Ok... so I'm new to this. I've never done a pre-trip or post-trip report before so please be gentle :animwink:. (this may get long, I'm kinda wordy)
As I sit here gathering my thoughts I'm listening to my Walt Disney World Official Album...All Aboard is playing. I think that's appropriate. (I'm going to try to break this up into three threads for each section of our trip.) So on with Part 1 of our trip.
So, the reports I've read seem to start with a who's involved section. In that case, here we go. My name is Carie and I'm a single mom of one 10 year old boy named Colin. It is just the two of us. This will be our third trip since Jan 2009 that is just us.
We will be leaving the Northern VA area via a United Airlines aircraft on Oct 24th, 2011 at 8:50 am arriving in Orlando at 11:00 am hopefully on time. I always feel excited when we reach the main terminal and see the hotel reaching way up and the area seems to be filled with sunlight. You get to see the first touches of Disney with the store there in the main building. Sometimes we stop in sometime we don't. This time we will be by-passing the store and going downstairs to the Disney Magical Express. I'm not sure about anyone else but I feel like the Disney magic starts right there. The people behind the counter seem so happy and sincere to see us. We will get checked in and head to the line for the Pop Century Resort (our bags will be coming later-one of Disney's best ideas).
So, we'll get on the Magical Express bus and get settled in the comfortable colorful chairs and take a picture of ourselves as we wait for the rest of the people to get on board. We'll sit back and laugh with our driver (hopefully we'll get a good driver) and watch the welcoming video. I'm hoping to get good pictures coming into Disney World and into Pop Century.
For the beginning of our trip we'll be staying at the Pop Century Resort. I chose this resort 1st to cut some of the cost of our over all trip and 2nd because I love all the icons. We've never stayed here but Colin and I can't wait to take pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Goofy with his surfboard as well as a few others. So, the plan is to get checked in and get settled and then grab a quick bite while getting a little familiar with the resort. Then back to the main building to grab the bus to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is suppose to have Magic Evening hours this night. Once at Magic Kingdom we'll take the required pictures out front, on main street, and before the castle. After stopping in guest service we'll be on our way to having fun. We are planning to have dinner at Tony's Town Square (DDP). We'll watch the parade and look through the stores and watch Wishes. Then go ride a few more rides with the all the lights now that it's night time. We won't stay to the end but I think we'll have gotten through most of the park. Then back to the resort.
Day 2 Oct 25th 2011Today we will get up and look around the resort a little as we head to the main building to grab a quick breakfast before catching the bus for Epcot. We'll stop and get all the required pictures to include stopping at the character stop. Then off to do all the rides we can before the world show case and the Food and Wine festival opens up. Colin and I are hoping to do the Kim Possible adventure and snack our way around the showcase for lunch. We want to stop and hear Boyz II Men and the new group in Great Britain. We'll have a guide sheet on the character times as well. Then back to Future world around 4pm because we are going to do the Behind the Seed Tour. Once that's over we plan to make our way back to Biergarten for dinner at 7pm and then to our favorite spot to watch Illuminations. Epcot has EMH so we'll try and hit Soarin', Test Track, and Mission space once more as we head out of the park. I'm going to try to take some video of the fountain as it dances to the music in the dark with all the lights. Back to the Resort.
Day 3 Oct 26th, 2011Today we will get up grab some breakfast at the resort and then off to Hollywood Studios. Colin is hoping to do get at least 1/2 of the new destinations on his passport for Star Tours, so I see us spending some time there. As well as doing the Jedi Training. We will grab a snack about the time for the Pixar Countdown to fun parade. Colin also wants to do the meet and greet with Phineas and Ferb. The park closes early today and no Fantasmic. So we'll leave before the mass exodus. We'll be having dinner at Chef Mickey's. (tradition). Then back to the resort to do some swimming and get packed up and ready for starting part 2 of our Land and Sea Halloween adventure.
Day 4 Oct 27th 2011.Breakfast at the resort. Finish packing and may possibly grab a cab with some of our stuff and run it over to the other resort to hold for part 3 of our trip. This morning we'll hopefully take advantage for some photo opts at the resort. All in all we'll be all ready to grab the bus that will take us to the Disney Dream Cruise ship for our 3 day Cruise to the Bahamas.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
As I sit here gathering my thoughts I'm listening to my Walt Disney World Official Album...All Aboard is playing. I think that's appropriate. (I'm going to try to break this up into three threads for each section of our trip.) So on with Part 1 of our trip.
So, the reports I've read seem to start with a who's involved section. In that case, here we go. My name is Carie and I'm a single mom of one 10 year old boy named Colin. It is just the two of us. This will be our third trip since Jan 2009 that is just us.
We will be leaving the Northern VA area via a United Airlines aircraft on Oct 24th, 2011 at 8:50 am arriving in Orlando at 11:00 am hopefully on time. I always feel excited when we reach the main terminal and see the hotel reaching way up and the area seems to be filled with sunlight. You get to see the first touches of Disney with the store there in the main building. Sometimes we stop in sometime we don't. This time we will be by-passing the store and going downstairs to the Disney Magical Express. I'm not sure about anyone else but I feel like the Disney magic starts right there. The people behind the counter seem so happy and sincere to see us. We will get checked in and head to the line for the Pop Century Resort (our bags will be coming later-one of Disney's best ideas).
So, we'll get on the Magical Express bus and get settled in the comfortable colorful chairs and take a picture of ourselves as we wait for the rest of the people to get on board. We'll sit back and laugh with our driver (hopefully we'll get a good driver) and watch the welcoming video. I'm hoping to get good pictures coming into Disney World and into Pop Century.
For the beginning of our trip we'll be staying at the Pop Century Resort. I chose this resort 1st to cut some of the cost of our over all trip and 2nd because I love all the icons. We've never stayed here but Colin and I can't wait to take pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Goofy with his surfboard as well as a few others. So, the plan is to get checked in and get settled and then grab a quick bite while getting a little familiar with the resort. Then back to the main building to grab the bus to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is suppose to have Magic Evening hours this night. Once at Magic Kingdom we'll take the required pictures out front, on main street, and before the castle. After stopping in guest service we'll be on our way to having fun. We are planning to have dinner at Tony's Town Square (DDP). We'll watch the parade and look through the stores and watch Wishes. Then go ride a few more rides with the all the lights now that it's night time. We won't stay to the end but I think we'll have gotten through most of the park. Then back to the resort.
Day 2 Oct 25th 2011Today we will get up and look around the resort a little as we head to the main building to grab a quick breakfast before catching the bus for Epcot. We'll stop and get all the required pictures to include stopping at the character stop. Then off to do all the rides we can before the world show case and the Food and Wine festival opens up. Colin and I are hoping to do the Kim Possible adventure and snack our way around the showcase for lunch. We want to stop and hear Boyz II Men and the new group in Great Britain. We'll have a guide sheet on the character times as well. Then back to Future world around 4pm because we are going to do the Behind the Seed Tour. Once that's over we plan to make our way back to Biergarten for dinner at 7pm and then to our favorite spot to watch Illuminations. Epcot has EMH so we'll try and hit Soarin', Test Track, and Mission space once more as we head out of the park. I'm going to try to take some video of the fountain as it dances to the music in the dark with all the lights. Back to the Resort.
Day 3 Oct 26th, 2011Today we will get up grab some breakfast at the resort and then off to Hollywood Studios. Colin is hoping to do get at least 1/2 of the new destinations on his passport for Star Tours, so I see us spending some time there. As well as doing the Jedi Training. We will grab a snack about the time for the Pixar Countdown to fun parade. Colin also wants to do the meet and greet with Phineas and Ferb. The park closes early today and no Fantasmic. So we'll leave before the mass exodus. We'll be having dinner at Chef Mickey's. (tradition). Then back to the resort to do some swimming and get packed up and ready for starting part 2 of our Land and Sea Halloween adventure.
Day 4 Oct 27th 2011.Breakfast at the resort. Finish packing and may possibly grab a cab with some of our stuff and run it over to the other resort to hold for part 3 of our trip. This morning we'll hopefully take advantage for some photo opts at the resort. All in all we'll be all ready to grab the bus that will take us to the Disney Dream Cruise ship for our 3 day Cruise to the Bahamas.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Once we've gotten everything packed and ready to go we'll grab something quick for breakfast and have our luggage moved to a holding area. We will go to Down Town Disney and check out our favorite stores...Lego, Basin, World of Disney, Goofy's candy shop (Colin always brings something for all of his classmates home), Pin traders, Athletic Club, D Street, and Magic Master. We have reservations for T-Rex but we will only eat there if we make good time through the shops. If not we'll grab a snack. Back to the resort about 2:30 and grab our luggage and head off to the airport and back to Northern Va. Then after a week of getting back into school for Colin and back into work for me it will be time to start planning the next adventure in 2013. I'd really like to go during Christmas time but being a gemologist working for a jewelry store and that being the biggest time of year for us, it's kinda frowned upon to take vacation during that time. Maybe a longer cruise if we like the short one to the Bahamas.
