"Call 911?!?" - A Surprise Adventure ... with videos! ~ Sept 2013 TR

[shesCamii]

Hey Everyone!

I know this is a super late trip report since it has been almost half a year since I've come back from Disney World, so I don't know if anyone would still be interested in this. I have never posted on here before but this site has been a huge help with planning my trip last summer. I am glad to say that all that planning payed off as we were able to do most, if not all, the things we wanted to do and had a blast doing them!

Recently I have been witnessing symptoms of Disney withdrawal, like I am sure many of you have been through. I have been working on videos of my trip (which have been yet to be completed! hahah!) but it hasn't been helping with my withdrawal. I'm hoping that by writing a trip report, I can relive my trip into greater depths and share it with all of you! If you want to take a look at some of the videos, check out www.youtube.com/micahcsanjuan (I hope I can post that?) There are 2-3 videos left that I have to upload still but they'll be up eventually!

I guess I should give everyone some background information.

Was it always this hard to look for a family picture? Anyways, this picture was 2 years ago during my brother's first communion party (hence the asian food and dress code)

My dad (left), never liked amusement parks since he's afraid of heights. For this trip, he stayed at home. We had just gone to the Philippines at the beginning of the year so he had no more vacation leaves left . The plus side is that he could stay home and look after our dog, Louis.

My mom (right), probably likes amusement parks much more than my dad and would take any excuse to get out of work! We both share a love for Disney and even now, when the topic of Disney comes up, she explains how she misses Disney World!

For me, (in the white), I have loved Disney for as long as I remember. I guess my mom taught me my love for Disney as I grew up watching, singing along, and playing with anything Disney. I am now 20 and in university and nothing has changed

Finally, my brother, Lorenzo. He plays hockey during the weekends and spends the rest of the time playing video games and watching videos on the computer. At the time we left, he was 8 years old. The main purpose of this trip was to surprise him for his birthday! So we planned our trip for September 2 - 8, 2013 and the rest is history!

There are quite a few interesting things that happened during our trip that are not shown in the videos. However, I am not a photographer or a very good vlogger so please don't expect high quality pictures. I focused on videos on this trip (not very good either lol) so I only took pictures on my phone and will probably use screenshots of videos.

So who's ready to go to Disney World?

**Please send any advice my way
​

 

[shesCamii]

Day 1: Sept 2 (Epcot)
Video
PreTrip & Goodbye Canada!
The "Princess Room"
Chickening Out
A Medical Scare

Day 2: Sept 3 (Hollywood Studios)
Video

Day 3: Sept 4 (Epcot)
Video

Day 4: Sept 5 (Magic Kingdom)
Video

Day 5: Sept 6 (Magic Kingdom)
Video

Day 6: Sept 7 (Animal Kingdom)

Day 7: Sept 8 (Departure)

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[shesCamii]

PreTrip Planning

During the summer, we had planned to go to Disney World in January 2014 since my dad did not have any more vacation days for 2013. This would be our first trip to Disney World so I happily started my research. That's when I came across the free dining during September and it sounded too good to pass up! We came up with some pros (cheaper, Lorenzo's birthday, dad can look after Louis, low crowds) and cons (no dad, weather, miss week of school) and finalized our trip for September. Did I mention that my dad was finally able to get the car he wanted in return? So a win win for everyone!

And off to the fun part! Planning! LOL! I'm sure I'm not the only one? Well I consulted many crowd calendars, cheat sheets, showtimes, and reviews on resorts and restaurants. I convinced my mom to stay at Port Orleans Riverside and we weren't disappointed. We were pretty late in booking as the Royal Rooms were the only ones left but I didn't mind!

Thanks to the disboards, I learned that we could fastpass Be Our Guest for lunch using our luggage tag confirmation. Thank You for that!! Its a good thing I took a picture of it though since we would later run into a small problem with this.

I was pretty disappointed when learning that we would not qualify for the magic bands since we were arriving on the first day of free dining. But in the end, it did not take away from any of the fun we had.

Goodbye Canada!

It is 6am on September 2. Our bags are packed and all thats left is to get ready to leave. Eventually, we wake up my brother who thinks we are just going to a hotel for his birthday. Before school went out, his class made a summer bucket list. One of the last things left to be checked is to "stay at a hotel for more than 2 days." He has no idea!

Pretty soon it was time to say goodbye to Louis! See you next week!

At 7am my dad drove us to the airport and as we drew closer, Lorenzo was shocked to see that we needed a plane just to stay at a hotel. Upon our arrival, it was time to say goodbye to dad too. "Don't forget to feed Louis!"

Normally, we fly international so we were not quite accustomed to the domestic terminal. After asking a few attendants, and struggling with the check in kiosk, we were finally checked in!

Next we were off to security and customs. These next few hours were probably the hardest to keep the surprise a secret. Having him wear his Perry the Platypus shirt which he got from an advanced birthday party, the security guard was quick to notice and pointed it out. I hoped that he wouldn't make the connection.

As we neared the front of the line for immigration, my mom tells me to keep Lorenzo busy so that he doesn't overhear their conversation. I guess he kept me busy too because I totally missed her mention anything "Disney World."

Eventually, we got to our gate. As time passed, more and more people began to arrive with many of the kids and parents wearing disney shirts. Lorenzo remained clueless though, as he hasn't been able to connect the dots yet.

When it was time for boarding, we encountered our first problem of our trip. It turns out, the system placed all three of us in preferred seating, where the emergency exits were. Luckily, the two passengers behind us were happy to sit in the preferred seating so my mom and brother switched seats with them.

It was now 1pm and we just arrived in Orlando! We walk past the Disney Store and other Orlando attraction stores. I ask Lorenzo if he knows where we were but he still had no idea. As we make our way down the escalators, we turn and see Disney's Magical Express.

Here is Lorenzo's reaction when he finally realized where we were.

We are at Disney World!
​

 

[disneygal12]

Im in too!

 

[shesCamii]

Following along!

Im in too!

Thanks for joining me! I hope to put another update today!

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Awww, I love Lorenzo's face when he realized where y'all were. So awesome that you captured that moment.

I am definitely in for the ride on your trip report! We are headed to Port Orleans Riverside on Sept 6 this year. Excited to see what you thought!

 

[shesCamii]

The "Princess Room"

After checking into Disney's Magical Express and waiting in line for about 10 minutes, we made our way to "the fastest ride at Disney World", according to our bus driver

Lorenzo's gone crazy over the excitement!

And pretty soon, we were entering Disney property!

After dropping off guests to two other resorts, it was now time to head to Port Orleans! French Quarter was up first, where we received a little bit of pixie dust.

Each guest was welcomed with mardi gras beads, which got me pretty jealous. There was no need to though because when there were some left over, the cast member was kind enough to give the rest to those of us on the bus!

Finally, it was time for Riverside!

Ahhh, the memories of walking by here everyday, to and from the bus stop.

Upon our arrival, we retrieved our bags and headed to check in. We asked the cast member where we could get a birthday pin for Lorenzo and were given plenty of pins including celebrating and first time pins. We got our keys to the world (no magic bands yet ) and went to look for our refillable mugs, dragging our luggage behind us. We eventually found them at the food court (why did I think that they were at the store?) and got our first drink of the trip.

I was a bit disappointed that my favourite drink was not an option. Being from Canada, I am used to the iced tea here and not the sweetened brewed ones from the US.

Eventually we ventured off to our room, in the heat, with our luggage, and mugs . We were greeted by cast members on their "golf cart" (wish I had one of those) and made it to our building. The hard part was finding our room as we ended up circling the building trying to find the elevator! We eventually found it and were glad to escape the heat.

Warning: The following images were taken from screenshots of videos taken in low lighting

Being welcomed by the iconic mickey towels

Lorenzo was a bit taken a back when learning we were staying in the "Princess Room". I just remind him that its the Royal Room and is for princes too!

Mom: "Who is this? Lady and the frog?" LOL!

Lorenzo: "Ate ('A-teh' - older sister in Tagalog), can you get me internet?"
Even at Disney World, he is focused on his iPad

After settling into our room, I learn that my mom purchased some sandwiches on the plane. I was quickly sent out to get ice, leading me to circle the building again. Luckily I didn't get too far until I found them. We ate and rested for about an hour before we were ready to continue our adventure!

All set with our mugs and keys to the world!

Next Stop: Epcot!

​

 

[shesCamii]

Awww, I love Lorenzo's face when he realized where y'all were. So awesome that you captured that moment.

I am definitely in for the ride on your trip report! We are headed to Port Orleans Riverside on Sept 6 this year. Excited to see what you thought!

Thank you! It was one of those moments captured on video and screenshot lol I could've probably took a better one

Long story short, we loved it there!

 

[disneygal12]

9705 Parterre Place? How far is it from the main building?

 

[shesCamii]

9705 Parterre Place? How far is it from the main building?

Well if you know where you are going, not far at all. It probably took us 5-10 minutes depending on how fast we walked.

 

[shesCamii]

Chickening Out

At 4pm, we head out to the bus stop. The first bus to arrive was for Magic Kingdom and even at this time, remained full. Epcot came soon after and was practically empty! I thank the crowd calendars for leading us away from the busy parks.

This was our first time at the world, let alone the buses, so we took note of where the bus dropped us off so that we would be able to find our way back. Getting in was a breeze and alas! We were officially at a Disney Park!

While we were already there, we decided to go on Spaceship Earth. Since it was already almost 5pm, we walked right onto the ride with no wait

Of course, I rode by myself while my mom and Lorenzo rode together so when it was time to create our "future", my mom laughs from the other vehicle as she asks who I was with.

I quite enjoyed this ride more than I thought I would. I loved the dark atmosphere, the interaction, and the air conditioning is always a plus!

I didn't think either of us were able to correctly indicate where we were from, so as we waited for our faces to show up on the giant Earth, I was happy to see that all three of us were grouped together around Canada.

Next we made our way to the Seas. There, we were also able to walk right onto the Nemo ride. We were off to a great start!

When taking this picture, it was a bit dark and Lorenzo could barely be seen. When I brightened it up a bit, I was not expecting to see my mom in it too!

As we walked through Epcot, we saw that the standby line for Mission: Space (Orange) was only 15 minutes. We got in line and as the cast member asked us what colour we wanted, I was quick to say Orange. My mom was a bit hesitant but eventually went along with it. We ended up waiting close to 30 minutes but that time helped my mom make a crucial decision.

I noticed the warning signs on repeat showing the ride spinning you fast to create the gravitational force. I had no idea that this is what "intense" was referring to. We also heard from afar another cast member explaining this to other riders, worrying my mom. She does not like rides which make her dizzy so she asked the same cast member about it. The spinning was not appealing to her so she quickly left the orange line to join the green line.

With the green line much shorter, mom was able to go right onto the ride.

When it was finally our turn, I immediately felt like mom made the right decision to change sides. She would not have liked the spinning and it could have ruined the rest of the day for her. The whole time I was hoping Lorenzo didn't feel sick and want to throw up (I was hoping for the same for me). Nonetheless, the ride was really cool. The simulation felt realistic as I struggled to even lift my hand to press the button! I was also impressed to see that Lorenzo listened to the instructions and played his part well.

After the completion of our mission, we met our mom at the exits. She explains how she really enjoyed the ride, as she brags about how well she pressed her button . I tell her how lucky she is to have left, as I explain what we had experienced.

​

 

[disneygal12]

Does anyone know how to subscribe to the thread? Sorry new here

 

[shesCamii]

Does anyone know how to subscribe to the thread? Sorry new here

I actually don't remember

I've been a lurker since last summer but I too am new as a member

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Does anyone know how to subscribe to the thread? Sorry new here

You are subscribed now that you posted in the thread. To subscribe without posting, go to the top of the thread, right above the first post on the right, click on "thread tools" and you'll find the subscribe button there.

 

[disneygal12]

You are subscribed now that you posted in the thread. To subscribe without posting, go to the top of the thread, right above the first post on the right, click on "thread tools" and you'll find the subscribe button there.

Thanks

 

[shesCamii]

A Medical Scare

After finishing a few rides, Lorenzo complains that he is hungry and wants to eat. We had a dinner reservation for 7pm at Biergarten but it was only a little after 6pm. We make our way to Germany anyways and take in all the different sights and sounds on the way through the World Showcase.

We began to feel the heat and humidity as we started actually spending more time outdoors. Lorenzo was feeling this the most as he struggles to make it across to Germany. Luckily, we were all able to make it to the restaurant eventually but we had arrived half an hour early for our reservation. We checked in earlier and received a pager.

You can see on Lorenzo's face that the heat and hunger has gotten to him.

I had wanted to go look into some of the stores around Germany as we waited for our table to be ready but everyone was beat and wanted to just sit by the fountain and rest for a while.

We were paged a bit before 7pm and were glad to be taken out of the heat. We were welcomed to the restaurant and introduced to the family who we would be dining with, in accordance with German traditions. We were seated at a table in front of the stage and were ready to try out the food!

After getting some German delicacies on our plates, we got back to our seats just in time for the show.

As we enjoyed the food and the music, the band gave shout outs and sang to all the birthday celebrants, including Lorenzo! I had noted that we would be celebrating his birthday for all our reservations so it was a nice little surprise for Lorenzo.

We finished Dinner a little after 8pm and all that remained on our plan for that day was to stay and watch the fireworks. We figured that we should stay and watch in Germany as we claimed half of a bench for ourselves. With more than half an hour till the show, mom took a small stroll as she was stuffed while Lorenzo and I sat and played air hockey on the iPad.

When mom came back, I offered her my seat (as there was a giant spider nearby where the tree was ). I was worried that crowds would start to form in front of us since I could see from a distance that it was happening in other countries, but that never happened . I'm guessing that they didn't like the small, skinny pole in the way of their view.

When the show began, mom and Lorenzo joined me by the fence. Mom took a video with our camcorder while Lorenzo did the same with the iPad. I told him to enjoy the fireworks live and let mom watch through a screen instead lol! In the video you could here my mom saying that she has goosebumps from the show. I love how Disney times their fireworks to the music. Makes it much more magical!

I wish I had a better picture to show but I was too busy enjoying it

Upon the conclusion of the show, we headed out of the world showcase with everyone else. We took our time, walking the other way we came from, enjoying the stroll through the rest of the countries.

Eventually, Lorenzo could no longer handle the amount of people greeting him for his birthday, making him ditch the pin for the next couple of days until his real birthday.

As we make our way pass Spaceship Earth, we attempt to take another picture. With the crowd all leaving together, I tried getting the picture without stopping in front of others

LOL!

It took us an hour till we finally arrived back to our building

It wasn't till we got back to our room that we noticed what had happened to Lorenzo. Mom saw that his legs were covered in what seemed to be hundreds of little mosquito bites. We were used to seeing him covered in bites in the Philippines but nothing like this. It ran all the way up his thighs and were so many that they grouped together and looked like hives. Mom believes that this was caused by the extreme heat and humidity while all I could picture in my head was that giant spider they were sitting next too lol. No wonder Lorenzo kept complaining about his legs as we walked out of Epcot.

My mom called the front desk to ask if they had a doctor or a nurse on site. Unfortunately, all they could offer to us was to call 911 or a doctor to make a house call and be charged for whatever fees incur. We facetime my dad to tell him whats happening. I forget what his views were on the matter but knowing him, he would probably call 911. Fortunately, my mom brought our insurance policy book so we flipped through to see if we would be covered in the USA.

In the end, we decided not to jump into drastic measures and try some home remedies. I made a few trips to the ice machine and using the plastic bags, mom made two icepacks for each of his legs. I laughed as Lorenzo struggled to keep the cold ice on his legs for long periods of time (Am i evil? lol). When Lorenzo could no longer take the ice, mom applied some vics vapour rub. It seemed like this method helped a bit as the redness and the swelling were going down. Phew!

I hadn't actually taken a picture of his legs but it is a bit visible in this. This was taken two days later so it has improved drastically but his leg still has some red bumps. Sorry if it requires a bit of imagination to actually see anything lol

After an exciting, surprising, scary first day, we called it a day and fell asleep around midnight. Tomorrow would be another busy day at Hollywood Studios!

​

 

[shesCamii]

Sorry if I keep changing the title. I just keep on remembering things as I continue to write

 

[shesCamii]

If anyone's still following this trip report, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy with work and midterms recently. But I just finished my last midterm and hope to get another update up later today.