Trip Report Couldn't stay away: A Two-Part May TR

Hello again! I finally finished the TR for my October 2014 trip with my best friends (link) a few days ago, so I figured it's time to start a new one!!

This trip report comes to you in two parts, the first of which is now over:

Part 1 = Quick stay at All-Star Movies with my parents including 1 day of park hopping.

Part 2 = Celebrating my sister's 21st birthday with 6 days of Disney/Universal fun, including the 24-hour event!

My reasoning for starting this TR before the whole thing is done it that I'm actually going to try and add a little bit of live reporting, especially during the 24 hour event. Katie and I have gone to the past 2 and couldn't miss out this year. She loves complaining and blaming me for making her get up to go to Magic Kingdom at 6 AM but oh well. We're gonna have fun.

Also on the itinerary is drinking around the world (kinda) for the first time, a couple days at Universal, Be Our Guest, Memorial Day crowds, so many rounds of Space Mountain and Expedition Everest, etc.

So let's see how this TR goes!

 

[abzoo]

PART ONE:
Mini-trip with the parents
​

I live in Florida. My parents do not. Every time they visit me, I try to talk them into going to Disney World with me. They're responsible for starting my obsession, since they started taking me to WDW when I was a baby. Every other time, my dad has vetoed my suggestions but this time, there was no excuse. He had a conference to attend in Orlando and decided to bring my mom along with him. So we worked it out that I would drive down to Orlando after he finished his conference!

Thursday, May 14
​

After a hectic day of trying to get things done at work and not leaving until an hour after I had planned, I started driving to Orlando. The parents had already completed the process of moving from the conference hotel (Gaylord Palms) to our new hotel, All-Star Movies-- the only All-Star in which I had not yet stayed.

I had gotten a text around noon (well before normal check-in time) informing me of the room assignment but my parents went to the lobby to check-in anyway. They settled in and my mom tried to take a nap. I showed up a bit later, parked, and used one of my other Magic Bands to let myself into the hotel room. Mom told me that Dad was at the pool so I set down my stuff and headed that way. I was bummed that I had forgotten to pack my swimsuit-- what was I thinking? As I sat down, my dad tried to quiz me with some of the Disney facts he just learned by listening to the CMs playing a trivia game on the other side of the pool. Yes, father, I do know the name of the Sorcerer in Fantasia. Can't get one by me.

I sat on the chairs and talked with my dad for a while and then he wanted to jump in. I sat on the edge and put my feet in the water. Luckily it wasn't too hot.

Eventually we left the pool area and went back to see my mom. Our room was in the Toy Story section so we had to take pictures.

My sister and I have this annoying inside joke that started in Disneyland Paris, where they also have a giant Buzz. She took a picture of Buzz's backside in DLP and then wouldn't stop saying BUUUUUTTTT LIGHTYEAR. So I obviously had an important pic to send to her via Snapchat:

My dad gave me a boost to get on top of these giant blocks. A is for Abby.

And Z is for Zoo!

Our room:

 

[ValVal]

i WANT more Carol!! hehe i'm excited to see more Carol & i'm sad i missed live snapping with u guys btw I'm trying to save my data as much as possible for MANY snaps back&forth btwn us on 24hr dayyyy

 

[StephK]

I'm going to have to check out All-Star Movies in October it looks so cool!!
Following along!

 

[abzoo]

i WANT more Carol!! hehe i'm excited to see more Carol & i'm sad i missed live snapping with u guys btw I'm trying to save my data as much as possible for MANY snaps back&forth btwn us on 24hr dayyyy

good plan. although phone battery life is also a concern.

I'm going to have to check out All-Star Movies in October it looks so cool!!
Following along!

All-Star Movies is pretty cool! More pics coming soon!

 

[abzoo]

I couldn't stay put in the room for long so I had my dad go walk around the resort with me so we could take more pictures.

Didn't get any shots of the Love Bug section but oh well. Our tour around All-Star Movies was relatively short and then we went back to the hotel room where we sat around for a while before it was time to leave for dinner. I made an ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We've never been to the Wilderness Lodge so I'm glad we went. I'd love to stay there someday...

Drinks! I got the Magical Star Cocktail with super-exciting glow cube. My mom got the Mountain Trail Cocktail. I could barely tell there was alcohol in my drink.

 

[BigHero4]

Great start. Can't wait to read more.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Woo hoo! Excited about the new trip report. I definitely need to visit the All Star resorts sometime to look around. They all look so neat.

 

[ValVal]

good plan. although phone battery life is also a concern.

Lilly will probably bring her external charger sooooo we're good.

 

[abzoo]

Whispering Canyon was a fun experience. When we were taken to our table, we were given the coaster where you keep the green side up if you're willing to participate in the fun but flip it over to the red side if you want to be left alone to eat in peace. My dad kept flipping it over to the red side because he thought it was all kind of dumb. However, he changed his mind as the night went on.

Let it be known that my parents thought the whole taking pictures of food thing was bizarre. I had to stop them before we started eating to take pics for the trip report. They already know that I'm weird so it was no big deal. The lighting in Whispering Canyon was apparently great for taking food pictures-- these are all just from my iPhone, taken hurriedly as my parents were trying to eat and they turned out very nicely. We all enjoyed our dishes.

My dad got the Steak-Your-Claim Grilled New York Strip Steak.

Mom got Bandana Bandit's Herb-crusted Cod. I had to swat her hand away haha.

And mine was just the chicken quesadilla appetizer. Considering we were also given cornbread and rolls, It was plenty.

My dad warmed up to the antics of Whispering Canyon and joined in when we were asked to sing Happy Birthday to a few of our fellow restaurant guests. Then, a CM announced that she needed all men over 21 to stand in a U-shape around the restaurant. My dad got in line and participated! She had them sing "I'm a Little Teapot" 3 times in their most manly voices and made them do the little dance. My mom was laughing uncontrollably.

So we had an enjoyable meal. Our main complaint was that it was really noisy-- my voice felt a little hoarse when we were leaving since I had to talk loudly to have a conversation with my parents.

IDK what kind of pose this is...​

After we walked around Wilderness Lodge a little bit, we drove over to Downtown Disney. My dad was a little frustrated with all the traffic from construction but I told him that it has definitely improved since the last time I was there in October. We parked in the new garage with the handy lights above parking spots to tell you which ones were open and the sign out front that tells you how many spots are open per floor. Very nice. It was crowded and we had to get all the way over to the Marketplace since we were heading for Guest Relations-- we needed to upgrade the old tickets they had purchased a while ago to park hoppers. Luckily, the non-expiring tickets had never been used before or else they couldn't have been upgraded, since Disney did away with that option recently. My dad had also brought along some other old tickets (all non-expiring) to check how many days were left on them and upgrade them to the new ticket format. The CM there was very helpful and even changed a child's ticket we had for my sister to an adult ticket for free.

We went into World of Disney before we left Downtown Disney to get a gift for my aunt who was watching the dog for my parents. That store is always crazy-packed. Finally we made the trek back to the car and drove back to All-Star Movies.

So that's it for the first day. My posts in the TR for the next week will be live updates from Part 2 of this trip. My sister is currently flying to FL and we're driving back to Orlando in the morning-- probably going to spend tomorrow afternoon at Universal/IoA. Hooray for 3-day work weeks and going to Disney twice in the span of one week!

 

[MadameGaston]

I love All-Star Movies! Especially the Toy Story area, the picture on the alphabet block is so cute! I can't wait to read all about the rest of your trip, especially the 24-hour event!!

 

[FlaggNL]

Again a more than great TR!! The tee of your mother says it all Being HOME!! Thanks for the share!

 

[abzoo]

Happy 24 hour day! We got free tickets to the Disney Parks Blog Tomorrowland screening and breakfast. And we rode space mountain twice !!the movie is good!!

 

[abzoo]

Haven't actually accomplished much today-- when we got back to MK after the movie, it was already super crowded. We did Carousel of Progress and looked around in shops.

I decided I needed some pool time so that's what I'm doing right now. My sister is in the room napping and I'll join her soon... Unless I fall asleep in this lounge chair in the shade.

 

[sheriffwoody]

I found the livecam for the 24 hour event, and it's making me so sad I'm not there (even though it does look awfully crowded)! Hope you guys have a fun afternoon/evening. I'm hoping to see Tomorrowland tonight!

 

[abzoo]

I found the livecam for the 24 hour event, and it's making me so sad I'm not there (even though it does look awfully crowded)! Hope you guys have a fun afternoon/evening. I'm hoping to see Tomorrowland tonight!

Yeah, it was pretty crowded-- probably a little more so than last year. I hope you like Tomorrowland!!

 

[abzoo]

Okay so I'm actually pretty bad at this whole live trip reporting thing. We lasted almost all the way to the end of the 24 hours-- we bailed a half hour early because there were a lot of rides already closed for the night.

Unlike last year, I didn't wake up super early the next day. It's after 1 and I just got up. We haven't made a decision about where we're headed this afternoon. Maybe Universal. Might jump in the pool before we get going!

Happy weekend!

 

[abzoo]

Yesterday was a universal afternoon and today we're Disney park hopping. Started at MK and now we're in the monorail to go to Epcot. Crowds are really high.

Lunch was at Be Our Guest.

 

[abzoo]

We did 3 parks in one day yesterday and we're probably gonna do 3 parks today. We're exhausted and I'm trying to force my sister out of bed right now so we can get to AK at opening. We were there at close last night.

WAKE UP, KATIE!!

 

[abzoo]

Last day of vacation. Neither of us is in a good mood right now. We're spending a little time at Universal today (meh). Just waited an hour for the Rock It when there was a 25 min wait time posted. Fun.