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!!

 

[HopLow]

Day 5: EC and MK

Our last full day!

Christa wanted to sleep in, but of course, I was up and raring to go. She wasn’t hungry so while she got ready, I skipped down to Café Rix to grab something to eat. My Danish and coffee were perfect as I grabbed a spot on a bench and absorbed the sunlight. But enough was enough and we needed to make the most of our time at the parks!


It was warm enough out for flip flops!!!!

We left CSR around 9 am for Epcot.

First stop was TT. I grabbed us some FPs first, in case Christa liked it, so we wouldn’t have to waste time later.

No problems until we got up to the front of the line. We were waiting to get in the car and the guy getting out couldn’t unbuckle his seat belt. So he finally got free, but then there was the delay of getting that car out of line for servicing. About 20 minutes later, we were finally on the ride. Next, WoE, which was, you know… whatev. When we were done with that, it was time for our FPs, but Christa felt a little motion sick on the previous go-around, so we skipped it.

We strolled through Innoventions, then did Nemo.

By the time we were finished, it was about noon and we had 12:15 ADRs at Le Cellier.


I would love to have a cute little house that looked like this.

It was my first time there, so I was expecting something phenomenal. It was very good, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t the most fantastic, spectacular food I’d ever had. I had the filet, which was an amazing cut of meat – so tender – but the mushroom risotto was a bit too salty for me. I preferred Jiko’s sauce, but LeCellier’s actual steak. I had the smores for dessert, which were cute, but not very good. Christa had the NY Strip and the chocolate moose, both of which she very much enjoyed. We agreed that we preferred Jiko.


Next, a tour of World Showcase and an evening at MK!

 

[Menise412]

Great report!

Sounds like you two had a great time together -- your itinerary sounds perfect, too! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[HopLow]

Great report!

Sounds like you two had a great time together -- your itinerary sounds perfect, too! Looking forward to the rest.

Thank you so much! We did have a good time, but there was also a lot of "togetherness," which got to be a little much sometimes. Hopefully, I can get more posted tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

 

[Uncle Lupe]

I consider myself a hot dad but I never thought to use my child to pickup women at Disney. Parks, grocery stores, malls, restaurants, church, school, weddings, will have to add that to the list.

I might have to wear a disguise just so I can enjoy the park without getting mobbed by ladies. :lol:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Looooovin' it! Such a great report! In a way I'm jealous of your girls-trip. How fun would it be to go with just your girlfriends...so you can admire the hot dads and princes???

I love your bus stop twitching. That's funny!

And no erasers in the animation class. :lol: That made Brian mad, too. I've been trying to get across to him for years to start his drawings with light scribbly-sketch lines then go back and darken but he won't do it. He got mad in the animation class, turned his paper over, and started drawing whatever he wanted to. :lol:

It was my first time there, so I was expecting something phenomenal. It was very good, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t the most fantastic, spectacular food I’d ever had. I had the filet, which was an amazing cut of meat – so tender – but the mushroom risotto was a bit too salty for me. I preferred Jiko’s sauce, but LeCellier’s actual steak. I had the smores for dessert, which were cute, but not very good. Christa had the NY Strip and the chocolate moose, both of which she very much enjoyed. We agreed that we preferred Jiko.

The first time we ate at LeCellier we were super-impressed. Then we recommended it to some friends who came back and had just this sentiment: it was good but everything had a strong salty flavor. The next time we ate at LeCell Tracey & I each took 2 bites and said the exact same thing: it IS salty. We haven't eaten there since January '09 so Tracey wants me to add it to the line-up for September. I dunno. I'm thinking I'll just tell him I wasn't able to get it and book us somewhere else.

I consider myself a hot dad but I never thought to use my child to pickup women at Disney. Parks, grocery stores, malls, restaurants, church, school, weddings, will have to add that to the list.

I might have to wear a disguise just so I can enjoy the park without getting mobbed by ladies. :lol:

:lol: Before my DH met me (because it was game-over for him then) he used to "borrow" his infant nephew from his sister to go to the mall. He swears babies are total chick-magnets. I have to admit, when we met the things about him that impressed me most were: his humor, he could repair a car, he could fly an airplane, and he could take care of a baby by himself. Wow. I guess I was easy to please, huh? :lol:

Soooooo, hot dads need to watch out. Your hot-ness could land your mug shot in a trip report!

 

[HopLow]

I consider myself a hot dad but I never thought to use my child to pickup women at Disney. Parks, grocery stores, malls, restaurants, church, school, weddings, will have to add that to the list.

I might have to wear a disguise just so I can enjoy the park without getting mobbed by ladies. :lol:

You must be prepared! You never know when the single ladies will be out and ready to attack! :lol:

 

[HopLow]

Looooovin' it! Such a great report! In a way I'm jealous of your girls-trip. How fun would it be to go with just your girlfriends...so you can admire the hot dads and princes???

I really enjoyed having a girls trip. Especially for those reasons! :lol: We could be nerdy and ridiculous together, with no judgment from anyone else. And we were both okay with having some alone time too, which worked out great! Next year, I may be planning another girls trip with a friend who was super jealous that she couldn't go this time... I'll let you know when it is, in case you might want to meet up with us for some super girly Disney time!

And no erasers in the animation class. :lol: That made Brian mad, too. I've been trying to get across to him for years to start his drawings with light scribbly-sketch lines then go back and darken but he won't do it. He got mad in the animation class, turned his paper over, and started drawing whatever he wanted to. :lol:

Ohhh, I was itching for an eraser! But if I had one, I never would have finished the drawing because she went so fast! My Dopey came out pretty good though, if I do say so myself. My dad actually wants to get it framed!

 

[HopLow]

After lunch, we walked around the world to buy some souvenirs we saw on our first pass through. Christa wanted to get a bag in Japan, I HAD to try the caramel in Germany, and my mother asked me to get her Laila, the perfume in Norway. I really wanted to drink around the world, but we were just way too full from lunch. So I guess that’s on the to-do list for my next trip.

As we strolled back into Future World, I wanted to stop by Club Cool. I tried to play it all cool, like I had no idea what any of the sodas tasted like… Well, Christa went for the Beverly. I held my breath and tried not to giggle. JOKE’S ON ME!!! She liked it! Weirdo! So much for my trickery!


LWTL was next and I was on the hunt for Hidden Mickeys!

Now, I really wanted to get my youngest nephew either a Pluto or a Goofy plush. Wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE!!! I saw a Canadian Goofy, but that wasn’t really what I wanted. So we headed over to MouseGear to search. No luck.


We had to finish Epcot with another ride on SSE. And it was my turn to choose our future!

It was a nice relaxing last day, but I needed to be ready for the evening at MK, so we went back to CSR to give my aching back some rest.

We got back to the room around 4:15, but only spent an hour and 45 mins there until I needed to go back to a park! Sooooo, back to the MK for our last evening!


Now, MK had EMH that evening, so I wasn’t too concerned with getting there at any specific time, but when we arrived, the park was jammed with people!! Well, as jammed as it can get in January, which I’m sure doesn’t even touch 4th of July or New Years Eve. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy with the crowds. But we powered through and headed toward Space to see if we could get some FPs. Dash it all, they were closed!


I had to ride BTMRR again, but I was dismayed by the sign that read a 50 minute wait. Christa convinced me that it probably wouldn’t be that long, since the signs all week had been overestimating times. Well, she was right, and we only ended up waiting for 20 minutes. (I timed it!)

Every time I walked by Spash, I yelled, "I miss you, Splash!!!!!" I got super excited because the water was flowing this time... But that was just wishful thinking.

It was dinnertime and we wanted something a little different, so how excited were we that Columbia Harbor House was open! We had tried to go here earlier in the trip, but they had closed early that day. I had the fish, nuggets and chips, which were scrumptious, along with just about the best apple crisp I’ve ever had! Christa had a salad and we were both really happy with our dinner choice!


We took it easy after eating, heading toward Winnie the Pooh. I bought a Mickey sweatshirt for my nephew in the store and we started walking toward Tomorrowland. We did Buzz again (man, I hate how you can’t tell where your laser is pointed!!!) and then Space. Since we were in standby, Christa got to experience the Alpha side, which is not my favorite. Of course, she liked that side better. So I guess it was a good thing we couldn’t get FPs earlier! Then we rode the Peoplemover again, so that I could get my head back on straight.


There wasn’t really anything else that was a must-do, so we strolled back through the lands. I was tired and starting to get depressed that it was only hours before our departure, so I wasn’t as “gung-ho” as I was earlier. I stopped in the Emporium to look for Pluto or Goofy, but of course, none were to be found. I did bump into a guy by the plushy wall and he was looking for Pluto too. He said that all his daughter wanted was a Pluto, and he hadn’t been able to find it anywhere either! I wasn’t confident that I’d be able to get my nephew his planned gift before we left the next day. So, somewhat disheartened, we said good-bye to the MK.


Next up, a surprising final day!

 

[HopLow]

Oh, and some pics I took of the store front windows at the Emporium:

Ok, what's with Cindy's hair and why does the Prince have a combover????? Not cute.

And the train station:

 

[ksr99]

Your making me super jealous, Im eager to get down to the world!!! And the warm weather!!!! I'm glad you had a good time!

 

[HopLow]

Your making me super jealous, Im eager to get down to the world!!! And the warm weather!!!! I'm glad you had a good time!

It was gorgeous (almost too warm) the first day, but by the third, I think the high was about 55. Not bad, but definitely not balmy, Florida weather. Anything was better than the 20 degrees at home though!!

 

[HopLow]

Day 6: Morning at MK and going home

This day was, as most last days of vacations are, depressing. I woke up depressed, brushed my teeth depressed, and got dressed depressed. Our flight wasn’t until 5, so we still had some time to use. We packed up and brought our bags down to the DME desk to store. We decided not to do resort airline check-in, because we figured we would have plenty of time to check-in at the airport and I still had gifts to buy and pack.

I had originally planned for us to do breakfast at ‘Ohana during this trip, because it is a must do for my family and me. However, it just didn’t work into our schedule and I didn’t really want to use a TS credit on breakfast. Well, we still ended up having a TS credit left, so I decided we would hop over to the Poly and see if we could get into Kona Café. Depression doesn’t mix well with a character breakfast…

So after dropping off the bags, we took the bus to MK and the monorail to the Poly. We were able to be seated right away and I splurged on Tonga Toast and coffee. To say that it was incredible is an understatement. Anyone who has had and loves Tonga Toast knows how amazing it is, so I’ll spare you the details. Also, because now I’m craving it! So it was absolutely fantastic and I had a breakfast baby afterward. I was sporting lots of food babies during this trip because we just ate so much! I wanted to go to stop by the shops before we left the GCH, and what did I find in the 2nd floor shop?!?!? PLUTO!!!!! I so wished I had that guy’s number to tell him that I found the coveted Pluto plush. Then we went downstairs to Boutiki and I bought a robe for my mom. I missed the Poly so much and I needed to go walk around the resort.

I missed my Poly so much!!!!

I got my Poly fill and held it together while we walked back up to the GCH to the monorail. If I had been feeling depressed earlier in the morning, it was definitely magnified having visited my “home.” By this time it was about 11am and I had figured that we would just head back to CSR, but Christa suggested we go back to the MK for a bit. We had the sixth day on our park hoppers, so why not?


I MISS YOU SPLASH!!!!!

We walked onto BTMRR, which made me a little woozy. Christa wanted to do Space again, so we headed toward Tomorrowland, with a stop on the Peoplemover. Afterward, I still was not feeling so hot, so I opted out of Space. I told her I would wait for her right outside, but she didn’t want to go on it alone. I felt really bad about her missing out on what was now her favorite ride, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

So we said our good-byes to the MK again and caught the CSR bus back to our resort. Somehow I was able to stuff my recent purchases into my luggage, so it was a good plan not to check our bags earlier. Our DME ride was right on time at 2:15 for our 5:30 flight, and everything went smoothly getting to the airport. Unfortunately, I had been worrying about the weather back home, which was forecasting a snow storm. But that had pushed off until the next day. I had NOT accounted for Florida weather. There were tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms, which prevented our flight crew from getting to MCO. When we finally boarded at 7-ish, we ran into some mechanical issues with our plane. Sooooo, we had to wait for another plane to come in, which meant we wouldn’t leave until 10:30 pm. Long story short, I got home at 2 am and needed to get up at 5:30 for work. I was not a happy camper. But we arrived home safe and sound, which is all you could really ask for.

 

[HopLow]

All in all, it was a great trip. It was hard being just 2 of us though, because sometimes you just need time away. The little things can get on your nerves quickly when you're with a friend 24/7. But we did have a good time together and I think Christa enjoyed WDW more than she thought she would. And I was soooooo glad to have gotten my WDW fix after being away for 3 YEARS!! That is just entirely too long to be away.

The good thing is, my parents were super jealous that they weren't there. They've pretty much decided that they need to go again soon. So I've been stashing a couple dollars here and there to help with their trip. Plus, my best friend, who I went to WDW with in 2003, was also super jealous and now she wants to go next year too. Hello, travel buddies!!

Oh, if only vacation time and extra cash weren't an issue... But, I'm going to try my best to plan another trip for next year!

Thanks so much for reading my TR and for all the comments! :wave: See ya real soon!

 

[HopLow]

Oh, and here are just a couple of extra pics from my phone:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Hey girl! Cool report, I'm glad you got to take your friend!