May 11th-18th Trip!

[FONT=&quot]Hi everyone [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Just got back from Disney on Monday, and I already miss it! I have lots of stories & experiences to share. I uploaded pictures from the trip to a new wdwmagic album so feel free to check em out & leave your comments. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Day 1 - Monday[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We arrived to our resort, The Boardwalk Villas, in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day! We've never stayed at the Boardwalk before so we were really excited. When we checked in, they had anniversary buttons for us and had upgraded us for free to a 1 bedroom villa instead of the studio that we'd booked. The room was gorgeous & we were really surprised!! We had a bottom level floor, with a beautiful view of the Swan & Dolphin. The pool was right around the bend too, it was the perfect location! [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I had a cake made for my husband for his birthday which was a few days before we arrived. The cake came right after we checked in, and it was delicious! I got the 10 inch cake because I wanted it customized but it was way too big for 2 people. We kept it in the fridge and ate it all week. We still had a ton left. It was vanilla cake, chocolate mousse filling, with chocolate icing & a pirate mickey on top. I was very happy with it![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We went to the pool, which was like a circus. It was very uncrowded, so we hung out there until it was time to head over to the Polynesian for dinner. Our tradition is going to The Kona Cafe on our first night, and watching the fireworks from the beach after. Dinner was fantastic as usual, and they surprised us with a little anniversary dessert. Afterward, we took the porch swing in the sand & watched the electric water pageant & Wishes. Getting back to our resort.....very confusing! We walked from the Poly to the ticket & transportation center. There we learned that there is no bus to the Boardwalk. So we had to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and wait in the bus line there. Other than that - wonderful day![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Day 2 - Tuesday[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We woke up really early to hit the EMH's at Epcot. It was nice going in through the World Showcase entrance. There really wasn't any people at all, it was a great photo opportunity. We rode a lot of the major rides before the regular park hours started, so that was nice. We got character pictures too, there were no lines at all. I actually felt bad for the characters, they were kind of just standing around. I've rarely seen it like that![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]For lunch, we ate at Akershus in Norway. I loved the experience. I think character dinings are so much fun. My DH didn't really like the food - he's a more traditional eater. I actually thought the food was pretty good. We met Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White & Ariel. Lots of fun![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We continued riding things & getting character pictures until 4:00PM when the rain started. We met up with some friends in the World Showcase and tried to wait it out but the rain never stopped. We decided to make the best of it, and try to eat & drink around the world. That was SO much fun! We made a little spreadsheet beforehand to keep track of what we had. We bought an Epcot passport too, so in each country we got a stamp & message in the passport. Then we took a photo w/the sign & got something to eat/drink. We had a blast, even though it poured the whole time. We also felt disgusting after 11 countries! We made it to Illuminations and had our choice of where we watched it, since the rain chased so many people away. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]When we walked back to our room we noticed the pool was still open and the rain was winding down. So we went for a little late night swim & dip in the hot tub before bed. Another wonderful day![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Day 3 - Wednesday[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tuesday was so exhausting that we decided to take Wednesday off from the parks & do some other things. It actually ended up being our favorite day of our vacation. We slept a little late, but we needed to. We started off the day by renting bikes on the boardwalk. That was really fun - it's a really pretty loop that you take from The Boardwalk to Beach & Yacht Club and past the Swan & Dolphin. Afterward, we walked to Fantasia mini-golf, another perk of staying at The Boardwalk. We decided to play the Fairways course, since it was challenging. It was seriously impossible! I got so frustrated, I kept maxing out on each hole. DH was a lot better than I was.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Afterward, we hung out at the pool for a bit, and went down the water slide a few times. Then we had to get ready for dinner at the California Grille. I can't say enough about that restaurant, it's spectacular. The view, the food, the service...it is just all amazing! We were so lucky, and were given a window seat. It was right in the middle, the perfect table! We also got seated at 8:15, and Wishes was at 9:00. When they piped the music in, and the show started, I got all teary. I couldn't help it! We had the best time there, I can't imagine any place being any better.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After dinner, we walked down to the pool area at the Contemporary & took some pictures. There are some really great picture places at that resort! We noticed they had Bolt playing on a big screen on their beach & since it wasn't crowded we took two lawn chairs & watched too. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.[/FONT]

Day 4-7 coming up!.....

 

[DizneyPryncess]

[FONT=&quot]Day 4 – Thursday[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There were morning EMH’s at MK so we decided to try to get over there in time for them. We got in line for TSI a half hour before it opened because we wanted to paint brush hunt. By the time the raft opened the line was quite long. I didn’t realize how well known paint brush hunting had become. On my last trip, the CM driving our raft told us that they didn’t always had them anymore because of how many had gotten stolen. This time, they made an announcement on the raft that there were 5 hidden. I went straight to Ft. Langhorn and found one up in one of the little lofts w/the guns. It was on the steps. I was really excited to find one! [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So we turned that in, and the cute Splash Mountain/Big Thunder Mountain fast pass they used to give out has been done away with. Now they just give you a standard fast pass to any ride of your choosing that’s on yellow carbon paper. I was a little disappointed as all I wanted to do was to scrapbook it, not use it. But it was still really fun, and I was happy to see most of the groups on our raft had turned up a paintbrush too.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After that it was time to get in line to meet Tinkerbell. This is the only thing we waited a long time to do the whole week. The crowds in general were very minimal, I’d say 6/10. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to meet the fairies. It was a blast, they were really fun & fit their roles perfectly! Tink saw that my DH was wearing a Pirate shirt & she kept shooing him away from her, saying that Pirates stink. She was even holding her nose in a picture with him. Then she yelled at me for hanging out with a pirate =-) Great time there, worth the wait![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We rode a bunch of other things, grabbed some food, and then the rain started. We grabbed a seat in the train station and thought we’d wait it out. Again, it just never stopped. After an hour we decided to leave the park & go to Downtown Disney where we got dinner at T-Rex before heading back to the resort. Other than the rain, it was a fun day.
[/FONT]


Day 5 – Friday
We had 8:05 breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace. This was DH’s favorite meal as he loves a good breakfast buffet. We were the first ones to check in, so we were seated really quickly. The buffet was awesome, I highly recommend eating here if you are trying to pick a good breakfast place. We met Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet & Tigger at breakfast which was nice for me because I have never met any of the Pooh characters before. Great environment, lots of fun, and you get to see MK before park opening which is magical to me.

After breakfast, the park still hadn’t opened. We saw Fairy Godmother in the castle entrance so we walked up there to wait at that rope. A few minutes before the rope dropped, I was talking to a mom & her really cute little girl who wanted to wake up Tinkerbell. They had been trying for multiple days. I thought they did away with that when they revamped the store, but they did not. I asked if I could come watch, and the little girl & mom said yes. A few other girls came in and they all woke up Tink together, it was very cute. After they all left, I asked the CM if I could hold the bell that you ring for a picture. They said yes, but that I would have to re-wake up Tink because she was still sleepy. They were really sweet, and I guess could tell I was a big kid. It was a little embarrassing, but still very magical. DH got a kick out of this, and videoed it on our camera. They even game me a magic moments certificate, like all the 5 year olds, haha. I can’t lie, I did have fun with it and I’m glad that the little girls all got to do it together so they weren’t disappointed.

After a little while at MK we headed over to DHS for the afternoon. That park was very uncrowded. The wait for TSM was only 35 minutes! We were really surprised. It broke halfway through our ride, so they let us ride it again. Then we headed over to watch the idol finale. The girl that won was pretty good, only 14 years old. DH & I both voted for her. We grabbed dinner at Pizza Planet while we were at DHS, and later headed to Epcot for EMH’s. We aren’t big fans of DHS, so we didn’t spend a lot of time there. We decided we’d rather do Epcot at night because there’s something about it that’s so beautiful at night. We found the center of WDW and got a picture standing there – here’s a picture of it. It’s in Future World. I always mean to do that on Disney trips but always forget. During the daytime, a food cart is usually on top of it but at night it’s gone. All in all, a very good but very tiring day.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Day 6 – Saturday
After 2 straight days in the parks, we decided to take another break to do other things. My husband surprised me right before we left for our trip and told me we had reservations at Boma for Saturday night. I was so excited to go there! We slept in realllly late this day, since we had barely slept the last two nights. When we woke up, we decided to head back to DTD to do some things we hadn’t gotten to do because of the rain.
We had lunch at Earl of Sandwich – we love their lunches. We checked out all the DTD shops, and built our nephew a potato head. That was really fun, and really hectic. I think a nice Saturday at DTD was more crowded than any of the parks had been. That was the only day we really couldn’t move around comfortably. We didn’t stay too long, we decided to go for a long walk at the Boardwalk & go for a swim before dinner.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is such a beautiful resort! I love to visit but probably wouldn't stay there. I don’t know if it’s the animals, or the dining, or what – but I feel like it’s constantly packed there. For me it feels like I’m still a theme park - I like the quietness of the Boardwalk in comparison. I loved Boma though - it was fantastic! Our waitress was awesome, and she surprised us with a celebrations dessert even though we didn’t think we could eat another bite.

We walked around the resort and tried to find all the hidden mickey’s there, as well as seeing the animals that were still out late. Then we headed back to our resort to get some sleep because we had a long last day ahead of us.
Day 7 - Sunday
Our day was to start off with a 7:45 AM Segway Tour in Epcot. We took the earliest tour so we could be done early enough to fit in everything we hadn’t gotten to do yet. From our resort, there is no shuttle to the front of Epcot. We enter through World Showcase. We called Disney the day before our tour to make sure we would be able to enter through the WS entrance, and they said yes, just to tell them we were part of a tour. So, we arrived at 7:15, and the CM opening the gates said to give him a minute so he could get permission to let us in. At 7:30, he still hadn't let us in. He said “The park is late opening. None of the gates are open, don’t worry nobody can check in to the tour. Your tour will not leave without you.” At 7:45, he then lets us in, and tells us he talked to our tour leader and they are not leaving without us.
Whaddya know – when we get to the front gate, our tour had left and they had no idea why the CM at WS told us anything that he told us. We were so upset. Luckily they had another tour opening, but not until 9:00. We were upset because it threw off our day. Regardless, we still had an absolute blast on the tour & didn’t let it ruin our day, and that's all that matters.
If you’ve ever considered doing the tour, I highly recommend it. The only problem we had is that we didn’t want it to end! The WS part of it is great because you can bring your camera, and you get great photos. Plus you learn fun little secrets about Epcot too. My DH now wants to buy a Segway, haha. They were really fun – and easy – to ride around. I’m the clumsiest person in the world, so if I could do it, anyone can.

We headed to Animal Kingdom after the tour and we hadn’t been there yet due to all the rainy afternoons & evenings. The waits were short – we only waited 20 minutes for the Safari’s, we walked on Dinosaur & Bugs Life, and we sat down at Rainforest to eat right away. A couple who couldn’t use their Everest fast passes gave them to us which was awesome! So we got to ride some major things right away. We didn’t get to take as many character pictures at this park because we were rushing. AK closes so much earlier than everything else so we wanted to fit it all in. Right at 4:00 again, the rain started. So we left and went back to the resort.

We had planned on going to MK to watch the kiss goodnight but the rain was really bad. We ended up just getting sandwiches from the bakery, and watching Nemo in the room. We got all packed up & got ready to go home. I found out that it has pretty much rained since we left, so I guess we picked a good time to leave. It was a really wonderful vacation, and it really made me wish I had kids to take!
Hope you enjoyed my trip report. Like I said before, pictures of everything – paintbrush hunting, waking tink, the fairies meet & greet, segway tour, resort, restaurants – are all in my new album. Please feel free to ask me about anything! :wave:

 

[pjulie75]

Loved your report, you sound like you had an amazing time and your pics are fab, I am going to have a look at your album now before going to sleep and probably dream of DISNEY it 10pm here, night night

 

[DisneySam]

Great Trip Report! Sounds like you guys had a great trip! :wave:

Loved the Pirate Mickey Birthday Cake!!!!

 

[abug'saunt]

Great trip report! Sounded like loads of fun despite the rain. Loved the cake for your DH, very cute. I agree with you about Boma's. My DH and I had our anniversary dinner there in 2007.

 

[disneygirl76]

YEAH! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy: Great trip report! It was so incredible! I have heard that the Fantasia mini golf is hard!! Thank you for posting the cake - too cute!!! It does look big! :slurp::slurp::slurp::slurp: I still haven't gotten around to calling - I have to do that! :hammer: You trip sounded amazing! I am so glad that you had such a great time and it was so special! I haven't looked at the pics or blog yet - but that is next! Great trip report! Thank you for posting! :wave:

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Ooooh I didn't realize you posted this...I read your report in your blog :lol:
So glad you had a wonderful trip!!! And glad you got to wake up Tinkerbell hehe
Can't wait to do the Segway tour!!!

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Ooooh I didn't realize you posted this...I read your report in your blog :lol:
So glad you had a wonderful trip!!! And glad you got to wake up Tinkerbell hehe
Can't wait to do the Segway tour!!!

Yeah I posted the exact same thing in my blog too, haha. I always write about my trips there to keep track of everything I did. When I get around to scrapbooking the trip I need to re-read everything to get my days straight. Otherwise I'll be like....what day did this happen??

Glad everyone likes the pics & the cake! They did a great job on it - it even tasted good. Thanks for responding everyone! :wave:

 

[DawnBerg]

Awesome trip report. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I am with the jealous crew still counting down the days and using your report and others to daydream!!! 86 days & counting.....:sohappy:

 

[Billy6]

Great Report....cant wait to go in 10 days..

Can you tell me where it is you woke Tink? My 3 1/2 yr old DD would love that...or at least see it done..

 

[tink68]

Great trip report. You guys look like you had so much fun. I love the Boardwalk area too. So great to be that close. Great pics and glad you had fun. :wave:
Sheri

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Great Report....cant wait to go in 10 days..

Can you tell me where it is you woke Tink? My 3 1/2 yr old DD would love that...or at least see it done..

Oh absolutely! There is a gift shop in Fantasyland called Tinkerbell's Fairy Treasures. It has always been that the first person into the store everyday gets to wake up Tinkerbell. It's generally young kids - and if several arrive at the same time, they all do it together. They take turns ringing a bell, and tink appears on a screen and waves hello. Then the kids get "pixie dusted" and magical moments certificates. It's very very cute!

You will need to get to the park before it opens. Then go straight to Fantasyland and into the gift shop. It's on your left as you go through the castle. There's really no need to race though. I mean, I'm 27 and was just there for the show and they asked me if I wanted to do it after everyone else was finished. Then about a half hour later, we walked by the store and saw more kids doing it. So I don't think it's a stressful race to the store kind of thing that it used to be. Still - I don't think it would hurt to get there as early as you can. Good luck!

 

[disneygirl1]

Awesome report! Thank you for sharing... Looks like you both had a wonderful time!

 

[Billy6]

Awesome...I thank you for the info...I'm sure my daughter will love seeing it happen..

 

[worldfanatic]

Greattttttttttttttttttttt report!!
Got me really psyched for our september trip!!
I especially liked your thoughts on the AKL lodge. It's similar to the Polynesian in that it gets a large number of day guests.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Great report!! Lots of fun details that are so new to me! I'd never heard of Waking Tink, and we've never taken a segway tour. I also didn't know about the spot in FutureWorld that is the middle of WDW! I'll look for that next time and take a pic!

So what is the "kiss goodnight" at MK that you were talking about??

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Great report!! Lots of fun details that are so new to me! I'd never heard of Waking Tink, and we've never taken a segway tour. I also didn't know about the spot in FutureWorld that is the middle of WDW! I'll look for that next time and take a pic!

So what is the "kiss goodnight" at MK that you were talking about??

Glad you found some new things from my report! I love to try little things that I hear about - it's my favorite part of Disney. The Segway Tour is one of lots of tours that Disney offers. Actually, the Keys to the Kingdom tour is our favorite. You should check that one out too - but the Segway tour was awesome.

The Kiss Goodnight is a special goodbye message & mini-light show that is done about 30 minutes after MK closing time. If you hang out until the park empties out, and there's only a few people left you will see it. The castle will light up & a little message will play. If you go to youtube and search for Magic Kingdom Kiss Goodnight you'll find some cute videos of it - just make sure you have your sound up!

 

[disneyliv85]

Hey we went there on the exact same days! Stayed at Pop though. We also were going to try to see the "kiss goodnight" but the rain was awful and cold! I was a little disappointed because we always spend our last night watching Wishes but the lightning canceled it. Oh well. Sounds like you had a great time!! I know I could've stayed a few more days and I'm sure you could have as well :sohappy:

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Hey we went there on the exact same days! Stayed at Pop though. We also were going to try to see the "kiss goodnight" but the rain was awful and cold! I was a little disappointed because we always spend our last night watching Wishes but the lightning canceled it. Oh well. Sounds like you had a great time!! I know I could've stayed a few more days and I'm sure you could have as well :sohappy:

Oh cool! Pop is a really fun resort. We've only visited before, but I'd like to stay there someday too. They have one of my favorite pools. Definitely could've used a few more days! The last day I was hoping my husband was going to say "hey, we're not leaving, we have 3 more days!". I was bummed that we couldn't watch Wishes the last night too- it's a perfect way to end a trip. Never can predict when the rain will hit in Florida though.