Hi! I am not usually one who likes to be in the spotlight. I don’t have any social media accounts and will often fade to the corner in a room filled with a lot of people. However, one of my favorite pastimes is reading Disney trip reports and watching other people’s videos of their Disney trips. Given this, I am going to document our upcoming trip to Disney World and hopefully provide some joy by allowing other Disney fans to live vicariously through our trip.
I mentioned “our” trip. Who else is going with me? My wife, Erica, will be joining me, of course! This will be our eighth Disney trip together:
July 2007: 7-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
July 2009: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
July 2012: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
January 2013: 2-night stay at POP Century to run Disney Half Marathon followed by a 4-night cruise on the Disney Dream
July 2014: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
December 2014: 3-night trip to Disneyland Resort
December 2015: 4-night cruise on the Disney Magic (with Erica’s mom and our friend, Matt)
(upcoming) July 2017: Split stay (4-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort followed by a 5-night stay at Port Orleans French Quarter)
(upcoming) January 2018: 5-night stay at All-Star Sports for Marathon Weekend
I also went once when I was 7-years-old and my family stayed at the Polynesian.
Yes, we’re a little spoiled when it comes to Disney vacations.
A little about us. We are in our mid-to-late 30s with no kids and there is barely a day that goes by where we don’t discuss something Disney related. We currently live in Pennsylvania, but both are originally from upstate New York. As you can see above, we typically take our vacations in the summer due to both of us predominantly working in education fields. When we tell others we are heading to Disney World in July, we usually get strange looks. The heat doesn’t bother us, though. We spend enough time cooped up indoors during the winter that it feels good, even if there is a constant trickle (or stream!) of sweat running down your back.
How did our Disney fascination develop?
I was in Central Florida for work in the spring of 2005. During some downtime, and knowing nothing about Disney World, I ventured over to check it out. I ended up in the Boardwalk area and was thoroughly impressed. Thinking I might go check out Epcot if the admission was reasonable, I quickly turned away when I was told it was $67 to enter. If only I knew what a bargain that would be a dozen years later.
Fast forward one year and I am back in Florida on business again. I had done some research in the previous year and wanted to see Animal Kingdom Lodge in person. The moment I entered the lobby I became hooked on all things Disney. I couldn’t wait to show Erica. We started planning our first trip as soon as I got home. Erica knew nothing about Disney and was just happy to be going on vacation. I became obsessed with planning. Knowing we couldn’t do everything on that first trip, my goal was for us to return home and not say, “I wish we would have known about that. I would have rather done that than X.” That goal was accomplished.
What’s Next?
As we have taken more vacations, our goals have changed. This summer will be our first Disney World trip in three years. We are excited to experience some of the new offerings since our last trip in 2014 and to revisit old ones. My goal, as always, is to sleep as little as possible on the trip and experience everything we can.
Some unique aspects of this summer’s trip will be experiencing some new dining locations (Tutto Italia, Garden Grill, Sanaa), and hopefully attending Chip and Dale’s Campfire Sing-a-Long at Fort Wilderness. We also have a fun challenge day planned in the middle of our trip.
We have fun on separate adventures before;will split up for our challenge. Our goal is to experience the same two attractions in each park in reverse order and see who completes the task first. Since I would skip meals to move along, we are required to take 20 minutes for a counter service meal at some point during the challenge.
Below is the challenge order for me. Erica’s is the same, just visiting the parks in an opposite order. The challenge starts in the morning at our bus stop at Port Orleans French Quarter. Any guesses on who wins? How long will it take? We are not yet sure where our finish line should be…the TTC or back at our resort? We do need to make sure we make it to our 6 p.m. reservation at Garden Grill.
Starting line: Bus stop at Port Orleans French Quarter
Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania & Star Tours
Magic Kingdom: Peter Pan’s Flight (Erica’s Fastpass) & Pirates of the Caribbean
Epcot: Soarin’ (Todd’s Fastpass) & The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur and Kilimanjaro Safari
Finish line: TTC or Port Orleans French Quarter?
We will be at Disney World until July 23. I hope to continue our actual trip report in this thread shortly after we return. Until then, happy planning of your own trips!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- We're Back (posted July 30)
- Arrival Day (Part 1 of 2) (posted Aug. 6)
- Arrival Day (Part 2 of 2) (posted Aug. 7)
I mentioned “our” trip. Who else is going with me? My wife, Erica, will be joining me, of course! This will be our eighth Disney trip together:
July 2007: 7-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
July 2009: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
July 2012: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
January 2013: 2-night stay at POP Century to run Disney Half Marathon followed by a 4-night cruise on the Disney Dream
July 2014: 9-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort
December 2014: 3-night trip to Disneyland Resort
December 2015: 4-night cruise on the Disney Magic (with Erica’s mom and our friend, Matt)
(upcoming) July 2017: Split stay (4-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort followed by a 5-night stay at Port Orleans French Quarter)
(upcoming) January 2018: 5-night stay at All-Star Sports for Marathon Weekend
A 2007 trip photo at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
And here we are in 2014 at a Coronado Springs bus stop
I also went once when I was 7-years-old and my family stayed at the Polynesian.
Yes, we’re a little spoiled when it comes to Disney vacations.
A little about us. We are in our mid-to-late 30s with no kids and there is barely a day that goes by where we don’t discuss something Disney related. We currently live in Pennsylvania, but both are originally from upstate New York. As you can see above, we typically take our vacations in the summer due to both of us predominantly working in education fields. When we tell others we are heading to Disney World in July, we usually get strange looks. The heat doesn’t bother us, though. We spend enough time cooped up indoors during the winter that it feels good, even if there is a constant trickle (or stream!) of sweat running down your back.
Here is an example of me trying to adapt to the heat in the Kilimanjaro Safari queue
How did our Disney fascination develop?
I was in Central Florida for work in the spring of 2005. During some downtime, and knowing nothing about Disney World, I ventured over to check it out. I ended up in the Boardwalk area and was thoroughly impressed. Thinking I might go check out Epcot if the admission was reasonable, I quickly turned away when I was told it was $67 to enter. If only I knew what a bargain that would be a dozen years later.
Fast forward one year and I am back in Florida on business again. I had done some research in the previous year and wanted to see Animal Kingdom Lodge in person. The moment I entered the lobby I became hooked on all things Disney. I couldn’t wait to show Erica. We started planning our first trip as soon as I got home. Erica knew nothing about Disney and was just happy to be going on vacation. I became obsessed with planning. Knowing we couldn’t do everything on that first trip, my goal was for us to return home and not say, “I wish we would have known about that. I would have rather done that than X.” That goal was accomplished.
Here I am in front of the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby window
What’s Next?
As we have taken more vacations, our goals have changed. This summer will be our first Disney World trip in three years. We are excited to experience some of the new offerings since our last trip in 2014 and to revisit old ones. My goal, as always, is to sleep as little as possible on the trip and experience everything we can.
Some unique aspects of this summer’s trip will be experiencing some new dining locations (Tutto Italia, Garden Grill, Sanaa), and hopefully attending Chip and Dale’s Campfire Sing-a-Long at Fort Wilderness. We also have a fun challenge day planned in the middle of our trip.
We have fun on separate adventures before;will split up for our challenge. Our goal is to experience the same two attractions in each park in reverse order and see who completes the task first. Since I would skip meals to move along, we are required to take 20 minutes for a counter service meal at some point during the challenge.
Below is the challenge order for me. Erica’s is the same, just visiting the parks in an opposite order. The challenge starts in the morning at our bus stop at Port Orleans French Quarter. Any guesses on who wins? How long will it take? We are not yet sure where our finish line should be…the TTC or back at our resort? We do need to make sure we make it to our 6 p.m. reservation at Garden Grill.
Starting line: Bus stop at Port Orleans French Quarter
Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania & Star Tours
Magic Kingdom: Peter Pan’s Flight (Erica’s Fastpass) & Pirates of the Caribbean
Epcot: Soarin’ (Todd’s Fastpass) & The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur and Kilimanjaro Safari
Finish line: TTC or Port Orleans French Quarter?
Erica with her favorite, Flynn Rider, and Rapunzel when we split up while I was on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour in 2012
We will be at Disney World until July 23. I hope to continue our actual trip report in this thread shortly after we return. Until then, happy planning of your own trips!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- We're Back (posted July 30)
- Arrival Day (Part 1 of 2) (posted Aug. 6)
- Arrival Day (Part 2 of 2) (posted Aug. 7)
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