If you hate photos ... this is not the trip report for you

Over 4,000 pictures later, with full bellies and a happy toddler we have returned back to the cold, snowy, and not as fun state of IL. It's been over a week since we've returned and now full Disney blues has caught on for most of us. So with this snow and cold I thought why not write about the warm 75-82 degree, 10 days of awesome we just came back from.

We left for the magic on February 2nd and returned to yuck on February 12th. Our stay started at Pop Century with a hotel switch at the end to Port Orleans Riverside. Did everything go smoothly? Hmmm .. you'll have to read to see.

Let's introduce the party ...

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Hi! I'm your narrator and photographer who will guide you through the good times and the bad times. I'm Jenni, and I've used so much of the good advice from everyone on this board to plan this trip. (Thank you everyone!!) I also found a great crowd calendar that made our wait times so minimal despite the unexpected crowds. I had my first trip to Disney in 2007 on my honeymoon. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a Savannah View. I really loved having animals join me for breakfast in the morning. This is where my love for Disney World started. I knew that we had to vacation here every year. This would be my sixth trip to Disney since then. My favorite ride is Splash Mountain, favorite park for rides is Magic Kingdom but ambiance is Hollywood Studios. But really ... I just love everything.

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This is my husband and best friend. We have been together for 10 years, married for 5. He also loves Magic Kingdom for rides but just like me loves the ambiance at Hollywood Studios. He has been to Disney a few times more than me. He is awesome and lets me plan everything. He is the chauffeur this trip and my hero since he saved the day!

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Here is the princess, my DD. Her favorite ride is It's A Small World and she could ride it continuously until they kicked her off. Let's just say for the sake of our sanity, that didn't happen. She's only 2 but she really loves everything about Disney World. She takes in the scenes, loves the rides and likes the characters .. from a distance. This would be her 3rd trip.

My sister-in-law also joined us for the trip but since she wasn't into getting her picture taken I don't really have any for her. Her last trip here was in high school so it's been a while since she has been in the World. So it was like her first time again. It was fun to show her everything and see her reactions to the rides. I love being with first timers.

Last but not least was Heimlich. He joined us for some of the trip. He likes to eat, he's German and is earning his butterfly status. Favorite park, Epcot because of the food.
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So on with the trip report and loads of pictures.

We left the cold state of IL in the early hours of February 2nd. Of course it decides to snow that morning so the drive to the airport was a bit slow. We made it with tons of time to spare so we grabbed breakfast, did a potty break and on we were. I paid the extra $10 to do early bird check-in and it was worth it. We sat 10 rows from the front and practically ran off the plane to get our rental car. We weren't going to waste any time.
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Beautiful skies
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Greeted with this in the sky
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And this also
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And then we saw this

We arrived at Pop Century around 12:00. I had done online check-in. I'm so glad I did because the regular line was about 45 minutes long and there wasn't one person in online check-in. I checked the option to have the room ready upon arrival and to override all our requests. Well the awesome CM was on the phone trying to get us a room. Almost all of our requests were granted, we stayed in 50's and we were on the bottom floor. We wanted a lake view but were willing to sacrifice that for having a room ready. We were in and out of line in 5 minutes. We stayed in 50's last year and it was quiet. This year I was not disappointed, it was very quiet. We did request a pack-and-play and that was not in the room. A quick call to the front desk and we had it to our room within 10 minutes. We were very pleased. Well after a long plane ride all our tummies were grumbling and AOA food court was calling our name. I have to say I wasn't disappointed with the food. The process however was the frustrating part. I think it took about 10 minutes for all of us to get our food and finish the check out process.

I had the meatball sandwich
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DH got the Surf and Surf Burger. We both split our meals and agreed that the meatball was 1,000 times better.
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My Sis-in-law got this sandwich with homemade chips. The chips were good. She liked her sandwich.
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I got the cupcakes for dessert. It was red velvet, chocolate, vanilla and carrot cake. I give it a 6 out of 10. Not bad but not great.
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My DH got this, don't remember what it's called but I called it a garbage brownie. It has every kind of sugar related treat on it .. oh and even brown sugar.
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Next ... Check out AOA and Wishes Dessert Party
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Wishes Dessert Party and ummm .. where's my phone?

Was it worth it and what happened to my phone? Guess you'll have to find out at the end of this post. Since they open the dessert party at random times it was anyone's guess when it would open. Thank you to forum members for giving everyone a heads up I was able to book online for 2/2. I have never seen the fireworks before and I was really looking forward to this party.

When we arrived this was our view
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We were right in middle, first table. View couldn't have been better.
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An example of some of the desserts. Personally the mango shooter was my favorite.
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Was it worth it? Sure for a one time experience. I loved the view but they let everyone go up to the front once the fireworks start so there is no way to sit down and enjoy the fireworks. The desserts were not filled once they were gone. But the desserts that I had were good, people were friendly and it was nice to be away from the crowds. I say try it once and see if you like it. Price was about $25 per person.

So on to the drama ... We go to ride Buzz Lightyear, our first ride of the trip. I got 999,999 early in the game so I go and reach for my phone to take a picture. Um .. where is my phone? I move and then it slides off my lap, off the ride and onto the ground in the middle of the big alien scene. Are you kidding me? I lose my phone on the first ride of the trip? I grab the CM's attention once I exit the ride. They tell me that I have to wait until after the ride closes for them to grab it but at that point it's too late and I would need to contact them in the morning. I knew that this wasn't going to work for me so my husband does a major no no and attempts to grab it from the ride. Does he succeed .. I guess you'll find out.

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The last picture before the phone tragedy.
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Of course I was in complete panic mode after losing my phone. So we go on the ride again so that my DH can try and grab it. The man behind us catches on to what we are doing. We grabbed a phone but it wasn't mine. Looks like I wasn't the only person who lost their phone on the ride. So my DH and his sister went on the ride and the nice man behind us went on with them. Thanks to this really awesome man my DH was able to grab the phone and my crisis was averted. Not the best way to start your first day on vacation. I wasn't about to let this ruin my fun so off we went to ride some more rides.

Our first time on Journey of The Little Mermaid
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Under the sea in motion

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Ariel was working tonight

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Is he going to kiss her?

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No ... no he's not

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We only rode these two rides due to the event that occurred so after Journey of the Little Mermaid we were exhausted and ready for bed.
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Hollywood Studios and Super Bowl Sunday

I love Hollywood Studios and despite the lack of rides, I just love the feel of the park. Just like every other person my DH walked quickly to Toy Story Midway Mania to get FPs. So I just walked around and took some pictures. The crowds were manageable for a Sunday so I wasn't complaining.

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She's like, "what are you saying mom?"

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Didn't get a chance to audition this time but when we go in September I will

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These are the yummy snacks at The Writer's Stop. This is a great place to go for some quiet. There were only two people here and it was just so nice and quiet.

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My DH got some chips and the DD got a cupcake. We sat outside next to the Writer's Stop for about 30 minutes to just take a nice break and get out of the hot sun.

Now it was off to TSMM to use our FP. I have to say that since they shut down Disney Junior it's a little harder for us to find things to do with the DD. But she loves TSMM and wanted to ride it over and over but with a 70 minute wait, that wasn't happening.

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The score to the right is mine and the one to the left is my SIL. This was her first time playing this so I think she did a pretty great job.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

I was dying to pick a pearl in Downtown Disney since I read that I could. So after TSMM we left for a quick nap and cool down at the hotel. I kept hearing the rave reviews about Wolfgang Puck Express. We had a really bad experience at the restaurant a few years ago so we were leery about eating here. Well I have to say we were so happy with our experience. We loved the food and went back the next night for dinner. It was so yummy and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a really good quick service.

I ordered the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza with goat cheese.
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DH ordered the bacon wrapped meatloaf sandwich
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We both ordered the Creme Brulee'. This was soooooo delicious.
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After dinner I got to pick-a-pearl at the Pearl Factory. I had been looking forward to this since I read about it. I picked the ugly hairy oysters and ended up getting a 7mm white pearl and a 6 mm blue/silver pearl. I was super excited about it. I will be doing this every trip.

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Tonight we were going to Magic Kingdom. Last year we went to MK on Superbowl Sunday. It was dead but since they had EMH this day, I anticipated it to be fairly busy. The crowds were manageable, the lines were short but it was busier than last year. We rode pirates (walk on), Peter Pan (20 minute wait), Winnie the Pooh (walk on), JofLM (walk on), Peoplemover (walk on) and Buzz (5 minutes). Of course most of the wait times were exaggerated which I found happened a lot on the trip.

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Fireworks in new Fantasyland, walking towards Gaston's Tavern

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I didn't get a picture of it but we decided to try Lefou's Brew. I liked it, apple with a bit of marshmallow flavor in the drink and then a mango foam. I loved the marshmallow and wanted more of that flavor but my SIL was not a fan of it.

Tomorrow .. Epcot, Wolfgang Puck Express .. Again and another night at the MK
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
With the MVP of the Superbowl making an appearance at the MK, I decided to avoid it for the day. Today proved that they need more testing of their new RFID Next gen program. We are in line and two women in front of us have annual passes and they are trying to use the RFID turnstiles. Each CM is responsible for two RFID turnstiles. This is where I found the problem. During morning rush, that is clearly too much for the CM's. The women moved up the the first turnstile and I moved to the second. I saw the CM look at me, I put my card in front, put my finger down and it turned green. On the trip I learned Green=Good, Blue=Bad. At that point the CM turns around and goes, Um you need to do that again, I didn't see you. To which I replied, "Well I did it and it turned green, so I'm not doing it again". I figured at that point he was looking at me and if he took his eyes off me when I scanned my finger it's not really my fault. I determined that this would be the trend of the trip.

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This is what I look forward to seeing when I walk into Epcot.

Our first stop, Spaceship Earth. I could ride this all day. I was disappointed that the Rome burning smell did not make an appearance the entire trip. That's one of my favorite smells. Wait time was 5 minutes. I think that was because people tend to stop here first in the morning.

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I love how it cuts off the heads at weird points. My DD only has 1/2 her head here.




Next stop a favorite of mine and the DD. Wait time was .. 0, we walked right on

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I love this ride and catch myself singing along at the end

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Big Blue World

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I love the palm trees and the bright blue skies

Next stop was Living With The Land. I love this ride. I love looking at all the plants. There was no wait for this ride. We walked right on

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Journey Into Imagination with Figment, with of course, no wait. I like Figment and this ride.

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Next .. Off to Mexico
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
At this point my DD has fallen asleep and we decided to just travel around the world since it had just opened. First stop, Gran Fiesta Tour

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"what means ay carumba?"​
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Onto Norway to ride Maelstrom.​
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China time, just walked around and snapped pictures​
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My DH's exact face when he got his 999,999 score on Buzz Lightyear​


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Heimlich calling collect from China​


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I made a friend, I called him Wiggles​


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Next on to Germany for a special treat​


 

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