Trip Report Memories of a Sept. 2017 birthday trip & Dec '17 PTR..whaaaat?

Hello fellow Disney Lovers! It has been several weeks (8 actually) since our trip to WDW and I am finally getting a chance to write this trip report. My goal was do at least part of it live - hahahahha - impossible. For those who have made it happen, I bow down to you. LOL.

So my first report on here was the PTR for this trip. I will find a way to link to it (just have to look up the directions again). But this was originally an all-girls family trip then turned into a mother-daughter trip with me and my youngest DD due to many unforeseen life changes. That's us in the profile pic. So here goes...

Day 1 – departure & arrival:

On Tuesday, my work day could not end fast enough! I had a plane heading towards Disney to catch. Luckily no issues getting home from work – you never know with LA traffic. Did a final check of the house and out the door we went to catch our Uber to LAX. Our trip to the airport was uneventful and we made it with plenty of time to spare even with rush hour traffic. We checked our luggage and off through security we went. Got through in a decent amount of time but then got held up while they checked my carry-on. My carry-on never gets a more through look so I was totally miffed. Plus, its LAX and honestly security personnel there are VERY unfriendly. Anyway, come to find out I had a 4.6 oz tube of brand new un-opened toothpaste in there. Not sure why I put it there and not in luggage – but it’s not a liquid is it? I know I have gotten through with full size toothpaste before so I tried to negotiate (LOL) to no avail of course and ended up having to toss the whole thing. Boy I hope they donate that kind of stuff to charities or shelters because that is a HUGE waste of useable products.

I was pretty annoyed for a bit but then told myself – hey, you are going to Disney and who doesn’t want to buy $10 Disney toothpaste? Seriously though we are going on vacation so it’s time to chill and not sweat the small stuff. So we grabbed some grub and chilled out in the under construction airport area. Not impressed with Delta’s current reconstruction at LAX – but again it’s vacation and we are just passing through – not living there. We were happy when it was finally time to board so that we could catch come zzzz’s since this is the red eye and tomorrow will be a long day.

We managed to get a little sleep and knowing that our first day at Disney was pretty relaxed I wasn’t too worried about. We arrived right on time at 5:40 AM in Orlando. I was thrilled not to have to wait around for our luggage at baggage claim and thus we headed straight to meet our Magical Express chariot. Now, it has been a few years since our last visit to MCO and some things have changed. We of course stopped to grab our first photo of Mickey!

Neither my daughter nor I were going to get into that picture after 5 hours overnight on a plane.

And then I noticed the balconies looking out over us – and given how early it was in the morning – there was in fact someone in a robe on one of the upper floors. For real? They are not just facades, but actual room balconies? Am I the only one who feels this is a bit odd?

Ok, moving on…...We arrived at the podium, scanned our bands and headed right onto the (Disney Cruise Line) bus.

There were no lines, obviously! It was us and 3 other parties on the bus – two of whom I am almost certain were on our plane from LA – and we departed within 10 minutes of us boarding. The Yacht Club was the 2nd stop and even though I had done online check-in, we decided to stop by the front anyway.

They verified my room preferences and even did a quick check to see if there was anything ready at 6:15 in the morning. Since there was not we stuck with the room we were already assigned (number unknown at that time) since it met my requests and decided to check our carry-ons with bell services. Since our breakfast reservation was not for another 2 hours we decided to run to the convenience store and grab some toothpaste. We then wandered around the grounds for a bit so I could grab some lovely sunrise photos.

So quiet and serene at this time of the day......

These are not @fractal quality photos as I decided to just use my phone - but still lovely in their own right.

Given how slow transportation can be we decided to begin our trek to breakfast. We waited a while (22 minutes) for a Magic Kingdom bus and then again it took a bit to get through security once at the park. It was first thing in the morning when most people are heading to the parks so we were glad we gave ourselves extra time. It took us about 1 hour from the time we sat down at YC bus stop to the time we got through security at MK. We then hopped on the monorail and headed to. . .

 

[amjt660]

You were picked before for the Indy show!!

Being able to do that and being a rebel spy are two things still on my bucket list!!!

It looks and sounds like you were having a great time

Max

 

[Big Hair]

My kind of trip except not a spa person.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

You were picked before for the Indy show!!

Being able to do that and being a rebel spy are two things still on my bucket list!!!

It looks and sounds like you were having a great time

Max

Max, I've been picked for the rebel spy many times. I finally found the answer to that on another Disney site.
When you get seated, fasten your seatbelt FAST, and stay still. They only have a very short time to set up the rebel spy, and they don't pick those who move too slow to get buckled or to sit still.
Anyways, that's what I was told, and I find it to be true. I never even realized that I was that fast to settle down with my seatbelt on. Hopes this helps

 

[BDL]

I think the storm troopers are scary, too! I don't know why they freak me out, but I try to get away from them when they are around!

LOL. They are a little menacing looking I would say. It was all in good fun but I probably won't be talking back to them again anytime soon!

 

[BDL]

My kind of trip except not a spa person.

I had done a good amount of pre-planning as usual but really wanted it to be relaxing too. And I never was a massage/spa person until I became a massage therapist myself. Now if I could only find someone worth the money they charge!

 

[BDL]

Day 5 - Brunch, Chill, and then Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

Today was a bit of a relaxed morning as we had tickets for the Halloween party this evening. My dad needed to get back to Pompano as I think his beloved Dolphins had a game that afternoon. My daughter and I had made an ADR for the California Grill's Sunday brunch. I have heard amazing things so we were super excited. My dad drove us over, saving us from the lengthy bus ride, and then we said our goodbyes - until next time.

We were a few minutes early with a 10:00 AM ADR so we waited a bit before being escorted up in the private elevator. There was hardly anyone else there at that time of the morning and they were playing some light music.

We were seated next to the window and had a lovely view of Magic Kingdom and Bay Lake....

I was experimenting with the camera settings on my phone with a focus on the castle....

The buffet was well appointed and the bottomless mimosas were delicious! Another restaurant view...

My 1st buffet plate...

I know I had at least 1 more after this but it must not have looked as pretty or I was too hungry to bother with a photograph. We never felt rushed and were really able to relax and enjoy the view, the atmosphere, and the food. As for the main dish I ordered the Lobster Benedict...

It was delicious! And my daughter ordered an omelette, I think it was probably a vegetarian option, with potatoes....

She said it was yummy. We pretty much had our little corner of the world all to ourselves until about 15 minutes before we left when another party was sat next to us. By this point we were pretty well stuffed, but of course they bring out the dessert plate, and since I was celebrating my birthday this day, it had a candle too.......

We took this to go as we really had no room left in our tummy's. Before leaving we went out onto the viewing deck to get some additional photos.

I also got a great panoramic video with the music piped outside playing in the background.

On our way out we grabbed one more fun photo op....

After this we did a little resort hopping to walk off a bit of our brunch, and then headed back to the YC for some pool time before getting dressed up for the party with Mickey & his pals!

 

[BDL]

Day 5 - Continued....

After some down time at the pool and some rest in the room we started getting ready for the Halloween Party. Originally it was going to be a Hocus Pocus theme costume event; however, since it ended up only being the 2 of us and knowing the weather was going to be HOT - we opted for something a little simpler and much cooler.

So here we are! Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.....

We were so glad we opted for these outfits as it was remained pretty hot for the whole of the evening. I had booked a few FP for late afternoon before the party started just in case it was too crowded. Our experience at DL in the past made us wary about actually getting on any rides. So we started here....

Love this queue! And hopped into some trick-or-treat lines along the way too. I think we managed to walk onto something after this (see what happens when you don't take notes) but also ended up here....

I know this was a walk on. We walked on Pooh and we did 7DMT as well. This photo cracks me up!

We did not end up doing any character meets as the lines were just too long. We had more fun hopping on rides, eating various treats, and oohing & aahhing over the decorations and entertainment. Spooky castle shot....

Spooky food shot......

Spooky monster shot.....

Actually, this dance party was a lot of fun. A ton of monsters wandering around and sully can definitely shake it!

The fireworks were great! (of course)

And the parade was adorable. My photos did not turn out at all, but the villains are awesome....my favorite was the dancing ghosts.

And the ending to the night was the Hocus Pocus stage show. Now that was awesome. We did the last show of the night and we really enjoyed it. We had done the DL Halloween party last year and figured MK's was going to be similar. However, the additional dance parties and the stage show were what won us over. We had a great time, ate lots of unhealthy food, walked way too many miles, and had a lot of candy to smuggle home in our suitcase!

 

[amjt660]

Tweedle dee and tweedle dum eh?

So who was dee?


Max

 

[BDL]

Tweedle dee and tweedle dum eh?

So who was dee?


Max

LOL. I chose to be DUM, taking one for the team. I thought for sure my photos made that clear. We actually had a lot of fun as there were quite a few Alice in Wonderland groups who were missing their dee & dum. I think we ended up in at least 2 random group photos to help them finish out their cast.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

The Cali Sunday brunch looks fantastic. I think my husband and I will book this one. If you eat brunch, do you get to come back for viewing the fireworks?

 

[BDL]

The Cali Sunday brunch looks fantastic. I think my husband and I will book this one. If you eat brunch, do you get to come back for viewing the fireworks?

Yes! There were so many options on the buffet and then some very nice choices on the menu for your entree. And technically you could order more than one entree if you were so inclined. In any event, we could have come back for fireworks that evening but already had tickets to the party so no need. I say go for it. It was one of our favorite meals this trip!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yes! There were so many options on the buffet and then some very nice choices on the menu for your entree. And technically you could order more than one entree if you were so inclined. In any event, we could have come back for fireworks that evening but already had tickets to the party so no need. I say go for it. It was one of our favorite meals this trip!

Thanks! It's our 50 wedding anniversary, so we are trying new experiences. Sounds perfect

 

[BDL]

Day 6 - Pool, Epcot, and a delicious dinner

We stayed until park closing for the Halloween Party the night before - which meant a loooong wait at the bus stop. We had no plans for this morning other than spending some time at the pool. I honestly don't recall what time we got up, but I was up before my daughter. Here was my candy haul from the night before...

Once the lazy 19 year old woke up, we headed down to SAB. This really is the best pool on property. So many different areas, plenty of room to relax, and a great view as well. So of course I had to take some pool pictures.

And another...

After a few hours at the pool we decided to head over to Epcot. We had a few FPs including Frozen, Land, and SE. The first two were things we have not done before. And since we didn't really have breakfast, we grabbed some snacks from the festival to hold us over until our dinner ADR.

We tried the cauliflower risotto (Almond Orchard)...

And the Black Pepper Shrimp w/ garlic noodles from China...

While I did not take pictures of Frozen, I did pictures of the land ride. As I said before it was our first time, and I have no idea how we missed this ride in the past. I really enjoyed it! To prove it, here are some pics...

I know it's just plants and food but we liked it anyway...

At some point we ended up in the festival center and found the chocolate displays. They were very cool but again I do not have any pictures. Clearly I was so engrossed that I forgot to pull out my phone. Or my battery was low, LOL. We eventually headed back to YC as we had a dinner ADR here:

Yachtsman Steakhouse. It was delicious. This place is pricey but portion sizes are good and so we were able to order an appetizer and share an entree and still had a little bit of food leftover. We started with the bread service...Salted butter and roasted garlic - YUM

And then ordered the Lobster Bisque...

I highly recommend it - SO GOOD!!!!!

 

[BDL]

Day 6 - Continued...

For the entree we ordered the Filet Mignon (10 oz since we were sharing), and my DD wanted the Sweet Potato Casserole. We also ordered the Truffle Mac & Cheese. The presentation was beautiful and they even split the entree for us in the kitchen.

The filet was cooked perfectly! The sweet potato was too sweet for me but my daughter loved it. The mac & cheese was delicious but had a lot of garlic. That was perfect for us but may not be for someone else. We did not finish the the sides and thus took them to go. We were too full for dessert but our waiter brought this out..

After dinner we spent the evening relaxing. We wandered the boardwalk to walk off our meal, and took a dip in the hot tub later in the evening. It ended up being an early night for us and we enjoyed some time on our balcony before heading to bed.

And that was the end of day 6. Tomorrow brings us more pool, epcot, and disney springs......

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I don't know how you missed Living with the Land, either? We always do that ride and love it. It's relaxing and interesting to see where the food is actually grown for the restaurants. We never miss it! What did you think of the Frozen ride? We've done it twice, and found it amusing, but we are not frozen fans so................................... Following

 

[BDL]

Thanks! It's our 50 wedding anniversary, so we are trying new experiences. Sounds perfect

Congratulations!

 

[BDL]

I don't know how you missed Living with the Land, either? We always do that ride and love it. It's relaxing and interesting to see where the food is actually grown for the restaurants. We never miss it! What did you think of the Frozen ride? We've done it twice, and found it amusing, but we are not frozen fans so................................... Following

We will definitely do Living with the Land again on our next trip - we both really liked it. I will probably skip frozen though. It was cute, and I actually liked the movie, but not one I'd make a must-do on my next trip.

 

[BDL]

I have been away due to the Southern California wildfires. We are fine and not in any danger but my work sites have been affected by poor air quality and I have many colleagues who were impacted in some way. Relief efforts and collections are well underway.

However, I really need to get this trip report finished as I am only 4 days away from my departure date for that December 2017 trip I eluded to. So I am knocking out days 7 & 8 tonight before I am allowed to go to bed!

Day 7 - More Storm-a-long Bay and Food & Wine (of course) and DS
Once again we took our time getting out of bed and then headed straight to the pool. Thus far we had not been negatively impacted by rain and this day was no exception. We relaxed by the pool, swam, and dug our toes in the sand.

It felt like we had the pool area to ourselves, as you can see it was not very crowded. I think it got busier as we neared midday but even then it never felt too crowded.

At some point we ordered something off the lunch menu from Hurricane Hanna's and I probably got an adult beverage. Can't recall what though, LOL. We eventually headed back to the room to shower and change into park appropriate clothing and off to Epcot we went. I honestly so enjoyed staying in this resort area with such an easy walk over to Epcot for F&W. It was a great decision!

We had some FPs for the late afternoon including Test Track, Living with the Seas, and the Pixar short films. However, we started off traveling the world and grabbing some photos.

First up, my beautiful daughter....

Then Morocco...we loved this hidden fountain.

We wondered in and out of shops as well but mostly focused on the beautiful architecture and detail in each country.

and fish....

And trains....

And I am certain we got some food as well. But then it was time for our FP so we headed to future world.

First stop was TT and our car was ridiculous, great mind you, but ridiculous. We went for an environmentally friendly car and of course lost most of the competitions - but we were definitely trying to save the earth! I wish I had taken a photo.

We then cooled off in the aquarium after seas. Now this is where our vacation takes a slight unexpected turn. On our 2nd day at Disney we came back to our room to find a "gift" under our door. Those of you who have received them already know what I am about to report. It was a collection of postcards - hand sketched scenes - of various characters. If we wanted the 5th in the collection we needed to visit a DVC kiosk and if we were willing to take the tour we would also receive a $100 gift card.

In all the years I have gone to Disney with the family when they were small we never took a tour. We had considered buying in back in 2007 but had started visiting other locales and wanted flexibility (clearly we did not know a lot at that time). So we were passing a kiosk on our way to the short films and decided to stop. The CM was lovely and quickly made sure to let us know that it was not high pressure sales and that I would 100% get the gift card - no strings attached if a listened to the "tour." Plus he offered to throw in 3 more FPs. This was our next to last day (and we had overspent a bit) and thought what the heck! But only if it fits into our schedule. Low and behold they had a tour that evening at Disney Springs - which just happened to be where we were headed after our last FP.

Ok, so I know this story is getting long and I should probably just get to the point. I had previously done my research and while we never bought back in 2007 as a family, I had been considering buying on my own through resale over the last year or two. I do have a new grandbaby now who has to be indoctrinated after all! So I went in thinking: Bobbi, just learn a little more about the member "benefits" that you don't get through resale, then get your gift card and go!

Yea right! They still had Poly inventory (my DVC resort of interest) and the price was not a lot different then the going resale rate and ....... we had such a great time and ......we were already planning our next trip (and the one after that) ....and - oh hell I will just say it - I LOVE DISNEY!

I ended buying a small allotment of points which I will add to later down the road (probably via resale). I know that's the backwards way of doing it but who cares! The prior night we were thinking of a December trip and booked a Disney Springs hotel for a GREAT rate and managed to get RT airfare for a steal (that is a whole other story though and will likely be quite an adventure on it's own). With our new purchase we were able to access our 2017 points right away and got lucky enough to find a studio for our dates and even had our choice of 3 resorts. We ended up choosing AKV-Kidani Village which is another resort to which we have never been and still had points leftover to bank for our September 2018 trip at our home resort.

After our tour, which did not actually include a physical tour (we remedy that later), we explored DS, got lost a few times, and never did find a place to grab a quick dinner snack. It was dark and it has changed so much since the construction I kept getting turned around, LOL. We finally threw in the towel, headed back to the BW and grabbed some food to-go from ESPN club. Phew, what a day.....

As I lay in bed that night I kept thinking about my decision and wondering if I would regret it in the light of day......

 

[BDL]

DAY 8 - DVC model tour, packing, and Magic Kingdom

Because our morning was unscheduled, we chose to head over the SSR and physically see the models. Back in 2000 I stayed at OKW in a studio (with my DD ages 2 & 6) while another part of our family (larger group) stayed in a 2-bedroom villa. That was my only experience with DVC rooms up to our tour on this day. I loved that the Poly studios can sleep 5 and that is has the extra bathroom space. It's usually the bathroom that is a problem with a larger group in a single room so I thought this was genius and made me love that we chose this resort as our home resort even more!

Any buyers remorse the morning after? Nope! so after our ice cream treat and the 100th "Welcome Home" we headed back to YC to pack up and prep for our early morning departure the following day. Once all was set, we were off the MK for the rest of the day!

Hello again scarecrows!

Our first FP was for BTM, which was down so we hopped on small world followed by Under the Sea. After that we headed here....

But first, some photos while we waited to be seated...
Allexis

My turn...

And another scenery shot.

And then we were seated after a fairly short wait.

Hard to get photos inside since it is so dark, but really loved the detail. This was our first time here and we opted for dinner as that appeared to have the best reviews. Honestly, every room was beautiful!

And beast was not very beastly, but down right gentlemanly!

to be continued.....

 

[BDL]

DAY 8 - continued....

I somehow forgot to take pictures of our dinner but Allexis had the Layered Ratatouille which she thought was very good. It did not present well visually but she enjoyed it. I played it safe and had the Grilled Strip Steak which was cooked perfectly. And who doesn't love garlic fries? We did end up getting dessert, though I have no clue how we had room, LOL. I think my daughter got the Lemon-Raspberry Cream Puff, and I had the Grey Stuff. Both were adequate but nothing special. We looked through the rest of restaurant before heading out into the park for more rides.

But first....

and I managed this one in between diners...

Next up was Tales w/Belle. It was cute watching all the kids help out telling this story. My girls would have loved this when they were little. After the show we noticed others jumping into photo line so Allexis did also. sadly the photographer was not the best and many of the photos came out blurry. But cute nonetheless!

After story time we worked our way over to the Jungle Cruise and hopped aboard. But not before we grabbed a few more fantasyland pictures.

And another....

One final one...

We were planning on seeing the fireworks; however, we decided to use one of our free FP for pirates after JC but there was some weird hold up and then it looked like the ride might be down so after 20 minutes in the FP line we hopped out of line and tried to find a place on main street - 10 minutes before they were scheduled to begin. BIG MISTAKE.

We are both vertically challenged and every time we found a reasonable view, someone taller stepped in front of us or a dad put his little on his shoulders. We played this little game of find a new vantage point for the first 5-8 minutes and then finally gave up. We knew we were coming back in December and we had a pretty early flight the next morning so we hopped into the stores, picked up our last souvenirs, and headed back to the YC. Good Night Mickey!