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!

 

[LisaBelle]

Real life has been full of volleyball conditioning, volleyball practice, and driver's ed for my daughter. Then when I finally got the chance to come to the boards to update my report I ended up reading everyone else's TRs ha ha!

When I left off we had just finished watching the Festival of Fantasy Parade. Our next FP+ was for Jungle Cruise. We headed in that direction and made a stop at one of our favorite attractions:

Pirates is always a must do for us and we hadn't ridden it yet this trip. I had read numerous reports of people getting soaked, so I watched as the boats came in to the loading area. Our boat was mostly dry. I can't remember where we sat, but I am happy to report that we stayed dry! We always enjoy looking around the gift shop at the end of Pirates. We loved these t-shirts:




We had a sword fight and made our best pirate faces!


Then I attempted to recreate one of my favorite photos of my daughter. This picture was taken on our first family trip to Disney when she was only 4.


Of course she was much cuter! I didn't think of doing this until we were there and I couldn't remember exactly what she was doing in the photo.


Tina couldn't take her eyes off Captain Jack Sparrow.

I dragged Tina away from Captain Jack and we headed for another sailing vessel.



I had fun taking photos in the queue.








Then our boat arrived.


Our skipper, Cory, was very entertaining and most of the passengers appreciated his commentary.

 

[LisaBelle]

We enjoyed all the sights on our exotic trip on the rivers of Asia, Africa and South America!




These guys always make me laugh!


And finally, no trip on the Jungle Cruise would be complete without a shot of the back side of water .


After our safe return, we said goodbye to Adventureland and headed for the future that never was in Tomorrowland.



We really wanted to ride the People Mover but the line was longer than I've ever seen it . The doors to Carousel of Progress were opening so instead we went in to enjoy a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. We enjoyed the show until we got to the last scene and the attraction got stuck! We had to sit through the last scene twice and then, instead of the doors opening we went back to the opening scene . We were finally released from the never ending carousel! We had been hoping to jump on the People Mover before our ADR but we spent so much time on CoP that we had to skip People Mover and power walk to our ADR.

 

[LisaBelle]

Where was our ADR you ask? Here are some hints…….
We checked in and from where we stood we could see this.



And this.

And pose with this guy.

By now you've probably guessed…..

We were ready to dine at….

So much to photograph while you wait!

I love this photo!

After about 10 minutes we were able to walk through these doors and into the world of my favorite Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast!

 

[LisaBelle]

Before I get back to the trip report I have to tell you that my daughter and I just saw Finding Dory. LOVED IT!!!! I think I liked it better than Finding Nemo. The short film before the feature was adorable, almost worth the price of admission just for that. Baby Dory is THE cutest fish ever. I don't know how Disney does it, the perfect mix of funny and heart warming. I was so touched that I cried twice. I highly recommend it !

Now back to the TR.
We had just arrived for our dinner ADR at BOG. I ate lunch there on my last trip, but Tina had never been there. I was excited to see her reaction. We told our hostess that Tina had never been there before, so she made sure to point out each room in the castle and told us we were welcome to walk around and look some more after our meal. I love how the CMs make you feel so welcome and special. She led us toward the West Wing and paused at the doorway so at first I wasn't sure if that was where we would be seated but then she took us to our table. I think Tina was a little disappointed that we were sitting there rather than in the ballroom. But I think it grew on her somewhat throughout our meal. We both enjoyed watching the portrait change and it was great to see the Master walking through the restaurant during our meal.



We both ordered the French Onion soup. It. Was. Heavenly! I love French onion soup and this was one of the best I've ever tasted. I would go back just for the soup! Looking at the pictures is torture! I want some right now. @blgauger was taunting me with her photos earlier and now mine are making me want it even more !

Here is a very dark picture of the bread.

Tina ordered the Braised Pork with pureed cauliflower and seasonal vegetables. She let me try it and it was fabulous . The pureed cauliflower was unexpectedly her favorite part of the meal. Again, it is a very dark picture, but rest assured it was scrumptious.

I ordered the Grilled Strip Steak with pommes frites, completing what we jokingly called my steak trifecta.

It was good, but I must admit that I had a serious case of food envy after trying Tina's meal. I had considered ordering something other than the steak because a few other entrees sounded so good. I had been drooling over the photos of that steak for months and was afraid that I would be disappointed if I didn't order it. Next time I am definitely ordering the pork.
We enjoyed our meals, but were anxious for the dessert trolley to come around. We had a very hard time choosing. Our server told us that another guest claimed the Strawberry Cream Cheese cupcake to be the best cupcake he had ever eaten, so Tina went with that.

I ordered the "Grey Stuff".

As a special surprise I also received a plate of the Grey Stuff with Mickey sprinkles and a candle along with a birthday card signed by Belle and the Beast.


We enjoyed our desserts, but we wouldn't rate the strawberry cupcake as the best cupcake ever. I liked the Grey Stuff brownie, but I didn't like it as much as the Master's Cupcake I had at lunch on our previous trip.
We were stuffed and we still had a number of things we wanted to do so we walked around the ballroom and the Rose Gallery to take a few photos.

Then we joined the queue to meet The Beast! I was super excited because this was my first time meeting him! He was super huggable!!


We took a few last photos of the Beast's castle and headed back into the Magic Kingdom.

 

[LisaBelle]

We left BOG and were sad to see that it was already dark. Our last day was speeding by much faster than we wanted it to ! We walked through Gaston's Tavern but were too stuffed to try LeFou's brew. One more thing to try on my next trip.


We walked through the Beauty and the Beast gift shop. I saw several things that I liked but decided not to buy anything. I still needed gifts for a few friends so I wanted to focus on shopping for them. The carousel was a walk on so we climbed aboard. It was so much fun! The music on the carousel is perfect and it was magical to see all the lights of the Magic Kingdom as we rode.
Tina is a horse lover (she currently owns 2) so she had to take a picture of her horse!

Love this selfie. I feel like it really captured the moment.

Tina was getting cold and our phones were almost dead, so we decided that I would keep shopping and she would take the monorail back to the Poly to pick up our jackets and the portable phone charger.
We walked under this beauty and headed for Main Street so I could finish my shopping and she could catch the monorail. Is there any sight more beautiful than this?

The blues started to hit me hard while I was shopping. This trip was the thing that kept us going through our darkest days and now we were finally here and it was almost time to leave . How could it have flown by so fast? I looked around the Emporium but my heart was heavy and I couldn't make any decisions.
It was time to meet Tina so I headed out the door of the Emporium to wait for her. I had a perfect spot to see the beginning of the Electrical Parade. Tina texted that she was on her way and I figured she wouldn't make it in time for the parade but decided to stay where I was and enjoy it. I was trying to enjoy the moment so I only got a few pictures.



Tina had gotten trapped by the parade at the train station, but as soon as the last float passed by she walked up to me.
We were trying to decide what to do. There were several things we wanted to try to get in before the night was through. I started to feel sad again because there was still so much we wanted to do and we were almost out of time. It was then that I remembered some advice that @prfctlyximprct had given to
me in my PTR. She had actually suggested that I do this at Epcot but I had forgotten until now. She told me that during her last trip she was trying to be in the moment as much as possible and she stood in the middle of Epcot, turned in a slow 360 degree circle and took it all in. She told me to "have a moment of peace in the park and relish the moment". I decided to take her advice , so I stood in the middle of Main Street and slowly turned around taking in all the sights and sounds of my favorite place on earth. It. Was. Beautiful. A perfect moment in the perfect place. I was recharged and ready to focus on enjoying every moment of our remaining time in the park. Thanks @prfctlyximprct ! Your advice was just what I needed !
We tried to the ride People Mover but it was down ! We were really wishing we'd ridden it earlier instead of getting stuck on CoP. Space Mountain had a really long standby time but BTMR had a super short standby so we headed for Frontierland. Wish I had a picture. BTMR was awesome. It is my favorite nighttime ride. We laughed, screamed and enjoyed every second of the ride.
As we headed for Main Street Tina found a pin she'd been wanting and I found a pin for my friend. We decided we needed one last Dole Whip. We jumped in line and enjoyed our treat as we walked. We strolled through the Emporium and made our last purchases including matching picture frames for our Princess 5K pictures.
I was hoping to see the Kiss Good Night one more time, but we were both worn out and still had packing to do. So we stood at the end of Main Street and gazed at that beautiful castle. We soaked it all in hoping that the memories we'd created would carry us through until we could again return to the most magical place on earth.

We took one last selfie and slowly walked to the boat that would take us back to the Poly.

When we got back to the Poly we popped open the bottle of champagne that came in my birthday gift basket. We sat and enjoyed the view of the castle as we enjoyed the champagne, cheese and crackers. Then we packed up all of our memories and fell into bed.

 

[blreinsel]

Nooooo your last day already!? That soup is literally the best thing ever!!! I agree with you about the brownie and The Master's Cupcake. The cupcake is way better!

 

[LisaBelle]

Nooooo your last day already!? That soup is literally the best thing ever!!! I agree with you about the brownie and The Master's Cupcake. The cupcake is way better!

I know! It's amazing how quickly the time goes. One minute you are giddy with excitement boarding the Magical Express and before you know it you're dragging yourself on to the Tragical Express .

 

[blreinsel]

I know! It's amazing how quickly the time goes. One minute you are giddy with excitement boarding the Magical Express and before you know it you're dragging yourself on to the Tragical Express .

I know!! A week at home goes by soooooo slowly, but a week at Disney zips by!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

You and @blgauger are killing me this morning with the French onion soup photos! I want it NOW! Mmmmm! I can't imagine being stuck on carousel of progress! I think I would start to go a little insane if I had to watch some scenes multiple times! What an eery thing! Lol... So glad you took my advice and took a moment out of your busy day to take it all in. I can't believe we are reading your last day! The champagne at the end of a great trip really is such a wonderful idea! A toast to your dad, and to Disney loving sisters. <3

 

[MinnieM123]

The doors to Carousel of Progress were opening so instead we went in to enjoy a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. We enjoyed the show until we got to the last scene and the attraction got stuck! We had to sit through the last scene twice and then, instead of the doors opening we went back to the opening scene . We were finally released from the never ending carousel!

Well, that's "progress" for you!

 

[Doc Disney]

We just saw Finding Dory too and we loved it!!!! I'm so sad your trip is coming to an end I love @prfctlyximprct 's advice...I am going to try that next trip!!! BOG looked amazing as always

 

[LisaBelle]

Don't think about! LIVE IN THE MOMENT. When you're in Epcot, do this for me. Stand still for a minute, take a deep breath in and just do a slow 360 degree circle. Take it all in. Have a moment of peace in a theme park. Relish in the moment! I did this last trip.. appreciate the moment.

Well, that's "progress" for you!

I guess so! Ha ha!

We just saw Finding Dory too and we loved it!!!! I'm so sad your trip is coming to an end I love @prfctlyximprct 's advice...I am going to try that next trip!!! BOG looked amazing as always

Finding Dory is now one of my favorite Disney movies . A trip report coming to an end is almost as sad as the actual trip ending. That's one part of the trip I don't enjoy re-living . Love BOG.

 

[fractal]

Last post was making me sad; but I love the 360 degree turn idea!

 

[LisaBelle]

Last post was making me sad; but I love the 360 degree turn idea!

Sorry I made you feel sad, but I appreciate the empathy! Only Disney lovers truly understand how sad it is to leave the parks on your last day or night. The 360 degree idea worked like a charm ! I think @prfctlyximprct is a genius! Thanks for reading.

 

[morningstar]

Kind of funny that Ariel in mermaid form is the mascot for a foot race.

Well - Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun, wandering free, wish I could be part of that world.

 

[LisaBelle]

Kind of funny that Ariel in mermaid form is the mascot for a foot race.

Well - Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun, wandering free, wish I could be part of that world.

Lol Never thought of it that way! My sister will get a kick out of that, too!

 

[LisaBelle]

Monday, February 22 Heading Home
The day we'd been dreading dawned bright and early. I was the first one awake and I tried to savor the feeling of waking up at Disney. I reflected on all we'd done and the fun we'd had. It had been a great trip. After a few minutes, I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and began to get ready. When Tina got up we opened the curtains and enjoyed our beautiful view. We popped open our bottle of sparkling juice and enjoyed that as we packed our last minute items.






We took our bags down for airline check in. It isn't fun to see those Tragical Express tags on your bags . We had one last ADR to get to this morning. We headed upstairs and checked in to Kona Cafe. We were given a pager and looked around the gift shop for a few final items. We each bought a magnet and I purchased Mickey popcorn and shortbread cookies for my student teacher, classroom paraprofessional and volunteer grandparent. I bought Mickey lollipops for my class. Our pager went off and it was time to eat.
Love the lights in Kona.

We were trying to look cheerful. Tina did a better job of it than I did. I just can't look happy when I am leaving Disney.



We both ordered the Pineapple Macadamia Pancakes. I got some of the very delicious Lililko'i juice but it isn't in the picture.


As always, everything was delicious ! I forgot how gigantic these pancakes are. We easily could have shared one meal. While we were finishing up our breakfast, we received emails from Disney with our final charges. It was then that we realized that all of our charges had been put on Tina's credit card ! I was bugged, because on our first day I had taken my credit card to the desk and had asked to have my purchases loaded on to my card. Annoying, but if that was the worst that happened we could deal with it.
With stuffed bellies, we headed out of Kona. We had a bit of time before we had to board the Tragical Express so we took a final stroll around the beautiful grounds of the Poly.
I have lots of pictures of the Poly so I will start a new post and continue from there.

 

[LisaBelle]

The weather was absolutely beautiful, making it even harder to leave. We were wishing we'd spent a little more time just relaxing and enjoying the Poly during our visit. This is a sampling of what we saw on our walk to back to Tuvalu.



We never put even a toe in the pool .



Beauty everywhere you look!







When we reached Tuvalu we picked up our carry on bags and took a last look before heading for the Tragical Express.

I left Tina guarding the bags and watching for our ride while I jumped in line to see if I could sort out the mixed up charges. The line was long because the Magical Express had just dropped off some newly arriving guests. I was super jealous of all the people just beginning their stay. Just as I reached the desk the Tragical Express pulled in. I quickly explained my problem to the CM (wish I'd written down her name as she was super efficient) and told her I only had a minute because I was supposed to be getting on the Tragical Express that had just arrived. She quickly printed out copies of all of our charges and circled the phone number that we could call to correct the charges. I scurried on to the Tragical Express and said a sad Aloha to the Poly.
The ride to the airport was non eventful. We got to the airport and through security. Once we got to the gate we picked up some sandwiches and relaxed while we waited for our turn to board.
We took these selfies to send to our families.
Sad to be leaving Disney….

But happy to be seeing our families.

Boarding took quite a while and then we had to wait in a very long line before we could take off. The flight home was uneventful and we arrived safely back in Cincinnati. Luckily the weather was in the upper 40s or low 50s so it wasn't quite as big of a shock to our systems. We retrieved our luggage and boarded the shuttle to long term parking. There we sadly hugged goodbye and headed home to our families.

 

[LisaBelle]

And with that our trip was over .
Here are some day by day final thoughts about our trip.
Wednesday, February 17 Travel Day and MK
This was my first time visiting a park on arrival day, which I loved, especially since MK had Extra Magic Hours. We were able to ride the Tea Cups and the Speedway cars which I hadn't ridden in a few years. We had a night time ride on 7DMT, which was a blast and experienced Wishes and the Kiss Goodnight. What's not to love?

First time staying at the Poly. Theme park view, yes please! Again, what's not to love? I wish we'd had a few more days so that we could have really enjoyed all the Poly had to offer. We missed out on swimming in the pool and drinking Lapu Lapus. Staying there was a splurge and I would definitely consider staying there again IF we were staying for a longer period of time and could fully take advantage of the amenities. Two small complaints: they put all of my charges on Tina's credit card and luggage trolleys & room service trays were not picked up in a timely manner. When we arrived on Wednesday night there was a room service tray outside a room by the elevator. It sat there for two days ( and yes, it was the same tray the whole time). Also a luggage trolley sat outside of a room for about 24 hours. That said, it was probably used by a guest, not bell services. In that case, the guest who used it should have taken responsibility for it and returned it to the Great Ceremonial House or called bell services to have it removed.


Thursday, February 18 AK, runDisney Expo and DHS
AK Highlights
First time meeting Russell & Dug

Spiked Dole Whip

runDisney Expo was fun. Lots of shopping and it helped build excitement for the 5k

DHS Highlights
First visit to One Man's Dream
Mama Melrose's ADR. This was my favorite meal of the trip!

Fantasmic and Symphony in the Stars Fireworks


Friday, February 19 Princess 5k, Epcot, Massage
Princess 5k
Hands down one of the best experiences of my life! This was a personal accomplishment for me and a great experience to share with my sister. I can't even put the feelings into words. I would jump at the chance to do this again in the future.

Biergarten lunch honoring our Dad
This was a great way to celebrate our dad!

Massage at Grand Floridian
Just what our aching muscles needed after our race. So relaxing! I highly recommend this spa!
Epcot
Hated the Chinese quick service meal we bought
Loved the macaron ice cream sandwiches and drinking champagne and Grand Marnier slushies while watching Illuminations !


We ran and walked 30,370 steps (12.77 miles) this day !

Saturday, February 20 Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and California Grill
WWoHP Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley
This was Tina's first visit to Universal and my first visit to WWoHP Diagon Alley. Loved the theming and attractions. Not wild about the food, except for the Butterbeer! Hogwarts Express was awesome!



California Grill
This was our first visit to CG and we loved it.
It was fun to watch Wishes from atop the Contemporary


Sunday, February 21 MK

Highlights
Enchanted Tales, Festival of Fantasy Parade, BOG dinner

Lows
Getting stuck on CoP and waiting a veeeerrrryyyy long time for Peter Pan's Flight

We had an awesome trip! It was exactly what we needed after having such a hard year. We were only home about a week and then our mom had to be hospitalized for an infection. I honestly believe that we would not have had the strength to deal with that set back had we not escaped real life and enjoyed our time in the Disney bubble.

I am so grateful that I had the chance to share this experience with my sister. It allowed us to FINALLY relax, enjoy life and reconnect with each other. After so much stress and the weight of so much responsibility it was wonderful to feel carefree and simply live in the moment. We were able to honor our dad and our hearts slowly began to heal. I am thankful that Walt Disney envisioned Walt Disney World and that his team has worked so hard to make his dreams come true. Thank you Walt!

Tina and I are planning a sister's only trip for her 50th in 2019. It won't be to Disney, but I'm sure we'll have fun !

I am hoping to book a family vacation to Disney in 2018. Maybe park days in conjunction with a Disney Cruise? My daughter wants to celebrate her 21st birthday at Disney but that's not until 2021 . The good news is I will have plenty of time to plan for both trips.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along. It is very rewarding to communicate with so many others who love Disney as I do.
I am counting on all of you lovely people to keep the TRs coming so that I can live vicariously through you until I am able to return to my beloved Disney .

Thanks so much for allowing me to share our experiences with you.
See ya real soon!

 

[Tiggerish]

Great finish to a wonderful trip report!