A spoonful of luck and one successful day trip

[taythecray]

Although we are technically still on vacation, our Disney trip has come and gone We went for a full day yesterday, hitting MK, AK, and HS in the 16 hours we had. In that time, we managed to do everything we wanted and more. We hit all the highlights, met some characters, and squeezed in a little shopping time. I had prepared a rough plan ahead of time, and for the most part we stuck to it, but we did have a few spontaneous moments If you're interested in learning a bit more about us or want to view our plans, feel free to view my PTR here: 12/17
I will be posting periodically throughout the day. This is my first trip report so we'll see how this goes

 

[taythecray]

Let me just start off by (briefly) describing who we are and our trip overview. Since most of it is in my PTR I don't want to be repetitive

My name is Taylor and this was my second trip to Disney, first time at AK and HS. This was also my first official full day, since last year we just went for the Christmas party. I got engaged last year while on said Disney trip, and while Magic Kingdom is my favorite park, I think Tower of Terror is my new favorite ride.

My fiance's name is Austin and he used to go to Disney every year with his family when he was younger. He's a big Space Mountain fan and Mickey is his favorite character. He's also big into Christmas, so December is the best time for a Disney trip.

The last person in our group is Hannah, our best friend and my MOH. This was her first time ever at Disney, and after riding almost everything big at the three parks, she says her favorite ride is also Tower of Terror. A huge Beauty & the Beast fan, her dream come true was meeting Belle.

The general rundown of our day was this: Magic Kingdom in the morning to hit a few rides before the crowds, park hop over to Animal Kingdom for a couple hours, hit Hollywood Studios for a few rides and Fantasmic, and then end the night back at Magic Kingdom. Was it crazy? Not really. Are we exhausted? YESSSSS! (My legs and feet are still sore ) But wow was it worth it. Obviously this would be a crazy plan if you put kids into the mix, but for three pumped college students, it was fantastic

 

[taythecray]

I'm just going to start off by saying our morning did not start off well. We stayed off-site with family about 30min away from the park. The original plan was to leave at 6:30 to make it to the MK gates for rope drop by 7:15 (7:30 at the latest) However the night before we were told that we had to drop Austin's step-father (let's call him T) off at work on the way there. No problem, it was on the way.
Well 6:30 came around and we were alllll packed and ready to go, except for T. He had just woken up at 6:30. So we sat there, me being the most annoyed because I wanted to experience rope drop, until he finished up at 7
I feel silly talking about it now because we still got to do everything we wanted even though we were late, but I was pretty annoyed at the time. So, without further adieu, here is our report of our Magic Kingdom morning

8:15: Space Mountain-posted wait time was 10min, we walked right on It seemed a lot smoother this time around than when I rode it last year, but maybe my memory is fuzzy. Great thrill ride, but I wouldn't put it in my top 3 (although I'll never admit that to Austin)
8:30: Met Ariel at her grotto-can't remember the posted wait time, but we waited a grand total of a minute while the CM checked to see if we were good to go in. Ariel commented on the flower in my hair and asked if Flounder found it for me I got her to sign an Ariel shirt I had bought for my little sister as a Christmas present, can't wait to give it to her!

8:45: Haunted Mansion-SO excited this ride was open. We originally had fastpasses for it but with only a 10min wait, I decided to switch them for Big Thunder at night when we came back (so glad I did, more on that later) I love this ride but I was sad that the projection at the end where the ghosts were in your cart wasn't working That was my favorite part. Not sure if we just got unlucky with it not working or if they've changed it in the last year.

After HM we were done with rides for the morning so we decided to do a little shopping. This was also where I got a little nervous because we (well mainly I) wanted to meet Aladdin and Jasmine at 9:30, yet we wanted to make sure we got in line for lunch at Be Our Guest in time. I was planning on getting in line for Aladdin a little early so we could be first, but shopping took a little longer than expected and by the time we got there at 9:25, there were a good five or so families ahead of us.

9:30: Waiting in line was a mixture of excitement and worry. Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie of all time so I couldn't leave without meeting them, but I also wanted to make sure we grabbed lunch. Thankfully the line went pretty fast and the characters were great Aladdin also commented on my flower, saying he needed to get one for Jasmine, and also quizzed me on my autograph book. When he asked for my address and I said I didn't have one (it's not written in the book) he joked saying he didn't have one for a while either and that now he just lives at The Palace

9:50: Once we got done with the meet and greet, we rushed over to Be Our Guest. The CM finished talking with a group and we asked if the standby line was still open. She told us yes and we took our place in line right past where the bridge ended. As we stood there looking at the menu, I just wanted to make sure we weren't standing in line for nothing and asked the CM again if this meant we were guaranteed a spot in. She then told us yes and that we were the end of her line! This was the first instance of luck we had throughout the day. If the meet would have taken a minute longer, we wouldn't have gotten in. We saw a bunch of people walk up after us only to be turned away, and this was right around 10. My next post will cover lunch and our MK departure

 

[taythecray]

10:15: The doors opened for us and we slowly started to make our way in. There were only about five or so families that had past us in the fastpass line, and we moved pretty slowly. I think it took a good 15min or so to finally get to the ordering station. We were handed our roses (which I was actually a little disappointed in) and shown to one of the stations. Thankfully we had decided on what we wanted ahead of time while we were looking at the menus in line, so it took a grand total of two minutes.

After we were done ordering, we were shown around by a CM and toured the rooms. I had told Hannah since Beauty and the Beast was her favorite, she got to pick the room where we ate. We ended up in the Rose Gallery (although I would have liked the Ballroom, maybe next time) and by the time we grabbed our silverware and drinks, our food was there! I got the Carved Turkey Sandwich while Austin and Hannah both got the Braised Pork. We also ordered The Master's Cupcake and Lemon Meringue Cupcake to split.

It took us a while to eat because we were obsessing over Disney and taking in the room, but everything was DE-LICIOUS My sandwich was to die for, although I hadn't realized it came with diced tomatoes on it so I had to pick them out. Fries were fries, nothing special, but I would definitely re-order the sandwich. Austin loved the pork and cleared his plate whereas Hannah said the pork was good but not great (regardless, she still cleared her plate)

The dessert was just as delicious. I'm glad I'm a lemon fan because the Lemon Meringue cupcake was almost comparable to The Master's Cupcake in my opinion. The "grey stuff" reminded me somewhat of cookies 'n' cream whipped frosting - so good! Needless to say we devoured them and filled our bellies enough to last us almost the entire day.

Once we were done we decided to look around more. The giant music box was beautiful but the Ballroom took my breath away. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and the snow falling outside was a nice touch. The West Wing was beautiful in a dark way, but it was really cool to see the rose and the portrait transformation. Poor Austin sat there recording for a good 10min trying to get the transformation on film, but when the time finally came, his phone storage got full We contemplated on staying a little longer but Animal Kingdom was calling us. We finally left the restaurant around 11:30 and got lucky enough to walk right on the monorail and right on to our parking tram Animal Kingdom here we come!

 

[taythecray]

After leaving MK and getting lucky with the monorail/parking tram, we headed over to our second park, Animal Kingdom. It took us a little under an hour to get to our car, drive over and park, but we were on the tram heading for the park entrance at 12:20 (right on schedule)

12:45: Kilimanjaro Safari-When we had left MK, the posted wait time was ~40min. By the time we walked up, it was down to 10, but even that was over exaggerated. We walked right up to the line and only had to wait for the next jeep to pull up! It was fun even though most of the animals were resting. Our tour guide was funny the second we hopped on the jeep and I wouldn't hesitate to go with him again. I loved going over the “rickety bridge” and almost falling in the river, nice little thrill aspect to it

1:15: Exploration Trails-Saw the meerkats, zebras, and even baby gorillas!

2:00: Festival of the Lion King-I was super excited we were able to make this. We got seated in the middle of the lion section and had a great view. I loved the fire act and the acrobatic monkeys. With all three of us being huge lion king fans, this was a lot of fun to sing along to

3:00: Expedition Everest-We rode single rider and only waited about five minutes with a 30min standby time

On our way out of the park we saw one family getting a magic shot photo with Tinkerbell. Assuming he just did that single shot, we jumped in line. Little did we know this guy knew TONS of magic shots We got Stitch, balloons, Tinkerbell, Olaf, Jiminy Cricket and butterflies. It was so fun (although I wish I would have been the one to hold Tink)

3:30: Adventurer's Outpost-Spur of the moment decision to meet Mickey & Minnie since they only had a five minute wait and it was on our way out. They were in their adorable Christmas outfits too which made it even better

After that we were done! Obviously we were there solely to hit the rides, so next time I'll be sure to actually take my time and do everything. We had rides waiting for us at Hollywood studios though

 

[taythecray]

Sorry about the delay in my trip report. My computer decided to break on me so I had to send it in. I haven't had access to any of my Disney plans/reports or pictures since I got it back this week Even though I'm not sure how many people were actually reading, I'm going to finish it before I start planning for our next trip

We had a couple minute wait for the parking tram outside AK which wasn't bad, and a short while later we were pulling into Hollywood Studios. I was a little worried about the wait times as we were heading over because everything was listed at around an hour, but by the time we actually got into the park, Tower of Terror (the only ride we were dead-set on riding) had dropped to 15. We took a few pictures of the hat (my first and last time ever seeing it) and then headed for TOT.

4:30pm: Tower of Terror-The funny story about TOT is that when I was three and my parents took me down for our once and only trip, the only thing I remember about it was riding and loving TOT. Imagine this tiny three year old screaming and laughing during the ride and begging her parents to take her over and over again. My mom said they got some strange looks but kept taking me anyway! So, I had to see if the ride lived up to the expectations of my three-year-old self.
In a nut shell: It surpassed it.
I'll admit I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, all I knew is that it dropped you, so I pictured something along the lines of those rides at other theme parks that just take you up and drop you, only Disney-fied. I had no idea of anything else that went into it. I screamed and laughed all over again, and before we even started moving my heart was pounding and I was looking for a place to hang on. We sat right in front which was fantastic, and by the time we got off my heart was pounding for a good 20min afterwords. New favorite ride? I think so!

5:00pm: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster-As soon as we got off (and were recovering from) TOT, I checked the wait times again to see that RnR had dropped to a 30min wait. Not having anything else planned to do until Fantasmic! at 6:30 (and knowing the lines weren't getting any shorter), we decided to hop in the regular standby line. This ended up being our longest wait of the day, but seeing as everything else had gone so smoothly, we couldn't complain. We snacked in line and talked about what we had left to do. The ride itself (in my opinion) was a little too crazy for me only because I don't like going upside down and my head kept bouncing around the cushion. Still fun though and I'm glad we got to ride.

5:45pm: Fantasmic!-We head right in after RnR and got a seat near the top of the Sebastian section. By this time it had gotten a lot cooler so I changed into jeans and my sweater. Being big into villains and classic Disney, we LOVED the show. It was nice to have the break and see all the special effects/characters. The pre-show was funny and a little awkward at times, but I would love to go again

After Fantasmic! we head out for the trams after a few last pictures of the park. Again, we were there solely for a select few attractions and when we go back we will definitely spend more time, but we had our Fastpass for 7DMT next. I wish we had a little extra time to go see the Osbourne lights, but I had no idea how far back they were and I had a feeling if we saw them we would get sucked in and lose precious time at MK

 

[taythecray]

Our original plan for MK was this: Mine Train, 9pm MSEP-Celebrate the Magic-Wishes, Enchanted Tales, Anna & Elsa, and Big Thunder Mountain. However those plans changed when we actually got into the park (after parking in the boonies of the Cruella villain lot) People were already lining main street for the first parade, and it was a hassle even getting back to 7DMT. At this point we decided to plan on going to the second parade.

8:15pm: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train-Thank goodness we had a Fastpass for this ride. I didn't even look at the posted wait time, but I could tell by the line that it was long. I definitely agree with others that I wouldn't wait more than 15min for it normally. The ride is adorable and going through the mine is really cool, but it's just too short to justify the crazy long waits.

8:30pm: Enchanted Tales With Belle-Got in line right as the group went in so we had to wait the full 20min which wasn't too bad. By that time my feet were really starting to hurt. Austin got picked to be a suit of armor and the play was really cute. Lumiere was entertaining to watch as well, and we each got a picture with Belle afterwords (Hannah was in heaven)

Once we got through with Belle the parade had already started so we decided to head over to Big Thunder. It took some time to navigate through the crowds, and we ended up at a standstill around Country Bear Jamboree. As we were looking for a way around however, we spied an empty front-row section on the side of the street just as the parade was approaching! (I told you we had a lot of luck on this trip) Tinkerbell was just coming around the corner so we decided to take a seat and watch from there.

9:15pm: Main Street Electrical Parade-Probably one of the coolest parades I've ever seen (although Festival of Fantasy is next on my list) I took so many pictures and really enjoyed the entire thing.

9:45pm: Big Thunder Mountain-Once again I am SO glad I switched our Fastpasses to this. If I remember correctly, the wait time was around 40min, and once again we walked right on and ended up getting a front row seat! I absolutely love this ride, however I don't remember sliding around in the seats so much. That made it all the more fun though

After Big Thunder we took the long way around and stopped for a Dole Whip at Aloha Isle (pineapple ice cream with pineapple juice all the way!!!) We did miss stopping and watching the fireworks but we did see them as we were walking back toward main street. We popped in a few shops and did some wandering for a while.

10:35pm: Celebrate the Magic-One of my favorites that I will never miss

10:45pm: Met Anna and Elsa-Had a Fastpass to meet them as well and only waited about five minutes. Anna was really funny and asked me how long I'd known my fiance (Austin) She then proceeded to quiz him on my some of my favorite things, it was really fun. Elsa seemed a little tired so we didn't talk too much but it was still nice.

11:00pm: Peter Pan's Flight-This was originally not in our plans but since we had some extra time we decided to hop in line with a 20min wait. I've always wondered why it was so popular so it was fun to finally ride. We didn't get to walk through the new bedroom queue or anything so that was a bummer. It was cute though and something I would take my little siblings on, but not anything I would wait an hour for if it were just me.

Once off Peter Pan we made our way out of the park, stopping in a couple more shops on the way out. Overall it was an exhausting day but worth every minute. I got to experience a lot more Disney than I had the previous year, and hit everything we set out to do and more. The only downside was that when I woke up the next morning, I found myself dealing with a sprained ankle for a few days :/ I realize this trip report is brief, but it was only one day and I'm not quite sure what else to add. Now it's time to plan the ultimate trip for next January with the whole family, a week trip this time. Keep an eye out for my next PTR and thanks to anyone that read!

Oh hey look, right back at the spot he proposed ​

 

[ldadar]

What an awesome day and awesome photos! Makes me long to be 20 again!