Trip Report A Disney Year: a recap of 2025

Hello! It’s been awhile since I have done a trip report. I always think I’m going to post one and then I don’t. I’m not disciplined enough to do a live report either. Well I decided to do a recap of highlights of my trips this year to WDW and Disneyland.

The people involved: me (Amy) and Brad (my husband)

Trips: January (WDW), March (Disneyland), April (WDW), June (WDW), July (Disneyland)

Reasons for travel: quick check up on my dad, DL Food and Wine, Easter and visiting my niece on the college program, just for fun, celebrating Disneyland’s 70.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

3rd full park day
More of the Dapper Dans and then explored some of Disneylands attractions including Big Thunder MT.

I love the astronaut Mickeys on Mickeys Star Traders and how they light up as if he is floating. I probably stood and watched longer than an average guest.

Time for Oga’s

Fireworks from Galaxys Edge

And ended the night with Chocolate peanut butter squares, one to eat and a few to take home. I may have quite a few of these in my freezer at home.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

4th full park day
This day I went to Disneyland. I was a little early and the porch which used to be a lingerie shop when the park first opened was free. It’s kind of a big deal for Disneylanders to sit on the bench at the porch. There was one regular guy named Frank who was often there and sadly he passed away this year, but I did get to sit on the porch with him one last time. He was always kind of fun to talk to a little ruff, but still a nice guy.

Once the park opened, I explored fantasy land, which is my favorite thing to do on my Disneyland days. Mornings are always the best time for fantasyland. The queue for Mickey’s Runaway railway was a walk on and it’s fun to explore the queue because it is so much different and then Hollywood Studios. Then I decided it was time to try Tiana‘s that story will be in the next post.

 

[Agent H]

View attachment 898992

I love that shirt.

 

[MinnieM123]

I love that shirt.

I was just going to say the same thing! Great shirt, @ajrwdwgirl !

 

[dizfan917]

Fantasyland in the morning was such a great tip! We did everything there was to do in about an hour, I think!! Hooray!!

 

[cgersic]

What a great recap so far!!! I also hope your Dad continues to improve, and your trip reports always make me want to get that first Disneyland trip in the books

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

4th full park day

It was time to ride Tiana's Bayou Adventure but I hadn't ridden it at Disneyland or WDW, to I felt I had to do it. I absolutely hate getting wet on rides and from everything I had read about Tiana's in Disneyland was that people get very soaked, especially feet. And the main part I hate about water rides is wet feet. So I was prepared....I changed into flip flops and put my shoes and socks in a plastic bag in my backpack, put my phone in a waterproof bag, wore a poncho, rolled up my pants, and wrapped my backpack in a poncho, and asked for the back.

I was glad that I did. As I stepped into the log there was standing water in the bottom that completely covered my feet and it was cold water. It kept sloshing around during the ride, I was so glad I had flip flops on. Also the seat was wet as well. On the main drop water seemed to pour in. Had I not had my poncho on me or my backpack, backpack and I would have been drenched. The ride show scenes were cute but the water was horrendous. I was not eager to ride it again. Luckily with my preparations I was just mildly damp. The people who looked at me like I was crazy before the ride now looked at me with envy.

Inside the new Haunted Mansion store.

Me in the back, terrified of the wave of water to come. It also looks like I'm not the only one in my log terrified.

I rewarded myself with some beignets from the Mint Julep bar.

And played a little Indiana Jones pinball. I love pinball.

The afternoon brought on more Dapper Dan fun.

And Disneyland Band!

My blood sugar started running a little low so I grabbed a garlic pretzel roll from maurice's treats

Some Food and Wine treats

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

4th full park day

I had a few more Food and Wine treats, listened to a fun band before heading back to Disneyland to end the night.

My last attraction of the night was Peter Pan, and fun fact the hook that hangs near the exit was originally in the Chicken of the Sea pirate ship that used to be in Fantasyland.

Then I just relaxed and enjoyed some popcorn on a bench to end the night.

This was my last park day so it was nice to have the characters wave goodbye to me.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

5th day and goodbye day.

My flight didn't leave until early afternoon, so I had time for a nice breakfast. The Best Western Park Place where I stayed provided a breakfast and it is sufficient, I actually love their chorizo eggs, but I wanted something more Disney for breakfast. I had breakfast at Naples and it was a lovely breakfast. Then I wandered around Downtown Disney and was pleasantly surprised that they launched a first round of 70th Merchandise, I got the black tee shirt.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 2025

5th day and goodbye day.

After breakfast and shopping I walked back to my hotel through the esplande....bye Disneyland!

I waited for my Lyft outside the front door of the BW Park Place, I love how close of a walk it is. Literally across the street.

I didn't have a window seat but there was a nice window in the bathroom. I didn't have to worry about anyone looking in.

And just a few photopass pictures.

Up next: April in Walt Disney World

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

An Easter solo (ish) Walt Disney World trip. It has been tradition for a couple of years now that I take a solo trip over Easter. My husband is a pastor and is so busy during Holy Week/Easter that we don't spend any quality time together so I might as well go somewhere fun. To be honest I would have loved to be heading to Disneyland again but it was Walt Disney World. So why WDW? My niece was in the Disney College Program, she had started in late January and was having a blast. I wanted to see her working in a place she loved so I decided to head to WDW.

Back at MCO (the famous carpet)

View from my Sports room

My niece arrived at my hotel room and we thought about driving to the Boardwalk to go to the Cake Bake for breakfast but since we didn't have a dining reservation we didn't want to be turned away. So I ordered a Lyft and we had no problem getting dropped off. We went to the Cake Bake Bakery and got some lovely croissants and coffee. She had some glittery coffee that she enjoyed and I had as close to a black coffee as they make. I also didn't notice until later that the Cake Bake only charged me for one croissant instead of two, opps!

April 17, 2025

Time for Flower & Garden!

Me and my niece. Her role was in Frontierland in the shops.

My niece, A, and I thought this was a good representation of my future retirement goals.

 

[cgersic]

Fabulous photos and I am really liking going from coast to coast!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

April 17

We had fun hanging out together in Epcot and snacked a lot. It was nice to get her cast member discount on the food at the Flower and Garden booths, it wasn't good for alcohol but it was nice to save some money. After we ate everything from the France booth we headed to Hollywood Studios for the night. We took in Fantasmic and Oga's Cantina. It was fun to have the Studios basically empty was we wondered out of Oga's. A and I even had shirley status of having a bus all to ourselves!

I would watch Muppets one more time before it closed, but this was my goodbye to Muppet's Courtyard at night.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

April 18

A had stayed over in my hotel room and we had an early morning at Animal Kingdom but first we had the breakfast of champions....a sausage McMuffin from McDonald's. We had a great morning riding Everest multiple times in a row, a ride on the safari, "hiking" the two animal trails, a ride on Dinosaur, and lunch at the Nomad Lounge.

After Animal Kingdom, she took me to Cast Connections and I was able to get some great stuff at a discount! She also took me to her apartment at Flamingo Crossing (which was nice, the amenities on site are nice too) before she dropped me off at the Sports on her way to work at the Magic Kingdom.

I spent the evening at the Magic Kingdom. It was my first time in the Magic Kingdom since 2022 so I got a bit emotional but then I remembered it isn't Disneyland and I was fine.

This statue was cool, but a little out of my price range even at Cast Connections.

 

[Tiggerish]

March 2025

5th day and goodbye day.

After breakfast and shopping I walked back to my hotel through the esplande....bye Disneyland!
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I waited for my Lyft outside the front door of the BW Park Place, I love how close of a walk it is. Literally across the street.
View attachment 899848

I didn't have a window seat but there was a nice window in the bathroom. I didn't have to worry about anyone looking in.
View attachment 899849

And just a few photopass pictures.
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Up next: April in Walt Disney World

Fantastic report of your March DL trip!!!

Aren't airplane bathroom windows odd, yet fun?!

(typed entirely with my thumb )

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

April 18

My husband and I have been watching a lot of few WDW live streamers, one in particular on Saturday mornings and she loves to live stream Grayson, the piano player at Casey's. So I was pretty pumped when I walked past and Grayson was playing piano.

As I was enjoying his music, some "music" on my phone went off, my low blood sugar alert alarm was going off. I was planning to eat dinner fairly soon but not soon enough, so I heard the citrus swirl might be back. It was not but I got the orange dole whip instead. It was fine, it tasted fine and it rose my blood sugar enough that I wasn't going to die. I think my face says it all on how I feel about the orange dole whip compared to the real citrus swirl.

Then I wandered around and even did the treehouse until dinner at Skipper Canteen. I love the "secret menu" cheese bread, had the chicken too so I put half of the cheese bread in a Ziploc bag to take with me.

After dinner I decided to check out the new Country Bear show in person, I had watched it on live streams and found it enjoyable. But first I spied on A while she was working at Big Al's, not the greatest picture but not too bad from the porch of the Country Bears.

Ok, here's my take on the new version of the Country Bears.....it is fantastic. I was smiling from the first song. The crowd was having fun with it, but not in an annoying way where I couldn't hear the show. My dad was always a big fan of the Country Bears and to be honest I don't think he would like the new show because of the new songs but he would be glad that the show is still going. He really was a fan of old school country music.

When I got out of the CBJ, I headed to Big Al's to say hi to A but she wasn't there! I found her in nearby in the pin shop. She was busy but I did say hi met a coworker of hers.

I headed to Fantasyland and took a long look at the beautiful Liberty Belle and took a spin on the teacups. I do love the teacups at WDW because they can spin so fast! At Disneyland I call them the lame-cups because they don't spin fast.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Fantastic report of your March DL trip!!!

Aren't airplane bathroom windows odd, yet fun?!

(typed entirely with my thumb )

Thanks! Your thumb did an excellent job.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

April 18

After my spin on the teacups I had a lightning lane for a new ride....Tron. I didn't try the tester seat and I guess I should have. I guess my legs just don't bend the way they should or whatever, after a moment of embarrassment I transferred to the short line for the back car. I fit just fine on Flights of Passage, so I thought this would be similar, so well. I sat with a nice guy in the back car and he joked that it was like we were in Santa's sleigh and the people on bikes were the reindeer. It made me laugh and it totally looked/felt like it. And now I just can't think about it any other way.

Tron was still fun and I'm glad I at least rode for the first time at night. The ride is so short though but worth a paid lightning lane. I wouldn't want to wait in too long of a line for it.

In "Santa's Sleigh"

After Tron, I rode a favorite that I missed at Disneyland...the Peoplemover!

Then enjoyed some fireworks and a little Haunted Mansion. It was my first time seeing the Hatbox Ghost in his location here. I guess the placement is okay. It was nice to see him the attraction, I don't think the placement mattered much to me as it did to others.

Then I hung out around the castle for awhile before heading back.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

April 2025

April 18

One thing I love about Disneyland is how close everything is, especially the walk from the Best Western Park Place to the turnstiles of Disneyland or DCA. The typical walk from my room at the BW to the turnstiles averages from about 5-6 minutes, depending on waiting for the light. My last night at Disneyland I timed the walk and it was 5 minutes and 34 seconds.

Brad and I joke that the walk from the Magic Kingdom turnstile to the bus stop is the same amount of walking as walking from DL to our hotel room in California. But we never had proof. So tonight I timed it, although I started a little after the turnstile. And it is pretty equivalent, however here at WDW I then have to get on a 15-20 minute bus ride.

 

[Agent H]

View attachment 900085

Is this from Walt Disney presents? It must be pretty old if it still says MGM studios.