First trip to the world as an adult 4/23-30~ includes bonus engagement!

[purplegirl1818]

Hello and welcome!

This is the trip report that almost never was! I just returned from my trip to the world from April 23 through April 30. I didn't plan on typing up a report so I didn't do a PTR or take quite as many pictures as I should have but after a little prodding from the April 2013 Facebook group and some new bling on my left hand - I kinda have to!

Because this was my first grown-up Disney vacation, I feel like I have a slightly different perspective about the resort than I have in the past - there were so many new things to experience! It was a constant stream of new memories and matching up memories from my childhood trips. So hold on tight because HERE... WE... GO...!!!

Introduction

Day 1 part 1 - Theres so much room for activities!
Day 1 part 2 - They never even received our room requests?
Day 1 part 3 - Sailing down the Sassagoula River

Day 2 part 1 - We made it to rope drop!
Day 2 part 2 - Traveling around the world... and around... and around...
Day 2 part 3 - My first character meal and the end of day 2

Day 3 part 1 - Accidental rope drop again!
Day 3 part 2 - Meeting the big guy and some LTM!
Day 3 part 3 - We don't need ketchup, this girl is sick :-(

Day 4 - Oh the beauty of a non-park day

Day 5 part 1 - The morning when all my dreams came true
Day 5 part 2 - Rope drop at the alternative rope
Day 5 part 3 - My mother will not answer her phone AND my pants rip?!
Day 5 part 4 - The perfect way to end the perfect day

Day 6 part 1 - Soooo we didnt make rope drop on the last day
Day 6 part 2 - Last minute shopping, anyone?

Day 7 - But... I dont wanna go home!

 

[Yelloweaver]

First to comment! I love a bonus engagement story.

 

[purplegirl1818]

Before we begin, I should introduce the cast! Since the TR is just beginning, I’ll introduce everyone (all TWO of us! haha) as we were before the trip.

First off is me. I’m a 22 year old University of Michigan graduate. I couldn’t pick a favorite Disney character if I tried, but I love Stitch, Marie, and Ariel. I’ve been to Disney property 4 times before this trip - at the ages of 6, 8, 10 and 16. Here's a photo from my first trip to WDW:

Annnd one from now:

The other character is my SO (then boyfriend). He had only been to the world once when he was really little. Annnd he’s a little camera shy... so there’s not too much to show of him. We started dating a little under 3 years ago and decided to celebrate our upcoming anniversary with this trip.

Here's one of both of us:

Warning: a TA rant ahead: We decided to book through a TA we had used on 2 previous trips. We were going to stay at POR April 23 - April 30. She was able to get $75 off what I could on the Disney site so we booked the trip. Now even though we had used her before, she totally dropped the ball on this trip. She booked through FunJet vacations (we had no idea about this - I guess they’re a wholesaler?). Right after we booked I informed her that everyone online says we get a Mickey Mail packet and it gets sent to the TA. As we got closer to the 30 day mark, I asked about it and she basically blew me off each time (including one email where she said “You can call Disney if you want, I don’t know what else to tell you.” Great customer service there, am I right?). Finally we were a week out when she FINALLY called and figured out we wouldn’t be getting it. This is after she’s told us that we WERE getting it and told us we’d get it at check in. Now this wouldn’t be a big deal if we hadn’t planned an entire day around the vouchers in that packet. Since there were only two of us and SO loves his video games, we planned on spending our off day in DisneyQuest. So we were a week out and had our plans ruined for one of the days and didn’t even get an apology. End rant.

So, this was our plan:

• 24th - arrive, go to DTD to get food, do some shopping and start pin trading (I had almost 100 pins to trade!)
• 25th - Epcot
• 26th - AK
• 27th - Off day (was originally going to be DisneyQuest day) and attending Cirque Du Soleil
• 28th - MK
• 29th - HS
• 30th - come home :-(

We were on the DDP as well and made our ADRs about 3 months out.

 

[wiigirl]

In for your TR!

 

[OhMari]

So glad you are doing a TR.
Marisa here from April 2013 Facebook group.

Put your link on the first thread, I think it says, Office April Trip Reports and Deb will add you.

Sorry about your TA. Years ago, when they had extra's like this, they gave you cards like your tickets and they were good forever. Heck once we used a golfing ticket 3 years after we received it. If that would of been the case, we could of given you ours. We never made it over to Disney Quest. The vouchers expired the day you checked out, which I think is crappy. If I paid for something, I should get to use it when I can. I shouldn't be grumpy, you never even got yours. You should of said something when you checked in, maybe they could of given you a few of the vouchers.

 

[purplegirl1818]

So glad you are doing a TR.
Marisa here from April 2013 Facebook group.

Put your link on the first thread, I think it says, Office April Trip Reports and Deb will add you.

Sorry about your TA. Years ago, when they had extra's like this, they gave you cards like your tickets and they were good forever. Heck once we used a golfing ticket 3 years after we received it. If that would of been the case, we could of given you ours. We never made it over to Disney Quest. The vouchers expired the day you checked out, which I think is crappy. If I paid for something, I should get to use it when I can. I shouldn't be grumpy, you never even got yours. You should of said something when you checked in, maybe they could of given you a few of the vouchers.

Just did! Thanks, I can't believe I didn't see that thread.

About the TA - I just wish I would have been informed. Even though I was bummed about the stuff she messed up, I was determined to not let it mess with my vacation.
That being said... she still might be getting a grumpy email later this week.

 

[purplegirl1818]

Day 1 part 1 - There’s so much room for activities!

The day had finally arrived! I was going to Disney World! Our flight was leaving Detroit Metro at 12:21 PM and SO’s father was going to pick us up around 10:30 AM (we only live about 20 minutes from the airport). I hadn’t been able to sleep the past 2 nights and was up early to pack our last minute things. After literally JUMPING on SO as he lazily slept in to when our alarm went off, we were ready around 9:30 and had his dad pick us up early. I’d like to mention that it started SNOWING at this time. On April 24th. What. the. heck. It made leaving a little sweeter.

We got to the airport and quickly made it through security. At about 11 we sat down for lunch at Popeye’s (I know you’re all thinking that Popeye’s is a horrible decision for a pre-boarding meal - and you’re right. But it sounded good and the other option was Taco Bell). We were full and waiting at the gate by 11:45. Just before our zone was called, on of the gate attendants asked if we were willing to switch to the emergency exit aisle because we were one of the few groups traveling without children. Knowing that it would give SO extra leg room, I agreed, and we totally lucked out. I’m a window person and he’s an aisle person. We both got our preferred seat and NO ONE was sat between us. I kept thinking “There’s so much room for activities!” when I saw all the legroom!

With that, we took off and turbulently made our way to sunny Orlando.

 

[purplegirl1818]

Day 1 part 2 - They never even received our room requests?

We landed! The hot and muggy air we met upon exiting the plane told us we weren’t in the midwest anymore! We busted out of the terminal and made it to the fake monorail in record time. I was giddy and ready to run to the Magical Express (dang those social restraints! There was still some speed walking though ). After the loooooooong walk to the end of level 1, we were ushered to a bus in a matter of minutes. Soon we were making our way into the most magical place on earth!

First stop was our destination! Port Orleans Riverside!

Once there, we checked in and were dismayed to find they had received NONE of our room requests. Now I totally blame this on our crappy TA, but I was bummed nonetheless. We got put in building 37, wayyyyy out there. I didn’t request a change because we were close to a bus stop, but it made our refillable mugs, the riverboat, and any other awesome thing they offered in the main building basically useless to us.

We received a second floor, garden view room with two queen beds. The room was nice. It was clean and updated, but it wasn’t as spectacular as I was expecting. It was pretty on par with a normal hotel room. Overall we were happy with it. Thankfully, I took a picture of the room number, because we both forgot it!

Mickey towel!

After a brief rest and SO bumming because he didn’t pack shorts in his carry on (I told him to! I had shorts and sandals in mine!) we decided to try out the riverboat and head to DTD for some dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express.

 

[OhMari]

The Midwest is still cold.

I laughed when I saw you took a picture of the room #, I had to do this too.

 

[purplegirl1818]

The Midwest is still cold.

I laughed when I saw you took a picture of the room #, I had to do this too.

I had to look at the room number picture at least 3 or 4 times!

 

[purplegirl1818]

Day 1 part 3 - Sailing down the Sassagoula River

We had awful timing when we wandered over to the riverboat dock. There was a super long line, one boat was malfunctioning and another had just been taken out of rotation. It wasn’t a big deal, these things happen. After about an hour of waiting, we were headed to DTD. We enjoyed the riverboat but, it’s definitely not the mode of transportation to use if you’re in a hurry. The ride to DTD was beautiful and there are a couple hidden mickeys to be found under the bridges.

Once we disembarked, I was ravenous. The only food we had eaten was waaaay back at the questionable Popeyes at DTW. It was time for us to use our first quick dining meal credit - at Wolfgang Puck Express. I ordered the Four Cheese Macaroni with a Sugar Cookie while SO ordered the Rotisserie Chicken with Creme Brulee. Both entrees were awesome. The four cheese macaroni was so big I couldn’t finish it. SO had ordered Creme Brulee because we had never had it before - he loved it, I thought it tasted like cotton candy. Pictures of our half eaten entrees are below; I was too hungry to take them before we started eating!

Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we had a few hours to explore DTD. It was SO’s first time being there, and the only time I had been there before I was 10 (and we were only there about an hour, waiting for Typhoon Lagoon to remove capacity restrictions). So what does a girl with a lanyard full of trading pins do? Go crazy trading, of course! Between SO and I, we had around 20 pins on our lanyards and I traded all of them at least once before we left. At first I was a little shy about it, but most CMs knew what I was going to ask as I made a beeline towards them. For every CM I asked to see their pins, I traded, whether there was a pin I liked or not. I thought it was a little awkward to ask to trade and not trade! (Don’t worry, I got over this by the next morning).

We stopped at turned around at Raglan Road, it was getting late and we still had two things to buy! We backtracked into World of Disney and I purchased someone new for our ohana. Guess who it is? Stitch! I purchased the 12 or 18 inch sized little guy. I have pictures of him a little later in the TR, but first a side note. In addition to the Stitch size I purchased, they had a giant stitch that was probably about 2.5-3 feet long. He was $50 and I wanted him! (Stitch is one of my favorite characters). I spent the entire vacation talking myself out of big Stitch. We didn’t have room for him, our checked bag already weighed 40lbs on the way to MCO, he’s really expensive, etc. And I successfully talked myself out of him (the winning argument was the lack of room in the suitcase). Now I’m sad I didn’t buy him - especially because there were 3-4 people carrying him around the airport, so I could have just carried him on :-(. The moral is - buy it if you know you really want it!

Our second stop was Disney’s Days of Christmas. We purchased a green mickey mouse head ornament and had it personalized with our names in silver. We had this sent back to the resort (how handy is that ability?!)

It was late and we had an early morning the next day so we headed back to the boat docks. Much better luck was on our side this trip and we were sailing about 5 minutes (and a new pin!) later. It was a long day starting with snow and ending with a beautiful boat ride. The next morning we would be headed to EPCOT!

 

[danceintherain]

You know...you can also have things mailed home. It probably costs more, but it's an option.

I'm sorry about your awful TA. Mine was great. She even made suggestions for room requests that would have been better than the ones I requested.

 

[purplegirl1818]

Day 2 part 1 - We made it to rope drop!


The alarms were set for 7:45 and 8. We wanted to be out the door by 8:15 and make it to Epcot by rope drop. This girl was up closer to 7:15 (and I’m NOT a morning person!). SO got mad because when Mickey and Stitch called to wake us up, I answered and there was a long pause so I didn’t think they were going to say anything! They eventually did and I didn’t put it on speaker phone for him to hear. I told him he could answer tomorrow and we were out the door by 8.

We made it to Epcot about 20 minutes before rope drop and I had to start taking pictures!

While we were waiting in line for rope drop, there was a middle school group in the line to our right. Two of their boys saw our lanyards and asked to trade - I told them they could trade anything but one Stitch pin that I had. The one boy was really sweet and after choosing what pin he wanted, gave me a Stitch pin he had. After those two finished, a group of 5 or 6 boys came over and asked too, which we agreed. At one point, it was a bit overwhelming, having so many kids ask for pins! But they finished up and we were no worse for the wear. Plus they actually traded some cool pins! Beside Stitch, we got a PotC medallion and big Epcot globe that flips open. Plus we all had a great time - you could hear all the boys buzzing about it for the next few minutes.

Finally it was time to go in! Gahhh! I love this place! The first place we made a line for was...

Soarin’! We grabbed some FPs and headed into queue. This was SOs first time riding Soarin’ and he loved it! Stand by only took about 10 minutes and then we were hangin’ over California! Smelling the oranges and fresh pine trees, the cool wind in our hair, not to mention the awesome soundtrack! So cool!

After Soarin’ we high tailed it over to Test Track and jumped in standby there.

I got to make our car, and I wanted all power! I was so close to getting 100 power, but I missed on the accessories that was +12. This is what I ended up with:

The ride was awesome. I forgot to warn SO to put on his sunglasses during the outside part though! Oops! I loved the semi we almost crash into though! On our way out, we nabbed some TT fastpasses and headed back to Soarin’ to use those FPs.

This trip through California we had better seats. The first trip we were on the bottom right (not that there is really a bad seat) , but this time we were smack dab in the middle! By the time we exited, SO was hungry, and we had a little time to blow before we headed back to TT, so we got a bagel at Sunshine Seasons. I also traded for my first two toddler princess pins - never finished the set but they’re so cute!

We then headed back to use the TT FPs. This time, I wanted an all around good car (I wanted to get on the leaderboard!)

We did a little better, but I must not quite understand what gets the best score.

Leaving TT we found ourselves in Radiator Springs!

Now that we had crisscrossed Future World a few times, we went back to the front to ride Spaceship Earth. Quick story time here: I had only been to Epcot once before, during the year 2000 celebration when I was 10. It was just my father and me, and neither of us had any real Disney experience. We decided that we wanted to see what was in that giant golf ball (and I think I had to use the bathroom). So when we saw some people coming out a door around the back of the ball, we went in. Of course we found ourselves in the interactive area and could NOT figure out how everyone was getting in there! Eventually a CM told us that it was a ride and we’re not supposed to enter any other way (Oops!). We made our way out and rode the actual ride! So this time, I sent my dad a picture of the entryway to SSE and told him that I was following the rules this time. Anywho, here’s us on the big screen!

Next was the Sea’s! As a swimmer and coming from a swimming family, we all love this movie to pieces.

Now, it was getting close to noon and I was hungry. We had decided to eat at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China so we headed that way. Now, do you think we made it without any pit stops? No way!