Kiwis can fly! Walt Disney World and a Cruise inbetween, January 2014!

[wenuwish]

Hello DISboards! ​

My sister and I went on our first trip back to Florida since 2008 at the beginning of the year, and I’d love to share some of my thoughts/feelings/experiences/photos and vlogs with you!

I hope you don't mind part of this trip report being on the cruise ship. I wasn't entirely sure whether to post this here or over on the cruise TR forum. We ended up spending about equal time at each. Perhaps I'll just post it in both places.

I have to admit, I am a little intimidated by the numerous amazing trip reports I have browsed through on Dis over the years. I don't think I'll quite be able to do 5-part posts per day of my trip! To make up for it though, I do have a little trick up my sleeves... Read on!

Introductions!



My name is Rhiannon. I am an animator, 22 years old, from Auckland, New Zealand.




This is my sister, Megan. She is 19 years old and currently studying to become a teacher.​

Before Leaving (Some Background):
We are avid Disney fans, we’ve been to Disneyland many times, and had sailed on three Disney cruises before this one. However we’d only been to Walt Disney World once, for a short trip back in January 2008. Living in New Zealand, Florida is a long way away and also pretty expensive for us to travel to, but we always knew we’d be back eventually.

One day early in 2013 my sister text me at work saying ‘Hey, Disney Fantasy cruises are pretty cheap in January…’ I was a little worried about the cost of it all, I knew that if I were going all of that way I’d have to spend time in the parks too. Once the idea was out however, it kind of stuck and we found ourselves booking a cruise just a few days later!

I really enjoyed having a year to plan the trip. Our last Disney vacation had been booked kind of on a whim; just a couple of months out. While it was awesome not having to wait too long before leaving, this time it was great to get in a lot of research, podcasts, and prep time to build the excitement before leaving.


The Itinerary
This ended up being a 15 day trip for me, (11 for my sister, who left a few days before I did.)

Though we left New Zealand on the 14th of January, we really started our vacation on the 15th. We had 3 days In Walt Disney World (with a half-day in Universal) Pre-Cruise. We like having the peace of mind that we will be there long before the ship is set to sail.

The cruise was a 7-night Western Caribbean itinerary onboard the gorgeous Disney Fantasy. We sailed out of Port Canaveral on January 18th to visit Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel and the ever-beautiful Castaway Cay.

Then it was back to Disney World for 5 days in the parks! It seems to me that most people prefer to wear themselves out at the parks first, and then go on a nice, relaxing cruise. I however prefer to do it the other way around. It is just too hard to get off the ship and know you're heading straight back home!


Vlogging through vacation!
Ok, here it is. I decided to vlog (video-blog) our entire trip. In the build-up to this vacation I watched a lot of other people’s videos on youtube and thought it’d be great to have our own to look back on, and possibly even help out someone else planning a trip in the future. So along with a little writing, and some of my photos there will be a 10-20 minute video of our day as it happened! I really loved making them and I hope you enjoy them too!

Adventures Away!​

 

[wenuwish]

Introduction​

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Pre-Cruise

Day 1 VLOG
Getting there, Character Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, Touring the Monorail Loop, Downtown Disney and Beaches and Cream​

Day 2 VLOG
Universal's Islands of Adventure (Wizarding World of Harry Potter), A tour of Disney's Art of Animation Resort


More photos from our trip can be found on my flickr
All of the vlogs from this trip are available on our youtube channel pixelsandpixiedust​

 

[wenuwish]

Getting there
It is a 12-hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Los Angeles. There we decided to make the most of a 9-hour layover with a shopping trip to the closest mall. We left our bags in a nearby hotel room that we just booked for the day, and called a cab. Low and behold, a limo pulled up and charged us the same as a taxi would have, it was pretty cool!

That night we flew another 4 hours to Orlando. The long-haul planes are definitely easier to get some sleep on, We both managed just about 2 hours of sleep, but that wasn’t going to put us off our first day in Disney World!


Day 1 – Arriving and Checking in to Art of Animation, Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, Touring the Monorail Loop, Downtown Disney and Beaches and Cream
We tried to plan day 1 to be a little less full-on as the rest of our trip, as we knew we’d most likely be competing with jet lag. We caught the Magical Express, to Disney’s Art of Animation Resort where we checked in really quickly, (one benefit to arriving at 5am.)

The check-in desk at Disney's Art of Animation Resort

Our Little Mermaid Room

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?
​

Our room was ready for us, so we took a couple of much-needed showers and then headed to The Grand Floridian for a Character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Any worries we had that the characters wouldn’t interact with us much, being two 19 and 22 year old girls were put to rest almost immediately.They were really lovely and spent a good deal of time chatting with us and posing for photos. The buffet was great, especially the bread pudding! It was a wonderful way to kick off the trip.

1900 Park Fare

Megan with the Mad Hatter

And Alice

Me with Winnie the Pooh​

After breakfast we took a look through the Grand Floridian (Which is now my #1 must-stay-when-I’m-rich hotel) and then did a quick tour of the remaining resorts on the Magic Kingdom resort monorail loop.

It was really nice to walk through and take in the sights. We especially loved the Polynesian. I wish we’d had an extra day or two just to spend wandering around the rest of the resorts on property, it’s certainly well worth taking some time to appreciate the craftsmanship and theming that goes into them.

Flowers at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

The Mary Blair Mural at Disney's Contemporary Resort
​

Our next stop was Downtown Disney. We were supposed to get lunch here, but were still so full from breakfast that we had to skip our one-and-only chance of tasting the holiday sandwich at Earl of Sandwich. That’s still on the list of must-dos for our next trip! We got in plenty of shopping before, exhausted, we headed to Beaches and Cream for dinner. When we got there we found out that their frier was broken, so fries were a no-go. But they did manage some crisps for us, as well as onion rings. It doesn't matter the highlight was the frozen sunshine we shared, and boy was it good!

Frozen Sunshine at Beaches and Cream

The cherry on top

Back at Art of Animation, ready for some sleep before a big Day 2!


***Day 1 vlog***

I'm not sure how to embed youtube videos here, I'm not even sure if you can, so for now this is just a link to the video on youtube. If anyone knows how to embed, please let me know!​

 

[saintstickets]

Subbed in! Looking forward to your TR. Now I know someone else from NZ!! If you see Bruce & Meg, tell them I said hi! They lived in Thames but now are in Papamoa Beach, NZ. I'm sure you'll see them in passing!

 

[wenuwish]

Day 2 – The Theme-Park-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named and a tour of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.
Yes, we had to visit Universal on this trip. Being massive Harry Potter fans, my sister and I couldn’t resist dressing up in our house colours and heading off to Hogwarts for the day.

It was very cold this day, if you can believe it! We have the absolute worst luck when it comes to weather in Florida. Last time we were there they had a huge cold snap too! After a brisk walk to Animation Hall we had breakfast at Landscape of Flavors. I loved the variety here, there were so many options and all looked to be made fresh. Both of us opted for the Vegetarian breakfast 'sandwich.' Naan, tandoori cauliflower and paneer cheese with spinach cooked in gravy. Though we practically inhaled it, as we were running late, it ended up being one of the culinary highlights of our trip. On a small side-note, I did feel really bad for the people working in LoF in the morning. The way the building is designed, the people working behind the counter we ordered from had a full face of sunlight, and it looked incredibly uncomfortable.

After having our (admittedly egregious) Hufflepuff gear being 'tutted' jokingly at by the staff outside the entrance, they called us a taxi. One $40 cab ride later, and we were at Universal's gates.

A quick visit to Universal​

We really loved the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I think if you're a fan of the books or the films you really must visit at least once. We made a beeline straight for the WWoHP once we got into Islands of adventure and managed to get through everything by lunch time. With the expansion opening in the other park soon, I can see how you could easily spend the whole day just in the Harry Potter sections of the park, and that would have suited me just fine!

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts

We take pride in our house!​

We didn’t spend much time in the rest of the park, just had a quick look around before heading back to our resort.

The Lagoon at Universal's Islands of Adventure

IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!​

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking a walk around our resort. It's amazing how immersive the place is. from the music to the larger-than-life statues and the sketches on the exterior walls. I had hoped I’d get to swim in the big blue pool, but it was freezing that day and I’m not that brave!

Daddy I love him!

The Big Blue Pool

Walking around the lake

Save 2D animation, dude

Pop Century from across Hourglass Lake

The Ink & Paint Gift Shop

A couple of chipmunks

Animation Hall 1

Animation Hall 2

We had dinner that night in Landscape of Flavors, the food court for Art of Animation. Both of us ordered a make-your-own pasta dish, and loved it! It was awesome to see them make your food right in front of you, everything was very fresh, and delicious! We then headed back to our room to make plans for a change of resorts the next day.


Landscape of Flavors

***Day 2 vlog***​

 

[wenuwish]

Subbed in! Looking forward to your TR. Now I know someone else from NZ!! If you see Bruce & Meg, tell them I said hi! They lived in Thames but now are in Papamoa Beach, NZ. I'm sure you'll see them in passing!

Thanks! Haha! Quite possible, It's a very small country. In fact, I was in Thames just last weekend!

 

[mickeymouse108]

looks like fun

 

[Pesky]

Love your TR so far! Can't wait to read more!

 

[elriel]

I can't wait to read more!!!
Hufflepuff pride

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I think it's wonderful that you and your sister are vacationing together and making such memories. What better place than Disney. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your adventures.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[maryr1oz]

Love your Vlogs!

Excited to hear about your cruise

 

[Credit Man]

Following along. WOW! That is one long trip!!!