Ceci n'est pas une Trip Report

[wendinator 109]

13 hours ago, fortpartyof4 said:

Curious where you stayed for this visit?  You mention a condo, do you own, or rent?  Looking for new options since cabins have gotten so pricey!

My sister has time share through RCI so I book through them and just pay rather than use her points. It's called Vacation Village at Parkway.

[fortpartyof4 108]

11 hours ago, wendinator said:

My sister has time share through RCI so I book through them and just pay rather than use her points. It's called Vacation Village at Parkway.

Thanks!  It looks fabulous!  My late in-laws were big RCI people.  We stayed at several places compliments of their many ownerships over the years.  

[wendinator 109]

Let's press on since there's not too much left to go.

It's now Wednesday and it was a nice day. 25°C is 77°F.

I went for a walk in the afternoon. There's a Golden Corral nearby. This sign makes it sound like they have a hotel. I call dibs on sleeping in the mashed potatoes!

Stroll map for no reason. 3.57 km is 2.2 miles.

Later on, I headed over to Epcot. The usual parking reminder.

I took another journey around Spaceship Earth. Greetings from the future!

I stopped in at Club Cool. They seemed to offer a lot of "Please Try Another Flavor".

I grabbed myself some Beverly.

Just kidding! I totally had the pineapple Fanta beside it. That stuff's good.

From Club Cool I headed over to World Showcase. The paint by numbers canvas that I contributed to earlier was pretty much done. Here's how it looked.

I put my name on a waiting list for a table for 1 at Rose & Crown. I have pretty good luck getting seated there without an ADR. While I waited, I poked around the shops in England. My sister's kids recently saw the Holy Grail for the first time, so I made note of this shirt.

Picture spot!

In short order I was seated, coincidentally enough at the exact same table I was at the last time I ate there. This reservation slip was interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, I've never noticed the notes section having a description like that. I assumed they used that because I didn't have a buzzer? Second, it lists me as an adult and yet... this is my kids meal bangers & mash... with rum & coke.

The adult version doesn't come with the Mickey mashed potatoes. This is the perfect amount of food, especially since it still leaves room for dessert. And though the kids meal says it comes with dessert, I've never received it in previous visits here. I don't know why that is exactly. But anyway, I got the dessert tonight! This is the kids trifle.

I asked my server what she calls the sprinkles on top. Much like "pop" vs "soda", I knew there were some regional differences in the nomenclature. Some people call these "jimmies", and I thought maybe she would call them "hundreds and thousands" as my British spousal unit does. She told me she calls these "Mickey magic". Fair enough.

After dinner I stumbled on a Photopass photo op that seemed to have a fairly short line, so I got in it. Worth it!

I'm not sure why I did it, but I did Turtle Talk with Crush. Since it was close to closing time, it wasn't a very busy show, and most of the audience seemed to have English as a second language. But the person doing the Crush voice was great, and as I recall even had a joke in Spanish. Well done, dude playing Crush!

I didn't stay to watch Illuminations. On my way out I stopped at guest services for two reasons. My sister asked me to get her stickers, so I asked him if they had any stickers and he gave me a big stack of cool Figment stickers I hadn't seen anywhere else. Nice! I also asked him if there was any particular schedule for the Muppet Mobile Lab, because after stumbling on them once a year or more ago, I've never been able to catch it. He said nope. Bummer.

I took the required Spaceship Earth photo at night.

It felt a little too soon to head back to base camp, so I decided I would ride the monorail around in a circle to the TTC and back. From the monorail platform you could see the fireworks from Illuminations. When I got on the monorail, there was a family in my car with a stroller.

Of course I chuckled to myself because this was all I could think about.

I told my Apple Watch I was doing a cycling workout so that it would track my location, speed, and distance. Here's the map it made.

That was a nice little diversion.

Now a short tram ride back to my car and that was the end of that. I got back to the condo and discovered... Remember those cool Figment stickers I got? Yeah, I'd lost them already. They must have fallen out of my back pocket somewhere in the short distance between Guest Relations, the monorail station, and my car. That'll teach me not to put them in a safer spot.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I think I've asked this question before on this board, but does Disney overall not have an issue with adults ordering kids meals?  Obviously not at a pay-one-price restaurant like a buffet, but in the sit down restaurants where you order off a menu, do the menus have any language like "12 and under please" or similar?  Or do they take the position that the kids meals are fine for anyone with a smaller appetite?  

[wendinator 109]

2 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

I think I've asked this question before on this board, but does Disney overall not have an issue with adults ordering kids meals?  Obviously not at a pay-one-price restaurant like a buffet, but in the sit down restaurants where you order off a menu, do the menus have any language like "12 and under please" or similar?  Or do they take the position that the kids meals are fine for anyone with a smaller appetite?  

You're right that there's verbiage for the kids meals. It says, "Kids' menu items for children ages 9 and younger." But I have never had any trouble ordering a kids meal as an adult at Disney. I've been denied at other restaurants in the real world, but never at Disney.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

9 minutes ago, wendinator said:

You're right that there's verbiage for the kids meals. It says, "Kids' menu items for children ages 9 and younger." But I have never had any trouble ordering a kids meal as an adult at Disney. I've been denied at other restaurants in the real world, but never at Disney.

Got it...thanks.  In reality, my wife and I often split adult meals, so what's the difference?  I need to remember that.  I would guess it's no problem at all at a counter serve place either.  

[wendinator 109]

Now it's Thursday. I was rudely awakened in the morning by a pretty loud thunder storm rolling through.

My sister managed to score me a 12:50 pm FP for Slinky Dog Dash. I hadn't been to DHS since the new Toy Story Land opened so this was my first time. At lunch I drove to DHS.

Looks like the gondola work was chugging right along.

I hustled my way over to SDD. The standby line was at 80 minutes.

I asked to be seated near the front (as previously mentioned, I'm prone to motion sickness) and I got seated beside a Mom whose husband and young daughter were in the row behind me. The daughter (maybe 5? I'm a lousy guess of age) was VERY unhappy about being there. The parents were trying to reassure her that it would be fun and she'd be fine, but that only made her cry and scream louder. You can't see the kid in the Photopass picture, but just imagine an unhappy camper.

This picture never did show up in MDE, so about a month after I got home I filled out the online form to have them search for it, and in no time at all they had it linked. I don't know how they do it, but any time I've asked them to find a missing photo, they've come through for me.

After that I headed to the Trolley Car Café to grab a carrot cake cookie.

I had a 5:30 ADR at Homecomin' at Disney Springs.

It took me two tries to get out of the DHS area. I have a rather poor sense of direction and when Waze told me to take the exit... there were two quite close to each other, so of course I took the wrong one. I ended up right back in the same parking lot where I started. Fortunately (?) there was a CM there so I got to tell him, "I'm an idiot and I'm lost and I'm just trying to get out". Second time was the charm and I made it to Disney Springs.

I sneezed at the exact moment I took the picture for my parking reminder. I could have taken another non-blurry shot, but it was just too funny, and I kept the original.

It wasn't a long wait for my table. I got one right near the kitchen so that provided me with a bit of entertainment. I ordered a beer while I looked over the menu and contemplated my options.

After much deliberation, I decided to go with the regular "Art's Famous Fried Chicken" dinner. I saved a piece of the chicken for lunch the next day.

I guess I don't have a very refined palette for fried chicken. I thought this was OK, but not so great that I'd want to go back and spend that much money for fried chicken. I've heard their hummingbird cake is amazing, but huge, so I'll try to go back another time when I've got someone else with me to help finish it.

Next up I went to the World of Disney store to pick up these bowls for my sister as a thank you for making me FPs and putting up with my endless texts. These new food/snack themed items are really cute.

I saw this license plate in the parking lot and was surprised to see they were all the way from Manitoba! That's a much longer drive than my 19 hours and 15 minutes.

I made one more stop before going back to the time share. I went to a gas station to fill up the tank... Departure day was coming up soon.

And that was the end of Thursday.

[wendinator 109]

32 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Got it...thanks.  In reality, my wife and I often split adult meals, so what's the difference?  I need to remember that.  I would guess it's no problem at all at a counter serve place either.  

And even easier with mobile order!

[wendinator 109]

Figured I should start off this next update with a cartoon from Savage Chickens...

 

 

Maybe I can wrap this up before my next trip in August!

It's now Friday, and my departure date is Sunday.

Somehow, despite being in the same time share unit for almost two weeks, it wasn't until this day that I noticed someone had previously had some fun with the provided hair dryer.

Another day, another parking reminder.

When I got to security I noticed that the flags were flying at half-staff.

I asked a security guard if he knew why they were at half, and he said it was because of the recent bank shooting in Sebring that killed five people. A rather somber reminder that there's a world outside the most magical place on earth.

I did my usual ferry ride over to the Magic Kingdom and you can see it was a nice sunny evening.

Once again near the entrance there were some of the rare characters as part of the Mickey & Minnie celebration.

I pressed on, since I had a Fast Pass to make, but also couldn't resist taking a picture of this "service" animal.

As I walked past Casey's Corner, my watch buzzed and asked me if I might perhaps be tempted to stop in for some corn dog nuggets. It's kind of funny/creepy to get these reminders that the Mouse is always watching.

I never get tired of this.

On my way to my Haunted Mansion Fast Pass, there was a Muppets Great Moments in History show happening. If you haven't seen this, it's worth checking out.

My husband got himself a 3D printer and one of the first things I asked him to print for me was a Magic Band puck holder for my Apple Watch. I sent him this little video of the puck holder in action while using my Fast Pass for HM.

It was a lovely night. 16°C is 61°F

After the Haunted Mansion I stopped into Memento Mori. This bag was neat and caught my eye. When you undo the zipper you get the longer version of the stretch room artwork. Clever!

My digital bread crumb trail tells me I did the Jungle Cruise after this, but I didn't take any pictures. I mean, how many pictures do I really need of the back side of water anyway?

Then onto it's a small world, where I of course took my obligatory entrance/time stamp photo.

After that, my crumb trail tells me I did POTC and then I stood in line for this photo much longer than I would care to admit.

The photo wrangler was kind of... rude? Inconsiderate? He really gave me a hard time about being alone and wanted to know where the rest of my family was. I don't think he was joking, but maybe? Anyway, the experience left a bit of a sour taste.

I then continued my tradition of leaving the park during the fireworks.

I walked from MK over to the Contemporary. At the bus stop I saw this sign. Does anybody know how accurate these displays tend to be with their arrival estimates?

I browsed some shops then got on the monorail to the Poly, where I got off and walked down to the end of the dock in time to catch the Electrical Water Pageant. (Sorry Lou) I pretty much had the entire dock to myself, it was great! There were two other people who had some serious photo gear on a tripod. I had a lousy cell phone that took lousy pictures, but I enjoyed the dose of nostalgia anyway. And I hereby share those lousy pictures with you, dear reader.

From the Poly it's an easy walk to the TTC where I hopped into my car and called it a night.

Tomorrow is Saturday and it's my last full day and I had an ambitious day planned.

[wendinator 109]

My goal was to make it to MK on Saturday morning for rope drop. Here's my parking reminder that I took at 8:37 am.

I was on the ferry by 8:49.

And at the passholder tapstile by 9:08. So I was about 10 minutes late. Ah well.

First thing I did was head to it's a small locker after all.

In case you're interested in the prices, here's what they cost in January of 2019.

Amongst other things, I wanted to stash a lighter coat in the locker in case it warmed up. I did end up switching my coat a couple of times throughout the day, and leaving some purchases there. This was the only time during the trip that I used a locker but it was handy - especially since it's not convenient to just pop out to the car and leave things there and come back.

On my way up Main Street, I stopped for a bit to listen to the Dapper Dans.

Do you remember the cigar store Indians? There used to be two - one on Main Street, and one in Frontierland. Well they both seem to be gone, or at least they were on this trip. I have a number of pictures of me with those over the years, but this year the best I could do was a selfie with the baseball player at Casey's Corner.

I wanted to ride Jungle Cruise first, but Jungle Cruise had a different plan. It wasn't operational at park opening, as you can tell by these CMs standing by the entrance.

I went to the Haunted Mansion instead. Not a bad substitute. I didn't quite nail this photo. Will have to work on that.

From there over to, yes, you guessed it... Small World.

The screens in the final room weren't showing anyone's name from their Magic Band. Weird. It had been working on my previous rides.

 

It may sound hard to believe, but I actually had a bit of a plan for this day, and the plan was to do all 3 mountains (Splash, Thunder, Space) and I even had Fast Passes for all 3.

But about the time I got on Small World, the first wrinkle emerged...

I decided to wander over that way anyway.

My watch told me at 10:30 am that I'd already reached my exercise goal for the day (30 minutes). That doesn't happen to me too often when I'm at home!

The good news is that Splash was back up and running, so I used my FastPass.

There was a bowl of Ziploc bags. I snagged one. (Spoiler: I should have snagged two.)

The bad news was that I was right at the very front and I got more than a little bit wet. Shoulda put the bag over my head...

Not far from the exit, the ride stopped and the lights came on. I was there maybe 5-10 minutes before we started moving again.

My photo pass picture from this ride looks the same every time. What can I say? I'm a bit of a wuss.

After this I thought I'd swing past Jungle Cruise and see if it was running yet. It wasn't, but the Picture Spot never closes.

I strolled past Club 33. I need to be rich. Or have rich friends. Sadly, neither are likely.

I looked up at the Club 33 building and wondered... how did that green coffee cup get there? Why is it still there? Seemed like bad show to me.

I stopped in at the Evil Siren. The guy in front of me had a very particular dislike that he wanted the world to know about.

Caffeine achievement unlocked.

It was time for a little shopping after this to take care of some promises for the folks back at home.

First up - one nephew wanted the apple pie caramel apple, so I headed to Big Top Treats. She asked me if I wanted it sliced, but I said no, I wanted the stick removed and put into a container. She said it wouldn't fit but I said that was OK. Pro tip #1: If you put it in the container sideways it fits just fine. Pro tip #2: Remember all those stickers I'd been picking up for my sister? They help keep the container closed quite nicely! Like this.

Next stop was Mickey's Star Traders and this time the purchase was for me. These tea towels were too cute to pass up.

Then to the nearby Lunching Pad for two cream cheese pretzels - one for the spousal unit, one for the other nephew. And you remember that Splash Mountain Ziploc bag? It's the perfect size!

I didn't want to carry all this around with me, so I headed to the locker.

Phineas and Ferb were meeting people at the flag pole.

After leaving my purchases in the locker, I stopped in at some Main Street shops. My BIL is known for his ties, so I made note of these two potential additions to his collection.

I noticed they had a new (to me) Haunted Mansion Dooney bag size. I used my sunglasses for scale since I didn't have a banana.

 

[wendinator 109]

I still had some time before my next Mountain's Fast Pass, so I headed to do some of my usual favorites.

The camel wasn't spitting today.

If these totems started spitting, that guy in the scooter is in for a big surprise!

I thought maybe the Jungle Cruise would be running by now. But nope... CMs were into tape art, so they must be pretty bored.

The weather wasn't great today (about 62°F) but still better than home.

Since Jungle Cruise was still a fail, I did the Tiki Room and then CBJ.

I was feeling peckish so headed over to the ice cream parlor. Here's my All American sundae with no whipped cream. Mmmm. Molten peanut butter.

I waddled over to the People Mover after that. You can tell it's a busy day when there's a guy holding a sign that indicates the end of the People Mover line.

People Mover = happiness. Plus it's scientifically proven to help with sundae digestion.

The Wilderness Must be Paved! Trees coming down for Tron construction. Bonus hawk in the tree.

It had clouded over which prompted me to make another trip to the locker for a costume change back to my warmer coat. You can see how overcast it is in this castle picture.

Finally it was time for my BTMRR Fast Pass! Always nice to have a FP when the standby line is at 80 minutes.

Being the wuss that I am, I requested a seat right at the front. The guy dispatching the mine trains and I had a nice chat about the old Naked Gun movie with Leslie Nielsen. How random is that?

I took a picture at the Photo Spot for my collection.

But there was also a Photo Pass photographer at the exit, and they seem to do a better job...

I'd managed to move my Space Mountain FP up quite a bit (thanks to the tip I first saw here) but I still had a bit of time before then, so I did a spin around the Carousel of Progress.

This seating area near the Tomorrowland bathrooms was freshly blocked off and was so recent that it still smelled like paint. It sure wasn't like that the previous time I'd been in that area. I have no idea what they were doing there.

There was a Tomorrowland artist at work. I can't draw anything with a pencil right side up, nevermind draw anything with water upside down.

I think I took this picture to show that the standby time was 90 minutes, but of course didn't manage to capture that. So you'll just have to trust me.

The guy in front of me had a very unusual backpack.

No matter how many times I ride this I never manage to look directly at the camera. You'd think I'd know by now.

I knew the moving walkway had been removed due to construction but it was still a bit of a surprise to have this long, carpeted walkway.

I did the People Move yet again and was rewarded with TWO hawks in the tree instead of just one that I saw the last time.

After the People Move I went and did the Laugh Floor and thank cod I did! Because this time I finally got the one with Sully, Mike, and Boo!

After the Laugh Floor I did Pirates again. I seemed to have particularly bad luck on this trip for getting the ride photo to show up in my Photo Pass. And I don't know if it's because the ride photo wasn't working, or if it wasn't able to read my Magic Band. Shrug.

Having done all 3 Mountains now, plus a good assortment of other favorites, I was about ready to call it a wrap so I headed towards Main Street again. I stopped and listened to the Casey's Corner pianist for a while. If you've never heard this guy (who has been playing there forever) you owe it to yourself to try to see him.

I decided what I really wanted was a beer and a burger for dinner. This was a little harder to come by than I would have thought. The Plaza Restaurant wasn't taking walk ups and there were no reservations available. I sat near the Plaza bathrooms and investigated the menus in MDE to formulate my plan. While I was sitting there I noticed there were a lot of VIP groups around. I took this sneaky pic.

Apparently there was a football team in the park, but I couldn't tell you what team it was.

After staring at the phone long enough I finally had a plan! I texted my sister to say "last call!" and ask if there was anything else she wanted from the parks before I left. She asked for one last picture of the castle. Well that's an easy enough request to fulfill.

With that mission accomplished, i sadly headed for the exit.

Any bets on where I was headed for my beer and burger? Don't worry, I won't keep you in suspense.

I walked over to the Contemporary and headed up to the Outer Rim. I asked the bartender, "what are the odds of being able to get a burger to go with a beer?". He said, go over to the Contempo Cafe and order your burger, and they'll give you a puck to put on your table over here and they'll deliver the burger to you. Just be warned that if you want ketchup you should get it when you place your food order and bring it with you." Well that was the best news I could have hoped for!

I ordered my burger.

I grabbed some condiments. These...

But not these...

I sat the puck on my table.

I got the beer I wanted.

I admired the view.

And just like magic, a burger arrived.

I'd call that a win.

After my beer & burger I thought about heading to the car, but I decided I wasn't quite done yet. I went up to the monorail. Monorail Lime limped through the station slowly. It did not stop.

I got off at the Poly and wandered the gift shop. Being a fan of the Tiki Room I liked this keychain. But didn't like it enough to buy it.

I still had room for one last treat.

It was cold enough outside that I decided to eat it inside this time.

I paid with a gift card that I'd put something like $100 on at the start of the trip. I was pleased to see this balance after paying for my Dole Whip. Well done, me!

That felt like a pretty good last full day to me. No regrets. I walked from the Poly to the TTC and hopped in my car and headed back to the time share.

[wendinator 109]

It's now Sunday morning and departure day. Time to head back home to the Great White North.

It's a bit of a long story that I won't bore you with, but normally I'd get up early and hit the road at like 6 am to start the long drive home. But this time I had a Boma breakfast instead. The ADR was originally for 9 am but I moved it up to 8:30 and then when I couldn't move it up any more, I just showed up early and they seated me just after 8 am.

I have come to realize that the Boma breakfast buffet has ruined all other breakfast buffets for me. There is no comparison.

Here was round one, with a nod to being healthy with a small bowl of fruit. If you do nothing else at the Boma breakfast, make sure you put the praline sauce on your Mickey waffle. Heck, put the praline sauce on everything, I won't judge.

As I was chowing down a couple was shown to the table beside me and it was their first time there, so I gave her my praline sauce tip. She said they were vloggers and asked if they could include the tip in their video. I had no objections. She wrote down the name of their channel so I could follow them. Spoiler: it never did show up on their YouTube channel.

MOAR!

After stuffing myself to the gills, I waddled to my car. On the upside, at least I wouldn't need to eat for the rest of the day. On the down side, I really could do with a nap.

But there was no time for that. It was time to hit the road.

There was a LOT of moisture in the area.

It rained non-stop from the time I left AKL until just north of Jacksonville. There were several accidents on I-4, fortunately none that affected me at all. Though at one point there was a cop at the side of the road in his wet weather gear encouraging drivers to slow down since the roads were so wet.

I'll spare you the details of my progress, but I made it as far north as Morgantown, where I stopped for the night just before 11 pm. About 920 miles.

This is the part that had me worried... There was nasty weather coming for Monday. 15 to 20 cm is 6 to 8 inches.

Monday morning was another early start. I stopped in Grove City for fuel and it was -16°C (3°F) which was a bit of a shock to the system.

I forget what time I made it to the border, but the crossing couldn't have been quicker. By the time I was passing the city where my sister lives, it was just starting to snow and it was also about lunch time so I gave her a call. It turned out she was taking the kids out for lunch at an all you can eat sushi place and asked if I wanted to join them. That was a no brainer! I met them for lunch and handed over the purchases I had for them. We had a good time catching up.

By the time I hit the road after lunch for the last 35 miles to get home the snow was REALLY coming down. I'm glad I didn't leave any later than I did. There were many accidents, the roads were getting snow covered, and I was pooped. I pulled into my garage at about 2 pm pleased that I'd dodged the worst of it, and better yet that I don't have to shovel! 

Thanks to those of you who followed along on my little adventures.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Kudos to you for a VERY BUSY last day you sure packed it in and double kudos ( if there is such a thing ) for that heck of a drive you did the first day I salute you!!!!!!!!!

[wendinator 109]

28 minutes ago, dblr....Rennie said:

Kudos to you for a VERY BUSY last day you sure packed it in and double kudos ( if there is such a thing ) for that heck of a drive you did the first day I salute you!!!!!!!!!

It's easy to put the miles behind you when you only have one stomach and one bladder to worry about! :-)

i'll be doing the drive north again this coming August with my sister and family, and I don't expect to keep the same pace.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Ok....I have a few thoughts but you were a posting machine today so let's see if I can remember them.  

First, that All American sundae looks delicious. I wish I had one right now.

Also well done on the praline sauce.  

What's up with those butchered trees in the MK?  I didn't see where you explained that pic.  

Did you cross at the Peace Bridge or Lewiston Queenston? 

That's all I can remember.  

[wendinator 109]

58 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Ok....I have a few thoughts but you were a posting machine today so let's see if I can remember them.  

First, that All American sundae looks delicious. I wish I had one right now.

Also well done on the praline sauce.  

What's up with those butchered trees in the MK?  I didn't see where you explained that pic.  

Did you cross at the Peace Bridge or Lewiston Queenston? 

That's all I can remember.  

The butchered trees were clearing for the Tron coaster. It's behind the autopia stinky cars.

On the trip home I crossed at Peace. For a while it was quite a gamble because of bridge construction that had it down to one lane in each direction. There's also Rainbow and Whirlpool (and Queenston) to choose from, so at least I have lots of options!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

1 hour ago, wendinator said:

The butchered trees were clearing for the Tron coaster. It's behind the autopia stinky cars.

On the trip home I crossed at Peace. For a while it was quite a gamble because of bridge construction that had it down to one lane in each direction. There's also Rainbow and Whirlpool (and Queenston) to choose from, so at least I have lots of options!

I like Whirlpool because it's so quiet but I think I heard they are going to pass only, where you'd need Nexus to use it?  Don't remember where I heard that or if it's true.  

[dblr....Rennie 224]

11 hours ago, wendinator said:

It's easy to put the miles behind you when you only have one stomach and one bladder to worry about! 🙂

i'll be doing the drive north again this coming August with my sister and family, and I don't expect to keep the same pace.

You are so right on when you travel alone, I did a 14.5 hour day 950 miles from De. to Warrenton Mo. one year by myself now when the wife is with me it is different. As a family we can do Disney to home in a day but we need to leave in the early morning to make it work then we are home usually by 8-9 that night with me as the only driver

[ThemeParkCommando 81]

Those hawks are smart.  Evolution in action!  The big machinery scares up small rodents and turns them out of their homes, and then the landscape is so different, the rodents cannot find their other usual hiding spots.  Makes them easy prey for raptors. 

I see something like this in my area.  When I mow my lawn, I am now followed by at least 6, sometimes more grackles .( Greater Boat-tailed Grackle)  They come to collect the bugs I stir up with my mower.  They never did this when I was younger, but in the last 15 years or so, they have started coming to the sounds of mowers.  Used to be just one or two, but they are passing the knowledge on to their young. 

[wendinator 109]

14 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

I like Whirlpool because it's so quiet but I think I heard they are going to pass only, where you'd need Nexus to use it?  Don't remember where I heard that or if it's true.  

Yes, Whirlpool is a Nexus only crossing. The card is very handy and there are also Nexus only lanes at several land crossings. Plus expedited lines at many airports as well.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Thanks for sharing your very busy day at MK.  I'm tired just reading along.

[Robin 48]

Thanks for the report!

[Ivy 36]

Thanks for sharing your photos from your trip.  I really enjoyed the report.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Awesome report, thank you!!  LOVE all the pictures!

Very cool on the CMs with the tape and the water.  I would be embarrassing to watch... to say the least.  Haha

The "service animal"... yeah, not cool.

Yes, you know it's a busy day at the MK, if the PM has a line    That ride is seriously my favorite.  If Disney ever went back to ride tickets, it's the only one I would buy ❤️

Thanks again for the report!!

[dvccamper 32]

Enjoyed reading along.

Note to self: book Boma breakfast next time.