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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 8, 2024 14:36:47 GMT -5
I had a blast at LL this morning! It's a good 45 minute drive from SSR and I got to the park about 20 minutes before opening. That was plenty of time for parking, security and a brief character meet before walking in at opening. It took about two hours to walk through the park, stopping to take pics of things that interested me. I did the new boat ride, which was a super cheesy 20 minute pontoon adventure. It makes me very curious about the possibility that LL cleaned up and is reusing the canals originally developed for one of the earlier iterations of parks on the same location. After breaking for lunch outside the park, I went back to check out what seems like the new Peppa the Pig theme park at LL. I was expecting an overgrown play area. Instead, it is a charming little park with half a dozen short rides that toddlers likely adore plus a small water park. DD was too old for this park even before it started construction. That's too bad. As a toddler, she would have loved it. First new learning: the Peppa Pig park is an entirely separate entrance. That surprised me, as the waterpark at LL is only accessible through the theme park.  |
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 8, 2024 14:56:27 GMT -5
Here are some of the pictures I took at the Peppa park today. I tried not to get other people in the pics, but see there are a few that will need some clean up to remove random strangers before I post or use them anywhere but here. There's a covered stage area, with Peppa Pig and some of her friends doing character meets between shows.  The Fun Fair section has a couple of flat rides.  Including this short drop tower.  Sideshow carnival games  Of course I liked the play camping areas!  The included small water park was a delightful surprise. Sure, the LL waterpark has a toddler play area. But this little water park work really well inside Peppa park.  One of the little rides - reminds me of the toddler section of the Myrtle Beach amusement park DD loved as a baby.  So, it's the wrong IP. But all I heard in my mind's ear when I saw this was the Backyardigan's song "what do you do with a scurvy pirate? make him walk the plank!"  There is a large covered outdoor area with picnic tables for meals.   And I have a dozen more pictures from Peppa Park that will likely turn into a youTube video later in this thread. I hope this little mini park does well. It still looks sparkling new. It would be great if it is maintained that way. |
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 8, 2024 20:18:53 GMT -5
I just scored a reservation for Topolino's breakfast at Riveria tomorrow morning!
This will be a first for me. It's been on my wish list for several trips, so I am very much looking forward to trying it!
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 9:19:53 GMT -5
Topolino's is my new favorite breakfast in Disney World! I checked in and was seated right on time for the reservation. Service was almost too quick - if I had not looked at the menu ahead of time, I would not have had time to read it before the server showed up to take the order. He suggested the steak, then noted the most popular order was eggs & bacon. I went with the steak, I think for the first time ever for breakfast. I asked to have the mushrooms left off. I had time to try half of one of the pastries before my perfectly prepared breakfast was set on the table. During that perhaps 5 minute span, a couple of characters dropped by the table. Even slowing down to deliberately enjoy, I was completely done with everything and on my way within an hour. That's time with all 4 characters, a delicious meal and some time hanging out on the terrace after eating. I also went with a go-bag that will be breakfast tomorrow - - maybe for the next 2 days. It was a good bit of food. Plus another cup of POG juice to go! Yum!  |
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 9:28:28 GMT -5
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 9:33:59 GMT -5
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 9:35:34 GMT -5
And here's a fun mystery photo from last night. Does anyone know this location?  |
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Post by Eeyorelover22 on Apr 9, 2024 11:33:25 GMT -5
Under monorail at CR.
going back to look
Out on that terrace from 4th floor maybe.
love the pics
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 14:54:11 GMT -5
Eeyorelover22 - that was fast! Yep! I've been fighting with amazon all day from my super fun new temp office in the SSR room. I'm trying to upload the paperback version of my storybook. Yikes, this is harder than it should be! On the other hand, I just got notified the link to the digital/kindle version is now live!! www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYC2SPY8 |
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 9, 2024 20:09:33 GMT -5
Today was a stay home at SSR and work day. Well, mostly. Breakfast over at Topolino was awesome! I've no idea when I'll get there again yet I'm already looking forward to that next experience. Lunch was a surprisingly good chicken sandwich from the pool bar, which doubled as a lovely break. Dinner was the Polite Pig. I love the food at the Polite Pig! Every time I eat there, I'm happy. I think this was the first time ever I went solo to Polite Pig, so I tried something new to me. I went for the slider trio and a side of corn. So good! I will absolutely order this again. But next time, I'll order the sliders without bread. Or slaw. Basically, it's just about the meat! Photos to come as soon as upload/downloads cooperate. Tomorrow's plans include: - Enjoying Day 2 of Topolino breakfast (even a to-go cup of POG juice!) - Errands in the morning - Meet a friend of a friend for a work session at lunch -  in the afternoon - Pick up one of my besties at the airport, do dinner over that way to avoid rush hour traffic - Nighttime swim? Maybe! Thursday is spa day, maybe finishing with Drawn to Life at Disney Springs. So it may be a few days before I return to complete this TR. For now, I'm off to savor a few bites of cheesecake from Polite Pig, do a bit more work and chill for the evening. Catch ya'll in a few days! |
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Post by wdw1972 on Apr 10, 2024 18:42:23 GMT -5
What a great trip - and that discount dining card at Universal would be a nice idea for Disney to offer. We were quite impressed with the quality of the food at our Topolino breakfast - but so much food! We didn't think of a "to go" cup.
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Post by dlwdwdvc on Apr 10, 2024 20:21:57 GMT -5
Wishing you more great success.
I Ithink I received invite to preview book, but accidentally deleted .
Didn’t you mention you were self publishing now ? In your spare time .
But I def want to buy because I love the art work on your cover … The artist should be drawing for Disney .
Just read some of the reviews on Amazon…Love the description of story and reviews are perfect !
And you are the Real life super Mom superhero .
Thanks for great trip pics !
Does the card from Topolinos have their autographs on flip- side ?
I looked closer at the artwork on display in your Topolinos Review for restaurant / character meet.
I think you have convinced me.
Did you happen to ask in RR lobby for the scavenger maps to look for details in RR artwork and another scavenger hunt for the SkyLiner game for family fun?
Which reminds me I love the introduction of a pen pal concept to write to your Rascal Friends and promise to receive a reply..
I hope you get all the rewards and recognition you deserve .
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 14, 2024 15:37:45 GMT -5
wdw1972 - Agreed!
dlwdwdvc - Thanks! Yes, the character card from Topolino's has the autographs on the back. Cute!
The last few days of the trip were very much the highlight! I got home yesterday and spent today hanging with DH and DD. So good to be home again! The sitework crew made some good progress in the two weeks I was away. That's good to see! Just 183 days till our soft opening - - progress should start getting more and more visible.
Let's see - from a TR perspective, let's go back to Wednesday morning. I spent that morning working in the room, then met our future social media manager for lunch at Geyser Point. I tried the steak sandwich - that is my new favorite Disney sandwich! Pretzel bread, cheese dip/spread, steak, peppers, onions - all my favorites in one bite! We had a super productive working lunch, spending 2+ hours mixing work, personal updates and shared Disney enthusiasm!
I stopped by the room to try one more time to work on and upload the paperback version of Rascal to Amazon. That was an utter failure. There's something I need to do differently with margins and set lines, but after several attempts to change that, I gave up. 20+ hours of vacation time lost to that project, which I'm now going to ask the artist to help resolve. I suspect the bottom line problem is I asked her to create art to the wrong guidelines. So now we need to figure out how to back up and redo to make it work.
I was happy to step away from that frustration to go pick up my friend at the airport. Waze consistently reported a ~30 minute drive using the toll road, so I went with that estimate. I got there just as Kelly was walking out of the airport as her flight was actually 15 minutes early. The ETA back to SSR was ~5:30, so we opted to drop her things in the room and walk over to Disney Springs for dinner. That was fun! We had Italian at a new-to-me table service place, Terralina. The shrimp scampi was delicious; the spinach artichoke dip was not as great. We left room for ice cream for desert after walking all over Disney Springs and back, stopping at Ghirardelli's to split desert on the way back to the room.
Thursday morning I had the last of the Topolina's leftover pastries for an early morning snack. I usually eat breakfast around 7:30 while Kelly is like a 9:45 breakfast eater. So I did the small apple cinamon muffin early, then we set off for Hollywood Studios to park and take the gondola in search of breakfast. I know everyone will be shocked to learn I stopped us at Riveria to see what the quick service breakfast was like, given just how much I enjoyed the table service character breakfast a few days before!
But first, this was the first time Kelly had experiences the gondolas. Those were a hit! I love these, so it was good to go for a ride. We did Primo Piatto around 10 for breakfast. I tried the lemon blueberry pancakes with the mascarpone cream and fresh fruit. Yum! I'll happily go back for those again on a future trip. Kelly had a bagel, which was fine.
Then we set off for Evermore to experience our first trip to the new Conrad with a visit to the onsite spa. My internet is being a pain, so I'm going to pause to go address that. I really want to share the photos from this resort as part of the story. It was incredible!
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 15, 2024 19:05:36 GMT -5
Good times - my impromptu office in the SSR studio! I loved having a first floor room for this visit. The patio was fantastic!  Second day of the Topolino's breakfast - just a delicious! Plus I enjoyed POG juice in my new butterbeer cup - fun, mild irony.  And a few other SSR pics from the trip - apologies to any random families who may show in pics. I tried not to get anyone's face.   |
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 15, 2024 19:20:25 GMT -5
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in the afternoon 
