Trip Report The Most Magical and Most Crowded Honeymoon

It has been five days since I have set foot on Disney property and I am already itching to go back.

This was my first time to Disney World and we dealt with insane crowds, some blister issues, and lots and lots of strollers. But we had the most magical time.

Plus probably the most entertaining Tower of Terror ride photo you have ever seen.

This is my first attempt at a Trip Report and I did my best to take notes and document everything.

Who: Me (Kaci) and my hubby (Matt)
When: February 22-28 and the 29th off property
Where: Pop Century
Why: Our Honeymoon!

Friday 2/21 Pre-Arrival
After the slowest day ever Friday it was finally 5pm and time to head home to finish packing. Packing is a little bit of a tricky situation for us. Our dog Raven is a rescue and deals with some pretty bad separation anxiety. When we pack to go on a trip we have to do so without her knowing. She can never see the suitcase(s). This makes packing a little more difficult. Matt had might some plans with some friends so he didn't arrive home until 10:30pm. Which meant I didn't start packing until then. After lots of rearranging and re-organizing we were all packed and I was ready to take a two hour "nap" before we had to leave for the airport at 2:30AM.

Saturday 2/22 Arrival Day
We arrived at the airport at 3:15AM. Security didn't even open until 3:30. I was literally the third person to go through security.
After a short wait I was on my first plane of the day headed to Charlotte. We had some crazy airline miles that were about to expire so I was able to fly First Class to Disney on American Airlines and my poor hubby was stuck traveling Southwest.


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Why not start off the morning at 4:55 with a free cocktail?

After a slight delay we landed in Charlotte. I had enough time to get off the plane use the restroom and it was time to board the second plane to Orlando. We were slightly delayed here as well since the plane had to be de-iced.

The flight attendant was super nice but she kept bringing me drinks without me asking for one. At this point in the morning I have had several cocktails and no food. Finally I snag a 100 calorie pack of Graham Crackers and of course she brings me another drink.

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After what seemed like the longest travel morning ever I was finally reunited with my hubby and we were on our to the Magical Express!

We got super lucky with the Magical Express. We waited about 10 minutes to get checked in and then we were sent to a bus that was pretty much full except the last few rows. The bus was only stopping at Pop Century. After we boarded and got seated the bus took off.

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So excited to finally be in Orlando!

We arrived at Pop Century around 12:45. Matt wanted to wait in the check in line because he appreciates a personal experience.

We got super lucky and our room was actually ready! We were staying in a preferred room. Room 5451. It ended up being an excellent location. We were super close to the main building and also the Skyliner.

We took a slight detour on our way to room and got a Pina Colava from the pool bar.

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After a quick refresh we decided to head out to Disney Springs. Disney Springs ended up being a mad house. The line for every counter service was out the door. We quickly decided to take a bus to the Rivera Resort and take the Skyliner back to Pop.

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Our first Skyliner adventure!

We made it back to Pop safely and decided to hit up the food court. This was the first meal I had all day and it was delicious

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Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries, and an ice cold Corona.

Matt had chicken strips but I wasn't able to grab a pic in time before he devoured them!


Coming up next: My first glimpse at Magic Kingdom, Fireworks from the Polynesian Beach, and Ohana!
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom right at the tail end of Happily Ever After. We stopped for a picture first.

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We entered and the next thing I knew I was seeing the castle for the first time. Yes I definitely cried. In that moment I couldn't believe that here I was in Magic Kingdom.

We made our way down a very crowed Main Street towards Tomorrow land. We decided to take quick spin on the People Mover.

Then we had a Fast Pass to use for Buzz

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When we got off of this it was officially the beginning of After Hours.

We head towards Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a walk on

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After our cruise we headed over towards Big Thunder Mountain.

We maybe waited 10 minutes and soon enough we were riding the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness. Matt actually decided to ride again and I decided to grab my first Mickey Bar! It was pretty good but super rich.

We then decided to head towards Haunted Mansion.

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This might be one of my favorite ride pics that we took.

We then rode Its A Small World

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We also rode Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh.

We made our way over to Seven Dwarfs Train and waited maybe 15 minutes.

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We then made our way over to The Little Mermaid. We were literally the only people there. All we saw were empty Clam Shells on both sides.
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Matt decided to head over so he could ride Space Mountain.

I wanted to experience every ride that I could. So I rode Dumbo and The Barnstormer. Both were complete walk-ons.

I headed over to Space Mountain to meet Matt

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By the time we got off Space Mountain the Park was officially closed.

We got a few more shots in the front of the castle

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We made the long trek to the Pop Century Bus Stop. A packed bus was just pulling away.

Thankfully about 5 minutes later another bus appeared and we got to ride back to Pop with only 4 other people.

The After Hours event was 100% worth it. We rode almost every ride in Magic Kingdom with little to no waits!

It was such a great way to experience the park.

Coming up Next: The most stressful 5 seconds and will we get a boarding group?
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We woke up early this morning because we had one goal. Obtain a RotR Boarding Group.

We decided to take a Lyft over to Hollywood studios to make sure we had plenty of time.

I didn't overly obsess over tips and tricks to get a Boarding Group but I think I put together a pretty good plan.

We found a not highly populated area. I wanted to get away from people as much as possible.

I made sure my phone was not connected to the Disney WiFi and that Matts was. ( I wanted us to try both options).

I also made sure we both had no Apps open what so ever.

I waited until my phone turned to exactly 8am and....

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I was successful and I had a very happy hubby.

Since I was successful in obtaining a Boarding Group Matt bought me a souvenir that I had really been eyeing.

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He gave me so much crap about buying this. He didn't understand why I needed this. At work I am the first desk that everyone sees when they walk in and I have a little ledge that I love displaying stuff on. I knew this would be the perfect addition to my desk. It has been quite the conversation starter and I absolutely it.

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After obtaining my popcorn bucket decoration Star Tours was only showing a 10 minute wait and even though we had a Fast Pass for later we decided to hop in line.


After Star Tours we had a Tower of Terror FP. Yup wasn't gonna happen for me. I looked to see if there were any other Fast Passes available but there was nothing. I gave Matt my band so he could ride twice and I found myself a prime people watching bench.

I was checking wait times and I noticed something interesting. It looked like Disney was broken.

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Matt then texted me and told me that he was stuck on Tower of Terror.

After about 30 minutes I think he finally completed his ride. Because of this he talked a cast member into giving us a Fast Pass for Epcot on Thursday.

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After his ride it was time for our boarding group to be called.

I am not a big Star Wars Fan but this ride was amazing. The cast members did such a wonderful job and you truly felt immersed in the story.

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Just including these two pics!

After our amazing ride we headed to another must do on Matt's list.

Muppet Vision 3D.

This was a cute show but you could definitely tell how dated it was.

We were both starving after this and decided to stop in Pizza Rizzo for some lunch.

It was actually better than I was expecting.

We then decided to cash in our bonus Slinky Fast Pass because we had a little bit of time before our next Fast Pass.

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This is what I call a complete ride photo fail!

This was the ride I was looking forward to the most and it didn't disappoint! Such a fun roller coaster!

After our ride around Andy's Backyard it was time to head back to Batuu for our next Fast Pass.
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We took a little bit of time and just admired Batuu.

The attention to detail in this land was incredible.

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We then headed to our next Fast Pass. Smugglers Run.

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Matt was in heaven. And seriously all of the details were just incredible.

Originally going into this I told Matt that I wanted to be a gunner. Being the pilot seemed like too much pressure. But sure enough we got to the front of the line and we were both handled pilot cards.

This was ride was awesome. I truly enjoyed the fully immersive experience. I was literally yelling directions at Matt I was so into it.

After our amazing ride it was time to head back to Pop Century.

Hollywood Studios was super crowded this day so we took our time getting back to the Skyliner.

We took a little rest and soon it was time for us to head to Disney Springs for Dinner.

We were both really looking forward to Homecomin.

We started out with a few cocktails. I believe Matt had the Strawberry Moonshine and I had a Sweet Tea Moonshine. We also decided to share the hush puppies. Everything was good.
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Soon enough our dinner had arrived. Matt had the fried chicken and I had the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese

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This was all so good but it was so much food. We barely put a dent in it and had lots of leftovers to take back with us.

We also were too full for dessert so our waiter boxed that up for us.

Overall this was such a great experience. We will definitely be back.

We got a bus back to Pop and went to bed pretty early since we had a 7am Breakfast reservation.

Coming up Next: 3 dining reservations in one day? And more time at the Magic Kingdom.
 
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kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday February 26th

We woke up bright early this morning because we had a 7:00am reservation Chef Mickey's.

We took a Lyft to the Contemporary. Things were pretty quiet when we arrived. We had to check in and took some Photopass Pictures.

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and five seconds later we were receiving the text that our table is ready.

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This breakfast ended up being even better than I thought. The food was delicious and the character interactions were great.
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Towards the end of the meal are wonderful waitress brought us Cupcakes.
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After Breakfast we took the Monorail over to Magic Kingdom.

We took a few daytime pictures with the Castle

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We had A Fast Pass for Space Mountain.

After our breakfast I didn't feel like riding so I gave Matt my Magic Band and he got to ride twice.
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While he was riding I didn't something a little more my speed.

The People Mover
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We met up after our rides and Matt wanted to ride the Tea Cups.

After the Tea Cups it was time for our next Fast Pass. Big Thunder Mountain.

We then headed over to ride Pirates.

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After Pirates it was time for our next Fast Pass. Jungle Cruise.

This ended up being a total slow pass. We had to wait forever. But we were given a bonus anytime Fast Pass.

We used this to do something I had been wanting to do all week. Meet Rapunzel and Tiana.

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After our Meet and Great it was time for Lunch at Be Our Guest.
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This lunch was something that we both had been looking forward to and since we didn't know when we would be back we decided to go all out.

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We used two snack credits and got a French Onion Soup and A Masters Cupcake. That soup was so good. The cupcake was also delicious but the wrapper made it hard to eat.

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For meals I had the Ham and cheese sandwich and Matt had the french dip. I also had a glass of wine. The sandwich was good but super filling. Since we got the soup I wish we would have just picked one entree and shared but lesson learned.

After a delicious lunch we decided to wonder around Magic Kingdom a little bit. There was also a snack Matt was excited to try. I decided to scope out a good spot for the parade and Matt went to get our snacks. (Sorry no pics by the time he got back to me they were messy). But he had a dole whip float and I tried the citrus swirl float. Both were super good!

Pretty soon it was time for the parade to start. We actually ended up in an amazing spot and I got some decent pictures.

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kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After the parade I had one more snack that I had to try

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My first Mickey Pretzel

After this the sky was looking rather ominous and we decided we better head back to Pop Century.


We stopped at Casey's first because Matt had to try some corn dog nuggets.

As soon as we arrived at the bus stop a torrential downpour started. Thankfully a bus quickly arrived. It was packed to the brim but at least we were out of the rain.

When we arrived back at Pop we took a nice nap and woke up ready for our evening.

We took a Lyft to the Beach Club for dinner at Beaches and Cream.

We arrived right at our reservation time and gave our number. We didn't receive the text until about 25 minutes later.

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I had the chili cheese tots and I think Matt had a cheeseburger. Both were okay.

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This was why I was really here. The No Way Jose.

I am not gonna lie I was disappointed in this meal. The service was lackluster and super slow.

I also think I had built this up to be something great in my head and it just wasn't spectacular.

After our meal we decided to call in a night and took a Lyft back to Pop Century.

Coming up next: Our last full day in the parks together.
 
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kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well it looks like I will be working at home for the foreseeable future. The community college that I work for just announced that campus will remain closed through May and everything including graduation was cancelled.

So I need a little bit of happy in my life!

Thursday February 27th

We woke up around 8:00 this morning and headed to the Skyliner to go to Epcot. We had a very important Fast Pass to use.

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Test Track was finally back open and we had been gifted a Fast Pass by a very kind Cast Member.

I loved this ride! It was so much fun.

After this we had a few more things on our Epcot List that we wanted to check off. We wanted to ride Spaceship Earth but the line was already up to 60 minutes and we didn't want to wait that long. We had to settle on taking a few pictures.

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Next on the agenda was an adult beverage. We both had heard a lot of things abou the Winnie the Pooh Margarita in Epcot.

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This was just okay. Nothing super special but I am glad that we got to try it.

After this we decided to head over to the Skyliner and park hop to Hollywood Studios.

By this point it was nearing noon and we hadn't eaten anything so we decided that we needed a little snack. We decided to try the Secret Identity Slush. It was a coke slush topped with cherry cotton candy. This was so good. The cotton candy melted into the slush perfectly. We also had to share a Num Num Cookie. This was amazing as well. It was gooey yet crisp. But so rich. Even between the two of us we could only finish half.

After our delicious treats it was time to head to Toy Story Land. We had a Slinky Fast Pass to use. When we got there of course Slinky was down. It was towards the end of our Fast Pass Window so we only had about 20 minutes until our next Fast Pass would become available.

We decided to Mobile Order something more savory from Woody's Lunchbox. We shared the Grilled Cheese and potato barrels. Plus the adult lemonade. This was so good. Maybe one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had. And that adult lemonade which I believe was lemonade and cherry vodka might have been one of my favorite drinks of the trip.

We then used our next Fast Pass for Alien Swirling Saucers. This was such a good ride I loved it!

After our ride Slinky was still down but Matt needed something with more of adrenaline rush. He headed over to use his Fast Pass.

On his way he took a few solo photo pass pics.

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After his ride we met up at the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. This was something that Matt was looking forward.

It was a good show but I was even more excited about what was next.

After following him on Instagram it was finally time to see Equity Ben. We had been stalking his schedule all week and so glad we could make the time work.

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After an amazing show it was time to head to our last dining reservation of the trip.
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the fun honeymoon trip report! Congratulations on your marriage. It's nice to read a TR in this time of uncertainity. It brings a little light, normalcy, and happiness to us. Can't wait for more.
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the fun honeymoon trip report! Congratulations on your marriage. It's nice to read a TR in this time of uncertainity. It brings a little light, normalcy, and happiness to us. Can't wait for more.
Thank you! Honesty it has been really therapeutic for me to write about this trip. In a time of so much uncertainty it’s fun reliving the memories! There is still plenty of trip left to talk about!
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday Cont.

We decided to book the Fantasmic Dining package and Hollywood and Vine.

We were texted about 20 minutes after our reservation time.

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Not the prettiest plate of food but everything was so good.

Soon enough the characters were coming around

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And on our way out we got to meet Mickey!
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Overall this was a great experience. I loved seeing the characters all dressed up!

After this we still had one more Fast Pass to use.

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We actually got lucky that Slinky was down earlier because Slinky at night is the best! Matt was still convinced the camera was on the other side.


After this we headed to Fantasmic. (Sorry for the lack of pics I was too mesmerized and wanted to be fully immersed for my first time.

After Fantasmic it was time to head out of the park along with everyone else. Instead of waiting in the huge Skyliner line we just decided to take a Lyft back to Pop Century.

We had some packing to do since this was our last night and Matt had to be up at 2:30am to get to the airport.

Next Up: My first solo day at Disney.
 

kbarry117

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday February 28th.

Matt was up bright and early to head to the Airport. After saying goodbye I immediately fell back asleep. I originally had my first Fast Pass booked at 9:00am but decided to modify them so I could have a more relaxing morning.

I got up and finished the last minute packing. I also had a very nutritious last Disney breakfast.

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A left over Cider beer from quick service meal and a brownie we were pixie dusted from Caseys Corner.

I left the room shortly after this and stored my bags.

Before I knew it I was on a bus to Magic Kingdom.

My first item on my agenda was Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. I had some pretty poor timing and ended up having to wait about 15 minutes for the next show.

This was such a cute experience and I am glad I saw it.

After laugh floor it was time to head to my first fast pass.

Splash Mountain reopened today and I had to ride!

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The ride kept getting stuck so this actually took quite a while.

After my ride I decided to check out Country Bear Jamboree.

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What a fun little show.

After my jamboree I decided to check out The Hall of Presidents.

I started to wonder around and there was a snack I had been wanting to try. I noticed the spring roll cart had no line but they were in the process of restocking.

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I had one pepperoni and one cheeseburger. These were so good.

After this it was time for my next Fast Pass to meet Tinkerbell.

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This was a fun meet and greet and I am glad I braved meeting a character by myself.

It was nearing the end of my time in Magic Kingdom and there was one more thing I wanted to try.

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A Plaza Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich. This was just a okay. Not my favorite and I only ate about half.

After my disappointing snack it was time to head out of Magic Kingdom.

I arrived back at Pop and picked up my luggage.

I got a Lyft to the Sheraton at City Center and was pretty soon checking into my room.

I relaxed in my room for a little bit and headed to the hotel happy hour.

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That was one strong Margartia.

I called a Lyft so I could go meet up with my friend before his show. This ended up being the most adventurous Lyft. A ride that should have taken only 15 minutes took us a good 45 because my driver didn't understand where he was going or how to follow a GPS.

Soon I was reunited with my friend and we were enjoying an appetizer before his show.

We parted ways and I made my way to the Dr. Phillips Center.

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This Theatre was super gorgeous and I am so glad that I got to see a show here.

My friend is Damian in this tour and it was so surreal to see him on stage in that role living his dream.

After the show I went to the Stage Door. When we came out to get me there were people screaming his name! He quickly whisked me back stage.

I am so glad that I ended up staying the extra day and that I had the opportunity to see this show.

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We didn't take any pictures together so enjoy this throwback from 14 years ago when we performed in the show Godspell together at theatre camp.

After saying goodbye I took a Lyft back to my hotel. I walked to the Dennys across the parking lot and got some food to go and was soon passing out in bed.

I got a late check out the next day and headed to the airport.

I had a pretty uneventful flight home and soon enough I was finally reunited with my husband and my dog!

I will wrap up my final thoughts about the trip in another post!
 

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