In the Game of Thrones, Princesses Always Win

[khaleesi]

Okay, so I have been reading some in-progress trip reports and they look like SO MUCH FUN. They've been giving me something to do while I pass the time not-so-patiently waiting for February 2014 Park Hours to be posted! Maybe my computer is broken?! Haha.

I figured that if I want to document my trip, I should probably start NOW with a pre-trip report! I feel like the end of February is SOOO far away and I love the planning aspect. Maybe documenting it here will make it even more enjoyable and make it seem like 6 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days is just around... the river bend!

Oh yeah... I'm khaleesi... nice to meet you! I'm 40ish. Give or take In Disney years though, I'm approximately 10 years old! Always have been, always will be!

{For those who don't know, "khaleesi" is a reference to Game of Thrones, which is my latest obsession. I know it's not Disney-related, but my obsession is at a Disney-like level. Well, maybe not quite that obsessive. But still pretty bad. My main obsession is with the books and I'm about 25% of the way through the fifth book. I don't know why I'm hurrying to finish it, since the sixth book is not yet published. *gasp* I do watch the show as well, although, I'm very slow with that. I just finished season one.}​

Now that I've got that jibber-jabber out of the way, here are my trip plans thus far:
Dates: Feb 23rd - Feb 27th
Resort: All Star Movies
Who's Going: Just me!

This will be my seventh trip to WDW, and my second solo trip! Last time I was there was Feb 2009, so it's time!!

Ready? Click here to skip to "My Disney History, Part I"

 

[khaleesi]

Table of Contents​

Introduction

My Disney History, Part I
My Disney History, Part II
My Disney History, Part III
My Disney History, Part IV -- with pictures!
My Disney History, Part IV.V -- with more pictures!
My Disney History, Part V -- yep, pictures here too!

Pre-Planning Jibber-Jabber -- not-so-patiently waiting for February park hours!
What's Another $120 in the Grand Scheme of Things?!

We Interrupt This PTR... -- non-Disney, but amazingly fun!
The New Reason Why This Vacation Can't Come Soon Enough -- not nearly as fun as the last chapter

Daily Outline!!
Baseball Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend
Happy Disney Purchases

Day One: Epcot
Halloween is Just Another Obstacle Standing in the Way of Christmas
Epcot Food Options
Epcot Summary

Day Two: Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom Food Options
Disney's Animal Kingdom Summary

Day Three: Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios Food Options

 

[happybelle]

I will join in. I am always fascinated by solo trips.

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part I​

Like I mentioned in my introduction, I've been to Disney six times. My upcoming trip (the one I'm documenting here) will be my seventh.

1982 and 1982
I spend a week in Kissimmee with my grandparents on two different occasions. They headed south every year for a couple months. They stayed at the Days Inn, and we went to the Magic Kingdom on one of those days. I have vague memories, but nothing too clear. I do remember absolutely loving it, though!!

My memory is fuzzy, but the things that stick out to me from these previous trips are:

• Walking to the hotel gift shop every night with my grandpa. I don't remember what he used to get, but every single I night I would buy a Goo Goo Cluster! At the time, these weren't available in my neck of the woods (Buffalo area) and I loved them!
  
• My grandma commented ALL THE TIME about the "beautiful flowers" at Magic Kingdom. At the time I was all, "whatever". Now, I'm the exact same way. I have more flower pictures on my camera than I have people pictures!
  
• A restaurant that I believe was called Duffs. I could be wrong on the name, but it sounds right to me. It was a huge buffet and I remember loving it. And getting sick from it. And yet, I still loved it!
  
• The rides I distinctly remember at MK were the Haunted Mansion and a ride that isn't there anymore. It was sponsored by an airline and that's about all I remember about it, except that I absolutely loved it!

"My Disney History, Part II" is right here!

 

[khaleesi]

I will join in. I am always fascinated by solo trips.

Hi!!! Thanks for reading! I'll be talking about my previous solo trip briefly as I talk about my history. I'm really excited about this upcoming one!

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part II​

April 1997
I used to work as a nanny and in April 1997, the people I worked for needed to head to Orlando for a medical conference smack dab in the middle of The World. So the family decided that they were going to tack on a family vacation to WDW.

Which means I got to go.

And not only did I get to go, but I didn't have to pay for anything (other than souvenirs).

And not only did I not have to pay for anything... I got paid to be there!!

​

Our trip actually started in Myrtle Beach for a couple days and the weather was unbelievably awful. I've never seen so much rain. It wasn't fun AT ALL.

We wound up leaving early to go to Orlando, which was fine by me! We stayed in the Hilton at Walt Disney World Village. I know this, because I have the hotel postcard sitting on the computer desk next to me to make sure I get the information correct!

{side note... I have pictures from this trip, but I have no way of posting them. I plan on buying a negative converter, so I can make myself a photo book, but at this point in time... I got nothin' ​

Some highlights from this trip:
We were there during the birthday celebration, so I got to see The Castle in all it's pink, cakey, glory. I know some people hated this. I was not one of them.

We all had a character breakfast at Fulton's Crab House.

The kids liked the hotel swimming pool better than they liked WDW. *sigh* The good news is that I was able to spend quite a bit of time by myself in the parks. We went to MGM (at the time) and Magic Kingdom together and then I choose to go back to MGM by myself. All I cared about was riding Star Tours, and even though the kids LOVED Star Wars they had zero interest in the ride.

MGM had a Toy Story parade, which I thought was awesome. I had my own character meal with Quasimodo, Meeko, Genie and some others.

I finally got to ride Star Tours... WITH CHEWBACCA!!!!!!!!!!

I'm fairly certain I enjoyed this trip a lot more than everyone else did!

Ready for Part III???

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part III​

January 2001
I'm not a very spontaneous person. My joke is that spontaneity is great, as long as it's carefully planned out. And, well, it's not really a joke

So the fact that I wound up at the Magic Kingdom with my sister in 2001 if pretty impressive. I don't remember HOW the topic came up, but we decided pretty spur-of-the-moment that we wanted to go to Disney World.

For a day.

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of people with APs who live in the Greater Orlando Area who go to the Magic Kingdom for the day on a whim.

We live in Buffalo.

Our original intent was to go over the Martin Luther King Jr holiday... fly down on Saturday, spend Sunday in the park, come home on Monday. So not exactly a one-day trip, but still... Disney for the Day.

MLKJ weekend was not going to work because the flights were unbelievably expensive. Of course, the fact that we planned all of this on a moment's notice didn't help. But the weekend AFTER that was perfect! So I took the day off from work (my sister was still a college student at the time) and kind of flew by the seat of our pants.

Have I mentioned that my sister views spontaneity the same way I do?!

We found a hotel that we thought was close to The World, booked it for two nights, booked our flight, and made reservations on Mears. The hotel wasn't very close to The World... OR to MCO. The Mears driver actually couldn't find it! Oh joy. Luckily, we were just hanging out at the pool the day we got there, so it wasn't a huge issue.

The hotel offered once a day transportation to WDW... so we were up bright and early. And it was cold!! Well, not for me so much. But my sister is not a fan of cold weather. Most of my pictures show her wearing gloves and a leather jacket!

It was not very crowded that time of year, so we managed to pack an awful lot into that one day trip! We even headed over to Disney's Wide World of Sports, since we're both Atlanta Braves fans. We just wanted to see what it looked like. I was so excited because the store there had Doug Flutie's autographed college jersey framed and hanging up. That was incredible to me, as I'm a huge Flutie fan!

We also went to Downtown Disney (Disney Marketplace at the time?)

We got a great picture of us with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Piglet (that I would post if I had actually purchased that negative converter I mentioned previously! The next posts will have pictures, I promise!) It was my first time riding on 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' and I loved it!!

No wait time on the rides was HUGE. We also bussed it over to Epcot. I still hadn't been there, but I was able to go in a gift shop that sat outside the park entrance. We could also HEAR the fireworks. Oooh. Ahhh. LOL!!!

Spontaneity has it's advantages.

I'm sure they are few and far between though

Clickety-click here for Part IV (which pictures!!)

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part IV​

April 2008
In October 2007, my brother and sister-in-law decided they were taking a family vacation to Disney the following April, and they wanted the whole family to go. So after what seemed like an eternity, my dad and I hopped on a plane and jetted off to Orlando. (My mom does not travel, so she stayed home and babysat the cats!)

We stayed off-site in a rental house:
Me
Dad
Brother #1 and his daughter
Brother #2, his wife, and their four kids
Sister-in-law's sister, husband, and three kids
Sister-in-law's mom

Plus, my sister and her hubby and their daughter stayed on Disney property!!

It was a very large group of people and we had a blast! The only downside was that the kids wanted to spend a lot of time in the pool, and because we stayed off site we rented cars. I don't drive rental cars in unfamiliar places so I didn't get to do everything I wanted.

Which was fine, because we even left to go home I decided I'd be back within a year. Solo!

We got stuck in the PoTC queue, which was kind of annoying. But we wind up with some bonus Fastpasses.

We were there during the Flower and Garden Expo, which was cool. I loved seeing all the topiaries.

My favorite thing was easily "The Magic of Disney Animation". I didn't realize at the time (or during my next trip for some reason) that you could take the animation class. That is definitely on my "must do" list for my upcoming trip!

We stayed together for a good part of the trip, but we also split up to go our separate ways too. There was SO MUCH that I wanted to do, and like I said... the kids were mainly interested in the pool. *sigh* During one of our Hollywood Studios days, my dad told me that we would need to leave earlier than expected but wouldn't say why. He just said that something had come up, so I worried myself all the way back to the house.

SURPRISE!!!!!! My sister-in-law and the girls threw a birthday party for me and my brother!! Our birthdays were a week away, so it was totally unexpected!!

We did get caught in a huge rain storm during one of our Magic Kingdom days. I started raining in the early afternoon and just never stopped. But we had a blast.

And I KNEW I had to come back VERY soon!!

Part IV.V (is that even a thing?!) is up... with some more pictures!

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part IV.V​

February 2009
Can I start out by saying that I'm very impressed with my use of Roman Numerals? Ha. Generally, I hate them. They don't make an ounce of sense to me. Random, I know. And I have no idea if IV.V is even how you would write 4 1/2 in Roman Numerals, but I'm going with it!

After my {amazing} family trip, I knew I had to come back before I ever hopped on the return flight home. And because I was going alone, I knew I would have to stay on Disney property!! No rental cars for khaleesi.

{You might be wondering why I didn't find someone to go with me. Truth is, I ENJOY being alone!! Not 24/7/52, but as a general rule, I like being able to do what I want when I want!}​

Now, I've read trip reports from people who are VERY into their resort choices. And I admit that a lot of the pictures are pretty awesome. But let's be honest. I was going to WALT DISNEY WORLD!!! All I needed was a place to sleep and a place to take a shower. I would NOT be spending time in my room! So I decided on All Star Music.

Walking into my room, I got all teary-eyed when I saw this:

I WAS IN WALT DISNEY WORLD!! BY MYSELF!!!!​

I did a four-day, four-night trip with park hopper option. I'm changing that up slightly for my 2014 trip.

I went to Downtown Disney the day I got there and took advantage of the free Planet Hollywood meal voucher I got with my package. I had Pasta Carbonara, which is one of my favorite foods. For whatever reason, I remember sitting in PH, singing along to Faith Hill's This Kiss. I have absolutely no idea why that sticks out in my head, but every time I hear that song now I think of Disney!

I walked all around DTD and I'm fairly certain I got something yummy at Ghiradelli's but I was not smart and did not take any notes. I am planning much better for my next trip!

There were four things that REALLY stood out to me on this trip and provided the best memories:
1. Staying on property (even though we kind of stayed on property when I was as part of my nanny job, it just wasn't the same)
2. Backstage Safari Tour @ Animal Kingdom

You'll have to wait for 3 and 4 in my next post...

The Backstage Safari Tour was so awesome! The whole family rode on Kilimanjaro Safari the previous year, but riding it with the tour group and getting the slow version of the ride was wonderful. I made the reservation for my first full day at The World, because I was afraid that if I scheduled it later in the trip, that I would be so excited for it that I would want to hurry through everything else just to get to it.

The best thing for me was getting to pet a white rhino!! Every time I go to the zoo, I think of my friend the white rhino who I actually got to TOUCH! Up close!

Soo, ummm. I have a confession. I hate roller coasters. But my sister's absolute favorite ride in all of WDW is Expedition Everest. So I was brave and took a ride. That will never happen again

I know I ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ (which I remember being delicious; self-knowledge makes me guess that I had pulled pork). After getting my fill of AK, I hopped over the Magic Kingdom. I got a picture of Pluto, because my niece told me he was her favorite character. I also bought a plush Pluto to take home to her. I'm the best Aunt EVER.

I had dinner at Casey's Corner. Corn Dog Nuggets. Being a huge baseball fan, I love the theming in here. So you would think I would have taken pictures. You thought wrong. Ugh.

I don't want to get TOO crazy-detailed with the histories, but at this point this is really the ONLY place I have any of this documented. So thanks for indulging me! Just one more post of Disney history before I start the pre-planning discussions!

Part V is the final installment of my trip down memory lane.

 

[teekathepony]

Hi! I'm in! Loving the history of Disney trips, great way to start a ptr!

 

[khaleesi]

Hi! I'm in! Loving the history of Disney trips, great way to start a ptr!

Thanks for joining!!! I've been having a lot of fun typing the history and remembering things that happened! I cannot wait until February!

 

[khaleesi]

My Disney History, Part V​

February 2009, continued

Looking back on this trip now, I remember having an amazing time. But I think my upcoming trip will be even better because it's been so long since I've been there. For a lot of people, two WDW trips in less than 12 months is probably the norm. But for me, it's definitely not. And I'm at the point where I miss it so badly, I can TASTE it.

ANYway....

The second day of my trip was spent at Epcot. Here is where item #3 on my best memories list pops up. And it has nothing to do with Epcot! I'll get to that in a minute, though

I made it to Epcot for rope drop and got some great pictures of the Fab Five that are hanging up in my living room. And then I immediately headed to Soarin.

I made my way to World Showcase, where I found my first (and only) hidden Mickey. I remembered the directions for this one, which is why I was able to find it. I have been taking notes on other HMs I can do some more hunting!

I had a reservation at the Grand Floridian in the afternoon... I was having afternoon tea at the GF!!! Mark that down as item #3!!! I loved it so much, that I'm planning on doing it again!

I spent the rest of the day at Epcot. I had dinner at Tangierine Café, where I tried the chicken shawarma platter. I didn't love it, but it was okay. AND when the Avengers movie came out last year, I was very excited because I had eaten shawarma... and Tony Stark apparently loves it! (Yes, my nerd is showing!)

The next day I arrived at MK bright and early for the welcome show. I really wish I would have saved some of that Mickey glitter!

I rode some of my favorite rides and was pumped about the wait times:

After going on all of my favorites, I hopped over to Hollywood Studios. I spent a LOT of time in HS on my previous trip, so I only scheduled half a day there. I wish I had planned it better, because I never got the chance to ride Toy Story Mania, so that is on my absolute definite to-do list in February.

I braved RnRC, and wished I hadn't. Gag. I loved the whole theme and everything... I just don't like roller coasters.

You know what else I don't like?

Elevators.
They are treacherous and nausea-inducing. I avoid them at all costs. Because of this, I had never been on Tower of Terror. Every single person I know tried to convince me that it's not really like an elevator and that's it awesome. I didn't believe them, but I put on my brave face and ventured in anyway. *sigh*

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

​

Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at best memory #4! Oh my goodness!!!! I LOVED ToT!!!!! Like, seriously loved it! I rode it two more times! Cannot wait to ride it in February!!!

I had an ADR at 50's Prime Time Café and I truly have no remembrance of what I ate. I thought the atmosphere was fun, but I was glad that I didn't get scolded. One of the people from the table next to me had to stand with her nose touching the wall. I don't remember what she did wrong, but I was glad my server must have realized my discomfort with the antics. I do NOT like being singled out!

I watched the parade and got some incredible pictures. It was all the Pixar characters! So I wasn't able to ride TSM, but I did get my Pixar fix(ar)! I ate dinner at Pizza Planet. And it's the weirdest thing. This was a satisfactory dinner, although I don't even remember what I had. But there will be days when I am sitting at work and for some reason... I have no idea what triggers it... I get a flashback of sitting in PP.

WEIRD!!!!

So Pizza Planet doesn't make this list, but for some unknown reason, I can transport myself right back there!

Top Four Memories of 2009
1. Staying on property
2. Backstage Safari @ AK
3. Afternoon tea @ Grand Floridian
4. Riding Tower of Terror

So there you have it! My Disney history rolled up into a handful of Dis posts! Planning is well under way... I'll be updating soon!! HOPEFULLY 2014 park hours will be out SOON. Before I go insane.

I launch into some Pre-Planning Jibber-Jabber right here. It's exactly what it sounds like

 

[blabbermouth]

Great history! I don't go very often either, so I know how you feel, but I almost always remember what I eat, haha. You'll be a pro this time, lots of time to research!

The GF tea always sounds neat to me, one day I'll try it.

 

[khaleesi]

Great history! I don't go very often either, so I know how you feel, but I almost always remember what I eat, haha. You'll be a pro this time, lots of time to research!

The GF tea always sounds neat to me, one day I'll try it.

Thanks for popping in! GF tea is a lot of fun, even solo. I'm really looking forward to doing it again!!

I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remember what I ate in Disney 4.5 years ago. Crazy

 

[khaleesi]

Pre-Planning Jibber-Jabber​

AKA: February Park Hours, Where arrrrreeeee youuuuuuu?????

I'm going crazy here. And I know I'm not the only one. Based on a couple other threads, there are people who have hit their ADR window but the hours aren't posted yet. It's not making me terribly anxious, because I know what ADRs I need and will deal with the park hours. It's the last week in February, I'll be solo... it's shouldn't have a HUGE impact. But I still want to know so I can start really planning!

In the meantime, I've been studying this book and taking copious notes:

I know some of the stuff in here isn't valid anymore, but there should be plenty of ideas still. I love all the little factoids that we don't even know about and I can't wait to experience them and photograph them and journal about them and blather on about them for hours at a time to the extreme annoyance, oops I mean delight of my friends.

And when I'm done with that little piece of homework, I have a year's worth of these babies to sift through:

My friends and family think I'm crazy for taking notes on Disney stuff. I think they're crazy for thinking I'm crazy

When I'm not studying up, I've been on a movie binge. It all started when I popped We Bought a Zoo into my DVR. It made me giddy for Animal Kingdom.

Yes, yes I KNOW. It's not a zoo. Blah, blah, blah. But I'm pretty sure the whole "it's not a zoo" thing is used to counteract those THINK it's a zoo, and by so thinking that, decide they wouldn't like AK without ever setting foot in it. I'm clearly not in that camp. Besides, Matt Damon didn't star in a movie called We Bought DAK.

Since then I've seen:

• Monsters University (which I liked, but felt like I had already seen it because the plot of The Internship is verrrry similar and I had just seen that recently as well)
• Up
• Tangled
• Beauty and the Beast
• The Little Mermaid
• Tarzan (turned it off halfway through; it bored me)
• Finding Nemo
• The Princess and the Frog

Lucky for me, there is a Blockbuster between my house and my job. Yes, they still exist. AND the majority of their movies are (finally) 99 cents for five nights!

I've also started working on some Snapfish photo books of my six previous trips. I love these things. I used to be a huge scrapbooker, but I'm kind of veered toward the photo books in recent years. So I'll be happy to have a nice collection of books with my Disney memories.

Have a happy weekend, everyone!!!

Hmmm... what else can khaleesi spend money on??

 

[Lei]

Hi hi! I just followed your TR and found out that we're both going in Feb! What is up with the park hours huh? It's been driving everyone nuts!

But MDE recently gave out information that it should be up next weekend, let's cross our fingers and toes for that

 

[Lei]

Also, if you like Disney factoids, you may like this thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3088430

 

[teekathepony]

Ooh yeah I can see how having no hours out but your ADR window open would cause some serious planning stress! I like knowing everything in advance too.
I like to do research and take notes too. See this is why we all gather at the Dis -- we understand each other! Haha
Oh I liked We Bought A Zoo. I read the book too. Interesting story!
I really liked Monsters U too. Great list of Disney movies, I have a tradition of watching all my Disney movies before every trip. I should get started soon!
I'm thinking of making a photo book every year of a year in review. I have made a few, I really love them!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[khaleesi]

Hi hi! I just followed your TR and found out that we're both going in Feb! What is up with the park hours huh? It's been driving everyone nuts!

But MDE recently gave out information that it should be up next weekend, let's cross our fingers and toes for that

Hi!!! Thanks for joining! I love going in February. Less hot and less people! If you haven't seen yet, the hours have finally been posted! And March is out now as well. I think they just wanted to make us squirm!

Also, if you like Disney factoids, you may like this thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3088430

Ohhhh thanks!!! I love that stuff!

Ooh yeah I can see how having no hours out but your ADR window open would cause some serious planning stress! I like knowing everything in advance too.
I like to do research and take notes too. See this is why we all gather at the Dis -- we understand each other! Haha
Oh I liked We Bought A Zoo. I read the book too. Interesting story!
I really liked Monsters U too. Great list of Disney movies, I have a tradition of watching all my Disney movies before every trip. I should get started soon!
I'm thinking of making a photo book every year of a year in review. I have made a few, I really love them!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Disney movies make me so happy! And I actually like the movie version of We Bought a Zoo better than the actual, real-life book version. I think it was just more upbeat, maybe? IDK.

 

[khaleesi]

What's Another $120 in the Grand Scheme of Things?!​

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Spending money makes me twitchy. And even after I decided with 100% certainty that I was taking this trip... my finger still hovered over the mouse for a good two minutes before I clicked the "submit" button.

I'm really happy with my Disney Visa! Earning points to spend at Disney by booking a Disney trip?

Yes, please!!

So, now I present to you some photos from my last trip so we can play a little game called:

What Do These Photos All Have in Common?​

Give up?

Yeah... I'm not actually IN any of them. Which is exactly what every single picture from my last two trips look like. There are several reasons for this. The main reason is that I generally didn't like the way I look in photos.

However, I've recently lost some weight and more importantly, I stopped hiding behind my clothes. If I would have done that from the beginning, I probably would have liked the way I photographed a lot better!

So after a lot of thought, I've decided that I'm going to plop down the extra $120 to preorder the Photopass CD. That is a ridiculous amount of money in my opinion, but seeing other people's PP pictures has convinced me that it's worth it. And if I spend the money on it, I know I will actually USE it, as opposed to saying to myself that I can just have someone take the pictures for me using my camera. I haven't actually ordered it yet, but I figure I have time.

To change my mind. LOL.

On the movie front, I rented Mary Poppins and Ratatouille yesterday... and Cars and Wall-E were on TV the other day, so I recorded those to watch as well.

And... most importantly....

February park hours are FINALLY out!!! ​

With just about two weeks to spare before I can make my ADRs. I have my schedule figured out, as long as I can get the two reservations I want.

Crossing my fingers!

{Non Disney-related, but still pretty cool: I'm participating in The Color Run for the first time on Saturday!! I can't wait. I signed up for it at the beginning of February, and now it's here. That's what I had been counting down to before I booked my World trip!!! Yay!!!!}

A little non-Disney adventure awaits for your reading enjoyment!!