Trip Report Everything is Satisfactual - 4 Brits do Disney!

Welcome, ladies and gents, to my brand spanking new (and first ever) trip report!

I have been so excited to write this after reading some awesome ones on here

We got back from Disney World a few days ago so, even though I am still recovering from jet lag, I have a major case of the Disney Blues! I’m hoping that this report will relieve some of those.

Let’s begin:

Who: Hello, this is us. There were 4 of us on the trip - 2 couples and 2 sisters We are all in our twenties.

From left to right:

Kit, my boyfriend. He’s Canadian but has lived in the UK for most of his life.
Me, Stevie! I have lived in London my whole life, and my family are also from here.
My younger sister, Lisa. Isn’t she a beaut?
Lisa’s boyfriend, Wing. He’s Chinese but has also lived in London since forever

Lisa & I have been to the World twice - once when I was 9 and again when I was 16. Kit and Wing had never been to WDW before (this is actually a lie - Kit went when he was 3/4, but doesn’t remember a thing about it!).

This trip actually came about because my family were reminiscing about our previous trips and remembering what a great time we had. I then had a lightbulb moment - “hey, why don’t we go again?!” - and lo and behold, this trip was booked! Luckily we had some savings, because we booked it pretty last minute (booked in April and flew in July) and it took every last penny I owned (but still so worth it!).

When: We went from July 29th - August 8th. 10 nights. Unfortunately, our jobs prevented us from going at a quieter time!

Where: We stayed at All Star Movies and all shared one room. Yep - we were on a bit of a budget. Eeek! Find out how that went down a bit later

All in all, we had a brilliant trip. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and I’ll try and write as honestly as I can. This trip report will include the good, the bad and the ugly. Since we hadn’t been to WDW for 10 years, in many ways it felt like the first time, and we had so many fresh and new experiences!

I also took a million pictures, so I’ll be posting lots of them here. They will be a mixture of iPhone, DSLR and Photopass shots!

Here’s hoping you’ll join us for the ride!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Thank you once again to all my lovely readers for your comments AND your patience! I know I am quite slow at this TR but I will definitely finish it soon!

ANYWAYS. On with the show!

We were all completely exhausted after our long day previously, but we couldn't have a lovely long lie-in that we deserved because we had a 9am breakfast reservation at ......


*drumroll*

....

Who needs sleep, anyway?!

We enjoyed the copious amounts of breakfast cuisine, and stuffed our faces!

I was pleased to see that they had the mini-potatoes that I had grown to love so much in the All Star Movies food court!

We also, of course, met some characters

Lilo!

Kit going in for the kill ...

Kit doing his weird leg pose again!

Mickey looking jolly!

Pluto! He was fun

I think he took a liking to Lisa ...

 

[Disney-leaf]

A photopass picture with Stitch! The little cutie.

We had to laugh when they did the little parade with the kiddies at the end of the character interaction. All of the characters were really into it, apart from Mickey!! I'm not sure why, but instead of dancing like the others, he stomped along at the end and barely shook his maracas! I think maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning

I liked the Ohana breakfast, although I preferred the style of Kona where you could all order your own things. Most of the food was very similar to what we ate at the food court, but I did like meeting the characters I would love to try dinner there, as I've heard so many good things, although it's a bit risky with Kit's nut allergy and the style of food that they cook

Once breakfast was done, we left the Poly and caught a bus to Typhoon Lagoon!

Photopass! Of course

It was HOT!

The first thing we did (after changing and finding lockers) was run to the wave pool! That thing is INSANE and a lot rougher than it looks from the outside!! So much fun though! I learnt very quickly to swim UNDER the wave if I wanted to avoid crashing into whoever was behind me! When we were near the shallow part, Lisa trod on something sharp but we couldn't see what it was. She actually got quite a horrible infection in her toe as soon as we got home, but we're not sure if they were connected. It might have just been all the walking!

We then went into the Lazy River (Castaway Creek) which was super, super busy. It took us a while to get some floats, but we were pleasantly surprised when two teenage boys offered us their one! Thank you teenage boys!

We spent quite a while just lazing and swimming there, before deciding it was probably time to go on some slides!

First up was the Crush 'n' Gusher and we chose the 'Banana Blaster' slide. This was tame, but really fun! Would be great for little kiddies. Thankfully, there was a photographer waiting at the bottom to capture the moment.

Oh Kit such a poser ...

 

[Disney-leaf]

Lisa & Wing's turn!

We also went on Mayday Falls, which was very tame and very relaxing. Lovely!

Here are some Photopass pictures that I found from our time in Castaway Creek:

Cowabunga!

After Mayday Falls, we got some ice-cream and drinks before going back into the wave pool for about an hour. It's definitely the best thing about TL!

Spot the Mickey bar!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Here is just a random assortment of photos taken near the wave pool!

They were all taken with my iPhone and a waterproof case that I bought from Amazon!

 

[Disney-leaf]

And some more!

We definitely picked a good day weather-wise to go to Typhoon Lagoon!!

I love these next two pictures ... she would kill me if she knew they were online

Photopass pictures! Notice the huge difference in picture quality?! This photographer was great if I remember correctly!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Surfing?!

After our photoshoot (haha) we went back into the wave pool for another swim, and Kit decided to do something very silly!

As we were messing around in the pool, Wing grabbed Lisa around the waist and held her in front of him, and said to Kit: "hey Kit, do this!" So, Kit grabbed me, just as a HUGE wave was approaching. Just before the wave crashed into us, Wing sensibly let go of Lisa and they both swum underneath the wave. Kit, however, did not, and kept hold of me! I barely had time to react before the wave smashed into us, throwing my head back and connecting very strongly with his face! We both flipped upside down, and when we finally surfaced (and I told him off for being so silly ) I noticed that blood was gushing down his face! I had busted his nose with the back of my head

Oh gosh. These waves are no joke.

We all swam as fast as we could out of the pool and rushed over to a lifeguard, who directed us to the first aid tent. The first aider was absolutely wonderful and reassured us that this kind of thing happens often. Kit had to sit with a tissue and his head down until the blood stopped flowing, and then we were good to go! I can bet a lot of money that he won't be trying a silly trick like that again!!

 

[Disney-leaf]

After the nose bleed drama, we were ready for lunch!

We found Typhoon Tilly's and I ordered a chicken wrap and some ice-tea. They were so good for food allergies, and had a completely different folder so Kit knew exactly what he could eat. He was impressed!

The server warned me that the ice-tea wasn't sweet, but it was actually perfect. So refreshing in the heat! The wrap, however, was very bland. Definitely needed some kind of sauce or dressing!

Once we'd eaten, Lisa and Wing decided to chill a bit more and Kit and I went on two more slides: Humunga Kowabunga (which was like a mini summet plummet) and the Storm Slides. They were fun.

We then decided it was time to go home and get ready for our dinner plans! We'd had a great day at TL, with lots of sunshine and (thankfully) no rain! A complete contrast to our slightly traumatic rain experience at Blizzard Beach!

Bye for now, Typhoon Lagoon!

Lisa made the most of the bus ride home!!

The bus ride back was pretty uneventful, except that a man fell asleep on me! He kept dropping his head and resting it on my shoulder

I didn't really mind, this Walt Disney World-ing is tiring stuff!!

When we got back to All Star Movies, we took showers, ate some snacks and got some rest. We then excitedly got dressed for dinner because we were off to:

The Hoop-De-Doo Revue!

 

[Stellajack]

Your TR has been wonderful! I enjoyed ALL your pictures. My DH and I will be at the Hoop-De-Doo on 5/15. We love it! Our favorite park at night is EPCOT. Illuminations is always an incredible experience and we just take plenty of time afterwards to exit the park. We usually just sit for about 20 min and chat before heading to the bus stops. Your EPCOT pictures were great and just pumps us up for our visit in 17 days!!!

 

[DimpledDevil18]

I've really enjoyed your trip report. What a memorable trip this must have been for you. I wish my sister and I were close enough to do a trip like this without killing each other lol jk.

How awkward that must have been for you having some strange man fall asleep on you! I had a similar situation happen to me on the train home from NYC once. A woman next to me fell asleep with her head on my shoulder and the conductor was like, "Do you know her?" When I said no the conductor woke the woman up, who was so embarrassed that she ran into another car. My brother and I had a good laugh about it.

 

[Ms.Sunshine]

Your pictures at Universal are amazing! I cant wait to visit.

 

[MinnieM123]

I barely had time to react before the wave smashed into us, throwing my head back and connecting very strongly with his face! We both flipped upside down, and when we finally surfaced (and I told him off for being so silly ) I noticed that blood was gushing down his face! I had busted his nose with the back of my head

Some new guests to Typhoon Lagoon underestimate the pounds of pressure caused by those mammoth waves. It can be dangerous there. I love the wave pool, but always visually scan around me when the wave alarm goes off, so that I don't crash into anyone, and no one crashes into me.

Also, as long as you can swim, you're better off in the deeper end. At least you don't hit the bottom if you go under, and scrape a knee, for example. I've seen people get knocked off their balance in the shallower end, and scraped an arm or a leg. The bottom of the pool is a very rough surface.

Well, aside of the wave pool, it looks like all of you had a really fun vacation. Looking forward to following along.

 

[dancingtodisney]

HEY!!

I've really enjoyed reading your TR! You've got some great pictures!

I actually work just around the corner from Kings Cross, I'm Irish originally but moved to London last year...

It's so funny when photographers get it totally wrong! I had an awkward moment once where the photographer told 'Mum and Dad' to move in closer... 'Dad' was my boyfriend at the time and 'Mum' my cousin... AWKWARD

I need to get myself a DSLR! I've just started my own TR from out trip in January and my pictures are no where near as nice! I especially like your parade pics... you can NEVER have enough parade pics

Universal pics are great too, we went this year as well just for the one day.

I'd definitely recommend dinner at Ohana!

Excited to read more...

 

[blreinsel]

Love the pictures of you and Kit coming off the slide.. Hilarious! It's so nice that they have PhotoPass photographers at the water parks so you don't have to miss out on capturing the memories in fear of killing your camera!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Guys. I am so sorry. So so sorry. I am rubbish!! (In other, non-Disney news though ... in just 2 weeks I will have FINISHED my teacher training course! I actually started it after I got back from Disney, which shows how embarrassingly long it has taken me to finish this TR!)

So, where I left off (back in April! ) was that we had just come back from Typhoon Lagoon and were heading off to the Hoop-De-Doo Revue! We originally wanted to get a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then get a boat from there, but there was a 15 min wait for the bus so we knew that we were cutting it too fine for our 8.30pm showing. In the end, we caught the first bus we saw, which happened to be Hollywood Studios. As we pulled into HS, we saw the bus for Fort Wilderness pulling in, and I vaguely remember shouting: "RUN, RUN, RUN!!!" to the others! Thankfully, we caught the bus!

When we arrived at Fort Wilderness, we were completely confused about where Pioneer Hall was (as were many others) and didn't realise we had to get a second bus! Anyways, we finally found the right place and went inside to take our seats!

We were seated RIGHT at the very front, which I hadn't anticipated. I remember Wing looking terrified as he thought that he might be pulled up on the stage luckily, he was OK!

The Hoop-De-Doo was AWESOME. Since I had been the sole planner and arranger of this trip, the other three didn't really have any opinions or expectations of this evening, but we all enjoyed it immensely (even Wing, when he was assured that he wouldn't have to perform in front of anyone!). The show itself was really funny, and Six Bits dressed as a bear had all us all stitches. It definitely got to the point where I was clutching my stomach with laughter and had tears in my eyes. Would definitely recommend this show!

Some pictures for you now!

This salad was DELICIOUS. I am a big salad fan:

The corn bread was nice, but so sweet!! It was my first experience of eating corn bread and I almost felt like I was eating a cake!

We were pretty close ...

Lisa, looking slightly pink from the Floridian sun!!

We were practically sitting on the stage!

 

[Disney-leaf]

The food was delicious, but my only complaint would be that the meal felt a bit rushed. For an all-you-can-eat meal, you're not actually given that much time to eat! But that's only a very minor gripe!

The girl shoulda been an actress!

 

[Disney-leaf]

This dessert was SO GOOOOOOOD. Literally my favourite dessert of the whole trip. I can actually taste it right now!!
I also loved the sangria, and discovered a new-found love for root beer!

Side note, yesterday I was craving root beer (which can be tricky to find in London) and actually based my restaurant choice on whether they sold it! At least my craving has been satisfied for a little while!

The joy on their faces!

I love a bit of audience participation!!

Overall, I would say that the Hoop-de-doo was excellent - definitely worth the money and I wouldn't hesitate to book it again for our next trip (whenever that may be!! ) It was a different way to spend an evening and we all really enjoyed it! Good food, good company and lots of laughs! What's not to like?

 

[LAKid53]

I recognize this breakfast meal......I have at least one each trip. Not by myself, though.

Great trip report @Disney-leaf!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Your TR has been wonderful! I enjoyed ALL your pictures. My DH and I will be at the Hoop-De-Doo on 5/15. We love it! Our favorite park at night is EPCOT. Illuminations is always an incredible experience and we just take plenty of time afterwards to exit the park. We usually just sit for about 20 min and chat before heading to the bus stops. Your EPCOT pictures were great and just pumps us up for our visit in 17 days!!!

Hello!! Thank you so much for your comment and sorry for my very late reply! You must be back from your trip by now?! I hope you had a magical time!! (and yes, Epcot at night is just beautiful!!)

I've really enjoyed your trip report. What a memorable trip this must have been for you. I wish my sister and I were close enough to do a trip like this without killing each other lol jk.

How awkward that must have been for you having some strange man fall asleep on you! I had a similar situation happen to me on the train home from NYC once. A woman next to me fell asleep with her head on my shoulder and the conductor was like, "Do you know her?" When I said no the conductor woke the woman up, who was so embarrassed that she ran into another car. My brother and I had a good laugh about it.

Thank you! I'm still surprised that I got along with Lisa so well on this trip ... we used to kill each other as children!!

That is so funny about the woman falling asleep on you!!

Your pictures at Universal are amazing! I cant wait to visit.

Thank you! Universal is great!!

Some new guests to Typhoon Lagoon underestimate the pounds of pressure caused by those mammoth waves. It can be dangerous there. I love the wave pool, but always visually scan around me when the wave alarm goes off, so that I don't crash into anyone, and no one crashes into me.

Also, as long as you can swim, you're better off in the deeper end. At least you don't hit the bottom if you go under, and scrape a knee, for example. I've seen people get knocked off their balance in the shallower end, and scraped an arm or a leg. The bottom of the pool is a very rough surface.

Well, aside of the wave pool, it looks like all of you had a really fun vacation. Looking forward to following along.

We definitely got some scraped knees in the pool at Typhoon Lagoon (that surface is so rough!) so I would agree about staying near the deeper end! And yep, those waves are no joke!!

Thank you

HEY!!

I've really enjoyed reading your TR! You've got some great pictures!

I actually work just around the corner from Kings Cross, I'm Irish originally but moved to London last year...

It's so funny when photographers get it totally wrong! I had an awkward moment once where the photographer told 'Mum and Dad' to move in closer... 'Dad' was my boyfriend at the time and 'Mum' my cousin... AWKWARD

I need to get myself a DSLR! I've just started my own TR from out trip in January and my pictures are no where near as nice! I especially like your parade pics... you can NEVER have enough parade pics

Universal pics are great too, we went this year as well just for the one day.

I'd definitely recommend dinner at Ohana!

Excited to read more...

Thank you for the comments!! Too funny about the photographers!!

Definitely want to get to Ohana for dinner next time!!

That's so cool that you work in Kings Cross! I lived there for a year (and during the time we went to Disney), but I moved house quite soon after we got back! I now live in East London (Stratford), and am moving house again in a couple of months!! The joys of renting in London!

Love the pictures of you and Kit coming off the slide.. Hilarious! It's so nice that they have PhotoPass photographers at the water parks so you don't have to miss out on capturing the memories in fear of killing your camera!

Thank you! The photopass photographers at the water parks are such a great bonus!! And the pics turned out really well too!

 

[Disney-leaf]

I recognize this breakfast meal......I have at least one each trip. Not by myself, though.



View attachment 148212
Great trip report @Disney-leaf!

Ahhh I could really eat this right now!! And thanks!!

 

[LAKid53]

Ahhh I could really eat this right now!! And thanks!!

So could I, with help of course

Unlimited eggs, bacon and Mickey waffles. Heaven in a skillet!