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

[TheLittleKatie]

Afterwards, we went to the Kidcot table where I decorated a Duffy as James patiently waited. Good boy!

Bahaha I think we lead similar relationships

The Voices of Liberty came out and they were awesome but they were facing the opposite way and I was too lazy to move although James did suggest it if I wanted to. Laziness won out though.

I guess you got to listen to them and that's the main thing right?! I must see them one day I can't believe I haven't yet.

And by golly friends, the magic of Disney didn’t fail me.

I HULA HOOPED.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!

AND FOR A LONG TIME!

LIKE I WAS A CHAMP GUYS!
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Wooooo you go girl! That's quite the accomplishment. I love that she gave you a pin to celebrate too Great updates!

 

[tinawv]

Really enjoying your trip report and looking forward to reading more. Isn't it fantastic visting the park with a first timer? It's like going to the park the first time yourself.

 

[Saphire5742]

Love all your lovely Epcot and WS photos!

You've inspired me to get my own Duffy next time.

Fiesta Tour picture overload, sorry guys..not sorry!

Overload? What overload? I LOVE GRAN FIESTA TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact I rode it multiple times

I HULA HOOPED.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!

AND FOR A LONG TIME!

LIKE I WAS A CHAMP GUYS!
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WooHoo!

I went around the corner to get my Duffy stamped, and as I was doing so the girl came over and wrote something on a pin and gave it to me. I was so happy!

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That is so awesome that you got a "Celebrating Hula Hooping" pin. What a lovely CM

 

[Sarahh1027]

Day 02
That’s Amore!/There’s a Storm A-Brewin’
Epcot Day Part III

The time has come for us to head back to Italy to grab some grub.

Only spoiler alert: it was much better than any ol’ grub!

Since we were down by Canada, we decided to take the little boat across World Showcase Lagoon. I just looked it up now and apparently it’s called the Friendship Boat...AWWW!

James came up with the idea, truly I never thought about it before! We saw the boat on the other side so James went to the bathroom as I took some pictures on my camera. The quality isn’t the best but here ya go:

Here she comes! The Friendship Boat!

And here he comes:

We boarded the boat and got some onboard shots:

Then we saw this:

We’re in Italy!

This is when I ditched my camera and committed fully to James’ phone. You can clearly see the pictures I took on my camera vs. with his phone.

I said I would never be the kind of person to rely on a phone..but his phone is niiiiiceeeee and the pictures were fantastic!

Tonight’s dinner was at Via Napoli.

This was my first time here.

“In Napoli where love is king,
When boy meets girl, here’s what they say…

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie,
That’s amore!

When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine,
That’s amore!”

We checked in and were seated shortly afterwards. I loved this place. It was awesome, and the food...wow was it amazing.

I ordered calamari (for me since James refuses to try it) which was pretty good!
I had just tried this like a year ago and it's pretty awesome and sounds so fancy.

James, who doesn’t drink...like ever, ordered a Sangria…

I got an iced tea.

James took a sip of his wine, and declared he hates wine.

Ok..so I had to drink it!

(Not a bad thing!)

It was good, and I had him try some more once the ice melted a bit.

Then the real deal showed up:

This pizza was SO GOOD.

By far the best pizza I’ve ever had.

The only way I can explain it is you could really taste the fresh mozzarella.

Our waitress was so sweet. So far two waiters have been great this trip, so we were lucking out!

One more pic of this beauty:

We only had I think one or two slices left? We got a to-go box, settled the check, and James went to the bathroom and snagged this pic for me because the wall looked cool:

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[Sarahh1027]

After a wonderful meal, we headed back out to take some pictures.
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A crowd shot:
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The sun was starting to set so I really love the sky in those pictures.
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We began to move on to the next pavilion, but made a quick stop to get James a cannoli for dessert. I was all set since I got an appetizer with our meal.
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And now...finally...pictures of the other pavilions!!

I do realize now how many Italy ones I got, sorry all!
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“America! Spread your golden wings,

Sail on freedom’s wind, across the sky.

Great bird, with your golden dreams,

Flying high, flying high!”
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James feeling the American pride:
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Sing it with me guys…

“Americaaaaaaa!!!”

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I spy a Disney duck with Sheriff Woody!
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Alright, time to head outta Murica!,

& time to head to Japan:
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After Japan we headed to Morocco where James grabbed a drink (I think Powerade?)
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That backpack’s lookin’ good on him haha
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Some Morocco pictures:
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Fun fact! Well no, not really fun haha

James and I saw a photopass photographer setting up.

We hopped in line and she was so nice.
Her camera was giving her trouble but we stuck it out.
We got some crazy shots, like the clouds lookin deadly.
But..y’all must wait to see them till I get ahold of those darn pics!
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Another fun fact (again, not really fun) but I found a few pictures that were taken earlier in the day before dinner. I’ll let you know which ones! You’ll probably be able to tell anyways because of the sky.​

 

[Sarahh1027]

From there it’s on to France.

“Little town, it’s a quiet village.
Everyday, like the one before..”

Those were obviously taken earlier in the day.

Moving along to the UK:

From there we scoped out a FANTASTIC spot to watch Illuminations.


We were psyched.
I couldn’t wait for James to see his first Disney fireworks show!


Well, technically last night we caught the Star Wars ones, but it wasn’t the whole show and there was no music.
It doesn’t compare to this!

All the sudden...it began to rain.
Just a sprinkle.

Psh, no big deal.

It was one of those fun singing in the rain moments…
Till it wasn’t.


The rain was picking up.
We left the ponchos James bought at Walmart back in the room.


We decided to take cover over in that gift shop directly across from the beginning of World Showcase
(think off to the side of the Friendship Boat).

We went in, along with EVERYONE ELSE in the area.
We weren’t hiding from the rain though.
We wanted to buy ponchos and head back out to our spot.


We waited in a long line in which one lady cut in front of the line saying she just wanted to buy a poncho. Ah yeah us too lady..BACK OF THE LINE!


Unfortunately the castmember hadn't seen her cut the line, and I wasn’t about to say something and neither was anyone else.
It’s not like we had anywhere to go….


By now it was downpouring.
The skies opened up and the store was wicked packed.
We purchased two ponchos and headed out to put them on while still undercover.


It was announced that Illuminations would be temporarily postponed (hey as long as it’s not cancelled),
and a nice woman told us that the show will go on eventually.

We headed out into the rain (instant regret) and we questioned why we didn’t wait it out like everyone else. We waited by a building (not sure what they sold there but it was on the lagoon side), still getting drenched and battling the wind.

We watched people push strollers through this giant flooded puddle. We watched as some people tried to go around it, which didn’t work. We watched as some people enthusiastically ran through its’ ankle deep water.

Unfortunately I wasn’t one of the enthusiastic ones.

Normally I’m a puddle-jumpin, run around laughing through the rain kinda people. But this rain was trying to ruin my perfect Disney day!

Now I know what you’re all thinking.
She is SO spoiled! She had a great day at Disney, and the rain just began.

I know guys! We just only have one night at Epcot and I really wanted James to see Illuminations.

We then moved across the path to a little building that sold snacks and stood on the side facing against the wind. We shiver and we froze. James wore the backpack in front of him so it wouldn’t get wet which was hilarious looking.

9:00 came. 9:00 went.

We waited. We watched people run by heading towards the exit.


The thunder and lightning was intense, and the rain wasn’t letting up.
We decided to head out close to 9:30.

After a final goodbye to Epcot, and an icy cold bus ride back, we finally made it back to our room. We get to sleep in tomorrow, and I was excited to get back to Magic Kingdom and show James the castle!

But what..? What is that boom??

Could it be…?

Illuminations?!
No it’s the Star Wars fireworks again.
Hey atleast we got fireworks.
(I guess)

It was still pouring out so I’m not sure why they showed these fireworks and not Illuminations. Probably because Illuminations isn’t just fireworks, it’s a whole show with projections on the globe and whatnot?

I’m still bitter about missing Illuminations to be honest.

The only way to cure that bitterness is to bring James back to Disney with me.
Hint, hint James if you’re reading this…

Alrighty folks! Well after the show we showered and got into bed for a nice long sleep. We had a busy day, and tomorrow we get to have the most magical day of our trip!! Stay tuned!!!!​

 

[jhoannam]

I can't believe you got so much done in one day!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sorry you missed Illuminations but that just means you will have to take him back!

I'm surprised the storm lasted that long as usually Florida storms are fast and furious and then 30 minutes later you wouldn't even know it had stormed!

 

[Saphire5742]

I do realize now how many Italy ones I got, sorry all!

NEVER apologize for copious amounts of Disney pictures!

Love all you WS photos and especially the song quotes corresponding to the pavilions.
Too bad you got stormed out of Illuminations. All the more reason to plan another trip though...

 

[Reflections of Earth]

will forever rope drop Epcot (especially now with Frozen Ever After, and having to pick 1 fastpass for it, Soarin, and Test Track!!) Rope drop will be a life saver!

Now I absolutely HAVE to do one!

Yes, I’m 22 (will be 23 in October) and people constantly mistake me for a high school student.

I'm 18 and get mistaken for 12 constantly, so I relate. At least when we're 40, we'll look 25!

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By far the best pizza I’ve ever had.

The only way I can explain it is you could really taste the fresh mozzarella.

I 110% agree with you.

I forgot how beautiful everything is during Flower and Garden Festival. It's great how much you accomplished in one day!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Where are you, Sarah????? I WANT MORE UPDATES!!!

 

[Sarahh1027]

I can't believe you got so much done in one day!

RIGHT! James kept up so nicely!!

Sorry you missed Illuminations but that just means you will have to take him back!

I'm surprised the storm lasted that long as usually Florida storms are fast and furious and then 30 minutes later you wouldn't even know it had stormed!

Exactly!! I'm working on it, trust me
I was sooo hoping it'd be one of those quick Florida rain storms, but it so wasn't The following day we had a light sprinkle which cleared up in no time, but the day after that was a complete washout! So weird! Luckily it was a rest day for us!

NEVER apologize for copious amounts of Disney pictures!

Love all you WS photos and especially the song quotes corresponding to the pavilions.
Too bad you got stormed out of Illuminations. All the more reason to plan another trip though...

Hahaha you are so right- the more pictures the better!
Thank you for loving my pics and quotes!! I'm already brewin up another trip hehe

Now I absolutely HAVE to do one!

YESSS

I'm 18 and get mistaken for 12 constantly, so I relate. At least when we're 40, we'll look 25!

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Oh man so you feel where I'm coming from!! I agree, it'll pay off when we're getting older!!

I 110% agree with you.

I forgot how beautiful everything is during Flower and Garden Festival. It's great how much you accomplished in one day!

Yess it's awesome! It was still a relaxing, fun-filled day! Flower and Garden is my fav!

Where are you, Sarah????? I WANT MORE UPDATES!!!

AHH I am soo sorry! I have returned!! I've had THE busiest month ever! Labor day will be my first day off from both working and babysitting since August 6th!! (and it's suppose to rain...of course..) I've had a crazy busy month! But I've missed the DIS so much

 

[dlavender]

Great World Showcase pictures!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Great World Showcase pictures!

Thank you!! Who knew a cell phone could take such great quality pictures!?

 

[Sarahh1027]

Hey everyone!!
I'm sorry I've been pretty MIA lately, and although I don't have a new update for you guys,
I DO have our photopass pictures!!
I now present to you: Epcot!!​

Welcome to Epcot!

Flower and Garden Festival

And now, I apologize to everyone who must see this.
I became the Grudge during our rope drop trip on Test Track:

Ladies, you might wanna learn from my mistake and put your hair in a ponytail before riding this.

*Edit to say the girl next to us on this ride had her hair down and it looks fabulous. I must be cursed!*

Next up, Mission: Space!

Our 2nd ride on Test Track:

Yeah...I learned my lesson this time.

And....skip to France!

These next pictures were taken by an awesome photopass photographer!
It's nice to have someone so into their job!

"Now look like you really like eachother..."

Random Japan area shot:

Next up is our Morocco pictures.
This lady was really nice.
We felt bad her equipment wasn't working properly so we waited for her.
The rain decided to wait too...

But man, those clouds are intense looking!

Well, that's all folks!

I'll be back sometime within the next couple days with not just ONE update, but our entire Magic Kingdom/Be Our Guest/Most magical night EVERRRRRR!




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[nilla]

It was announced that Illuminations would be temporarily postponed (hey as long as it’s not cancelled),
and a nice woman told us that the show will go on eventually.

I heard from a CM once that once fireworks are loaded, they really don't have a choice but to shoot them off at some point during the night. Don't know if that's different for Illuminations, though, since a lot of those are launched from boats (or rafts, or whatever they are, technically).

Shame you missed Illuminations, but it sounds like a great day at Epcot regardless. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[jmccoy18]

AHHHH! I've finally caught up! Your Epcot day looked amazing, minus missing Illuminations. On our last trip, we did Epcot on our last day and tried to make it to Illuminations. I wanted to see it so bad and we hadn't stayed to see any other firework shows, BUT I had caught the awful cold that my FIL had earlier in the week and was feeling miserable. I couldn't make it until 9. This trip, we WILL see Illuminations!

Can't wait for your next update! Your TR is making me even more excited for our upcoming trip!

Question: Where do you get your Duffy Bear? I know the girls would love to do that when we go.

 

[Sarahh1027]

I heard from a CM once that once fireworks are loaded, they really don't have a choice but to shoot them off at some point during the night. Don't know if that's different for Illuminations, though, since a lot of those are launched from boats (or rafts, or whatever they are, technically).

Shame you missed Illuminations, but it sounds like a great day at Epcot regardless. Can't wait to hear more!

That must be what that lady meant! I would've loved to have seen it in the rain- the sky would've looked so cool!
But that makes total sense- thanks for shedding some light on the matter!

AHHHH! I've finally caught up! Your Epcot day looked amazing, minus missing Illuminations. On our last trip, we did Epcot on our last day and tried to make it to Illuminations. I wanted to see it so bad and we hadn't stayed to see any other firework shows, BUT I had caught the awful cold that my FIL had earlier in the week and was feeling miserable. I couldn't make it until 9. This trip, we WILL see Illuminations!

Can't wait for your next update! Your TR is making me even more excited for our upcoming trip!

Question: Where do you get your Duffy Bear? I know the girls would love to do that when we go.

Yay! I'm glad you caught up! Yesss when you go you can watch Illuminations with your family and then return home with stories for us about how amazing it was...I mean I've seen it before (3 times actually!) but I'm still so bummed about missing it!
Your trip is getting sooo close
We got our Duffys in the Mexican Pavilion, but every country has them! They're at these cute little Kidcot character spots.
You go up to the little table and get Duffy stamped and they draw a little symbol on his back. It's so much fun!
A couple of times the Castmembers asked for our names, then they wrote our name in their language. (China and Japan)
They have benches for the kids to sit at and plenty of markers to decorate him!
Your girls will love it!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Day 03
We’re Off to See the Castle!
Magic Kingdom Day One/Part I
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Today’s the day I was most excited for! We were going to sleep in, take our time at Magic Kingdom, and have dinner inside Beast’s Castle.​

Today was by far the most magical day of our entire trip- but instead of me going on about how awesome it was- why don’t I just tell you guys about it?​

We woke up around 9:00 this morning. We didn’t set an alarm, but I woke up fresh and ready for another fun-filled Disney day! As is habit for us, I woke James up, and we got ready quick.​

We had Quaker granola bars, applied our sunblock, and we were ready to go!​

As we headed out, I decided to get some pictures of our home base.
I wanted to capture the location for you guys.

Here’s our window, with James’ balloons.​

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You can even see through the glare where the parking lot is.
(Although you can see it in my fireworks pictures from the night before as well!)

Here’s our door! Room number 9660. I truly loved our location.

Another window shot, with James’ elbow:

Our room is the last room, corner room, right by this sign.

After you went around the corner past our room, you saw this cool set of stairs:

James is trying to take off, since he’s just SO excited to see Magic Kingdom!

My picture taking only slowed us down a lil. But this was a leisure morning, so it was all good.

Here’s a shot of our path that we follow straight past the Lion King building to the bus stop:

After we climb down the stairs and find the path, I turned around to get a shot of our corner room.

That’s the sign I took a picture of moments ago.
And our beautiful, 2nd floor corner room!

At one point I think I turned around and took this shot:

I can’t 100% place where it is, all I know is it’s showing that our building (9) is straight ahead which means we took our path straight to the buses this morning instead of through the main building.

Since we already had granola bars, we were headed straight to Magic Kingdom instead of Landscape of Flavors for breakfast.

I’m fairly certain we didn’t have to wait for a bus. Even though our trip was only 4 months ago, I’m having serious trouble remembering these small details. Now I understand why so many people take notes!! I shall take a note to remind me to take notes on future Disney trips...duly noted!

We arrived at Magic Kingdom around 11 I think. I was soooo excited!
(It'd help if the following picture included the massive clock that is literally just cut out of the shot...)

WE’RE HEREEEE!!

We breezed through bag check/security/Magicband/fingerscan and caught our first glimpse of Main Street. Sadly, I have no pictures (yet) but we headed in and went to get our Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom cards. I’ve never played this before, but I promised the kiddos I babysit that I’d try playing and then we could trade cards when I got home. After we got our cards and had a little tutorial on how to play, we head back outside and down Main Street USA! (So I stand corrected, THIS was our first glimpse down Main Street!)

James got his first castle glimpse as well, but before we got closer, first we had to stop for COFFEE!

The day before at Epcot I kept saying I had to get to Starbucks, but we kept getting sidetracked. After the bad coffee I had that morning, I was shocked I lasted so long without coffee. No wonder I was extra crabby when Illuminations got rained out.

I got a medium iced caramel macchiato, and James got a chocolate chip frappe.

We head back out to the beloved Castle and decide to get some photos taken.
These pictures are marked 11:47 AM on the Photopass website.

Everything I love in one picture…

Partners in crime...

Or did I mean these two?

Magic Kingdom wasn’t that crowded, as you can see here:

We decided to head straight through the castle to start of our day inside the Magic Kingdom.

I turned around and got this shot down Main Street:

I checked the wait time app, and we decided on Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid!

Ariel would be proud.

Next up: Rides, rides, rides! Lunch! and More Rides!​

 

[Sarahh1027]

Day 03
Hittin’ Up Some Rides..Magic Kingdom Style!
Magic Kingdom Day One/Part II

On our way to visit Ariel & Friends, we pass by Beast’s castle, and that just makes us even more excited for dinner that night!

Happiness & my first red card!

We walked straight through the queue, only stopping a couple times. We threw out our empty coffee cups, and we boarded our clam shell.

James captured some flash-free pictures, as we enjoyed our first Magic Kingdom ride.

Ahh don’t you just love a happy ending?

That was wonderful!

We leave New Fantasyland, and cross through Fantasyland over to the Tangled bathrooms. It was pretty crowded but wonderful nonetheless. I don’t think we had to go to the bathroom, just wanted to pass by.

Next stop! The Haunted Mansion!

Wait! Before I get too ahead, when we left Ariel’s we stopped for some photopass pictures. There are labeled as being taken at 12:25 PM.

We met us a lil friend!
Sebastian decided to drop in to say hi!

I love James’ face in this next one!

After we left that area, we stopped in front of Be Our Guest for a couple of pictures (12:31 PM).

And look! We were just as excited to meet Lumiere as we were to meet Sebastian!

Onward..to this spooky place!

We hopped in line, but the entire canopy was filled with people. We didn’t care though. We stayed off to the far left overlooking the river and Tom Sawyer’s Island. There was a bit of a breeze there at least. Once we got through that section, the line moved along nicely.

James snapped this picture of me...

Right before this happened:

Ugh tricked by the Captain!!

James and I were full-belly laughing at that point.

We kept moving through the queue and we were in the stretching room in no time.

We loved this ride. The ending that says our name and Massachusetts was so cool as well. Definitely an awesome personal touch! Of course I knew it was coming, but for James everything is new!

This ride gets more enjoyable the more I experience it. Rides like that (Space Mountain as well for me) are some of my favs.

We even got in line to get a photopass picture after! (1:20 PM)

There, we met this creepy hitchhiker:

It’s funny looking back, but a little daunting at the time, when we left the Haunted Mansion, the sky was dark and cloudy. When we went in, it was hot and nice out. I mean sure there were clouds, but they were white and puffy with a blue sky behind them. It was cooling off which was welcomed, and all the sudden it started to sprinkle.

This wasn’t a downpour like the night before, and it cleared up almost as quickly as it had started. Infact, by the time we got to our next attraction it had cleared away.

It was perfect timing for a quick storm, the second best theming for Haunted Mansion (only second to it being nighttime).

From there it was off to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

This ride was awesome as always!

Originally, it was suppose to be down for refurbishment so when they moved that back I was SO excited. This ride was my parents favorite when they honeymooned in Disney back in November, 1990.

Next up, my all-time favorite Disney ride!!!! SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!!

LOOOOOOOVEEEEE THIIIISSSSSSS!

We had Fastpasses for this to use between 1:05 and 2:05.
The ride picture says it was 1:42 PM.
Which makes me think maybe we rode Splash before Big Thunder….

So here’s where lack of notes really begins to hurt me.
My pictures bring us right to lunch. But I thought we rode Pirates of the Caribbean first.
If I’m wrong, I apologize in advance!
(Not that you'll ever find out...and neither will I for that matter!)

However, I looked through all of my pictures and although I did get a picture of the outside of the ride on our second trip to Magic Kingdom, James and I are both certain we rode it the first day and not the second. Since we only rode it once this trip, we’re just gonna assume (hopefully that doesn’t make a you-know-what out of you and me..) that we rode it..NOW! (As in trip-report “now” time, as in right after Splash Mountain/Big Thunder on May 3rd…)

MOVING ON!

On to….LUNCH! In the next update….​