the_green_machine
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2011
Right now I'm sitting in my living room in rural Manitoba, Canada, 5 days removed from our first trip to Walt Disney World. When I left Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 20th 2012 it was -40 degrees (Celsius or Fahrenheit...take you pick) and landing in Orlando it was a comfortable 25.
How do I hold on to the little bits of Disney that seem to slip away everyday since I left????
Write a Trip Report...thats how!!!!!
Day 1
I began this journey almost a year ago to the day that we arrived in WDW on Friday January 20th 2012. My wife, Nicole, is the biggest Disney fan that I have ever met.
Almost every sunday since she was 5 years old she sits down and gets her Disney "fix". In the beginning it was "The wonderful World of Disney" that used to broadcast on CBC in Newfoundland where we are from (the one channel we used to get with any level of clarity). As she got older it was her extensive collection of VHS Disney titles (that she still adds to to this day). Now-a-days its her new Disney/Pixar blu-rays and what ever comes out of the Disney Vault in a given year.
If Nicole has had 1 dream in her 37 years it was to go to Walt Disney World....period. That said it was also a dream that she never thought would be realized. Well in January 2011 I set out to give her the one thing she never thought she would have.
Over the next 11 months, I would pull off (to this point at least) the biggest surprise my wife never saw coming. On Christmas day Nicole opened a small box containing a personalized pair of Mickey ears and a t-shirt saying "I am going to the Walt Disney World Resort!". If you would like to see her reaction and her first time laying eyes on Cinderella Castle follow this link....
http://youtu.be/dGPryDP2URg
The evening of January 19th Nicole and I drove to Winnipeg and spent the night at the Greenwood motel. One could say we were a little excited.
We turned in early for our 3 am wake up call and arrived at the Winnipeg Airport terminal bright and early for our 7:30 am flight. $75.00 later ....oh, thats right I forgot to mention, our luggage was 5 kg's over (AWESOME!!!!) we set out to wait for our flight to sunny Orlando.
4 hours and 65 degrees later (it was -40 in Winnipeg when we left, which, by the way, made my wardrobe selection, shorts, hilarious to Nicole) we arrived in Orlando and the swaying palm trees outside of our airplane window made us both smile from ear to ear as we both knew we were about to experience magic.
Before we knew it we were registering at the "Magical express" desk and a little while later Nicole started to realize that the oldest dream that she had been holding onto since she was a child was about to become a reality.
As we loaded onto the bus Nicole could hardly contain herself. For the majority of the drive, roads looked like roads and trees looked like trees but then the "Welcome to the Walt Disney World Resort" sign stretched across an unknown highway and she couldn't hold it in any longer....
We arrived at Pop Century, slid the key into room 9324 in the 80's section and after we had freshened up we headed down to Everything Pop for a quick bite to eat before the trial by fire that is catching a bus to the Magic Kingdom and figuring how to get into the park (its actually not that bad).
The menu on that day contained chili cheese fries and chicken nuggets....nothing that will ever end up on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" but let me tell you it was a little bit of alright.
A half an hour later we were on the bus to "The Magic Kingdom". A year ago when this idea was hatched there were moments when it seemed it would never get here, or at the very least something would de-rail it, but here we were, living the dream.
After a bump in the road at the ticket gates (the resort forgot to put our park tickets on our account), we had our first Photopass picture taken and walked though the tunnel on the left of the WDW railroad terminal (not sure what is actually called....sorry) and there we were.....finally.
First stop Town Square Theatre and a date with Mickey and Minnie....another dream come true for Nicole.
Next was a whirlwind walk down Main St. inching closer and closer to Cinderella Castle until we heard music, cheers and clapping coming from somewhere. Before we knew it we were in the middle of the "Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade"....suffice it to say if Nicole had any more fun that day we ran a significant risk of her brain blowing out the side of her head
Her expression says it all....
As the sun started to set we made our way to our dinner reservation at the "Liberty Tree Tavern" where we had one of the best meals of our entire vacation. Family style and delicious, roasted meats, vegetables, macaroni and cheese and gravy finished off with a pumpkin spice cake with vanilla bean ice cream was a belt loosening welcome to the happiest place on earth.
After some shopping, we took our chances with "The Haunted Mansion"....awesome time, great attraction thats called a classic for a reason. Here's a shot of Nicole in the queue....
next up we took our chances with "Splash Mountain", no luck as it was down due to technical difficulties...Hey, no prob we'll try it again in a few days...I mean how hard can it be to ride "Splash Mountain", right? (a friend of mine who teaches high school english would call that foreshadowing.....).
We headed back to Pop as MK closed at 8 and had a characterture done in the lobby just outside of "Everything Pop"....I've always wanted one done and I think he knocked it out of the park.....what do you think?
After we paid the artist and headed back to our room we planned out the next day (Hollywood studios) and said good night to a 22 hour day...
Up next day 2........Thanks for reading.
How do I hold on to the little bits of Disney that seem to slip away everyday since I left????
Write a Trip Report...thats how!!!!!
Day 1
I began this journey almost a year ago to the day that we arrived in WDW on Friday January 20th 2012. My wife, Nicole, is the biggest Disney fan that I have ever met.
Almost every sunday since she was 5 years old she sits down and gets her Disney "fix". In the beginning it was "The wonderful World of Disney" that used to broadcast on CBC in Newfoundland where we are from (the one channel we used to get with any level of clarity). As she got older it was her extensive collection of VHS Disney titles (that she still adds to to this day). Now-a-days its her new Disney/Pixar blu-rays and what ever comes out of the Disney Vault in a given year.
If Nicole has had 1 dream in her 37 years it was to go to Walt Disney World....period. That said it was also a dream that she never thought would be realized. Well in January 2011 I set out to give her the one thing she never thought she would have.
Over the next 11 months, I would pull off (to this point at least) the biggest surprise my wife never saw coming. On Christmas day Nicole opened a small box containing a personalized pair of Mickey ears and a t-shirt saying "I am going to the Walt Disney World Resort!". If you would like to see her reaction and her first time laying eyes on Cinderella Castle follow this link....
http://youtu.be/dGPryDP2URg
The evening of January 19th Nicole and I drove to Winnipeg and spent the night at the Greenwood motel. One could say we were a little excited.
We turned in early for our 3 am wake up call and arrived at the Winnipeg Airport terminal bright and early for our 7:30 am flight. $75.00 later ....oh, thats right I forgot to mention, our luggage was 5 kg's over (AWESOME!!!!) we set out to wait for our flight to sunny Orlando.
4 hours and 65 degrees later (it was -40 in Winnipeg when we left, which, by the way, made my wardrobe selection, shorts, hilarious to Nicole) we arrived in Orlando and the swaying palm trees outside of our airplane window made us both smile from ear to ear as we both knew we were about to experience magic.
Before we knew it we were registering at the "Magical express" desk and a little while later Nicole started to realize that the oldest dream that she had been holding onto since she was a child was about to become a reality.
As we loaded onto the bus Nicole could hardly contain herself. For the majority of the drive, roads looked like roads and trees looked like trees but then the "Welcome to the Walt Disney World Resort" sign stretched across an unknown highway and she couldn't hold it in any longer....
We arrived at Pop Century, slid the key into room 9324 in the 80's section and after we had freshened up we headed down to Everything Pop for a quick bite to eat before the trial by fire that is catching a bus to the Magic Kingdom and figuring how to get into the park (its actually not that bad).
The menu on that day contained chili cheese fries and chicken nuggets....nothing that will ever end up on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" but let me tell you it was a little bit of alright.
A half an hour later we were on the bus to "The Magic Kingdom". A year ago when this idea was hatched there were moments when it seemed it would never get here, or at the very least something would de-rail it, but here we were, living the dream.
After a bump in the road at the ticket gates (the resort forgot to put our park tickets on our account), we had our first Photopass picture taken and walked though the tunnel on the left of the WDW railroad terminal (not sure what is actually called....sorry) and there we were.....finally.
First stop Town Square Theatre and a date with Mickey and Minnie....another dream come true for Nicole.
Next was a whirlwind walk down Main St. inching closer and closer to Cinderella Castle until we heard music, cheers and clapping coming from somewhere. Before we knew it we were in the middle of the "Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade"....suffice it to say if Nicole had any more fun that day we ran a significant risk of her brain blowing out the side of her head
Her expression says it all....
As the sun started to set we made our way to our dinner reservation at the "Liberty Tree Tavern" where we had one of the best meals of our entire vacation. Family style and delicious, roasted meats, vegetables, macaroni and cheese and gravy finished off with a pumpkin spice cake with vanilla bean ice cream was a belt loosening welcome to the happiest place on earth.
After some shopping, we took our chances with "The Haunted Mansion"....awesome time, great attraction thats called a classic for a reason. Here's a shot of Nicole in the queue....
next up we took our chances with "Splash Mountain", no luck as it was down due to technical difficulties...Hey, no prob we'll try it again in a few days...I mean how hard can it be to ride "Splash Mountain", right? (a friend of mine who teaches high school english would call that foreshadowing.....).
We headed back to Pop as MK closed at 8 and had a characterture done in the lobby just outside of "Everything Pop"....I've always wanted one done and I think he knocked it out of the park.....what do you think?
After we paid the artist and headed back to our room we planned out the next day (Hollywood studios) and said good night to a 22 hour day...
Up next day 2........Thanks for reading.
Her face really says it all. I'll definitely be following along! 
