Trip Report * Completed* For the First Time In Forever We'll Have Magic, We'll Have Fun

Hello @Longers @Doc Disney @prfctlyximprct @Tuvalu and my fellow Disney fanatics. Welcome to my 2016 Princess 5K Trip Report!


Who: Me (Lisa) and my younger sister, Tina
When: February 17 -22, 2016
Where: The Poly!
Why: 2015 sucked and we were in desperate need of the magic and protection of the Disney Bubble. And oh yeah, my 50th Birthday!!

How this trip came about:
In December of 2014 my sister suggested that we do something, just the two of us, to celebrate my 50th birthday. Knowing that she loves Disney as much as I do, I suggested a Disney trip. I'd been reading lots of runDisney trip reports so we decided that it would be fun to run in the Princess 5K. Tina had run in a few 5Ks, but until we came up with this idea I had never run a 5K in my life.
Right away I went into planning mode and started researching resorts and planning our tentative itinerary.
Then, in April of 2015 our mom, who has dementia, became very ill and needed surgery followed by a lengthy stay in a skilled nursing facility. At the end of April our dad, who was our mom's primary caregiver, had a sudden loss of his short term memory. Tina and I began taking 24 hour shifts of staying with and caring for our dad. As our mom improved, our dad declined and he passed away at the end of June. The remainder of 2015 was a blur of finding an assisted living community for our mom, clearing out & selling our mom & dad's home and dealing with all the other details that go along with that.
Throughout all of this, the thought of our Disney trip lifted our spirits and kept us going. We decided that along with celebrating my birthday, our trip would also be a celebration of our dad and our wonderful family of four.

Here is a photograph of our family on our first trip to Walt Disney World in the early 1980's.

This is one of our favorite family photographs. Tina was not happy that they put her in that sailor suit, but she was a good sport and smiled anyway!

While we were cleaning out our mom & dad's house we found a box containing all of the maps, pamphlets, guide books, and our mom's notes for every family vacation we took.
We were super excited to find these:




Up next: Our trip begins!
 
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LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
We're Going to Disney World!!!!

I am a teacher and I had three personal days that I could use for this trip. Our original plan was to fly out Thursday morning so we could get to the Expo to pick up our race bibs. We'd race on Friday, tour on the weekend and use Monday to travel back home. Then we realized that we'd be flying in February and if the weather was bad our flight could get cancelled and we wouldn't be able to get to the expo and might not be able to race. So, we decided to be safe and leave on Wednesday. Since I didn't have any more personal days to use, I would have to work on our travel day which meant we had to schedule a late afternoon flight. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 4:00pm. My school dismisses at 2:30 and is only about 20 minutes from the airport, so if all went well I should have been able to make it to the airport in time for our flight. I was worried that all would not go well and I could not risk missing our flight! So, two of my teacher friends agreed to help dismiss my class and because my class goes to library at the end of the day, my principal allowed me to leave early so that I could make it to the airport in time :D.
Tina had the day off, so she went to visit our mom and planned to meet me at the airport.
Miracle of miracles, I walked out of school right on schedule. I called Tina and she had just left my mom and was en route to the airport as well. We decided that I would find a spot in long term parking and then let her know where to meet me. All went well and Tina pulled in to long term parking about ten minutes after me.
We rode the shuttle to the airport, checked our bags, and got through security with plenty of time to spare. We decided we'd need some caffeine to keep us going so we made a quick stop at Starbucks and then grabbed a few magazines before heading to our gate.

Here we are at the gate waiting to board our plane:

While we were waiting, the ladies sitting next to us noticed our Magicbands (we were so excited we put them on as soon as we got on the shuttle) and asked if we were going to Disney. We told them that we were and that we would be doing the Princess 5K race. The mother and daughter of the group told us they "were all about the medals" and would be racing in the 5K, 10K and half marathon :eek:! Needless to say, we were impressed.
Then it was finally time to board the plane!!! Here we are all ready for take off!



We really wanted the flight to be on time because MK was having Extra Magic Hours that night! We had a FP+ for Pirates at 7pm. We knew we'd probably miss that one since our flight wasn't scheduled to land until 6:10 and we were taking the Magical Express to the Poly. We also had FP+ for Space Mountain at 8:40 and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at 9:45.
The flight was happily uneventful!

I decided to get in the habit of photographing my food for my TR. Here's a picture of my snack for the flight. I LOVE this stuff!!


Tina took photos of the scenery:


And then, we were landing in Orlando-10 minutes EARLY!!!!! :D:D:D!!!!!
We took the fake monorail and scurried to the Magical Express. We were expecting long lines but we were the only ones in line for our bus.



We only waited about two minutes and we were allowed to board…..


A Disney Cruise Line bus???!!!
We were surprised but didn't care as long as it would carry us into the Disney Bubble!

Here are a few shots on board the bus:




Then we waited and waited and waited about 30 minutes while other families boarded the bus :mad:!
At last we were on our way. And all was right with the world when we saw this!



And this!


I was crossing my fingers and hoping that the Poly would be the first stop for our bus. And it was!!!! :)

Next Up: I Can't Believe We Are Staying at the Poly!!!!
 
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Longers

Longers

Well-Known Member
Yey you started your TR - hope your mum is ok. Love the old pictures of maps and the family photo etc, I keep all those type of things as they are lovely to look back on. Looking forward to more
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuvalu said:
Well it's about time ;)! Great start :)!!
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Tell me about it! I've been itching to start, but real life sucks! About a week after we got home our mom had to be admitted to the hospital for a week. Thankfully, she is doing better. Then I got sick and I've had technical difficulties with photos, etc. I know, excuses, excuses ;)! I am FINALLY on spring break and I am hoping to post all or most of this TR before I have to go back to school! More to come.

Longers said:
Yey you started your TR - hope your mum is ok. Love the old pictures of maps and the family photo etc, I keep all those type of things as they are lovely to look back on. Looking forward to more
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Thanks for asking about our mom. She is doing much better, but this will be an ongoing issue for her.
I keep all those things, too, probably because I remember my mom doing it. My sister and I have encouraged our children to do the same. We enjoyed a great trip down memory lane while looking through that box. We knew that our mom collected all those memories, but we didn't realize quite how extensive the collection was until we started to go through that box. Because we were packing up the house we didn't get to spend as much time reminiscing as we would have liked. One of our goals for this summer is to fully explore all of our vacation memorabilia.
I am working on my next post right now. I am on spring break this week so I am hoping to post most of my TR before I head back to school.
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
prfctlyximprct said:
What a great way to wake up in my Monday morning! Loving it so far!! That picture of your family is great! Can't wait to see the poly and here all about your run!!! :)
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Glad to start your week off on a happy, Disney, note!
Thanks, I love that photo, too!
Working on the next post right now!
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Magical Express pulled up to The Poly and we could barely contain our excitement! We couldn't believe we were finally here! A CM greeted us with, "Aloha" and placed leis around our necks.

Before we boarded the plane Tina had received a text with our room number. We were in our preferred building of Tuvalu! We had been hoping for a third floor room, but the text informed us that we were on the second floor. We decided that we would make a quick stop at the desk to see if there was any chance of switching to a third floor room.

The CM at the desk (forgot to write down her name) was very friendly and welcoming. She checked and told us that she did not have a third floor room available at that time, but if we wanted to move to a third floor room on Saturday we could do that. We decided that we didn't want to move once we were settled so we thanked her and kept our assigned room. She presented both of us with Birthday Buttons. We were confused, since it wasn't even close to Tina's birthday, but we just giggled and accepted the buttons.

We were anxious to check out our room, drop off our carry ons and head to the MK. I believe it was close to 8pm by now. We had missed our first FP+ and did not want to miss our 8:40 Space Mountain FP+.

This is the only photo of the lobby that I have from our arrival:
LOVE these cool lobby lights!



Tuvalu!!!!


Our room!


Tina had never had the pleasure of using a MagicBand, so I let her do the honor of opening our door. I had heard many stories of MagicBands not opening doors so I decided that we should also try my MagicBand to make sure it worked. Well, it didn't work :(. The first of several small MagicBand glitches we had during the trip.

So, while I am standing in the hall knocking on the door telling Tina to let me in because my MagicBand isn't working, a woman approaches me and says, "By any chance, are you Lisa?" Confused, I answer that I am and she presents me with a Mickey shaped basket!!! About this time, Tina is opening the door and exclaims, "Oh, it's here!!" My sweet sister ordered me a Magical Mickey Birthday Basket :inlove:!

Me with my birthday basket:

The Mickey shaped basket was sitting atop a Mickey shaped plate. The basket contained Wishes sparkling grape juice (because Wishes is my favorite Disney fireworks show), Fairytale Cuvee, 2 champagne glasses with Mickey on them, water crackers, Fontina cheese, white chocolate truffles, and 2 princess cookies! It was awesome!

The card was perfect!


I took a few quick photos of the room:

Tina with her lei









No picture of the bathroom, Tina took one but I don't have it. I will check with her and post later. I do remember that the towel hook was around the corner from the shower and impossible to reach from the shower :confused:. After we discovered that I remembered reading it in someone else's TR. We had two sinks, which was great, but I prefer having the sinks outside bathroom (like they are at WL) because it is easier for 2 people to get ready at the same time. Aside from those two small details, the room was perfect!

Then we were off to the MK!!
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Because our room was so close to the boat dock, and a boat was approaching, we decided to take a boat to the MK. We were quickly joined by two other families and we were off! There is something magical about getting your first glimpse of the Magic Kingdom at night! The lights add an extra element of magic and fantasy to the experience.
We were traveling light, so we were through bag check in no time and then Mickey was turning green and we headed into the Magic KIngdom!!
We were on a mission to make it to our Space Mountain FP+, but we took a few precious moments to soak it all in and it was then that we realized that we were finally home :inlove:!



Because it was dark, I had left my camera in the room and I only took a few pictures with my iPhone. This post will be light on photos, but I promise to make up for it in later posts.
After a somewhat leisurely look at Main Street USA, we realized that our FP+ window was almost over. Because I am always reading these boards I knew that we should have a few minutes leeway, but we picked up the pace and power walked to Space Mountain. Our fast pass window ended at 8:40 and we stepped up to the FP+ entrance at 8:42. We held our breath and Mickey turned green! Hooray!! Here are our lovely photos!





After our ride through space we checked out the souvenirs in the gift shop. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of Tomorrowland and headed to our next FP+, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was able to see New Fantasyland and ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during my last family trip in 2014, but Tina hadn't experienced it yet. I rode Seven Dwarfs during the day on our last trip so I was excited to ride at night. It did not disappoint! I really love how the cars sway back and forth.



For some reason I can't find my itinerary right now, but I think Wishes was at 10pm and then the park remained open for Extra Magic Hours until midnight.
Wishes started while we were walking near the Tea Cups, so maybe Wishes was at 9 and we actually watched the show before we rode Seven Dwarfs. Anyhoo, we watched Wishes and then we realized we were starving. At school I eat lunch at 10:15 and all I'd had to eat since then was the snack size package of Brownie Brittle on the plane :eek:. We weren't sure what was open, so we headed for Pecos Bills because I knew that had been open late during our last trip. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures but I had the chicken fajitas and Tina had beef nachos. We sampled each other's meals. We thought both meals were a little salty, but good. We were on the dining plan so we both got churros for dessert. This was my first time using the dining plan. It was at this meal that we realized that it was A LOT of food! We ended up sharing lots of meals throughout the week.

After our rumbling tumblies had been filled up we emerged from Pecos Bills to see the Main Street Electric Parade. We walked along and enjoyed the parade. As soon as the parade headed for Main Street, we crossed Liberty Square for a ride through the Haunted Mansion.

From there, we didn't really have a plan. We decided to focus on rides we didn't have a FP+ for later in the week. Tina got her first glimpse of the Tangled bathrooms. Sp pretty when the lanterns are glowing!

It's a Small World was a walk- on so we enjoyed the happiest cruise that ever sailed. From there, we headed to Dumbo. Tina hadn't seen the double Dumbos or the new queue and she thought it was really nice.

Here are our Dumbo selfies




Tina talked me into riding the Tea Cups by promising she wouldn't spin us. She was true to her word and she did not spin us at all. My stomach thanked her!

We then took a spin around the Tomorrowland Speedway, took a Voyage Under the Sea with Ariel (another attraction that was new to Tina) and finally, with just minutes of Extra Magic Hours left we helped our friend Buzz Lightyear in his quest to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg. I suck at this game! I cannot get the aim down.
As you can see, Tina realized where the camera was. I was so focused on actually scoring some points that I was oblivious!



As we exited Buzz and headed for Main Street I heard the music for the Kiss Goodnight. I squealed and told Tina, "It's the Kiss Goodnight! Have you ever seen it? We have to watch it!" Tina didn't remember ever seeing it before. I was very happy that we were able to see it that night because it was the only time during the week that we saw it.

With one last photo we headed out of the park for the night:


The monorail was already closed so we took the boat back to the Poly. We stopped at Captain Cooks to get our refillable mugs and headed back to Tuvalu. The moonlit walk from the Grand Ceremonial House to Tuvalu was relaxing and beautiful. When we got back to our room we saw that our luggage had magically appeared. We unpacked and fell into a happy sleep because we had an early morning and a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Up Next: AK, Expo, and DHS!
 
jrogue

jrogue

Well-Known Member
LisaBelle said:
We were in our preferred building of Tuvalu!
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TUVALU IS MY FAVORITE LONGHOUSE TO STAY IN IN THE POLYNESIAN! You're so lucky you got to stay there!

I am absolutely loving this trip report so far! So sorry to hear about your dad, but glad to know that you had each others support to take you through that difficult time. I'm hoping your mom is doing better, and looking forward to reading about and seeing the rest of this trip!
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Longers said:
That present from your sister is awesome. :)
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Thanks! I thought so too!

jrogue said:
TUVALU IS MY FAVORITE LONGHOUSE TO STAY IN IN THE POLYNESIAN! You're so lucky you got to stay there!

I am absolutely loving this trip report so far! So sorry to hear about your dad, but glad to know that you had each others support to take you through that difficult time. I'm hoping your mom is doing better, and looking forward to reading about and seeing the rest of this trip!
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Thanks! It's great to have you following along. We enjoyed staying in Tuvalu. It was close to the boat dock and the Grand Ceremonial House which was very nice.
We are very lucky to have each other. I don't think I would have survived this year without her!
I will be adding more to my report in just a bit.

Tuvalu said:
Can I say that every time you mention the word Tuvalu it makes me happy :inlove:
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Happy to make you happy!
 

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