Taking A First Timer To Walt Disney World! Dec. 29, 2017-Jan. 6, 2018! *COMPLETED 4/8/18*

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Sadly, this is our final day of our vacation.

We had a great morning/afternoon at Animal Kingdom. We were able to do several rides, as well as, walk around and see some animals that we had missed due to the cold weather.

We made our way to Caribbean Beach to catch Disney’s Magical Express. We had a nice ride to MCO.

We got to MCO and each TSA line was 20-30 people deep. Security went by really quickly.

My friend and I are now sitting in the airport watching the Chiefs playoff game.

GO CHIEFS!!!

We are now waiting for our flight home. This was an amazing trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I am a bit late to the party but have lost bed reading your live updates from your trip

Your friend had a great guide for his first trip - hope he enjoyed it. Interested in his take, especially given crowd levels, etc

Awesome you were in EPCOT on NYE - definitely a bucket list item for me

Cool you got to do the Star Wars VR experience (even if you had to deal with @rteetz )

Happy New Year!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sadly, this is our final day of our vacation.

We had a great morning/afternoon at Animal Kingdom. We were able to do several rides, as well as, walk around and see some animals that we had missed due to the cold weather.

We made our way to Caribbean Beach to catch Disney’s Magical Express. We had a nice ride to MCO.

We got to MCO and each TSA line was 20-30 people deep. Security went by really quickly.

My friend and I are now sitting in the airport watching the Chiefs playoff game.

GO CHIEFS!!!

We are now waiting for our flight home. This was an amazing trip!

Watching the game - such a wacky game - feels like the Chiefs should be able by 30 points. Good luck!

 

[rteetz]

Cool you got to do the Star Wars VR experience (even if you had to deal with @rteetz )

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hey, I gave it a winky emoticon!

Seriously though it is really cool how people who meet on the DIS get to hang out in real life

 

[rteetz]

Hey, I gave it a winky emoticon!

Seriously though it is really cool how people who meet on the DIS get to hang out in real life

I agree. I’ve met a ton of Disers this week so far.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Thanks for sharing! It helped me pass the time until my Disney World visit in 11 days! Not that I'm counting or anything!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I am a bit late to the party but have lost bed reading your live updates from your trip

Your friend had a great guide for his first trip - hope he enjoyed it. Interested in his take, especially given crowd levels, etc

Awesome you were in EPCOT on NYE - definitely a bucket list item for me

Cool you got to do the Star Wars VR experience (even if you had to deal with @rteetz )

Happy New Year!

Thank you for following along!

He really did, but I still don't know if I prepared him enough. I'll get into that later.

The VR Experience was great. It has its issues, but I'll get into that at a later time.

Happy New Year to you as well!

Watching the game - such a wacky game - feels like the Chiefs should be able by 30 points. Good luck!

It was a disappointing flight. However, I still have one team that I cheer for in the playoffs (the Eagles). So, I'm hoping for a better result next weekend.

I agree. I’ve met a ton of Disers this week so far.

It was great seeing you @rteetz! I hope the rest of your races are a great time (even if it is cold).

Thanks for sharing! It helped me pass the time until my Disney World visit in 11 days! Not that I'm counting or anything!

You are welcome! Enjoy your trip, and I hope you have better weather than we did!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

My friend and I made it home which means this vacation is over.

It was an amazing trip getting to take one of my good friends to a Disney Theme Park for the first time. Even if the weather was not cooperating for most of the trip, we still had a great time.

Thank you to everyone who followed along on the live updates! I will start the official updates soon. So, stay tuned!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Hi everyone. I'm here to let all of you know to expect my first updates from this trip next week! I can't wait to tell all of you about our awesome 8 days at Walt Disney World!

 

[DogwoodDisney]

I'm curious about how you found the bus service to be at Caribbean Beach.

 

[krysenchips]

Just found this trip report. Your live updates make me wish I was there, cold and all!
I'm taking my best friend for her first trip in May, so I can't wait to hear about how you all fared!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 1: Travel Day!​

Hello everyone and welcome to my updates from a fabulous 8 days at Walt Disney World. This was a very busy vacation, so lets get right into it!

My friend and I had a very early flight out of our hometown airport, so that prompted me to wake up at around 2 a.m. I would have to go pick up my friend before we would make our way to the airport.

Our flight was around 5:30 a.m, and there was absolutely no one at the airport when we arrived. Check-in and going through TSA was very easy.

We would have to wait about an hour in the airport before we would start to board our flight.



We would finally board our plane, and we were off on our first flight of the day!





We would arrive in St. Louis where the sun would begin to rise. Lets just say that I totally got the “Circle of Life” stuck in my head as our plane began to land.



We would have an hour layover, but our flight would get delayed 30 minutes, because Southwest decided to re-assign our pilots to another flight.

We would finally get on our 2nd plane of the day, and we were off to Orlando!





We would finally arrive in Orlando around 11:30 a.m, and we were greeted with the MCO Christmas Tree!



We would make our way to Disney’s Magical Express where we would wait about 20 minutes for our bus to All-Star Music.

We would actually get a Disney’s Magical Express bus! I was really excited about this for some reason. Maybe that is due to me getting Mears or Disney Cruise Line busses the past couple of trips.



We were ready to head to Walt Disney World!



Our 40-minute journey to Walt Disney World property would begin on Disney’s Magical Express. This trip always go by really fast for me since I always enjoy watching the video that they play.



We would make it to Walt Disney World property!!!

Our bus would stop at Art of Animation and All-Star Sports before arriving at All-Star Music!

For the first time ever, I received a text saying our room wasn’t ready and a text that our room was ready while on Disney’s Magical Express. So, we would make our way to our room where we would un-pack our carry-on luggage before heading to the parks.

It was time to have some fun!!!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 1: A Busy Day At Walt Disney World!​

It was time for our adventure to three Walt Disney World parks in one day to begin!

Our day would begin at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!



We would be greeted with the Christmas tree out front. I really wish they would put the tree inside the park, but I understand how this is probably the best place to put it at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This is also my favorite Christmas tree at Walt Disney World.



My favorite Walt Disney World icon is also a tree. That is the Tree of Life! There is so much detail on this tree that it is always fun to look at.



We would have enough time to use our first fastpass of the day. That was for Expedition Everest.



My friend did like this attraction, but it would end up not being his favorite attraction at Walt Disney World. He is more of a “thrill” type of person, so I was very curious to know what he thought of this rollercoaster.

We would take a picture in front of the Tree of Life on this very crowded day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.





We would make our way into Pandora.



We were starving so it was time to grab some lunch at Satuli Canteen. I would get the chicken bowl with rice. This was absolutely delicious. Satuli Canteen is easily my favorite quick service restaurant on Walt Disney World property.



It was time for our 2nd fastpass of the day. That was for Na’vi River Journey.



We would then go and see my favorite show on Walt Disney World property which is the Festival of the Lion King!



After Festival of the Lion King, we had a fastpass for Kali River Rapids. However, it was colder than what we were expecting so we decided to skip it. Since this attraction closed for refurbishment on January 1st, we would not get to this attraction on this trip.

We would make our way out of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and it was time to head to our next park of the day.

We were on our way to EPCOT. We would notice that the EPCOT bus line was really long. So, I decided to take a bus to the Yacht Club and we would go into EPCOT from the International Gateway.

We would arrive at the Yacht Club, and I totally forgot about the Christmas Village that they have in the lobby.





We would make our way into EPCOT where the only thing we had planned to see was the Candlelight Processional. We would get in the stand-by queue for the 2nd performance of the evening. We were probably 20th in line, so I knew we would make it in. We got in line at about 5:30 p.m.



We would get the best view we possibly could since they hold the closer rows for those who purchased the dining package.



The show would finally begin!

The Candlelight Processional is my favorite tradition that Disney does. I’m really happy that Walt Disney started this tradition at Disneyland.



The narrator this evening was Chandra Wilson. I’m going to be honest by saying that she was the worst Candlelight Processional narrator I have ever heard. She did not take this story seriously at all, and she would rather make jokes before reading each segment of the story. I was very annoyed that my friend had to witness that.





The show would end. Even if I really like the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT, I really like the Disneyland version a lot more. The narration is basically the same, but the orchestrations are different.

After the show, I realized we would have to wait a couple minutes for the choir to exit. I would take my friend inside the American Adventure to take a look at the gingerbread Capital and Monuments.



I would then get dinner at Katsura Grill in the Japan Pavilion before we would head to our 3rd park of the evening.

My friend and I would walk to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

I would get a fastpass for Fantasmic earlier in the day, so that would be my friends first nighttime show at Walt Disney World.



Fantasmic would begin!

Here are a couple pictures of Fantasmic:























I really don’t like the Walt Disney World version of Fantasmic. It is really dated, and it is desperately in need of an update. The Disneyland version has always been better in my opinion (even before Disneyland updated their version).

After the show, my friend and I had a few minutes to get to the Chinese Theater so we could catch Disney Movie Magic and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.

Here are a couple pictures of Disney Movie Magic:





Here are a couple of pictures of Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular:







Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular was a great way to end a very tiring first day at Walt Disney World.

My friend and I would make our way to the bus stop for All-Star Music where we would make our way back to our resort.

So, I would quickly realize that I would probably have to adjust a little bit of our schedule. That is due to some circumstances that my friend was going to be doing after we got back from the trip, and also with him saying that he didn’t expect to do a lot of walking. I think it was just more surprising to him. I tried for weeks to warn my friend how busy the first 3 days were going to be, and that there would be a lot of walking. I guess I just didn’t prepare him enough to actually know how much walking there would be.

When we arrived at our resort, we found our luggage in our room. We would continue to unpack a little bit before heading to bed. We would have a very busy two days ahead of us, because we would be ringing in 2018 at Walt Disney World!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

VIDEOS: EPCOT Candlelight Processional Songs!​

Here are a couple videos that I filmed of the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. This is my favorite tradition that Disney does the entire year. Even if I find the Disneyland version of the Candlelight Processional to be better, I still enjoy the Walt Disney World version a lot. So, I hope you enjoy these videos.

The narrator this evening was Chandra Wilson.

Make sure you watch the videos in HD.


“Shout For Joy!”

Here is a video of the song “Shout For Joy” from the Walt Disney World version of the Candlelight Processional. This is one of my favorite songs from this version of the show.

“Hallelujah Chorus!”

Here is a video of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from the Walt Disney World version of the Candlelight Processional. This is a very traditional piece of music. The only thing Disney has added is the herald trumpet part at the end. This is a great way to end a fabulous concert!

I hope you enjoyed the videos!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I'm curious about how you found the bus service to be at Caribbean Beach.

It will be a long time before I get to any Caribbean Beach updates, but I will let you know what I though of the busses now...

My friend and I didn't have a problem with the busses. We stayed in the Martinique section (requested this area on MDE) of the resort, and that was the first place to be dropped off and picked up. Whenever we walked up, our bus usually just arrived so we got lucky. We only experienced the resort bus once, and that was from the check-in building to a bus stop to catch a theme park bus. The check-in area is really far away from any of the hotel rooms now so that is the only negative I really found about the resort. We only stayed there 2 nights so I didn't have a lot of time to really explorer the construction or anything.

 

[rteetz]

Nice first day!

A very packed day at that. I really need to get to Satuli!

I love the village in the YC. Interesting take on Chandra. I really like her from Grey's Anatomy and I know some others that saw her and enjoyed it.

I haven't seen Fantasmic since 2014 I think... Definitely time for an update.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Just found this trip report. Your live updates make me wish I was there, cold and all!
I'm taking my best friend for her first trip in May, so I can't wait to hear about how you all fared!

Thank you for joining in! It will definitely be a different experience than us since I think it will be a little warmer lol. Hopefully I give you some insight into how to handle a first timer. I definitely learned some things on this trip.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Nice first day!

A very packed day at that. I really need to get to Satuli!

I love the village in the YC. Interesting take on Chandra. I really like her from Grey's Anatomy and I know some others that saw her and enjoyed it.

I haven't seen Fantasmic since 2014 I think... Definitely time for an update.

Yes you do need to get to that QS restaurant.

It was nice to see the village since I knew that a lot of it would be coming down soon.

In many ways, Chandra Wilson was fine. I really just could tell that she wasn't taking the "event" seriously, and that really bothered me. I know we are at a theme park, and we are supposed to have fun. In my opinion, there are just times where it is better to be serious instead of joking around with the choir members and how she couldn't handle being outside in the cold. Just my take and my opinion. I realize others will have different opinions than me.

I am thinking Fantasmic will get an update at some point before the 50th. I'm sure Disney realizes that show is in desperate need of refurbishment. I just remember being on a tour at WDW once where the CM's mentioned that WDW is afraid to take anything down since they realize they are a once in a lifetime vacation destination for many families.

 

[rteetz]

In many ways, Chandra Wilson was fine. I really just could tell that she wasn't taking the "event" seriously, and that really bothered me. I know we are at a theme park, and we are supposed to have fun. In my opinion, there are just times where it is better to be serious instead of joking around with the choir members and how she couldn't handle being outside in the cold. Just my take and my opinion. I realize others will have different opinions than me.

Understandble. Maybe she just handles speaking in front of crowds differently?