3/1 - 3/6: The One with two DVC resorts, Flower and Garden, Wild Africa and Moonlight Magic

[kabbie]

Candid confession: I'm not much of a trip reporter. But I thought I would share my Shutterfly book with you.

My older sister and I recently returned from our Sisters' trip to Walt Disney World -( a week ago). We have taken previous trips to Universal Orlando (May 2016) and Disneyland (Sept 2016) as well as our family trips with our parents and her two daughters.





Wednesday, March 1st: We both worked this day and took an evening flight from DFW to MCO. Because our flight arrived after 10pm, we claimed our luggage and headed to Magical Express.


I am a DVC member (as of April 2016) and booked Bay Lake Tower for first two nights. Their studios are rather small even for 2 people so I'm glad that our stay was short. We were located on second floor on the south wing and close to elevator. When we arrived, we had to haul it to our room, drop off our luggage and make a beeline for Contempo Cafe for dinner. We made it there right before they closed. I was looking forward to their cupcakes, but alas all they had was the Frozen one and an Orange/Guava cupcake.

Thursday, March 2nd: We slept in a little and had a 9:45am ADR at The Wave. I had their breakfast buffet and my sister order their citrus infused french toast. We both liked the restaurant, but not sure if we would go out of our way to eat there again.

 

[kabbie]

Thursday, March 2nd: First park: Magic Kingdom
First stop was a purchasing Tables in Wonderland at Guest Relations then we did a little shopping on Main Street (I purchased earrings at Cristal Arts) while the Move it, Shake it parade came down Main Street.

I am addicted to Photopass so we stopped many times for shots.



I also love characters so I made my sister wait in line for the Tremaine sisters and Gaston. I had created a Shutterfly autograph book using their Disney Adventures theme and all my past character pictures. Drizella looked through the whole book and made a lot of comments - Mainly I need to make an entire book of just the two of them in the future.







Yes, we had dinner at the often criticized Tony's Town Square - Definitely learned why so many people dislike it. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs - tomato sauce had no flavor. My sister ordered a margherita pizza which she equated with a typical quick service pizza.



After leaving the park, we took the monorail the one stop to Contemporary and dropped off our park gear in our room. Then we headed to the lobby of Bay Lake Tower to check-in at Top of the World lounge. We got a nice window high top and ordered our first round of drinks before committing to the fishbowl punch. It was far too cold & windy to go outside to the terrace so we remained at our table & enjoyed the view (through the people) the best we could.

 

[kabbie]

Second Day: Friday, March 3rd: Hollywood Studios

We were there for rope drop and made our way to Pixar Place for Buzz & Woody. We were the first two in line while everyone else headed to Toy Story Mania. Buzz & Woody met us at the beginning of the queue and walked us back to their photo backdrop. Afterwards, we went directly to Toy Story Mania and rode with about a 20min wait. We had fastpasses at Rock n Roller Coaster at 9:35am so we went to Red Carpet Dreams to meet Sorcerer Mickey and Movie Star Minnie.





We had a lunch ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby and were there at the restaurant opening at 12noon. We both ordered Cobb Salads and the dessert trio (Blueberry Cobbler, Grapefruit Cake and Creme Brulee). We had fastpasses at Frozen Singalong - not needed due to size of theater, but it was our first time seeing the show and we didn't know. I really did love the show especially due to the Arendelle historians - They really make the show!



After Frozen Singalong, I know we got 4th fastpasses for Great Movie Ride, then Rock n Roller Coaster and lastly at Toy Story Mania. We also stopped by for Character Palooza (I subscribe with Kenny the Pirate).



We explored One Man's Dream - Saw the yellow dress from Beauty and the Beast as well as the sneak peek. Then we settled at Launch Bay for the rest of the night with dessert party. I was wearing Chewbacca ears ordered through etsy and had an amazing character experience with him - He made a big deal about them and loved my Millenimum Falcon Star Wars tee as well. My sister traded with one of the Jawas - an empty Altoids tin containing dice - They loved the sound and gave her an droids body.



The Dessert party was crowded, but we got there right when they opened at 6:30 and had seats on the bench close to characters. We took turns making trips through the buffet and to the bar - We both liked the Light speed margaritas and the mix of savory options.

 

[kabbie]

Friday, March 3rd continued - I forgot to mention that we were checking out of Bay Lake Tower and moving to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our next three nights. We dropped off our bags that morning at bell services before going to the bus stop.

Friday was also our marathon day because after opening & closing Hollywood Studios, we were going to Magic Kingdom for DVC Moonlight Madness. The event was starting at 10pm and ending at 1am. This evening was very chilly and my sister was only wearing a light cardigan over her shirt.

We got in line for Beauty and Beast and Ariel & Prince Eric at the Fairytale Hall at 9:30pm. We didn't get out of line until 10:45pm - My sister wasn't too happy since she typically only wants to wait for characters less than 20 minutes.
Immediately after meeting Disney royalty, we went to Pinocchio Village Haus to get some free food (chicken nuggets, hot dogs, chips, cookies and soda). We checked wait times for PP and Mine Train, but they were both 40-60 minutes. We got our pics with the lanterns by the Tangled bathroom and rode Buzz Lightyear (wait was maybe 15 min). I stopped for a sec at the Dance Party to have my pic with Nick Wilde from Zootopia. The fireworks were at 12mid which we watched from the Castle courtyard lawn. My sister left right after the fireworks to get the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge (received the room ready text early that day for Zebra Trail) and I rushed around to get as many rare character pics as possible. First was Timon and Terk in Adventureland - line moved very slow due to Timon being very playful. Then I rushed over to Storybook Circus and met Darkwing Duck - that line moved like clockwork and I had a pic in less than 5 min. Clarice wasn't going to come back out until 1am so I ran over to see how Pinocchio, Foulfellow and Gideon's line was like - too long so I got a pic with Chicken Little & Abby Mallard instead. Clarice did come out at 1am so I was able to meet her. I had her sign Chip & Dale's page since she is their "girlfriend" and figured that they would get a kick out of that later. It was after 1am so I made my way out of the park and on the bus. I think I got to the room right before 2am.

 

[kabbie]

Rest Day: Saturday, March 4th

After our long day on Friday, we slept in until about 10:30am and went to the pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Wilderness Lodge is my home resort and my family's favorite so we loved AKL due to the homey feel. I definitely want to come back and stay here again! We stayed at the pool from 11am to 2:30pm then got showered & ready to go to Disney Springs. We had reservations at Homecoming at 4:40pm - We ate outside and loved our meal there. We started with hush puppies - the highlight for sure! Loved the pepper jelly and pimento cheese served with them - I would come here and just get the hush puppies. I also had the chicken thigh biscuits and my sister got the Hamilton burger. We order the hummingbird cake to go and had that later at the room.

We walked around Disney Springs - got some shampoo bars at Basin and looked around the Marketplace. We did venture to new areas and looked around, but it was pretty much shops that we have at home. We didn't do our souvenir shopping until last day at Mouse Gears at Epcot. We made our way back to the bus stop for a ride to AKL.

 

[kabbie]

Sunday, March 5th: Animal Kingdom

My sister and I ordered matching Wilderness Explorer shirts from etsy and received a lot of compliments throughout the day - mainly from Cast members.



When the Rivers of Light dining packages were released, I booked Tusker House for us. We have gone to Tusker House at least three times before with our family and were greeted with a welcome back card from check-in. Our breakfast was at 8:25am so we entered the park early and walked peacefully back to Africa. The View was filming in front of Tree of Life so there were their studio audience chairs and barricades all around the TOL. John Stamos was scheduled to be on the show the next day (3/6).



After breakfast, we explored the Pangani Forest trail and Rafiki's Planet Watch. I had booked Wild Africa Trek at 12:30pm so we had some time to kill before. My sister was bummed that she hadn't been able to ride anything yet so we joined single rider at Everest. I was stressing that we wouldn't be able to get on the roller coaster before our 12:15pm check-in, but no fear. Everest does a great job with the single rider line and we were both on & off by 12:05pm. Made a pit stop then rushed over to check in at Kilimanjaro Safaris.



Loved Wild Africa Trek and highly recommend! I have previously done all the Segway tours and Keys to the Kingdom so I was looking forward to doing this one as well. They fit you for your harness, audio equipment, water bottle, camera & sunglasses straps and you're ready to do. We had two amazing cast members who had both completed the College Program and previously worked on the Wilderness Explorer program - They loved our shirts.



Our trek ended at 3:30pm and we had fastpasses for Everest and Dinosaur. Plus we met Mickey & Minnie (including shots from Rafiki and Russell (no Dug) from before tour.



We explored Maharajah Jungle Trek - we were dragging at this point and needed a break. Our morning had been hectic and the tour included a lot of walking. So we stopped at the Nomad Lounge for some drinks. We did like the atmosphere, but my drinks were a bit exotic for my taste. My sister got two of the Lamu Libations and I got Leaping Lizard (pineapple rum, Augusta Cachaca? and juices) and Dalang Delight's (Rum, Batavia-Arrack Van OOsten?, Tangerine Liqueur, Mountain Berry Tea, simple syrup, and lemon juice) - I didn't care for either of mine or the sip of my sisters that I had. But I was grateful for the refreshing time that it gave us to tackle the rest of our night.



After drinks at Nomad Lounge, we got some dinner at Flame Tree then went to our reserved seating at Rivers of Light. Rivers of Light was a bit underwhelming for us - Kinda one and down night show IMHO. Rivers of Light was at 7:15pm and 8:30pm - We saw the show at 7:15pm. We got there outside Finding Nemo around 6:30 and the stand-by line was crazy for the 8:30pm show - I can't imagine! Our highlight was exiting the show and running to ride Everest at night (twice) and seeing the Tree of Life Awakenings before we left for AKL.

 

[tazdev3225]

Nice book. I was there at the same time as you and did MK, Hollywood Studios and AK with the same Rivers of Light Show on the same days you were there. I am pretty sure I saw you in AK as I recognize the shirts.

 

[balty74]

I am soooo impressed that you're already done with your photo book! We were there the same time and I didn't even download all my photos yet

 

[kabbie]

I am soooo impressed that you're already done with your photo book! We were there the same time and I didn't even download all my photos yet

Thanks!
I actually have the rough draft of a photo book completed before the trip so that helps - Putting it together is definitely a passion of mine.

 

[kabbie]

Last Day - Departure Day - Epcot

We got to Epcot at 8am and were in line about 7 families back. Cast members let us through turnstiles around 8:25am to wait at rope drop right before Spaceship Earth. At 8:50am, we were let go and my sister and I walked briskly back to Norway for Frozen Ever After. This was the first time for both of us and we really enjoyed it. Next time, I would definitely do a fastpass to not be a part of the rope drop back to Norway.



It was around 9:20am and we had a breakfast ADR at Garden Grill at 10am. We went through the single rider at Test Track and made our way across to the Land.



I enjoyed the family style skillet and cinnamon roll bake. We purposely were trying to not overdo it since we wanted to sample a lot at Flower & Garden. Love the POG juice especially! My sister found the rotating (as slow as it is) to be hard to enjoy breakfast - We were on the first floor. We had dinner previously at Garden Grill for Candlelight Processional and were on the 2nd floor. Didn't notice as much then. Character interaction was ok. We had fastpasses at Living with the Land and Soarin right after breakfast.



We got to World Showcase and started in Canada - I got the Easter Egg scavenger hunt for about $5. I've done the Remy hunt during Food & Wine. They definitely make the eggs challenging to find.



Along the way, we stopped in France (my sister got onion tart and peach wine and I got the Rose slush = all delicious); Florida Fresh (key lime pie and carne asada dish = both awesome); Hanami (frushi and beef udon - fruit in frushi wasn't ripe and had no flavor; beef udon - you can get at the Japan QS all the time); Smokehouse (slider, burnt ends hash and cake - My burnt ends had quite a few fatty pieces, my sister liked the pulled pork at Flame Tree better; the cake is a winner!); Jardin de Fiestas (chile relleno - not enough meat and pineapple margarita - didn't like elderflower); Berry Basket (berry buckle - sorbet melted very quickly over hot buckle, but tasty and moscato - standard fruity wine - wish I got the cocktail here instead).



We headed back to the bus for Animal Kingdom Lodge around 5pm to get our 6:40pm Magical Express. We were wiped out & tired from our trip, but it was another successful Disney vacation. My sister came down with the flu the day after she got home and it has taken over a week to recover.
I already have a trip planned in Sept and we're doing a family trip in Nov. Getting good use of my annual pass!

Thanks for reading!