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

[IheartDDuck]

Rachel! I'm so used to seeing you in IG, I'm super happy to see you here writing a TR. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[nimbuscat]

Love! Following along...

 

[PadmeNaberie]

y'all are too cute!

 

[Raeven]

You're parade and hotel pictures are gorgeous, and I love your Disneybounding outfits too!

 

[amberdc1987]

I absolutely love your TR! Your pictures are fantastic! What kind of DSLR do you have? And do you use any editing software? Your pictures truly are beautiful! I can't wait to read more. Keep it coming.

 

[WDW&DCLADDICT]

Great start, to your trip report cant wait to continue reading

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?​

 

[WDW&DCLADDICT]

nice pictures i might have to start taking them due to the fact they are out pricing us on annual Florida resident rates lol

Boat ride back to the hotel

We decided to take a relaxing boat ride around my very favourite area back to our resort.

























We headed to the beach club when we got back, it’s got such a beautiful exterior, and the SMELL inside is AMAZING!!!







We went into the marketplace, filled up our mugs and went, past the amazing Stormalong bay, back to our room.







We all changed and felt refreshed after our little break and headed out again at around 2 o clock so we could catch Festival of Fantasy again. We walked outside over to the lobby and stopped to take a few pictures of our outfits along the way.



YES we were Disneybounding! Emma and I were both Rapunzel and Katie was Snow. Although, when we got to the bus stop, we started talking to this cast member who thought that Katie was Cinderella?

We had the most beautiful bus stop waiting area.

This sign was on the side of the room nearest the yacht club,



And this sign on the side nearest the beach club!



And here's another picture of me in my outfit.

​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

I swear you could sell some of those Festival of Fantasy photos to Disney to use on their website So good! You have talent!

 

[WDW&DCLADDICT]

I swear you could sell some of those Festival of Fantasy photos to Disney to use on their website So good! You have talent!

I would those pictures are really good

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Great FOF shots. It's so fun to shoot, eh?

Thanks so much! Yeah I love shooting FoF, I can assure you, this is the first of many spams!

The CM thought she was Cinderella...REALLY?! Hers is the most obvious of the three of you!! lol Great Disneybounds though, I immediately recoginzed the two Rapunzels as well. Nicely done on the outfits!

Your FoF pictures are stunning!! The colors in that parade are so amazing. I love that Rapunzel noticed your Disneybound!

Thanks! Yeah, it was a bit weird that she thought it was Cinderella!
Thanks that's one of my favourite things about the parade! It's so happy and colourful!

Great update! Yes, I love the Tink meet & greet, it's one of my favorites!

Your FoF parade pictures were so amazing!! W-O-W, and those were taken without a tripod, correct? I'm shopping for a new camera and your pictures want me to run out and buy the Nikon D3200. I usually just use auto mode, do you use different modes to get your great pictures on that camera?

Thanks! No tripod for those! The Nikon D3200 is a great camera, and auto mode works wonders and gives you great pictures. But if you want to get really good ones, I recommend learning a bit about your camera and the settings, espcially about aperture, shutter speed and ISO, that really helps, especially when shooting Festival of Fantasy or fireworks! But if you just like using auto then the camera gets really great shots!

Following along! Love your photos!

Thanks so much!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Rachel! I'm so used to seeing you in IG, I'm super happy to see you here writing a TR. Can't wait to hear more.

Hey, I'm so glad you're reading! I'll be sure to check yours out too!

Love! Following along...

Thanks for reading!

y'all are too cute!

Awww, Thanks so much!!!

You're parade and hotel pictures are gorgeous, and I love your Disneybounding outfits too!

Awww, thanks! I love taking photos of the resorts, they're beautiful!

I absolutely love your TR! Your pictures are fantastic! What kind of DSLR do you have? And do you use any editing software? Your pictures truly are beautiful! I can't wait to read more. Keep it coming.

Thanks! I use the Nikon D3200. All the pictures in this report are straight from my camera and have not been edited, however if you wanna check out some of my pictures on instagram (@rachel.rapunzel), those are mostly edited using lightroom! Thanks for the kind words and thanks you for reading!


Thanks so much!

I swear you could sell some of those Festival of Fantasy photos to Disney to use on their website So good! You have talent!

Omg that's the best compliment ever! Thanks so much!!

I would those pictures are really good

Awww, thank you so much!!!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Now's when my life begins!

We headed to meet my favourite person ever… yes there was a reason I was disneybounding as Punzie!

I WAS ABOUT TO BE REUNITED WITH RAPUNZEL AND I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!!!

We got let in for our fastpass (which I was glad we had since the wait was about 50 minutes and quickly got let into the room. I could see her!!! She smiled at me a few times while I was lining up, but we had another kind princess to meet first. She’s as lovely as her name!





And then, finally, Rapunzel!!! She LOVED Emma and I’s outfits, especially the flowers!!! She gave us all hugs and I almost died with happiness!!!







When we got out, we still had a little bit of time before our dinner reservation, and the carousel was calling our name!!! Emma, Katie and I went on together and had a nice relaxing ride around. I love the carousel, it’s one of my favourites, there's nothing better than watching fantasyland go by in a blur as you bob up and down on a beautiful horse listening to the most magical music!!! I just love it!!!



We got off and checked in for the most magical evening you can ever imagine!

Where?



Cinderella’s Royal Table… that’s right, were going to eat inside the castle!!! I was beyond excited when we walked in and saw Cinderella there to welcome us!!! Even though we'd just seen her about 15 minutes ago! If that's not magic then I don't know what is!
The family photo came out beautifully.



After meeting Cinderella, we were taken upstairs and to our table, right by the window!!! I was so happy seriously, I don’t think I’d ever been happier!!!​

 

[oceanmarina]

Great update & thanks for the info. about the camera. I'm due for a new camera so I will check out the new Nikons when they come out late spring. Looks like you had a great time at the Character meet & greet. What a fantastic picture;



We didn't get to see Rapunzel this past trip, (lines were too long without a fastpass), i'll definitely do a fast pass for her this summer. Love eating at Cindy's Castle, we eat there once every trip. Only had a window seat once, it was fantastic!
Cant wait to read more updates! Marina

 

[emilyindisney]

Such a great family photo- I LOVE copying the princess pose. Always looks so cute!!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Great update & thanks for the info. about the camera. I'm due for a new camera so I will check out the new Nikons when they come out late spring. Looks like you had a great time at the Character meet & greet. What a fantastic picture;

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We didn't get to see Rapunzel this past trip, (lines were too long without a fastpass), i'll definitely do a fast pass for her this summer. Love eating at Cindy's Castle, we eat there once every trip. Only had a window seat once, it was fantastic!
Cant wait to read more updates! Marina

No problem! Yesss!! You have to meet her! Lines might be a little better what with Anna and Elsa apparently moving out of the Fairytale Hall!
Thank you so much for reading!

Such a great family photo- I LOVE copying the princess pose. Always looks so cute!!

Thanks, me too! Those pictures always come out so cute!!!

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Cinderella's Royal Table

We got given these beautiful menus and she got us our drinks and some delicious bread as we perused the menu.













We ordered and then my dad took my camera and went on a photo spree around the beautiful room. It’s a fairly small restaurant and it wasn’t too noisy either which was good!





Our appetisers came quickly.

I got the Castle salad, which I loved. It was so fresh and full of flavour and presented beautifully.



The others all got soup of some kind and they all loved their food!!!





It wasn’t long before they brought us our entrees. Everyone except Dad ordered the steak and shrimp, which was AMAING!!!! It was served on mash, and I hate mash so I ate the meat and asparagus which was more than enough. Luckily for me, my sisters both hate shrimp and they gave me ALL of theirs, so I had SIX shrimps altogether and it was the best day ever. Shrimp is my favourite food.



Fun fact: In England, we call shrimp; Prawns.

Dad got the chicken.



Our server then took our desert orders and we were really sad because the clock strikes twelve desert wasn’t offered anymore. Our server was really sad about it too, she said she cried when they stopped doing it! We all ordered the cheesecake and she brought us an extra piece of the chocolate hazelnut cake for us all to share to make up for the clock strikes twelve!! She was so magical!!!





They also brought me a birthday cupcake… cake overload!!!





Normally there’s no such thing, but I was so full of shrimp and steak that I didn’t think I could possibly manage it all. Luckily they boxed up my birthday cupcake to go and I ate my cheesecake and a bit of the chocolate hazelnut cake. Both were delicious, but if I were to order one I’d choose the chocolate hazelnut cake. I expected it to have a nutty flavour, like Nutella, which I’m not a fan of but to my surprise (a pleasant surprise), it was just very chocolaty with bits of whole hazelnuts in which I could pick out!

Everyone enjoyed both deserts but I think my mum would have preferred if the cheesecake had a base to it but she still enjoyed it.

Sidenote: The frosting on the birthday cupcake was AMAZING!!!​

 

[rachelrapunzel]

Cinderella's Royal Table (part 2)

During desert, the princesses started coming out! We were their first table, which was awesome because we got a nice long interaction.

















Jasmine's eyeliner was ON FLEEK!!



Our wands, because we're really fairies!



I enjoyed my meal so much that I was really sad to leave the restaurant. We made our way down the spiral staircase and out into fantasyland. We went straight inside to Philarmagic. We LOVE this attraction, it's adorable and just so Disney!



We headed over to storybook circus to ride Dumbo and Barnstormer. I love Dumbo so much, but I’m not a fan of barnstormer, it’s quite an uncomfortable ride.



Then it was time to head back to the fairytale hall, we had a very important fastpass to use.

You guessed it! We were going to meet the sisters for the first time in forever… or the first time ever!!! I was so excited!!!

First up was Elsa, she was sweet but I don’t really remember the interaction much!!!





Next was the bubbly, excitable Anna I had been hoping for, the pictures with her came out so lovely!!!





Overall, I loved meeting Anna and Elsa, I wouldn’t wait all day for it, but if you can get a fastpass then it’s a great experience.​

 

[BlvInMagic]

Just found your TR and it's adorable! Fabulous pictures too Can't wait to read what happens next!

 

[ashnicole]

Enjoying your TR! The view from your room is super pretty! I love the EPCOT area! I definitely want to stay at the beach club or yacht club on my next trip!

 

[emilyindisney]

Cindy's Royal Table looks so good! I love your Ariel fish pose! Glad you got to meet the Frozen duo- I totally agree, fun to meet but with a fastpass only.