"When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over"-Our May 2012 Trip Report

Hello, Everyone! Welcome to our 2012 Walt Disney World Trip Report. For those of you who haven't followed along in one of our trip reports before, here is the link to the one I wrote from our last vacation in March of 2011.

This year our vacation was from Thursday, May 10th through Friday, May 18th and we stayed at Pop Century. It was just me (Lesley) and my husband (Andrew-aka Andy) on this trip. Also along for this trip was my new NIKON D3100 DSLR camera and two lenses I got as a graduation gift from my dad. We have "named" several of our gadgets (for example, the GPS we used on this trip is named Cornelia) so I thought it would be fitting to name my new camera Walter.


I started going on Disney vacations when I was a child in the early '90s, and have gone to the parks about 10 times now. Andy's first trip was with my family in September of 2008 and he has now gone a total of 4 times with me.

After returning from our vacation last year, we immediately began talking about going in 2012, but this time we wanted the trip to just be the two of us-sort of a 2nd Honeymoon for us. We've always gone with other family members to Disney, and although we've been married for almost 6 years and dated 5 years before that, we've never been on a vacation just the two of us. Even on our honeymoon we stayed with family in Mexico to save money.
I also went back to college in August of 2011 and I realized I would graduate in May of 2012, so we decided we'd take our vacation immediately following my graduation, as a celebration.

I graduated Tuesday, May 8th with a degree in Early Childcare and Education. Wednesday night we dropped our son, Connor (5) off with my mom for the night. While we were away he was going to spend the night with her, a few nights with Andy's parents and then about a week with my dad at the mountains in Tennessee. Before dropping Connor off we went out to dinner with my sister and her boyfriend, then Andy and I went home, threw some last minute things in our suitcase and went to bed early.

At 2:30 a.m. our alarm went off. When we drive to WDW (we live in S.C. so the drive is about 8 hours) we like to leave in the very early morning hours, that way we get to our hotel early and we prefer it to driving late at night. We brushed our teeth, got dressed and loaded up the truck. My dad loaned us his truck to use during our vacation because it is new and under warranty whereas Andy's car and my Jeep are less dependable.


Too early

We pulled out of our driveway at 3:03 a.m. We filled up the tank the night before-bless you, Bi-Lo Fuel Perks, you lowered our gas to $2.90 a gallon! Believe it or not, we got great milage using my dad's truck and we didn't have to spend too much on gas throughout the trip. We rolled out of the neighborhood blasting "Good Life" by One Republic in the stereo. We do have a good life and we were on our way to make it even better!


On the road

Around 5:20 a.m. we made our way onto I-95. At 6:00 we stopped for gas at a BP near Beaufort. As a graduation gift my dad's girlfriend gave me a BP gas card knowing I'd need it for our vacation-it was an excellent gift that went to great use! I was getting hungry but because of the strange hours we had been awake I wasn't sure what I wanted. I settled on Pringles and a Pepsi while Andy got a Red Bull. Probably not the best meal to have at 6 in the morning.

Around 6:30 we made it into Georgia. We drove into some serious fog that lasted for a good distance. We didn't realize quite how foggy it was until after looking at the picture.


Horrible fog

I kept busy writing thank you notes to my friends and family for their generous graduation gifts or either napping.


Keeping busy

Around 8 a.m. we finally crossed the state line into Florida. We walked around the Welcome Center to use the restroom, stretch our legs and to try some good old Florida orange juice.


Welcome Center


Yummy!


Stretching our legs


I dozed for a bit and soon after I woke up we were in Jacksonville.


Jacksonville

A bit later we saw this sign…


So close

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Love the character pics! You can never have too many!!! We actually got an autograph book this year and our goal is to get every characters autograph. We skipped any duplicates (we met Tigger and Pooh twice but only got their autograph once)

Gotta love walk ons for Space Mountain! We love getting there right at park opening and it's always relatively quiet. Nice to be able to enjoy some things before the big crowds arrive!

Your pics are great!! Keep up the good work! :wave:

 

[Semantje]

You have great pictures! I love this Trip Report. That meal at the T-Rex looks great. We have this restaurant on our to do list.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Congratulations!

Congrats on your graduation!! What an amazing accomplishment, especially granted the crazy pace you two were carrying on. No wonder you totally crashed on the first 2 days of vacation. It's funny how you don't realize how busy and stressed you are until you aren't anymore...

Love the major league baseball stitching. I totally dig that. My husband and boys would think that was the neatest thing in the world.

Beaches n Cream...your desserts looked to die for! DH and I have been eating the Paleo way so seeing those is tough! I'm wayyyy down to eating hardly any sugar so I bet I'd be wired if I ate one of those! But it would be worth it!

I love your light pink fingernail polish. Cute!

T-Rex nachos...great choice! We ate there a while back after spending the day at Blizzard Beach. All I remember is that those nachos were DELISH!!! It might have been how hungry we were or maybe they were just awesome.

I love that you two take fun camera photos. Can't be too serious on vacation and you ham it up! So cool!

Loving your report! I am usually quite active on these boards and I kid you not I haven't read a TR in months! Yours looked too good not to read though, and I'm enjoying it!

 

[Southern_Tink]

After leaving Magic Kingdom we hopped on the Monorail to go to Epcot.


monorail__

monorail 2

We didn't expect to ride much since it was in the middle of the afternoon so we decided to take it slow. First we got on Spaceship Earth.


our future


future dance

After that we walked toward World Showcase and the bridge was up to let the barge through for Illuminations. We've seen this before but many of the people waiting for it to go down had not and they were making a big deal about how neat it was.


bridge


just the 2 of us

So, I've got to share a little story about this picture real quick. Andy and I were taking turns taking each others pictures at the spot when a couple asked me if I'd like for them to take one of us together. I said, "Thanks. Would y'all like for me to take y'alls picture after y'all are done taking ours?" The woman (I'd say they were in their 40's or 50's) looked at me like I was from another planet. As soon as she looked at me like that I was mentally said to myself "Uh oh, I said y'all too much." Sure enough, the woman started chuckling (in a cute way, not a rude way) and asked where we were from. I laughed back and proudly said "South Carolina" to which she said "I thought so". So I politely asked "Where are y'all from?" and intentionally said y'all. She said Ohio. To which I replied "I thought so." She got a big laugh out of that and we took pictures for each other. I know I have a good southern accent, but I didn't realize how strong it was until this Disney vacation. I had several people ask me where I was from and each time I put on my southern charm and proudly told them I was southern!

Anyway, we made our way over to Germany and Andy got a beer. He ordered the Oktoberfest. He thought it was just ok.


drew beer

I wanted a Grand Marnier Orange Slush from France. I've read so many Trip Reports where people recommended this drink. It did not disappoint! My only complaint was that it was expensive ($9.95-I believe), but most alcohol in Disney is.


orange slush

 

[Southern_Tink]

We found a table with an umbrella overlooking the water, so we grabbed a seat. It was nice to people watch for a bit and just relax. Usually on our trips to Disney we are eager to rush around to various rides and shows, but so far this trip was very go with the flow and we very much enjoyed the pace. We were also there during the Flower and Garden Festival so we got a few pictures of that.


pooh flowers



more car flowers


flower picture


eyeore flowers


cars flower

After finishing our drinks we made our way back toward the busses. We went back to Pop to rest for a bit, go to the pool and I wanted to take a shower. While I was in the shower I heard a huge bang and I swear it sounded like a bomb went off. I jumped out of the shower to find Andy watching t.v. and I asked him what it was. He said it had been thundering and he heard some that sounded like a bomb went off as well. It thundered off and on for a while but we never saw any rain.

After that scare, we finished getting ready for dinner at 'Ohana. We then took a bus to Magic Kingdom, then took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort.

We got a pager to let us know when our table was ready, and while we waited we explored a bit. We found a stuffed Eyeore that I had Andy take his picture with. I often tell Andy he is acting like Eyeore when he is down or stressed, so I had to get a photo of the two.


eyeore plush


The first time we ate at 'Ohana was last March and we were with a group of 6. We enjoyed it very much then, but I felt like I didn't eat enough food to justify the cost. When we were planning our meals for this vacation Andy wanted to go back and I agreed, because our experience was really good the year before.

When we got to our table we were given pineapple coconut bread. This bread is so sweet and so very good.


bread

Then we got a salad (which only Andy ate, I don't eat salad) and broccoli and noodles. I don't eat the broccoli but those noodles are excellent! We were also given dumplings and wings-both of which only Andy eats. He thought the dumplings were some of the best food he had all week.


noodles


salad

 

[Southern_Tink]

Then we were served our meats: chicken, pork, beef and shrimp. We felt that the beef was very gristly-I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly. Andy enjoyed the shrimp and pork-again, I don't eat either. The chicken was by far the best meat, we both agreed. The marinade was perfect.


steak dinner

For dessert we were served banana bread pudding. This was fantastic! I ate around the bananas because I don't like cooked fruit but the bread pudding was out of this world good.


dessert


I've mentioned that we were on the Plus Dining Plan. After booking our vacation I found an offer for 25% off of our room. With that discount applied to the original total of our vacation we wound up saving a good bit. We did the math and it essentially took off all but $100 from our dining plan. We would basically be eating one quick service, one table service and one snack per day for 5 days, for only $50 each. So, we tried to keep up with food costs throughout the vacation to see how much we wound up saving. The total for our dinner was $70.27 so given that and the lunch we had, we already broke even on our food. The next 4 days worth of food would work out to be free!

After dinner, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom. We started talking to a Cast Member on the way in and we were discussing Extra Magic Hours. The park was open until 1 a.m. but the CM said "I can't tell you what to do, but stay as long as you'd like. There is always a bus here to take you back to your room, if you know what I mean." We've closed down the parks before and have been the last ones to leave, sometimes an hour and a half after closing, but we've never had a CM tell us to basically stay as long as we wanted!


memories begin

When we went under the train station people were getting ready for the parade to start. We weren't interested in watching it, but I had a cute photo idea I wanted to get. Andy got in place with the camera and I went to talk with a CM who was holding balloons. I asked him if I could get a picture of me holding the balloons. He said no problem, just not to get him in the shot.


balloons

The only problem was, Andy was too far away to hear him and he got at picture of the CM! I thought it turned out really cute, especially since the CM has his hand over his mouth. We wound up getting a better one later in the week.

After the picture we went to the Haunted Mansion, followed by it's a small world.


small world


small world 2

Then it was off to one of our favorite shows: Philharmagic!


philarmagic sign


philarmagic

 

[Southern_Tink]

After Philharmagic, Andy wanted to ride Splash Mountain. I've not ridden Splash Mountain since I was around 9. I have a memory of the vultures at the end terrifying me and I can't stand rides that make my stomach feel like it is going to drop out of me, so I waited on him.

After Splash, we made our way to Buzz.


buzz ride

Then, I wanted to ride Dumbo. It was beautiful at night and I love the water feature at the bottom, it was stunning. Andy doesn't like rides that spin, so he waited on me.


dumbo__


drew waiting

We were right beside Barnstormer so we decided to give it a try. We've never ridden it before so we figured we'd check it off our "Disney Bucket List"-yes, we really have one!


barnstormer


barn stormer

I was getting tired after that. I really wanted to make it past EMH on our first night at Magic Kingdom, but I just couldn't do it. We made our way toward the exit and took pictures along the way.


breathtaking


in front of castle


happy like a fool


great shot


love this view

 

[Southern_Tink]

touching hands 2


touching hands


the writer


statue


clock

We were in bed at 1:22 a.m.


late night

UP NEXT: Day 5- Opening Hollywood Studios, a butterfinger cupcake and stomach ache for breakfast, Animal Kingdom, dinner at The Wave, and the last ones out of the park at Hollywood!

 

[Vtlsgns2]

We found a table with an umbrella overlooking the water, so we grabbed a seat. It was nice to people watch for a bit and just relax. Usually on our trips to Disney we are eager to rush around to various rides and shows, but so far this trip was very go with the flow and we very much enjoyed the pace. We were also there during the Flower and Garden Festival so we got a few pictures of that.


pooh flowers



more car flowers


flower picture


eyeore flowers


cars flower

After finishing our drinks we made our way back toward the busses. We went back to Pop to rest for a bit, go to the pool and I wanted to take a shower. While I was in the shower I heard a huge bang and I swear it sounded like a bomb went off. I jumped out of the shower to find Andy watching t.v. and I asked him what it was. He said it had been thundering and he heard some that sounded like a bomb went off as well. It thundered off and on for a while but we never saw any rain.

After that scare, we finished getting ready for dinner at 'Ohana.



We checked in to Pop the same day and were in 70s bldg 10 room 429! We came up from the pool about 20 min. before that big boom. It was so close and there were so many people in the pool that I kept telling my husband I hoped no one had been struck.
Thanks for a great report!

 

[Southern_Tink]

Love your trip report! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for reading!

YAY YAY you guys are checked into Disney property now! :sohappy:
Were the parks crowded at all during your visit?
The picture of you with the Dapper Dans is SO cute!
What kind of camera did you use?! And o yeah.. Only 3 and a half hours left of high school for me WHOOT WHOOT! :lol: But don't worry I will definitely continue reading your TR at home! Haha!

I didn't think they were crowded at all. I noticed more people on our last day (Thursday) but Stars Wars Weekends started that Friday and it was the last weekend for Flower and Garden so I expected that. I thought it was less crowded in May than it usually is in Sept./Oct. when we usually go. Congrats on being done with high school! How exciting!

So many congratulations to you! Glad you got a few days rest before hitting the parks!

Thank you! It was so nice to have a little rest before hitting the parks, we surely needed it!

Congrats on the graduation! I kindof related to you with the whole mothers day thing (I'm not a mother) but my college graduation was actually on mothers day so that was interesting! It was cool though because I think all of the mothers were really happy

but you two are a cute couple and I love how you share entrees, I feel that is a good sign of a happy couple haha.

your pictures are helping me get my Disney fix and I cannot wait to read about 'Ohana we are going there for the first time in August and are excited!!

Thank you! A lot of our local high school graduations were on Mother's Day this year...I thought that was really weird! Thanks for thinking we are a cute couple. We've always been really silly with one another so I think that's what keeps us young and fun! I like your comment on sharing entrees, we will have to keep that up! I think you'll like 'Ohana, it is always a fun experience.

oh and I was also wondering if WDW had graduation pin/buttons because I saw on instaland (instagram pictures from Disneyland) with girls holding buttons that say graduation, but I guess not because you wrote yours in? I just want one in August! [:

I'm not sure about the buttons. I actually asked for an "I'm celebrating" button but that might have ones specifically for graduation, I'm not sure.

this is a brilliant trip report...

Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

Love the character pics! You can never have too many!!! We actually got an autograph book this year and our goal is to get every characters autograph. We skipped any duplicates (we met Tigger and Pooh twice but only got their autograph once)

Gotta love walk ons for Space Mountain! We love getting there right at park opening and it's always relatively quiet. Nice to be able to enjoy some things before the big crowds arrive!

Your pics are great!! Keep up the good work! :wave:

Great idea getting an autograph book! I've thought of doing the same thing. Since I scrapbook I've thought of tearing the pages out and using them in a book-I'll have to remember that next trip! We love getting to the parks first thing in the morning or being the last ones out. We like when the parks are dead and you feel like you have the whole place to yourself.

You have great pictures! I love this Trip Report. That meal at the T-Rex looks great. We have this restaurant on our to do list.

Thank you, I took over 500! I couldn't help taking so many-I was in Disney with a new camera...what was I supposed to do!?!?! lol I highly suggest T-Rex, the price is a bit high but the portions are HUGE so I'd split something.

Congrats on your graduation!! What an amazing accomplishment, especially granted the crazy pace you two were carrying on. No wonder you totally crashed on the first 2 days of vacation. It's funny how you don't realize how busy and stressed you are until you aren't anymore...

Love the major league baseball stitching. I totally dig that. My husband and boys would think that was the neatest thing in the world.

Beaches n Cream...your desserts looked to die for! DH and I have been eating the Paleo way so seeing those is tough! I'm wayyyy down to eating hardly any sugar so I bet I'd be wired if I ate one of those! But it would be worth it!

I love your light pink fingernail polish. Cute!

T-Rex nachos...great choice! We ate there a while back after spending the day at Blizzard Beach. All I remember is that those nachos were DELISH!!! It might have been how hungry we were or maybe they were just awesome.

I love that you two take fun camera photos. Can't be too serious on vacation and you ham it up! So cool!

Loving your report! I am usually quite active on these boards and I kid you not I haven't read a TR in months! Yours looked too good not to read though, and I'm enjoying it!

Thanks for reading along! I've enjoyed reading your reports before, so it is nice to have you following along with one of mine and I'm so glad you like it! You are right, we had no idea just how tired we were until we rested those first days-it was what we needed!

The baseball thing was something totally random that we happened to stumble upon, but I think some of the most unexpected things can be the most neat at Disney.

Beaches n Cream was to die for! We hadn't eaten like that in months and my stomach was surely sore after but man it was worth it!

I love your nail polish comment! It is my favorite color!

The T-Rex nachos were incredible! I can't imagine eating them on my own though, it was a massive portion. They were delicious! We've made similar nachos at home before but with Velveeta cheese and without black beans, so we are going to try to make the T-Rex version soon.

We did take some silly pictures, they are so fun! We are so serious in our normal day to day (you can't goof off too much when you are a student or a reporter) so we make the most of it in Disney and channel our inner kid!

I'm glad you came back on the boards to read mine! I hope it doesn't disappoint!

We found a table with an umbrella overlooking the water, so we grabbed a seat. It was nice to people watch for a bit and just relax. Usually on our trips to Disney we are eager to rush around to various rides and shows, but so far this trip was very go with the flow and we very much enjoyed the pace. We were also there during the Flower and Garden Festival so we got a few pictures of that.

After finishing our drinks we made our way back toward the busses. We went back to Pop to rest for a bit, go to the pool and I wanted to take a shower. While I was in the shower I heard a huge bang and I swear it sounded like a bomb went off. I jumped out of the shower to find Andy watching t.v. and I asked him what it was. He said it had been thundering and he heard some that sounded like a bomb went off as well. It thundered off and on for a while but we never saw any rain.

After that scare, we finished getting ready for dinner at 'Ohana.

We checked in to Pop the same day and were in 70s bldg 10 room 429! We came up from the pool about 20 min. before that big boom. It was so close and there were so many people in the pool that I kept telling my husband I hoped no one had been struck.
Thanks for a great report!

I'm glad we were not the only people who were concerned when we heard that noise! How cool that we were pretty much neighbors! You probably unknowingly saw my husband at the pool. He came up about 10 min. before the boom! Thanks for reading along! It was neat to read your comment and know that someone who was there the same week as me is following along with my trip!

 

[Southern_Tink]

Monday, May 14th

Our alarm went off at 7:30. We took showers and got ready to to to Hollywood Studios. We got there right after 9 (when it opened). Andy went to Toy Story Mania to grab Fastpasses for us while I wondered around and took photos.


hollywood statue


hollywood sign


hollywood car

When I got toward the hat (which I am not a fan of!) I noticed characters coming out. We've never met Donald and Daisy before so I quickly hopped in line-the line was only about 3 families deep. I looked around for Andy and spotted him before my turn and I quickly pulled him in line with me so we could get our photo together.


ducks


duck love

After our photo I made the comment to Andy that the park was fairly empty and he told me it wasn't even necessary for him to run to get Fastpasses, the whole park was pretty deserted.

We started making our way toward Star Tours and I saw a poster for The Bachelorette.


bachelorette

I know that show (and The Bachelor) isn't the best, but I've watched it since the first season and it is a guilty pleasure of mine. Also, Emily Maynard is from the same city my dad lives in and this season was fined there, so it is pretty interesting to me.


andy star wars


andy star wars

We made it to Star Tours. This was the first time we had the chance to ride this since the refurb and we both really liked it. Sometimes we think refurbs can be a hit or miss, but we were really pleased with this one.

We then went to the Hall of Fame.


kissing walt

Andy is a fan of Andy Griffith so I wanted to get a picture of the "two Andys".


2 andys

 

[Southern_Tink]

Our next ride was The Great Movie Ride.


more movie ride


oz again


more oz

I was getting hungry after our ride but neither of us could think of a place to get something. One of the things I wanted to check off of my "Disney Bucket List" was trying a Butterfinger cupcake from Starring Rolls. I made the mistake of telling Andy I wanted that.


my cupcake


my cupcake 2


I normally hate the cupcakes at Disney cupcakes. I think they are terribly dry and the icing lacks something. However, this was insanely delicious. The cake was chocolate topped with chocolate fudge, vanilla icing and topped with a hard layer of butterfingers candy. This cupcake is insanely large! I made the mistake of eating this for my breakfast and my stomach was in a big fat knot for the rest of the morning. I didn't even finish it and it was still too much for my stomach to handle. I highly suggest splitting this with someone!

Andy wanted to ride Tower of Terror and I refuse to. I rode this right after it opened (before the drop sequence was random) and the dropped was too much for me, like I said in an earlier post I hate rides that make my stomach drop. Anyway, I grabbed a seat near Tower of Terror to eat my cupcake while Andy rode.


tower of terror

When he came back, Andy was hungry for lunch. My stomach was still full from the cupcake, so I told Any to choose the place and I'd sit with him while he ate. He decided on the ABC Commissary, somewhere we've never been before.


abc food

The restaurant had very few people in it and it was very spacious. I grabbed a table while Andy placed his order. T.V.'s were placed throughout the restaurant playing teasers to ABC shows. I was especially interested in Once. I've never watched it before but it looked interesting.


drews luch


Andy ordered a double cheeseburger with fried shrimp, fries, a coke and chocolate mousse. He thought it was very good and we would definitely eat there again, I want to try something from there!

Our Fastpasses for Toy Story were ready so we hopped in line after Andy's lunch.


toy story


toy story score

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I'm a little late to the party, but I am really enjoying your TR - awesome job on the pics! Looking forward to the rest :sohappy:

 

[Blueskyze]

Just discovered your TR this morning, and I'm loving it! Your pictures are GREAT, I can't wait to see more. My husband & I did a trip without our son in January, so I am totally relating. We're going back in August (with our son) and we have an ADR for T-Rex. I'm thinking that I definitely need to try those nachos! I also realllllly want to go to Beaches & Cream now!

Congrats on your graduation - it sounds like you worked crazy hard, and you seriously deserved this vacation!

Oh, and I am loving all of your cute dresses!

 

[fbp]

Your trip report has been great so far! I'm excited to read more

 

[Southern_Tink]

I'm a little late to the party, but I am really enjoying your TR - awesome job on the pics! Looking forward to the rest :sohappy:

Better late than never! lol Glad you are reading along-the rest of Day 5 will be up tonight!

Just discovered your TR this morning, and I'm loving it! Your pictures are GREAT, I can't wait to see more. My husband & I did a trip without our son in January, so I am totally relating. We're going back in August (with our son) and we have an ADR for T-Rex. I'm thinking that I definitely need to try those nachos! I also realllllly want to go to Beaches & Cream now!

Congrats on your graduation - it sounds like you worked crazy hard, and you seriously deserved this vacation!

Oh, and I am loving all of your cute dresses!

Thanks for following along! I love going to WDW in January. I think it is the best time of the year to go. The servings at T-Rex are massive so whatever you get I'd split. I'm telling you those nachos hit the spot! And Beaches & Cream was great-we will certainly go back. Thanks for the congrats on graduation. I started taking more classes the week we came back from school so I'm right back in the thick of it! Glad you like my dresses! I always wear dresses-they fit better than jeans and are prettier too! lol

Your trip report has been great so far! I'm excited to read more

Thanks for reading along! The rest of Day 5 will be up tonight!

 

[Cassie S.]

@Southern_Tink, I loved reading this report and I hope you update it someday! I know life can be busy but I look forward to finding out how the rest of the trip went.