Go easy on me.. lol. I'm somewhat of a newbie to trip reports! This trip I was supposed to be travelling alone on business to Disney World with out the family. My wife and I decided to add a couple days to my trip and fly her and my son down as a surprise, so the trip ended up being 3/3 - 3/8.. They would come down a few days after I left. I stayed at the WDW Swan for the first time, and the only downfall was the lack of Magical Express.. Took the Mears shuttle and stopped at about 4 other hotels before ours.. Trip time just over an hour though so not terrible.
3/3 - Travel day.. Leaving Upstate NY for Orlando on a direct flight.. The picture below shows the snow squall that hit just as I was taking off! Perfect timing!! Ate dinner at the Big River Grille on the Boardwalk and tried some awesome microbrews! They had an IPA that was not listed on the menu, and that ended up being my favorite..
3/4 - Meetings... But had an awesome evening outdoors on the Cabana deck at the Dolphin.. Fully catered event and they even hired some magicians to entertain as we all ate.
3/5 - I was in meetings all day, and had dinner at Shula's [insert mouth watering picture here]
At 8:15pm our group of 200+ people (we were split up between 3 restraunts) were escorted (About 15 minute walk) into World Showcase and set-up in an area near Mexico for Illuminations complete with an open bar and a bunch of tables setup next to the railings. I was going to take some pictures but at this point my phone died. I remember this area as being a Fast Pass + spot on a previous trip (Nov2013).. It was crazy because we all had the same blue shirts on. Everyone kept asking who we were with.. lol. Think a few said blue man group.. After Illuminations we were escorted to Test Track for a private ride or 2.. At this point we were the only ones on the ride(About 9:30-10:00). Had an awesome couple hours at the park!
Also on 3/5, my wife went and picked up our son (8yo) after school and surprised him with a trip to Disney for the weekend! She sent me the video of her telling him they were going to the airport and it was priceless! So after I was done at Epcot they were waiting at the Hotel for me.
think I fixed video...
3/6 - After getting done with meetings at Noon, I met my wife and son at Epcot.. We had a FastPass for Soarin at 12:30 so we did that first. I have to admit that Soarin used to be one of my favorite rides, but now between all the film dust showing up on the screen and just the general low def appearance of the movie, I am definately part of the "Lets overhaul Soarin Now" camp.. When ever they do replace it, I am sure I will miss parts of it, but at this point enoughs enough, get on with it.. After Soarin we did Spaceship Earth, and then made a stop at Club Cool so my son could get me to try his favorite soda Beverly.. I had tried it before but for his sake(I knew where it was going) I decided to let him get his laughs. He laughed so hard he just about pee'd his pants. Those of you that have tried it before know what I am talking about, and those of you that haven't I highly recommend you try it! You will never taste anything like it again unless you go to Italy where I am told it is very popular. We then made our way over to Mission Space (green) and Test Track(GM employee so can still get paper fast pass with ID). It's at this point I realized that the crowds were really not that bad. It was going on 3:00pm and had gotten a lot done in a short time. Forgot to mention I stopped at the beer/turkey leg stand by Test Track and got my favorite beer in Epcot(up to this point) Racer 5 IPA. Highly recommend that all IPA beer snobs like myself should try this one! We then made our way to World Showcase.. First Kiosk we stopped at had the Ghost Pepper Tilapia.. It was very good!! It had just the right amount of seasoning on it. Don't be afraid to try it.. We then had one of those "Let's soak it all in" afternoons as we slowly made our way around World Showcase. As you can tell, it was a cool day. Temps were in the low to mid 60's with a breeze that made it feel cooler than that. Also notice the pullover I ended up buying.. Just to the right of Mickey(My left) is the Hat from the studios.. I tried arguing to get a discount because the hat is gone but was shut down(didn't argue very hard)..LOL
While in Canada we watched the Martin Short circlevision show.. It was better than I had remembered!The Lumberjack show was just finishing up as we left.. Awww too bad... [insert sarcasm here]
Our next stop was for a tasting at "The Smokehouse".. I tried the Brisket along with the Catagory 3 IPA(Very close but I liked better then Racer 5). Edge probably goes to Racer 5 though only because it is always available.. We had arrived there just in time to see the Gin Blossoms perform. They put on a very good show! We then continued around world showcase ending up in Mexico to ride the 3 cabelleros, and then made our way to China for a good dinner.. It's not on the menu, but I highly recommend getting Genereal Tso Chicken along with the spicy spinach noodles. I know its expensive chinese food, but IMHO it's worth it.. Watched Illuminations and called it a night. They had Extra Magic Hours till 11:00, but we were all tired.. Made the 15 minute walk back to the Swan via the Boardwalk enjoying the relatively warm evening.. At this point the 3' plus of snow at home was a distant memory..
That's it for our first day in the World.. No park hopping. We left that for day 2, we ended up doing 3 parks in 1 day! Studios, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom... I'll work on posting that next...
3/3 - Travel day.. Leaving Upstate NY for Orlando on a direct flight.. The picture below shows the snow squall that hit just as I was taking off! Perfect timing!! Ate dinner at the Big River Grille on the Boardwalk and tried some awesome microbrews! They had an IPA that was not listed on the menu, and that ended up being my favorite..
3/4 - Meetings... But had an awesome evening outdoors on the Cabana deck at the Dolphin.. Fully catered event and they even hired some magicians to entertain as we all ate.
3/5 - I was in meetings all day, and had dinner at Shula's [insert mouth watering picture here]
At 8:15pm our group of 200+ people (we were split up between 3 restraunts) were escorted (About 15 minute walk) into World Showcase and set-up in an area near Mexico for Illuminations complete with an open bar and a bunch of tables setup next to the railings. I was going to take some pictures but at this point my phone died. I remember this area as being a Fast Pass + spot on a previous trip (Nov2013).. It was crazy because we all had the same blue shirts on. Everyone kept asking who we were with.. lol. Think a few said blue man group.. After Illuminations we were escorted to Test Track for a private ride or 2.. At this point we were the only ones on the ride(About 9:30-10:00). Had an awesome couple hours at the park!
Also on 3/5, my wife went and picked up our son (8yo) after school and surprised him with a trip to Disney for the weekend! She sent me the video of her telling him they were going to the airport and it was priceless! So after I was done at Epcot they were waiting at the Hotel for me.
think I fixed video...
3/6 - After getting done with meetings at Noon, I met my wife and son at Epcot.. We had a FastPass for Soarin at 12:30 so we did that first. I have to admit that Soarin used to be one of my favorite rides, but now between all the film dust showing up on the screen and just the general low def appearance of the movie, I am definately part of the "Lets overhaul Soarin Now" camp.. When ever they do replace it, I am sure I will miss parts of it, but at this point enoughs enough, get on with it.. After Soarin we did Spaceship Earth, and then made a stop at Club Cool so my son could get me to try his favorite soda Beverly.. I had tried it before but for his sake(I knew where it was going) I decided to let him get his laughs. He laughed so hard he just about pee'd his pants. Those of you that have tried it before know what I am talking about, and those of you that haven't I highly recommend you try it! You will never taste anything like it again unless you go to Italy where I am told it is very popular. We then made our way over to Mission Space (green) and Test Track(GM employee so can still get paper fast pass with ID). It's at this point I realized that the crowds were really not that bad. It was going on 3:00pm and had gotten a lot done in a short time. Forgot to mention I stopped at the beer/turkey leg stand by Test Track and got my favorite beer in Epcot(up to this point) Racer 5 IPA. Highly recommend that all IPA beer snobs like myself should try this one! We then made our way to World Showcase.. First Kiosk we stopped at had the Ghost Pepper Tilapia.. It was very good!! It had just the right amount of seasoning on it. Don't be afraid to try it.. We then had one of those "Let's soak it all in" afternoons as we slowly made our way around World Showcase. As you can tell, it was a cool day. Temps were in the low to mid 60's with a breeze that made it feel cooler than that. Also notice the pullover I ended up buying.. Just to the right of Mickey(My left) is the Hat from the studios.. I tried arguing to get a discount because the hat is gone but was shut down(didn't argue very hard)..LOL
While in Canada we watched the Martin Short circlevision show.. It was better than I had remembered!The Lumberjack show was just finishing up as we left.. Awww too bad... [insert sarcasm here]
Our next stop was for a tasting at "The Smokehouse".. I tried the Brisket along with the Catagory 3 IPA(Very close but I liked better then Racer 5). Edge probably goes to Racer 5 though only because it is always available.. We had arrived there just in time to see the Gin Blossoms perform. They put on a very good show! We then continued around world showcase ending up in Mexico to ride the 3 cabelleros, and then made our way to China for a good dinner.. It's not on the menu, but I highly recommend getting Genereal Tso Chicken along with the spicy spinach noodles. I know its expensive chinese food, but IMHO it's worth it.. Watched Illuminations and called it a night. They had Extra Magic Hours till 11:00, but we were all tired.. Made the 15 minute walk back to the Swan via the Boardwalk enjoying the relatively warm evening.. At this point the 3' plus of snow at home was a distant memory..
That's it for our first day in the World.. No park hopping. We left that for day 2, we ended up doing 3 parks in 1 day! Studios, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom... I'll work on posting that next...
Last edited:
. You're kid is super cute and was so happy! I secretly wish my H will do that at some point to me hahah! Also, loving all the short wait times! Kinda seems like it made up for the long bus wait, even with long listed waits actually being half the time. Looks like you guys made the most of your time there. I'll have to tell my H about those beers, he is a fellow IPA snob lol.