no charges on our account (we didn't).

We went back outside and headed around towards the mill.

Another resort map photo

Some photos by the mill

We wanted to have a look around the Alligator Bayou part of the resort so followed the path that way

Building 18 and one of the pools

There were lots of trees in this area so there was plenty of shady spots.

It was another beautiful day and the resort looked stunning

Resort signage

We liked the AB area but were glad we were in the Mansions. We headed back towards Magnolia Bend. I can't remember which Mansion this was!

There was work being done on Acadian House (80) and the pool between here and 85 had been emptied and closed off, with workmen there

We wondered if this may have been the reason we were upgraded to a Royal Room, with one of the Mansions not being available to them.

More photos as we were walking back to our room

We were back at our room just after 10.15am. We had a quick snack, got our stuff together and left at 10.30am. We drove to Magic Kingdom and were parked in Peter Pan 216 at 10.45am.

We walked to the TTC

We walked up to the monorail station and walked straight onto monorail gold. We were soon on our way and Phil got this great photo

He quickly swapped cameras and managed to get this even better shot

We have a large photo of this up in our living room and it is the screensaver on our computer too.

The girls were happy with how much space we had on the monorail, and made themselves comfortable

Posing for more photos and pulling faces

Back wall of the monorail car

Space Mountain, with the building work for Tron behind

It was a really nice journey to the Contemporary, the second stop on our resort hop. We love this artwork

Monorail gold

Going down the escalator

We had a look in my favourite shops

Kaley was trying on some of the Minnie head bands

We went downstairs and outside. I have so many good memories from our stay at Bay Lake Tower

We stopped for some photos on our way to the boat dock

We walked to the boat dock and had a wait of about 15-20 minutes

Just before 12 noon, the boat for Wilderness Lodge, stop three on our resort hop, arrived

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[Lisa29]

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We were on the boat just after 12pm and it was a lovely boat ride to WL. We were hungry so took a quick pic of the pool

As we went past on our way to Geyser Point

I had read so many positive dining reviews for here and we had deliberately timed today so that we could have lunch here. We arrived at 12.15pm and were shown immediately to a table. It wasn't right by the water, but the next row of tables over, so a fantastic view.

The drinks menu

And the food menu

Our server was Kylie and she came over to take our order. Kaley had an apple juice (included in the price of the kids meal)

Madison had a Worth Melting For Lemonade- lemonade, pineapple juice, passion fruit, $5.49

I was boring and had a Coke Zero, $3.99. Phil had a Kona Longboard Island Lager, $10.00

To eat, Kaley had the kids Chicken Breast Nuggets, served with Waffle Fries and Grapes, $7.39

She really enjoyed this and ate it all.

Madison had the Classic Bacon Cheeseburger, with Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato and served with Waffle Fries, $13.00

She really liked hers too, and ate everything.

Phil and I both had the Bison Cheeseburger, Bacon, Sweet Crispy Onion Straws, Marionberry Sauce, Lettuce, Tomato and Garlic Aioli, served with Waffle Fries, $16.00 each

This was delicious, we thoroughly enjoyed this and ate every last bit.

Kylie brought over our bill

This should have cost us $76.55 including tax, but we used 4 QS credits. We left an 18% tip, so $13.00. I completely agree with all the fantastic reviews that Geyser Point gets, it is a brilliant use of a quick service dining plan credit and the food is so tasty.

We were finished just after 1pm. We hadn't been here very long but didn't feel rushed at all, nor had we felt like we waited long for anything. It is a beautiful location to have something to eat and relax for a bit.

I haven't written it down but I am sure I went and got a drink refill of my Coke Zero before leaving, after Kylie told us to make sure we did that before we left.

We walked back towards the main resort area

We went inside, it really is stunning in here

Some lovely details too

I took some photos on my phone of some photo frames that I liked. I completely forgot that I had done this so it wasn't until we were home and I was going through my photos that I saw this and realised that I hadn't seen it anywhere else and hadn't bought it

We went back to the boat dock and got on the boat (Bon Voyage) to Magic Kingdom at 1.30pm

This only took about 5 minutes and we were soon at the Magic Kingdom boat dock

We got off this boat and were able to get straight onto the resort launch to the Grand Floridian

Monorails passing

This was another quick boat ride and we were at resort number four, the Grand Floridian

We had a wander around outside

Before going inside the main lobby building, going upstairs to have a look around and a quick peek in the shops

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[Lisa29]

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We walked down the main staircase and went back out, seeing a bride having some photos taken and then the carriage outside waiting for her

It was absolutely boiling today, these CM's must have been so hot!

Thinking we already knew the answer, we went over to the Wedding Pavilion anyway, just in case the bride we had seen wasn't coming here. Of course she was, and a couple of guests were arriving, so we couldn't have a look here like we normally do. We took a few photos anyway

It's so pretty

The lime monorail coming through the CR

We started on the walk towards the Poly. Looking back at the WP and GF

And I think this is the DVC building?

The girls had stopped and sat for a few minutes

Soon enough, we were at resort number five, the Poly. We of course had to stop at the beach to take the photos we always take

We carried on round to the main lobby

We went up to the monorail station but we had literally just missed one, so decided to go back down and follow the walking path to the TTC. 10 minutes later, we were on a tram back to the car.

The CM on the tram was so funny, he had us laughing all the way back to the car.

Just after 3pm, we were in the car and on our way to HS. We parked in Buzz 411 at 3.12pm precisely.

The Skyliner still wasn't operating

Very quiet near the entrance

Incredibly blue sky

At 3.25pm, we were in the park and in the line to see Chip and Dale. It was so hot, and the line was in the sun with not much shade, so Phil took Madison and Kaley over to Crossroads of the World and bought them a mini fan each. These were $12.99 each plus tax, so a total of $27.67.

Finally in the shade, but still using the fans

We had a bit of a wait but it was soon our turn. Going for hugs

Signing their autograph books

Swapping over

And posing for photos

They were good fun and the girls enjoyed meeting them.

We had FP's for Toy Story Mania between 2.55 and 3.55pm so we needed to get over there.

It was really busy in Toy Story Land and it was 3.47pm when we tapped into TSM. Even with the FP, it took a while and it was 4pm when we were on the ride. Madison and Kaley had asked if they could go on together so we said yes. When I was going through Madison's phone to see what photos she had taken, I found these!

As always, we had a lot of fun on this ride. I love it, it is one of my favourites at WDW.

Madison and Kaley's scores

And Phil's and mine

Mine was the higher score, I was very pleased with myself

We saw the Green Army Men as we were walking through TSL

It was still so hot so we went to the refreshment stand just opposite the entrance to TSL and got a Wild Strawberry Lemonade to share. This was $4.99 plus tax but I used a snack credit

This was really tasty and we finished it so fast.

As we were walking round, we came to Olaf's meet and greet area. The wait time said 15 minutes so we joined the line. I say line, it was just walking through the queuing system and straight in to see him. The whole process took 2 minutes!

With it taking so little time, we were so glad we had stopped to see him.

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[Lisa29]

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As we were walking round, we stopped for a couple of minutes to see the Star Wars stage show thing

We had a look at the ice creams here, but they weren't what we wanted so left it

S.S. Down the Hatch

After missing out as it was closed the last time we were here, we walked down Sunset Boulevard

And went to Hollywood Scoops

This was the menu

The line was long here and we had to wait a while. While we were waiting, Phil went to Fairfax Fare to get us a couple of iced waters. From Hollywood Scoops, we got a vanilla ice cream cone for Kaley, $5.49 plus tax

She really liked this and with two scoops, it was really big.

We also got two Ice Cream Sundaes, $6.29 each plus tax. We had both with mint choc chip ice cream and they came with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry

These were huge! I had some of Madison's but I'm sure we still didn't eat it all. This should have cost $19.24 but we used 3 snack credits.

We had a FP for the Beauty and the Beast show so we had taken the ice creams and drinks with us.

I really like this show, I love the film and the songs and always enjoy this. The show finished at 5.25pm and we decided to leave the park. Some photos on the way

I love the Disney balloons, they always make me smile

The Skyliner station and the gondolas all stacked up still and not moving

We followed the path round and started the walk to the Boardwalk area resorts.

This is a lovely walk and we could soon see the Swan and Dolphin (not on our resort hop count as we didn't go over the bridge to them)

My Mum knew we were doing this walk on this evening so rang to see where we were. We had just got to the part of the Boardwalk by Atlantic Dance Hall where you could see the whole area and she said they were looking at the water outside the Beach Club. Phil had the big camera lens on so looked and we could see them so waved.

They were waiting for Michelle and her family to arrive. Side note, today was the day we were supposed to travel, before we amended our dates to be there for the girls birthdays. When we got home, we said how glad we were we had changed dates as the parks were so much busier on our second week than they had been on our first week.

We said we would be round there at some point and would see them if they were still there.

The lovely Boardwalk area, and resorts six, seven and eight on our resort hop

Sea Breeze Point

The Boardwalk

Crest O' The Wave

Friendship boat

The main slide for Stormalong Bay. I do think it's weird that you have to completely come out of the pool area to use this though

Madison and I were a bit hungry so we went to Boardwalk Bakery

Madison and Kaley came in with me and Phil stayed outside

The menu

Madison had the Grilled Cheese served with Tomato Soup, $9.99. She got a Sprite as her drink ($3 ish I think)

She really liked this and shared with Kaley. They ate all of this.

I had the Caesar Salad with Chicken, Kale and Romaine Lettuce, Sea Salt Herb Croutons and Parmesan, $11.79, I got a Diet Coke as my drink (again, $3 ish I think)

This was also really good. The potion size was huge and I couldn't eat it all. Phil had a bit of it but we couldn't finish it.

The total including tax was $31.70 and we used 2 QS credits.

We had sat outside on one of the benches overlooking the water to eat.


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[Lisa29]

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Even though we hadn't had ice creams that long ago, we couldn't be right outside Ample Hills Creamery and not use some snack credits.

This is something Phil, Madison and Kaley say all the time!

The different flavours of ice cream available

And some pictures of the ice creams on the counter

Using a snack credit, you could get one scoop of ice cream and one topping in a cup or cone.

Kaley had a Vanilla Bean ice cream cone with sprinkles

Madison had Cotton Candy ice cream in a cup with sprinkles

Phil had Chocolate Milk and Cookies (creamy milk chocolate ice cream with pieces of Back-to-Nature sandwich crème cookies) in a cup with sprinkles

I had a Baked/Unbaked (vanilla ice cream with pieces of homemade chocolate chip cookies and brown butter cookie dough) ice cream in a waffle cone with no topping

These were all $6.99 each plus tax, making a total of $29.78 and we used 4 snack credits.

We sat at one of the table outside to eat these. We all really liked them and ate it all. The ice creams were all really tasty and there were so many different flavours to choose from. Definitely worth the snack credits.

When we had finished, we carried on our walk around towards the Beach Club.

A much darker sky over the Yacht Club

Compared to sky over the Beach Club

This is a very pretty resort but I prefer the look of the Yacht Club. We stopped at the beach to take a few more photos

Mum had messaged to say they were still at the Beach Club and were in the lobby so we went inside

We saw Mum and Dad near the check in desk; Michelle and her family had not long arrived. It had been just over a week since they had seen each other (very unusual for us), so the kids were really happy to see each other again

We spoke for a few minutes then Michelle and her family went to their room and we stayed and talked to Mum and Dad for a while. They were going for something to eat so we carried on our walk through the Beach Club, having a look around.

We went outside via Stormalong Bay

And carried on our walk outside

Lovely view over to the Boardwalk

Looking back at the Beach Club

We had thought about hiring one of the boats here but it had gotten too late to be able to on this occasion. We carried on the walk back towards Hollywood Studios

So pretty

The walk back took about 15 minutes, It was really nice, the night was lovely and the girls were really happy. Madison gave Kaley a piggy back for a good chunk of the walk back.

Another view of Tower of Terror

We went back in as we had forgotten to get the Hollywood Studios bag ($2.00 plus tax) earlier, so we went into Mickeys of Hollywood

Kaley also wanted to get the figure set from Frozen 2 so we got that ($24.99 plus tax), along with Skyliner pin badge ($9.99 plus tax) and a Skyliner display decoration ($14.99 plus tax).

It was just before 8pm and we didn't want to wait for two hours for the fireworks so we left and were walking out of the park at 8pm. We got straight onto a tram and were in the car driving out at 8.10pm.

We managed to take a wrong turn again somehow! We ended up driving past Coronado Springs and had to drive quite a way before we could turn around. We went back to POR via the Fort Wilderness drive that we knew.

We were back around 8.30pm. I spoke to Dan on the phone. She said that they now weren't going to a park tomorrow morning, they were going to have a pool morning/early afternoon instead.

Madison and Kaley went to bed at 9pm and when they were asleep, I told Phil what we had spoken about on the phone. We were due to go to MK in the morning but due to how much we had managed to get done during our other visits, there wasn't a lot we still wanted to do. We decided that we would go to the house too and swap our MK FP's now to some for AK, rather than our original plan of seeing if we could get AK FP's when our MK ones had been used.

I was only able to get Festival of the Lion King at 2.30pm, Finding Nemo at 4pm and It's Tough to be a Bug at 5.50pm.

I let Dan know that we would be coming over tomorrow and we went to bed just before 11pm.


My steps for today - 26,022
Phil's steps for today - 22,322

Next up, family time, swimming and Animal Kingdom is HERE


TODAY'S DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 6 Counter Service used and 8 Snack Credit used.

OVERALL DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 55/80 Counter Service used and 64/80 Snack Credits used.

DINING PLAN CREDITS REMAINING - 25 Counter Service and 16 Snack Credits.

[mick]

A brilliant day with lots of places visited

Joan

[sheluk]

Ah well this was an unexpected treat! Sounds such a lovely day. Lots of ice cream and sunshine - perfect. Thanks for sharing and all the detail as always xx