Trip Report Even the Ostrich Wore a MagicBand! An August 2013 TR

Welcome back! Some of you may remember reading about my trip a couple months ago filled with cupcakes, cupcakes, and rain (this exciting adventure can be found here). That trip was our introduction to the summer- now it’s time for the real-deal vacation! Before we get on with our adventure, here’s a little info:

Who: Me, Trolley (or Emily), my Mom (@Tuvalu), Dad, and a special appearance by Big Brother at the end of the trip!

When: August 3-11, 2013

Where: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and Disney’s Polynesian Resort (go big or go home, in my opinion!)

MagicBands: Prior to leaving for our vacation, I was out of the country for two and a half weeks. While abroad, I got an email from Mom saying we had been selected for the trial of MagicBands and she wanted to know my opinion about participating. Before I had a chance to answer, I got another email saying my band was pink and our FP+ reservations were booked. I totally would have given my mom the green light, but I guess she was so excited to get selected for something, she jumped the gun . Our MagicBands arrived FedEx in a cool package. Initially, I was not in favor of wearing the MagicBand or participating in FP+. However, keep reading and my opinion may surprise you…





Alright, enough talking. Everybody neat and pretty? Then, let’s get on with the show!

August 3: Arrival Day!

We were on the road by 6:20 and made a quick Chick-fil-A stop in Macon (gotta have my biscuit fix!). We didn’t stop again until Gainesville where we lunched at Sonny’s BBQ. Full bellies later, we were back on the road and arriving at WDW in no time.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge around 2:30. It was a very unusual choice for us, considering we don’t really like animals or Animal Kingdom, but I have this weird desire to stay at every non-DVC resort on property. With the AKL stay, I will have conquered every deluxe! I’m not going to lie, the lobby is beautiful. Not quite Wilderness Lodge standards, but pretty close.

 

[imagination30]

your grand flordian pics make me more excited aslo does the food pics .. cant wait for it .. 132 more days and im there!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for your kind words. I've seen pictures of Disney Dreams and it looks awesome!! Thanks for reading

Youre welcome! I am posting a trip report about our DLP summer 2013 trip. There are 2 video links of the complete Disney Dreams show. One of the world premiere and one of the new version with the Disney'Ears.

In the photo of the day part I post pictures of DLP from earlier trips we made! Enjoy!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

your grand flordian pics make me more excited aslo does the food pics .. cant wait for it .. 132 more days and im there!

Ah, I'm jealous! Have a blast!!

Youre welcome! I am posting a trip report about our DLP summer 2013 trip. There are 2 video links of the complete Disney Dreams show. One of the world premiere and one of the new version with the Disney'Ears.

In the photo of the day part I post pictures of DLP from earlier trips we made! Enjoy!

Awesome! I'll be sure to check it out.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

We popped in to watch the France movie and then headed over to the American Adventure. We arrived just before the show- perfect timing!



I’ll bet those are drafts of the Declaration all over the floor.


Two brothers, on their way.




Ain’t many people gonna pay no 18 cents a gallon!


Who knew Ben Franklin and Mark Twain were besties? I sure didn’t.




After the show, we headed over to Maelstrom. On the way, we stopped to look at the trains.




We saw the wait was 75 minutes, but luckily we had a FP. When we went inside, we knew the sign had to be a mistake. It was probably a 45 minute line.



When we exited Maelstrom, it started to rain. We ducked under cover to wait out the downpour.


It stopped to a drizzle, and we almost made it to Mexico before it started to pour again. We walked on the Grand Fiesta Tour. The rain had then stopped enough for us to head for the exit. Time for a nap break!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Obligatory sibling shot:



Yes, I realize we look nothing alike. However, I promise we came from the same gene pool! We hung out in the hotel room as it was kind of a rainy afternoon. At 5:00, we went to the lounge to check out the appetizers. Apparently, everyone in club level thought the same thing. It was here that we were annoyed with the selfishness of people. They put appetizers out, people, not full meals. There is no need to act like you have never eaten nor you will never eat again. People were piling food on their plates that they couldn’t possibly eat, everything was picked over, and they were grabbing beers left and right. People also wouldn’t clear off their table when they were done. There is one person plus a chef in the kitchen. They are not responsible for busing tables.

Also, shoes and clothes are required. I do not want to see you without shoes in the robes from the room. That’s disgusting (especially at 5:00 in the afternoon!)

Rant over.

We ate our *samples* of food and then walked to the TTC. BB had a GQ moment:


Back to Epcot we go!



Dad, BB, and I used our re-ride passes for TT2.0. I designed the car this time (to which my brother called “girly”). They gave us a separate RFID card, so we put it on that one. When we got to the loading area, I swiped my MagicBand and BB’s truck from our earlier ride was still there! He swiped my car so we were able to compete against one another.

Guess whose car had the best score?

Then we walked to our dinner reservations:





It was my first time eating in La Hacienda.





Cute family photos:

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

I love chips and salsa.



Margaritas, please!



I ordered the Mango Blueberry Basil, and it came out like this:


Definitely not the prettiest, but it was tasty!

Mom and I got the tacos off the appetizer. My favorite was the pork, her’s was the steak.


Dad got the shortrib, which actually didn’t have a rib.



BB got the shrimp tacos.



Overall, the meal was just okay. The restaurant is beautiful, but the food is overpriced and we didn’t have the best service.

After dinner, Mom and Dad headed back to the Poly and BB and I hung around for Illuminations.



We found a spot in Norway and I set up my Gorillapod. It was sprinkling, but luckily we were under a tree so we didn’t get wet. At least I was excited about it until I saw the darn tree in all my pictures. Oh well.







The globe actually didn’t work for the majority of the show. That made a really boring 5 minutes when the globe is supposed to be the star.









BB and I hoofed it to the monorail station, where we got on a train with a woman carrying a plant? It was like she ripped it out of the ground. So odd.



We disembarked at the TTC and quickly walked to Hawaii, where we got out on the balcony just in time to see the beginning of Wishes. That’s how you do two shows in one night, one hour apart!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

August 10: The last Disney Day!

We woke up to beautiful sunshine and were excited to hit the Magic Kingdom! BB’s favorite hotel is the Poly, and with the rumored removal of the water feature in the lobby we stopped to get some pictures.



And yes, he’s totally rocking the Hawaiian shirt on purpose.





We took the monorail over to the MK and arrived just as the opening train was pulling into the station. BB suggested heading to Splash Mountain first (an old family tradition). Dad hates having wet socks, so he opted to stay behind and take some photos.



Who needs photopass?


We survived! We really didn’t get wet at all. This was our first time riding it since the refurb, but we were still bummed that the jumping fountains weren’t working in the Laughing Place.



After Splash, we headed to the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! The line was moving too fast to really experiment with the interactive queue, but it looked pretty cool.



After that, we conquered the World famous Jungle Cruise.







Terry was a fantastic skipper! I can’t remember anything specific, but he was really clever and had good comedic timing.





After our cruise, we took the short walk to plunder the seas.



Next, we wanted to ride HM (BB’s favorite), but it was down for the moment. We decided to ride it’s a small world and then BB and Mom rode Little Mermaid. BB liked going under the sea, and then we showed him around New Fantasyland.



Another GQ moment:

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

After our tour of the New Fantasyland, it was time for my favorite part of the day- lunch! We discovered the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake in June, and my life was forever changed. Of course we had to go back and bring BB!









I always love the cups at LTT. However, this time they were plastic and not glass. Does anyone know when and why this changed?





I got the Cheeseburger:



Mom got the Turkey (we call her the Turkey Junkie):



Dad got the pot roast:



BB also got the cheeseburger:



The food was really good. However, let’s be honest- that’s not what we ate there for.

We got ourselves two of these bad boys and went to town:



Oh, Ooey Gooey I want you right now!

We must have acquired a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh at some point, because we went there after lunch.









Come bounce with me!






I guess I was really into taking photos this time.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

We also did Philharmagic while hanging out in Fantasyland. Haunted Mansion was finally open, but the line for it was crazy. I was able to switch around some FP+ reservations and we scored a HM FP for 15 minutes later. Mom left to go back to the Poly, so Dad, BB, and I went to Hall of Presidents first. I always claim that I don’t like HoP, but it turns out it’s actually a pretty good show. From there, we did HM and then went back to the Poly.

Mom and I went to the pool, where they were actually checking room keys. We both had to get wristbands.



After we got back from the pool, I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the balcony.



This also works for @Disneyfalcon toe pictures!

Mom and BB headed back to MK for a little while. Dad and I joined them for our dinner reservation at the Plaza! Mom and I both got one of these:



Dad and BB were good and didn’t have any sweets. Lame.

Mom had gotten FP for Buzz Lightyear earlier, so the four of us rode that after dinner. BB showed me where all the good targets are (I realize I probably should know by now), but I ended up with my highest score ever.

We then took a family ride on TTA.



From there we went to Monsters, inc. Laugh Floor.



We had an absolutely hilarious show. The audience members make or break it, and we definitely sat by good people.



I also loved the new Monsters University segment!

Mom left to head back to the Poly and the rest of us used our final FP+ reservation for Space Mountain. We headed toward the exit afterwards, where we got stuck in a huge parade traffic jam. I have never experienced such angry guests before- they were yelling at CMs and CMs were yelling back. Some people were ignoring the CM instruction to watch the parade from behind the rope. It was a mess.

Finally we got out of there and made it back to the Poly in time to watch Wishes one final time from the balcony. It was bittersweet.

August 11: Departure Day

Nothing really exciting to report. We slept in a little later than usual and then packed up the car to head home. 8 hours later, we pulled into our driveway.

Final Thoughts

-Animal Kingdom Lodge: This pleasantly surprised me, and I would definitely stay there again. It’s really far away from anything besides Animal Kingdom, but they did the accommodations right. It definitely felt like a deluxe hotel to me. The pool was cool and the food options were really good.

-Poly Club level: It was fun to experience, but I wouldn’t necessarily do it again. We got really fed up with the rudeness of the guests taking too much food and not cleaning up after themselves. The CM service was awesome, and you can’t beat the location of the Hawaii building.

-FP+: This was the biggest shocker of the trip. Going in, I did not want to wear the bands and I did not want limited FP at one park per day. However, we had very few kinks in the system and actually liked it. The system definitely has a learning curve, and we were able to cheat the system in a couple of ways. We liked being able to switch our FP times/attractions and loved that we got so many choices of times.

Do I think it will always be that way? No. As the system goes live and more people use it, I’m sure it will become harder to get good FP times.

Did I like the band? I’m unsure. I liked at AKL that it was my room key, so I could wear it to exercise. However, it did get a little sweaty to wear in the FL heat.

Will I wear it on our next trip if we have FP+? Probably. We’re going in December so hopefully the weather will be nice.

I must say, I am a convert when it comes to FP+- but that’s only because we know what we’re doing. We know when and what attractions we want to experience. If I wasn’t familiar with Disney, I would be completely overwhelmed.

I want to thank you for reading this TR. If you have any FP+ questions, feel free to ask!

See ya real soon!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Oh those are awesome toes!! I am using those! Yay!

 

[FlaggNL]

Hej thanks for the great TR!! Loved to read it and looking at all the great pictures!!

 

[fractal]

Great pictures of Illuminations! You did a wonderful job with all your photos! Thanks for the information and review of FP+.

 

[Raven66]

I enjoyed reading your report and you take great pictures.

 

[Tiggerish]

Oh, Ooey Gooey...best dessert ever.

Didn't even notice the tree until the last two Illuminations photos.

Great wrap up to the TR--your family seems like a lot of fun!!

 

[jkl2000]

Great TR! Great photos of Illuminations, too. I wouldn't have noticed the tree if you hadn't mentioned it.

 

[DisSplash]

Great TR! We just got back from a 10-day trip to WDW and I have to agree that the courtesy level for some of the guests -- mostly at MK for some reason -- was deplorable. There was a ton of line-cutting, including the "I'm-just-joining-my party" variety and those people literally just trying to get ahead of everyone else, both of which were hard to explain to my 6 and 9 yo's who pay attention to that stuff now. But we also witnessed much more discontent and yelling form the guests this trip. Kind of sad for a family-oriented place.

I agree with everyone else that your photos are A-mazing!! If you just glance at your Pooh photos they look just like a still of animation! Very sharp and great color! So what was Mike's ultimate assessment?

So jealous you will be back in December ... makes me want to plot our next WDW adventure!

 

[Sandurz]

Great report! I lost track of your days and was blindsided by departure

I think your last TR got me thinking about that ooey gooey whatever dessert and just when I got over it, it popped up again! Looks incredibly tasty and I've never heard anyone else mention it. That's definitely filed away for future trips.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Oh those are awesome toes!! I am using those! Yay!

Yay! I thought you would like them

Hej thanks for the great TR!! Loved to read it and looking at all the great pictures!!

Thanks for reading!!

Great pictures of Illuminations! You did a wonderful job with all your photos! Thanks for the information and review of FP+.

Thanks for reading! I'm trying to get better with photography. Each trip I have one thing I like to focus on. I hope I was clear about our FP+ experience, some of it is pretty complicated to explain.

I enjoyed reading your report and you take great pictures.

Thank you for the compliment!!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Oh, Ooey Gooey...best dessert ever.

Didn't even notice the tree until the last two Illuminations photos.

Great wrap up to the TR--your family seems like a lot of fun!!

It really is the best dessert. I have a love/hate relationship with the tree. Sometimes I like it and sometimes it annoys me. Thanks for following along!

Great TR! Great photos of Illuminations, too. I wouldn't have noticed the tree if you hadn't mentioned it.

Thanks for your compliments and for reading along!! Hopefully you'll have a TR to crank out soon!

Great TR! We just got back from a 10-day trip to WDW and I have to agree that the courtesy level for some of the guests -- mostly at MK for some reason -- was deplorable. There was a ton of line-cutting, including the "I'm-just-joining-my party" variety and those people literally just trying to get ahead of everyone else, both of which were hard to explain to my 6 and 9 yo's who pay attention to that stuff now. But we also witnessed much more discontent and yelling form the guests this trip. Kind of sad for a family-oriented place.

I agree with everyone else that your photos are A-mazing!! If you just glance at your Pooh photos they look just like a still of animation! Very sharp and great color! So what was Mike's ultimate assessment?

So jealous you will be back in December ... makes me want to plot our next WDW adventure!

Ugh, I hate the "joining my party" thing. It's just absolutely rude, not to mention I have to squish up against the wall to let you pass. I don't know if it was the heat, but people were seriously short-tempered this trip. I heard more families yelling at each other, other guests, and cast members more than I've ever heard before.

Thanks for your kind compliments! It's turned into a real hobby of mine, which is actually pretty unfortunate for my wallet . Mike loved WDW, as he naturally fits in! He wants to go other places, too, so hopefully I can get him somewhere soon!

December is my absolute favorite time to go. I have a small addiction to the Osborne lights. Well, and the Dreamlights. And Christmas in general. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear about your trip!

Great report! I lost track of your days and was blindsided by departure

I think your last TR got me thinking about that ooey gooey whatever dessert and just when I got over it, it popped up again! Looks incredibly tasty and I've never heard anyone else mention it. That's definitely filed away for future trips.

I was pretty blindsided, too. Having my brother come definitely was a fun way to end the trip. Plus, departure days are so boring for us because we live too far to go into a park but not far enough to split the trip up into two days.

You need to get the Ooey Gooey!! It's seriously ah-mazing. I'm not looking up the recipe to make it at home because 1) I couldn't make it as good 2) I'd probably gain so much weight from eating it all the time! Thanks for reading!!

 

[farrellbarrel]

I love love love your pictures!! What a great report.