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!

 

[fractal]

Love HDDR! Looks like you had a blast!

and thanks for the great review of Toy Story Land!

 

[Zipadeelady]

You look so pretty in your Picnic Ears!!

 

[becca_]

You guys are all so cute!!!

 

[blreinsel]

Yes!!! I've been waiting to read your report on this. It sounds awesome!! I will be going there for the 1st time next month. Can't wait!!! BTW, the food pictures look amazing!! It doesn't help that I'm looking at them before lunch.

You will LOVE it! I can't wait to go back.

Your pics from Hoop Dee Do are soooo cute! Love your outfit! This does look fun. Need to make this a priority on one of my next trips!

Aww thanks! You definitely need to try it out.. it's totally worth the money!

DROOLING! I actually dreamed about going to Hoop dee doo last night Also, yeah I think there were so many people messaging him about when he was working then getting mad when he didn't respond (like hello, the man is busy!!) that he must have just gotten sick of it. I have seen more than one popular Disney instagram personality have a breakdown on there One can only take so much anonymous internet abuse!

We definitely should have replaced our CRT meal with HDD. You could totally book a resorts only trip after your pass runs out in the fall...

Love HDDR! Looks like you had a blast!

and thanks for the great review of Toy Story Land!

It was so much fun! Happy to be of service.. TSL is amazing!

You look so pretty in your Picnic Ears!!

You guys are all so cute!!!

Aww thank you both!

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, July 13

@wishes2013 and I started our day at MK since our original plans got postponed until later on in the day.. more on that later. We took advantage of the AC and walked down Main Street via the Emporium.

We grabbed a FP for Haunted Mansion that opened shortly so we headed that way.

This has become one of my favorite rides.

We used the Tangled bathrooms and then backtracked for a different kind of adventure.

Any ideas?

We stopped in Frontierland to setup a DVC tour... mostly because when I had talked with one of the CMs a couple of weeks prior, they were giving out $50 Disney gift cards to anybody who did a tour in addition to the usual 3 additional FPs. Apparently the gift card promotion had ended so that was a bummer, but we decided to do the tour anyway! We had some time before our tour so we agreed to meet back there after bit.

Since we were in the area, we stopped to visit the Country Bears and enjoy some AC. The crowd was clapping and being rowdy, so it made for a fun show (aside from the child behind us taking pictures throughout the show... with FLASH).

After the bears, we had a FP to tango with some Pirates.

We finished our ride and then returned to the DVC station. We were escorted to the backstage area in Tomorrowland to catch our van over to the Poly. We started the tour with a "let's get some free FPs" mindset and ended it with a " we want to drink the Kool Aid" mindset. It's INSANE just how affordable DVC is, even for 20 somethings that are just starting out and don't have much money. Did you know that you can bank points from the current year AND steal them from the next year (i.e., bank from 2017 and steal from 2019 to use in 2018)? He pointed out that we could bank points and have a longer stay for our honeymoon, etc. which to me is brilliant. Between the DVC guy's spiel and @wdisney9000 and @lostpro9het's 5-star reviews, I foresee Dylan and I drinking the Kool Aid within the next couple of years (once we have a little more "play money" than we have right now).

Following our tour, we were dropped off at HS for the next leg of our adventure. We had a little over an hour to spare, so we opted for a ride on Slinky Dog, which was posted at 60 minutes. We were met with a Brazilian wall when we arrived in TSL. I can't take anymore of the chanting... I really can't.

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, July 13 cont.

We hopped in line and as we waited, the sky got darker and darker. The weather announcements started and we were crossing our fingers that we would make it on before the storm started. And now I present to you the reason that I hate people at Disney....

This queue had been open for TWO WEEKS and these inconsiderate jerks had already began destroying it. This is how several of the walls in the queue look.. It's not just this isolated area. I am salty.

On a more positive note, LOOK HOW CUTE. This entire wall has pictures of animals in slinky form... it's my favorite!

So we got to the front of the queue at 3:47pm and had probably about 2-3 more cars to go before we would board... "Ladies and gentlemen, Slinky Dog Dash is now temporarily closed blah blah blah." I know it's for our safety but I AM ANGRY. We had already pushed it to the very last minute and we couldn't wait any longer.. as painful as it was, we got out of line and began power walking across the park.

Where were we headed?

Our friend Chip had hooked us up with VIP seats for the show again... I was just as star struck as last time.

HE IS THE CUTEST. I will literally never get tired of this show, nor will I stop giggling at Chip hopping all over the stage. I can't even pay attention to the rest of the show anymore lol.

LOOK AT CHIP.

I will be amazed if I ever stop crying when they come back onstage in these outfits.

We had an incredible cast and the show was amazing as always. When it ended, rather than joining the masses and exiting the theater, we stayed put and waited for the real reason for our day in the parks.

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, July 13 cont.

Soon, we were being whisked away by the stage manager and led to a backstage area. We rounded the corner and all my dreams came true. Hugging Chip and Cogsworth was not an easy task.. BUT I WAS UP FOR THE CHALLENGE.

As soon as we came into sight, Chip started hopping. I might have cried.. I don't even remember. HE IS SO CUTE.

I AM NOT OKAY. There has never been a more perfect picture. I can't even. Side note: those of you who watch The Bachelorette... Prince Adam reminds me of Garrett.

Kisses for the sweetest teacup in the world.

He waved at us with his nose handle when we left. They were all SO SWEET and I still can't believe we got to do this. Chip is Brooke's friend and I've only met this person once briefly, however I feel like we're best friends after all of the things I've gotten to do thanks to them.

After our meet and greet, we caught a bus back to MK for the evening. We were hungry and decided on Columbia Harbor House... kids mac & cheese! I made sure to eat my purse cookie.

Dinner with a view. We sat there for awhile and enjoyed the AC before eventually heading back out into the park.

It was time to use our DVC fast passes and there was no question of where we would use them. Next stop: Big Thunder Mountain!

There was a steady stream of water coming through the queue area and we're not entirely sure where it was coming from... it was enough to soak our feet as we walked through it though. They routed us up the stairs rather than the whole way around next to the standby line.

 

[lostpro9het]

Between the DVC guy's spiel and @wdisney9000 and @lostpro9het's 5-star reviews, I foresee Dylan and I drinking the Kool Aid within the next couple of years (once we have a little more "play money" than we have right now).

Two words: resale market.

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, July 13 cont.

Regardless of the fact that we live here, we're still losing the Big Thunder ride challenge with @Tuvalu. I think that it's US at the unfair advantage... we have to do real life adult stuff too!

Most people would have used the 3 FPs to knock out 3 different rides... not us.

We're still behind, but once @wishes2013 returns from her trip home IT'S ON!

The carousel has been half hidden by a scrim for a couple of months, but it's now completely covered and down for refurbishment. It's crazy how much this ruins the view in Fantasyland.. the carousel is such a focal point.

We snagged back to back FPs for Pooh and Ariel.. we ride both of these nearly every time we go to MK and somehow I never tire of either of them.

Our next FP was for Buzz so we were off to Tomorrowland. He has returned! My attempt at Galactic Hero was worse than usual so I won't embarrass myself with our scores.

Back to school is a busy time for us teachers, so we took the advice of @wdisney9000 and caught up on some work during the ride.

We exited the ride and had a Magic meet up to get to! Fortunately we didn't have to go far before finding the birthday girl and her mom. We stood and chatted for a few minutes before realizing that we both had FPs for Buzz (I had gotten another one while in line for the first) so we hopped in line together!

Our ride picture never showed up but look for us in @Doc Disney's report. I'll let her share the eyebrow raising story that ensued following our ride. We said our goodbyes as we all had places to be but I'm glad we got to meet up again!

 

[blreinsel]

Two words: resale market.

I talked to @wdisney9000 after our tour and he said the same thing. I'll be hitting both of you up for guidance when we're really ready to take the plunge!

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, July 13 cont.

Brooke and I headed to find a spot for Happily Ever After and got pretty lucky.

During the show, Brooke smacked me and pointed to the guy beside us down on one knee (with a toddler on his hip). Initially we were like "awww " but it changed to quickly. These people were with a large group of their family members and NOT ONE OF THEM reacted. One of them was videoing the proposal but she never took her eyes off of HEA. After he stood back up, he and the girl didn't hug, kiss, nada. They stood far enough apart that I wouldn't have even thought they were together had I not just watched him propose. I'm an affectionate person so maybe the hugging and kissing after Dylan proposed was unnatural but I don't think I'm in the minority on that one. After the show ended, a few of the family members looked at her ring but there still wasn't the excitement you'd expect for that kind of event. I'm laughing typing this out... it was so bizarre!

Anyway, here's an iPhone picture of HEA.

We headed out with the masses and opted for a boat to the GF/Poly since both monorails and the ferry had long lines. While we were docked at the GF, we saw a huge palmetto bug and I tried to get a picture for @Doc Disney since we had been talking about the nasty FL critters earlier. You're lucky that he was too quick for me. We disembarked at the Poly and walked to the TTC.. not sure if it actually saved us any time but it was more enjoyable than standing shoulder to shoulder with people in line for the monorail.

 

[blreinsel]

If you've been following along with my report all year, you saw the beautiful engagement pictures that @sheriffwoody took for us at the Grand Floridian. The photographer that we booked for our wedding includes an engagement shoot in her packages so of course I included some Disney in those ones as well. Enjoy!

 

[Doc Disney]

We headed out with the masses and opted for a boat to the GF/Poly since both monorails and the ferry had long lines. While we were docked at the GF, we saw a huge palmetto bug and I tried to get a picture for @Doc Disney since we had been talking about the nasty FL critters earlier.

I SAW IT!!!! WHEN WE GOT OFF THE BOAT
horrifying

 

[wdisney9000]

Back to school is a busy time for us teachers, so we took the advice of @wdisney9000 and caught up on some work during the ride.

Clev-ah girls! I just showed the picture to C and we had good laugh. Well done!

 

[blreinsel]

I SAW IT!!!! WHEN WE GOT OFF THE BOAT
horrifying

DYING.

Clev-ah girls! I just showed the picture to C and we had good laugh. Well done!

Is it bad that I can hear your voice saying "clev-ah girls?"

 

[MegRuss626]

Is it bad that I can hear your voice saying "clev-ah girls?"

Totally heard it too!

 

[mlegerto]

Such adorable photos #swooning

 

[wdisney9000]

Is it bad that I can hear your voice saying "clev-ah girls?"

I have sooooo many clients tell me that when they watch one of my Instagram videos and I say "cle-avh girl/boy" that their dog will come running in the room with its tail wagging

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Those pictures are the freakin' cutest!! Love them!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Bet it was a lot less humid for those photos!