klacey1
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2008
Welcome one and all! For those of you who do not know me, Im Kylie! I took this wonderful vacation for seven glorious nights (Sept. 2-9th) with my fantastic boyfriend, Zach. If you want to know more about us and the planning of our trip, please check out the PTR in my signature! For basic deets: we stayed at the WL during free dining! We visited the four main parks, plus Universal one day and really had a terrific time. There was only one minor snafu that I really didnt waste more than a few minutes being upset over, which is a HUGE departure from our previous trip. (To read about that disaster, check out the August 2011 TR in my signature!)
I am also doing a dining report, which is here. Please check that out if youre interested in reading about our meals and snacks!
So on with the show! We woke up oh-so-early for our 7:30 a.m. flight out of JFK-- 3:40 a.m. to be exact! Classic Disney excitement made getting up and getting ready not that hard, fortunately. Zachs parents generously offered to drive us to the airport, and by the time we got our suitcases settled in the car, it was 4:14! I wanted to leave at 4:15, so my schedule-loving self was VERY pleased!
Checking in our bags with JetBlue was a breeze!
We had added the JetBlue EvenMore space/speed, which gave us seats with more leg room on the plane and access to expedited security in JFK. This was very helpful, as the regular security line was super long!
After going through security, we went to Dunkin Donuts to pick up some munchkins (I thought theyd be easiest to eat on the plane!). I dont think the food options in the JetBlue terminal are organized very well. Theyre all clumped together in one spot and share a set of registers. Even at 5:45, it was incredibly busy. Pure chaos!
Once we had our treats, we went over to our gate to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. When all was said and done, we ended up taking off at 8:30, a full hour after we were supposed to. The plane picking us up was way late to the gate and then they needed to clean it and load the luggage on and blah blah blah. Just get me to Disney!!
We did end up making up a bit of time in the air and landed about 40 minutes late. Ahhhh! Oh that wonderful feeling when you land at MCO that means vacation has officially begun! Zach grabbed a Starbucks & we took the monorail over to the Magical Express! We walked straight onto a bus that was unfortunately nearly full (meaning we had to sit toward the back. I knew a good sign pic wasnt going to happen). The good thing was that the bus departed about five minutes after we boarded. The driver announced that we would be stopping at the Wilderness Lodge, the Grand Floridian, Poly, and Contemporary, in that order. Yay, we were first! We settled in for the trip to the most magical place on Earth&.
And a quick trip it was! I swear, about 20 minutes later, we saw this sign:
I was caught so off guard because it has never taken that fast to get to the resort before! Going under the WLs arch was amazing; I dont think any other resort has such a fantastic entryway. I think it really sets the tone for how amazingly beautiful and peace the WL is.
Since we didnt put any bags underneath the ME bus, we were able to bounce right into the WL without waiting. Even though we had visited two years ago, my breath was still taken away entering the WL lobby! I couldnt get over how happy I was to be staying there with my favorite person in the world!
There was no line at the check-in desk, fortunately. We had a lovely conversation with the cast member, who actually had a summer home one town over from us (actually, the town Zach works in!). What a coincidence! She spent some time explaining the dining plan and I kind of tuned out ;-) and happened to glance down at our room info packet. We got an upgrade to a woods view room!! Woo hoo! In another stroke of luck, our room was ready at 12:15!
Our room was 4102 and I just have to say-- it was perfect in every way. Perfect location, view, everything! It was close to the elevators but we never heard too much foot traffic. It was about 5 minutes, if that, to both Roaring Forks and the bus stop. Here are some some room pics (TBH, these were taken the next day):
Our fab view:
After settling in a bit, we headed out of our room around 12:40. Those munchkins were hours ago and I was starving for some lunch! We headed on out and I snapped this pic of the gorgeous lobby&
Apologies-- I hope you didnt find our travel/arriving story too boring! Theres lots more action to come! Also, sorry for the lack of pictures. (Youll find out why in a later post&) Stay tuned for our first afternoon at DTD and a night at Epcot!
Chapter Links:
Day 1, Part II
Day 2, Part I
Day 2, Part II
Day 3, Part I
Day 3, Part II
Day 4, Part I
Day 4, Part II
Day 5, Part I
Day 5, Part II
Day 6, Part I
Day 6, Part II
Day 7, Part I
Day 7, Part II
Day 8
Trip Wrap-Up
I am also doing a dining report, which is here. Please check that out if youre interested in reading about our meals and snacks!
So on with the show! We woke up oh-so-early for our 7:30 a.m. flight out of JFK-- 3:40 a.m. to be exact! Classic Disney excitement made getting up and getting ready not that hard, fortunately. Zachs parents generously offered to drive us to the airport, and by the time we got our suitcases settled in the car, it was 4:14! I wanted to leave at 4:15, so my schedule-loving self was VERY pleased!
Checking in our bags with JetBlue was a breeze!
We had added the JetBlue EvenMore space/speed, which gave us seats with more leg room on the plane and access to expedited security in JFK. This was very helpful, as the regular security line was super long!
After going through security, we went to Dunkin Donuts to pick up some munchkins (I thought theyd be easiest to eat on the plane!). I dont think the food options in the JetBlue terminal are organized very well. Theyre all clumped together in one spot and share a set of registers. Even at 5:45, it was incredibly busy. Pure chaos!
Once we had our treats, we went over to our gate to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. When all was said and done, we ended up taking off at 8:30, a full hour after we were supposed to. The plane picking us up was way late to the gate and then they needed to clean it and load the luggage on and blah blah blah. Just get me to Disney!!
We did end up making up a bit of time in the air and landed about 40 minutes late. Ahhhh! Oh that wonderful feeling when you land at MCO that means vacation has officially begun! Zach grabbed a Starbucks & we took the monorail over to the Magical Express! We walked straight onto a bus that was unfortunately nearly full (meaning we had to sit toward the back. I knew a good sign pic wasnt going to happen). The good thing was that the bus departed about five minutes after we boarded. The driver announced that we would be stopping at the Wilderness Lodge, the Grand Floridian, Poly, and Contemporary, in that order. Yay, we were first! We settled in for the trip to the most magical place on Earth&.
And a quick trip it was! I swear, about 20 minutes later, we saw this sign:
I was caught so off guard because it has never taken that fast to get to the resort before! Going under the WLs arch was amazing; I dont think any other resort has such a fantastic entryway. I think it really sets the tone for how amazingly beautiful and peace the WL is.
Since we didnt put any bags underneath the ME bus, we were able to bounce right into the WL without waiting. Even though we had visited two years ago, my breath was still taken away entering the WL lobby! I couldnt get over how happy I was to be staying there with my favorite person in the world!
There was no line at the check-in desk, fortunately. We had a lovely conversation with the cast member, who actually had a summer home one town over from us (actually, the town Zach works in!). What a coincidence! She spent some time explaining the dining plan and I kind of tuned out ;-) and happened to glance down at our room info packet. We got an upgrade to a woods view room!! Woo hoo! In another stroke of luck, our room was ready at 12:15!
Our room was 4102 and I just have to say-- it was perfect in every way. Perfect location, view, everything! It was close to the elevators but we never heard too much foot traffic. It was about 5 minutes, if that, to both Roaring Forks and the bus stop. Here are some some room pics (TBH, these were taken the next day):
Our fab view:
After settling in a bit, we headed out of our room around 12:40. Those munchkins were hours ago and I was starving for some lunch! We headed on out and I snapped this pic of the gorgeous lobby&
Apologies-- I hope you didnt find our travel/arriving story too boring! Theres lots more action to come! Also, sorry for the lack of pictures. (Youll find out why in a later post&) Stay tuned for our first afternoon at DTD and a night at Epcot!
Chapter Links:
Day 1, Part II
Day 2, Part I
Day 2, Part II
Day 3, Part I
Day 3, Part II
Day 4, Part I
Day 4, Part II
Day 5, Part I
Day 5, Part II
Day 6, Part I
Day 6, Part II
Day 7, Part I
Day 7, Part II
Day 8
Trip Wrap-Up
joining in 
but hope to get started on my TR soon. Between me and Hannah I have about 700 pictures to go through, plus over 100 on photo pass. Sounds like your trip started great... I'm sure you'll be commenting about the rain soon!
