There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow!~ a Magical May trip report! *Updated 7/11 X2 Pg 9*

[Sarahh1027]

Exciting trip planning news!

I love that you are Once fans and have give a name to your trip planning.

I'm so glad you appreciate our Once reference!!!

YAY for Operation Snow Goose! I love everything about this post. You will be going back a little after we go on our trip. It will be crazy how things can be so different with such little time in between (Frozen rides, maybe ROL will finally make an appearance, etc.) So excited for you!

Oh I hear ya!!! Plus the new Soarin and other nighttime Animal Kingdom surprises! As for your March trip- can you believe how time keeps sneaking by? I mean I remember when you were over a year, and before you know it you will be at your 6 month mark! Love it!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Day 01
Welcome Home
Checking in Under the Sea!
& Disney Springs Adventures
Disney Day Part III

As we pulled into the hotel, I felt SO relieved
There’s nothing like arriving after a busy last couple of days, and almost a year of planning!

I was first off the bus, saying enthusiastically, “Thank you!” to our bus driver, and as the warm Florida weather hit my face and I saw the hotel sliding doors..I can’t even begin to explain my excitement! I think my excitement was starting to wear off onto James! He was all smiles.


After we landed at the airport and I turned my phone on I saw a text saying, “Please see the front desk about your room assignment when you arrive at your Resort. Thanks!” So that’s what we did! Walking in I got this smell of citrus and the lobby is...wow...SO DISNEY! I fell in love! I remember the lobby at Pop was nice enough. But this, this was special. Nothing compares to the grand scale of Shades of Green, but this was so magical I instantly fell in love.

We were helped right away by the sweetest girl who was just a joy. I work in customer service and bringing your A game everyday can be tough. This girl rocked it. She checked us in, got our Magic Bands linked up, and we were on our way to our room before we knew it. But first- we made a pit stop to buy our refillable mugs! I didn’t see any pink so I got blue and James got green, just like our magic bands!


We didn’t get the building we requested (7 w/ water view), but boy am I ever glad we didn’t. Our room was PERFECT. We got building 9, room 9660. It’s second floor like we wanted, a corner room, facing the parking lot which was peaceful, and we later found out the following night that it has a great fireworks view! The best part? The walk from the bus stop through the main building through the Lion King section takes awhile. Not that bad honestly, I’d stay in The Little Mermaid rooms again in a heartbeat even if I got a far room. But our room was as close to transportation as could be! From the bus stop (instead of heading through the building and back that way) we only had to walk the opposite way towards the parking lot, along the sidewalk, and BAM! Our room was right at the corner! Guys this was a lifesaver after a long day in the parks, plus it was a peaceful walk that I came to cherish.

But let’s refocus. I have a million pictures. Of the room, the resort. All to come. But this particular day, it was all a feast for the eyes, not the camera lens. But just in case you’re dying to know- we loved this place! James said it was way bigger than he thought it would be. I had told him the room would be fairly small. But it was perfect for us.

We changed and contemplated what to do from there. Do we relax a bit? Or head to Disney Springs ASAP? Our grumbling stomachs won and we were off to DS. We had reservations for Crossroads at House of Blues for 6:15. But it was only around 4! We decided to head there anyways. Maybe we could get in to eat early?

Now, our ENTIRE vacation we had GREAT bus mojo...except this day. Or more specifically, this one bus ride. We arrived for the first time using our parking lot sidewalk (LOVE! SO MUCH QUICKER!) and what drove by us? A Disney Springs bus. Ehh, no biggie. Another will arrive shortly. We had to of waited about a half hour for a bus! We were hot and tired but nothing was going to dampen our Disney Day!

I was sooo hoping this wouldn’t become a habit. It didn’t really bother me, but I wanted everything to be perfect for James’ first trip! But once a bus arrived, it wasn’t long before we were arriving at Disney Springs.

I thought the bus stop was awesome. Shades of Green drops you off on the opposite side (where House of Blues is) so for dinner it IS more convenient, but I haven’t been on this side since my 2012 trip so it was so exciting.

My dear friend Pooh Bear taking a break from his “hunny” to pose with me.

I was hungry just like Pooh. We browsed through some stores. The Christmas Store, World of Disney, but we would be back. Our main goal was food.

When we arrived at House of Blues, I checked in and the lady said we could be seated right away.
In fact, I’ve never seen this place so quiet before!

James seems to approve!

Check out his 1st Visit pin & Mickey shirt! I was sort of bummed that the girl who checked us in didn’t get me an I’m Celebrating pin, though I know if I asked she would be more than happy to give me one if she had it. But no worries...the pin issue was solved the following day! Stay tuned! It's not what you think!

Our waiter tonight was blast. He was so enthusiastic and clearly loved his job.

We ordered the Pulled Pork Sliders - Two sliders layered with smoked pulled pork topped with housemade Kansas City BBQ sauce and housemade cole slaw, served on a brioche bun. Add another slider $4.00; $9.99

Thanks AllEars!

When it came, it was so beautiful.

It didn’t last long! That BBQ sauce was OH SO GOOD. We loved these! I mean we were STARVING but it would’ve been just as delicious even if we weren’t!

Our waiter came over and asked how it was and I had my mouth full of pulled pork and I exclaimed, “AMAZING!!!!!” He said, “Oh hey wow okay!” He was looking at me like I was crazy and it was wicked funny.

The aftermath:

If I remember correctly we both got water with lemon (in case anyone cares!)

For our entrees I got:

Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast - grilled rosemary marinated chicken breast served with fresh vegetables and Red Rose garlic mashed potatoes $17.99

Meanwhile, James had:

Classic Club - sourdough bread, spicy chipotle mayo, black forest ham, roasted turkey, applewood bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese $15.99

The size of James’ was so impressive. He only finished one full stack and took the other to go!
I thought mine was what I got the last two years but they definitely changed the recipe.

But no complaints here- it was yummy!

The mashed potatoes are under the chicken but they were the best!

Our waiter convinced me to get dessert so cheesecake it was! But...there’s no picture?!
I swear I’m not dreaming this. The cheesecake was real.

This is Twigman.
He’s our lil buddy.
That’s my arm in the picture next to the Twigster.

I went to the bathroom, then we settled the bill.

As we headed out, James went to use the bathroom and I got a picture of the front of the restaurant with no one there. Seriously, it’s usually jam packed with people waiting to be seated.

We used the penny machine (I can’t wait to show you guys my book of pennies!!!!) and then we headed out.

James being a good boyfriend and posing for me:

His goofy smile

We walked around the side of the restaurant. I love the atmosphere here. I highly recommend!

We decided to walk behind the busy stores along the water.

And then I met this guy.

He followed us. I’m not even kidding. He’s AWESOME.

Here’s a view of our path.

With my new Disney bird friend still following:

Fly away lil guy!

But wait! What is this? He found a friend!

Which means I now had TWO friends!

Ok no more bird pics. Promise.

This lamp post looked snazzy so I asked James to get a picture of me with it!

And a picture of the original Regina (Once Upon A Time fans?)

Now guys, we were fading. Gettin real tired. We decided to head back to the room.

As we were walking out I spotted a lady I work with! She was there for one of her daughter’s cheer competition. It was awesome seeing her. Such a small world!

We got on a bus right away and as we sat down James realized he left his to-go box on top of the penny machine. Ooops.

Back at AoA, we took our special quick-walk back to the room.

But fear not guys. The night is still full of surprises!

Sneak Peak:

​

 

[Victoriasmom98]

C'mon girl!!! A clifhanger, really??!!! What's the surprise box???? I can't wait!!!!

 

[jmccoy18]

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kadrachb]

There’s nothing like arriving after a busy last couple of days, and almost a year of planning!
​

That feeling when all the planning pays off is amazing, and its one of my -favorite- parts of a trip!

Walking in I got this smell of citrus and the lobby is...wow...SO DISNEY!

One of my FAVORITE smells is the halls of AKL, its like a warm subtle but sweet smell. Also I LOVE the smell of the gift shop in the circus part of Fantasyland. I find random reasons to walk by it just to get a wiff.

Now, our ENTIRE vacation we had GREAT bus mojo...except this day. Or more specifically, this one bus ride. We arrived for the first time using our parking lot sidewalk (LOVE! SO MUCH QUICKER!) and what drove by us? A Disney Springs bus. Ehh, no biggie. Another will arrive shortly. We had to of waited about a half hour for a bus! We were hot and tired but nothing was going to dampen our Disney Day!

We also had problems with buses (through our whole trip actually) but mostly with DS buses. Thankfully, to get to Epcot and MK we had the monorail and a boat to MK.

We used the penny machine (I can’t wait to show you guys my book of pennies!!!!) and then we headed out.

I really wanna see the pennies you got! At the end of our trip (I think on Monday morning?) I cleaned out my purse, and I had so much change, we decided to make pennies! Sadly I ran out of my change by Tuesday night and I found some I really wanted to make (the Lion King ones in the Adventure Land breeze way), but the change machine wasn't working

 

[hjeick]

What a great trip review! So, detailed I feel like I am there! I am on pins and needles...

 

[amberdc1987]

Y'all are so cute! I can't wait to read more. I appreciate all the pictures. I love pictures! Where did your BF get his Mickey shirt?! I love it and want one! I love all the Once Upon A Time references. I love that show! I can't wait to see what's in the box. Keep it coming!!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Along for the ride

 

[Sarahh1027]

Thank you to everyone following along, both new friends and long-time ones! I truly appreciate it!
Onto the next update!

Day 01 ~ Part IV
A Night of Surprises!


As James and I strolled back to our under the sea room, I felt so happy and content.
Our bellies were full, we had our whole vacation ahead of us, what could possibly make this moment any better??
​

​

THIS. THIS MAKES IT BETTER.​

​

​

​

Though these pictures were taken a little later in the night, that was hanging on our door handle!
​

​

​

​

Yes, I thought it was funny that they used the same envelope that we should see the morning we check out.​

​

But that morning was 8 sleeps away. So I was the happiest person alive it seemed to me!
But what was in our envelope?

​

​

Now I knew exactly what this was.

I may have ordered a lil somethin’ somethin’ for James off the Disney Floral and Gifts website.
I pretended (horribly might I add) to have no clue what it was.

“What could it be?!?! I just wonder! Let’s go find out, James!!”

I said that as I grabbed our refillable mugs and started pulling him back out the door and down the stairs.
We walked through the Lion King section, a nighttime walk I quickly grew to love.​

​

That’s our first of many Lion King pictures taken this trip!

Once we passed the Lion King section, I realized the nightly movie was playing!!
I wanted to stop and take a look at what was playing.

Aladdin!!! I am a HUGE Aladdin fan!

​

"Genie, I wish for your freedom!"
​

((When I brought my sister to Disney for her first trip, we had just learned about Robin William’s tragic death, and Disney Channel was playing Aladdin which we watched in our hotel room.))


Just as we were about to head off to get our surprise package, I heard a BOOM!

What the…?

Follow the booms and flashes of light!

I kept inching closer. I needed to see these fireworks!
What a magical experience! I was in love.

It didn’t yet occur to me that this was the parking lot side of the resort, and we would find out the following night that the view of these fireworks would be even more amazing from right outside of our room door!

Speaking of “these” fireworks. What were these??​

​

It was only about 9:45 when they started. Too early for Wishes and too late for Illuminations.

After a little phone research that night I learned it was the Star Wars fireworks which I didn’t even know was going on! So much for master planning.

They weren’t going to be showing the night we had planned for Hollywood Studios (Thursday and tonight was Sunday) but I was grateful to experience them this night!!



We then headed happily to get our surprise! We went to the concierge desk and I was all giddy as I gave her our note and the girl seemed just as happy as I did! Love that!

She went out back and returned with…

BALLOONS!!!!

James was blushing without a doubt!

There was a black baggie with a surprise in it for James but it was tied up well with ribbon so we decided to wait till we returned to the room for him to open it!

We took his surprise and went into Landscape of Flavors to browse and decided to pick out gelato! James is a huge gelato fan. I’m a huge ice cream fan so I support it! I got a scoop of pistachio and I honestly can’t remember the 2nd scoop I got! James had chocolate. James went to fill our mugs and I went off to find a seat outdoors. Outside of the food court I find an open table- a spot we found ourselves MANY times at night this vacation!

Once James came out and we started to eat, a little boy spotted our balloons and came over to tell us how much he loved them. He was adorable, and went on and on about our balloons. He was quite the chatter box! That’s him with the red hair in the following picture:

We sat for a long time enjoying the night.

Here’s James’ note from the big cheese himself:

After we got back to the room, James got to open his gift.​

​

His very own official Disney water spray fan!

Edible chocolate bowl filled with chocolates!
Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate,
Believe, Wish, and Dream.

They were wicked good too!
We ate a couple pieces each and put the rest along with the bowl in the fridge.

We decided to unpack as we were running off of our second wind at that point,
plus the sugar from the gelato helped!

I got a few pictures of the room after we showered and then it was bedtime.

After the night we had before (very little sleep!) we fell asleep so quickly this night!

The alarm was set for 7am. Up next:

Rope Drop at Epcot!!

I leave you all with this gem from our trip to World of Disney

​

 

[Sarahh1027]

C'mon girl!!! A clifhanger, really??!!! What's the surprise box???? I can't wait!!!!

No worries!! I didn't make you wait too long! Hehe

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the quickest I've ever updated! Gotta work on getting them out quicker more often!

One of my FAVORITE smells is the halls of AKL, its like a warm subtle but sweet smell. Also I LOVE the smell of the gift shop in the circus part of Fantasyland. I find random reasons to walk by it just to get a wiff.

Sniffing that gift shop is now on my next Disney trip bucket list

I really wanna see the pennies you got! At the end of our trip (I think on Monday morning?) I cleaned out my purse, and I had so much change, we decided to make pennies! Sadly I ran out of my change by Tuesday night and I found some I really wanted to make (the Lion King ones in the Adventure Land breeze way), but the change machine wasn't working

Oh no! That's so sad! The penny machine outside of Splash Mountain (not the one in the gift shop but the following one) wasn't working but there was no sign up, I was so bummed out! When you have your heart set on a penny and you can't have your penny it's so sad!

What a great trip review! So, detailed I feel like I am there! I am on pins and needles...

Aww thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!!

Y'all are so cute! I can't wait to read more. I appreciate all the pictures. I love pictures! Where did your BF get his Mickey shirt?! I love it and want one! I love all the Once Upon A Time references. I love that show! I can't wait to see what's in the box. Keep it coming!!

I'm so glad you appreciate my Once obsession And thank you for following along! I actually ordered James' tee-shirt from the tilly's website. Here's the link! Although I do see the one James has, I only see it available right now in boy's sizes but their selection of choices are pretty big for both men & women!
https://www.tillys.com/search?Ntt=neff+disney

Along for the ride

Welcome along friend!!!

 

[Saphire5742]

Isn't it funny how we always say our upcoming trip will be the last one for awhile?
Till that trip's wrapping up...and then it's like,
"How do I get back ASAP?"

I definitely know how that is! I knew while planning and researching that I had to go back someday, hopefully for the 50th during Food and Wine. That's still a few years away. But recently I came up with a plan that might get me there sooner.

My momma, who loves Disney like me, always talks about going back.
She's incredible and I want to spend quality time with her.
And what better way..?

How wonderful for you!

My mom asked to name our trip Operation Snow Goose.
She's adorable.
We speak about it in code.
It's awesome.

That is just so adorable.

and we later found out the following night that it has a great fireworks view!

Awesome!

My dear friend Pooh Bear taking a break from his “hunny” to pose with me.

LOVE this pic

We walked through the Lion King section, a nighttime walk I quickly grew to love.

Me too!

Here’s James’ note from the big cheese himself:

Awww, what a way to make his first trip extra special! Great gift and I absolutely love the note that came with it.

Great photos as always!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Loving the updates. I am also a fan of once upon a time

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Haha! I ALWAYS say that this one is going to be the last one for awhile but I can never wait. I've now resolved that if I can afford it, I'm just going to try to go every year. I'm pretty much keeping my job to support my Disney habit. But if my employers ask, tell them it's because I love working for them and I love my career and I have no complaints. At all.

We then headed happily to get our surprise! We went to the concierge desk and I was all giddy as I gave her our note and the girl seemed just as happy as I did! Love that!

She went out back and returned with…

BALLOONS!!!!

James was blushing without a doubt!​

​

Awww....so cute! It's nice that you did this for him! It's not often that they get to be the ones getting something special like this. Good idea!

Edible chocolate bowl filled with chocolates!
Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate,
Believe, Wish, and Dream.
​

Ohhh they look sooo great! I don't think I've seen them on the Disney Floral website before. Delish! And now you have a little sweet something to have before you go to bed each night.

I don't know why, but I often crave just a smidge of chocolate before bed. Which is weird because I'm a salty person before sweet, generally. But gosh darn it, do I want a taste of chocolate once I crawl into bed!

 

[Carathryn]

I am just joining in! I am loving your TR so far! How exciting to take your boyfriend on his first WDW trip. I am taking my fiancé for his first trip this fall. He has been to DLR a couple times but has no idea the scale of WDW.
I am glad you didn't find the Little Mermaid rooms to be too bad of a walk to the bus stop and main building. I love the rooms but haven't stayed there yet after reading several reviews stating how horrible the walk was.

 

[bilnsheldodisney]

Haha! I ALWAYS say that this one is going to be the last one for awhile but I can never wait. I've now resolved that if I can afford it, I'm just going to try to go every year. I'm pretty much keeping my job to support my Disney habit. But if my employers ask, tell them it's because I love working for them and I love my career and I have no complaints. At all.

​

Awww....so cute! It's nice that you did this for him! It's not often that they get to be the ones getting something special like this. Good idea!



Ohhh they look sooo great! I don't think I've seen them on the Disney Floral website before. Delish! And now you have a little sweet something to have before you go to bed each night.

I don't know why, but I often crave just a smidge of chocolate before bed. Which is weird because I'm a salty person before sweet, generally. But gosh darn it, do I want a taste of chocolate once I crawl into bed!

sending some Doctor Who love your way DeeDee.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

sending some Doctor Who love your way DeeDee.

Brilliant! Thank you!

 

[LindseyJo22]

So exciting about the new trip! Even if it's not really planned out yet, the fact that there is one on the horizon always makes me happy

Interesting about the Air National Guard - I didn't know tattoos were an issue, but I'm super impressed that you're going through the whole removal process and everything. That's some serious dedication!

We walked around the side of the restaurant. I love the atmosphere here. I highly recommend!

Interesting! House of Blues wasn't ever really on my radar, but I keep hearing good things about it. Glad you both enjoyed!

But fear not guys. The night is still full of surprises!

I love surprises! And this one was great I got a present for my husband on our honeymoon and they delivered it to our room - we came back, and he totally didn't notice it for like an hour! I had such a hard time not being like "hey, what is that thing over there?" but I wanted him to notice it by himself

They weren’t going to be showing the night we had planned for Hollywood Studios (Thursday and tonight was Sunday) but I was grateful to experience them this night!!

They are so good! I know they've just changed them, but if the previous ones were any indication, they are an absolute must see next time you go - we were super impressed!

 

[jmccoy18]

Yay for the sweet gifts! That chocolate looked delicious! I'm glad you were able to get some good sleep, since you didn't the night before.

 

[ontdvc2015]

Awesome TR so far. I am following along! Love the little mermaid room, my daughter would love that.

 

[jchurch0409]

Subbing! Loving your TR so far!!