Trip Report LIVE - We're Andy's toys and we're going to play!

Hello again.
Well this trip has taken its time to come around. I'm sure you can all relate to that. The endless countdown that doesn't seem to get any smaller and all your friends going off to Disney while you're stuck at home. For those of you still there I feel your pain,

But

My turn has finally come and you get to share it with me, that is if you want to? Albeit in a virtual format.

I debated long and hard on whether to do another live report given all the time it took last year but I have decided I am going to try to give it a go again. I should be updating at the end of every day or in the mornings but everything depends on free WI fi. Fingers crossed.

For those of you who didn't read my last report (where were you?) here's a bit of background

Me Tracey
My husband Chris

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Disney mad, every comment in my life relates back to Disney. I've been travelling to Disney every November since 2000 (I went in Nov 1996 for the first time and then in Nov 1998 then May 1999) and then every year in November since.
Disney is a huge part of my life, I'm addicted and everyone thinks I'm mad (one of a kind, and a wee bit crazy) but I don't care - I love it and always will.
Chris isn't as mad as me (but that would be pretty impossible anyway) and pretends that he does it for me but I have those photos with the glint in his eye so who is he trying to kid?!

So here we are our 19th trip and I still get the excitement and butterflies in my stomach at the though of actually going back again. I will rack up 280 nights spent in POR during this trip and am aiming for 365 - a whole year of my life spent in Disney! That's my ambition and I think it's a pretty good one to have although Chris tells me not to admit that to anyone outside of this forum!

We've never had the same holiday even though we've been going back year after year, somehow each trip is different. I guess everyone on here can kind of relate to that too

So what's the plan?
We travel on Thursday 5th November from Gatwick at 1pm a later flight than we normally take but it was the only Virgin Atlantic flight out on this day. We are staying for 15 nights at our beloved Port Orleans Riverside - POR
We have Disney Dining plan so our meals are taken care of - we normally come home with loads to spare.
We have a 14 day Disney pass so our first day will be at Universal (as we are staying 15 nights and have to go to Magic Kingdom the day we leave)
We have BOG (be our guest for any non Disney abbreviation friends reading - Lianne at work! (not a toilet reference as some of my non Disney friends thought when I told them!) - this is a restaurant themed on Beauty and the Beast, my favourite film) booked for 2 lunches but apart from that these 15 days are all mine to absorb as much Disney as possible to keep me going another year.
And of course there will be ice cream every day (something I have to do while on holiday and will definitely feature A LOT in this report - as it did in the last one too!) and hopefully a few WDW Magic meet ups along the way. There are quite a few of us there so I am sure we will be running into each other.

My brother Mark and his wife Claire were meant to join us on this trip however, Claire was told in July that she had to be at a meeting on 13th Nov and her company said they would pay for travel costs etc to get her there. This would have meant loosing a week of their holiday though in terms of travel time etc. We all looked at travel dates to move but it wasn't possible so they have re booked for 2016 so will be joining us then. I was so looking forward to showing them the full on Disney experience of staying on site etc but it just wasn't meant to be (this time!) I was really disappointed not to have them join us, but it won't spoil our fun. I think they will feel the pain more than us!

And just in case you want to follow along @coachwnh and @prfctlyximprct (for helping me with Disney blues in the past) @LisaBelle thanks for your message earlier this week and hopefully this report will help pass the days until your Feb trip (keep up the training) - @Minnesota disney fan who contacted me direct and we have shared email and Facebook messages since about May this year (looking forward to meeting you in person on 12th Nov in Magic Kingdom) @Zipitidoda so you can enjoy more of my gorillapod shots which you enjoyed from my last trip report @PrincessOfDisneyworld who actually read my last trip report 3 times, (I am still touched you enjoyed it that much) and @Tiggertoo56 who read my report twice and this time last year was in Disney - I hope this helps re live some memories.
And obviously welcome to any previous or new readers - you are all more than welcome

So, I am at home sorting out the last bits and Chris is still in London and we want to leave for the airport in 2 hours for our overnight stay in a hotel before our long 9 1/2 hour ish flight tomorrow to "Our laughing place"
I've pinched myself and it hurt so it's actually happening! Zip a dee do dah
See you on the other side........

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh....... We're finally off. (Well nearly!)
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You got some nice photos of the lions! Did you see the hyenas during your ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris? I was glad to see that DiVine was out and about. I missed seeing her on my last visit so good to see she is still an active member of AK.

No hyenas today but we did see them the last time we were in AK
And yes was good to see Divine I think maybe they got her to come out as it was busy and it does divert the crowds a bit
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
All caught up. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Cogsworth! He is awesome. So excited you got another Alex and Ani. I was looking at that one on a Disney site the other. I definitely want to get at least one on my trip. But which one? I love them all! I guess I will just have to look at them in person! HS ice cream looks sooo good. It's making me hungry. Video was fantastic. Your enjoyment shines through. Great report so far!
 

Tiggertoo56

Well-Known Member
Just watched the video and loved it - brings back so many memories. When do you get time to sleep - oh sorry, plenty of time to sleep when you get back to reality!!! You must spend a lot of time putting together this TR - and it is well worth it. I'll be following until the end of your trip - and as @coachwnh says - great shots and looks like another great day! Will check out again tomorrow when I get home from work.:)
 

catmom46

Well-Known Member
Saturday 14th November

Today we headed to Animal Kingdom, first ride was the Safari, we ended up queuing a while but ended up with a good safari!

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Now they say they are never the same and that's right (I should know)

It was a bit cooler today but still like 78 degrees first thing but I think that had made the animals active.

We saw 4 cheetahs, all active and walking around and then we got these shots of the lions. Wow!

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From our safari we went to see the yeti, just once round today on the single rider line!

Then we stopped for frozen lemonade (no photo as I think you all know what that looks like now)

The park was busy (I guess as it opened early today, and it's a weekend) so we decide to leave and head out

We saw di. Vine as we left

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I look forward to seeing the new bits in Animal Kingdom when I return next year

The cranes were out today so the work is progressing.

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We jumped in the car and headed to Lake Buena Vista shopping outlet for an hour for a quick look around and then headed back to Riverside.

We still find it quite unusual that the traffic lights hand for wire over the street?

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When we got back to Riverside we contacted Ruth to see if she was around and we all met up for a while to chat and exchange some gifts we had bought for each other before we left.
We had both obviously had the same thoughts before we left!

We said our goodbyes again and headed on our way.

Hee-hee, it looks like the lion had a hairball! :hilarious:
 

Southern@❤️

New Member
Thursday 12th November

So today was the day that Chris had been looking forward to - because he got to play golf! :rolleyes:

Me on the other hand had been looking forward to it for another reason - a meet up with @Minnesota disney fan

So Chris was up and awake and out of our room by 6.25am for his 7.30am tee off time.
It was a bit foggy out but that had all gone by the time he got to tee off.

I got ready and headed down to reception to meet the operations manager and general manager of he hotel. I wanted to thank them for their lovely voice messages they left last week and they had said they wanted to meet me do why not!

The general manager had phoned in sick but the operations manager was in.

I thanked him for his lovely message and he thanked me for staying so many nights in Riverside.
He was quite impressed at my love of this resort and the number of nights I had stayed here.
To be honest so am I as I probably could have bought a mansion in the US for the amount of money we have spent coming to Disney but I wouldn't have all the memories I have.
We had a good chat and then got a few photos - little things like this make memories for me that I treasure.

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And then he gave me permission to pretend I worked at Riverside :D
Here I am getting my training - if only!

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He asked if I had everything I needed and I said yes everything was great and I was just absorbing every second of my time here - but he asked if I had a few minutes and asked me to wait.
I waited and he returned to tell me that he had given myself and Chris 3 additional fast passes for today, tomorrow and Saturday. I didn't need to book them I just needed to go and scan my magic band where I wanted to ride and I would get straight in!
Wow!
I was a happy girl with just a phone call but now I had additional fast passes :cool:
He told me to use them wisely - and to pick the biggest queue times to get maximum benefit from them.
I told him not to worry I would as I have plenty of practice. ;)

I said my goodbyes, we hugged and I was on my way to the bus stop to get to the Magic Kingdom.

I made it to MK at just gone 10.10am and was meeting Ruth @Minnesota disney fan at 10.30
Now this meet up was a relatively easy one, as I have previously said we arranged this before we both left home via messages and we are now friends on Facebook so we have seen pictures.

We hugged like old friends. It was great to finally meet

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I joined her husband and daughter and we all headed to ride BTMR and Splash together, chatting along the way and appreciating each other's accents.

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I didn't realise I had this photo but thought it quite funny! (I hope Ruth agrees!)

I walked back up Main Street and we said our goodbyes as they had dining reservations to get to.

I walked back towards the castle where the Xmas parade was being filmed.
Ariana Grande was singing on the stage so I watched a while.
I could have been part of the audience if I wanted but I was happy to just watch and take it all in.

Think you can just about see her in the photo with the Mickey ears on.

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For me it was nice as even though it was Xmas taping, it wasn't Xmas songs so I was in my element.

November is too early to be playing Xmas songs in Disney - just saying!

I sat on the no grass area and listened and watched the world go by. The grass area might well be my new favourite spot to people watch without the crowds.

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By this point Chris had messaged to say he was nearly at MK

Reunited :)

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We headed to ride BTMR together and then went to lunch at Columbia Harbour house
Hi Tracy! Robin here (Ruth's daughter). It was fun meeting you and sharing your Disney enthusiasm on a couple of rides!! I am back home now after my whirlwind 3night trip. Had sooooo much fun and my kids still love me, even though I left them home. Hope the rest of your trip continues to be a blast! Enjoy!!
 

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Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
All caught up. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Cogsworth! He is awesome. So excited you got another Alex and Ani. I was looking at that one on a Disney site the other. I definitely want to get at least one on my trip. But which one? I love them all! I guess I will just have to look at them in person! HS ice cream looks sooo good. It's making me hungry. Video was fantastic. Your enjoyment shines through. Great report so far!

I love him too, I have some video I will try to upload shortly (if it works)
Good luck with just finding one Alex & Ani but I bet you get more!
Thanks for sticking with me

Wow! Totally agree. Great shots. Looked like another great day.

Just proves every safari is different!

Just watched the video and loved it - brings back so many memories. When do you get time to sleep - oh sorry, plenty of time to sleep when you get back to reality!!! You must spend a lot of time putting together this TR - and it is well worth it. I'll be following until the end of your trip - and as @coachwnh says - great shots and looks like another great day! Will check out again tomorrow when I get home from work.:)

The video was mashed together pretty quickly so nothing special but glad you liked it.
Like you say I can sleep when I get home, at the moment I need to get as much Disney as possible to last me until next year.

I always thought the traffic lights hanging on the wire was strange!!! Always am afraid they are going to fall down! We are so alike haha.. I've never seen it anywhere else but Orlando!

So it's not a US thing then?!
I wouldn't like to be under them in a car on a windy day.

Hee-hee, it looks like the lion had a hairball! :hilarious:

Lol, that made me laugh, I hadn't thought of that but now you come to say it!

Hi Tracy! Robin here (Ruth's daughter). It was fun meeting you and sharing your Disney enthusiasm on a couple of rides!! I am back home now after my whirlwind 3night trip. Had sooooo much fun and my kids still love me, even though I left them home. Hope the rest of your trip continues to be a blast! Enjoy!!

Ah, so sorry not to have seen you before you left. It was great meeting you too I really enjoyed our morning together. I met your mum again on Saturday and hopefully we will catch up before we leave. They told me you had bought presents (even though you said you wouldn't!) glad they still love you.
Same time next year if you fancy it?
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday 15th November

Today was a mixed day, we had the usual amount of fun, lots of laughs, but I also had a cry (now I don't cry at home, the only thing that makes me cry is Disney)

I normally cry when I arrive here, but this year, no tears. I was proud of myself, but tonight whilst walking around Epcot it hit me that all of this would shortly be coming to an end

I have cried at the fireworks and cried in the car on the way home. :cry:

We leave on Friday so as Chris has pointed out we still have many more memories to make - and in order to cheer me up, he did say if we had booked 10 days we would be on a plane now and on our way home. Good point!

Anyway onto today, we went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom in time for the welcome show, gosh I love this place

And as you can see I got sucked in by the magic band bandits! My magic Band now has extras.

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It was a cooler morning than we had seen but it still turned out to be a warm day, if not a little cloudy.

It was busy again today, I am still hoping that's because it's the weekend!

The crowds were headed for 7DMT so we headed to Peter Pan to see the new interactive queue, then onto IASW (we do this once on every trip) then we headed to Buzz and then onto the speedway. Chris normally drives on his one but today he let me? Ha ha

Wonder if that person in the background is on this forum?

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We then went to Carousel of progress and then to get you a better shot of Cogsworth - I have some video of this too, which I will try to upload in the morning (not promising though)

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From here we went to Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch.
Flatbread, and frozen lemonade and chocolate gelato (ice cream) all in one meal!

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We then went to the haunted mansion and then to the hall of president as we haven't done this since the first year we visited.

It was then time for the jungle cruise (again something we do once on every trip)

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Then a few sorcerers games, Chris normally does al these (I just want the cards for souveniers) but he let me do this one - look at the concentration on my face! I obviously didn't want to let him down.

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We stayed for the parade, looked around the shops and then left.

We returned to the room for around 45 mins (basically to do some washing) I normally being half what I need to leave room for anything I buy but this year I haven't seen anything I like or I don't already have. (apart from Cogsworth)

Washing done we headed to Epcot to do Figment, i just love this backwards water Fall

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Then we walked around the countries watched Chaka Khan - not a great picture but we were at the back.

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We then went to O Canada - we are hoping to go next year so ad this on our list of things to do.

We left Canada as the fireworks were starting so watched and this finished another great day (well minus my tears of course!)

Tomorrow Chris has booked another golf game but he should be back by 10 so we will be heading out later tomorrow.

Not sure where to yet!

Will be in MK late tomorrow for fast passes starting at 4.30 and we want to catch the fireworks again.

Thanks for following along
 

Plowboy

Well-Known Member
So this certainly isn't a work of art but here is a quick video of our first few days which I have just pulled together. Hopefully it will ease some Disney blues for some of you - and for others get you excited for the trips you have to come.

Love the film and all the effort you've put into your report. We were just at the world a month ago and your report and pics bring back great memories. It's got me in the mood to plan next year's trip. Thanx so much.
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love the film and all the effort you've put into your report. We were just at the world a month ago and your report and pics bring back great memories. It's got me in the mood to plan next year's trip. Thanx so much.

Thank you for your lovely comments.
It certainly takes a lot of time to do a report but others get me through so I am returning the favour!
And enjoy planning your next trip, it's always good to have a countdown :)
 
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Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great time! We were at MK on Saturday, then to Epcot for dinner at San Angel Inn, and then back to MK for the parade and fireworks. Don't be sad...you still have another 5 days of Disney fun to have!

Thanks, I have asked Chris to turn back time for me but apparently he can't
This place just gets me.

Where is my fairy godmother right now?
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
Your POTC experience reminds me of one of my favourite theme park memories.

Riding Jurassic Park with a very full boat, we could feel it scraping along the bottom. Everyone knew what this meant and the people in the front were dreading it.

Surely enough, at the splash down a wave of water soaked everyone in the front completely. It was highly amusing for those of us behind them, not so much for them!

Great trip report!
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Your POTC experience reminds me of one of my favourite theme park memories.

Riding Jurassic Park with a very full boat, we could feel it scraping along the bottom. Everyone knew what this meant and the people in the front were dreading it.

Surely enough, at the splash down a wave of water soaked everyone in the front completely. It was highly amusing for those of us behind them, not so much for them!

Great trip report!

Thank you for following
Like you say it's always funny when others get wet or when there is a group of you but our trainers were soaked and even with the 80 degree heat the trainers were kind of drying but outpr socks weren't. Oh well!
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday 16th November

Now Monday's are normally not great days and most of us dread them but mine was pretty dam good :)

Chris booked himself a 9 hole golf game as Disneys oak trail and left at 6am this morning.

I expected him back by 10am, but he was back just after 9am and we were in Animal Kingdom just after 10am.

This is a photo showing part of Avatar land

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Our first stop,was Dinosaur - Chris seems to think he could take him out!

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I on the other hand was scared for my life!

As it was a 10 min wait we went round twice as this is the only chance we've had to do this ride on this trip.

We didn't realise that a lot of our every day sayings (we drop in to cheer ourselves up) come from this one ride!

Well that's proprioitory
We're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it
Access denied.
We're in
Not our dino

Quite clearly this ride has had a bigger impact than we realised.

We then went on Primeval Whirl as this has been closed during our other visits this trip as it was being refurbished.

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Gosh that thing shoved us around.

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Then we headed for another date with the Yeti. Like I said earlier in the report I have a few years to make up for.

Only once round today though.

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Then it was time for ice cream.
We shared this one in Animal Kingdom as we knew what we wanted later. (More on that one later)

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We took this photo on our way to our next stop

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