Oops! I Did it Again!! New Years in Disney 2014 **Completed 5/23/14!!**

[Britbrie]

Hey everyone! It's been a few months since we have returned from our amazing New Year's Trip in Disney, and I am just now deciding to start my trip report! Oh well, better late than never.

Here we go! Cast of Characters:

First let's talk about ME:

I am a 24 year old Disney World addict, and student at Louisiana State University. I have been to Disney World 34 times, and my favorite ride has always been Big Thunder Railroad Mountain.

Next up my Mom:

My mom is a high school English teacher, and is not as crazy about Disney as my dad and I. Mom loves the beach, and would gladly pick a cruise over going to Disney... but she still always manages to have fun in WDW. (Who doesn't?!) Mom loves Lilo and Stitch, and bagels at the Starring Roll Bakery.

Last, but not least... my Dad:

My dad has worked for an oil company for 20 something years, and loves Disney as much as I do. His first Disney visit was in 1978 when they still used the E-ticket books. His favorite Disney ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, and he knows more about the history of Disney than most.

This trip was not easy to convince my parents to go on... and my job was less than enthusiastic about the fact I was trying to go during peak holiday times. When I first concocted this idea, I was skeptical that I could get the time off of work since it was during blackout dates. (I work as a frame shop manager at a very well known craft/hobby store).

I drew up an estimate of costs, itinerary, and calendar to present to my parents as well as my boss. After pitching the idea to my boss, she reluctantly agreed and told me I was one of the most persuasive people ever (duh... that's why I want to be a lawyer).

After closing the frame shop that day, I went home and pitched the idea to my parents. They agreed (due to my amazing persuasion skills), and booked the trip the next day!

Planning was going pretty smoothly until September when our store got a new manager, and I broke my arm at work. In November, my new manager told me that the vacation would not be approved and that if I went I would be walking out on my full time job. At that point I was devastated, all this time and effort spent persuading people/planning the trip had been crushed. A few weeks later, corporate called and decided to send me on medical leave until my arm came out of the cast... which meant I could still go to WDW!!!

Although I got to go on this trip, I would rather not have broken my arm as a simple wrist fracture has turned into me being off of work for 3 months in serious pain. Anyhow, back to planning.

So, we had decided to travel on December 28 (Saturday) and return on January 5 (Sunday). We were going to make a quick 45 minute drive to New Orleans, and land in Orlando around midnight.

The hotel we decided to stay at was the Pop Century (when we booked there were very few options to choose as most of the resorts were full).

I requested a room in the 60's, so that we would be close to the center where you catch the buses.

After a few days of packing, and my last shift at work... we flew out of New Orleans and landed in Orlando! We were planning on taking the Magical Express, so after we grabbed our bags we went to look for the desks. After walking the wrong way for a good 10 minutes, my dad stopped to ask a very nice lady, who spoke absolutely no English, where it was. After she kind of understood him, we were back on our way. (Let me just interject that my arm was in and out of a brace the whole trip, and that carrying my bag/purse/camera bag was very difficult and I was super grumpy at this point).

At least the airport had a cute Christmas tree up:

After getting to the Magical Express, it was probably 1:30 am... and no one was exactly enthusiastic about all of the traveling we had done. An hour or so later, we were finally at the Pop Century and checked in to our requested 60's room. After settling in, we took showers and went to bed!

Up next: Magic Kingdom/Day 1.

 

[Britbrie]

Table of Contents:

Day 1

Magic Kingdom Part 1
Magic Kingdom Part 2
Magic Kingdom Part 3
Raglan Road Part 1
Raglan Road Part 2/Conclusion

Day 2

Epcot Part 1
Epcot Part 2
Epcot Part 3
Hollywood Studios Part 1
Hollywood Studios Part 2
Hollywood Studios Part 3/Conclusion

Day 3

NYE in MK Part 1
NYE in MK Part 2
NYE in MK Part 3
NYE in Hollywood

Day 4

Animals and Lobster
Provocative Elephants
Feisty Redhead

Day 5

San Angel Inn
Don't Eat That!

Day 6

MGM Studios, I refuse to acknowledge the new name!
Lights, Motor, Action!
Why'd they change the name anyways?

Day 7

Magic Kingdom
Dole Whips!
Haunted Mansion
Jingle Cruise
Jingle Cruise Part 2
Best Dinner of my Life!

 

[Britbrie]

First off let me explain where these pictures are coming from...
I spent my first 3 years of college at LSU majoring in Fine Arts, with a concentration in photography. Therefore, my dad and I love taking pictures and the majority of this trip we used our Canon 7D with our various lenses.
My mom tends to stick to taking point and shoot pictures with our Nikon Coolpix. For the days where it was raining, or I could no longer hold up the camera due to my hurt arm, I used my cellphone and posted pictures to instagram.

Anyhow... back to Disney.

So, since we had just gone to bed around 3 am... we were pretty tired and slept in until around 10 or so. We got up and got ready to go to the Magic Kingdom in search of food.

After the longggg bus ride, we decided to make a stop in the Main Street Bakery. Now, side note (sorry I do that a lot)... when I was younger it was a family tradition for my dad and I to go ride Splash Mountain, get fastpasses for Big Thunder, and then meet my mom at the bakery for breakfast. This was our first trip since the bakery has been converted to Starbucks.

So, we all decided to stop before proceeding to go ride some rides and check it out. Since we were on the Disney Dining Plan, we each used a snack credit to get our drinks.

Here is a photo of my drink on Main Street (typical instagram pic)

After our caffeine fix, we headed over to use our first Big Thunder Mountain fastpasses.

I love this ride! There are so many little things to see, and it was my first ride at Disney ever.

After riding BTMR, we were contemplating riding Splash Mountain but decided to skip it because it was kind of chilly out.
We made a stop to ride Pirate of the Caribbean, but the wait times were ridiculous, so we decided to walk over to eat lunch at Columbia Harbor House.

We ordered our lunch, and mom went upstairs to grab a table/get our condiments. I waited with my dad, and then quickly realized my arm brace would prevent me from helping him carry ANYTHING. We received our two trays, and my poor dad carried the drinks upstairs while I waited for him to come back to carry the tray of food. I tried my best to move over to the side and out of everyone's way, but unfortunately a very rude couple kept pushing me into the railing and acted like I was bothering them. I unfortunately had to explain to them that my arm was injured, I couldn't carry the tray, and they were pushing me into the railing. The man got pretty rude and said well I'm sure the people who work here would carry it for you. Thank goodness before I had anymore of an interaction with them my dad returned and grabbed the tray. (I wish people could just be nice, but oh well.)

Anyhow, after lunch we went to the Haunted Mansion to use our next Fastpass+ picks.

To be Continued...

 

[Britbrie]

The Haunted Mansion had a pretty long line, due to the MK being pretty busy, but we waited maybe 5 minutes because we had our FastPass+ to use.

We were led into the stretching chamber, and my dad snapped a picture of the ceiling (no flash of course).

HM is super hard to take non-flash pictures in, but with the 7D we managed to get a few decent ones. My favorite room in HM is the bride room where the pictures change as you move through.

After HM, we were trying to decide what to do but the crowds were kind of deterring us from many choices. So, we decided to get on the steamboat and take a break from the craziness.

Riverboat pictures in next post!

 

[LindseyLou2222]

Hi!
Following along! Sorry about the arm.

 

[Britbrie]

Hi!
Following along! Sorry about the arm.

Thank you! I'm glad someone is reading! Hope you enjoy!!

 

[Britbrie]

I'm not really a particularly huge fan of the Liberty Belle Steamboat, I guess it's a nice way to cool off during a hot day, or to enjoy seeing MK without being swept up in the craziness. But, my dad really likes to go on it and see the scenery so mom and I sat in the little sitting room while he took some shots.

Here is a view of the crowds in Frontierland... (although this was NOTHING compared to what we would see in the next few days).

After exiting the steamboat, mom wanted to go see the Country Bear Jamboree.
I despise the CBJ... honestly I know it's meant for small kids, but mom likes to make me suffer through it. So, since we were soooo close to the Hall of Presidents and mom always gets super bored during it. I took revenge and made her go see the HofP. haha. After that, I reluctantly agreed to see the CBJ.

Around this time, we decided to go check out the wait times in Fantasyland, and to go take a glance at New Fantasyland.

Since it had been raining on and off, it was nice to see the sky was clearing up and it was beginning to look like a nice day.

Once we made it to New Fantasyland, we went and shopped in the a few of the stores and decided to call it quits for the day in MK. We boarded the train (which was completely full!), and had to sit on the conductors chair in the back.

Overall, we enjoyed our time in the MK that day despite the crazy crowds (which we were expecting), but it was almost time for dinner.

Since we booked our vacation/ADR's so late in the game, we were pretty limited with where we could eat. Ever since the last trip to Disney (a 2 day thing with mom back in 2012), I wanted to go try some of the new DTD places. So, I made us an ADR for 7:30 pm at Raglan Road.

We went back to the Pop Century so that we could change clothes before dinner. After waiting soooo long for the DTD bus, we made it there and didn't have much time left to make it for our ADR.

We got to Raglan Road about 10 minutes after our scheduled time, and saw a HUGE line at the podium. Several minutes later, dad was back with a pager and we went to buy me a celtic knot necklace & a shot glass.

Up Next: Raglan Road dinner!

 

[Britbrie]

So, after we made a few purchases at the Raglan Road gift shop... (see necklace below)

Our pager started going off, and we were escorted away to our table by the bar. It took a little while for our waitress to come over, and we all ordered our non-alcoholic drinks. They had some Irish dancers performing a show, and the energy in the place was electric. After bringing our drinks, we were given some of the delicious Irish soda bread with Guinness reduction.

OMG!! This bread/Guinness reduction is AMAZINGGGG. I ate pretty much all of it myself. No lie, and no shame. If you haven't made it to the Raglan Road just to eat some bread, you aren't living your life in WDW right.

Alright, so after I consumed all of the bread myself... we were ready to order, but our waitress had disappeared. In the meantime, they had a band playing up on the stage so we watched their performance while waiting.

BTW, I just googled the Irish soda bread recipe and now I totally want to make it. Has anyone attempted to make it yet?!? If so, how did it come out?? If it's just as good as the Raglan Road soda bread, I'll probably gain 30 lbs in a day. haha.

http://blogs.disney.com/insider/recipes/2013/03/12/irish-brown-bread-with-guinness-reduction/

Anyways, so finally our waitress showed back up... and we placed our entree orders. Mom ordered the fish and chips:

(sorry for the blurry cellphone picture).

According to my mom, the fish and chips were comparable to the Rose and Crown's fish and chips. So, yeah. My dad and I decided to get steak, and although it wasn't amazing... it was a pretty awesome dish.

Oh, there's that AMAZING Guinness reduction in the background. Ugh, it's like torture to look at it.

Anyhow, the onion rings on top of my steak were pretty delicious, I would have honestly eaten a basket of those and been happy.

Up next: Conclusion, and dessert at Raglan Road.

 

[Britbrie]

After we finished our entrees, our waitress took a while to come back to the table and take our dessert orders. The dancers started doing another performance, and finally the waitress showed back up. After placing our orders, we reviewed our next day's plans.

Finally the dessert showed up, and it looked delicious! I ordered the Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding. Looking back at it, I wish I would've ordered the Dunbrody's Kiss (Chocolate... hello).
But this was good, I was already full and all the bread chunks didn't help matters.

Mom ordered the fresh fruit salad with yogurt & honey drizzle. Since she watches her sugar intake, she told them no honey.

Overall everyone really liked Raglan Road, and we would all eat here again!
After we finished eating and paying the tip, mom and I wanted to go shopping. We went to the World of Disney, but dad was having none of the shopping experience. He went to sit outside while mom and I went into the Christmas store, and a couple of other shops. After torturing him with waiting enough, we went to catch the bus back to the Pop Century. Once back at the hotel we took showers, watched some tv, and finally went to bed!

Takes from Day 1:

1) Traveling after working an 8 hour shift, landing after midnight, and finally getting in bed around 3 am makes me SUPER grouchy.
2) People are rude... especially to people with injuries, disabilities, and wheelchairs.
3) Don't bring your small children to the Haunted Mansion... all they are going to do is scream and cry. You won't have fun, I won't have fun, and your kids will be tired and cranky. The end.
4) Starbucks in Disney is pretty awesome. The best part is that you can use your snack credits for it.
5) Raglan Road is a really great restaurant. The atmosphere, and performers are really awesome. (But, let's talk about the bread... like really OMG).

Up next: Epcot, and MGM (oh, sorry... Hollywood Studios.)

For those of you reading (if anyone), I hope you are enjoying!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Excellent start! Can't wait for more!

 

[Britbrie]

Excellent start! Can't wait for more!

Thank you! I hope you enjoy!

 

[Britbrie]

All right, time to start DAY 2! For those of you reading along, please let me know you’re here! (I feel so alone! Lol)
Just an FYI, there are LOTS of pictures to go with Day 2. I tried so hard to limit them, but let’s face it Disney is very photogenic! So, without further adieu… Epcot.
When I was a kid, Epcot was my least favorite park. It was awful being forced to walk around the World Showcase in the summertime heat! Well as an adult, I’ve found a new love for the World Showcase through my photography.
On Day 2, we woke up and by the time we were ready it was around 9 am. We went out to catch the bus, and didn’t have to wait too long to get on one. Unfortunately, this day I had decided to try to brave it without my removable cast… and of course there was only standing room on the bus. AHHH. My worst fear! At this point, I kind of panicked because no one would know I could only hold myself up with one arm.
Not only do I have a fear of standing on buses—as a kid I was standing on a bus back to Fort Wilderness from MGM, and fell during a turn into some man’s lap… super embarrassing (I don’t recommend it)—but I was terrified I’d fall because my arm was hurt. After a painful bus ride I definitely wouldn’t forget my cast again.
We arrived in Epcot, and it was almost time for our first Fastpass+ pick—Spaceship Earth! When I first reserved this as a fastpass pick, my dad was skeptical on the necessity. Every time we’ve gone to WDW, we have never had to stand in line for Spaceship Earth… but when we got to the line it was a 45-minute wait! Like people ACTUALLY wait in line for it?!
Anyhow, after getting settled the ride narrator greeted us and asked us to select a language to listen in. Of course my dad picked Chinese… and no he has no idea how to speak Chinese. He’s just ridiculous. He didn’t pay attention anyways, he just took pretty awesome pictures.

This next scene used to be my favorite part of Spaceship Earth… back when they showed Walt Disney talking. Now it’s some lame space moon landing stuff. Psh, Walt Disney is better come on now.

After we rode Spaceship Earth, we decided to go get something to eat in the World Showcase. We decided to start walking around until we found a place we could all agree on. In the meantime I took pictures of the scenery.

 

[Britbrie]

I love these birds, they are so weird and always hang out in the same spots in WDW.

Finally, we all decided on the Lotus Blossom Café in the China pavilion. I ordered the Orange Chicken, and the Lychee ice cream for dessert. Now, I know what you are wondering (or maybe you aren’t wondering anything, I’m not a mind reader) what in the world is a lychee? Well, it’s a fruit that is mainly cultivated in China and India… and it’s pretty different. I can’t really describe the flavor as anything but sweet floral taste. It’s definitely something you should try though, I’d eat it again. The other flavor they had, which my dad got, was Caramel Ginger. It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be… lychee was actually better. The only negative I have about the Lotus Blossom Café would be that they have no sugar free options… so my mom and countless other diabetic visitors have NO options there. Not even a kid’s fruit option was offered, but oh well she survived.

We continued exploring on into Morrocco… which is probably the prettiest pavilion to take pictures in. The following pictures were taken by my dad, and I’m not going to lie they are pretty gorgeous. I’m jealous.

 

[Britbrie]

After our World Showcase tour, we decided to go visit Mexico so I could get a drink! We went to go ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, and then looked around the pavilion.

When we got off of the boat ride, we decided to stop in the La Cava del Tequila. I got the San Angel Inn margarita, and let me tell you as a tequila/margarita drinker that drink was strong!

We decided to walk over to the Norway pavilion before we went to go ride Soarin’ to check for an Elsa dress for my employee’s granddaughter. (Before I left work, he gave me money and asked for me to buy her one… of course I had no idea that the dress would be completely sold out, or the magnitude of her popularity). After no luck, we proceeded to go use our FastPass+ for Soarin’, and then The Sea with Nemo and Friends.

After our day in Epcot, we decided to go back to the Pop Century to get cleaned up for dinner at Mama Melrose’s. Once we arrived at Hollywood Studios, the amount of park guests that were there was crazyyy.

 

[Britbrie]

Of course at this point, my dad captured a rare sight of me with my cell phone in hand… cause that never happens. Haha. I mean really, who stands in the middle of Hollywood Studios on their cell phone? You’re in Disney World… who is more important than Mickey Mouse, or Stitch?

Anyhow, we finally made it to Mama Melrose’s and were seated. Our server brought us bread and took our orders pretty quickly. The food was pretty good here, as far as Chicken Parmesan is concerned.

Before we could even order dessert, the fire alarms went off and we were asked to leave the restaurant. We inquired about our tickets, but the managers said no one needed to worry about it. While waiting outside to see if we could go back inside, the managers came out and issued every guest a voucher for a complimentary dinner at Pizza Planet (ew… not comparable to Mama Melrose’s at all). Since we did get to eat our entrees, there was no point in getting a voucher… but we were handed one anyways. We decided to go see what they had for dessert, but none of us were very interested so we went to the Great Movie Ride to check out the wait times.
The managers outside of Mama Melrose’s.

The wait at the Great Movie Ride was pretty short despite the amount of people in the park, so we went in and waited about 10 minutes before we were on the ride.

 

[Britbrie]

Our tour guide was pretty boring… so when they did the switch I figured we would get someone interesting. But, no didn’t happen.

Sorry for all the pictures, there were so many more good ones but I cut them out… haha. After the GMR, my dad was getting kind of tired (he goes to bed early on vacation and wakes up super early)… so he left my mom and I in the park. Mom and I decided to go get dessert and a drink at the 50’s Prime Time since we never got it at Mama Melrose’s. Once at 50’s Prime Time, we sat at the bar and the bartender took our orders. Mom got the No Sugar added cheesecake, and I just ordered alcohol. Haha.

 

[Britbrie]

I ordered a Mowie Wowie (which is very good!). The Mowie Wowie has Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Melon Liqueur, Peach Schnapps, Orange Juice, and Pineapple Juice in it. AMAZING.

After dessert and drinks, we went to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. My mom loves Christmas decorations, so obviously she was excited.

After seeing the lights, we went back to the Pop Century and fell asleep pretty quickly!
Up Next: Day 3- Magic Kingdom, Campers, and Hollywood Studios for NYE!

 

[Credit Man]

Your pictures are simply stunning! Great report!

 

[Britbrie]

Your pictures are simply stunning! Great report!

Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy!

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Following along, and all caught up!
Yay for another Christmas TR. Looks like I just missed you, we were staying at POP from Dec 22-28th. Placed in 1960's Building 5 with a lakeview.
Looking forward to all your updates.