Disneyland Fans WDW Deluxe Dining Marathon 2013

[Plaid Princess]

Hi everybody!

So, in honor of my first real Disney Parks vacation, I figured I'd follow it up with my first Trip Report!

The Details:

Dates: April 3-8, 2013
Resort: Saratoga Springs, Deluxe Dining Plan
Planning to concur the 4 Disney parks, Typhoon Lagoon, and Islands of Adventure.

The Players

Plaid Princess: Me! I'm a recovering WDW CM and current flight student. I've spent thousands of days in Disney parks and stayed in all the resorts, but I've never actually gone for a real vacation with no work involved!

My Hubby: Current Artist for Disney, and a big goofball.

BFF #1: A restaurant manager and first time WDW visitor.

BFF #2: Publicist, Celebrity Wrangler, and Birthday Boy.

BFF #3: Hospitality Manager, Stitch Lover, and keeper of Energy Drinks.

BFF #4: Radio Producer and Group Photographer.

We're all from the LA area, and are frequent Disneyland visitors. You can find us there about once a week. When we're not at Disney, you can find us enjoying the sights and sounds of LA and San Diego. We're all big geeks and consider each other family. Having these people in my life is a huge blessing, as my immediate family is scattered all over the world.



So on to the Trip! (I'll be adding pictures in later... I'm still going through them)

 

[Plaid Princess]

Day 1
LAX to MCO... Overnight. Are we crazy???

Day 2
Our dining plan went where?

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

 

[Plaid Princess]

So we started out our trip in Huntington Beach, CA, where most of us live. Our flight was at 22:30 (or 10:30pm for those who don't speak Disney time), so we were planning to leave around 19:00 and get some dinner on the way to the airport.

We actually left on time, loaded into 2 cars and agreed to meet at In-n-Out for one last Cali food fix before we headed to the East Coast.

After our super healthy burgers (and grilled cheese for me) and Animal Style fries, we loaded up and hit the freeway.

We had planned to park offsite to save some cash, and decided on Fox Car Parking. They were spectacularly cheap ($30 for 6 days) and had decent reviews online.

We arrived at Fox at about 20:00, and dropped off the keys at the desk. They gave us receipts to pick up the cars, and explained how to call for a shuttle when we returned. We waited about 5 minutes for a shuttle and were on our way. The shuttle driver was a bit reckless, and we seemed to be flying around the bus; we were so excited we didn't mind.

Once we got to LAX, we checked our bags and headed for security. Everywhere we went, we seemed to be lucking out and having the lines form behind us!

We were getting our seats assigned at the airport, as we booked this trip last minute, so we headed for the gate. I was pretty stressed about the situation, as I usually am very particular about seats. Hubby is 6'8" and I'm 6'3", so having a seat with legroom is a must, not a luxury. Fortunately, the airline gods were smiling down on us, as we got lucky and were all seated in Exit Row.

We grabbed some snacks and some Dream Water and boarded the plane.

 

[Plaid Princess]

We arrived in MCO about 06:00. I wish I could say I slept on the flight, but I only managed about 30 minutes when we hit some turbulence right before landing.

Once we'd collected our luggage, we headed for Magical Express. Since it was so early, there were buses waiting. We hopped on one, and there was only one other family. As soon as we were loaded, the bus pulled out and headed for Disney.

There was much squealing from our first timer as the WDW video started. I'm sure we severely annoyed the other family with our excitement.

We were lucky to be the first family dropped off (bus driver was annoyed by our excitement too? ). We stepped off the bus at Saratoga Springs to the smell of bacon cooking. I don't know how those bellboys work all morning with the tasty smell. And I don't even eat bacon.

We headed to the Check In desk, and happily there was a 2 bedroom villa ready to go! We couldn't believe our luck, and looked forward to a shower before our day in the parks! Unfortunately, there was a problem with our dining plan. Our original reservation was for Bay Lake Tower, but they were oversold, so we got bumped to Saratoga. When they moved our reservation over, our DDP got lost in the system somewhere.

By the time we figured out what had happened, we were too late to catch a bus to our breakfast at Ohana. The CM's at Saratoga never missed a beat and arranged a van to rush us to the Polynesian. They advised us to charge the breakfast to our room, and they would reverse the charges once they sorted out our dining plan. We quickly stashed our luggage at bell services and hopped in the van.