Trip Report August 27 - September 8, 2014 WDW Trip

Hello! This is my first post on wdwmagic, but I have often read the forums and especially love reading trip reports. There's something about them that just makes you feel like you're back at your favorite place in the world! I just got home from a 13 day trip to Walt Disney World and decided this was the perfect time to start writing my own trip report. A little background - I am a DVC member, Annual Passholder, and have been visiting WDW 1-4 times a year since I was 2 years old. I, like many of us, was raised on Disney and as I got older my love for Disney only grew greater. Even though our family is older now, we still all try to get together for a family vacation to WDW in August. So that's where we begin!

Day 1 (of actually being in Disney… long car rides are the worst!)

The obligatory I'M IN DISNEY pic!

My mom, dad, and I arrived at Saratoga Springs to check in around 3:30 pm. We would be staying in the Treehouse Villas for the first time along with my sister and brother who would be meeting us shortly. As we were checking in, the cast member looked at a piece of paper, said "oh no," and then walked away to talk to another CM… a little unnerving, but she came right back and nothing seemed to be too messed up! She began to tell us where our villa was located (of course, in DVC fashion, it was not ready yet, but we had expected that!) and then suddenly a manager came out with a balloon and pins and announced to the lobby that we were the "Members of the Day!" We were given buttons, a balloon, and took a picture with the doorman that welcomes you to Saratoga Springs. Later, they brought the picture in an envelope and a tin filled with fudge and salt water taffy to our room. It was very exciting! Our family NEVER, I repeat NEVER wins anything, so this was extra special for us lol!

Shortly after we received a text message that our villa was ready so we headed over to the Treehouse Villas and began to move into our home for the next few days.

My thoughts on the Treehouse Villas - I must premise this by saying that my brother absolutely loved the villas and is ready to go back tomorrow! I didn't exactly feel the same way. While I didn't hate it and definitely would not put it at the bottom of my list of DVC resorts I've stayed at, I did not love it. It is very secluded, which was expected when we booked it and also something I thought I would love. I'm a big fan of OKW and SS because of the relaxing and secluded nature, however the Treehouse villa we were in did not have much of a view so I think that was really my problem with it. The inside of the villa is quite large, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and kitchen. One of the bedrooms had bunk beds which were not my favorite considering all the kids in our family are grown up. The second bedroom had a queen sized bed, while the third was the master bedroom and had a king sized bed. The kitchen was a good size but didn't have the same amount of storage as other DVC kitchens. Having brought food with us to have for breakfast and such, this was a little annoying but nothing major. Overall, I think I would have liked it better if we had stayed in a villa that looked onto the waterway. Just something to note for next time I guess!

The rest of my family soon arrived and we all headed over to DTD so we could renew our APs and grab some food at Earl of Sandwich.

Had to get the tuna melt from Earl of Sandwich!


That's all for Day 1! I'm sorry if I went on a little too long there!

 

[PlutoGirl]

Love your trip report so far, I too love reading everyone's trip reports. We leave in 9 days and I could not be more excited! I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[BayLakeResident]

Love your trip report so far, I too love reading everyone's trip reports. We leave in 9 days and I could not be more excited! I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoy the rest!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 2: Epcot, Monorail Resorts visit, Captain Cooks, Epcot After Hours Wind Down

Couldn't resist a picture of Spaceship Earth!

Today was the first day heading to the parks so we obviously had to head to Epcot first! It's funny how when we were little the first day always had to be spent at Magic Kingdom. Guess it just shows how things change! Anyway, we got to Epcot around 10:30 am and spent the next couple of hours in Future World. We hit the Circle of Life film in The Land, Journey into Imagination, and Captain EO. After getting off of Journey into Imagination we plotted how we would sneak up the the second floor, but of course headed out thinking about how much we miss painting with Figment .

It was about lunch time at this point so we figured we would take the monorail to the monorail resorts and grab food at one of the quick service restaurants there. We stopped in each along the way just to wander around, but decided to try to newly reopened Captain Cook's. This has always been one of my family's favorites due mostly to the self-serve dole whip. Well you can only imagine how upset we were when we walked in to find the dole whip station GONE. It was a travesty, but we had high hopes for the Pineapple Lanai that would be opening later that day. We grabbed our food and took a seat in the seating area that hardly was changed. They did add some vintage looking posters which I really enjoyed, but overall it's basically the same as it was before, minus the dole whip. I got a kids meal because we would be eating again shortly and really enjoyed it. It was chicken and pineapple kabobs and hit the spot! Everyone else got the chicken sandwich and there were missed reviews. Overall, the restaurant has not changed much, but I was happy with our pick for lunch!

One of the new posters in Capt. Cook's - I LOVE the art!

After our lunch we took the monorail back to Epcot to pick up our car and then headed back to the Treehouse Villas to meet up with my brother before getting some dinner and the going to the Epcot After Hours Wind Down. Once meeting up with my brother, we grabbed some flatbreads from Artist Palette at Saratoga. (I know it seems like all we did all day was eat, but I promise there was more time between our meals than it seems... let's be honest though, when at Disney, I live from meal to meal!) I'm not exactly sure why, but Artist Palette is one of my favorite quick service locations on property. Maybe it's because I love art or just the relaxing nature; either way I was happy to get to stop in for a meal!

Around 7pm we went back to Epcot to catch Illuminations and then go to the Epcot After Hours Wind Down. No matter how many times I see Illuminations, I always get chills while watching it. The music is just perfect! We watched it from Italy and then quickly got to Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar for our Wind Down reservation at 9:20pm.

How many pictures of Disney Fireworks do I really need?...

My siblings and I took our parents for their 37th Anniversary and thankfully everyone really enjoyed it. The wine cellar is nice and small and is dark when you walk in, as expected of a cellar. There were only a handful of people there for the Wind Down, which kept the noise level down. We were also the biggest party, with five people. Our waiter was very cordial and accommodating and made sure to come back to see how we were doing or just chat a few times during our time there. Now, to the food!: There were four different flights that offered three foods and three wines. We all picked the dessert flight (it had chocolate... Who could resist?!) and none of us were disappointed in our decision. The three desserts were 1. tiramisu 2. strawberry shortcake 3. nutella cake and the wines were all moscatos, which are sweeter wines.

Dessert flight at Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar - the Nutella cake was phenomenal!

We all really enjoyed the Wind Down and would definitely suggest it to others. It would be a lot fun with a large group or just with someone else to celebrate something special. I have heard a few people give it less than positive reviews, saying they wish they would have been able to visit all four of the restaurants that participate in the Wind Down. I can understand that and probably would have enjoyed that as well, but this was very relaxing because you weren't running from place to place.

The end of Day 2! Coming up on Day 3 - FREE Boardwalk Tour, Hollywood Studios, Hollywood & Vine Character lunch, and Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 3: FREE Boardwalk Tour, Hollywood Studios, Hollywood & Vine Character lunch, and Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba

When I was planning our trip in the beginning of the summer, I checked out the tours on the Disney website and came across the "Boardwalk Ballyhoo Guided Tour." Seeing it was free, I put it right on our schedule (you don't pass up free at Disney!). We arrived at the Belle Vue Lounge a little before 9 am and waited by two CMs to gather the group together. Promptly at 9 am the tour guide welcomed us and outlined what would be discussed on the tour. He explained that he had done much of the research himself and it was clear throughout the tour how passionate he was about the topic. He took us through the Belle Vue lounge, the lobby, out to the pool, onto the boardwalk, into Flying Fish, the Bakery, and Kouzzina. Having gone to Atlantic City more times than I can count, it was very interesting to see the parts of the Boardwalk that are taken right from AC. An added bonus came when we entered the bakery they had ice cream waiting for us to snack on! The tour was a little over 45 minutes but covered a lot of ground. I would definitely suggest others checking it out especially if you're staying at the Boardwalk.

Paintings of the different Disney castles above the check-in desk at Boardwalk - the frames are designed after the pictures that are on the top of carousels

After the tour was done we hopped on the boat and headed over to Hollywood Studios. I was so excited to see everything for Frozen Summer Fun! We came into the park just as the parade was starting so we found a shady spot and watched Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff. I was a little upset my favorite reindeer, Sven wasn't in the parade… I just don't think that's right! Thankfully, next we made our way over to Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and I picked up my own Sven , I'll never grow up! After making all of our Frozen purchases, we got in line for Oaken's Frozen Funland and waited for about 15 minutes. I was a bit underwhelmed when I got in. I would have loved more theming and the area to be more filled out, if that makes sense. However, when you think about how fast they had to react to the craziness of Frozen, it makes sense. As I was watching people ice skate, I made the mistake of telling my brother I had never ice skated before… Well that was it. Five minutes letter I was awkwardly taking my first steps in ice skates and wondering why I can't just keep my mouth shut! It was actually a lot for physical than I had thought - I was sweating! I also had to keep moving for all the little kids that, like me, were holding onto the wall for dear-life. We spent about fifteen minutes on the ice before everyone was ushered off so the cousins could come out for their show. I thought the show was very cute and I'm certain that if I was little my sister and I would force our parents to let us watch every performance.

Kristoff!

Best princess (ties with Merida of course!)

Around 2pm we had a reservation at Hollywood & Vine. Before you ask, yes we did know that the characters were Disney Jr. friends. My sister is currently in medical school and naturally, that means we buy her everything Doc McStuffins we can find. The only place you can meet Doc is at Hollywood & Vine so of course we had to go see her favorite Disney Jr. friend! Everyone really enjoyed the lunch as the food is just the basics - chicken, mac and cheese, potatoes, lots of veggies - lots of comfort food! If you have any picky eaters in your party, this is a great pick.

Meet Doc McStuffins: mission accomplished

Once we were all sufficiently full, we took a boat back to BW to get our car and head back to Treehouse Villas so we could get cleaned up for our Cirque du Soliel show at 9! We relaxed for a bit and then made our way to DTD, braving the parking lot situation. Being a little early, we stopped into D-Street to trade some vinylmations (I cannot explain how sad I am that they took away so many trading locations two years ago!) and then checked out the new Starbucks.

La Nouba was great, as always! However, having seen it several times, I was a little disappointed in some of the acts. I miss the old clowns and could do without the jump rope sequence. I'm just being picky! But it truly is a phenomenal show and a must-do if you've never seen it before.

The new clowns in La Nouba

Up next: Day 4 - Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest Fastpasses, and Jiko!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Up next: Day 4 - Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest Fastpasses, and Jiko

For the past few days, my sister and I had been getting up around 6:30 am to run from Treehouse Villas to Saratoga Springs. She will be running the Princess half marathon in February and is currently training. Weirdly, as I am not a runner by any means, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Being out before most people are up allowed us to see a lot of the resort while it was still quite and not too hot. If you're ever up early enough, a run/walk in the morning is a great way to start off the day!

We got back from our run, grabbed some breakfast, and got ready for our day at Magic Kingdom. Making our way over to Magic Kingdom, we parked at the Polynesian, successfully avoiding the TTC as we always try to! There something just exhausting about starting the day off at the TTC. We got to MK a little after ten and spent some time wandering through the shops on Main Street and just taking in our surroundings. After spending a sufficient, and probably obsessive to some, time on Main Street, we made our way to Fantasyland to hop on It's a Small World before our Fastpasses for Be Our Guest. It's a Small World is one of my family's favorites and I was especially excited to ride it after finding out that there is a Mary Blair doll in the France scene. If you've never spotted her before, she is in the middle of the Eiffel Tower with bright yellow hair and an outfit made up on several different colors and patterns.

Every time we go to BOG I have to get a picture of this guy

At 12:05 (on the dot!) we got to BOG for our fast pass lunch. We waited in a line for maybe two minutes and then were ushered into a line inside of the building. Because we had not pre-ordered our food we had to wait in a line that was a bit longer rather than just heading straight for a table. After ordering our food we headed for a table and had a bit of an issue finding an empty one that would fit five. Thankfully, a CM came over and directed us to one. Another CM cleaned the table off for us before we sat down. I only mention these two CMs because I am always highly impressed by the CMs in BOG. Despite the hectic nature of that location, I do not think I have ever had an interaction with a CM there that was negative. Now on to the food - I had the turkey sandwich and the "grey stuff!" The turkey sandwich was phenomenal as usual, but I was a bit disappointed in the grey stuff. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of the strawberry cake.

I'm a huge fan of the Ariel ride!

After finishing up our lunch, we did a few of our favorite rides and my brother and I traded some pins and vinylmations. Has anyone else noticed how the only pins you see on lanyards anymore are the Hidden Mickey Lanyard pins? They are really cool, but I miss the old days of trading when you could come across a gem!

We spent a little more time at MK and then made our way back the THV to get ready for our dinner at Jiko.

I was pretty excited for Jiko because of all the amazing things I had heard about the restaurant. We were brought to our table by a very kind CM who pointed out different aspects of the restaurant and asked us about how our visit had been so far. We were seated in the sunset room and were able to see the "sunsetting" on the walls around us while sitting underneath the birds that line the wall.

I ordered a Casablanca beer and would recommend it to anyone who likes light beers. It was one of the best beers I have had in my life! We shared a flatbread and the Taste of Africa appetizer which consists of different breads and hummus. Both were too spicy for me. For my entree, my mom and I shared the chicken. It was yummy, but again a little too spicy for me. Finally, we got the chocolate mousse for dessert and loved it! I was very happy that we went to Jiko as I hope to go to every restaurant in WDW, but it wasn't one of my favorites. However, I think that has more to do with my inability to eat spicy foods!

Day 5 - We move to Bay Lake Tower and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

 

[mrdrift]

Great start to your trip report. The pictures are really good and sounds like the family is having a great time. Following along.

 

[BayLakeResident]

Great start to your trip report. The pictures are really good and sounds like the family is having a great time. Following along.

Thanks so much!

 

[SharonD]

Really enjoying your report.

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 5: Bay Lake Tower and MNSSHP

We woke up early this morning to get my sister to the airport, as she was only able to spend a weekend with us this trip (growing up is the worst!). After getting my sister off to the airport, we gathered all of our luggage together and packed it back up into our car to make our way to our new home for the next few days - Bay Lake Tower.

We had stayed in a 2 bedroom lagoon view about two weeks after BLT had originally opened and absolutely loved it. The 2 bedroom is huge for a "new" DVC (all of my fellow DVCers know that as time went on, the DVC rooms got smaller and smaller - staying in OKW is like a mansion compared to Kidani and others!) and even had three bathrooms. This time, we stayed in a 1 bedroom lagoon view.

When we arrived at BLT we were welcomed home by a CM who then led us into another CM who checked us in on an iPad in the lobby. We were told our room was ready (woohoo! It was around 11:30 am… how did we get this lucky?!) so my mom made her way up to the room while my dad and I grabbed some bags from the car. When we got upstairs my mom was standing in the hallway trying to get into the room with no luck. We ran back down to the check-in desk and told them that our magic bands were not working. After waiting for a bit for the issue to be resolved, we were told that we had not been checked-out of Treehouse Villas officially so they could not actually check us into another resort. The CM was able to check us out of THV manually, but moral of the story is be sure that they have actually check your party out of the first resort if you're moving resorts!

Can I just live here?

We got into our room fine after the CM helped us out and spent sometime getting settled. My brother grabbed some sandwiches for us at the Publix (perk of having a FL resident as a brother - he knows where everything is on and off property!) and then we hung around the room. I felt so much more relaxed at BLT than I had at THV. The view is absolutely breathtaking and I love the atmosphere. There's just something about staying on the monorail line that makes you really feel like you're in Disney and on vacation!

After hanging around the room and just relaxing for a while, we got ready for MNSSHP. It was the first party of the season and I super excited to go because this was the first time I would be attending. I have been to the Pirate and Princess Party and MVMCP so MNSSHP was on my bucket list! Of course, I made sure that everyone knew they would be expected to dress for the occasion - my mom and I were Peter Pan and Wendy, my dad broke out the pirate Mickey ears that he had worn to the Pirate and Princess Party, and my brother and his girlfriend dressed up as Wilderness Explorers from Up! (More to come on the costumes…)

Around 5 pm, dressed in our costumes, we went to the Contempo Cafe to grab a snack before heading to the party. We got a few weird looks from people, but hey, it was our Halloween! We had to dress up!

Minnie and Daisy meeting and greeting outside of Storybook Circus

We got to the party around 6 pm and it began! My brother and his gf were stopped by a CM putting on wristbands to do the Wilderness Explorer call ("The wilderness must be explored!"). This continued for the rest of the night with CMs, guests, and even Dale in the parade calling out to them, telling them how cute their costumes were, or throwing up the Wilderness Explorers symbol! Alternately, people seemed to have a difficult time figuring out who I was… I was wearing a blue dress with a blue bow and black shoes like Wendy, but I think my bright blonde hair threw them off and made me look more like the long lost cousin on Wendy and Alice. To try to stop the confusion, my brother's gf got me a Happy Birthday button and asked the CM in Guest Relations to write Wendy on it. The CM asked her if it was like the Wendy from Peter Pan and my brother's gf said yeah! When the CM handed her the button it said "Villain Wendy." LOL! We did not know what to think, but just started laughing and for the rest of the night I was referred to as Villain Wendy.

Dale about to throw up the Wilderness Explorers symbol!

But enough about the costumes, on to the party! Overall, I loved MNSSHP! We hit the majority of candy stops and by the end had five full bags of candy (it was the good kind too… chocolate!). There are thirteen candy trails in all this year and they're dispersed throughout the park, making it easy to hit them on your way to rides or the special MNSSHP shows and dance parties. I was hoping for a bit more theming in the trails as my brother, who has been a number of times, said that in years past some of the trails had Halloween decorations, but not a huge deal in my opinion. While making our way through to the trails we stopped and did a few of our favorite rides. First we hit Haunted Mansion and saw the ghost of a southern belle sitting on the lawn in front of the mansion (for the life of me I can't remember her name!). I loved how all of the HM CMs had makeup on that made them seem like zombies. They all seemed really into it and actually scared me a bit, not that that is hard to do! We also hit Pirate of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. While making our way through Fantasyland to get a spot of Main Street for the fireworks, we saw that the line to meet Anna and Elsa was 10 minutes… TEN MINUTES FOR ANNA AND ELSA! Of course we had to get in line and meet my girl Anna! We were able to get our pictures and then ran outside as the fireworks were starting right then. We watched from near Be Our Guest and actually had a neat view! While we were standing there, I looked to my right and was caught off guard as I saw the Witch from Snow White walking around and greeting guests. She was so eery in the dark and brought back memories of the Haunted Mansion scene in the Disneyland Sing-along where the villains are dancing around the lawn (I hope someone else gets this reference!). I used to leave the room every time it came on LOL! Thankfully she did not come too close to me, I'll never grow up!

Haunted Mansion!

Once the fireworks were done, we headed over to Liberty Square to watch the Boo to You Halloween Parade. If you have never had the chance to see the parade in person I highly recommend watching it on Youtube. It is now my favorite parade and I keep catching myself singing the song! The Headless Horseman was a great way to start off the parade and it just got better from there. I loved the Haunted Mansion section and weirdly also really liked the skeleton band at the end. I won't say too much in case people reading this haven't seen it yet!

Love Mickey's costume!

It was just around 11 pm by the time the parade ended so we started to head back to BLT. I would absolutely recommend MNSSHP to anyone who hasn't done it before. I thought it was much better than the Holiday and Pirate and Princess parties and would love to get to go back if I ever have the opportunity.

Sorry for such a long post today! Thank you to everyone who is reading! I hope you're enjoying it

Day 6 - Pineapple Lanai, Epcot, and Rose and Crown!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Really enjoying your report.

Thank you so much for reading it!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for your report! It is great to read and the pictures are good! 30 days and couting for us. It will be the maiden trip for Ria en Sacha, mine was 25 years ago so guess I consider it also as a maiden trip! Of course waiting for the rest of your report!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Thanks for your report! It is great to read and the pictures are good! 30 days and couting for us. It will be the maiden trip for Ria en Sacha, mine was 25 years ago so guess I consider it also as a maiden trip! Of course waiting for the rest of your report!

Thank you so much for reading along! That's so exciting! I'm sure you're counting down the minutes with your trip coming so soon!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 6 - Pineapple Lanai, Epcot, and Rose and Crown

After our late night at MNSSHP, we decided to spend the morning just hanging around BLT. I cannot get over how perfect the resort is. It was so nice just to sit on the balcony and watch people jet skiing and parasailing or boats going by. I also love the interior design of the rooms - Next time I get to decorate an area I am taking a page from BLT's book and creating some monorail art!

We grabbed lunch at the Contempo Cafe (I was a real fan of the kids meals this time) and then my dad and I decided to walk to MK and take the boat to the Poly, or I should say the Polynesian Village. We took a peek at the new DVC construction and then made our way to the Pineapple Lanai to grab some dole whip. Being the dole whip connoisseurs that we are, we were a bit disappointed that the dole whip was watery and again they've shrunk the cups… sigh. After finishing our dole whip, and still enjoying it despite our complaints , we hopped on the monorail and went back to BLT to meet my mom and make our way to Epcot.

At 4:55 we had our first experience with MDE Fastpasses. We tapped our Mickeys on the fast pass post at Soarin' and were excited to get on one of our favorite rides. Well "fast pass" turned into "not-so-fast-pass" as we waited for almost a half hour to get onto the attraction! It was crazy and made us late for our ADR at Rose & Crown, but of course we had to remind ourselves that being in WDW in September = less crowds = only 1 Soarin' theater in use.

We got to Rose & Crown a little late, meeting my brother who had checked us in, and were seated right away. I love sitting on the patio and looking out onto the World Showcase Lagoon. It's even better when you're eating fish and chips!

After finishing up our dinner we made our way around World Showcase and stopped in a few shops to pick up some tea, and other necessary items when you visit Disney!

Up Next: Day 7 - Magic Kingdom, Kingdom Keepers Quest, Wishes from the Top of the World Lounge!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thank you so much for reading along! That's so exciting! I'm sure you're counting down the minutes with your trip coming so soon!

Ohw you are exactly right! For us it's 4 weeks left now.... in 4 weeks we passed UK and are above the ocean I guess

 

[BayLakeResident]

Ohw you are exactly right! For us it's 4 weeks left now.... in 4 weeks we passed UK and are above the ocean I guess

Can't wait to read your trip report!!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 7 - Magic Kingdom, Kingdom Keepers Quest, Wishes from the Top of the World Lounge

We made our way to MK for our first fastpass of the day and had our Birnbaum book in hand, ready to complete the Kingdom Keepers Quest set in MK. We got onto Peter Pan for the second time of our trip (this is very exciting considering we WILL NOT stand in a line that is over 20 minutes!) and hit Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Having yet to eat at our favorite quick service restaurant on all of property, we got lunch at the Columbia Harbor House. We all ordered the Anchor's Away sandwich and got one of our favorite seats in the overpass seating area that lets you look out on the path connecting Fantasyland and Liberty Square. We like to call it our "spy window" and could sit there for hours just watching the world go by. One time when we were at our "spy window" we spotted Reverend Run and his family being escorted around by a guest relations CM. We didn't see anyone famous this time, but it was still one of our favorite parts of the day.

After finishing up our Anchor's Away sandwiches, we pulled out our Birnbaum book and made our way to the first Kingdom Keepers Quest clue… that's about where it ended LOL! We could not for the life of us figure out what we were supposed to be looking at and decided we'd try to Kingdom Keepers MK Quest on the app (this way it would tell us when we were wrong ). My mom decided to take a rest in the Tomorrowland Terrace while my dad and I ran around MK to solve the puzzle. It took us a little less than an hour to complete the quest and we were sweating by the end! It brings you all over and doesn't really worry too much about you going from Tomorrowland to Adventureland and back to Tomorrowland. But it was a lot of fun and would be great to do with kids (or kids at heart like my family!).

We completed the quest just in time for our fastpass for the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. We got on right away and were seated in the last row of the train. I loved the ride vehicles and their ability to sway side to side throughout the attraction. I thought the "dark ride" section where you journey through the mines with the dwarfs was extremely well done and showed some of the technological advances Disney has instated in their attractions recently. The rest of the ride was a little underwhelming in my opinion, but it also is not supposed to be an E-ticket roller coaster. It's made for a whole family to be able to ride it together and I think Disney achieved that with this ride. It made me a little nostalgic though, as I missed Snow White's Scary Adventure (RIP)!

Next we had to go get some dole whip from Aloha Isle. My mom ordered a swirl, my dad got a pineapple float, and I planned on stealing some of theirs.

Finishing up our dole whips, we took the monorail back to BLT and waited for my brother to get home from work before grabbing some dinner at the Contempo Cafe. We really became big fans of that place this trip! After dinner, my brother, dad, and I took a walk around the pool and stopped to play an intense game of ping-pong. Then the whole family checked in to the Top of the World Lounge to watch Wishes. The view is really neat because you get a bird's-eye view of the Seven Seas Lagoon, but it's not the best place to see the fireworks. That being said, I could watch Wishes anymore and feel sentimental, so I still loved it!

Day 8: Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Nine Dragons and old friends

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 8: Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Nine Dragons and old friends

Hollywood Blvd!

The day began as all of our mornings do while we're on vacation - wake up, have some coffee and breakfast, get ready and head out to the parks or whatever we may be doing that day. Today, we drove to Hollywood Studios as we had fastpasses for Toy Story Mania around 11 am. We got to the park a little early and walked through the shops on Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd (one of my, if not my absolute favorite places in all of WDW). We caught the Frozen parade again and I once again missed my Sven being in the parade! I'm hoping for a bigger Frozen parade in the future . We stopped into Animation and I owed and awed at all of the art and fantasized about becoming a Disney artist (maybe one day!). We got to Toy Story Mania and saw that the stand-by wait was only 25 minutes… 25 minutes for Toy Story Mania… I LOVE visiting in September! But I guess it didn't really matter as we had our fastpasses in hand, or, well on our wrists .

Sunset Blvd!

I love the TSM queue!

After racking up our scores on TSM, we walked through the Streets of America and stopped into the Writer's Corner to check out the books that were for sale. We decided to have lunch at the Commissary, as it is essential that I go there and watch the loop on the TV every visit. I was quite disappointed that the only shows being advertised were the Chew and Jimmy Kimmel. This is always where I get excited for the upcoming seasons! Oh well, we got an Olaf cupcake so I guess the lunch was still good!

Commissary!

Cute & yummy!! OLAF CUPCAKE!

Finishing up our Olaf cupcake, we got on line for the best attraction in WDW - The Great Movie Ride . We walked right on, which meant that I missed out on watching the trailers in the line, but who am I to complain about not waiting? Ever since I was little I've always enjoyed this attraction and have been exposed to a lot of movies because of it. It's on my "Disney bucket list" to see every movie that is discussed in the ride - we'll see if I can check it off my list! Before heading out of the DHS for the day, we stopped in to see the Muppets too!

Great Movie Ride!

We got back to BLT and I quickly grabbed a monorail to meet one of my friends at Epcot for dinner. My friend and I had been roommates in college and she now worked for Disney so it's nice to get to see her when I'm visiting WDW. We decided to check and see if there were any ADRs available and saw that Nine Dragons had one in about an hour. Since we had some time to kill we got a glass of wine from Italy and then grabbed a seat in the Liberty Inn, as it had started pouring while we were purchasing our wine. After finishing up our wine, we went to Nine Dragons and had a great meal as always. The waiters are always very accommodating in Nine Dragons and the food is excellent. If you've never been and like Chinese food, I'd definitely recommend it. We finished up our dinner and then took another lap around World Showcase before going on Test Track. It still wasn't too late when we got off of Test Track, so we decided to walk to the Boardwalk and saunter through some of the resorts for a bit. Once we had made it through all of the Epcot area resorts, we headed back to BLT so she could say hello to my family and conclude our day.

A little out of order, but I had to put in this picture of Constantine!

Day 9: Checking out of BLT , Magic Kingdom, and Night of Joy (kinda)!

 

[BayLakeResident]

Day 9: Checking out of BLT, Magic Kingdom, and Night of Joy (kinda)

It's always a sad day when you check out of a Disney resort , but thankfully we weren't leaving WDW just yet! We would be staying at my brothers apartment for the next two days. We started to pack up our luggage and bring it down to the car in the morning and decided to treat ourselves to some Disney breakfast for the last day. I of course had to get some Mickey waffles - nothing beats them!

We packed up the car and got out before 11 and then unpacked everything at my brother's apartment (only thing that stinks about changing "resorts" ). We unpacked pretty quickly and then drove back to BLT to take advantage of our still-valid resort parking pass for the day.

At 2pm we had an ADR for Tony's Town Square Restaurant, so we made our way to MK and walked around Town Square for a bit before checking in. We were seated right by the window so we got to do our favorite thing while we ate - people watch! I think they changed their menu since the last time I was there and I really enjoyed some of their new offerings. The creme brûlée cheesecake was so yummy AND it had a dusting of Lady & the Tramp… you can't go wrong! Of course we had to take several pictures as we have our own cocker spaniel at home .

We finished up our lunch right before 3 pm, allowing us to watch the parade from Tony's porch. This was the first time I had seen the new day parade and I was a little thrown. It's a little too much for me, but I LOVED that Merida and her brothers were in it!

After watching the parade we headed down Main Street and hoped on one of our favorite rides - the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We stayed on for two loops and then wound up going on again about ten minutes later… we're not weird, I swear! After our three rides on the TTA, we made our way to the Carousel of Progress and got an extra viewing of one of the rooms as a man got up and exited the theater as it was just about to rotate - eek! This meant an extra "Great Big Beautiful sing a-long" and continuous reminders to stay seated interrupting my sing a-long .

Next we hit some other rides and wanted to grab some snacks and a place to sit down for a little. As we were walking by Pirates, I stopped real quick to see if the Arribas Brothers stand had the Anna and Elsa mugs since no other place on property seemed to. I was in luck! They had both, but wouldn't be able to engrave them at the stand because it was too late but told me they could do it on Main Street. We headed to the Arribas Brothers store on Main Street and they told us it would be done by 7:45 pm. We thought it was a little weird that they told us to pick it up at that time considering Night of Joy began at 7 pm, but we didn't question it. Since we were on Main Street we decided to grab snacks from the Confectionary. I got the Mickey macaroon, my mom got the Mickey shortbread cookie, and my dad had a cupcake. We brought our goodies to Pinocchio's to get some tea and coffee and sat down until a cast member came and asked us if we had our wristbands for NOJ. Since we did not have tickets for the event we started to make our way back to Main Street to pick up my mugs. We we got to the door, it was locked and I had to knock a few times to get their attention. I was able to get my mugs, but it was a little odd to have to knock on a door on Main Street!

Day 10: Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot

 

[FlaggNL]

Can't wait to read your trip report!!

Well, you have to wait another 17 days before I will start LOL