Trip Report COMPLETED - After 2 1/2 years we finally made it back to WDW

So as the title suggests we finally got back to WDW.
It was every bit as magical as I expected and was much needed after years away due to Covid.
We had such a great time. I’m not going to lie it was a different experience which I’ll explain more of but this holiday was so needed.
I’ve thought long and hard about a TR as the honest truth is I kept no notes as I just wanted to live in the moment but I’ll share with you some of it the best I can.

So let’s rewind slightly here. We already have a trip booked for Sept this year but in early November the US borders opened for us UK folk and myself and Chris watched live on u tube as the Virgin and British airways planes took off together and we both got a bit emotional. After take off we both looked at each other and the words came out of my mouth “I don’t think I can wait till Sept , if Covid has taught us anything it’s to do what you want. Can we book another trip for March?” Without hesitation Chris said yes - he is a keeper! And so the planning started. I checked out various bits of data and found the lowest weeks in terms of spring break crowds, I prepared myself for a busy trip knowing full well that there is a lot of pent up demand and just considered myself lucky to finally be able to plan a trip.

We decided to plan 10 days from 26th Feb. Disney was so expensive that we decided as this was an additional trip we would book elsewhere and settled on Sheraton Vistana Resort as it was close to Disney with no resort fees or parking costs. Our trip was still just over £4000 but money well spent in my books (and as we’ve been stuck at home for 2 1/2 years we’ve hardly spent anything!)

I’ll get into more of the detail over the next few days and I’ll try to get some pictures posted rather than it being text heavy but for now I’m back………. Hello again Disney friends

 

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We headed round to Everest - I was super sad this ride was closed so just stood watching nothing happening for a few minutes in my own thoughts when my phone beeped. It was my boss, he would phone me tomorrow 7am US time (12 noon in the UK) - my stomach went over, I replied saying ok and we continued with our day.

We agreed to go back to my happy place inside AK so off to Pandora we went

Did I already say how beautiful this is?
Emotions were riding high but there was only 1 thing on my mind

Yes - I’d waited so long for this!

Here we go. Night blossom. In the hot Florida sun this was so refreshing - I may have just shed a tear before this photo was snapped.
Missing things like this seems daft - it’s only a drink. But to be back and actually living it myself was super special.
Life was good.

No we won’t be waiting 2 hours

 

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It was at this point I remembered we were carrying around our little tripod so we proceeded to have a personal photo shoot - see dustbins aren’t just for eating food from

 

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Not satisfied with that photo shoot off we went to find a spot for more.
A fair few people were watching what we were doing and probably wishing they could do the same. Or maybe they were just thinking what nut cases we were. We had a good laugh so who cares……

 

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We were both getting hungry and decided to head out for maybe a buffet somewhere - we normally eat in parks and stay whole days but we had decided to just enjoy our time and go wherever the mood took us.
We took some pictures on the way out.

 

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Well the mood took is to Rainforest cafe. We’ve never eaten here in Florida and decided to just see what availability they had - half hour wait - yes please.

We waited less than 10 mins and were called and were seated soon after. It seemed criminal to be inside when the weather was so nice outside but regardless we had a good meal and reminisced over our trip so far and stayed away from any work conversations.

 

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After dinner we decided to head back to our room for half hour for a quick pit stop and look around. We’d been here a few days and hadn’t really looked at our resort at all.

Fully rested we decided to head back to HS to close down the park.

 

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We took some pictures when we arrived and took advantage of some Golden hour shots.

 

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First up - nothing can stop us now (that tunes in my head) MMRR followed by a spin on the swirling saucers. We normally don’t care for queuing on this ride so I can only presume there was little or no wait.

 

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We headed off for ice cream. I sent this picture to someone I work with saying that this picture was reality of the non sleep due to the work announcements with the bags under my eyes.

The ice cream was yummy. We were sat again in the warm evening as the sun was setting eating ice cream - dies life get any better?..

I had never done smugglers run so Chris asked if we could go together so off we went.

I think we were engineers. I was so busy pressing buttons I don’t think I fully embraced the ride or the context of it.

Our final stop of the night was queuing SDD - I can’t be sure but I think the front of this ride is better? I think we were placed around 4 rows from the front. We screamed and laughed our way around that ride like 5 year olds on their first roller coaster.

After our ride the park was closing down so we headed out.
I think there was a show on the Chinese theatre which we had totall6 forgotten about but we just headed out and home to bed as we were knackered!

Today we had walked 11.8 miles and I had done 27,322 steps - the most of our whole trip so there must have been a lot of walking between rides!

I was still convinced we could do more and hoped I could reach 30k but that never happened.

 

[fractal]

Brilliant report so far! I love all the ice-cream being consumed and I love that you brought a mini-tripod!
Some great shots of you and Chris!

 

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Brilliant report so far! I love all the ice-cream being consumed and I love that you brought a mini-tripod!
Some great shots of you and Chris!

Thanks
Some of my favourite pictures of this trip are still to come using that tripod!

 

[cgersic]

The Galaxy's Edge area is soooo cool at night. You got some really great photos there!

 

[lindawdw]

Loving your TR! You both look so incredibly happy to be back in WDW. It seems that you were able to accomplish a lot throughout the day so far!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

LOL, the photos of you and Chris trying to look scared were hilarious! That little boy behind you onthe first one was scared enough with huge eyes! The little kids in the front row of the 2nd one looked really scared. I guess that ride would be pretty intense for little ones.
We love AK and it is our favorite park. I hope you get a chance to eat at the Yak and Yeti in AK? Our favorite place to eat in AK and we never miss it. Also the tripod pics were great and looked like a lot of fun. Can't wait for more.

 

[amjt660]

Great pics with the tree of life

hoping the work news is not too devastating......

Max

 

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The Galaxy's Edge area is soooo cool at night. You got some really great photos there!

Thank you.

Loving your TR! You both look so incredibly happy to be back in WDW. It seems that you were able to accomplish a lot throughout the day so far!

Thank you and we were so happy to finally be back. Disney reply is my happy place and I think secretly it is Chris’s too but he won’t admit it. He says it’s because it sees how happy it makes me.

LOL, the photos of you and Chris trying to look scared were hilarious! That little boy behind you onthe first one was scared enough with huge eyes! The little kids in the front row of the 2nd one looked really scared. I guess that ride would be pretty intense for little ones.
We love AK and it is our favorite park. I hope you get a chance to eat at the Yak and Yeti in AK? Our favorite place to eat in AK and we never miss it. Also the tripod pics were great and looked like a lot of fun. Can't wait for more.

We do have a laugh together there is never a dull moment. Didn’t eat at Y&Y Will have to tell Chris about it. I like plain food that’s quick to give me more time enjoying ourselves.

Great pics with the tree of life

hoping the work news is not too devastating......

Max

Thank you
News was ok just not what I wanted!

 

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Thursday 3rd March

I was awake early expecting my call from my boss.

He had issues getting through as I don’t get unlimited data and I had turned off everything. I finally got hold of him via WhatsApp audio as I was connected to resort wi fi.

It wasn’t the news I wanted - there was a shake up at work and I wanted voluntary redundancy - but they were keeping me - I’m not blowing my own trumpet but when you are good you don’t get VR! I had been told that I had no chance when I put my application in but you never know how many might go so I had to try. At least I was staying where I was and not having to move but I was still really frustrated and made my thoughts known!

With the call over I face timed my mum as it was her birthday. She was excited to see us and didn’t take much time as she just wanted us to go and have fun and enjoy ourselves. Gotta love that she knows how much I love and treasure my time in Disney.
All calls done - and later than we ideally wanted to leave we jumped in the car to Epcot. On the way we talked about work and whether I could just leave without money - there were so many things to consider. Once parked that was it - no more work talk! They have had 35 years of my commitment they are not spoiling my holiday.

Flower and Garden had started yesterday and I was looking forward to taking it all in. We’ve been (I think it’s twice before ) and is always so beautiful.
Entering Epcot it was lovely to see all the walls down. The entrance way looked beautiful. (No pictures as I had the video on to capture it). The sun was shining and we were aiming for a full day in the park.

First stop spaceship Earth to see our future - it didn’t involve not working!

SE was the first ride we ever rode in Disney on our first trip so it always brings back very special memories of our first ever trip to a Disney. (Yes there were a few tears!) at this point you could see all the other walls that are up! Wow - in Aug 2019 on our last trip there were walls. Not sure why they couldn’t have continued working through Covid. I worked every day and they would have been working outside so surely social distanced. Disney missed a trick there to get things done! The walls are terrible.

Although I have commented about the walls they didn’t really bother me as I’ve said before I was happy to be back not o really don’t understand why they didn’t use the opportunity of Covid to get things done. We navigated the walls to world showcase and went for a stroll just to enjoy some quiet time absorbing everything and enjoying being back home.

 

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This was the first time I had seen the big barges. They definitely spoil the view!
Was it worth it? Tonight we would find out.

 

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I decided on an early lunch so we grabbed a bench in the sun for some good old English fish and chips. Yes that is what I ate even being from England. It was so hot sat in that sunshine on that bench but I wasn’t complaining. The sun was warming my bones and I was appreciating every moment.

What I wouldn’t give for that sun right now as I can hear Chris outside scraping the ice of his car so he can go to golf.
After my lunch we headed back to TT for our LL we had booked earlier. Not sure why the man next to me is paying so much attention to looking at me!

After our ride Chris is hungry so we head back to China for him to get something quick to eat.

And then we took another walk the “long” way back round WS towards Soarin.

 

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We obviously had to check out this area in France as it wasn’t opened last time we visited - it was busy so we just looked literally just for this photo and left.