Trip Report 12 days of Live Trip Reporting

Departing tomorrow (June 28) from home in Manchester, Maryland for an extended 12 day visit to the World. Originally a 6 day visit, we added almost a full second week so DD could participate in the Disney Soccer Academy from July 7-10.

We will be leaving home around noon tomorrow and will drive straight through (about 1000 miles) with the plan being arrival around 7am or so at our first of 3 resorts, Grand Floridian (2 nights). If you want to check out our plans, we have a Pre-Trip Report (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/a-6-day-no-make-that-12-day-4th-of-july-pre-trip.884929/) that you can check out if you want to know more about our plans.

I try to post daily when we are at Disney and include pictures as much as possible, so sit back, grab some popcorn, and join us each each night for the next couple weeks at the World!
 

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
Man are we getting tired....day 11 is all wrapped up. Up early for some breakfast and took DD to soccer camp around 8:15am. Not sure what all was going on at Wide World of Sports today, but it was CRAZY packed over there. All week has been AAU basketball tourney, a volleyball tourney, a couple baseball tourneys, but today there was some kind of track meet also and maybe more. Suffice to say by 8:30am, they were already parking people on the far fields, so we just did drop off up front!

Once she was all set, DW and I followed a similar plan to yesterday - lounging by the pool followed by lunch. This time it was at Big River over at the Boardwalk. DW @MeffysMom and I are beer (searching for the right word...afficianados? fans? snobs? nerds?) drinkers and have each tried well over a thousand different beers (we used to frequent a bar where they kept track) and our verdict on Big River's brews. "Meh." Nothing special, but the jalapeno/spinach/cheese dip really hit the spot!

When we went to pick DD up at 2:30pm, the afternoon storms were just rolling in and WWoS was even more insane - all those athletes and families and fans packing into the field house from all the outdoor facilities was crazy. We actually managed to get DD and get out before the rain really started (and somehow, the rain really never hit us - although most of the places we went were soaked when we got there) and we drove over to Magic Kingdom to catch a boat to Fort Wilderness for dinner at Trail's End.

Today's photos are all for specific needs, sorry no fun family shots today - between keeping the nice camera in the room because of the storm threat and the fact that our activities were not as unique as usual...

Took the ferry across to MK and took a few pictures of the ongoing construction of DVC at Polynesian. I have more if you want them @wdwmagic


Dinner was nice. We enjoyed Trail's End and definitely appreciated the price tag - I'd say it is the best buffet meal value at Disney. And we did manage to have some sugar cookies for dessert (owing to today being National Sugar Cookie Day). As promised, here's a photo of those cookies for @trr1 @MOXOMUMD @JenniferS @StarWarsGirl95 @NYwdwfan @Gabe1 @Soarin' Over Pgh @Cesar R M @donaldtoo @PUSH and all the other Sageteers.


After dinner, it was back over to Magic Kingdom to use FP+ for Jungle Cruise (not the best skipper, but she delivered the material), Pirates (darn people in the boat behind us taking flash pictures every 10 seconds), and Splash Mountain (wet, but not soaked). We then weaved our way through the masses preparing for the parade to get a couple souvenirs before heading out. The crowd was quite mixed in attitude - the 3 or 4 groups of 100+ Argentine high schoolers were singing and dancing and partying, the 3 or 4 groups of 100+ Brazilian high schoolers were looking dejected and trying to find the energy to mock the Argentinians. Rather interesting to watch the interaction between the rival nationalities who just experienced polar opposite football (soccer) results.

Tomorrow is the final day - one more day of soccer camp and a little bit of MK touring afterwards (and perhaps another Epcot lunch for us grownups). Then home for 3 days before our next trip....more on that later....
Thank you for the cookie!!! :hungry:
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
OK, folks. The final day post will be up soon. Just got out of the car after 17.5 hours in it, so a little decompression before I load the pics off the camera and post. Sorry to say, I don't have any pics of the monsoon that hit MK last night at 5:30pm, but it was torrential (evidently, there was a flood warning going on) and we were pretty stuck in it! Gotta find that bag of wet shoes and socks and get them out before the car really smells like middle school PE class. Then a nap and some food. Then a post. Promise!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Took a little longer to recover (and mow the 2 weeks growth of lawn, and get groceries, and unpack, and re-pack for our next trip, and do laundry, etc) so I apologize for the delay! It doesn't help that Photobucket appears to be having another bad day...

So, our final day began as the past few have, early breakfast and taking DD to soccer camp. DW and I then got all our things packed up and loaded in the car in preparation for the big drive coming later. The original plan was to leave immediately from soccer camp at 3pm, but we also had originally planned to do some attractions each morning before camp. Since the mornings became a little tougher for DD (that whole 6 hours playing soccer in 90+ degree heat and humidity made her tired, who would've guessed?) we decided to add a couple FP+ for our last afternoon before the drive home, so now the plan was to do a few rides after camp and then hit the road at 6pm. But, I'm getting ahead of myself!

DW and I got checked out and head to Boardwalk and then Epcot to relax and walk through, maybe shop a little, and then have our last visit with Carl at the Rose and Crown. We walked the Boardwalk (and looked in at the remodeled bakery) and then into International Gateway around 10:30am. After some casual walking around, at 11am, we were quite shocked by a little Epcot-style Characterpalooza between. Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Chip and Dale, and...see below. They all came out right at 11am and had gone back in by 11:20am - and the whole time had almost no crowd.



After some chips and some beverages with Carl, we headed over to watch the last bit of soccer camp. DW met up with one of the Disney Moms Panel members and they chatted for a while and, of course, the big cheese himself showed up for some pics with the soccer kids.



We then headed to MK with FP+ in (digital) hand for meeting Tinkerbell, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Parked, monorailed in, and met with Tink.


Then we stopped off at Tomorrowland Terrace for some dinner and to check out the hub construction progress.


And then to Space Mountain. Since we had just eaten and I'm not the biggest coaster fan, the girls rode without me on this one and I hung out in the arcade area (where I was VERY disappointed to see the pinball machines are gone!!). It was about this time that the storms hit. So, the arcade area because packed with people getting out of the pouring rain. When the girls finished their ride, we discussed our plan of action...even with our ponchos, there was no way we were going to make it across the park to Big Thunder, so we changed our FP+ to Buzz and headed that way. We only made it to the Launching Pad when the storm really got a bit crazy. Multiple lightning strikes within the park, including one that we are pretty sure was right behind the Buzz building. We just stayed huddled with LOTS of other folks at the Launching Pad for a good 20 minutes or so. Things improved a little bit, so we made our way over to Buzz - even with ponchos, getting pretty soaked as the water level in Tomorrowland was a good 2-3 inches everywhere. Rode Buzz with FP+ and then got a little more soaked to walk from the exit to the entrance and ride again. The rain had the entry and exit areas packed with people, but nobody was actually riding!! After the second ride we decided it was time to head out. The rain was still very heavy, but the lightning had moved off to a good couple of miles away.

By the time we got to the car, it was about 7pm and we had to dig through the trunk to find some shoes to put on that were not fully waterlogged! Hit the road a little after 7pm (as the rain finally started to let up a bit) and after 18 hours of quality family time, a couple pit stops and rest areas, we found ourselves at home by 1pm on Friday afternoon.

 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
So...here we are. November. And what are we doing? Planning our next trip. When? Same as last year - right around the 4th of July. Our daughter loved the soccer academy, so we are going to do another 10 day visit next summer from June 28-July 7. This time, soccer academy at the beginning of the trip so as not quite as exhausting. And...our daughter's first EVER visit to Universal. We've only just begun to sketch out plans, but looking at 3 days at Universal, 3 days at Disney, and 4 days of soccer camp where we visit Disney parks in the evening following. Lots to work out, but based on this past summer, we're going to follow the same July 3/4 plan with Magic Kingdom on the 3rd and Epcot on the 4th. Once park hours start getting posted for July and we actually book with DVC, it'll be pre-trip report time. :)
 

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
So...here we are. November. And what are we doing? Planning our next trip. When? Same as last year - right around the 4th of July. Our daughter loved the soccer academy, so we are going to do another 10 day visit next summer from June 28-July 7. This time, soccer academy at the beginning of the trip so as not quite as exhausting. And...our daughter's first EVER visit to Universal. We've only just begun to sketch out plans, but looking at 3 days at Universal, 3 days at Disney, and 4 days of soccer camp where we visit Disney parks in the evening following. Lots to work out, but based on this past summer, we're going to follow the same July 3/4 plan with Magic Kingdom on the 3rd and Epcot on the 4th. Once park hours start getting posted for July and we actually book with DVC, it'll be pre-trip report time. :)

Excited that you are going to do this again for your daughter. :happy: Agree it is better at the end. My DD was about the same age when she did the same First Visit to Universal and I'm sure she'll love it as much as my kids did, it has come a long way. Are you staying on Uni property those days? Awaiting that pretrip report! :D
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Excited that you are going to do this again for your daughter. :happy: Agree it is better at the end. My DD was about the same age when she did the same First Visit to Universal and I'm sure she'll love it as much as my kids did, it has come a long way. Are you staying on Uni property those days? Awaiting that pretrip report! :D

We'll be at Old Key West the entire time. At least that's the current plan. Haven't booked anything, still pricing out different options. Also pondering different ticket options as we may have a Food and Wine visit next year (my wife wants to run the W&D Half Marathon) and then the possibility of next summer. To Annual Pass or not to Annual Pass? Hoping for DVC Annual Pass discount to happen again this January - that would seal the deal!
 

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