Hi all, I recently returned from two weeks at Disneyworld (10/26-11/9). Now, two weeks might sound like a long time to many people but sadly it seemed shorter than a blink of an eye to me. I also spent two weeks here during the Christmas season last year (and in 2015) and this year I wanted to come a bit earlier in the year and catch some of the Halloween festivities, the Food and Wine festival and make good use of the annual pass I bought last year.
I began properly planning for the trip and even booked some accommodation in January/February while I was off work recovering from surgery for a thankfully small breast tumour, but both because I was travelling earlier in the year than I normally do and because my year had been so effected by my health it didn’t seem real that I was actually going to Disneyworld until I was on the plane.
I am a very slow trip reporter and will probably finish this in June 2019 but lets get underway!
The long haul to Orlando from Auckland.
I got off to a great start as I was upgraded to business class. Here are my feet sticking out the end of a pillow with my menu and cute eye mask they provided. There’s nothing better than being able to lie down on a long (12 hour) overnight flight.
Dinner was great. Here is my dessert of overly frozen nectarine ice cream and brandy snap with a dessert wine, followed by a cheese plate with port. I made good use of free flowing alcohol.
Yes, that is the Big Bang Theory I am watching. The show that everyone professes to hate but somehow is still well watched.
To break up the long trip from Auckland to Orlando I decided to spend a few days in Las Vegas. I enjoy Vegas and also like the direct flights available to Orlando on my favourite American airline: Southwest. The flight from LAX was very scenic.
In Las Vegas I lost my gambling kitty, lost some additional money and then spent the rest of the time just checking out the strip as I didn’t want to lose anymore money!!! I stayed at the Park MGM a pretty mediocre hotel but it was only around $30 a night (excluding the annoying resort fees that all the hotels charge) and was in a good location. I had a view from my room of the back side of the New York New York Hotel and a stadium.
One of the things I had wanted to do in Vegas was eat at Milk Bar, a dessert place that I had seen on the Netflix show Chef’s Table where they waxed lyrical about cereal milk flavoured soft serve. I tried some but sadly it tasted like ordinary, everyday vanilla soft serve. The cornflake crunch was salty, sweet and delicious though.
I also went on a fun tour to the Valley of Fire state park. This is a great tour if you want a day trip from Vegas but don't want to spend hours and hours on a bus. This whet my appetite for more touring of the southwestern National parks in the future.
My flight to Orlando left at 4ish in the afternoon on Friday 26th of October but due to the time difference didn’t arrive until after midnight Orlando time. I then had a complete addle headed moment while waiting for my luggage. After half an hour of waiting for my bags to arrive and getting steadily more anxious I realised I was standing at the wrong carousel. When I finally went to the correct place most of my fellow passengers were long gone and a staff member had taken my bags off the carousel and put them to the side as another flights bags were arriving. My magical express was full when I got on and had obviously been sitting there a while so I consoled myself that even if I had gone to the correct carousel that I wouldn’t have gotten to the hotel any earlier. I finally made it to Coronado Springs at around 2am.
I had received a message earlier saying I was in Ranchos 6a one of the furthest buildings from the lobby and food court so I chanced my luck and asked if there were any rooms closer to the lobby. Luckily for me a lovely man found me a room in casitas 3, a short and very beautiful walk from the lobby.
I began properly planning for the trip and even booked some accommodation in January/February while I was off work recovering from surgery for a thankfully small breast tumour, but both because I was travelling earlier in the year than I normally do and because my year had been so effected by my health it didn’t seem real that I was actually going to Disneyworld until I was on the plane.
I am a very slow trip reporter and will probably finish this in June 2019 but lets get underway!
The long haul to Orlando from Auckland.
I got off to a great start as I was upgraded to business class. Here are my feet sticking out the end of a pillow with my menu and cute eye mask they provided. There’s nothing better than being able to lie down on a long (12 hour) overnight flight.
Dinner was great. Here is my dessert of overly frozen nectarine ice cream and brandy snap with a dessert wine, followed by a cheese plate with port. I made good use of free flowing alcohol.
Yes, that is the Big Bang Theory I am watching. The show that everyone professes to hate but somehow is still well watched.
To break up the long trip from Auckland to Orlando I decided to spend a few days in Las Vegas. I enjoy Vegas and also like the direct flights available to Orlando on my favourite American airline: Southwest. The flight from LAX was very scenic.
In Las Vegas I lost my gambling kitty, lost some additional money and then spent the rest of the time just checking out the strip as I didn’t want to lose anymore money!!! I stayed at the Park MGM a pretty mediocre hotel but it was only around $30 a night (excluding the annoying resort fees that all the hotels charge) and was in a good location. I had a view from my room of the back side of the New York New York Hotel and a stadium.
One of the things I had wanted to do in Vegas was eat at Milk Bar, a dessert place that I had seen on the Netflix show Chef’s Table where they waxed lyrical about cereal milk flavoured soft serve. I tried some but sadly it tasted like ordinary, everyday vanilla soft serve. The cornflake crunch was salty, sweet and delicious though.
I also went on a fun tour to the Valley of Fire state park. This is a great tour if you want a day trip from Vegas but don't want to spend hours and hours on a bus. This whet my appetite for more touring of the southwestern National parks in the future.
My flight to Orlando left at 4ish in the afternoon on Friday 26th of October but due to the time difference didn’t arrive until after midnight Orlando time. I then had a complete addle headed moment while waiting for my luggage. After half an hour of waiting for my bags to arrive and getting steadily more anxious I realised I was standing at the wrong carousel. When I finally went to the correct place most of my fellow passengers were long gone and a staff member had taken my bags off the carousel and put them to the side as another flights bags were arriving. My magical express was full when I got on and had obviously been sitting there a while so I consoled myself that even if I had gone to the correct carousel that I wouldn’t have gotten to the hotel any earlier. I finally made it to Coronado Springs at around 2am.
I had received a message earlier saying I was in Ranchos 6a one of the furthest buildings from the lobby and food court so I chanced my luck and asked if there were any rooms closer to the lobby. Luckily for me a lovely man found me a room in casitas 3, a short and very beautiful walk from the lobby.
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