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!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Loving your trip so far!!! Your outfits are so cute!

 

[Disney-leaf]

it haunted us that we could only find one, so we went back later just to find more... I think we ended up with 8... some where very difficult!!

Haha, aww, I wish I had the time to do that! Next trip I'm definitely finding some more Pascales!!

Loving your trip so far!!! Your outfits are so cute!

Thank you, thank you!

 

[Disney-leaf]

Our next stop was Marvel World, which the boys loved. Me? Not so much! Lisa and I chilled outside on a bench, people-watching, whilst Kit and Wing browsed the shop.

Once reunited, we went on the Spiderman ride, which everybody thought was amazing! It’s such a clever, clever ride!

We then went on Dr Doom’s Fear Fall and … I’m sorry … but what the heck?! It was fun, but the ride was over in about 20 seconds! I just remember us all staring at each other like ‘Is it really over?!’ and then laughing at how rubbish it was. I’m so glad we had the Express Passes and hadn’t waited ages to get on that ride, because I would have been seriously hacked off!

We then went on the other huge rollercoaster - the Incredible Hulk. Weirdly, I found this ride to be rather smooth and enjoyable, instead of terrifying! It was certainly easier to stomach than the Rip Ride Rocket, even though they both have lots of upside down loops! I liked it.

Then it was time for ice-cream! We stopped by a little booth and bought some Dippin’ Dots, which I have fond memories of enjoying as a kid. A very interesting way of making ice-cream! I got banoffee pie flavour and it was scrummy.

As we were eating, the sun started to go down quite rapidly. By the time we went to our next area, Suess Landing, it was most definitely evening!

There was no queue for ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish’ so me and Lisa jumped on! What I thought was going to be a very pleasant (but maybe a little boring) ride, turned into a hysterical one very quickly!

On this ride, as you go around and up and down, you sometimes get squirted by a very small amount of water. As me and Lisa were laughing and avoiding the splashes, we heard a cast member say: “Mam, you cannot open an umbrella on this ride! Please close the umbrella!”

SOMEONE HAD TAKEN AN UMBRELLA (AND OPENED IT) ON THIS RIDE TO AVOID GETTING WET. It was so ridiculous and we could not stop laughing! Why would you even bother going on?! We kept referring back to this moment of brilliance throughout the trip, with it getting more dramatic every time … “MAM! Put the umbrella DOWN!!!”

After all that hilarity, we went onto the Cat in the Hat and the Dr Suess Train Ride - both of which were very cute and nice to rest the old legs! We were getting tired!

After that, we realised that we had done pretty much every ride we had wanted to in IOA! We were very proud of ourselves (it had been one hell of a day).

We went into a sweet shop and bought some goodies (jellybeans for me and salt water taffy for Lisa) and then decided to walk back to Universal Studios. We wanted to fit in just a few more rides before home time!

We went on The Mummy again, at my request, because it’s just SO good! We were all getting seriously drained, but enjoyed this ride. I’m glad I got to do it one last time. Lisa, however, started feeling seriously motion sick.

We thought: ‘let’s just try ONE more’ and opted for Transformers, which we hadn’t yet been on. This was a bad choice - the motion simulator was so jerky that I felt pretty nauseous during the whole thing, and Lisa felt terrible. In fact, she felt SO rough and sick after that ride that she burst into tears!

We knew then that it was definitely time to go home!

We left Universal about 10pm, just as the fireworks were starting. We had been there for 12.5 hours, with no real break, and went on almost every ride that we wanted to. I’d say that’s quite an achievement!

As for whether I think the Express Passes were worth it, I’d say yes AND no …

When we’d arrived, the CM had talked us into buying the most expensive Express Pass, which allowed us entry into both parks and let us go on the same ride multiple times. This seemed great at first, but by the time we went home, we realised that, in fact, we only went on ONE ride twice (The Mummy) because we simply didn’t have time to do otherwise! We wanted to go on everything.

In hindsight, I really wish we’d bought the pass which allowed us to go on each ride only once, because it was a lot cheaper and was a lot more suitable for our party. But, you live and learn! I am glad, however, for the much shorter queues, because it was definitely a busy day when we went to Universal.

Anyways, back to the TR. We caught another Uber to take us back to All-Star Movies, and it was very easy and quick. He was with us in 4 minutes. We all crashed out in the cab (we were exhausted!) and we must have looked a funny sight for the poor driver.

Once back at the hotel, I ordered a pizza for everyone, but I ended up falling asleep before it was even delivered to our room! The others took some photos of it for me though, and were even kind enough to save me a slice (which I had before breakfast the next morning! Shhh).

And that concludes Day 2! Thanks to all of you who have stuck with the report so far - phew!

Coming up on Day 3: Animal Kingdom!

 

[sheriffwoody]

The umbrella story is hilarious. I would have died laughing!

 

[fractal]

Someday I'll make it to Universal.

Pizza for breakfast - brings back some college memories.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thank you so much for reading! And the lovely comments Your trip will be here before you know it!

You're welcome and just 52 days to go And thanks for the Universal part... brings back last October memories

 

[Courtney6682]

You guys are so cute! Our trips over lapped...we were there from July 31st -Aug 7th...can't wait to hear more!

 

[Disney-leaf]

The umbrella story is hilarious. I would have died laughing!

We literally couldn't believe it! I want to publicly thank Umbrella Woman for providing so much laughter that evening!

Someday I'll make it to Universal.

Pizza for breakfast - brings back some college memories.

Pizza for breakfast happens far too often with me haha, why does it taste so good the next day?!
And yes - go to Universal!!

You're welcome and just 52 days to go And thanks for the Universal part... brings back last October memories

52 days!!!

You guys are so cute! Our trips over lapped...we were there from July 31st -Aug 7th...can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! Ahh, that's so cool! Hope your trip was fabulous also! (I'm sure it was!)

 

[Disney-leaf]

Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We have made it to Day 3!

Day 3 was very memorable for me! It was one of my absolute favourite, but also one of the most STRESSFUL, days we had in Disney. Very eventful! Let's get started ...

Our day started early (even though it had ended so late the night before) because we had 8.15am breakfast reservations at Kona Cafe! Who has time for sleep at Disney?!

We reluctantly dragged ourselves out of bed before quickly getting dressed and ordering our Uber. I am ashamed to say here, that after eating some of last night's pizza, Lisa & I also had a little munch on her salt water taffy. I know, I know, it's bad.

We jumped in the cab and were soon pulling up to the Polynesian.

WOW. That resort is BEAUTIFUL!! I think it was the loveliest one that we visited - and I would definitely opt to stay here if I could afford to! (Which will probably never happen, haha). Still, a girl can dream!

We waited a couple of minutes before being called to our table. Our waitress was a little bit … odd. Sometimes she came across as super friendly, but other times she was quite cold towards us. Try as we might, we couldn’t work her out!

Anyways, the first thing I ordered was COFFEE. I had been pretty coffee deprived during the trip, and so ordering a latte was heavenly!

So happy to have coffee!

I also ordered a smoothie in order to try and be somewhat ‘healthy’, so I had to laugh when they added a big dollop of whipped cream on top! Is that common in the States, or just at Disney? Still, it was delicious!!

 

[Disney-leaf]

There was pretty much only one reason that I made reservations to eat at Kona, and that was the try the famous Tonga Toast that I’ve read so much about!

Well, I tried it and (thankfully) I liked it! BUT it was VERY sweet, and there was an awful lot of it, so I think in the future I would potentially split it with someone

Everyone enjoyed their meals at Kona, as far as I can remember!

Once we’d finished, we took a few more pictures around the hotel before heading to the bus stop. We were off to Animal Kingdom!

 

[coachwnh]

I am ashamed to say here, that after eating some of last night's pizza, Lisa & I also had a little munch on her salt water taffy.

I see nothing wrong with this!!!!

 

[catmom46]

View attachment 107680

I found the hidden Mickey in this pic!

 

[Figgy1]

Great pics! THNX I've never had whipped cream on a smoothie, must be a Disney thing. How was the bus from POLY to AK and do you remember how long it took. THNX

 

[Disney-leaf]

I found the hidden Mickey in this pic!

I can't see it!! I've looked and looked!! ... Can I have a clue?

Great pics! THNX I've never had whipped cream on a smoothie, must be a Disney thing. How was the bus from POLY to AK and do you remember how long it took. THNX

Thank you! The bus was fine I can't quite remember how long it took - sorry! But I don't think it took particularly long!

 

[Disney-leaf]

P.S. Sorry for the slow updates to anyone who is following along! I am currently starting a new job and moving house in the same week!

Hopefully it'll all calm down soon and I can get back to the Disney magic!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Patiently waiting.

 

[catmom46]

I can't see it!! I've looked and looked!! ... Can I have a clue?

Start at the middle flower, then go slightly down and left.

 

[Disney-leaf]

Patiently waiting.

Start at the middle flower, then go slightly down and left.

Oh of course!!!

 

[Disney-leaf]

We had made it!

Haha, Kit was clearly happy to be there!

And now some Photopass shots!

Those little rascals!

We hurried through the gates, and I just remember feeling ecstatic! This morning was the happiest morning I remember having at WDW. Everything just felt perfect. I had very, very vague memories of AK from past trips, and I couldn’t remember the layout at all, so it really did feel like I was exploring a brand new park. I couldn’t get over the theming and how beautiful it all was - and the sky was just so blue! I would have been happy just wandering around for hours, looking at everything, but our first FP was calling our name!

We walked on over to Kilimanjaro safaris, and got straight on! This ride was fantastic, and our guide was great too! I loved the length of the safari - not too short but also not too long, and we saw lots of animals (although most of them were asleep, haha).

Prepare yourselves for lots of safari pictures:

 

[Disney-leaf]

Lazy crocs!