Please finish your report. I was enjoying
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Hey everyone- thanks so much for the feedback and support! I appreciate them. Before I continue my trip report (because I will finish it, and he does indeed redeem himself), let me put a few other back ground details in here that perhaps could have gone in the intro portion.
DBF is a longstanding LEO and former Army Sgt. This leads to some gruff personality traits, and quite honestly I balance him out in many ways. I say that not to justify bad behavior, but it’s how it is. If he were reading this, he would 100% agree with my description of his behavior, and he’d actually go so far as to say I am being kind. (I think the truth is somewhere in the middle of that 
) When I’m in Disney the only thing that gets my goat are plans that go awry since I’m an overplanner, and the throngs of rude people that come along- I’m looking at you Stroller Pusher who Clipped my Teenager’s Ankle. He is also very aware of his limits when we’re on familiar ground, and as someone mentioned in their situation he doesn’t travel much to large areas. PTSD is very real for him so putting him in the climate in which he served the country (Panama and Cuba- being back in the tropics) and in crowds was also a bit much. Being in a very new situation for the first time, he struggled to get a grip on his cues that he was off kilter for the first day and a half.
All that said, Imma go grab me some lunch and then start on the next installment! Thanks all!!
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Thanks for the background. But - honestly - it is none of our business! And I feel kinda bad that you have been put in a position to feel like you should explain. You don’t!!! Look forward to the rest of your open/honest/unbiased/keepin’ it real report.
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I am looking forward to reading the rest! And I, too, appreciate the honesty. When I read a trip report where absolutely everything went perfectly then I suspect foul play. 
On our first trip I ended up with a fever the last 2 days of the trip and felt pretty rotten and it came torrential rains on our Animal Kingdom day shutting down most of the rides, but our family remarks often that when we think back on that trip we still think of it as the best vacation and the most fun we have ever had. There is something in that Disney magic that makes it amazing even when things go awry.
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Looking forward to more of your trip report!
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My DBF would be the same way LOL
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Day Three: In which we get some much needed R & R. And Drizella finds herself a potential husband.
All through this trip, I intentionally planned July 4th as a resort day. Initially it was because there was NO way I wanted to face the potential crowds that historically rivaled Christmas Day in the dead heat of summer at a park, and partly because after two days of park hopping and busy-ness I figured the first timers would need to rest. I was dead right on that second part, and by all reports the crowds weren’t awful on the 4th- interesting.
After the Cantankerous Mood had befallen us the previous day, Pixie Dust abounded after about 12 hours of sleep for all of us. We had no alarms set, so everyone could sleep until they didn’t need to anymore; which after the pace of Disney I think we can all appreciate! Upon waking, DBF had that “feeling”- some of you may know it. The one when you realize your body hasn’t really been hit by a Mack Truck but it has, and all of the pieces fell into place for him. He drank about 1/2 gallon of water (for real) and instantly realized what the issue was and felt awful. After discussion about realizing what was going wrong, he asked what the day’s agenda was. We had nothing until dinner at 1900 PF at 6, and planned on hopping over to the Poly to have drinks and watch fireworks. Which was perfect, because DSS desperately wanted to spend some money at Disney Springs.
So around 10:30 we headed out, leaving DD to sleep a bit more (because, teenager). It was that in between phase in weather- half sunny, half overcast, so we opted to bus over rather than boat. By the time we got there it was nearly 11 and lunch was sounding good, but DSS was seriously unwilling to eat before spending some of his hard earned gift card. Off to the World of Disney, which had opened (half the store) the week before we arrived conveniently enough. I’m torn- I used to get a little discombobulated in the old store, but the thought of the remodel making that entire space wide open seems a little overwhelming. Clearly I’ll have to go back and do more field research when it’s done (I’m looking at you, Princess Marathon Weekend!).
After sufficiently spending money- DSS got a nice big Baymax and picked out a Stitch for his sister back home, and I got my new Mickey Ice Cream Bar ears- lunch was the next priority. We had walked by the Polite Pig and DBF initially thought it was just for drinks and apps, so was very happy when it was real QS. Both of us got a pulled pork sandwich, he added Mac and Cheese, and a beer, DSS chose- you guessed it- chicken fingers. (We discussed food before leaving home- he’s a picky eater- and I told him the limit of chicken fingers to one meal every few days was off the table, as long as he ate whatever he ordered. This meant he could eat them three meals a day if he wanted, and tried to).
If you haven’t tried Polite Pig yet, what on EARTH are you waiting for? It was SO GOOD. The apple slaw that was on the sandwich made it darn near a little slice of pulled pork heaven I tell you. Seriously. Go get you some. The rest of us will wait till you get back.
As we were finishing up, DD texted to say she was on the way to meet us. So the boys headed to the Lego Store and I popped into Amorrette’s to grab something for later- getting something here was another Food Bucket List issue for this trip for me. I snagged the Key Lime Tart to take back to the room for later. I considered one of the mini dome cakes to get but the thought of carting that around didn’t appeal to me very much. (I can’t remember when I ate it. But OMG. It also is something that tastes like it fell right from heaven. SO STINKING GOOD)
After Lego, like a finely tuned machine DSS found the Star Wars Outpost (we had stopped in Sunday night to poke around) and we headed there for SW gear. I’m not a huge SW fan, I admit. I tolerate the movies because the boys are into them. But some of the mugs and shirts in there are really cute and fun. DBF was stoked to learn that they will deliver your purchases to the resort, and realized that is clearly a ploy to get you to forget how much money you’ve spent. Overall we grabbed two mugs, two hats, a build your own droid, some SW themed junk food, and I got a keychain for DD. As we finished up there, the overcast was starting to turn towards “cloudy” so we headed back towards the buses making a pit stop with DD back at WoD and the boys grabbed a pretzel (Verdict: Mickeys is far superior to Wetzels), then headed back to the resort just as the rain was drizzling in before turning to an afternoon shower.
There’s something about rain that in general leads to sleepiness, but definitely rain after two days of ten mile plus walking that leads to sleepiness, as well. Naps were very welcome that afternoon as we all reset and recharged our batteries for the rest of the week, which had no further park hopping scheduled for the lot of us until Saturday. This alone did a lot of things to improve the morale of the crew. It cleared up around 2 or so and DSS hit the quiet pool right across from our room (turns out, this was the best spot for him. He didn’t even want to wander over to Ol’ Man Island to scope out the main one) and then we started getting around for dinner at 1900 PF!
DD and I have done breakfast here before, and aside from the fact that it’s at GF which is GORGEOUS, there’s Strawberry Soup! That stuff is AMAZING! And I’m the only one in the family that will eat it. The other three, totally skeeved out by it. That’s fine. They don’t have to know they’re wrong. We do love 1900, though. If you want a character meal that is just FUN, I honestly don’t think you can go wrong here with either dinner OR breakfast. At dinner they have Cinderella and Prince Charming, and the Step Sisters & Step Mother. We had been teasing DSS that one of the stepsisters would want to marry him, and he was simultaneously intrigued and embarrassed at the idea so I couldn’t wait to see how it went!
First up to stop by our table was Prince Charming, who noticed DSS’s 1st Visit button and commented about being wary of Drizella who was husband hunting this evening. (It was ON!!) Then, Cinderella popped by and made note of the same thing which made all of us laugh. Then came Drizella. She was hilarious! She was fawning on DSS, and asked if he was wealthy AND available because her mother won’t allow her to not marry for money. She noted that there shouldn’t be any other reason to marry, after all. DSS let her know that he indeed wasn’t wealthy, so she lost interest in him, but Anastasia didn’t seem to mind! As she left the table she proclaimed that she would see him in his dreams, which left all of us laughing. Poor kid was about 15 shades of red at this point. The Stepmother was great as well- telling me that I need to get better at making “The Boy” do more and I shouldn’t be lifting a finger, after all running a Kingdom is exhausting. The kids had their pic taken with everyone, but I needed mine taken with Lady Tremaine and she was happy to oblige.
After dinner (which is buffet, and has a LOT of offerings, all of which are EXTREMELY good) we hopped back on the monorail and made our way back around to the Poly. It was sufficiently sunny at this point in the evening and we headed through the lobby towards Sam’s Grog Grotto- which had over an hour wait. This was going to encroach on fireworks time so we headed out towards the beach and found ourselves a spot by the bungalows. When I say this was a great find, I mean, it was a great find.
There were a lot of beach parties with characters happening on the resort specific portion of the beach- I assume it was resort specific because the beach in that area was gated off and cast members were posted by the fencing and positioned like bouncers. But if you kept walking around, there was a section by the Bungalows that had no fencing what so ever, and we passed Goofy in his beach gear, and saw Donald trying to limbo. (That’s a sight to behold!) We found our spot, claimed the swing and DSS started having fun in the sand. I ran back to the pool bar and grabbed waters, then went to Tiki Terrace to get a Spiky Pineapple. (Yes, it was another Disney Food Bucket Item for me!) What makes a Dole Whip better you ask? Adding Rum! The line to the Terrace Bar wrapped around nearly to the door to the resort, so I was there for a while. And while I thought perhaps the sun was setting, it turns out, nope. That was a thunderstorm rolling in.
It literally went from “Sunny” to “GET OFF THE BEACH AND GO INSIDE” within 30 seconds of getting drinks. I was NOT HAPPY. I mean, weather, and nobody can control it, I get it. But for realz? I found a BEACH SPOT AT THE POLY. On the Fourth of July!! Sigh. So, I gathered my drinks and headed back to the crew so we could figure out our next step. DD checked the weather app, and it was not clearing any time in the immediate future. So we headed back towards the front of the resort and I was going to hail a Minnie Van to go back to POR, but we saw a cab and opted to take that. Just as the heavens opened up and unleashed a torrential downpour. We tried to stream the fireworks after the delay in the room, but the wifi and satellite was getting impacted by the rain, so it was just not in the cards for us to see them. Bummer!!
DBF had made note of what would have been a great fireworks viewing spot- this was the first day that he could really see the amount of work and planning that went into the trip. He knew I had taken care of everything, but this was the part where he could see that I had done some poking around and research into how to best take advantage of space available and where it all was. He also commented about how awesome the Poly looked and assumed (correctly) that it was one of the Deluxe resorts. This became my clue that he was slowly starting to convert into…A Disney Person. But, one has to slow play this hand. It’s like taking in a stray pet- react too quickly and they run away from you and you lose it. But if you’re patient…
Coming up: Will we see a full Conversion? Do we all cook in the wok that is Animal Kingdom? And how good ARE the Mickey Pretzels, anyway? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
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My allergies and asthma flared up something FIERCE on this trip! There was a stretch of time that I couldn’t take DD on vacation without her getting sick- we’ve spent many an hour recouping from food poisoning in the hotel and at minute clinics while on vacation!
I agree, trip reports where everything smells like roses, smell. 
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hee, hee - I love this!!!
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What are you allergic to?
I have pretty a pretty strong grass allergy that has been kicking my rear all summer here in Philly. I was hoping it would abate some next week in WDW.
:Stops to write down “Spiky Pineapple at Poly”:
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Pollen and mold. One of the takeaways for me this trip was the carpet in POR- it’s so…aged that moisture is trapped in it. There’s a ton of pine trees at that resort, as well and pollen was very high. For a while I need to be sure to book where the room refurbs have already happened and there’s laminate flooring. Last summer we were at Pop in the new rooms and it wasn’t an issue at all.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can get it extra spiky and they’ll add 151 to the top of it!
I’m a lightweight as far as drinking goes. I would probably be on the floor if they added more than the usual. I may end up on the floor anyway… But I seriously gotta try this!
Up until now my favorite drink was the slushie in France at Epcot. This wins. If you drink it slow you’ll be okay! It doesn’t melt and get watery, either. The Spiky Pineapple is wearing the championship belt now. (You can also get a version in AK, but I can’t remember where I saw it)
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We are big fans of both meals at 1900 Park Fare and try to get to at least one during every visit. We’ll be doing breakfast in 10 days. My daughter chose it for the morning of her birthday.
One dinner visit, the Step Mother cornered my BIL and quizzed him regarding his qualifications for one of her daughters hands. …Are you a man of means? …one of my favorite lines ever from a character meet! The only one to rival it was one of the sisters commenting to my then young, brown haired daughter (about 6yo at the time) that she (the stepsister) always thought that Cindy should be a brunette!
I’m glad you all had such a good time!
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We are staying at Pop next week. I’m almost all grass, but there is a touch of mold. I will make sure I have lots of drugs!
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I didn’t have any issues last August at Pop, and all of their rooms are done now. Hopefully you’ll be good! I noticed it more in the room than anywhere else, which is what led me to believe that it was the carpet.
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When we had breakfast there last year, Mad Hatter and Alice were HILARIOUS! They must have been even more over the top than normal because even our waitress noticed and said something. I said that they must have been getting lost in the Rabbit Hole! We love the interaction here! Those are great stories!!
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Has any wait staff dropped any dishes while you were there for dinner? All three steps freeze in the their tracks wherever they are in the room and in unison (I have no idea how) they screech Cinda-rell-A…just like in the movie.
Hilarious!
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