A Bullet Point Trip Report

[Catvondita]

So I am too lazy to type up a full trip report but I thought I'd share a very bare bones report. I'm also too lazy to upload a lot of pictures but you can see them all on my Instagram including pics from my previous trip last year @Catvondita


To give a little background for myself and the people I travel with I'll start with saying my name is Cat and I am 25 year old New Yorker (Brooklyn born and raised). I like wearing black, love skulls and crosses My musical taste is a jumble. I can listen to Metallica one minute, then some 2000's alternative, switch over to Celine Dion, go to Korean Indie music, belt out some Disney Movie tunes and rock out to some one hit wonders and 90's grunge/pop/rock. I've been described as pretty eclectic. I work as an Office Manager full time at a real estate company and have an amazing boyfriend who I've been with for about 5 years.

I've always loved Disney World and all things Disney. I have been fortunate enough to have gone multiple times in the past.

My boyfriend is Josh also 25. He's heading to Pharmacy School to live out his dream. He always knew about Disney and watched the movies as a kid but was never really eager to go to Disney World-until he met me. Last year when I told him I wanted to go he worried about the money and the fact that it's "mainly for kids". We ended up going and he loved it! The whole time he was wowed by everything he saw. Even after this recent trip he's the one asking when can we go back!

I also went with my brother and my mother. My brother is a 31 year old who works for Forbes. I don't get to see him often because he is always traveling for his job but we always try to grab some food and drinks when we can. My mother is 50+ and one of the hardest working people I know.


Onto the trip! So this trip was from June 19-June 21. My mom wanted to stay at a non Disney Hotel so we compromised and stayed at a non Disney Resort for part of the trip and then Josh and I moved to a Disney Hotel after. My mom only stayed four days and my brother only stayed two. We started the trip at the Hilton Bonnet Creek and then when my mom checked out we moved to the Art of Animation.

DAY 1-Arrival

The day of our flight me and Josh both went to work and left early. I met him and his house since he lives closer to the airport than I do. His mom made us food (yuay for Korean food!) and we called a cab. We got to LaGuardia Airport with about a little more than an hour to kill. I'm a terrible flier so I had myself an expensive whiskey drink while I waited for our flight. We played with the tablets they provide for a while and I made several trips to the bathroom because I have my mothers bladder.

Our flight was a little bit delayed so landed later than we thought and sat on the runway for at least a half hour but it wasn't so bad. I paid for crappy wifi only to find out you really aren't able to use Netflix. (I brought my ipad with me for the sole purpose of watching Orange is the New Black since season 3 premiered that day). Bummer.

The upside of having the wifi was I could talk on Facebook messenger and found out my brother was also really delayed and was at MCO still. We had about 45 minutes left until we landed so he just waited for us. We finally landed and ran to the point where everyone knows their Disney Vacation truly begins- at the shuttle or as many call it-"the fake monorail".

We met up with my brother after I lovingly gazed upon the art work at the Disney Store and headed to get a Mears ride to our hotel. It ended up taking us much longer than I thought. We dropped off everyone else and must have stopped at 5 different hotels and we were last. We were all super hungry but found out all the restaurants in our hotel closed already. We met up with my mom who had landed early that afternoon and they walked me and Josh to our room. We thought we would all order room service together but they didn't like anything on the menu so they went to their rooms and called it a night. Josh and I stayed up, ordered food and I got myself a glass of mine and watched Orange is the New Black before we fell asleep. I stayed up a little after Josh so I could watch another episode. I'm a Netflix binger what can I say

The next day we would go to Magic Kingdom

 

[Lady Marie]

Following along! I love reading adult trip reports!

Wine and OITNB is always a great way to end the evening

 

[Catvondita]

Day 2 Magic Kingdom (Part 1)

So the next day we were off to my favorite place! Magic Kingdom. We woke up being tired af but who cares? We were hitting the parks!! We woke up, got ready and got a chance to see our Disney View properly since it was night when we checked in. We were overlooking Pop Century and the Tower of Terror.

We got dressed and made our way downstairs to the buffet. We didn't realize how long the line would be to get a table which put us a little behind schedule but it was all okay once we passed by the welcoming sign that said Magic Kingdom. We got off our hotels shuttle bus which actually left us pretty close to the TTC. My brother and mom had to pick up their tickets at Will Call since they didn't have Magic Bands. Then we were off to the Monorail!

One thing that always made my heart flutter was when the monorail entered the Contemporary Resort. As a child, I never stayed at a Disney Resort so every hotel I stayed at had shuttles that took us to the TTC where we had to transfer to the Monorail. Last years trip we stayed at Pop Century, whose bus took us directly to the entrance of Magic Kingdom. So when we headed to the monorail this time and I heard "Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantangese alejado de las puertas" I was overwhelmed. I have to admit I cried happy tears a few times on this trip. I'm such a sap.

We walked towards the entrance and to the security bag check where I must say they hardly checked my bag. Who knows what I could have been carrying! As we entered Main Street my heart skipped a beat and I felt at home. We stopped into the Confectionary, which is a tradition for us, even if we don't end up buying anything. I ended up wanting to buy about 30 rice krispie treats but I held back and we walked through the emporium. Even though I went last year I did not remember it being so big. Did it grow? Can I just buy everything there and be completely Disney'd head to toe? We continued down Main Street towards that glorious castle. I always forget to get my picture taken in front of it, I'm always so busy taking pictures of it from every angle.

We stopped by Sleepy Hollow Refreshments where my brother tried to get an ice coffee. One thing I do not understand about Disney is it seems like they have never heard of ice coffee except in Starbucks. The only iced coffee they had was some super light sugary mocha or vanilla thing. They didn't have any black room temperature coffee that they could put on ice like most places. I don't know why my brother didn't stop by the Starbucks. Anyway they said they could give him a black ice coffee but instead they made him wait 10 minutes and gave him room temperature coffee in a cup.

Another family tradition is to have It's a Small World be our first ride. Honestly- I'm not really a fan of the ride. It smells like stank Florida water (no offense to any Florida residents but I always found the water to be smelly and harsh!), its long, the dolls are creepy and borderline racist and the song is super annoying...buuttttttt it is a classic and it is tradition so it must be done! My brother wasn't able to finish the coffee before they were going to seat us so we had to hid it in my moms purse. This is how we rebel.

Our next stop was Haunted Mansion! This and Tower of Terror are my favorite rides so I was pretty excited. On it however I felt like I didn't remember it being so dark and my eyes never quite adjusted which gave me a bit of a headache. But as long as I got to hear Grinning Ghosts everything was okay

Our next stop was Mickey's Philharmagic which my mom swears she had never been on but I had been on it several times and only ever went with her aside from last year so whateves. Moms always have to be right even when they're wrong. I digress! We headed to Tomorrowland to make our fastpasses for Space Mountain. My mom sat this one out and held our bags. My poor brother who has pretty long legs considering he isn't that tall could barely fit in the ride. But he had fun! We made our way to our next fastpass which was Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. I had talked a lot of crap saying how I was going to become a Galactic Hero and felt super humbled after. I had done some research and knew what the spots were to get the big points but I couldn't aim for the life of me. I didn't know which laser was mine and spent too much time trying to aim at the hot spots that I completely missed the opportunity to try to get the ones I could reach. Here's a tip: If you know you already suck at this game, don't spend the entire game aiming for hard to reach points when your aim is awful. Lesson learned!

At this point we tried to get some lunch. We stopped into Cosmic Ray' s but my mom didn't see anything she liked so we made our way to Columbia Harbor House. As we sat I kept trying to see if any reservations could open up for Be Our Guest since I was only able to make a reservation for myself and Josh when we check into Art of Animation. Nothing was opening up so my brother suggested we go to EPCOT for a meal. I really wanted my mom and brother to see the fireworks since its what you have to do. You start the first day of your trip at Magic Kingdom and you have to see the fireworks! Is there even any other way?? The issue was we were already eating a late lunch and they weren't going to be hungry again until about 8 which would cut things pretty close since the fireworks are at 10.

I gave in a made reservations for Tokyo Dinning. Afterwords, Josh and I bought a dole whip for my mom and bro for desert and we headed to Big Thunder Mountain where it was just working again since being broken down. Because of this the line was super short. We then got our next fastpases at Splash Mountain and got the wettest we've ever been on that ride. Honestly we got soaked. My hair was ruined after I tried so hard to not make it frizzy My eyeliner was smeared to a point beyond repair. I felt kind of stupid and made sure no one took any pictures of me after that point lol.

The next part of the day took a bit of a sour turn but don't worry it was salvaged

Stay tuned for Part 2!

 

[Catvondita]

Day 2 Magic Kingdom (Part 2)

So my mom started getting cranky about getting tired and wanting to go back to the hotel and relax. The problem with this is that we were staying at the Hilton Bonnet Creek and that bus runs every half hour and makes a couple of stops. It would take us a while to get back to the hotel and once we were there we pretty much would have to leave to make it back to our dinner reservations. We convinced her to go to one of the neighboring resorts and we could have a drink or two there and relax then go back to make our reservations.

We chose The Contemporary since it was the closest and got there from the monorail in 5 minutes. We went to the Wave and had some drinks. I got a Manhattan and the Spiced Banana cocktail. Josh ordered a cocktail that he couldn't drink and I ended up finishing (he is allergic to alcohol). Once we were ready to head to Epcot we paid our tab and went up to the monorail. I started noticing it was taking a while for it to come so I tried calling the restaurant to let them know we would be a bit delayed. Annoyingly they don't have an actual number and there's no way to reach them directly. Their number ended up being the general Disney Dining Number. So I spoke to a representative who tried giving me a number for the Japanese Pavilion but there was still no way to call anyone who worked in the restaurant. The representative had explained that if we showed up at least within 15 minutes after our reservation we would be okay. Unfortunately the monorail still took its sweet time. Now I will admit this is partly my fault. I should have done my research before hand to see how timely it was. I assumed the monorail was a quick way to get from place to place but it ended up being very much like the Subway back in NYC, the difference being at least when the trains have issues they announce alternate routes you can take. There were no announcements and the cast members we flat out ignoring people which I found to be odd. Usually Disney has such great costumer service. People were getting pissed off and leaving. We hadn't been to the monorail resorts before so we had no idea how else to get to Epcot. I had heard people say there wasn't a bus that takes you there since you have the monorail. So we continued to wait for the broken down monorail to become operational. It finally came and we transferred at the TTC. Everyone was in a pretty pissy mood at this point, especially me since I was the one that didn't want to leave Magic Kingdom in the first place. We were now 10 late still waiting for the monorail going to Epcot. Then I decided not be pissed off anymore. I thought to myself " Forget it. We're in Disney World. It's my favorite place in the whole world so I'm going to make the most of it!" I told everyone to forget about trying to run to the restaurant. We would just have a drink somewhere and watch the fireworks.

We got to Epcot and jetted to the Mexico Pavilion since it was the closest country and we had 10 minutes until the fireworks. I had to use the bathroom so my brother and I went into the pyramid to do our business. He told me he felt bad because it was his idea to get dinner at Epcot and bought me a drink and reimbursed the money I was charged. I felt bad that I made him feel bad so I bought us both shots. The shots were actually delicious! I'm not big into tequila but they served it with a shot of Sangrita which I guess is like a pickle back but instead of pickle juice you get bloody mary mix? Whatever- it was it was great. We went back outside to see the fireworks had started and sat down next to my mom and Josh.

The fireworks were spectacular. I couldn't say anything else but "wow!". It had been years since I saw them up close. Last year Josh and I had seen them through the window of Tokyo Dining (which is part of the reason my brother suggested we went there). We had a great view last year at Tokyo Dining but seeing them outside and up close was amazing.

After the fireworks and with a bit of a buzz we headed back to the TTC. My mom decided to go back to the hotel and Josh, Travis and I took the ferry back to Magic Kingdom. We watched Celebrate the Magic as we sat down in the new hub. Travis was impressed and would later say this was his favorite part of the trip. We then headed to Gaston's Tavern where my brother bought me and Josh a Pork Shank and a Le Fou's Brew. After we went on Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid Ride and the People Mover. We tried to do Stitch's Great Escape but that's when they started trying to scan peoples magic bands so we left.

We got back to the hotel were I proceeded to knock out.

Next day Epcot!

 

[Frankster]

Awesome reports! What are your thoughts about the property where you are staying, Hilton Bonnet Creek and its restaurants--did you like the Harvest Bistro buffet or try the Muse? That is a hotel that I am considering. Is the Waldorf convenient to visit for dining?

 

[Catvondita]

Awesome reports! What are your thoughts about the property where you are staying, Hilton Bonnet Creek and its restaurants--did you like the Harvest Bistro buffet or try the Muse? That is a hotel that I am considering. Is the Waldorf convenient to visit for dining?

Thanks! Honestly I didn't get a chance to try much. We did the breakfast buffet and they had a pretty good selection. They had an omelet station, scrambled eggs, roasted tomato's which were really good. Typical bacon, breakfast sausage, oatmeal, grits, fruit, pancakes and waffles among others. I tried the pool bar but only for drinks and thats about it for the hotel aside from the room service which was okay. I really wanted to try the Sushi Bar Zeta but we also got back from the parks after it closed. We also didn't walk over to the Waldorf but its super close. On the bus from the Hilton to the Waldorf it takes about 2 minutes.

 

[Frankster]

Nice, the quality of the breakfast buffet is a prime consideration.
I'm also weighing the transportation to parks, which doesn't seem to be bad based on your reports.
Thanks, looking forward to your Epcot report!

 

[Catvondita]

Nice, the quality of the breakfast buffet is a prime consideration.
I'm also weighing the transportation to parks, which doesn't seem to be bad based on your reports.
Thanks, looking forward to your Epcot report!

Transportation was okay. There's the bus that goes to Magic Kingdom which runs every half hour and also stops at the other parks, but Magic is always the first stop. The other bus can go to just 2 parks or 3 I forget the order but the bus that goes to the other parks runs every hour. It was still convenient coming and going at the end of the day but if you wanted to go back to the hotel and hang out for a bit and then go back out to the parks it might take a while because you have to pick up others from the other parks.

 

[Catvondita]

I just got a warning or reprimand (not sure what its called on this site) for cursing too much even though I try to blur it out. I'm not sure why cursing is a big deal among adults but I will try my best to not do it. Sorry if anyone somehow got offended. Epcot Part 1 to come later on today!

 

[Frankster]

I just got a warning or reprimand (not sure what its called on this site) for cursing too much even though I try to blur it out. I'm not sure why cursing is a big deal among adults but I will try my best to not do it. Sorry if anyone somehow got offended. Epcot Part 1 to come later on today!

I thought to myself " Forget it. We're in Disney World.

Hah, interestingly, I knew exactly what that was referring to because that's the exact internal dialogue I would have had with myself in the same situation. !!!! !! We're in Disney World

 

[Frankster]

Transportation was okay. There's the bus that goes to Magic Kingdom which runs every half hour and also stops at the other parks, but Magic is always the first stop. The other bus can go to just 2 parks or 3 I forget the order but the bus that goes to the other parks runs every hour. It was still convenient coming and going at the end of the day but if you wanted to go back to the hotel and hang out for a bit and then go back out to the parks it might take a while because you have to pick up others from the other parks.

Thanks, Cat...I resolve to make my hotel decision by this weekend even if it comes down to flipping a coin.

 

[Catvondita]

Day 3 EPCOT (Part 1)

We didn't wake up as early as we did for Magic Kingdom but I still felt as though I didn't have enough rest. After breakfast I started getting a little bit of a headache. I don't tend to take Advil or painkillers unless I'm dying so I was going to let it go away on its own. We took the bus over to EPCOT after breakfast and immediately found our Leave a Legacy tile! After that the first stop was Spaceship Earth. It was only a 15 minute wait so we headed in and heard the lovely Dame Judi Dench narrating. After we went to Starbucks so Josh could get his fix. No one else was getting coffee so I suggested we get some refreshments at Club Cool. Of course I made everyone try the Beverly but my brothers reaction wasn't what I hoped for. He said it wasn't great but it tasted like Campari which he likes so that sort of ruined it for me. Now when I taste it, I feel like I'm just drinking Campari and I find it less gross. It's sort of like the stink smell they use in Figment and It's Tough to be a Bug. Once I heard a cast member say its actually just burnt coffee, it doesn't stink anymore. Now I just smell coffee. The magic is ruined!!

After, we went to Mission Space for our fast passes. My headache at this point had gotten worse so I decided to do the less intense option since I knew my mom would be doing that one. Josh and my brother did the intense version. This was the first time I didn't do the intense flight. I was sort of intrigued to see how much it differs but also mostly bummed I didn't do the "correct" version. We got briefed by Gary Sinise and had to hear everyone go "Oh it's Lt. Dan". I love Forest Gump, its my favorite movie but pleaseeee everyone does this same joke! Anywho we went on the ride and it actually surprised me. I thought it would be super boring but there were times I thought the ride was spinning? Is it? I thought it was just supposed to jiggle and sway. Anyway it was still fun but next time I will do the intense version again.

We met back up with Travis and Josh. Josh is a bit of a pansy so he got sick and needed a break. We got him some water and went to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. My brother will go on to say that this was hands down the worst ride he's been on. We walked over from MS and my brother asked if it was time to drink yet lol. I explained to him we had other fast passes we had to do first. He groaned in response saying it's supposed to be his vacation and I assured him we would get drinks at our Lunch Reservation at the Biergaten. We did Nemo and then headed for our last fast pass at Soarin'. This time we had to listen to people make Seinfeld references and go "Oh look it's Putty! High five!".

Now we were on our way to the World Showcase. We were doing well with time so we decided to hit up Mexico first and do the boat ride we didn't get to do the night before. I didn't realize how long it was when you have lunch reservations so I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I did last year because I kept checking my phone for the time. Luckily we made it to our lunch reservations right on schedule! We got to Germany and were seated right away. For whatever reason, whenever I come to this buffet I try everything in teeny bits once and then load up my plate with the same things. The meatballs, whatever soup they have, and the tomato salad. I LOVE their tomato salad. I don't know what they put in it but it has to be my favorite meal in all of EPCOT.

My brother and I ordered drinks and thus started our mini drink around the world. We didn't really drink around the world but we had a few drinks out the WS. With lunch I ordered the beer flight while my brother ordered one of the big mugs of beer. Our adorable server was really happy I ordered the flight because that meant I could try their grapefruit beer which he loves. I was working my way through the flight ending with the grapefruit when he dropped off our check because he was done for the day. He asked me to taste the grapefruit because he wanted to see my reaction. It was super sweet and yummy but not something I would typically order at a bar. I tend to like the dark creamy beers, porters or stouts, but I hammed up my reaction and he seemed pleased.

After Germany we went to Mexico again for Margaritas. We were all still stuffed from lunch so we found a place to sit next to the fountain to the right of La Cava Del Tequila. I ordered the Horchata, my mom got the Maelstrom which was super sweet and my brother got the Jalapeño Margarita like we got the night before. From here we went exploring the WS stopping along the way. We got our next drink at Japan where I bought my brother and I some sake. I recommended he get the Nigori which is my favorite and he liked it and I tried the sparkling peach sake which I hated. Too sweet for me. I also ended up getting some chopsticks and a chopstick holder which was a beautiful sakura.

Our next drink was at France where we ordered and sat on the grass. My brother was trying to soak up the sun because he wanted to deepen his tan and I tried super hard to stay in the shade because I want to be as pale as I can. I had the Grand Marnier Orange Slush which is heaven on earth and he had some French beer. After this we took the Friendship boat to the other side. My mom wanted to have one more cocktail so we headed to the UK Pavilion because they had a regular bar there (The Rose and Crown) but she didn't like how casual and packed it was. *Sigh* so picky. We ended up going back to Mexico for more Margaritas. As we made our to the exit or Epcot my mom started talking to an attendant trying to rope her into the Vacation Club. It was annoying to wait for her but at the same time it was really nice having that close view of Spaceship Earth, finishing our drinks and people watching.

Next tiny part Magic Kingdom again for our reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table!