Acca-Believe it…. You’re in Disney! Jan 2013 UPDATED 3/24 COMPLETE!

xoSamma

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Acca-Believe It...You're in Disney!​
:tinker:“Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy”​

Welcome all to my second trip report!
You can find my first trip report here

Operation Classy Living: GFlo Oct 2012

I am very excited that you have decided to drop by and come along for the ride! It was definitely a trip to remember, from all the good to all the bad. At first this trip seemed like it was never going to go right but with some Disney magic things turned around.


Sam​


For those of you who don’t know me my name is Samantha, Sam for short. I was raised a Disney baby to a Disney obsessed 20 year old. I blame my parents for my Disney addiction, yet thank them everyday because without Disney I don’t know what my life would be like.


Leandra​


The Birthday Girl of this trip! The last time Leandra went to Disney was when she was 10, so that means she has been missing out on the Disney magic for 10 years. We have been friends throughout middle school and high school, and throughout those years she has always supported my love for Disney.


Alicia & Andy​


Alicia and Andy, my sister and her fiancé. Alicia is a DCP cast member who works as a character performer. She was MIA most of this trip because of work which means Andy got to hang out with leandra and I most of the trip, lucky him. I can say that I am glad that he picked up the love for Disney, I mean he better if he is going to be marrying into a Disney Family!


Now for the when and where!

When: January 7-January 11
Where: Pop Century


Let the memories begin!​
 
Back Story​

I am extremely lucky that I was able to take this trip, after going to Disney in October I thought I wouldn’t be going back for a while. But with the help of my wonderful sister and her cast member discounts everything worked out perfectly!

On October 11, exactly 3 days after I got home from Disney world I got I text from my sister about visiting her again and that southwest had cheap airfare. Since I was at dance I wasn’t able to look at airfare nor did I think I would actually make this trip happen. So I get home from dance by maybe 9:45 and go on southwest, airfare was only $65 each way! The catch was that the sale ended at midnight that night. There was no way I was going to give that up!

So I called Alicia who called up Andy. He was on board, now I just needed to find a friend. I texted my friend Marisa who I went to Disney with so many times before but she was back to college the day we would leave. I texted Brittany telling her about the cheap flights because her and one of her friends were planning on going to disney and universal in January also (sadly that trip didn’t work out). So by the looks of it I was going to be going to the parks solo, which I was actually more than fine with because lets be real I would be in Disney. That’s when I decided to call Leandra, she was all for it and I told her that it would be about $300 for 4 nights at Disney which included everything! Some how I talked her into it and that night I booked 3 tickets to florida!

As some of you may know I am a huge fan of YOLO Disney trips! The way I see it is that I am only young once and once I graduate college I will not be able to just take random Disney trips because soon I will have to grow up and start paying bills….gross! So with that being said I hope 2013 will be filled with Yolo trips!​
 


I'm here!

Your sister is a character performer?! Who/where?!

Yay! thanks for joining
She might or not be friends with a Man's (mickey) best friend and a princess that fell in love with a street rat​
 
It's a Disney Day!​

It was the morning of January 7 when I decided to get up and moving at 11am. I had to finish packing and plan my dance classes since while I was away my friend would be taking over. Our trip wasn’t paid off yet so that was also on the list to do.

I went onto the Disney website punched in the reservation number and nothing came up…this was not a good sign! Did we not have a room? My mother ended up calling Disney to see what was going on. Since they changed the website they were in the process of changing over the reservations. Good news we had a room and the bill was paid!

Leandra and her boyfriend Burke arrived to my house around 4. We ate some chicken parmesan & painted our nails. About 4:30 I texted Andy telling him that we were going to be leaving for the airport at 4:45. It was a good thing he lives like not even 2 minutes away.

Andy arrived he parked his car in my driveway and we packed all our luggage in the back of Leandra’s car. Burke dropped us off and our journey began! We checked our bags and made it through security in no time. We went to our gate and hung out for probably a half hour till we boarded. In that time I showed Leandra the perfect disney family videos.



Soon it was time to board! We sat in row 3 which was nice when we actually arrived in Orlando. Andy gave his seat to a little girl named Ella whose family was sitting all scattered around the plane. There was the nice British lady who was ready to buy her any snack she wanted. As we were waiting for take off we talked to them and the Ella was a big fan of my simba pillow pet.

Disney Bound!



I love jetblue for the fact of the TVs as I waited for some blue chips to be passed out I decided to watch some How I Met Your Mother while Leandra read a book. Soon it was snack time! I asked for Blue Chips & Cookies



As you may notice in the picture the Blue chips were mixed with sweet potato chips, at first I thought they changed them but then I glanced up and saw the person in front of me with the normal blue chips. LAME!

Leandra was adventurous and decided to try the popcorn chips. They aren’t actually all that bad!



Throughout the trip Ella and her sister were changing seats that way they each had a chance to be with their mother. They had everything they needed though, they had dora coloring books, stuffed animals and sang Christmas corals to keep them occupied.

We landed in Orlando at 8:40, We got off the plane right away, the perks of sitting in the front. That’s when Leandra got lost in the bathroom…. Hurry up girl we got things to do and a Magical Express bus to catch!

We were soon on our way to the monorail we go, on our walk there Andy was telling me how he actually helped someone with directions in December when we was there last. I was very proud that he new his way around the Orlando airport.



Down a couple escalators till we reached this sign



We followed the Mickey heads on the ground and got in line



The wait for the bus seemed to take forever! I texted Alicia saying that we were waiting for a bus. Our main plan for tonight was to go to DTD and eat at Wolfgang Puck Express but by the looks of it we probably wouldn’t make it there in time.

So we waited and waited till the magical express bus came to pick us up



 
Just found this! I'm excited to hear about your trip. We were there the 3-10 so there's some overlap in our dates!:cool1: Can't wait to hear how our trips compared.

That's so exciting that your sister is friends with Mickey! I'm jealous.
 


Here to read along!! Your title definitely dragged me in, I won't lie haha. Sounds like it's going to be a great trip, how awesome that your sister is friends with some awesome Disney characters, that's so great!
 
Just found this! I'm excited to hear about your trip. We were there the 3-10 so there's some overlap in our dates!:cool1: Can't wait to hear how our trips compared.

That's so exciting that your sister is friends with Mickey! I'm jealous.

Thanks for joining along!! Oh my goodness we were there like the same time. Where did you stay?
My sister isn't actually friends with mickey, she is friends with his best friend...A man's best friend (a dog) She tells me stories all the time we makes me so happy for her yet makes me wish I was doing the same thing.​

Here to read along!! Your title definitely dragged me in, I won't lie haha. Sounds like it's going to be a great trip, how awesome that your sister is friends with some awesome Disney characters, that's so great!

I mean who doesn't love some Pitch Perfect?! What a great movie! My sister is seriously living the dream right now while I'm sitting at home wishing I could be doing the same thing​

I'm in...won't post much but I love your previous TR!
Hi there, thanks for joining along on the journey. I'm excited to hear that you enjoy my other trip report! The little things that make me happy :cutie:

I am in! I was there the 5th through the 7th!

Welcome along I'm glad you joined us!
You were leaving when I was coming. I hope you had a magical time though on your trip!​
 
Thanks for joining along!! Oh my goodness we were there like the same time. Where did you stay?
My sister isn't actually friends with mickey, she is friends with his best friend...A man's best friend (a dog) She tells me stories all the time we makes me so happy for her yet makes me wish I was doing the same thing.​

We were at Pop too!!:rotfl2: We were in the 50s section, building 2 and the other people we travelled with were in building 3! What section were you guys in?

Ah I went back and read your post and I totally missed the best friend part! That's still just as awesome. I totally wish I was doing the same thing. My cousin did the college program back in 2002 or 2003 and she was too short/wrong proportions to be friends with any characters. She worked at the All-Star resorts but that sounds pretty exciting to me too!
 
We were at Pop too!!:rotfl2: We were in the 50s section, building 2 and the other people we travelled with were in building 3! What section were you guys in?

Ah I went back and read your post and I totally missed the best friend part! That's still just as awesome. I totally wish I was doing the same thing. My cousin did the college program back in 2002 or 2003 and she was too short/wrong proportions to be friends with any characters. She worked at the All-Star resorts but that sounds pretty exciting to me too!

I was in the 50's section!!!! Our room was in building 1 though, but still how funny is that?!

I think I would take any job Disney had to offer :rotfl:
 
We're In DIsney!!!​

As we waited and waited we thought the bus was never going to come. Looking around our line was the longest out of all of them. Finally the bus came a little after 9. The good news was that it was a real magical express bus! Off to Disney World we go!



Soon the video started and I couldn’t contain my excitement! Leandra was in love with the video and commented on the things that she remembered from the parks.

At 9:45 we were arriving to Art of Animation (which may or may not be the next resort we stay at for our next yolo trip!) I fell in love with this place on this trip. It is such a cute resort! After AOA it was our stop. The only thing that made me sad was that if you brought your luggage on the ME you got to walk to red carpet in the resort….we were forced to wake around.

When we walked into the lobby we saw Alicia waiting for us, she already checked us in and then checked out the room. So we said our hellos and we were on our way to the 50s section of pop century!

On our way to the room we talked about how Wolfgang was out of the question since it was 10 and it closed at 11. So we opted on going to the food court instead. Our room was located on the fourth floor of the Lady statue building (building 1) looking out at some trees, real classy! We threw our carry ons in the room and took a walk back to the food court.

Now came the part where I had no clue what I wanted! Everything sounded good and I couldn’t make up my mind. I walked back and fourth like a lost puppy but soon I made a decision. We all got our food, drinks, desserts and refillable mugs and grabbed a table. FOOD PIC TIME!

I got the Penne Alfredo, I enjoyed this. The chicken is huge I wasn’t able to finish all. For dessert I got dirt in worms because I’m a child and a powerade to save for later.



Alicia got the chicken and side salad. The salad seemed like it was sitting there all night (which it probably was) she just wanted the breadstick. For dessert she got the tie dye cheesecake and pomegranate tea for a drink (Which when she had it later on during the trip she said it wasn’t all that great)



Leandra got the Mediterranean Flatbread which had chicken, peppers, artichoke hearts, olive tapenade, onions, and feta on it. She seemed to enjoy it. For dessert she got the brownie and picked up a bottle of water for when we go to the parks



Andy got what I was going to get, the famous chicken nuggets and fries. Always a good choice in my book. He got the chocolate cupcake and a bottle of sprite.



While eating our delicious disney food Alicia told us all about her first day of training and how excited she was about it. The training sounds like super fun and not job training…like can I have your life?



After we finished our first disney meal of the trip we all split up, me and Leandra filled our mugs with hot chocolate and went back to the room. On our way back we decided to stop by the pool to see if it was warm, we assumed it was since there was steam coming off the water. It was sooo warm! That’s when we can to a mutual decision that we will be going night swimming one of these nights.

On our way back it was that awkward moment when I wanted to drink my hot chocolate but I was afraid it was going to be to hot so I had to stop walking because I can’t walk and drink hot chocolate at the same time…
Leandra decided to see if it was super hot but took forever because she wanted just a tiny sip. We probably stood in the middle of the resort for a good 5 minutes trying to brave up and drink our hot chocolate



We went back to the room to find no Alicia or Andy, I would have thought they were be back since she had to get up for work. So we hung out and probably 5 minutes later they were back at the room. Sad note our luggage had still not arrived from the ME.

Since Alicia’s birthday was January 14 we brought down some gifts with us. I got her a little mermaid shirt that I found at kohl’s before Christmas, my mother sent down a card with some cash, and Andy bought her a baby hooded mickey mouse towel and a mini ipad.

Alicia and Andy decided to call it a night while Leandra and I stayed up to wait for our luggage….or so we thought.
 
How funny that we were both in the 50s section!! I wonder if we ran into each other ever! I'll look for myself in your pictures :rotfl2::rotfl2:

AoA does look gorgeous! I wanted to walk over while we were there and check it out but we were always so exhausted I never got a chance!

How sad that you waited so long for the ME. I wonder why. And uh-oh I sense a luggage story coming...

And I definitely agree. Any Disney job would be fine with me.:goodvibes
 
How funny that we were both in the 50s section!! I wonder if we ran into each other ever! I'll look for myself in your pictures :rotfl2::rotfl2:

AoA does look gorgeous! I wanted to walk over while we were there and check it out but we were always so exhausted I never got a chance!

How sad that you waited so long for the ME. I wonder why. And uh-oh I sense a luggage story coming...

And I definitely agree. Any Disney job would be fine with me.:goodvibes
That would be so strange if we did! It would definitely be a small world after all!:rotfl2:
AoA is seriously so wonderful! We went there a couple times throughout this trip. I fell in love with it and the walk between them was like nothing.
Ding ding ding we have a winner!!! luggage story​
 
Where's Our Luggage?!​

We waited quite some time for our luggage, by 12:50 it still didn’t arrive. I read the ME packet which told us if our flight came in after 10PM we had to get our own luggage, ours came in at 8:40 so we were good. Well we waited the 3 hours and it still didn’t arrive.

I wish I was smart like my friends, both Leandra and Andy packed pjs in their carry ons. I thought about it before I left but decided not to. Since no one was showing up Leandra called down to luggage to see if they had it. They put her on hold while they checked, that’s when they told us they only had one suitcase. Great I was secretly hoping that it was mine. When we asked whose it was they said Andrew and that someone would be up soon with it.

By 2 am a cast member was at our door with Andy’s suitcase we thanked him and then decided to call it a night. And boy was I a little mad since I would be sleeping in my jeans and contacts….not good!

The next morning Alicia got ready and left the room by 7:20 to catch a DCP bus to get to training. At 8:30 our room phone started ringing Leandra answered it and by the half of the conversation I could hear it seemed like they didn’t know where our luggage was. They asked for her cell number so they could contact her once they did find it.

Maybe 15 minutes later her cell started to ring, they found our luggage!!! We would just have to wait 3 more hours before we got it. There was not falling back to sleep for me so Leandra and I just caught up on each others lives. At 10 I ended up texting my mother telling her everything that had happened and how my whole day was pretty much ruined since I couldn’t leave the room because I was seriously a hot mess!

To pass the 1.5 hours left we had I decided to pull out my laptop and watch pitch perfect (hence the title of this trip report!) It was soon passing the 3 hour time once again. Leandra called down and they said that the luggage would soon be up. When the cast member arrived they only had mine. Leandra’s was still lost! We asked the CM who we should talk to about this situation, he told us to call his manager.

Leandra called the manager and told them she was still missing her luggage and how most of our day was ruined. That is when we got the news that Leandra’s luggage was damaged from the flight. The manager said the only thing he could do was give us fastpasses.

The manager came to our room to give us our fastpasses and talk to leandra about her luggage. After such a messed up night and morning it was time to change it! Finally let the memories begin!!!​
 
Oh my god. That's a terrible luggage story! Like my worst nightmare come true!:scared1:

How badly was her luggage damaged?!

Fastpasses are nice and all but really that's all they had to offer after all that hassle? I would really think Disney would have something in place. I'm sure this wasn't the first time something went wrong:confused:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top