Consider this a warning. This trip report is going to be a little long (though, certainly not the longest). But if you're like me and enjoy reading other people's long trip reports, you won't mind. This trip is a bit of a big deal for me, for a few reasons. The first is that this is my first time back to the World in 3 years. This is the longest I've gone between trips, and I've been aching to get back. The 2nd reason is that this trip is a graduation present for my girlfriend, Vicky. Three years ago (my last trip) was our first real vacation together, and Vicky's first real trip to Disney. She'd gone a long time ago with her family, but doesn't remember a whole lot from that trip. Our first trip was a great one, but I was afraid I overdid the "tourguide" thing, showing her everything I knew about the parks. In retrospect, I wish I had let her do all the guiding, map in hand, and discovering things about the parks for herself. Anyway, she completed her Master's degree this month, and when I asked her where she wanted to go for a graduation present, imagine my surprise when she said she wanted to go back to Disney! Finally, the third and biggest reason this trip is a big deal is that I'm planning to propose to Vicky during the trip.
First let's do some introductions. This is me, Dave (28, right) and Vicky, my girlfriend (22, left)
Our trip was 12 nights, May 4th - 16th, staying in Port Orleans French Quarter. I'll warn you now, our trip was long, and I honestly don't remember everything we did each day, but I'll do my best. Our trip started out perfectly. We arrived on the night of the 4th at POFQ around 8PM. After checking in and unpacking, we both felt the need for food so we hopped a bus for the Magic Kingdom, and jumped on the resort line monorail heading for the Kona Café. We shared some crab cakes and the fondue dessert, walked around a bit (she'd never seen the Polynesian before), and then mono/bussed it back to our hotel.
Now, I mentioned earlier that this trip report includes a proposal, and a fairly elaborate one at that. There are a few surprises involved, and because of them I won't be proposing until the night of Saturday the 8th. There was no way I was going to carry the ring around with me for 3 days straight, so the next morning I told Vicky that I had to run to the front desk and sign another form (specifically, the room key charge agreement). I explained that we had to sign one for each room key that we could charge with, and we had only signed one. It seemed reasonably believable, and it worked. I got out of the room with the ring and deposited it in one of the hotel's safe deposit boxes. After I got back and we had breakfast (we split a breakfast platter and Mickey waffles virtually every morning), we set out for the Magic Kingdom. Although Epcot is both of our favorite park, no trip can truly begin until we walk down Main Street. The Magic Kingdom turned out to be a great choice. We arrived around 10AM, and the park was about as empty as I've ever seen it. We walked onto The Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, and Philharmagic. Space Mountain turned out to be one of the longer waits of the day at a whopping 10 minutes. We finished up Tomorrowland with the TTA and the Laugh Floor, and then headed back to the French Quarter to relax a bit. I'll be honest, I don't remember what we did that night. I'm pretty sure we ate at the food court at the French Quarter, but neither of us remember how we spent the night (for once, alcohol wasn't a factor! I think…)
Train station on a gorgeous day.
A very, very empty view of Main Street.
Us.
Crystal Palace. I haven't eaten here in years, but I'm thinking I need to go back.
One of the best land entrances.
Briar Patch?
More to come later. Writing these takes a lot longer than I thought!
First let's do some introductions. This is me, Dave (28, right) and Vicky, my girlfriend (22, left)
Our trip was 12 nights, May 4th - 16th, staying in Port Orleans French Quarter. I'll warn you now, our trip was long, and I honestly don't remember everything we did each day, but I'll do my best. Our trip started out perfectly. We arrived on the night of the 4th at POFQ around 8PM. After checking in and unpacking, we both felt the need for food so we hopped a bus for the Magic Kingdom, and jumped on the resort line monorail heading for the Kona Café. We shared some crab cakes and the fondue dessert, walked around a bit (she'd never seen the Polynesian before), and then mono/bussed it back to our hotel.
Now, I mentioned earlier that this trip report includes a proposal, and a fairly elaborate one at that. There are a few surprises involved, and because of them I won't be proposing until the night of Saturday the 8th. There was no way I was going to carry the ring around with me for 3 days straight, so the next morning I told Vicky that I had to run to the front desk and sign another form (specifically, the room key charge agreement). I explained that we had to sign one for each room key that we could charge with, and we had only signed one. It seemed reasonably believable, and it worked. I got out of the room with the ring and deposited it in one of the hotel's safe deposit boxes. After I got back and we had breakfast (we split a breakfast platter and Mickey waffles virtually every morning), we set out for the Magic Kingdom. Although Epcot is both of our favorite park, no trip can truly begin until we walk down Main Street. The Magic Kingdom turned out to be a great choice. We arrived around 10AM, and the park was about as empty as I've ever seen it. We walked onto The Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, and Philharmagic. Space Mountain turned out to be one of the longer waits of the day at a whopping 10 minutes. We finished up Tomorrowland with the TTA and the Laugh Floor, and then headed back to the French Quarter to relax a bit. I'll be honest, I don't remember what we did that night. I'm pretty sure we ate at the food court at the French Quarter, but neither of us remember how we spent the night (for once, alcohol wasn't a factor! I think…)
Train station on a gorgeous day.
A very, very empty view of Main Street.
Us.
Crystal Palace. I haven't eaten here in years, but I'm thinking I need to go back.
One of the best land entrances.
Briar Patch?
More to come later. Writing these takes a lot longer than I thought!
