The One Where They Go to Disney: A March 2019 Trip Report *updated 12/22*

[LaurieLiz]

The One with the Introductions

Hello everyone, and welcome to my very first trip report!



If you were following along with my pre-trip report plans, welcome back and if you're new, nice to meet you! My name is Lauren, and I will be your narrator for the entirety of this journey.

My family, friends and I just got back from a trip during my spring break from March 2nd - March 9th. We had 7 day park tickets and stayed in a condo in Storey Lake, a community about 10 minutes from property. We had an AMAZING time filled with pixie dust, rope dropping, first times, additional FPs and of course sleep deprivation. While I’m sad that our journey is over, I’m excited to relive it with all of you!


First of all, if you couldn’t tell the title of this trip is a reference to a very popular 90s sitcom that I have come to love. During the trip, I was struck with the observation that so many people make their own shirts to wear in the parks (we even did it). One that stood out to me was the word “Disney” in the friends logo and that got me thinking that some seriously funny stuff happened on our vacation. It honestly kinda reminded me of the sitcom, thus the inspiration for the title!

Well enough with the recap stuff, let’s get into some introductions!

First up is me! Your lovely narrator!

I’m just your typical Disney fanatic, who probably spends way too much time planning trips and obsessing about all of the parks. When I’m not thinking about park strategy, you can find me studying for my college classes, or singing in the Women’s Glee Club at my school.


Favorite Ride: Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain, Soarin'
Favorite Princesses: Belle, Jasmine, Rapunzel
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Character: Flynn Rider, Tinkerbell, Aladdin
Favorite Fab Five Character: Minnie Mouse
Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin
Favorite Pixar Movie: The Incredibles, Up, Coco
Favorite Marvel Movie: The Avengers
Favorite Marvel Character: Spiderman
Favorite Star Wars Movie: Empire Strikes Back
Favorite Star Wars Character: Han Solo
Favorite Resort: Poly, AKL


Second is my lovely mother,

My mom is definitely the best travel companion! She took my sister and I to Disney constantly when we were kids, so I blame my obsessive nature on her entirely. For some reason, she has a knack for deals, points, booking FPs, etc, so she was a great help during this vacation.

Favorite Ride: Haunted Mansion, Soarin'
Favorite Princesses: Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom, Epcot
Favorite Character: Mushu
Favorite Fab Five Character: Mickey Mouse
Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King
Favorite Pixar Movie: The Incredibles
Favorite Marvel Movie: The Avengers
Favorite Marvel Character: Captain America, Groot
Favorite Star Wars Movie: Return of the Jedi
Favorite Star Wars Character: Princess Leia, C3PO
Favorite Resort: Poly


Third is my Dad!

My dad likes to pretend he’s not super into Disney, but I can tell he likes it as much as the rest of us. He was definitely the one who kept us all grounded during this trip and is pretty much up for anything!


Favorite Ride: Soarin', Mickey's Phillharmagic
Favorite Princesses: Ariel
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Character: Mufasa, Grumpy
Favorite Fab Five Character: Mickey Mouse
Favorite Disney Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Pixar Movie: The Incredibles, Toy Story 2
Favorite Marvel Movie: The Avengers
Favorite Marvel Character: Captain America, Black Widow
Favorite Star Wars Movie: A New Hope, Rogue One
Favorite Star Wars Character: Luke Skywalker
Favorite Resort: Grand Floridian, Beach Club


Next is my younger sister Maddie!

While my sister is not as obsessed with Disney as I am, she definitely has a nostalgic love for the parks. I can tell because she actually woke up early for park days during this trip.


Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Spaceship Earth
Favorite Princesses: Belle, Rapunzel, Anna
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Character: Chip and Dale, Tinkerbell, Stitch
Favorite Fab Five Character: Pluto
Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Meet the Robinsons (lol)
Favorite Pixar Movie: The Incredibles, Up
Favorite Marvel Movie: Captain America: Civil War
Favorite Marvel Character: Scarlet Witch
Favorite Star Wars Movie: Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens
Favorite Star Wars Character: Rey, R2D2, Han Solo, Poe Dameron
Favorite Resort: Port Orleans: Riverside, Grand Floridian


Next is my best friend, Alyssa!

I am so happy that I got to bring my friend along for this vacation. While she’s not necessarily the biggest Disney fan, she always has so much fun. And even though I think our touring might have run her down slightly, she definitely was a great sport!


Favorite Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite Princesses: Belle and Sleeping Beauty
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom, Epcot
Favorite Character: Mickey Mouse
Favorite Fab Five Character: See above
Favorite Disney Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Pixar Movie: Toy Story
Favorite Marvel Movie: The Avengers
Favorite Star Wars Movie: N/A (she doesn’t like it)
Favorite Resort: Poly



Lastly, is my sister’s boyfriend Max!

This was his first ever trip to Disney World! He was also a super good sport about everything and even though he was constantly stopping for pictures, he was able to keep up with us most of the time!


Favorite Ride: Toy Story Mania, Spaceship Earth, Tower of Terror
Favorite Princesses: Mulan
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Character: Aladdin, Jack Sparrow
Favorite Fab Five Character: Mickey Mouse
Favorite Disney Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Pixar Movie: Finding Nemo
Favorite Marvel Movie: The Avengers
Favorite Star Wars Movie: Star Wars: A New Hope
Favorite Resort: Poly


And that is the introduction to our fabulous vacation. We seriously had the best time and I can’t wait to share the good, the bad and the ugly with all of you. See ya real soon!
​

 

[LaurieLiz]

Table of Contents:

The One with the Introductions

Day 0: March 1st, 2019
The One with the Slap Chop
The One with the Chocolate Chili and Dippin' Dots

Day 1: March 2nd, 2019
The One with the PANCAKES!
The One with the Pixie Dust
The One with the BACKSTAGE PASSES

Day 2: March 3rd, 2019
The One with the Productive Morning

​

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

 

[frostymojo]

Following along

 

[Spacecow]

Following! I was there from the 2nd to the 10th, so our dates aligned almost perfectly! Maybe we even crossed paths without knowing. Excited to hear more about your trip!

 

[LaurieLiz]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

Thanks for joining!

Following along

Yay! Thanks for joining!

Following! I was there from the 2nd to the 10th, so our dates aligned almost perfectly! Maybe we even crossed paths without knowing. Excited to hear more about your trip!

Hah! You'll have to tell me if somehow you're in the background of one of my pictures for some reason.
I hope you had an amazing time!​

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with the Slap Chop

After probably the busiest school week of my life, the day was finally here! Due to adrenaline and excitement, I ended up waking up at 6:00am (for perspective I normally wake up at 9:00am) ready and raring to go! Unfortunately, I had to wait for my sister’s class to get finished before we could leave, so in the meantime, I took a shower, got most of my technological devices in order and ate breakfast.

The plan was to drive back to my parents house, but I usually have a to take a bus to get my car. By the time I was done getting ready, I was late despite getting up so early, so obviously I called a Lyft and took all of my things with me!

In no time, the Lyft arrived and we were off to get my car. We had a great conversation traveling and Disney ect, which just made me even more excited! After I picked Maddie up, we went to her dorm, grabbed some food in the dining hall (sorry no pictures lol), picked up her bags and were finally on our way to my parents house.

Once we got home, I could tell that tensions were a little high because of our packing situation. In order to fit everything in our SUV, we decided to buy a luggage carrier for the top of the car. But even with that extra space, it was definitely hard to fit everything, but shout out to my dad for figuring it all out!

In no time, Alyssa and Max had arrived, we had packed everything in the car and were almost ready to leave. Then, for some reason, in our conversations, the topic of infomercials came up, specifically for a product called Slap Chop. Now I had no idea what this thing was, so my sister brought it up on her phone and for some reason it was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

If you're curious here’s the video.

By the time we were done discovering unnecessary kitchen tools, it was time to leave. So packed like a can of sardines, it was time to begin the 20 hour journey ahead of us.

As you can see we were very squished, but excited to leave!


That’s all for now! Hopefully I will be posting another update soon, but I honestly don’t have a lot of time at the moment, so it will probably be within the next couple weeks. See ya real soon!
​

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with Chocolate Chili and Dippin’ Dots

When I last updated, we were setting down the road off on our great adventure!

We began our journey through Ohio. For some reason there were so many accidents, which that plus rush hour means a lot of traffic. The trip through Ohio is typically 3 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 4.5 hours.

After this point we hadn’t eaten anything besides car snacks, so we were all getting pretty hungry and decided to grab some food.

We weren’t really looking for fast food or anything too heavy, so we decided to try Skyline Chili in Kentucky. Honestly, I don’t know what we were expecting, but it was pretty much just like a diner, that served a bunch of chili dishes. Their signature dish was spaghetti covered in chili and cheese, which a local sitting next to us kindly described to us!

Our orders went as followed:

Lauren - cup of chili and greek salad

Alyssa - Greek Chicken Wrap and side of Chili

Mom and Dad- Greek Salad and ½ chili spaghetti

Max - I think he had the Chili Spaghetti

(I didn't take this picture, but here's an image for reference)

Maddie - Coney dog



I think the general consensus was eh. I mean it was okay, and I loved my Greek Salad, but the chili just didn’t taste like the kind of chili that I’m used to (apparently they put chocolate in it). Alone it was kinda off putting, but according to my dad and Max the spaghetti chili was okay! But I mean if you put a mountain of cheese on anything I bet it'll taste good!



Once we finished with our meal, it was time to head back on the road! We ended up sleeping for most of the time - I listened to some of an audio book as well - until we stopped off for gas and a bathroom break at around 1:00am in Tennessee. We then got back into the car and proceeded to sleep some more. Luckily this allowed me to almost bypass the entirety of Georgia, as I think that state might be the longest in existence.


Our next stop was at a gas station at 5:30am around 30 minutes from the Florida border. Everyone did the normal rest stop things such as getting coffee, going to the bathroom, buying Dippin' Dots for breakfast... Yes, you did read that correctly.

For background, despite it just being ice cream my sister is absolutely obsessed with Dippin' Dots. So of course, once noticting them, her and Alyssa had to get them at 5:30 in the morning, for a pre-breakfast snack. Well I guess anything goes on vacation!

After filling up on our sugar and in about 30 minutes we finally made it to the Sunshine State!

Yay, two updates! I finally have some time between exams, so hopefully I'll be able to knock out a couple within the next week or so, and get into the good stuff! Thanks for tuning in, and see you real soon!
​

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with the PANCAKES!

Hello everyone! I am so sorry for the complete lack of dedication/postings. For some reason, I just wasn’t motivated to write about my trip, but now I’m back and better than ever!

For a real life update, I am currently studying abroad in Copenhagen and having the best time traveling around Europe. In fact, I just got back from a weekend trip to Prague, which was so much fun. But anyway back to regularly scheduled programming.

Last time I left off, we had just gotten to the sunshine state and were ridiculously close to FINALLY starting our vacation.

We ended up getting to Orlando at around 10:00am, but couldn’t check into our AirBnb until four. So what do you do in the meantime… go shopping of course.

We decided it would be fun to check out the Disney outlet store on Vineland to see if there were any cute t-shirts/outfits that we wanted before starting our trip. I don’t have any proof of this venture, but we unfortunately didn’t really find anything that we wanted to buy.

By then we were famished and had the brilliant idea of going to IHOP for some breakfast/lunch. We got there around 10:30am and despite it being a busy Saturday, were seated in no time. We all ordered waters to drink, but for some reason the waitress brought us bottles of water instead of glasses. We didn’t really think a lot of it at the time, but spoiler alert she ended up charging us for them, which was kind of weird and slightly annoying. I cannot for the life of me remember what we ordered and unfortunately do not have any pictures (I was still getting used to the whole trip report thing).

After IHOP we traveled to Storey Lake Resort to get checked in and of course ended up getting lost on the way. By then it was around 1:00, so we decided to kill some time at the resort pool.

Maddie of course had to get some cotton candy.

We also played some hearts and got some smoothies to pass the time. I'm pretty sure I was winning.

(This is also an awful picture)


FINALLY, it was getting close to 4:00pm, so we packed up and headed off to our condo, of course got lost again, and were putting in the code promptly at 4:00am. The condo looked absolutely fabulous, but unfortunately I failed to take any pictures. Luckily, it looked very similar to those on the AirBnB website, which I have in this post on my pre-trip report if you want to check it out.
We all freshened up from the car, spending the day at the pool etc… and in no time were on our way to our first Disney park… HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!

That’s all for now! In the next installment, you’ll finally get to hear about our adventures in the parks. See you real soon!​

 

[Newsies]

Hey Lauren! I followed your PTR and was wondering how your trip went-- I can't believe I missed the start of this TR! I am 100% here for the rest of the ride!

The start of the trip looks great so far! I remember you having problems with your first condo and having to switch, but I'm glad the new condo was fabulous! Can't wait to read about Hollywood Studios!

 

[LaurieLiz]

Hey Lauren! I followed your PTR and was wondering how your trip went-- I can't believe I missed the start of this TR! I am 100% here for the rest of the ride!

The start of the trip looks great so far! I remember you having problems with your first condo and having to switch, but I'm glad the new condo was fabulous! Can't wait to read about Hollywood Studios!

Hello Hello Hello!



I'm so glad you're joining in!

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with all the Pixie Dust

Hello Hello Hello everyone! Long time no see! Happy Holidays and all that jazz. Somehow I thought that updating this would be easier, but with break coming up, I’ll finally have some time dedicated to this report!

Funnily enough, I’ve recently been inspired to hop back on the trip report train because my family and I are planning a trip to Universal during my spring break! Now I know it’s not exactly Disney, but my whole family are huge Harry Potter fans and we haven’t been back to see Diagon Alley, let alone Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure. We are extremely excited about it and who knows, maybe we’ll have to pop over to the World. I might be doing a trip report, so stay tuned!

Anyway back to regularly scheduled programming.

With our hearts full, we were finally on our way to the most magical place on earth! It wasn’t actually, as far as I thought it would be and Hollywood Studios was definitely convenient. Now unfortunately, I did a definite trip report oopsie and didn’t take a picture of us going under the sign…

But with that little snafu out of the way, we finally made it to the parking lot of Hollywood Studios expecting to walk a mile to get to our destination. But when we were being directed by parking attendants instead of turning right, they sent us straight, and straight again... And by the time we talked with anyone, we were in preferred parking! The nice woman up there was a bit confused, but let us stay and even gave us complimentary waters!



We then mosied our way to the entrance, while admiring the lovely construction walls. Once we got up to the gate at around 5:15pm we had to go to guest services first to upgrade Max’s ticket to a seven day instead of a five day. With that, we were hoping they would give him the same fastpasses as us on the new days and… THEY DID!



With pixie dust in our hearts, we finally made our way through the entrance and headed towards TSL.



Let me tell you, I was so confused by the new layout! Usually I have great directional capabilities, but I literally thought this was like a maze. I’m sure it’ll be a lot more hectic when we go again for Galaxy’s Edge.

Our first FP was TSM at 5:25pm - 6:25pm. We were luckily right on time! First off we had to take some pictures in front of the sign.



And then we headed towards the FP entrance, where they told us it would be a 40 MINUTE wait for the ride… What?! However, we decided to risk it anyway and what better way to pass the time than taking pictures!

Here’s Max with his first time button



Alyssa and I in the outside queue



And my mom and dad in the inside queue



We finally made it to the front of the line and did our game thing. I’m not sure who won, but I’m pretty sure I beat Alyssa and Maddie won the whole cart! Now did it end up taking 40 minutes...NOPE! We were in and out in about 15!

We decided to pass on the other rides in TSL, but did enjoy exploring before heading off to get some BACKSTAGE PASSES. But you’ll get to hear about that in the next update.

See Ya Real Soon!​

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with the BACKSTAGE PASSES

Hello everyone! I think I’m going to try and get these updates our bi-weekly, so I can finally get myself back on track!

When we left off, we were heading out of TSL and towards, you guessed it, RnR for our FP from 6:25pm-7:25pm. While on our way over, we had a little bit of time, so we had an impromptu photoshoot! For some background, my mom made these shirts for us before leaving. You’ll see some more later on!



They say "I'm done adulting, I'm headed to Disney"





We then mosied our way over to the line, promptly hopped in and were on our way to G Records. I’m pretty sure my mom’s name was on one of the posters, but unfortunately I didn’t get a picture.

In no time, we were in the pre-show! It was really funny becuase one person was like “How about some backstage passes?” before it was said during the scene and we all had a nice chuckle.

Anyways, soon enough we were headed off on a stretch limo journey for the ages! Afterwards, the consensus was as positive as ever. Max enjoyed for sure enjoyed his second ride.

After RnR, we had some time to kill before our next FP for ToT at 7:25pm, so we decided to grab some dinner. Out of pure convenience, we decided to eat went to Fairfax Fare because it was literally right there!

I got the Rice Bowl: Grilled Chicken served over Cilantro Rice, Black Beans, Fire-roasted Corn Medley, Pico de Gallo, and Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream topped with Cheddar



Mom and Dad shared the Tacos: It apparently doesn't exist any more

No Picture

Max and Alyssa both got Empanadas: Beef Empanadas served with Cilantro Rice, Black Beans, Fire-roasted Corn Medley with Peppers and Onions, and Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream




And Maddie went with the Tamale: Also doesn't exist anymore



The general consensus was that it wasn’t bad! Honestly I was expecting much worse (I haven’t heard great things about the food at HS), but it was definitely tasty and filled us right up.

While there, we decided to fill up our water bottles since its Florida, but they wouldn’t let you fill your bottle straight from this water jug they set out, so we had to get a cup and go back and forth until we were satisfied.

Feeling full and satiated, it was finally time to head to ToT, one of my favorite rides! I just love the theming, as well as the excitement when that drop finally comes. Quickly made our way to the pre-show, obviously chose the straight path and finally reached the elevator!

It was a very good ride and I think a new drop sequence for us! Although it’s been a while, so what do I know.

After ToT, we decided to stake out a spot for the Star Wars Fireworks. There were still plenty of open spots so we decided to stand all the way at the back of the first section near the tape. We then proceeded to sit down and wait for it to start. I unfortunately do not have any pictures, but just assume it had fireworks and it was Star Wars themed.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves. It’s definitely not the best nighttime show we’ve ever seen, but I have a love for the Star Wars music, and it definitely lends itself nicely to a firework show!

Afterwards, we were beyond tired and decided to make our way home. We then promptly made our way to bed and fell blissfully asleep in order to be up and ready to go for rope drop tomorrow! We had a date with a giant golf ball!

See Ya Real Soon!

​

 

[LaurieLiz]

The One with the Productive Morning

When we last left off, we were all snug in our bed dreaming of the magic to come. That was soon interrupted by an alarm going off at 7:00 in the morning. The things you do for Disney!

I immediately hopped out of bed and got ready for the day. Eventually the rest of my family woke up and we all sat down to eat a nice bagel breakfast in the kitchen. The girls ( Maddie, Alyssa, my mom and I) fought over who got what ears -- I was lucky and got the classic Minnie ears -- and once everyone was ready, we set off!

Soon after, we were driving under this beautiful sign.



I guess that’s the fun thing about staying off property, is we got to see this alot!

When we finally got to EPCOT it was around 8:45, but we had to get some pictures in front of the giant golf ball.





After an impromptu photo shoot courtesy of my mother, we head towards the right side of the ball, as we had decided to RD Soarin’.

To pass the time, I of course took some nice photos of the scenery.



Soon enough we were off! We were pretty close to the front.



The Land!



We were pretty much at the entrance when 9:00 hit! In no time, we had walked through the queue and were at the gate. Since this was our first time ever riding the new version, we figured it was worth it to ask for front/middle, and we got right where we wanted to be!

So my thoughts, I have to admit I still really like it. Soarin’ was one of my favorite rides when I was younger, and even though that version will always have a special plan in my heart, I can definitely still enjoy the new version. My new favorite scent is the savanna grass one!

After Soarin’, we had a FP for LWTL. For some reason, it is so nostalgic for me. I think it might be the smell. I also think it would be so cool to work in that research laboratory!



Weirdly, there weren’t any Mickey shaped pumpkins, but there was this cute topiary!



Afterwards, we checked out the wait times on the app, and we saw Nemo was only a five minute wait, so we headed over.



Obviously this isn’t the best ride in the whole world, but it’s great for a nice rest and who doesn’t like Nemo!

Once getting off, we explored The Seas and decided to see when the next Turtle Talk show was and when we got up to the gate they were just about to start. Talk about great timing!

I don’t recall anything super funny happening, but Crush was as hilarious as always!

By that time it was only around 10:15, and we had already finished four rides! It was almost time for our next FP for Spaceship Earth, so we made our way up to the front of the park for a trip throughout history.

I think I’ll leave this here. I wish everyone a Happy Holidays, and I’ll see you real soon! ​