Operation Photopass! First trip to Disney World - TR - COMPLETED 07/16

[DisneyStitch626]

Well, we have just returned from our Honeymoon and first trip to Disney World. Welcome to my TR! I will get started, and explain the reason for my title in just a little bit. But first, a little introduction for those who didn't see my PTR first.

My new DH, Dillon, and I have been together for 5 years. We met each other through a mutual friend, in kind of a nerdy circumstance. I decided to tag along with my friend (and later Dillon's best man) Patrick for the release of the Nintendo Wii release. I had been going through a rough time in my life, and he invited me along to get my mind off of things. Anyways, it was an all night waiting in line kind of thing, outside, in the middle of November, in Canada. Yes, we were crazy, but it was actually kind of fun. Dillon, being the video game guru that he is, was going to this event with Patrick, and he provided us a nice warm van to wait in during parts of the night. Anyways, we became friends, and started dating a few months later.

Fast forward to 4 and a half years later, and we welcomed our first little boy, Seth.

First Day

Now - 10 months old

2 months after he was born, we got the opportunity to go to Disneyland. My mom was looking after a friends house while it was getting it's finishing touches to be put up for sale. We also had enough Airmiles to get park tickets, so we jumped on the chance for a road trip! All were happy. My Mom got lots of time to spend with Seth, while we got to go to Disneyland!

One of the days in the park, during a nice dinner at Blue Bayou, Dillon proposed! It was such a memorable evening, and that restaurant will forever be a special place for us (as if it wasn't already)!

After some failed attempts to plan a Mexico wedding, we decided just to do a small wedding in February and save our money for a Honeymoon afterwards. So February 18th, 2012, we got married!

Since we were a little heart broken from our dream Mexico wedding not working out, we decided to do something else for our Honeymoon. We decided on none other than Disney World! I had wanted to go for most of my life, and Dillon is a new lover of Disney too, so with not too much arm twisting, that's where we decided to go.

We set our dates for the week of April 16th-23rd, and booked a room at Pop Century. We were excited for the trip of a life-time. Now I am excited to share it all with you. We took many, many photos, so I am excited to re-live the trip as I go along.​

Next up: Travel Day

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'm here!!!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Yay, you found me before I even posted a link! Welcome!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Our day started at 5:00am. We had a flight scheduled for 9:50am and an hour and a half drive to get to the airport. Well there wasn't much point in setting the alarm, cause there was no way I was getting much sleep that night! I got up about 10 minutes before the alarm and started getting ready. By 5:45 we had the car all packed up, and my Mom had arrived to come with us to the airport. She was going to be looking after Seth while we were gone, and she had a day in Calgary planned for him after we left. At 6:00am I went down and got Seth out of bed, brought him out to the car, strapped him in, and bundled him in a blanket in hopes he would fall right back to sleep. Well he didn't until about 5 minutes from the airport. I was a little sad, cause I wanted a big hug before we left, but I really didn't want to wake him. So this is our last shot of him at the airport before we left for the week.

We arrived at the airport at about 7:30, said our goodbyes, and headed inside with our luggage. As we were walking through the doors, we ran into some friends from Red Deer (where we live) who were on their way to Disneyland! Small world! We exchanged some quick words and laughs, and continued on our way to the check-in desk.

It was going to be a long day, as we had 2 connections to make. We ended up getting some breakfast and snacks for the flights ($45 later!! ) because we didn't know how much time we were going to have to eat before our second flight. Our first stop was Winnipeg. Because we weren't able to check-in online (we booked with Delta, but our first plane was WestJet) we didn't get booked to sit together. There was a nice lady that overheard us talking when we sat in our seats, that offered to trade us. So nice of her. So shorty after 9:50am, we were off!

Once we landed in Winnipeg, we had to rush to the other gates, as we didn't have much time before the next plane was boarding. We made it in plenty of time, but when you don't know where you are going in the airport, and have to go through security and customs, it's pretty stressful. But we made it, and were even able to relax in some chairs for a bit before boarding.

And we were off on our way to Minneapolis!

Winnipeg airport​

We checked in for our next (and final) flight of the day, and realized we had some time before we had to board. So off we went to find something to eat! This was a bit of a task, as the Minneapolis airport is HUGE!!! So many of those moving walk way things!! They were pretty fun though. Finally we found the mall attached to the airport, and did a little bit of searching for a place to eat.

We ran into Snoopy during our hunt!

We walked through the food court, and didn't see anything we wanted. On the way back to the airport section, we saw a Chilis, and decided that with an hour to get back to our plane, we had time for something other than fast food. We walked up, and got seated right away.

We decided to share an appetizer and an entree. So we ordered "Fried Cheese" (called Mozza sticks here) to start, and the fajitas for our meal.

The meal was so good! We don't get Chili's very often, but have enjoyed it every time we have. Glad to say we still liked it. I am glad we decided to just share as it was a good amount of food. We were satisfied and not stuffed. It was a very yummy meal, and so much better than fast food.

On the way back to the plane, we had a few minutes for Dillon's beloved pinball.

We made it back thanks to the five billion moving walkways, and it was time to board our last flight to Orlando!!

We arrived in Orlando at about 9:45 after an uneventful flight. And took the weird shuttle thing from the gates to the main building.

We grabbed our luggage from the moving belt (after it got jammed a few times cause they were loading it too quickly ) and rushed to catch the Magical Express!

I wanted front seats so I could take a photo of the Disney World sign, but someone had already claimed them, so this was the photo I ended up getting:

Oh well, we were there, and that's all that mattered!!​

Next up: Arriving and checking into the Pop-Century

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Finally, we were in Disney World! I was so excited to see the sign, even if the photo was crappy. The first stop was the Caribbean Beach Resort, and then Pop Century!

We got our bags unloaded, and headed into the lobby to check in. First, I had to take a few quick photos.

I had done the online check-in, so the process was quick. I showed the lady my photo ID and she gave us our package with our Key To The World Cards, information and map to the room.

I was so happy we got our request for a king sized bed, and even more happy that we got a room so close to the main building and bus stops! We were also on the bottom floor, so no stair climbing at the end of a long day!

Some pics of our room:

I love that there were little Disney touches all over the room. Even in the carpet.

It was after 11:00pm by the time we got to our room, and we were planning on getting up at 6:00 the next morning for our first day at Magic Kingdom, so we unpacked some of our things, and crawled into bed. It had been a long journey that day.​

Next up: First Park Day - Magic Kingdom!

 

[Marshay]

Yay, you started!!

I can't believe you edited all your photos already! You are fast. It's been taking me about 3 weeks to do. You should have your photos next week!

I love all the pics and feel like I'm right along for your journey.

Love that pic of Seth all asleep at the airport. Makes you want to just give him a huge hug and kiss.

Glad you made all the transfers and Dillon got to play pinball, too!

Yay for getting first floor and close to the main building. I requested building 70, too for our July trip. I love seeing all the Disney touches in the room.

Wow 5am - 11pm...what a super long day. Hope you guys were able to sleep well!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Congratulations on your wedding and cute little son.

Wow what a long travel day. You definitely got a good room location. I've stayed at POP and just love that fun resort.

I look forward to hearing all about your trip.

 

[kaoden39]

Hi Andrea!! I'm here!! You are off to a great start!!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Yay, you started!!

I can't believe you edited all your photos already! You are fast. It's been taking me about 3 weeks to do. You should have your photos next week!

I love all the pics and feel like I'm right along for your journey.

Love that pic of Seth all asleep at the airport. Makes you want to just give him a huge hug and kiss.

Glad you made all the transfers and Dillon got to play pinball, too!

Yay for getting first floor and close to the main building. I requested building 70, too for our July trip. I love seeing all the Disney touches in the room.

Wow 5am - 11pm...what a super long day. Hope you guys were able to sleep well!

I am editing the photos as I go along. I missed doing some, but I was excited to get them posted!

I actually already got my Photopass photos!! I did the digital download of them, and they sent me the email with the link last night!

It was a super long day, but the bed was really comfortable. Not sure if it was actually comfortable, or we were just so exhausted every time we were in it, but we slept great the whole trip.

Congratulations on your wedding and cute little son.

Wow what a long travel day. You definitely got a good room location. I've stayed at POP and just love that fun resort.

I look forward to hearing all about your trip.

Thank you! And thanks for joining!

The room location was great.

Hi Andrea!! I'm here!! You are off to a great start!!

Hi Michele! Welcome!

 

[Trentmom]

Yay!! You Started

That is cute story of how you two met and pics of Seth are adorable

Glad all your flights went well and you were able to get yourself a real meal at chillis...

You got a great section in Pop Century. Were you right next to a huge Big Wheel? Looks like the same building we got when we stayed there a few years ago

 

[DisneyStitch626]

We started off the day nice and early. I got up at 6:00am, showered, and got our bags ready to go with our cards, sunscreen, etc. We were ready and out the door by 7:00. Magic Kingdom didn't open until 9:00, but we needed to eat first, and we also wanted to be one of the first ones to the gates.

Some photos on the way to the main building:

Our room number

Our building:

We stopped at the Pop Century Cafeteria for some breakfast. We paid cash for this, as we were afraid to use our QS meals so soon (little did we know we'd be fighting to use them all later!)

I got the waffle with bacon, and Dillon got a danish and we shared a fruit salad.

It was an ok meal. It did the trick of giving us some energy for the first part of the day, so can't complain.

Once we were finished, we headed out the front doors to the bus stop. We were just on time as the bus for MK had just arrived. It was pretty empty, as we were the crazies going early to the gates.

It took about 10 minutes or so to get from the hotel to the park. I was amazed at how big the area is, and all the roads to get everywhere. It's like a city (a tree city) all on its own. Just roads and trees everywhere. As the bus was turning the corner into where the stops were at MK, music came blaring out the speakers to welcome us to the park. We learned to quite enjoy this music as the week went on, because it meant we were almost there, and it got us a little more pumped.

We were let off the bus, and off we were to the gates!

A beautiful view during the trek:

There was a tour group or something that got let into the gates before we were able to, but other than that, we were the first ones!

They let us through the gates at about 8:15, so we could all get a spot for the opening show. This is when the crowd started showing up. That area between the gates and the bridge got pretty packed by the time the show started at 8:50.

We stood around and took some pictures while waiting for the show.

Our first photopass photo - crowd included (our camera)

Then it was time for the show to start!​

Next up: Magic Kingdom opening show!

 

[All About The Mouse]

Keep going!

Makes me that much more excited for our trip!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Yay!! You Started

That is cute story of how you two met and pics of Seth are adorable

Glad all your flights went well and you were able to get yourself a real meal at chillis...

You got a great section in Pop Century. Were you right next to a huge Big Wheel? Looks like the same building we got when we stayed there a few years ago

Thanks for joining!!

The meal was nice compared to all the little snacky foods and everything we had eaten that day.

We were on the other side of the building from the big wheel. Closest to the parking lot, but on the side closest to the main building too. About half way between where the "T" starts and the end of the building. It was a great location, as on the days we weren't going into the building for food, etc, we could just go through the parking lot to the bus stops, and it was a little shorter of a walk.

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Keep going!

Makes me that much more excited for our trip!

Welcome! Thanks for joining along. Glad I can be at least a little help, getting you excited for your upcoming trip!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

It was time for the opening show! We got tons of photos of this one, so bare with me.

The fire marshal welcoming us and letting us know Mickey and pals (along with the special family of the day) were about to arrive on the train.

Here comes the train!

And here comes Mickey!

​

To be continued....

 

[kayely]

Congrats on your wedding and your son! He's adorable! I'm joining in on your trip report!

 

[DizNee Luver]

YAY!!!! The room at the Pop is so cute!!! How was it sleeping on the double beds?? Part of the reason we changed from the Pop to POFQ is because we wanted queen beds. But the resort looks awesome!!

Amazing pics of the entrance to MK.....very exciting!!!!

 

[kgoodb00]

I am joining in on your TR! Very excited to read about it and see your pictures because I was there during the same time you were!

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Continued:

Stitch!

As you can tell there were even some fireworks, but we missed those shots unfortunately.

That concludes our photos of the opening show. Now it's off to Mainstreet!!

To be continued...​

 

[DisneyStitch626]

Congrats on your wedding and your son! He's adorable! I'm joining in on your trip report!

Thank you! Welcome!

YAY!!!! The room at the Pop is so cute!!! How was it sleeping on the double beds?? Part of the reason we changed from the Pop to POFQ is because we wanted queen beds. But the resort looks awesome!!

Amazing pics of the entrance to MK.....very exciting!!!!

Actually we ended up getting our request for a king sized bed, so luckily we didn't have to find out what doubles would be like! Haha. And the resort was very nice. Very Disney! Haha.