Annadesu
Splash Mountain Addict
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2011
The hubby and I have returned from our trip to Walt Disney World! Here's my best attempt at a trip summary. Feel free to ask questions!
Day 1 - Airports suck. Despite many problems from the New Hampshire end of things, we did arrive to Florida on time. We checked into the Magical Express without incident, got our hotel room without a wait, and went to settle into our room. We stayed at All-Star-Movies, and ended up in the "Mighty Ducks" section of the hotel. There was nothing wrong with it, we just thought using that movie as a centerpiece was a bit... random? lol In any case, we could cross the road and get right to the bus within minutes, which is what we had asked for. The room was nothing fancy, but we were never planning to be in it much, so it suited our needs. It was clean, everything worked fine, and housekeeping did a great job the entire week. My BRAND NEW backpack ripped badly on the plane, and I was pretty PO'd that I had to get a new one while in Florida. However, they were having a special where you could buy a Disney backpack for $19.99 when you purchased something else along with it. I did just that, and I have to say, it's a nice bag. It didn't break the first time I used it, in any case. After relaxing around the hotel, we took the bus to the monorail, headed over to the Poly, and checked in for our first table service reservation... Ohana! It was just as good as we remembered it (we went there in 2012 during a family reunion). The ukulele player stopped in front of our table and sang to us, which was awesome (I think it was because of our anniversary buttons, lol). After dinner, we were very full, and felt like we needed a forklift to get back to the hotel. We relaxed the rest of the day.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom! We went at rope drop, as advised. There was a woman who got caught with a selfie stick, and her extended family was yelling at the police officer because he made her go check it at the counter (or whatever the policy was). He basically told them "too bad", and they had to wait for her. We got past security pretty fast, and followed the other early birds into the park. We rode a ton of "headliners" within the first 2 hours, and had a ball just... being in Disney! The crowd calendar we used was pretty much spot on: Crowds were "mid-level". Lots of people, but nothing crazy. The only "long" line we waited in was for Peter Pan, which was 40 minutes. We have 40 minutes to kill before a fastpass, anyway. We had Friar Nook mac and cheese for lunch, and it was REALLY freaking good. We rode the 7DMT for the first time, and loved it. We were glad we got a fastpass for it, though... Every other time we went over towards it, the wait time was pretty long. For a snack, we tried the Dole Whip for the first time and got some Disney magic with them! We went later in the day, and I guess they had been training a new person who wasn't good at using the icecream machine yet? They gave us the wonky looking ones for free, and said that Mickey had heard about our anniversary, and wanted us to have them as a present (we were wearing the anniversary pins). It was pretty awesome, and they were VERY good. It started raining pretty hard while we were eating them, so we just ate and watched as people ran back and forth, trying to stay dry. It was actually pretty funny. After riding more rides with smaller wait times, we headed over to Epcot for our dinner at Biergarten. Some of the other guests were being ridiculously slow at the buffet, which caused a bit of a long line. But once they finally finished, things went much quicker. The food was great, and the entertainment was a lot of fun. Would go again!
Day 3 - Epcot! The day started off with a bit of second-hand drama. The bus was pretty crowded, and some people were standing. At the end of the ride, a woman in the back of the bus came forward and yelled at a mother (carrying a kid on her lap), that she should have given up her seat to someone else. It was pretty random/rude, and everyone around her was looking at the aggressive woman with great confusion. She backed off, but I bet the incident really ruined the morning for the other woman. We spent the first half of the day at the front of Epcot, riding Test Track (love the redesign!), Mission Space, and the other rides without much wait time. We got to the aquarium just as they were starting to feed the sea turtles, so we got some really cool pictures of them as they ate lettuce with the scuba-diver. We also got to see them feed the Manatee, which was fun. Our session of "Turtle Talk with Crush" ended up being *hysterical*. The kids and parents who participated set Crush up for some great one-liners. Afterwards, we headed off to Rainforest Cafe (Animal Kingdom) for dinner. We got seated next to an Aquarium, which was cool. They messed up my order a little, which I wasn't too fussed about, but the waitress noticed without me saying anything, and she came back 10 minutes later with a replacement, and a few extra shrimp tossed on. It was very nice of her, so we left her a few extra bucks. After that, we were dead tired, so we decided to call it a day and do the World Showcase another day.
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios! My touring plan for this park went off without a hitch. We got 90% of the stuff we wanted to do out of the way before 4pm. Crowds were very small. We went on Tower of Terror twice, which was a ton of fun. My husband joked that they should change the name of the park to "Star Wars Land", and I honestly agree with him. There was a lot to do besides Star Wars, but it was very clear that they were "happy" to have the rights to the film. lol It started to rain really bad as we made our way to dinner (Teppan Edo). Despite having the rain ponchos, we were still pretty wet when we got to the restaurant. We got seated with a family who had a kid with many allergies, so they cooked a lot of things one at a time. Not a complaint, but it did slow down service a lot. Despite this, the food was GREAT. One of my favorites out of the week. After dinner, we made our way back to Hollywood Studios, and watched Fantasmic. It was a wonderful show, but getting out of there at the end of it was a nightmare. My husband and I were hanging onto each other for dear life.
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom!! Much like Hollywood Studios, my touring plan went well. We got most of the rides and shows done before dinner, and got to relax a little mid-day. Expedition Everest was our favorite, by far. We rode it 3 times, once with a fastpass. It started raining again, so we went over to Flame Tree BBQ. Everything was delicious (the pulled pork sandwich is amazing). We caught a showing of Festival of the Lion King before dinner, and ended up in the "Warthog" section. I heard several kids behind us go "Ohhh..." because they wanted to be in the Lion section, I guess. I dunno' what the difference was, aside from the noise you had to make. lol After the show, we went to Mama Melrose's for dinner. It was a cute little restaurant, and reminded us of our hometown Italian restaurant. They gave me enough pasta to feed a small country, and I simply couldn't finish it all. It was great, though! After dinner, we called it an early day and went to the hotel pool. I took a 3 hour nap, as well. I don't get to do that much, so it was awesome
Day 6 - Animal Kingdom/Epcot. We went back to Animal Kingdom to do the Safari one more time (among other things), and are SO glad we did. During our safari, the female lion decided to start vocalizing. It was really cool to hear/see, and we were told that it was a very rare sight. We also got REALLY close to some Rhino, who had just given themselves a mud bath. We rode Expedition Everest again (can't get enough of that one), and then headed over to Epcot. We used the second half of the day to polish off the World Showcase, and we did a lot of shopping. I saw the construction for the new Frozen Ride, and was kind of sad that we missed out on it. We went to Nine Dragons for dinner, and it was very yummy. The hubby and I are big fans of asian food, and enjoyed it a lot.
Day 7 - Final day... at Magic Kingdom! This is the only day where we really noticed a "crowd" (most likely because it was Sunday, and very nice outside). We didn't ride as much as we did the first time around the park (the lines were just too long, for some things), but we did use all our fastpasses and slipped onto a few rides with medium-sized lines. It was super, super hot, and we were very glad to head over to Coral Reef for dinner. We had AMAZING luck with this restaurant. We got seated next to the aquarium (without even requesting it!), and a giant sting-ray (apparently named "Luna") hung out with us for most of our (very delicious) dinner. We also got to see sharks, sea turtles, many fish... it was just a really nice time, in general. Our server was amazing, as well. I'm not sure why so many people give the restaurant bad reviews. We loved it! After we ate, we went back to Magic Kingdom for the parades and fireworks. The show where they put moving images on the castle (the name eludes me) was REALLY cool. I would love to know the technical info behind it!
OVERALL - We had an amazing trip. We did everything we wanted to see and do in the parks, and all our fastpasses went off without a hitch. We didn't have a single problem with our magicbands, and infact, found them to be pretty useful. I guess the only negative thing I can say is that... yes, Disney is getting really stupid with how they price things. My husband kept a mental note of food prices (from the food we got), and we were VERY glad that we got the dining plan. I can't imagine having to pay for groups bigger than 2, lol. We mostly purchased souvenirs in the World Showcase (we find that stuff more interesting), but I also got a few Christmas ornaments, and things like that. The bus service was pretty good, and we never waited too long for someone to come pick us up. I think we went to the parks at a very good time, because a lot of people were still in school (or just barely out of school), so crowds were 5-6 out of 10, at the most.
If anyone has questions, feel free to ask! I'll do my best to answer them!
Day 1 - Airports suck. Despite many problems from the New Hampshire end of things, we did arrive to Florida on time. We checked into the Magical Express without incident, got our hotel room without a wait, and went to settle into our room. We stayed at All-Star-Movies, and ended up in the "Mighty Ducks" section of the hotel. There was nothing wrong with it, we just thought using that movie as a centerpiece was a bit... random? lol In any case, we could cross the road and get right to the bus within minutes, which is what we had asked for. The room was nothing fancy, but we were never planning to be in it much, so it suited our needs. It was clean, everything worked fine, and housekeeping did a great job the entire week. My BRAND NEW backpack ripped badly on the plane, and I was pretty PO'd that I had to get a new one while in Florida. However, they were having a special where you could buy a Disney backpack for $19.99 when you purchased something else along with it. I did just that, and I have to say, it's a nice bag. It didn't break the first time I used it, in any case. After relaxing around the hotel, we took the bus to the monorail, headed over to the Poly, and checked in for our first table service reservation... Ohana! It was just as good as we remembered it (we went there in 2012 during a family reunion). The ukulele player stopped in front of our table and sang to us, which was awesome (I think it was because of our anniversary buttons, lol). After dinner, we were very full, and felt like we needed a forklift to get back to the hotel. We relaxed the rest of the day.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom! We went at rope drop, as advised. There was a woman who got caught with a selfie stick, and her extended family was yelling at the police officer because he made her go check it at the counter (or whatever the policy was). He basically told them "too bad", and they had to wait for her. We got past security pretty fast, and followed the other early birds into the park. We rode a ton of "headliners" within the first 2 hours, and had a ball just... being in Disney! The crowd calendar we used was pretty much spot on: Crowds were "mid-level". Lots of people, but nothing crazy. The only "long" line we waited in was for Peter Pan, which was 40 minutes. We have 40 minutes to kill before a fastpass, anyway. We had Friar Nook mac and cheese for lunch, and it was REALLY freaking good. We rode the 7DMT for the first time, and loved it. We were glad we got a fastpass for it, though... Every other time we went over towards it, the wait time was pretty long. For a snack, we tried the Dole Whip for the first time and got some Disney magic with them! We went later in the day, and I guess they had been training a new person who wasn't good at using the icecream machine yet? They gave us the wonky looking ones for free, and said that Mickey had heard about our anniversary, and wanted us to have them as a present (we were wearing the anniversary pins). It was pretty awesome, and they were VERY good. It started raining pretty hard while we were eating them, so we just ate and watched as people ran back and forth, trying to stay dry. It was actually pretty funny. After riding more rides with smaller wait times, we headed over to Epcot for our dinner at Biergarten. Some of the other guests were being ridiculously slow at the buffet, which caused a bit of a long line. But once they finally finished, things went much quicker. The food was great, and the entertainment was a lot of fun. Would go again!
Day 3 - Epcot! The day started off with a bit of second-hand drama. The bus was pretty crowded, and some people were standing. At the end of the ride, a woman in the back of the bus came forward and yelled at a mother (carrying a kid on her lap), that she should have given up her seat to someone else. It was pretty random/rude, and everyone around her was looking at the aggressive woman with great confusion. She backed off, but I bet the incident really ruined the morning for the other woman. We spent the first half of the day at the front of Epcot, riding Test Track (love the redesign!), Mission Space, and the other rides without much wait time. We got to the aquarium just as they were starting to feed the sea turtles, so we got some really cool pictures of them as they ate lettuce with the scuba-diver. We also got to see them feed the Manatee, which was fun. Our session of "Turtle Talk with Crush" ended up being *hysterical*. The kids and parents who participated set Crush up for some great one-liners. Afterwards, we headed off to Rainforest Cafe (Animal Kingdom) for dinner. We got seated next to an Aquarium, which was cool. They messed up my order a little, which I wasn't too fussed about, but the waitress noticed without me saying anything, and she came back 10 minutes later with a replacement, and a few extra shrimp tossed on. It was very nice of her, so we left her a few extra bucks. After that, we were dead tired, so we decided to call it a day and do the World Showcase another day.
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios! My touring plan for this park went off without a hitch. We got 90% of the stuff we wanted to do out of the way before 4pm. Crowds were very small. We went on Tower of Terror twice, which was a ton of fun. My husband joked that they should change the name of the park to "Star Wars Land", and I honestly agree with him. There was a lot to do besides Star Wars, but it was very clear that they were "happy" to have the rights to the film. lol It started to rain really bad as we made our way to dinner (Teppan Edo). Despite having the rain ponchos, we were still pretty wet when we got to the restaurant. We got seated with a family who had a kid with many allergies, so they cooked a lot of things one at a time. Not a complaint, but it did slow down service a lot. Despite this, the food was GREAT. One of my favorites out of the week. After dinner, we made our way back to Hollywood Studios, and watched Fantasmic. It was a wonderful show, but getting out of there at the end of it was a nightmare. My husband and I were hanging onto each other for dear life.
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom!! Much like Hollywood Studios, my touring plan went well. We got most of the rides and shows done before dinner, and got to relax a little mid-day. Expedition Everest was our favorite, by far. We rode it 3 times, once with a fastpass. It started raining again, so we went over to Flame Tree BBQ. Everything was delicious (the pulled pork sandwich is amazing). We caught a showing of Festival of the Lion King before dinner, and ended up in the "Warthog" section. I heard several kids behind us go "Ohhh..." because they wanted to be in the Lion section, I guess. I dunno' what the difference was, aside from the noise you had to make. lol After the show, we went to Mama Melrose's for dinner. It was a cute little restaurant, and reminded us of our hometown Italian restaurant. They gave me enough pasta to feed a small country, and I simply couldn't finish it all. It was great, though! After dinner, we called it an early day and went to the hotel pool. I took a 3 hour nap, as well. I don't get to do that much, so it was awesome
Day 6 - Animal Kingdom/Epcot. We went back to Animal Kingdom to do the Safari one more time (among other things), and are SO glad we did. During our safari, the female lion decided to start vocalizing. It was really cool to hear/see, and we were told that it was a very rare sight. We also got REALLY close to some Rhino, who had just given themselves a mud bath. We rode Expedition Everest again (can't get enough of that one), and then headed over to Epcot. We used the second half of the day to polish off the World Showcase, and we did a lot of shopping. I saw the construction for the new Frozen Ride, and was kind of sad that we missed out on it. We went to Nine Dragons for dinner, and it was very yummy. The hubby and I are big fans of asian food, and enjoyed it a lot.
Day 7 - Final day... at Magic Kingdom! This is the only day where we really noticed a "crowd" (most likely because it was Sunday, and very nice outside). We didn't ride as much as we did the first time around the park (the lines were just too long, for some things), but we did use all our fastpasses and slipped onto a few rides with medium-sized lines. It was super, super hot, and we were very glad to head over to Coral Reef for dinner. We had AMAZING luck with this restaurant. We got seated next to the aquarium (without even requesting it!), and a giant sting-ray (apparently named "Luna") hung out with us for most of our (very delicious) dinner. We also got to see sharks, sea turtles, many fish... it was just a really nice time, in general. Our server was amazing, as well. I'm not sure why so many people give the restaurant bad reviews. We loved it! After we ate, we went back to Magic Kingdom for the parades and fireworks. The show where they put moving images on the castle (the name eludes me) was REALLY cool. I would love to know the technical info behind it!
OVERALL - We had an amazing trip. We did everything we wanted to see and do in the parks, and all our fastpasses went off without a hitch. We didn't have a single problem with our magicbands, and infact, found them to be pretty useful. I guess the only negative thing I can say is that... yes, Disney is getting really stupid with how they price things. My husband kept a mental note of food prices (from the food we got), and we were VERY glad that we got the dining plan. I can't imagine having to pay for groups bigger than 2, lol. We mostly purchased souvenirs in the World Showcase (we find that stuff more interesting), but I also got a few Christmas ornaments, and things like that. The bus service was pretty good, and we never waited too long for someone to come pick us up. I think we went to the parks at a very good time, because a lot of people were still in school (or just barely out of school), so crowds were 5-6 out of 10, at the most.
If anyone has questions, feel free to ask! I'll do my best to answer them!
Glad you had a great time! Celebrate the Magic is the animated show on the castle and it is my favorite thing in all of Disney World!
