First Time Trip to Disney – Mixed Feelings

[chocolatechip69]

I must say, I was debating whether I should do a trip report knowing how many devoted Disney fans are on this site who are absolutely and undeniably in love with the place. My boyfriend and I went there on Sept. 24 and spent 9 days on property. I was extremely excited about going to visit the house of Mouse and had 9 months to get ready and research everything I could (that’s how I came across this board 8 months ago). However, after the trip was set and done, I felt like Disney might not have been the right place for a 9-day trip for us. So here it is, a different perspective on Disney World from 2 people who went there for a very first time.

A little bit about us.

It was a couple's trip and this couple is from Wisconsin. We've went to Florida 3 years ago but didn't go to Disney. Instead we spent 4 days at Universal Studios parks and did some other touristy stuff around the area.

I’m Kate and I’m 25. I love to travel and love to experience different cultures. I would say I’m adventurous and enjoy outdoors a lot, so anytime I’m in a beautiful natural surrounding, it’s like heaven to me. I love, love, love to cook and to eat and I will try anything at least once.
My boyfriend, Brad, is 32, and we were celebrating our 6 years together during our trip to Disney. He is one of those GUY guys. He’s all about cars, not very adventurous, will try anything at least once but most likely not enjoy the experience. Brad doesn’t like to travel and it took me a lot to convince him to take a trip somewhere outside of Wisconsin, alone to go to Disney. His impression of Disney was that it was a big kiddie place with not whole lot to do for the adults. So right off the bet I had a major undertaking on trying to convince him otherwise. Brad doesn’t like anything “fancy” and is more of a realist. We haven’t taken a real vacation in 3 years but I still had to pay for this trip in order for him to even come along

Before the trip, I was convinced I was going to be absolutely in love with Disney because of their ability to make people feel like they’re in a magical story. I was so excited about the free dining plan and the fact that we’ll be able to try some signature restaurants which we would not be able to afford otherwise. We decided to stay on property and split the trip to spend 5 days at the parks, a day-trip to Miami, a day at Universal Studios and Island of Adventure, and then 1 last day back at Epcot for Wine & Food Festival.

We were staying at Pop Century resort.

Here’s what our schedule looked like:

Day 1 – Friday, Sept 24 - Fly in late at night
Day 2 – Saturday, Sept 25 – Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom
Day 3 – Sunday, Sept 26 – Hollywood Studios
Day 4 – Monday, Sept 27 – Animal Kingdom
Day 5 – Tuesday, Sept 28 – Epcot
Day 6 – Wednesday, Sept 29 – Magic Kingdom
Day 7 – Thursday, Sept 30 – Miami

 

[chocolatechip69]

The long 9 months of wait time were finally over and today was the big day. I was way to excited to sleep until my alarm went off and woke up at 5:30 am to finish packing and take a shower. Our plain was leaving at 10 am and we live about half an hour away from the airport. I woke Brad up and to my surprise, he wasn't cranky like he can be sometimes early in the morning. By the time Brad was getting ready, I woke our beautiful dog Summer one last time before the departure. My mother was staying with her so I wasn't too worried about leaving her.

By 8 am we were all ready to leave. The dog was sensing that something wasn't right. She got very upset and hid behind the couch. She is so smart!



We did the online check-in for our flight so we got to the airport an hour early, dropped our bag, went through a security, and... waited at the gate for another 30 minutes We have a very small airport and it's rarely crowded, so getting on the plain was a piece of cake.

Here's what the skies looked like on the way to the airport. Can you see the rainbow?

This was Brad's very first time flying. Can you believe this? I think I was way more excited about his first time on the airplane than he was. He really enjoyed it though. I got him seat by the window for the entire flight and he didn't take his eyes off of it even for a minute.

We had a long layover (3.5 hrs) in Detroit so we got a chance to check out the shops and grab some food at one of the sandwich places there. Can't remember what it was cold but the sandwiches were huge. I was afraid I was going to get so stuffed I'm not going to want to eat anything once we actually get to Disney. I was wrong, of course: ) Oh, and we had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat.

We got on our second flight from Detroit to Orlando and surprise, surprise. They overbooked it. There was no room to store our carry-on and I was afraid they'll make us check it in, but we got lucky and the flight attendant managed to squeeze it in somewhere. As we were approaching Orlando, we could see we were flying through some scary clouds and turbulence was kicking some people's butts. I figured we weren't going to get lucky and get slammed with the rain once we land. Sure thing. By the time we got off the plain and got on our Magical Express bus, it was raining pretty hard. It was 7:30pm at that time and I couldn't take any pictures from our bus because it was getting dark and windows were covered in rain.



Here's what I was able to capture.

Once we got to Pop Century resort, we went straight to an Online Check-in line as I already checked us in the week before. One of the cast members in the check-in line was making sure people who were there for the first time knew all the tricks of getting the most of their visit. Brad was listening to the guy like he was hearing those things for the first time. Oh, the months of trying to explain all of that to him. I guess it was a waste of time: )

The girl at the check-in gave us our folder and showed us where we were going to be staying. '70s era, building 60, 4th floor. She also gave us our Happy Anniversary buttons which Brad refused to wear at first: ) Score! That's exactly what I requested for our room. I also asked for a king size bed, but we got two queens, which was totally not a big deal because we like to sleep on separate beds when we're way too tired. That was a trend during this trip because each and every day we were absolutely exhausted.



The walk from the main building to ours was very short. Maybe 2-3 minutes. I really don't understand why people agree to pay extra for rooms that are closer to the building. I don't think any of them are far away at all and unless someone has mobility problems, I'd suggest to save a few bucks and just go with a regular room.



We didn't unpack because it was getting late and we still wanted to grab a bite to eat. Brad had a craving for pizza and wanted to get it from Food Court, but I was able to talk him out of it and go to Downtown instead to get some pizzas from Wolfgang Puck Express instead. He was game and we got to experience our first Disney Bus ride. For some reason, I still can't understand why it takes so long to get from Pop to Downtown. They're so close together.



Anyways, when we got there, it took Brad a while to figure out how the dining plan works, but once he was up to speed, we ordered BBQ Chicken pizza and Cheese & Basil pizza with some crème Brule for dessert. My, oh my. Was it ever good. I wasn't even all that hungry but I managed to put down the entire pizza all by myself. Brad had to help me with my Crème Brule though. I don't know if I'm going to be doing Dining Review, so I'll post pictures here just in case.

After our wonderful supper we just took a little stroll around downtown and captured the following:

Brad trying on Indiana Jones hat:

We got back to our room full and happy, and by that time our luggage got delivered. Yey! We went to bed pretty much right away because we had a long day of travel. For tomorrow we had scheduled a day at Downtown Disney to get acclimated a little bit to the area before hitting the parks.

Did our day go according to plan? I don't know. You're just going to have to keep reading.

 

[Angelrose]

Hope you enjoyed your trip more than not.

Could you try and reduce your photos before posting? It would make for easier reading.

Thanks.

 

[podsnel]

I was just about to say the same thing- but MAN! Didn't those super-size pizzas look AWESOME!!! drool, drool, drool

 

[chocolatechip69]

That's a tough task They either too big or too small. I'll have to play with them over the weekend before continuing the report.

 

[OhMari]

Hi, from a fellow Wisconsite-and I am the moderator too on this board.

Your lucky you flew out of Appleton, and didn't drive down to Milwaukee. The road construction between Appleton and Oshkosh truly sucks and also the road construction down by the airport is really bad too. My dh used to fly in and out of Appleton when he worked for Bergstrom. His face would be so green when he arrived in those puddle jumper airplanes. I have no problem flying with in them, but he does. I like how Alliant advertises that they fly to Florida-sure Sandford, which is an hour away from WDW.

I want to do free dining next year. WDW has already come out with the promo. ya!

Looking forward to your report.

 

[chocolatechip69]

Yes, the constant constructions in Milwaukee and now that constrauction in Oshkosh was the major reason I decided not to worry about that extra $100 I could've saved and fly out locally. We actually flew from Green Bay which saved us a few bucks.
I'm always amazed by how tiny those small town airports are Going through a secutiry was a breeze, so was finding out checked-in bag once we landed
On the way back, we set way at the end of one of those tiny planes with propellers on wings. Trully old school. You could really feel the turbulance

 

[lilmape]

Signing in to follow along. I can't wait to read the rest

 

[Deon.Newmankgyxc]

thanks for for nice report!

 

[mom2kazkids]

Green Bay DISer checking in, can't wait to read your report. We are on the count down til our Jan trip to the World.

 

[madbutsexy]

i get mixed feelings when I just think about the Dizz