Living on Iced Coffee & Pixie Dust: A May 2018 TR *WITH VLOGS*

[jediprincess23]

HELLOOOOOO HUMANS! It feels so weird to be writing a TR so soon after finishing one but I excited to be here regardless . Let's just hop right into the introductions, no?
Hollye

Hi! I'm Hollye, I think this is sixth TR here on this DIS and my 8th visit to Disney World. I've been Disney obsessed since high school. I love the movies, the characters (*cough, cough* THE PRINCES), the trip planning, the food... basically EVERYTHING . I hope to possibly work for Disney in some way, shape, or form in the future but with that being said I think this will be my last trip to Disney for a whilescared1. While that's sad to say, I do believe it's time for a Disney break. Man, I didn't mean to start this thing out on such a downer but I did want to prepare everyone! ANYWAY this was still an awesome trip and I can't wait to share it with you.
Marilyn

Of course I can't go to Disney without a sidekick! Ya'll, we've converted her into a disney fan Marilyn went for her very first time last November (Trip report here). She never went to Disney as a child because she isn't a fan of people in costumes but she had so much fun on her last trip that she graciously agreed to come with me to Disney! She loves all things Frozen and Pandora and basically meeting any character.

Also, let's give you a little background on why this trip was happening!:

I applied for the Disney College Program Spring 2018 in August '17 and met some amazing friends who were also applying for the program. Unfortunately for me, I did not get in to the program but ask of them did and have been working in Disney since January. As soon as I found out that I was not going to get to move to Disney, I promised that I would come visit the girls that I had befriended and they promised me they would use their friends and family discounts (bless). I had originally planned to go alone but I was discussing it with Marilyn and she said that she wanted to go and of course I was all about that! So we planned to go the week after school finished! We both graduated with our associates degrees this year so it was something to celebrate! Even though we are both continuing on to our bachelors, you still gotta celebrate the little things . Our trip was May 13-17 and we stayed at Caribbean Beach for one night and All Star Music for three nights with four standard park tickets (no park hoppers) and no dining plan! That's basically all of the background I can think of so let's just jump right in! ​

 

[jediprincess23]

CHAPTERS & VLOG LINKS
One​

 

[jediprincess23]

Sunrises, Smells, & Buffets
Our story begins very early on a Sunday morning... when I say early, I mean EARLY. Like, 3AM.
My amazing Dad offered to drive us up to the airport and dropped us off for our 6AM flight. Surprisingly at 5 in the morning, the airport was very busy. Thankfully, we had a really nice security man working who was super conversational and made the whole process breeze by!

We boarded out plane in no time and were up in the air! One would think that we would sleep on the plane since we had been up so early but no, I made Marilyn watch a movie that I'm obsessed with (what a great friend I am). The movie is called Forever My Girl, it's adorable, I LOVE ITTTT.

But hey, at least we were awake for this gorgeous view!

We landed into Orlando 30 minutes early than expected at 8AM! Our first order of business before finding the Magical Express was COFFEE. Thankfully they have a McDonalds for us to get out fix, even if it was dang expensive McDonalds

After walking what felt like all over the airport, we made it to the Magical Express counter only to find that we were not in their system. My friend who was a cast member, booked our room for the first night and had thought that she set up our Magical Express as well but something got a little confused in the mix. It turned out to be ok though, the CM just had to do a little more typing on his computer but he let us on through.
We waited a good long time for our bus to come.
I
It was definitely the longest I've ever waited for a ME bus but it finally arrived and we hopped on. We were then informed that it was going to be about an hour to our resort because of traffic . Ugh, we made it to Caribbean Beach though after what felt like FOREVAH.

We got our suitcase from the bus and went straight to the bathroom to freshen up! Although, the first thing we both said was "It smells SO GOOD in here". I wish I could bottle up that smell for my house. Since we knew we wouldn't be able to get into our room for a while, I planned a breakfast for us at Boma but since we woke up so early, we literally looked ratchet. Can I just say, the bathroom the CBR Lobby is tiny! IT was a real struggle trying to do anything in there.

Once we finished up, we took our bags up to bell services but the CM didn't want us to check our bags until we had checked in. However, because it took so long to get there from the airport, we were already running late! We ran inside and tried to get checked in as quick as we could then ran back out and tried to catch a bus. But come to find out, there aren't any busses that go to the parks from the main building. So, we had to wait for a resort shuttle to drop us out at one of the sections at the hotel and then wait for an AK bus.

I was kind of shocked that for a moderate resort, the bus system was so inconvenient. By the time we got onto an AK bus, we were already late for our reservation. I did call the reservation line to see if I could warn the restaurant but the sweetest CM on the phone assured me that I shouldn't be stressed and that they will hold my reservation for 30 minutes and after that, we will just have to wait a little while but we will still get in.

Once we got to AK, we got to the AKL bus stop and had to wait another 20 minutes for the bus to come . Gosh, we were hungry and stressed and it was just not a fun time. We finally made it to Jambo House (the second stop at AKL, of course) and ran downstairs to the checkin desk. They did say that we would have to wait a few minutes but it was totally fine we were 50 minutes late (oh dear).

We were seated by a kind waitress who asked us if we wanted anything to drink. I was actually surprised that mimosas were included in the price of the meal! However, we just ordered waters- that flight made us thirsty!

We hopped up and grabbed our food. This was my first time at the restaurant and the buffet was MASSIVE. Here's my first plate:

They had a lot of African breakfast dishes that I was excited to try! The egg casserole had turkey, pepper, and spinach in it and it was really good. There was also a sweet potato and white potato dish that tasted like thanksgiving and it was pure goodness I also thought it was cute that they had Simba/Nala waffles!

Oh and I remember thinking that the scrambled eggs were surprisingly good as well!

I also got some breakfast-y desserts because LOOK AT EM. I got a sticky bun which was probably the BEST thing I've ever had in my life. I also grabbed a zebra dome (because they're fab) and a Nutella chocolate tart that was just ok.
Here's Marilyn's:

She got a fried plantain which she wanted to try but said that she still didn't like them lol! Everything else she seemed to like on her plate!

She wasn't very impressed with the zebra dome but I think she liked the tart. She also tried the homemade hummus and pita chip which she thought was just ok.

I was very excited to be reunited with my Mickey Waffle
I actually went back for more eggs and sweet potatoes but I guess I didn't take a picture of them.

This was something that I had prewarned Marilyn that this would probably be the most expensive meal of the trip because I had looked online to see that it was going to be about $18 a person before tax or tip. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened up the bill and saw that it was $36.
Come to find out, the price literally doubled because it was Mother's Day. I mean, the meal was delicious but it was really annoying that nobody warned us about the price increase. I would definitely go back there again just NOT on a holiday.
Continued In The Next Post​