Trip Report A very Happy 40th Birthday to me!

Hello everyone! My name is Tammy and I have been creeping on this site for about 2 years now but I finally decided to sign up and write my 1st trip report. This was the 3rd trip to Disney World for both my husband (Brian) and I. Our 1st trip was in Sept 2011 for our 10 year anniversary and I was hooked . I convinced Brian that we had to go back for his 40th in 2013 and we decided to go for the Star Wars week-ends in May that year. We are both geeks so it was right up our alley . I had actually written up a trip report for that one but I was too shy to post it . Before we had even gone on our 2nd trip I had already planned to go to Disney for my 40th in 2014 and luckily we were able to make it happen .

So since I am on stay-cation this week I think it is a good time to relive our wonderful Disney memories. Also I need an escape from our crazy weather. We are from New Brunswick, Canada and winter has been brutal for the Maritimes .

Here I am crawling across the snow to try and get to our car after one of our many storms this winter .



Here is a pic of Brian also trying to get to our car that same day



So without further delay (this report is late enough already) on with the trip report:

Day 1 - Tuesday, Oct 28th

We arrived at the Orlando airport about 1:30pm and caught the Magical express to the All Star Sports resort.







Check in went smoothly and we were on our way to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express.




Sorry for our messy looking plates but we started eating before I remembered to take
the picture .





After dinner we did a little shopping and then decided to go explore the Fort
Wilderness Campsites because I heard that some of the campers decorate for Halloween. I also had another motive - Gary and Carol Cruise happened to be vacationing in Disney at Fort Wilderness at the same time and I was hoping to meet them. I follow their trip reports whenever they go to Disney and apparently according to Brian I am officially a stalker . I casually passed by their campsite - ummm about 3 times but did not see them out so we continued along. Here is a pic of their campsite...



And a few other pics from that night







We got back to our resort, unpacked and were in bed about 11pm.

 

[FlaggNL]

Great update! Love all the Universal pics! Ok this is a Disney related forum, but now and then watching experiences from Universal are more than ok!

 

[mrdrift]

Love all the food pictures. Don't worry my family is the same way with maps and directions with some frustration. That was an exciting day at Universal I can't wait to see the new Harry Potter expansion area myself. Following along the great trip report.

 

[Beastly74]

Great update! Love all the Universal pics! Ok this is a Disney related forum, but now and then watching experiences from Universal are more than ok!

Thanks . I was hesitant about including the Universal pictures but I noticed that other members have included their non-Disney days in their trip reports so I decided to take the chance.

 

[Beastly74]

Love all the food pictures. Don't worry my family is the same way with maps and directions with some frustration. That was an exciting day at Universal I can't wait to see the new Harry Potter expansion area myself. Following along the great trip report.

Thanks so much . I know from creeping on this site for the past 2 years that a lot of members like food pictures so I tried my best to remember. I happen to also love looking at pictures of Disney food and the different restaurant experiences. All 3 trips we have gotten the quick-service meal plan so our options are a little more limited. As you can tell from this report we have a thing for Wolfgang's . We find the quality of the food to be one of the best on the plan.
I cannot lie - we had a great day at Universal this trip but I was happy to get back to Disney. Thank goodness I didn't have to worry about driving for the rest of the trip .

 

[Beastly74]

My vacation was officially over today so I won't have as much time to focus on this report but I will try and do at least 1 update each day. I think spring had finally arrived in New Brunswick- we still have a lot of snow but the temperature was so mild today I swear I could hear it melting .

Day 9 - Wednesday, Nov 5th

Today we returned the car and they shuttled us to the MK. The monorail was not working so we had to take the boat over.





Look it's magic - the park was now decorated for Christmas .













In my notes I have that we used a fastpass on space mountain but I have no pictures to prove it . But I do have a picture of our lunch at Columbia Harbour House.


The lobster rolls were ok but again those little peach cobblers were scrumptious .

After we made our way over to Gaston's area.






I wanted this!







And a picture of a cute little guy to end this post

 

[mrdrift]

Great addition of the Gastons area, since my family hasn't seen that area yet. Great Christmas decorations around the park. Following along.

 

[Beastly74]

Great addition of the Gastons area, since my family hasn't seen that area yet. Great Christmas decorations around the park. Following along.

It was neat to be there to see the MK change from Halloween to Christmas decorations .
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie so I absolutely love the new area.

 

[Beastly74]

Next we had fastpasses for our 1st ride on...



















We thought it was great fun but I have to agree it is a short ride. Thank goodness we had fastpasses.

After we stopped for a little shopping.


This is so wrong .






Then we briefly watched a show in front of the castle and took a few pictures of some of the beautiful flowers around the area.

 

[Beastly74]

Next we had fastpasses for the afternoon parade. Again we went crazy taking pictures. You have been warned .

Waiting patiently...

Oops LOL darn zoom .


Ok that's better .


This makes me ridiculously happy .




























So ...We could not get enough pics of this amazing looking dragon.


She ate someone! LOL



One of my favorite pictures of the trip.

 

[Beastly74]

Once the parade was over we decided to head to Epcot for the rest of the day.

Crossed paths with Thumper on the way


Oh Canada...is so beautiful.


Perfect little cottage in England. Disney should rent it to me .


I love the details in China...such amazing architecture.


The food & Wine Festival was going on while we were there so for dinner we ate around the world. I am so sorry I failed to take any pics of our choices . I know we ate the cheddar cheese soup and the filet in Canada...YUM. I don't know if we can ever afford to eat at Le Cellier so I will have to be satisfied with those tempting little morsels . We sampled the boeuf bourguignon in France, baked lobster alfredo at the Hops & Barley kiosk, roast bratwurst in a pretzel roll in Germany, beef tenderloin tips in Africa, black pepper shrimp with noodles in China and the rib eye Taco in Mexico. Then we washed it all down with a couple of Margaritas . I enjoyed everything except the taco but Brian really liked it.

After stuffing our faces we waddled over to meet some Disney celebrities.


I have the cheesiest smile on my face . MICKEY!







Epcot had extra magic hours so we ended the night with a ride on Soarin and then Test Track single rider line.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks . I was hesitant about including the Universal pictures but I noticed that other members have included their non-Disney days in their trip reports so I decided to take the chance.

And a great chance! Always great to see those kind of pictures. Sometimes just to compare it with Disney, sometimes just because. The parks are so different from Disney. I even put some pictures from 'De Efteling', a Dutch park into a PTR and got some great reactions

 

[mrdrift]

Love the parade pictures, they were really awesome. Then to finish the knight at Epcot at the Food and Wine Festival is a perfect ending to the day. Following along.

 

[fractal]

Great report! Enjoying your photography. The pirate outfits are terrific as was the Mothra comment.

 

[Beastly74]

Great report! Enjoying your photography. The pirate outfits are terrific as was the Mothra comment.

Thanks but I cannot take full credit for the pictures. Brian took a lot with his camera as well.
Old cheesy movies - gotta love them eh? . (I had to throw the "eh" in there and in case you are wondering - yes, I do say it quite a bit...lol.)

 

[Beastly74]

Day 10 - Thursday, Nov 6

Donald was clearly not happy with my husband this morning


This cutie stopped to scold us. I believe he was saying - "Why are you taking pictures of me - the parks are waiting!"


So we left him alone and headed off to the Animal Kingdom.







1st stop was the safari. I know some of you are beyond bored with the animal pictures but I have friends who have never been to Disney and are going to read this report so I am going to include more of them. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it .










Sassy giraffe .






Twins - 2 sets.


Noooo....come back .



We took one the trails next to see if the baby gorilla was out...

And look...it's a baby gorilla's bottom .


It was really hard to get a picture of the little cutie because he was extremely popular...lol.




Blurry but cool pic...

 

[Beastly74]

♥
Then we were off for an exciting ride on Everest.




Always a great time .

We had worked up an appetite so we decided to try Yak and Yeti (quick service).
Yum!





We really enjoyed our meal there.

It was quite busy at AK so we just walked around and enjoyed the sights.


We spotted this guy in the water by the tree of life and could not figure out what he was at first until we zoomed in...it's a turtle .



We took another walking trail...










Our last fastpass for AK was for the Lion King. Such an amazing show .

 

[mrdrift]

Loving the pictures from Animal Kingdom. It would seem the animals were willing to have there pictures taken today. Following along.

 

[Beastly74]

On our way out of the park we stopped for a few pictures.









It was still early so we were off to Epcot again for the night.



We tried some refreshments. Free samples are awesome .
]

And we got this little beauty from one of the food and wine festival booths.


I had one goal for this night-I really wanted to see the David Cook concert. I saw the line and nearly cried . We figured that it would be easier to find a spot just outside the concert and watch it from there and I am glad we made that decision. We still had a decent view and the music was great. Mission accomplished .











Ok, sorry but I have to complain about something. While we were watching the concert I saw quite a few people get up an leave in the middle of it. After standing in line for probably over an hour why in the world would you leave 1/2 way through??? Did those people not know what they were standing in line for? Maybe they had to pee . It annoyed me because they took the seats of people who actually really wanted to see the concert.

After the show we did a little shopping and then realized we needed something more substantial than pop (soda) and dessert so we walked to England and got us some good 'ole fashioned fish and chips .



We finished our night with a spin on TestTtrack (single-rider line rocks) and last but not least Spaceship Earth.






Brian has Mickey ears .

 

[Beastly74]

Day 11 - Friday, November 7th

Today was an important 1st for us - we had plans to catch the MK opening show and we succeeded .






"Mickey wake up - it's time to open the park!"


That's better . Good Morning!










We snapped this photo at the wrong time .


Much better.

If only we could start everyday that way...lol.





After a couple photos we headed to BTMR. I think the early morning wake-up had gotten to Brian...



I truly have no idea .

Then we went on Peter Pan and the Prince Charming Carrousel...

Seriously?




Maybe I should have let him sleep...lol.

 

[mrdrift]

Great start to the day to see the opening ceremony at Magic Kingdom. All of the pictures were really cute especially the Anna and Elsa with the funny faces. Speaking of funny faces what was up with Brian and all the faces? Following along.