The Trip Report that was 23 years in the making

This is my first WDW trip report. I wrote one for Disneyland last summer. You can read that here if you like.

Me and my mom visited WDW from 12/2-12/8 2012. I am also writing this for my blog, so I might explain some things most of us already know. Most of the photos were taken with my Sony NEX-5N and a variety of lenses, some with my iPhone 5, my mom's Canon D10, or her phone.

Dramatis personae:
Me – Your humble narrator. I had developed a bad cough a couple days before the trip and got some medicine to help, so hopefully it will go away and I can really enjoy myself.
Moms – My mother, she repeatedly claims to want nothing to do with Disney parks, but once we get there you can’t pull her away.

Before I begin, a little history. Join me in letting your mind wander back to 1989, cell phones were actually about as big as they are now (I’m looking at you Galaxy Note 2), as far as we knew Ewoks and the Holiday Special would be the only blights on the Star Wars franchise, and Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios were still called EPCOT Center & Disney-MGM Studios respectively. As a seven year old, Moms took me to Disney World in the summer, because apparently we enjoyed the heat back then. I only have vague memories of that trip, but those are my earliest memories of the Disney Parks. So here we are going back 23 years later, during a more favorable time of year, as seasoned Disneyland vets. How would Walt’s original park fair in comparison? Would we constantly be lost? Is the internet right and Walt Disney World is a huge crumbling pile of disappointment? We’d have to travel to the other side of the country to find out.

We had a 7 am flight, which meant being at the airport during my sleep time. Luckily no one sat between us Phoenix to Charlotte so we could spread out a little. We only had about 40 minutes between our connecting flight which meant we basically ran across the Charlotte airport. Maybe next time I’ll get to sit in their rocking chairs. Someone sat between us on the final leg of our trip, but the flight was short so it didn’t bother me. Especially because I was probably just as excited to go to Disney World as the little kids in the aisle across from us.
One of the “perks” Disney has for staying on property at Disney World is a service called Disney’s Magical Express (DME). With DME, you get luggage tags to stick on your checked luggage before you leave home and Disney takes it off the plane and delivers it to your room a couple hours after you land. They’ll also take you from the Orlando airport to your hotel. It’s pretty nice skipping baggage claim and getting a free ride to your hotel.
The DME area features a number of lines each going to a different grouping of hotels. We found our line and after about a 10 minute wait, we were boarding our bus and headed on our way.
- we got a Disney Cruise Line bus to take us

- the park entry arches are so cool

Which hotel were we staying at exactly you ask? Well, that would be the Polynesian.

- outside the hotel
- inside the lobby

We checked in and were given a room in the Rarotonga building right next to the Great Ceremonial House (main lobby area). We briefly checked out Capt. Cook’s before heading to our room. Despite reading about Disney’s use of RFID for the locks on the rooms, I completely forgot about that when the time came to actually get in. Luckily there were some other guests in the hallway to help us out. The room was nice, and with the daybed, we had quite a bit of space.
- walking outside and seeing this is the moment I realized Disney World wasn’t playing around
- room details

After scoping the room out for a bit, we were feeling a little hungry and decided to go back to Capt. Cook’s for lunch. We explored a little of the hotel and went down to the Seven Seas Lagoon for a glimpse of Magic Kingdom Park as well as the Grand Floridian & the Contemporary hotels. That area is amazing. The Polynesian does a good job of giving you that tropical feeling when looking out over the water.
- Polynesian Resort grounds
- Seven Seas Lagoon

I had seen something called Pork Nachos at Capt. Cook’s and they were calling my name, so off we went for food. Moms had the pepperoni flatbread and I had the aforementioned nachos. The nachos were very good, but could have used more toppings (like all nachos). Moms thought her flatbread was so-so.
- cupcakes
- pork nachos
- pepperoni flatbread
- tropical Mickey & Minnie with I’m assuming Mickey’s nephews

to be continued with our first park visit

 

[gsrjedi]

Moms loves the Aladdin show in California Adventure, so we went to see the Beauty & the Beast stage show since it was starting soon. This was also the time of our Toy Story fastpasses, so we ended up skipping that. The show was okay, Moms thought Disneyland probably has better actors since that’s what everyone is trying to be in Southern California.

After the show, Moms went back to rest while I rode Tower of Terror (ToT). I had always been afraid of it, but in planning I kept hearing how much better the Disney World version was. So last August when we were at Disneyland, I rode that ToT for the first time. I wasn’t in love with it, but I knew I could do it. The Disney World version seems more complete (especially when the elevator car goes through the 5th dimension). I still didn’t love it, but at least now I’m ready for Japan’s version.

– the outside
- inside looks like the one in California Adventure
I wanted to check out the One Man’s Dream exhibit before I left the park. I enjoyed seeing all Walt’s stuff and thought it was a great tribute to the man.

- someday I’ll visit you in person
I left after that to join Moms for a quick break.

- there’s our room
Moms wanted to check out the Christmas store at Magic Kingdom, so after we got some rest we headed back that evening.
- great sunset as we were heading to Magic Kingdom

 

[gsrjedi]

The Christmas tree was up for the first time this trip since it hadn’t been put up yet for the filming of the Christmas parade.

- you know I had to get another castle shot
- back down Main Street
Wishes was about to start, so I got a spot to get some photos while Moms did some shopping.

After the fireworks we met back up and made our way to Tomorrowland for a burger at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. We enjoyed the toppings bar and really making the burgers to our liking. Either that or we were really hungry.
- hadn’t seen the castle from this spot yet
- ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Sonny Eclipse
- our Cosmic Ray’s burgers
- another new vantage point
With full stomachs a thrilling ride didn’t sound to thrilling so the Peoplemover was calling. After another fun ride, the park was already closing, so we made our way back to the Poly.
- from the Peoplemover


- the Poly was playing the Emperor’s New Groove on the beach when we got back
Tomorrow we’d be breaking our “tradition” as we had an ADR for Le Cellier.

 

[fractal]

Thanks. I'm using the NEX-5N. I really like it a lot

I bought an NEX-3 before our trip in 2011 and a few months ago upgraded to the NEX-7. I'm also enjoying the NEX camera.

Very nice job with the photos and trip report!

 

[gsrjedi]

Day 5 - Thursday 12/06/12: Time & World Travelers

Today we broke our “tradition” of visiting the park we visited the previous night. We had an ADR for Le Cellier for lunch, so Epcot was the plan today. The first ride of the day? Spaceship Earth of course.
- another shot of The Dome
- one of the many flower beds in Epcot
After another trip through history, we made our way to The Land. Living With the Land had a short wait so we rode that. Living With the Land is a slow boat ride through a big greenhouse where Disney grows food and plants in various forms of hydroponics. It’s pretty neat seeing all the ways they can grow food. Made me hungry.
- ride photos from Living With the Land
Since we had an early lunch planned, we decided to split a small breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. This time we opted for the breakfast panini and potatoes. I really enjoyed the panini. I don’t know if it was the bread or what, but something was kind of sweet which was a nice compliment to the savory nature of the bacon, egg, & cheese. Not like a McGriddle from McDonald’s, much better. The wait for Soaring was longer than we wanted to wait and we didn’t want to come back over here from World Showcase if we got fastpasses, so we skipped it this trip. Next on our agenda was a date with a little purple dragon. While I do have a vague memory of Figment from our previous trip, I don’t really remember the ride. I enjoyed this version and the catchy song.
- breakfast panini & potatoes
- duck family that was enthralling everybody around
- Imagination Pavilion
- Figment and his merchandise
- the grounds around the Imagination Pavilion

 

[gsrjedi]

After taking some pictures around the Imagination Pavilion, we made our way to Canada for lunch and to start our trip around the World. Le Cellier was already on my list since I love cheese soups, but then once I started hearing about the filet, this became my number one spot to try and eat at. The only reservation I could get was with the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package for that evening, but I booked it anyways. The Canada Pavilion around the entrance to Le Cellier is incredibly beautiful, one of the best parts of World Showcase in my opinion. After a brief wait for the restaurant to open, where we got to see the cast members opening ritual of singing the Canadian theme song, we were seated and served our basket of bread. I of course ordered the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup while Moms ordered the Fried Rock Shrimp. The soup was excellent and Moms enjoyed her shrimp, if not a little spicy for her. We both got the Wild Mushroom Filet Mignon, Moms kept the risotto and I opted for the Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes on the side (thanks to the folks at WDWMagic for giving me the idea). I loved the filet, I thought it was great. For dessert, we both ordered this chocolate pecan pie on the rocks dish (I don’t remember the name and can’t quite find it online). We were both so stuffed we took the dessert to go, but before I boxed mine up, I had a spoonful and it was amazing. I wish I would’ve eaten more. Thoroughly stuffed we explored Canada a bit and then made our way to the United Kingdom.
- Victoria Gardens
- area around Le Cellier
- outside and inside of Le Cellier
- Le Cellier bread basket
- Canadian Cheese Soup
- Fried Rock Shrimp
- Wild Mushroom Filet Mignon with risotto
- Chocolate Pecan Pie on the Rocks
- another shot of Victoria Gardens
- Moms & I
- Canadian Pavilion
We both thought it would’ve been more authentic if the signature red telephone booths smelled of bodily fluids and were covered in adult magazines as that’s how all the ones we saw in London seemed to be. The UK Pavilion was cool with all it’s little nooks and crannies, even saw some Doctor Who stuff there.
- my favorite kind of character meeting, the kind with no line
- United Kingdom Pavilion

 

[gsrjedi]

We continued our trip in France. We looked around in the stores & thought about getting a snack in the cafe, but the line was too long. I did stop at the drinks stand for a Grand Marnier Orange Slush. It was delicious, I wish I had one right now. The France Pavilion definitely had me missing Paris.
- France Pavilion
- Grand Marnier Orange Slush
Morocco was next on our itinerary. Walking through the shops was cool, but we didn’t buy anything.
- Morocco Pavilion
- Fez’s are cool
After a quick trip stop in Africa, Asia was calling us. Japan would be our next stop. I’ve wanted to go to Tokyo for at least a decade now, and the store in the Japan Pavilion is basically everything you could image that’s Japanese. It was awesome. I wanted to be real adventurous and try a bunch of different snacks, but the only we bought were some chopsticks. I guess I’ll save the Japanese snacks for when I visit. Moms went to find a place to sit and rest for a bit. I walked around the rest of the pavilion before joining her in front of the Katsura Grill for a bit. We both thought the food looked good and wanted to come back for dinner.
- Japan Pavilion
- store in Japan Pavilion
We left Japan for a quick stop back home in America. We had reserved seating for the first showing of the Candlelight Processional and a small line was already starting to form. Since the show was in front of the American Pavilion, we continued on to Italy, where we looked around very briefly. Our hotel in Venice gave us a free bottle of Prosecco upon check-in and I loved it, so now I order one whenever I get the chance. The drinks cart in front of the Italy Pavilion just happened to have Prosecco. Score!
- American Adventure Pavilion
- Italy Pavilion
- Prosecco in Italy

 

[gsrjedi]

We sat for a minute while I drank my wine and just looked out over World Showcase Lagoon. We noticed a crowd behind us, so when I finished up we went to investigate. Turns out everybody was checking out the train set in the Germany Pavilion. We walked though that before making our way back to America to get in line for the Candlelight Processional.
- World Showcase Lagoon
- miniature train set in Germany
The Candlelight Processional is a retelling of the birth of Jesus by a celebrity narrator. There is an orchestra and a choir performing music between breaks of the narrator’s story. Our celebrity narrator was Blair Underwood and he was fantastic, as was the whole show. I didn’t really do a good job explaining the show beforehand to Moms, so she didn’t really know what to expect going in, but it ended up as one of the highlights of the trip for both of us. Between the Osborne Lights & the Candlelight Processional, it will be hard not to go back during Christmas for us.
- Candlelight Processional
After the fantastic show, we were both getting hungry. Katsura Grill in Japan still sounded good to us, so that was our choice. I had the chicken & beef teriyaki, while Moms had shrimp tempura udon. We both thought the food was very good, & marked it as a place we’d go back to if we get back to Disney World.

- chicken & beef teriyaki
- shrimp tempura udon
Moms was about done for the day, but still wanted to finish up our world trip. We stopped back in America to get inspired by the American Adventure show.

Freshly patriotic, we visited Germany. Moms bought a teddy bear suitcase for her Build-A-Bear back home, while I pretended to drink out of seemingly every stein in the store.
- Germany Pavilion
- drinking from a stein
- some expensive cuckoo clocks

We returned to Asia once more for a quick look around the China Pavilion. The store had some really neat things in there, but we were too tired to really shop properly.

- terracotta soldiers

 

[gsrjedi]

Since we had already seen Norway & Mexico, our trip around the World was finished. After a whole day without a break, we were too exhausted to take advantage of the reserved viewing of Illuminations, especially since we had already seen it.
- Norway at night agian

We made our way back to the Monorail and went back to the Poly. As we got back to, the Electric Water Pageant was going on, so I watched some of that before watching Wishes from the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon to end the night.
- Electric Water Pageant
- Wishes
Oh, and our desserts from lunch. The cups they gave us to keep them started to break, and the desserts started melting and we ended up throwing them away. It was quite possibly the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, and I regret it still.
Tomorrow, we visit the last park.

Only one more full day before we have to head home

 

[ginadee]

This is great and pics are fantastic. Thanks for sharing. Im really hoping to stay at Polynesian some day.

 

[Cassie S.]

I am LOVING your trip report! Your sense of humor is fantastic and so are your pics! My mom and I are very close and I hope to go to WDW with her sometime as an adult. Can't wait for the rest!!

 

[jlsHouston]

Love your pictures! Great trip report!

 

[gsrjedi]

This is great and pics are fantastic. Thanks for sharing. Im really hoping to stay at Polynesian some day.

Love your pictures! Great trip report!

I am LOVING your trip report! Your sense of humor is fantastic and so are your pics! My mom and I are very close and I hope to go to WDW with her sometime as an adult. Can't wait for the rest!!

Thanks

Me and my mom are travel buddies, we've been around the world. It works because she pays and I get us around.

 

[gsrjedi]

Cranking it out now, only a couple days left

Day 6 - Friday 12/07/12: On Safari With the Yeti

Today was our last full day of the trip, tomorrow we’d have to go back to the real world. Today though, we were still in Disney and planning on visiting the park I was most excited for. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited to see all the Disney World parks, but Animal Kingdom was the one that was the most different from our parks in California. I woke up early again today and used the time to take some photos around the Poly.
- The Poly at sunrise
For reasons I don’t remember now, we ended up going to the TTC to catch a bus to Animal Kingdom.
- Ticket & Transport Center
- Animal Kingdom Christmas tree
- Animal Kingdom entrance
I wanted to make a beeline straight for Expedition Everest, but as soon as we walked in we were distracted by all the animals in The Oasis. That’s a really fun area to explore. Our hunger won out over my desire to ride, so we chose Pizzafari to get some breakfast. I got the Bounty Platter and Moms got the Kids Breakfast Platter. It was okay, filled us up. After breakfast, we headed back to Asia to ride Everest. We took our time getting there, as we kept stopping to see other animals and all the amazing details they put in the area. The theming really is fantastic in this whole park.
- black swans in the Oasis
- the Tree of Life
- flamingoes
- Mom’s kid’s breakfast
- my breakfast bounty
- macaw

- gorillas on the way to Everest

 

[gsrjedi]

Finally, we made it to Everest. The wait was only 10 minutes so I chose to go through the stand-by queue to check it out since I heard it was amazing. It was true, the level of detail in the queue is some of Disney’s best work. Expedition Everest was described to me before the trip as a mixture of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, & Splash Mountain. It’s a runaway train (Big Thunder), you go backwards in the dark (Space), and there’s a drop (Splash). I loved it. Immediately after getting off I was super excited and hopped in the single rider line for another go round. Now I have a problem, my favorite Disney ride is on the other side of the country.
- Expedition Everest
Since we were close by, we decided to check out the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is another area you walk through and see animals. Despite them just lying around, it was cool to see the tigers.
- Komodo dragon
- tigers
- I loved this shirt, should’ve bought it

 

[gsrjedi]

We continued our way around the park and headed to Africa to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari. This is awesome. You board a vehicle that takes you around an African Savannah and see lots of animals. Some of them are extremely close to the vehicle.
- Tree of Life
- black rhinoceros
- hippopotamus
- Nile crocodile

- giraffe
- elephant
- white rhinoceros
- zebras

- gorilla
Moms headed to the restroom while I walked through the Pangani Forest Trail, another walk through area with animals. At one point I enter a room with lots of people crowded in a corner looking into water through glass. I find an open window and all I see is a bunch of fish. I’m wondering to myself is this all there is here, when I hear a dad close by tell his family “here it comes”. Next thing I know a hippopotamus comes swimming through the water. It was crazy how graceful that thing was underwater.

- hippo swimming with the greatest of ease
- this gorilla turned his back as soon as I put my zoom lens on
It was feeling like it was time for lunch when I met back up with Moms, so we chose Flame Tree BBQ. I had the chicken & ribs, while Moms chose just the ribs. It was delicious.
- chicken & ribs
- ribs
- Everest again
Our bellies full, I quickly walked through Dinoland USA while Moms did some final shopping. We left back to the Poly to take a break.

- Dinosaur the Ride

 

[gsrjedi]

After a nap, we visited Downtown Disney. The World of Disney store there is great. I like how the different departments are actually labeled instead of just going from one to another like the Disneyland World of Disney. Moms had seen Pollo Campero online before we left and wanted to eat there. We both got fried chicken, and really liked it. We walked around some more just checking everything out. Moms was tired after a week of Disney, so she found a place to sit while I went in search of D-Street. The Disney World Downtown Disney is really big. I eventually found D-Street and bought some of the Passholder exclusive Vinylmations. With our shopping done, we headed back to our room.

- Mickey& Minnie window decorations
- World of Disney store
- LEGO sea serpent
– Pollo Campero chicken


- Downtown Disney Coke machine
We got off the bus as the Grand Floridian and walked around for a bit before catching the Monorail back to the Poly.
- 1929 Cadillac in front of the Grand Floridian
- tile work on the floor of the Grand Floridian
- this staircase seemed so regal

 

[gsrjedi]

I got off at the TTC to get more photographs of Wishes, this time from the ferry dock, while Moms continued on to the room. The ferry dock at the TTC has to be one of the best places to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from since they pipe the music into the speakers over there and you can see the whole thing.




Afterwards I went back to the room and got some sleep.

- Poly hallway
- our room
Tomorrow we were going to visit Magic Kingdom one last time for some last minute stuff.

 

[gsrjedi]

Besides being pretty busy last week, I think I didn't really want to write this final chapter as it meant having to relive that sadness of leaving.

Day 7 - Saturday 12/08/12: Now It's Time To Say Goodbye

This was it, our trip was coming to a close. We had an afternoon flight planned so we could get some last minute park time in. We packed our bags and dropped them off at the airline check-in so we’d be ready to go. It seemed Disney World was sad to see us go as well because this morning was incredibly foggy and gray. We wanted to take the boat to Magic Kingdom, but it wasn’t running because of the thick fog. Instead we took the Monorail for one last trip.
- area around the Poly covered in fog


Moms wanted to see the Country Bear Jamboree, so we took the railroad from Main Street to Frontierland. Unfortunately, the Bears were acting up and weren’t open yet. Hopefully they’d be back up before we had to leave. We wandered into Adventureland where I purchased a Citrus Swirl I had heard so much about. It’s frozen orange juice and vanilla ice cream swirled in a cup. It was good, but I still prefer the Dole Whip. Moms meanwhile got in line for Aladdin’s Flying Carpets since there was no line really. I was going to join her, but was too busy eating my ice cream breakfast.

- Magic Kingdom in the fog
- Magic Kingdom railroad cars sit front facing instead into the park like the Disneyland ones
- Frontierland
- Orange Bird cup
- Citrus Swirl

 

[gsrjedi]

After Moms experience soaring over Agrabah, we made our way to Liberty Square to see the Hall of Presidents. The preshow area with the Presidential memorabilia was really neat to a history nerd like myself. The show itself was also pretty good. Our patriotism once again topped up, we did the most American thing we could. Ate a funnel cake. After a nutritious snack, we went back to see if those Country Bears were back to normal.
- Liberty Square
- the Presidents of the United States
- more shots of the grounds
- funnel cake
- Haunted Mansion
The Bears were back up and we got a seat in the front row. It’s been so long since they’ve been gone from Disneyland. It was great seeing the show again.

- Country Bear Jamboree

 

[gsrjedi]

By now it was just about time for us to get going, but I wanted to check out the New Fantasyland expansion in the daytime. We made our way there and I pretty much just had time to walk through it and walk back before we had to leave. I’ll save the exploration for next time.
- old Fantasyland
- Beast’s Castle

- Gaston’s Tavern
- one last shot of the Castle backside
- Cinderella statue
- one last photo of the castle
- one last shot of Main Street
We made our way back to the entrance and caught our favorite method of transportation, the boats on Seven Seas Lagoon. What a great last ride to end the trip. We got back to the Poly with about 30 minutes to spare before our DME bus came.
- Disney’s Magical Express
The flight home was uneventful. Neither of us wants it to be another 23 years before we go back.


I’ll wrap this up with my thoughts on Disney World as a whole. I was expecting that I’d be constantly lost in Magic Kingdom and going the wrong way to get to stuff. To my surprise that didn’t really happen (it actually ended up happening to me on my next trip to Disneyland where I got the location of Big Thunder wrong). Disney World as a whole is hugely impressive. Driving from place to place the sheer amount of space and greenery around is amazing. You almost feel like you’re in a Disney city. You really do lose track of the real world when you’re on property. One Man’s Dream is obviously a tribute to Walt, but after coming out of that it occurred to me that all of Disney World feels like it’s a tribute to Walt Disney. I couldn’t give any specific examples, it’s just a feeling I had about the place. I liked the extra attention the queues get. Things like Photopass seem to make more sense out there. Plus they put Photopass photographers all over the place (do they seriously need three in the center of Main Street in front of the Castle?)

I’m not saying it’s better, but Magic Kingdom feels like Disneyland 2.0. It’s Disneyland, but more. The things that make Disneyland Disneyland, taken to the next level. Especially in the ways they try and separate you from your cash. Cinderella’s Castle. It is impressive from any angle.

Epcot was probably my favorite park of the four. That mainly comes down to World Showcase for me though. Going through that was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved it there. The rest of the park isn’t bad, but I’m all about World Showcase.

If Epcot was my favorite, Disney’s Hollywood Studios was my least, even though it had the highlight of the trip. The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. There’s just not enough unique things there that aren’t in Disneyland. One Man’s Dream is awesome though. And that Star Tours queue is terrific.

The theming throughout the entirety of Animal Kingdom might be the best of the American Disney Parks. I’m not saying it’s the best park, but to me the attention to detail everywhere I looked was impressive. Plus this park has my favorite ride, Expedition Everest. It’s fantastic seeing all the animals you just come across while walking around, plus the trails and Kilimanjaro Safari. Definitely the most unique of the American Disney Parks.

I loved it all though. I’m not going to say which is better between Disneyland or Disney World because I really don’t know. Disneyland is like a place of comfort for me, I felt more like a gawking tourist in Disney World. If I got to visit it more frequently, that wouldn’t be the case. I think each coast does some things better than the other. Disneyland fans who’ve never been to Florida, should go and vice versa for Disney World fans. I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to go back, I just know I won’t be waiting another 23 years to make a return trip.

That’s it, I only hope this was at least mildly entertaining for some of you.