Trip Report Fairytales Do Come True...

Well friends, we've returned from a magical, rainy, pixie dust filled trip that will NEVER be topped in my book. :) I have so much to share with you that I simply couldn't wait any longer! The first post is a little word-heavy, but I promise the rest of the report will have LOTS of pictures!

Here's my PTR if you'd like to read it!
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/prince-charmings-1st-trip-june-2017.922944/

Here we go! :joyfull:

Tuesday, 6/6

We had a 4pm flight out of Pittsburgh so fortunately didn't have to rush around much the morning that we left. We did some last minute packing and cleaning before loading everything up and heading to drop Tink off at my parents' house. She spent the first 4 days there and the last 4 days with Dylan's mom (and her wiener dog boyfriend :angelic:).

It's never easy leaving this sweet little baby. :( She knew something was up! Fortunately she was a good girl all week and had lots of fun with her grandmas! ;)
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Disney here we come!!!!! :joyfull:
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We were on the road a few minutes after 1pm and it didn't take long for me to take over Dylan's Pandora with the Disney station. :p We arrived at 3pm and parking was a nightmare! We were starting to really cut it close and I was stressing. We went to check our bags and were informed that our flight was delayed until 7:30pm due to weather. It was extremely frustrating to be delayed, but it was a blessing in disguise because we were so short on time. So much for having time to do something on arrival day. :(

We went to TGI Friday's for some snacks. Dylan had pretzels and I had French Onion Soup. I was dreaming about BOG soup. :hungry: It was fine, nothing spectacular! But it filled our tummies and held us over until we got to Orlando.
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After our long delay, we finally boarded our flight and took off right on time at 7:30pm.

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Let me just preface the next part of my report by saying we literally had the BEST flight crew ever! They were so much fun!

The flight attendants went through the typical safety speech but when they were done, one came back over the intercom and said, "I've been asked what to do if you have more than one child. Which one should you put the mask on first? You put it on the one who has the most earning potential OR the one who's going to change your diapers in the years to come. Because that's coming." :hilarious::hilarious::hilarious:

When we started our descent into Orlando, the same flight attendant came back on and sang our landing directions to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain." Then, another flight attendant came on and sang a farewell song to the tune of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." I wish I would have recorded them so I could remember the words. They were HILARIOUS! I love Southwest. :)

We finally landed at 9:30pm and headed to ME. Dylan stopped for some McDonalds in the food court on the way, lol. My mom bought me a Belle MagicBand for Christmas and I had called the day before to get it activated because it wasn't letting me do it myself. Well, it still wasn't working when I scanned it at the ME counter. :cautious: Fortunately, I had thrown my band for this trip in my carry on so scanned it for the time being.

Being that we landed close to 10pm, I wasn't sure about whether or not ME would get our luggage for us. The CM at the counter said we were fine and they would get it. It made me a little nervous, but we took her word for it.
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We boarded a boring Mears bus at 10:10 and pulled out a few minutes later. The welcome video was broken so we watched Brave instead. :(
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We arrived home at 10:45pm! :joyfull: This is the best I could do, lol.
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We went to the front desk to get my MagicBand fixed which only took a few minutes. I also never received my "room ready" text so had to figure out where we were staying. We were in the Hoops Hotel section! I took these pictures later in the week since it was dark when we arrived. :)
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I had requested a first floor room, thinking it would be nice to not have to walk up and down steps or ride the elevator. It ended up being pretty noisy with all the people walking by. We're both heavy sleepers and even more so because we were always exhausted at the end of the day, so it wasn't a huge deal. But I just thought it was worth mentioning for those of you who are light sleepers or have little ones!

We stopped in the food court for a snack and our mugs, as we were on the dining plan. We ate our snacks in our room and then hopped into bed!

I woke up at 3:30am and we still didn't have our luggage. There was a message on the phone that was left at 1am saying our luggage was there.. to call when we needed it and they would bring it to the room. I went back to sleep and called when we got up at 6:30am. I was on hold for 15 minutes and when they answered, was told luggage services didn't open until 7am. :cautious: Then why did you leave me a message saying to call when I wanted it delivered? Our luggage arrived a few minutes after 7am so it ended up being fine.

Next up, Magic Kingdom!!!! :joyfull:

7,183 steps
5.74 miles
 
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gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
I checked my email to pass the time and boy am I glad I did! Sitting in my inbox was an official job offer to teach 1st grade at Central Avenue Elementary in Osceola County! :joyfull: That puts me 20 minutes away from Disney! :D:D:D How's that for a twofer @DisneyBound2017?? :p So much good news in one week and even more reason to celebrate in Disney!
Congratulations on the job offer!!! And to get the news while at Disney:inlove::happy:

Is there a certain grade level that Dylan teaches or wants to teach?

Great report so far - really enjoying all of your Memory Maker photos - you and Dylan look so cute and so happy:happy:
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Wednesday, 6/7 cont.

The photographer took a few more pictures of us before we headed off to start our day!
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We're ENGAGED!!!! :joyfull::inlove:
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My fiancé. :inlove:
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We headed toward Tomorrowland and got in line for Space Mountain, which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes. It ended up being a little shorter than that, but I didn't care because I was busy calling all of my family back home to share our big news! :inlove:

After the ride, we went to look at our picture but it hadn't popped up yet. Dylan scans his band and I'm like, "What are you doing? That's not us! :hilarious:" And he's like, "Oh I thought if I scanned it ours would come up." It was a good thought, but nope. :hilarious:

Here we are! :hilarious:
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That's better. ;)
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Next, we waited standby for Buzz, which was accurately posted at 35 minutes. This game infuriates me because I can never tell where I'm shooting. But I somehow managed to hit a few big targets and kicked Dylan's booty. :p Pretty sure that's the best I've ever done lol.
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We continued through Tomorrowland and ran into iCan talking to a group of people. We stopped to listen for a few minutes and I took a picture of him from where I was standing.
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He saw me and sped over to where I was standing. He got right in my face and said, "Oh! It's time for my close up!" :hilarious:
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The rest of our conversation went like this...

Him: How do I look?
Me: You look great!
Him: You're supposed to say AMAZING. Let's try again. You didn't know. Oh, time for my close up! How do I look?
Me: AMAZING!
Him: Oh thank you! Perfect answer and on the first try!

:hilarious::hilarious: Be sure to stop and talk to him if you get a chance! He was fun!

Continuing on, we made our way through Fantasyland and headed toward our first FP+!
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Magnificent!


Congrats to the both of you!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Thursday, 6/8 cont.

I talked Dylan into doing our first character meet and greet of the trip with royalty in Arendelle. :) The wait time was posted as 35 minutes but we only waited about 20. I love the queue! So many fun details. :)
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Anna was pretty excited about our engagement. ;)
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She made sure that I had known Dylan for longer than 3 minutes.. I told her that I had learned my lesson from her. :p
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She asked if there would be chocolate cake at the wedding and if she could come. I told her there would DEFINITELY be chocolate cake and we'll be sure to add her to the guest list. :)
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She asked if Dylan was an ice harvester and he said no. She asked what he does and I said he's a teacher and a golfer. She wanted to know if he would be able to help Olaf out with his golf game because when he hits his little snowballs, his stick arms fly off! :hilarious:
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She was a great Anna! :)
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She led us over to where Elsa was waiting and filled her in on our engagement. Elsa confirmed that we had known each other for longer than a day and said that we could have a royal celebration in the ice palace complete with chocolate ice cream cake. :) Her voice was strange... not a good fit for Elsa. But we had a good meet and greet with her regardless!
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I love that Anna and Elsa are able to interact in their new location. Anna always "hand delivered" the people to Elsa and they would talk to one another before Anna moved on to the next group. I think it's a nice touch!


I'm not a big "meet & greet" person, but this one was terrific!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow love your trip report so far. Just got back from Disney yesterday, great trip. Congratulations on your engagement. So exciting. My wife and I celebrate 15 years in October. Also glad to hear we are fellow alumni. I graduated from Clarion in 1997! Have a lot of fond memories of Clarion wrestling and football in the mid 90s. Cant wait for more of the report!

Thank you! :) Glad to hear that you had a great trip and congrats on your upcoming 15 year anniversary! I'm sure the years will fly by and before we know it we'll be celebrating 15 years together! :)

Clarion was great to us! Wouldn't have wanted to spend my college years anywhere else. :)

Not a guru by any stretch, but it looks like they're maybe using a fish eye lens. Similar to looking through the peep hole on your front door.

When you guys go house shopping you'll see a ton of fish eye lens photos because it makes the rooms look bigger. House shopping is like internet dating: you never really see what you get until you show up!

I'm afraid of that. :cautious: Fortunately the place we're renting is only under an 8 month lease so if we show up and hate it, we won't have to stay there forever. It was so hard picking a place without being able to physically go and see it. House shopping once we're there will hopefully be a lot easier for that reason!

Best. Line. Ever. :D

I still crack up when I think about it. :hilarious:


:hilarious: Not trying to make enemies with your lady here Mickey!

Wide angle vertical. :eek: That's a big no-no with people pictures. Sometimes because of the space I'm in, I have to do it at weddings just to get the action in the shot and IT KILLS MY SOUL. A lot of disney photographers do wide angle vertical shots, but they're usually not as extreme as this, so you don't notice. This one is actually pretty comical :joyfull: You guys look like you wear a size 3 toddler shoe size :hilarious:

I KNOW! :hilarious: They're ridiculous. I made Dylan get other ones taken later because I was not okay with these being our only Spaceship Earth pictures. :cautious: Leave yours at home in August. :p

WOW!! That's sooo exciting! Congrats!

Thank you! :)

Mickey: Nice button
You: Yo dude - my eyes are up here!!!

Max

Hahaha! :hilarious: Leave it to Mickey. :p

The food looks delicious - definitely on my to-do list for our next trip!

You won't regret it! :hungry:

Congrats!! It's so awesome that you got engaged in your favorite place!!! So cool that he proposed so early in the trip; you got to do Disney with your FIANCE instead of your boyfriend. You're going to have a blast wedding planning!!!

Thank you! He did a great job with his planning. :) Wedding planning is so exciting, but so stressful already! There are soooo many decisions that need to be made and Dylan doesn't care about all of the details... he just wants to get married. I hate making decisions! Lol. :rolleyes:

Congratulations on the job offer!!! And to get the news while at Disney:inlove::happy:

Is there a certain grade level that Dylan teaches or wants to teach?

Great report so far - really enjoying all of your Memory Maker photos - you and Dylan look so cute and so happy:happy:

Thank you! The most perfect place to receive such good news. :)

Dylan teaches high school social studies, so in Florida he could teach anywhere from 6th-12th grade. It makes his job search a little more difficult because he doesn't have as much flexibility as I do. But the recruitment teams swears they're on the case and will have something for him.. Patience is hard. :cautious:

We got so many great pictures over the course of the week! He sure does make me happy. :inlove:

First you get engaged! Second you get a job offer!! WOW! What an amazing trip so far!

I like how Dylan seems to be enjoying himself with the characters!

The best week ever!!! :joyfull: I think he enjoyed the characters more than he wants me to think. ;)

Magnificent!
Congrats to the both of you!
I'm not a big "meet & greet" person, but this one was terrific!

Thank you! :) Anna and Elsa were great (Anna especially)! I'm glad we took the time to meet them!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, 6/8 cont.

We took a much needed nap back in the room and finally headed back to the park at 5pm. We had a very important FP+ to make it to!
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Such a strange place for a ride picture... :cautious:
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Thoughts... It was a neat ride and was obviously well done. The animatronics were amazing and the overall decor throughout the ride was immersive. However, it's not worth much of a wait. I suppose for little ones it would be more worthwhile, but it's definitely not going to be a must do for me unless it has a short line.

Following our icy journey, we were running a little short on time before we had to be at our dinner ADR. We still had quite a bit of world traveling to do so we didn't waste any more time! We entered into Germany and one does not simply walk through Germany without making a pitstop here... :p
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Dylan had a plain caramel apple while I had a caramel brownie and a caramel s'more. :hungry: We only had a few bites of our snacks for now so we didn't fill up before dinner, but rest assured that they were devoured by the end of the week. ;)
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Moving on to beautiful Italy... I think this is my favorite country visually speaking.
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We waved to America but kept on walking... I was really hoping to catch the Voices of Liberty this trip but we just didn't have time. :(
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Continuing on through Japan...
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, 6/8 cont.

I'm disappointed that we didn't have time to slow down and explore each country more.. Morocco has beautiful architecture that I obviously didn't fully appreciate with this lone picture, lol.
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I couldn't possibly make it through Italy without a Grand Mariner Slush. :hungry: We drank these so fast that we were actually feeling the effects a bit, lol. To be fair, we also drank them on an empty stomach. :rolleyes:
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Moving right along to the UK!
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It's so beautiful here, too. :)
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And last but not least, Canada! Whew... we made it the whole way around in record time! Like I said, I wish we would have had more time to explore, but Dylan said he wasn't overly concerned with spending a lot of time in each country. I was satisfied because he at least got to see each country briefly!
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I see you Spaceship Earth. :happy:
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We picked up the pace a bit and hustled back toward Future World. We arrived here a mere 2 minutes late... Guess where we're eating? :p
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, 6/8 cont.

We were given a pager and then called back just a few minutes later. We were led to our table and shortly after sitting down, Dylan looks at me and says, "Are we moving? o_O" I told him yes and explained that we'd revolve through scenes of Living with the Land. He sighed with relief and said, "Okay, I was like 'Am I drunk?'" :hilarious::hilarious::hilarious:
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Our server was Tim and he took great care of us. He took our drink orders and returned quickly with salad, rolls, and potato salad. :hungry: I could have made a meal of the rolls (smothered in butter) and the potato salad. SO GOOD. I don't remember having potato salad last year... It was a delicious addition!
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Main dish selections... sans sweet potato fries. :cry: I had a hefty serving of that mac and cheese though. :hungry:
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The best part of any meal... dessert! :)
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For those of you who have never dined at Garden Grill, the meal is "all you can eat." If you want more of any particular dish, all you have to do is ask! We didn't need to ask for seconds.. we were full after our "firsts!"

Official menu from Disney:
Harvest-Inspired Farmer's Salad
All-Natural Sliced Turkey Breast (with turkey gravy)
Home-style Pot Roast
Italian Sausage with Sautéed Peppers and Onions
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Bacon and Leek Stuffing
French Fries
Macaroni and Cheese
Garden Fresh Vegetables
Short Cake topped with Fruit Compote and Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

We had some special friends visit us throughout our meal. :)
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A kind CM walking past offered to take one of us together. :)
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Dylan had food in his mouth and couldn't chew it up fast enough before Dale insisted on a picture. :hilarious:
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Thoughts on Garden Grill... It was fine. Last year when we ate here I was blown away, hence my decision to book another ADR for this trip. The food was subpar (and not just because they took away my precious sweet potato fries :rolleyes:) and the dessert was kind of dry. We ended up mostly just eating the fruit off the top. The character interactions were meh and seemed a lot more rushed than last year. A couple of them made it around twice but they barely gave us a passing glance... which is fine because we already had our time with them but last year was vastly different. Our meal wasn't bad by any stretch, but it wasn't nearly as good as what I remember from last trip. I won't say that we'll never be back, but probably not for awhile. :(
 
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, 6/8 cont.

After our meal, the only thing that we still really wanted to do was Test Track. The wait was posted at 140 minutes and Dylan said that it would be fine to just wait since we really wanted to do it.

We stopped in Mouse Gear on our way over and looked around for a few minutes. I graduated with my Master's degree in May and would have so much rather worn this cap than my boring black one. :p
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We walked the rest of the way over and I remembered that TT has a single rider line! It was posted at 40 minutes so we decided to do that instead. 15 minutes later we were each boarding our cars. :D
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The people in my car were a riot. :hilarious: They screamed and cheered the entire time. It made being a single rider slightly less awkward. ;)
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Dylan and his crew were obviously not as much fun. :p
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We met up at the exit and both agreed that we wanted to ride again! The wait time was still posted at 40 minutes but we literally walked on to a car... together! :joyfull:
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We decided that we were ready to head back to the room, so we slowly made our way toward the exit.
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I insisted that we stop for a better picture than what we got earlier. ;)
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See ya next time, Epcot!
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20,019 steps
16.01 miles
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Hold on. A Graduate Degree, an engagement, a Disney extravaganza, and a new job?!? You are on top of the world! So excited for you. Seems like you had a great trip so far. Love your food pics and also LOVE you calculating your miles and steps. It's fascinating how much one walks while there.

OK for possibly the fourth time....

Congrats on the graduation, engagement, the new job......

Wait
Been there, done that....

Max
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
Hope you find the time to look at some of the countries if you are in WS again! It is awesome! For years, we did what you did, just rushed by the countries so we could make it around the WS and go on.
Now, we take the time and have found favorites. Morroco is absolutely beautiful with the blue tiles and fountains. Hope you get to see it. We love Germany, UK, and Japan, oh can't forget Mexico too. The grounds at Canada are beautiful. We found a very nice spot to just sit and enjoy the flowers and formal garden behind the UK building. It is quiet, peaceful, and shaded. What a great place to rest a bit. Mary Poppins also has her M&G there too, which is fun to watch. We are "older" now and take the time to just look. But when we were your age, we always hurried through the world because we thought there was nothing of interest to see. I do hope you can experience this one day too.
 

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