Trip Report 5 day Orlando Speedrun!

Hi everyone,

Longtime lurker of Trip Reports and these boards in general! For years I have thought about doing a Trip Report and am finally going to give it a go

A bit about me... I'm Emma, from the UK and travelled with my husband Steve. Growing up, I was very lucky to visit Disney every 2 years or so with my family, so it's always been a very special place for me. Our last trip was with a group of 10 of us back in 2017. We had trips booked for April 2020, and then April 2021, but we all know what happened then...!

I have been trying desperately to get back to Disney (5 years is the longest I've ever gone without a visit!) but as I am a teacher, I am stuck by school holidays and it's been tricky to find a time. My husband and I like to travel, and each summer we usually do a big trip- 2019, for example, we did Japan, 2018 we did New Zealand and so on. Well with COVID, we obviously hadn't been able to go too far, so decided that this summer we'd do a really big trip to make up for the lost time. The original plan was Bali, New Zealand and Australia. I jokingly kept asking about popping Orlando in there somewhere- and then, by some miracle, my husband found some flights from the UK to Orlando that would be much cheaper than the original plan. He went into full on planning mode and in the end, our entire adventure looked like this- Orlando to Tahiti to New Zealand to Australia to home!

Being from the UK, we usually visited for 2-3 weeks and did all of Orlando- Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, shopping days, International Drive, beach days, Busch Gardens- we'd do it all. So, having just 5 days was definitely a challenge I was excited for! We booked everything with literally about a month to go, and as soon as I could I got the park reservations, dining reservations sorted etc. We were mega lucky and managed to get everything we wanted, including a night at California Grill for our 8th wedding anniversary

We had the most wonderful 5 days in Orlando to kick start our holiday and I am really pleased to say, despite being a bit wary of how Disney may have changed in the 5 years since I'd last been, it really was as special as I'd hoped it would be. I hope you enjoy reading about our trip!

 

[meggo819]

Following! And I’d love to read about the non-Disney portions of the trip too!

 

[Tuvalu]

Welcome out of the shadows! Can’t wait to read about your speedrun.

 

[Swissmiss]

I too would love to hear about the entire trip

 

[joshsprincess921]

Orlando to Tahiti to New Zealand to Australia sounds like a dreamy trip!
I can't wait to hear about it. I'd love to see snippets of the non-Disney stops too!

 

[Disstevefan1]

YAY! Here!

 

[BwlrBry212]

I am incredibly jealous of your whole trip!

 

[cgersic]

I'm on board too!!!

 

[BigDis]

Looking forward to your TR of your magical journey!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

So looking forward to this trip report and the extra non Disney trips if possible

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

How fun! I would also be interested in the other legs of your trip if you are willing share.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Did anyone else read past Tahiti!!

I'm in!!

 

[youngdeb]

Following along!

 

[MoragL]

sounds exciting, I'm in...

 

[amjt660]

Welcome to the world of trip reporting

Looking forward to reading about your adventures

And please include a little bit of each portion of the trip - not just the wdw stuff!!

Max

 

[MickeyCB]

Very excited to follow along, and as the posters above said, I too would like to hear about the other portions of your trip!

 

[rubydoo2]

Thank you everyone for being so welcoming!

Welcome to the world of trip reporting

Looking forward to reading about your adventures

And please include a little bit of each portion of the trip - not just the wdw stuff!!

Max

Funnily enough, I watched the entire first season of Mr Mayor on our final flight home from Sydney Thank you!

Following! And I’d love to read about the non-Disney portions of the trip too!

I too would love to hear about the entire trip

Orlando to Tahiti to New Zealand to Australia sounds like a dreamy trip!
I can't wait to hear about it. I'd love to see snippets of the non-Disney stops too!

So looking forward to this trip report and the extra non Disney trips if possible

How fun! I would also be interested in the other legs of your trip if you are willing share.

I will definitely talk about the rest of the trip if you guys are interested- I think my friends and family back home are already fed up of listening to me go on about it

Welcome out of the shadows! Can’t wait to read about your speedrun.

Your Trip Reports have been one of my favourite things to read, particularly when we were in lockdown here in the UK and before the borders reopened- I definitely lived vicariously through you, so thank you!

 

[rubydoo2]

Right, on with the Trip Report!

Day 1- Travel Day and Magic Kingdom

Our travels started on Thursday 21st July- just a few hours after I said goodbye to my class for the year! We left for Manchester on Thursday evening, staying over at a hotel nearby the airport. There has been travel chaos in the UK recently, and Manchester airport had been something that was particularly affected, so we wanted to make sure we were close by so we could be up and ready in the morning!

We realized, quite quickly, that we needn’t have worried so much Our flight was at 11am, on Aer Lingus. We had never flown with them before- we’ve always flown Virgin Atlantic, every single time- so I was very curious as to how the flight would be. I have to say I was really pleasantly surprised with the flight and the airline! We arrived at the airport around 7.30am and they started the check in queue a few minute early- we had already checked in online, we just needed to drop our bags off. We were done within about 15 minutes and headed to security. This line was quite long but as I told Steve, it was just preparing us for all the queues we’d have over the next few days! I think it took about 45 minutes to get through security, but that left us plenty of time still for breakfast in the terminal before heading towards the gate. All was fine and we were soon boarded and preparing to take off!

I hadn’t let myself get too excited until this moment- I kept thinking something would go wrong, one of us would get COVID or the flight would be cancelled or any other number of totally irrational thoughts, haha- but once we started to taxi down the runway, I finally started to believe I was really going back to Disney after waiting and wanting to for so long. There may have been an tear or two as we took off…!

For the benefit of any other Brits out there looking at flights to Orlando- we really rated Aer Lingus. They were much cheaper than Virgin or BA and we would absolutely fly with them again. Steve was happy judging by this picture!

The flight was fine, I don’t love flying but it was smooth sailing and the plane was comfy, the entertainment was good and the food was surprisingly nice too. Soon enough we were coming in to land and, due to being sat quite close to the front of the plane, we were off and through customs within about 20 minutes. Whenever they take a photo of me at immigration I really want to ask to see all the photos they’ve taken of me over the years, they must have loads by now and it’d be interesting to see myself over the years (always looking slightly bedraggled though, after 9 hours of flying!)

We were feeling quite smug about how quickly we got through immigration and I had visions of us in the Magic Kingdom by 4pm, but were brought back to earth when our luggage took ages- we waited over an hour for our cases to make it onto the belt! I actually fell asleep on the floor during the wait eventually though, out they came and on we went. We headed outside the airport, grabbed and Uber and soon those beautiful arches were in view. We were back!

We were staying at All Star Sports for this trip- we just wanted the cheapest on site hotel we could find. My family and I always stayed at All Stars when I was little, and then moved to being Pop Century people once it opened and have been ever since. Being back at All Star Sports was super nostalgic for me, the last time I was there I was still a literal child- and it was all so much smaller than I remember! We checked in on the app and headed straight to our room. The nostalgia just got stronger as we were not in one of the refurbed rooms, so it was exactly how I remembered it- I was FaceTiming my Mum when I went into the room and the smile on my face was genuine and massive. I was so happy in that moment that I was back, I was in Disney and it was just how I remembered!

I took this photo after getting into the room and despite the 15 or so hours of travel, I think the smile says it all!

 

[rubydoo2]

Day 1 continued!

We had a lie down, popped the TV on and then made a plan- first night, as always, we had to go straight to Magic Kingdom. So, by 6pm, we were on our way to the park!

We headed to the bus stop but there wasn’t a bus for about 30 minutes- and I was itching to get there. So, and not for the first time on the this trip… we grabbed an Uber. It came within 2 mintues and soon enough we were off to the ticket and transportation center. I love getting the buses, that’s very “Disney” to me, but this way we got to jump on the monorail which was equally as exciting! I tried to not look out of the window on the journey, I kind of wanted my first sighting of the park to be when it was right in front of me. Soon enough we were there, walking down the ramp, and heading towards the entrance.

We scanned in using our phones (we didn’t have magic bands, we just had our tickets linked to the wallet on our iphones), got the green light, and then we were in! We walked in and I’m sure loads of you know this feeling- I just felt so happy in that moment. I kept having to pinch myself- yesterday I’d been at work, with my class, having a normal day, and now I was in actual DisneyWorld! We rounded the entrance and I am not ashamed to admit there were tears when I finally saw the castle again. I spent so many hours in lockdowns watching Disney vlogs and reading Trip Reports on here, and for a while when COVID was really bad I genuinely felt like I’d never make it back to Disney ever again. So whilst there were a few tears, mostly there was just a massive grin on my face and happiness in my heart that I had made it back!

We walked down Main Street, stopping for a few photos on the way- we spent a lot of time taking photos on this holiday, as I am sure you will realise throughout the report (although I never quite figured out what to do with my hands when I pose!) Steve doesn't love having his photo taken and we often descended into a fit of giggles when asked to pose- as you can see!

We stood in the hub, and just looked around, and took it all in, and then finally headed towards Tomorrowland. After few photos a the purple wall…

We headed into Tomorrowland! There is always something I do first, every time I visit Disney- my first stop is always soft serve ice cream from Auntie Gravitys. I know, it may sound silly- but I absolutely love soft serve ice cream and it’s really hard to find good soft serve in the UK, so I have to make the most of it in Disney I think Auntie Gravity’s has become a tradition at this point, and another sign that I am really there! We got the ice cream, sat and people watched and again just took in the fact that we were finally here!

We had a look at the app and looked at some wait times and decided we weren’t going to put any pressure on our evening- this night was just for being back in the park. We decided to pop into Cosmic Rays for some dinner, sat inside and enjoyed the humoungous portions (never change, Disney!) and then headed out.

The first ride had to be It’s A Small World! This was about a 10 minute wait. After that, we went to Mickey’s Philarmagic. I really enjoyed the new Coco bit and just the show as a whole- it’s so cute! We then headed to Buzz Lightyear, which was a straight walk on. We are definitely not Galactic Heroes!

We then jumped on the PeopleMover, which is always a favourite- we rode this about 5 times over the few days we were in MK! After that we headed over to Adventureland. I was interested in doing Jungle Cruise in the dark, but the queue was really long so we went into Pirates. I was really pleased with how many rides we were managing to do- we were ticking off a lot of our list!

By this time, it was about 10.30pm and we decided to watch the fireworks at 11. I was worried we’d left it a bit late to get a spot in the hub, but was pleasantly surprised when we walked in to the hub at 10.45pm to loads of room. The castle at night really is beautiful- I wasn't sure about the new colours when I first saw pictures, but found it really striking in real life!

We got a spot we were happy with, waited a few minutes and then Enchantment was before us. I hadn’t seen anything about this show- I always avoid spoilers online etc for new rides and shows, I like to experience them myself. I liked it! It was no Wishes, which will always hold a special place in my heart (and SpectroMagic will always be my all time favorite nighttime show!) but I thought it was cute enough and again, there were a few tears! My Dad has always loved when Tinkerbell flies down, so I made sure to get a video to send to him. He’s a 69 year old rocker but he loves the Disney parks almost as much as I do, so I missed him a lot on the trip! I tried to not take too many photos or videos and just enjoy the show, but I did get a few...

We left with the flow of people and I braced myself for bus chaos- I knew that All Stars sometimes shared buses, and I expected it to be rammed at the end of the night. However, we walked straight onto a bus at 11.16 (and got a seat!) and were back at the resort by 11.35pm! We had been awake about 24 hours at this point and so we very quickly fell asleep, ready for Day 2.

I definitely went to sleep with a smile on my face... Friday night in the Magic Kingdom. What more could you want?

Thanks for reading so far!

 

[Katiekitten]

Following along!