The I Planned it All and Threw My Plans Out the Window TR

Hey everybody!! I got home from my family's first WDW vacation late last Friday night and have been feverishly uploading pics ever since.
It was hot and more crowded than I expected but I had a wonderful time at Disney. The trip that I spent a year planning came to life and I got to see the sights I had been longing to see.

So... first a little background. I did a PTR on this site but in case you didn't read it, my name is Cassie. I am the proud mommy of 2 beautiful kiddos, DD6 and DS4. I have a very handsome hubby Marshall who doesn't share my Disney love but was excited to go on vacation anyway. Also featured in this TR you will find my aunt Wilma and cousins Samantha, Kai, and Elijah. They live in Orlando (where my husband and I grew up) and I hadn't seen them in a few years. I planned everything for me as well as for them as my aunt isn't very good at that sort of thing.

We were in Disney from 5/19 until 5/24. My aunt left on 5/23 which was a resort only day for her. My immediate family lives in the panhandle of FL and we drove to the world. My kids and I were so excited when our countdown calender looked like this:

IMG_0352 by cassierocks84, on Flickr


IMG_0353 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

So without further ado... here is my recollection of our trip!

DAY 1:

I was planning on getting up at around 5 am so we could get on the road by 6. Here was the first plan out the window, lol. My son woke up at 4 AM! It wouldn't have made any sense to go back to bed so he and I went ahead and got up and I got to my tying up loose ends before leaving. I let my husband and daughter sleep a bit more, especially since my baby girl wasn't feeling her best. (she has asthma and allergies and suffered quite a bit on this trip as she has most of this year )
This is my son's "I'm going to Disney but I'm sleepy face"

IMG_0354 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

My daughter wasn't so happy about the early wake up call:

IMG_0356 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Oh wait, you mean Donald gets to come too??

IMG_0357 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

We were in the car just after I wanted, leaving our house at 6:10. My hubby set out on our course which includes a really long ride on I-10. It was a very foggy morning and I was happy not to be driving. My husband (who I will now start calling by name: Marshall) didn't want to stop for gas when we first left so we ended up making our first stop at 7:45 in a small town called Blountstown. We got back on the interstate only to get off again an hour later in Tallahassee because Marshall saw a sign for Steak n Shake (we don't have one!). After filling our bellies with steak, egg, and cheese bagels, we were on the road again. We stopped AGAIN a couple of hours later at McDonalds because Marshall wanted a coffee and we figured we might as well feed the kiddos (who conked out as soon as we set off). So if you're counting, that's 3 stops and none of them were even potty breaks! We actually managed to only make one more stop for gas before making it into Orlando. The kids sleeping helped so much. I started to get really excited when I saw this:

DSC01642 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
and this:

DSC01643 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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and then I saw THIS!!!!

DSC01646 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Cassie S.]

Day 1 cont'd:
We made it into Orlando around 1:30 which was impressive considering we lost an hour to the time change (we are in the tiny section of FL that's in central time) and that we made several stops. I originally wanted to make it into Orlando by 2 so I did it! My aunt called me while we were on the road and I told her I would meet her at our home for the next week at 2 (Art of Animation!!). I didn't call back when I got there a little early since I figured this would give me the time to get situated in my room. When we got to the hotel we were greeted with this sight:

DSC01650 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

It was even more beautiful than I had imagined! Seeing all of the larger than life icons around the resort was AMAZING!! When we first walked in, we admired the beautiful artwork on the walls:

DSC01652 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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Even the light fixture was beautiful! (I'm looking at you, @HouCuseChickie)

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And the checkin area was very impressive as well:

DSC01758 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

We're HERE!!!

DSC01655 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Bethypoo]

What beautiful children! Can't wait to read more. I feel the same way about early mornings as your DD. At least she had Minnie to help her through it.

 

[Cassie S.]

So, we got to our room in the Little Mermaid section of the resort, building 9, aka the King Trition building! It WAS a hike from the buses/giftshop/food court area but it wasn't terrible (unless you've been at Epcot all day and your 6 yr old is hysterical because her feet hurt... but we'll get to that later). We were on the top floor with this view:

DSC01674 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

We got into our room and it was small but very beautifully detailed:

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Even the rug was cool!!

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Minnie and Donald were so excited to be at Disney!

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We ventured outside the room and saw King Triton!!

DSC01680 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
Ursula:

DSC01681 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
And my fave, at first at a distance:

DSC01675 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
and then closer:

DSC01677 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Look, it's a snarfblatt!

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and a dinglehopper

DSC01684 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Cassie S.]

I don't know if you noticed the sky in some of these pics but it was starting to look nasty. It poured for a little while so we weren't able to go right out and explore the rest of the resort immediately. My aunt got there around 3 (not bad for her) and when she went to her room (bldg 8, the Ariel building), her room keys didn't work! I told her I would walk with her to Animation Hall to get them fixed. By this time the rain had stopped so we decided to walk through the resort to check out the other sections on our way. First up was the Lion King!!
Off we go!

DSC01685 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

It's Zazu!

DSC01686 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
Scar with menacing clouds in the background

DSC01687 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
spooky Elephant Graveyard

DSC01688 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Ed was looking at me kinda funny...

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Look, Dad! I see a lion!!

DSC01691 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
Hakuna Matata...

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Mufasa looking very regal

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gotta love Rafiki

DSC01694 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Cassie S.]

What beautiful children! Can't wait to read more. I feel the same way about early mornings as your DD. At least she had Minnie to help her through it.

Thank you for complimenting the kiddos. You know the way to a momma's heart! Usually DD is my morning person but it was tough to get going that morning because we had hung out with friends the night before.

 

[Cassie S.]

We didn't spend too much time wandering around the Nemo section because everyone was eager to check out Cars!! Here is a glimpse of what we DID see in Nemo:

I LOVE Squirt:

DSC01695 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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Of course, seeing that this is a playground, my kids and my cousins had to go down the slide a few times. On one of her trips down the slide, DD found something:

DSC01696 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

It's a ladybug! DD has a big heart for these critters so she had to make sure she was safe and set her free. Another little girl wanted to see it and wasn't quite so gentle so I had to distract her while DD set the ladybug safely in the bushes.

DSC01697 by cassierocks84, on Flickr


DSC01699 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

These guys didn't seem quite so excited to be here:

DSC01700 by cassierocks84, on Flickr


Ok, ok ok... I think you are just as excited as we were to check out the Cars section of the resort. I had heard so many good things and seen several photos of its amazingness. So here it is!

DSC01701 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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I see the Sheriff checking us out...

DSC01703 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Chillin with Doc Hudson

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Hey Flo!

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This all looked right out of the movie!

DSC01711 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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[Cassie S.]

On to the rest of the Cars area:

We all really dug the flame job on Ramone

DSC01712 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

my aunt with DD

DSC01713 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

hubby and DD lookin too cool for school

DSC01714 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Mater looks so excited to see us!

DSC01716 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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My daughter couldn't wait to try this, lol

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and this...

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kids along with my cousin

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the 2 Elijahs (my cousin and son have the same name which proved funny and difficult at several times)

DSC01724 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

look, I'm actually in a picture!

DSC01725 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

my cousin Kai hadn't warmed up to us yet and was being shy

DSC01726 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

These cozy cones looked awesome but we never got to check them out

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At-ten-tion!

DSC01728 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Cassie S.]

The Cars area is really like its own land. It was so much fun to check out each car individually all the way down to the tires. My family and I made our way down to the end where Lightning McQueen and Sally can be found.


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Sally looks so quizzical, lol

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And then we noticed Fillmore hiding out back here!

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Too much organic fuel

DSC01746 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

And finally for this section, here are a couple of pics of the side of the buildings. I love the concept of the animation process from sketch to full blown cartoon.

DSC01754 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

DSC01755 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[TheMouseFan]

I'm so glad you had a great time! Your kids are adorable and look like they are having the time of their lives! Love the AoA pics. I can't wait until we can stay there. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Cassie S.]

Looking forward to reading more!

I hope to finish up Day 1 today.

 

[Cassie S.]

I'm so glad you had a great time! Your kids are adorable and look like they are having the time of their lives! Love the AoA pics. I can't wait until we can stay there. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks so much! AoA is awesome although for the amount of time we spent there, we will probably stay at Pop when we go back to WDW because of the discounts offered. (Although maybe by the time we make it back, LM rooms will have discounts )

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thanks so much! AoA is awesome although for the amount of time we spent there, we will probably stay at Pop when we go back to WDW because of the discounts offered. (Although maybe by the time we make it back, LM rooms will have discounts )

We are going on a cruise next June and my plan is to maybe stay the night before we leave at AoA and the 5 nights after we return at Pop for that very reason!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! So glad to see you starting your TR!!!! And thank you for taking a light fixture pic I'm still debating about a secondary focal point for the next trip. Glad you made good time to Orlando...huge help I'm sure to have the kids sleeping. AoA also looks GREAT! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[englanddg]

The Cars area is really like its own land. It was so much fun to check out each car individually all the way down to the tires. My family and I made our way down to the end where Lightning McQueen and Sally can be found.

Awesome pictures! You are making me miss being there...

Just as a note (and you can sortof see it in your picture) there used to be a Porche emblem on Sally's nose. As I said, you can sortof see the discoloring on her hood where it used to be.

It was ripped off by some Guest (I assume a Guest...don't see where else it would have gone to) during my trip in August 2012. Our first walkthrough of Cars, it was there. Sometime later in the week I'd noticed it had disappeared.

I know it's a little thing, but I'm a bit upset to see that here we are nearly a year later and it hasn't been replaced yet!

Can't wait for your next installment. I am loving this!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Excited to read the rest of this trip report! I was there the same time as you! We stayed at AoA the last leg of our trip from the 26th-28th in the King triton building as well. And Ariel is my fav too!!! We have a lot in common! haha.

I have to agree with you about the Cars section...it was seriously it's own land. Probably my favorite section of that resort!

And your kids are adorable! Keep it coming!!

 

[Cassie S.]

Ok, so when I left off we had just gotten done exploring the resort. I was very impressed with all the detail. I doubled back to the check in desks to get my aunt's room keys replaced. With that done we herded the kids past the awesome looking arcade and made our way to the bus stops to go to Downtown Disney. Since I purchased FL resident weekly select annual passes, our first park day would be the next day (Monday). At Downtown Disney I wanted to do some shopping and walking around and eat dinner at Rainforest Cafe. I originally made my ADR there for the 4 people in my immediate family and then speaking to my aunt, made her a ressie for her 4 as well. We left the resort at 5pm with our dinner reservations set for 730. After a very short wait for the bus, we were off! It started to rain again but it was light so we weren't worried about it. It did keep me from taking very many pics though.


DSC01775 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

The first toy store we happened upon was Once Upon a Toy. I had heard good things about it so we ventured inside.

DSC01777 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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I would have liked to try my hand out of stuffing a box full of potato head accessories but it was not meant to be. My kids were too captivated by all the other stuff in the store. I tried to keep my daughter from going crazy in the store (which is funny because she HATES to spend her own $$) but she ended up spending 2/3 of her budget in there. She bought baby Mickey and Minnie plushes along with a Perry the Platypus pillow pet. My son spent half his $$ (no surprise there) and ended up with a Monster's Inc figure set and an Ironman action figure.

Here are some of the baby plushes that stole my daughter's heart:

DSC01781 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

After leaving the toy store, we made our way over to Guest Relations to pick up our park tickets and for me to get my Photo Pass +. I looked longingly at Ghirardelli as I anticipated having dessert there, but sadly it was not going to happen. It was only going on 7 at this point but everyone was getting hungry so we decided to go ahead and make our way over to Rainforest Cafe to see if they could get us in a little early.

DSC01776 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

side note: my aunt's oldest daughter Cori and her bf had joined us at Downtown Disney. They wanted to eat dinner with us so I told them I would ask the check in person if we could add them to my aunt's reservation. When we went to check in, I overheard the lady telling someone else they had a 2 hr wait! I was kinda surprised as I didn't think this was a place where it would be too hard to get a table and I was so thankful we had reservations. When I heard this I also thought there would be no way my other cousin and her bf would be able to dine there that night but things worked in our favor. I walked up to the lady at check in and explained we had reservations in a half hour and wanted to see if we could check in early and also needed to try and add 2 people to my aunt's ressie. She looked skeptical and said she would try. Literally like 10 seconds later they were calling our names to be seated and were able to add the extra 2 people! Whoo hoo for Disney magic!!

I know Rainforest Cafe is a chain restaurant and not exactly Disney but we really loved it. The atmosphere with the jungle animals was super cool. Our waiter's name was Chris and he was very nice and attentive. Once we ordered, my daughter and I went exploring to take pics of our surroundings.
we thought the ceiling was so cool.

DSC01786 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
beautiful butterfly

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check out this dude

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just hanging out

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coloring while we wait for our food

DSC01802 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

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my daughter took this one

DSC01805 by cassierocks84, on Flickr
and then the hubby took these of me and DD

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and here's the selfie I took

DSC01809 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

 

[Cassie S.]

On to the food!!
DD had grilled cheese and chips and it looked really good!!

DSC01810 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

DS had hot dog sans bun and mashed potatoes

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Marshall had ribs... I knew he would get ribs

DSC01812 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

I ended up getting this sweet and spicy honey glazed fish and shrimp with sticky rice. It was so good!

DSC01813 by cassierocks84, on Flickr

Like I said before, we really enjoyed our dinner here. It was our first time and I will definitely have to visit again. I somehow didn't get a pic of our drinks, but I got a Panama Punch in a souvenir glass and my hubby got some kind of adult beverage.

My daughter fell asleep at some point during dinner. As I briefly mentioned at the beginning, she has bad asthma and allergies and hadn't been feeling well. I think she must be allergic to DIFFERENT plants and grasses in Orlando and had to acclimate. When we were done, my husband carried her out and we began to walk around DTD. We had originally planned to go to RideMakerz and let DS pick a car but once he saw all the variety of toys he could buy with his money, he didn't want to blow it all on one thing. So we made our way in the rain through DTD all the way to the West side. We didn't feel like walking back to go to Ghirardelli so I had to go without my ice cream dessert. We also didn't go into World of Disney. I REALLY wanted to check it out but after how hard it was to get the kids out of Once Upon a Toy, I was scared to enter the biggest Disney store known to man. Gosh, we didn't go into the Lego Store either like I wanted to. This is where we began our deviation from all my carefully laid plans as my TR title alluded to. I did get a couple more pics in DTD though.

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Now that we were nice and tired, we made our way back to AoA, again not waiting long for a bus but being terribly crowded. We had an exciting day in the Magic Kingdom to look forward to!!

 

[Cassie S.]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! So glad to see you starting your TR!!!! And thank you for taking a light fixture pic I'm still debating about a secondary focal point for the next trip. Glad you made good time to Orlando...huge help I'm sure to have the kids sleeping. AoA also looks GREAT! Can't wait to read more!!!

Yayy!!!! So glad you're reading after how much I loved reading yours! I will start Day 2 tomorrow I hope.