Disney World Trip Report/Photos Part 1

To continue from my previous Dragon Con post — we got up Sunday morning at 6 AM and started the drive down into Orlando! YAY!

This post consists of my iphone photos and our photopass pics – I haven’t gotten Chase’s photos yet so that will be part 2.

SUNDAY!
We finished up our audiobook of Deathly Hallows that morning and swung into Ready Player One – we actually successfully listened to the whole thing during the entire trip. We just finished it up while running out to dinner last night!

We pulled into Orlando around 1 and we’d already gotten the text our room was ready, so we went straight to our hotel room. I’m glad — back in May I had to put all my makeup in our cooler to leave it in the car while we went to the park before we could check in LOL

This was our first time staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. We REALLY liked it… so much so that we keep checking the site to see if any rooms open up for our October trip so we could switch hotels. Fingers crossed! If not… at least we have a place to stay 🙂

Our room was in Building 4 and overlooked the large grassy area where they had movies and a campfire set up at night, that was neat. And we were really close to the lobby, that was really nice for getting food, picking up packages, etc! We headed to the lobby and had a little snack (beignets!) and explored a little.

After a little nap we got changed and headed to Animal Kingdom. First time we’ve gone over there since our March trip. Not long after got into the parking lot did it start drizzling. None of the characters I wanted to meet were out (I guess because of the rain), so after walking around under our umbrellas for a bit, we went to Flame Tree BBQ to get an early dinner. While we were eating, it REALLY started raining. We were sitting right along the edge of one of the covered patios and the rain kept blowing in on me to the point I had to move.

It had slackened off a bit when we got done eating, so we had our fingers crossed it would stop totally so we could still do our Safari fastpass, and the Jungle Book show later that night. We ducked into It’s Tough to be a Bug! – a show I haven’t seen since we went in 2001. And I was reminded why I hadn’t… I just don’t care for all the buggy stuff in the show especially the bug crawling underneath you… yuck.

Anyway, we got out of that to discover that the rain had NOT gone away but it was now a torrential downpour. We decided to give up on the rest of our plans and head out. We got our ponchos on (because the umbrellas weren’t done much at that point) and made a run to the trams. Our shoes got completely soaked – it took mine 2 days sitting on top of the AC to dry out! While we were waiting on a tram there was a lightning strike right across the parking lot. Whoa!

So we called it an early night since Monday was going to be really. Our Jungle Book show fastpass ended up being canceled due to weather anyway, so at least we didn’t wait around for that only for it to be canceled. I AM really disappointed I never got to see it since the next night was it’s final show.

MONDAY!
Monday was our busiest day. We started off with a breakfast at ‘Ohana. I’ve wanted to do this breakfast for forever! The day got off to a little bit of a rough start when I got the time of our reservation wrong – not terribly but it caused us to run about 10 minutes late. We still got there on time thankfully.

We were seated right by the windows with a great view of the pool area and Magic Kingdom in the distance! The food was decent (pretty basic Disney breakfast buffet food, just brought to you on a big platter instead of going to get it yourself), and obviously the most fun part was the characters – we met Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. Stitch took the longest time to get around to us – he took a long time with each table which was nice. So by the time we’d gotten our pics with him, we were done eating and had signed the receipts and were able to just head right on out the door.

We decided Labor Day would not be a good day to do Magic Kingdom, so we headed to Hollywood Studios instead. We only took advantage of one of our fastpasses – well, *I* only took advantage of the fastpass! Chase refuses to ride Tower of Terror. When the bellhop asked me how many, I said just one. He gave me this look and I said “My husband won’t ride it with me!” And he said, “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” LMAO I could not wait to til Chase that.

We shopped a little and then decided it was too hot and headed back to the hotel for a swim. But then it started raining right after we got in the pool… boo! So back to the room for a nap. Around 3 we got up, changed, and headed over to the Disney Springs boat launch. The boat over to Disney Springs from Port Orleans was super nice and relaxing. The rain had cooled everything off so the rest of this day ended up being the nicest weather we had!

We explored Disney Springs for a long time before our dinner reservations. Chase got some Legos, and we especially enjoyed the Uniqlo store! I got a cute Monsters Inc shirt, and we both got some new glasses.

For dinner we had reservations at Art Smith’s Homecoming. We started with the deviled eggs (which were Jacked Up Eggs, as our family has been calling them LOL) which were SUPER good. I LOVE deviled eggs and I’d really been looking forward to these. I’d go back and sit at the bar just for these!

Then we both got the fried chicken and mashed potatoes which were also good – for dessert, Chase got the pecan pie and I had the Shine cake. Couldn’t finish it all, it was too much food.

Then we took the boat back around to the hotel, hopped in the car and headed to Magic Kingdom for the evening. It was SO NEAT seeing it all decorated for Halloween!!

We went to MK that night because I wanted one good, uninterrupted viewing of the Main Street Electrical Parade before it goes away. It’s one of my fav things in the world and I’m super bummed it’s leaving — AND there was no showing scheduled for our Magic Kingdom day (tuesday) so we shuffled things around to be there for the Monday showing. We got there right as Wishes started and camped out a spot on the curb under the train station. I did a live feed for my facebook friends, and Chase filmed it for me. I almost cried at the end. It was the first disney parade I ever saw when I first went in 84 or 85.

After that we had a quick ride on the Peoplemover before calling it a day.

TUESDAY!
Tuesday was our Magic Kingdom day!

I decided to throw my Leia buns on since I was wearing my new Star Wars/Revolver shirt. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed for MK. First up we had a FP for Dumbo, which I haven’t rode since I was a kid, and Chase had never rode it. Then we hopped over and rode the Barnstormer before getting on the train for a loop around the park. We got off at Main Street and shopped a little, Chase got his pic with the Dapper Dans, I got to meet the Fire Chief on Main Street, and then we went back to the hotel to swim, and for lunch.

This time we did NOT get rained out and were able to enjoy the pool for about an hour! Yay! We had lunch at the hotel – just quick service but I had a broccoli cheddar baked potato that was really pretty good. After that and a nap, we got changed and went back to MK for our dinner at Be Our Guest. Chase had talked me into getting a birthday button earlier in the day (since this trip was my birthday trip, even though it’s not til next week), and this was the one day I wore it. My hair was nice and curly from being in the buns all day, and it actually stayed curly despite the humidity! Another yay!

Chase wore his new shirt he’d gotten at the Polynesian, and I wore a dress mom got me a few weeks ago.

We’d been to Be Our Guest for dinner back right after it opened, so it’s been a while. We both ended up getting the steak – I love the dipping sauce they give you for the fries! For dessert I had the eclair… and they also brought me a plate of the grey stuff and a birthday card from Belle and Beast! 🙂

After we got our pic with Beast, we had a ride on the Haunted Mansion before heading back to the hotel for the night.

WEDNESDAY!
Wednesday was the big day. We had to get up SUPER early but it was for a fun reason… our train tour! We got to park at the Contemporary and walk over, and we were among the first people milling around in the area in front of security until they finally opened them up and we were able to go check in for our tour.

If you DON’T want to read about the train tour/behind the magic/backstage stuff, skip this next section!

Our tour guide led us up to the train and we got to ride it around to the Fantasyland station, where they switched over and backed the train into the roundhouse. I knew that the trains they used were old — but I didn’t realize that they still basically run the same way they did 100 years ago. We learned a lot of basics about trains – what the whistles mean, what the different parts are, about the buzz box communication… and once we were back in the roundhouse, we got to go up and sit in the cab of the Roy O.! Our tour guide explained what everything in the cab does, and how the fireman has to light the waste and get it thrown in there just right, and at the end of this segment the actual engineer and fireman came out to demonstrate it to us before we got back on and headed back to Main Street.

While we couldn’t go all the way into the roundhouse while we were there, we did get to have a look at the Lilly Belle, which our tour guide told us had JUST returned from a years long refurb a few weeks ago (since 2009!). She said that the driving systems of the Lilly Belle have all gotten upgraded and are a little more modern looking than the interior cab of the other 3 trains, but as of yet she isn’t out running for guests yet.

Once we were back up on Main Street, we had a small break and then went into the train station and learned about the specific history of each of WDW’s four trains, where they came from, who they were named after, what kind of trains they are. Then we headed upstairs where we had a small presentation covering Walt’s history with trains.

(Hard to see, but here’s the fireman showing us how he lights the waste material)

At the end we each got a pin!

END Spoilery tour stuff!

It was a really great tour, I can’t recommend it enough. The WDW trains are super impressive and a lot of skill goes into driving them; and getting to see them up close and personal and learn about them was just super cool. If you ever get the chance, do this tour!

After that, we walked up main street and saw the new castle stage show, and then went and got a Dole Whip. I also got the chance to check out Jasmine’s new costume. I wasn’t so hot on it upon seeing photos last week – but in person it is MUCH more sparkley and a lot less cheap looking. Really my only nitpick is I think the wig is a tiny bit off proportion, but in person, it was pretty and I’m sure the Jasmine’s “friends” enjoy wearing something they can twirl around in.

Then we drove over to Disney Springs to get lunch — Chase had a burger at D-Luxe Burger while I had poutine again. Yum! Chase made another visit to the Lego store and this time they had the VW bug in stock, which is what he wanted on Monday, so he got it as a special treat. As a trade off we agreed that I’d also get a special treat, so after that I had my eyes peeled for something really cool.

After our usual afternoon nap, we both got dressed up for our dinner at Yachtsmen Steakhouse! I got to wear my new 7 Dwarfs skirt – which I got more compliments on than my Tightrope Walker at dragoncon LOL. We wanted to go to Epcot for a while before dinner, and since our reservations were so late, we ended up parking at the TTC, taking the monorail to Epcot, and then walking to Yacht Club from the International Gateway. Before that, though, we rode Journey Into Imagination and used our fastpass for the character spot (I told Chase, I have literally had this fastpass lined up for us at least 10 times and we never use it — we finally got to use it this day!)

Mickey liked my skirt!

Minnie and I admired each other’s outfits before the photo

Then we headed over to Yacht Club and checking out their lobby and looked around a bit before checking in for dinner.

I was really excited when our server told us we could substitute an appetizer for a dessert on the dining plan! I’m not a big dessert person, so I gladly got a bowl of the Lobster Bisque as a starter. It was SO yummy. Chase got a tomato salad, and the bread they brought was really good, too. I had to make myself stop eating it all to have room for my steak!

Chase got the ribeye and I got the filet. Mine came with mashed potatoes and it was ALL SO GOOD. Chase got dessert, a lemon and blueberry cheesecake, but by then I was so stuffed I only took a little bite and called it a day.

We also ended up chatting with our neighbors at the next table who were from England and were heading back home the next day. They were really nice and it was a pleasant end to the meal.

After that, we headed out to the buses and got on the Magic Kingdom bus. It was an EMH night for Magic Kingdom, so we ran in to get another hour of rides 🙂

While Chase was on his “favourite ride” (AKA the rest room) I ended up hoping in line and took advantage of this great Halloween-y photo-op in front of the castle! I’m glad I did because it’s one of my fav pics, I love the contrast of my blue sweater and skirt with the orange pumpkins.

We headed through Tomorrowland and rode Buzz, then Peter Pan, then time for bed.

Buzz is serious business.

THURSDAY!
Thursday morning we started out with a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Magic Kingdom for the morning. One thing important about this day — we ACTUALLY VOLUNTARILY RODE THE BUS! Our room was so close to the bus pick-up that we decided to give it a try, and it was nice to be dropped off in front of MK instead of doing the ferry or monorail (likely the ferry, since the monorail was constantly down for testing AGAIN).

While Chase was busy buying a mug I went outside and saw a few of the citizens of Main Street standing together so I got a few shots before they noticed my boots and we all talked about shoes and the Mayor told me his first girlfriend was a redhead LOL I asked to take a selfie with them (since Chase wasn’t around) but thankfully they had a handler nearby who took the pic for me! So I got a great pic with all 3!

After that Chase and I rode the Peoplemover (got stuck for about 5 minutes, no complaining here) and then the teacups, and then headed for our Mine Train fastpass.

Right after we got off I saw the Tremaine Sisters heading for their meeting spot so I quickly jumped in line. I’ve wanted to meet them for FOREVER and ever time I find them their line is closed. So lucky timing!

Drizella told me to watch out for pirates since they are always looking for redheads, but Anastasia thought getting a rich pirate husband sounded like a good plan.

We rode Under the Sea and then Haunted Mansion again, and then off for a nap.

I also have to say, I tried REALLY hard to get Chase to agree to let me go to the Halloween party that night. We do already have tickets in October and spending the extra money would’ve been silly, but I still tried. I mean, I had my Tightrope Walker there with me from Dragoncon anyway!! I really wanted to put it on and go take pics with the alligators around the pool at the hotel but never did.

After our usual afternoon nap, we headed over to Epcot, where I picked my special treat – the set of 4 canvas stretching portraits at Art of Disney. I can’t wait to get them up on my wall next to my Haunted Mansion sign!

First up we rode Spaceship Earth, where we got stuck for another 5 minutes. Sadly our photos must have not worked because the end part where you pick your future had the default faces 🙁 Then we headed over to Universe of Energy, which is yet another ride I haven’t done since about 1990 (pre Ellen and Bill Nye. I just remember the dinosaurs and being super bored). But with the rumors that it might be going away, I wanted to go see it.

After that we made our way around the world, stopping off in Norway for a troll horn (YUM!). I did Pick a Pearl in Japan (getting one for each trip), and in France I got my pic with Aurora, then we headed back to Italy for dinner at Via Napoli. We always do Tutto Italia so this was a nice change-up while Chase still got to get his tiramisu 🙂 I got a pizza, he got pasta. I was so hungry I didn’t think to take a picture of my pizza before I ate it all.

Chase and I shared, he had a slice of my pizza while I had several bites of his pasta – he had “Candele” and it was REALLY good, kinda made me wish I’d gotten that instead of pizza, but the pizza was good too! For dessert he of course got his tira misu, and I got Zeppole di Caterina – little donut-type balls with dipping sauces and it was really good.

The restaurant was freezing so as soon as I was done with dessert I ran outside to warm up and creeped on Chase through the windows 🙂 Then we made a quick exit from the park before Illuminations ended.

FRIDAY!
Friday morning we again had a quick service breakfast at the hotel – this time sharing one meal together since we had an odd number of quick service credits left! Then we headed to Hollywood Studios again.

The crowds were low so we did the regular line for Toy Story, then jumped in line to meet Buzz and Woody.

After that, Chase wanted to see the Little Mermaid show (only because I never want to see it LOL), so I said you go do that while I go meet Chewbacca (he wasn’t interested in meeting Chewie again). He agreed, then while I was almost through the line at Chewie he texted me and told me he’d JUST missed getting into the show and the next one wasn’t for another 30 minutes or whatever. So I said come over here and get in line with me for Chewie, and he just barely made it, but he did!

Chewie liked my Poe shirt, but did not like Chase’s Boba Fett shirt LOL He looked at me like “you gotta do something about this” and I promised I’d talk to him about it.

Then Chase dragged me to the Little Mermaid show LOL

We headed over and had a quick service lunch at the place next to Star Tours (we used up the last of our QS credits!! OMG!). Can I say I am SUPER disappointed DHS apparently doesn’t have the food trucks around Echo Lake anymore? That empanada I got there in May was probably absolutely the best thing I’ve ever eaten at DHS. I was really hoping they were back but they weren’t. Sad times.

Anyway after that, we went and met Minnie and Mickey in their new meeting spot in DHS, and then we headed back to the hotel. This ended up being, I think, the hottest day we were there – at least, it felt that way, so we were dragging by then.

That evening it was back over to Epcot for dinner, but first, we decided to make a stop at the Poly for Trader Sam’s. We’d heard Disneyland was getting a Haunted Mansion tiki mug that day, and a friend of ours messaged and asked if we were going to check out WDW’s to see if they got it also, so we decided to give it a try. We got there about 10 minutes before opening and were 7th on the list to get called in, so we got a nice couch along the wall where we could see all the fun stuff the bar does. We shared some dumplings and I got Krakatoa Punch — I can’t remember what Chase had. When mine came out the volcano exploded. Even though they didn’t have the Haunted Mansion mugs, we were really happy we decided to go over there and get a drink because it was so much fun, and I got a really cool mug to take home.

Then back to Epcot, where we headed straight for Mexico and got seated right away for our dinner reservation at La Hacienda de San Angel. We both ended up getting the taco sampler and it was all very good. By this time we were totally out of table service credits so this was out of pocket — we opted to skip dessert and use our remaining snack credits as we walked around world showcase for dessert.

In norway we found a photopass photographer in front of the new Frozen area so we got our pic there, these are some of my favs! Then I headed into the bakery to get try the fabled “School Bread” finally. It was really good, though I think I liked the troll horn better.

Chase got ice cream in France, and then we headed on out to go back to the hotel and pack.

Saturday morning I loaded the car while Chase was in the shower and it was miserably muggy outside already at 6 AM. The sun wasn’t even up yet and my costume bin was instantly moist and gross feeling as soon as I got it outside to put it in the car. We headed over to the lobby and checked out, then went back to the Polynesian (3rd time this week!) for breakfast at Kona. YAY!

It was really good of course. We made a bathroom pitstop before we left and there was this creepy tampon dispenser giving some side-eye:

Then our GPS led us out a really weird way, back up behind Magic Kingdom. We ended up at an intersection that looked familiar – there was the train roundhouse we were just at on Wednesday! And there was a tour group currently crawling all around the train that was sitting out! Kinda neat to see it from another angle. We also passed Costuming… neat.

The trip home was uneventful. We listened to the audiobook the whole way. Traffic wasn’t bad. We got home just before 9, and Luna was happy to see us.

Here’s most of the loot from this trip:

We haven’t bought much of anything the last couple of trips, but since this trip was “the big one” we did buy a bit more than we expected to!

This trip was really great. It was so much more relaxed and felt more like a vacation than our last few trips, probably because for one, we had more time there, and also because we weren’t in a hurry to do ANYTHING. The only things we rushed to were dining reservations. We skipped the majority of our fastpasses and our days at the parks were just kind of leisurely and enjoyable 🙂

October won’t be like that though – so much to do and I can’t wait!