COMPLETE 9/29 -10th Anniversary at the Contemporary! - May 2024 TR

Araminta18 · Aug 4, 2024

Hello! Welcome to my trip report! I know y'all are probably sick of me, since I *just* finished my January 2024 trip report, but I like doing trip reports because it helps me re-live/remember all the fun details. We normally don't do this many trips, but we got annual passes last year when they went back on sale and figured we might as well make use of them.

So, let's dive right in!

The details:
who: me and my husband Trevor
when: Friday May 3rd - Saturday May 11th
where: POFQ for one night and then Contemporary!

Introductions:
I'm Tiffany, I'll be your ghost host for this trip report.

I'm 36 and while I'm a librarian by education, I currently do federal records management, since records management is where the pay is, and I gotta pay for Disney! Favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty, but I also love Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast and Rapunzel. Favorite ride: I can never pick just one -- Haunted Mansion, Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind...I can't pick! But I also love the food and the theming -- the music and all the attention to detail just makes me happy.

My traveling companion is my husband Trevor. He's 38 and loves Star Wars and Marvel, but has grown to love Disney--his favorite characters are Boba Fett, Vader and Stormtroopers, and on the non-Star Wars side, Grumpy. His favorite rides used to be Haunted Mansion and Star Tours--though I think he'd add Rise and Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind to that list now.

small 2024-05-05 - Disneys Animal Kingdom Park - Disneys animal kingdom theme park_4.jpg

All right, let's get started! This trip came out after our trip last August - I was booking a bounceback for December (cause we knew we wanted to do Disney at Christmas with our shiny new annual passes), and just started asking about pricing for the Contemporary Theme Park View. August 2023 we stayed at the garden wing of the Contemporary and really loved the proximity to Magic Kingdom and the whole vibe of the Contemporary, so when the CM said there was availability, I was like "meh, might as well book it! I'll probably cancel, but might as well". So I booked it, and realized that with all the overtime I was doing at work, I maybe could cover the cost just with overtime! So I started socking money away, and realized that I probably would be able to fully cover it...woohoo! And as I was socking money away I realized that this year was our 10 year anniversary, so might as well turn this into a 10th anniversary trip.

Our anniversary is in March (March 15th to be exact...the Ides of March! Fun fact - our wedding colors were red and white and we didn't realize that our wedding day was the Ides of March when we picked colors but we were definitely secretly pleased with the whole stabby theme...

anyways!), but we this was close enough.

So by February, I'd saved enough money just from overtime to cover the hotel, and we were actively starting to plan out things to do, and in March booked our dining reservations... Honestly, my family life has been super dramatic since January with my parents divorcing rather suddenly and unexpectedly (like literally my dad called and told me the *day* we got home from our January trip), plus some significant health concerns with my mom, so I was MORE than ready for a break.

So, mid April, I was looking at plans, and flights, and realized that maybe we should fly in Friday night, instead of Saturday afternoon. We were scheduled to land at about 3 pm, and I was like "meh that's kind of late" (and the early morning flights are generally out of the question now that we're old and bougie

), and when I looked at Southwest flights it was cheaper to fly in late on Friday...hmm. And then I was looking at hotel rooms and they had a room at FQ available (not on discount though), and Trevor and I love French Quarter - we stayed there our first trip and really loved it. Now we like deluxes 'cause we're bougie, but FQ is still a favorite, so Trevor was like "sure, let's do it!" especially cause that meant 1. we'd have the WHOLE day on Saturday, which we had only just really connected that it was Star Wars day (May the 4th) and 2. we could have beignets for breakfast and take the boat down to Disney Springs for the May the 4th stuff at Disney Springs. Brilliant! So I booked it. I did get a bit lucky later by finding a king bed room available at a discount at FQ. I even managed to snag a last minute park pass for Hollywood Studios for May the 4th, after they were all gone by the time I decided to change our flights.

So yea! We were excited and ready for a break!

(Also, I am going to apologize in advance - I got burned by the whole imgur pictures not embedding thing, so now I just embed my pictures directly in the posts, but there's a limit of 10 and if you are at all familiar with any of my previous trip reports, I include a LOT of photos. a LOT. So there will be a LOT of posts...sorry!)

Araminta18 · Aug 4, 2024

cassidy57 · Aug 4, 2024

I am so happy you are writing another report. I really enjoy reading about your trips!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Araminta18 · Aug 4, 2024

Departure Day! - Friday, May 3, 2024 (part 1)

The day dawned bright and early with us heading to work like normal.

Gross. I did snap a picture of our Up countdown thing:

0 days! yay!

I literally have *no* memory of work that day. I assume it was a normal crazy work day, but at the end, we were heading to Disney! So we rushed home, grabbed all our stuff - I made a last minute decision to bring a new bag I'd bought to use as a park bag for a few days:

Isn't it gorgeous? Love it.

Our flight was at 7:45, so we hopped in an uber a few minutes after 5 pm, and arrived at DCA at exactly 5:45 pm. Right on time! We were slightly concerned about security, because Trevor had decided to bring his lightsaber with him as a carryon, and while I know MCO security knows all about lightsabers, we weren't entirely sure how DCA security would take it. They were a bit confused, but it went through with no problem! Shout out again to TSA precheck (seriously one of the best purchases we've EVER made) - we got to the airport at 5:45, checked our bags, went through security, and were SITTING AT OUR GATE at 6 pm.

Amazing.

The gate was super crowded because we were in the older DCA terminal which isn't super big, and the gate next to us was boarding, so the overflow had spilled into our area. You could tell it was tour group season in DC though - the entire gate area was just filled with middle-school tour groups. Spring in DC - not my favorite!

So I decided to ditch Trevor and go get us a sandwich. We'd been talking and realized that by the time we got to the hotel the quick service would likely be closed, and so we were thinking about what to actually do for dinner, and I realized that one of my favorite horrible fastfood restaurants that has no locations near us does have locations in Florida: Del Taco! So we decided we'd ubereats some Del Taco once we landed. I was excited.

But we were also a little hungry right now and so we decided to get a sandwich to split - the food options in this terminal aren't great, so it was the best of the lot.

It was ok - waaaay too much mayo and horseradish, and a bit bland, but fine to hold us over. And you know, airport prices. *sigh*

But eventually we were boarding - we usually try and get exit row on Southwest, but even though we had group A, the exit rows were taken, so we grabbed a window and middle seat near the front of the plane.

Trevor is a saint for taking the middle seat. I liked that it was a slightly newer/larger plane, because that meant the seat belts were a bit longer and so it fit me a bit better (I'm back to trying to lose weight so I can fit on coasters at Universal in November, but in May I was still right on the edge of needing a seat belt extender, so always nice to have a bigger plane and not need the extender).

We also got the notification that our bags were loaded onto the plane, which is always nice to get.

The flight was pretty uneventful and we landed about 10 minutes early (I have a picture of Trevor walking off the plane at 10 am exactly). We got our bags, and by 10:30 we were outside waiting for our uber ride. It was warm and a bit humid, but not horrible - kind of pleasant! Though Trevor was like "it's the middle of the night, it should be colder!"

We hopped in our uber and placed our ubereats Del Taco order while we were in the car - it was supposed to arrive no later than 11:15, which was perfect. At 11 pm, we were passing under the Disney World sign!

The best picture that I got...*shrugs*

We got to the resort right before 11 pm, and what did we do first? Have Trevor run into Sassagoula Floatworks to buy the resort mug! We never get the mugs, but because the bulk of this trip would be at the Contemporary, where the quick service/mug refill would be just downstairs, we decided to get one. So Trevor managed to get the mug right before they closed - phew!

I went and checked us in - we'd actually done the online checkin to get our room number, but I needed to stop by the front desk. I'd booked the room originally with a Disney gift card, and then when I changed room categories to be slightly cheaper, they said they'd refund me to the gift card but the gift card I used I'd fully re-filled (since Disney gift cards can only hold up to $1000) so I needed to talk to them about what to do. It was a whole thing and the CM was super nice but they weren't sure how to handle it. So I just said I'd check back in the morning.

We were hoping that by the time that was done the ubereats order would have arrived, but the driver was still at the Del Taco restaurant.

We were hungry! Oh well. We decided to head to our room and explore it in the meantime, and then Trevor would head back to the lobby to meet the driver.

French Quarter is such a lovely resort - we love it. I loved walking through with our suitcases and smelling the honeysuckle so strong as you pass the honeysuckle buses. It ended up being a bit longer of a walk than we realized - we were LITERALLY at the absolute farthest room possible. LOL

Building 7, 3rd floor, on that far corner where the arrow is pointing. I guess theoretically the corner closer to the river is slightly further from the lobby but still.

But the room was gorgeous! It was a corner room so we had two windows, which was nice.

I loved the bathroom too -

Especially that adorable, subtle shower curtain! So cute.

Araminta18 · Aug 4, 2024

Food! (Finally!) - Friday May 3, 2024 (part 2)

Pretty beds.

On the tv there was this cute little touch:

aw

And then a "hidden" mickey!

Trevor then headed back to the lobby and I unpacked a little bit, then decided to join him, as the food still hadn't arrived.

Pretty lobby though!

The driver eventually came at 11:50 pm - 35 minutes later. Blargh. At that point we'd almost stopped being hungry! Not sure what happened but definitely not a great first experience with UberEats for me.

The food was still good - would have been better warmer, but what can you do.

I get the chicken soft tacos, and Trevor got a burrito:

He didn't finish it though. Oh well

We finished and fell into bed, excited to be at Disney! Tomorrow...May the 4th!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 4802 steps (1.7 miles)
Ride count: 0 (unless you count the Fake-o-Rail at MCO?)
Savings due to AP discount: $0.00

Araminta18 · Aug 4, 2024

cassidy57 said:
I am so happy you are writing another report. I really enjoy reading about your trips!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aw, thank you!! I appreciate it

Hope you enjoy this one too...so many pictures, apologies in advance!!

Paulaparm · Aug 4, 2024

Yay!! Happy to be reading another one of your trip reports!
Never too many pictures…or Gideon’s cookies

DLo · Aug 4, 2024

Woo hoo another TR! Looking forward to reading more about your magical adventures.

suse66 · Aug 5, 2024

Joining in!

dizneedoll · Aug 5, 2024

Finally jumping in at the start of a Tiffany and Trevor trip report (TTTR?). I love all the pictures so don’t apologize!

ksinniger · Aug 5, 2024

I'm so excited to see another trip report started from you! As a fellow Federal employee who also flies out of DCA when travelling to Disney (at least, when I don't just jump in the car and drive), I can picture so much of your travel days even without photos!

I long to have trips like your FARTS trip -- someday, when I eventually retire to Orlando and can run to the parks any day I want!

Looking forward to your report from teh Contemporary - that's my DVC home!

disneyAndi14 · Aug 5, 2024

I’m joining in. I enjoy following along on your reports and I love all the pictures, don’t apologize!!

Araminta18 · Aug 5, 2024

Paulaparm said:
Yay!! Happy to be reading another one of your trip reports!
Never too many pictures…or Gideon’s cookies

Thanks for joining! I can neither confirm nor deny there were Gideon's runs...

DLo said:
Woo hoo another TR! Looking forward to reading more about your magical adventures.

Thanks for joining!!

suse66 said:
Joining in!

Thanks for joining!!

dizneedoll said:
Finally jumping in at the start of a Tiffany and Trevor trip report (TTTR?). I love all the pictures so don’t apologize!

Thanks for joining!! Glad you enjoy the pictures - makes me feel a little bit better about all of them!

ksinniger said:
I'm so excited to see another trip report started from you! As a fellow Federal employee who also flies out of DCA when travelling to Disney (at least, when I don't just jump in the car and drive), I can picture so much of your travel days even without photos!

I long to have trips like your FARTS trip -- someday, when I eventually retire to Orlando and can run to the parks any day I want!

Looking forward to your report from teh Contemporary - that's my DVC home!

Thanks for joining! And howdy fellow fed!! We've never actually driven from DC down to Disney - how is that? Maybe we'll have to consider it sometime!

also spoiler alert we loved the Contemporary - you picked an awesome home resort!

disneyAndi14 said:
I’m joining in. I enjoy following along on your reports and I love all the pictures, don’t apologize!!

Thanks for joining!! and glad you like the photos, I just always feel like there are so many posts cause of them!

ksinniger · Aug 6, 2024

Araminta18 said:
We've never actually driven from DC down to Disney - how is that?

It's not bad, usually around 14 hours total. I'm just south of the Beltway, so I usually leave at an obscene hour in the morning and am in Georgia by lunchtime. There's a nice little area called Jekyll Island not too far off of 95 where you can grab a bite to eat and a nice walk on the beach before driving the home stretch of Florida. It's also where we would stop for an overnight when the kids were little. But now that they're teens and can help with the drive, we don't stop.

Coming home is the worst, though, because you get to Fredericksburg and know you're so close, but we always hit traffic.

VAtink · Aug 6, 2024

Joining in! Can't wait to read about the Contemporary, we'll be staying there for the first time next month!

kclark9830 · Aug 7, 2024

Yay! A new TR! Now I should go finish the other one...

Araminta18 · Aug 10, 2024

ksinniger said:
It's not bad, usually around 14 hours total. I'm just south of the Beltway, so I usually leave at an obscene hour in the morning and am in Georgia by lunchtime. There's a nice little area called Jekyll Island not too far off of 95 where you can grab a bite to eat and a nice walk on the beach before driving the home stretch of Florida. It's also where we would stop for an overnight when the kids were little. But now that they're teens and can help with the drive, we don't stop.

Coming home is the worst, though, because you get to Fredericksburg and know you're so close, but we always hit traffic.

Yea that drive down doesn't sound bad, but man do I empathize with you on the traffic coming back. We go down to Williamsburg a couple times a year and yea Fredericksburg. Woof.

VAtink said:
Joining in! Can't wait to read about the Contemporary, we'll be staying there for the first time next month!

thanks for reading! I hope you have an awesome time at the Contemporary - we really enjoyed it (spoiler

)

kclark9830 said:
Yay! A new TR! Now I should go finish the other one...

Thanks for reading! LOL

DVCjj · Aug 10, 2024

LOVE reading all your reports and get excited when I see you did a new one. Sorry if I haven't mentioned before. Love that you go so often. I only do about 3 main trips a year plus while snowbirding in Cocoa Beach for 3-1/2 months we do either go back & forth (55 min if I4 cooperates) or stay on site if I have points left.

Adult DD and I were there during your last Disney trip and you guys were walking in front of us. I think it was in Epcot and I almost said hello but didn't want to bother you. My husband: "Don't bother them". Anyway, it was fun seeing someone from the Trip reports. I'm sure we all had a great time there.

erinch · Aug 10, 2024

Joining in! Love your report and every picture!
Have you ever looked into the auto train?
We live in Lancaster PA and it is the only way we travel down. You board in Lorton, leave at 5 and the next morning you are in Sanford.

buteraa · Aug 10, 2024

Love your trip reports, and my husband and I started flying out Friday after work a couple of years ago. It's so nice to just wake up at Disney and start your vacation.

COMPLETE 9/29 -10th Anniversary at the Contemporary! - May 2024 TR

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