A January Trip Report, full of hot dads, good food, and no wait times!

Hey everyone! I’m Ashley, 28, and been visiting WDW since I was just a kiddo. This was my first trip to Disney World in 3 years and my first trip ever without my family. My friend, Christa, had never been to Disney before, so I convinced her that she absolutely HAD to go at least once and we got together in August to book our trip for January. Personally, I prefer Disney in the off season, particularly when it’s bitterly cold at home and after the excitement of the holidays. That way, I get to escape the frozen tundra and have something to look forward to after Christmas.

I chose Coronado Springs for us. I thought that would work a little better for us since the resort was a little more geared toward adults. We booked our flights out of Newark (for less than $200 each – score!) and the waiting game began…

Finally, it was January 19th. Christa came to my house after work and my dad was volunteered to drive us to the airport at 4 am. I like to leave early, early in the morning so that I can get in almost a whole day at the park, since I can’t seem to get away for more than a few days at a time. So, it was freezing cold, dark, and way too early when we departed that morning. Newark was insane, as it usually is, and I worried that we wouldn’t make it to the gate. Somehow, we checked our bags and got through security with about 10 minutes to spare.

Our 6:30 flight got us to MCO by about 9 am. Perfect! We found our way to the DME area, hopped aboard and the excitement continued to grow… We had both napped a little on the plane, but I hoped Christa was up for the marathon we were about to experience. We were the first stop, so off we went to El Centro to check in. It really was a beautiful building and it was nice and empty in the lobby. We got our buttons at the desk (Christa’s 1st visit and my Celebration button), where again, I had to convince her that she should wear the pin. She fought me a little on it, but eventually relented. We were housed in Cabana 8A, near a bus stop and with a water view.

(so we wouldn't forget which room we were in)

Hidden Mickey in the bed runner thing!

Did I mention we left 10 degree weather that morning, only to arrive in sunny Orlando, where the high that day was about 82? Ahhhhh....


Even though I wanted to toss our stuff in the room and run off to the MK, I tried to calm myself and we stopped at Pepper Market for some real food. Leaving so early in the morning without much downtime at the airport left us STARVING by this point. I had the Club Croissant sandwich, which was ok, but nothing phenomenal and finally we were off to the bus stop!

Now, I was a little nervous about this trip. Christa is a low key kind of girl. She did Americorps and Peace Corps, so she is definitely comfortable with roughing it and loves absorbing local culture. A theme park for her vacation just isn’t “Christa.” I really wanted her to have a good time, so I was incredibly thankful when we rounded the corner to walk down Main Street. “WOW!” Ahh, a big sigh of relief for me. The fact that she was so in awe by the castle and the atmosphere made my day. Now it was off to do EVERYTHING!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Great update! I'm the anti-morning person in real life and only a semi-morning person at WDW. It's tough for me. I'm starting to think I need to be traveling at busier times so I can sleep in, move slow, get to the parks in the afternoon, then stay laaaaate into the night. I'm a night owl!

The baby gorilla was so little! How sweet!

Ugh, the backwards part of EE makes me a bit woozy, too. On our last trip I made a comment about the Yeti and a random guy looks at me all puzzled and said, "What Yeti?" **sigh** We got to ride EE during a soft opening in very early '06 and plenty after that before the Yeti became frozen and all strobed-out. He really was something to behold.

I wish y'all took pics of the hot dads! Man! We need to plan a girls meet-up down at WDW and see what reports would come from a trip of putting all these minds together in one place! Oh yes! That would rock!

Can't wait for more! Thanks for the update! :wave:

 

[Southern_Tink]

I'm still reading along! Keep it coming!

 

[HopLow]

Great update! I'm the anti-morning person in real life and only a semi-morning person at WDW. It's tough for me. I'm starting to think I need to be traveling at busier times so I can sleep in, move slow, get to the parks in the afternoon, then stay laaaaate into the night. I'm a night owl!

The baby gorilla was so little! How sweet!

Ugh, the backwards part of EE makes me a bit woozy, too. On our last trip I made a comment about the Yeti and a random guy looks at me all puzzled and said, "What Yeti?" **sigh** We got to ride EE during a soft opening in very early '06 and plenty after that before the Yeti became frozen and all strobed-out. He really was something to behold.

I wish y'all took pics of the hot dads! Man! We need to plan a girls meet-up down at WDW and see what reports would come from a trip of putting all these minds together in one place! Oh yes! That would rock!

Can't wait for more! Thanks for the update! :wave:

I definitely used to be a night owl too before I started my job. But I opted for the early hours (7-3) so at least I can do some stuff after work instead of coming home in the dark and going to bed. It's just easier to kind of stay on that schedule in my off time too.

Now that I'm home, I just thought I probably should have had Christa take some pics of me with the hot dads strategically placed in the background. SHOOT!!!! :brick: A girls trip would be soooooooo much fun! I'm sure those trip reports would be iiiiiiinteresting...

I'm still reading along! Keep it coming!

Thanks for keeping up!!! I am hoping to post some more this weekend!

 

[becanya]

Great trip report! Super sad to be here in TN. :brick:

 

[HopLow]

Great trip report! Super sad to be here in TN. :brick:

Thank you!! I know, what a bummer to be back home again. Especially with more snow today!!!!!:brick:

 

[HopLow]

With lunch behind us, we headed forth towards Asia.

The Maharajah Jungle Trek did not disappoint on the animal front either. The tigers, in particular, were very active that day. Once actually came right up to the glass and was looking back at us with the cutest expression on his face. Unfortunately, the giggly teenagers ran over in front of me to take pics with him and by the time I could sneak in a picture, my tiger’s buddy came over to annoy him, so this is what I got.

Oh well. We were getting a bit tired, so we headed over to ITTBAB. Christa had to take a work call, so I lead us to the tree and through the maze to the waiting area.

While I was waiting for her to get off the phone, guess who I saw? MORE hot dads. Of course. This time, one actually said hello to me. Now, I’m not really proud of my reaction here. I am attributing it to the frustration of a single lady (“All the single ladies…” UGH) seeing all those attached guys all over the parks since we had arrived. I mean, I was polite and said hello back, but inside, I was irrationally angry that not only was there another one right here, but he had the greatest southern drawl. At this point in the trip came the resignation that they were everywhere and we just had to deal with it. So Christa and I just rolled our eyes at each other every time we saw another one from here on out. Which was often.

After the show, we went outside to discover a torrential downpour. Thank goodness for my Disney poncho!!! That sealed the deal about going back to the hotel for a bit. I have some trouble with my back, so walking on hard pavement for long periods of time is not fun for me. So it was back to our CSR cabana for some relaxing time before our ADR that night at Kouzzina.

 

[HopLow]

Sorry guys, not a lot of pics from Friday night! So, I am kind of a stickler for being on time. I guessed that we would have to leave CSR around 4:30 to make our 5:30 ADRs at Kouzzina. Christa is a more laid back, go with the flow kind of person, so she doesn’t really understand what happens to my blood pressure when I feel like I’m going to be late. Therefore, I had to shoo her out the door and we left a little later than I would have liked. Since we were relying on the buses, you never know how long you were going to have to wait. I think we only waited about 10 minutes, but still, I was twitching the whole time. We got to Epcot at 5, at which point I told Christa, “You can look around later! We need to go!!” Poor thing. So we walked briskly to World Showcase, down the path to the Boardwalk and arrived at Kouzzina at EXACTLY 5:30!!!

Now, I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of this. It was not my first choice, but Christa loves any kind of ethnic food, so I tried to tailor our food choices toward that. I was pleasantly surprised by my dinner. We had a carafe of wine and went crazy over the olives on the table. I ordered the Cinnamon Stewed Chicken, which was flavored nicely, but the meat was a bit fatty for me. Christa had the whole fish and it was delicious! I would have gotten that, but I am not a fan of fennel and I didn’t know how strong it would be. For dessert, Christa had the Chocolate Budino Cake, which was good, but not nearly as good as my Galaktoboureko! It was kind of like a Napoleon, but with a different kind of custard. Sooooooo good!! But definitely too much. Neither of us were used to eating so much, so afterward we were definitely ready to go walk off our dinners.

We stopped by France and watched Impressions, then strolled through the countries and in a few stores. It was still early in our trip, so we didn’t want to commit to buying anything just yet, but it was good to get an idea of what souvenirs we wanted to come back for. Around 8:40, we found ourselves nearing China and I decided we better get a spot to watch Illuminations. While I staked out an area, Christa went on a beer hunt. I was still waayyyy too full from dinner to even think about a beer. She was going to get something from Norway, but didn’t like the selection, so she walked all the way back to Germany, while I tapped my foot and watched the clock. Again, I didn’t want her to be late! But she did get back just in time.

That night was EMH, so we (I) decided to hit Maelstrom while we were there and the line was short. Then we went to Mexico, rode the Grand Fiesta and browsed the shops. We were both really tired by this point, but SSE was a must!!!

So on our way out, we stopped by to see history and design our future. This was my first time on since the refurb, so I forced Christa to pick our future. It was completely hilarious and such a great idea for the descent. Of course, I had to email it to myself for posterity!

Now it was way past our bedtime and it was time to go. We got back to the resort around 11 and completely collapsed!!



Next up: I drive Christa to the point of exhaustion, we experience the hype that is TSMM and our FABULOUS dinner at Jiko!!!

 

[HollyBelle]

Next was Dinosaur!

It was my first time on it actually. For some reason, I found it really funny and I laughed through most of it.

I find this to be the exact perfect response to Dinosaur! It's so campy, that there really is nothing else to do but poke fun at it and laugh! :lol:

Keep the report coming!

 

[lisak09]

Great TR, looking forward to the rest

 

[HopLow]

I find this to be the exact perfect response to Dinosaur! It's so campy, that there really is nothing else to do but poke fun at it and laugh! :lol:

Keep the report coming!

It really was campy! And the teenagers in front of us were screaming so much, I couldn't help but laugh!

Great TR, looking forward to the rest

Thank you!!! I am trying really hard to keep up with posting! And to do it fast enough that I don't forget too much? Phew! It's exhausting!!

 

[HopLow]

Day 3: DHS and some Disney Magic!!!

Even though we got back to the room late-ish the night before, my springloaded, Disneyfied brain wouldn’t let me sleep past 7am. Which, on this morning, was a good thing because there were morning EMH at DHS and I was so excited to try out TSMM! So again, I tried not to be too obnoxious, but I had to make some noise to wake Christa up. She knew I wanted to get to the park early, so she tried her best to get going even though all she wanted to do was sleep. What a good sport!!

We made it to the bus stop by 7:45 and there I was, tapping my foot impatiently again. Soooo, I entertained myself by taking some random pictures...

Christa's bag and pin that I forced her to wear:

Finally, a DHS bus pulled up. I knew we were not going to be part of the sprinting crowd, especially since we weren’t going to be there for rope drop, but we speed walked toward Pixar Place as soon as we arrived (with a slight pause for a picture).

When we got to the stand-by, I think the wait time was about 30 or 40 minutes – not terrible. So we got in line and bypassed the FPs, since who knew if we were really going to like it at all.


I always get this guy when I play Chutes and Ladders!! Darn you for skating where you shouldn't!!!!

Found him!!! Where's my reward?!?!?!

 

[HopLow]

Hi New Jersey!! You look very squished down there!

When we got to the CM at the bottom of the staircase (after waiting about 15 mins total), she said to us, “Oh, just two of you? You can go up this side.” THAT’S RIGHT!! WE WALKED UP THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE STAIRCASE, PAST THE REST OF THE QUEUE!!!! :sohappy::sohappy: She let us skip half the line!!!!! Talk about some Disney magic right there. I was jumping up and down because who’s ever heard of a 15 minute stand-by wait for TSMM?!?!?!

I thought the ride was awesome. I love how it whipped you around the corners. At one point though, I looked down at our scores and Christa’s was shockingly low. When I yelled at her to shoot, she said, “I’m going for accuracy!” Ok, well to each their own.

Since Christa ended up loving the ride as much as I did, we got some FPs. It was amazing – at about 9 am we got FPs for between 12 and 1!!! And this is why I love going to WDW in January!

We were starving, since I rushed us out the door to get to DHS early, so we went to Starring Rolls for a quick breakfast. Christa was digging the chocolate croissants everywhere and I tried a cheese Danish. When we got up to the register, the CM asked what we were celebrating. I told her it was Christa’s first trip and she was so excited for us! When we went outside to find a seat, the CM popped out the door and grabbed my arm. She gave me a Mickey cookie for Christa with explicit instructions to take a picture of her with the cookie. HA!!! Another ploy for me to get a pic!! So when we sat down, I told Christa that I had promised the CM, so a picture was mandatory.

After we finished, our CM came out to talk to us and made sure we had gotten a picture. She was just adorable and I was so happy for our little pieces of magic that morning!

After eating, we walked through a few shops. I was disappointed in Villains in Vogue. Last time I was there, they had a lot more interesting villain things. Now it’s pretty much dedicated to vinylmation and Jack Skellington. I mean, I love Jack and TNBC, but he’s not really a villain! Grr!!

Christa was pretty pumped about the Great Movie Ride. I didn’t want to dash her excitement, so we went on and I tried not to yawn. As we walked out, we saw Donald and Daisy with a short line, but I thought Christa would never go for a character M&G. Then, who do I see, but Minnie in a cute, pink dress walking over to her spot. So I said to Christa, “Do you want to get a picture with Minnie?” AND SHE SAID SURE!!! I was shocked, so I just kept quiet and we got in line.

For those of you who didn’t read my Pre-TR (shame, shame!), Christa is horrible about getting her picture taken. There’s a thing about her and her hair… I don’t get it. So I knew going into the trip that we wouldn’t have many pictures together. I am shocked that I got as many as I did, really. Even my friend, after seeing our pictures, commented on how many there were of Christa. So I was very proud of her not making a fuss about a character pic. But for the rest of the trip, I would keep asking, “Do you want a picture with/in front of ____?” And the answer was always no. Even when she would take a pic of me and a nice person in line or nearby would offer to take a pic of the two of us, she always said no. Oh well!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Great trip report....digging your enthusiasm! We leave next weekend and your report is pumping us up! :ROFLOL:

 

[HopLow]

Great trip report....digging your enthusiasm! We leave next weekend and your report is pumping us up! :ROFLOL:

Thanks!! What a compliment! Hope you have a wonderfully magical trip! :wave: I will be looking for your trip report in a few weeks then...

 

[George]

Nice trip report and lots of great pics.

Regards,

A Dad

 

[HopLow]

Nice trip report and lots of great pics.

Regards,

A Dad

Thank you!!

 

[HopLow]

After our Meet and Greet with Minnie, we went over to the Muppets. Christa really enjoyed all the 3D shows, which was surprising to me. I don’t know why. At the end of the trip, I asked her what her favorite attractions were and number 3 was Philharmagic! Anyway, after the Muppets we sat down to plan what we wanted to do. I really wanted to see Beauty and the Beast and do the drawing class at Animation Studio. Plus we still had our FPs for TSMM. We decided to walk through One Man’s Dream to kill time before the next BatB showing. I love the “behind the scenes” and “the making of” kind of stuff. So I really liked OMD, but we didn’t have time to stay for the movie. Next time!!

We got to BatB before it got too crowded. And, of course, right before the show started, some tall dude came at squeezed in the row directly in front of me. So I spent a lot of the show peeking around the side of his head. I wasn’t really a fan of Belle. I think she vamped a little too much, which if you’re going to do, make sure it really works with the dialogue and music… which didn’t happen. But Gaston was FANTASTIC!!!! He was so hilarious and such a character, even after curtain call he was prancing around the stage, flexing. Awesome!


Here's another prince for our study...

Now, this day was the coldest of our entire trip. Christa doesn’t do the cold. Pair that with the fact that I’m dragging her all around the parks and waking her up early in the mornings? She was starting to crash at this point. However, we needed to use those TSMM FPs, so we headed off to do that. After another super short wait, we had an awesome run though the games. Afterward, I told Christa we could leave if she wanted to, but she knew I really wanted to do the drawing class, so we wandered back to find the line. Honestly, this might have been the longest wait of the whole trip! I guess we got there just as the group before us went in.

The Mushu video was cute and then once we got in the back, there was more waiting for the class before us to let out. Eventually, we got inside and drew Dopey. Our CM went a little fast, but I guess she had to since there’s a time constraint. I was also really frustrated by the lack of erasers! I’m a bit of a perfectionist. But it all worked out in the end and I love my Dopey!!

It was definitely time to head back to the resort. We got there around 2:30 and just relaxed for a while. I think Christa might have even taken a nap. But, again, I had a strategy planned out so that we would get to our ADR at Jiko on time. I wanted to leave at 4 for our 5pm reservation, but we ended up leaving the room at 4:15. (I tried to control my twitching at the bus stop this time)


Does this count as a hidden Mickey?

We took the bus to AK and then the AKL bus. All in all, it worked out perfectly and we were at the hotel by 4:45. We got our beeper and went to Victoria Falls for a drink, where I had the BEST mojito EVER!!!! It was a passion fruit mojito. YUM!! Our dinner at Jiko was outstanding!! We ordered the Kalamata olive flatbread to start, to try something different, and it was delicious! I had the filet “old style”, with the wine sauce and mac & cheese. It was fantastic. Everything I’d heard about it being great was true. Christa had the Wreckfish, which was the fish of the day. I was too absorbed in my dinner to be distracted by hers. I might have tried it, I don’t remember. For dessert, I had the Amarula crème brulee, which was so good, but by that point I was almost uncomfortably full, so I didn’t eat much of it.

Since Christa was still tired, we didn’t head off to a park after dinner (unfortunately). Instead, we went to the resort gift shop and looked around. Then, since it was only about 8pm and we had to take a bus to a park anyway, we (I) decided we should take the MK bus and go on the monorail, since we hadn’t done that yet. We stopped at the GF to look around a bit and shop.

Finally, the day hit me and I was too tired to do anything else, so we just took the monorail back to the MK for the CSR bus. We collapsed in our beds about 10:30 that night, much later than I thought we would!

Next, a shopping excursion at DTD and a MK evening!

 

[HopLow]

Day 4: DTD and MK

Today was a more relaxing day. I had lots of things to buy for friends and family at home, so I definitely wanted to hit up DTD. We slept in a little bit (well, as much as I possibly could) and went down to grab some breakfast at Pepper Market. Love those Disney waffles!!!! Then we were off to do some serious damage! First stop was the Art of Disney, where I keep hoping I will find a print. Mike Kungl has a piece with Ariel posed as a pin-up girl and my friend Lauren would absolutely love it. However, I’m not about to drop $600 on her birthday present! So I keep looking for a poster print, but no luck yet.

Then to the Christmas shop. My mother and I always get 1 Mickey ornament every time we’re at WDW. So I had to get something for the tree. I ended up going a little overboard and bought a package of the fab five that looked like the mercury ornaments we already have for our tree. Then there was this cute Mickey doorbell hanging that was burgundy and gold, my favorite colors. So I definitely had to get that too.

Next was World of Disney to get most of my people done. And every time, I forget that Stitch spits!! He almost got me this time!

I did some damage at WoD, but got the majority of my souvenirs bought. I was really excited to go to TrenD, which looked very much up my alley. I really liked some of the pieces in there, but I only splurged on a cute hat for myself.


Love her!!

I would love to have something like this in my house...

It was a nice break from park hopping, but I could tell Christa was still really tired, so we went back to the resort for some r&r. She had been eyeing the hammocks by the pond since we got there, and it was relatively warm out that day, so once we got back, she headed straight to the hammock and I walked around and explored the resort a bit.

 

[HopLow]

Here are some random pics from around CSR:

The pool, which we didn't use because it was a little too chilly out, but was right next to our room.

Restaurant Row in El Centro

I also stopped by Panchito’s (CSR’s gift shop) and was really surprised by the amount of merchandise they had there!

I bought a few little things for my nephews and headed back to the room. After a catch-up conversation with my mom, I realized how hungry I was and that if we didn’t eat soon, it would mess up our dinner. I woke Christa up from her hammock nap and we went to Café Rix to grab some healthy-ish food. I had a Southwest Chicken salad, which was actually pretty good!

At this point, my patience had run out and it was time to go back to a park. Time for MK! We hadn’t been there since our first day, so it was definitely time to revisit and do the things we didn’t do the first time around…

 

[HopLow]

We arrived at MK around 4pm. Since we didn’t do Space the first time, that was our first stop. Unfortunately, it was down, but I grabbed us some FPs for later. I wanted Christa to have an experience with everything, so we hit some rides that I wouldn’t normally do, like Snow White. (Majorly hot dad in that line… WHOA!) Then Philharmagic again (where someone was videotaping the show????), HM and PotC before it was time to use our FPs. Omega is my favorite side, so I was happy we walked right onto it!

Afterward, I needed a little settling, so we walked back to IASW to relax before going to BTMRR. The sign said it was a 20 minute wait, but we literally walked straight to the trains and boarded. Loooooove January!!!

For food, we decided to try Pecos Bill. I had a cheeseburger, which is pretty standard everywhere, but it was good. I was getting a little sick of red meat though, and we still had ADRs for Le Cellier the next day, so I promised myself that was the last burger for the trip.

And yet another sample for our study... (I apologize for the poor quality - it was night and we were far away)

After dinner, we wandered back to Main Street to watch Wishes. OH!!! I almost forgot about the castle!! I wasn’t a fan of the pictures, because they were really had to see farther back, but the animated projections were amazing!! I like the new addition. I stopped by the Confectionary to get some cotton candy and we headed back to the hotel. It was a pretty early night, as we got back by 9, but we needed the rest!!!