Trip Report Orlando 2016 - A much needed Vacation!

I've been back from my amazing Disney vacation for a little over 3 weeks now and all I want to do is go back. If anyone wants to read it, here's the link to my pre-trip report : http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/orlando-summer-2016.915961/

I didn't take many pictures and still haven't uploaded them from my phone yet, but here is my attempt at writing a trip report.

Background: When I was younger I used to go to Disney a lot. My mom and I went for Super Soap weekends (if anyone watches soap operas) and we went on a few family vacations there as well. This was my first trip back in around 7 years and this one was with a good friend of mine.

When: August 26th - September 5th
Where: All Star Music
What: We were doing 4 days at Disney, 1 day at Universal, 1 day at Seaworld, 1 day in Tampa, and a few rest days mixed in.

This was my first time flying alone (my friend lives in Jacksonville and was driving to Orlando to pick me up) and of course my flight out of Atlantic City gets delayed. If anyone is from South Jersey and has flown out of the Atlantic City airport, its a small airport which is nice, except when you get delayed and don't have many options to pass the time.

My flight took off an hour and half later than it was supposed to, I finally got in to Orlando around 10PM. Met my friend at baggage claim, grabbed my bag, and we were on our way!

 

[deanna88]

Friday, August 26th:

After working a half a day, and arriving at the airport early (I was anticipating shore traffic since it was a Friday, so I left early and hit absolutely no traffic), I was exhausted when I finally arrived in Orlando around 10PM. The flight delay was a killer, but luckily the flight there was great and our pilot even sung us a little Spirit jingle when we landed.

I met my friend at baggage claim, grabbed my suitcase, and we were on our way...

We took a ride to I-Drive and had dinner and drinks at the Red Robin there. We both got margaritas and burgers and were ready for our drive to our home way from home for the next 10 days.

We passed this on our ride around I-Drive, which we would ride on, on our last day of our trip. It was a nice experience and we would definitely do it again.

Then we finally made it here...

We couldn't go straight to the room, since we still had pay off the remainder of our bill for the room and set up our credit cards to our magic bands, so we headed to the check-in desk. Check-in was quick, only took 5 minutes as we were the only ones checking in around midnight. We then arrived at our room on the 3rd floor of the Jazz Inn.

The next morning....

Next: Saturday we headed to Sea World bright and early...

 

[deanna88]

Saturday, August 27th:

Today was our day at Sea World. I hadn't been to Sea World since I was a little kid, and could take it or leave it. My friend really wanted to go, since we had added extra days to our vacation so we did. We had the meal plan as well, so decided to skip breakfast and just get an early lunch in the park.

We got to Sea World around 20 minutes before they open and for some reason they weren't letting anyone into the parking lot yet, so we sat in the car in line to get into the parking lot. A few minutes later we parked, and were headed to the entrance. With the Disney Parks, I had a game plan of what we wanted to do, but today we knew there were only a few rides we wanted to hit and mainly just wanted to see the animal shows, so we were winging it today.

We wanted to do Antarctica and see the Penguins, ride Journey to Atlantis, and he wanted to hit Mako. After reading that the penguin exhibit has freezing temperatures, we decided to go there first before we rode Journey to Atlantis and got all wet.

The Antarctica Ride was okay, the penguin exhibit was really cool. It was our first time up close and personal with some penguins.

This little guy kept splashing us...

After visiting with the penguins, we went to ride Journey to Atlantis. I love log flumes and it was great, but we were both surprised by the roller coaster ending. We were able to ride it twice as a walk on, the second time we got absolutely soaked.

Next we saw these guys:

After stopping for some chicken fingers and french fries , he was off to ride Mako, while I sat this one out and waited for him. (I don't do upside down roller coasters)

We had the meal plan so we ate on and off all day, nothing really stood out, just basic theme park food. The nice part was we were able to get free bottled water anywhere in the park, which came in handy in the Florida heat. We got our moneys worth, just in bottled water alone.

After these rides we wanted to make sure we saw all the shows. We saw Pets Ahoy, the Sea Lions Show, Blue Horizon the dolphin show, and we stayed for One Ocean the killer whale show. There were storms in the area and One Ocean was delayed, but eventually the skies cleared up and the show went on.

After the show was over, we headed out of the park and back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. This was my first trip to the new Disney Springs, and I was impressed. We spent 5 or 6 nights here during our trip.

Tonight we had dinner reservations at Paradiso 37. We ordered the guacamole & chips, the crazy corn, and some nachos. It was all delicious...

Sadly, this was the only food pic I took all week.... epic fail....

Next: Day trip to Tampa...

 

[rob0519]

Looks like a great trip. I personally think food pictures are overrated anyway. Thanks for the pictures of Sea World. My family really likes that park and we alternate a day at Sea World and Universal on every Disney Trip.

 

[catmandoo]

Following along... great to see the Sea World pics. I always say we need to go there one of these years since ours closed... Of course, I always thought it was kind of weird to have a Sea World in Ohio.

 

[deanna88]

Sunday, August 28th:

Today was going to be a rest day, but my friend wanted to take me to spend the day in Tampa so off we went. He has been to Tampa and Ybor City numerous times and wanted to show me around, knowing I would love it.

We went to Carmine's in Ybor City for lunch. I knew I needed something greasy to get me ready for some Sunday funday day drinking, so naturally I ordered their loaded cheese fries and he had their crab cakes.

Next, we headed to Gaspar's Grotto across the street and ordered us some drinks. I normally stick to vodka(Tito's) and cranberry, and i think that he got some beer and a shot special they had.

This place was cute. It was pirate themed, and we don't have too many themed bars where I live.

After a few drinks here we headed down the block to The Bad Monkey. They were having stoli specials, so I went with stoli and cranberry. I think he had whiskey or gin, I don't really remember....

This place was military themed:

After a few drinks here, we had a good buzz going and decided to head to the Hard Rock for a few hours of gambling. I love casinos, and go to Atlantic City pretty often, so he knew I would like a stop at the Hard Rock.

We played blackjack for a few hours and hit a couple of slot machines and decided we would come back here again sometime in the future. After all our gambling, it was now time for dinner. The skies didn't look too good, but luckily the rain held off. We were headed to Columbia Restaurant for dinner.

He is a lot more adventurous with food than I am, but I try to compromise as much as possible. He loves cuban food and really wanted the cuban sandwich, so we went to the Columbia Restaurant. He got his cuban food while I got a chicken caesar salad Their cuban bread was delicious.

Once we were stuffed, we decided to make our way back to Orlando. On our way back we couldn't decide what we wanted to do, so I suggested mini golf. Off to Winter Summerland we went.

I chose the winter side for us. I absolutely love Christmas decorations, so I didn't even care that he won, although he kept reminding me of it! The highlight of our mini golf experience was when he bent down to pick our balls up on one of the holes and the snowman squirted water at him. He was not happy, but needless to say I thought it was hilarious! We were also able to see some fireworks going off while we were playing.

After mini golf we called it a night. I knew we should get some sleep as we were starting the Disney Parks the following day!!!

Next: Hollywood Studios

 

[deanna88]

Looks like a great trip. I personally think food pictures are overrated anyway. Thanks for the pictures of Sea World. My family really likes that park and we alternate a day at Sea World and Universal on every Disney Trip.

Thanks for reading

Following along... great to see the Sea World pics. I always say we need to go there one of these years since ours closed... Of course, I always thought it was kind of weird to have a Sea World in Ohio.

Thanks for following!

 

[rob0519]

Sunday, August 28th:

Today was going to be a rest day, but my friend wanted to take me to spend the day in Tampa so off we went. He has been to Tampa and Ybor City numerous times and wanted to show me around, knowing I would love it.

We went to Carmine's in Ybor City for lunch. I knew I needed something greasy to get me ready for some Sunday funday day drinking, so naturally I ordered their loaded cheese fries and he had their crab cakes.

Next, we headed to Gaspar's Grotto across the street and ordered us some drinks. I normally stick to vodka(Tito's) and cranberry, and i think that he got some beer and a shot special they had.

This place was cute. It was pirate themed, and we don't have too many themed bars where I live.

After a few drinks here we headed down the block to The Bad Monkey. They were having stoli specials, so I went with stoli and cranberry. I think he had whiskey or gin, I don't really remember....

This place was military themed:

After a few drinks here, we had a good buzz going and decided to head to the Hard Rock for a few hours of gambling. I love casinos, and go to Atlantic City pretty often, so he knew I would like a stop at the Hard Rock.

We played blackjack for a few hours and hit a couple of slot machines and decided we would come back here again sometime in the future. After all our gambling, it was now time for dinner. The skies didn't look too good, but luckily the rain held off. We were headed to Columbia Restaurant for dinner.

He is a lot more adventurous with food than I am, but I try to compromise as much as possible. He loves cuban food and really wanted the cuban sandwich, so we went to the Columbia Restaurant. He got his cuban food while I got a chicken caesar salad Their cuban bread was delicious.

Once we were stuffed, we decided to make our way back to Orlando. On our way back we couldn't decide what we wanted to do, so I suggested mini golf. Off to Winter Summerland we went.

I chose the winter side for us. I absolutely love Christmas decorations, so I didn't even care that he won, although he kept reminding me of it! The highlight of our mini golf experience was when he bent down to pick our balls up on one of the holes and the snowman squirted water at him. He was not happy, but needless to say I thought it was hilarious! We were also able to see some fireworks going off while we were playing.

After mini golf we called it a night. I knew we should get some sleep as we were starting the Disney Parks the following day!!!

Next: Hollywood Studios

Haven't been to Winter Summerland in over 10 years. Thanks for the pictures. I think we need to put that on the agenda whenever we take our next trip.

 

[DonnaOnTheRocks]

I feel your pain about the AC airport! Following along!

 

[DimpledDevil18]

Great trip report so far! Looks like I just missed you since you were starting the Disney parks on the day I was leaving. We decided to skip Seaworld on our trip this year. We had a not so great experience there on our last trip and I have some mixed feelings about the company after watching Blackfish. To be honest, I'd rather have had the extra day at Disney, so I didn't miss it too much. Can't wait to read more!

 

[deanna88]

I feel your pain about the AC airport! Following along!

That was the only flight delay I have ever experienced there, my only other complaint was I paid around $140 to park my car! ugh!

 

[deanna88]

Great trip report so far! Looks like I just missed you since you were starting the Disney parks on the day I was leaving. We decided to skip Seaworld on our trip this year. We had a not so great experience there on our last trip and I have some mixed feelings about the company after watching Blackfish. To be honest, I'd rather have had the extra day at Disney, so I didn't miss it too much. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for following.

 

[deanna88]

Monday, August 29th:

We got up bright and early and headed to Hollywood Studios. I can't help, but want to call it MGM, it just rolls off the tongue better. We got there at opening and were inside about 5 minutes before the park opened. We were going to Ride Toy Story when we first got there, but it seemed like everyone had that idea. Instead we rode the Great Movie Ride.

After The Great Movie Ride, we were going to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid (The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie when I was a kid), but we had some time to kill before the first show, so we walked around Walt Disney, One Man's Dream.

After our quick walk through, we caught the Little Mermaid show. I do agree it needs updating, but it is still on my must do list when in Disney. We headed over to Toy Story which had a 20 minute wait. We had some time before we could use our fast pass, so we rode it standby and then rode again using our fastpasses.

After riding toy story twice (I lost twice ), we stopped and got some mickey pretzels and frozen cokes to hold us over to lunch. We took a leisurely stroll over to Tower of Terror stopping in a few shops along the way.

We digested our snack and were ready for our Tower of Terror fast passes. I really do love this ride.

After tower of terror, he rode Rock n Roller coaster as a single rider, and I sat this one out. I made sure to wait for him in the air conditioned gift shop, as the heat was already starting to get to me.

We had lunch reservations at Mama Melrose and when we got there they were able to take us early. Which became a recurring pattern, I was hot and hungry and wanted to eat earlier than my original plans.

I thought the restaurant was pretty on the inside, but the food was lacking. We got the chicken parm with spaghetti and a flatbread and split the two and they were both average. After lunch we saw the Muppets Show.

Accomplishing most of what I wanted to do, we headed out of the park. We had planned on coming back for the fireworks, but everyday we left the parks in the afternoon with intentions of returning and we never did. The heat was a killer and my feet felt like they would never be the same after this trip. I am recovered now though.

We got back to our hotel and headed to the room to rest and shower. We decided to head to pointe Orlando for happy hour/dinner. We went to Lafayette's (New Orleans type of restaurant) and got drinks and waffle cheese fries and loaded mac n cheese. Both were absolutely delicious and we are planning to go back there on our next trip to Orlando. We walked around pointe Orlando for a little bit, but the skies were getting dark and a storm was about to roll in. We decided to head back to the hotel and decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the night.

On our way back to Disney, we decided on spending the rest of our night in Disney Springs. We found the outdoor bar at Splitsville, and decided to give it a try. We ended up spending 4 or 5 nights here during our trip. The drinks were good, the food was good, the live band was good, and the people watching was very entertaining as well. This night we only drank, he stuck to beer and I stuck to frozen margaritas. Our hyper bartender even talked me into buying their souvenir sports cup, that gives you cheaper refills on their frozen drinks. This ended up being a good idea as we spent lots of time here. After a few rounds we decided to head back to our hotel, as we had to be at Magic Kingdom at 7:45 the next morning for our Early Morning Magic.

Next: Magic Kingdom!

 

[deanna88]

Tuesday, August 30th:

Today was our Magic Kingdom day. We had early morning magic passes for today. Yes the price was a little high ($69 each), but we figured how often do we go, lets go for it.

We had to be at Magic Kingdom at 7:45 AM. I called the front desk to find out our best transportation option. He wanted to drive, but I didn't think the monorail would be running that early, so the front desk advised us the busses would be running and that would be the best choice. The woman on the phone told me we could take any bus, it didn't have to be a Magic Kingdom bus, but to take the first bus and just tell the bus driver we had breakfast reservations and they would take us.

Here was my only issue of our trip, and it was just a minor one...

The first bus we see is a Hollywood Studios bus. So we get on and tell the bus driver that we need to go to Magic Kingdom for an early reservation. She literally looks at me like I have 5 heads and tells me that she's driving to Hollywood Studios. I explained what the woman at the front desk told me and she responds with an attitude and tells me well she doesn't work for the transportation department and doesn't know what she is talking about. So slightly frustrated at 7AM, we get off the bus and luckily a Magic Kingdom bus comes about 10 minutes later.

Now we are driving to Magic Kingdom and come to a complete stop. They are doing some kind of construction work and the traffic was horrendous. We were supposed to be in the park at 7:45 and never even pulled up to Magic Kingdom until that time. Now we have to walk to the front, go through security, get checked in and get our wristbands. Finally around 8 AM we made it!

Our early passes gave us unlimited rides on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh. I'm not big on the huge, crazy roller coasters, so the Mine Train was perfect for me. After we rode each a few times, we went and enjoyed our breakfast that was included with our ticket.

Our breakfast was a buffet at Pinocchio Village Haus. Buffets can be hit or miss, this one was slightly above average. A cast member spoke to us for a few minutes and wanted to make a "Magical Moment" and gave us an extra fastpass to use at Magic Kingdom that day.



After breakfast we headed towards Splash Mountain. This is a favorite for the both of us. I had a fastpass for it later in the morning, but I figured why not ride it as a standby first as a walk-on. At this point the park was now open, but since we were in frontierland it is was still empty.

We rode Splash Mountain and headed back to the front of the park to start in Adventureland. We lucked out this day and didn't wait more than 10-15 minutes for any ride. In Adventureland we rode Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, and went to the Tiki Room. We then headed back to Splash Mountain to use our fastpass. This time we got absolutely soaked, but it was okay as it felt like it was already 95 degrees out.

We then headed to ride the Haunted Mansion. We took a break and sat down with a drink and another mickey pretzel (I had one at every park ) and just took in our surroundings for a moment. At this point the heat was really starting to get to me and I knew I wouldn't make it all afternoon at the park. He is from Florida and is more used to it then I am, but I could only take so much and then I needed a break.

We then took a leisurely stroll over to Tomorrowland and used our Buzz fastpass, rode the Peoplemover twice, and used our Space Mountain fastpass.

After Space Mountain, I was ready for lunch (I'm always hungry ). We had reservations for Uncle Tony's and luckily they took us early.

We ordered salads, and split zucchini fries and a pizza. We thought the food was pretty good. At this point it was only around 2:30, but I was exhausted. The heat was getting to me and my feet were killing me (I'm getting old, ugh!) so I suggested we take a break back at the hotel. I had pretty much accomplished all of my must-dos at this park anyway, so we headed out to the bus stop.

I think I'll always stay at values, unless I win the lottery, but the Grand Floridian does look beautiful.

Anyway...

It was raining steadily when we got back to the hotel, so we stopped at the pool bar and had our drinks in the food court until the rain calmed down. When we finally got back to the room we showered and watched some TV, and discussed going back for Wishes and getting dinner somewhere in Orlando.

We ended up falling asleep and when I woke up it was already 8:00. We ended up skipping Wishes and never even ate dinner that night. We just ended up staying in bed. This is my proof of getting old, on my last trip I remember being at Magic Kingdom until 2AM, now I was asleep by 8.

Our next day was a rest day, so we were able to sleep in a bit also and try to recuperate and rest our feet.

Next: Rest day - Breakfast at Kona, wine tasting in Clermont, and drinks...

 

[deanna88]

I never got around to finishing this trip report from last year, but our trip for this year is already planned and quickly approaching. We will be back in DIsney in 30 days!

 

[deanna88]

Wednesday, August 31st:

We started this day out with breakfast at Kona, I got the big kahuna (Breakfast is my favorite meal to go out for) and he got the steak & eggs. We split the coffee press.

After walking around the Polynesian, we drove to Clermont, FL to go to a wine tasting at the Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards. We took a tour and then sampled some wine. We bought two bottles to bring back to our hotel with us.

We then drove back to Orlando and stopped for lunch before heading back to our hotel. Once back in our hotel, we watched some SportsCenter and took an afternoon nap.

We ended up spending our night in Disney Springs. We went to Splitsville for dinner and drinks, and sat at their outdoor bar drinking and people watching all night.

Next: Was supposed to be Universal, but due to an impending tropical storm we ended up pushing Universal back and having another rest day.