Hi there, good to see you! Hello, welcome! This trip report includes tales of rain, sunshine, and of course lots and lots of food!
Cast: The group this time around is the Three Amigos. There is me, the 21-year-old photographer, writer, and all around Disney-nut. I go by Emily to the Non-Disneyites in the world. Next would be my wonderful mom, Tuvalu, the extraordinary planner and guide (and just may be a bigger nut than myself)! Finally we have my dad, chauffer, Disney-convert, and bread winner that allows my mom and me to take all these trips! Unfortunately, my dad ended up having to work a lot on this trip (he considered it a working vacay), so his involvement in the TR will be somewhat limited.
Reasoning: Why not, right? Actually, we have our annual big WDW vacation scheduled for August (we take shorter jaunts to the world throughout the year, but August is always our long “vacation”). However, with my trip to Disneyland in March, I had not been back to the World since December and that was just too long! I slyly convinced my parents that we should “bookend” the summer with trips to Disney. I’m so sneaky!
Logistics: Since this was a short trip, it needed to be done on the cheap. Originally we were booked 4 nights at POFQ. However, that just wasn’t going to cut it, so my dad used his Hilton points to book us a free night at the Doubletree Downtown Disney on the front end of the trip. Score! But wait, it turns out the original departure date wasn’t going to correspond with Dad’s work schedule. I guess we’ll have to leave a day earlier. He actually had enough points to book a 2-night stay at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. So a 4-night jaunt turned into a 6-night jaunt! The first 2 nights were at Hilton Bonnet Creek and the last 4 nights were at POFQ.
Alright, enough jibber jabber. Everybody neat and pretty? Then, on with the show!
6/3: Departure day
My alarm went off at 5:45- early, but that’s okay since we were leaving for Disney! We pulled out of our driveway at 6:15 in order to avoid Atlanta Rush hour traffic. I promptly fell back asleep and awoke as we were pulling into breakfast at the glorious Chick fil A! A chicken biscuit and full bellies later, we got back on I-75 anticipating the dull drive through South Georgia. Dad had a teleconference to attend so he was shunned to the back seat while Mom and I gabbed up front (quietly, of course!).
We stopped in Gainesville for lunch at Bono’s BBQ to redeem a coupon we had received there in December. The food was out fast and delicious (love me some BBQ) and we were back on the road within a half hour. Around 2:30 we got a glimpse of this:
Hooray, we made it!
Dad checked us in and we headed up to the room. We were on the 14th floor with a view of the Studios, Art of Animation/Pop, and Epcot. The room was really nice (even better that it was free!).
Plus, it had a great pool!
Oh hey Studios/AK!
Mom and I literally threw on our suits and were out the door to try to beat the rain. Fortunately, it didn’t rain. However, it was super cloudy and we didn’t get much sun. We went around the lazy river a couple of times and then headed back inside.
I have recently gotten in to running, so I hit up the fitness center in order to cancel out some of the anticipated calories to be consumed throughout the week. Then it was time to shower, change, and head out to dinner!
We headed off property, which is usually forbidden on my Disney vacations. However, since we were staying off property and weren’t heading into a park that day, I allowed it. We ate at Pizzeria Uno which is one of our favorites. We got a deep dish with pepperoni, onion, and roasted red pepper. I was so excited to dig in that I totally forgot to take a picture! It was absolutely delish.
However, I didn’t forget to take a picture of the much anticipated dessert!
As you can tell we had a hard time finishing it.
After that, we went back to the room and had a spectacular sunset!
We watched Cake Boss and Little People, Big World before hitting the sack.
Next up: A trip to the MK and crossing food off the list!
Cast: The group this time around is the Three Amigos. There is me, the 21-year-old photographer, writer, and all around Disney-nut. I go by Emily to the Non-Disneyites in the world. Next would be my wonderful mom, Tuvalu, the extraordinary planner and guide (and just may be a bigger nut than myself)! Finally we have my dad, chauffer, Disney-convert, and bread winner that allows my mom and me to take all these trips! Unfortunately, my dad ended up having to work a lot on this trip (he considered it a working vacay), so his involvement in the TR will be somewhat limited.
Reasoning: Why not, right? Actually, we have our annual big WDW vacation scheduled for August (we take shorter jaunts to the world throughout the year, but August is always our long “vacation”). However, with my trip to Disneyland in March, I had not been back to the World since December and that was just too long! I slyly convinced my parents that we should “bookend” the summer with trips to Disney. I’m so sneaky!
Logistics: Since this was a short trip, it needed to be done on the cheap. Originally we were booked 4 nights at POFQ. However, that just wasn’t going to cut it, so my dad used his Hilton points to book us a free night at the Doubletree Downtown Disney on the front end of the trip. Score! But wait, it turns out the original departure date wasn’t going to correspond with Dad’s work schedule.
I guess we’ll have to leave a day earlier. He actually had enough points to book a 2-night stay at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. So a 4-night jaunt turned into a 6-night jaunt! The first 2 nights were at Hilton Bonnet Creek and the last 4 nights were at POFQ.Alright, enough jibber jabber. Everybody neat and pretty? Then, on with the show!
6/3: Departure day
My alarm went off at 5:45- early, but that’s okay since we were leaving for Disney! We pulled out of our driveway at 6:15 in order to avoid Atlanta Rush hour traffic. I promptly fell back asleep and awoke as we were pulling into breakfast at the glorious Chick fil A! A chicken biscuit and full bellies later, we got back on I-75 anticipating the dull drive through South Georgia. Dad had a teleconference to attend so he was shunned to the back seat while Mom and I gabbed up front (quietly, of course!).
We stopped in Gainesville for lunch at Bono’s BBQ to redeem a coupon we had received there in December. The food was out fast and delicious (love me some BBQ) and we were back on the road within a half hour. Around 2:30 we got a glimpse of this:
Hooray, we made it!
Dad checked us in and we headed up to the room. We were on the 14th floor with a view of the Studios, Art of Animation/Pop, and Epcot. The room was really nice (even better that it was free!).
Plus, it had a great pool!
Oh hey Studios/AK!
Mom and I literally threw on our suits and were out the door to try to beat the rain. Fortunately, it didn’t rain. However, it was super cloudy and we didn’t get much sun. We went around the lazy river a couple of times and then headed back inside.
I have recently gotten in to running, so I hit up the fitness center in order to cancel out some of the anticipated calories to be consumed throughout the week. Then it was time to shower, change, and head out to dinner!
We headed off property, which is usually forbidden on my Disney vacations. However, since we were staying off property and weren’t heading into a park that day, I allowed it. We ate at Pizzeria Uno which is one of our favorites. We got a deep dish with pepperoni, onion, and roasted red pepper. I was so excited to dig in that I totally forgot to take a picture! It was absolutely delish.
However, I didn’t forget to take a picture of the much anticipated dessert!
As you can tell we had a hard time finishing it.
After that, we went back to the room and had a spectacular sunset!
We watched Cake Boss and Little People, Big World before hitting the sack.
Next up: A trip to the MK and crossing food off the list!
