Trip Report No Superstorm is Stopping Us!!

Hello everyone!
Oh my goodness, I cannot believe we are already here. If you haven't read my pre-trip report, you can find it here (https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...ge-girls-do-spring-break.931781/#post-7896625), but if you just want to skip that I'll give you the quick lay-down of what's going on!

Back in September of last year, I was casually sitting in my dorm room at Penn State with my roommates, Danielle, Chelsea, and Acadia (yes, there's two Danielle's!). We were talking about how badly we wanted to go to Disney on Spring Break and all of a sudden just said, "well why not?!" It took some convincing of our parents and finding the funds to afford the trip, but just days later we were sitting on our beds on the phone with Disney and booking our Spring Break 2018 trip!

Originally, our trip was supposed to be from Wednesday, March 7th-Saturday, March 10th. We were going to be staying at Disney's Art of Animation (first time for all of us here!) in a Little Mermaid Suite, and planning on hitting one park a day. We only made one ADR at Akershus on Thursday because of the short time span we were going to be there.
But now that's when things change (and where the title comes from too!)

Initially our first flight was supposed to be on Wednesday at 6 am from Laguardia airport, and we were going to be leaving WDW on Saturday at 7:45 pm. That would give us time to hit AK on Wednesday on DHS on Saturday. Danielle, Chelsea, and myself are all from Long Island but Acadia is from State College, PA so tomorrow she was supposed to take a bus to NYC and then a train to Long Island so we could all travel to the airport together.
This morning I woke up to a very frantic mom telling me that she'd been on the phone all morning with Danielle's mom because we're expecting a superstorm Tuesday night that could potentially cancel our flight on Wednesday.
12 inches of snow basically means no flights on Wednesday which would thus mean NO TRIP! No way that was happening!

All day today we've been scrambling...parents talking, us doing research and trying to figure out how we're going to make things work. Alas, it seems as if things have finally fallen into place.
We are currently booking a flight out of JFK tomorrow night at 7:49 PM that will get in at 10:45. Acadia is taking a 1 AM bus from State College into NYC tonight and then taking a train to my house. Danielle's dad will be driving us all to the airport tomorrow and I will be calling Disney now to see if we can get an extension on our room at AoA.

I know...IT'S CRAZY! But there's no way we're letting this superstorm ruin our trip to Disney that we've been planning for so long! So now with one day less to get everything in order, I have to hastily go pack, run some errands, and get my last minute stuff done before we leave tomorrow.

But have no fear, the minute we arrive back on Saturday I will be officially starting this trip report for everyone. I'm so beyond excited to be going to Disney World with my best friends and hope you all will follow along this journey with us!

 

[danitaytay]

Day Three, Part Four:

We got to Akershus and were seated at exactly 8. Our first stop was to meet Belle before being seated.
We were kind of rushed through our interaction with her because of the long line of people who had to meet her, and I was really disappointed because that was Acadia and Danielle's favorite princess and I really wanted Belle to get a good look at their ears. She did see them and really admired them but the CM handler rushed her and told her she had to say goodbye before we could get in any discussions about them.

We were all feeling pretty dehydrated so we all ordered water and then hit up the appetizer buffet. The last time I ate here I made the mistake of filling up too much on the buffet but everything was so yummy so I tried to limit myself this time. I got some bread, cucumber salad, grilled asparagus, and different cheeses. Everything was really good, although the cucumber salad was a bit too bitter for my liking.
Looking back at these pictures makes me hungry!

For dinner, both Acadia and Danielle got the stuffed pasta, Chelsea got the salmon two ways, and I got the traditional kjottkake (Norwegian meatballs) which I had last time and absolutely loved. Everything was delicious!
I unfortunately only have a picture of my meal but it was just as yummy as I remembered it. It also made me extremely happy to have a large serving of vegetables on the plate. I feel like Disney always forgets to include those!

Just as our entrees came out all the princesses arrived so we nervously started to shove our food down our throats so we didn’t have to worry about eating when meeting the princesses. We met Cinderella, then Ariel, Snow White, and lastly Aurora. All were super sweet and our custom Minnie ears were a huge hit with all of them.
My biggest complaint about Akershus or any character dining restaurant in general is that I've come to find that the lighting in all of them is so bad. Every time I go to a character meal the pictures come out so badly because there's always little/no lighting or just bad colored lighting in general. While I think these pictures came out cute, I wish I didn't have to worry about the blurred lights in the background or how dark it was without flash for the price I was paying for the meal and to meet the princesses.

Finally the dessert trio came out but most of us were too full but we could always count on Chelsea who has a bottomless stomach and she ate most of the dessert for us.

We were a bit surprised at how expensive the dinner was but for the delicious food and character interactions we deemed it pretty worth it. We finished dinner at exactly 9 and rushed right outside because we already missed the start of Illuminations. We found a nice spot right next to China to watch the fireworks but started to walk back towards the exit of the park towards the end of the fireworks because we didn’t want to get stuck in the massive crowds.

Goodnight Epcot!

We got to the bus stop and managed to get towards the front of the line which eventually grew extremely long, but no bus came for 40 minutes! Everybody on the line was getting outraged as it was freezing and every other hotel had already had at least 2-3 buses to pick up the masses of people waiting to leave. Finally when the bus did come we had to wait an extra 15 minutes for two huge families to load with their ECVs, and then another family tried to cut the entire huge line because they also had a scooter and the bus driver told them it wasn’t fair and they’d have to wait. We literally piled onto the bus and ended up giving up our seats to let some younger children sit. The only issue was that Acadia and Danielle had to use the bathroom extremely bad and it was hilarious watching them try to hold their bladders and balance on the bus the entire ride back. When we finally got back to the hotel the two of them literally sprinted into the lobby to use the restroom.

We were back in the room by 10:15, so we unwound and I made everyone watch Stacy’s Must-do’s before finally passing out.

Third Day Summary:
Total Miles Walked = 10.3
The Good - lots of yummy treats
The Bad - the bus fiasco
We were surprised by - how cool the new Soarin was
Today I tried - the new Frozen ride
The Result…I miss Maelstrom but it was really cute!
In one word today was…Adventurous!

Coming up...a bus, a monorail, and a boat! Will we ever make it to the Magic Kingdom?!

 

[ELeigh]

Every time I go to a character meal the pictures come out so badly because there's always little/no lighting or just bad colored lighting in general.

I agree! The worst I have experienced was Hollywood & Vine, we went for breakfast a few years ago so my daughter could meet the Disney Jr characters and there was way too much light every picture was washed out and then there are some places like Akershus with no light :/.

 

[danitaytay]

I agree! The worst I have experienced was Hollywood & Vine, we went for breakfast a few years ago so my daughter could meet the Disney Jr characters and there was way too much light every picture was washed out and then there are some places like Akershus with no light :/.

Exactly! I remember going to the Garden Grill a few years back and it was so awfully lit there. I think the best place to go for pictures is Crystal Palace but only because it has all that natural light from the glass windows.

 

[Gurt]

It's sad you didn't get much interaction with Belle she is my favourite princess too.

 

[fractal]

This may win the "Most Smiles" award for Trip Reports!

 

[danitaytay]

It's sad you didn't get much interaction with Belle she is my favourite princess too.

I know! I felt bad at first but we got other chances to meet characters they liked so it made up for it!

This may win the "Most Smiles" award for Trip Reports!

Aw, thank you so much how can you not be constantly smiling when you're in the most magical place on earth, haha!

 

[danitaytay]

Day Four!
Friday, March 9th, 2018: There's some new princesses in the kingdom!

My alarm woke me up at 6:30 and I was extremely tired and sluggish. It took a bit more effort to get ready today but we eventually all made it out the door at 7:30. Danielle and Chelsea grabbed food to go while Acadia and I just decided to pass on breakfast.
The bus line for the Magic Kingdom was absolutely insane and we knew that we’d be waiting forever so using my handy dandy knowledge of Disney I suggested we take the bus to Epcot and then the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. All in all it probably took the same amount of time it would’ve taken to just take the bus to the Magic Kingdom but this version was way more scenic and once we got off at the transportation and ticket center we actually decided to take the ferry into the Magic Kingdom since it was beautiful outside!
Our first sights of the kingdom!

We made it into the park at 8:40 towards the tail-end of EMH, but it gave us enough time to get some cute pictures in front of the castle with our matching tank tops and ears before the crowds got absolutely insane.
Back in December we got a text from Danielle's mom asking us what our shirt sizes were. We weren't sure what she was planning but had a feeling it would be something related to our Disney trip. Fast forward to February and these adorable custom tank tops come in the mail for us! We wore them very proudly throughout the park and I made sure to scream "WE ARE!" to anybody wearing Penn State gear (there were surprisingly a lot!) much to all of my friends' dismay.

Our first stop of the day much to my dismay was It’s a Small World, which I knew would be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. I just find the ride so irritating and it’s a bit upsetting how many of the dolls don’t work correctly. Once we all got off we agreed that the ride indeed is extremely annoying but just shrugged it off and then went on the Haunted Mansion. Danielle and Chelsea were hysterically laughing throughout the entire stretching room because Acadia and I know the ghost host’s monologue by heart and were reciting it along with him…in a very dramatic fashion of course.
As we're walking through the queue, Chelsea turns to me and says "This is my favorite ride! But just warning you I get really jumpy when things pop out at me." Well of course I volunteered to sit with her this time through and completely forgot about her warning. Of course we get to the graveyard and the part where the ghosts spring out of the tombstones comes up and Chelsea's literally lying on my lap covering her eyes. I was laughing so hard I was crying!

We survived our happy haunts and headed over to Peter Pan afterwards. After our journey over Neverland (which Chelsea kept calling “The Netherlands”, by the way), we walked right onto Mickey’s Philarmagic, a ride I absolutely love.
This is a picture I took for my mom! Ever since my sister and I were little, we'd take a picture inside Philarmagic with our 3-D glasses upside down. We always get weird stares doing it, but it made my mom so happy when I sent her the picture!

Our first FP for Thunder Mountain was coming up at 10:30 so we decided to go on the wildest ride in the wilderness! On the way over there, the funniest moment happened though! There was a CM walking around with Big Al from the Country Bears, and Acadia really wanted to say hi to him but couldn’t remember his name. So the CM told her if she sang one of their songs he’d let her know his name. And all of a sudden she starts belting Blood on the Saddle and everyone is hysterically laughing. Big Al was just standing there covering his ears as it wasn’t a pretty sound to hear. It was probably one of the best character interactions we had the entire trip.
And it's time for the wildest ride in the wildnerness!

We stopped for some PP pictures outside BTMRR because I always get sad when I'm reminded they don't take on-ride photos. Unfortunately the sun was extremely strong and this was the only picture we took where all of our eyes were open!

After BTMRR we got a return time for Jungle Cruise with my DAS pass and decided to pass the time by getting a dole whip. My favorite treat! I couldn’t finish it all on my own so I let everyone share it with me.

Coming up... photoshoots!

 

[Gurt]

Love the matching ears and outfits.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Loving your report! Trips with friends are so much fun

 

[danitaytay]

Hi everyone! I want to apologize for the lack of updates lately. To say college has been unforgiving is an understatement. I've barely had time to sleep, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer for another update. So here it is!

Day Four, Part Two:

Chelsea really wanted to meet Aladdin and Jasmine so we went on line and the CM told us the wait wouldn’t be long but we ended up waiting almost 35 minutes to meet them. No big deal, and we had a funny interaction with them about Penn State and how we should transfer to “Agrabah University” so we could learn how to fly magic carpets.

It was then time for the Jungle Cruise and I thought the skipper we had was probably the best one I’ve had on the ride.
We collectively decided we needed to feed ourselves since Acadia and I didn’t have breakfast so we walked over to Tomorrowland and went to Cosmic Ray’s for lunch.
But first...another selfie!

Since the moment we got on the plane to Disney I’d been craving Disney chicken nuggets and french fries and my wish was finally granted! We all got the same thing and took advantage of the topping bar by loading up on pickles. Chelsea and Danielle risked getting us kicked out of the park by repeatedly stealing pickles as “snacks” at least two more times throughout the day.
Yummy!!

After lunch it was the moment I’d been waiting for all trip…it was time to meet Stitch!!! The three other girls let me interact with him all by myself before jumping in and I was so excited. Stitch absolutely loved my special ears in honor of him and he gave me lots of big hugs.
We got some really cute pictures as a group together and then continued our picture session by heading over to the infamous purple wall and having a full-blown photoshoot.
I've honestly never been happier in my life

We weren’t the only ones with a photoshoot in mind though, as a mother of young twins came over too and was hilariously posing them. She was telling us how she had read about the wall on a Disney blog too and couldn’t wait to take pictures in front of it.

We then went on Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which I think gets funnier each time I go on it. After that it was time to become galactic heroes! Unfortunately for me this time I wasn’t even close. I only got 30,000 which I think is a new low for me.
We were in desperate need of a nap and Acadia insisted we had to go on the Carousel of Progress so I got a nice 20 minute nap in and simultaneously got “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. The Peoplemover was up next and Danielle got freaked out by the flat escalator, don’t ask me why.
I really love the view of the castle from the peoplemover!

Our mission to get as dizzy as possible came up next at the Tea Cups where we spun so fast I thought our cup would go flying off the ride! I don’t think any of us could walk straight getting off.

It was then time for our second FP for the Mine Train at 4. The FP line was ridiculously long, stretching back all the way to the bridge that heads to Be Our Guest. While we were waiting on line, we started to feel something wet hitting our legs and we just thought it was some little kid with a spray bottle or blowing bubbles. But then all of a sudden we heard this kid going “Yes! Got them!” and turned around to see this 4 or 5 year old boy literally aiming at us and spitting on us. We were absolutely disgusted and mortified. The worst part was that his parents knew he was spitting on us and did absolutely nothing. We were stuck in front of him the entire line and kept hiding because he kept trying to spit on us. The only good thing that came out of waiting on that line was that Danielle got a red card and then I got upset because it’s every Disney fan’s dream to get a red card, so she gave me one too! The CM collecting them at the top was very confused when we handed her two cards.
Mission accomplished!

After the spitting fiasco we were finally on the ride and we had a ton of fun! I know a lot of people don’t love the Mine Train but I really do like it! After 7DMT we waited on an extremely long standby line for the Little Mermaid ride which would’ve been fine if the queue wasn’t so hot. Throughout the trip we’d been playing Heads Up to keep us busy on whatever line we didn’t literally walk right through so we kept ourselves entertained with the Disney deck. It was a lot of fun! Our final FP for Space Mountain was at 5:30 and when we got there the FP line was literally stretching all the way to the Peoplemover. It moved pretty fast considering and then we were off screaming in space!
Poor Acadia got left behind in the next vehicle on this one.

Coming up... I got hit by a firework!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

It's absolutely horrible that y'all had to dodge spit showers from little Tommy, but unfortunately that's how kids behave nowadays because parents fail to discipline their children and reward bad behavior. It's in situations like that when I want to jerk a knot in someone else's child then jerk a knot in the parents for not jerking a knot in their own kid.

How did y'all get the red card? They only give those to people in the standby line. I thought y'all were in the FP line?

 

[Rista1313]

I would have said.. excuse me... could you please refrain your child from spitting on me. It's disgusting... thanks!

 

[danitaytay]

It's absolutely horrible that y'all had to dodge spit showers from little Tommy, but unfortunately that's how kids behave nowadays because parents fail to discipline their children and reward bad behavior. It's in situations like that when I want to jerk a knot in someone else's child then jerk a knot in the parents for not jerking a knot in their own kid.

It's absolutely crazy! I know I'm not much older than this younger generation, but when I was that age I would NEVER do anything like that. If I did my parents would have me on a plane back home within minutes. It's crazy how parents nowadays just let stuff like that happen.

How did y'all get the red card? They only give those to people in the standby line. I thought y'all were in the FP line?

I would have said.. excuse me... could you please refrain your child from spitting on me. It's disgusting... thanks!

We did make it loud and clear that the child was spitting on us but the parents just laughed at it and tried pulling him away, but it kept continuing!

 

[danitaytay]

Day Four, Part Three:

Danielle was craving ice cream so she got herself a soft serve and I got myself a sprite because I was feeling very thirsty and a bit low on energy. Next up it was time for Splash Mountain and we were all really excited. Every drop leading up to the big one we all would trick Chelsea into thinking it was the real big drop. She would scream like a maniac every single one and then yell at us for tricking her. It was hilarious!
Some quick selfies while we're still dry!

At this point it was nearing dinner time but Danielle was still full from her ice cream so we decided to go to Pecos Bill’s. Acadia, Chelsea, and I shared both a chicken nachos and a beef nachos and loaded them up with tons of toppings on the side. My only request to Disney is to put more cheese on the nachos! For the $12 we paid for the nachos there was literally no cheese on them!

After dinner it was time for a trip to the hundred acre woods and we walked right onto Pooh. The MDE app was wrong and told me that the fireworks were at 9 pm tonight because the park was open until 11 but apparently they started at 8 so as we were getting off the ride we started to hear big booms and went running outside. We just decided to watch from the back of the castle and miss the projections because we knew we’d never get to the front of the castle in time. I really enjoyed the fireworks but I still do prefer Wishes and really miss Wishes, especially considering that’s the fireworks show I grew up knowing and loving.

And then the strangest thing happened! Towards the end of the show I felt something hard hit me in the shoulder. I was kind of confused as to what is was but it was dark so I couldn’t see anything. So I turned the flashlight on my phone on and shone it on the ground. There was a small round cardboard looking thing and I picked it up and it smelled like fire! When I brought it to a CM she told me it was probably a piece of a firework! Everyone around me was jokingly telling me to sue Disney but I couldn’t believe I got hit by a piece of a firework. I thought it was hilarious! And of course there was no way I wasn’t bringing it home with me so I snuck it back on the plane with me (still don’t know how it got through security with the residue on it) and it’s now displayed in my room!
It doesn't look like much, but it's definitely a piece of a firework!

After we watched the fireworks Danielle really wanted to see Once Upon a Time which was at 8:45 so we made our way to the front of the castle and found the perfect spot on a curb right in front of the castle. We sat and waited until the show. We all really loved it! I thought it was beautiful and really nostalgic.
It's always so hard to get good pictures in front of the castle at night, but we tried.

Next up was another ride on the Haunted Mansion! Chelsea had put our shared dinner on her magicband so I had promised her a giant churro with chocolate sauce so that was our next stop. We all ended up getting one but in reality we probably could’ve all shared. They were huge! I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a churro but it was so yummy.
Giant churro selfies!

After stuffing our faces we had made a 4th FP for Buzz Lightyear at 9:30 so we sprinted back over to Tomorrowland. Once again I did really badly…I must’ve really been having an off day.
Lots of focus here...unfortunately it didn't reward me much.

It was getting close to 10 and Danielle had to go to the Emporium and pick up some gifts for her family so we decided our last ride of the day would be Thunder Mountain in the dark. In my opinion it’s way crazier and a lot more fun in the dark!

We literally sprinted to the Emporium after BTMRR to get there before closing and all split up on a mission to get what we needed. I got my mom and dad a 2018 ornament and my sister an adorable Minnie shot glass as she collects them from everywhere we go.
After everyone purchased what they needed we left the park at exactly 11 and waved goodbye to the beautiful castle. There weren’t many people on the bus so we actually got to sit our tired bodies down and got back at 11:30. I took a quick shower, threw some of my things in my suitcase and absolutely passed out around 12:45.

Fourth Day Summary:
Total Miles Walked = 11.4
The Good - got everything done that we wanted to and met Stitch!!
The Bad - missing part of the fireworks and having a kid spit on us
We were surprised by - how expensive the nachos were (seriously…12 for just chips with cheese and meat?!)
Today I tried - the new castle projection show
The Result...incredible
In one word today was…Magical!!!

 

[danitaytay]

Day Five!
Saturday, March 10th, 2018: Some last magic!

Hollywood Studios didn’t have EMH this morning so I got to sleep in all the way until 7 am! We got ready and packed up our suitcases, and Acadia and I finally shared that oreo rice krispie treat we had bought the first day. It was super yummy and let’s be real, if you don’t have a rice krispie treat at least one morning for breakfast are you really in Disney?! Chelsea had a bit of a hard time fitting everything into her suitcase but we finally got it closed and said goodbye to our room. Danielle and Chelsea grabbed egg sandwiches and we dropped our bags off at bell services.

There was this awesome wall we'd been eyeing all week right by the bus stop so since the line for Hollywood Studios was so long, we decided to take some pictures in front of it!
I was happily sporting my new rose gold ears today!

We were on the bus to Hollywood Studios by 8:40 and at the park exactly at opening. Before heading over to Tower of Terror, we took some photopass pictures in front of the Chinese Theater. I still really miss the Sorcerer’s Hat (I know, unpopular opinion)!

I checked the MDE app to see what the wait times were like and ToT had practically no wait so that would be our first stop for the day. On the way there we saw a PP photographer with no line so we stopped for some pictures!

The photographer told us to "look scared like we were on the ride"...you'll come to see from the ride photos that our acting is nowhere near our actual scared faces, lol!

There was only a five minute wait for ToT so we walked right on and Chelsea was freaking out. We got on the ride and were trying to buckle our seat belts and the CM kept telling us “buckle from right to left” but Chelsea kept trying to buckle from left to right. So the CM looked at her started laughing and said, “don’t worry sweetie…tomorrow we’ll learn our colors and shapes.” We were in absolute stitches. And then when she told us to pull on the yellow strap, Chelsea couldn’t find it so she jokingly said “it’s okay, we didn’t go over that yet!”. There were literal tears coming out of my eyes from laughing so much.
We survived!

We had a really fun group riding with us and everyone was laughing and joking around. Chelsea kept letting out what she called “pre-screams” because she kept thinking it was time to drop. When we got off the ride I finally got to see Bellhop Stitch in person and he was adorable! I wish they sold him.
He is just so dang cute!

It’s crazy because between the time of us walking right onto the ride to walking right off it the wait time for ToT went from five minutes to forty-five. I had mixed up our fastpasses and thought that our first fastpass at 9:40 was for ToT but it was actually for Toy Story and when I tried to scan my band at ToT the CM made fun of me and told me I was a bad planner. We hustled on over to Toy Story Midway Mania and scanned our bands. The FP line was really long but moved surprisingly quickly and we were on the ride within 15 minutes. I got 150,000 which was okay for me but definitely not my best. I still got best in the vehicle though! I get super competitive and hardcore during TSMM and get upset if I don’t win.

Definitely not my best score...I usually get close to 200,000!

After our little competition it was time for Rock n Roller Coaster. I think this is the first time I actually liked it. Our 2nd FP was up for ToT at 10:45…the right time now! After screaming our heads off we browsed some of the gift shops and I got an adorable pullover sweatshirt with Stitch on it and emblems from all four parks. I love it and it’s so cozy!
Of course I can't forget about Rocker Stitch! I am so obsessed with Stitch, I wish there was a way to purchase all these different dressed up Stitch's. They're just so cute!

Before we knew it it was time for our 3rd FP for Star Tours. The most uncomfortable moment of the trip happened while waiting to board the ride. A mother started screaming at her 17 year old son because he wouldn’t tell her who he was texting. This argument went on for like 10 minutes and she was screaming so loudly everybody could hear her. She was cursing so much and the boy and the rest of their family looked mortified. None of us knew what to do so we all just looked down at our feet until we got on the ride. The ride made Danielle feel really woozy so we decided it was time for some lunch.

Coming up...the hardest part of every trip

 

[danitaytay]

So I am finally done with my sophomore year at Penn State and that means it's officially summertime! So with that I think this is the perfect time to wrap up this trip report...

Day Five, Part Two:

We ended up at Pizzarizzo for lunch and all of us got cheese pizzas which came with a small caesar salad. For some reason they gave Acadia two salads and when she asked them why she just said “they both come with your meal” but everybody else only got one so we were confused.
Pretty typical tasting for a Disney pizza...but I still miss Pizza Planet!

Danielle really wanted to go on Muppetvision after lunch but anyone who knows me knows that is my least favorite ride in all of Disney so I took that opportunity to take a nap. The consensus from everyone when we walked off was that it was just as outdated and bad as I remembered. We took a walk through Walt Disney Presents and admired all the models and wondered how long it takes to put them together and how frustrating of a job that would be.

We then waited on line to meet Groot and Starlord and Chelsea was genuinely disappointed that the guy playing Starlord wasn’t actually Chris Pratt. We told her only real VIPs get to meet Chris Pratt as Starlord.

We had another return time for TSMM and somehow I got the same exact score as I got the first time! I guess we can say I'm consistent at least.

On the way over to the Frozen show we saw this cute little car by the Sci-Fi dine in and decided to take some pictures. We were standing in a short line waiting our turn and for some reason people just kept jumping in front of us. I don't know if they didn't see the line or something but finally a dad waiting behind us finally spoke up and we got our turn.

Our time at the park was coming to a close so we decided the last thing we’d do was the Frozen show at 2:30 before heading out. On the way over Acadia and Chelsea got another Mickey ice cream and Chelsea got chocolate all over her face. It was hilarious.
I'm pretty sure that the four of us were singing all of the songs louder than the little kids. No shame!

We really liked the Frozen show and thought it was super cute. But unfortunately it was now 3 and it was time to head back to the hotel. We said goodbye to Hollywood Studios and hopped on a bus back to AoA. We had about an hour until the Tragical Express picked us up so we decided to get some snacks before leaving. I got a funfetti cupcake and Chelsea, Acadia, and Danielle got a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie with a million different things on it.
This cupcake was SO good!

We grabbed our bags from the bell hop and changed into comfier and warmer clothes in the bathroom because it was currently 25 degrees back in New York. We boarded the Tragical Express at 4:25 and I absolutely passed out on the bus. Before I knew it we were pulling up to MCO. Online check it went smoothly for us and we got through security much quicker than we did on the way there. Once we got to our gate we all bought some snacks and I got myself some pasta salad and goldfish to snack on.

We don't want to leave

Our flight boarded a bit late because apparently a kid got sick right at the entranceway to the plane and they had to clean it up. Unfortunately that also meant that our plane smelled like a sick child for the first half of the flight. I was plugging my nose the entire time. Fortunately the delay only had us taking off at 8:10 instead of 7:45 and we actually ended up landing early around 9:55. I surprisingly slept almost the entire flight which is rare for me because I have such a hard time falling asleep on planes. Shows how much Disney World can exhaust you!

None of us had checked our bags this time around so we made our way outside Laguardia and found Chelsea's parents, who would be dropping Acadia, Danielle, and I off at her house so my dad could pick us up and bring us home. On the way back we dropped Acadia and Danielle off at Danielle's house and finally pulled into my driveway just before midnight.

I think it's safe to assume that I passed out shortly after arriving home! I unfortunately had a bus back to State College the next afternoon and I hadn't unpacked my stuff from Disney yet nor packed up my stuff to take back to school!

Fifth Day Summary:
Total miles walked = 6.2
The Good - got to ride TSMM twice!
The Bad - leaving Disney
We were surprised by - how crazy the waits get when there's barely any attractions at HS!
Today I tried - the new Frozen show
The Result...adorable!
In one word today was…bittersweet.

Coming up...Final thoughts on the trip

 

[danitaytay]

Final Trip Thoughts...

It's definitely bittersweet wrapping up this TR because this was such an amazing trip. This was one of my shortest trips to Disney ever but in all honesty, it didn't really feel like it. We got everything done that we wanted to and had so much fun!

Even though that meant we only slept 4-5 hours a night and it would take days to recover once getting back to school, I wouldn't give back this trip for anything. I know it's something I will cherish forever and the fact that I got to spend it with my 3 best friends made it even more incredible.

Now for the breakdown of my thoughts of certain things...

The hotel: When booking the hotel we chose Art of Animation simply because of its value. We knew we wanted to stay on Disney property for the convenience, but we also didn't want to spend a ton of money in doing so because we knew we wouldn't be in the room much. In my thoughts the hotel was perfect. The rooms were adorable and the perfect size for 4 people. It definitely did not lack in the Disney magic either! While my family usually stays at the Poly, Grand Floridian, or Beach Club, I wouldn't deny staying at AoA again!

The food: the only ADR we booked in advance was Akershus because we didn't want to waste a lot of money and time sitting at reservations. We all really enjoyed Akershus and the interactions with the princesses, but it definitely was an extremely pricey meal. I would definitely recommend it to anyone though...it's one of my favorite restaurants at Disney!
We also were able to walk right into Rainforest Cafe while we were in Disney Springs. I hadn't been there since I was a little girl and I thought it was cute, but definitely way overpriced. I mean...$20 for a regular hamburger?! No thanks.
Besides those two table service restaurants, all of the quick service restaurants we went to were really good. Our favorites were probably Sauli Canteen in AK and La Cantina de San Angel in Epcot. We snacked a lot and everything was really yummy!

The parks itself: We had a blast at all four parks. Pandora absolutely blew us away and we really enjoyed exploring everything in all of the parks. Of course as expected, there isn't much to do at Hollywood Studios, but that will for sure change in a month from now. I think in the five days we were there we got everything done that we were able to.

So that's about it for my Spring Break 2018 TR! I can't believe it's finally come to and end but I want to thank everyone so much for following along and giving input. I don't know the next time I'll be back in the world (hopefully soon!) but unfortunately things are difficult when you're in college and my parents aren't the first people to say "Let's go to Disney!". But until next time, catch me on the boards anywhere it's just about all that I do in my spare time, lol!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Enjoined reading your TR! Hopefully it won't be too long before you have to start writing another!