Trip Report April is a Beautiful Time for a Disney Trip

Hello all! It's been a while since I've been able to share a trip with you and as you follow along this report you will quickly see why

We had friends from Germany going to WDW, a few other friends from all over, AND our family all also at Disney during our week-long trip. Since I go so often, we basically let everyone else plan the agenda aside from my husband wanting to try Tron and I wanted to see Happily Ever After now that it was back.

What: A Walt Disney World Vacation
Who: Maci (me) and my husband Jimmy - with lots of meetups along the way
Where: Grand Floridian Villas & an offsite rental
When: April 2023
Why: because there's never enough Disney, Tron and a photoshoot

If you saw some of my earlier trip reports, I was a Disney bride in 2021, and you know that old nursery rhyme...

First comes love,
then comes marriage
then comes baby in the baby carriage!

...okay not quite into the baby carriage yet

 

[k8einwdw]

First! And congratulations!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Congratulations!

 

[MickeyCB]

Congrats and 3rd!

 

[fizzieee]

Congratulations! 4th!!!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 1 Part 1 - Travel

We flew out in the afternoon on Southwest which meant going out of Dallas Love-Field Airport which is much much smaller than our usual DFW. There was some major issue with Southwest earlier in the day which caused delays. We had planned to arrive with plenty of time to pop into MK for Tron and make it to an online group meet up with old friends and dinner at the Boardwalk, but wound up being super late and having to drop our bags and run.

The flight was uneventful after we finally took off, but also we were so behind in getting packed so we were almost thankful for the delay. I was also *too good* at getting virtual queues and got way too early of a boarding group for Tron. This might be an ongoing trend this trip. There was no way we’d be able to ride that far past our time.

We took some photos of the flight and just watched movies and shows on our iPad. We tried Sunshine Flyer this trip because they were running a great special but we felt like we waited forever to get on the bus to go, then they stopped at so many hotels before ours since we had places to be it really felt like it took forever and ever!! According to my time stamps we landed around 4:10pm and got to The Grand at 6:41pm. Everything else was great though.

 

[Tiki Traveler]

I remember your wedding trip report. The logistics and activities were amazing! Congratulations on this next chapter!

 

[Darstarr]

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Congratulation, I’m so happy for you both.

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 1 Part 2 - Okay Grand, you’ve won me over


We checked in and quickly headed to our room, which was gorgeous and perfectly located. We were in one of the new resort studio villas and it was lovely. They had also already put our goodies from SammiCakes in our room for us which was so nice because we definitely didn’t have time to go back once we remembered we had them! We had a breakfast box and a treat box I had ordered, yum!

While I got married at the Wedding Pavilion and love the lounges and dining at the Grand, it never really appealed to me to stay here. It just happened to be the studio we could get on points the days we needed. My tune changed pretty quickly when we went into our room, it was so nicely done and didn’t feel stuffy or old timely like the old rooms did. The updates they’ve been making around the resort haven’t hurt either.
It really seemed like a place you could hang out now, not just a high end fancy resort to tip toe through.

We didn’t have time to really enjoy the resort yet, we had to just freshen up and head back out.

 

[MagicalMaci]

First! And congratulations!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations! 4th!!!

I remember your wedding trip report. The logistics and activities were amazing! Congratulations on this next chapter!

Congratulation, I’m so happy for you both.

Thank you so much everyone! It’s been a wild journey so far

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 1 Part 3 - We don’t have time for this, but here we are

We did a quick refresh and headed back out to the monorail. We decided a monorail to MK to hop a bus to the Boardwalk would be easiest.

When we arrived at Magic Kingdom, we hopped over to guest relations quick. We activated Jimmy's annual pass since new sales finally became available right before this trip! We popped in for a quick Photopass shot just in case we wanted to go to any other parks tonight then headed right back out to the bus stop.

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 1 Part 4 - The Boardwalk

We’d been watching Instagram posts of how to take better photos so we did a quick little photoshoot when we got to the Boardwalk and I love how it turned out! We headed on back down the stairs to catch up with the large group we were set to have dinner with.

Your very pregnant author was tired after all the travel and rushing around and thankfully someone immediately offered me a seat it was so great to see old friends and meet new ones I hadn’t before! I def failed on getting pics with everyone which was a major bummer!
Jimmy and I headed over to Abracadabar so I could get a mocktail and again sit down, but this time in the AC, to rest after this long travel day. We were all waiting around for our large group to be sat for our first meal of the trip! Any guesses where we went?

 

[littleroo]

I am following! I am guessing The Trat but I am hoping for the Flying Fish!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 1 Part 5 - Dinner at Flying Fish
Those of you who guessed Flying Fish were correct! We were definitely looking forward to this meal. We were a party of 16 all said and done so we had to be split across two large tables at Flying Fish but it was late so the restaurant was clearing out slowly and there was space for us to mingle.

We started with bread, Jimmy split a bottle of wine with some of the others and we got appetizers ordered. Our server was great and handled our large party very well. Jimmy ordered the lobster bisque which he usually does when it's on a menu, I got the grilled romaine salad at our server's recommendation. (I also got more bread, because carbs mmmmm!) The appetizers were enjoyed all around but while the salad was good, it was essentially just a big hunk of romaine and not very exciting. I couldn't even finish it.

Oak-grilled Romaine
Buttermilk-Cream Fraîche, Pecorino Romano, Marinated Vegetables

Lobster Bisque
Aged Brandy, Chive Oil

Flying Fish is of course known for their seafood but I don’t like shellfish and the fish they were serving was on the higher end of the mercury scale so I couldn’t order it We also had several steak restaurants on our plans for this week so I opted not to order steak here and ended up with the chicken dish (which has been changed on the menu in the last 3 months so I'm not 100% sure what it was anymore - I need to be better about taking notes!) Jimmy got the signature potato crusted red snapper and let me tell you - it was the winner! I had serious entrée envy. The chicken was boring but the roasted veggies were great. Those who ordered the steak really enjoyed it as well, so I wish I had gone that route at least.

Potato-wrapped Red Snapper
Leek Fondue, Cassis-Red Wine Reduction

Seafood Trofie Pasta
Shrimp, Lobster, Scallops, Clams, Mussels

Filet Mignon
Herbed Risotto, Honshimeji Mushroom, Broccolini, Soubise Sauce

We enjoyed a great meal and great company, it was so great to see some friends again after many years! It was getting very late and I was hungry for dessert but also very tired so since no one else wanted dessert we wrapped up and headed out.

Once we got back to the Grand, I dug into my treat box and had a chocolate cupcake and it was delightful! We headed off to bed since we had to be up early for another Virtual Queue attempt!

 

[rshell68]

From beautiful bride to gorgeous mama! Congratulations!!!

 

[Katiekitten]

It only feels like last week when I was reading your wedding trip report! Congratulations!

 

[MagicalMaci]

From beautiful bride to gorgeous mama! Congratulations!!!

Thank you so much!

It only feels like last week when I was reading your wedding trip report! Congratulations!

I know, it's crazy that it was almost 2 years ago we had our fairytale already!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 Part 1 - I’m too good at virtual queues!

I was up at 7am to get a VQ for Guardians of the Galaxy and oh man did I achieve that goal, Boarding Group 6! So we got up and got ready for the day. We enjoyed breakfast in our room before going to the monorail and headed right on over to Epcot after our transfer at the TTC. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed the stroll from our room to the main building. I love that the monorails have their color identity on the inside and we had a good time trying to “collect” them all with selfies.

The monorail to Epcot is honestly a PITA but the views are beautiful, I can't wait for those walls to come down though. We enjoyed the ride, but were ready to be in the park. We were meeting up with friends today but we beat them to the park so we hit Spaceship Earth on our way in since there was no wait this early in the morning, and it was something I could ride.

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 Part 2 - Time for a Cosmic Rewind

By the time we were off the ride, they had arrived and made their way over to Guardians (because of course it was our turn to ride already!) so we headed that way. There was a Photopass out front who took some awesome photos of us before we headed in to ride.

I was able to do all the pre-show and such with them which was fun and then I took the “chicken exit” and was able to wait for them inside just as they got off the ride! I jammed out to the 80s tunes and caught up on Instagram while I waited.

I thought the lights were really pretty in the exit area.