Trip Report Let's go to Disney! ... in 12 Days! A Trip Report

I'm home. I'm sad. And I'm not ready to be back in the real world. So, I guess I'll write a Trip Report!

Since this is my first adventure in trip reporting, I'll introduce myself a bit. If you read my pre-trip report you might know a little about me and this whirlwind trip. If you didn't here are the basics!

My name is Kaitlyn, I'm 23 years old, and I'm from Massachusetts. Ever since I was little I have been obsessed with all things Disney. My family used to go on Disney vacations quite frequently when I was a kid because my dad would win trips at work and he would always choose to go to Disney because he's a big kid at heart. I made it back to WDW in Jan 2016 with my boyfriend, Cody, for my first trip as an adult and I decided that I needed to go back as often as I could because it's even more amazing than 14 year old me remembered it to be. Cody was not as convinced but I think that I am slowly teaching him to be a Disney nut

Now to the trip.

The Basics
Who: Me (23), Cody (23), and Cody's whole family -- Mom, Dad, and 2 sisters B (25) +A (17)
When: Feb. 23-26
Why: Celebration of A's upcoming High School Graduation and a final family trip before B's wedding in August

Here's a photo of the group of us loving life at Magic Kingdom (and being blinded by the deceivingly bright sun).

L-R: Mom, Dad, A, Cody, Me, B

When I say that this trip was a whirlwind, I mean it. That might even be an understatement.

I received a phone call from Cody's mom about 2 weeks ago telling me that she wanted to go to Disney because A has been begging to go (she doesn't remember any of their previous family trips because she was so young the last time they all went and she really wanted to go on a family vacation before the big changes their family is seeing this year. I was SO excited for multiple reasons: 1) I love Disney 2) I have never been invited on a vacation with Cody's family and it was really nice to be invited. Then she told me the dates of the trip and I realized that I had less then 2 weeks to plan a trip for 6 people, during February vacation week and Princess Marathon weekend. And to complicate matters further, I realized that I had a work commitment on 2/26 that I couldn't miss and would need to leave a day early. I thought that I would need to turn down the invite.

My heart broke a little.

But we made it work! We arranged flights that allowed me to leave the night before the rest of the family and they got some time just the 5 of them. It ended up working out really well.

Up Next: Adventure is out there!

 

[kaitertot5249]

Illuminations is a favourite of mine as well
I am glad you got a great table to watch it from
I usually end up on the bridge between UK and France

Still following along and enjoying the TR

Max

The table was awesome! I was shocked that everyone got up 20 minutes before show started. I guess they must have wanted to try getting better spots but I thought the table was perfect. We got to sit at a table with tons of space, no crowds trying to push into our space, and we just stood up and leaned over the stone wall and had perfect views to the middle of the water when the show started. I would try to get these seats again next time we're watching Illuminations!

I'm an over-planner as well

For me, planning is one of the best parts of a trip, not just to Disney but anywhere. Part of me loves that Disney makes it so easy to go really in depth with planning but going into planning this trip at the last minute and being forced to have very general and flexible plans has made me want to try taking a more laid back planning approach for my next trip. That will be a challenge for me though! Thanks for following along!

Following along. Enjoying it!! In all of our trips we have never seen Illuminations.

Thanks for following along! Illuminations is great and I enjoying every time I watch it so you should definitely try and see it next time you have the opportunity. It's not my favorite nighttime show, it actually might be one of my least favorite but not because it's a bad show I just love the others so much for nostalgic reasons. I still highly recommend Illuminations, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the next nighttime show to get replaced and it would be sad if you never got to see it!

 

[kaitertot5249]

Day 2 - February 24 - EPCOT and Date Night

After a very restful sleep we all woke up around 7:30 and got ready for our first full day in the parks! We were headed back to EPCOT and we had a few FastPasses scheduled for the morning. Our plan was to head down to the hotels complementary continental breakfast around 8 before going over to the parks to be there when EPCOT opened at 9. We got a slower start than intended and got down to breakfast around 8:15. Being the obsessive planner I am, it was hard for me not to rush through everything but I did the best I could. After breakfast, we had the front desk of the hotel call us a cab and we were headed over to EPCOT around 8:45. We made pretty good time and were in the bag check line a little after 9am. One trend from every park that we entered was that the bag check lines were LONG and the the bag checkers were thorough. I like the attention to detail and I appreciate the effort to keep everyone safe but when you're worried about the long lines forming at Test Track it's hard to be patient!

Once we made it through, we took in the beauty that is Spaceship Earth in the daylight, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture again Cody and his dad wanted Starbucks and against my better judgement I went with it, knowing that we probably wouldn't make it to Test Track before the lines got too long. The line was to the door when we got there and they only had one line open. After waiting about 10 minutes cast members came over and opened the other line by splitting the back half off and sending them over to the newly opened register. I didn't understand why they didn't just open the park with both lines working, I would guess that they would see similar crowds most days -- people love their Starbucks! I was a little frustrated by how they opened the lines because people who had just gotten there were putting their orders in while people who had been in line for 15-20 minutes were still towards the back of their line. It wasn't that big of a deal it just kind of confused me.

By the time we got out drinks, the wait for Test Track was 70 minutes so we decided to skip it. Our fast pass window for SSE was about to open so we made our way over there hoping to find a time when Test Track's wait time would settle back down. A was really excited to do Test Track and Cody and I wanted another chance to design a car. We went last year and took too long on the first screen that we ran out of time to make it pretty. This is what we ended up with:

I wanted a chance to redeem myself!

Anyways we headed over to SSE and hopped in the FP line with our newly purchased drinks in hand. I didn't realize how fast the line would move and we were at the bottom of the ramp in about 2 minutes. The cast member stationed here told us that we had to finish the drinks before we got to the top of the ramp. I thought that we might be able to get on with them (rookie mistake ) so we stood off to the side and sucked down our coffees in about 5 minutes - I had a large coffee and was VERY jittery on the ride, it was almost uncomfortable! But I love SSE, I think it's so cool to go back in time and all of the animatronics are awesome! Everyone liked the ride and was happy that we took the time to do it, even if it wasn't worth sucking down gallons of caffeine for!

Up Next: Will we ever make it over to Test Track?!

 

[LisaBelle]

I am enjoying your TR. Great job pulling together a trip for a group in such a short amount of time! I admire your ability to go with the flow. It's really the best way to go when traveling with a group, but is really difficult for those of us who love planning.

 

[drcasey]

I can totally relate to the obsessive planning! I'm definitely a park commando type. Good for you for being so laid back and going with the flow, I think the Starbucks thing would have sent me over the edge!

 

[kaitertot5249]

Good for you for being so laid back and going with the flow, I think the Starbucks thing would have sent me over the edge!

Haha thanks! Cody probably didn't think I was being laid back at all. I was whispering in his ear the whole time about how frustrated I was I'm working on it though.

 

[amjt660]

Day 2 - February 24 - EPCOT and Date Night


Anyways we headed over to SSE and hopped in the FP line with our newly purchased drinks in hand. I didn't realize how fast the line would move and we were at the bottom of the ramp in about 2 minutes. The cast member stationed here told us that we had to finish the drinks before we got to the top of the ramp. I thought that we might be able to get on with them (rookie mistake ) so we stood off to the side and sucked down our coffees in about 5 minutes - I had a large coffee and was VERY jittery on the ride, it was almost uncomfortable! But I love SSE, I think it's so cool to go back in time and all of the animatronics are awesome! Everyone liked the ride and was happy that we took the time to do it, even if it wasn't worth sucking down gallons of caffeine for!

Spaceship Earth on a Caffeine High? might have to try that some day!

Max

 

[kaitertot5249]

Oh my gosh, I totally abandoned this Trip Report! I started a new job this month so I have had a pretty hectic few weeks.

Anyways, where were we?

Oh yes, riding our caffeine highs around EPCOT!

After our SSE Fastpass we checked the wait times for Test Track and the wait was only getting longer and longer. It wasn't looking like we would be getting on it anytime soon. We had a FastPass for Turtle Talk coming up soon but we had some time to kill. A used to collect pins when she was younger and had her heart set on finding the perfect pin to commemorate this trip. We headed over to Mouse Gear and poked around a little bit before heading over to The Seas.

I have never done anything in this area of the park but I heard that Turtle Talk was pretty good and I wanted to use all three FastPasses at EPCOT so that we could get others when we switched to another park at night. We rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends before heading over to the holding area for Turtle Talk. Both attractions were okay, turtle talk was fun and we spent a good amount of time trying to figure out how exactly it works. If anyone knows for sure, I would love to be enlightened! The Seas served its purpose of killing some time and we moved on.

I will mention that despite it being school vacation week, we only saw one temper tantrum the whole time we were at Disney and it was while we were waiting for Turtle Talk. I was expecting that because of the crowds we would have seen more exhausted children and parents at the end of their patience but thankfully that wasn't the case!

We had a Soarin' FastPass window opening in about an hour so we decided to check out a little of World Showcase while we waited.We were lucky to be at EPCOT a few days before Flower & Garden was starting so a lot of the topiaries were already out and the flower beds were bursting with color. I've never been to Disney during F&G and it's one of the things I am hoping to do someday soon so I was very excited to get a sneak peak!

So pretty!

I loved Pooh with the balloon, so cute!

We took our time, just taking in the sites and just enjoying the Florida weather before heading back over to The Land for our Soarin' FastPass. None of Cody's family had done the original Soarin' so this was completely new to them and they had no idea what to expect. When Cody and I were in WDW in 2016 Soarin' was getting its makeover and I was devastated, I kept telling Cody how awesome it was and how disappointed I was that we weren't able to do it so he was excited to finally experience it. I hope I didn't build it up too much

Up next: Traveling the world with multiple modes of transportation

 

[kaitertot5249]

I mis-remembered the order of occurrences in my last post! Before we headed back to The Land for our Soarin' FastPasses we stopped in France for a snack.

A loves macaroons and had seen some pictures online of the mini macaroons they sell in France and we had a little more time to kill before our FP window opened up so we made our way to Les Halles to satisfy her craving and hold us over until our 1:15 lunch reservation.

The wait wasn't too bad so in no time everyone had their snacks! I have Invisalign and I am very hesitant to take my aligners out for things other than meals when on vacation because I'm afraid I won't have time to brush my teeth and put them back in and will end up with crooked teeth by the time I get home so I skipped the snack and went on the hunt for a bathroom while everyone waited in line.

I was shocked to find out that the only bathroom in France is a single restroom! The line was so long and everyone was so confused as they approached. Maybe I've just been lucky and have only had to use the bathroom in countries with ample restroom space!

After snack time we started to head over to Soarin'! On the way out of France I made Cody and A stop to take this picture. I thought it was so funny!

We had to move kind of fast to get to Saorin' right when our window opened up so that we could ride it and get over to Mexico for lunch in time so there was no time to stop and smell the roses!

I did have time to stop and grab these pictures though.

This one kind of looks like I'm being charged at by a group of EPCOT tourists

Donald and his nephews off to tend the fields!

As we made our way to The Land we got intercepted by a marching band and had to wait for them to pass. I used to be in my high school's marching band (colorguard to be specific) so hearing the drumline's cadence brought back a bunch of memories. I couldn't tell if they were good or bad.

But eventually, we made it to Soarin'!

I sent this picture to my sister back home and she was so jealous My whole family loves Soarin', I think we rode it three times out in California when we were there last summer! After building it up so much, I was hoping that Cody's family liked it too. They kept asking me what it was like and I didn't really know how to describe it so I decided to just tell them, "It's awesome, you'll love it!" I also didn't want to give anything away so I thought this was a good answer

As you can see in the photo above,The Land was pretty busy at this point. I think the posted wait time was like 90 minutes which made everyone very thankful that we had a FastPass!

While we were waiting in line there was a woman and two children behind us and I guess we weren't moving up far enough in the line and they kept trying to squeeze past us which made Cody's dad and I both very annoyed. Like, they aren't going to get to the ride any faster by squeezing between us and the wall! They also kept giving us dirty looks like we were the ones being completely ridiculous. AND THEN, a man (who I assume was the husband/father) appeared after having squished by everyone that was behind us and the woman complained to him that we were going so slow and that the line wasn't moving at all! I couldn't believe it! They were in the FastPass line and there was one group between us and the next scanner so there were only like 8 people total in front of this family. It was crazy!

When we made it to the front of the line I told Cody's family that it is 100% worth it to wait to have the center section, especially for your first time. We managed to get the front row on the center hanger and it was perfect! All the way until the ride started, A was asking me what the ride was like and if it was scary I reassured her that it wasn't a trill ride and that she was going to love it. I did tell her that it lifted us up off the ground so you felt like you were "soarin'" but that's about it.

Up Next: Did everyone like Soarin' or did I build it up too much?

 

[kaitertot5249]

EVERYONE LOVED SOARIN'!!!!

They were all really happy that I didn't tell them more about the ride beforehand. Throughout the whole ride all four of them were in awe. I love experiencing Disney things with people for the first time, it brings me back to my first time experiencing things and it's so special!

After Soarin' we had to move pretty quickly to get to our lunch reservation in Mexico's San Angel Inn! We were all starving and starting to get a little cranky.

The Mexico Pavilion is one that I always remember kind of skipping over as a kid and last January Cody and I were exhausted on our EPCOT day and kind of sped through the pavilion on our way out of the park. I was very excited when everyone expressed wanting to have Mexican food on our EPCOT day for this trip and even more excited to see that they had a generous Gluten Free menu for A as well! This pavilion is pretty neat, it's definitely not my favorite but I do think that it's a creative use of space and a nice contrast to the rest of WS being outside in the often sweltering heat.

It was pretty hot outside today and we were very happy to be in the nicely air conditioned Mexico pavilion. Cody, B and I all had our eye on a nice cold margarita to quench our thirst. As we approached San Angel we saw that there was a pretty big crowd waiting around at the entrance and I was worried that we would have a wait for our table. It turns out that most of this large group was one family who seemed very confused about the need for a reservation! They took about 10 minutes talking very loudly (I'm not sure if they were angry or just confused) to the CM at the desk before deciding to give up and move on to find lunch elsewhere. After this we were seated in no time and I had this beauty sitting in front of me

B and I both opted for the Wild Passion Fruit Margarita and we both kind of wished that we went with the classic one. This was good but VERY sweet and kind of hard to drink. Don't worry, I did manage to finish it Cody got the classic margarita and his was much better in my opinion.

The atmosphere in San Angel Inn is great. It was so relaxing to sit in there and look out at the ruins and the volcano. It's like an escape from the hustle and bustle of the park; you can almost forget that you're in a theme park and, in my opinion, that's what makes Disney parks so special.

Despite all loving the atmosphere of the whole Mexico pavilion, we started chatting about how weird it would be to see it with the lights on. It would probably be pretty boring and warehouse like. As much as I don't want the magic to be ruined, I do like to think about how Disney pulls it off

Anyways, for lunch I ordered the Pollo a las Rajas and everyone else had the Enchiladas Verdes con Pollo (I know, how boring!) and we all enjoyed our meals. Mine was a little spicier than I had been expecting but I like spicy foods so it was a welcome surprise! I would probably eat here again but not for a while, it's just a little pricey for my liking and there are so many other WS options that I want to try first.

We emerged from lunch about 10 pounds heavier and 100x sleepier than we were going in. To say we were fading fast was an understatement. Well, let me rephrase, THEY were all fading fast, I was ready to conquer World Showcase!

Up next: Around the world in record time

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

following along! I'm hoping I can be as detail-oriented as all of you are on my trip reports this year! Glad everyone loved Epcot!

 

[kaitertot5249]

Totally failed at Trip Reporting I don't want to leave this unfinished though so I'm going to try to jump back in!

When I left off we had just finished lunch at San Angel Inn and had started to make our way around the world. We were all very tired after gorging ourselves on Mexican food (and the margaritas didn't help matters) so we kind of sped through the world. I think that I mentioned previously that I am a big fan of EPCOT while Cody could skip it entirely and be fine. It seemed like his family was siding with him on this and everyone was a little sluggish and not very interested in exploring the countries. It was also fairly warm this afternoon and we were not used to the heat seeing as it was likely below freezing back home.

Despite being extremely full and very tired, we decided that we couldn't go through Germany without a stop at Karamell-Kuche for a caramel apple We bought one and split it between the 5 of us. So yummy! Because of the tiredness (and crankiness) that was setting in I only took one photo during our journey -- Enjoy!

We did make it around to France and at least poked our heads into every country along the way. We saw England and Canada earlier in the day as well as the night before so we weren't too eager to walk much further, like I said everyone was tired and Cody's dad and sisters were done with EPCOT. Since they know that I plan everything, they all turned to me for ideas on what to do next.

Cody and I had our own plans for the night and I had assumed that they would want to stay at EPCOT longer than they did so I had to think fast. I mentioned that HS was just a boat ride away and that Fantasmic! is awesome. Luckily, they liked this idea and were happy to be heading to a different park. I was so sad that they weren't big fans of WS, it's one of my favorite parts of every Disney trip

So at this point we went our separate ways, Cody and I had a very special date night planned and we headed for the monorail

 

[12in12]

I am glad you came back and are continuing your TR. Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[kaitertot5249]

In the very short amount of time that we had to plan this trip, convincing Cody's mom to let him and I separate from the group for one night was the only point of contention. Eventually Cody was able to sway her by mentioning that we were hoping to celebrate our anniversary while in Disney. We started dating on February 18, 2011 so this trip was just one week after our 6 year anniversary. At the last minute she gave us her permission to do our own thing for a few hours. She was flying in on a flight landing at around 8pm on this night of the trip and decided that since she wouldn't even really be there it wouldn't make that much of a difference. I was super happy. Since we didn't have much time to make any dinner reservations at a romantic restaurant, we decided to just do something laid back.

After Cody and I separated from his dad and sisters, we headed for the monorail. There was a very drunk man on board with us. His wife kept telling him that they were going back to their hotel so that he could get himself under control and he just wanted to go back to Mexico and have another margarita. It was entertaining but we felt really bad for his wife, we could tell that she was not having a good time

We got off the monorail and made our way to the Polynesian for our first date night stop. Neither of us had ever been to the Poly before and I was really looking forward to it. It's quite the impressive resort! This was my first experience visiting a deluxe resort and I was blown away! The themeing is incredible Cody and I both kept commenting on how unbelievable it was that we were at a Disney resort in central Florida and NOT on a Polynesian Island. We were in awe. We made a quick bathroom break and headed towards the beach.

We grabbed a bench swing and took some time to relax in our own little paradise. It was really nice to just sit and take everything in. We enjoy people watching and there were some really cute kids running around and playing in the sand so they kept us entertained

Here we are soaking it all in.

I also tried to convince Cody that buying into DVC someday would be worth it so that we could stay at resorts like the Poly for all of our future trips I don't think he was too into the idea but I'll keep working on it.

Up next: Date night continues.

 

[kaitertot5249]

After about an hour we made our way to Trader Sam's. It was a beautiful night so we decided to sit on the patio instead of trying to get into the actual bar. I'm glad that we made this decision but do hope to go inside someday to see all the fun antics.

The atmosphere at the Tiki Terrace was perfect for a celebratory/casual date night. The sun was just starting to go down, there was a ukulele player playing Disney music in the background, it was just perfect.

We ordered drinks. I got the HippopotoMai-Tai and Cody had the Krakatoa Punch.

I ended up buying my souvenir cup because it was so cute and I couldn't resist LOOK AT HIM!

The drinks were good. Both Cody and I preferred mine as his was way sweeter than we would have thought but it was still good.

We also had some food but I didn't take any pictures. If memory serves we had the Headhunter sushi and the dumplings. The food was good but definitely not the highlight of our visit. Once we finished our first drink we decided to split the Kona Beer Flight.

We hung out here for about two hours and can't wait to go back! It was so quiet and is the perfect place to refuel for a night in the parks.

Before heading out, we needed to go inside to pick up my HippopotoMai-Tai cup While we waited we got to see some of the theatrics. It was so cool and we decided that we would definitely try to get inside for at least one drink next time we're there.

We made our way to the dock to wait for a boat to the Magic Kingdom. As we made our way over we realized just how strong the drinks from Trader Sam's were. Let's just say, we were both feeling pretty good while we waited for our boat. We were in such a beautiful place so I wanted a nice photo to document it. Cody wasn't cooperating.

This is better

Up next: Back in my favorite place, with my favorite person.

 

[blreinsel]

I can't see your pictures. But even without the pictures I can tell that your date night was perfect!

 

[fractal]

happy you started this up again, but I also can't see the photos.

 

[12in12]

Ditto on the pictures.

 

[kaitertot5249]

I can't see your pictures. But even without the pictures I can tell that your date night was perfect!

happy you started this up again, but I also can't see the photos.

Ditto on the pictures.

Thanks guys! Sorry you can't see the pictures, I don't know why that's happening I tried to re-upload them in my last two posts. Can you see them now? I can go back through the rest of the posts as well if that worked and hopefully I'll also be able to post an update today as well.

 

[amjt660]

The pictures look great to me

Glad you are back to finish up this TR

Max

 

[fractal]

Thanks guys! Sorry you can't see the pictures, I don't know why that's happening I tried to re-upload them in my last two posts. Can you see them now? I can go back through the rest of the posts as well if that worked and hopefully I'll also be able to post an update today as well.

Yes! they are back! Nice shots.