Trip Report Who needs sleep? We're going to Disney World!! PTR/TR

Hello! And welcome to my 3rd trip report for my 7th trip the fabulous Walt Disney World!!

Here is my Dad, Mom and me on a cruise in January 2012, they are coming too!

Well, this is actually the pre-trip portion, I am now 29 days away and can't wait any longer! This trip will be different than any other trip I have ever taken.
1. I will be there for a whole week! The other trips have been 4 or 5 days, which I enjoyed but I have never had so much time and it excites me!
2. I am going to run my first EVER 5k! My Dad and I will be running in Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k while there. I am NERVOUS since I was not a runner till about... 6 months ago .
3. LOTS of new restaurants!
4. The real big one is I will be traveling with 9, yes, NINE family members. That's a lot of people. And 7 of them are people I really don't know very well.

Those are the big things, I will explain more as we go on. I am hoping this PTR will help ease my nerves... more on that too.

Thanks for reading! (Well I hope you are )

Katie

 

[KappleB2]

Anyone out there?! More to come tomorrow if you are there!

 

[minnielaw]

Anyone out there?! More to come tomorrow if you are there!

I am here and anxiously awaiting an update! Love your pictures!

 

[ginadee]

The christmas decorations look amazing. I'll be there in 7 days and cant wait to see all that.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 4: Happy 5k day! (aka a REAAALLLY long day)

Helllllooooo Humans!!! Back to the report and today happens to be where most of my nerves were...my very first 5k! This morning we woke up at about 5am! WOW that is super early. The things we do for Disney !

Soooo... My Aunt Ruth, my Dad and I got up and woke up a little. I had a granola bar (so I wouldn't starve, but can't really eat before I run) and we were off. We drove, but left pretty early because we weren't sure about closed roads and parking and all that. We were WAY early. It was a bit chilly, but we kept busy cracking jokes about how horrible we would do! My Aunt has had 2 knee replacements and her neck and shoulder are messed up from a car accident. She was really unsure she would make it at all but by golly she was going to try.
My Dad kind of "trained" for it. He did start to run when he signed up was not very consistent. He did make it known that his competitiveness would not allow him to finish after me .
Me, I did train, and worked really hard at it too! To go from a non-runner to what I did was a big personal win for me.

Me and Ruth

We stood around as long as we could and listened to the DJs...who had the most energy at 530am than anybody I had ever seen! And they were awesome! We made our way to Corral C as the sun began to rise. We were getting closer to start time...and I was kinda freakin' out.

"Could I actually do this?"
"Did I train enough for this?"
"Surely they are going to have to pull me off this course!"

All things running through my mind that morning. I was not real excited, I was SCARED. I didn't realize what a huge hurdle this was for me until I was standing there, with a bunch of other people, ready to run.

Some of these costumes did make me giggle
Mr. Incredible people. Long gloves, other things and all...

There were also a few men dressed as women. I just don't understand.

Ok. Corral A was off. We moved up. Then B. Then it was our turn. Which brought a sudden surge of excitement! My hormones were CRAZY this day!

Stopped by these 2 on the way out

And we were off. Man was this course crowded. Even when I wanted to run I had a hard time, there just wasn't room. My Dad was impatient, couldn't wait so he went off without me. That's ok. I wanted to finish strong.
Made it through the parking lot and the first mile. Into the park! I had mixed feelings about stopping to take pictures and having a good finish time so I went by several characters I would have loved to have seen-like Baloo!
Up towards the Tree of Life and around to Africa where my nerves made it time for a potty break . Back to running until I spotted King Louie, who is one of my faves. I just couldn't pass it up.

And from then on, I moved as fast as I could, which wasn't real fast By the time I got to the backstage portion (the last mile) I was spent but my self talk began then.

"You got up early and worked hard for this! Through the heat in the summer!"
"Just one more mile! Come on Katie! You want to be able to say you did all you could."

And I did. It was crowded everywhere but every place I could run I did. And I finished that last mile strong. Tears filled my eyes as I caught a glimpse of the finish line. I couldn't hold it back! I surpassed what I thought I could do. My goal was 45 minutes, I finished in 51 (but I had a potty break and a King Louie break) so I declare it met!!

My finish lines pictures were not attractive. No one should look at me when I run, or cry for that matter .
My Dad was waiting for me at the finish line and it wasn't too long till Ruth came along! She was much faster than she anticipated! She made it!

We found each other and found the car and headed pack to Saratoga Springs to get ready for the day. People were just arriving for theirs at the park and we had already been up 4 hours... and exercised!

I am glad I did this. I'm not sure if I will again, but this was a real accomplishment for me. If anything, a mental hurdle I needed to jump and I did. But it was physical too and I hope to continue improving in that area.

 

[imagination30]

awesome job Katie , awesome pics. cant wait to see more pics .. oh btw - april 26th in Nashville , is the st jude country music 1.2 Marathon .. and they have a mini marathon.. * I bet you could run that? .. look into it!

 

[KappleB2]

Day 4: Continued

I don't have very many pics from this day... my cousins and uncle had the 1/2 marathon at night so we just took it easy.
Fox and the Hound in the bed spread!

Jingle Jungle swag

After cleaning up we went back over to Animal Kingdom. We had lunch reservations at Yak and Yeti, but some time to kill first. We made a stop at Its Tough to be a Bug, complete with some newbies who had NO IDEA what was coming. While they freaked out, we laughed! It was hilarious! While they were pretty loud, we couldn't wait to hear their reactions, it was great!

Finished that, made potty breaks and it was lunch time!

This lunch was 6 of the 10 of us. My Mom and I shared the honey chicken. It was good but I actually preferred the sweet and sour chicken from the counter service place. Its much less expensive too.

Post lunch we met up with the rest of the fam and headed over to Expedition Everest. It was their first time and I was super excited to sit with Alex on his first expedition. He LOVED it! Laughed the whole way thru! It was a great ride!
It was about parade time, but my Aunt Ruth was determined to help me do all the things on my list! Today it was the elusive White chocolate elephant cupcake! Luckily, the path was clear (because they were all waiting on the parade) and we made to Africa pretty quickly!

She got to the booth and says "How about 7!" SEVEN!!?? This is where I learned Ruth was all about go big or go home I KNEW the rest of the trip was going to be a hoot! I talked her down to 3 and it was time for a mini elephant photo shoot!

Uncle Pat had to get in on the action

On the way out we caused quite a ruckus. Princess waves all around (remember people were waiting for the parade...we told them we were it!) Carried our cupcakes all the way home.

Got home and took a little nap, Ruth and I went over to Downtown Disney for some shopping for my cousins (her grandkids) and dinner at Earl of Sandwich. I had the Holiday sandwich and HOLY COW that thing was good! Another check off my list to do too!!

We are big LSU fans, and the Bama game was that night. I felt kind of bad because that meant we didn't go to see my cousins and uncle finish the 1/2 marathon, but I think they understood. Bama is a big game for us! We lost. Bad. By the time the game was over it was about midnight and I had been up since 5am (with a tiny nap) so it was lights out!

One VERY long day, but super fun! A sign of things to come!

 

[KappleB2]

awesome job Katie , awesome pics. cant wait to see more pics .. oh btw - april 26th in Nashville , is the st jude country music 1.2 Marathon .. and they have a mini marathon.. * I bet you could run that? .. look into it!

Thank you! I'm not too sure about another run just yet...I haven't run since but I work retail and am in a Christmas musical so time is not real abundant Good enough excuse?

There's still time...who knows how I'll feel about it post Christmas.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 5: Hollywood Studios and EMH at Magic Kingdom...could we do it?

Day 5 meant FINALLY being reunited with my favorite ride. EVER. No question about it. Tower of Terror.

My parents and I were up and at 'em before an alarm, so we made it to rope drop at Hollywood Studios. The rest of the fam had a later night (with the 1/2) and would be meeting up with us later.

First stop, of course, Toy Story. Oh! And my Mom got in today! No problems!
Fastpasses in hand (for 12:40 at 9:07am) we hopped in the standby line, which increased from 30min to 70 in about 5 min time. We didn't wait that long, it was more like 25min.

I don't do standby here very often, but I really like this queue and Mr. Potato head.

This time I played with Mom, and won! She's good at Buzz but not so much at this.

Who cares about accuracy?!
We then headed over to RnR to meet up with Alicia, Earl, Tori and Alex. They are roller coaster people.

HA! I just noticed random dude in my picture! It looks like he was posing for me, but I don't know him!

It was time to head to ToT. They had been on the California version but I was SURE this was better (DUH!)

Woohoo! It was fantastic! And good for my soul! I kind of laugh/squeal this entire ride and by the end my endorphins are pumpin'! Its the best feeling. Ever. Just one ride for now, but we would be back.
A quick coffee stop and we were off to The Great Movie Ride! Gangster scene.

Another one they really enjoyed!
It was almost time for lunch, but we had fastpasses for Toy Story first!
Ride #2 I rode alone, but had a better score

Then we went our seprate ways- Alicia, Earl,Tori, Alex to Sci-Fi, Dad and his brother Pat to Mama Melrose (for their "date" hahaha) and the rest of us to 50s Prime Time Cafe!! I was soooo looking forward to this meal! This type of place is NOT for my Dad so Ruth was the PERFECT person to do this with!

We waited just a couple of minutes and were seated at a TV table. Our "cousin Lorraine" was fantastic! She played with us just enough. It really was fun.

I had the BEST fried chicken I ever had. Ever. WOW! It was buttery and crispy and mmmmm....

Only thing is...I couldn't finish my green beans. And I ate alot of them! Neither could Ruth, OR my Mom so Ruth and I just put ours on Mom's plate! Lorraine did not believe us that my Mother didn't finish them either! So we had a special dessert...

Along with Dad's sundae. The carmel corn on that is a fantastic choice!

All around great meal! I'd love to do it again!

 

[ginadee]

50's...one of my fave places to eat. Your run sounded so exciting. I was right there with ya. Good for you!

 

[Goofnut1980]

Great report!!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Haha ! is that whipped cream on your greens beans?

 

[KappleB2]

Haha ! is that whipped cream on your greens beans?

You MUST eat your veggies at 50s Prime Time! Really we got in trouble because we put what we didn't eat onto my Mom's plate, so it looked like we ate it! Our "cousin" didn't fall for it, so she brought my Mom real dessert and us green beans with whipped cream!

 

[KappleB2]

DHS continued...

After lunch my Dad had plans for all of us. It was time to make the rounds to as many shows as we could. First up, the Backlot tour. This is always a good way to get off your feet for a bit. And was a first for some members of the fam. Like good family members, we let them get in the tram first so they would be closer to catastrophe canyon of course!

I'm sad to say no one even flinched! I definitely did my first time!

Awkward pic! There wasn't room to turn around! But everybody else looks great!

After this, everyone else wanted to see Lights, Motors, Action but I really had no interest (and by this time, I was ready for some "me" time). Off I went to an animation class! We drew Dopey, but mine turned out a little more like Jerry (you know, the mouse in Tom & Jerry?) Not sure what happened there.

While in the animation building I stopped to meet Mr. Incredible and Frozone. I never met them before and I ALWAYS try to see somebody new! Being by myself, no one could whine about waiting in line for character!

Frozone saw my birthday button and asked if I was 21. Sure I said! He then proceeded to tell me not to drink and drive (in charades of course). I agreed, and they let me go.
I knew the next show for the fam was Indiana Jones, but I had some time to kill. Then I remembered I made some fastpass+ reservations this morning! I didn't really intend to use them (since it would only allow 2 of the 3 of us to make reservations) but being alone I could! I quickly made my way down the street to Tower of Terror! (aka- the best ride ever)
But did not move too quickly to take some pics on the way!

Tower of Terror, awesome as always. Then I found everyone at Indy. I had never seen it so late in the day. It was starting to get dark and I think it made the explosions that much cooler! It was almost time for the Osborne Lights, so a few of group went on Star Tours while the rest of us waited. I LOVE Christmas- so I was super duper excited about these lights!

The angels were my favorite! They even flapped their wings!

We spent about 30 mins just looking. It was fantastic! I do hope they do these again because I would love to see it!
We were starting to get hungry for dinner and decided we would head back to the resort and eat before some of us would attempt EMH in Magic Kingdom till 2am!!! Woohoo!! I was stoked people. Determined.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 5: Continued. Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours! (not many pics here)

As soon as the hours were extended on the WDW website, I was determined to spend this night in the Magic Kingdom. My fave park at 2am?! Who wouldn't want to? Turns out, most of my family but didn't stop me and a few brave souls.

After dinner at the Artist's Palette at Saratoga Springs, me, my Dad and cousins Alex and Tori were off to the Magic Kingdom!! We arrived in the parking lot just as Wishes started. I was kind of bummed we didn't get there a bit earlier, but I would have another chance (or so I thought.)

Rode the monorail in and entered against the crowd, but that is EXACTLY what we wanted! First stop, the Jingle Cruise, at night! There were only a few decorations up at this point, the best being the boat names! We had a great, funny guide. I like the Jingle Cruise and was happy to be able to see it and the standard version.

We hit up Pirates and Big Thunder Mountain next followed by Mickey's Philharmagic and Winnie the Pooh! On over to Space Mountain and my Dad was done. We told him that was fine, we'd just ride the bus back!

My cousins had NEVER been on Dumbo! And riding at night was on my list, so we went there next. We walked right on! And had a blast! Who would have thought that Dumbo would be the ride to wake us up again?!

Alex's first time!

We had so much fun, we stayed on for another ride!
And of course, had to get a picture to commemorate our fun night!

Totally awake now , we made our way over to Fantasyland and Under the Sea but first we stopped to see some princesses. I love visiting characters and there was 0 wait! We opted for Rapunzel and Snow White. Princess Fairytale Hall is beautiful! We walked straight through or I would have taken some pictures!
First up, Rapunzel. I have had one good, and one bad experience with her so I was anxious to see what this brought. She was great! She asked about my birthday, if I had seen any lanterns, where my prince was (only God has that answer!)

Then Snow White! Who was very interested in my cousin Alex. She asked him if he would kiss Tori(his sister) in order to save her. He said of course! But on the cheek.

Made our way over the Under the Sea where we squeezed in all together! They had been on this in California, but liked the line here better. We enjoyed singing along and not caring what anyone thought! There weren't really any people around us, so we weren't bothering anybody.
We only had a little time left so it was back to Space and the right side! We rode the left earlier and decided we liked this one much better. It was a great end to night! And we made it to 2am!!!!

Pictures or it didn't happen

We watched the Goodnight Kiss and slowly made our way out, with an almost empty Main Street.

How AMAZING is this castle?! I LOVE it!

We had to wait a bit for our bus and got home and into bed at about 3am. While it was a reeaaalllly long day, I don't regret one minute of it! That was the most fun I had had in a long time! And sharing it with my cousins was a real treat. We payed for it at our 745am breakfast reservations the next day though.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 6: The morning after...and MK!

I left off with us hitting the sack at 3am after our epic closing down of the Magic Kingdom. This morning, all 10 of us had reservations at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. Sure, I only got 4 hours of sleep, but I LOVE Tonga Toast! Who could pass this up?!

I, of course, got Tonga Toast! And a coke! Because it was 100% necessary for this day

You can see it that last one how Alex and I are struggling. 4 hours people! 4 hours of sleep!

From breakfast, we moved on to the Magic Kingdom!! My favorite! I already spent most of a day here earlier but I just love it so much!
We caught the end of the trolley show, but I was on a mission today. My Aunt Ruth, biggest Disney lover I know, had not seen new Fantasyland yet and I HAD to show her Enchanted Tales with Belle! While it is not something you need to see multiple times, I think it is a fantastic example of Disney magic.

It was so pretty decorated for Christmas! Which was weird cause we were in shorts

My Dad's sister, my Mom, and Dad's sister in law- Alicia, Sharon, and Ruth

The wardrobe is so cute!

She loved it! As was very glad I made them go straight there!

 

[ginadee]

I cant wait to have tonga toast for the first time. The castle looks unbelievably gorgeous. I am so excited. 4 days.

 

[KappleB2]

I am in a play in 2 1/2 weeks and am busy EVERY SINGLE NIGHT until then, so I'm trying to crank this out (because its fun) and so I don't forget!
More Magic Kingdom!

My Dad was waiting for us with fastpasses for the Jingle Cruise! On the way over we made a pit stop, where else but the Tangled toilets?!

That tower is like a painting! Its just beautiful!
This ride on the Jingle Cruise was just ok. Not bad, but our skipper was not ready for this new script. Poor thing forgot the first joke halfway thru it!
"Is this your first Jingle Cruise? Mine too!" She says... we tried to be nice and make sure we laughed when she got it right!
Cute decorations!

From there we made our way over to Big Thunder and Splash. Standby was too long so we decided to pass but did get some fastpasses for later.

I did not take good notes the second half of the trip, but I think from here we went to Mickey's Philharmagic followed by a stop at Haunted Mansion.

We finished this morning with lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Great place, great meal, great server. I wish I wrote down her name but by this point I could barely keep my eyes open. You know that point where you are so tired you get kind of queasy? Me. At this point.

Went back to the resort for a nice nap then I went over to Downtown Disney. I wanted to look at the Vera Bradley's and a stop at Goofy's Candy company was necessary. I really enjoyed the boat ride over there, talked to some very nice people. I made it back to Saratoga Springs just in time to head over to Epcot with some of the fam.

 

[KappleB2]

Epcot and Illuminations

This evening, some of the family wanted to go to Epcot to see Illuminations. I love a good fireworks show (and MK had a Christmas party tonight so I couldn't go there)

As I was making my way back to the room I ran into my Aunt and Uncle (going to Cali Grill for dinner) who were making a stop at Epcot to drop off my other Aunt and cousin. I hopped in the van and we were off!

First stop, Starbucks! I did take a nap but I was still only going on about 6 hours off sleep in the last 30 or so hours. I got a coke, they got coffee.

First stop, the Seas with Nemo and Friends! I LOVE NEMO!! And I hadn't done this one this trip so I was happy to go! We made sure to see Bruce!

Then we made our way to the World Showcase. It was the last night of Food and Wine and they wanted to taste some things.

We tasted some things and found a spot for Illuminations. I tasted the ham and cheese noodle thing in Germany and holy cow! That stuff was good! I wish I had found it earlier!
We watched Illuminations from Italy and they enjoyed it! I will say, they come from California which has FANTASTIC nighttime shows, so they have pretty high standards .
Tori and I made it to the bus home while the others went through the International Gateway to meet up with the rest of the gang for mini golf.

I was just too exhausted to play. But I was going to get a full nights sleep!

 

[KappleB2]

Day 7: Park Hoppin'

I was up and at 'em bright and early after 8 1/2 hours of sleep!!! Woohoo!

The rest of the crew had yet to ride the Safari, so we headed there first. Everyone, minus my Mom and Dad that is. They said they would meet us later at Epcot. There were 8 of us and only a 7 person van which means we had to be sneaky!
What is Earl smiling about?

This safari trip brought lots of babies! Baby elephants and baby giraffes! So cute!

After the Safari we made our way to Everest, twice! I was happy to notice they had cleaned up the top where you stop
It was too early for lunch, so we got some ice cream to hold us over.

Pat, Ruth, Eric and Alex had ressies at Le Cellier. I was going to meet up with my parents there. We made our way out as the others stayed to see some more animals. We would all meet up later at the Magic Kingdom for fireworks.

We parked at the Beach club and made our way into Epcot.

Turtles!

We got in and parted ways, they stopped in Canada and I made my way over to Mexico! I sure do love those nachos!

After lunch, first stop was Ellen's Energy Adventure.
Sure, this show is outdated. But I love Ellen, and Bill Nye. And its a great place to rest and let lunch settle. Plus, we were really trying to do things with my Mom today.

Next up, we thought we'd give Mission:Space, the green side, a try. My Dad and I both LOVE the orange side but it makes us sick! Its really too bad because that is a fantastic ride! I liked the green side. I think I will ride again if there is not much of a wait.

While over there, Dad and I hopped in the Test Track single rider line. We ended up in the same car with 2 french couples. Men in the front row, women in the back. They said they tried to make a car but accidentally got Japanese instructions! The women next to me, in the middle seat was VERY concerned that she did not have a shoulder strap. She put her foot up on the seat on front of us to hold herself back! I had to tell her when it was over so she could relax!!

Next up was Nemo! My Mom had brain surgery 4 years ago, and can identify with Dory. It really is a pretty accurate way to describe how she is post surgery. We will be there when Finding Dory comes out, you better believe it!

We hit up Spaceship Earth before we headed left Epcot for this trip

Then's there is this girly man

 

[KappleB2]

Home sick, trying to recover before the play I'm in this weekend! What else could brighten my mood then to (hopefully) finish this TR and watch A Muppet Christmas Carol?! Here it comes!