Is it always this hot in September? Lets take a nap! Trip Report

After waiting three very long years to return to The Most Magical Place on Earth, it was finally THE DAY! Well I should have introduced ourselves….I’m Cetta and my DH is Aaron. We got married June 23, 2012 and we decided to hold off on our honeymoon so our wallets could replenish and I could have some extra time to plan the honeymoon since most of my time was planning our wedding. We have been to Disney once before in 2009 and stayed off property, which after this trip, we have decided we will never do again. It was an amazing vacation but mostly because we didn’t let the little things bother us. I will get to those little annoyances later, but for the most part our vacation was filled with good food, smiles, sunshine, and a bunch of firsts!

We went old school this trip…we cannot afford a nice new camera so I brought my iPhone 4, 2 disposable cameras, and an HP digital camera from 2008. DH brought his DriodX and his Canon Rebel 2000-which is an actual film camera! We got them developed and put onto a CD at CVS down the street and they developed all film photos backwards, so beware….this trip report will not have the best quality photos.

Around 12:30 on Saturday we got a text message from Southwest stating our flight had been delayed. Not a big deal…only 20 minutes…but we wanted to get to Florida. We arrived at MCO and we went outside to smoke a cigarette, but I was too excited to realize we were on the wrong side of the airport from where DME picks you up. So after our cig we had to travel to the other side where we only waited maybe 15 minutes-but it felt like forever because I just wanted to be on Disney property. Since our flight was delayed a little we arrived when it was dark out so I didn’t get a picture of us going under the welcome sign.

 

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off to the safari!

 

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Well since we skipped breakfast we headed for an early lunch at Restaurantsaurus. I got the mac-n-cheese hotdog again and Aaron got the chicken fingers meal. I got some kind of mango berry kind of alcoholic beverage. It was good but it was also like 11am, so I didn’t finish it. We both ordered cheesecakes for our dessert but we didn’t even take a bite of them. I mean what is that weird stuff on top? I poked it but there is no way I was going to eat it.

 

[cetta28]

Then it was off to Dinosaur…we rode it twice in a row and then headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey so we could watch Festival of the Lion King.

We decided we did everything we wanted to do at AK and were ready for our daily naps. Well I didn’t have a picture of the Tree of Life yet, so we made one more stop. A really awesome CM, who I think might have been training other Photopass CM’s, saw us taking pictures and took some of us together.

 

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Then we took the bus back to Pop and I grabbed my first Mickey Premium bar of the trip.

We took another nap….this time my alarm never went off and I woke up at 7pm…we had ADR’s at 7:15 at Raglan Road. We weren’t going to make it. We just decided to skip our second ADR of the day. We took our time getting ready and headed to Epcot, where our night got way better!

 

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Then we made our way around the world. It was EMH and the crowds were getting very low. We saw the American Adventure show at 10:30 and we both loved it. Aaron has sung the cannonball song a couple times since we have been home. It’s a very moving show and I really noticed this year how much WDW likes to show their American pride. Its everywhere and it makes me proud to be an American! We rode Maelstrom and walked to Mexico. It was about 11:50 when we got there and we decided to turn around and head back to Canada. It was one of the most memorial parts of the trip. There was no one else around and it was like we had Epcot to ourselves.

 

[cetta28]

Thursday- Fishing and Magic Kingdom

Today was the day we had been waiting for….our fishing excursion! We woke up and I took a shower while Aaron went and grabbed some breakfast items from Classic Hall. I don’t remember what he got because I didn’t take a picture of it. I had packed some paper bowls and mini cereal boxes in one of our check in bags, so Aaron just got me some Mickey milk.

Our fishing trip was originally going to depart from the Contemporary at 10 am but when we got our Mickey mail, I realized that the coupon doesn’t work if you leave from the Contemporary so I called and changed it to depart from the Grand Floridian for the same time. Well apparently that change didn’t get through! We got to the Grand Floridian’s marina right at 9:45…their suggested time of arrival. Well…..We waited and waited and waited until 10:15 when the nice CM working on another boat called to see where our boat was. Well I will say one thing….next time we do a fishing excursion or anything at all with a reservation I am going to call and double check. We got to ride the Avengers Monorail and walk through the Grand Floridian for the first time. Too ritzy for Aaron but I thought it was just beautiful!

 

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We had a great time on our boat! We fished from a couple different spots…the GF’s boat launch area, the bar in front of the MK entrance, the Contemporary’s boat launch dock, and we fished in two different spots in the middle of Bay Lake. I caught three fish and Aaron caught two…I always get the most fish and the largest when we go fishing. I think it’s my dad helping me out because when I was little he used to take me fishing all the time.

 

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I would highly recommend a fishing excursion, mainly because it’s just so relaxing, plus how many people can say they went fishing at Disney World? When it was all over, we were hungry, but MK looked like every place to eat would have a long time. So we decided to head to the buses and go back to Pop to grab lunch and another nap! Aaron ordered the nachos and I got a chicken burrito. Both were very delicious

When we woke…it was finally raining! It rained every day during our last trip in May of 2009, so we kind of expected more this time around.

 

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We got to MK and it was starting to clear up. We didn’t get to do much/any of Adventureland on Sunday, so off we went! We hopped on the Jungle Cruise than off to Pirates of the Caribbean and the ride we had been waiting for…Splash Mountain!

We had ADR’s at ‘Ohana for 9:30, but we decided to get to the Poly before Wishes started so we could watch then from the beach. We took the boat to the Poly and found a spot at the dock. We noticed a black kitty walking around and nice boy told us that a CM told him that about a year ago someone had left the cat there and he just roams around now. I called him Poly but I am not sure what his name is. Aaron got to pet him but I was too busy watching Wishes and the water parade.

 

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We checked in for dinner at ‘Ohana at like 9:15 for our 9:30 ADR. We walked around a little and took some pictures. We waited what felt like forever and finally got seated around 10:15. Aaron and I both agree that if we ever get enough money to stay at a Deluxe resort….we are staying at the Polynesian without a doubt!

 

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Dinner was amazing! The dumplings were my favorite part!

When we were done, we had planned a bus to DTD and then transfer to a Pop bus since all the parks were already closed. We actually got to take a “Jasmine” bus! We had to drop a nice family off at Port Orleans Riverside first and then we were off to Pop. It was like having our own personal shuttle, the CM driver talked to us the whole way to our hotel and really made us feel like VIPs again!

Tomorrow….is our last full day at WDW and the only day we didn’t take a nap! We go to 3 parks and DTD in one day!

 

[MRGEFF]

Hi, really enjoyed your TR. We'll be in POP(3rd time) in 29 days.

 

[cetta28]

Sorry for the long delay in updates....work and real life kind of slowed things down.

Friday
We started our day out with EMH at DHS. We got there around 8:45 which gave us just enough time to grab a fastpass for TSMM before the park opens to all guests. Our Fastpass return time was for 12:15, so we went to watch Muppets 3D. I can totally see why some people would say it needs to be updated. I personally did not care for that flying thing…it’s not a Muppet!!! Aaron wanted to get a good look at all the handprints in front of The Great Movie ride…perfect timing because while we were walking around a bunch of characters started to come out a door and walk right by us. We got to wave and give high fives!

We grabbed some breakfast and sat down on a wall near the Hollywood Studios sign. Aaron ate popcorn out of a souvenir R2D2 and I grabbed a cupcake from the villain’s candy store. We are on vacation!

 

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We watched Indiana Jones and then used our Fastpass for Toy Story! I kicked his butt!!! Aaron also got to meet one of the Green Army Men…which he said was the highlight of his vacation!

 

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We ate lunch at Studio Catering Co and enjoyed their new Buffalo Chicken sandwich….which was awesome! I would highly recommend it and my only regret was…we decided to share it!

Then we headed off to watch Lights, Motor, Action! Aaron just couldn’t believe how awesome it was! He was in total amazement and still talks about how it blew his mind.

We waited in line for like 2 minutes so Aaron could ride on the speeder bike with his new R2D2 as his passenger

 

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We said our goodbyes to DHS and took the bus to TTC so we could take the monorail to MK…we were on a mission! Aaron wanted to buy a hat he saw the day before at Agrabah Bazaar and I wanted to have another Dole Whip!

His new hat:

My Dole Whip (I actually took a picture before I took a bite this time - this might just be my favorite photo from our whole vacation)

 

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It started to rain while we were at MK so when I was done with my tasty treat we put on our ponchos and headed toward the bus stop to head back to Pop so we could charge our phones and do some pre-packing.

We were only at Pop for about 90 minutes because we had to go to DTD. I went shopping at a couple different shops there while Aaron walked to the closest Hess Station.

Today was also the first day of the Food and Wine Festival so wanted to get to Epcot to enjoy some FOOD! We took a bus to Key West and then transferred to an Epcot bus. It took longer than I wanted it to, but we still had plenty of time to eat what we wanted. Our first stop at Epcot was Canada….we wanted to try the Cheddar Soup! Well it was very very very good! We ate it before I could even think of taking a picture. Then we started our walk towards the Poland booth because we are both big fans of perogies and kielbasa. On the way I stopped and grabbed some California Rolls from Japan which was also gone before I could think of taking a picture. We finally arrived at Poland and got what we had been waiting all week for….

Sorry we had already scrapped off the onions and sour cream by the time I took the picture.

We walked to Mexico and rode the ride and walked around a little. We made our way to Mousegears where we bought some gifts for our family and watched IllumiNations while we walked out the gates on our last day at the parks. Tomorrow we go home to pretty kitty Bella, but first we get to finally walk around Pop and take some pictures.

 

[cetta28]

Saturday

Today is our last day…insert sad face…but we get to see the one thing we have missed the most our whole vacation….our Bella!
We wake up and get everything packed and take it to the front so we can get the right tags on it and everything. We flew Southwest (which I would recommend). Somehow Disney knew that we paid for the early bird check in and checked us in and printed out our tickets without us having to do a single thing. We handed them our luggage and headed in to eat breakfast and take a walking tour of the whole resort.