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]

After we had recovered from the rush of Summit Plummet, we headed over to the main wave pool, called Melt-Away Bay. It was really fun and we were enjoying swimming around but then … rain. LOTS OF RAIN.

The heavens opened and it started pouring down like crazy! We figured that we would stay in the pool (what else could we do, really? ), and for a while it was actually enjoyable! It felt like we were on the set of some kind of disaster movie, especially as the waves were still turned on!

But, after about 20 minutes, the novelty of both getting thrown around in a wave pool AND getting soaked by a rain shower started to wear off, and it became quite horrible! The bottom of the pool in Melt-Away Bay is also really rough and scratchy, and I know that Kit, especially, received a large scrape to the knee during this time. Ouch!

We climbed out of the pool and ran over to Cross Country Creek (the lazy river) hoping that it might be a bit calmer. Luckily it was, and we could also hide under the bridge for a bit of shelter from the rain, which was still beating down as hard as ever.

We then bumped into another photopass photographer, who caught us just as we were going under the icy water dripping from the bridge!

SO. COLD.

At this point we’d all had enough, so decided it was time to leave!

We left BB soaking wet and freezing - we figured that there was no point trying to dry off with towels before getting dressed, so we literally threw our clothes on top of our swimming suits.

Here are some snaps of Kit returning the locker key

We got on the bus back to the Movies and, of course, the aircon was blasting at full strength. Whyyyyyyy?! It was NOT what we needed at that point! I even feel the chill now as I am typing this!

As I sat on the bus, shivering to the bone, we got talking to a really lovely family from the UK, who had two young boys with them. The dad said to me “Oh dear, your lips are turning blue! Make sure you get yourself a nice hot drink when you get back.” I assured him that I would, and then he invited me to sit at the back of the bus with them, as the seat was really warm from the engine.

Oh my goodness, it was heavenly. I am so thankful that we bumped into this family!

The two young boys were also really sweet, and asked if we had ever been to Disney Quest. I had never even heard of it, but they told us that it was basically a huge arcade in Downtown Disney, and everything was free - which, of course, appealed to Kit and Wing!

We had an early reservation at Beaches & Cream, with nothing planned for afterwards, so we agreed that we would go and check it out that evening.

When we (finally!) reached the hotel, we realised that we only had 30 mins for all 4 of us to shower and get changed! Me and Kit grabbed some hot chocolate from the food court (which, by the way, is not great - but at least it was warm!) and then we all rushed around frantically trying to get ready! My timing on this day was not the best. Oops!

When we emerged from the hotel room, it had stopped raining. Yay! We got an Uber to The Beach Club, and it turned out that our driver, Jeff, used to work at Disney for 4 years, and he was SO friendly and gave us loads of tips.

I was sooo excited to go to Beaches & Cream Soda Shop! I’m not even sure why - I think that the theming just really appealed to me! I couldn’t believe how tiny it was when we got in there, but the theming really was perfect and I loved the uniforms of the cast members.

 

[Disney-leaf]

We went to Blizzard Beach Thanksgiving week 2013 and it was great because NOBODY was there, maybe 15 people, seriously, it was that empty. Probably because it was only 65 degrees or so! We had a great time because the water was heated. However, once we got into the cave on the lazy river, I was freezing!! So I know what you mean!

Glad Lisa liked Teamboat Springs, but like you, it is scary when the raft goes so high up on the sides! Water slides at Disney are scarier than any roller coaster there for me for exactly that reason!

Can't wait to read more!

Wow! I would have loved to have been there when it was so empty! And experience the heated water!!

Ditto the water slides!! They are SO much scarier!!

Thank you so much!

 

[Disney-leaf]

The most WONDERFUL thing happened at Beaches & Cream that I’m sure any Brit would appreciate ………

I HAD MY FIRST PROPER CUP OF TEA IN 4 DAYS. With REAL milk!!

Words cannot express the happiness.

The others opted for various sodas:

This place is seriously so cute!

I want my dining room to look like this!

Before we tucked into ice-cream, we ordered some actual food! Our reservation was at 3.20pm, and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We were starved.

I got the chilli dog and fries, and it certainly did the trick:

Yum!

I had originally planned to talk the other 3 into ordering the Kitchen Sink (lol ) but we actually opted against it when we got there, because:

1. We’d all just eaten burgers/hot-dogs and were kinda full
2. Wing is our biggest eater (haha), but doesn’t really have a sweet tooth (we would have needed his help!)
3. We’d seen 3 other tables order them since we’d been there and none had been able to finish!

In fact, here was the leftover kitchen sink on the table next to us:

They’d barely made a dent!

We, did of course, order ice-cream, and decided to share. Kit & I got the Milky Way Sundae and Lisa & Wing got a banana split.

I just have to reiterate again how AMAZING WDW is for food allergies! Kit can never, ever get sundaes at home, because the risk of cross-contamination is always too high, but in Disney it wasn’t a problem! Once the servers were aware of his allergies, they opened brand new tubs of ice-cream for him and used new, clean ice-cream scoopers and kept any nut toppings well away. They are simply awesome.

We took a bunch of silly pictures whilst waiting for the ice-cream to arrive!

I love this dude!

Lisa & Wing were not impressed with all the PDA!

Cheeeeeese! (the most unflattering photo ever, but hey. I'm happy!)

 

[Disney-leaf]

Attractive, Lisa!

Couldn't resist a little photobomb!

Ice-cream is here!

I love Kit's happy grin! This is one of the only sundaes he's ever had in his life!

This looks like a cheesy advert ... lol.

Once our bellies were seriously full, it was time to leave Beaches & Cream! I really did love this place and it is one that I definitely want to revisit someday.

We had a slow walk out of the Beach Club and caught the bus to Downtown Disney.

Then it was time for some mooching!

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

Cheeeeeese! (the most unflattering photo ever, but hey. I'm happy!)

All pictures are flattering if you are happy in them! Pictures are to capture moments and emotions, right? So like you, I think certain photos of myself are unflattering (in fact, the fiancee won't change his facebook picture because it's of us two days after we got engaged and we look really happy, but I hate the pic because my hair is flying away). Basically, my point is, we may think our photos aren't the greatest but a)others love them of us and b)it captures a wonderful moment!

So glad you got your tea!

FYI--when you go back to Disney, there is a smaller version of the Kitchen Sink on Main Street in the MK. So yes, it will take at least two of you but it's not half as big as Beaches and Cream (at least from the looks in pictures!)

 

[KaitlinH]

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[fractal]

Still following along. Summit Plummet is terrifying! Closest I ever came to chickening out of a "ride" because of fear.

Love the pics in Beaches & Cream!

 

[Ms.Sunshine]

Enjoying your TR. Those sundaes look AWESOME.

 

[LisaBelle]

Just read your whole report in one sitting. I am loving it and can't wait for the next update. Great photos and you can really tell that you are having a wonderful time. I love the photo of Kit enjoying his sundae at Beaches and Cream!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Loving your report. So much fun! You are all are seriously so cute!!!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

So glad you found some tea!! I love tea! I drink two to three cups a day, but I've never tried it with milk! I drink it plain/black. I like my tea strong tasting.. maybe i'll have to give milk a shot though!

 

[Steeler2001]

Its been nearly a week with no postings. I miss this thread

 

[catmom46]

Its been nearly a week with no postings. I miss this thread

I'm right there with ya, but @Disney-leaf's a busy girl! She won't forget us. Or rather, we won't let her forget!

 

[gibson12]

Just wanted to say what a great report this is. I can almost feel how much fun it was to be there.

 

[Figgy1]

I'm right there with ya, but @Disney-leaf's a busy girl! She won't forget us. Or rather, we won't let her forget!

What she said

 

[ksr99]

Great trip report so far. It's entertained me while I'm doing the laundry!

 

[LAKid53]

Flight Day

Our flight to Orlando was good, apart from the last 10 minutes. I think we must have descended through a storm, because the turbulence was crazy! People were gasping and screeching, and there were a few instances when my chair felt like it disappeared beneath me . It felt like I was already on a theme park ride!

I have never been so relieved to get off a plane in my life, and others clearly shared my sentiments as there was plenty of clapping and cheering when we finally reached the runway!

Yeah, those summertime thunderstorms are why it is best to arrive/depart in the AM, if you can. When flying back from San Francisco after visiting my parents one August, we descended into Atlanta's airport with quite a rocky landing. My daughter was so scared she started crying and screamed that we were going to crash(just what all the other passengers wanted to hear) . Needless to say, she refused to get on the connecting flight to Florida so I had to DRIVE back. Just what I wanted, a five hour car drive after a 5 hour plane flight. It would have been about an hour to fly home from Atlanta.

 

[LAKid53]

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

As I mentioned previously, we were extremely jet lagged and had all gone to sleep by about 8pm the night before, so we were definitely going to be up bright and early for Disney!

I just hadn’t anticipated quite HOW early.

At 4.18am, I was completely awake and could not drift back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried.

I had a feeling that the others might be too, so I quietly whispered “good morning everyone” to check, and three voices replied back to me! It did make me laugh.

Well, we decided that we might as well get up! Tiptoeing around and whispering as to not wake our neighbours, we all slowly took showers and climbed over each other trying to get things from our suitcases.

It was a hectic! Four adults sharing a small hotel room is not ideal. The only bit of privacy we had to get dressed etc. was the small curtain that separated the mirror/ironing board from the bedroom. Thank goodness for that curtain! We decided that we would definitely have to shower at different times - some in the morning and some in the evening - to make it a bit easier!

Once we were all ready, we left to get breakfast at the food court. It was 7.15am at this point, and MK opened at 8 with the EMH. We wanted to get there as soon as possible, so we ate quickly!

I was pretty overwhelmed with the breakfast choices! At home I usually have cereal and a banana, but here they had everything you could think of! Mickey waffles, pancakes, french toast, omelettes, bacon and eggs, cereal, toast, bagels, fruit, muffins … isn't it true that calories don't count at Disney?

In the end I went with the ‘bounty platter’ (I think it was called?). It was pretty good and there was SO. MUCH. FOOD. Having roast potatoes for breakfast did make me laugh at first, it was pretty strange, but they quickly became one of my favourite things to eat! The waffles were good too - nice and light and fluffy! The ‘biscuits’ were very odd! We call them scones at home and I would never eat them as part of another meal! Always on their own with cream and jam and tea!

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Speaking of tea, what is the deal with that, Americans?! A British girl needs her tea in the mornings! I was dismayed to find that there was no milk to go with my tea, so I had to make do with coffee creamer instead! Bleurgh! Not the same!!

Anyways, we ate quickly and walked out to catch our bus to MK!

See the tea? It’s a must.

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We didn’t wait long for the bus, and we were soon pulling up to the gates! We made it at 8.03 (not too bad, if I do say so myself).

First glimpses of the castle! I was so excited, I literally danced through the gates! I also felt a couple of tears spring to my eyes too … it’s just, wow!!

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I loved how quiet it was in the morning!

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Yayyyyy, we’re here!!

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A couple more castle pics from different angles (has to be done):

(P.s. Look at that sky! )
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We then found a Photopass photographer and had our first photoshoot!

Yeah, I agree about the tea. They look at you funny when you ask for milk for your tea. And bring you cream.

I wish you hadn't mentioned scones. With clotted cream and jam..... Yum.

Great photos.

 

[LAKid53]

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

I’m really glad we bought Memory Maker, and we definitely got lots of use from it!

After snapping away for a bit, the photographer got confused and assumed that Wing & I were a couple, and Lisa & Kit (just from where we were standing in our photograph) so it brought up some laughs when she suggested doing kissing photos! We all looked at each other with raised eyebrows and quickly swapped places!

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Just a warning: avert your eyes now if you don’t wanna see mushy kiss photos! Haha.

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And finally, Tink joined us for an extra sprinkle of Disney magic.

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Thanks to all who are following along so far!

Ahhhh. How lovely.

 

[Steeler2001]

I just completed a 12 night Trip to The World and still nothing haha, i miss reading this thread