GUYS, THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE DROP!!! August 2015 trip report- Updated 8/8

[rachelrapunzel]

Welcome, welcome, welcome!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to the happiest trip report on earth!

My name is Rachel, and I wasn’t going to do a trip report for this trip due to a busy year ahead (exams…grrrr) but I had such a magical time celebrating my sixteenth birthday and took so many pictures, I can’t resist sharing with you all!!!!

This is what I look like.



As well as Disney, I love to dance, read and hang out with my friends. My favourite Disney characters are Rapunzel, Wendy, Alice, Pocahontas and Mickey. I have a very unhealthy obsession with the movie Tangled. As far as the parks go, my favourite is Magic Kingdom, although Epcot is creeping up there and my favourite rides are Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain and the Teacups!

If you want an explanation of the title- look no further!

It all started on Splash mountain when I started yelling on the tiny drops… “GUYS, THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE DROP!!!” and like everyone in the long who’d never been before where like mentally preparing themselves for a massive drop but then it was tiny and everyone started laughing and then everytime there was any sort of drop, everyone would start fake screaming. It was great. It kinda caught on and I started saying it on like every ride and I even went as far as doing it on the monorail… yeah, I’m not sure either…

With me on this trip, were my wonderful family.



My twin sisters Emma and Katie



This is Emma



And this is Katie



Good luck telling the difference

And Mum and Dad!



Please remain seated and keep your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the ride at all times and enjoy the trip report!
​

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Chapter Links

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome

Day one

Here we go, Off to Disney World

Day two

The most magical place on earth is here
More Magic Kingdom fun
Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest
It's a festival of fantasyyy!!!

Day three

Frozen summer fun!
Starring Rolls
Boat ride back to the hotel
It's a Festival of Fantasy (again)
Now when my life begins
Cinderella's Royal Table
Cinderella's Royal Table (part 2)
Wishes! Dream a dream

Day four

Quiet in the kingdom
Crystal palace
It's a jolly holiday with Mary!
Some imagination, huh?​

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Here we go, off to Disney World!

On August 14th we were all up bright and early and we were all ready to leave the house by 8. It only started to hit me we were actually going as we were in the car, singing Disney tunes at the top of our voices on the way to the airport!

We checked in for our flight and made our way through security with a very short wait. I got searched for my first time, which was funny since I’d been saying earlier that I’d never been searched before. My mum’s carry on had to go through 3 times before they let us through. After security, we had a long wait before our flight so we got some food from Upper Crust and sat down by the window and plane watched.

We headed to the gate and before long we were boarding our 9 hour flight. We were sat near the door which came in handy at the end of the flight. It was quite uneventful. I watched Cinderella (new one) and Tangled (my favourite!) and listened to some music! They gave us food but I didn’t eat too much of it, not a fan of plane food to be honest!

Before long, we landed at Miami airport! Because the flights were so much cheaper, we thought it would be easy peasy to just fly to Miami and drive up to Orlando! It wouldn’t be that bad… or so we thought…

We got off the plane and literally power walked as fast as you can without actually running from the plane to immigration, expecting a huge line. Finally got to the immigration hall… EMPTY!!! It was a beautiful sight! We were through in 5 minutes! So glad we walked so fast because the queue was huge when we looked behind us! We proceeded through customs and picked up our rental car, which was lovely and big!

Everything was going so smoothly, we thought we’d be in Disney by about 9 (it was about 5pm).

Let’s just say, we were very, very wrong.

We plugged in the destination on the sat nav, and it came up with a different route than what we had looked up before and it was going to take over 4 hours! In England, it said that we should drive up the centre of Florida and it would take about 3 hours! After a few minutes of playing with the sat nav, it was having none of it so we decided to just play it safe and go with what the sat nav was telling us.

About 7 hours later… we made it.

Yup, after getting stuck in about a million different traffic jams and going past more accidents than I’ve ever seen in my life. Getting lost trying to find McDonalds and a lot of driving, we went from the roads where nightmares come true and passed under this beautiful sight into the place where dreams come true! WE WERE HOME!!! I may have shed a tear or two…
​

The purple signs, the Disney busses, driving past all the Disney resorts! I was back where I belong, and before long, we arrived at our home for the next two weeks…





The Yacht Club!!! We have always stayed in the Epcot resort area and the yacht and beach club is my ultimate favourite! (I can’t pick between those two!) They’re both so pretty, I love the family feel and relaxed atmosphere to the Beach Club, but I do love the slightly more sophisticated nautical theming of the Yacht Club, and I feel like that has some convenient factors, like getting picked up and dropped off by busses first, as well as being that little bit closer to Hollywood Studios!

IT’S SO PRETTY!!!!





We checked in and I got my very FIRST MAGIC BAND!!!! (Which I may have forgotten to take a photo of… forgive me, it was 2 am!) It was pink!!!

We had booked a water view room, hoping for a view of the lake, but it’s a bit of a gamble as you could get a view of the pool or even the quiet pool! We embarked on our very long walk to our room, which involved lots of twists and turns and corridors, the pressure building up, what would our view be? After an extremely long walk (especially at 2 in the morning) we arrived at our room. I used my band to open the door. The curtains were pulled across, but they were thin and I could see lights behind them- Boardwalk lights.

I sprinted over to the balcony and opened the curtains and pretty much burst into tears. The boardwalk area is my favourite place in the entire world and to have a view of it, was absolutely incredible! These pictures do not do it justice!





And here are a few more pictures of our beautiful room.







With all the excitement, I’d completely ran past my birthday balloons my parents surprised me with, so when I turned back into the room, I was so excited to find the balloons, that I didn’t even take a picture! They even had some cookies and krispie treats at the bottom!

After our luggage arrived we settled down and went to bed, we were hoping to make rope drop the next morning, but it was looking unlikely. Will we manage it?​

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hi Rachel!!! I guess I'll be first. Perfect start to your trip!! Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[jordansmama]

Joining in! Can't wait to read all about your trip. Happy Belated Birthday! I love the YC too- stayed there for the first time this past August and feel in love!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow, love your view from the room! Joining in, I have a 16y.o daughter who also loves everything Disney. We travel together to Disney 1-2x a year. We have stayed at Beachclub and loved it. Excited to hear about your trip.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Joining in! Your trip sounds like so much fun. I actually did the exact same thing with the drop when I rode the ride with my friend for her first time this summer At the very beginning, when you do that tiny dip that you barely feel, I made a huge fake deal about it and she got freaked out!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Hi Rachel!!! I guess I'll be first. Perfect start to your trip!! Can't wait to hear more!!!

Hi!! thank you for joining in! I hope you enjoy it!

Joining in! Can't wait to read all about your trip. Happy Belated Birthday! I love the YC too- stayed there for the first time this past August and feel in love!

Thanks! I hope you enjoy it! And i hope you had a fabulous time at the yacht club!

Wow, love your view from the room! Joining in, I have a 16y.o daughter who also loves everything Disney. We travel together to Disney 1-2x a year. We have stayed at Beachclub and loved it. Excited to hear about your trip.

I know, i'm still not over that view, even now! Awww, I'm glad to hear that she loves disney, I love the beach club too!! Thank you for joining in, i hope you enjoy it!

Joining in! Your trip sounds like so much fun. I actually did the exact same thing with the drop when I rode the ride with my friend for her first time this summer At the very beginning, when you do that tiny dip that you barely feel, I made a huge fake deal about it and she got freaked out!

Thanks, i hope you enjoy it! Ahahah, oh my goodness that's hilarious! I love doing things like that it makes it so much fun!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

The most magical place on earth is here!

Well… after going to sleep at around 2 am, it was unlikely that we’d be up for rope drop at Magic Kingdom at 8 am, but with jet lag (and excitement), 5 am feels like 10 am (and i was excited) and I ended up waking up then! And, did i mention, i was SUPER EXCITED!!!! And let's be honest... I wasn't expecting to get much sleep anyway because I WAS IN DISNEY!!! It was finally hitting me!I wasn’t going to get back to sleep anytime soon so I quietly got up and showered and got myself dressed. When I was done, my dad had woken up too. We went out onto the balcony and took some pictures of the sunrise and just soaked up the wonderful view!



Before long, it was nearly time to go and my sisters woke up and decided that they would come with us! They got ready quicker than I ever thought was possible and we were out the door!

The night before, I had noticed a door next to ours that looked like stairs leading to outside (which would be a lot quicker than the long walk back to the elevators). We took them and walked across to the lobby and out to find the bus stop. The bus stop was outside the convention centre and was a bit confusing to find because there is a path and then you have to go onto a different smaller path but throughout the holiday, we kept forgetting about that little path and had to backtrack! It was a good bus stop though, if it wasn’t too busy, you could sit in the convention centre which was air conditioned so that was great! There was even free iced water!

We waited a few minutes at the bus stop, and we got on, it was only us and one other family since it was so early.



I think I may have drawn a bit of attention to myself when I screamed very loudly as I saw a glimpse of the castle from the bus. Like not just a little squeal, like a full on "AHHHHHHHHH"... I'm fine, I promise.

Fun fact: I'm a little photo crazy... especially when it comes to Disney. When i say "a little" I mean i took over 8000 pictures on my camera alone. So yeah, if you like to see pictures of EVERYTHING then you've come to the right place. Like this beautiful no selfie stick sign:



Before long, I was standing right here, waiting for the welcome show.





I was a happy bunny Or a happy mouse for that matter

I was wearing my birthday button and before the welcome show, this photopass cast member pulled me to the front and had the whole crowd singing happy birthday to me! It was so magical, if not slightly embarrassing! But that’s what Disney is all about! I was home!



Then the Welcome Show started and THERE WERE FLOODS OF TEARS!!! I absolutely adore the welcome show, it makes me so emotional!



We walked in and I caught my first glimpse of this beauty!



I love my castle so much!!

We headed for Space Mountain, Emma didn’t ride, so I gave her my camera and she took some nice shots of Tomorrowland for me!





Over on Space Mountain, my dad, Katie and I attempted to do a “Maddie face” for those of you who don’t watch dance moms it looks like this…
​

[/URL][/IMG]

But ours turned out like this…



I think we need to work on that

We met back up with Emma and went over to Buzz and walked right on. I forgot what my score was but I’m assuming it was impossibly low. (Im not even kidding, I probably hold the record for the lowest score)





By now, it was at least 8:20 but we decided to head over to Peter Pan’s Flight to see what the wait was like.



It was 5 minutes!!! I was starting to see why going to an 8am regular opening is a good idea! The park was practically empty!

The new queue for Peter Pan was absolutely beautiful! So well done and so magical for a huge Peter Pan fan like me! It really immersed me in the story and it was so well done. The ride itself is one of my favourites too! Such a classic and it never fails to put a smile in my heart!

We headed across to It’s a Small World, another ride which I LOVE!!!





We then went over to meet Alice and the White Rabbit, except, Alice wasn’t there for some reason so we just met the White Rabbit on his own which was SUPER fun!!! He was so cute and cuddly!









We’re late!!!!



Next, we walked on Winnie the Pooh, then headed over to Gaston’s Tavern because we were starving!



Dad and I got cinnamon rolls which we wished we’d shared. Emma had a chocolate croissant and Katie had a fruit cup! Which was a great discovery! In our extreme hunger, I neglected to take a picture of our delicious food, however we did take some pictures in Gaston’s chair…







I think Dad got a bit into it…



​

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hi Rachel, enjoying your TR so far!

I rode Splash with somebody like you who yelled out "Is This The Drop?!" at every single drop. It was rather funny especially as I am pretty sure he was genuine in his now knowing.

PS. Love the dress you are wearing on your MK day.

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Hi Rachel, enjoying your TR so far!

I rode Splash with somebody like you who yelled out "Is This The Drop?!" at every single drop. It was rather funny especially as I am pretty sure he was genuine in his now knowing.

PS. Love the dress you are wearing on your MK day.

Haha! That's hilarious!!! I love seeing people's first time on splash!! Such anticipation!
Thank you!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Magic Kingdom fun

When we were done taking ridiculous photos in Gaston's chair, I checked the wait times and was shocked to see that at quarter past ten, two hours after the park opened, Splash had a 10 minute wait. 10 MINUTES!!!!!



We dashed over to frontierland and moseyed on over to my favourite ride!!! The wait still said 10 and we probably only actually waited 5. We got sat in the front row (my favourite!) and set off to find our laughing places. My sisters and I like to scream on the little drops, it’s always funny because some people in the log think it’s going to be the big drop because we’re screaming and then they laugh when they realise!

I was so excited to be back on this ride, it had been a good 2 years since I've been on it since they don't have it in Disneyland Paris when i went last year. I got especially excited for the second to last drop, the one in the dark. That one is my favourite, it's so much fun!



After screaming our heads off, we headed back over to fantasyland to use our first fastpass plusses ever for our first ever ride on…

THE SEVEN DWARVES MINE TRAIN!!!!





This was such a cute ride, I absolutely adored it! It was so cool how it’s a coaster but it has like a mini dark ride section. My favourite part was when you climb the hill for the big drop and they have the shadows of the dwarves on the walls! It’s so cute!!! No, I wouldn’t wait more than 30 minutes for it but I still absolutely love this ride, it’s a great addition and centrepiece to fantasyland!

After the Mine Train, we wandered over to Under the sea and rode that and then my mum arrived, so dad went to meet her and Emma, Katie and I went on the teacups, which is one of my favourite rides. I don’t even know why, they just make me extremely happy!

Next, we went back over to Peter Pan’s flight to use our fastpasses and after that, we went back on It’s a Small World, before going to use our Splash fastpass!!



AHHHHH SPLASH IS SOOOOOO SCARYYYYY!!!!



lol just kidding

It wasn’t long before our Be Our Guest lunch reservation, so we decided to head back to Fantasyland, along the way, I noticed my friend Bonnie from Instagram working one of the food carts and went over to say hi to her! When we got back on our way, we decided we had time to meet frontierland Chip and Dale, which is my favourite place to meet them! There's always time to meet Chip and Dale! How can you beat those cute outfits?!









​

 

[superkick555]

I thought I was crazy taking around 3k disneyland/knotts pics in a week but I guess you have me beat

 

[rachelrapunzel]

I thought I was crazy taking around 3k disneyland/knotts pics in a week but I guess you have me beat

Haha! Everyone thinks I'm crazy That's still loads though! Well done!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Chip and Dale in their Western clothes are adorable. I might have to seek them out next time.

 

[superkick555]

Haha! Everyone thinks I'm crazy That's still loads though! Well done!

Well in my defense it was my first time

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Chip and Dale in their Western clothes are adorable. I might have to seek them out next time.

You definitely should! It's so worth it!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Well in my defense it was my first time

That's amazing for your first time! I didn't take nearly as many on my first time! Maybe next time you'll beat me!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Be our Guest, Be our Guest!

We then checked in for Be Our Guest and had a short wait on the bridge, which we used wisely to take pictures with these fellas!



We’d preordered so we were seated straight away. Whilst we waited for our food, I went to take pictures around the restaurant.





Mum and I had the Croque Monsieur which was very nice, but it’s HUGE and VERY salty. The first half was amazing but I struggled to eat the second half!!! Still, so good though! The fries were just regular quick service fries, but they were still so good.



My Dad and sisters had some sort of soup which they loved! It was as good as they remembered it from when they had it last time!

These were our desserts, my sisters had the chocolate cupcakes, my parents had the chocolate orange éclair and I had the Master’s cupcake, which was AMAZING!!!! The grey stuff really is delicious, I don’t even need to ask the dishes!!!



Here’s a closer up picture of my cupcake!!!



One thing I liked is the drink station, you could refill as many times as you liked and it was so efficient and it meant you could refill it before heading out into the park.



Overall, Be Our Guest lunch was great but not as good as dinner! I’m sure we’ll be returning at some point though because if you’re using the dining plan, it’s a great use of a quick service credit!​

 

[rachelrapunzel]

It's a festival of fantasyyyyy!!!

After exiting be our guest, I had some friends waiting for festival of fantasy at the barbershop so when we headed back out into the heat, we headed to meet them! It was raining very lightly but soon cleared up so we were hoping it wouldn’t be rainy day, I wanted to see FoF for the first time and my friends wanted to see my reaction!

I met up with Melanie and Aaron and we waited at the quiet barbershop. The great thing about this location is that you can walk up to it minutes before the parade passes by and you’d be unlucky not to get a front row spot!!! We waited and at 5 past three we heard a dreaded announcement:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, due to inclement weather, today’s performance of Disney’s Festival of Fantasy parade has been…

DELAYED!!!!

We all held our breath waiting for the cancelled or delayed and we let out a sigh of relief, there was still a chance!!!

After about an hour of wondering what they even meant by inclement weather since we were all dying from the heat, I finally heard the sound of the trumpets that I’ve been waiting a year and a half for!

Now I hadn’t let myself listen to the music or watch the parade on youtube so I had no idea what it was going to be like.

I literally cried when I saw it coming round the corner and I didn’t stop the whole way through. I took a few pictures but I really wanted to enjoy it this time, here are what I took!!!









I adored celebrate a dream come true parade, but this truly knocked my socks off. I was absolutely mesmerised by it! It felt ambitious and it felt magical, the music was so catchy and so amazing and the floats were so beautiful. The costumes were amazing and the dancers were top notch. The choreography for every performer was inventive and it really drew you in and there was a lot of character interaction!!! This is now probably one of my favourite things at Disney. My favourite parts were Tangled- obviously, Peter Pan (I LOVE the music here) and the whole end part with all the classic characters, you just cannot beat it, the music, the characters, just all sums up into one magical moment where you just really appreciate the fact that you’re at Disney and you really feel the magic!!! Disney, I love you.

After the parade, I said goodbye to my friends and my family and I headed back to the resort, which was good timing because as asoon as we got there, it started pouring with rain. Dad ran round and got us dinner from the pizza window at the boardwalk (most amazing pizza ever) which we ate whilst watching Stacey!!! We then just chilled and got an early night since we’d been up a while and the jet lag was getting to us, we went to sleep at 10 pm after watching Illuminations, AND the frozen fireworks from our balcony!!! What a magical ending to a magical first day!!!​