Trip Report Meet the Floridians

Hello humans!

Most of you know me by now, but for those of you who haven't followed my past TR's (particularly my most recent), I'll do some brief introductions. Feel free to check out my past reports (in my signature) if you'd like!

Who: I'm Brittany! I'm 25 and completely Disney obsessed. My better half is Dylan, also 25 and not quite as Disney obsessed. Prior to meeting me, he had never been to WDW! It was obviously top priority to remedy that.

This is our baby, Tink. She also loves Disney.

We got engaged in Magic Kingdom in June.. my dream come true! Though our wedding won't take place in Disney, it will be Disney themed.

While we were enjoying our time in the World, I accepted a 1st grade teaching position in Osceola County, Florida. Fast forward a month, and we packed up a U-Haul to relocate from Pennsylvania to the Sunshine State!

We currently live 20 minutes from Disney property, and one of our first purchases should come as no surprise. This report will be a collection of our adventures as annual passholders, and I'll update it with a Table of Contents as we go. Now, without further ado...

To all who come to this happy place, welcome!

 

[JeffR73]

Happy Belated Birthday! Love the Trip Report! Great Pictures and insight on the little things...sometimes it is the little things that are special and very important, that we don't get to see all the time, thanks for that and taking the time to share.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

So thankful you are safe! Was obsessed and frantic all weekend over Irma! Was thinking all my Disney friends traveling and living in Florida!

Finally caught up with your adventures! I've been neglecting the Trip Reports section for news and rumors! I need to come back to my regular forum

Good luck on your trek home... glad you only had minimal damage. So sad looking at the Caribbean islands

Will be thinking of you!

 

[blreinsel]

Happy Belated Birthday! Love the Trip Report! Great Pictures and insight on the little things...sometimes it is the little things that are special and very important, that we don't get to see all the time, thanks for that and taking the time to share.

Aww thank you! It's much easier to notice the little Disney details now that I can go so frequently. No need for rushing around anymore!

So thankful you are safe! Was obsessed and frantic all weekend over Irma! Was thinking all my Disney friends traveling and living in Florida!

Finally caught up with your adventures! I've been neglecting the Trip Reports section for news and rumors! I need to come back to my regular forum

Good luck on your trek home... glad you only had minimal damage. So sad looking at the Caribbean islands

Will be thinking of you!

Lol! Yes.. come back to the TR section so the bug to return bites you a little harder and you can get that next trip booked.

Thank you for thinking of us! Sooooo happy to be home!

 

[blreinsel]

Hey everyone! We made it home around 11pm last night and our apartment seems to be in pretty good shape. We have two water spots on the ceiling in our bedroom, so hoping to get that taken care of soon. Other than that, things look just like we left them. It was a long trip home, but just slightly shorter than the 24 hours it took to get out of here last week! Thank you all SOOOOO much for your thoughts and pixie dust as we navigated our first hurricane experience. We feel much more prepared for other storms in the future. There truly are no friends like Disney friends!

Now that I've assessed the damage at home and in our community, I'm off to complete my duty as your friendly neighborhood TR writer and assess the situation at Disney. Have a magical day and I'll be back soon to catch up on my reporting!

 

[amjt660]

Glad you are home - safe and sound
I was wondering how the golf courses faired - Is Dylan back to work today / is he on clean up duty / is the course able to open up???

Max

 

[PacNWTigger]

I'm glad you guys are home safe and sound with minimal apartment issues. Hopefully things will get back to "normal" soon.

 

[blreinsel]

Glad you are home - safe and sound
I was wondering how the golf courses faired - Is Dylan back to work today / is he on clean up duty / is the course able to open up???

Max

Thanks Max! We drove past the courses today and they're in pretty rough shape.. Lots of work to be done before they can open back up. As of now, the courses are closed through the weekend and I assume their reopening will depend on how quickly they can get things cleaned up. Dylan isn't officially scheduled until they reopen, however he has been given the opportunity to go in and assist with cleanup so he's able to get some hours. He's planning to do that as soon as he gets the go ahead to report in from the maintenance crew.

I'm glad you guys are home safe and sound with minimal apartment issues. Hopefully things will get back to "normal" soon.

Thank you! We're extremely lucky and feel blessed to have been mostly missed by Irma and her wrath.

 

[Longers]

Glad your back safely

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I read on facebook that some people keep photos and important documents in the dishwasher during hurricanes, because it is waterproof. Something to think about for next time. Glad you are safe! Thanks for letting us know. Some of my friends live in Kissimmee and they left Thursday or Friday and ended up sleeping in a Walmart parking lot the first night because there were no hotels, and I guess they could only go 15 mph on the interstate because there was so much traffic. Sounds pretty crazy!!

DON'T put important papers and things in the dishwasher!!! This is not a good thing to do. Saw a post about it on facebook.

 

[gdisneyfans]

Glad to hear you're back safe and sound...and that your apartment didn't get too damaged! What a weekend you had! Assuming you have power?

 

[susan lees]

Glad to hear your home safe and sound and minimal damage to your property. Looking forward to more Disney reports

 

[blreinsel]

Glad to hear you're back safe and sound...and that your apartment didn't get too damaged! What a weekend you had! Assuming you have power?

It has been a whirlwind, that's for sure! We were very fortunate to come home to power. Some of my friends are still without it. There are schools in our district that are still without power as well.. we're off until at least Monday as of now.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2 cont.

We continued our walk around the World Showcase in search of lunch.

Though it's not one of the "official" F&W booths, I wanted to try the pizza from the Via Napoli booth. We arrived in Italy right around 11am but were told that the booth wouldn't be opening until 11:30am. Hmmm... just enough time for a snack from Karamel Kuche.

I tried this brownie in June but it was a little off. I thought maybe it was because I had waited a day or so to eat it, so wanted to give it another shot. Turns out it's always "off." The flavor is delicious, but the texture is strange. I'm weird about my food textures, so most people probably wouldn't be bothered by it lol.

We headed back to Italy and were the first people in line at the booth.

We all chose the pepperoni pizza - ($7.75).

Talk about getting your money's worth.. the pieces were HUGE! They were also very good. This is something that I would definitely order again!

We decided to head out around 12:30pm and get to our next park. We stopped for a few pictures first. The photographer was a little off-centered with the F&W decor lol.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

We arrived at HS and headed straight for our Toy Story Mania FP+. I rode alone so that Dylan and his mom could ride together. Not a bad score for me!

Dylan was irritated that he still didn't beat me. But to those of you getting 400k... TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!

Next, we headed to the Frozen Sing-a-Long.. I'm pretty sure that this is both Dylan and I's favorite show on property at the moment. Especially when we get Ben playing Erik! When he came running out on stage, Dylan and I both said, "YES!" Though we both also commented that he wasn't as over the top as we've seen him before.. I think it's because his usual partner (Lisa) wasn't performing with him today. They feed off of each other and are obviously very comfortable with one another. I didn't get that feeling from these two.

Feels great to be an honorary citizen!

They've added "coming soon" posters for the new ride outside of the theater, though you can't see them here.. makes me even more excited for it to be done!

We had walked past One Man's Dream earlier and Dylan's mom requested that we go inside. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they've added some new/different exhibits since I was last inside in June. One thing that I noticed they removed is the Peter Pan's Flight model.

Can I have this for my house or...?

I really wanted to watch the movie about Walt's life, but we just didn't have time. I've heard great things about it though and know that I would love it!

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

We had some backstage passes that needed to be used, so we used the single rider line to get there.

Dylan's mom decided to opt out just as we were being led into the preshow area because she was afraid of hurting her neck. She told us to go ahead and ride and she'd meet us at the exit. Fortunately we had really fast cars, so didn't take long to find her.

We passed this guy with his awesome Mickey ears (beer bottle caps if you can't tell).. @wdisney9000 I think you could probably make a few pairs of these before November.

That was all the time we had set aside for HS, so we stopped for a few pictures before heading out!

Dylan looks more sleepy than scared.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

Animal Kingdom was next, though it was unfortunately pretty busy. Pair that with a limited amount of time to spend and we didn't cover much ground.

We had a FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris! It rained a bit on our journey, but the animals didn't seem to mind.

Must have been feeding time because these two kept pacing back and forth by the fence.

When we first came around the bend, there weren't any giraffes on the savannah. I was bummed because I love watching them, but all of a sudden this little beauty came RUNNING down the hill. He ran back and forth around the savannah and up and down the hill the entire time we were driving through. I've never seen them act like that before and it was hilarious! He was having so much fun!

Our guide told us that elephants are afraid of bees, so Disney worked with farmers in Africa to install speakers around their farms. They played bee sounds to discourage the elephants from destroying their crops, but because elephants are so smart, it didn't take them long to figure out that there was no real threat. They then built bee hives and had a lot more success. The bees keep the elephants from destroying the crops AND the farmers sell the honey for additional income.

Stella is literally the cutest!

We had a dinner ADR to get to, so we unfortunately had to head out of AK directly following our safari. A few pictures first!

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

It continued to rain as we headed to the Magic Kingdom area for dinner and to top off our day of park hopping. It was good timing though.. get it out of your system while we're eating Mother Nature.

Dinner was at none other than the Grand Floridian Cafe. We started off with some drinks and rolls. I know this will come as a huge surprise to all of you, but I had a Pina Colava. I forget what Dylan's mom had, but she really liked it! Dylan had some boring beer that wasn't picture worthy.

While we were waiting on our food, this little boy (around 3 or 4 I'd say) came running through the restaurant, stopped right by our table, did a somersault, and then kept on running. His mom came running through after him, completely mortified, and apologized to us as she chased him to the back of the restaurant. We were still laughing when she carried him back past us and informed us that he repeated his performance for the entire length of the restaurant.

Time to eat! Dylan's mom and I both had the NY Strip Steak.. Once I find something that I like, I rarely deviate and try something new. It was great, as always!

Dylan was feeling adventurous and chose the Grilled Pork Chop. He said that he actually liked it better than the steak.

We settled our bill before going upstairs to catch the monorail. MK here we come! Still a little rainy.

 

[riverside]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

Animal Kingdom was next, though it was unfortunately pretty busy. Pair that with a limited amount of time to spend and we didn't cover much ground.
View attachment 229802

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We had a FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris! It rained a bit on our journey, but the animals didn't seem to mind.
View attachment 229808

Must have been feeding time because these two kept pacing back and forth by the fence.
View attachment 229809

When we first came around the bend, there weren't any giraffes on the savannah. I was bummed because I love watching them, but all of a sudden this little beauty came RUNNING down the hill. He ran back and forth around the savannah and up and down the hill the entire time we were driving through. I've never seen them act like that before and it was hilarious! He was having so much fun!
View attachment 229805

Our guide told us that elephants are afraid of bees, so Disney worked with farmers in Africa to install speakers around their farms. They played bee sounds to discourage the elephants from destroying their crops, but because elephants are so smart, it didn't take them long to figure out that there was no real threat. They then built bee hives and had a lot more success. The bees keep the elephants from destroying the crops AND the farmers sell the honey for additional income.
View attachment 229806

Stella is literally the cutest!
View attachment 229807

We had a dinner ADR to get to, so we unfortunately had to head out of AK directly following our safari. A few pictures first!
View attachment 229803

View attachment 229804

Interesting story about the elephants!!

This looks like such a fun day!! But I must say I'm getting tired just reading about your busy day!! So cool though!!

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

We had a FP+ for Small World, so that was our first stop! Dylan gives this ride a hard time, but I don't really mind it. It's one of Walt's rides, after all.

Crazy eyes was happy to see us.

I think this is my favorite room in the entire ride.

I was excited to see that the screens were working again! I was then saddened when said screens skipped over us.

Dylan's mom asked to ride the teacups, so we hopped in line even though I could have done without ever riding them again. Dylan, of course, spun us as fast as he possibly could. I'm really not sure how I got out of our teacup without falling.

Next, we ventured to Monstropolis for some laughs! We had a good show, as always.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, September 2, cont.

We made our way back to Main Street to claim a spot for Happily Ever After. I get positively giddy when I know I get to see the show. Don't hate me, but I never even felt that way about Wishes. It's safe to say that HEA has my heart.

One complaint about tonight's showing, though. They left the lights on... for the entire show. You wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal, but I found it incredibly distracting. Also, Tink didn't fly. I assume that there was lightening in the area, but it hadn't stormed at all and even the rain had been done for quite some time. Oh well!

Street lights.... that are on.

A shoulder sitter... who kept rocking back and forth and nearly fell at least 30 times before mom finally took him and held him normally.

The original plan was to hit a few more rides after the fireworks, but that didn't end up happening. We didn't even take castle pictures before heading out. Dylan and I had a *ahem* disagreement, and it was time for us to get home and into bed. I'll leave it at that.

It was a long, exciting, and magical day of park hopping and memory making! Though I'm sure that she appreciated everything, I didn't really get the reaction from Dylan's mom that I had expected to get. I found myself feeling stressed and irritable for a good portion of the day because I didn't think that she was having fun. Those of you who have planned trips for other people know exactly what I mean. I think she may have been homesick, but it did leave me feeling kind of unsettled. A solo trip was just what I needed to remedy those feelings.