8 days at the World and 1 day in Tampa for some Football

[Rich M]

Hello everyone. I am pretty new to the DIS but was very grateful for all the help during the 8 months of planning. Our trip was booked on February 24th and now the trip is over and I wanted to share it with everyone. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Cast of Characters:

Rich - Narrator, planner and overall Disney Junkie. 6th trip to the World and too many trips to Disneyland to count. Referred to as me.

Annita - Sister to Rich. 4th trip to the World and too many trips to Disneyland. Referred to A

Justin - Nephew to Rich and Annita. 1st trip to the World. Referred to as J.

Dill - Nephew to Rich and Annita, Brother to Justin. 1st Trip to the World. Referred to as D.

Travel Dates: Oct 29th to Nov 7th. One night at the Legacy Vacation Club, 8 nights at CBR.

Travel Details: Flying Delta out of SFO and renting a car from MCO for 9 days.


LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN
Our adventure begins on Oct 28th as I drove to pick up D and J from there house after school was out. D, J, and Me had an early morning flight leaving SFO at 6:10 AM so I made the boys spend the night at my house. After finishing up my packing and spending time with my grandson I made it to bed around 10pm with my alarm set for 3am.

Oct 29th - Up at 3am to pack the car and head to the airport. It was cheaper for me to rent a car from the airport the night before and return it the next day then it was to park at the airport so that's what we did. So rental car dropped off at 4:30am and take the shuttle to terminal 1. We had 2 bags to check for our flight but I did the pay on the App so it would be easier when I got to the airport and not have to mess with it only to find out that apparently everyone does that also and you still have to stand in a large line to check your bag.

Checked our bags and headed to security. J and D both had TSA precheck and I did not. So they went through that line and I went through the regular line. After getting through security we went to our gate and then grabbed a snack from a shop. 2 bagels and 2 bottles of drinks for a whooping $25.

Our first flight was headed to Salt Lake City and then onto Orlando. Both flights were uneventful and very smooth except for our landing in Orlando was very rough. I was surprised we didn't pop a tire but at 4:01 EST we were finally in Orlando.

We headed to pick up our luggage and get our rental car from AVIS. I had two reservations. One was for an Mid-Size SUV for $185 and one for a Luxury Car for $290. I asked the agent at the preferred counter what my options were for the Luxury car as I had wanted a Cadillac. He said all they had was Lincoln MKZ. I told him I would have liked a Caddy but he said that they were all recalled and they didn't have any more. I asked what the Mid-Size SUV would be and he said that he would give me a full size SUV instead if I would like. So we ended up with a Nissan Pathfinder. I was excited to drive this as I am thinking about buying one so this would be a great test drive.

We packed our stuff inside the car and started getting the car ready when I found that this car didn't have Bluetooth . I was shocked but didn't want to bother with changing cars so we just plugged the phone into the USB port and used it that way. We headed to our hotel for the one night which was the Legacy Vacation Club. We had a Junior Suite which was very nice for a one night stay and did its job. We then headed to Wal-Mart and to grab dinner at the Olive Garden before heading to the hotel to rest as we were getting up very early to head to the World.

A flight was getting in at 6 AM the next morning so she will be meeting us at the World using Magical Express or so we thought????

 

[Rich M]

Day 2 plans - Breakfast @ Whispering Canyon, Football game in Tampa, Animal Kingdom, and Dinner @ Ohana.

I think I was to excited to sleep and was up early at 5 AM. I text my sister who landed almost 25 mins early and told her I would just pick her up at the airport so she could shower before breakfast after flying all night. When I got back to the hotel from the airport I woke the boys up and after we all got ready we headed to Whispering Canyon for breakfast.

Whispering Canyon

We arrived at our reservation a little early and we opted to look around the resort for a bit and take a photos of the boys. Once we were within 5 minutes we checked in and were seated about 2 minutes later. Since this was the boys first time at a Disney restaurant we made sure we opted in to the fun. The boys were already cracking up when our server came and threw the straws everywhere. Once of the other servers took someone's cellphone and was going around the room taking photos of people with it. It was so much fun and because of that the boys kept there phones in there pockets for once. J and D and me ordered the Eggs Benedict and A ordered the skillet. We all loved our choices and would highly recommend this place for breakfast.

Drive to Tampa

After breakfast it was time to drive to Tampa for the football game. A few months after booking the trip I discovered that the Oakland Raiders were playing the Bucs during our trip. I am a 49ers fan so I didn't really care to go but the boys are die hard Raider fans. I really wanted one day of doing an activity outside of the World and this was a perfect option. The drive was not bad but the parking was terrible and we barley got into the stadium as the game was starting. The game was a great one and went into OT with the Raiders winning. It was a great time but with the OT we were not going to make our FastPasses for Animal Kingdom. I really wanted to spend sometime in the parks so I looked for a last second late reservation at Ohana and was able to change it to 10:15. Since we are from the West Coast that time didn't bother us since we are still on that time schedule.

Animal Kingdom

The drive back from Tampa was uneventful except for a grass fire on the side of the road but we made it back to the Animal Kingdom by 6:30. Our FastPass window for Everest had passed and I was felling really bummed only to find out the ride was down during our time and we where given anytime FastPasses because of it. So when we got there it was time for our evening Safari FP+ so we went on that. We had an amazing Safari with lots of action. We even got to see the Lions clearly and they were talking to each other. It was a great first ride of the trip for the boys. After that we walked over to see if Everest was opened and it was. I had always wanted to ride in the dark and it was as great as I had imagined it. There was no line so we rode twice. After that we really wanted to go see our room and take showers as we had been in the heat all day at the football game.

Ohana

After we freshened up it was time to head to Ohana for my favorite dinner. I love the options we get here and we made sure we didn't eat anything at the game so we were very hungry by this time. We arrived about 20 minutes early so we walked around to check out the hotel. After that we checked in and we were seated about 10 minutes after. Dinner was great as always except for the steak. It was so rare that none of us would touch it. We got to see the Boo Fireworks and that was great as my seat was looking straight out to the castle. Today was a great day and the boys were loving being in Florida.

 

[krrrristen]

I'm enjoying your trip report so far! I live in Tampa, totally understand the frustration parking at Ray Jay the struggle is real, lol.

 

[Rich M]

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom Morning - Hollywood Studios Evening - Dinner at 50's Prime

Animal Kingdom

Day 3 started bright and early as we wanted to be at AK at rope drop so that we could see the first Lion King show and go on Everest. We drove to AK and got there 10 mins before rope drop. Our first goal was to get FP for Lion King, Nemo, and Everest. We bought second Magic Bands and used them to obtain extra FP so our regular FP were for our evening parks and we used the second bands for morning FP. It worked great as we were able to get almost everything we wanted every day. The entire trip we never stood in any stand by line except for EMH. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to maximize there vacation. After securing our FP we went to ride Everest and then headed over to Lion King using our FP. Lion King was a great show as always and the boys really enjoyed it. After that we went to walk over to see the Hippo Pool and the Gorillas. I personal love Animals so it was great to take our time and see everything. We slowly made our way over to Nemo and decided to check out the counter service available since we had about 20 mins still for Nemo. We looked at the menus and decided we were going to go to Restaurnasorus (excuse the misspelling) after Nemo was over. Nemo was just as good as I remembered. After it was over we went to eat. The meal was nothing special at all but it was decent enough. I am really glad that you can get a side item instead of the dessert. I was able to get a bowl of clam chowder instead of dessert. Although it was terrible it was still nice to have that option. After that we headed out of the park and made a detour from going back to the room.

Winter/Summer Mini Golf

While driving to AK we noticed the Mini golf course on the way and decided to hit it after we where done at AK since we had the Water Park and Fun Option on our tickets. We decided to play the Winter course and had a lot of fun. After about whole 6 we decided to try to do cleaver shots and have more fun then we were already having and had a blast. The boys loved playing and the winner at the end of the round was ........ ME.

Hollywood Studios

After golfing we drove to Hollywood studios for our FP. Our first FP+ of the day was Toy Story Mania. The boys rode together and A and Me rode together. The boys loved the ride and had lots of fun. Winner in the car was ...... ME. After that our next FP+ was for Star Wars. We headed over there and had a decent ride except for it made J sick. So we figured we should maybe have a seat somewhere in the A/C and relax a bit so we decided to check out the Frozen show. I personally was curious about the show and wasn't sure how the boys who are 16 and 15 would react to it but I heard that there was some really funny parts to it. The show got started and I was a little worried that the boys would be bored but the show showed some hope when the narrators came out and where funny. Then it was time for the first song and I got a little scared that I would be annoyed. I was sitting between both boys and was just waiting to see them start to complain when both of them started singing at the top of there lungs. I was shocked. They sung out loud for every song and did not need the words on the screen at all. They loved this show and they asked to see it every time we where at HS. They asked me if I had liked it and I told them I really liked the narrators but I did not like the lack of the actors actually singing. I asked the boys if they liked it better then the Lion King show and they said yes they did and I just shook my head. After that it was time for our FP for Tower of Terror. I was a little worried because we only had 20 mins until dinner but saw that the standby wait was 20 mins so figured we would be ok since we had FP. We got into the FP line and noticed there was a big back up and there wasn't any line at all in standby. I figured there must be a wait somewhere since it said 20 mins standby, so we stayed in our FP line and slowly worked our way up to the desk and there wasn't any line at all for standby. We had a great ride even though D proclaimed that the one in California Adventures is better and we headed over to our dinner reservations at 50's prime time.

50's Prime

The boys were excited to try this place after I told them that the Peanut Butter and Jelly Milk shakes get very high reviews. They both ordered those and A ordered a Strawberry Shake and ordered Diet with Lemon. For dinner J and Me had the Sampler, A had the Fried Chicken, and D had the Pot Roast. All of our food was delicious and the boys loved there shakes. When it was time to order dessert D asked if he had to get dessert? I told him on the dining plan it comes with it so to order something eat what he wanted and then leave the rest. J, A, and D all ordered the Dad's Brownie and Me ordered the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Everyone enjoyed it. I really liked the Pineapple Cake. It was moist and very good. Dinner was great and I was happy with our selections.

After dinner we waited for the Star Wars Fireworks and after watching that we headed out for the night. It was a great day and everyone was exhausted after the long day.