Annual February Trip-Back to WDW--We leave tomorrow!!

[NotAmused]

Hello all! This is my first ever trip report I've spent hours reading other DISers' trip reports and decided to finally join in the fun. I'm not sure how many times I have been to Disney World. I have lived in Florida my entire life so Disney and Universal Studios have always been our favorite vacation spots. My Disney obsession didn't start until the last few years, though, and has only grown since I moved to Orlando to attend college. Before I get into the trip details, let's begin with the cast:


Me-Kim-Just turned 22 years old. Born & raised in South Florida, but moved to Orlando in August 2007 to attend UCF. This is my last semester of college and I will be graduating with a degree in Elementary Education. I start my senior internship this Monday, which I am both excited and nervous about. I am the planner of our group. I love all things Disney, music, and the beach. My favorite resort is the Fort Wilderness cabins because they are so peaceful.

DB-Danny-My 18 year old "little" brother. He lives in South FL with my parents. Typical teenage boy that's into cars, music, girls, sports, etc. He's a senior in high school and also taking college classes. He's more of a "secret" Disney lover. He acts nonchalant toward Disney, but always has a blast even if he is rolling his eyes at my Nana and I running around collecting the loot at the Pirate and Princess Parties

DG(?)-Nana-My Grandmother (I shall keep her age a mystery ) She also lives in South FL. She is "retired" but has spent her retired years working in real estate We are her only grandchildren so she has always taken my brother and I on little vacations/spoiled us =) She is always joking around and has fun acting like a kid again at Disney.

Now, on with the trip! For the last 3 or 4 years, the three of us have been visiting Disney World in February. We love this time of year because it's cool and crowds aren't too bad. We love to stay at the Fort Wilderness cabins. Even though this vacation spot is only 20 minutes from where I live, it's still nice to get away for 4 or 5 days. We rent a golf cart to get around the resort and stay on property except for our visit to Universal Studios for Mari Gras. The last two years, we even went to the Pirate and Princess Party.

This year, we just now decided to visit Disney. We were originally supposed to go to Savannah, Ga for a vacation last August, but the night before we were supposed to leave, my Great Grandmother was rushed to the hospital so we decided it was definitely best to cancel the trip. My GG was on life support for two weeks and then passed away. The holidays have been hard and I think this little vacation is much needed. Plus, we may not be able to escape for a vacation this summer because my brother will be in EMT school and I will hopefully be preparing to have my own classroom.


Yes, you read that correctly: We are going to Disney in just a little over a month and have just now began to plan. That means we do not even have a hotel yet Also, apparently, there are no Pirate and Princess Parties this year

UPDATE We have a room! We were booked at Fort Wilderness, but have decided to switch to Port Orleans. We will be staying at Port Orleans French Quarter Feb. 13th-16th!

 

[NotAmused]

So we finally booked a room. We will be staying at the Fort Wilderness cabins Feb. 13-16th....at least, as of right now. We might be switching to a different resort to save some money and try something different.


Also, my return to Disney will be a lot sooner than I expected. I just returned home to Orlando today and not 15 minutes after walking in the door with all of my luggage, my Aunt and cousin invited me to Disney with them this Saturday....for free My cousin is a CM and is bringing us to the back lot store and then to MGM....err Hollywood Studios for a few hours. We are going to have dinner at the park. I think they said we are going to the Prime Time Cafe. It should be a fun day trip.

 

[NotAmused]

So I see that there have been lurkers but no followers on this little journey.


The trip report is more for me, anyway. It will be fun to look back on the completed trip report and see how this vacation went.

I suppose I will do a brief report on the few hours I spent at Disney today. Nothing too exciting, but it was a fun day trip. We left the house around 11am and headed to the back lot store. It was very neat to go in the "special store" and the store was full of bargains! There were tons of items that I wanted to buy but I behaved since I am saving my money for other things.....like groceries and 25% of my college tuition. My family members, however, did score some amazing deals.

After some shopping we headed over to Hollywood Studios for some lunch/dinner. There was a 45 minute wait at the 50s Prime Time Cafe so we grabbed a drink at the bar and waited. My Aunt and I had never eaten here but I have heard it was lots of fun. About 35 mins later, our named was called and we were seated. The table had a tv playing old sitcoms, which was very neat. I had heard about people being fed their vegetables if they didn't finish them all, so I was safe and just had a chicken sandwich. My cousin and Aunt had the pot roast. Overall, I was a little let down with the cafe. The food was okay but I was looking forward to the interaction with our waiter that I had been hearing about. I seen/heard other waiters interacting with the guests more. I even heard train and airplane noises I guess our waitress wasn't as into the role today. I would still go back and eat there again. After lunch, we called it a day and headed back home.

UPDATE: We have decided that we ARE going to switch our reservations for a different resort. If we move to a cheaper resort, we will be able to take another vacation this year so that is our choice. It will either be Caribbean Beach or Port Orleans. Which one do you suggest? I was reading some reviews on them last night and there have been some pretty rough reviews lately about the cleanliness of the rooms. Hopefully, we don't run into that problem....

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I would go with the Port Orleans resort as the caribean beach is very spread out.

 

[DARuss]

I can't offer a suggestion on the rooms yet. Although some of the Bushwackers in our crew are going to be staying at Caribean in a couple of weeks. Wish I could help sooner. I don't think it matters too much where you stay. How much time do you really spend in the resort. I think location matters as much as anything.

Sorry to hear you did not enjoy your 50's primtime experience. We had a lot of fun last year when we went. But then again we are kinda loud and the waitress we had was really gud. She introduced us to all of our cousins sitting around us.

BTW, don't put your elbows on the table. My DD9 (7 at the time) really got a kick out of the waitress informing me of that. Since then now at home is allowed to put elbows on the table AT ALL.

 

[NotAmused]

Sorry to hear you did not enjoy your 50's primtime experience. We had a lot of fun last year when we went. But then again we are kinda loud and the waitress we had was really gud. She introduced us to all of our cousins sitting around us.

BTW, don't put your elbows on the table. My DD9 (7 at the time) really got a kick out of the waitress informing me of that. Since then now at home is allowed to put elbows on the table AT ALL.

Yes, I had read about being "scolded" for putting elbows on the table so I was extra careful not to break Auntie's rule....though, my poor Aunt did not know about it.

From other reviews I have read, it sounds like everyone had a fun experience like your family did. I will definitely have to give it another try.

 

[NotAmused]

After much discussion, we have officially decided to change our reservation. No more Fort Wilderness But, it will be just as fun staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. I haven't stayed there in over 10 years. My brother is slightly bummed we won't be staying at FW as he loves when we rent a golf cart to get around the resort(boys ).


We are down to less than a month until our vacation
Since my Nana is always taking us on vacations and whatnot, I've decided I want to spread some "pixie dust" on to her. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm just trying to think of something cute and cheap to surprise her for once. I thought of maybe getting her a lanyard and a few pins because she has commented on those before.

 

[NotAmused]

Pictures always make posts more interesting, so I will share a few photos from my 2008 visits to Disney with my best friend. We bought 3 day passes and used them throughout the year (May, September, and October). This worked out good because it was a nice break from our busy college semesters. Each day, we arrived at rope drope and didn't stop until the park closed. Those were some very long, but fun-filled days. Oh, and yes, we had to wear matching Pirate gear

This was after my first ride ever on Tower of Terror

I guess my "Bestie" thought she could hide from the water

I wanted to go on the less intense version of Mission Space, but I got dragged on the original version. Can you tell I was scared to death?

 

[NotAmused]

Vacation is almost here! Our Disney vacation begins Friday!!
I cannot wait to have a three day weekend. After these last few weeks in 5th grade, I need it.

I will be at my internship until 3pm and my Nana and brother will be leaving their home in south Florida around 12:30. That will put them here in Orlando around 2:30 or 3 if they stop for lunch. I will meet them at my house at about 3:10, throw my luggage in the car, and we will begin our 20 minute drive to Disney World

We have no ADRs as we are more "go with the flow" and don't want to worry about making it somewhere on time. I have a general plan for our weekend based on extra magic hours. I believe we will be heading over to Epcot after we check in.

We may not be ADR people, but I do, however, plan on making rope drop every day. My brother and Nana laughed at me when I told them we would need to leave the hotel room by 8am. I'm not paying all that money to sleep when I can do that for free at home. My brother agreed to get up early with me and we will head to the parks. My Nana said she might wake up early with us or else she will just meet us there a little later.

I have 2 "missions" for this trip: 1.) Finally ride Toy Story Mania 2.) Make my brother go on Space Mountain (yes, Mr. I'm So Cool teenage boy is afraid to ride SM)

 

[NotAmused]

In 24 hours, I will be unpacking my luggage at Port Orleans and getting ready to head to Epcot!!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

In 24 hours, I will be unpacking my luggage at Port Orleans and getting ready to head to Epcot!!

Have fun in my favorite WDW park.