After All This Time?...Always- August 2015- Day 7

[xAimeex]

I have no idea how I've managed to write this day so quickly as it's been a really busy half term! Mind you there was the hour and a half I spent sitting on my computer on Friday morning waiting 'in line' to get tickets for Harry Potter and The Cursed Child so I got a fair bit of writing done then hehe. Managed to get tickets but not till March 2017! Seats in row A of the stalls though! I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

Anyway on with day 7! Hope you enjoy reading



Sunday 23rd August 2015- Epcot, Lotus Blossom Cafe, Hoop De Doo and Magic Kingdom


Another busy day today as it was Mum and Dad's last full day .


Lauren and I woke up around 7:15 which was actually 15 minutes before our alarm!


Epcot opened at 9 today and our original plan had been to get there for rope drop and head straight to Test Track as we had Soarin' fastpasses booked as our tier 1 attraction today.


However after the chaos of rope drop earlier in the week at Epcot we decided we just couldn't be doing with it! We all agreed that we didn't mind missing Test Track today, Lauren and I had another FP+ for it later in the trip and Mum and Dad weren't fussed about riding it a second time this trip.


This meant we had a much slower start which was actually really nice after all the early starts so far! We had our bottles of drink from dinner the night before. I ate the magic cookie bar and Lauren had the cookie that we’d saved too to keep us going.



Enough spare time for selfies today



We got ready and left at 8:25. As we were waiting for the bus a little frog jumped down right in front of us and nearly gave us a heart attack!




Outfits for the day!






The bus arrived at 8:30 and we got to Epcot around 8:55.


As we waited at bag check we spotted Mum and Dad a few lines away which was a lucky coincidence! They were further ahead but we managed to catch their attention so they knew to wait!



Mum saw 3 people have selfie sticks confiscated as they waited!


Once we were all through bag check we headed over to the tapstiles.






As we were in no rush this morning we stopped for some photopass pictures! I really like how these came out and Lauren and I have had a couple of the family ones printed for our Grandma for Christmas!



ETA Obviously we had no idea what each other would be wearing each day as we were in separate hotels! It's pure coincidence that Mum and I are both wearing red shorts and Lauren and Dad are both in blue t-shirts! hehe


The photographer took a close up of Lauren too but she has banned me from sharing it with you even though it’s a really lovely photo of her!


After not bothering with memory maker/photopass in 2014 we felt like the quality of the photos had really improved compared to 2013! Almost like the photographers had all got better cameras or Disney had given them some more training!


Again our slower start also meant we had time to stop at Starbucks! It was quite refreshing not to be rushing straight to a ride! We wouldn't do it this way every day but it did make a nice change!








Lauren used a snack credit for a vanilla bean frappe. This would have cost $4.79 OOP.






Mum and Dad paid OOP for a couple of iced teas and a slice of banana bread. Not sure on the prices for these sorry!





I had a bite of the banana bread and it was yummy!


I didn't have anything to eat or drink here as I was saving room for my own breakfast later on!


I did buy the Epcot you are here Starbucks mug though! This cost $15.73. I love it so much!









We popped in to Mousegear next as we still had a little while until we could use our Soarin' FP at 9:55.



I’ve never really stopped to notice that the flower beds are gears before!



We love Mousegear so always like to spend a bit of time browsing! I got totally side-tracked by the Dooney and Bourke bags!


I bought one last year so totally hadn't been planning on getting another!


However I spotted the most gorgeous bag and totally fell in love with it! I made the mistake of picking it up and once it was in my hands I knew I wanted it!







I was going to be sensible and just get the purse rather than the big bag however when I checked the price the purse was around $195 and the bag was $260!


I thought the design looked much better on the bag as you could see more of it! Mum and Dad had been planning to buy me a Disney pandora charm for Christmas however when they saw how much I liked the bag they offered to give me $60 towards it instead!


Mum being ever practical said I had to be sure I had space to get it home in my suitcase.


I was planning to buy one of the Disney cabin cases later in the trip and conveniently they sold these in here! Not the same design but the same size so I brought one over and thank goodness the bag fit perfectly inside it so I knew I'd be able to bring it home on the plane with me!


I didn't buy it then and there as I didn't want to have it sent back to the resort but I didn't want to carry it round all morning either! I promised the bag I'd be back for it and put it back on the shelf hehe.


With a few minutes to spare until our Soarin' FP opened we decided to head over to that side of Future World to ride Journey into Imagination first!





We walked thought the Innoventions building to make use of the air con and stop for a look at the Epcot timeline! So worth popping in to see this! We adore the area music here too!


Figment was a walk on at this time in the morning. Love that cheeky purple dragon and the catchy ride song!













Once we finished we walked over to the Land pavilion for Soarin'!





The little green tile is the only difference between the mosaics on either side of the walkway up to the Land!



We walked on with our fastpasses but it was only a 25 minute wait in the standby line which we thought was pretty good for nearly 10am on a weekend!






After I took this photo the CM standing beneath it joked that he should have posed for the picture hehe I said I felt like I had to document the short wait time and he agreed!


When we got to the front of the line we asked to wait for the front row of the middle section of seats as this is where you get the best view from without anybody's feet dangling above you!


We all love Soarin' and as we were walking out Mum said her cheeks hurt from smiling so much this week!


We stopped off at Sunshine Seasons so that I could get my breakfast! A peanut butter brownie!









I'd seen this on the Disney food blog and had been desperate to try it! I know it's hardly a sensible breakfast option but if you've read any of my reports you'll know I'm not one for conventional breakfasts while on holiday!


I used a snack credit but it would have cost $4.79 OOP.


It was so yummy! Rich, gooey, chocolatey, peanut butter deliciousness drizzled in caramel sauce! Enough said!


While I was eating Lauren changed our Figment fastpasses as we'd already been on it. We changed it to Spaceship Earth from 12:45-1:45 as you can never go on it too many times in a trip hehe.


Our next fastpasses were for Finding Nemo so we chilled out in Sunshine Seasons for a while until we could all use them at 10:45.


Nemo was a walk on in the fastpass line but would only have taken 5 minutes in the standby line anyway but again the tiering system at Epcot doesn't leave you with a whole lot of choice! It was a cute ride as always! We stopped to look around the aquarium after.




What happened to Vale the manatee?!






After this we stopped off at Club Cool as it was starting to get really hot out so the air con and free drinks were much needed!





I came here by myself and tried some of the new flavours last year but the others hadn't so we all spent a while trying them!





I liked bibo the best. It was strawberry and lime flavoured!





The pineapple fanta was also very nice! It was similar to lilt!






When we left here we stopped for some more photopass pictures from the other side of Spaceship Earth!


Again I really liked how these came out! The photographer was great and did a few magic shots too! She spent ages with us as it was really quiet however it was absolutely scorching out now but we didn't really feel like we could tell her we didn't want her to take any more photos of us hehe.





I love that Mum is still beaming at the camera!




Lauren and I portraying that we are very cold while Mum and Dad let everyone know that they have the X factor hehe.



We were heading up to China for lunch today and stopped in the port of entry shop at the start of World Showcase for a look around and a blast of air con after our mini photo shoot! I’ve never looked up at WS displays in here before! Always make sure to look up in Disney!














We decided to get the friendship boat from Mexico to Germany to cut off a chunk of the walk up to China in the heat!








Dad thought this said bread outpost at first! He was disappointed it didn’t sell any hehe


Continued below...

[xAimeex]

...Continued


We arrived at the China pavilion at 11:25 and headed to Lotus Blossom Cafe for lunch!







This is one of our favourite counter service meals! We had our usual orange chicken and boiled rice! It was a yummy as ever!






Lauren and I were using credits so also got a coke and a sprite for us all to share and 2 caramel ginger ice creams for dessert. Our meals would have cost $35.11 OOP.


Mum and Dad paid OOP for their orange chicken and a bottle of water.


As always the ice cream wasn't up to much! None of us ate much of it. They used to serve a strawberry red bean flavour here which was delicious, it's a shame they took it off the menu!


After lunch we wandered back through World Showcase towards Mexico just enjoying the atmosphere!


I called in at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafé in Norway for some school bread to take away for pudding later!







For a second I thought these were onions!



Frozen construction walls



School bread!



I paid OOP as it's only $3.14 and there were more expensive items I wanted to save my snack credits for!


We stopped off in Mexico to look around the temple! I love the atmosphere in here!













We went on the Gran Fiesta boat tour as it was a walk on. I know it's a bit lame but we enjoy it! I also spotted a hidden Mickey I'd not noticed before!













Bad angle but the hidden Mickey is the 3 drums at the bottom!






It was only 12:20 when we finished here and our Spaceship Earth fastpasses weren't until 12:40 so we headed back to Mousegear so that I could buy my bag!


They also keep the Pandora charms over next to the Dooney and Bourke's and I ended up buying the Walt Disney World charm I'd had my eye on since before the trip!





I love it! It cost $55 before tax but it always makes me smile when I look at it! The family I work for had given me and Lauren some dollars before we left so I spent some of this money on it!


Lauren also made a couple of purchases! She bought a really cute Frozen jewellery/music box that plays Let it Go! This cost around $20 before tax








She also bought a nice Minnie Mouse jumper for herself for around $40 I think and some cute placemats as gifts for the children I nanny for. We often see her in the holidays and the kids adore her so she wanted to bring them back a little something! They were around $6 each.



Just noticed the grey parts of the jumper match our carpet hehe





By the time we'd finished shopping we were in to our fastpass window so we headed over to Spaceship Earth!


We all loved it as always! I never tire of this ride!








We decided to head out after this. We had a busy evening planned so all wanted to have a good rest in the afternoon!


We left around 1:10 and by some stroke of amazing luck, buses for both Wilderness Lodge and Coronado Springs turned up just as we got to the stops!


Lauren and I arrived back around 1:25. When we got back to the room Lauren took our refillable mugs down to get us some drinks as it was her turn.


When she got back we sat out on the balcony with them while I ate my school bread. Yum! Lauren had some Pringles that she'd ordered in the Prime Pantry box!


We could hear the train whistling in the distance from Magic Kingdom! This was one of those perfect moments sitting out in the sunshine relaxing! Thinking about it makes me miss WDW and Wilderness Lodge so much!


When we came in Lauren had a little sleep while I rested in bed.


We got up around 4 and started getting ready. We had an ADR for the 6:15 showing of Hoop De Doo Musical Revue tonight and as it's a dinner show we definitely didn't want to be late for this one!







We left the room at 5:35 and walked down to the boat dock.


We waited around 10 minutes for the Fort Wilderness boat. It went round to the Contemporary first and then on to the campground. The route seemed to be totally random whenever we caught this boat sometimes it went to FW first and sometimes CR first.


We arrived at the campground at 6:10 so pretty good timing!






We walked up from the beach to Pioneer Hall and headed to the check in desk.






The CM here was really nice! She said she liked my hair colour (hers was a lighter shade of red) and we had a chat about the hassle of red hair dye fading so fast and having to dye it so often (First world problems I know! )


She checked us in and told us we had a great table right near the front just to the side of the stage.


Now it really was a great table however Lauren and I are not ones for participating in things like this and we knew they picked people out of the audience to take part! We'd booked tier 2 seating hoping for a nice table somewhere near the back where we could still see but wouldn't be picked on hehe.


We were literally right next to the steps at of the stage where the performers come down to find people in the audience! We spent a lot of the show hoping they wouldn't stop at our table and avoiding eye contact with them haha. They were very good though and I definitely think they can tell who the people are that want to join in.




Our view of the stage!



They opened the doors at 6:15 and we all lined up to get in. Our server was nice enough in here although he kept cracking really bad jokes and then winking and saying "that was a joke" hehe we didn't have the heart to say that we knew that, they just weren't very funny! We laughed along with him anyway!


We ordered drinks but they took an age to come out! We were so thirsty after waiting out in the sunshine too!


Hoop De Doo is served family style similar to Ohana/Liberty Tree Tavern dinner etc so the server brings bowls of food over to you and you can ask for more if you want it.







There was cornbread with honey butter and salad on the table when we arrived.








Lauren liked the salad, I don't eat leaves so didn't have any of this.


The cornbread was amazing! It was warm so the delicious honey butter melted in to it! We ate nearly the whole loaf between us! It still tastes more like cake to me and I do find it odd when they stick it on the same plate as fried chicken but as a starter it was lovely!


The show started while we ate. We hadn't really known what to expect with Hoop De Doo but we felt like we ought to give it a try staying so close and we also really like the style of food!


We enjoyed the show but it did go a little over our heads if I'm honest. The humour wasn't really our style and it took us a little while to get in to it but the singing and dancing is great!


There was a break in the show while the main course food was brought out.


You get a bucket of fried chicken, a bucket of ribs, mash, sweetcorn and BBQ beans!








The fried chicken was delicious! We even enjoyed the ribs as well! We'd tried them at Trail's End previously and not been keen but we both really enjoyed them tonight!


I'd hazard a guess that the mash was 60% butter, 40% potato hehe it was absolutely delicious though! I absolutely love American mash like this!


We both had some of the sweetcorn but again it was literally swimming in melted butter which came halfway up the dish hehe. This didn't bother us but if you're health conscious on holiday Hoop De Doo probably isn't for you!


We didn't get round to trying the beans as we were full to bursting! I hoped it would be a while before dessert came out (I never thought I’d write those words!)


The show started again while we were eating. We really liked Dolly, the performer with the red pigtails. We found Claire de Lune quite irritating but then I think that's the point of her character!






There was a man on the table directly in front of the stage who kept getting picked on by Dolly hehe she kept saying how handsome he was. His son was almost crying with laughter at the whole thing!


This part of the show seemed to run a little longer so we had a nice break until they announced that dessert was about to be served! This was good as it gave us a chance to let our food go down a bit!


Dessert here is strawberry shortcake and it's delicious! I'd been lucky enough to be given a small portion of it at Trail's End the year before as I'd been celebrating my birthday so I was excited to try it again!






Lauren didn't think she'd like it as it has a lot of cream in it but once she'd scraped that off she really liked it too!


We were so full that we didn't do it justice! I was gutted as I'd have loved to have eaten more of it!


While we were eating dessert the last part of the show started. This is where they have audience members participating but thankfully only 4 people are picked to join in!






It was a fun ending to the show! They bring round washboards that you have to scrape with your spoons along with the music!


It finished at 8:05 and as the tip is included with the dinner shows you're free to head straight out! This would have cost $129.98 OOP for tier 2 seating but we used 4 table service credits as this requires 2 each.


A lot of people stayed after to get pictures with the performers but we needed to hot foot it back to Magic Kingdom!


Mum and Dad had been at Downtown Disney this evening as we'd booked them an ADR at Raglan Road as this is one of their favourites! As Lauren and I already had Hoop De Doo booked we hadn't been able to join them which was a shame but they had a really great meal!


They both had the shepherd’s pie which is always good here, plus the famous bread and butter pudding after! This is my favourite dessert in the whole of Disney World (along with Ohana bread pudding) so I was very jealous!


Their meal had been at 6:45, unfortunately they didn't get a table in the main dining room tonight but apparently the Irish dancers come round and do some dancing in the side rooms too so that people don't miss out!

We'd agreed to meet at the main entrance to the Emporium as early as we could all get there so that we could watch the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes together on Mum and Dad's last night!


Due to heading out quickly after Hoop finished Lauren and I were on a boat to MK around 8:10. The sunset was pretty as we sailed across the lake!







Continued Below...

[xAimeex]

...Continued

By the time the boat had docked and we'd gone through bag check etc it was 8:30 when we got in to Magic Kingdom!


We headed straight for the Emporium and kept an eye out for Mum and Dad. We hoped they'd arrive soon as the parade started at 9 and Main St was already pretty packed with people! Luckily they arrived at 8:40!


They'd had a lovely meal! They had caught a bus to the Polynesian from DTD and then taken the Monorail round to MK.


We walked up Main St trying to find a spot to watch the parade from. As you can imagine it was pretty packed inside the ropes blocking off the standing areas.


We managed to find a gap in front of the Emporium opposite the Main St Bakery.


There was a really nice American lady who moved up to make space for us! She was saving a spot for her husband who was off getting drinks while she waited with the 3 kids! They had 2 strollers with them so we could all stand behind them. We spread out a bit to help her save a space for her husband and then squeezed in when he came back which they thanked us for.


They were a really lovely family! The mom was a teacher so we all spoke about the different holidays etc as Lauren and Mum both work in schools!


The parade started at 9 and we had a good view considering we'd arrived so close to the start of it! I love the atmosphere on Main St when the electrical parade is on!
















When it finished there was a crazy rush as everybody tried to make their way down towards the castle for Wishes! It was pretty manic but we managed to get a spot in the hub to the right of the partner’s statue!






The wind had really picked up and we could tell there was a storm brewing! We really hoped it would hold off for a little longer!


At around 9:40 Celebrate the Magic started! It was fantastic as always! We absolutely adore this projection show and the music! The only downside was the lady in front of us holding, yep you guessed it, a huge tablet up in the air to film it! It was slightly smaller than an iPad but still she was directly in front of us and blocking our view with it!


Lauren actually leant forward and asked her nicely if she'd mind lowering it a bit as we couldn't see properly. She gestured that she didn't speak any English but did seem to understand what Lauren had said as she moved along a bit!


We felt bad as she was now blocking someone else's view but what can you do, short of knocking a tablet out of someone's hands which is more likely to end up in a Main St brawl than anything else! Some people will just always be inconsiderate to others! If people haven't learnt manners by the time they're adults I don't think they ever will!


The storm was very much moving over now! It wasn't raining yet but we could hear thunder in the distance and our hair was blowing behind us with the strength of the wind! It was actually quite nice, almost like having a giant fan on you which makes a nice change from it being muggy and hot while watching the fireworks! We just hoped we didn't end up caught in another huge storm!


As the storm was at Magic Kingdom's back door they started Wishes straight after Celebrate the Magic at 9:50 which was actually 10 minutes before it was due to begin. This ended up being a really smart move by Disney!


Wishes was fantastic and magical as always! By this point Mother Nature was adding in some of her own fireworks as fork lightning flashed behind the castle!


It was great to be standing watching it with Mum and Dad though! I know I've said it a lot so far in the trip report but it was such a nice unexpected surprise to have them come back with us in 2015 after planning it for so long just me and Lauren! We were sad that they were going home tomorrow but it was really special to be able to see Wishes all together!


Unsurprisingly Tink didn't fly down from the castle considering the weather! It was still fab though!


We headed out with everyone else straight after it finished and walked as quickly as we could towards the bus stops!


It started to pour as we left, as I said it was a smart move from Disney to start Wishes early, most people managed to make it under cover rather than standing out in a big storm as Wishes would have been starting!


We said goodbye to Mum and Dad and they headed to their bus stop. We spotted a Wilderness Lodge bus at the stop and given the nature of the weather we legged it over there to avoid missing it!


Now in our rush we mistakenly went down the line where ECV's are supposed to wait (there were no ECV's there and the entire line was empty as everyone was already on the bus).


The bus driver was standing in the door of the bus and I can only describe him as the BIGGEST jobsworth cast member we've ever had the misfortune to come across in Disney! In my head I'm using some more choice words to describe him but in the spirit of keeping this family friendly I'll keep them to myself! :angry:


He immediately told us we couldn't get on the bus as we'd walked the wrong way down the line!


We apologised and tried to laugh it off as we genuinely thought he was joking!


He then told us he wasn't going to let us on the bus until we walked through the line properly!


As I said we really thought he was just messing around with us but it soon became clear he was being deadly serious! He kept repeating that we had to go back and walk through the entire line the right way!


We asked if he was being serious! He replied that we'd never learn our lesson if he didn't make us do it properly!


Oh my goodness it's making me SO angry writing all of this down!


After a couple of minutes of him holding up the bus having a go at us we eventually gave in and went back to the start and walked through the entire empty line and he stepped aside and let us on!


I was absolutely FUMING! Now don't get me wrong, yes we went through the wrong part of the line. We held our hands up and admitted we made a mistake, we even apologised for going the wrong way! Hey we're only human we all make mistakes! It wasn't like we cut anyone else off in the line, it was empty!


This guy was just a power hungry jerk (again not the word I'd like to use!) who was intent on humiliating us in front of a bus full of people who were all staring out of the window wondering what the holdup was.


I was practically steaming at the ears I was so cross about it. It was a packed bus though and after already delaying everyone's journey back we kept our cool rather than ranting about it.


When we got off of the bus we headed straight back to the room discussing the whole way what an awful man he was!


Now I can be a little fiery when I feel that we've been treated unfairly especially in Disney World (as I said, steaming at the ears). I just couldn't shake it off though, yes we were wrong to (mistakenly!) walk the wrong way around the line but we apologised and that should have been it!


To be fair to myself I made it all the way up to the room before I couldn't hold it in anymore. It was like a little ball of fire and every time I thought about how he’d spoken to us I was fanning the flames (like this emoticon- )! I knew complaining now wouldn't do anything but I just needed someone to know that we'd been wronged hehe.


I went down to concierge and I spoke to a lovely cast member. Don't get me wrong when I say complain I didn't go down all guns blazing shouting my mouth off! My method of complaining is always to remain very calm as people tend to listen more that way!


The whole story did literally burst out of my mouth at a 100 words a minute though! As soon as I'd finished speaking it felt like a weight had been lifted! I explained that we had made a mistake but we didn't expect to be treated like naughty school children and publicly humiliated when we've paid £3000 (including park tickets) to stay in a Disney deluxe hotel! Especially not in the middle of a huge Florida storm when all we were doing was trying to get back!


I am absolutely 100% certain that if we hadn't been 2 young (ish) girls alone he wouldn't have spoken to us in the way he did. I can hardly see him demanding some big hulking bloke toddle off back to the start of the line to walk through it properly!


The cast member was really apologetic and wrote down all the details of the bus driver and the bus route etc and said he'd pass it on to the transport department.


Now I'm almost certain he only wrote it down and said that to make me feel better and I'm sure absolutely nothing came of it but I just needed to do something. No cast member has the right to treat a paying guest like that for a simple mistake that affected no one else!


There was another guest next to me at the concierge desk and he was absolutely outraged for us! He told me that if he'd been on the bus he'd have had our backs and told the driver to leave us alone haha.


I'm so sorry if I've gone off on one about that! We were very angry as you can probably tell hehe.


As I said I felt much calmer after and stopped off at Roaring Fork on the way back as I'd brought the refillable mugs down with me.


We facetimed Mum and Dad when I got back and they'd had a nice easy journey home thankfully! We arranged where we were going to meet in Magic Kingdom tomorrow for their last morning .


We eventually went to bed around 11.


Thanks for reading x

[vics18]

Oh Aimee my blood is boiling reading about that mean bus driver! How rude! Glad you got it off your chest though. I have to say on our recent trip I found the Universal cast members seemed to be more "magical" than some Disney ones.
Other than that another fab day. I'd have been hiding under my table at the show every time they asked for audience participants haha.

[Evil queen]

What another great day apart from the truly horrible bus driver. You're right, I can't imagine he would've treat you like that if you weren't young women.
Hoop-de-hoo looks good fun, we don't stay on site so although I've toyed with going I'm not sure we could justify the cost. I love the top you're wearing for the evening- where is it from if you don't mind me asking?
Some good purchases as well today, loving the handbag and obviously it's much better value to get that than the purse, I mean it could've been worse you could've got both!
Looking forward to seeing what's in store tomorrow although I think it'll be sad saying goodbye to your parents.

[chaffey]

OMG! I'm angry for you, what an absolute jobs worth and well done you for keeping your cool, not sure I would have managed it...

You certainly managed to pack a lot in today but it's the little magical moments that make fantastic memories.

Loving the fact that you are managing to get all your snacks in along the way. Well planned.

Thanks for sharing xx

[ely3857]

Nice bag but what a horrid bus driver, as you say what are the chances of him demanding a 16st bloke re-walk the queue...

[Melanie R]

Love the bag - I have a growing Dooney collection I'm looking forward to adding to next month Glad you reported the driver - I don't think I would have been so restrained!

[jemima2]

I cannot believe that bus driver did that...only someone with a very cruel side to their personality would act that way...and a massive inferiority complex of his own to be so power hungry... I honestly think I might have refused and just waited for the next bus ( mind you like you on a wet night I would just want to get back) .. .anyway to move on..😄 apart from that a fab day! I loved the look of hoop De doo... Love your outfits as usual 😄😄😄😄

[mobeckwith]

i would e mail guest relations with your concerns,you will probably get a serious response,its just not acceptable to be treated in that way,you are a paying guest,i would say that you are really disappointed and it spoilt what could have been a magical evening.if the cm you spoke to passed on the message,then you would have had a response. mo x