Trip Report I'll Never Grow up!-April 2016 Trip Report

danitaytay · Jun 21, 2016

blgauger said:
I ate at Garden Grill on my last trip and LOVED it! I'm gonna have a hard time eating anywhere else at Epcot after trying it. I had the same probably with barely being able to touch dessert because I was stuffed from the yummy dinner options!

Enjoying your report.

I loved it so much! My sister wasn't the biggest fan [although she mostly just ate the mac & cheese] but I want to go back every trip! Haha I know it's such a shame because the dessert was so good too.

Thank you so much for following along

danitaytay · Jun 21, 2016

I finally graduate tomorrow, woo! So in honor of that, here's another update

Day Six!
Thursday, April 28, 2016: Africa, Asia, Dinosaurs...Alive and well!

We had an early morning planned and when my alarm went off at 7:15 I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed and get in the shower. It seemed as if as the days kept on going by, I had an even more difficult time getting myself out of bed, no matter how excited I was. Our plan was to leave for the Animal Kingdom at 8:30 and I was ready by 8:15 so I quickly ran to Captain Cook's and grabbed an apple just to hold me over for a little while.
We made it to the bus at exactly 8:30 but unfortunately the bus didn't come until just before 9. We were packed like sardines on the bus and sat in the last row of the bus. We pulled in past the AK gates around 9:25 and got through the bag check really quickly. This time no one was selected for a random search!

Once we were in the park we turned left and made our way towards the Tree of Life and then right to Africa because we had a FP to make!
For some reason every time we walk into the AK and see the Tree of Life, Victoria and I always burst out into song, and of course we're singing the Circle of Life

Our FP for the safari was ready so we hopped onto the line and were able to get on in about 10 minutes. The safari was so awesome and so many animals were out because it was feeding time. I was really glad I decided to make our safari FP for the earliest time possible because of all the tips I had heard.

Some African hunting dogs! There were tons of them roaming about.

Mom's favorite animal, the giraffe!

I was literally squealing with excitement when I saw the elephants! They're my favorite animal and my hope is to one day have the opportunity to work with them [I'm going to school next year under a pre-vet major with hopes of someday getting into vet school!].

Our safari guide said it was very unusual to see all of the white rhinos out and together at the same time.

The cheetahs were relaxing in the shade because it was already so hot out.

After our trip through the African savannah we decided to tour the Pangani Forest Trail. Our first stop was the Colobus monkey, which was so cute and tiny. We then saw some more Okapi and I was very proud of myself because I answered the trivia question that they were most related to the giraffe correctly.

We then saw some different reptiles and rodents which creeped Victoria out a bit before seeing some huge fish. We walked through the tropical birds and mom kept on following this gorgeous yellow bird.
Isn't it beautiful?! I can't remember the name of the bird for the life of me unfortunately.

The hippo exhibit was next and he was sleeping under the water and all the fish were swimming on him; it was so funny!

Next was the zebras and merecats and then the gorillas. We got to see the two babies and they were the cutest things ever! I never wanted to leave because I wanted to watch them all day! They were so playful and their mom just wanted to sleep and eat but they weren't having it.

Still to come...we get roughed up a bit on some crazy rides!

Figgy1 · Jun 22, 2016

Wonderful pics thnx for sharing and good luck with school

danitaytay · Jun 22, 2016

figmentfan423 said:
Wonderful pics thnx for sharing and good luck with school

Thank you so much!

danitaytay · Jun 22, 2016

Day Six Continued...

We explored Harambe for a bit then headed to Asia where we took a PP in front of Everest before grabbing a return time for it.

We watched the monkeys climb around, and for some reason Victoria doesn't like them. I don't know how someone can't like those adorable little monkeys!
This guy was dancing and playing music on stilts. I don't know how he stayed upright!

While we waited for Everest we went to Dinoland and Primeval Whirl had a ten minute wait so we walked on. Victoria and I love that ride even if it is really jerky.
I saw this Dino made of rocks and shells on our way over to the ride and I thought it was so cool!

On our way over to Dinosaur we saw that paleontologist Donald Duck was doing a meet so we hopped into the short line. He was really funny and was showing us his pet dino but the PP photographer rushed us to take pictures which made Victoria really angry. You could tell that Donald was a bit upset as he kept on putting my hand back on his dino's snout to keep petting it instead of posing for a picture!

Afterwards, Victoria and I waited on the standby line for Dinosaur because it was only a 20 minute wait and we had a great ride. Dinosaur has been a favorite of mine since I was little, when they shut down AK during my dad's partnership meeting just for his firm and I ended up riding it 25 times in a row! I was a crazy six year old without a doubt but ever since then I've loved the ride.

Victoria was craving a frozen banana so while we waited for her to finish it we browsed the gift shop in Dinoland and I got this really cool limited edition Elsa vinylmation, which I didn't see anywhere else during the trip! I actually had a hard time just finding vinylmations in general. When Victoria finished we went on our FP for Primeval Whirl. We were on the other side of the ride this time and it was really rough, to the point where it actually hurt!

It was then time for Everest and we had a blast.
I love the view as you're going up the largest hill.

We had a few minutes until our second FP which also happened to be for Everest so mom grabbed a beer and Victoria got a free cup of water because we were absolutely dying in the heat. After our second round of Everest we were starving and had planned on going to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch but it was too hot to go outside and the line to order the food was ridiculously long so we ended up just going to Pizzafari.
These are both of our ride pictures!

I find it really funny because Victoria was trying to act bored in the picture and the girl behind us was actually an off-duty CM who apparently had the same idea as Victoria!
I

Mom got the romaine wedge with chicken, Victoria got the cheese pizza, and I got the pepperoni pizza. Both of our pizzas came with an antipasto salad which was a nice side. Lunch was surprisingly good and we were stuffed, even though I could barely finish my pizza. After lunch we browsed a few gift shops and then headed to It's Tough to Be a Bug. I got to deliver a red wait time card so I was very excited!

It's an elephant carving! Of course I had to take a picture.

The show was cute but it had every kid in the audience screaming and crying which made it a bit unenjoyable. I wish they'd warn parents before they took their kids on the ride because it just ruins the experience for everyone else too

We then took our hot bodies over to Kali River Rapids because we had grabbed a return time from there before lunch and Victoria and I got nice and soaked. There was an issue scanning my Magicband at first and this impatient father and his son decided to sneak past the CM who was actually using a hand scanner instead of there being scanning kiosks. They ended up getting caught and had to go back but of course they were on the same raft as us :arghh:

Still to come...We explore Disney Springs for the first time ever!

danitaytay · Jun 22, 2016

Day Six Continued...
This one's a long update!

It was getting way too hot to stay in the park any longer, as my phone was telling me it was 97 degrees so I sadly gave up going to Rafiki's Planet Watch [I really want dot watch the surgeries!] and we made our way to the park exit. On the way past the Tree of Life we took some PP pictures and some magic shots with a hilarious photographer.
Can you see how wet my shorts were?!

Mom stopped to ask two CMs by the entrance the easiest way to get to Disney Springs because for some reason there is no direct busing from the parks to there...I still don't get why. It's just a major inconvenience and a ton of people love going there after the parks. They told us that the easiest way to get to the Springs was to take a bus to Saratoga Springs and then walk over so that's what we decided to do. First we accidentally walked to the wrong bus station, where the buses to the non-Disney hotels on International Drive waited, and then when we finally got to the Saratoga Springs bus we ended up being stuck on it for 45 minutes because of traffic.

Finally we were at Saratoga Springs and I thought the hotel was very pretty! It had a very relaxing feeling to it and it wasn't so far away from everything. We had a nice scenic 5 minute walk to Disney Springs and we were finally there.
I always have to take a picture in these silly shirts!

We first browed the little art shop and I found a gorgeous Lilo and Stitch painting that I would have killed to have but it was $6000! Anyone willing to fork out the money to pay for it?!
Isn't it beautiful?

Afterwards we were dying of thirst so Victoria went in search of a Poweraid and I went to Starbucks and got a peach green tea lemonade and a free cup of water for mom because I didn't want her to get dehydrated. It was definitely nice to have Starbucks in Disney!

We were to World of Disney where Victoria searched for some gifts for her best friend's younger sisters and I got a really cool phone case. We browsed Basin and I was very tempted to get something but then finally decided not to. Victoria did pick out some bath salts though. I loved the soap bars and thought the designs in them were so cool, but the prices weren't any cheaper than Lush back home and I was afraid they would get ruined on the ride back home.

Victoria and I were really looking forward to the Fun Finds shop because they usually have some cheap souvenirs but they had absolutely nothing! It just turned into another basic Disney gift shop. We were really disappointed about that.

I was eager to look in the new Marketplace which we all thought was really cool and reminded me a lot of a really upscale flea market. We didn't end up buying anything but we also checked out Tren-D. In the Christmas store we had a very difficult time picking out an ornament as nobody else wanted a Frozen one like I did and I really like all of the ear hat and shoe ornaments but I couldn't decide which one. We decided to be a bit symbolic and get a Cinderella ear had ornament in honor of the castle. Mom wanted to get it engraved with the year so they told us to pick it up in an hour.

We quickly ran to Goofy's Candy Shop where mom and Victoria filled up a bag with assorted candies and I got a large box of saltwater taffy and a milk chocolate and butterfinger rice krispy treat for later. Yum!
I really wanted the Olaf apple!

By that point is was already 5:40 and we had to sprint to make it to our dinner ADR in 5 minutes. We got to Raglan Road just in time and we really loved the atmosphere surrounding the restaurant. We checked in at 5:45 and were seated in just five minutes after having a really funny interaction with a CM who thought mom and I were sisters and then proceeded to make fun of me to my mom. Our table was in the perfect location, literally right next to the Irish Step Dancing Stage and directly in front of the large main stage.

We got some yummy bread and Victoria started off with the cream of tomato soup which she loved. Sorry, there's no pictures of this dinner at all! I unfortunately lost all of them in my exporting issues. While Victoria ate her appetizer the Irish fiddle band was performing and they were great, and then the Irish Step dancers came on. They were absolutely incredible!

The male tap dancers were unbelievable and I loved how they late brought some kids on stage to perform with them. For entrees mom got the Cashel King Salad, Victoria got the Portobello burger, and i got the famous fish and chips with the garlic parmesan and truffle oil skinny fries instead of the other ones.
Victoria was in a very silly mood that night! I have about ten other pictures of her making crazy faces in the restaurant.

We really enjoyed dinner and the entertainment was awesome. We skipped out on dessert because we were all pretty full and I had my rice krispy waiting for me.
Now a quick detour from the TR. During our dinner, there was an older man sitting at the bar right next to us. He was sitting there for hours. He was there before we came and left right as we left. Everyone was coming up to this man and talking to him. From the dancers to the band to the wait staff. At one point he came up to our table to help me get the ketchup out of the jar [because I'm stupid!] and we had a really nice conversation for about 10 minutes. He was a really lovely man and seemed really well-known by everyone. Does anyone know who he is by any chance or might have ever seen him? He might just be a regular for all I know but he was very popular!

After dinner Victoria ended up getting a pina colada shaved ice outside and then we went to pick up our ornament. Lastly we ran into Once Upon a Toy because I wanted to see if they had any good Tsum Tsums but there was nothing that really stood out to me. We made it to the bus by 8 and it was really weird because we ended up being literally the only people on the bus! I snacked on my rice krispy treat on the bus ride back but I wasn't able to finish it because it was so big!

When we got back to the hotel mom and Victoria went to rest and at 8:30 I found a chair on the beach and relaxed and journaled. I stayed down there for the Electrical Water Pageant and Wishes and then I made my way up to bed at 10:30.

It was actually really nice to have such a large chunk of time to myself. When I got back to the room I realized I had been attacked by mosquitos despite putting on bug spray. I had a little bit more of my rice krispy treat and then hopped into bed, sad that tomorrow would be our last day in the parks!

Total Miles Walked: 8.99
Third Day Summary:
Bad: it was too hot to stay at the park any longer
Good: seeing elephants and the baby gorillas!
Surprised by: the entertainment at Raglan Road
Today I tried: Kali River Rapids for the first time in years!
The Result: we got soaked!
In One Word Today was…scorching!

morningstar · Jun 23, 2016

danitaytay said:
Before getting into the details, I guess I'll briefly explain the title! I'm the biggest kid at heart, even if I'm only 18. Going off to college and having to do adult things scares me and Disney is one of the only places where I can comfortably feel like a little kid again. So my goal this trip was to make like Peter Pan and go off to Neverland! It's also my last Spring Break trip with the family so it's very bittersweet for all of us [even if dad couldn't be there physically].

Just because you leave home doesn't mean you have to grow up. Peter Pan did and he didn't.

morningstar · Jun 23, 2016

danitaytay said:
Afterwards mom grabbed a margarita from La Cantina but there was this group of obnoxiously middle-aged adults who weren't with children who were drunk out of their minds! They were all screaming and one guy was doing what he called "gymnastics" and was flying around on the barriers that separate the lines. He almost kicked me in the face multiple times so we moved over.

Well now you see what happens when you don't grow up. I guess it's cute when kids do stuff like that, because they only kick your shins and not your face. And anyway they have parents to tell them when they're getting out of hand.

At China, I saw a line to meet Mulan, my favorite princess who I've been dreaming of meeting forever! Victoria was too hot to stand out there and was getting hungry so mom decided to try to find a snack while I waited in line. I watched the amazing Jeweled Acrobat show while I waited. Finally it was my turn and I wasn't sure if I would cry or squeal, or both! She was so amazing! We talked about traveling, Mushu and his shenanigans, and birthday cake. I was absolutely bouncing with excitement.

So great that you got to meet your favorite princess.

The show was very cool and I got a picture with all of the performers at the end, and they all joked that I was a young girl surrounded by many eligible Italian men, which made me very lucky!

To be honest, I don't think any of them were even close to my age!

I don't think Italian men care.

Not the real Hans of course but he was so funny and the way he talked reminded me of Oaken from Frozen!

Hah! I heard Norwegian people don't think Oaken sounds Norwegian at all. They say he sounds Swedish. Swedish people say he sounds Danish. Danish people say he sounds Norwegian. I've got news for you guys. You all sound like that.

Mom had the pan-seared salmon, I has the traditional kjottkake [Norwegian meatballs], and Victoria had the Fiskesuppe, which was scallops, shrimp, and mussels. Our waitress made us try to say the food in Norwegian before we could order which was hilarious, and she said I was amazing accurate.

I'd like to hear you say kjottkake. That's a tough one.

LisaBelle · Jun 23, 2016

Congratulations on graduation! I want that Rice Krispie Treat!

Tuvalu · Jun 26, 2016

To answer your question of why there are no buses to Disney Springs from the parks ~ Disney does not want people to park (for free) at Disney Springs in order to avoid paying the parking fee at the theme parks. Therefore, it is not cost effective for Disney to run buses between Disney Springs and the parks.

Enjoying your report

.

jrogue · Jun 26, 2016

danitaytay said:
they threw us in the second to last row of the plane so we were surrounded by the masses of people waiting to get in the bathroom. All these people ending up leaning up against our seats and standing literally in our seat row so I kind of sat curled up in my seat the entire flight.

Ugh, this is the WORST and actually one of the reasons I sometimes like aisle seats. For some reason the way I sleep on planes means my head always ends up in the aisle ... aka almost chopped off by someone passing by!

Oooooh the torch lighting ceremony! That is one of my favorite things to catch. It's such a unique experience and so nice that they include it.

Ugh, people can be SO rude during fireworks. It's like they forget all sorts of manners and turn into wild cavepeople :banghead:

I dislike Mission Space as well. My sister gets motion sickness on planes, busses, trains ... and no other ride but this one. Even I was feeling waayyy too dizzy after we tried to ride it. It was awful and after that first time we vowed NEVER AGAIN!

CONGRATS ON YOUR GRADUATION!!! HOW EXCITING!!

Doc Disney · Jun 27, 2016

danitaytay said:
After that frightening moment, I searched around to see if Alice was anywhere and after expressing my sadness over not being able to meet her, a man passing by looked over at me and laughed! I was very insulted! You are never too old to want to meet characters.

Aw I hate when people make fun of "adults" wanting to meet characters. Someone made a comment to me one time when we were in line for Tinkerbell that they should not let adults see characters and make lines longer for kids. I said a little bit louder than I should have to my Mom that everyone pays the same price of admission

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

morningstar said:
Just because you leave home doesn't mean you have to grow up. Peter Pan did and he didn't.

That's very true

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

morningstar said:
Well now you see what happens when you don't grow up. I guess it's cute when kids do stuff like that, because they only kick your shins and not your face. And anyway they have parents to tell them when they're getting out of hand.

So great that you got to meet your favorite princess.

I don't think Italian men care.

Hah! I heard Norwegian people don't think Oaken sounds Norwegian at all. They say he sounds Swedish. Swedish people say he sounds Danish. Danish people say he sounds Norwegian. I've got news for you guys. You all sound like that.

I'd like to hear you say kjottkake. That's a tough one.

Thank you haha! Your comments made me laugh a lot! Thanks so much for reading along

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

LisaBelle said:
Congratulations on graduation! I want that Rice Krispie Treat!

Thank you so much! Haha, me too! I could really go for one right now.

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

Tuvalu said:
To answer your question of why there are no buses to Disney Springs from the parks ~ Disney does not want people to park (for free) at Disney Springs in order to avoid paying the parking fee at the theme parks. Therefore, it is not cost effective for Disney to run buses between Disney Springs and the parks.

Enjoying your report .

Oh wow, I had no idea but that makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much for letting me know and for following along with my report!

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

jrogue said:
Ugh, this is the WORST and actually one of the reasons I sometimes like aisle seats. For some reason the way I sleep on planes means my head always ends up in the aisle ... aka almost chopped off by someone passing by!

Oooooh the torch lighting ceremony! That is one of my favorite things to catch. It's such a unique experience and so nice that they include it.

Ugh, people can be SO rude during fireworks. It's like they forget all sorts of manners and turn into wild cavepeople

I dislike Mission Space as well. My sister gets motion sickness on planes, busses, trains ... and no other ride but this one. Even I was feeling waayyy too dizzy after we tried to ride it. It was awful and after that first time we vowed NEVER AGAIN!

CONGRATS ON YOUR GRADUATION!!! HOW EXCITING!!

We seem to always get the worst seats on the plane, no matter where we're going!

It was so cool! It was our first time seeing it but I'm so glad we rushed down to watch it.

I know. You really see the true nature of people at Disney World for some reason. It was very hard to find some decent, well-mannered people while we were there and it's sad because majority of the people there were also from New York.

Thank you so much!!!

And thank you for following along with my report!

danitaytay · Jun 28, 2016

Doc Disney said:
Aw I hate when people make fun of "adults" wanting to meet characters. Someone made a comment to me one time when we were in line for Tinkerbell that they should not let adults see characters and make lines longer for kids. I said a little bit louder than I should have to my Mom that everyone pays the same price of admission

I know! Disney World isn't just for little kids! Whether you're 18 like me or 90, it doesn't matter. Haha, serves them right! People just need to mind their own business.

Courtney6682 · Jun 30, 2016

danitaytay said:
Total Miles Walked: 3.91
First Day Summary: [a little thing Victoria and I started doing for fun!]
Bad: Our flight was an hour late to take off
Good: everything once we arrived at the hotel!
Surprised by: the amazing Electrical Water Pageant
Today I tried: a dole whip float and Kona Sticky wings
The result: delicious!
In One Word Today Was...Stressful!

Well, that's it for Day One! I hope everyone enjoyed it I'm a newbie at trip reports so any criticism or feedback is appreciated! I'm still having issues with my pictures so it may take a few days to update but if I can't figure it out I'll just move on without some of my pictures sadly.

Excellent report so far kiddo! I'm totally stealing this for me and my 17 and 10 yr old to do!! LOVE IT!

kperaka · Jun 30, 2016

Nicely done, thank you for posting the report.

Trip Report I'll Never Grow up!-April 2016 Trip Report

danitaytay

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