I can't believe its already been almost three months since our trip! We had so much fun with really good friends, and got to spend some time just the two of us. I had the most magical birthday ever and we finally got to see and do all of the things we have read and heard about for the last 5 years. My husband and I are from California and have had annual passports to Disneyland for the last 3 years and love going during all the different seasons, and with friends and family. Its so fun to see people experience Disney when they have never been before or havent been since they were kids. So needless to say I was super excited that this time it was us getting to experience all the new things WDW has to offer.
So let me do some introductions.
I am Genee,
I turned 24 during our trip. I am a nanny and love every minute of my job. I am a total Disney freak (as most of you on here are) and I have wanted to go to Disney World my whole life!
My favorite movies are Aladdin, Tangled, and Little Mermaid.
My favorite characters are Minnie, Aladdin and Jasmine, Ariel, Rapunzel, Flynn Ryder, Gus Gus from Cinderella ..and so many more! But my favorite character of all is my husband Martin.
This is Martin.
He is 25 and the manager at an industrial and construction supply store. (Basically a boys toy store) He too is a Disney freak and especially likes learning about all the behind the scenes details and new things Disney has in the works. As we were walking through France in Epcot I looked over at him and thought I am so blessed to have a husband who loves and appreciates Disney as much as I do. He is a fun, funny man and I love him to pieces!
He wont pick a favorite movie because he says there are too many good ones.
His favorite characters are Timon and Pumba.
Joining us on our trip are our friends Todd and Alison (sunsetcliffs) and their son Dylan
They are our only friends that I can say are as in love with Disney as we are. Its fun to have that in common and be able to talk to them about all the little things only a true Disney nut would understand and appreciate. Their son Dylan is the sweetest most loving little boy I have ever known. It is always fun to do trips with him and get to see how fun and magical Disney is through his eyes.
Chapter 2 The random details and the beginnings of our trip
Fortunately for us we really didn’t have to do much planning for our trip. We did not think we would be able to afford a WDW trip until later this year or maybe next year. Todd and Alison were thinking about going and Todd did A TON of research and found some amazing deals for us. So basically all we had to do was say yes. He found a great deal on flights, they got us a condo through their timeshare program, and even found the rental car for us. Once we decided we could afford it, we all got together to discuss what parks we wanted to go to all together and where we wanted to eat.
Our dates were January 6th-January 14th
Todd, Alison and Dylan were there with us until the morning of the 11th when they flew home.
We would do all the parks together except the Magic Kingdom, had one free day, and had ADRs for Ohanas, Chefs De France, and 50’s Primetime Café.
So once everything was planned, all we had to do was wait for it to be January.
It was a happy day when these little beauties came in the mail!
I was beyond excited that they sent Minnie and Mickey! How sweet is that! We bought our tickets through undercovertourist.com and it was cheaper to buy them and have them next day shipped than it would have been to just buy them at the parks. Also they had a wait times app that proved to be more accurate that any of the other ones Alison or I had. I would highly recommend checking them out before you purchase your Tickets!
Finally January 5th rolled around. We were actually leaving on the 5th and spending the night at a friend’s house so we could leave our car there and get a ride to the airport. I still had a lot of packing to do when I woke up that morning. Fortunately the kids I watch come to my house so while they were napping I finished up all the packing. I took them into town so I could drop them off at their mom’s salon and then run a few errands before I picked Martin up from work and we hit the road. When I got to the salon, the kid’s mom had a birthday present for me. When I opened it, it was an adorable Minnie Mouse water bottle and a cute pink cupcake that matched! What a perfect present to get me in the Disney mood! I was so excited! I ran a few last minute errands and then picked Martin up from work and we were on our way. The drive from our house to our friends, where we were leaving our car, is about 3 ½ hours long. It was an easy drive though. We stopped at Jack in the Box and got a quick dinner, listened to some Disney music and shared my yummy cupcake. We got to our friends house at around 9:30 visited for a little bit and then went to bed, we had a very early morning ahead of us.
Up next arriving in Orlando and our first Disney meal!!!!
I had to get up at 2:45 am to get in the shower and pack all of our stuff back up once we were ready. We had to be at the airport at 4:45am and had to leave our friends house at 4am to get to the airport in time. I of course didn’t sleep very well because I was so excited. Every time I woke up during the night I would look at my phone to see if it was time to get up. Well apparently in my deliriously tired brain I thought it was time to get up, when in fact it was only about 2am. However I did not realize this until I had already showered and gotten most of the way ready when my alarm went off. I was so confused and still don’t quite know how or why I got up that early but oh well. I read for a little while until it was time to wake Martin up and head to the airport. When we got to the airport we checked our one bag and got through security in no time. At that point I had only one thing on my mind COFFEE!!! I was happy to see that there was a Starbucks right next to our departure gate. So I got a venti iced coffee and an asiago cheese bagel.
Martin explored the terminal looking for something that appealed to him but there weren’t many options. So he ended up with a candy bar and a milk.
It was finally time to board so board we did. Our first flight was a quick flight from Oakland to Los Angeles, where we got on a plane from LA to Atlanta Georgia, where we grabbed a quick sandwich at chick-fil-a and boarded our final flight from Atlanta to Orlando!!!!
We were beside ourselves with excited as we got on the mini monorail, and made our way to the baggage claim. Todd and Alison called to let us know they were in the cell phone lot and to just call them when we got our bag, they would meet us at the curb. Just then the bags started pouring out but ours was not there. We waited while the last few bags were tossed onto the belt but still ours wasn’t there. We walked over to the little bag search terminal and searched our bag number where it said it was in the Kalauiaui(or something like that) baggage room. I thought to myself…thats weird that looks very Hawaiian. So we found a Delta employee and he sent us to the Delta baggage room. They looked it up and informed us our bag was in fact in Hawaii. They assured us they would have it back in Orlando by the next morning and it would be delivered to our resort. Of course this put a little bit of a damper on my mood. Todd and Alison picked us up and we headed straight to the Polynesian for our ADR at Ohanas.
I was trying really hard to find my excitement and good mood but all I could think about was how I wasn’t going to have clean clothes or more importantly comfy shoes for our first day in the parks. We made our way upstairs to Ohanas and Alison was showing me around when Todd came back with two of these
one for me and one for Alison.
This improved my mood instantly. I decided I was going to make the best of what was in my carry on (next to nothing) and pray that our bag did in fact arrive in the morning. Just then our buzzer went off and we were seated.
if the drink didn’t improve my mood, then the food for sure would have! It was amazing and there was so much to choose from and the best part of it all was you don’t have to choose, you get as much as you want of all of it.
It was all so good, the chicken was to die for! Whatever the marinade or sauce they grill it with was, it made for the best chicken I have ever had! Then came the heavenly dessert.
Now in my opinion anything with a large bowl of caramel dumped over it is going to be amazing, but when that caramel is pored over delicious bread pudding and ice cream it becomes heavenly! I was one happy camper! Or should I say one happy Diser! )
Once we were all sufficiently stuffed, we explored the Polynesian a little more then got back on the monorail and wet to the Grand Floridian. Let me tell you this is a beautiful hotel!
I love the little details such as the characters in the Marble floor
and that there is not only a piano but a whole band set up in the lobby. Everything was beautiful from the giant bird cage to the glass elevator. Also they have a basin store which I LOVE so I of course had to go smell all the bath salts.
We had planned on our next stop being the contemporary however once we got back on the monorail we realized the parks had just closed, so if we got off at the contemporary it would take forever for us to get back on. So we decided to stay on and ride it back to the Polynesian. When we got back to the Polynesian we went out and looked at the pool and beach area
then got in the car and drove back to the condo.
I don’t remember what time we got back to the condo but I know it was pretty late. At this point poor little Dylan was exhausted and could not wait to get in bed. When we got to the door of the condo and Alison’s key didn’t work, Todd tried his. It also didn’t work, so Todd had to drive up to the lobby and get new keys made. We just assumed they had somehow gotten demagnetized during the day. Well when he came back with the new keys they didn’t work either, that’s when we realized the light wasn’t even turning red like it usually would with a key that wasn’t working. There was just no light at all. So Todd again went up to the front and came back with a security guard. For some reason all the security guard guy brought with him was his universal key card even though I’m pretty sure Todd had explained to him we thought something was wrong with the door not the keys. Of course it didn’t work so he got on his little golf cart and sped off to get his regular key to open the door. I’m so glad there is a regular lock and key system set up or who knows how long it would have taken them to get us in. Half an hour or so later we finally walked into our room for the first night. It was a very nice condo at Star Island. I don’t have too many pictures of it, but I’m sure Alison will post some when she writes her trip report. Here are the few I do have…
Dylan informed me that Martin and I could have the bed that popped out of the couch
then made sure to tell me I could play with his ball. Then we said good night and Alison tucked him into their bed. Todd, Alison, Martin and I stayed up way to late discussing the upcoming week and just joking around having a good time. We made the decision that between our bags getting lost and getting to bed so late we should have the next day be our free day instead of going to Animal Kingdom. At about 2:15am we all said good night and quickly fell asleep.
Up next, did our bag arrive the next day? What would we do with our free day and first full day in Orlando?
I promise as we make it to the parks there will be more
pictures. I know it gets a little boring reading a long TR without enough
pictures.
I had set the alarm for 8:15am on the 7th. This was our first full day in
Orlando and because the airline somehow sent our bags to Hawaii and our
door didn’t work when we tried to get into our condo the night before, we had
decided this would be our free day. I got up before everyone else and tried to
make some coffee. I used what I thought was a coffee filter that came with
the little packets of powder cream and coffee the hotel had left. Apparently
this one was not a coffee filter(they usually are) because it clogged the
coffee maker and started to overflow the top of the coffee pot. Just
in time Todd got up and came into the kitchen and fixed the coffee maker and
made a pot of coffee. Since I had practically nothing with me to get ready for
the day Alison let me use her shampoo and conditioner so I could at least
take a shower. When I got out of the shower everyone was sitting at the
table. Todd had made yummy cheesy eggs and toast for breakfast and he had
also made me a cup of coffee. So I sat down at the table with everyone else
and took a sip of my coffee.... Now at home I do not let myself have creamer
and sugar in my coffee, I have a splash of milk and 1 packet of splenda. So
when I took a sip of the coffee Todd had made me, I’m pretty sure I heard
angels singing in the background. It was gloriously creamy and sweet
and yummy. It was Starbucks vanilla coffee with lots of French vanilla creamer in it. I can’t even begin to tell you how good it tasted compared to
my boring grown up coffee I drink at home. (I actually quite enjoy my coffee
at home too, but it isn’t as good as coffee with creamer in it) After we
finished breakfast and the glorious coffee, Alison packed up their stuff while I
did my makeup, pretty much the only thing I had with me in my carry on other
than books, cell phone chargers and earphones, and used Alison’s curling iron
to finish getting ready. Once most of their stuff was packed, Martin and Todd
took it over to the Sheraton Vistana Resort, which is where we would be
spending the rest of our time in Orlando. While Alison packed up the last few
things she needed to, I watched Rio with Dylan. I know it’s not
Disney but it’s still pretty funny, and Dylan loves it. While we were
watching Rio Martin called me from the Sheraton Vistana to tell me that our
bag had been delivered safely just minutes before they got there!!!!!!!!!!!! I
was so happy!!!! I was scared to death that it somehow would get lost or
sent back to our home address and I wouldn’t get it for a few days or even
worse the remainder of our trip. That did not happen; Delta pulled through
and delivered it like they said they would. !!!!! I decided I would just
leave it there and change when our rooms were ready for us to check in.
The boys came back and picked us up and we headed to the small outlet mall
that was between our first resort and our second one. We shopped for a bit
and Martin got a jacket from Guess and some sunglasses from Fossil. I got a
shirt from Guess and Todd and Alison got a couple things from Aeropostale. All
stores we don’t have in our mall so it was fun to shop there. After we were
done shopping we took Dylan to the little playground to play for a minute
before we headed to Downtown Disney for lunch. The plan was Earl of
Sandwich, but while we were watching Dylan play, Todd got the call that our
rooms were ready. So we decided to head over and check them out.
They were beautiful!!! When Todd and Martin had gone to drop off the bags
earlier they had requested we get the larger condos. So they upgraded us
and they were huge! We checked out Todd and Alison’s first. I was sooo
excited for them when I went out onto their patio and could see characters in
flight!
Then we all went down the hall to see our room. For the most part they were
identical, but I was ecstatic when I went out onto our patio and we could see
the balloon too! Then as we went into our bedroom and opened the curtains,
I was beside myself with excitement because not only could we see the
balloon, but we could see the Epcot ball too!!!!!
Everything was just perfect, I couldn’t believe this was all ours for 9 days!!!
After we took a little bit to move some of our stuff in, and change into clean
clothes, we met Todd and Alison at the elevator and headed over to lunch.
Since it was getting late and this would probably be our only meal off property
we decided to go to Millers Ale house, which was just around the corner from
our resort. Todd and Alison had been there on previous trips and knew we
would really enjoy it. They were right it was delicious! They are known for
their "kickers", basically they are little chicken strips, and you pick which
sauce you want on them. Whether its honey mustard, buffalo… you get the
point, we all got the garlic kickers and french fries.
It was delicious! Then we figured “hey were on vacation, on vacation you
can get dessert with lunch right?!” So we got the Captain Jacks Buried
Treasure, it was ice cream cake with Oreo cookie crust, caramel, hot fudge,
and heath bar. It was delicious!!
The food and service was great! Our server was extremely polite and
attentive. All in all I give it 5 out of 5! We left with smiles on our faces!
After our late lunch we made our way to Downtown Disney. I was immediately
impressed. It is a lot bigger than Disneyland’s downtown Disney! There are all
kinds of fun shops, and most of them are Disney which I love! The D Street is
so cute! I love the lighting in there.
I want to copy it somewhere in my house I just haven’t figured out how to
make it work yet. I’m thinking over my bath tub when we finish remodeling our
master bathroom.
continued in next post....
We had fun wandering around Downtown Disney shopping
and enjoying the art.
After DTD we drove over to Port Orleans.
I think if we ever are fortunate enough to stay on property this is where we will choose. Although I love the bigger resorts like Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Grand Floridian, there is something so sweet and romantic about Port Orleans. The fact that each little group of rooms looks like an old mansion,
that you can have horse drawn carriages take you to your room,
or take a boat ride around the resort.
I just kinda fell in love with it. They even had a huge movie screen set up on one of the lawns and a stack of blankets for you to use to watch the movie out under the stars.
We played with Dylan for a little bit on their playground and he tried to take a picture for all of us.
Not bad for a 4 year old huh? I think he got an even better one on Alison’s camera.
Once we left Port Orleans, we went to Wal-Mart. We needed breakfast stuff, snacks and sodas, and I of course had to get some coffee and creamer. I decided I would let myself have creamer while we were on vacation. I got vanilla late creamer and it lived up to my expectations, it was quite yummy! After we were done grocery shopping we went back to the condo, unloaded our groceries
Theres healthier stuff in the bag I promise!
and then went to the food court for dinner. We chose pizza Hut. We got a personal peperoni pizza and cheese bread to share.
Dylan had already eaten when we were in the condo so he had a frozen Capri Sun while we ate. He was a happy boy.
we sat and chatted for a little bit by the pool
then went back to our perspective condos for the night. I could not wait to use that huge bath tub in our room. So when we got to our room I drew a bath and just relaxed, read, and caught up on my trip report notes while Martin caught up on the basketball he had missed during the day. At 9 we watched Illuminations out our bedroom window and then went to bed. It was a perfect day.
Up next we finally make it to a park, which park was first on our list?
I set the alarm for 7:15 so I would have time to get ready, eat breakfast, and
enjoy my glorious vacation coffee. I had a banana in yogurt, woke Martin up,
and we met Todd and Alison outside their room at about 8:45ish.
Where we headed to ANIMAL KINGDOM!!!!!! I think this was the park I was
most excited about! I love animals!
We got to the park at about 9:15. There was a marathon going on that day
so we avoided the other parks because we knew they would be busier with all
the runners and families. What we didnt realize is that the marathon ran right
through the Animal Kingdom. So we were really worried it was going to be
super busy, but it had the opposite effect. There was practically no one
there!
I was super excited to see some of the Christmas decorations were still up!
When we got into the gate we stopped to take a few Photopass pictures in
front of the tree.
As we walked along the empty trails I was trying to take everything in while
trying to keep up with everyone. We were on a mission to get to Expedition
Everest before the race ended in case the crowds picked up.
Martin and I were sooooooooooo excited for Expedition Everest!!!! Todd and
Alison were soooooo excited that it was a walk on. They said they had never
seen it this dead before. Todd grabbed a baby swap pass and Martin, Todd
and I got in line. I was actually a tiny bit bummed there was no line at all
because I didnt really get a chance to look at all the cool decorations and
stuff in the line. While we were in line there were a few people from the
marathon who just hopped out of the race to ride the ride since there was no
line. I thought that was super cool! Kinda made me want to do one of the
marathons. We requested the front of the ride since it was our first time, and
off we went to find the yeti.
I really liked it but I thought it was going to be more intense. Todd said it felt
a little slow this time too. So when we went on it again with Alison we
requested the back.
That felt waaaay faster. I loved it!
After we had all done Everest, we headed over to Dinosaur. We were trying
to get the big rides done right away just in case it got busier later in the day.
Todd had talked about how scary dinosaur was for months so I was crazy
nervous to ride this one. I think because my anticipation was sooo high for it
being scary it didnt feel very scary at all, but Alison did say that there were a
few things different from previous trips. She said there was one part where a
dinosaur was supposed to chase after your car breathing right behind you and
that never happened. I think that would have definitely taken it up a few
notches on the scary scale!
Since I was expecting something to pop out at me or chase me the whole
time I was super tense for the picture.
We are in the very back.
While Martin, Alison and I were on Dino Todd took Dylan over to the big
playground, so while we were waiting for them to meet us back at dino we
rode the Tilta-whirl ride in Dino Land. Let me tell ya that thing whips you
around! It looks like its made for little kids (I still would have enjoyed it) but it
is deceivingly intense!
When we got off the Tilta-whirl we noticed that Pluto and Goofy were there
and only had one family in line. So when Todd and Dylan got back we went to
visit them.
Then we rode Dino again with Todd this time and Alison took Dylan on
Triceratops Spin.
And we did the Tilta-whirl again with Todd.
By this time we needed a potty break, ok I needed a potty break, and Dylan
really wanted to show us how he could go down the big slide in the boneyard
playground area. So we wandered over that way.
One of my favorite things about the Animal kingdom was all the little random
decorations. Like this little guy
His teeth were made out of shells and his horns were made out of wine
bottles and the rest of him was recycled glass and stuff. I thought he was so
cute!
I also thought this little random area was cute
We made it to the boneyard, and Dylan showed us around a bit and went
down the big slide.
We were getting pretty hungry so we started walking towards Yak and Yetis
On the way we ran in to this BIG GUY!
Walked over the river that was completely covered in pollen, it was the
weirdest thing! You couldnt even tell it there was water under there it looked
completely solid.
These giant bats! They were so interesting to watch! They are obviously blind
because two of them were fighting over a little thing of food hanging when if
one of them would have taken a few steps over there was another bunch of
untouched food.
Then we found the tigers and watched them for a little while. Dylan was really interested in them and making up stories of what he thought they were doing and thinking.
By the tigers there was this just kinda open area with a bunch of different animals and birds.
At each animal there is a cast member there to tell you all about them. At this particular spot there was a special needs guy and he was soooo excited to tell me all about the wild cows. It was really neat to see how much he enjoyed his job, and how happy he was to tell me everything he knew about the animals. He put a smile on my face.
After our trek through all the wild animals we arrived at yak and yetis!
Martin and I shared the honey chicken and rice bowl. It was good, a little bit sweet but still very good.
Dylan had fun watching the ducks while we ate.
Since our bellies were full we decided it was time to walk it off a little and walked through the trails where you can find Divine. We didnt see her, which was a bummer but theres always next time right?!
We stopped for some pictures.
Then went on a safari!
Now I had heard from so many people how close the animals get. They were not kidding. You literally could touch one of the gazelle type animals that came up to our van/jeep/truck thing.
I thought these trees were so cool and unique!
And the baby elephant was so stinking adorable!
Pumba is way cuter than this guy is!
I really liked the safari, it lived up to all my expectations!
This was Martins favorite animal.
It looks like part zebra but its actually the only known relative to the giraffe.
Next we walked into the bird and fish area
Then we found my favorite animal to watch. The Meer cats, I want one so bad!!! They are so cute and funny and intelligent. I thought it was so cool that at all times there is one Meer cat stationed up on a rock, looking in the sky for predators. If he sees something threatening he lets out a little chirp and all the other Meer cats find cover. Periodically another Meer cat will come and relieve him of his duties so he can go find food too. It was amazing to watch.
Then we spent a very long time watching the gorillas. They are such amazing strong, beautiful creatures. There was a baby gorilla that was really funny to watch. They act so similar to a human toddlers. Curious and clumsy!
This was like the big granddaddy gorilla he kinda snubbed us the whole time.
The baby gorilla ran into this bush played in it for a little bit then came out with a big branch that it started hitting its mama and everythig else with it was soooo stinking funny!
After the gorillas we took a potty break in this area
Then walked to Camp Minnie Mickey for Festival of a Lion King!
One thing I had noticed throughout the day was how many squirrels there are in Disneyworld. They are everywhere!!! These particularly brave squirrels were rummaging parked strollers for snacks.
Dylan thought it was pretty funny!
We really enjoyed Festival of a Lion King! Such a fun show!
When we walked out we ran into this beautiful princess.
By now it was getting close to park closing so we went to use up some fastpasses we had grabbed earlier in the day. (Even though we never actually needed them because it was so dead)
The boys rode EE,
then the girls
Ok so I dont know what happened for this ride picture hahaha I wasnt that scared I think what happened is that I had something in my eye all day and I kept trying to roll my eyes to get it out and I must have done that right when we went down the drop. Whatever it was I have to say it made for quite the ride picture! Hahaha
Then Todd and Alison rode it while Martin and I watched Dylan, and then Martin and I rode it for the last time of the trip.
We did a little shopping and realized there was a show starting for the Nemo Musical in a few minutes so Alison took Dylan shopping while Martin Todd and I went to watch the show. Dylan saw the show last time they were there and was a little scared of it, so he decided not to do it this time. He said maybe when he was 5 he would watch it so sweet.
I love love loved the Nemo musical I was so impressed with the actors, they manage to dance, sing, and work that very complicated puppet thing! The only thing I didnt really like so much was that Nemo the movie isnt a musical so they had to come up with the songs for this show. Dont get me wrong they were really good!! The songs just didnt touch your heart like all Disney songs do because we had never heard them.
By now the park was closed and practically deserted so we just walked slowly out of the park enjoying the scenery.
When we got to the gate Todd and Martin got stopped to do a survey that took forever it seemed! So while they did that I went to the guest service area and got my birthday button.
The guy was really nice and said my name was definitely a princess name! So he would decorate my button accordingly.
Sorry its kinda blurry I was trying to take a picture close up while it was on my shirt haha
For dinner and since the Animal Kingdom has to close so early we decided to head over to the Animal Kingdom lodge to look around and have dinner. That is such a beautiful and HUGE hotel!
We had dinner in their food court, Martin and I shared a pizza. Sorry I must have forgotten to take a picture. It was good but kinda small for us to share but we knew we had snacks at the condo.
We went home to our condo, said goodnight to Todd and Alison and began what became my nightly routine for this vacation. A bubble bath while I wrote trip report notes and watching illuminations out our bedroom window. However right as I turned the bath water on, we heard a knock at the door. We opened it assuming it was Todd or Alison but it was a couple who had been told this was their room. The poor things had been wandering around for like 45 minutes trying to find their room. First the person at the front desk had given them a room that didnt exist, when they realized that, they asked a maintenance man and he sent them to our room . So they used our phone to call the front desk and get it all situated. We promised them that we had had a very good experience so far with the resort and the staff so hopefully it was just a fluke thing.
Once that was resolved I took my bath and fell sound asleep. Another perfect day.
I kinda slacked this day on my note writing for some reason.
Heres what my notes say .
Dog in aquarium
Chefs de France (they said my name right)
Dylan napped
Thats it .all I wrote for my first day ever in Epcot! What was I thinking ..I
will never forgive myself!!! Ok I will try to move on and give you a good
update anyway.
So we are going to say I got up somewhere around 8ish, and had either oatmeal or bananas and yogurt for breakfast. I know for a fact I had some glorious coffee! My guess is seeing as we were a few days into the trip and I was getting more and more tired I probably had two cups of my glorious vacation coffee. Got ready, woke Martin up, and met Todd, Alison, and Dylan at the elevators.
We were going to Epcot!
It became the running joke on the trip that every time we would go to get in the car Martin would ask Dylan if he could sit next to him in the car. Dylan would always say No its Genees turn, its your turn after my nap Well for the first few days he never took a nap because we were so busy at the parks all day, so it was always my turn. Works for me!
We got to Epcot just a few minutes after opening. Once again we had a practically empty park! We stopped right inside the gate to take a couple photopass pictures
And of course the pictures of the giant golf ball
Dylan brought Duffy with him so he could travel the world
Over to our right we saw someone standing all by herself . So we decided to go keep her company for a minute.
Daisy!!!
Ok so are you ready for the cutest photopass picture ever? Seriously you have to prepare yourself for the cuteness or it could overwhelm you ... Ill give you a minute................................................................................
.............................
Ok are you ready?
I told you! How cute is that?!?!?! Dylan was looking at her through his binoculars so she pretended to have some too. So cute!
Want to see the second cutest photopass picture ever?
Im sure everyone thinks that about their own kid, but see he isnt even my kid, hes my friends kid so that means it must be true! I might be a little biased but I still think its true!
Ok got off topic. We said goodbye to Daisy, that girl has got some serious eyelashes!
Then we moved onto Spaceship earth. This is how busy it was
I had heard a lot about this ride but in my mind just couldnt put the stories and pictures together to make sense, so I was excited to go on it and see how it all came together. How was it you ask?
SO FUN!
I love these kinda rides where you ride along learning and being entertained at the same time. Like pirates and the great movie ride. Ok so maybe pirates isnt exactly educational but you know what I mean. I especially liked how at the end it shows you the big map of the world and puts a pin for where everyone on the ride with you is from. After Spaceship Earth we moved on to
As we made our way over to test track Dylan had started to get a little unsure if he wanted to ride on it. He had gone on it for the first time a few days before we had got there and said he loved it, but then when it came to going back on it, he just wasnt sure he was ready right that moment. So he and Alison hung out while Martin Todd and I went to test the track.
I loved it, and Martin really really loved it. I think it was his favorite ride of the whole trip. ( I asked him he says its a tie with Everest)
When we got off the ride Dylan had decided he was ready to go on it. It was still pretty much a walk on so all five of us hopped back in line.
Haha it looks like Todd is literally saying CHEESE! in that last picture.
Our next stop was Mission Space.
Thats when my slight panic attack began. I have a major Major MAJOR fear of people throwing up. It doesnt make me sick or anything it just gives me hives and I hyperventilate and start to see spots. I know it is so weird but I cant help it. I had been told that this was a ride a lot of people get sick on so I almost just skipped it. However I try really hard to overcome my fear and I didnt want to come all the way to Disneyworld and miss one of the major rides. So we decided to do the less intense side. I knew Martin, Todd and I would be fine I was just worried about someone else on the ride getting sick. So we got in line I got more and more panicky the whole line, but started to feel better when we got put in our groups for the ride and no one else was going in our rocket. Now my only concern was getting out of the ride without seeing someone from the other side coming off too and being sick. I made it off without any barfers, and was glad I decided to do it!
We didnt really have any particular plans after we got the big rides out of the way and world showcase wasnt open yet so we decided to go see if we could get Martin to try Beverly. He caught on to our smiles though and could tell something was up. Then he was skeptical and read the descriptions before he tried them. Unfortunately Beverly is described as bitter right of the bat so he was like yeah, no Im not trying that one Since he wasnt going to do it and Alison said she had never actually tried it I decided I would sacrifice my taste buds so I could tell everyone just how bad it is. YUCK! I have no clue why people in Italy would actually drink that stuff! Its so nasty. I was hoping it kinda tasted like something I have tried before so I could describe what it tasted like. It tastes like NOTHING Ive ever had before. Its just all bad! I think Alison was brave and tried a tiny sip too.
The one from China however is delicious! It is watermelony goodness!
Dylan felt like a big boy getting his own samples.
By the time I drank about a gallon of the China soda to get the taste of Beverly out of my mouth the world showcase had opened. We had a little bit of time before our ADR at Chefs De France so we rode the boat across the park to the America pavilion.
Right when we got off the boat we saw a Belle standing under a tree by the dock. I thought it was so cool that she was in her blue dress. Her yellow dress is pretty, but her blue dress is so much more her personality. You wouldnt find her in the library with her nose in a book in that big gold dress. This girl was the most legit Belle I have ever seen! Her face seriously looked like it was animated. It was so cool!
Alison had been singing the America song all morning and really wanted to go watch the show.
America, spread your golden wings, sail on freedoms wind, across the skyyyyy!!!
Now its going to be stuck in your head too!
She knew I would really like it too because one of my favorite things in Disneyland is Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. I just think the robot technology is so cool! Plus that song is at the end of it. So we took a potty break and then went inside to wait for the show.
So we walked a couple countries over and checked in at Chefs De France. I thought it was so cool that all of the people in each pavilion are from that country. So everyone had fun accents. So in France everyone of course speaks French. My name is French and no one can ever pronounce it correctly, when they see it. Its spelled Genée, however the guy at Chefs De France barely even glanced at my birthday button and said Happy Birthday Genée perfectly! (in case you were wondering it sounds like Janae, like Renee only with a J sound in the beginning) so that totally made my day. Its the small things right?
While we waited for our table we looked around a little bit and watched the street performers.
I found this hidden mickey in coins in the fountain.
Before we knew it our table was ready. Martin was really excited about this lunch. We had seen in Todd and Alisons older pictures that Remy from Ratatouille comes to your table and he thought that was pretty cool. We saw the guy in a different part of the restaurant when we first walked in and figured he would make his way around sometime. So we focused on the food! We decided to share the pick three meal. We picked the French onion soup, baked mac and cheese, and crème Brule.
The French onion soup may be one of the best things I have ever eaten! It was so good! The cheese on top was melty and broiled, the soup was SO flavorful, and the bread that was in the bottom was not soggy. It was ..I cant even think of the right word to describe it! Beyond delicious!
The mac and cheese was OK, with quite a bit of salt it was good, but by itself we all thought it was pretty bland. They put nutmeg in it which I though was a little different I actually dont think I have ever had nutmeg in anything savory, always sweet, so it threw me off a little bit.
The Crème Brule was to die for, the perfect texture both on top with the caramelized part and the custard part was perfectly thick and creamy. Plus they put a candle in it for me! Delish!
Right before our desert came out we had asked if Remy was coming around anymore. The waitress said she would make sure he came to see us for Dylan. Little did she know it was actually Martin who really wanted to see him.
She made good on her promise and just after our desert came, Remy found us.
This was my second favorite meal/restaurant of the trip. Fun atmosphere, Remy, and amazing French onion soup! 5 out of 5 for sure!
With full bellies we walked over to the Seas.
Taking the obligatory phone booth pictures on the way of course.
Dylan really wanted to ride Nemo and they were planning on taking him back to the condo so he could take a nap, but first he showed us all the fish in the aquarium area.
There was a trainer doing some exercises with the dolphins, she would put those shapes up on the glass and the dolphin would come and either touch its nose to both the shapes that matched or if she did a different hand signal he would touch his nose to the one that didnt match. It always amazes me to see how intelligent they are. The whole time the dolphin was a little distracted because there was a person with a service dog watching. The dolphin kept going over to the side where the dog was and trying to see it. So the trainer asked the person if she could bring her dog down so the dolphin could check it out. The dog and dolphin got nose to nose and just kind of looked at each other. Then the dog barked and scared the poor dolphin so bad it peed and swam clear to the other side of the tank. I felt so bad for it, but it was soooo funny at the same time. The poor dog was just trying to say hi.
When we got to the end of the aquarium we rode Nemo out and said good bye to Todd, Alison, and Dylan so they could go rest for a little bit.
Martin and I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what we wanted to do next. Since we were right next to it and we needed to sit down for a minute we went on Living with the land.
I made sure to take a big sniff when we walked in the building because Kristen or maybe Jess, one of the frumps, always talks about how she loves the smell in there. It is definitely a unique smell. I think they should make a line of air fresheners that are the smells of Disney. This could definitely be one of them, along with the smell of pirates and the mixed smells of popcorn and churros on main street, and the smells from Soarin I love Disney smells! Anyways back to my TR
Once again I really like these educational rides. It was so cool to see some of the gardening techniques they have come up with to solve common problems.
After our little boat trip we looked to see how long the line for Soarin was. I dont remember how long it was, but longer than we cared to wait for it. We were ok with skipping this one because we have the exact same ride here in Cali and we go to Disneyland quite a bit. So we wanted to see all the things The World had to offer that The Land doesnt.
So we walked out and decided it was time to take a trip around the world. We knew we didnt have time to see all the movies in each country but we definitely wanted to go around and look at all the shops and unique things they had.
We started in Canada.
Martin said this looked like Hogwarts, so thats what we ended up calling it the rest of the trip.
Who doesnt want to kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower?
This just doesnt seem safe!
Took a tour of Morocco
Watched the street performer in Rome
Drooled over the werthers shop
Took some photopass pictures along the way
We ran into Mulan in China, she was standing there just talking to a cast member. Come on people if you are in china and you see the princess dont you think you would want to meet her?!?!?! Everyone was preoccupied watching the acrobat people. They are impressive but Mulan is a princess!!
Then I pretended I lived in Norway because it was so pretty
We did the Norway ride, is it called Maelstrom? I dont remember, sorry I was getting a little delirious from exhaustion at this point. We were glad for a ride so we could sit down for a little bit. When we got into the ride I dont know what was different about the black lights in there, but Martins face was glowing. He is very white I realize this, but I have never seen it do that before. The weirdest thing was his freckles werent glowing. So I was looking at his face really closely and telling him what was happening when he made this crazy face and came at be going BAAAAA!!! OH MY WORD!!!! I DONT THINK I HAVE EVER BEEN THAT SCARED IN MY LIFE!!!!! I seriously almost fell out of the boat! So then of course we were hysterically laughing and the people in the boat were looking at us like we had 5 heads. I felt really bad so I tried so hard to stop laughing but it took a minute!
After that crazy adventure on the Norwegian seas, we finished the world showcase and found a place to sit and decide where we wanted to have dinner. Todd and Alison told us to pick and they would meet us there.
Heres where we took a seat.
It was so pretty with the sun setting and the flowers. It was getting a little chilly though so I was glad Todd and Alison were on their way back with our sweatshirts.
We made our decision on dinner and started walking that way.
We stopped for this photopass picture on the way.
Then made it to our dining destination.
We sat and waited for a few minutes for Todd, Alison, and Dylan to get there, and then went up to place our order. We chose the Chinese type noodely thing. I dont remember exactly what it was called. I think it was Mongolian something but I could be wrong. We were sharing and it looked like the most food. It was a little sweet but good.
I wanted to try the strawberry shortcake but we were really trying to keep our food budget down, could you tell with all the sharing? But be warned strawberry shortcake next time Im coming for you!
After dinner the plan was Alison was going to take Dylan to do the character meet and greet while Martin, Todd and I were going to go see the Ellens Energy thing. However when we got there it was closed, it was only 7 o clock? So we decided to go to Inoventions .also closed ..what the hey was going on?!?! We knew it was dead that day but the park didnt close until 9 that night, we still had two hours but everything was closing?!?! Oh well, we went back and met up with Alison and Dylan in the character meet and greet. Im not going to lie I was kinda excited we ended up being able to get pictures with the characters. I think this was an ingenious idea! One area where you got to see all the main characters right in a row with cute theming for all your pictures!!! Love it! Disneyland seriously needs one of these!
Once we got our fill of hugs from the characters, we went to use up some Test Track fastpasses we got earlier in the day.
Then we made our way to find a spot for Illuminations. We had seen it out the window of our condo the last few night but we wanted to see it up close. We finally found a spot around the back on the bridge. We wantesd to get fairly close to France because our plan was as soon and Illuminations ended we were going to book it to France to get napoleons for desert. We watched the show, it was pretty but not breathtaking like wishes or the Disneyland fireworks are. Maybe if we were in a different spot, we couldnt see perfectly from where we were.
Well we walked as fast as our legs could take us, and for Dylan as fast as his daddy could stroll him, but we didnt make it on time they had already closed. So we made our way out of the park enjoying the beauty. Epcot is so pretty at night.
When we got back to the car Martin asked Dylan if it was his turn to sit next to him since he had taken a nap that day. Dylan said No its Genées turn! Martin said What why I thought it was my turn after your nap Dylans answer was because shes my favorite Awww! Ok maybe Im a lot biased about how cute he is!
We got back to our condo exhausted and ready for a bubble bath. I sat in the bubbles drinking a crème soda (wishing I had thought to get wine at the grocery store) and apparently didnt write trip report notes. It was a very long but another perfect day.
I'm here! Sorry I'm late. I have read the first couple updates and it is so fun to remember our trip. I can't wait to read more but I wanted to say hi! You are inspiring me to go through my pictures and get my TR started. I haven't even really gone through them because it depressed me to know that we don't have another trip planned.
HI there Enjoying your report so much! Can't wait to read more. You're EPCOT day looked like so much fun....did you get to go to Mexico or Japan?? Those are my 2 favorite countries...also Future World does tend to close earlier than World Showcase. Looking forward to the next update -Amanda
Yay two more readers!!!!! Alison I totally want you to start your trip report!!!! I do have a Disneyland trip planned for September so maybe thats why its a little easier for me
Amanda!!!!! Im so glad your coming along on my trip report and commenting!!!!! We did do Japan and mexico. The japan store is amazing its huge and so much stuff! Its almost overwhelming because there is so much and its all bright and noisy!
We looked around Mexico but we didn't go on the ride because Dylan really likes that one, and it was our plan to do it when they got back from napping, but we never had time to get back there again. I actually was craving Mexican food when we were walking through there and I was getting tired and hungry but we figured seeing as we are from California we can get good Mexican food any time, (we eat it a lot!) we should try something different.
My husband and I are from California and have had annual passports to Disneyland for the last 3 years and love going during all the different seasons, and with friends and family. Its so fun to see people experience Disney when they have never been before or havent been since they were kids. So needless to say I was super excited that this time it was us getting to experience all the new things WDW has to offer.
I read for a little while until it was time to wake Martin up and head to the airport. When we got to the airport we checked our one bag and got through security in no time. At that point I had only one thing on my mind COFFEE!!! I was happy to see that there was a Starbucks right next to our departure gate. So I got a venti iced coffee and an asiago cheese bagel.
) 
Just 
It was gloriously creamy and sweet 
!!!!! I decided I would just 
What was I thinking
..I 
I had been told that this was a ride a lot of people get sick on so I almost just skipped it. However I try really hard to overcome my fear and I didnt want to come all the way to Disneyworld and miss one of the major rides. So we decided to do the less intense side. I knew Martin, Todd and I would be fine I was just worried about someone else on the ride getting sick. So we got in line I got more and more panicky the whole line, but started to feel better when we got put in our groups for the ride and no one else was going in our rocket. Now my only concern was getting out of the ride without seeing someone from the other side coming off too and being sick. I made it off without any barfers, and was glad I decided to do it! 
We knew it was dead that day but the park didnt close until 9 that night, we still had two hours but everything was closing?!?! Oh well, we went back and met up with Alison and Dylan in the character meet and greet. Im not going to lie I was kinda excited we ended up being able to get pictures with the characters. I think this was an ingenious idea! One area where you got to see all the main characters right in a row with cute theming for all your pictures!!! Love it! Disneyland seriously needs one of these!
Ok maybe Im a lot biased about how cute he is! 
Amanda!!!!! Im so glad your coming along on my trip report and commenting!!!!! We did do Japan and mexico. The japan store is amazing its huge and so much stuff! Its almost overwhelming because there is so much and its all bright and noisy! 
