Trip Report To Walt Disney World...and beyond! *COMPLETED!*

We’re back from a wonderful 10 days of pure Disney life! What could be better than an anniversary-turned-engagement celebration at the Happiest Place on Earth? There’s so much to be encompassed in this trip report – so let’s get started!

Pre-Trip Report here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/2-peas-in-a-disney-pod.884811/

The cast: Me and the fiancé "J". Both 24 years old. Both Disney crazed. This was our 5th trip in a row together!

Travel dates: September 4th - September 13th - All Star Sports.

We woke up at 3:30 AM to get to the airport in time for our 6 AM flight! When going to Disney World, this is not a problem. After a safe and uneventful flight with a flight attendant who kept proclaiming he 'loved us' and 'meant it', we arrived at MCO a little before 9. I was so giddy - practiced my powerwalking skills through MCO. It was GO TIME!

What's better than being in Disney World? Seeing this sign - then being in Disney World!

We arrived at All Star Sports and it finally started hitting me: we were here! The noise and smells (the good kind) from the food court flooded our ears. We were assisted by a very kind CM during check in, and may have been a little too quick at snatching this little beauty from her hands in all my excitement...

We weren't surprised to find out that our room wasn't ready yet...it wasn't even 11 AM yet. We were surprised, however, to see that our room would be in Surf's Up (preferred building). Since we only use our resort room for a few hours of sleep, we always go with standard to save a few bucks. But hey, I guess this could classify as a 'room upgrade'. Thanks Disney!

From check in, we headed to the bus stop for Animal Kingdom. I absolutely love getting almost a full day of park fun in on the first day! In little to no time, we were here.

We took our time strolling through the beautiful Oasis. As this was our first time experiencing MyMagic and MagicBands, we tried our best to reserve judgment on the system until we dealt with it firsthand. I must say, it felt nice knowing we had three FPs already reserved and that missing rope drop on the first day wouldn't be so rough.

But we really didn't need to worry. Animal Kingdom was pretty deserted. Expedition Everest advertised a 5 minute wait at 11:30 AM, and the whole process probably took just about that.

*That feeling you get as the car rolls up and you're about to step onto the ride for the first time.*

There are no words to describe how spiraling backwards and upwards on a roller coaster feels. Well maybe 'AWESOME' could, but I feel it doesn't do Everest enough justice.

With the first ride of Disney World Extravaganza 2014 under our belts, our tummies began to rumble. It was time to find some sustenance and do what we do best - EAT! Our dinner reservations later that night was a biggie, so we tried to eat light. And we ended up eating something we could very well eat at home. But we love the cousins of Panda Express, so Yak & Yeti Local Foods it was!

Mmm...Orange Chicken. Sometimes you just need that in your life. Lunch entertainment was provided by a few very brave and bold ducks.

 

[belledream]

It was a beautiful day out and once we got off that boat, we could truly appreciate the sounds of nothing. Being at the parks for 4.5 straight days, it was a nice change.

We visited Dolphin last year but they were doing construction on this water fountain. It was nice to have an unimpeded view this time around. Look at it now, all spruced up! Pictures don't do justice to just how massive this thing actually appears in real life.

I love how Swan & Dolphin also has that nautical/beachy feel yet it's so very different from Yacht & Beach Club. Both are unique in their own way.

While exploring the lobby and shops however, we just came to a realization that we would probably never choose to stay here. Obviously the location and quality is fantastic, but it just didn't feel 'Disney' enough to us. And of course, it's not supposed to, but that's why we stay on property in the first place.

Doesn't hurt to look though.

Gosh, I can't get over what a beautiful day it was!

Friendship Boat & EPCOT sighting as we made our way to Swan.

It seemed a little quieter and peaceful over here at Swan. Moreso than Dolphin with it's big atrium-like lobby and rushing fountain.

Just as beautiful though.

I never realized how many restaurants were in these resorts. Garden Grove looked so nice! It was like a more botanical version of Crystal Palace. Are those twinkling trees inside?! I'd eat there someday.

After we wandered around for a bit, we decided to walk over the bridge and head to Boardwalk.

I was most excited to visited Boardwalk Inn. I've stayed in Yacht & Beach Club many times as a kid, but I've only been on the Boardwalk a few times. And I've never had the chance to explore inside. Love experiencing new things at Disney! The magic never ends!

 

[maelstrom98]

Love following along to this! Awesome so far!!

 

[FlaggNL]

Wow! What an awesome report! Great great pictures! Hope ours will be as good from next Friday!

 

[belledream]

Wow! What an awesome report! Great great pictures! Hope ours will be as good from next Friday!

Ooh wow it's coming up soon! Have the best time ever!!! And thanks.

 

[FlaggNL]

Ooh wow it's coming up soon! Have the best time ever!!! And thanks.

Ohw yeah, the clock is ticking down! 8 nights of sleep and then it finally will happen

 

[belledream]

I felt like we had stepped into another world. It was mid afternoon so the Boardwalk wasn't quite alive with entertainment yet, but it was alive with charm.

One thing I really noticed was that there are so many different types of buildings for the rooms. How neat some of them looked!

Speaking of rooms, we popped into the Disney Vacation Club model room to take a look. It was bright, cheerful, and spacious, with another bedroom, bathrooms, kitchen, and living area not pictured. Can't say it fits our needs at the moment, but we'll see where the wind takes us!

We went to the Boardwalk Inn and observed the darkening sky from the porch. Sitting on rocking chairs is so much more fun when you're doing it at Disney!

Upon entering the lobby, we were greeted by this amazing chandelier.

The lobby was so charming - I didn't know what to look at first! The detail in the ceiling, the chandeliers, the plants, the couches, the fireplace, the gleaming floors?! As impressed as I was with AKL, this (along with Yacht & Beach Club) is just so much more my style.

We meandered through the hallways without a real destination in mind. I definitely saw parallels between Boardwalk and Yacht & Beach. If anything, Boardwalk is like a hybrid of the two.

Eventually, we found ourselves back on the Boardwalk itself. We explored some of the shops, mainly the sweets shops. So tempting...but...but...dinner!

The sky was looking mighty impressive, so we plopped down on a bench and probably didn't move for almost an hour. We sky watched, soaked in the music, and enjoyed the view.

 

[Maggie Mae]

loving the report!!

 

[belledream]

This dinner was our wildcard choice of the trip. We had no idea what to expect. We did know that Kouzzina was closing at the end of the month, and we like the idea of 'collecting' memories and experiences, so it was now or never!

Kouzzina is/was a celebrity chef restaurant by Cat Cora. We're not culinary experts so no, we had no idea who Cat Cora was, but we were more drawn to the interesting menu items than the fact that this was a celebrity chef restaurant.

We were seated by a slightly curtained window looking out onto the Boardwalk, but still had a decent view of the open kitchen. Later we got up to take a better look.

Here's a picture of the bread service. There were two different kinds of olive oils, as well as olives. I didn't know how yummy olives could be until now.

I had a hard time ordering here. I heard good reviews about the supposedly famous Cinnamon Chicken, but I didn't want just chicken! Oh, it comes in a trio? But the other two choices are a lasagna and a burger? Mehhh. I decided to go for something I wouldn't normally get, ever.

Here is my Traditional Whole Fish. A good word to describe it was 'hearty'. The smallest piece of meat just felt like it had been soaked in broth and veggies for days. It was dangerous and difficult to eat at times, but I slowly picked my way through this.

J went with the Wood-Grilled Steak. This wasn't such a surprise. In fact, the bigger surprise was that this was the first steak of the trip for him. I think he ate steak at 6/9 of our ADRs last year! He enjoyed it, but he's definitely had better elsewhere at WDW.

For dessert, J ordered Loukoumades, which are Greek donuts covered in cinnamon and honey. They were interesting...though we were a little to full to finish.

I chose Galaktoboureko, which is...I'm still not sure actually. It's a dough called phyllo which was semi-drenched in some type of custard. It was alright, definitely not a favorite (not that I can come back here anyways).

Overall impression from the both of us was that Kouzzina was not a smash hit (not that we expected it to be) but we were glad to try it before it goes into the history books. Plus, the afternoon spent at Boardwalk was so lovely! And the best was yet to come, as we stepped out into the beginning hours of dusk. My favorite time at WDW, no matter where.

 

[Jessica Meier]

I so admire your willingness to try new things. I am a scaredy cat. Enjoying the report. Loving all the pics!

 

[belledream]

I so admire your willingness to try new things. I am a scaredy cat. Enjoying the report. Loving all the pics!

There's nothing wrong with sticking to what you know and love! Maybe eventually you'll come to love new things too?

 

[Jessica Meier]

I love to try new rides and experiences but definitely a creature of habit when it comes to food. I am like you, I love cream cheese frosting so will eat almost anything if it includes that. The elusive carrot cake cookie has remained out of my grasp but next October I will mark it off my list.

 

[belledream]

The Boardwalk had come alive! Almost immediately, we came upon this magician. His sign said "Nick Paul: A different kind of magician". And it was right.

He had begun by asking someone in the crowd to pick a card out of a deck. He proceeded to put all the cards in this balloon-sack-thingy and then blew it up with a leafblower. Then he stuck his head inside of it for a little while, then came out chewing the card that was drawn. J has a good knack for figuring out how magicians do these things (Youtube) but I don't, and I was impressed.

We continued our stroll along the Boardwalk. It was simply beautiful.

We stumbled upon Magician #2. He was more of a juggling expert/little stunt trick extraordinaire.

Note the people watching from their balconies. Pretty cool!

We spent some time admiring Crescent Lake some more before we left the Boardwalk. Swan & Dolphin looked great at night. I also want to point out how much I love this bridge. It is so uniquely painted. I love it.

Yup, we had decided to take the walk back to Hollywood Studios instead of the boat. It just felt right. It was a beautiful night, the sun had gone down, and the temperature was just perfect. It was a lengthy walk, but well worth it as we had a wonderful time, just the two of us.

And there it is! Hollywood Studios glittering away at night.

You know I've got to get my nighttime ride(s) in.

 

[belledream]

My camera was not cooperating (i.e. I was dumb and didn't change to the right settings) at this point so please forgive the blurriness/overall crap quality of the rest of the pictures for the night.

Our plan was to catch Fantasmic! but we were running a little behind. A beautiful sunset could do that to you I guess! We ended up getting there just in time but not in prime seating. We were ok with it. We have seen the show plenty of times so we weren't fussed at all.

It wasn't raining but for some reason, the show was a little weird. When the princess floats came out, all three pairs just stood stationary on the floats instead of dancing. It was odd. And it was extra bright at the grand finale when the boat came out with all the characters on it.

After the show, we enjoyed the lit up sights and sounds of a still-busy Sunset Boulevard from a bench for a little while.

We eventually found ourselves back at Streets of America.

It was deserted. I couldn't recall coming here at night in recent memory, and boy did it look cool!

It actually felt kind of spooky. Having visited both New York and San Francisco, they are definitely cities with grand spectacles that you can't find else. But being there at night, it can get kind of scary!

Of course, we're not in any danger here cause we're secretly in the friendly confines of WDW.

But it was still just a little eerie and slightly disconcerting.

It was time to say goodbye to Hollywood Studios. Thanks for two fun-filled days! It's been swell.

We went back to Sports and used our free arcade points. J played some superly-immersive flying game. Then we got a few rounds of skee-ball in and cashed in all of our tickets for a spinning top. Hey, it's just fun to be a kid!

 

[AliceJaina]

Great report and pictures! Your trip looks amazing!
We got the same Lumiere on our trip in August, we love him. We also got the Mickey ice cream magnet and my girls act like it's real. I will often find it in the freezer, thanks to my 6yo or in my 2yo mouth, attempting to eat it.

 

[ginadee]

You are eating at my favorite places. Great pics.

 

[SharonD]

Very much enjoyed your photo tour of the Swan and Dolphin, followed by the Boardwalk. Great report!

 

[belledream]

And it was back to EPCOT! (For the today and the next, mind you). Everyone knows that you could spend so much more than 3 days at this park for the sights, sounds, and FOOD! That was our main reason: we didn't eat at a lot of EPCOT restaurants during our 2013 vacation as we devoted our monies and tummies to the Food & Wine Festival. Man, did I miss it. And we had a fun lineup today!

But first things first...

We had to get our morning Soarin' and Test Track on, of course.

Then we popped into Innoventions to design our own coaster on Sum of all Thrills. Let me preface this by saying this is a fun little 'ride'. But J hates this ride. He's an engineer and in the preshow for S.O.A.T, they talk about how 'engineers use math and science to create rollercoasters'. J having slaved through four years of electrical engineering ungrad and now computer science masters, was like, "oh it's that easy huh???" He enjoys grumbling about it but once we rode our 'Soaring Snake' ride (cheesy I know) somebody was all smiles.

We headed to the Seas with Nemo and Friends as a 'pregame' to lunch. (Any guesses yet? )

We saw sea turtles!

Both animated and real.

Of course, Nemo was there.

And so was Peach - gangs all here!

We caught a bit of the dolphin showing. They were barrel-rolling through the water and jumping in and out. They're so smooth and majestic looking. We were in awe.

It was time to head to lunch, and you've probably guessed right! To Coral Reef we go!

 

[belledream]

Coral Reef, how we've missed you! We came here three years ago and it was then that we realized ambiance and food are really the best pair.

I loved how the lights on the ceiling rippled to give off that impression that we were underwater. It completely made me a believer.

So very lucky for us that we got a prime table right next to the tank. We wouldn't resurface from underwater for a very long time.

Here is my special All-Natural Lemonade (topped with a Wildberry Foam) drink. It was like pink lemonade but that foam was very, very tasty. Thank you to our wonderful waiter Art for the recommendation. In fact, Art was one of my favorite, if not the favorite, waiters of the trip.

Now how often do you get to dine like this?

J ordered my usual favorite, Grilled Mahi-Mahi. Delicious as ever. There don't seem to be a lot of Coral Reef food fans out there - well sorry, you'll have to count us out because we've never had anything but delicious here!

I got the Lobster Orecchiette Pasta. I try to stay away from pasta on vacation, but my tummy was telling me this is what it wanted today. I don't regret it. Generous pieces of lobster and shrimp in here, and a white sauce that didn't make me feel so so ill after consuming all of it.

During our meal...this shark came by. Pretty scary!

And what is a meal at WDW without delectable desserts?

Here is J's Baileys and Jack Daniel's Mousse. You can just taste the hint of alcohol in it. As J doesn't have the greatest tolerance, I always make fun of him and wanted to make sure he'd be 'ok' after finishing this off.

I got the Chocolate Wave and OH MY GOD this was one of the winners of the trip. First of all, I've been dying for some fruit around here since it seems the only thing I've been eating all trip was meat and baked goods. RASPBERRIES AND RASPBERRY GELATO. THANK GOODNESS!!! And now about that chocolate part...

So nice, it deserves a picture twice. Look at that molten chocolate just oozing out of it's shell. I can taste the warmth and sticky-chocolate-goodness on my tongue now. Purely a winner, guys.

So as I mentioned, our waiter Art was simply amazing. He was funny, kind, obviously prompt and professional, and before we left, he saw our Just Engaged pins and took a moment to congratulate us and tell us he hoped we would have a wonderful life together. That just made me smile inside and out.

 

[mrdrift]

What a fantastic day exploring the different parks and some of the hotels. I am going to try and plan a day like this so we can explore just like you did. Something a little different then just going to parks. Great pictures in the report. Following along.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Loving this trip report!