Trip Report *Completed* That time we went to Florida and didn't tell anyone...

Hi everyone! I have a surprise trip to tell you about :)

Who?:
My Mom and I (Mary and Megan)
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Where?:

The Contemporary :) This is/was my dream resort so I am so happy we were able to stay there!

When?:
September 30 – October 3, 2016

Why?:

Well, on a rainy afternoon a few weeks ago my Mom and I were making tip envelopes for our November trip and in conversation I mentioned flights and hotels were on sale again. Collectively we convinced each other we should go back down to see if we could possibly see the MSEP once more. Also, we realized our dates would coincide with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and my Mom knows I have always wanted to go to that - so that solidified our decision! We asked my sister Jill if she wanted to come, but she couldn't take a day off from work. We asked my Dad and he politely declined so it was just the two of us!

Why a secret?
1. I was sick of my fellow residents asking me why I always go to Disney and not anywhere else 2. I was given permission by my attending on my current rotation to miss a day of work, but was worried that would cause issues and 3. I'm an incredibly superstitious person and was worried that because I talked so much about wanting to see MSEP one last time on our last trip that I jinxed us so I refused to talk about it. A few of my closest friends knew I was going, obviously our family, and @Tuvalu because she saw me there :) Also @DisneyJeff may have known because we are snapchat friends haha.

T-1 day until we leave
I had an insanely busy day at work because we were interviewing potential residency candidates. Still, I managed to call our office and make sure that my schedule was blocked off from 2:20 pm on so I could leave on time for the airport. No problem everything was all set!

September 30, 2016
After a long morning I left the hospital to head to clinic. On the way I got a text that our room was ready! Hooray!!
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Unfortunately when I get to clinic what do I see? A full schedule! AHHHHH!!!!! :confused::mad:. They booked over the part that said "do not book." Luckily, I have a nice attending who took my last 3 patients for me so I was still able to leave by three. I rushed to my parent's house and we got got the car packed and headed to the airport! I didn't even have time to put contacts in haha
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We got to the airport at 4:00 pm. Southwest was dead so they again checked us in without having to use the computers. We both had TSA pre-check (yay, didn't have to take my computer out!)! Unsurprisingly the metal detector went off when I went through (again...no clue why), but when they wanded me all was good. I'm convinced there is some sort of metal in my body my parents forgot to tell me about!
We needed to eat dinner so sat down in the Anchor Bar (the best Anchor Bar in my opinion...in case no one knows what the Anchor Bar is its the birthplace of chicken wings) and I looked at my phone and it was 4:08 pm. No lie. We checked our luggage, went through security and sat down to eat in 8 minutes!!!
For dinner we split Buffalo bites (aka boneless wings) YUM!!!
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My mom was convinced that because we had plastic silverware someone was going to spill while cutting up the chicken. Well I did, but I had black pants on. Unfortunately, she did too but she had kakis on :( She predicted it correctly!
Sad stain :(
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We sat next to a really annoying woman who was in no hurry to order, but complained when it took too long because she had a flight to catch :joyfull:
Well, we still had plenty of time to kill at the gate so I worked on some TR notes.
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Actually some guy sitting across from us was also writing notes, but he seemed to be writing them about us, because he kept staring at us...:oops::eek:
Airport selfie!
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Soon enough it was time to board. You know how for Southwest you wait a little bit while everyone figures out where they are supposed to be in line? This was a great opportunity for us to hear a woman on the phone super upset with her doctor for not sending in her son's acne medication right away. "He needs it because he is a Freshman in college." I get being upset about waiting for a medication, but having been on after hour Friday call before it hurt my heart a little for the poor recipient of the call :oops:. She then proceeded to call her son and let him know it was all set. At this point her son informs her (I could hear everything) that they are "dropping part of his scholarship" and he doesn't know why. One could guess why as he also proceeded to tell her he had a couple C's. She didn't seem to think that had anything to do with it. Poor lady :confused:. We were also boarding at this time and she stayed on the phone and proceeded to knock into everyone with her bags :banghead:.
Luckily we didn't sit near her on the plane :)
We actually had a layover this time and I had a mild panic attack because we were not cleared for takeoff right away due to rain in Chicago. Luckily we still landed at 6:30 Chicago time - 15 minutes early! We rushed to the complete opposite side of the airport to make it to our connecting flight and we did. Everyone who was getting on our flight seemed to be drunk...no lie...everyone was drinking haha.
Time for Magic Bands!
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The gang was ready (in Halloween gear)
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Next up: traveling to the MCO
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
On the boat I was able to pick up a FP for Splash Mountain. The wait time was over an hour, but I found a FP starting in 10 minutes. I had a mild fear that the FP was for the PM because I wasn't really paying attention, but luckily it wasn't haha
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The FP line was actually quite long, but at least it was in the shade so we didn't mind too much. I did mind the little kid in front of me constantly squirting me in the face with his spray fan :banghead:
We got seated in the front row (as usual), but we didn't mind - we figured it would be refreshing
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After the drop...we didn't get it too bad! Definitely did not get the extra splash at the end :) The camera lens, however, did get wet :) Hence the quality of these two pictures haha
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We sent this picture to our family back home as they were dealing with cold weather :) We are so nice!
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On the way out we ran into parade traffic (Move It, Shake it), but found this Photopass spot :)
It was seriously so cool to be there on the 45th Anniversary!
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We checked out the Merchandise line again, but again it was out the door all the way down Main Street so we moved on and headed out of the park.
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We chose to take the monorail back to the hotel so give our legs a little rest :)

Next up: lunch with a Chef
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
I was able to find a FP for Chef Mickey's brunch (aka lunch since it was like 1:30 haha) while we were on the Peoplemover! Since it was in our hotel, we figured why not? We originally had planned on going to Disney Springs for lunch, but felt like that would waste a lot of time. If it wasn't such a short trip we would not have minded, but alas we were only there for 3 days :)
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We checked in and got our picture with fake Mickey :)
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We were seated right at our reservations time. Our waiter told us to grab some food because the characters would not be around for awhile. The buffet was a nice combo of breakfast and dinner food!
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I swear I ate more than this (too much actually) but this is the only food picture I took. My Mom was excited they had Mickey waffles :) I was excited they had the ribs they have at dinner, unfortunately by the time I got them I was too full haha
Our waiter picked up my camera and took this picture without me even asking...haha
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We had a family next to me that honestly were very annoying. When the characters finally came around they could never get their act together and get the pictures they wanted so it was always a long wait. I also ended up taking pictures for them just to move it along haha. Anyway finally it was time to meet the characters!
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Chef Mickey is so cute!!!!!!
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Donald was next. He was saying (without words obviously) that he liked my headband. I asked him what he thought Daisy would think of that he said shhh and waved his hand away like forget her :p
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Next up: lunch continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
We grabbed some dessert at some point
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Pluto was up next!
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Finally Minnie was up next!
She loved my headband :)
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It was nice eating at this time because we weren't rushed since we were the last group of people to be seated. We enjoyed our food again and can not wait to go back someday :) I was so happy to snag this dining reservation day of!
After eating we decided to spend some time at the pool
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The weather kept going from hot to cold so we sat on the side for awhile during a brief cold spell
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Finally it got warm enough we headed toward the slide (of course)
View from the slide
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I will say this slide wasn't nearly as great at the Boardwalk slide, but we managed to go down several times haha

Next up: pool continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
It isn't one of my TRs without slide pictures...
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A nice picture of the hotel, with a water spot :)
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The sky was clearly staring to look a little ominous
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After going down the slide several times we spent some time around the fountains
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We are great photographers..
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We had a great time though! We really do not get a lot of swimming time at home, so we take advantage!
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Finally we tried a timer picture....
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Next up: getting ready for a rainy night
 

amjt660

Well-Known Member
I was actually just watching Gillian at Home YouTube vlogs of her trip to Disneyland Paris and she made it seem like their space mountain is terrible! I couldn't believe it! Loving your report, and totally not jealous at all or anything!!
I have not viewed the vlogs but I agree with her that Space at DLP is the worst that I have been on.
Come off with a headache from being bounced around too much.
I put DLR in first, WDW in 2nd and DLP third.
I did not ride in TDR but hope to get a chance in December.


As always Doc I am loving your TR!!

Max
 

amjt660

Well-Known Member
Day 2 continued:
We briefly considered standing around to watch the new castle show, but decided instead to do something newish for me (My Mom insists I did this as a kiddo, but I have no recollection)
The Liberty Square Riverboat :)

Never thought you'd be on a boat!!
Your with your mother on a boat
Wearing your flippie floppies!
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have not viewed the vlogs but I agree with her that Space at DLP is the worst that I have been on.
Come off with a headache from being bounced around too much.
I put DLR in first, WDW in 2nd and DLP third.
I did not ride in TDR but hope to get a chance in December.


As always Doc I am loving your TR!!

Max

Hm that is good to know! I have a friend going to DLP in a few weeks and I asked him to ride it for me...hope that he doesn't hate me for it! Thanks for following along :)

Day 2 continued:
We briefly considered standing around to watch the new castle show, but decided instead to do something newish for me (My Mom insists I did this as a kiddo, but I have no recollection)
The Liberty Square Riverboat :)

Never thought you'd be on a boat!!
Your with your mother on a boat
Wearing your flippie floppies!

LOL We love flip flops....
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
LOVE LOVE LOVE your pics at Chef Mickey's!!!!:D

Thanks :) I just love Chef Mickey's so much :) The characters are so cute!!

I read this and said "me too", to myself, and immediately looked around my cubicle to make sure no one saw me think that. . . One trip every 3 to 4 years is NOT enough. . .

When I was little thats how often we used to go and it feels like torture. I feel you :cry:

Currently trying to talk myself out of going back in December. Flights are so cheap, hotels again are at a good rate, it is so hard to pass up :banghead:

Hmm really? I would rather spend Christmas time there then back here haha .... I will have to look into flights.....
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
Sorry for the delay! I promise it wasn't because I was in Disney, instead I had a big exam to take yesterday :oops:

After the pool we got dressed and ready for our night. We had to take some balcony pictures of course...
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We also then had to go down and take Mom's favorite picture :)
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Instead of walking to the Magic Kingdom we decided to take the monorail. When we got up to the monorail platform we saw the coolest little surprise....
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All of the Chef Mickey's characters were hanging out in the Contemporary balconies. SO CUTE!!!!!
When I finally dragged myself to the monorail we got stuck on it for a few minutes while it reset itself, but luckily we eventually made it to the MK.
The first thing we did when we got to the MK was stop into the Emporium to check out the 45th Anniversary Merchandise because the line was finally not 2 hours long. We had looked at the shopping app and saw a shirt we both really liked, but unfortunately in person we didn't care for it. In the end we just got some magnets haha. It was still crazy in the store, but definitely not like it was the rest of the day.
After this we headed over towards Tomorrowland to take a spin on the Carousel of Progress. First, we stopped for a picture :)
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The C of P was unusually crowded again and everyone clapped at the end :)
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When we got off we took a minute to FaceTime my sister and my nephew and then decided to head over to the Peoplemover. As an aside I am very focused at Disney. I really am just on a mission to get to my destination and sometimes I am oblivious to people around me :joyfull:. So, when someone blocked my path from moving I was so confused, UNTIL I realized it was @Tuvalu :inlove:. I told her about how this was a secret trip for me because I was worried I would jinx myself about the parade :p
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It was so nice to run into her again! The meeting did not last long though, as thunder clapped very loudly and we both quickly went along our way. We ditched our people mover plans and headed to the Laugh Floor to get out of the light rain. Mind you, my mother and I never learn. Did we bring ponchos? Nope! The weather app said it was not supposed to rain :)
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They actually changed this show a little ! I won't give it away for those of you who have not seen it yet :) It was funny as always :)
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Next up: pouring rain...
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Stupid weather app!! Woody looked at it as well before we left our room...where we left our umbrellas...which was quite unfortunate when the rain started...

You know the saying "The third times a charm?" We HAVE to meet a 3rd time so that we can have an actual conversation before being interrupted by thunder or a bus! :joyfull:
 

DisneyJeff

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Stupid weather app!! Woody looked at it as well before we left our room...where we left our umbrellas...which was quite unfortunate when the rain started...

You know the saying "The third times a charm?" We HAVE to meet a 3rd time so that we can have an actual conversation before being interrupted by thunder or a bus! :joyfull:

@Tuvalu Do you have scheduled meet and greet times at the parks now? Can I book a FP? :D
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
Unfortunately when we got out of the Laugh Floor it was raining harder then ever. We put on our rain coats and made our way to the Peoplemover for a ride and a quick plan. The water on the ground was insane and it had only been raining for like 20 minutes. No lie, it was literally up to my mid calf at one point in Tomorrowland.
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We decided to head towards Main Street by way of Tomorrowland Terrace. Tink had a short wait so we hopped in her line to get out of the rain for a few minutes.
She asked us if we were having a girl's day and my Mom told her it was a girl's weekend :) She told us to make sure we cause trouble, but if anyone asks it was Peter Pan who told us to :)
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At this point it was around 7:30 pm and the parade was scheduled for 9 pm. We headed over to the Train Station because figured we could just pop out after the rain stopped to see the parade.
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You can kind of see the pouring rain in the picture
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We waited under the train shelter for approximately an hour and 15 minutes and unfortunately there was so sign of letting up. We were kind of hungry at this point so we we braved the rain to pop into Tony's just to see if they had any walk up availability. They did not and they directed us to the Plaza Restaurant. When we went over there they said there was a 45 minute wait. So, we decided to head over to Pinocchio's Village Haus by way of the castle...only they were not letting people through the castle. So, we waded our way through the water to get to Columbia Harbor House. At some point during this rainy trek they officially announced the parade was canceled :cry: Actually it is very odd to be on Main Street when its rainy because it was SO empty!
At Columbia Harbor House we both ordered the kid's meal chicken nuggets and went upstairs to eat. I could have sworn they had adult chicken nuggets on their menu, but they only had the ones with the fish. The kid's meal was fine anyway.
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This was actually our first visit to the Harbor House and we really enjoyed it. For some reason I don't have a picture but we sat overlooking the Haunted Mansion and watched the crowds. We sat next to a bunch of college girls and they were being negative nelly about the weather and everything being canceled so I tried not to listen to them. They were also talking about how annoying it is when their Mom's worry about them when they don't hear from them :arghh:. My Mom wanted to kill them. Haha she said someday they will understand when they are Moms.
Anyway I actually forgot I had made a FP for POTC at some point in the night so we headed over there. At this point it was around 9:25 and it was still raining, but very lightly. We enjoyed our ride on POTC and when we got out the rain pretty much stopped. I apologize, I have like no pictures of anything haha.
We were actually able to catch Celebrate the Magic then moved down Main Street under shelter to wait for Wishes because the rain picked up again. They made an announcement that Wishes was delayed, but a CM near us assured us it would happen in a few minutes because they were just waiting for lightening to clear from the area. She was right, Wishes started at about 10:10 pm.
We enjoyed Wishes from the street and as cheesy as it sounds I wished so hard the rain would stop long enough for the MSEP to come out.
Around 10:30 pm the rain stopped. Completely !!! They actually showed Celebrate that Magic again for some reason. I went into the Emporium to buy us some ponchos to sit on since it was so wet, but we got a spot on Main Street and waited for a long 30 minutes. (*note to self, why did it take me so long to get ponchos? no clue)
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Main Street really came back to life once the rain stopped. The music was loud again, CMs were out and tons of people emerged to sit for the parade. A woman next to me was like "I haven't seen this parade in forever." I told her she would not see it again either and she had no idea it was leaving :p. They made an announcement that the parade would start in 10 minutes.
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There was hope!
Finally that iconic music started and I literally cried. The lady next to me probably thought I was nuts, but I didn't care!
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After a long day I was just so happy to be there, seeing the parade after an amazing day for the 45th Anniversary :)
I really wanted to enjoy the parade so I only too a few pictures.
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And, of course my favorite part :)
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Farewell, MSEP! So happy I got to see it one more time! We headed back to the hotel by way of the pathway. So nice to not have to wait for a bus! Off to bed we went!!

Next up: Rope Drop?
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Stupid weather app!! Woody looked at it as well before we left our room...where we left our umbrellas...which was quite unfortunate when the rain started...

You know the saying "The third times a charm?" We HAVE to meet a 3rd time so that we can have an actual conversation before being interrupted by thunder or a bus! :joyfull:

The weather app was a big fat liar this day! Literally no prediction of rain :) Glad it didn't just get us ! I also overheard a lot of people saying they thought it wasn't supposed to rain :p. We definitely have to meet again!!!! I'm sure we will :)
 

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