Trip Report The "we took a trip to Disney World just so we could write a trip report" trip report

Hello fellow Disney-folk! Early this year me (Scott) and my CDP (co-Disney-Phile) Lyn started hatching a spring trip to WDW. We've never done a real trip report before so we thought it would be fun. Lots of pictures too. Enjoy!

Our "incredible" vacation (er...long weekend, anyway) ended up during St Patrick's Day weekend. Planned in advance with reservations at Pop Century, snagging pretty decent rates too. Magic Bands customized, ordered, and received! Not really into planning things out very much but since FP+ was available, we used it (more on that later).

One day I got two(!) boxes in my mailbox from Davenport Florida. Magic Bands!

Click to enlarge...


Are we Disney-nerds? Yup. Hadn't done this before though: Mousekeeping tipping envelopes (available from WDW Prep School). This was kind of an experiment. Tipping at hotels has been a contentious point recently. Even though I travel quite a bit I'd never heard of leaving tips at hotels before reading about tipping "mousekeeping". I won't start a debate about the practice, but this was something we wanted to try in our (my?) own odd way.

More exciting news about that later on. Stay tuned!

Click to enlarge...
 
Click to expand...
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
wishing_upon_a_dstar said:
Great TR, love your pictures. I love that you have your own price of Epcot at home, that's amazing. It's interesting about the towel animals, out of interest what is the recommended tip?
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

The tipping rules seem to change depending on the source, but... $2/person/night seems to be generally accepted as the norm. Some people do more, some less, some not at all. Some are really generous when they know they're abnormally messy.

Only 104 days till we are at the most magical place on earth :)
Click to expand...

It'll be there ;)
 
wishing_upon_a_dstar

wishing_upon_a_dstar

Active Member
photoflight said:
Thanks :)

The tipping rules seem to change depending on the source, but... $2/person/night seems to be generally accepted as the norm. Some people do more, some less, some not at all. Some are really generous when they know they're abnormally messy.



It'll be there ;)[/QUOTE

Ooh when are u there? We are there from 21st aug till 6th sep. Our first trip as dvc members :)
Click to expand...
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
No no - IT'll be there. I'll be in the air conditioning somewhere counting the days until the end of October when we (hopefully) will be doing another trip ;)
 
wishing_upon_a_dstar

wishing_upon_a_dstar

Active Member
photoflight said:
Thanks :)

The tipping rules seem to change depending on the source, but... $2/person/night seems to be generally accepted as the norm. Some people do more, some less, some not at all. Some are really generous when they know they're abnormally messy.



It'll be there ;)[/QUOTE

Ooh when are u there? We are there from 21st aug till
Click to expand...
photoflight said:
No no - IT'll be there. I'll be in the air conditioning somewhere counting the days until the end of October when we (hopefully) will be doing another trip ;)
Click to expand...


I need to learn to read clearly lol
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Still working on day four, but in the meantime - last year's Epcot Stick has started flowering. Yeah yeah, you can buy these cuttings all over the place but I got it at Epcot so... Last year the leaves were incredible, now with the new growth they're weird. Suggestions have ranged from insects (have found none but I have applied the recommended stuff to keep them away), over watering, and under watering. Invested in a $10 moisture meter and the recommended plant food. I think it got a little waterlogged in some of our heavy rains early in the year.

This is actually the second flower. The first was kind of, well, not much there. This one is terrific. Smells nice too. Probably still one of most fun things I've brought back from a park :)

i-sH4Zgsb-X2.jpg
 
mrdrift

mrdrift

Well-Known Member
That is a beautiful flower, and to think it will remind you of Epcot every time you look at like or even smell it. Also what a great TR you are providing us with the awesome pictures. Just wanted to say thanks because this does help tide me over till I can actually go to WDW next year.
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day Four - We ahhh...ahhhhhh.... go to Hollywood Studios

Day four. Our last day at WDW and a trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

That's it...really, that's it. Don't need to go more into detail than that. Do I?

Ok ok ok...Have to step back a little. Throughout the TR I snuck in a few little "sniffs" here and there. Well, after not having any significant allergies/hay-fever for what seems like forever, it hit. Big time. Started feeling it really badly the evening of Day Three, enough so that I explored the drugs supply at the "Everything Pop" store.

Great.

Turns out they actually have a halfway decent supply of stuff at these gift shops. Take a look next time you're there, at least you'll know what they have (there's also a decent supply in a couple of the stores in the parks, usually kept in trays under the counter). I opted to take some Advil Sinus/Allergy stuff.

Yup - all set.

Um... no, not so fast sport. Barely made it back to the room when - and I'm trying hard to not be overly graphic...when what can only be described as the Niagara Falls of nasal runniness erupted. It had been getting bad before, but now - for the first time since I was a kid - full blown hay fever had hit.

Yuck.

The rest of the night was an adventure. Meanwhile my co-disneyphile Lyn slept like a...well, she slept.

The next day, Day Four, was worse. In desperation I made it back to "Everything Pop" to see what else they had. Benadryl and Claritin. Well now, Benadryl always worked when I was a kid and only lasts 4(ish) hours. Claritin was 12 hours. At the worst I could let the influence of Benadryl wear off before I hit the roads, and in the meantime I could become a Benadryl-induced version of Dopey at HS.

Nice plan.

Didn't work though. After we got to HS I took the Benadryl and we went to the park, me loading my pockets with tissues and napkins - of which I never had enough. Ever hear people say things like "being sick at WDW is better than not being there at all"? Yeah...no. It's miserable. To make matters more embarrassing Lyn's parents were on their way to spend the day with us.

We ended up finding a secluded bench while I waited for the hopeful-effects of the Benadryl. Eventually the whole family was together and the Benadryl started working a little. Barely.

In the end we managed a ride on Tower of Terror (had FP+ for it), had a funnel cake and lunch, and not much else...I didn't even bother with a camera but Lyn took a few snapshots:

i-wTPnvTS-X2.jpg


i-PkMbSz4-X2.jpg


i-5FfQ8QB-X2.jpg


i-SLjdbVh-X2.jpg


...and there was ice cream!
i-CJHSVRw-X2.jpg
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As the day went on I felt a little better and the Benadryl-effect wore off. Itchy-eyes and Niagara-nose still nagged me a bit but I was in swell enough shape to get in the DME.

All in all it was a mixed blessing because the forecast was pretty dismal. After several outstanding cool dry days we were forecast to have some major rain come in....

Hint: Here's another hint - while the heavy vinyl and reusable rain ponchos available in the parks are certainly good, they're a pain in the butt to carry around before and after it rains. I usually keep a handful of these cheap "emergency" ponchos in the car. Walmart usually sells them for $1 or less (used to be $.88). They're pocket size and cheap enough to throw out when the rain is over (small enough you can carry a couple of them if you feel the need).

...anyway, the rain didn't show up early enough to wash off whatever I was allergic to, but it was rainy enough that we'd have probably left anyway.

Kind of an anticlimactic day. I did learn that Benadryl is a first-generation allergy medication that is really passe'. Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec are second generation medications that are supposed to be far better. Live and learn!

The rain helped my symptoms but didn't cure them so I gave Zyrtec a try and it pretty much did the trick. They're available in chewables and in small blister-packs for traveling. I'm including them in my travel/flight-bag now just in case.
 
TinkandCrew

TinkandCrew

Active Member
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're flower is gorgeous! I laugh every time we refer to it as the stick or stick flower. It does have an official name. I think you already told us...just can't recall it right now.

Way to go though! Love it!
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
photoflight said:
The rain helped my symptoms but didn't cure them so I gave Zyrtec a try and it pretty much did the trick. They're available in chewables and in small blister-packs for traveling. I'm including them in my travel/flight-bag now just in case.
Click to expand...
DD and I take Zyrtec. Every. Single. Day.

We would be miserable without it!
 
photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day Four...and then

After the effects of the Benadryl wore off we wandered out to the cars. Luggage was transferred from the little green DME to Lyn's Parents' vehicle, and she went off to spend some quality time with them for a few days. Timing was just about right as the rain started up pretty good.

I grabbed a coke at McDonalds (funny story: nearly every time I go there they ask if I'm a cast member - no idea why, maybe I go there too much) and hit the highway. Wow did it rain!

Short snippits of a rainy St Patricks Day driving home
 
acrab3t

acrab3t

Active Member
photoflight said:
As the day went on I felt a little better and the Benadryl-effect wore off. Itchy-eyes and Niagara-nose still nagged me a bit but I was in swell enough shape to get in the DME.

All in all it was a mixed blessing because the forecast was pretty dismal. After several outstanding cool dry days we were forecast to have some major rain come in....

Hint: Here's another hint - while the heavy vinyl and reusable rain ponchos available in the parks are certainly good, they're a pain in the butt to carry around before and after it rains. I usually keep a handful of these cheap "emergency" ponchos in the car. Walmart usually sells them for $1 or less (used to be $.88). They're pocket size and cheap enough to throw out when the rain is over (small enough you can carry a couple of them if you feel the need).

...anyway, the rain didn't show up early enough to wash off whatever I was allergic to, but it was rainy enough that we'd have probably left anyway.

Kind of an anticlimactic day. I did learn that Benadryl is a first-generation allergy medication that is really passe'. Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec are second generation medications that are supposed to be far better. Live and learn!

The rain helped my symptoms but didn't cure them so I gave Zyrtec a try and it pretty much did the trick. They're available in chewables and in small blister-packs for traveling. I'm including them in my travel/flight-bag now just in case.
Click to expand...
I had a nasty cold for one of my trips. I was doped up on DayQuil the entire time. It made the whole trip dream-like and frustrating. My first meal of the trip was at le Celier and I was having a coughing fit trying to order. No one could figure out I was trying to ask for water. Duh! I'm choking here folks. After someone finally figured out what my sign language meant I spent most of the meal running to the restroom to blow my floodgate nose. My body just wanted to go lie down but my mind wanted to enjoy my vacation.
I am enjoying your report. I hope your sinuses didn't keep you from enjoying your trip.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom