Trip Report "I hope you're not on your honeymoon!" - 10 days of Disney - WDW and DCL

Please check out my Pre-trip report!

Who: Me, Husband (A)
When: July 27-Aug 2
Where: Disney's Boardwalk Villas
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Who: Me, A, Mom (R), Dad (K), brother (S)
When: Aug 2 - Aug 5
Where: Disney Dream

Day 1: Hello everyone, and welcome aboard the Walt Disney World transportation system. We're on our way to the Magic Kingdom.

Ahhhh, we made it! I flew home from work travel at 7pm on the 26th of July, and we were on our way to WDW at 7am on the 27th of July. I did the smart thing and didn't pack until that night!

Easy 2.5 hour flight, which I slept through, and we were at MCO!!! We took DME and soon found ourselves passing under the greatest welcome sign ever!

A quick stop to BWV to drop off our carry-on bags, and we immediately ventured out to the Boardwalk for some food. We were so hungry! NOTE: It's important to pack your Mickey (or Minnie) ears in your carry-on!

Lunch included a pulled pork sandwich and a pulled pork cheeseburger basket from The To-Go Cart. It definitely wasn't something to write home about, but it did the job.

With bellies content, we took a bus to the Magic Kingdom! This trip already felt so much more relaxing than our Feb. 2018 trip together. There was no rush to do everything in one day. 7 park days this time around!!
I teared up as soon as we scanned our magic bands...walking into Main Street USA just brings back so many good memories and feelings!!

Our first FP+ was for Space Mountain - a personal fave. We then made our way to BTMR and had a wild time! Heading back to Tomorrowland, we hopped on Buzz SRS...and I (yet again!) got my butt kicked! I need to know the secrets! I think A spun us around too much! With plenty of time left before our dinner in DS, we opted to do the POTC treasure maps. After we completed the first map, the game told us to go do another one...which we did. Once we completed the second map, the CM gave us a POTC FP+ each and two collectible cards! It was a fun game, but it got redundant! We opted to go straight for the POTC FP+ line and hung out with Jack Sparrow. Still, a ton of time in our afternoon, we opted to do some rides and shows we have never done before. We rode Journey of the Little Mermaid. We watched the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor - WE LOVED THIS SO MUCH!

It was time for a break as we had been running around the park for a few hours now and it was HOT. What better ride than the PeopleMover!

On our way out of the park, we stopped at Storybook Treats for a Peterpan Float and a cone! We both have a soft spot for the lime soft serve.
We slowly strolled out of the park and caught a bus back to BWV - our room was ready! Our room was FAR from the elevators..and it was on the fifth floor. We had views of Luna Park and ToT in DHS. We opted to take the stairs for most of the trip.
Finally it was time to head to Disney Springs. Tonight, we were eating at Raglan Road! It's become a tradition of my family to eat here since I started coming in 2006. A and I have adopted the tradition as well! We ordered the fish and chips and the Bangers and Mash - can't go wrong with these staples! They were amazing and we finished our plates. Our seating was less than ideal though, and we were sat in the far corner of the restaurant. There was no dancing happening while we were eating, but it was sad to be away from the excitement.

Since it had been a long day, we went back to BWV and passed out...the next day we were going to rope drop Hollywood Studios to get a chance to ride SDD...but the plans didn't quite work out that way.

Stay tuned!

 

[StitchSNK]

Sorry, heavy text for the morning. i didn't take any photos!

Day 3 "I have to go buy some fastpasses later"
A and I had a leisurely morning since HS didn't open until 9am. We grabbed breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery. I had the Butter Sandwich, which was amazing, and A got a bagel and cream cheese.

Here we go, round 2 of ToT! I DID NOT make the mistake of bringing my backpack to HS for rope drop today. A and I strolled to Hollywood Studios and were perfectly on time for 9am rope drop. We stood in the crowd of people, were welcomed into the park...and the entire time I had A (and myself) convinced that everyone was going to TSL as we would head to ToT...

Rope drop happens...the mad dash of people begin their trek to TSL, and an equally large crowd makes the dash down Hollywood Blvd! A and I speed up our walk and get to the stand-by line for ToT. I ask the CM the wait time from our spot, and they say "1 hour". Okay, not too bad. It's already humid and hot and there aren't many shady spots in the ToT stand-by line. An hour passes. We aren't even near the hotel doors yet.

A and I make friends in line. The group of women behind us were in WDW for the first time in a long time! I struck up a conversation with them after hearing someone say, "I have to buy fastpasses later, I think they're $15 each!". I pipe in and let them know that FP+ is included with their park tickets! And they can make selections on the MDE app! "I don't want to make an account on any app." Okay, well there are kiosks throughout the park to make selections then! I shared some other good planning tips for their next trip..later in the conversation (we are at 1.5 hours in line now) I learn that they are at WDW for a wedding! One of their friends won a Disney Wedding and it'll be aired on TV in October 2019?? Does anyone know about this?

TWO HOURS IN LINE LATER, A and I finally enter the HH and ride ToT....he loved it! I actually put one arm up this time, trying to brave with my husband. There might even be a smile in my photo..

Mission accomplished, A and I head out to catch a bus to Animal Kingdom. A had finally warmed up to the many PP opportunities around the park, and I took advantage of his good picture mood.

It was roughly noontime when we arrived in the park. We utilized mobile ordering for Flame Tree and ordered the Pulled Pork Mac n Cheese and the Pulled Pork french fries to share. It was delicious and plenty of food to share! The birds were harassing a little girl and her family, and she was crying hysterically.

I finally had the opportunity to see Divine, the Walking Vine!

AND THEN I SAW KEVIN! I got a better photo of him a few days later into our trip. As you can see, I was VERY excited.

A and I headed over to Asia to single rider Expedition Everest! We waited less than 10 minutes, and we were seated right behind each other! I love this ride!

To be continued!

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 3 Continued and we still haven't seen fireworks
We immediately got back into the FP line for our second expedition to see the Yeti! If you tuned into my PTR, you'll know I had a goal to ride EE as much as possible, so we are at count: 2.

A and I decided to wander off to Dinoland since we had time before FoP. Along the way I met some of my favorite characters! Pluto challenged me to a deadlift contest! Who do you think won?

We explored some of the shops and I found the Donut Mickey ears and had to take a picture with them to go with my shirt! I should have purchased them!

AND THEN! I stood in line, the only solo adult in the line, to meet Goofy!! We had a blast making goofy faces! I feel like those kids in line are totally judging me.

A and I decided it was definitely time for ice cream. We went back through Asia and stopped at the ice cream truck to get A some soft serve. I opted out of this one because I had another frozen treat in mind.

The Simba Sunset Dole Whip!!!!! If you haven't had this yet, don't pass it up! It was soooo good! I loved the coconut and watermelon flavors with the pineapple. YUM!

We took our sweet treats to Festival of the Lion King! This would be A's first time seeing FotLK! I hadn't stopped talking it up. He ended up loving it and sang Hakuna Matata the entire day! We still had some time before FoP and agreed to see It's Tough to be a Bug! A and I had not seen this since we were kids. All I had remembered was the seats would move! I sat down hesitantly, and never sat my back on the backrest. A got "stung" and I giggled and then forgot bugs crawl under your tush on the way out. Not sure we'll go back to that show anytime soon!

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 3 The Adventure Continues
It was finally time for our FoP FP!! It was exactly as we remembered...INCREDIBLE. The FP line didn't take more than 5 minutes. The pre-show was longer than we waited! A said he hadn't noticed that you get misted in the face the last time we rode it, but said it was a cool effect. Prepare for photo frenzy in Pandora!

A is usually a great photographer, but he just did not nail this one...

A and I decided to go back to the Boardwalk for a couple hour cool down before heading back to AK for Killimanjaro FP and Rivers of Light. We hadn't seen the updated show and we were excited! I can't remember what we had for dinner, but it wasn't memorable.

The forecast was gloomy around 6pm, but we returned to AK, fingers crossed the show would go on! Our Safari was extended due to a Rhino refusing to get out of the road. The storm clouds really rolled in at this point!

We walked over to the viewing area for RoL and sat down...an announcement at 8:58pm announced that RoL would not show tonight!!! 3 nights in a row that we missed a fireworks/night park show!

We strolled out of the park and headed back to BWV. Of all the PP spots, we hadn't stopped for a photo with the Tree of Life, and did so on the way out of the park. It didn't turn out great.

I don't have a photo of it, but A and I got a second ice cream of the day at Ample Hills! A got the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake and the Baked/Unbaked combo, and I had the Sweet as Honey!

We caught a glimpse of the DHS fireworks from our balcony and then went to sleep.

 

[StitchSNK]

Bonus photos!
Magic Shot!

DHS: note that A is in sandals because his sneakers were so wet from the monsoon the night before.

 

[Loco_driver]

Bonus photos!
Magic Shot!
View attachment 398242

DHS: note that A is in sandals because his sneakers were so wet from the monsoon the night before.

View attachment 398243

Oh man I think we were supposed to have a magic shot like that. But it never happened, so we just got this goofy pic instead.

 

[riverside]

The Simba Sunset Dole Whip!!!!!

That looks so good!! Where did you get it at?

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Great TR so far! That AK handstand

 

[StitchSNK]

That looks so good!! Where did you get it at?

You can find this at Tamu Tamu! I'm currently dreaming of having one.

Great TR so far! That AK handstand

Thank you! Only park I did not get a handstand was Magic Kingdom! There are more coming

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 4 Eating like Royalty!
Today we had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare! Two reasons: 1. Strawberry Soup, 2. Mary Poppins! This was our first time at 1900 Park Fare and I have to admit the breakfast was my favorite meal of the trip! I thought I took a picture of the plates we ate...because A and I ate our share of the buffet! We met Mary Poppins, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, and Alice. The character interactions were brief, and I had really hoped we would meet the Mad Hatter, but he did not come to breakfast.

I even got A to pose with Tigger!

A had never been to the Grand Floridian before, so we took an early bus to the Magic Kingdom, and then rode the monorail to the Grand Floridian. A and I love the grounds, and we love the quietness of the resort. We don't have an urge to stay at VGF, but we will likely visit again.

We walked to the Polynesian, because it is out favorite resort. We had to walk off some of the breakfast we just ate as our first FP was at 10:30 for Mission Space...and we always do the Orange training! We wandered around the Poly shops and I wished I could bottle up the lobby scent and take it with me. We had plans to come back to Captain Cooks at some point for some of the most amazing nachos ever.
A and I took the monorail to the TTC and transferred to the EPCOT monorail. It was strange walking into EPCOT without the Leave a Legacy Monoliths! This will be our last time walking through the entrance as it is now!

UPDATE: We hadn't planned on coming back to WDW until August 2020, but we received a Disney wedding invite for December!! This will be our first time seeing WDW at Christmastime!!! Where should we stay? We will be using DVC.

*See my waterbottle over on the right side. At first it was a burden, but having water on us at all times was a life saver!

Here is another handstand @Maelstrom Troll

I am happy to report that A and I kept our breakfast down and successfully landed on Mars! Mission Space was a success! Next, we walked over to The Seas and took some time to enjoy the aquarium. I finally saw the sea turtle, but it never came close enough for a picture! (they are my favorite animal - a close tie with penguins)
Our FP time for Soarin' finally came and we were put in concourse C and the absolute bottom left of the ride as you can get. Everything was wonky looking and I wished we had gone again. Immediately following our Soarin' we had reservations for Behind the Seeds tour!! This crazy plant lady was SO EXCITED!

To be continued!

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Cant wait to hear about your Behind the Seeds experience. It was a grail of mine and I finally did it and KttK last trip. I enjoyed both a lot but the BtS was really, really good. Plus, no one else showed so I had a solo tour!

 

[StitchSNK]

Cant wait to hear about your Behind the Seeds experience. It was a grail of mine and I finally did it and KttK last trip. I enjoyed both a lot but the BtS was really, really good. Plus, no one else showed so I had a solo tour!

KttK is definitely on my to-do list! My dad attends the Disney Institute every year and told me that I'd totally geek out on the tour!

I'll be updating my TR shortly, but BtS was so cool! Our guide was an intern, and a 5th generation farmer from Mississippi. You could tell she loved her job! There was so much joy in her eyes when she discussed how each plant grows!

 

[StitchSNK]

Real life update NDR
I climbed Mount Washington this weekend and it was amazing! Which is why I didn't update my TR. But I am now!

 

[StitchSNK]

Okay where was I? BtS and EPCOT!
A and I picked up our name tags at the BtS tour desk located at the exit to LwtL. Each person's name tag had a hidden Mickey and they were super cute! There were 8 of us on the tour, including A and myself. We started the tour in the bug room, which is where they breed and study bugs for the greenhouse. We learned about how one bug inserts itself in the layers of the leaf and lays eggs, and the eggs hatch and eat the leaf and the leaf dies. - bad bug. There is another bug that will locate the larvae in the leaf and inject some sort of venom into the larvae so they never hatch and it saves the leaf. - good bug!
We then went to a window outside the biotech lab and learned about propagation! Disney uses a rooting hormone to help cuttings from one plant become another plant. I do this at home, but with water!
After the bio-tech, we went into the greenhouses! We learned why certain plants are grown vertically, and also learned about the nutrients being fed to the plants - fish water! Overall, I really enjoyed this tour. We got to sample a cucumber grown in the green house, and it was delicious. A didn't want his, so I got 2 slices.

At the end of the tour we played a game of "guess that spice". Our guide took out a treasure chest of spices (1-50) and we picked a random number and had to guess what the smell was!

By this point we were so hungryyyyyyy! With one final picture of the World Showcase, A and I ventured back to the resort to take a break in the pool!

Tonight we had reservations at the Japan Pavilion at Tokyo Dining. We love sushi!

 

[StitchSNK]

A and I returned to BWV and headed to the main pool. It was a crowded afternoon..the temps were around 101 when I looked at my weather app. We are definitely not sun bathers, so we both jumped right in! A and I took a turn down the water slide, and while it was fun, we did not want to get back out and climb stairs. We ordered hot dogs and chips and were able to grab a table to eat. Shhhh...we didn't wait 30 minutes before getting back in the pool! Like the little kids at heart that we are, A and I battled it out in the pool. Who could push off the wall and stay under water the furthest?! Who could do the best handstand or the furthest handstand walk?! This went on for quite a while. Then there was some poolside BINGO! You put chips on the Disney/Pixar characters that were called. The hostess called me out for knowing all of the characters when she showed the card. What can I say? I love Disney!
Dinner at Tokyo Dining was at 6:30, so A and I cleaned up and headed back to EPCOT. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy - Awesome Mix Live! I highly recommend seeing this! It was funny and a great, shady time!

We were seated a little late, but were happy to be eating a meal again. A and I skipped right over appetizers and went for 2 sushi rolls each. A was a happy man!

A and I are sushi snobs. And we were expecting something far greater than what we received...but, the sushi was delicious none the less.

After dinner, I was on the hunt for ice cream, duh. We went to the Italy pavilion and I grabbed a chocolate gelato.

I changed our FP for Spaceship Earth to 8pm, so we headed over to the front of the park. Stopped for photos along the way, of course.

It was finally dark and A and I found our spot for IllumiNATIONs! There was a wedding reception happening in front of us, it was sweet.

This was a new viewing spot for us, as we always watch from the bridge by the International Gateway.

The park was open until 11pm for EMH, but we were exhausted and none of the ride wait times were convincing enough to stay. You'll never guess what we did when we got back to BWV....we ate more ice cream from Ample Hills! I think we were becoming ice cream at this point, but vacation is vacation!!!

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 5 I think we have the hang of this!
Today was "sleep in" day. A and I woke up by 7am LOL - tonight was EMH at MK until midnight..we had big plans! A and I were not hungry after feasting so much yesterday. A grabbed a muffin from the Boardwalk Bakery, and I opted to wait for a Rice Krispie treat from the Confectionery. Literally, the greatest snack of alllll time!

I was so close to purchasing a snack to hold on to for later, but I was still in the business of NO BAG at the parks. Look at this spread! A and I have the biggest sweet tooths ever...just wait until we get to the CRUISE!

Our first FP was for Jungle Cruise - believe it or not, we both have never been on this ride! Overall experience: good! The puns and corny jokes were right up our alley. A couldn't stop giggling next to me! I could tell he was saving some of these jokes for later. We walked our way over to the Main Street Theater to meet Mickey and Minnie in their celebration outfits! This is A's first time meeting the mouse since he was a kid! I was in my glory.

We did not spend very long in the park after this and decided to take the monorail to the Polynesian. I did promise you we'd be back!
We took a quick photo outside MK! The PP photographer was in a mood. People usually form a single line behind the photographer, but two families had made a line on the left and the right...so, A and I stood behind the photographer, since we thought these families were not in line. Both families walked up to get their photos taken, and then they both were stinky to each other! In the time they argued over who's turn it was, I'm sure both families would have been done...and that's exactly what the photographer was saying to them... he was so sassy!! So, when it was finally our turn, he snaps some good photos and then goes, "see, only took 60 seconds, people need to learn patience." I just didn't expect to hear that from a CM.

For lunch, I only had one thing on my mind, Captain Cook's pork nachos. I wish I could replicate these at home. I L-O-V-E these nachos! A and I split the plate, even though I'm sure we could have both had a plate to ourselves! We ate them before I even thought of taking a photo. We lounged on the patio for quite some time, listening to the music, people watching, and really just enjoying being together.

A and I took the monorail to EPCOT. We didn't plan on going back to MK until later in the evening. We decided to part ways, A went back to BWV to relax, and I went to Choza de Margarita!!! I sent this photo to A to show him what he was missing.

Recently, I had my DNA tested for my ancestry and found out I'm mostly Norwegian! So, I stopped in Norway and took a photo with a Viking hat!

I circled back to Choza, grabbed a second margarita, and wound up in America, watching the Voices of Liberty. I had never seen them perform before and WOW!!! Do not miss this performance! Their voices gave me goosebumps, they were incredible!

A final trek back to La Cantina, I grabbed a taco trio to go and headed back to BWV to check on A. He hadn't responded to my texts in a while, and I knew why! - he was sleeping! Disney tired is real!

At some point, between my walking back and forth at the WS, I found an egg that was being fried on the ground...how'd that end up there?

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 5, Disney Tired means Cranky
A and I finally made it back to MK around 7pm. We had managed to move up our 7DMT FP from 8:40 to 8. The wait time for Space Mountain was not long though, and we made a fast walk to my favorite ride! I was missing the Tomorrowland sign.

We had some time before HEA and walked the long way back to Main Street USA. I did not see the PP opportunity for the lantern at the Tangled bathrooms this trip. It would have been great to add to our Disney wall. A took this picture of me instead.

The rain had started to come down and A was getting cranky. The crowds on Main Street were...A LOT. It's like people came out of nowhere! We grabbed a spot pretty far down.

At this point, A was over it. I knew we weren't going to make it to midnight tonight. After HEA, which made me cry, as usual, we wandered back around Tomorrowland to avoid some crowds while they died down. We checked the wait times for rides and were disappointed to see everything was still above an hour. On our way out of the park, I had forgotten about The Kiss Goodnight and convinced A to watch it with me. The crowds had mostly gone away by then, so it was wonderful to have some breathing room, and the rain had finally stopped.

A and I made our way back to BWV and fell right to sleep.

 

[ChuckElias]

Great trip, great report, great pics. If you don't mind, I"m just curious. Were you guys on a Dining Plan? I've never done one and just wondering if you think it would be worth it.

 

[StitchSNK]

Great trip, great report, great pics. If you don't mind, I"m just curious. Were you guys on a Dining Plan? I've never done one and just wondering if you think it would be worth it.

We did not use the dining plan! We did the math out and after misc things (some pins, shirts, etc) and food we spent ~700 for the 6 days before the cruise. If we had done “the dining plan”, we would have spent ~1k on food alone. So we saved a couple hundred dollars. Of course you can be budget friendly and bring food to your resort and pack snacks, which we did in the past, but we ate what we wanted this trip. And no bags at the parks!

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 5 Is the Yeti working?
I rope dropped Animal Kingdom today...without A. He was exhausted from the last 4 days, and who can blame him? I thought AK opened up at 8am for EMH...I was wrong! I showed up at 7:45 and waited in line until the CMs let us in early. I headed over to the Asia bridge and was greeted by another rope.

You know I had only one goal in mind this morning - AMRAP (as many rides as possible) EXPEDITION EVEREST! The CM was lovely and guided our fairly small group to EE, as the rest of the rope droppers went right to Pandora. Some early morning rain storms in the distance - vantage point: the Himalayas

Below is a montage of 1.25 hours of roller coaster bliss.

It was by ride #4 that a lovely group of ladies "adopted me" into their family for the ride. I had mentioned that I left my husband back at the resort, and hence the "I hope you're not on your honeymoon" title! No, we were not on our honeymoon, and we've been married for 3 years this October! A came to the park and we ended up riding again and it made my EE ride total go up to: 9! I would have continued to ride the single rider line, but we had a lot of other plans today, including another flight on an Ikran!

 

[StitchSNK]

Day 5 The longest day yet
After A and I rode EE, it was well into our FP time slot for FoP, so we booked it over to Pandora. We didn't stop for any PP opportunities this time around. After our flight, we watched the Pandora Utility Suit training show. The guy in the suit was so cheezy .
Up next we had FP for Kali River Rapids! We always assess the crowd as we go into line...how wet are people? Should I have worn this white shirt? A and I got pretty wet, but the poor dad across from us got soaked! One of the jets shot him straight in the face, but he was so busy videoing his daughter that he didn't even try to duck!

We walked around the park and found ourselves at the Maharaja Jungle Trek, which we both have never done before. Since it was around noon time, many animals were asleep or not to be found. We did see some interesting birds! The bat room had no bats!

Seriously, can't take me anywhere! A and I had really lucked out on the weather so far and opted for some A/C to get out of the beating sun. We headed over to Dinosaur!, another first for us! It was definitely a one and done for me. Not because I didn't like the ride, but the ride movement was uncomfortable! We also did not know where the ride photo was, clearly.

We were definitely getting very hungry by now, and I had made reservations at Beaches n Cream for us! We took some fun PP photos on the way out of the park, and they're probably some of my favorite.

We had a magic shot with Kevin the bird, and then we saw Kevin IRL! It made my day!!

When we went to check in at Beaches n Cream, I decided to be put on the wait list for a counter seat, despite our reservations because those were for almost 4pm! The hanger was real. The CMs did not charge me for canceling the reservation and we signed up to get a text when they were ready to seat us. We strolled around the Boardwalk area while we waited and I, again, tried to scope out Stormalong Bay..but I behaved, yet again!