WDW Fan since 1975
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2011
- Messages
- 205
It's hard to believe that a month ago I was in Walt Disney World... I miss it everyday!
I'm bummed out for 2 reasons: first, because I'm back in "reality". And second, my girlfriend (who accompanied me on my week-long birthday vacation) broke up with me 5 days after we got back! So it's been hard to write a trip report because of that.
But I won't let a failed relationship ruin the memories I have from what was probably the BEST vacation I ever had!
We flew to WDW on September 11. I was nervous, but it all went well. We stayed at Caribbean Beach (2nd time there) and it was great. Loved it all - checked into the room quickly, it was near the main building, we were on the 1st floor... it was great there. They show Disney movies outside each night at 8:30 - how cool is that!?!
Having planned out the week well in advance, it went very smoothly. The only thing I should have done was put our off day in the middle of the week. I think the ex-girlfriend got a bit tired of 5 days in the parks (plus 1 day at Universal). I'm a rider... I think she's not as much... I don't go to WDW to sit on a bench and sip iced tea. Sorry.
Weather wise, I was really worried as all the forecasts said 40% chance of rain all week... but I learned that Florida rain means 10 minutes of rain and it's over. I think it rained once while we were in a building and once at night. Great weather - hot and sunny! Smartest thing I did was bring a water bottle that clips onto my belt, and got ice water at all quickservice restaurants.
The crowds were lower than usual, so I recommend September highly. It was great to WALK RIGHT ONTO A RIDE! Even when it said "20 minutes" it really meant no wait. Toy Story Mania and Splash Mountain would get backed up quickly, of course, but fastpasses worked well in those cases.
On day 1 at the Magic Kingdom we did 15 rides. Can you believe that? 15!! I got to do a lot of the old-school WDW rides I haven't done in a while like Jungle Cruise and Hall of Presidents, they're so classic, I recommend that everyone hit those rides. What classic Disney charm! Loved the redone Tiki Room, reminds me of the original from way back in the day. For those of you who don't like it, remember, it's supposed to be charming and cute. And it is. I sing that song all the time. I also love the Country Bears show, and Carousel of Progress. Sure, they'e "older" but this is Disney at it's core. Make sure you visit all those classics folks!!
We had the free Dining Plan (I'd get it even if I had to pay for it) and enjoyed it. Dinners included: Liberty Tree Tavern (SO MUCH FOOD!); Sci-Fi Dine In Theater (fun!!!); Teppan Edo (Great Japanese Steak House - for my b'day!); Brown Derby (NOT impressed... not worth 2 dinners in my opinion.); Wolfgang Pucks Cafe in DTD (better than Brown Derby, and our waiter was great); and Coral Reef (wonderful last dinner while on vacation.) We just grabbed lunch wherever we happened to be.
We had lots of photos taken by Disney photographers and I just got my Photopass CD yesterday (it was tough to edit photos of me and the ex-gf, but I decided to save the memories of a great vacation.) Waiting for my free photo book to arrive that was part of my package. what a great idea and keepsake. I enjoyed putting it together on line and adding my own photos to complete it. Oh, we got to have our photos taken with SO MANY characters! Lines for photos were short most of the time. This was pretty special for me as I've never had my photo taken with any Disney characters. So it really made my birthday special.
It was really the best vacation I ever had, I think. We got to do so much, see all kinds of shows, parades, etc... I'm already thinking about how and when I'm going back. Since I'm officially single again, I'm trying to get my nephew (age 15) to go with me (he loves it there) or I may end up going solo (never have done that....) If I can't get my brother to OK the nephew trip, I may do a solo trip in 2012 sometime. I'm thinking I need a WDW vacation yearly at this point.
I guess that's it... it was a great trip and because I was wearing my "birthday" button all the cast members wished me happy birthday. My birthdays have usually been just another day, so spending the week in Walt Disney World was great. It was fun wishing all the other birthday people happy birthday too.
If anyone has ideas or suggestions for solo or single trips let me know. I haven't started to investigate those postings on DISBoards yet.
I can't wait until I get to say "I'm going to Disney World" again!!
I'm bummed out for 2 reasons: first, because I'm back in "reality". And second, my girlfriend (who accompanied me on my week-long birthday vacation) broke up with me 5 days after we got back! So it's been hard to write a trip report because of that.
But I won't let a failed relationship ruin the memories I have from what was probably the BEST vacation I ever had!
We flew to WDW on September 11. I was nervous, but it all went well. We stayed at Caribbean Beach (2nd time there) and it was great. Loved it all - checked into the room quickly, it was near the main building, we were on the 1st floor... it was great there. They show Disney movies outside each night at 8:30 - how cool is that!?!
Having planned out the week well in advance, it went very smoothly. The only thing I should have done was put our off day in the middle of the week. I think the ex-girlfriend got a bit tired of 5 days in the parks (plus 1 day at Universal). I'm a rider... I think she's not as much... I don't go to WDW to sit on a bench and sip iced tea. Sorry.
Weather wise, I was really worried as all the forecasts said 40% chance of rain all week... but I learned that Florida rain means 10 minutes of rain and it's over. I think it rained once while we were in a building and once at night. Great weather - hot and sunny! Smartest thing I did was bring a water bottle that clips onto my belt, and got ice water at all quickservice restaurants.
The crowds were lower than usual, so I recommend September highly. It was great to WALK RIGHT ONTO A RIDE! Even when it said "20 minutes" it really meant no wait. Toy Story Mania and Splash Mountain would get backed up quickly, of course, but fastpasses worked well in those cases.
On day 1 at the Magic Kingdom we did 15 rides. Can you believe that? 15!! I got to do a lot of the old-school WDW rides I haven't done in a while like Jungle Cruise and Hall of Presidents, they're so classic, I recommend that everyone hit those rides. What classic Disney charm! Loved the redone Tiki Room, reminds me of the original from way back in the day. For those of you who don't like it, remember, it's supposed to be charming and cute. And it is. I sing that song all the time. I also love the Country Bears show, and Carousel of Progress. Sure, they'e "older" but this is Disney at it's core. Make sure you visit all those classics folks!!
We had the free Dining Plan (I'd get it even if I had to pay for it) and enjoyed it. Dinners included: Liberty Tree Tavern (SO MUCH FOOD!); Sci-Fi Dine In Theater (fun!!!); Teppan Edo (Great Japanese Steak House - for my b'day!); Brown Derby (NOT impressed... not worth 2 dinners in my opinion.); Wolfgang Pucks Cafe in DTD (better than Brown Derby, and our waiter was great); and Coral Reef (wonderful last dinner while on vacation.) We just grabbed lunch wherever we happened to be.
We had lots of photos taken by Disney photographers and I just got my Photopass CD yesterday (it was tough to edit photos of me and the ex-gf, but I decided to save the memories of a great vacation.) Waiting for my free photo book to arrive that was part of my package. what a great idea and keepsake. I enjoyed putting it together on line and adding my own photos to complete it. Oh, we got to have our photos taken with SO MANY characters! Lines for photos were short most of the time. This was pretty special for me as I've never had my photo taken with any Disney characters. So it really made my birthday special.
It was really the best vacation I ever had, I think. We got to do so much, see all kinds of shows, parades, etc... I'm already thinking about how and when I'm going back. Since I'm officially single again, I'm trying to get my nephew (age 15) to go with me (he loves it there) or I may end up going solo (never have done that....) If I can't get my brother to OK the nephew trip, I may do a solo trip in 2012 sometime. I'm thinking I need a WDW vacation yearly at this point.
I guess that's it... it was a great trip and because I was wearing my "birthday" button all the cast members wished me happy birthday. My birthdays have usually been just another day, so spending the week in Walt Disney World was great. It was fun wishing all the other birthday people happy birthday too.
If anyone has ideas or suggestions for solo or single trips let me know. I haven't started to investigate those postings on DISBoards yet.
I can't wait until I get to say "I'm going to Disney World" again!!
