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

 

[Sbk1234]

can't wait for the rest! You already seem like you'd be fun people to travel with. I agree with you, as nice as a place may be, I'll always prefer staying at a Disney resort on property.

 

[Longers]

Sunday 27th Feb - our first full day.

Now I’ll start by saying this day didn’t start as it was meant to (and for that reason there are no photos for this first part) - more on that shortly. Also I never go to MK on a weekend if it’s the first day of our trip under normal circumstances I would have deferred MK day until Monday and gone elsewhere on a weekend. But after waiting so long to be back there was only 1 place I was going and I would just deal with the weekend crowds. I also hate crowds hence the reason for years we do Disney in November as that was quiet but you all know that no month is quiet any more so I was prepared for anything and grateful to be back.

I had told Chris I wanted to be at the front of MK for about 8am just to take it all in and absorb every second. We left our room early and headed to Denny’s for breakfast (something we’ve never done as normally that would be Golden Corral but with Covid it appeared they opened later for breakfast now and that would have delayed us.)

Stomaches full we headed off. We knew it was marathon weekend and there were diversion signs out to MK - so we followed them! Bad mistake. We kept saying this is the wrong way but as the diversion signs we’re out we kept going. We headed past riverside and down the road that takes you by wilderness lodge campground then right towards MK - we kept saying have they put a temporary toll booth in? Still nothing and there were queues everywhere. We continued past the Polynesian and up towards the Grand Floridian. At this point I opened the window and asked a security guard but he said turn around. Clearly the signs were wrong!

Time was ticking and normally I would have been moaning but you know what the sun was shining and I was just happy. I was in the bubble (albeit in a huge car in traffic) but I was on Disney property and I had waited so long I didn’t care.

We headed back and by this point needed a restroom so we pulled in POFQ and asked politely at the front if we could come in. The lady was so lovely and off we went in search of restrooms.

At this point I was sad we hadn’t thought early and pulled into Riverside but that may have been too painful to bear.

After our quick stop we decided to just drive to Epcot and park the car there, pick up our park tickets and just monorail over to MK.

We finally made it to MK around 11am, hours after we had hoped!
Mickeys head turned green and we just looked at each other and just said “we’re finally here”. The eyes were welling up.

We walked under the train station and immediately heard a cavalcade coming down Main Street. We stopped near the end of Main Street slightly to the left (so we still hadn’t seen the castle) and watched that cavalcade come past. The emotions I felt can’t be expressed into words. The music got me, I was waving and taking it all in. This was real, pinch me! Life was good, I was happy and crying happy tears. Even now writing this down I’m getting emotional. It really was just the best feeling and we really hadn’t even started our holiday. Years of waiting had finally turned into us finally being back.

After the cavalcade passed we headed down Main Street towards the castle. Whilst i think it looks pretty the best castle I’ve seen over the years was the happiest celebration one. It was so pretty with gold characters over it. I was still welling up and was so grateful for sun glasses as they hide the tears. I do get a little lip quiver though so Chris could tell! Some of the photos tell the same story.

We didn’t have a plan as we had literally decided to just take it slow and take everything in. As we approached the end of Main Street chris turned to me and said “is it ice cream time?” We hadn’t done any rides, had turned up to the park later than expected but this was a great idea!

Plaza ice cream parlour it was! The smell as we entered created more emotions and as that ice cream was handed to me I had more tears and just said to the lady I’ve waited over 2 years for this I can’t wait!

We enjoyed that ice cream with the sun on our back and Cinderella Castle in front. I was just so happy

 

[Longers]

can't wait for the rest! You already seem like you'd be fun people to travel with. I agree with you, as nice as a place may be, I'll always prefer staying at a Disney resort on property.

Ah thank you - I swear Disney keeps me young. I try to take nothing too seriously.
Chris is Ill with Covid and isolating in a bedroom in our house and yesterday I knocked on the door and sang “do you wanna build a snowman” to him as we’ve been apart since Sunday and that popped into my head.

We both just chuckled

 

[MinnieM123]

Ah thank you - I swear Disney keeps me young. I try to take nothing too seriously.
Chris is Ill with Covid and isolating in a bedroom in our house and yesterday I knocked on the door and sang “do you wanna build a snowman” to him as we’ve been apart since Sunday and that popped into my head.

We both just chuckled

Oh dear, sending healing wishes to Chris. Sorry to hear that he's ill, and hope he'll be well again very soon.

 

[Longers]

Oh dear, sending healing wishes to Chris. Sorry to hear that he's ill, and hope he'll be well again very soon.

Thank you he is getting better every day - I think he is just fed up being ill but on the plus side he hasn’t lifted @ finger for food or drink since Sunday as I have been bringing everything to his room.

 

[macefamily]

So for a little recap for those of you new to one of my TR’s - I’ve been going to Disney every year since 1998 (our first trip was in 1996 fir the 25th anniversary of WDW) I normally go in November and stay in POR. I’m up to something like 320 nights spent there. I’ve also slipped a couple of additional trips in March some years. So far I’ve spent a year of my life in Disney parks - I’m Tracey and yes I’m a Disneyholic, and a proud one, my husband has just learnt to love it like I do. Anyhow back to the report.

We booked our trip within days of those planes leaving and had cut our countdown from over 300 days to just over 100 days. Our main concern was keeping Covid safe to ensure nothing went wrong before we left. The last thing we wanted was to catch Covid before this trip. (Chris currently has Covid which we think he must have caught from going into London for work last week so we were certainly right to be ultra careful before this trip).

We agreed to self isolate for the 2 weeks prior to travel and apart from walks in the fresh air we kept away from everyone!

Fast forward to the day before we flew and even though we hadn’t left the house i was still shaking when we had to do our lateral flow test. We had a laugh with the gentlemen that observed us joking we hadn’t been out and apart from my file not uploading properly and Chris saying he was going without me it did all run pretty smoothly. Within half hour we had a fit to fly certificate. All Tests were negative.

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I think it was at this point it started to feel real. We hadn’t let ourselves get too excited for fear of something going wrong. We had both said until we had landed in Orlando we wouldn’t feel like it was really happening but there was a definite excitement in the air when all our forms were done and we could finally add things to the suitcase.
We had an early night in our own beds rather than staying overnight at the airport and both slept pretty well considering we were going to Disney.

Travel day

Our flight was 12 noon but we had seen various reports to say get to the airport 4 hours before and as we had to travel on the M25 (a notorious motorway in the UK for traffic jams) we allowed ourselves plenty of time.

Suitcases in the car we left the house and as we got to the end of the road tears were flowing - Chris turned and just said “we’ve not gone anywhere yet is this what it’s going to be like for the whole trip?” I casually replied “yes I think so” - spoiler alert there were a lot of tears!

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Thankfully leaving early paid off. The one thing we hadn’t looked up were roadworks and the junction we needed was closed and a diversion was in place! Traffic into Heathrow early that morning was busy but we made it in time. Hello Heathrow - I had never been so happy to see an airport.

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We dropped the car off, got the bus to the terminal, cleared all the checks and had time to get breakfast in the airport before heading to the gate.
The Alex and Ani bracelets were finally out of the drawer too!

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We just kept looking at each other grinning from ear to ear. We were wearing face masks but you just knew as you could see it in the eyes.

Boarding completed we waited for that plane to take off. There was a sign on the Tv screen that made me emotional - they had missed us! Not as much as I missed them.

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HEY !!!! What are you guys doing driving on the wrong side of the road !!!!!

 

[cgersic]

I can't believe I'm sitting here at work crying over you eating ice cream!

 

[rubydoo2]

I don't comment much on here but I've always enjoyed reading your reports and really pleased to see a new one- as a fellow Brit I understand how hard is it to be away for a long time!

We were booked to go April 2020, then rebooked to April 2022 but cancelled in January as we just weren't sure what was going to happen with Covid. My parents are both nearly 70 and we decided it wasn't worth the risk for them. Annoyingly they have both now had Covid recently, were both fine, and we probably could've gone next week as originally planned ...

Really looking forward to reading more! Thanks for posting!

 

[mpaulam]

So sorry that Chris is ill. Hope he is back to 100% soon!
I'm enjoying your trip and looking forward to more

 

[Swissmiss]

So happy for you!

(And I hope Chris is starting to feel better).

 

[amjt660]

Hello Tracey (and Chris)
I am late to this report and loving every entry so far
I will have the same feelings in October - we will return after an almost 4 year absence from WDW

It was so great that the first real activity you did in MK was eat ice cream - I would expect nothing less from you!!!

Following along

and to be clear

Max

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

As we approached the end of Main Street chris turned to me and said “is it ice cream time?”

(But I’m sure you knew that already.)

Sorry to hear he is currently sick and hope Chris has a speedy recovery.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

You are back!!! Your joy and tears are infectious. Following along!

 

[Longers]

HEY !!!! What are you guys doing driving on the wrong side of the road !!!!!

Or is it you guys who drive on the wrong side?

 

[Longers]

After our ice cream we decided to head to the people mover - really this would be our first ride? I know you’re all wondering why isn’t she on BTMRR?

I had a LL for later in the day and like I said we weren’t rushing anywhere.

We walked so slow and were literally just absorbing absolutely everything.

We then headed to buzz to use another LL we had made. Wow we were out of practice but had fun just being back in the moment of trying to beat each other.

After buzz it was finally time to head towards BTMRR. As we walked slowly there my eyes were welling up. I had waited so long for this my stomach was gurgling with excitement and my head was talking to me saying your finally here and doing this. Again I was thankful for sun glasses!

We got to the front of the queue and asked for the last row not knowing if this was allowed at the moment (I’d seen loads of notes about them just loading but you know how I feel about the back row!). The gentlemen obliged and we were asked to stand against the wall. We looked at each other and just grinned.

The train left and off we went to the back row.

Once seated we kissed and off we went on the wildest ride in the wilderness.

We laughed and screamed our way round and had the best time.

As we exited my heart was full, Chris pinched me, it hurt! When I asked what for he said “just so you know your here!”

Don’t worry I was well aware where I was.

 

[Longers]

I can't believe I'm sitting here at work crying over you eating ice cream!

Hopefully no one saw you - lol

I don't comment much on here but I've always enjoyed reading your reports and really pleased to see a new one- as a fellow Brit I understand how hard is it to be away for a long time!

We were booked to go April 2020, then rebooked to April 2022 but cancelled in January as we just weren't sure what was going to happen with Covid. My parents are both nearly 70 and we decided it wasn't worth the risk for them. Annoyingly they have both now had Covid recently, were both fine, and we probably could've gone next week as originally planned ...

Really looking forward to reading more! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for posting a comment as it’s nice to know all the time spent writing is appreciated.

So sad your trips were cancelled and I suspect next week will be really hard as you’ll probably keep wondering what you would be doing but maybe take some satisfaction in it looks like there are very few park reservations so it will be extra busy. Hopefully you can reschedule for later in the year.

So sorry that Chris is ill. Hope he is back to 100% soon!
I'm enjoying your trip and looking forward to more

He is much better today thanks, still testing positive but feeling ok

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So happy for you!

(And I hope Chris is starting to feel better).

Thanks I was beyond excited to finally get back after Covid - I needed some fun in my life.

Hello Tracey (and Chris)
I am late to this report and loving every entry so far
I will have the same feelings in October - we will return after an almost 4 year absence from WDW

It was so great that the first real activity you did in MK was eat ice cream - I would expect nothing less from you!!!

Following along

and to be clear

Max

Hi Max - glad your here.
The emotions are real when you finally return so be prepared!
We are going late Sept into early October so our paths may cross.

(But I’m sure you knew that already.)

Sorry to hear he is currently sick and hope Chris has a speedy recovery.

Yep he is a keeper and he is much better now thank you

You are back!!! Your joy and tears are infectious. Following along!

I am literally feeling all the emotions all over again writing this report!

 

[Longers]

After BTMRR We took a little stroll round and ended up at journey of the little mermaid.

I’ve probably said this before but during the end scene where they sing kiss the girl myself and Chris always kiss. We had taken a supply of masks with us and we’re still using on indoor attractions so this made for a funny attempt at kissing. Let’s just say it didn’t really work.
Next stop was Splash mountain. During lockdown when I heard they were going to change this I was really hoping I would be able to at least ride before they did. I love the ride as it is and let’s face it the song zip-a-Dee-do-da is a classic. Thankfully that time had come.

I was so grateful as we took our seat but I am always on edge as Chris is not a lover of getting wet and as they had put us in the front row I think it was inevitable we would be. I just tried to enjoy it and sang along not worrying. It was hot out so we would dry quickly anyway.

The big drop came and we ended up soaked. I just wanted to laugh but Chris wasn’t amused

 

[Longers]

We grabbed a frozen lemonade.

While we were wet I suggested POTC - you may remember years back when we were literally ringing our socks out on this ride! Thankfully we didn’t get as wet this time.
After our ride we decided to head to the hub to look at some of the statues and to admire the castle in the sunshine

Somewhere we picked up a lolly but forgot to take a picture so here’s the remains …

We headed out of MK hearts full and having had an amazing first day back.

We remembered we had to get the monorail back to Epcot to get the car following all the drama this morning so headed towards the station.

Back at the car the sun was just setting - this picture was one we were grateful for the following morning. More on that later……

We just headed back to our room and chilled out before going to sleep excited for day 2.

 

[Songbird76]

Or is it you guys who drive on the wrong side?

Majority rules...there are a majority that drive on the right, making it the "right" side and the left is wrong.

 

[Longers]

Monday 28th Feb - day 2

We woke up to another beautiful day in Florida. Chris cooked me a fried egg muffin for breakfast, we sorted out our water and essentials and headed out after booking a LL for TSMM.

As we approached the car I noticed a scratch all along the front passenger side of the car- and when I say scratch it looked like the car had been in an argument with a wall.

This was not the way our day was meant to start.
You’ll have to zoom in on the phot below to see what I mean.

We hadn’t driven the car anywhere and I we knew we hadn’t damaged it but that didn’t stop Chris worrying about whether he had. I tried to tell him not to worry and that we could stop at the car centre in MK tomorrow but for today there was nothing further we could do but have fun and not worry we had fully inclusive insurance that we have bought every year since we have got a car and never had any issues with a car we’ve had so maybe this year that extra expense would pay off.
We were headed to Hollywood Studios with an aim to try to ride Mickey and Minnie Runaway railway and Rise of the resistance so the car would have to wait.

I must say this new system of no physical bag checks is great! We are those no bag people but this time we were able to pack a few bits in a rucksack in case we needed them. The whole process is very streamlined and quick.

We entered the park and headed straight to MMRR (is that the new abbreviation for this ride?) the queue from memory was around 45 mins and I had seen it higher on the app so we agreed to queue while it wasn’t too bad.

We thought this was a really fun little ride. Since we’ve been home the little tune has been used a few times in our house…

We looked at some of the statues and saw chip and dale so went to say hello

It was then time for TSMM. Chris was really hoping he would finally be able to beat me - sorry that wasn’t gonna happen!

And I was best in vehicle - I seriously don’t know how you can even get close to 200,000 on this ride though.

Another win for me

Time for ice cream?
Of course it is