Live trip report - my first solo trip :)

[karentan]

Just managed to get into a very last minute photopass share! Don't think you can get any more last minute than joining the share while sat on the plane waiting to taxi out

 

[wayneg]

Not a good start to the trip when the pilot comes on the tannoy ten minutes after we were due to take off saying sorry for the delay, the original pilot that was due to fly has had to be replaced and new pilot has been called off standby and only just got here fifteen minutes ago!
Plus the lift thingy that puts the stuff into the back of the plane is broken and they're trying to fix it, so not even fully loaded yet!

Hope you are on your way soon.

Just managed to get into a very last minute photopass share! Don't think you can get any more last minute than joining the share while sat on the plane waiting to taxi out

No, that is very last minute

 

[sammie1884]

Hope you have a fab trip!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hope you are there now and settling in

 

[karentan]

Well the flight was uneventful, and despite taking off about 40-50 minutes late, we made up good time and only ended up being ten minutes late. I was five rows from the front of economy, so managed to get off the plane pretty quickly, so made it through to immigration before most of the rest of the plane Immigration hall was pretty empty so assuming that we were the only international flight arriving at that time. Customs was no problem, and have left my suitcase on the baggage reclaim, and going to let magical express do their magic. Partly because I've never done it before, and partly because I'm too lazy to carry it around! Checked in at magical express no problems, and now sat on the bus while writing this, time from landing to getting on the bus was a lovely 40 minutes. The bus already has a few people on it so hoping we don't need to wait too long til we leave. The plan is to go check in, find my room, walk in, dump my hand baggage then head out to a park Now if only this bus would move!

 

[queendisney]

Yay...you're there. So jealous.

Have a fantastic time.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[MrRomance]

I'm stunned that you were out and at the DME in 40 minutes, Karen! It usually takes us longer than that and we get to shuffle through the crowds into the Citizen line. I'm hoping to get to WDW within 90 minutes of touch down on our trip so we can meet friends who are leaving early the following morning but being half term, me thinks it is unlikely! Have a great time!!

 

[karentan]

Ended up waiting 20 mins on the magical express bus before we left, but got going eventually on my way to all star movies, Via Coronado springs and all star sports
Got a really nice friendly cm who checked me in, my birthday was noted on my reservation as I made it two days after my birthday, so I got a birthday badge, and because he didn't have a balloon I got a flower from the display behind the desk, which is now sat next to the tv in my room.
My room is in the fantasia section right by the pool, and I've actually ended up with a king bed accessible room. Plenty of room and the bathroom is huge, it's more of a wet room as its got no tub
I dumped my hand luggage and walked back to the bus stop, and then left it to fate to which park I went to. The options were Epcot or the studios. Depending on which bus turned up first, so hello from Epcot!
Got here about 6.20, have wandered over to world showcase and working my way round, this is being typed in the queue for maelstrom
Have had a few photopass photos done, met Duffy and Donald, and am just walking round WS til the tiredness gets the better of me

 

[2Tiggies]

Just managed to get into a very last minute photopass share! Don't think you can get any more last minute than joining the share while sat on the plane waiting to taxi out

Oh brilliant news!!

The plane must have been delayed especially for you to get into the share

Glad to hear you got there safely. Enjoy Epcot. What an awesome place to start!

 

[karentan]

The funny thing is that I've said from the outset that this trip is so I can go see all the things that we normally miss. I've only been here an hour and a half and already found three things I didn't know existed! Didn't know there was a tequila bar in Mexico, that you can walk through the stave church in Norway, and didn't know there was a display of replicas of the terracotta warriors in china!
Shows how much of Epcot we normally miss

Well I ended up giving up about quarter past eight because the tiredness was getting the better of me, so started walking back when it started chucking it down. Took a quick detour into Spaceship earth on the way out to try and pass some time while the rain slowed down, and I'm now finally back at the hotel, albeit a bit damp. In the food court at the moment which is absolutely heaving then heading back to room, which hopefully should now have my luggage in it

 

[2Tiggies]

The funny thing is that I've said from the outset that this trip is so I can go see all the things that we normally miss. I've only been here an hour and a half and already found three things I didn't know existed! Didn't know there was a tequila bar in Mexico, that you can walk through the stave church in Norway, and didn't know there was a display of replicas of the terracotta warriors in china!
Shows how much of Epcot we normally miss

Epcot is an incredible park. I still know there are many things that we have not seen or didn't know to see, despite spending a large proportion of our time there every trip. I hope you're taking lots of photos

 

[Laurafoster]

Epcot is my fave park. We always seem to discover something new to see.

Hope your case was waiting for you. Ive never tried leaving it to DME

 

[edinburghlass]

Another whose favourite park is Epcot and haven't seen these things either! What a great start to your holiday, enjoying reading along.

 

[karentan]

Well thanks to the lovely jet lag it's 4.50am here and I've already been up about half hour already. Tried to stay up as late as I could last night to avoid jet lag but it obviously didn't work lol, and that coupled with the family that decided to have an extremely loud and long conversation outside my room at midnight (complete with hyped up kids running up and down the corridor) means I haven't had much sleep. Will probably suffer for it later
Not 100% sure where I'll end up today but its probably going to be MK, meeting friends at the contemporary at 2.30 so it seems the easiest option think I'll grab some brekkie before heading out. Then there's six of us attempting the kitchen sink later, should be interesting

Few things I've noticed at the hotel:
My room has a working fridge. They're working on replacing every fridge on property due to a possible defect, and last time I checked the ASMo FAQ thread on here a few days ago it was showing that most rooms still didn't have a fridge. Don't know if they've replaced them in last few days or whether me having what's technically a handicapped accessible room has anything to do with that? (ie might be more likely to need it for medical reasons?) either way I'm happy to have the fridge
The new rapid fill RFID refillable mugs are in full swing here but people seem very confused by them. You have to put the cup centrally on the little black tray to get it to work and its causing queues because people don't get how to work them. I mean it's not rocket science but people can't get them to work right away so they're assuming they're broken and walking away drink less
Love bugs are here but not too bad, seen a few around but it's not a massive infestation

 

[MrRomance]

Oh I so hate that first morning when you wake up with the lark and 4am and there is NOTHING to do but watch Disney Stacy Aswad on your TV. I really don't think there is any way to avoid it. We've tried staying up and it really doesn't make much difference!

Glad you got a fridge, suffering luke warm drinks in your room is nasty. I actually wondered how the Rapid fill Mugs were going to affect people. Whenever there is a change people seem to lose their damn minds.

Got a question for you to investigate... can you let us know if there any sign of the Food & Wine wristlet gift cards? I haven't seen anything posted anywhere if they are doing those this year.

Have a fun day... enjoy the Kitchen Sink!

 

[Laurafoster]

Got a question for you to investigate... can you let us know if there any sign of the Food & Wine wristlet gift cards? I haven't seen anything posted anywhere if they are doing those this!

Ive seen some signs up at Epcot advertising them

 

[karentan]

Well today has been a really nice, but LOOOOONG day.
After waking up at 4.30am, and trying to waste time at the resort, I got a bus to MK and got there about 8.50am. They were already letting people in, assuming they had done rope drop early? I had no real plans for touring, so ended up getting in queue for mickey meet and greet as it was only showing 5 minutes and I knew it wouldn't stay like that, so headed in. Got my photo with mickey, and one in front of the castle, then headed over towards adventureland. When I'm with Gary we very rarely stop for character photos, but as I was on my own today and now in a photopass share, I thought this would be a good trip to get some photos in.
I went to head towards jungle cruise before realising that it was closed for refurb, didn't fancy the magic carpets at that time, so headed to BTMRR. It was only showing five minutes so rode that, then went on splash mountain. It kept stopping every so often, and as usual, s*ds law I got stuck next to the big waterfall, so ended up a lot wetter than I should have been.
Called Gary after I got off that, it was raining at the time so tried to hide under a tree to avoid some of the rain, while trying to keep the wifi stable enough to not keep cutting the call off. Ater that I headed to liberty square and went on hall of presidents. I honestly can't remember if I've ever watched this before, but found it quite interesting and very patriotic. Rode haunted mansion after that, they seem to have changed the queue line, where you used to have the option to skip the graveyard, you can't anymore as that old cut through is now used for fastpass plus. After I got out, the liberty riverboat was in the dock, so rushed over there and rode that, this is another one I haven't rode in years and was a nice leisurely ride round the river.
After the boat I headed into fantasyland, and watched philharmagic, then rode the caroussel. After looking through some of the shops i heard the celebrate street party, so wandered through the castle to go watch. Havent seen this in full before, and it was lovely to watch, everyone seemed very enthusiastic to join in the dancing parts after the parade i headed back through the castle, it was getting busier at this point, so decided to leave new FL to another day, so headed over to tomorrowland instead. I had a date in the evening with a kitchen sink at beaches and cream, so although I wasn't particularly hungry at the time i got lunch at starlight cafe, as I knew that if I didn't eat lunch, I'd be ravenous by dinner time.
After lunch I rode the speedway, which I don't think we've done since we got married, so 8 years ago. Only I could get stuck in a traffic jam on a ride where the cars/go karts ride on a track! After getting off that, it was almost 2, and I was due to meet friends at the contemporary at 2.30 so headed towards the exit. Stopped on the way to watch the dapper dans for a while, those guys really are good. Got the monorail to CR, had a very quick wander round the shops, then met my friends outside at half two.
Spent an hour or so shopping in the cast stores behind the MK then headed over to the beach club and beaches and cream. We got there about half four, got a pager then were seated at 5. We were only there to tackle the kitchen sink, so ordered it (minus the coffee ice cream). Glad to say we managed it just about between four of us, if it was any bigger we'd have had to admit defeat as we were all feeling a bit sick afterwards.
Sat by storm along bay for an hour or so chatting, then headed back to Kidani village where our friends were staying. Stayed there til about half eight, until the tiredness was getting the better of me. They kindly dropped me back at ASMo, and now sat with a glass of baileys unwinding before bed
Hopefully I'll get a bit more sleep tonight....

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hope you manage to sleep a bit later today, although the early starts are good to get some rides done before the crowds

The noisy neighbour is one thing that's put me off staying in hotels as I am a light sleeper so we normally stay in a TH. Although at CSR in December we were lucky and had a really quiet top floor, corner room. Hopefully your neighbours were quieter last night.

 

[wayneg]

Sounds like a great day. Its great to go in and do things at your own pace and do little things you don't do often, we only did Hall of Presidents last year for the first time.
Did you get anything in the cast shop? we usually pick up 1 or 2 bits but never much to interest us.
How much is Kitchen Sink now, I thought it was overpriced at $22.99 when we had it, I am sure its more than that now. Its OK for the novelty factor but not that great, prefer other desserts they do.