Trip Report A Disney-versary vacation - Celebrating our first year together! Aug 7-12th

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum so be nice :rolleyes: haha. I've been following the WDWmagic.com forums for a while now, and I have finally gathered the courage to sign up and start my trip report! We just got back yesterday from our wild, wonderful, exciting trip to Disney World. We were in Disney a total of 6 days (August 7th - 12th) for our one year anniversary. I started planning this trip around 5 months ago with just a random idea one day - and since that day there have been many ups and downs regarding this trip, but it all turned out so amazing in the end. All the stress and worry was all worth it. I have never planned an out of state trip by myself before so this was definitely a learning experience for me. But now I know what to do in the future :). There will be some of my photography as well as my DB's photography mixed in together in my TR.

Let me start with the introductions:

Here I am! My name is Maddie. I am 21 years old, and I've been to Disney a total of 16 times. I would consider myself a Disney fanatic. My life revolves around my job for the most part, so going to Disney really was an escape for me.

IMG_1170 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

This is Daniel, my "DB" (Disney boyfriend) of one year. He is 24 years old, and this is his second trip to Disney. He is the sweetest man I've met in my life, but he is probably the silliest too. You'll see his silly side come out later in this TR.

IMG_1173 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Lastly, this is my sister Christine. She is 18 years old, just graduated from high school. She is visiting me from Seattle, WA (where I am originally from, I moved to NC in February of this year). She isn't really that into Disney for the most part. I brought her along on this trip as a grad present. You probably wont see her a lot in the TR however, she only spent about 1/2 of the time with us at the parks.

IMG_0944 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr


Next will be day 1 of our trip. Driving, driving and more driving. Visitors and Magic Kingdom!!!
 
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DisneyJunkie217

DisneyJunkie217

Member
Original Poster
Day One:

We began our trip to Disney at 4AM EST. We packed the night before so we could just get up and go. We planned out trip to be around 8-9 hours because my lovely DB is a speed demon :rolleyes:. I got up at 2:30 AM without a wink of sleep since I was so excited. I fully expected for everyone to be asleep at that hour, but to my surprise everyone was awake and already ate breakfast! We did some last minute packing, and tidied up the house for our house sitter. Just like that, it was already 4 AM and we were off! The drive is pretty straight forward from where we live, since Fayetteville is right off I-95 so it was basically smooth sailing from there.

Around 5AM we passed South Of the Border. My sister was THRILLED to see the big sombrero, but I refused to stop because that place is horrid. I hate living just north of it :mad:

IMG_2283 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

We started to get a little hungry around 6AM so we decided to stop in Florence, SC for the second round of breakfast (we are HUGE breakfast people) to bad cracker barrel wasn't open! HELLO IHOP! All Daniel needed was some coffee because he was already dozing off at the wheel. Let's just say I was very paranoid of him driving until the sun came up since I can drive at that point. I have very poor eyesight in the dark so i'm not going to risk driving at that hour.

IMG_2284 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Our car mascot, Reggie Mc.Octo!

IMG_0850 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

(pardon the awful iphone pictures. I accidentally packed the Canon deep in the trunk. We weren't able to get it until we stopped in GA)
Before we knew it, we had his the Georgia line. Time to switch drivers....

IMG_2286 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

My poor sister was so tired at that point.

IMG_2285 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Our one and only stop on the trip was in Darien, GA to get gas and get a quick drink. We have made pretty good progress so far! Only 248 miles to go at 9AM!

IMG_2287 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

HOORAAAY! FLORIDA!

IMG_0857 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

That's where out drive went a little bit.....south to be quite honest. We had been driving a tad bit over the speed limit the entire trip and the police were just ignoring us. I had read that between Florida and Georgia there has been a lot a "speed traps" to catch unsuspecting tourists. We had hit Jacksonville without seeing any of those traps so I was hopeful we had missed them just by luck. So we're cruising along at a speedy 78 MPH as we are exiting Jacksonville, FL, lo-and-behold my DB is driving over a little hill on the highway and BAM! A bike cop is on the side of the highway pointing at us, motioning to pull over. At this point in time I was petrified. I have NEVER been pulled over out of state before so I was begging my DB to pull over. Let's just say my DB is a little bit of a hard-head and kept driving because he thought the cop was "pointing at someone else". I turn around in my seat and the bike cop is FLYING towards us with his lights on....oh no. A little snag in our plans for the day. We ended up getting a ticket, but the police officer spelled my DB's last name wrong, our address wrong, he failed to write down our license plate number, AND didn't specify on the ticket how much the fine cost. Let's just say our lawyer is going to get rid of this little speed bump in our vacation quite soon ;) We decided to forget about the ticket for the time being and motor our way to Kissimmee so we can start our vacation. Our pictures are non-existant the remaining drive because I was "police watcher" of the car :rolleyes:

By around 12:30 PM we had ARRIVED! WOOHOO! I ended up booking a condo in a gated community owned by a family friend just outside of the Disney property because at the time of paying for everything for the trip, I couldn't realistically afford a value resort plus dining plan for three people. I fully 10000000000% regret not splurging and staying on property just because food was so annoyingly expensive, parking was awful, and the massive amounts of people all driving to one park made our commute horrid. Lesson learned.:mad:

Here are some pictures of our humble abode. What I loved about it most was the size we got for the amount of $ we paid. I ended up paying $280 and change for 6 days.
Living Room

IMG_0862 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Kitchen (and DB!!)

IMG_0863 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Our Bedroom

IMG_0865 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

A falcon off our back porch. Cool!

IMG_0861 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Large bathroom off of our bedroom

IMG_0866 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Overall, we were very happy with the amount of space we had. We actually had too much space. I just wish the condo was closer to Disney.
 
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DisneyJunkie217

DisneyJunkie217

Member
Original Poster
So after we all got settled in, we were off to DTD for dinner at Fulton's Crab House! My extended family were coming to meet us for the night since I hadn't seen them in a few years. There wont be a lot of pictures from dinner, I wasn't sure if my family would want to be included in the TR so I kept the picture-taking to a minimum.


IMG_2289 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I can't handle this picture. DB looks so handsome.

IMG_2288 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I ordered the Lobster Corn Dogs - which were DELICIOUS! They were seasoned perfectly, and were very filling.

IMG_2291 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

DB ordered the lobster ravioli. His reaction was "eh" just because his portion was so small. He ended up stealing a few corn dogs off of my plate when I wasn't looking :mad:

IMG_2290 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

My sister ordered the crab...sorry for not a very good picture. I didn't want to hand my phone off to her after she dug into the crab. Slimy phone = :arghh:

IMG_2292 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

After dinner we said our goodbye's and decided to browse around the shops for a while. We weren't in any rush to leave since we didn't have to be in MK for another hour or so.

DB Loved the statues. He begged me to go to LEGOLAND for a few hours the next day, but I refused. I cant stand that place :confused:

IMG_2293 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Pouting DB after I denied him LEGOLAND. boohoo! :rolleyes:

IMG_2294 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

We were about to head out when I remembered that we needed to get our anniversary buttons as well as some Disney-themed shirts for our first night in the kingdom so we stopped in World Of Disney

IMG_2295 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I loved the shirt I bought.

IMG_2297 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

After DTD we dropped my sister off at the condo, we got dressed and headed out to MK! I was so excited at this point. I hadn't been to Disney for a few years so let's just say I was having a little happy-meltdown in the car ride over to the park.

Here we are!!! I held back the tears - I didn't want to embarrass DB.

IMG_2301 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I didn't know he was taking a picture. Bleh!

IMG_0871 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

We got into MK right as the parade was finishing up, so we fought the crowds over to tomorrowland to get started on our rides

IMG_0872 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr


IMG_0875 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I just love tomorrowland at night. The neon lights are so cool!

IMG_0877 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

From there we hopped on the Peoplemover. It was a nice break from the crowds. DB and his new shirt! He is OBSESSED with it. :rolleyes:

IMG_0878 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr
Hello!

IMG_0880 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr
 
DisneyJunkie217

DisneyJunkie217

Member
Original Poster

IMG_0883 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

This picture is really cool. This was DB's first glimpse of Space Mountain (he has never ridden it before this trip) so we was a little excited taking this picture.

IMG_0884 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

After we got off the peoplemover, the lines were still absurd in tomorrowland. I checked my wait-time app (undercover tourist, it's amazing!) and saw that Haunted Mansion only had a 15 minute wait time. so we were off! We were funneled through the graveyard queue, it looked like that was the only queue they were using the entire time we were at Disney. I was totally fine with that.

Queue picture...

IMG_0885 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

woaaahhhh!

IMG_0919 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

DB Was pretty happy with Haunted Mansion. Surprisingly he knew the backstory, so that saved me some explaining ;)

After Mansion, was Splash! Now this was DB's first time EVER riding splash so he quickly stuffed his camera in the backpack and prepared himself for the ride. He has never been a ride-type of person. He hates feeling like he can't control what he is riding in so it scares him a lot. I talked him through the sequence of the ride while we were waiting in the queue so he would be prepared (and I wouldn't have an upset DB at me for not telling him where the drop was). He was nervous throughout the entire ride. I forgot to take pictures because I was so worried about him the entire time. When it was time for the drop, he grabbed onto my arm tightly and screamed the loudest scream I've heard in my life! Right at the bottom of the drop he says "THAT WAS CRAZY! I loved it!" I was so thrilled. I had some satisfaction knowing that I proved him wrong about rides, they ARE fun!

Our ride picture didn't turn out as we wanted however...

49941630000 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I was pretty upset to say the least. His first real ride in his LIFE and our faces are blocked. DARN! My goal the rest of the trip was to make up that ride and get a great picture. You'll see that one later ;)

Once we exited splash, we decided to start wandering towards the hub since MK was closing in the next hour. We stopped to get a snack. Mickey Premium Bar for me of course! You can see DB in the background with his choco-banana. He ate it too quickly before I could snag a pic. Grr!

IMG_2304 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Pirates was a walk on, SCORE! The cast member seating people saw we were celebrating our anniversary so he let us have a boat to ourselves :inlove: it was so romantic! I thanked the cast member profusely.
My only good picture.

IMG_2305 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

To die for!

IMG_2306 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

No more pictures from the rest of the night :( I had forgotten all about taking pictures for my TR. Our last ride of the night was Jungle Cruise which was AMAZING. It was also a walk-on, so the cast member let us and another family of four have a boat to ourselves. Our skipper (I didn't grab his name which I now regret) was so hilarious! He made little jokes about us celebrating our anniversary, which really made me giggle. Towards the middle of the ride he actually let me and DB DRIVE THE BOAT!!!! I was SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! I have never ridden Jungle Cruise at night let alone be allowed to drive the boat. DB was so excited he got to drive the boat, that when the skipper asked him to drive the boat near the dock to park, he smacked right into it. I laughed so hard! It was one of the most memorable experiences of our entire trip to say the least. I fully regret not getting pictures, plus not getting the cast member's name. He made that moment so special for us. We will always remember it!

After Jungle Cruise we had to scurry off and get home. We had a big day planned for tomorrow! A full day of Magic Kingdom!!!
 
RKSteel

RKSteel

Well-Known Member
Ask the CM directing you to your log boat on Splash Mtn that you would like to sit in the front seat. You may have to wait a bit, but they will try to accomodate you. Also, you will get wet in the front seat.
 
DisneyJunkie217

DisneyJunkie217

Member
Original Poster
Day Two:

We started off the day bright and early to try and hit the park before rope drop. Well, that didn't really go as planned. Getting my DB out of bed was really difficult since we ended up getting home around midnight, so waking him up at 6:30 AM would be a challenge. I just decided to get all the backpacks packed myself, so everyone could just get up, feed themselves and we can go. We got out the door at a decent time but the traffic on Irlo Bronson rd was horrendous that morning. We didn't get to MK until 9:30 AM :mad:

I had ordered my park tickets through my parent's work (they get a discount) so we were stuck with the old paper tickets, which Disney only had two turnstiles open for. I totally understand only having a small amount of turnstiles open because of the Magicband rollout plus the plastic keys to the kingdom cards, but there were about 50 people trying to get through those things at once so it made getting into the park even longer. Great start to my morning.

We immediately headed over to the barbershop on main street because I had scheduled a haircut for DB earlier that week. His hair was getting unruly :cautious:

IMG_2308 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

After his haircut, we decided to go to space mountain and get some fastpasses

IMG_2311 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Not too bad of a wait!

IMG_2312 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

We had no clue what to hit first. So we just decided to walk the loop until we saw a ride with a smaller wait time...and that was IASM. Bleh.

IMG_0888 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

at least the hippo was cute

IMG_0895 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr


IMG_0898 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I am so beyond happy that song wasn't stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Mansion next! One of my favorite rides. There was a tad bit longer of a wait time today, so we got to experience the queue a little more.

IMG_0904 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr


IMG_0905 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I thought this was the coolest part

IMG_0910 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Her eyes weren't working every time we rode! I was so bummed, she is in my opinion the best part of the queue

IMG_0916 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Our lunch reservation at Tony's was next. Holy cowww this place is DELISH! We got there a tad early so we had probably a ten minute wait to be seated. The poor hostess couldn't pronounce DB's last name so she ended up calling us by my first name, which I wasn't expecting.

Waiting...

IMG_0928 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

A parade was going by while we waited for our food. I loved the section we were seated in! Lovely on a blue-sky day.

IMG_0920 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I think we each had two lemonades? We were parched. Plus I accidentally spilled half of my first lemonade all over myself. I was banned to straws the rest of the trip. I cant be left alone with drinks :rolleyes:

IMG_2318 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

My sister and I both got the margarita (sp?) pizza. and OH BOY it was amazing. Hit the spot! I was too excited about it that I started eating before I remembered to take a picture. Oops?

IMG_2317 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

I forget what DB's was called...it had prosciutto and pepperoni's on it. I am allergic to processed meats (the preservatives in them) so I couldn't try it :(

IMG_2316 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Our waiter Tom was excellent! He was very knowledgeable and he was super funny as well. I will be writing a letter to Disney about his excellent service!

IMG_0926 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Just as we finished up out lunch, DB had the fantastic idea of hitting up Space Mountain...on a full belly. What??? I mean I can handle rollercoasters on a full belly, I am a thrill junky. But DB and his scared-ness of all things that involve "coaster" in the description of the ride, I was very hesitant. But I wasn't going to stop him, this was probably my only opportunity to get him on this ride. :cautious:

He was just as scared as he was on Splash. I kept making this face at him so I think it freaked him out a tad :cat:

IMG_2319 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr

Hehehe. He said he was death-gripping the seat the whole ride. He thought he was too tall, so he was crouched down and didn't even see the stars and planets above him. Poor DB!

49941630002 by MaddieBriggs217, on Flickr
 

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