texaslover
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2005
- Messages
- 404
Hello! This will be the story of the first four days of last week's best friend Disney/Universal trip. Who are these people you are about to read about? I (L) am a 59 year old Language Coach (ESL) in an elementary school and my friend (J) is a 58 year old former librarian who now owns and runs multiple businesses with her husband. I work part time for their company as HR and payroll. This trip was my friend and I's end of year bonus from her husband which was incredibly thoughtful and generous. We spent 4 days at Disney and 2 days at Universal (that trip report is in the Universal area). Both of us are Disney lovers and have been with our families many times over the years. We also went to Disneyland together 2 years ago so it's not our first theme park rodeo as travel partners!
Our first four days of the trip were at Disney so we landed in Orlando and took an Uber to our first hotel, The Swan. Well, we actually took an Uber to the Swan Reserves where we walked in and announced our presence and wish to check in and were told.....we were at the wrong place. Everyone was very nice and said it happens all the time and they let us take their resort van over to the actual Swan. I have to say that, from what we saw, the reserve is actually a lot nicer than the regular Swan. Guess that's why they kicked us out lol.
We finally arrived at our actual hotel and checked in and checked our bags at the valet. We noticed that there were a lot of convention folks milling around and it was quite busy in the lobby. We had already decided that Epcot would be our first park so we headed out the back of the hotel to the boat dock and didn't wait long for the boat to the park.
We decided to get into the park and head across the international gateway to France. My friend remembered having some champagne there last time she was there that she loved. As it turns out she was thinking of the Rosa Regale in Italy but we still each got a $20 glass from the little store. This was the first weekend of Festival of the Arts and we could already tell it was packed. And the alcoholic drinks were expensive! They had to open a new bottle so they gave me the cork and said it was good luck. I kept it and still have it in my bag. I will totally take any luck that I can get!
We walked around the pavilion and then headed over to Morocco where we decided to get a sangria. We got it from the quick service restaurant and also got the naan bread with dips. We were looking at all the food booths and the lines were incredibly long so we figured tasting some of the FArts food might not be in the cards for that day. We split the bread and dips and they were all good, it was a good little items to share. We walked through Morocco and took in the atmosphere and shops and then moved on to Japan.
In Japan we went into he store and thoroughly browsed through everything. My son used to save all his souvenir money to use in this store so it was very nostalgic (he's now 28 year old!). We had told ourselves we were getting a drink in every country so we decided to get the sake, even though we were afraid it would be nasty. It was. Lol. We made ourselves throw back about half of the glass and threw the rest away. J had to take a work call so I was able to just sit in the sun and enjoy the people watching. It was a cold but lovely day!
We moved on to America and walked through the exhibit which I now can't remember what it was about. J was getting cold so this let us warm up inside for a bit. We went back out and got an Expresso martini from the Joffrey's cart. We were skeptical about how this would taste but it was really good and got some caffeine in us!
We continued on to Italy where we watched the juggler/mime do his show. It's always entertaining. We strolled through the stores and this is when we realized that the wine J wanted was the Rosa Regale red. So, of course, we both got a glass and spent time window shopping and people watching.
It was so crowded, there was no getting on rides and all the food booths were 25 or 30 people deep so we just decided to keep moving and do what we could. We walked into Germany and were still hungry after only splitting that dip so we got the traditional beer and pretzel. I loved the cheese dip and J hated it. It was cold and more like a pimento cheese without the pimento. So I dipped and she slathered her side with mustard. The pretzel was delicious!
We ate and did a tour of the shops and then kept walking around the showcase. We decided we did not want any of the drinks in China that didn't have a huge line so we walked through the pavilion and moved on to Norway. Again, all of the booths were packed and the only other options were beer, which we didn't want, plus Frozen had a 100 minute wait. We looked at the church exhibit and in the store and walked to Mexico. We went inside and there was no line for Gran Cabelleros so we did the ride. Which was cute and fun as usual. And no wait at all. Now the wait for the margaritas at Cava was out the front door of the pavilion, it had to be an hour long. So no go on that. We went to the quick service restaurant in Mexico and split some street tacos, beans, and rice and a margarita. It was all decent but, being from TX, nothing to write home about.
It was around 5:00 and it was just getting more and more crowded. We looked at the app and saw that Spaceship Earth had a 5 min wait so we left the World Showcase and headed there. We basically walked right on the loved it as usual. When they took our picture mine didn't work and so J was on the screen at the end with a headless friend. Otherwise great ride. We looked at wait times again and nothing was under 60 min so we left out of the front of the park and took a bus to Hollywood Studios thinking we could try to get on some rides there and, if it's too crowded, we could take the boat back to the Swan from there.
We went into Hollywood Studios and decided to do Minnie and Mickey's Railroad because it had a 20 min wait. First we stopped at the Brown Derby walk up outside bar to get a drink to drink in the line. I guess the bartender here is somewhat of an icon and the people behind us in line were telling us he had been there for years. But, let me tell you, he was the slowest bartender we've ever seen. There were only about 4 people in front of us in line and it took at least 20 minutes to get our drink. Which was just Tito's and soda. He was quite the talker with no sense of urgency lol. Finally got the drink and rode Minnie and Mickey's. We had done it before in CA and loved it and felt the same this time. It is just so cute and fun! Love the ride technology and how the cars move. We looked at the app and the waits were long except Star Tours, which was 5 min. So we headed there and did that ride quickly. It pales next to the new Star Wars rides but still fun with no wait. We debated doing a few more things and staying for Fantasmic but had been up since 4:00 am so decided to head back to the hotel.
It was an easy boat ride back to the hotel and we were in bed by 9:00 after deciding on Animal Kingdom for our first stop tomorrow. Stay tuned for Day 2 and our lightning lane revelation...
Our first four days of the trip were at Disney so we landed in Orlando and took an Uber to our first hotel, The Swan. Well, we actually took an Uber to the Swan Reserves where we walked in and announced our presence and wish to check in and were told.....we were at the wrong place. Everyone was very nice and said it happens all the time and they let us take their resort van over to the actual Swan. I have to say that, from what we saw, the reserve is actually a lot nicer than the regular Swan. Guess that's why they kicked us out lol.
We finally arrived at our actual hotel and checked in and checked our bags at the valet. We noticed that there were a lot of convention folks milling around and it was quite busy in the lobby. We had already decided that Epcot would be our first park so we headed out the back of the hotel to the boat dock and didn't wait long for the boat to the park.
We decided to get into the park and head across the international gateway to France. My friend remembered having some champagne there last time she was there that she loved. As it turns out she was thinking of the Rosa Regale in Italy but we still each got a $20 glass from the little store. This was the first weekend of Festival of the Arts and we could already tell it was packed. And the alcoholic drinks were expensive! They had to open a new bottle so they gave me the cork and said it was good luck. I kept it and still have it in my bag. I will totally take any luck that I can get!
We walked around the pavilion and then headed over to Morocco where we decided to get a sangria. We got it from the quick service restaurant and also got the naan bread with dips. We were looking at all the food booths and the lines were incredibly long so we figured tasting some of the FArts food might not be in the cards for that day. We split the bread and dips and they were all good, it was a good little items to share. We walked through Morocco and took in the atmosphere and shops and then moved on to Japan.
In Japan we went into he store and thoroughly browsed through everything. My son used to save all his souvenir money to use in this store so it was very nostalgic (he's now 28 year old!). We had told ourselves we were getting a drink in every country so we decided to get the sake, even though we were afraid it would be nasty. It was. Lol. We made ourselves throw back about half of the glass and threw the rest away. J had to take a work call so I was able to just sit in the sun and enjoy the people watching. It was a cold but lovely day!
We moved on to America and walked through the exhibit which I now can't remember what it was about. J was getting cold so this let us warm up inside for a bit. We went back out and got an Expresso martini from the Joffrey's cart. We were skeptical about how this would taste but it was really good and got some caffeine in us!
We continued on to Italy where we watched the juggler/mime do his show. It's always entertaining. We strolled through the stores and this is when we realized that the wine J wanted was the Rosa Regale red. So, of course, we both got a glass and spent time window shopping and people watching.
It was so crowded, there was no getting on rides and all the food booths were 25 or 30 people deep so we just decided to keep moving and do what we could. We walked into Germany and were still hungry after only splitting that dip so we got the traditional beer and pretzel. I loved the cheese dip and J hated it. It was cold and more like a pimento cheese without the pimento. So I dipped and she slathered her side with mustard. The pretzel was delicious!
We ate and did a tour of the shops and then kept walking around the showcase. We decided we did not want any of the drinks in China that didn't have a huge line so we walked through the pavilion and moved on to Norway. Again, all of the booths were packed and the only other options were beer, which we didn't want, plus Frozen had a 100 minute wait. We looked at the church exhibit and in the store and walked to Mexico. We went inside and there was no line for Gran Cabelleros so we did the ride. Which was cute and fun as usual. And no wait at all. Now the wait for the margaritas at Cava was out the front door of the pavilion, it had to be an hour long. So no go on that. We went to the quick service restaurant in Mexico and split some street tacos, beans, and rice and a margarita. It was all decent but, being from TX, nothing to write home about.
It was around 5:00 and it was just getting more and more crowded. We looked at the app and saw that Spaceship Earth had a 5 min wait so we left the World Showcase and headed there. We basically walked right on the loved it as usual. When they took our picture mine didn't work and so J was on the screen at the end with a headless friend. Otherwise great ride. We looked at wait times again and nothing was under 60 min so we left out of the front of the park and took a bus to Hollywood Studios thinking we could try to get on some rides there and, if it's too crowded, we could take the boat back to the Swan from there.
We went into Hollywood Studios and decided to do Minnie and Mickey's Railroad because it had a 20 min wait. First we stopped at the Brown Derby walk up outside bar to get a drink to drink in the line. I guess the bartender here is somewhat of an icon and the people behind us in line were telling us he had been there for years. But, let me tell you, he was the slowest bartender we've ever seen. There were only about 4 people in front of us in line and it took at least 20 minutes to get our drink. Which was just Tito's and soda. He was quite the talker with no sense of urgency lol. Finally got the drink and rode Minnie and Mickey's. We had done it before in CA and loved it and felt the same this time. It is just so cute and fun! Love the ride technology and how the cars move. We looked at the app and the waits were long except Star Tours, which was 5 min. So we headed there and did that ride quickly. It pales next to the new Star Wars rides but still fun with no wait. We debated doing a few more things and staying for Fantasmic but had been up since 4:00 am so decided to head back to the hotel.
It was an easy boat ride back to the hotel and we were in bed by 9:00 after deciding on Animal Kingdom for our first stop tomorrow. Stay tuned for Day 2 and our lightning lane revelation...
. J and I were trying not to laugh because it was so dramatic. 
. 
