I should probably introduce myself, since I'm pretty new here. I'm Melissa. I'm 24, and I'm a California girl who's been transplanted to New Jersey, where I live with my boyfriend, Danny. Danny grew up in Central Florida and is a seasoned veteran of Disney World, but this will be only my fourth trip.
Here we are. What isn't completely obvious in this photo is that we're enjoying Italian margheritas at the Italy pavilion in Epcot, one of our favorite things to do in the World.
There are 50 days left until my Danny and I return to the Happiest Place on Earth to celebrate his 30th birthday. I know we have a long way to go yet, but I'm already entering the "too excited to sleep" phase. Danny's parents were generous enough to buy our plane tickets for us as a birthday gift, so now our itinerary is completely confirmed and paid. I consider this post a celebratory one.
We'll be arriving at MCO at approximately 11:03 AM on Tuesday, January 5th. That means that we should be at Port Orleans French Quarter well before the "official" 3:00 PM check-in time. As such, we'll ditch our carry-ons with bell services and begin our tour of the parks the same way we always do: with a visit to the Magic Kingdom. After stopping in Town Hall for Danny's birthday button and a Disney Dollar (we have one from each of our trips to Disneyland and Disney World) we should be able to hit a few rides before our early dinner reservation at Kona Café. The reservation is for 5:00 PM, so we be back in the Magic Kingdom within plenty of time to see Spectro Magic and Wishes before turning in after what will undoubtedly have been a very long day.
Our first full day in the World will be spent primarily at Epcot. We intended to make a reservation for Le Cellier for dinner that night, but the only time they had available when I made ADRs was 8:45 PM and frankly, seeing Illuminations was more important to us. We knew that we wanted to try Kouzzina at least once for breakfast and once for dinner, and it just worked out that both of those reservations worked best for the 6th, so we'll be dining there twice that day. Lunch will be at Les Chefs de France, another new experience for us. The remainder of the day will probably be spent around World Showcase.
We're splitting our day on the Thursday the 7th between Hollywood Studios (I still have trouble remembering not to call it MGM anymore) and Animal Kingdom. I know that a half a day doesn't do either of these parks justice, but we do have quite a bit of free time over the weekend to do whatever we see fit, so we might end up spending a bit more time in one or both of these parks. If not, we'll make sure do hit all of our "must sees" on this day. The highlight of Thursday for me is a 7:00 PM dinner reservation at Jiko, my favorite restaurant on property so far. I understand that Jiko have acquired a new executive chef since my last visit. I don't know much about Chef Brett Hill, but I'm interested to see what if anything has changed under the new regime. Chef Brian Piasecki was wonderful and I hope he's enjoying his new position at California Grill. Hopefully we'll visit he and his team on our next trip.
Friday we'll be back at Epcot and will likely spend the majority of our day in Future World, save a lunch reservation at Le Cellier. I really wasn't thrilled about this reservation. I would have much preferred to have dinner there as we tend to eat light lunches and that means we likely won't be in the mood for a steak while we visit what some proclaim to be the best steakhouse on property. I'm not too disappointed, however, as much of the lunch menu looks outstanding. Back in Future World, I hope to revisit old favorites like Soarin' and Spaceship Earth, as well as experiencing some attractions I've previously overlooked, like Universe of Energy and Journey into Imagination. My knowledge of this side of the park is limited, so if anybody has any tips for me, I'm all ears.
Dinner this night is at Coral Reef, another of our favorites.
Saturday is Danny's birthday, and it will likely be a day of leisure. We've tentatively planned to play miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens in the morning, but if sleeping in sounds better come game time, we might sacrifice this plan. We're also hoping to meet up with some of Danny's local friends over the weekend, so we're trying to keep our days loose. We don't want anybody to feel pressured to pay for a park ticket just to meet up with us. We currently have a reservation at the Yachtsman for dinner, but that might change depending on who decides to come visit with us. Our one definite plan for the evening is to be at Jellyrolls when the doors open because we love it there and figure it will be a good place to celebrate a birthday. It's a fun atmosphere, especially if you have a large group, so if any of you other World travelers will be in town on the 9th and would like to join us, please feel free to seek us out. Also, if anybody has any fun ideas for ways I can surprise Danny on his birthday, I'd like to hear those. He's not looking forward to this particular birthday and I'd like to make sure he has a really good day.
Sunday we have no definite plans or reservations, but we're thinking we'll do most of the day at Downtown Disney. I'd like to try the new Paradiso 37 at some point. We always kind of toy with the idea of doing the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues, but that has, once again, found itself on the back burner for this trip. We were also considering going to Campfire on de' Bayou at Riverside in the evening, but I haven't seen many positive reviews about that particular event. Does anybody else have any experience with it? We like the idea of being able to walk back to our room afterward, but if the campfire at Fort Wilderness is a far superior event, we might do that instead.
Monday will be our last full day in the World, and we'll be going back to Magic Kingdom. We have reservations at Kona Café for breakfast and the Grand Floridian Café for lunch, and all I care about doing in between those two things is seeing the post-refurbishment Space Mountain. It's my favorite ride in Disneyland and I want to see if the alterations make it my favorite in the Magic Kingdom, too. Again, I'm hoping to do a few of the overlooked attractions this day. For instance, we almost never ride the Jungle Cruise and I've never been on the Magic Kingdom's Tom Sawyer Island. I'm also hoping that this will be the trip where I finally tour the Hall of Presidents. Once again, I'd love to hear about your favorite overlooked attractions in the Magic Kingdom.
Tuesday is checkout day. Our flight departs at 6:05 PM, so we have all morning and a couple hours in the afternoon to spend however we see fit. The day will probably include some last minute shopping and a misty-eyed goodbye on my part, but other than that, we're open. What do you like to do on your last day?
Thanks for reading! I know this was a little long-winded, but I just can't contain my enthusiasm anymore. I'm like a kid counting down the days to Christmas.
Here we are. What isn't completely obvious in this photo is that we're enjoying Italian margheritas at the Italy pavilion in Epcot, one of our favorite things to do in the World.
There are 50 days left until my Danny and I return to the Happiest Place on Earth to celebrate his 30th birthday. I know we have a long way to go yet, but I'm already entering the "too excited to sleep" phase. Danny's parents were generous enough to buy our plane tickets for us as a birthday gift, so now our itinerary is completely confirmed and paid. I consider this post a celebratory one.
We'll be arriving at MCO at approximately 11:03 AM on Tuesday, January 5th. That means that we should be at Port Orleans French Quarter well before the "official" 3:00 PM check-in time. As such, we'll ditch our carry-ons with bell services and begin our tour of the parks the same way we always do: with a visit to the Magic Kingdom. After stopping in Town Hall for Danny's birthday button and a Disney Dollar (we have one from each of our trips to Disneyland and Disney World) we should be able to hit a few rides before our early dinner reservation at Kona Café. The reservation is for 5:00 PM, so we be back in the Magic Kingdom within plenty of time to see Spectro Magic and Wishes before turning in after what will undoubtedly have been a very long day.
Our first full day in the World will be spent primarily at Epcot. We intended to make a reservation for Le Cellier for dinner that night, but the only time they had available when I made ADRs was 8:45 PM and frankly, seeing Illuminations was more important to us. We knew that we wanted to try Kouzzina at least once for breakfast and once for dinner, and it just worked out that both of those reservations worked best for the 6th, so we'll be dining there twice that day. Lunch will be at Les Chefs de France, another new experience for us. The remainder of the day will probably be spent around World Showcase.
We're splitting our day on the Thursday the 7th between Hollywood Studios (I still have trouble remembering not to call it MGM anymore) and Animal Kingdom. I know that a half a day doesn't do either of these parks justice, but we do have quite a bit of free time over the weekend to do whatever we see fit, so we might end up spending a bit more time in one or both of these parks. If not, we'll make sure do hit all of our "must sees" on this day. The highlight of Thursday for me is a 7:00 PM dinner reservation at Jiko, my favorite restaurant on property so far. I understand that Jiko have acquired a new executive chef since my last visit. I don't know much about Chef Brett Hill, but I'm interested to see what if anything has changed under the new regime. Chef Brian Piasecki was wonderful and I hope he's enjoying his new position at California Grill. Hopefully we'll visit he and his team on our next trip.
Friday we'll be back at Epcot and will likely spend the majority of our day in Future World, save a lunch reservation at Le Cellier. I really wasn't thrilled about this reservation. I would have much preferred to have dinner there as we tend to eat light lunches and that means we likely won't be in the mood for a steak while we visit what some proclaim to be the best steakhouse on property. I'm not too disappointed, however, as much of the lunch menu looks outstanding. Back in Future World, I hope to revisit old favorites like Soarin' and Spaceship Earth, as well as experiencing some attractions I've previously overlooked, like Universe of Energy and Journey into Imagination. My knowledge of this side of the park is limited, so if anybody has any tips for me, I'm all ears.
Saturday is Danny's birthday, and it will likely be a day of leisure. We've tentatively planned to play miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens in the morning, but if sleeping in sounds better come game time, we might sacrifice this plan. We're also hoping to meet up with some of Danny's local friends over the weekend, so we're trying to keep our days loose. We don't want anybody to feel pressured to pay for a park ticket just to meet up with us. We currently have a reservation at the Yachtsman for dinner, but that might change depending on who decides to come visit with us. Our one definite plan for the evening is to be at Jellyrolls when the doors open because we love it there and figure it will be a good place to celebrate a birthday. It's a fun atmosphere, especially if you have a large group, so if any of you other World travelers will be in town on the 9th and would like to join us, please feel free to seek us out. Also, if anybody has any fun ideas for ways I can surprise Danny on his birthday, I'd like to hear those. He's not looking forward to this particular birthday and I'd like to make sure he has a really good day.
Sunday we have no definite plans or reservations, but we're thinking we'll do most of the day at Downtown Disney. I'd like to try the new Paradiso 37 at some point. We always kind of toy with the idea of doing the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues, but that has, once again, found itself on the back burner for this trip. We were also considering going to Campfire on de' Bayou at Riverside in the evening, but I haven't seen many positive reviews about that particular event. Does anybody else have any experience with it? We like the idea of being able to walk back to our room afterward, but if the campfire at Fort Wilderness is a far superior event, we might do that instead.
Monday will be our last full day in the World, and we'll be going back to Magic Kingdom. We have reservations at Kona Café for breakfast and the Grand Floridian Café for lunch, and all I care about doing in between those two things is seeing the post-refurbishment Space Mountain. It's my favorite ride in Disneyland and I want to see if the alterations make it my favorite in the Magic Kingdom, too. Again, I'm hoping to do a few of the overlooked attractions this day. For instance, we almost never ride the Jungle Cruise and I've never been on the Magic Kingdom's Tom Sawyer Island. I'm also hoping that this will be the trip where I finally tour the Hall of Presidents. Once again, I'd love to hear about your favorite overlooked attractions in the Magic Kingdom.
Tuesday is checkout day. Our flight departs at 6:05 PM, so we have all morning and a couple hours in the afternoon to spend however we see fit. The day will probably include some last minute shopping and a misty-eyed goodbye on my part, but other than that, we're open. What do you like to do on your last day?
Thanks for reading! I know this was a little long-winded, but I just can't contain my enthusiasm anymore. I'm like a kid counting down the days to Christmas.
