Trip Report It really is the place where dreams come true - Trip Report

dclfan · Nov 18, 2016

Day 2 Continued:

After the star wars stage show it was time to meet the celebrities that were now meeting at the Launch Bay, Chewbacca and Kylo Ren.
We did go through the full Launch Bay experience and started with the movie which was very enjoyable. It was also nice to just sit down for ten minutes and take a load off. Upon exiting the theater we went straight too meet Chewy. All I can say is WOW. He is sooooo tall in person. It is so awesome to turn the corner and see him waiting for you. Chewy came right over to us and grabbed J's beard and then started stroking his own which made us both laugh. The photographers said that J was his brother.

We were both loving life at this moment. After we said goodbye to our new friend we jumped in the 30 minute line to meet Kylo. I think this ended up being the longest line of the day so far and our wait was a little over 30 minutes but it was sooo worth it. Before I begin this story I want to preface by saying there will be Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers so if you haven't seen it yet please skip ...

The whole time we were waiting in line I kept saying I was going to ask him why he had to kill Han Solo and let him know how upset I was about it. Well when we finally got inside I got super intimidated. He is so tall too and he stands so close to you and yells about the first order. See face below, INTIMIDATED

Anyway I didn't want too miss this opportunity so right before our picture I looked him straight in the eyes and asked "why did you have to kill Han". Well he did like that move when he chokes you with his hands and said "be careful what you ask" and demanded we take the photo. Which turned out to be awesome because we were both hysterically laughing and the more we laughed the more the photographers warned us about what could happen when we made Kylo mad. It was a priceless meet and greet and everyone really played along well.

We pretty much laughed all the way through the rest of launch bay as we browsed the gift shop and took a few more photos with the memorabilia. At this point is was around 3:15 and we had a 5:20 reservation at San Angel Inn in Epcot so we decided to make our way to the exit. As we were exiting right before you hit the line for the trams off to the left there were a bunch of rare characters out meeting. I have never seen characters out here before. It was odd because they were out before you hit the turnstiles so technically they were meeting guests "free of charge" and to make it even better there was no one over there.

I knew we just had to meet this magnificent trio of Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie. I have never in my 30+ visits met these three together. This was another great interaction as Aladdin kept plying with the tassels on my backpack saying I had packed a rug as well and asked if my backpack turned into a flying carpet. They took a lot of time with us but soon we had to part ways so we snapped a photo and headed towards the Coronado Springs bus.

Our time at the hotel was short lived I think we were there for about 20 minutes. We just freshened up a little bit and grabbed a coat for the evening. This is where my shoes start coming back into play. At this point my feet were kind of aching and I knew deep down I should have put on sneakers but yesterday my feet ached as well after just walking around Disney Springs in my sneakers so I figured it was just normal disney feet aches and it wouldn't matter much either way. So I kept on those tan slip ons. MAJOR MISTAKE.

Next Up: We check in to Epcot, EMH, and Food and Wine for the first time of this trip.

Tiggerish · Nov 18, 2016

dclfan said:
As we were exiting J got an email saying that because TOT was down we could use our TOT fastpass at any of the following locations including Rock N Roller coaster. This was weird considering we had JUST used our TOT fastpass but thought it was worth a shot so we headed back to RNR and sure enough Mickey turned green and in we went.

This is hysterical. Those two guys behind you look absolutely terrified!!

dclfan said:
J's shirt says StarWars coffee "may the froth be with you". Sooo many people stopped him throughout he day to pay him a compliment and ask where he bought it.

I noticed that earlier in the report, how clever. Great shirt.

dclfan said:
I knew we just had to meet this magnificent trio of Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie. I have never in my 30+ visits met these three together. This was another great interaction as Aladdin kept plying with the tassels on my backpack saying I had packed a rug as well and asked if my backpack turned into a flying carpet. They took a lot of time with us but soon we had to part ways so we snapped a photo and headed towards the Coronado Springs bus.

Cute story, you had some really fun character interactions!

dclfan · Nov 19, 2016

@Tiggerish we really did have some great interactions with characters this entire trip. Also thanks for following along, should have more posted soon.

SSH · Dec 7, 2016

No pressure - but I'm still in suspense about the big surprise you hinted at!

Can't wait to hear about more of your trip when you have time.

prfctlyximprct · Dec 7, 2016

I don't know how I missed this! I must have been in Disney when you started!!! Looking forward to more and I won't give away your surprise but I must say I am loving all your instagram pics

Totally not jealous or anything!!! LOL

dclfan · Dec 8, 2016

SSH said:
No pressure - but I'm still in suspense about the big surprise you hinted at! Can't wait to hear about more of your trip when you have time.

Sorry about the lack of trip reporting but let's get back to it now so I can tell you about the big surprise

. Thanks for following along.

prfctlyximprct said:
I don't know how I missed this! I must have been in Disney when you started!!! Looking forward to more and I won't give away your surprise but I must say I am loving all your instagram pics Totally not jealous or anything!!! LOL

hahaha Thanks and I totally think you were in Disney when I started. I was kind of stalking your instagram and trying to re-live my trip though you. lol

dclfan · Dec 8, 2016

so where was I........

I believe we were heading back to Epcot for our 5:20 reservation at San Angel Inn.

Hello Epcot!

The plan was too head inside and ride Spaceship Earth before heading over to Mexico but the line was 30 minutes when we got there so we decided to skip it this time. With about an hour before dinner we decided to just walk around. I told J I just wanted to soak ( which is my way of saying I want to walk around and touch, smell, and absorb Epcot). I swear I am not crazy no matter how much J says I am. By the end of the trip he was actually asking if I wanted to stop and soak.

We slowly made our way over to San Angel Inn and ducked inside for a ride with the Three Caballeros. I really love this ride. We had a front row seat and we were able to put our feet up and take a relaxing trip through Mexico. Once we were done we decided to check in even though we were still about 20 minutes early. We just about sat down to wait when I buzzer went off and we were quickly seated. Our table here was TERRIBLE. It was a table for two put up against the wall right in front of the door that led into the kitchen. We couldn't see the water or the pyramid and people were constantly brushing past us. Since we were on the DDP we got an entree and a desert but they allowed us to sub out our desert for a soup. We were going to get desert later on at the food and wine festival. I also didn't get my soft drink instead choosing a glass of Pinot Grigio.

We both started with the Sopa Azteca which I loved. It was served with fried tortillas strips, avocado and cheese. Then they came over and poured the soup over it at the table. I love all things avocado so this was a definite win. For dinner I had the Pollo A Las Rajas and J had the Carne Asada. We were extremely underwhelmed. I had to ask for more sauce for my chicken because I had only eaten half of the chicken before my plate was bone dry with no sauce to speak of. J said his meal was alright. I didn't even have a second glass of wine which really speaks to dining experience. Growing up this was my families favorite restaurant but I think we'll have to skip this one on our next trip. We both agreed on the flight home that this was our least favorite meal of the trip.

Anyway we paid our bill and were on our way to enjoy EMH at Epcot but first our first spin around Food and Wine Festival (the place we would call home for the next week, I swear we ate/drank here every day of our trip). We skipped over Norway because it was absolutely jammed with Frozen being a 60 minute wait. We dipped inside China for a quick bathroom break and a wardrobe change.

This photo should stay between me and my WDW magic friends lol.

Once we were out of China I made a bee line for the Africa booth at Food and Wine festival to try the Simonsig Pinotage. I had been dying to give this a try ever since @bee trip report and it did not disappoint. This was the standout wine of the trip and I even bought a bottle home. I am usually a strictly white wine drinker but this was very dry and I loved it. Even J who never drinks wine enjoyed it. Next we stopped in Germany so J could pick up a beer. He had the Radeberger Zwickel Pilsner. He liked it. We both agreed this was just a walk-a-bout to see what was available at the fesitval and we weren't going to go crazy tonight so we just slowly strolled around the world showcase and enjoyed our drinks. When we got to France I noticed they had Creme Brulee which was the perfect desert treat so thats what I got. Normally I don't like creme brulee or chocolate but the combination was amazing and I finished the whole thing. J had the escargot. He said it was the biggest snail he ever ate and after that comment I didn't dare try it myself. We didn't escape France without our first stop at the gelato shop. Last trip this was J's favorite snack stop and this trip was no exception. He had the coconut white chocolate. I think this was the only tim we stopped here and he didn't fight with one of the workers. More on that later. If memories serve me right I stopped inside the french wine shop and got a grown up glass of wine and with that we headed to Future World to take advantage of the rides while Illuminations was happening.

21stamps · Dec 8, 2016

Following! I love the Star Wars Coffee shirt!!!!

Tiggerish · Dec 8, 2016

That last picture of you guys "clinking" is JUST SO CUTE.

SSH · Dec 9, 2016

Yay! Excited to see you back! :joyfull:

Was waiting to hear how your San Angel meal went - sorry about the disappointing experience - I have an ADR there on our upcoming trip, but may cancel and just wing it that day with QS. We're not on the DDP, so it's kind of pricey. I definitely don't mind paying for quality meals, but been hearing too many negative things lately. (Plus it seems the tables are jammed up so close together there.) Shame though - such a beautiful setting. Looking forward to hearing more

bee · Dec 9, 2016

dclfan said:
Once we were out of China I made a bee line for the Africa booth at Food and Wine festival to try the Simonsig Pinotage. I had been dying to give this a try ever since @bee trip report and it did not disappoint. This was the standout wine of the trip and I even bought a bottle home. I am usually a strictly white wine drinker but this was very dry and I loved it. Even J who never drinks wine enjoyed it.

Yay! I think Pinotage is such a drinkable wine and goes well with plenty of food choices too. I've tried about five or six different Pinotages and have enjoyed every one!

SSH said:
Yay! Excited to see you back! Was waiting to hear how your San Angel meal went - sorry about the disappointing experience - I have an ADR there on our upcoming trip, but may cancel and just wing it that day with QS. We're not on the DDP, so it's kind of pricey. I definitely don't mind paying for quality meals, but been hearing too many negative things lately. (Plus it seems the tables are jammed up so close together there.) Shame though - such a beautiful setting. Looking forward to hearing more

Maybe you can get a reservation for La Hacienda instead? I've found their service and food to be superior to San Angel Inn. The price point is similar but we definitely enjoyed La Hacienda more and would choose it over the Inn any day. Of course, you can't go wrong with Epcot QS meals and snacks!

Courtney6682 · Dec 30, 2016

Great start! I'm so glad I stumbled across your TR.

I've been wondering if there is anywhere to get and olde timey shave at Disney, so I was so excited when u mentioned there is a place at DS. We'll be in Disney for husbands bday, and i wanted to surprise him with a shave!

Also, you said u love all things avocado, I do too. I hope u had an avocado margarita at La Cava at some point during your trip. If not, remember for your next trip, it is to die for!!!!! :hungry:

dclfan · Jan 7, 2017

Courtney6682 said:
Great start! I'm so glad I stumbled across your TR.

I've been wondering if there is anywhere to get and olde timey shave at Disney, so I was so excited when u mentioned there is a place at DS. We'll be in Disney for husbands bday, and i wanted to surprise him with a shave!

Also, you said u love all things avocado, I do too. I hope u had an avocado margarita at La Cava at some point during your trip. If not, remember for your next trip, it is to die for!!!!!

@Courtney6682 Thanks for following along. Your husband will love the shave, they really take their time and chit chat with each client and you get to go into a private room that looks like its right out of a turn of the century barber shop. There are seats for you to hang out while he gets shaved as well.

Every time I go to La Cava I always want to try the avocado margarita but my twenty one year old self ruined me for life with tequila and I am always too scared now too try it. Usually just a sniff and I feel instantaneously nauseous. Why oh why did I go to so many margarita nights when I was young. lol

dclfan · Jan 7, 2017

It's official guys, I am the worst trip reporter ever!!! I am so sorry for the long delays in between posts.

Official Day one continued:

So when I last posted we were having a mini photo shoot with Minnie and her apple pie. After that we headed over too Mission Space. Our more intense mission took us about 10 minutes and was a blast as always. I walked out of the ride singing "destiny". Does anyone else adore this song? J thinks I am the only one who even knows Mission Space has a theme song but it seriously my favorite. I walk around the house singing it to him all the time too. It is such an epic tune and really lifts you up. Plus it always brings me back to walking out of Mission Space along that weird white corridor and something about that brings me back to the magic so hard. Soon as I hear that song at Disney it's like oh wow I am actually here.

Anyway after Mission Space we headed over to Test Track. Even though it was after 9 at this point the regular line was still at 40 minutes. I said we should do single rider but J wanted to make his own car so we jumped in line thinking it probably wouldn't be 40 minutes anyway. For some reason I feel like the wait time is never accurate during EMH. Anyway here is where things get a little "curious". J was literally on his phone texting the whole time we were in line. Every time I asked who he was talking too he said it was one of his buddies he tours with but really wouldn't tell me anything more and was kind of hiding his phone. The whole thing was odd but things would get much weirder tomorrow.

Back to Test Track, our car was outrageous and we failed nearly every test but we had a blast going through the actual line and it only ended up taking us like 15 minutes.

Since we didn't score the coveted Frozen Fastpass prior to the trip we decided this would be our best shot at riding and headed over to Arrendale. It said 60 minutes which we thought was a good sign and we jumped in line. How cute is this queue? I waned too touch all of the props. It only took us about 40 minutes from start to finish so another win for EMH. Let me just say I was a huge fan of Maelstrom and was really upset when they got rid of it in favor for Frozen because to be honest I did NOT like this movie but the ride is OMG amazing. From the minute we got in the boat I was transported. The animatronics are so amazing, even J was nudging me telling me how amazing they looked. By the time we found Elsa in her ice castle I was full on singing Let it Go along with J and when we started moving backwards I started crying because I was overwhelmed with the magic. Thg both of us walked off the ride saying "wow". I think this ride actually converted J to a disney person. He was like I get why you like this place. Thank you Frozen.

Happiest of Clams

Once we were done with Frozen it was 10:45 and EMH was ending at 11. We thought we would at least attempt to run over to the land and ride Soarin even though we had a fastpass first thing in the morning. We got there with about 5 minutes to spare and again I had to pick my mouth up off the floor. The first scene when your in the mountains me and J both yelped a little bit. It was so good I was actually getting a little bit of vertigo. I loved the original but I adore the new ride. A+ in my book.

After Soarin it was time to take a slowwwww stroll too the front gate. At this point my feet were throbbing so bad. I am used to my feet hurting at Disney but this was disney pain x10. Still we managed too stop and take some photos on our walk out of the park.

The bus stop was packed at 11:00 back to Cornoado Springs, the busiest it would be the whole trip. I guess there was an event at the park for a convention but we still managed to get on the first bus although it was standing only. I managed too snag a seat and that turned out to be a MAJOR mistake. When I went to get up at our bus stop my feet were in complete protest. I couldn't put pressure on the balls of my feet and J ended up having to carry me back to the room. It was the most insane foot pain ever. I was laying in bed and It hurt to even stretch my feet out under the covers. All my toes were aching and I wasn't even standing. I was in such panic that I wouldn't be able to walk the rest of the trip. The pain got so bad that at about 1:30 I got up and took some advil and finally fell asleep praying I would be ok in the morning because tomorrow was my BIRTHDAY.

dclfan · Jan 7, 2017

Day 2: BIRTHDAY Day

Today is my birthday and I woke up in DISNEY WORLD with my favorite person in the universe.

When my alarm went off this morning I was super nervous about my feet. When I finally convinced myself to get up it hurt to walk but was relieved that it was normal everyday disney foot pain. Soaking them in the hot shower made it feel even better. By the time I was dressed in my birthday outfit I was feeling 95% better but to be safe I wore sneakers today.

I went back and forth a lot about where I wanted to spend my birthday morning and I ended up going with Epcot during the day. I couldn't come up with a better way to start the day then with breakfast and Champagne in France so to Epcot we went. We got to the park around 9 and we were the only people heading to World Showcase, it was amazing. When we got to the bridge in France we were stopped and they asked us if we were heading too the bakery, we told them YES and we continued on. We were the only ones there when we got there (how do more peple not go here for Breakfast) and we both ordered a quiche and I had birthday Champagne and J had a coffee. The man helping us in France seemed super annoyed we were there and even more disgusted that I ordered Champagne. I mean hello I am on vacation, its my birthday, and it's on your menu. I couldn't have been the first one to ever order this.

We took out food outside and found the cutest little bistro table to enjoy our french birthday breakfast.

I couldn't even imagine a more perfect start to the day and kept saying so on repeat all throughout breakfast. After breakfast we headed back towards future world for our Soarin fastpass at 10:00 but first photos.

I am sorry for all of the annoyingly cutesy photos but I love J so much so they pretty much all look like this.

Anyway we rode Soarin and then jumped on the vegetable boat ride because J loves it. He was soooooo bummed out that they removed the alligators from the tanks and from the lake at Coronado Springs but understandable after what happened. It's so cute that they have signs from the food and wine festival here. After living with the land I think we headed to Mission Space and then it was time to gorge ourselves at Food and Wine Fesitval......

bpadair32 · Jan 19, 2017

Great report so far. Following along!

Big Hair · Jan 19, 2017

dclfan said:
@Courtney6682 Thanks for following along. Your husband will love the shave, they really take their time and chit chat with each client and you get to go into a private room that looks like its right out of a turn of the century barber shop. There are seats for you to hang out while he gets shaved as well.

Every time I go to La Cava I always want to try the avocado margarita but my twenty one year old self ruined me for life with tequila and I am always too scared now too try it. Usually just a sniff and I feel instantaneously nauseous. Why oh why did I go to so many margarita nights when I was young. lol

I earliest I can remember my 1st avocado margarita at La Cava was in June 2105 but I think I might have discovered it on a previous trip. It was early in the afternoon on a very hot day and it was delicious. My altered park plan that day was focused on shelter from the sun and air conditioning. I have had one on each of the last 3 trips after that and am really looking forward to having one or more in the coming trip February 5th-14th. You must try one. They are very good and the Himalayan red salt sets it off towards a pleasurable experience. I might not have the correct name of the salt but somebody will probably chime in with the correct name. I know what you mean about the bad drinking experience at a younger age. Southern Comfort has not been on my drink list since high school. This drink is so well made I think you will enjoy it.

lbrad · Jan 19, 2017

dclfan said:
Day 1:

We were flying out of Logan in Boston on a direct Jetblue flight at 7:33 so it was quite an early "wake up" time for us at 3:00 AM. I put wake up in quotations because I never actually fell asleep. Does anyone really sleep before a Disney Trip besides my other half? Every snore he made I got more angry that he was getting to sleep and I was wide awake thinking of pixie dust, and random Mickey encounters.

Anyway 4:00 rolled around and I sprang out of bed with not much too do but but on the clothes I had laid out weeks ago for the plane ride. Both me and J (which I will call him for the rest of this trip report since his initials are JJJ) were all packed the night before. We had a short "putting on of the magic bands" ceremony and we were out the door at 4:00 am on the nose with our favorite death wish coffee in tow but first a selfie.

4:00 am traffic into Boston was nonexistent and we found ourselves pulling into the economy lot around 5:10. We quickly parked and were on the bus heading too the the Jetblue terminal. Neither of us were checking a bag so and we had checked in on the app the night before so it was off to security we went. The line was ridiculously long but we still made it through with about an our to spare before we boarded. With limited options we stopped at Potbelly Sandwich shop for some snacks. I had a egg and cheese with avocado on pita bread and J had an egg and cheese.

Soon we were on the plane. The flight was uneventful and seemed to take forever because again I couldn't sleep. I did manage to take a quick photo of the happiest wrists on the planet.

I mostly watched HGTV but my screen was wonky and you had to refresh it every few minutes or else you would have lined running through the picture. Very frustrating. We landed about 10:30 about 15 minutes earlier then anticipated. I was too excited for words. We decided weeks ago that we weren't going to do the Magic Express because I was too excited and would get frustrated stopping at other hotels so we agreed on a cab. I wanted to jump in line for a yellow cab but J wanted an Uber. Well, J won. The uber driver called him and told him to go inside and look for numbers on the sliding glass doors. The whole time I was getting frustrated because I didn't understand why we would be looking for our uber driver inside and insisted on going back outside. We kind of had a tiff because I said no Uber drive comes inside the airport to look for their passengers and they wouldn't be able to leave their care unattended at the curb. Well little did I know their was a secret tunnel behind the car rental counters for private car companies and he did come inside. Oops!!!!! I will never live that one down. Anyway we had a super nice black suburban to transport us to my happy place and before long we were seeing this.

Instant water works that I was actually here with my prince for a week of uninterrupted vacation and together time in my favorite place in the world. Leading up to this trip J had pretty much been on tour for 2 years straight. He was barely home and this trip was the one thing we both were looking forward too. Not only were we going to be in Disney for a week but a couple of days before we left was his last tour before a couple of months off so it was surreal to actually be here after planning for it and dreaming about it for so many months.

Anyway backtrack when we got in the cab I had put on my minnie ears so when we pulled up to the front gate at Coronado Springs I had actually forgotten all about them. Well the Uber driver rolled down my window and when security came to scan my magic band she said "love your ears, and welcome home". I cried more and J laughed more. So would go the rest of the trip

How much was it to take uber???

kimberlymautz · Jan 23, 2017

Loving your trip report! You guys are so cute! :inlove:

dclfan · Jan 24, 2017

lbrad said:
How much was it to take uber???

It was $60. You saved about $10 by taking an uber instead of a regular taxi at the airport. I must say it was epic getting to ride up to Disney in style. I felt like a celebrity in the all black suburban lol

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