January 2012 trip report

3 Manhattan kids take on the world- A January 2012 trip report

First things first let me share a little bit about the group. There are 3 of us going. We all live in NYC but are from all over.

1. There is me. For those of you who don't know I'm 23 from Texas and grew up loving Disney. I never got to go to the parks as a child but it was something that I always wanted to do. I completed that dream at 16 when I got to go to Disneyland with my JROTC group. Many years later after meeting my boyfriend who is the love of my life I got to go to WDW. Since that first visit at WDW I have fallen in love even deeper with Disney and would love to live close enough to either park so I could go all the time. My ambition in life is to work as a designer for Disney Theatricals. Another little fact is Disney means a lot to me because it was my mother's favorite thing and when she passed shortly before my 16th birthday Disney became what allowed me to always have a little bit of her spirit and joy with me whenever I wanted.

2. My boyfriend who is actually on these boards. His user name is Your Ghost Host. He is 24 and almost as big of a Disney fan as I am. He is more a film buff then I am but enjoys the parks. Whenever something is causing him to be down a quick look at our past trip albums can bring a smile to his face. I'll let him add more if he wants.

3. Our 23 year old friend and first time WDW visitor. He is a NYC transplant from California and grew up visiting DL. We brought him along as a last minute surprise and can't wait to share our experience with someone else.

Next up the trip plans:

 

[wilkeliza]

The plans:

Sunday 01/22/2012

We leave from NY at 11am and are suppose to arrive in Orlando shortly after 2pm. We are staying at POP! until 01/29/2012

We will be taking the Magical Express to WDW from the airport. After checking into POP! and dropping off our bags we will head to the parks. As per tradition we will be going to the Magic Kingdom. I personally am hoping that Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom is testing still. That night our ADR is for Tony's Town Square at 8:50pm.

Monday 01/23/2012

We are going to split the day between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We figure AK closes at 5 this day and HS has late extra magic hours so we will stay at animal kingdom until it closes and then head on over to HS for a good 4 hours of play time. Our ADR for the day is Sci-fi Diner at 8:50 pm.

Tuesday 1/24/2012

Magic Kingdom day!
Our ADR for the night is actually a couples night. Tuesday night was decided long before we added our friend to be our date night and we have California Grill booked for Wishes. This means our friend will be at the MK by himself for dinner or he'll head back to the hotel and chill there.

Wednesday 01/25/2012
Universal studios day nothing special for here hehe. Any Wizarding World tips would be much appreciated.

Thursday 01/26/2012
Downtown Disney and rest.
ADR Hoop De Doo at 8:30

Friday 01/27/2012
Epcot Day! Outside of Magic Kingdom, Epcot is my favorite so I can't wait.
ADR Le Chef de France at 12:00 pm. This was my one demand. I even called to make sure Remy will be coming out while we are there because once I heard he exsisted I knew I had to experience him. We chose 12 because the cast member with dinning reservations told us that it would guarantee we would be seated by his first rounds of the day.

Saturday 1/28/2012

DHS/MK

So we will hit up everything we missed earlier in the week at DHS between 8am and 7pm and then head on over to Magic Kingdom to catch a few more hours of magic there until it closes at midnight.

ADR for the day is lunch at 50's Prime Time.

Sunday 01/29/2012

leaving day boo. Check out and be over at 1900 Park Fair for breakfast. After that we have no real plans. If tradition prevails it will be a Magic Kingdom day until we leave for the airport. If it is anything like last year our 8:40 pm flight will mean we will have to be back at POP! by 4pm. Hopefully it will be closer to 5pm but I know Magical Express always wants you to be there super early for some reason.

So what do you guys think. We are use to lots of activity and little sleep in the big city so as long as we get 5 hours of sleep each night we will be fine with all the park hopping we have scheduled. Most nights we will be able to get more sleep then that.

The only question I have is how much does it cost to upgrade from a 6 day park hopper to a 7 day park hopper. The boys may want their rest day but if I find out SofMK is play testing on Thursday I may head on over to MK for the afternoon.

 

[Blueskyze]

Wednesday 01/25/2012
Universal studios day nothing special for here hehe. Any Wizarding World tips would be much appreciated.

Sounds like you're going to have an awesome trip! We were there last week, and made our first visit to WWoHP, so I have a couple of suggestions: get there early! We got there about 30 minutes before the park opened, and when they open the gates, everyone goes straight to HP. If you've never ridden it before, definitely go through the queue the first time to see everything, but after that, I would suggest taking the single rider line. The way the ride is constructed, you can't really even see the person you're sitting beside, and it will drastically cut down on the wait times. The ride is awesome!

If you plan to try butterbeer (which was surprisingly delicious), avoid the huge line at the cart that it's in the middle of Hogsmeade. Between the bathrooms and the Hog's Head Tavern is a path that leads back to a patio behind the Hog's Head with some pretty cool views of the park. You can go into the bar that's back there and order your drinks with very little waiting, then have a seat on the patio (which was never crowded when we were there) and enjoy your beverages.

We also saw Wishes from California Grill - it was such a cool view! I hope you have a GREAT trip!!

 

[wilkeliza]

So it has been 2 weeks since we returned and I finally have time after catching up on real life to start the trip report so here goes.

Day 1.

So nursing ourselves on very little sleep we got up at 7am and were at the airport by 9. The flight was on time and we even got to Orlando 10 minutes earlier then they thought. It didn't hit me that it was real until we were on the Magical Express. I've flown so many times where things go off schedule that I don't let myself get excited until I am in the vehicle form the airport to my destination. We got to the Magical Express pick up spot and had no time getting our friends ticket and giving them their information for his bag. We were very lucky and only waited 5 minutes for our Magical Express. Once everyone was aboard it was off to WDW.

Our Magical Express had to pull over on the side of the freeway because a CM forgot to close the luggage compartment. Luckily it was caught early on and nothing was lost. After that little hick up we got back on our way and were to the resorts in no time.

After stopping at Caribbean Beach Resort it was off to Pop! and off the bus for us. We checked-in and got our first dose of Dirty Disney Mom looks. I will never understand why when a CM asks someone to move so that they can help another customer the person gets mad. I think it is pretty much common sense that if someone else in your party is checking you in you shouldn't be standing in front of other check in desks. You should stand in the free space between them. After that incident we all had a good laugh and decided we were going to be the exact opposite of the grumpies we had already come in contact with. So we got our Keys to the World cards and head to pick up our mugs and then off to the room.

We were in the 50's building room 1457 and it was amazing. We were on the side away from the pool so we didn't hear all the noise and surprisingly for three mid 20 year olds it was an easy walk to everything.

After everyone had a few good minutes of rest and changed out of our NYC winter gear into something better suited for the FL weather we were off to our first park of the trip by 4:30 The Magic Kingdom!

*will edit to add pictures asap