Cue the magic, Mickey bars, Ferrari and rain - we've got a 5th Anniversary trip report!

Every trip I return with the full intention to do a trip report, and often I get sidetracked. However, this one is happening!

First, here we are, DH - Rich (31) and myself, Jessica (28)

Disclaimer: This was taken very early in the morning, forgive the tired eyes, we were heading to the WDW Speedway for Rich's drive experience which we needed to be at for 7:30 am.

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We don't always look like zombies. However, sometimes we can be a little, hmmm, what's the word - stone-faced?

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We of course decided that our 5th anniversary must be celebrated at our happy place. Originally the trip started as a birthday gift for my husband. The gift wasn't the trip itself, but that I booked him to drive the Ferrari 458 Italia at the Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway. At our Kingdom Konsultant Agent Education Program back in January, us lucky agents were able to do thrill rides in the exotic cars. Meanwhile, my husband was back home in cold Massachusetts, working and tending to the house and dogs. To say he was jealous was an understatement. So, naturally, feeling so horribly bad for him, I booked him a driving experience for his birthday. (It had nothing to do with the fact that if we were going to travel all the way to Florida for him to drive a Ferrari it would make sense to just make a trip out of it - nothing at all)

Once he found out about his drive experience, we decided to make it a week-long stay celebrating our 5th anniversary (my plan worked). We stayed from September 14 - 21, at Pop Century. On the 16th, my father and stepmother would be arriving at Caribbean Beach Resort (they live in North Carolina) and would meet up with us throughout the day. This was also my first trip with my new SLR and I came back with nearly 4000 pictures (I won't post all of them, I promise) so that was a celebration within itself. So now that we've gotten the introduction out of the way let's move on. Everybody neat and pretty? Then on with the show!
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Gorgeous last picture and I absolutely love that Perry monorail sticker dispenser!!

They did that in 2011, as I recall, it was hilarious. My kid loved it, and it took her a while to figure out it was a cast member about 20 feet away controlling it!

I see they still haven't replaced the Porche Emblem on Sally. It disappeared during my trip in August. The first walk through at AoA it was there, and a few days later we went back and someone had ripped it off.
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They did that in 2011, as I recall, it was hilarious. My kid loved it, and it took her a while to figure out it was a cast member about 20 feet away controlling it!

I see they still haven't replaced the Porche Emblem on Sally. It disappeared during my trip in August. The first walk through at AoA it was there, and a few days later we went back and someone had ripped it off.

Isn't it so funny! I love when CMs do stuff like that. Just a little extra something to make the trips a bit more memorable :)
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3: September 16

Today was a long day. We woke up at 6:00 to head out early for Rich's 8:00 am driving experience. We hopped a bus over to the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail over to T&TC where we could get the shuttle to the WDW Speedway. That morning, Mother Nature gave us some gorgeous sky! (This happened a lot this trip!)

Heading out from our room (#9107):

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Waiting for the monorail, I literally gasped when I turned around and saw this view:

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And then when making our way into the Contemporary, we were greeting by the rising sun over Bay Lake:

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We got in the van, signed some waivers and we were off to WDW Speedway. We pulled into the parking lot at 7:30 on the dot (guests must arrive 30 minutes prior to their appointment). Rich had several forms to fill out. He also got a lanyard with his name on the pass, along with a bracelet with a thumb drive attached to it. This is used to record the in car video during the experience. Once the drive was over, you can watch clips of the video and see whether or not you'd like to purchase it. Rich purchased his but we have yet to watch it. You can't tell much from this photo, but he bought special Ferrari sneakers just for this event. Men.

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Inside the building, where you fill out forms, get suited up and can shop for merchandise.

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After filling out the paperwork, we were brought into a briefing room. We were shown a short video with car driver Christian Fittipaldi explaining what the car can do and such. They also showed the drivers how the course works, where to excel, where to brake, etc., and safety stuff of course. An instructor was also on hand explaining things as well.

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After the video and discussion, everyone was brought outside. Here the drivers meet the instructors. There were quite a few people scheduled for the 8:00 am experiences. The entire session, along with all of the cars, were booked. All of the guests wanted to take pictures, so they quickly let us before ushering us back to the waiting area under the pavilion. Each car had 3 - 4 drivers/ride along participants. They called each of the drivers to their respective cars in which they took a picture of them next to the car, and then in the driver's seat. After the pictures were done, the drivers all went back to their waiting area.

Checking out the speedway (and uploading pictures to Facebook):
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There's the Italia!

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Lamborghini Gallardo:

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maryszhi

Well-Known Member
1.love your pix
2. how did you do that with the haunted mansion thing to look like yall
3. how was the coffee margarita. does it have an after taste? i want to try it, but i cannot imagine tequila with coffee
4. art of animation photos are cute!
cannot wait for more :)
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Once everyone has had their pictures taken with the vehicles, the first set of drivers is called in to start. Rich was second in line for the Italia. While drivers are waiting, as well as the guests of the drivers, there is a waiting area with bleachers facing the track and course which they drive on. It wasn't shaded while we were there, but there normally is an umbrella there, however the wind ripped it out the day before. We walked over to the waiting area to watch the first set of drivers head out. There is an instructor stationed in the watch area so when they're ready for the next driver, they will radio over and call you up. Rich got called over about 10 minutes later. Meanwhile, I was taking pictures, video with the video camera and my phone all at the same time. Multitasking at its finest.

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Audi R8:

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There's Rich in the front!

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He had such helmet hair...

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After the experience was done, he couldn't stop smiling. He loved every second of it. They gave him a sheet with his speeds and statistics. I was so happy to see him so happy! He works so hard, he deserved every second of it! After we were done purchasing the video, we had them call the shuttle for us, which showed up about 10 minutes later and brought us back to T&TC (the pick-up/drop-off zone is by the old kennels). After we got back to T&TC, we were heading to Magic Kingdom. Rich had been talking about his cinnamon rolls he loves from the Main Street Bakery for the past year, so we went to go get one.
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
1.love your pix
2. how did you do that with the haunted mansion thing to look like yall
3. how was the coffee margarita. does it have an after taste? i want to try it, but i cannot imagine tequila with coffee
4. art of animation photos are cute!
cannot wait for more :)

Thank you!

At the Merchant of Venus (the gift shop at the exit of Stitch's Great Escape) they have one of the photo stops where you can get your face into different pictures. My father & stepmother are also in the picture, which I'll be posting the full version later :)

The coffee margarita was delicious. I didn't think it had much of an aftertaste. It was thicker, like a milkshake. It's great!

I love AoA. They did a great job with it!
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We headed over to the Magic Kingdom around 10:00 am. Here is the train station, looking lovely in fall hues:

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On our way to the Main Street Bakery, we walked through the Confectionary through to Uptown Jewelers.

Adorable light up Trick or Treat buckets:

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One of my favorite spots in all of WDW:

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We made it to the Bakery, where Rich got his cinnamon roll and milk, and I chose a jelly roll. I also got celery and carrots with ranch dressing pack. What a lunch! The jelly roll was great, but very sweet, so I only took a few bites and had the carrots and celery.

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Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our "brunch", we went back towards Tomorrowland again (I was breaking our rule once again). We didn't do much at MK. Walked through Tomorrowland, went on PeopleMover and then decided to hop a train from Fantasyland to Main Street Station. We sat upstairs at the Main Street Station for a good half hour, just people watching. So peaceful!

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I really love the new Fantasyland Train Station:
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Empty Main Street Station:

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People watching:
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We had to head to the Polynesian for dinner at Ohana (where my father and stepmother would be meeting us), so we decided to leave MK earlier than anticipated. We love to explore resorts, so we grabbed the monorail to the Contemporary for a bit, then made our way to the Polynesian.

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I looked over at Rich and he had dozed off in his chair. (He's going to love that I put this up here)

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Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Once Rich woke up, we did some walking around the Contemporary, stopping in the stores and heading to the deck outside of floor 4.


Got some spare change?

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Oh what's that I see? Monorail!

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Time to hop on the monorail and head to the Polynesian!

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Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then headed outside. Love the Poly, so beautiful!

Dunkin' Ducks as Rich called them:

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I see some blue sky peeking through!

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Kona Cafe

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