"You're not making good choices, Phoebe!" A July 2015 Trip Report *completed 1/2/16*

[xlsm]

We're baa-aack!!

Hello again, Friends!

If you've read my other reports, I'm so excited to have you with us again! If you haven't, then to our adventures.

The Pre-Trip report for this vacation can be found HERE and our TR for last August can be found HERE if you're interested!

I know what you're wondering. Who the heck are "WE" anyway?

We are me, the S of the group, my DH (the M), my just turned 10 year old (L), and my soon-to-be 12 year old (X)

You can see us here, in this not-so-flattering picture:



So, XLSM, that's great. You're all sweaty in a photo. Cool. Now, when did you take this trip??

Well, we just got back, actually! Our trip dates were July 13 - 21, and we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. Those of you who know us already know that WL is our favorite resort and the ONLY resort we've ever stayed at.

Fine, XLSM. But when you write a story, you're supposed to care about the characters. I don't know anything about you people!!!

Well I can fix that! First up, ME!

Favorite character: I'm partial to Snow White and Tiana, but love them all.
Favorite park: When I was younger, Epcot. Last year, MK. But this year? AK and DHS!!
Favorite ride: Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain
Favorite movie: can't pick just one!
Favorite new experience: Wishes dessert party
Favorite food item or restaurant: 'Ohana bread pudding

Now for X:

Favorite character - Stitch
Favorite park - Epcot
Favorite ride - Haunted Mansion
Favorite movie - Lilo and Stitch
Favorite new experience - Stitch's Great Escape
Favorite food item or restaurant: hot pretzel rolls at Biergarten

On to L:

Favorite character(s) - Chip and Dale
Favorite park - Animal Kingdom
Favorite ride - Kilamanjaro Safari
Favorite movie - Hercules (actually watching this as I type)
Favorite new experience - Wilderness Explorers
Favorite food item or restaurant: Tusker House

And finally, DH:

Favorite character - Yoda
Favorite park - Epcot
Favorite ride - Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
Favorite movie - Star Wars original trilogy
Favorite new experience - Biergarten and Illuminations
Favorite food item or restaurant - Artist Point

We celebrated all three of the guys' birthdays on this trip. DH and L had their birthdays fall during the trip, and X will celebrate his in early August. (Last year it was reversed - X turned 11 during the trip)

We had 7 day hopper tickets, but just used 6 days of them. We had intended to go somewhere on departure day, but we ran out of time. We also took a day to go to Universal and Islands of Adventure to see Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

I'm really looking forward to sharing our vacation memories with all of you.

Wait, wait!! There's no one in your group named Phoebe!! What is your trip report title even ABOUT?!?!?

I guess you'll just have to stick around and find out

 

[xlsm]

**RESERVED FOR CHAPTER LINKS**

Chapter One...Leavin' On a Jetplane
Chapter Two Part One...Welcome to Hollywood Baby (take a picture)
Chapter Two Part Two
Chapter Two Part Three
Chapter Two Part Four
Chapter Three Part One...Castle on a Cloud
Chapter Three Part Two
Chapter Three Part Three
Chapter Three Part Four
Chapter Four Part One...Ooh baby, baby it's a wild world
Chapter Four Part Two
Chapter Four Part Three
Chapter Four Part Four
Chapter Five Part One...Don't Let this Magic Die
Chapter Five Part Two
Chapter Five Part Three
Chapter Five Part Four
Chapter Five Part Five
Chapter Five Part Six
Chapter Six...Just like animals...animals...animals...mals
Chapter Six Part Two
Chapter Six Part Three
Chapter Six Part Four
Chapter Seven...I'm ridin' solo, solo
Chapter Eight...Another trip around the sun
Chapter Eight Part Two
Chapter Eight Part Three
Chapter Eight Part Four
Chapter Nine Part One...It's the End of the World as we know it
Chapter Nine Part Two
Chapter Nine Part Three
Chapter Nine Part Four
Chapter Nine Part Five
Chapter Ten...Homeward Bound

 

[nilla]

I'm in! Happy reporting!

 

[xlsm]

First up is travel day. Travel day is not always the most exciting day, but it is obviously an essential part of the trip! So I present you with...

Chapter One...in which we spend a day in airports

Last year our travel was spread over two days: one to drive to Memphis, and one to fly to Orlando from Memphis.

This year, we flew out of our home airport, thinking it would be a more relaxing experience, and easier too, since it would cut out a long drive.

We were wrong.

Our flight didn't leave until 3:30pm, so we had alllll morning and early afternoon to be antsy and try to find ways to fill our time. We did some last minute cleaning and laundry, threw a few more things into our suitcases...and sat. And checked the time. And then checked the time again. And again.

My in-laws were coming to watch the house and our dogs, and showed up around 11:30. We were not very good hosts, because we were just so anxious to get moving. DH went to pick up lunch, we ate, and we left the house very early, around 12:30 or so.

It was a long wait at the airport.

Our little airport was practically deserted, so we had no trouble getting through security or making our way to our gate. The airport had these cool oversized checkers and chess sets, but someone was either using them, or in one case, just had their luggage and coats sitting on it. There was no person around with the stuff, so my assumption is, they were using the restroom and left their stuff on the games.

L was raring to go:



Onward to Orlando!!

But the zest and zeal wore thin after awhile and he resorted to this:



Finally our plane arrived, and we boarded...the tiniest plane I've ever flown on. DH and I had Delta comfort seats, and the boys were behind us. The plane only had two seats per row, but the overhead bins seemed so low. I felt pretty crammed in. I was a little worried about the boys sitting together



You never know when there will be brotherly shenanigans. They get along most of the time, honestly. There was one tragedy during the flight - X spilled a sprite on L...L was less than happy. I couldn't get back there to help him, so I wasn't able to do much more than throw napkins back at them. Luckily the older couple sitting across from them had some extra napkins too, and the flight attendant eventually got them more as well. The only real casualty was the hat. It was in L's lap and it got soaked.

The boys did get a pair of wings, which was fun:



I had the window seat and enjoyed the pretty green outside after we got into the air



We did not have a direct flight this year (we did last year), so we had a layover in Atlanta. The flight from home to ATL was quick, about an hour and 20 minutes, so not too long after takeoff, it was already time to land. We could see the city:




We landed in Atlanta around 6pm EST (at home we are CST), and made our way out into the mob of people. That airport is so loud. Everywhere is noise, and light, and color, and movement. We got on the plane train to the terminal for our next flight, and decided we were ready for dinner. None of us had ever been to the Atlanta airport before, so when we saw the food court, we just picked a place there to eat. It was a burger place, not important enough to take a picture of I guess! I saw lots of people with Disney bags, either headed toward or just back from the same magical place we were heading for!

Finding a seat was nearly impossible. We were all four crammed around a two top table, which did not make for the most fun dining experience. After we ate, we walked to our gate and saw all kinds of food choices along the way. If we had known that, we would have just grabbed something from one of those places and ate at the gate! Oh well. Live and learn, right??

We waited FOR.EV.ER for our next flight. It was set to take off about 8:50, but it was delayed. L got some gum:



Eventually we were able to board. I sat next to X on this flight. I have a really great picture as proof:



(excuse me, sir? where do I pick up my photography award??)

The progression of the sky from boarding time to take off:



Finally we took off and said goodbye to Atlanta. We'd never been on a night flight before, and thought it was so beautiful



The flight from Atlanta to Orlando was super short, only one hour. The air was pretty rough, so they did not do a drink service like normal. Near the end, they did get up and do a water only service for everyone who wanted it.

Faster than you can say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (or spell it!) we were coming in for the landing, and Orlando was in our sights!



Look! You can see the Orlando Eye! It was so pretty. There were storms in the distance and we got to see some really cool lightning. I couldn't get any pictures, but I did take a video of it. Storms would be a common theme for our flights...on our departure day both flights were delayed by rain and we saw even more lighting.

It was so nice to be back on the ground and in a familiar airport! Our flight was in late, and all of the stores at MCO were closed, gates were up over doorways, etc...It was an odd sight!

We hopped on the fake-o-rail and made our way toward baggage claim.



We were in too late for the Magical Express to do the dirty work for us, unfortunately, and look at those tired faces!

There was quite a wait at baggage claim, and then we hauled our suitcases and ourselves down the escalator and made the loooong walk toward the Magical Express area. It was pretty deserted downstairs except for some of the car rental desks. We got to ME and checked in and were the first people on the bus. I got front row seats, as there were no "reserved" signs on them like there normally is. The good thing about being first on the bus was the seating location. The bad thing was the WAITING. We had to wait a very long time for others to arrive and fill up the bus.

A very loud family from New Jersey or New York (based stereotypically on accent alone. They really could have been from Nebraska I guess, lol!) sat right behind us. They were grouchy and tired and snapping at each other. They didn't pick up their bags at baggage claim because their flights had been delayed, and should have arrived before the cut off for ME to pick up bags for them...an airport representative came onto the bus to tell them their bags had been found left on the baggage carousel and would they like for him to bring them to the bus?

Um, yes. Of course they wanted that!

They just assumed that their bags would be picked up for them anyway, bless their hearts. That would have been a nasty surprise to wake up to the next day - no bags! They were lucky the airport reps took care of it for them, and were appropriately grateful!

As we began moving and the video began playing, it became clear that they didn't know exactly what they were doing. They didn't know about the app or My Disney Experience, and were trying to download it onto their phones and go to the website during the drive. This led to more loudness.

Soon however, this blessed sight came into view:



I wish it wasn't so blurry, but we were going pretty fast! (I promise I have NICE photos coming up soon!)

The ME bus stopped at Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside before taking us to the Wilderness Lodge. The others on the bus were headed for the Poly or Contemporary I think.

I had not received the text with our room number for some reason, so after we got off the bus (it was deserted at the valet area out front. We saw no one), we walked into the (also deserted) lobby.

What. A. Sight.

If you've never witnessed the beauty of the Wilderness Lodge lobby, please make the time to visit the resort just to look around, or book a meal at Artist Point or Whispering Canyon. It's truly breathtaking.

Our arrival time was right around 1:00 am. We were so tired. But, like I said, the lobby was deserted. There was no one behind the desk, and one other person waiting to speak with someone. We waited for about 5 minutes before someone came out to help us. We got our room assignment and went upstairs to collapse.

When we got there, the kids had to use the restroom. The toilet didn't flush. Seriously??? We tried again. It didn't flush all the way.

DH went downstairs to talk to the front desk. They were basically like, "sorry." They said they could call a technician to come over from the Magic Kingdom, but it would take about 20 minutes OR we could wait until the next morning around 8:30. This would not work for me.

While he was down there, I messed around with the toilet a little and figured out how to get it to flush. I told DH to just come back up and if it was messed up again in the morning, we'd deal with it then.

The toilet only gave us problems on one more day...apparently, if you try to flush two times too close together, it does this weird reset thing and takes a couple of minutes to go back to normal. They did stop by the next afternoon to check on us and make sure everything was working ok. After that initial craziness, the rest of our stay was amazing!

After that, we all pretty much collapsed into the beds and I remember nothing until waking up the next morning and seeing this:



What a beautiful sight!!

Nothing is better than getting a travel day out of the way!!

Next up...Hooray for Hollywood, our first park day

 

[allybabba98]

Following along! We have flown into Atlanta too and you are quite right it is a very busy airport. Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[xlsm]

If you've made it through the travel day post, HOORAY!! It was tedious, I know! But now it's time for some real fun!

Chapter Two...in which There's Something in the air in Hollywood

Waking up on this morning was pretty tough. Spending a day waiting around in airports was exhausting. We set the alarm for 7am in order to "sleep in". LOL! We're already subscribing to Disney Trip Logic on the first morning!

We were very excited, though, so it wasn't too difficult to get moving once the reality of being at Disney World set in. We were ready to go!



I knew we'd be getting in late, so when planning this trip, I picked DHS as our first park instead of the Magic Kingdom, because it's ok if we miss rope drop at Hollywood Studios. I didn't know how slow we'd be getting up and around, so it seemed like a safe choice. We made it to the buses just before 8:30 if I recall correctly, and arrived at the park just as it was opening up.



I got through bag check and we all scanned our bands and we were in!

Our first stop was....*insert spooky music here*



*spooky music continuing*...to see this gorgeous beastie. My beloved Hollywood Tower Hotel. I think she's just spectacular!

I snapped a picture of this on the way down the street...we'd be back to see Fantasmic that evening.



We got up to the Tower and walked through the line and straight onto the ride.
Getting closer...



The gardens are nicely maintained



but DANG someone's slipping in the housekeeping department!!



Soon...it. was. time.



I love the video that comes along with the photo on the Memory Maker! We missed out on that last year. I think it started right after we left last summer, and I was super excited to have it this time around! It's one of my favorite things from the trip.

After we survived steppin' into the Twilight Zone, we went toward Pixar Place. We got kind of distracted and did some shopping and took some photopass pictures, too.

Darth Goofy!



The Chinese Theater!



(oh, and just an aside, but...anyone else annoyed that the Frozen stage covers the view of this magnificent building? Didn't we just get rid of a hat here, Disney?)

Ok, NOW we got our act together and walked over to Pixar Place



Our destination was Toy Story Midway Mania. We wanted to try to ride this standby and then immediately use our FP (which was for 9:30 - 10:30 I believe), but only if the wait time was around 30 minutes. Unfortunately the wait time was listed at 50 minutes, so we just hopped in the FP line and cruised on through. As we walked through and saw the line, it became clear that the wait time outside was probably inflated, and we could have gone through the standby line before using our fast pass.

X, looking too cool to be bothered with life:



The boys rode together, which meant something magical and rare was about to occur...DH and I could ride something TOGETHER. That's practically unheard of! Although, I'm not sure if riding THIS particular ride together was the best idea, as we are very, very, VERY competitive.

This was a hard loss for me



But please note that my accuracy percentage was higher!! Because of that, I'm calling it a draw!

Wait, did I just say draw?



Those two guys in that picture? Yeah. I wanted to meet them! We left the ride and looked at their wait time. It was 40 minutes, and I just didn't want to spend that kind of time in a M&G line that early in the day, so we skipped it. Next time, fellas!

L got thirsty



and then we randomly stumbled upon something awesome.

One of my trip goals was to meet Sorcerer Mickey. After they closed all of the Animation Courtyard stuff (don't get me started), I knew that he had been displaced, and I wasn't sure exactly where he was going to be. Well, we found him. Boy did we ever! We found him with an almost non-existent line!





I was so excited!! I felt like a happy 4 year old.

After this meet with the Mouse himself, we did something else unexpected.

We left Disney World

(not really)

and visited Monstropolis









What in the world would we get up to next??

Stick around for Part Two!!

 

[xlsm]

I'm in! Happy reporting!

Thanks for following along!! I need the report to get me through the DisPression of post-trip reality!!

Following along! We have flown into Atlanta too and you are quite right it is a very busy airport. Looking forward to hearing more.

Welcome!! If I never see that airport again it will still be too soon! I hope you enjoy our adventures!!

 

[acellison]

Can't wait to read more! We are traveling with our 10 and 12 year old daughters in September

 

[vicky33006]

I'm in! Can't wait to read about what you loved at the dessert party... It was great seeing you there!

I'm waiting for tragical depress right now and starting your report has helped a little!

 

[Chipmunks2271]

Following along over here! That view from your room is spectacular. Sorry about your crazy travel day- I prefer early morning flights. If we get up too early, though, all Fiancé does is complain he got no sleep, so we will be doing mid-morning or early afternoon from now on- not happy.

I'm with you on the small victory of having a better accuracy score, even though your DH "technically" won. I always lose, but always have a better accuracy score.

Sorcerer Mickey was the first M&G we had when I brought my fiancé back to WDW since he was a little kid. It's so great to get welcomed back to the parks by the big cheese himself. Can't wait to hear more about the trip!

 

[Newsies]

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! FOLLOWING ALONG!!!!

You guys look like you're having a super great time so far!! Can't wait to see what else is in store for you this trip!!

 

[AuntDJ]

Oh~ I just bought that exact Vera Bradley for my upcoming trip....how was it size wise?

Looks like you all are off to great start!

 

[crmscotland]

Following along. Loving your trip report.

 

[xlsm]

Can't wait to read more! We are traveling with our 10 and 12 year old daughters in September

You will have so much fun! Thanks for joining in!!

I'm in! Can't wait to read about what you loved at the dessert party... It was great seeing you there!

I'm waiting for tragical depress right now and starting your report has helped a little!

I was so excited that we got to meet that night!!

Ugh. I hate that bus!! We joked that at the Lodge, they shun you when it's time to get on that bus. The stop for it is in front of the large portico out front, down some steps and to the side. Probably so none of the happy people have to see sad faces on their way in!

Following along over here! That view from your room is spectacular. Sorry about your crazy travel day- I prefer early morning flights. If we get up too early, though, all Fiancé does is complain he got no sleep, so we will be doing mid-morning or early afternoon from now on- not happy.

I'm with you on the small victory of having a better accuracy score, even though your DH "technically" won. I always lose, but always have a better accuracy score.

Sorcerer Mickey was the first M&G we had when I brought my fiancé back to WDW since he was a little kid. It's so great to get welcomed back to the parks by the big cheese himself. Can't wait to hear more about the trip!

Yes, we agreed that we want to go back to our earlier flights. That travel day was just the worst!

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! FOLLOWING ALONG!!!!

You guys look like you're having a super great time so far!! Can't wait to see what else is in store for you this trip!!

Hiiii!! I'm glad you made it over here!! We had an awesome time, and this first day was probably the best day we had overall. (Because we weren't that tired yet, LOL!!)

Oh~ I just bought that exact Vera Bradley for my upcoming trip....how was it size wise?

Looks like you all are off to great start!

I love my Vera hipsters! I used one in a different print last year, so this is my second visit using this type of bag. For me, it's the perfect size! We don't bring very much into the parks, but it's big enough that at one point I had three Disani bottles of water stuffed in it! (on Primeval Whirl no less!)

Following along. Loving your trip report.

I'm so happy to have you here with me !!!!

 

[LizardQueen8]

SORCERER MICKEY!!!!!

 

[xlsm]

Things that have happened since starting my report earlier today:
-my PTA treasurer decided to step down (I'm president this year of a whole new board, it's everyone's first year holding office)
- the drs office called saying X's echocardiogram came back with a slight abnormality, and now I have to wait for the pediatric cardiologist to call.
-I realized L has a dentist appointment sometime next week, I have no idea what day, and the office is closed so I can't call til tomorrow
-I'm two episodes behind on Pretty Little Liars and Scream and haven't had time to watch either show since getting home.

#FirstWorldProblems

Moving along...

let's get to Part Two of Chapter Two shall we??

When I last left off, we had just had a really fun meet and greet with Mike and Sulley, fresh off a shift at Monsters Inc. What did we do next?

We kind of just enjoyed wandering around, honestly! Last year in this park, we didn't do a lot of exploring, so we tried to make sure we saw a little of everything (and we still missed a LOT).

We did a little singing in the rain



(I can't believe I'm sharing that second photo, but hey, we were having fun, looks be darned!)

visited the city



and caught an outdoor concert



Look how empty the park is! We barely saw anyone that morning (the exception being the initial park opening and in the Pixar area), and it was kind of like having the park all to ourselves. I was nervous that the park would be really busy because it would be closing early the following evening for a private event. Crowds did pick up around lunch time and then...we'd experience the dreaded, the notorious, the loud, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally rude.....

Tour Groups

But they would come later. For now, it was still peaceful and smooth sailing.

We decided to go see my favorite friends, The Muppets, before moving on to our Star Tours fast pass.

I. Love. The. Muppets.

Like, I really, really love them. When I was little, The Muppet Show was the only show my mom would let me stay up late to watch. Fozzie is my favorite. I had a kitten named Fozzie. Fozzie is even the name of my laptop on our home computer network AND Fozzie was my wallpaper for about 4 years straight.

So of course, I had to take pictures of my old pal



(Ahh!! He's so cute!! And fluffy.)

Then there was Constantine.



Muppets most wanted? Hardly. There's a reason you're only on a poster Constantine, and the real deal has THIS:



Selfie with my favorite bear (and X with his favorite, Gonzo...X just wasn't into smiling apparently)



Oh, look! More Fozzie!



I really do love me some Muppets



After the hilarity had ended, we briefly considered a M&G with Mater and McQueen, but figured it might be kind of awkward to attempt interaction with a couple of cars (no offense, Cars).

It was time for our Star Tours FP, and the line was just long enough for us to be grateful for it. Somehow I managed to take exactly ZERO photos of Star Tours. I'm not sure how that happened

We were starting to get hungry, but our lunch ADR was still over an hour away (it was for 12:30). We began sllloowwly making our way over near it anyway...

We saw Gertie



and a Gertie wannabe



(excuse me sir, did you know part of your tail is missing??)


DH went up to the restaurant to ask if they were able to seat us early and they were.

Where did we eat??

Here:



DH and the kids have never been here before, and it had been years since my last visit to 50s Prime Time. Everyone was pretty excited to try it out. You can't go wrong with comfort food!

We had a really fun "babysitter", full of sass and hijinks. We got a cool TV table



What did we order??

DH got the sampler, but I have no pictures of it (what is going on here? I'm a failure!). He absolutely hated the meatloaf, which is weird because he loves meatloaf, but liked the chicken and pot roast.

I had the pot roast and it was delish



both boys got the chicken pot pie, X the adult version and L the kid's version



How cute is the crust part of the kid's version??? Little Mickey biscuits. Adorable.

L's serving size was right on par with X's portion from the adult menu, and they both liked their food.

It was too hot outside to risk dessert, but our babysitter brought the boys out some birthday cupcakes!



We were full and ready to go check out something special...where were we headed next??

Stay tuned for Part Three!!

 

[xlsm]

SORCERER MICKEY!!!!!

It was a highlight for sure! I'd never made the time to meet him before, and I was THRILLED!

 

[mercydisney]

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[Sailormoon2]

A feels like empty park! Wow how lucky. Sounds like an awesome but still chill morning.

 

[Newsies]

Yum... that 50's PT stuff looks delish!!