Trip Report **COMPLETED** The Tale of the Three Backpacks

Hi all! As I am fighting through Disney depression I figured I would start my TR to see if it helps...

Who?
The usual....my Mom (Mary) and I (Megan)

When?
January 17 - January 21, 2018 - originally it was supposed to be the 18th - 21st but the vacation creep hit us

Where?
Originally we planned on staying at Pop Century but my sleep deprived self changed to the Grand Floridian while at the airport going home from our last trip We fell in love with it last trip and I found a decent rate so we switched. Also I am neurotic and was worried about staying at a value with all the kids during the peak of flu season

Why?
Some little birdies told me they were going to Disney and it only took one mention on the forum to get me down there

Day 1 - January 17, 2018
Our flight wasn't as early as our last trip so we were able to sleep in - only I was wide awake at like 6 am
So we got up and ready and did some last minute packing before heading out
Usual date pictures my Mom makes us take

Anyway we were out the door by 7:20 am and ready for a quick trip the airport. Only, it wasn't. It wasn't supposed to snow this morning so I wasn't even stressed out about it but it was snowing pretty heavily which turned our 15 minute drive into a 45 minute drive. I mean....people were driving like they had never seen snow before which was obnoxious! Thankfully we had TSA precheck (although security was dead anyway) so we got through security in like 2 minutes and we were back on track time wise.
We had some breakfast....our usual bagels!

My Mom wouldn't take a normal picture

After breakfast we had a short wait to board our plane. We boarded quickly but sadly we were stuck de-icing for 20 minutes before we could even leave.
Gangs all here

Magic Band twins

Our flight was extra long for some reason...usually its like 2 hours and 20 minutes max and this time it was almost 3 hours I'm sure the weather had something to do with it but it was annoying Everything felt like it was in slo-mo this morning which is torture when you just want to be in Disney!
First stop: fonorail!

Next up: more airport fun

 

[amjt660]

They were very yummy! She is not a physician. She works in the dental field...along with the rest of my family
I am Family Medicine. I finished school 3.5 years ago but just recently finished my residency

BCDD!!!!!


Max

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
After the parade we headed over to our first FP
This FP should be pretty unsurprising for everyone who reads my TRs

The FP line was INSANE. I think I overhead the ride was down a bunch that day so it makes sense but I think we waited about 20 minutes.
I won

Let's play a game called: Magic Kingdom or airport? And....guess!

We thought after Buzz we would check out the wait for IASW so we headed over there

Turns out the wait was like 40 minutes so we turned right around and headed to our next FP instead
7DMT!
Look who got the red card!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves....it was SO COLD!

So...we had quite a bit of time before our next FP so we thought...what's warm? Carousel of Progress!
But...we were walking over there and noticed the line for Winnie the Pooh and Tigger went down....and it WAS Winnie the Pooh Day so we hopped in line!

The wait wasn't too bad and flies by with people watching The girls behind us got in line and were expecting to wait like 10 minutes and were shocked when it took forever (and they were College Program CMs!!! ). We've waited in this line enough times to know it NEVER goes quickly
I mean...how cute is this picture

Next up: more MK

 

[Doc Disney]

BCDD!!!!!


Max

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
We made very sure to wish Winnie the Pooh a happy day

Our last FP was for Space Mountain so we headed over there. It was closed though Touring Plans predicted it would be about 15 minutes before it reopened so we opted to use our replacement FP instead.
But first we stopped to take actual touristy castle pictures

Not sure why I am so washed out in this one?

My Mom chose BTMR so we went to Frontierland

A light for you...

It occurred to us in line that we chose another cold outside ride

It was still a blast! Just a cold blast
On our way to our dinner reservation we ran into the Frontierland Hoedown!!!! I always wanted to see this!!! It was so fun!

We watched some of it but had to move on because we had dinner. Luckily dinner wasn't too far...Liberty Tree Tavern
We got inside and it was nice and warm. Instead of water they had hot chocolate out. A women near us convinced us to try some so we did It was pretty good!

Next up: dinner!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
It was pretty crowded inside so we thought we were in for a long wait but our names got called right away! Hooray!
The host seating us was talking nonstop about coming to NY to see Niagara Falls

Our waitresses' name was Megan (easy to remember) from Kentucky. She was so sweet. She told us it was the coldest it has been in 7 years... of course we were in town
I also overheard the table below us and the Dad was saying what he was thankful for (since its kind of like Thanksgiving). He went around the table saying something about each of his kids and how he was especially grateful for his wife for planning their amazing trip. It was SO sweet!
We started off with the Declaration Salad

Yum yum yum!
Rolls with honey butter

Patriots Platter...should have taken more pictures sorry
Roasted Turkey Breast, Pot Roast, and Carved Pork Roast
We ignored the pork roast but the turkey and the pot roast were delicious....especially the pot roast! The stuffing and cranberry sauce are in there too

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Green beans! I like green beans in general but these are extra good!

The Mac and Cheese was much better than last time we were there!

Everything was absolutely delicious!!!
Finally....dessert
Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake

YUM!!!!!!!
Can't recommend LTT enough!
After dinner we had big plans to hop to Epcot but we were so cold our backs hurt and we just wanted to go back to the room. We headed out of the park and to our room. We were able to see some of Happily Ever After from our balcony

Next up: Day 3

 

[LeighM]

Funny story. My very first trip with my husband was in 2012 and we had dinner at LTT. We were seated in the Jefferson room, which had me in tears because I'm from Charlottesville, VA - the home of Jefferson. I learned so much about Jefferson that I could probably give the tour of Monticello as many times as I've been and I know all the old stories about his university, UVA. So being seated in Jefferson's room with, and I'm not kidding, his bust over my shoulder and a picture of Monticello behind me was just too much!!! We went all the way to Cville and I still had Jefferson for company LOL.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I'm very late, but i'm in!! can't wait to read more!

 

[Doc Disney]

Funny story. My very first trip with my husband was in 2012 and we had dinner at LTT. We were seated in the Jefferson room, which had me in tears because I'm from Charlottesville, VA - the home of Jefferson. I learned so much about Jefferson that I could probably give the tour of Monticello as many times as I've been and I know all the old stories about his university, UVA. So being seated in Jefferson's room with, and I'm not kidding, his bust over my shoulder and a picture of Monticello behind me was just too much!!! We went all the way to Cville and I still had Jefferson for company LOL.

Aww!!! Thats a nice story!!! He's following you everywhere haha

 

[Doc Disney]

I'm very late, but i'm in!! can't wait to read more!

Thanks for reading

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 January 19, 2018
We got up around 7, had our usual tator tot and waffle breakfast and headed out to Epcot. We had high hopes of rope dropping Frozen but the monorails were moving at a snails pace and then we waited 20 minutes in security so it wasn't going to happen...oh well!

I took this AP sign picture because out of the 20 people in the line 3 people actually had an AP (I could see the regular tickets in their hands.....)
We rode Spaceship Earth first, played one of the games, then headed to our first FP - The Seas. I have 0 pictures but we rode The Seas then watched Turtle Talk. This Turtle Talk was especially funny!! When Crush came out with the bathing suit top he asked one of the kiddos what it was and she said a bra. A few minutes later Crush made a joke in reference to the bathing suit being "supportive."
Our next FP was for Test Track

I let my Mom design the car...

We made fun of it but it actually performed really well
It was very windy and still pretty cold hence everyones faces

After Test Track we walked around the Future World part of the Festival of Arts
This was the beginning phases of the 3D Chalk

Look at this incredible chalk Mickey!!!

You could also draw your own things with chalk

My Mom drew this Mickey -- she's very artistic I'm not artistic either - hence why I wrote mine out

Next up: more Epcot

 

[Zipadeelady]

The thought of Disney being so cold is crazy to me. I just can't imagine.

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued
We decided to skip our last FP and explore more of the Festival of Arts
These cool posters were in the Festival Center. They were for attractions in all the Disney parks. It was sunny so sorry for the glare.

They do a ton of classes during the Festival of the Arts and there was one going on when we were in there. It was a class on making Precious Moment Dolls....we were ok with skipping that one
We were getting pretty hungry so headed to lunch next. I've figured out the way to survive a festival is to feed my Mom first before going to the booths to get food for myself That way we can spend some time at the booths and I don't worry about her not liking anything. She agreed it was a good plan.
We headed to La Cantina and grabbed her some cheese empanadas

This food line was SOOOO slow but part of it was we got in line behind a Bachelor party
Usual Mexico picture

It was time for some festival food and I had my eye on the Deconstructed Dish booth - as you may have guessed from the title they take dishes apart and present them in a different way than if they came whole.
I grabbed something for myself and my Mom and found a standing table to eat it at. There was a woman in a scooter right next to the table so I made sure she wasn't using the table and she told me she wasn't but her battery died on the scooter so she was stuck waiting in that spot for a repairman. Totally fine but she commented on EVEYRHING my Mom and I did while standing at that table. For example, I took a picture of our food and she says to her granddaughter "oh she's one of THOSE people who take pictures of their food." I politely told her I had a Youtube channel and write about my trips which is why I was taking pictures. She was still pretty relentless about it.
Anyway onto the food:
Deconstructed Reuben with Shredded Corned Beef, Thousand Island Dressing, Pickled Red Cabbage and a Rye Curl

This was incredible! The corned beef was so tender and the cabbage was very nicely flavored. I think my Mom wants to kill me because I still am talking about how I want to go back and eat this again
My Mom got the Deconstructed Strawberry Cheesecake: Whipped, New York Style Cheesecake with Fresh Florida Strawberries and Sugar Cookies with Micro-basil

She said it was good - but she would have preferred it whole

My eyes are always bigger than my stomach and I was already pretty full after the Reuben so I picked one more thing to try.
I chose the Wild Mushroom Risotto with aged parmesan, truffle shavings, and zinfandel reduction from Masterpiece Kitchen

It was good...the risotto part especially....but there were too many hidden mushrooms at the bottom of the dish I totally thought that the only mushrooms were on top and I picked them off but soon I discovered there were also huge mushrooms on the bottom which was kind of gross. My own fault for picking a mushroom dish when I don't really like mushrooms

Next up: more Festival

 

[Doc Disney]

The thought of Disney being so cold is crazy to me. I just can't imagine.

This was not our first time in Disney in the cold....but it was definitely the coldest !

 

[Weather_Lady]

I love your "Buffalove" chalk art -- REPRESENT! (I'm from east of Rochester, but I lived in Buffalo for 3 years during grad school. Many happy memories!)

 

[gobstoper27]

I'm glad that you enjoy Downtown Disney AKA Disney Springs. It gets so much hate and it boggles my mind, I love it. I haven't been since all of the updates so I cant wait to visit!! Your rose gold ears really looked great with the green shirt by the way

 

[MinnieM123]

This was not our first time in Disney in the cold....but it was definitely the coldest !

I would LOVE the cold!! Can't stand it when it's hot and humid, which is a good part of the year.

 

[Doc Disney]

I love your "Buffalove" chalk art -- REPRESENT! (I'm from east of Rochester, but I lived in Buffalo for 3 years during grad school. Many happy memories!)

I actually attracted a lot of attention with my chalk art. A few people around us happened to be from Syracuse and commented on it

I'm glad that you enjoy Downtown Disney AKA Disney Springs. It gets so much hate and it boggles my mind, I love it. I haven't been since all of the updates so I cant wait to visit!! Your rose gold ears really looked great with the green shirt by the way

I know! We Love Disney Springs. I kind of get people not liking all the new shops and stuff but you don't have to go in them! They are definitely geared towards the locals. I just heard on a podcast that Disney Springs (not WDW in general) actually made a national places to travel to list because of all its new stuff. And thanks I wish I wore my Rose Gold Ears more often but they were super tight and uncomfortable haha

 

[Doc Disney]

I would LOVE the cold!! Can't stand it when it's hot and humid, which is a good part of the year.

My Mom and I debated about this a lot and we still can't decide which we would prefer.....super hot or super cold. Super hot stinks because you can barely move but you get a lot of pool time. Super cold stinks because a. we are from cold weather and b. when its really cold it gets very uncomfortable being outside all day. Our backs were literally so sore from bracing ourselves from the cold

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued
They had all these neat paintings in every country, especially around Meet and Greet areas. Super cool touch for the Festival of the Arts

Moving along we found a PP picture to take

Some radom Festival of the Arts signs

In France we came across the first of the paintings you can pose in. We got confused and ended up with this terrible picture

In France we decided to get a drink from the Festival booth. We both got the Frosé: Frozen Côtes de Provence Rosé Wine with Grey Goose Vodka and Peach Purée
Could I look more touristy in this picture?

It was like 55 degrees at this point and felt like a heat wave - we were glad to sit in the sun by the fountain and enjoy our drinks
The drinks were super yummy but definitely more of a sipping drink. We only drank a little of them before moving on

Next up: more Epcot

 

[DisneyJeff]

I'm glad to see this this was an actual thing they were doing and that you were not just randomly dropping graffiti at Disney World!!!