Where are all the people? Sept 1-8 TR

We are back from another action pack, yet surprisingly relaxing, Disney World adventure. Our latest trip took place September 1st thru the 8th and had us residing in a studio at the Beach Club Villas. It had been a while since we stayed in our home resort and it felt so nice to be back. Let’s face it though, it was nice to be back in Disney at all. There was a gap of nine whole months in between trips this time. Usually we try to schedule the trips about 6 months apart. This keeps it so once you are back home it isn’t too sad as there is already another trip to look forward too. When we got back from our trip last January we didn’t even have this trip scheduled yet…very depressing.

Many times when we go to Disney, it is with extended family that can number over 20 people at one time. This trip however we kept it small with only my parents, my sister and I. This was very different for us, but it was a fun trip. Although it felt very relaxing we were able to do just about everything that we wanted.

So who am I? My name is Lindsay and I am a 26 year old vegan. I have been going to Disney with my family often since I was little and although the nature of the trips has changed somewhat, my love for the place has not. This is my third trip to Disney as a vegan, but I was concerned since I had learned that many of the old standby foods had been replaced with non vegan alternatives.

My sister will also be appearing often in this report though this was not technically a vacation for her, more on that later. She is 22 , just graduated from college and has recently moved to the Orlando area for a while. This is actually one of the reasons for the gap between trips, we timed this vacation so that we can visit.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Yay I'm excited to read more! I was a vegetarian for 4 years, vegan for two of them and had a few Disney trips splashed within that time. I did a HORRIBLE job of eating right while at Disney so I'm curious to see how you did. My idea was to basically eat bread, pastries, and macaroni yikes!!!

 

[DisneyFreakEst1994]

my cousin is a vegan and it's hard for her when we go so I'm excited to read your TR!!

 

[mouselover321]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[rani8600]

Yay I'm excited to read more! I was a vegetarian for 4 years, vegan for two of them and had a few Disney trips splashed within that time. I did a HORRIBLE job of eating right while at Disney so I'm curious to see how you did. My idea was to basically eat bread, pastries, and macaroni yikes!!!

Lol...when i went as vegetarian i found myself eating similarly. I have found that as a vegan it forces you to get a little more creative...

my cousin is a vegan and it's hard for her when we go so I'm excited to read your TR!!

And im happy to have you read it

Can't wait to read more!

 

[rani8600]

Day 1 Getting to the World

Departure day for us this trip was very out of our normal routine. Usually we are scheduled for a flight living somewhere between 7:30 am and 9 am, making it so we are up before dawn and on the first train to the airport. We do this so that we can still have a day in Disney. This trip, it didn’t work out with the flights. Saturday our flight was not scheduled to leave until 1 pm making it so we did not have to be one a train until 10:05. Leaving at 10 gave us nearly a full morning to kill (we are early risers).

Having the extra time that morning really worked out for me though. I had recently adopted a new kitten. She was a rescue kitten found on the street by my little cousin. I named her Daisy, yes after the duck. When we first found her she was still really little, about five weeks, and she didn’t quite know how to meow yet. The sound that came out sounded more like a quack that a meow. She has since found her meow and is very much acting like the kitten she is, but she is still Daisy.

I had only had her for a week before the trip and had arranged for her to go to another of my cousin’s home to stay while we were gone. So not only did I have to finish packing myself up, I had to get all of her things arranged and take her to my cousins. The time that morning seemed to fly by as I was getting everything together and before I knew it, it was time to go.

We are ready!

With last good-byes, I dropped Daisy off at my cousins and made my way to my parent’s house where one of their neighbors was kind enough to drop us off at the train station.

One thing we didn’t count on was just how crowded the train would be. Normally with leaving so early in the morning we often have an entire car to ourselves for much of the hour trip. This time, we couldn’t even all sit together. It was this time that we were reminded that it was Labor Day weekend and we started to worry about what we might find once we got to the parks…

Soon enough we arrived at our stop and transferred over to our first monorail of the trip that would take us to Newark Airport.

Security was a little backed up and by the time we got to our gate we only had about a half hour before boarding. Soon we were in our seats and we were very happy to discover that because our flight had come in from overseas our plane have free movies and shows! This makes the flight sooo much easier for me as they are good distractions. Even though I fly fairly often I still haven’t become a good flyer. The take off always make me a little uneasy.

We are on our way!

My first movie selection was Mirror, Mirror. I liked it and though it was an interesting version of the story.

Once it was over, I amusing myself with some picture taking before selecting some history channel documentary to watch for the last bit of the flight.

The sky was just beautiful.

After we landed my father and I split up with my mom. She went to get started on the rental car and we went to get the luggage. We rented our car from EZ rental this time. Now I’m not sure if it was just because they were short on cars or if this is just the practice, but we had to check in at terminal B and walk all the way up and over to terminal A to actually pick up the car.
Finally it was time to hit the road and make the 30 minute drive to Disney World!

First we saw this sign…

They we saw this one J

We’re finally here after nine long months of waiting!

Since we were arriving so late in the day our room was ready.

So we are finally in Disney and what do we do?

 

[ctosh]

Loving the TR... We have a cat named Daisy also...

 

[wiigirl]

Loving the TR, Love the pics! Can't wait to see more.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

So we are finally in Disney and what do we do?

Oof! What a way to leave us hanging! LOL!!

 

[sgtmgd]

We were there over labor day as well...love the report so far

 

[cbconglom]

so curious about what you mean by vegan standards have been replaced with non vegan foods as i'm going in nov for my first time as a vegan

 

[disney1077]

Great trip report so far, cant wait to read the rest!

 

[rani8600]

so curious about what you mean by vegan standards have been replaced with non vegan foods as i'm going in nov for my first time as a vegan

I wouldn’t worry about going, Disney still does a good job of taking care of us vegans, but they made some changes. They no longer have divvies cookies so for most meal desserts we are back to fruit and they have replaced the bread so that 95% of the bread served has either egg or dairy. There was also some talk about them changing recipe for those beloved Mickey waffles.

 

[cbconglom]

I wouldn’t worry about going, Disney still does a good job of taking care of us vegans, but they made some changes. They no longer have divvies cookies so for most meal desserts we are back to fruit and they have replaced the bread so that 95% of the bread served has either egg or dairy. There was also some talk about them changing recipe for those beloved Mickey waffles.

oh thanks! i don't eat cookies or bread typically as my health requires me to eat as clean as possible but i was planning on having one mickey waffle for a treat hope they stay vegan

 

[Britt]

Cant wait to read more : )

 

[myhappyplace]

Anxiously awaiting more

 

[Tiggerific]

ahhh left in suspense. Great trip report so far!

 

[rani8600]

So we are finally in Disney and what do we do?

We actually dropped our things and made our way back to the car to go back off property (not my choice I assure you). My mom had made some purchases from the outlets when she was there in August with my sister and she needed to make a return. The Vera Bradley outlet had also sent her a 20 dollar birthday coupon and we do not have one near us. We tried to be quick; I think we were there for less than 30 minutes… not too bad.

By this point it was around 6 and we were starving, having not eaten since the morning. The first thought was to try to get something off property around the outlets. By I quickly pointed out that it was dinner time on a Saturday night. We would be waiting a long time no matter where we went. My mom saved the day by suggesting we tried the food court at Art of Animation. This was a great suggestion, because we I had never seen the resort and had heard that the food courts in the values were surprisingly vegan friendly.

I was able to speak with the chef and he made me a yummy stir fry with Asian veggies and tofu. It was good and left just enough room for dessert…

BabyCakes brownie cupcakes!!!!!!!

There were four different frostings vanilla, chocolate, mocha and mint. I had the mocha for dessert and it was delicious. The mini cupcake was a perfect little treat.

Once back at the room we had a bit of a lazy night and finished getting ourselves settled it. I had originally wanted to go into Epcot to see the fireworks, but just wasn’t feeling like walking over. So imagine my joy when at 9 we found out we could not only see the fireworks from the balcony, but that we could hear the music just as if we were in the park.

It was a nice way to end the evening after a very long day.

 

[tink65]

Great start on your TR! Can't wait to read all they updates!

 

[rani8600]

With not so much deliberation that morning, it was decided that our first park of the trip would be Epcot. There was hardly any discussion, because Epcot is most often our first park. It is my personal favorite and it has something for everyone. We woke up on our own Sunday morning. Once my mom and I were ready we went down to the Marketplace to get something to drink and something for my mom and dad to eat. The reason I didn’t get anything for breakfast? Why because there were two delicious Babycakes mini cupcakes back in the room just begging to become my breakfast. And what a fabulous morning meal they were.

While we were in the Marketplace I noticed that they sold Clif Bars, I hadn’t noticed them in the past. Clif bars are really my go to when I need to grab something small to take with me.

Once everyone was fed and ready we made our way through the back entrance of Epcot, over by the UK pavilion. It was a nice morning and there were very small crowds considering it was Labor Day weekend.

We continued our journey towards the Land and obtained the much coveted Soarin’ Fastpasses. We had about an hour to kill before it would be time for our ride. My sister, who hadn’t eating yet, took the opportunity to get some eggs and bacon from Sunshine Seasons. I took the chance to take some pictures.

The special diets section. They had a good selection of vegan friendly items, which was a pleasant surprise I had heard that many of the items that were removed (like divvies cookies, loved those) had not been replaced.

Since it was nearby we decided to join in the search for Nemo. We were confident that with our help they would be successful.

We are going to call that last shot artistic

We still had some time, but not a huge amount so we made our way back to the Land to ride one of my personal favorites…Living With the Land. I don’t know what it is about that ride, but I swear I could ride it over and over and love it just as much.

Some pictures from the line.

The greenhouse.

Hidden Mickey!

I love Quinoa, but never knew what the actual plant looked like.