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

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?
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Ok, moving on…...We arrived at the podium, scanned our bands and headed right onto the (Disney Cruise Line) bus.
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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.
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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.
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So quiet and serene at this time of the day......
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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. . .
 
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BDL

Active Member
Original Poster
Day 9 - Saying Goodbye!

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 10:00 AM so we were given a 7:00 AM departure time to catch the tragical express. So we checked in, handed over our luggage, and took these final pictures of what had become one of our favorite Disney Resort Hotels!

My favorite curtain ever!
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It's been fun Yacht Club! Your lobby is beautiful.
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We will miss you! Until we meet again...
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And so ends our Fall 2017 Disney Vacation.

A mere 10 days after our return to California we visited Disneyland & California Adventure to get in more Halloween Disney fun! Not to mention the pre-trip planning for our December 2017 trip to WDW.
 

BDL

Active Member
Original Poster
December pre-trip post:

We booked with such short notice that I was certain any ADRs of interest would be impossible. While I was unable to grab a Candlelight Processional dining package on my night of choice, I did snag Minnie's Holiday Dine for a late lunch on day 2, and Boma for breakfast on day 5 (departure day). So basically here is the rough (because we may change our mind on the fly) plan:


Day 1 (Saturday): Arrive in Orlando 5:00 AM! Yikes - I know.
* 8:45 AM - Breakfast at Whispering Canyon
* Hopefully a nap at midday (like noon) and then PM at AK
* 3:30 Caring for Giants tour (for my daughter who loves elephants)
* FP for KS; Navi; RoL
* If we can handle it - head to MK for late night rides and maybe catch the fireworks?

Day 2 (Sunday): Probably sleeping in (lol)
* Either chilling at hotel or exploring DS in the AM then off to HS
* Lunch ADR @ Hollywood & Vine
* FP for Muppets; frozen sing-a-long; Fantasmic!
* Hoping we can handle boat to Epcot afterwards for late night Festival of Holidays & illuminations

Day 3 (Monday): Another lazy morning
* Start our day in Epcot exploring World Showcase and more of the Holiday displays
* Afternoon & evening at MK with FP for BTM; Pirates; and JC (to see holiday overlay)
* Hopefully this will be our 2nd viewing of fireworks!

Day 4 (Tuesday): Early morning hopefully
* Heading to Epcot future world to start the day!
* FP for TT; Pixar (since we missed it for DVC tour); and Land (of course)
* The goal is to boat over to HS in late afternoon to catch Jingle Bell Jingle Bam!
* We also expect to tour YC, BW, and Swolphin to see Christmas displays & decorations.

Day 5 (Wednesday): This is our departure day but our flight isn't until 6PM
* 9:40 Breakfast @ Boma.
* I think we will probably do the X-Mas tree trail in DS but this day is still up in the air.
* We may opt to uber to airport instead of ME since they are currently leaving 4 hours before scheduled flights.

So that's it. I think we did OK for dining reservations and we were mostly interested in the shows we missed last visit and just being immersed in the Holiday Magic! So excited to be welcomed home for the first time.

We are 4 days away from our departure as we are taking the red eye out of San Diego this Friday evening. I haven't even started packing yet! It's a mad dash from here but we are ready.....

See ya real soon!
 

BDL

Active Member
Original Poster
Thank you for sharing your trip! Have lots of fun next week.

Thanks for following along. We are pretty excited but it's been in the 80's here on the west coast and I am worried about the cold snap Orlando has had. We will be packing plenty of layers and won't let it ruin our fun! ;)
 

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