Fun, Fatigued, and Fabulous June 2016 Trip Part 2

[WDWFRK]

When: June 7-14
Where: Disney’s Old Key West, 1st floor studio in Miller’s Road section (room #1816)
Who: Me—44 (Disney vacation planner extraordinaire—really they should hire me!)
DH—46 (resident flying ace)
DD—15 (Hoop Dee Doo enthusiast)
DD Friend—15 (WDW newbie)

Day 5: Rest day/ Hoop Dee Doo
Ahh! The gloriousness of sleeping in!!! This was a lazy day, so we went to the pool for a while and then after deciding we did not want to eat lunch at OKW, we hopped on the boat to Disney Springs to eat at Earl of Sandwich and check out the new digs. I am very impressed with the makeover, and we decided to make time to come back here on our last day.

We had tickets for the 8:30 Hoop Dee Doo, so we got cleaned up (I think that was the first time I put on makeup since our arrival!), and took the bus to MK and the ferry to Ft. Wilderness. We met a couple of ladies on the ferry who were going to see someone they knew performing in the show and had a nice visit with them. I had budgeted an hour and a half for travel and we were there by 8p. Since we were early, we walked around FW and checked things out. We used to stay there all the time when I was younger, so it was fun to be back.

My DD LOVES this show, and it did not disappoint. Good food, great seats on the floor, and fun performance. There seemed to be quite a few people there who knew the performers that night! There were two young women sitting at the table behind us and after some polite “overhearing,” we discovered they both worked for Disney and were there to see friends in the show. More on that tomorrow….

All of us girls were a bit enamored with the gentleman playing the role of “Jim” in the show. He was a VERY handsome young man with a beautiful voice. We were sorry to see the show end for many reasons, but he was definitely one of them!

After taking the ferry back to MK, we decided to ride the monorail loop and get off to walk around the GF—I love this hotel! We didn’t time our ride very well, though, as Wishes had just finished, so there was a mass exodus from the park which made for a crowded monorail ride.

After that, we caught our bus back to OKW and called it a night.

Highlights of the day:
Everything we did today was a delight!

Day 6: EC
This was the day that I wished I had a hopper because we really just needed a half day at EC to finish up things we hadn’t seen before and re-ride some of our favorite attractions, and I really wanted to go back to AK for a half day to see the shows that we missed. I even asked about using up two days of our base tickets but was told I couldn’t do that, which I still don’t understand. If I’m willing to eat up two full days of my ticket on a half day visit, I think I should be able to do that. Oh well. Lesson learned.

We did Soarin’ first thing and a few other things in FW before heading over to World Showcase. We stopped in France for some pastries and then headed to American Adventure—one of my absolute favorites! I also wanted to make sure we got to see the Voices of Liberty sing, another of my favorites.

It was blazing hot today (heat index around 105!), so it felt good to get inside. Things were about to get even better, though. The Voices of Liberty came out for their performance and just as I had settled in to listen, I noticed a familiar face—“Jim” from last night’s Hoop Dee Doo! It didn’t take long for the girls to notice either, and they became much more interested in the show after that. Then my husband noticed that two of the other performers were the ladies sitting at the table beside us from last night!

After the performance was over, the singers walked around and greeted guests. I made a beeline over to “Jim” (I wish we knew his real name) and told him that we recognized him from last night and what a great voice he has. He said he only performs in the HDD about once a month, so we were lucky we had caught him. Lucky indeed! At this point, the other two ladies from last night had joined our conversation, and they recognized us as well. Small world! I asked “Jim” if the girls could get a pic with him, and he obliged. I now have a wonderful picture of two very embarrassed, red-faced girls and that handsome young man.

We took our usual afternoon break (tried out the quiet pool today) and then came back for the evening. Our dinner reservation for tonight was at Spice Road Table; I’ve been excited to try this for a while now, but I was worried about the girls finding something they liked. No worries there. We ordered several small plates and one entrée with chicken and beef skewers. The small plates were delicious and would have been enough food, but the entrée was nothing to write home about. Our server was lovely, as well. There were many empty tables there, so if you need a last-minute dining res, this is the place to go!

I can’t remember if it was this night or our first, but as we were waiting in line at Test Track, we ran into another family from our hometown. That happens to us often when we’re here which is really amazing considering we are from a small town in Nebraska!
We stayed for Illuminations again and then headed out with the masses.

Highlights of the day:
Voices of Liberty, seeing “Jim” again, Spice Road Table

Not so shining:
No hopper, and crowds, heat, fatigue starting to wear on us a bit

[faline]

They have never permitted using two entry days in lieu of the parkhopper option on the tickets. Sounds like it was a fun couple of days at Disney!! We haven't been to Hoop De Doo for a while - we just might have to get back there again!!

[Mackflava99]

Nice report, glad to hear about Spice Road, I was wondering how it would be.

[Tiggerlovr9000]

We are from a town in nebr of 8,500 people. It's such a small world. We were in the tiki room and straight across from us was a family from our town too. Just never know who you will see at WDW. Lol. I am enjoying your trip report