"At Least The Disasters Are Magical!" A January TR (CRAZY SEAGULL ATTACK update 5/11)

[wdwcarla]

Hi! Hello! Welcome to the show.​

The only thing that is anywhere close to as fun as going to Disney World is talking about it on the DIS! My trip was from January 5th to the 10th and on the way back I could not wait to share my experience with other Disney fanatics like me. All of my friends and family are aware of this Disney obsession, but they think I’m crazy. So I’m glad I don’t have to keep all the Disney love to myself, so thank you DISboards for existing! Now I have to stop forgetting my login information when I get busy and creating new accounts….

This trip was…interesting. It was difficult to find time to plan for it, because it came RIGHT after the holidays and a semester of college. During the trip I definitely did NOT have anything completely ready, which was already kind of weird. There were a lot of things left up to fate, a lot of things that worked out better than expected, and of course, a lot of disasters. But still I'm so excited to share! I took a lot of pictures, did a lot of stuff and none of my friends want to hear about it. That's why I love you DIS!

And now, without futher ado: The Cast!

Please excuse the crappy iphone picture and my boyfriend's pouty face. He hates taking selfies. Too bad for him LOL.

My name is Carla and this is my wonderful boyfriend Grant. He introduced me to Disney parks during our first year of dating by taking me to Disneyland. Little did he know, he would kickstart a Disney addiction and go again every year after that. Oops.

For this trip we spent four days at Disney parks and one day at The Park That Shall Not Be Named. There will be a lot of pictures, a lot of food, a couple of tears, and a lot of unexpected changes. Stay tuned! The next episode is going to be full of awesome craziness and I can’t wait to share!

 

[wdwcarla]

Episode 001: GETTING THERE
Episode 002: "WE FOUND SEATS!" MK PT. 1
Episode 003: MAGIC KINGDOM RIDE AWESOMENESS!
Episode 004: GETTING TO UNIVERSAL!
Episode 005: DIAGON ALLEY
Episode 006: FINISHING UP UNIVERSAL
Episode 007: ANIMAL KINGDOM!
Episode 008: ANIMAL KINGDOM PT. 2
Episode 009: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS FAIL
Episode 010: MAGIC KINGDOM FAIL
Episode 011: EPCOT SEAGULL ATTACK

 

[wdwcarla]

Hello again! Welcome back to the trip report! Let’s get this party started!
​

So this trip started out very similar to all of our other trips: waking up way too early to register what’s going on. I was very proud of myself for getting most of my packing done very much in advance, so I actually wasn’t that stressed out about forgetting something. We woke up at 3am for a 7am flight and we were exhausted out of our brains, but we made it work.

This is our city at 3am. I have literally never seen it this empty.

Thankfully the ride to the airport is only about 30 minutes. As soon as we staggered on the plane, we fell right asleep. I also couldn't have my camera on me because they ran out of space and I had to check my carryon. The next few of hours were extremely hazy because neither of us was used to waking up that early. Even for Disney World, we usually take a quick 2 hour direct flight that usually flies out at 8am. When we had originally booked flights, we decided to try and save a bit of money by getting cheaper tickets with worse flights. We had a 1 hour and 45 minute flight and then a connecting 2 hour and 50 minute flight. Much more time spent travelling. It was an interesting change and honestly, I was kind of bummed about it.

But pretty soon we were celebrating because who can be sad around palm trees right??

This time around we rented a car. I know Disney provides really great transportation but we needed a way to get to Universal Studios. Grant wanted to pick the car, and he picked a Fiat because he “liked a challenge" lol.

I was just glad he chose to drive so I could get a picture of the sign!

Pretty much the best view ever! We finally made it!

But we got on property way sooner than expected. This was a GREAT mistake. Who wouldn’t want to be at Disney earlier than expected?? We went straight to the resort: Port Orleans French Quarter. We had stayed at Port Orleans Riverside before and were very excited to try out the sister hotel. My family is from Lousiana so I could not resist staying here. The scenery at Riverside was spot on, and now it was time to test the French Quarter. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to get our room so early (at 11am!) but we tried anyway. Since we hadn’t made any room requests, we figured the wait wouldn’t be too long. And turns out, our room was ready!

The lobby was so beautiful and festive! It was a constant party in there.
The walk to our room was very beautiful as well. This resort definitely seemed smaller and more condensed than Riverside, but it made perfect sense that it would be this way. If anyone has ever been to the actual French quarter, you would know what I mean.

Look at all the Spanish moss!

And look at this view! This was right outside of our room and we could see it from the windows. I was so excited! We got lucky!

But the absolute best part? The bed. Yes, the bed. Because we were exhausted and it was time for a nap! Those flights really did us in! I was sooo thankful for being able to get into the room early, it was totally worth not making any requests for.

We kept the nap short because we had plans to visit a park! Yes, we visit the parks on travel days, we’re crazy. There will be plenty of craziness coming up!

 

[wdwcarla]

Hello again everyone! Welcome back to the show! ​

Time to pick up right where I left off: After some serious napping it was time to actually get the party started. At around 1:30pm I started organizing the hotel room a little better and get ready to head over to Magic Kingdom! Both Grant and I love going to Magic Kingdom. It’s always our first park of trip because Magic Kingdom was the first Disney park we ever went to as a couple. I was so excited to be back in our happy place!

We got to Magic Kingdom pretty quickly. It took about 35 minutes to get from our room to the monorail, including all the time spent waiting around in various lines and tramming. I have definitely converted to the “renting a car” club ad Disney World instead of using their transportation. Does anyone else like using a car?

You know I’m excited when I start taking pictures of the parking lot tram.
We reached our goal of getting to Magic Kingdom at around 2:30pm and were greeting with the BEST surprise. There were still CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS up!? YES!

Even though I had basically completely packed up Christmas back home, I was so excited to see the decorations Disney World had put up. It reminded me of my very first time when I was able to come in the middle of all the festivity. It spent way too much time on Main Street taking photos.

The crowds were INTENSE. There were a lot of people there and it kind of blew my mind. It was pretty hard to even walk down Main Street without getting run over by strollers and other people. Our first goal, though, was to get food. We were so hungry, and both of us had kind of forgotten to eat after that rough travel day. Also, we both have strange, kind of strict eating habits. Both of us are mostly vegetarian but sometimes we eat seafood. I also try to eat as healthy as possible without going crazy. Since I have motion sickness, eating foods with a lot of carbs and sugars, or just overeating in general does NOT go well with rides of any sort. Nope, not even car rides.

So we headed over to Pecos Bill because I knew they had veggie burgers and it probably wasn’t going to be as crowded as other places. I love watching the castmembers through the little window. They are always working SO FAST like a bunch of little robots.

Here are the veggie burgers in all their veggie glory.

As you can see, Grant likes to load his up. He has no problems with motion sickness lol.

On the way out of the restaurant we caught a bit of Festival of Fantasy before heading back to Main Street.

Our Magic Kingdom tradition is to grab some ice-cream on Main Street. We both weren’t very hungry after eating lunch so we just shared a small cup. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap some photographic evidence of the delicious chocolate ice-cream, but I did have evidence of us being able to find empty seats.

Empty seats. At Magic Kingdom. What.

This entire little nook was pretty empty. It was the area where the balloon holder castmembers could walk into the back to make a shift change It was a nice break from all the crowd craziness. But we all know how it is. You can’t take a break for too long! It was time to get on some rides!

 

[elizabethswan]

enjoying your TR. we were actually there from the 4 thru the 12 and i was also so thrilled that the christmas lights were still up. we've stayed at pofq a few times. the small size makes it really convenient. how did you like it compared to por? this time we stayed at coronado. it's large but we really like it. great job on your TR so far.

 

[LouDisney]

Loving your TR! Can't wait to read more!

 

[MagentaMulan]

Following! We stayed at POFQ the week after you two were there.

 

[wdwcarla]

enjoying your TR. we were actually there from the 4 thru the 12 and i was also so thrilled that the christmas lights were still up. we've stayed at pofq a few times. the small size makes it really convenient. how did you like it compared to por? this time we stayed at coronado. it's large but we really like it. great job on your TR so far.

Thanks for following along! I can't believe the decorations were up until the 12th! According to other DIS members, they're supposed to go down in the first week of January.

I think I liked Riverside better. I like larger resorts so I don't feel like I'm on top of everyone else. I felt like we couldn't walk around without accidentally looking into a bunch of other people's rooms. But that's kind of how the actual French Quarter is

 

[wdwcarla]

Loving your TR! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you!

 

[wdwcarla]

Following! We stayed at POFQ the week after you two were there.

Awesome! How did you like it?

 

[txtricia]

Subbing.. Loving the TR so far. Hubby and I stayed at POFQ when POR was still Dixie Landings.

 

[kclark9830]

Following along. I really want to stay at PO FQ. It's been my wish for years, but so far isn't close to happening (we stay at the values just for money sake). I love your pictures of it!

 

[wdwcarla]

Hello everyone! Welcome back and thanks for reading! ​

It was finally time for Magic Kingdom rides! We had a FP+ scheduled for Peter Pan’s Flight! This is one of my favorite Magic Kingdom rides.
Thanks to FP+ the wait was only about 5 minutes. The stand-by line was at over an hour.

These ride vehicles are so cute!

We had a pretty large gap in time after the ride, because our next FP was after dinner which was another 40 minutes away. So we decided to ride on something we’ve never done before. The People Mover!

This is definitely an underrated ride. I loved seeing all of Tomorrowland while resting my feet at the same time.

These views were fun!

You know what time it is. Awkward selfie time.


Dinner was at The Plaza Restaurant. We had never tried it before and I saw that it had vegetarian options when I had originally made the reservation.
The actual restaurant was very pretty and very roomy. It was a nice break from all those crowds.

The food was disappointing though. We ordered the veggie sandwiches which is exactly what it sounds like. It had tomato, cucumber, lettuce, onion, mozzarella cheese, pesto and hummus so it seemed like it would be good. We weren’t a fan of the bread, though and to be honest, still kind of full from lunch. The fries were amazeballs though, even though Grant ate most of them.

It was a cute setting and a nice place to take a break, but definitely not the best option for us for dinner. We spent a lot of time there, though refueling on coffee. When we got out it was getting dark and the castle was purple!

Our next FP was the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train! I was so surprised that I managed to snag a FP+ for it so I wouldn’t have to do Rope Drop. I was excited, but also nervous because I had kind of just eaten. I still wasn’t sure if this was a regular coaster, or a kiddie coaster or what.

The wait time was only 10 minutes for FP+ (Standby was 75 minutes) so I didn’t really have time to ask the castmember about how fast it went or how big the drops were. This was something I probably should have looked at before. So I just thought, “Whatever, it can't be that bad.” I mean, look at how cute these ride vehicles are.

I didn’t take any actual pictures during the ride because it went faster than I thought! It definitely felt just like Thunder Mountain. The animatronics were very, VERY cool and everything was so SPARKLY. I spent most of the ride pulling at Grant’s arm saying, “OMG LOOK!” My favorite part was right before the big drop where all the dwarfs are lined up around the ride vehicle and they started singing, “High hooooooo, high hoooooooo,” and everyone in our vehicle started singing and clapping along. It was totally adorable and so much fun!

After the ride we wandered around Fantasyland for a bit, and then I noticed that I app was showing that Pirates of the Caribbean had broken down. Usually this meant that once it started going again, the lines would be much shorter because so many people leave the line. Our theory worked out. By the time we got all the way to Pirates, the ride line was at 15 minutes!

This will always be my favorite scene

After Pirates, we had one more FP+ for Thunder Mountain! We refueled with some more coffee and headed over to the Wildest Ride In The Wilderness.

We got the front seat. It was a blast.

After the ride, we decided to leave Magic Kingdom because our feet were in pain and our bodies were begging for sleep! We picked the worst time to decide to leave, however: In the middle of the Electrical Parade. Going down Main Street was impossible without getting trampled or yelled at by a castmember if we stopped or walked too slow. I know that they were just doing their jobs and I couldn’t imagine the stressed they were under.

This was the only picture I was able to get of the Electrical parade It was PACKED that night. We witnessed a pretty loud argument between a lady and a castmember who wouldn’t let her stand in the walkway. Everyone looked frazzled! Thankfully, we were able to get out and back to the TTC in 10 minutes. The monorail wasn’t full of people. I just about fell asleep on the car ride back. This was such a busy and wonderful day, but it was only day 1!!

 

[wdwcarla]

Subbing.. Loving the TR so far. Hubby and I stayed at POFQ when POR was still Dixie Landings.

Thank you!! I wish I had experienced it as Dixie Landings.

 

[wdwcarla]

Following along. I really want to stay at PO FQ. It's been my wish for years, but so far isn't close to happening (we stay at the values just for money sake). I love your pictures of it!

Hello! and thank you! We got a really good deal on POFQ this time around, which is why we picked it. Keep an eye out for those discounts!

 

[MagentaMulan]

Awesome! How did you like it?

We loved it! We want to stay here again on all our future trips! haha

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining in! Love your report title - it's like the Disney version of making lemonade out of lemons

Oh, Grant's not being pouty - that's just his attempt to smolder

We stayed at POFQ a few times when I was a kid and really liked it! And POR is under consideration for future trips (we almost stayed there last trip before using some discounts to upgrade to the Contemporary)

I am surprised to hear you had never been on the People Mover - it is one of our favorites and love how you can see so much from it and it is also a nice place to rest. And getting to see the original model of Walt's vision for EPCOT is an added bonus

Sorry you were disappointed by the food at the Plaza. Your sandwich (at least in the picture) looks pretty good. (I love the combination of vegetables and hummus)

Glad you enjoyed the Mine Train so much - I do like how it kinda zips you through newish Fantasyland and you see castles and what not fly past you.

Ugh, those crowd levels do seem like they get everyone on edge a bit - I am sure you were both pretty tired by the time you got back to your room

 

[Biggie Smalls]

Caught up and following along! I am from richmond originally, so i know how boring the drive to RIC can be so kudos for staying awake so early in the morning!

Looking forward to the rest of your trip- we were there the 3rd-11th so maybe we crossed paths! I'm only up to the 5th on my TR so we shall see

 

[princessbelle2015]

Joining in. I love the title of your TR.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your vegetarian meals.

 

[wdwcarla]

Joining in! Love your report title - it's like the Disney version of making lemonade out of lemons

That's a great way to describe it! Thanks for following along!