Baby It's Cold Outside - a 1/2-1/9 trip report

Welcome all to my trip report! This trip included a large cast and even a few first-timers. The cast includes: myself, my fiance, Jordan, Disneybird (my mother), my dad, Larry, my sister, Amanda, my brother-in-law, John, my nephew, Victor, my grandmother, 'Mamaw', my uncle, Norman, my aunt, Pam, my cousin, Jennifer, and her boyfriend, Jamie. Yeah, a lot of people. This was the first trip for Jordan, Victor, and Jamie. We started planning this trip a year ago after our first trip to Disneyland. So, we spent the past year brainwashing Victor and annoying Jordan with our incessant talk of all things WDW.

My trip actually started a few days earlier on 12/28 when I flew from Nashville to Baltimore to spend New Year's with Jordan's family. Jordan spent Christmas there with his family and this would be the last time that I would see my future in-laws before our wedding. Before he left we purchased a new camera, a Canon SX200 IS. He took the camera with him, and I kept the camera book with me to study up on our new camera. I was so excited to get to try out the functions on our trip. While we were in Maryland we stopped in H&M to do some shopping. I absolutely love H&M, and the closest one to me is 2.5 hours away. I made an incredibly smart purchase in buying 2 pairs of gloves for $4 (gotta love H&M) conisdering that freezing temperatures awaited us in Florida.

We left Baltimore on New Year's and breezed through security. I was so surprised at how quickly we got through. I expected tight security since it was New Year's and we would fly close to D.C. However, we were met with no lines and no problems, even though Jordan was tested for explosives after he accidentally left a Gatorade bottle in his backpack. We flew Southwest and found out that our flight had 75 empty seats on it. It was a nice and quiet 2 hour flight.

We landed in Orlando around 9:00 P.M. and went down to baggage claim. We had Magical Express reservations and got lost from baggage claim to ME. After we found ME, we checked in and got in line for Pop Century. Our bus ride was uneventful, and I couldn't see any excitement building on Jordan's face. It was for me, though. My parents met us at the ME drop off for Pop. Our room was in the 50's. Jordan and I headed down to the food court for a snack. I got a piece of the tye-dye cheesecake. It was wonderful! I was afraid of how the cheesecake red velvet combination would taste, but the red velvet had just enough of a subtle flavor against the cheesecake. We headed to bed after our snacks. The next morning we had to wake up really early. Jordan and I planned on going to Universal for the day. My dad was going to drop us off on his way to play poker in Tampa. He informed us that we would be leaving at 6:45. yay...

So, after this long introduction on with the trip and pictures!
 

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
Nice pictures! I haven't been to Universal since 99 and really want to go back. You did both parks in one day correct? How much for a ticket? And you were able to get on all of the big stuff in both parks????!
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love this! Great first character interaction! :sohappy:

It was a lot of fun experiencing the characters with Jordan. Our character interactions kept getting better and better. Jordan played right along with them, which I loved seeing.

LOL, yes, please take it as a compliment. I think she is lovely so it was certainly meant as a compliment. I always forget that just because you think a comparison is favorable, the person receiving the comparison may not appreciate it. :lol:

Still loving the report. Can't wait for the Mansion pics.

I did, and thank you so much. I've got some (one at the moment) Mansion pics coming right up.

Loving this! Everyone is so cute =) Those Tigger and Pooh pictures are fantastic.

Thank you! Now that there is a little one and a newcomer in the family, it was really fun experiencing the characters again.

Great report so far!! You guys are so incredibly adorable!!

I love the Hogwarts pictures!!

I love that you and your mom are both giving us reports!!:sohappy:

Thank you, Tammy! I have to get her to keep reporting. The pictures of Hogwarts really don't do it justice. It looks incredible!

You are just the cutest couple, and your pictures are great! I can get the feel of being there for the holidays, so thank you for that. :wave:

Thank you! I loved seeing the parks decorated for the holidays, especially when we finally got to see the castle at night. I felt like a little girl again.

Great report, really loved looking at al your photo's keep them coming:). Can't wait until its my turn to be there:)

Thank you for reading! I have plenty more coming up.

Nice pictures! I haven't been to Universal since 99 and really want to go back. You did both parks in one day correct? How much for a ticket? And you were able to get on all of the big stuff in both parks????!

Yeah, we did both parks in one day. Our tickets were around $80 a person. It is completely possible to do all of the big stuff at both places in one day. The only major attraction that we didn't do was Rip, Ride, and Rockit. If it hadn't been New Year's weekend, and we had to leave early, I think we could have done everything that we wanted. If you plan on doing both in one day, I would really recommend getting there when it opens. Oh, and buy tickets early online. That was the best deal we found.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As promised, some pictures that I forgot to upload:

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I forgot to mention that we went to Philharmagic before we left.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After a short break, the family headed to the TTC to catch a monorail to Epcot.

After we passed the Innoventions area, we saw Chip & Dale hanging out. Victor has been on a Chip & Dale kick lately. So, we had to stop.

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And again with the hair:

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Jordan and I headed up next. During the trip Jordan wore these brown glove mittens. Basically they were gloves with the fingers cut off at the knuckles, and he could pull the mitten part over to cover his entire fingers. Well, Chip & Dale were fascinated by these. So, after Jordan showed them how they worked, we posed for a picture. Chip started rubbing the back of Jordan's head. Jordan looked over at him and said, "That feels good, man." Well, Chip bent over laughing. Again, so glad that he got into the character interaction.

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We had some time to kill before our reservations at Le Cellier. So, Jordan and I split off to go to M:S.

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I tried to get a picture of the Horizons logo, but it didn't come back around enough by the time the line started moving.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I enjoy M:S, but I don't think Jordan was too crazy about it. Afterwards, we headed to Le Cellier for our reservations.

For dinner, Jordan ordered the Chef's Favorites with cheddar cheese soup, prime rib, and the creme brulee.

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I ordered the filet mignon. I substituted the mushroom risotto for mashed potatoes. I've had the mushroom risotto before, and it is really good. I was just in the mood for mashed potatoes tonight.

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My mom and grandmother ordered the NY strip, and my dad ordered the King Salmon two ways. The salmon looked really good, but sorry no pictures. Jordan ended up finishing his steak, my mom's steak, and my grandmother's steak. Just as we finished eating, it was time for Off Kilter to perform. Sadly, though we were only able to see their last three songs.

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Jordan and I were going to stay for Illuminations that night, but we still had about two hours to kill. The rest of the family decided to head out, but we stopped by Soarin' on the way. This was the longest wait we had the whole time. Of course, we were in stand-by, but they either held the line or it broke down because we stood still for a good 40 minutes.

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It was great as always, and Jordan seemed to like it too.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Jordan and I headed towards WS to find a place to watch Illuminations. In September of '08, I watched Illuminations near England. I thought that we would try there. Well, the area was roped off and two CMs were standing there. I asked if you could no longer view Illuminations from down by the water. They told me that the area was for people who pre-purchased viewing tickets. Seriously, Disney? We turned around to walk away, and they stopped us and told us that we could go down there if we stayed along the wall. We thanked them profusely and had an excellent spot for viewing. Plus, only one other family came down to stand in that area.

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We didn't get great shots, but we were there to enjoy and not take pictures.

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The show was nothing short of incredible. We both agreed that this was our favorite fireworks show that we saw all week. We decided that we would walk through WS on our way out and take some photos.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
1/5 Animal Kingdom and Narcossee's

Jordan was most excited about today because we were going to the Animal Kingdom. We woke up early to try and make it to opening. We were both moving slow, and by the time we got to the bus stop, my family was already on their way without us. So we waited, and waited, and waited until a bus finally came. We arrived at Animal Kingdom 30 minutes later and headed to KS to meet the family. A huge downfall to the weather was the inactivity of a lot of the animals. However, we did end up getting some great photos as the day went on.

So, KS was our first ride of the day.

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The wildest creature of them all:


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:lol:

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From here we went on a little jungle trek hoping to see more animals.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We got to the gorillas and nothing, not a single one in sight. Just as we were about to give up hope and walk away, about three came out and started darting across the area. It was feeding time.

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This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip:

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After being amused by the gorillas, we went to Dinoland to grab an early lunch. Then, my parents took Victor while the big kids explored Dinoland.

We planned to go on Dinosaur first, but it was broken down. So, it was off to Primeval Whirl.

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I really enjoy this ride, but our weight was so evenly distributed that we could never get a good spin. Oh well...
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We went back to Dinosaur, and it was back up and running.

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I know, I know, he's such a sweetheart. :lol:

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I finally saw the effect where the carnitaurus is running towards you, and it looked really good. However, when they take your picture, he wasn't there. It was pitch black and only the sound effects were working as well as the camera flash. That was sort of a let down.

From here the four of us decided to use our fastpasses for Everest. We went right on. This was the first time for my sister, brother-in-law, and Jordan. Sadly the yeti was in B mode, but we all had so much fun on Everest. We headed over to the trail in Asia, but took about a 15 minute break so Jordan could watch these guys play.

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He told me that this was one of his favorite things that he did the entire trip.

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The only thing that we really saw in Asia were the tigers, but that was enough to keep the boys occupied for twenty minutes.

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The tigers went in for a feeding, but Amanda and I promised Jordan and John that we would stay to watch them come back out.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
While we were finishing up in Asia, my mom called to see if we wanted to meet them at Festival of Lion King. So we booked it over there and headed in just in time for the show to start. My sister and brother-in-law were pretty cynical about seeing it and even planned on not going in, but we everyone ended up enjoying the show.

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Jordan and I broke off from the group again. We wanted to do the safari one more time before heading out for the day.

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On our way we decided to have a little fun though.

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Ok, on to the safari. Now, even though we didn't see a lot of animals earlier that morning, we wanted to try again. I have to say that this was one of the best safaris I have ever been on. We saw so many animals out and about.

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We saw a hippo walking around, which I've never seen before on the safari. We tried to take a picture but never got a good one.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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We came around to the white rhinos and saw two standing by the road and directly above them were three cheetahs. I have never ever seen the cheetahs that close to the vehicles before.

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Even when we got to the lions the male was up and walking around.

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We just passed the lions when we stopped. The vehicle in front of us broke down. So, we had to wait for someone to get out there to bring it back in. Another vehicle stopped behind us right in front of the lions. We managed to get more pictures of the lion, but we were envious of the people behind us. However, we were joking that the lion was pacing around waiting to pounce on the snack that just pulled up in front of him.

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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow! You guys got really lucky with all the animals that day! We went the following day and didn't see anything. :lol:

We know we did. We were worried that we would be disappointed because all of the CMs kept telling us that it was just too cold, but the animals still managed to make an appearance.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Since our safari took about 20 minutes longer than we anticipated, we had to head out and back to the resort. We wanted to do ITTBAB before we left, but we just ran out of time.

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That night we celebrated my parent's 32nd wedding anniversary at Narcoossee's. This was everyone's first time there. We were seated fairly quickly after we arrived, and they presented my parents with special menus.

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Jordan and I decided to go big tonight with our dinners. I ordered the lobster and he ordered the Surf and Turf

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The lobster was delicious! Plus the shells were already cracked, so they took the grunt work out of eating.

For dessert my grandmother ordered the cheesecake.

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I ordered the key lime creme brulee. It was yummy.

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Jordan and my mom both ordered the chocolate cake.

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Jordan still says that this was the best meal he has ever had. As soon as we finished our meal Wishes started. Jordan and I went outside near the beach to watch while everyone else stayed indoors.

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I have a good picture of my parents at dinner that I need to find.

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We were tired by that point even though it was still early out. So, we all just went back to the room. I think we were in bed by 9:30 that night.
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Wow... I've never seen the cheetahs on all fours. Usually they're just laying down way in the back and the guide has to tell you they are there. I guess they prefer the cold over the usual sweltering heat.

Love the dino/choking picture!! Fun.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow... I've never seen the cheetahs on all fours. Usually they're just laying down way in the back and the guide has to tell you they are there. I guess they prefer the cold over the usual sweltering heat.

Love the dino/choking picture!! Fun.

I think even our safari guide was surprised. I couldn't believe how close they were. It was really incredible to see three of them standing there.
 

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