A Trip of Firsts, Crowds, and lots of magic! A May 2013 Trip Report!!

Hello all! We just got back from our May 2013 trip! Incase you haven't read our pre-trip report I will give you all a quick summary.

We stayed at Pop Century Resort from May 22nd-May 29th.
Who are the we you might ask?
Well there is me (Emily) 21 year old Disney geek. Before this trip, I was diagnosed with gallstones and told a very strict diet to abide to. I also found out that my hip flexer was a little off so walking a lot would bother it. Nevertheless, I was given the okay to go and just take it easy. This was also my first time flying! We will get into both of these things more as we go on.

The other person on this journey was my friend (Mariana), also 21 and also a disney geek. Before this trip, she hadn't been to EPCOT or DHS since she was 11 years old so there was a lot of new things for her!


That's us

Throughout this trip report, I will be giving shout outs to different people we met, amazing cast members, and adorable children. If any of these people are you or if we look familiar don't be a stranger!

Are you Ready? Because Duffy sure is!

Here we go!!!

We woke up around 3:20am on Wednesday. We booked a super early flight out of logan for 5:25am. We got up and dressed and we were out the door by 3:45! We arrived at Logan around 4:00am and the place was dead. Went down the escalator to security, they weren't even there yet! around 4:15am Security arrived! Made it all the way through Security and we were at the terminal by 4:30.


Our energy level was pretty good for 4:30am! We got teas from dunks and we were on board the plane! Our first flight was to Georgia.We were supposed to arrive around 8:00am and arrived 10 minutes early at 7:50!

Some Jams at 6:30am.

Our connecting flight to Orlando was leaving at 8:40am. We quickly wet to the bathroom and tried to find our gate. The Atlanta airport was HUGE and very busy at 8am. We found our gate around 8:20 and they were already boarding our zone so on we went!



We landed in Orlando around 10:05am! My thoughts on flying? I absolutely love it. You get to your location so much faster than driving.

Next task? Find magical express! We got a bit lost but we were in the Magical express line by 10:30am and on the bus 15 minutes after that. Onward to Pop Century!

Our first stop was Art of Animation and then it was our turn to get off! We did online check in and our two priorities were the room be ready when we arrived, and 70s building. We ended up getting both! We were on the 4th floor of the 70s building facing towards the playground and the 80s section.

By the time we dropped our bags off, we were starving. And this is where Emily learned how difficult eating will sometimes be on this trip. I was told to avoid lactose, greasy/fried foods, red meats, certain fruits like oranges, strawberries, raspberries, etc. Looking around the food court, my options were pretty much salad or turkey sandwich. I went with the kids turkey sandwhich for the pure reason it came with carrots and apples which I could eat.



After eating we swam for a bit, and relaxed in the sun. Both of us ended up falling asleep on a chair outside until 3:30ish! When we woke up we were refreshed and decided to go to downtown disney!

 

[ginadee]

Loved your pics of beauty and beast section. I am so excited to go and meet Gaston. Sounded fun.

 

[WDW_Emily]

As we left Fantasyland, we were on the hunt to find a spot for MSEP. Because it was after 8pm and the streets were starting to get full, we didn't think we were going to get an amazing spot. Lucky us though! We found a spot right in front of the Emporium! It is so much easier finding a spot for 2 people than it is finding a spot for 5. Here we met a family who was at their last park of their vacation. Both their kids were very excited for MSEP and had there favorite parts all ready. Talking to the kids made the wait time before the parade go by fast.

And before we knew it the parade was starting!




I honestly miss Spectro for the main reasons that it's the parade I always saw and the music in it. But MSEP is slowly growing on me.

After the parade everyone was walking towards the castle. People using their strollers as weapons to go through the crowd and everything. To sum up this whole journey to the castle, we ended up near the beginning of the shops on main street, not being able to see very much of Celebrate the magic oh well.

However, when the fireworks started, our view was great. Tip to iPhone users, When I tried to take pictures of Wishes with my camera, the pictures were all blury. One my iPhone the pictures came out pretty good! If you use no flash and use the castle as your focus, here's some of what you get.






After Wishes we tried to get to Adventureland to go on pirates. The whole crowd was at stand still. No moving. My mom texted me saying she was watching the live stream and she said give up on adventureland for a bit, try to get to the shops on main st. and cut through. Oh the perks of having a family who knows the parks as well as you do. New Mission, get to the shops, cut through, take the railroad to adventureland. It still took about 45 minutes just to reach the shops but we made it. We got some popcorn at a stand near the railroad, go up to the railroad and find out the railroad isn't open during the all nighter . We decided to just eat our popcorn from up there and wait for the crowd to die down. A couple minutes later, the second celebrate the magic starts! And we had the perfect view of it! Things happen for a reason I suppose. As we were getting up to leave, I saw chip and dale in their pjs! We had already meet them in EPCOT so we went to find Mickey and Minnie! The wait at the theater for them was over an hour but there were fastpasses available. As we waited for our fastpasses, we finally made it over to adventureland. Pirates was at a 20 minute wait so we hoped in line. By the time we got out, the park was packed! The line to meet Jack Sparrow was at least an hour and a half, the mountains were all over 100 minutes. We rode the carpets which only had a 10 minute wait and then went to redeem our fastpasses.

We got in like around 12:45pm the regular line was a 90 minute wait, the fastpass wait time? 45 minutes to an hour. I was exhausted at this point. Not in pain just tired. We debated not waiting but decided in the end when are we going to get to meet them in their pjs again??? The wait ended up being more on the hour side but the people in line were hilarious. Everyone there by now absolutely loved Disney it was like being in line with a bunch of people from this forum. I don't remember anyones names from the line but if you were in line to meet the big cheese between 12:45 and 2am Thank you for making the line interesting.

Right before we went to meet Mickey and Minnie a man a few before us was having a great time with them. Before he left he said something along the times of "I just want to thank you two for creating so much magic in the parks because I had a great time here." Sometimes as guests, we forget to thank all the characters and CMs who make the magic happen and it was a great moment to see.

Our turn was up next!! We hugged the characters and complimented their pjs


Then we said goodnight to the magic kingdom for now. We got on our bus around 2am and crashed as soon as we got back to our room.

 

[ImagineerDude]

We waited about 20 minutes to get across the bridge to Liberty Square after Wishes to charge my phone (again) for the last Celebrate the Magic at 12. After that the park was INSANE. We attempted to meet them in their PJs but the wait was over an hour so we just did the TTA...twice. Then we were REALLY tired and Belle had a 30 minute wait at 2:30 so we did that and then the park was DEAD except for the dance party. You should have planned to stay after 3am! We got more done then than we did from 2pm-10pm lol. Glad you had fun! I just wish I could've seen myself in one of your pictures. I need to start my TR so we can compare! Can you believe it was 4 weeks ago from today?!?!?! Where does time go?

 

[WDW_Emily]

We waited about 20 minutes to get across the bridge to Liberty Square after Wishes to charge my phone (again) for the last Celebrate the Magic at 12. After that the park was INSANE. We attempted to meet them in their PJs but the wait was over an hour so we just did the TTA...twice. Then we were REALLY tired and Belle had a 30 minute wait at 2:30 so we did that and then the park was DEAD except for the dance party. You should have planned to stay after 3am! We got more done then than we did from 2pm-10pm lol. Glad you had fun! I just wish I could've seen myself in one of your pictures. I need to start my TR so we can compare! Can you believe it was 4 weeks ago from today?!?!?! Where does time go?

Thats what we heard the next day, early in the morning and after 2:30am was dead. Next time we'll be staying
OMG I can't believe it was 4 weeks ago! we just got our see you real soon envelope in the mail today But we are already planning our next trip for about a year from now on one of the Disney cruises!

 

[Mollie_Minnie]

I love your trip report! Mickey and Minnie in pjs, could it get any cuter!?! I had to show my sister your Beauty and the Beast tank top and she loved it so much . Did you get it at the park?

 

[EmmabaRose]

Love seeing your all nighter pics! We came out of tomorrow land in time for the end of MSEP, so we were in the hub for CTM and Wishes, so we got lucky. View was ace!

Loving the TR, I keep reading to see if our paths crossed at any point lol !

 

[ImagineerDude]

Love seeing your all nighter pics! We came out of tomorrow land in time for the end of MSEP, so we were in the hub for CTM and Wishes, so we got lucky. View was ace!

Loving the TR, I keep reading to see if our paths crossed at any point lol !

Sounds like exactly what I did, except from the liberty Square side!

 

[EmmabaRose]

BTW, we also did the Princess breakfast on Thursday morning too! We would have been in the same slot! And yes when the bill came I almost had a heart attack but oh we'll it was worth it!

 

[EmmabaRose]

Sounds like exactly what I did, except from the liberty Square side!

We were bad and disobeyed the CMs. I know, I confess my sins! But they kept telling to keep walking when we were not in anyone's way. So we kept taking like two steps and stopping. But, it paid off in the end lol.

 

[ImagineerDude]

We were bad and disobeyed the CMs. I know, I confess my sins! But they kept telling to keep walking when we were not in anyone's way. So we kept taking like two steps and stopping. But, it paid off in the end lol.

Lol I just grabbed my moms hand and wove in and out of the strollers and brazilians!! We made it past the Partners statue from the bridge in about a half hour haha

 

[EmmabaRose]

Lol I just grabbed my moms hand and wove in and out of the strollers and brazilians!! We made it past the Partners statue from the bridge in about a half hour haha

Nice! My fiancé hates being in crowds (obviously I picked a Disney vacation with him in mind. XD). The upside to this is that he navigates crowds like a boss. After illuminations, we made it from WS to bus stop in under 15 minutes. I was literally along for the ride at that point, just shut my eyes and tried to keep up!

 

[farrellbarrel]

Duffy is such a cute idea!!

 

[WDW_Emily]

I love your trip report! Mickey and Minnie in pjs, could it get any cuter!?! I had to show my sister your Beauty and the Beast tank top and she loved it so much . Did you get it at the park?

I actually got it at Hot Topic before I left! They also have multiple Ariel ones, a Beauty and the beast stain glass tank, Peter Pan, Lion King, Aladdin, and Monsters Inc! I'm slowly getting the whole collection of them. Our shirts were a big hit in MK. Guest, characters, and CMs all liked them and tons of people asked what store they could get them in.

Love seeing your all nighter pics! We came out of tomorrow land in time for the end of MSEP, so we were in the hub for CTM and Wishes, so we got lucky. View was ace!
Loving the TR, I keep reading to see if our paths crossed at any point lol !
BTW, we also did the Princess breakfast on Thursday morning too! We would have been in the same slot! And yes when the bill came I almost had a heart attack but oh we'll it was worth it!

Lucky you!!! Did you end up staying the whole night??

Well worth it indeed! The characters were awesome there and we had a conversation with every single princess. It's something we would do every couple of trips So so far we have been in 2 parks on the same day?!?! Maybe out paths crossed again??

 

[WDW_Emily]

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit. We got some breakfast at Pop and hopped on the bus to go mini golfing at Winter Summerland! This is something that Mariana had never done in disney and I had only done once when I was 7 years old.

Flashback photo...


When we got there it was a 15 minute wait for the winter side, 20 minutes for the summer....Winter it is! It was a cute course. I didn't remember much of it from when I was little. It was neat seeing the course "come to life" when the ball made it to certain points.










and of course....The winner

 

[Zortek]

That is an interesting score card! I've seen some people cheat at mini golf...but never brave enough to score a 0.

 

[WDW_Emily]

That is an interesting score card! I've seen some people cheat at mini golf...but never brave enough to score a 0.

lol so halfway through I realized we were scoring wrong because if we took our first shot, and didn't make it in then the next time got it in, we counted it as 1 instead of 2. So for our game, a 0 is really a hole in 1. I was wondering if anyone would notice our 0's

 

[Meredith]

At Be our Guest if you stay at the main dining room every 45 minutes beast comes out and walks up and down the room then back to the room where he greets guests. Well our table was very close to the center of the room where he walks and I am very scared of character especially 6 foot ones. I wasn't aware that he does this so the first time I was in complete shock. The second time I was prepared and sitting on my fathers lap. SO he is walking back to the room everything if fine when he sticks his head out over my moms shoulder his head 3 inches from mine. Then he just keeps walking. Scariest experience of my life he didn't even look back to see me crying. I know have a strong hatred towards beast now.

 

[WDW_Emily]

Been a couple weeks since an update! After playing mini-golf we took the bus to the Contemporary. We wanted to see the deluxe resort on the monorail loop. All we did was walk around and take in the resort.

Contemporary- We loved the outside of it! The pools looked awesome and it just had a relaxing feel to it. The inside felt very businessy and not as comfortable. However, we know this might be different on the floors where their are rooms.

Next was the poly which we didn't have any pictures of . This was our favorite of the 3. We loved the atmosphere and felt very comfortable. Everyone we encountered here was very nice and friendly. It's definitely somewhere we both want to stay. Also the food at Ohana's at dinner time smelled amazing.

Monorail ride over to Grand Floridian

Although very nice I felt kinda out of place. Like you have to dress nice to be there. Also, I couldn't be inside very much because they put perfume inside the vents and that doesn't do well with my allergies.

After the Grand Floridian we were both very hungry and decided to take the bus over to Downtown Disney. This is when we learned a downside to the monorail deluxe resorts. The bus took a long time to get to us and when it did, no seats were lefts because the bus was being shared with the other resorts.

Once at Downtown disney we hurried over to Earl of Sandwhich. I don't event remember what I ordered and I ate it so quickly I didn't remember to take a picture until I was already done. Here is Mariana's Sandwich though.


After our sandwiches we walked around Downtown Disney again I bought a snazzy Iphone case and I believe Mariana bought a picture frame. Here are some pictures from our night:




Coming back, We got stuck on the bus. It took us about an hour to get from downtown disney to pop century. If you were on this bus with us, I apologize for acting crazy and singing every song that came on and just sitting down on the ground of the bus. An hour on a bus can do that to you.

Up Next: The Busiest day I have ever seen at DHS

 

[WDW_Emily]

WARNING! On the day we went to DHS I felt horrible 80% of the day.. So this day's write up might be short or I might seem grumpy I apologize in advance.

On Sunday I woke up feeling a bit off my head was hurting me along with my stomach. I took some tylenol hoping that it would go away by the time we got to the park. I told Mariana I wasn't feeling well but still wanted to go I just might have to take it easy. Mariana hadn't been to this park since she was younger and I didn't want to make it any less special for her.

We got to DHS around 10:30am and boy was it packed!!! Now we knew going into the park today it would be busy, Memorial Day Weekends, Star Wars Weekend, It had crowds written all over it. However, I was expecting crowds like Spring Break, but this was far more people.


The goal was to get TSMM fast passes then check the showtimes. We got to TSMM and the fastpass time was between 8-9. At that point we decided we would take it and just go to the second showing of fantasmic. We checked showtimes and most shows weren't going on until noon or were just starting. We started to walk towards the back of the park and decided to ride the Great Movie ride since the wait was 5 minutes.




Mariana is a huge movies geeks so I knew she would like this ride/park in general.

As we left, Mike and Sully were meeting! There line was about 30 minutes long so we waited it out. In line I was starting to feel really sick again. I wanted water and I felt gross. I thought about leaving the line numerous times but waited it out. In the end I was glad I waited Mike and Sully were awesome.

 

[WDW_Emily]

After meeting Mike and Sully, we stopped to get more water and Mariana got a hot dog from a stand outside. The stand didn't have anything I could eat so I decided rather than miss Batb, I would get something to eat after the show. Onward to Batb! The show was good and we ate some chips we brought into the park during the show.




After the show it was around 1:30pm and I was needing food, real food not just snacks here and there. We went into a few quick service places and there wasn't anything I could eat. Some places had food like chicken caesar which I could have gotten if I asked for no cheese and no caesar. But I was being a pain that day and was getting aggravated that nobody had something I could eat without having to change it. We ended up at the backlot food express place and I got a sandwich that was literally bread, turkey, bread. No picture because I devoured it. By now the park was extremely packed. It took about 20 minutes in line just to get some food. We thought maybe the park will die down later on so we did attractions that didn't have a long line.

Such as the Great Movie Ride! Which, another reason I loved having 2 people, They have a line jut for parties of 2! A posted 30 minute wait changed to about 10 minutes Again I wasn't feeling well so I only have this picture.


Next we went to 1 mans dream, which is something I, for some reason, had never been too. It was something new and we both enjoyed walking through, and watching the film about Walt.




After leaving One Man's dream, we thought we would go see the Wreck it Ralph characters! While waiting in line, I was getting really hot. My water was warm by now and I knew as soon as we finished with Ralph and Vanellope we either needed to leave or I had to take a breather. The wait for Wreck it Ralph was shorter than we thought, about 20 minutes.

Vanellope was being sassy and decided she needed to be the center of attention.


After we left I found a stand that was selling frozen lemonade. Perfect!! Once I ate it, I felt better for the next couple hours. Thinking about it now, I think the heat was getting the best of me and I was probably dehydrated on top of my regular not feeling well.

Up Next, Will we ever get to ride ToT, RnRc or Star Tours? All of which have had 100 minute waits the whole day?