A Salute to All Orlando Area Theme Parks But Mostly Walt Disney World ***THE END***

[DisneyKid4Life]

Greetings and salutations to all. My name is Rob and I am a Disney-Holic. There, I said it. Go ahead, try it. You'll feel better. Admitting it is half the battle. Why do I love it so much? Theres an old quote that just seems appropriate.
"For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice."

I currently reside slightly north of Cinderella Castle. OK, maybe a bit more than slightly. To be a bit more accurate, 3207.9 kilometers A.K.A. 1993.3 miles A.K.A. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

I don't honestly know how many times I've been to Disney. I believe for my first visit, I was around 2, and Walt Disney World WAS the Magic Kingdom. I know to many of us, Walt Disney World IS the Magic Kingdom, but in 1973, it really WAS ONLY the Magic Kingdom. OK, I'm feeling old. I have a long history and attachment is what I'm trying to say. Much of my childhood was spent there comprising dozens of trips up to my teen years.

Then there was a break. A long break. A really long break. I finally got back briefly in 1998 for one measly day. Then, in 2006, I was finally financially able to re-establish my love affair and haven't looked back since. Plus, I've introduced a lot of people to this magical place who now love it also. A lot of skeptical people I might add. They are skeptics no more! This report will recount he 7th trip since my rebirth, not including a side trip last March to the west side known as Disneyland.

I've been reading trip reports on here for years. To say the least, it's somewhat intimidating. There are some epic trip reports on this site in case you didn't know. I'll be following in the footsteps of potential classics of literature. Pressure!

In reading a lot of reports, they really do help ease the gap between your own trips. These are just a small selection of report writers that inspired me to take finger to keyboard and write one myself.

glennbo123, possibly the king of trip reporters. These are seriously amazing; detailed and hysterically funny. Wheres Judy?... Brilliant!

A fellow Canadian, katt789, who seems to have a new trip report very other week, lol. Ive read them all and I love hearing stories from a Canadian perspective.

And of course The Frumps, Disneyfreak616, and Disneyfreak508, whose current DCP report is probably one of the most in depth and entertaining accounts of life at Disney I've had the pleasure of reading. If you cant do it yourself, this is definitely the next best thing.

This particular report will recount the activities taking place between the dates of October 8-20, 2012. Obviously a few months have passed, but it being the most recent, and since I haven't any notes so all will be from memory with some help from the photos taken... I bring to you

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

A Salute to All Orlando Area Theme Parks (and HHN)... But Mostly Walt Disney World.​

A Scary and Not So Scary October 2012​

First things first; Introductions. Appropriate seeing as this is the introduction portion don't you think? Pretty smart of me. Don't get used to it.

Me AKA Rob (on the right): Previously mentioned life-long Disney-Holic, trip report supervisor, documenter, host, and photographer of all the photos that I took.

And

Katie AKA K8 (on the left): A long time friend who had just moved back to Halifax from Edmonton after 5 years away. I'd been trying to get her to come on previous trips but it just didn't happen. Back in the same city, no more excuses. Plus, she loves Halloween so was the perfect companion for this particular trip. She hadnt been to Florida since the mid-90s (no Animal Kingdom yet), so she was a perfect companion. Incidentally, she now can't wait to go back.

I'd been to Disney at all different major times of the year, Christmas, New Year, Easter, Thanksgiving (US), but never Halloween. So I was REALLY looking forward to checking that off the ol bucket list.
So settle in with your favorite beverage of choice (I wont judge), and PLEASE follow along on our journey, won't you? Things may seem a bit slow in the beginning (travel day and all, but it'll pick up, I promise. And please feel free to leave a comment or even just a quick hello. It would really mean a lot to me to know that someone is actually reading this thing.


DIS-LINKS:

WE'RE GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!
Day 1 - October 8, 2012 Part 1
Day 1 - October 8, 2012 Part 2

A FANTASMIC DAY AT MGM!
Day 2 October 9, 2012 Part 1
Day 2 October 9, 2012 Part 2
Day 2 October 9, 2012 Part 3
Day 2 October 9, 2012 Part 4
Day 2 October 9, 2012 Part 5

ANIMALS, EXPEDITIONS, AND A FIREWORKS FINALE!
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 1
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 2
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 3
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 4
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 5
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 6
Day 3 October 10, 2012 Part 7

THE BEACH, THE BOOZE, THE BUCKET LIST, AND THE BIG BANG!
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 1
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 2
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 3
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 4
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 5
Day 4 October 11, 2012 Part 6

OMFG ITS OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Day 5 October 12, 2012 Part 1
Day 5 October 12, 2012 Part 2
Day 5 October 12, 2012 Part 3
Day 5 October 12, 2012 Part 4

MY MISTRESS ON THE SIDE!
Day 6 October 13, 2012 Part 1
Day 6 October 13, 2012 Part 2
Day 6 October 13, 2012 Part 3

ITS TIME TO GET OUR SCARE ON!
Day 7 October 14, 2012 Part 1
Day 7 October 14, 2012 Part 2
Day 7 October 14, 2012 Part 3

UNIVERSAL'S GREAT... BUT IT AIN'T DISNEY!
Day 8 October 15, 2012 Part 1
Day 8 October 15, 2012 Part 2

AINT NO PARTY LIKE A MICKEY PARTY CUZ A MICKEY PARTY DONT STOP!
Day 9 October 16, 2012 Part 1
Day 9 October 16, 2012 Part 2
Day 9 October 16, 2012 Part 3
Day 9 October 16, 2012 Part 4

ITS TIME TO GET OUR SCARE ON... AGAIN!
Day 10 October 17, 2012 Part 1
Day 10 October 17, 2012 Part 2

MY MISTRESS... AND A LITTLE TNA!
Day 11 October 18, 2012 Part 1
Day 11 October 18, 2012 Part 2

A PRELUDE TO A SOLO TRIP!
Day 12 October 19, 2012 Part 1
Day 12 October 19, 2012 Part 2

THE END!
Day 13 October 20, 2012

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Just giving some encouragement! I like your writing style and hope to be entertained reading about your trip!

Also, welcome to the boards!

 

[natebenma]

Great title! Great start!

Love your writing and pictures, especially the ones from trips past.

I'm in!

Dee

 

[disney1990]

Welcome Rob. I will be following along - great start.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Just giving some encouragement! I like your writing style and hope to be entertained reading about your trip!

Also, welcome to the boards!

Thank you so much Amanda. I hope to entertain! And yes, Illuminations does indeed rock!

Great title! Great start!

Love your writing and pictures, especially the ones from trips past.

I'm in!

Dee

Thank you so much Dee. Yes, those pics definitely are the past...

Welcome Rob. I will be following along - great start.

Thank you very much! I very much appreciate it!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

WE'RE GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!
Day 1 – October 8, 2012 Part 1​

Welcome to Day 1… travel day; perhaps the most exciting day of the year, and also perhaps the dullest when it comes to trip reporting. I’ve heard it said that it’s all in the journey not the destination. Maybe true in most cases, but in this case… it’s the destination.

The day began like most others if “others” means getting up at 3am and driving to the airport. I loaded the car with my luggage and drove the short distance to pick up K8. I decided to take my own car since my parents graciously volunteered to drive out later and pick it up. I would just call them with the location of where it was parked at the airport. Easy peasy.

Our flight was leaving Halifax at 6:30am, stopover in Newark, then on to MCO. With that, we were able to pre-clear customs in Halifax. I love this! So much easier. Our customs official was wonderful. We chatted with him like we knew him. In fact, he was actually from Florida! He was great. From there we moved into the departures area to wait for our flight. It was at this point that I realized that I hadn’t contacted my parents as to the location of my car. I realized this by the missed calls from them inquiring about this very thing. So I called my father (they were already almost at the airport)… and told him that I had overslept and hadn’t gotten there yet. After thoroughly entertaining myself, I told them that we were indeed at the gate and the location of the car for pickup. They are wonderful people. I hope to take them to Disney this year to give back a little for all the trips they gave me.

Eventually, we boarded the plane and were on our way

Yippee!!

After a rather uneventful flight (which is a good thing), we arrived in Newark. It’s cool to see New York City as you make your descent into Newark.

The City so nice... well you know...

We grabbed some breakfast at Mickey D’s (McDonalds for all you lay people), and before we knew it, we were on our way to our final destination.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

WE'RE GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!
Day 1 – October 8, 2012 Part 2​

We arrived at MCO (it’s funny how everyone instantly knows those 3 letters) a little after noon. We made our way to our first ride of the trip… the World Famous MCO mini-monorail.

I actually like this thing. It’s really when I set foot on this thing that I feel… home. There's no warning to stand clear of the doors, but still. We made our way to baggage claim, and since I had booked an offsite condo for our stay, on to pick up the rental car. This is my first time in Orlando in October, so I was slightly unprepared for the extreme wave of humidity that greeted us when first walking outside. The air was thick my friends. I threw a ball into the air and it still hasn’t come down.

There’s not a whole lot interesting to report on for this day. I first drove out to Wal-Mart on the 27 to pick up some supplies and then to the condo on US 192, Orbit One Vacation Villas. The location was excellent, I thought. Pulling out of the resort, it was a straight shot to Animal Kingdom. And having a fully equipped, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer/dryer, kitchen, etc. for $70/night, well it was really a no brainer.

Since I am writing this report from memory with the aid of all of our photos, I be posting those in the order they were taken. So, resort photos will show up a little later. I did take a couple of my bedroom/bathroom for your viewing enjoyment. Because, who doesn’t like looking at a bed and a tub?

Care for a swim?

After unpacking and getting a basic lay of the land, we headed out for my usual first day tradition, International Drive. While we were inside, it had apparently rained pretty hard, though we were totally oblivious to this until we went outside and everything was soaked. Since K8 had yet to see International, I thought we would take a tour and grab some supper at another traditional first day stop, the Golden Coral buffet. Yum! We hadn’t eaten since breakfast (by design), so this was a good choice. You’ll notice that I really don’t have any food pictures to share throughout this trip report. Wait don’t run away! There’s plenty of other good stuff, I promise! I’m just more of an “eat when I’m hungry, re-energize, and get back at it” type. Please don’t hate. I promise to make up for it with other goodness.

I parked at Pointe Orlando, as I always do, and had planned on using the I Ride Trolley to get around for the evening. We even bought our one day unlimited pass. But the first trolley that pulled up was completely full. Realizing that I would rather not squeeze myself on board this sardine can given the extreme heat, we decided to walk. So, the passes never did get used. Oh well, a lovely $5 souvenir.

We took a few photos along the way, but I’m not gonna lie. It was hot and we were hungry, so the priority was getting to the restaurant post haste.

K8 just thought this looked creepy

I was soaked with sweat when we arrived, but the food was good and the air conditioning even better. After dinner, we walked back to car, taking in some of the sights of International Drive along the way, and drove back home to get ready for the next day. Disney World… I’m back.

UP NEXT... A FANTASMIC DAY AT MGM!

 

[Valgoof]

Great start!! I saw your post on Jess' DCP report and came over to read. I would love to see October in the World, but I read your line about the humidity to my DH. And that is why we love November-January.

 

[NMW]

Subscribing

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Great start!! I saw your post on Jess' DCP report and came over to read. I would love to see October in the World, but I read your line about the humidity to my DH. And that is why we love November-January.

Thank you so very much! Yes, I love the Frumps reports and the DCP report is so addictive. Thankfully the humidity died down after the first day. It was still warm no doubt, but not that bad, and I generally hate humidity. The Halloween decorations are well worth it.

Subscribing

Thank you so much. I hope you find it entertaining!

 

[Tiggeye]

Listening!

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Sounds good! I'm looking forward to more. Where did you eat on International Dr?

 

[vikkii19]

Joining in, fellow maritimer here, we just missed each other, we were there from the 20th to the 27th of October. Can't wait to read more.

 

[DinaBina]

Okay I'm in! Love your writing style!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Listening!

Awesome. So glad you're here!

Sounds good! I'm looking forward to more. Where did you eat on International Dr?

Thank you for being here. We ate at the Golden Coral Buffet. You can find them all over the Orlando area. They literally have everything!

Joining in, fellow maritimer here, we just missed each other, we were there from the 20th to the 27th of October. Can't wait to read more.

So glad to welcome a fellow Maritimer. I'm sure we shared many of the same experiences having the trips so close. We may have even passed in the airport except you would have been smiling and I would have been crying...

Okay I'm in! Love your writing style!

Thank you Dina! I'm so glad to here that. I've pre-written the first 6 days or so, so I should be able to update with some consistency.

 

[glennbo123]

Holy smokes, I got a shout-out in the Intro! That's never happened before! Thanks Rob! I appreciate it, but I'm definitely not the king of trip reporters....among my heroes are Jordanyosh, GreatBiscuit, and Hucifer. (There are sooo many great reports out there, and I hate to list names because I'll leave somebody out, but if you read those you will not be disappointed! )

Anyway, great start. I applaud you for having the guts to post some childhood pictures. You're braver than me!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Holy smokes, I got a shout-out in the Intro! That's never happened before! Thanks Rob! I appreciate it, but I'm definitely not the king of trip reporters....among my heroes are Jordanyosh, GreatBiscuit, and Hucifer. (There are sooo many great reports out there, and I hate to list names because I'll leave somebody out, but if you read those you will not be disappointed! )

Anyway, great start. I applaud you for having the guts to post some childhood pictures. You're braver than me!

Oooohhhhh, I have DIS royalty in my TR. Seriously though, I will definitely check those other reports out. Trust me though, I think I've read all your reports, and I do consider them truly fantastic and just flat out fun. You have a great family. But you're right, there's so many great ones I was hesitant to mention just a few as well. These were just a few that I was currently reading that stuck in my mind. Thanks for being here.

As for the childhood photos, ah, we're all friends here.

 

[glennbo123]

Oooohhhhh, I have DIS royalty in my TR.

Now cut that out.

As for the childhood photos, ah, we're all friends here.

Of course!

 

[StitchsGurl]

I'm joining in as well - I was intrigued by your TR title!~

Sounds good to me so far - I can't wait to see what else will come of your trip~

And from one Canadian to another, hello, nice to meet you~