Famous Last Words: "You muppet, it won't be busy today!" - October 2013! *NEW 24/6 p5

[meridascurls]

Come one! Come all! Welcome to my first ever TR on the DIS!
14 days of pictures, pins and pixie dust. And of course, DISNEY FOOD.

Hi! My name is Lynsey.

Adventurer, traveller, photographer, and Port Orleans princess.
I am your host, your ghost host, for this report.
Some of you may also know me as @disneysaur on Instagram. (If not, come follow me!)
I am obsessed with everything Disney and in particular Walt Disney World. It truly is the most magical place on earth and so full of happiness and joy. I love all the Disney details and little frumpy things such as Disney hot chocolate, the monorail, chicken alfredo, the Soarin' orange groves, and Stacey.
I also consumed a lot of slushees/frozen drinks on this trip. I have a slight obsession.

I’ve been waiting so long to be able to share this with the DISboards so I hope everyone enjoys it!

A little bit about me:
Favourite park: Animal Kingdom
Favourite attractions: Expedition Everest, Soarin’, Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania
Favourite park music: Celebrate a Dream Come True parade, IllumiNations full soundtrack, Main Street Electrical Parade, Soarin’
Favourite film music: Tale As Old As Time, Busa, He Lives In You, Touch The Sky
Favourite films: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Monsters Inc., Brave
Favourite character: Belle, Stitch
Favourite resort: Port Orleans French Quarter (my home resort )
Favourite place to eat: Be Our Guest

And now... the five Ws of trip reports!
What? A 14-night trip to WDW with UK park hopper passes and the Quick Service Dining Plan, as well as 14-day passes to Busch Gardens and Seaworld and day tickets for Legoland
Who? Me, my brother and my parents
When? October 12-26th 2013 (the 'October holidays' in Scotland)
Where? Coronado Springs resort
Why? Because we needed to go back!

One more thing... I tweeted and Instagrammed a lot during this trip so any tweets will be posted in this font and I’ll also be posting Instagram shots/captions.

So, what are we waiting for?
Let the trip report begin! >>>
​

 

[meridascurls]

Table of Contents

Real-life Updates
#1: I'm going to Africa!

Pre-trip Preparations
Part 1: In which I generally complain
Part 2: Hitting the Highlands
Part 3: The final countdown

Friday, October 11th
Chapter 1: We fly...

Saturday, October 12th
Chapter 2: It's Disney Day!

Sunday, October 13th
Chapter 3: Hooray for Hollywood!
Chapter 4: "Bean? Bunny? Has anyone seen a bunny?"
Chapter 5: A Fantasmic night

Monday, October 14th
Chapter 6: Magic Kingdom morning
Chapter 7: A visit to my mansion
Chapter 8: Dolewhip o'clock
Chapter 9: A game of 'Where's Dad?'

Tuesday, October 15th
Chapter 10: ...YETI!
Chapter 11: Flights of Wonder, fastpasses, Flame Tree, and new friends
Chapter 12: In which I get engaged... to a primate...
Chapter 13: Jammin' in the big blue world
Chapter 14: Sandwiches and spending all my money

Wednesday, October 16th
Chapter 15: Surf's up!
Chapter 16: Aloha Poly!
Chapter 17: A magical night

Thursday, October 17th
Chapter 18: An EPCOT morning
Chapter 19: Smelling all The Land
Chapter 20: This princess heads HOME
Chapter 21: Spaceship Earth and Sunshine Seasons
Chapter 22: Oh meyla weyla

Friday, October 18th
Chapter 23: Busch Gardens
Chapter 24: An entire chapter dedicated to Gwazi
Chapter 25: In which my slushee obsession reaches an all-time high

Saturday, October 19th
Chapter 26: Morning at Legoland
Chapter 27: More time at Legoland
Chapter 28: Downtown Disney

Sunday, October 20th
Chapter 29: Storming along at Blizzard Beach
Chapter 30: An evening on the track featuring golf and slushees

Monday, October 21st
Chapter 31: Back to SeaWorld
Chapter 32: One people, one planet, one ocean
Chapter 33: Jambo from Jambo House​

 

[meridascurls]

Pre-trip Preparations Part 1: In which I generally complain

I’ve always found pre-trip reports fairly interesting and some stuff happened which is pretty relevant so I decided to include my own!

Three weeks before we left for Florida my boss at work went on holiday. So I was working 6 nights a week, for 3 ½ hours, on top of going to school and ridiculous amounts of homework. The man in covering my boss also managed to burn me (I work with hot fat) the first night of her holidays. It is one of the worst burns I’ve had from work and I’ve been there over a year now. What was more annoying was that it wasn’t even my fault.

the next three weeks is going to be the longest three weeks of my life

6 straight nights of work is taking its toll on me

I was just constantly tired and had zero time for myself.

fell asleep in maths.. again

‘tired’ has become part of my personality description

pretty sure we’re going to get a maths test before the holidays too wow as if I don’t have enough on my plate

Is it obvious I really don’t like maths?

During this time however, I received my beautiful Disney bows from MickeyWaffles on Etsy! I got Peter Pan; and Donald, Cinderella castle, monorail, Buzz Lightyear and AK minis!

Thankfully my boss came back just over a week before I left for the US. I was still struggling to balance my life though.

I wish I’d done my persuasive essay on ‘no sleeping in disney’ rather than the royal family because I probably would have been done by now

expected to write 3 english essays for next week and do some creative writing rubbish on top of that, lol don’t think so

so much to do so little time

In amongst this there was some celebration, however: SINGLE DIGIT DANCE

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Pre-trip Preparations Part 2: Hitting the Highlands
Saturday 5 October / Sunday 6 October / Monday 7 October

should probably finish packing for tomorrow but e f f o r t

The weekend before our trip I had to go to the Cairngorm mountains on a ‘training weekend’ with a group from school to train for going trekking in Africa this summer.

this weekend couldn’t have come at a worse time

there is a million other things I could have been doing rather than wandering around the cairngorms

We set off on Saturday morning on the 3-hour drive to the middle of nowhere. When we got there, we spent about an hour meeting our leader for the weekend. His name was Ian (“IAAAN!”). We also divided up the team kit such as tents, our little cooking stoves, ropes, etc. It was so difficult to find room for everything. We had already divided up our food for 3 days between the 17 of us so finding room for that plus the extra kit proved a bit of a challenge. Seriously, our can of firelighter was just dangling off of a rucksack. One loaf of bread was squished into someone’s rucksack for the bus journey and came out compressed, curled and with holes through. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

We eventually managed to set off and walked for about 3 hours. Although I would rather have been at home for the weekend, the Cairngorms really are beautiful and the weather was mostly holding out for us.

We decided to spend the night on this lovely beach. It proved to be a silly idea however. It is difficult to first of all get tent pegs into the ground let alone getting them to stay in place, strong enough to hold the tent down. Also we somehow ended up pitching up on a slight hill which was pretty funny.

I can’t even remember what we had for tea apart from the Beanfeast.

Beanfeast is that pale thing in the front right of the photo. It is some kind of protein substitute and is one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. It tastes like tree. I had three mouthfuls and felt sick. I can’t believe I practically have to survive off this in the summer.

Morning came and we set off on our main trek. The views from the top of the hill we climbed were lovely.

But of course we then had to get down. And this is probably the most relevant part of this entire pre-trip report. You can’t tell from the photos but the wind had turned crazy and was pretty powerful. I had over 60 litres of weight in a rucksack on my back that is like half the size of me. The path down was also really steep. All the weight and pressure on my knees as well as trying not to actually be blown off the hillside caused some painful damage to them. I could feel them getting sorer and sorer as I was climbing down but they seemed fine when I reached the bottom so I kept going with the team heading back to base.

I woke up on Monday morning (still in the Cairngorms) and they were quite painful. Packing up everything in the rain, getting my phone back, eating some genuinely nice food, and finally heading home sort of took my mind off it though.

getting fed tomato soup when I’m supposed to be in maths >

Also... I knew we were heading to Disney THIS WEEK!

after all the disgusting food I have eaten this weekend I cannot wait to eat disney food in FIVE DAYS

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Pre-trip Preparations Part 3: The Final Countdown
Monday 7 October - Friday 11 October

We arrived back at school about an hour before school actually finished (I did not have to go back to English class thankfully ). Some of my friends were in the canteen for some reason so I told them about the weekend, let them try some of my filtered chlorinated water taken from a stream in the Cairngorms, and attempted to revise for a Chemistry test I had the following day which I needed to pass and had not done any revision for previously.

I was so tired considering I’d just spent the weekend in a tent on the ground and the lack of sleep I’d had for weeks before that due to work.

just want to go to sleep and not wake up till friday

My knees were getting pretty sore at this point so my mum picked me up and we got some support grips from the chemist.

my knees have kind of given up on me

On Tuesday I sat my Chemistry test and passed and then had to go to work again in the evening.

my knees get sore after standing for like an hour at work, this seems promising ((

I was hoping they’d feel better by Friday at least but maybe not

And then of course I decided to participate in badminton during our sports class on Wednesday, landed funny whilst attempting to return a shot, and hurt my right knee further. Great.

really don’t want to go to school tomorrow because I’ll probably end up with 5 million bits of homework for the first day back

Finally Thursday arrived, the last day of school before the October holidays started. I was in double maths first thing and then came the cherry on top of the disastrous cake my life had become for the past three weeks:
just got given 50 pages of maths homework to do over the holidays lol no chance

I just sat and laughed because there was absolutely no way that was getting done.

there’s no time for sleeping in Disney let alone doing maths homework

(I ended up not doing any of the homework along with the majority of my class. My teacher never even asked for it in to mark anyway after our fortnight off.)

I put in one last shift at work (thankfully only two hours) before my holidays started there too. I took a mixed blue raspberry and strawberry slushee with me as I left. This definitely counts as slushee #1 of the trip.

I got home and it was time to start the mammoth task that was my Disney nails.

I didn’t actually finish them until about half an hour before we headed to the airport on Friday. I must have spent about 3-4 hours on them or something crazy like that.

Left to right: Spaceship Earth, monorail red, Nemo, the enchanted rose, and Sully.

Left to right: Tangled, Wishes, the Hollywood Tower Hotel logo, Mike Wazowski, and the Cheshire Cat.

But finally it was time to start the journey to Florida!

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter One: We fly...
Friday 11 October

We started our journey to America on Friday 11th October. Unfortunately I woke up in a lot of pain this morning.

knees are in so much pain today grr why did the cairngorms have to be last weekend

I spent a lot of time finishing up my Disney nails. Here they are if you missed out on my pre-trip report:

Finally half past 5 came and it was time to set off to our local airport to fly to London. The drive only took 30 minutes or so, and we parked up at the airpark and were driven down right to the front of the airport.

Once inside, we had trouble finding the check in desk for our flight, even though they are literally just through the front door of the airport and there is only like 10 of them (it is a really small, albeit still an ‘international’, airport). Unfortunately we stood about for ages trying to figure out which desk we needed and ended up having to join a very long check-in queue. In total we stood for around 25 minutes, after which my knees were in agony. Walking was becoming very painful. We headed through security (more lines!) and finally sat down in the little restaurant for some food an hour before our flight was due to begin boarding. This is when my dad first noticed my heavy limping. He was actually considering finding a wheelchair for me. Both my parents also had a very serious discussion about hiring out a wheelchair in Disney if they didn’t start to feel better. Things were not looking good.

It took nearly an hour for us to have our food served; we literally only got it five minutes before boarding was supposed to start. Thankfully the boarding area is very small and the gates were just down some stairs from the restaurant. I had BBQ chicken wings which were actually quite nice after waiting so long for them. We all wolfed down our meals and headed down to sit near the gate ready to board. It turned out we actually could have taken our time eating as the staff seemed in no hurry to let us on to the plane. Several years ago, we suffered a 22-hour delay for a flight and since then I’ve always been wary of flights not taking off on time, and I was worried we would miss this one.

safe to say our flight won’t be taking off on time

The flight was scheduled to take off about half past 8, but it was exactly 20:52 when I tweeted:
goodbye scotland!

There were a lot of families on our flight, no doubt also catching one of the flights to Florida in the morning, with a lot of bags and this meant extra holds had to be opened on the plane which required paperwork to be completed and that’s what caused our delay. I found it quite funny just because of how ridiculous it was.

I love flying at night.

The flight to London Gatwick took about one hour and we arrived at the North terminal. I collapsed on the floor of the baggage reclaim hall because of the pain in my knees. I was sitting there just taking everything in when I noticed my guidance teacher who had obviously been on the same flight as us. It’s fine though because even though she is supposed to ‘know and care about’ every pupil in her house, she doesn’t even know my name, so I was spared the embarrassment of her approaching me and asking what on earth I was doing on the floor.

After we collected our bags we had to get the Gatwick fakeorail over to the south terminal to check into the Hilton hotel. Thankfully it only took us like 10 minutes because I was very near crawling point.

staying at the gatwick hilton hotel and it’s super fancy

The hotel was really nice and our room was very spacious. I was so happy to get into bed that night. In around 3 hours it would finally be Disney day and I just couldn’t get my head around it.

Continued in next post >>>
​

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 2: It’s Disney Day!
Saturday 12 October

06:50, Saturday, October 12th, 2013. The day had FINALLY arrived.

I’ve kind of been waiting two years for today

#disneybound #disneyday #disneytime !!!

The pain in my knees felt so much better when I woke up which made me so happy. I couldn’t wait to check out of the hotel and check in for our flight to Disney!

There was one problem in the airport, however:
it’s always a disappointment when the moving walkways are switched off
What is the point in a moving walkway if it is not moving?!

We got through to the departure lounge and the departures board said there was a 15 minute delay on our flight. I think it was delayed coming from Las Vegas or something.

We spent some time shopping in the departure lounge. I bought a pen in the Harrods shop. The lady who was at the cash register said she liked my nails. She recognised either the rose or Finding Nemo and pointed them out, and was like, "the rest are just random, yeah?" She obviously didn't know they were Disney themed but it was nice having someone compliment them.

After some more time shopping in the departure lounge, we headed through to the gate. Our Virgin Atlantic plane was like a double decker which I thought was pretty cool as I've never been on one like that before.

At quarter past one the plane finally started moving!

GOODBYE UK

However, we had to taxi all the way to the very end of the runway to be able to build up enough speed to take off; the plane was enormous. At half past one we were finally up in the sky, out of the country and heading for America!

During the 9-hourish journey, I slept, watched Monsters University and also wrote an English essay which was actually due for two days previous. Oops.

The food was really good. We got a little bag of my favourite pretzels as a snack, and for lunch I had sausages and mash as well as a super nice banoffee cupcake.

Soon enough, we were flying in American airspace. Then we began our descent into MCO!

I've lived in Scotland all my life and there are hills just basically everywhere so the flatness of Florida really messes with my mind.

At half past 5 we finally touched down!

We had to join a long queue in the customs hall. But that was fine because part of the IllumiNations soundtrack was playing as music for like a ‘visit America’ advert or something. It was just so perfect and appropriate though.

the illuminations soundtrack was playing in the customs hall, I MEAN

My mum even said to me “this music sounds very Disney-ish”. I was just like, THAT’S BECAUSE IT IS!

We got the fakeorail over to the main terminal, eventually located the Virgin information desk, claimed our free Disney dollars, and headed out to wait for our transport straight to Coronado Springs. It was so lovely to be able to walk outside and feel the warmth.

Another family who were staying at AKL were also on the same taxi as us but we were the first to be dropped off. There was an absolutely beautiful sunset to welcome us to the Sunshine State. Our driver was playing sort of remixed classic Disney songs. And then we drove under the archway. It was perfect.

We arrived at Coronado Springs and headed into El Centro where my parents went to the registration desks and I was left to look after the bags. I nipped outside for a couple of seconds to get this shot. I was not missing out on the sunset!

This was also my first #livefromwdw Instagram post!

I just couldn’t believe we had finally arrived.

My parents came over and said our room was in the Ranchos section. Not ideal considering it is the furthest section from El Centro, my knees were still pretty sore, and it was also getting darker by the minute. We eventually managed to find building 7 and our room, number 7332. Seventh building, third floor, room 32!

We decided to head back to El Centro. It was time for DISNEY FOOD. Thus came our first experience with the Pepper Market. First of all, it was getting pretty late so there was loads of empty tables, but we still had to stand in line for ten minutes waiting for the servers to sort themselves out and get us to a table. Not fun when you are in pain.

Once actually seated, I went to check out the food on offer. At first I could not find what I was looking for at all. But then my mum pointed out the cooking station which I’d missed in my hurry: the pasta station. Chicken alfredo was back in my life. This is the second thing I did not get about Pepper Market. Why do they have the live cooking stations? Why can't they just have some ready made and waiting? I'm so glad I was never there when it was super busy. That place must be a disaster. Unfortunately, they were also out of hot chocolate (alfredo and hot chocolate are the perfect match), so I had to have Fanta instead. I also had a cookie as our dining plan included deserts which I saved for breakfast.

We finished up, left like $3 for our waitress (we were so not taken in by the whole tipping thing at Pepper Market. We just did not see the point). At Cafe Rix we all got refillable mugs as they are also part of the dining plan. I only used mine a couple of times anyway thanks to my next discovery: there was no hot chocolate at the refillable mug station. If there is anything I love in this world, it is Disney hot chocolate. I was so disappointed.

there just doesn’t seem to be hot chocolate anywhere in this resort... disappointed

Afterwards, we made our way back to the room. We had our first park to look forward to in the morning!

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 3: Hooray for Hollywood!
Sunday 13 October

I woke up at ten to seven this morning and got ready for our first park: Hollywood Studios! I chose to wear my Buzz Lightyear bow. Thankfully the pain in my knees had almost completely gone. I’m sure it was a combination of a long haul flight, a good night’s sleep and Disney magic, of course.

We decided this trip only to hire a car for a week and rely on Disney buses otherwise. We arrived at Hollywood Studios before 9am but missed rope drop which also meant we missed the dash for Toy Story Midway Mania.

missed the toy story mania mad dash, oops

I did have time to snap a few pictures on the way though!

Hooray for Hollywood!

We made it to TSM and joined the line with only a 45 minute wait.

I forgot just how much fun it is. I love it.

Toy Story Mania remains one of my all time favourite attractions.

Next we backtracked to the Great Movie Ride. Such a classic.

Then it was time for Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. The last time we saw this, the set for the first part actually broke on the transition between that scene and the street scene so we only saw like half of the show and my expectations weren’t very high. It was alright but not really my thing. It was more my parents who wanted to see it as they hadn’t since the 90s.

Thankfully everything worked okay this time and after the show we went to Hollywood Boulevard where some characters were out.

My dad got us Star Tours fastpasses while we were waiting so we decided to get some lunch at the ABC Commissary.

I had the chicken club sandwich and THIS beautiful thing:

just ate this and I’m not sure if I can function rn

It was carrot cake which was really fresh with orange icing. I loved it.

We then had to use our Star Tours fastpasses. I swear we got the same ride sequence as the last time we rode. And I was not the rebel spy.

Then it was finally time to pay a visit to Sunset Boulevard!

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 4: “Bean! Bunny! Has anyone seen a bunny?”
Sunday 13 October

But not without first passing by this:

walt stroller world

And getting some pictures with the Incredibles!

Then it was on to Sunset Boulevard where I had to be content with photographing my favourite hotel till later.

We were actually there to see Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage! I loved it, as usual.

We came out of the theatre and it was so hot. I had to say goodbye to my tower for now. We went to the Streets of America for a while for some reason, then went back over to use our fastpasses for Tower of Terror, but not without a little shopping first. I spotted glittery Minnie Mouse ears in Keystone Clothiers and I had to go in and buy them. I have always wanted a pair but never seen them anywhere. My mum also bought the most perfect Haunted Mansion coasters in The Beverley Sunset. There are 4 hexagon shaped coasters featuring the wording from Master Gracey's, Madame Leota's, Fred and Dave's gravestones. I am very much in love with them.

It was finally time to drop in. “You unlock this door with the key of imagination...”

The height of elegance and glamour.

I loved it as usual. I can’t believe I had to force myself onto this on our first Disney trip. And one of the CMs came up behind me and said she loved my bow.

I am far too much in love with the tower of terror

Me and dad rode Rockin’ Rollercoaster straight afterwards. We chose to go single rider but got stuck behind this big group of 30 cheerleaders/students/whatever which kinda sucked.

Dad decided we were going to watch the last showing of Lights, Motors, Action!, which meant I had to trail along too. Before the show started, me and mum both got frozen lemonades. Slushee #2. However, I have zero interest in cars so the show gets kind of boring after a while. Also, the benches don’t have backs to them which is super uncomfy and my legs were all squished up which hurt my knees.

He obviously thought it hilarious to then get me a LMA pin for Christmas.

The show finished and we escaped through the crowds. Our next stop was MuppetVision 3D! I love this show, it’s so silly. Statler and Waldorf make me laugh so much. My favourite lines in the show are "Bean? Bunny? Anyone seen a bunny?" and "a salute to all nations, but mostly America". It’s also where part of the name of this TR comes from. After the show my brother started acting even more stupid than normal so my dad was like “oh you muppet go and join your friends in the muppet studio” etc and so basically for the rest of the trip he just kept referring to my brother as a muppet which was pretty funny. I also showed my family the key under the mat. My mum thought it was quite cool but my brother just told me to stop touching things I wasn’t allowed to and hurry up.

A salute to all nations, but mostly America.

Pizza Planet is right outside the theatre so of course we decided to have tea there! I had the meat lover’s pizza and a cookie. And it’s also where I finally got my first Disney hot chocolate of the trip and it was amazing.

I finally got some disney hot chocolate tonight and it was just asdfghjkl

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[I_Luv_Stitch]

Joining in, loving the updates so far
What nice food you had on the plane! I normally find their food not that pleasant!
Love your nails
Good luck with your trek in Africa must be soon?!
Your photos of the Beauty and the Beast show are just lovely, all your photos are really good
Can't wait to read more

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 5: A Fantasmic Night
Sunday 13 October

It was getting quite late so we just walked slowly round through Pixar Place where I met the Green Army Man.

We decided to try the new Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It was pretty random. I'm sure Disney could have come up with something more imaginative to fill the space.

We kept walking slowly back round to Sunset Boulevard for the 9pm showing of Fantasmic. I forgot how long the walk is into the theatre! But I loved how I knew the music for it pretty well. I have a lot of Disney parks music on my iPod and I wasn’t sure if it would make me enjoy the parks more or less. Thankfully, I loved knowing a lot of the bgm and such. It definitely made my experience more fun!

And the obligatory Fantasmic tweet:
dat disney water smell

Day 1 roundup
Weather: Blue skies and sunshine!
Favourite attraction: Tower of Terror
Favourite food/drink: The Minnie Halloween cupcake and hot chocolate
High point: Being back in Disney!
Low point: Lights, Motors, Action

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[meridascurls]

Joining in, loving the updates so far
What nice food you had on the plane! I normally find their food not that pleasant!
Love your nails
Good luck with your trek in Africa must be soon?!
Your photos of the Beauty and the Beast show are just lovely, all your photos are really good
Can't wait to read more

Yay! Thanks for tagging along!
I head to Africa in 84 days and everything has thankfully been going OK!
I'm glad you like my pictures.

 

[hopex]

Thank you for the updates so far, I'm so excited to go in July! I love all your photos as well, I just wondered what camera do you use?

 

[meridascurls]

Thank you for the updates so far, I'm so excited to go in July! I love all your photos as well, I just wondered what camera do you use?

Thanks! I'm so jealous, I hope you have a wonderful trip! I use my Fujifilm Finepix HS20 and also my iPhone for some shots.

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 6: Magic Kingdom Morning
Monday 14 October

We were up bright and early ready for a day in the most magical of kingdoms!

We caught the bus and arrived in plenty of time to catch the welcome show. The WDW Railroad was closed for refurb on this day so there was no Casey Jr segment when the characters ride in on the train, which is my favourite part. I was a little disappointed but the show was still wonderful!

Walking on to Main Street and seeing the castle was pretty emotional. I’d been waiting for this day for months. I still couldn’t believe we were actually here!

Our first stop of the day was Tomorrowland and Space Mountain.

Gateway to the galaxy.

We moved onto ‘old’ Fantasyland next, and rode the teacups before meeting with Alice and the White Rabbit. They were busy admiring the flowers when I first walked up to them and the White Rabbit picked me a “caterpillar flower”.

We rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh next, and then I couldn’t wait any longer. We walked through the castle walls and into New Fantasyland. We checked out Belle’s village first. Beauty and the Beast is my favourite film so I just loved it. So much attention to detail.

It was finally time. Be Our Guest was calling my name.

We decided to have an early lunch and joined the line before it had even opened. We waited probably around half an hour before we were admitted into the Beast’s castle to order our food. I chose the carved turkey sandwich with fries and The Master’s Cupcake for dessert. I was desperate to try the grey stuff!

We walked through into the ballroom and oh my dayyyys.

be our guest. that is all.

A table for four was free just through the entrance so we decided to eat there. I checked out the rest of the rooms while we waited for our food to arrive. Everything was just so perfect and I am still not over it.

The food was amazing. The grey stuff was so sweet and delicious. Be Our Guest is now my absolute favourite place to eat. I was sad when I had to leave the coolness of the castle and head back into the Florida heat.

Continued in next post >>>​

 

[amberg93]

Joining in because I like TRs from people who have to travel a long ways to Disney

I've never been through customs in Orlando (which you're probably like, duh, it says you're American) but I'm actually going to be a Canadian and usually have flown from Montreal to Orlando but we have customs before we leave Canada which is weird but useful. Also, no music ever plays. It's just silence and misery.

But I love your TR so far. I've never been over to CS but it does seem weird that you have to tip at the food court? What? I don't think I'd like that at all.

Sounds like a good first day at HS. And yay for MK and BOG. It's so beautiful in that area of New Fantasyland. Beauty and the Beast is the best!

 

[Courage12]

Joining in!!! I'm from the US but my mom is from Scotland and her side of the family all lives there!!! Love your TR so far!

 

[meridascurls]

Joining in because I like TRs from people who have to travel a long ways to Disney

I've never been through customs in Orlando (which you're probably like, duh, it says you're American) but I'm actually going to be a Canadian and usually have flown from Montreal to Orlando but we have customs before we leave Canada which is weird but useful. Also, no music ever plays. It's just silence and misery.

But I love your TR so far. I've never been over to CS but it does seem weird that you have to tip at the food court? What? I don't think I'd like that at all.

Sounds like a good first day at HS. And yay for MK and BOG. It's so beautiful in that area of New Fantasyland. Beauty and the Beast is the best!

Hi! Thanks for tagging along!

Customs at MCO are crazy; we normally fly in to Sandford and we never stood in a line for anything more than 5 minutes to get through there. At MCO we were at least half an hour waiting. And then they ask all sorts of crazy questions, like what my parents do for a living.

The food court scenario at Coronado is quite strange. There's Cafe Rix, which has a little pastries section open at breakfast, a drinks bar, the refillable mug stations, and also a little hatch that serves some hot food. Then there's Pepper Market, which is supposed to be a step between QS and CS but it just does not work at all. It was fine apart from the fact you had to tip these servers for pretty much just seating you and getting you a drink. It was pointless them being there.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the TR!

 

[meridascurls]

Joining in!!! I'm from the US but my mom is from Scotland and her side of the family all lives there!!! Love your TR so far!

Cool! I hope you enjoy the rest of the TR!

 

[meridascurls]

Chapter 7: A visit to my mansion
Monday 14 October

Dad got us fastpasses for Splash Mountain whilst we were in line for Be Our Guest so we headed round to Frontierland to use those. We passed the Tangled toilets on the way and they too are pretty perfect.

I was wearing my Peter Pan bow and whilst I was busy taking pictures my dad overhead people behind me say "look at her bow! It's Peter Pan! How cute!" or something along those lines.

We joined the fastpass line and were on a boat within 10 minutes. Thankfully the ride did not break down whilst we were riding it, as it did on our last trip. “Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox are causing commotion downstream!” are not words you want to hear just as you are about to be hurled down a 50-foot drop.

time to get movin’ along

I had this stupid song stuck in my head all day. And I only know that one line.

I decided to stay and meet Jessie and everyone else went to get us fastpasses for Thunder Mountain.

Afterwards, we walked back around the Rivers of America to Liberty Square. It was time for a ride in my mansion.

I think I know nearly every word to this attraction. And Constance is still my favourite blushing bride.

Next up was It’s A Small World! It’s so cute and definitely a “cah-la-ssic”, in the words of Stacey J Aswad.

We just spent this whole day running about to different sides of the park as after IASW we went back to Frontierland to use our fastpasses for the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Our next stop was Adventureland! *queue Adventureland Gateway background music*

Continued in next post >>>​