Trip Report My First Trip Report-Be Kind!! :-)

So, as the title suggests this is my very first trip report, but not my first Disney trip! This will be my 6th trip to the World and 7th to Orlando. So without further ado let me introduce the cast...

First up theres me, Katie. I love Disney (obviously!), taking photos and my favourite character is Belle.



Next is my Boyfriend Mike, this will be his very first trip to Disney, Florida and the USA :)



Then there is my sister Laura (right) and my stepsister Chloe (left, purple hair). Laura has been to disney the same amount of time as me and Clo has been twice before ,we all have very happy memories of visiting together when we were little. These are the two crazier ones they much prefer running to each ride than taking the time to take everything in like me!



Lastly there is my Dad Phil, Karen my step mum and my half brother Ryan, yeah this family gets a little confusing! This will be their 3rd time to Disney, one of the big reasons for this trip is because Ryan is now the perfect age for experiencing the parks, he doesn't really remember the last two times as he was pretty small! Yes!..no child swaps for us this trip!!



Right, I think a little bit more background information might be required. This isn't just a Disney World Holiday ( or Vacation ;)). We are starting our trip in Orlando, staying 3 days and doing a park each day, then we drive down to Fort Lauderdale and catch a cruise! We go sailing around the Caribbean for 6 days then its back to Orlando to do one more Disney park and Universal and IOA! Woah! We were in for a packed two weeks.

The Cruise we went on wasn't a Disney cruise, it was with Carnival. So I wasn't planning on doing a full report for each day of the cruise, I might just include a few of the best photos so you guys can get an idea?! But if you do want me to do the daily reports I would be more than happy to, just let me know!

Also a quick disclaimer, this trip happened a while ago- January 2nd to January 15th. I wasn't planning on doing a TR but I must be having disney withdrawal or something i've been reading so many of these lately, so I thought I might as well join in!

I hope you all enjoy, I'll get on with it shall I!!?
 
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KBelle_

KBelle_

New Member
Original Poster
January 1st-2nd 2013 - HAPPY NEW YEAR! - TRAVEL DAYS!

So it all started off on a cold winters day in England, New Years Day to be exact. There were a few sore heads on the 4 and a half hour journey up to London to catch or flight! We flew out from London Gatwick the next day after staying in a travel lodge over night. we thought this would be best so we didn't have to do the long car journey and get up super early the morning of our flight. We were all up and ready to meet at the hotel reception on time (this never happens we must be going on holiday!).





Notice the fur coat, we were having such a cold winter!

Once we go to the airport we checked in smoothly, you pretty much have to do it all yourself now at Gatwick, I mean printing your boarding passes and everything!! Once we got through security we had time to relax, get some breakfast and do a little duty free shopping which is my favourite part about the airport! I actually really love going to the airport, it's one of my favourite things about going on holiday!



Our boarding time came around really fast and before we knew it we were ready to get on the plane!


It turned out we were all sitting together which was really nice, except apparently I got the short straw and ended up with the annoying 10 year old behind me who had his feet in my back for most of the journey!





Although I did get the window seat which I was very happy about as it meant I got to take lots of photos :)










I couldn't believe all the snow! And we had left snow behind in England! Couldn't wait to get so sunny Florida (hopefully!).

So we landed in MCO but there was no sunshine! However the minute we stepped out of the airport the humidity hit us, it was so warm! Even in January, score! It was a bout 4pm local time so we picked up the hire car and made our way to our hotel for the next 4 nights, the Ramada Gateway Hotel which was actually really nice, probably the best we have stayed in Orlando. We were pretty tired when we got to the hotel so we decided to have a quick bite to eat in the Maccy D's we eye spied up the road and hit the sack as we had a full magical day planned for tomorrow!

NEXT UP - Which Park do we visit first!?
 
KBelle_

KBelle_

New Member
Original Poster
3rd JANUARY 2013 - MAGIC KINGDOM

We couldn't begin this trip without doing MK first, I thought it would be the perfect way to start the vacation as it was Mike's first experience and also Ryan's from what he can remember! I knew it was going to be busy as it was just after new year, but I didn't realise quite how busy. I can safely say i've never seen anything like it!

So we were all up pretty early anyway as 7am Orlando time was like 2am London time! Getting up on time wasn't a problem but we were all so tired, however i think the excitement of the day must have over ruled the tiredness as everyone seemed happy and had a smile on their face :)

We stopped at Sizzler for breakfast, this is the first time we had not got a complementary breakfast with our hotel so we had to stop off on the way to the parks to get something to eat. Most days this was just a Mcdonalds brekky as i think we over did it this first day! But it was good to experience a big American all-you-can-eat style breakfast once! The idea was to fill up on breakfast, just have a snack for lunch and then have a proper dinner either in the parks or on the way back to the hotel, bearing in mind we were trying to stick to a budget on this trip.



I love how Chloe is eying up Mike's pancakes in this photo!



So we can safely say we all had full bellies when we headed off to the World!



I love the build up of excitement as you realise your getting close to the famous arch!



As you can see it was another cloudy day, but it was still really warm so we didn't really care. We parked up and got straight onto the tram which would take us to the monorail. I actually really love that you have to travel a bit before getting to MK, I think it just builds up that excitement even more, especially when someone is experiencing it for the first time and doesn't really know what to expect.





Not the best one of my Dad there, I swear he was awake!



Tickets!! I'm sure we get to this point in the line for the monorail every time and realise we have to sign the back of the tickets, has anyone got a pen!!!?



Look what I can see!



I don't think Mike was expecting everything to be so..big!? I don't think he really knew what to expect but he was very pleasantly surprised!

We've arrived :) Lets get going!

 
sam_disney

sam_disney

Active Member
Just caught up! Being from england myself.. the winter was sooooo bad this year! It's lovely to get away somewhere warm for a bit! :-)

Looking forward to reading more x
 
KBelle_

KBelle_

New Member
Original Poster
So, where was I... we passed through the entrance and Disney just hit us, there was so much going on! There was music, horses and SO many people! We just had to stand there for a minute and take everything in. I hadn't actually been to disney for 6 years and i love how you still get that exact same feeling going back as an adult :)



I've never seen the Christmas decorations up in MK before it, it looked so pretty! We just hung around the entrance for a while taking photos and just admiring the place.









Then suddenly my dad switched in to 'theme park mode' "what's the first ride!??'
We didn't really have a plan for the parks, we just thought we'd go with the flow (or crowds!). So we started to walk, very slowly up Main Street and too a few photos with Cinderella's famous castle.



So we decided to head towards thunder mountain, hoping that the crowds hadn't made it that far yet and as we were walking past Splash Mountain we realised it was down for refurbishment. However the men that were suppose to be working on the ride were playing around, throwing their arms up in the air and screaming is if the were going down the big drop! It was so finn, everyone around us was watching them and laughing. I thought that it was a nice touch, only in Disney! The picture I got isn't great, i think my camera was set up for something else, but you can kinda get the idea.



We got to BTM and the wait time was 20 minutes, not bad we thought, so we got in the line and started patiently waiting. I certainly felt like 20 minutes but I really like the theming of Frontierland so didn't mind just looking around and taking photos.



Mike and I were very lucky and got on the front, not bad for our first ride of the holiday! My Dad on the other hand wasn't so lucky, he lost his hat half way round! oops!





After the excitement of our first ride we decided to head back towards Fantasyland to get a FP for the new little mermaid ride as the wait time was 90 minutes, and we just weren't going to wait that long! I did like the New Fantasyland extension, however we couldn't really appreciate it as much as we would have liked to because it was so busy, i don't think it had opened long before we were there.

When we had got our tickets we headed towards tomorrowland to do a few of the smaller rides over that way. The Monsters Inc Laugh Floor was a new one for us and it didn't have a long WT so we thought we would give it a go. None of us knew what to expect, was it a show? Or was there a ride in there? We certainly weren't disappointed and we didn't stop laughing the whole time. I thought it was so clever and so different from any show that they have already. I think the fact that my Dad was picked to be Randall made it extra funny for us! Dad isn't one for liking a lot of attention, let alone having his face on a big screen, so so funny!! Also on the way out kids were shouting "hey Randall!" he couldn't escape it! haha!

Next we hopped on the people mover which i really like, i love the different views of the park form this ride, and we could really appreciate how busy it was from up there! It was nice to be away from the crowds for a little bit.

Then we went over to Stitch's Great Escape, I'm not a big fan of this ride, I don't think its one of the best in the parks, but it had a short wait time. I couldn't remember it that well, I think I was expecting something else to happen, like the seats to drop or something?! I don't know why, also those shoulder things hurt, ouch!

So, by this time it was getting towards parade time! We wandered back towards Frontierland and grabbed a spot to stand just by the Liberty Belle.





Chloe and Laura were feeling hungry by this point to they went to get a hot dot, we were still feeling full form breakfast so decided to wait until dinner! they made it back just as the parade was starting.

















Proper Disney Magic right there!
 
LeCellier.Lover

LeCellier.Lover

Well-Known Member
I am loving your TR so far!
I love reading TRs that are referred to as "Holidays" I think that sounds cooler! :)
You and your sisters are pretty, I love Laura's shirt from MK!
What kind of camera do you have? I'm loving all of your pictures!
Can't wait to read more! :happy:
 

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