July 2012. Yes it was hot. Yes it was crowded. Yes it was FUN! ***COMPLETED***

[solana131]

Hi there DISworld! Welcome to my second trip report. My name is Suzi. I was lucky enough to go to Disney World a few times as a child, then I took a 20 year hiatus and just returned to the magic for the first time in Feb of this year with my husband and little boy.

We had a wonderful week and thanks to my parents spending a little time with us we were able to stay at the Poly! It was beautiful. But you can read all about that if you click the link in my signature below. This TR is about my July trip.....

Back on track...

This trip was all about celebrating my cousin, Danielle's high school graduation. So hubby and DS5 didn't get to come with me this time. I knew how hot and crazy busy it was supposed to be and I didn't want to have to worry about keeping my little one hydrated and happy the whole time. Plus, with just Dani and I, we could get up early and stay up late with Extra Magic Hours all week. And we did.

So here we are having dinner with Minnie

Umm...Dani is the skinny one, in case you were wondering She is such a good kid and I am so glad I could do this for her. She was the valedictorian of her class, a sports star in everything she does, a wonderful big cousin to my little guy...he just worships her, and she has aspirations to become a vet. She was accepted into Bates College in Lewiston, ME (which is very hard to get into if you are wondering) and we are all very proud of her!

We were at the world from July 18-23rd. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter. We hit all four parks and for the first time I got to experience lots of new thrill rides that either weren't there 20 years ago, or I couldn't go on with my son in Feb. This was Dani's first trip ever and she had a blast!

So thanks for joining me on this ride. I will apologize ahead of time that I don't have as many pictures as I would've liked, but for some reason I focused mainly on the food....so get ready for some Disney Food Porn! Yum yum!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Woohoo, first one!!!! (now I need to go read it)

I'm back...Disney food porn!!!! Bring it on!

 

[DMGeurts]

Second!!!! Can't wait to hear all about this fabulous trip!!!! Can't wait to hear your review on POFQ too!!!

D~

 

[KatMark]

I'm here, I'm here.

Great intros, and great pic of you and Dani with Minnie.

 

[solana131]

Woohoo, first one!!!! (now I need to go read it)

I'm back...Disney food porn!!!! Bring it on!

Well, it didn't take long to read it and come back! I know....I am too slow. The last one I just pounded out in a week and it went by too fast, so I'm going to make this one last for a bit

Second!!!! Can't wait to hear all about this fabulous trip!!!! Can't wait to hear your review on POFQ too!!!

D~

Yay D~! I think you might be disappointed a little, I wore that Squishy bag for a little bit almost every day, but I only have 1 picture of it Not sure what happened....but I think it has something to do with the fact that Dani didn't bring her camera, so I am behind the lens more than in front of it. It was pretty hot, so as the day wore on I usually switched to a crossbody instead. That let my back breathe a little

I'm here, I'm here.

Great intros, and great pic of you and Dani with Minnie.

Thanks Kathy! I think that pic might be one of my favorites of the trip.....but not the restaurant But we will get into that later. Chef Mickey's wasn't until the next to last day!


Welcome everyone!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What a wonderful gift. Congratulations to Dani on being top in her class. I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[RHMH]

Suzi - Bob here, Bring on the food picture. My stomach can take it; I may have to take a break and fix me something to eat, but I will be back.

Nice to have met you and your cousin. I enjoy meeting up with Disers I chat with on the board..

 

[solana131]

What a wonderful gift. Congratulations to Dani on being top in her class. I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Welcome! And yes, it was a nice gift...but it was for me too. I could've just sent her and a friend or something, but this way I got to go too. See...that's me, always thinking

Suzi - Bob here, Bring on the food picture. My stomach can take it; I may have to take a break and fix me something to eat, but I will be back.

Nice to have met you and your cousin. I enjoy meeting up with Disers I chat with on the board..

Hi Bob! Glad you could join me here! The food pics are a little bit away as I have to do the traveling update first. But don't worry....our room wasn't ready when we got there, so of course we did what any educated DISer would do ... we ate while we waited. Afterall, we were staying at the beignet capital of Disney, right?

It was nice to meet you and Midori too. You were my first DISmeet! You two will have a blast next year at the Poly. Oh how I missed that place this time

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Joining in! You had me at "Food Porn"

Can't wait to see and hear all about your trip!

 

[DMGeurts]

Yay D~! I think you might be disappointed a little, I wore that Squishy bag for a little bit almost every day, but I only have 1 picture of it Not sure what happened....but I think it has something to do with the fact that Dani didn't bring her camera, so I am behind the lens more than in front of it. It was pretty hot, so as the day wore on I usually switched to a crossbody instead. That let my back breathe a little

I am sure I won't be disappointed! I am just excited to hear all about your trip! I love your VB hipster too - it looks to be Donald colors...

D~

 

[solana131]

Joining in! You had me at "Food Porn"

Can't wait to see and hear all about your trip!

Welcome Dave! I am ashamed of my lack of pictures after seeing your work....but I will try to keep it interesting for you! It wasn't the Poly, but POFQ was nice too.

I am sure I won't be disappointed! I am just excited to hear all about your trip! I love your VB hipster too - it looks to be Donald colors...

D~

Donald colors yeah, I can see that Actually, I picked it because I thought it would match my Squishy bag. I kinda thought Dani would carry a bag once in a while, but nope. It was like I was travelling with my family again...the mom has to carry everything






So, just wanted to let you all know that I plan to do an update a day(ish) to get through this thing. But for the next couple of days I am only working til noon. Since all my pictures are on the work computer, I will have to skip a couple days here. But I promise to get on with it later in the week. Plus, I just ordered my Photopass CD, so I want to stretch this first part out a little until that gets here.

Lesson I learned: If you even THINK you might want the CD, do the pre-order offer! I had been told that I didn't have to decide beforehand because they always send you a CD offer when you return from your trip. WRONG! I have waited this long because I was hoping to get this post offer. My account will go away in another week and still no offer. So instead of $100 I had to pay $170 yesterday But what can I do? I need those few pictures! So alas....here I am waiting for my CD. Will get to the travel day update probably Thursday.

 

[unbrelievable]

Jumping in as well! We went in July too and we had heard all of these horror stories about what it's like, but actually it wasn't bad. I also think you might just be the coolest aunt ever, taking your niece on a trip to WDW!

 

[solana131]

Jumping in as well! We went in July too and we had heard all of these horror stories about what it's like, but actually it wasn't bad. I also think you might just be the coolest aunt ever, taking your niece on a trip to WDW!

Glad to have you aboard! When were you there?? Where did you stay?? Details please
Yes, I agree...I was prepared for the worst with water bottles, spray fans, cooling cloths, etc. And it wasn't as bad as I thought. Don't get me wrong...it is horrible compared to the first week of Feb, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
And we are cousins...not aunt/neice. A common mistake

 

[bigsis1970]

Just subbing!!!

 

[solana131]

Just subbing!!!

Howdy!




Well ok now....lets get this wagon rolling here Sorry for the delay everyone. It's been a crazy week at work. I am usually bored out of my mind all day, so I usually have plenty of DIS-time available, but this week has been a different story. So without further ado....




Our flight left Manchester at 7:30am. Now, I know that isn't a super early flight, but considering we live a good 2 hrs away from the airport and you have to be there about 2 hours early these days...I was looking at a 3am wakeup if we stayed at home. So I made the executive decision to stay somewhere in the Manchester area the night before. So that takes us to Tuesday afternoon the 17th of July:

I had planned on working until noon then going home to finish the last minute packing. Dani told me she would be there around 2 to head out. I wanted to pack our stuff in two suitcases with half in one and half in another in case one got lost. So I had to wait for her to finish packing. Well, I waited.....and waited....and finally around 3:30 she pulled in and we got everything packed up and loaded in my old car...

*SIDE NOTE* I had been trying to trade cars for a few weeks before my trip because my Santa Fe was getting close to the 100K mile mark and I just can't deal with fixing things on old vehicles. But my boss was not helping me out (I work at a used car dealer) so I had to take my old car down to the airport for the week and put it even closer to the 100K mile mark

....Anyway... We were on the road by 4 and it took us just about 2 hours. We were actually staying in Londonderry which is just past MHT on the highway but actually closer than most Manchester hotels. The Sleep Inn Londonderry was just remodeled and we thought it was great! Super cheap, super comfy and super quick to the airport. Here is our room

It was nothing fancy, but the beds were very comfortable and the place was very easy to find. Just what I wanted in a quick overnight.

We got checked in and dropped our overnight bags off in the room, then made the 5 minute drive to the Mall of New Hampshire where the closest Disney Store to me is located. We grabbed some viddles at Rudy Tuesday, then shopped around the mall a little. I don't know about the Disney stores where you all are, but this one is not very exciting. They seem to have alot of toys and a few clothes for girls, but a very limited supply of adult and boy clothes. So I didn't buy anything. We wanted to go back to the hotel and make it an early night. We didn't have to get up at 3, but we would have to get up at 5, which is still early for me (and lets not even talk about Dani's sleeping habits yet)

Gotta make a post office run and grab my lunch. I should be back later this afternoon to finish up the traveling.

 

[KatMark]

That looks like a really nice hotel, and good call at spending the night at a hotel nearer the airport and NOT having to get up at 3 a.m. (which is what we have to do for our flight in 37 days ).

I find the Disney stores by us to be the same...lots of toys, Princess stuff (dolls, etc.), a few adult items, kids t-shirts (mostly girls) and the new perfume line.

 

[solana131]

That looks like a really nice hotel, and good call at spending the night at a hotel nearer the airport and NOT having to get up at 3 a.m. (which is what we have to do for our flight in 37 days ).

I find the Disney stores by us to be the same...lots of toys, Princess stuff (dolls, etc.), a few adult items, kids t-shirts (mostly girls) and the new perfume line.

Perfume line??? Guess I missed that. But I've never been one for perfumes, so I can see how I would miss it. I actually came really really close to buying a cute rolling suitcase for a carryon. It had all the princesses on it and it was a sparkly plastic like thing. The only thing stopping me was that I just couldn't see me using it other than that one time. If they had had a Mickey one or something that I would've liked to carry when I go with my family next time, I would've scooped it up, but they had the princesses, Cinderella alone, and a very bright pink Minnie one.



So where were we??? Oh yeah, we hit the hay around 9pm and both slept really good in that cheap hotel I woke up right before the alarm at 4:59am. I woke Dani up and told her I was showering and for her to get ready......ummm yeah....So I showered, got dressed, packed up the overnight bag and still no movement from the teenager. So I woke her up again and made sure she really got up. Then I went down to check out and we were headed to the airport. We parked in the garage (really cheap for the week by the way) and made the long trek into the terminal.

Manchester is a very small airport. They have a few restaurants on the outside of security which we skipped (I am too scared about making it through security to eat first) and we flew through the checkpoint line. On the inside of the terminal they only have a couple little food stands, so we grabbed some waters and juices from the newstand place and a bagel each from Dunkin Donuts. My tummy is always on edge the morning of a flight, so we saved our bagels for the ride. It was an uneventful 3 hour flight and we arrived at MCO right at 10:30am. I just love that airport! Dani was very excited about the mini monorail:

And I had to get her first shot at Disney with the fun sign in the main building

Yes, she is wearing a sweatshirt! She was quick to admit that she didn't need it long. She was sweltering on the ME. So we took a quick potty break then headed straight for the Magical Express area. Our line looked fairly long, but we caught it just in time. It started moving outside as soon as we hit it. We had one of the water park buses

I thought it looked neat, but they are a pain to see out of. And where this was Dani's first time, I hated that bus. So, French Quarter was the first stop, so we were checked in and buying our refillable mugs by 11:45! Our room wasn't ready, but I had high hopes that it would be soon, so we just grabbed our mugs and took a walk around the resort. It was really hot, so that didn't last long. Just down around the pool and back to the main building. We figured we would get some lunch and if the room still wasn't ready we would go to a park. I really would've rather changed first since I was wearing a skirt, and I just always feel icky after traveling, but that's the way it went.

We walked into the French Quarter food court which we affectionately dubbed "Sass", and it smelled so good. I think we were hungry and just happy to be there. I ordered the Muffaletta sandwich with a side of chips for $8.99.

It was soooooo yummy! It had ham, salami, melted provalone, and a delish olive relish. The bread was warm and soft and it was very filling. Dani had the chicken quesadillas with beans and salsa for $8.59.

She said they were very good, but I was too involved with my sandwich to really care about testing those things. Afterall, I make quesadillas all the time at home But she was happy.

We finished up with lunch and our room still wasn't ready, so I ran into the bathroom and did a quick cool cloth cleanup and we took our carryons over to Bell Services so we could enjoy a park. Where did we go first??? Well that was a big question when I was planning this trip. What should Dani's first Disney experience be? I had a dinner ADR at Epcot, but not until 7pm, so we had time. I was originally planning to hop the boat to DTD and do some shopping, but that got vetoed on my PTR, so I had to re-think my options. I knew trying to hit a big ride right in the middle of the day would mean a long line, and I didn't want that to be her first experience. So.....

We decided to head to the Magic Kingdom to just look around a little before our ADR. I told her it was going to be crazy hot and crazy crowded there, but she was all for it.

Here we are!!!!! My favorite view ever! Well, it was a better view in Feb without the hoards of people, but it's still pretty cool. And that stupid scrim on the bakery was finally down

I had to get these pics because I missed them in Feb

Cute photo spot!

So what did I decide Dani's first ride should be??? You will have to stay tuned because I am running out of time here today.....

 

[oopsiDAISY]

So glad your first park was MK!!!!! Can't wait to see what her first ride will be...

 

[beachta1]

Hi, I'm new to the boards and enjoying your trip report! Can't wait to hear what you did first and how you spent the rest of your time at WDW ):

 

[katt789]

I'm here to join in! Loving it so far, looks like it was an awesome time so far!