No park tickets, No problem! A 4th of July Whirlwind Weekend TR - COMPLETE

[ShanaMouse]

Hi Everyone!
It's been way too long since I have been on the Dis, but excited to be back. Hubby and I just returned from a weekend at Disney World and I'm already missing it! I wanted to write a quick trip report but, wait for it... we didn't visit any of the parks but had an absolute blast! Yes, it can be done

Now, if you're still with me and haven't decided to read another report that actually includes one or more of the parks, I want to thank you and hope this will not bore you too much.

I will say that this was just a weekend trip and it was only the two of us (no kids.. yet ). Initially, we were only in Florida to visit our family and friends, but soon changed plans to include the house of mouse as it was also our 2nd wedding anniversary! There are a lot of other neat things we did on this trip, including staying at the Beach Club for the first time, seeing both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios 4th of July fireworks at the same time, 2 character meals, a custom cake from a Disney bakery, a horse and carriage ride around Port Orleans, other Orlando attractions and countless photos!

A little back story:
I introduced hubby to all things Disney. I mean, he certainly watched Disney movies growing up and knew the "basics", but he was of the sort that thought "Disney is for kids"... until I convinced him to go to Magic Kingdom some years ago and we ended up leaving with our brand new annual passes. Since then, we have been more times than either one of us can count. We got engaged at the Magic Kingdom and then got married at the Swan & Dolphin Resort with a reception at Fulton's Crab House at Downtown Disney. Needless to say, Disney World and Disney, in general, plays a huge role in our lives. And, having lived in Orlando for 7+ years, it was also quite easy for us to go every chance we got!

At the end of last year, however, we moved away from Sunny Florida and traded it in for an even sunnier (and almost hotter) Texas. I was so excited to move, as the only thing that I really enjoyed about Florida was the fact that we were so close to Disney, but the fact that we would now have to actually 'plan' trips and couldn't be as spontaneous as we used to be was a bummer!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty and so you can put a face to the Disboard member name, here I am with the hubster on this most recent trip!


Now that we have this back story out of the way, let's get to the good stuff!!

 

[ShanaMouse]

Before I start, we were scheduled to be in Orlando from Thursday, 7/2, to Sunday, 7/5 and were staying one night at Disney's Boardwalk Resort and one night at Disney's Beach Club Resort. Also, we were only going for the weekend, as it was a last minute trip and we couldn't get any more time off.

Alrighty, let's get to it! Hubby and I were set to leave Austin, TX for Sanford, FL at 6:10 PM. I was scheduled to work until 2 PM and then I'd pick up hubby at 3 PM from his work and we'd head straight to the airport. Working that day was excruciating... I mean pull out my hair, why won't time move faster, excruciating. It was 1 PM and I got a text message from the airline stating that our flight was delayed.. BY 3 HOURS!!!! Our new scheduled departure time was 9:17 PM. This meant that we wouldn't arrive in Sanford until about 1 AM. The rental car place closed at 11 PM, so I quickly went online and cancelled our car. Now I had to figure out our new game plan. Originally, we were to land in Sanford at 9:50 PM, pick up our rental car and drive to my parents house in Daytona Beach. We were going to spend the night there, have a family breakfast and then get the weekend officially started. Well, after this curve ball, I called my dad and asked if he could pick us up in the middle of the night (to which he said "of course" as he was so excited to see us after 6 months) and then I scheduled to pick up our rental car in Daytona Beach the following morning.

I didn't end up leaving work until 2:30 PM and went to pick up the hubster. Since our flight was now delayed, we were going to go home before heading to the airport, but if any of you know Austin traffic, it was safer to just head to the airport and wait it out there .

So we headed to the airport and got there at about 4 PM. Both of us were worried that the flight was going to be delayed again or even cancelled so until we finally took off, we both were sort of on edge. Apparently it was due to severe thunderstorms in Florida.. what a surprise.

To pass the time at the airport we, well... sat around!


Hubby doing the only thing that would pass time better than sitting around.. Facebook!





Finally, at 10:15 PM we were in the air headed to Florida. Although we were exhausted at this point, both of us couldn't help but be excited! We landed at 1:45 AM on Friday morning. Both of us were bummed that we lost so many hours to this already short weekend, but we weren't going to let that ruin our time. My dad was already waiting and we headed up to Daytona Beach. My mom was home and we all sat and chatted until about 4 AM before we all went to bed. My dad was planning a big breakfast for the 4 of us before we headed out on our adventure and, because my mom had to work at 8 AM, breakfast was scheduled for 7... .

I slept until 6 AM to help my dad with breakfast and hubster and my mom woke up when the food was ready and, i don't blame them. While I was exhausted, I also couldn't help but be excited about being around my parents again, being in Florida, celebrating our anniversary, seeing hubbys parents and our friends later on that day.

My dad whipped up a grand breakfast of hash browns, pancakes, omelets, bacon, biscuits, and even a giant steak for hubby!



We all ate, had some good family bonding time, and then it was time to pick up our rental and I loved it! It only had 100 miles on it and was the perfect size for the weekend!



Up Next: Hanging in Orlando at Madame Tussauds, Sea Life, and checking into our first resort!

 

[ShanaMouse]

Woohoo, it was time to get this weekend started!!

We drove from Daytona Beach to Deltona to pick up hubby's parents, as we were spending time on I-Drive at the new Sea Life Aquarium and Madame Tussauds. I scored a sweet deal for the 4 of us to both attractions for $100!

We wanted to be in Orlando by about 10:30 AM, but somehow we didn't end up getting down there until almost noon. Considering that we didn't think we'd get to check in early at the Boardwalk anyway, the schedule was completely fine with us.

It was already nearing the 95 degree mark at noon, so we were glad to be hanging out indoors. Both hubby and I, along with his parents, are aquarium fanatics, so checking out a new underwater adventure was right up our alley! The best part of Sea Life was the tunnel that was completely see through, so you had sharks that would swim underneath you! Also, I am not one for touching starfish, but I actually did for the first time on this trip! Definitely worth it. Here are some fun pics!








This is that "tunnel" i had mentioned!










This is me after touching my first starfish. It felt velvet-y!

It only took us about an hour, maybe a little longer, to go through Sea Life. While small, it was definitely fun and educational, as it had little nuggets of information all along the walls.
After our stroll through the gift shop, we grabbed lunch in the attached food court. We all just had pizza and salad, so no exciting food pictures here .

Up next, we headed across the food court to Madame Tussauds. I had been to the one in Germany (where I am from) last year, so I was excited to see if this one was any different or if they are pretty much the same. I was surprised to quickly learn that it was much different and completely different wax figures. This was definitely the highlight of our excursion here, as we all had so much fun taking pictures and the obligatory selfies with fun celebrities.






Of course, I had to take a picture with Walt!















Again, this took us about as long as Sea Life. Afterwards we all chatted a little bit and hubbys parents bought a photo book at Madame Tussauds as a keepsake with any photos we had taken by one of their photographers. It was so fun and, if you're looking for something outside the Disney area, this was definitely a nice change of pace.

We were also going to go onto the Orlando Eye (similar to the London Eye), but didn't end up going, as my father in law is scared of heights. At the end of the day, we heard on the news that the Orlando Eye got stuck with visitors inside at 400 feet in the air for over 2 hours!!! I was glad we didn't end up going!



Up Next: It's finally Disney Time and dinner and drinks with family and friends!!

 

[ShanaMouse]

With our Magic Bands on our wrists and the A/C in our sweet weekend ride cooling us down, we were on our way from I-Drive to Walt Disney World!!! Suddenly, both of us were super antsy knowing we were about to be back in our home away from home!
As soon as I saw a Disney Bus, I couldn't contain my excitement and soon it was time to turn into our home for the night!



I had passed the self-parking area and, being that we were also celebrating our anniversary this weekend, I decided to splurge on valet parking and it started this stay off on the right foot!
Check in took a while, as our Magic Bands were not associating properly, but we did get our "Happy Anniversary" Buttons (our official anniversary wasn't until Sunday). As the cast member realized that this Magic Band situation was going to take a while, she had another cast member take us up to our room and advised us that they would work on the issue and then bring the magic bands up to us. This was perfectly fine for us, as we were both starting to slow down for the 2 hours of sleep we were running on.

We got to our room only to find a sweet Disney surprise!



This is what I love about coming to Disney. Neither one of us were expecting anything, but the fact that they did end up doing something for us, just made the stay that much more special!

This was our view:





It was fun to see the Swan from our room, as this is where we were 2 years prior saying our "I Do's"!
It took about 30 minutes before our Magic Band issue was fixed and, once we got them back, we headed out for a walk around the Boardwalk. It was so nice to just stroll along the shops and people watch. I was starting to get very tired and hubby wanted to head to the pool so we split off, as i told him I'd lay down for 30 minutes. When I got to the room, I was jealous at the fact that hubby was out at the pool, so I decided to skip my nap and head downstairs again. After all, who needs sleep when you're at Disney?! We hung out by the pool for about an hour and then it was time to get ready for dinner. We met my parents, and good family friends at Rocco's Taco's back on Sand Lake Rd near I-Drive. If you've never been, it's amazing (especially the Margaritas).


This is my best friend, Sarah, and I. We went to high school together back in Germany and both moved to Florida for college. Ultimately we ended up working at the same company together and this is the first time we have been apart since our move to Texas.

After dinner, we headed back to the the Boardwalk and to the gift shop to get a couple of waters and something to snack on (who doesn't love a good Mickey Rice Krispy treat at midnight?!). It was an extremely busy day so as soon as we ate our snacks back in the room, we passed out!

Up Next: Character Breakfast, Downtown Disney, and an awesome Anniversary Celebration!

 

[ShanaMouse]

It's here, It's here, It's here! We were giddy like two little kids on Christmas morning!

I managed to snag some last minute breakfast reservations to Chef Mickey's! Neither one of us had ever been here, as we had heard mediocre reviews, but since we weren't heading to the parks due to the short amount of time we'd be there, we wanted to splurge and get to meet characters. It was also the 4th of July and hubby and I bough matching t-shirts to wear today! We got up at 7 AM for our 8 AM reservation. We also checked out of the Boardwalk at this time, as we would head straight to Beach Club after breakfast and see if we can get into our room early.





You can't be at Disney and not have one of these!


Here I am (im)patiently waiting on Goofy!




Finally!!










Am I just that tall or is Minnie just that short?!






Breakfast was, as other reviewers have said, ok. It wasn't great and it wasn't bad. It definitely is more focused on the characters, which was totally fine with us. If I had my way, however, I would like for the breakfast to be just slightly cheaper, as $80 without tip for the two of us was quite steep.

After breakfast we made our way back to Disney's Beach Club Resort. We had been looking forward to this, as this was our first time at this resort and we definitely wanted to take a dip in that pool! Also, it was nearing 100 degrees already so a cool jump into the pool is all we were thinking of!

We did valet again (I know, splurging where I can) and headed to the check in counter. Our room wasn't ready yet (it was only 10 AM) but we headed straight to the pool, which had just opened up!





Hubster is right there in the front floating along in the lazy river!


I had ordered these buttons as soon as we booked our flights and everyone loved them!


We were done in the pool by about noon at which point we headed towards the bus stop to downtown Disney. Before we got there, hubster got a text message that our room was ready, so we reversed right back to the resort and up to our room. We snapped some pics on the way to our room!







Our room was the regular studio sized room, nothing to fancy, but our view was incredible!! Can anyone guess what that is?!


After getting over our awesome view, we headed to downtown Disney. It was extremely hot so we were A/C hopping from store to store! It was great to see Downtown Disney now that some of the upgrades have taken place to convert to the new Disney Springs. We snapped a few photos along the way!











We had lunch at one of the food trucks, where I finally got the Corn Dog I had been longing for since last year. It was delicious. I hear that the one's at Disneyland are amazing, so this was the closest I could get. We both had to rest there for about 30 minutes, as the heat completely decommissioned us and we had to hydrate before going back to the bus stop.

After being at Downtown Disney for several hours, we headed back to the resort and laid in the room for about an hour before it was time to get ready for dinner. I had made reservations for 6:30 PM at Boatwrights at Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside resort followed by a horse and carriage ride through the French Quarter.

Up Next: Our Anniversary Celebration!

 

[ShanaMouse]

After resting in our room for a good hour or so, we got ready for dinner and drove over to Port Orleans Resort. We made it to the resort right on time and they were having a 4th of July celebration with Character Meet and Greets and specialty foods and drinks. We headed over to Boatwrights to check in and were seated by 6:45 PM. I was worried, as I had our horse and carriage ride booked for 8 PM and didn't want to have to rush through dinner. It was our first time at this restaurant, although we've stayed at this resort before.

Hubby got a beer flight and I got a raspberry colada, which was delicious. I ended up having the pasta dish, of which I cannot remember the name, and hubby had the porkchop. Hubby raved about his dish, but I thought the pasta was ok. I'd eat here again, but I would get something else to try next time. The highlight of this dinner, however, was the special cake I had ordered a week prior to our arrival for our anniversary celebration. It was a mini chocolate cake covered in buttercream and decorated with pink and mint colored "Mickey's" to resemble our wedding colors. The cake was fabulous! Initially, the server offered us the dessert menu so I reminded him that I had a cake ordered and 5 minutes later he came back with the cake. I couldn't have asked for better!















We finished dinner at 7:55 PM and rushed outside to check in for our carriage ride. As soon as we got outside, it was pouring and the thunder had started to roll in. I know they cancel the carriage rides in bad weather so I was really worried, as we had been looking forward to this. We checked in and the cast member advised that she needed to check with her manager about doing the ride. 10 minutes later, the rain had stopped and she said that we have about a 20 minute window and if we wanted to go, to hop on in. We hopped inside and off we went, riding along the river and then into the french quarter. It was awesome!!!













After our ride, we headed back to Beach Club as we had one final thing planned for the night: Fireworks!

We arrived back at the resort at about 8:45 PM only to find the entire boardwalk light up with glow in the dark merchandise, music, and dancing. We both grabbed a cocktail and strolled the boardwalk, which was covered in left over rain water.













We danced around to the music and walked the boardwalk up and down until finally setting on the bridge between the Boardwalk Resort and the Yacht Club. From there we waited until 10 PM for the fireworks to start.









When the fireworks were over, we turned around on the bridge and watched the Hollywood Studios fireworks. It was the perfect ending to this amazing day at the House of Mouse.



We settled back into our room, watched some TV and went to sleep.

Up Next: More Characters, Florida heat, and the looming sadness of knowing it's time to go home.

 

[ShanaMouse]

Aaah yes, that awful day when you know you're time with the Mouse is coming to an end. Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon, so our first stop of the day was another character meal at Cape May Cafe. I was super excited about getting to meet a few of my favorites again. I had also heard that the food here is great and I was not disappointed. I had another obligatory Mickey Waffle and whatever else my tummy could hold. We had one of the first reservations of the day so it was nice and calm inside the restaurant. Our server was amazing, as she made sure that we had time with each of the characters and even gave us a special cupcake to celebrate our anniversary.























After breakfast we wanted to rent a boat, but the marina wasn't open yet, so instead we strolled around, but after about 30 minutes, both of us were way too hot and wanted to get inside! We wandered over to the Swan and retraced our steps from our wedding day, which was super fun!





These are our sad faces about leaving...




It was nearing 11 AM and I wanted to go back to Downtown Disney and grab a photo album. We made our way over there and, again, resorted to A/C hopping through stores. The heat index was at 105 degrees. Once we got our photo album and the obligatory Starbucks iced coffee, we made our way back to the car and headed to the airport. Our flight left on time and we were back home by dinner time.

Both of us had an absolute blast and, while we enjoy the parks just like the next person, we had so little time that enjoying Disney this way was absolutely wonderful and we couldn't have asked for more.

Now, we are preparing for our very first Disneyland trip in September!!! Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

 

[BlvInMagic]

Very cute trip report! Looks like you guys had a blast! The Cape May Character breakfast was just adorable, I'm definitely adding that to our list of "Must Dos" next time

 

[TXMNie]

Looks like you too had a great time! Also neat to hear you are from Austin - I went to undergrad there! Congrats on your anniversary!

 

[ShanaMouse]

Very cute trip report! Looks like you guys had a blast! The Cape May Character breakfast was just adorable, I'm definitely adding that to our list of "Must Dos" next time

The Cape May Character interaction was awesome and the breakfast was great too. The food was fresh and, even when the characters were not at our table, you could see that they made sure to spend time at each table until everyone got their fix of Minnie, Goofy, or Donald. When we went to Chef Mickeys, everything felt more 'hustle and bustle' and a bit rushed, but maybe we went on an 'off' day, who knows.

Looks like you too had a great time! Also neat to hear you are from Austin - I went to undergrad there! Congrats on your anniversary!

Thanks so much! I love Austin and my husband is actually working at UT now, which is why we ended up relocating. We were both a bit hesitant at first, but once we were here, we knew we made the right choice!