"They've extended an hour?! I can make it!" March 13-19 TR - UPDATE 5/29 - Day 3

[brdlyleon]

Hello all! I am back from a wonderful trip at the happiest place on Earth and I couldn't be anymore happiest! err..i mean, happy! I suppose an introduction is in order....

My name is Brad! I am 19 years old and I attend the University of North Florida. I am originally from NC, my parents and entire family is from Costa Rica, and I moved to Tampa my freshmen year in high school (this causes a lot of problems when asked "Where are you from?")
I'm a guy who does pretty much anything for a laugh and am really silly and playful. I love disney since I remember (disney movies that is) and didn't get to go to disney until I was about 15. I was amazed by it all.

This was my first solo trip along with being my first time staying on property, and I was so excited! I had been planning for months, so much, that I made a PTR. If you want to look over it and see what I HAD planned, I'll link it at the end of this post along with having the link in my signature.

Now, for other people who joined me...
Yes, I did say it was a solo trip, but my friend decided to join in majority of the time and I instead was solo in the evenings and mornings...either way, I didn't mind, as long as she didn't stay in my hotel room (you'll see why!!)

My friend Lili joined me for majority of the trip

She's been my best friend since about freshmen year of high school and we're still close, even though we only see each other about 2 times a year. She lives in Orlando, where both sides of her family (divorced) both live. I also convinced her into getting an AP...success

Another good friend and Lili's sister, Melanie.

she's an amazing friend and basically my sister too! I only see her once a year so I loved it being at Disney this year! lol we also convinced her to get an AP...I'm spreading this love rather quickly huh??

I was also joined by DISer for a DIS meet up...

I met up with Kendra (hintofspy here on the boards.) We met trying to find a team for the great scavenger hunt this may and decided to meet up before then. had a ton of fun and she is really cool!

I had an awesome week and I can't wait to tell you all about it!!! so grab some and join in!!!

BTW I apologize for the large pictures its to hard to resize

Link for my PTR

 

[TanzUnited99]

Welcome back Brad! Sounds like you had a great time!

Look forward to reading all about your trip and the famous scavenger hunt

 

[__disneygirl]

Jumping on board for this one! I love solo trip reports. I did my solo trip when I was 18 and I affectionately refer to it as The Solo Mess LOL! It was amazing but crazy. Anyway, can't wait to read more.

 

[ChattaAlley]

Can't wait to hear the rest . . .

 

[brdlyleon]

Welcome back Brad! Sounds like you had a great time!

Look forward to reading all about your trip and the famous scavenger hunt

thank you and welcome!! The scavenger hunt wont be until may but I will surely post something to talk all about it

Jumping on board for this one! I love solo trip reports. I did my solo trip when I was 18 and I affectionately refer to it as The Solo Mess LOL! It was amazing but crazy. Anyway, can't wait to read more.

welcome!! thats awesome!! did you have to fly or are you near wdw? sounds fun though! and thanks!!

Can't wait to hear the rest . . .

lol yay! welcome and ill be updating today

 

[brdlyleon]

Sunday, March 13th -
Here we go on the 'non-official' day of my report! The plan was to be ready and set to leave Jacksonville at 9...what really happened? We woke up around 11am. Go figure. I was up all night packing, cleaning, and getting ready until 7 that I took some extra hours! Of course! So by 12, we were ready to go! Didn't take much pictures because I just wanted to get to Orlando and go to Universal!
We arrive in Orlando at about 3 pm. I meet my friend at that HUGEEEE McDonalds on International Drive. (Anyone been there? Didn't go in but dying to visit the “largest playground” in a Mickey Ds. Off we go, saying goodbye to Laila and hello to Lili and Orlando. Turns out, Lili doesn't want to go to Universal...NOOOOO!!! I was heartbroken, but indeed, we were both exhausted from our previous nights' activities and instead went over to her house. We relaxed for a bit and decided, along with her older sister, Melanie, to go do something fun! Universal anyone? They weren't really up for it... Instead we decided to play some holes of putt-putt! Where you ask? FANTASIA GARDENS! Now if you've never been (first timer here!) it truly is an amazing course! Nothing TOO elaborate like other courses here in Orlando, but def. The best course I've ever been too! Plenty of surprises in store throughout the course. We arrived around 8pm to play 18-holes. Here come the pictures:

I decided to reenact a favorite scene from a classic...

Poor Melanie had some troubles in that first hole...

A more "notorious" scene from Fantasia lol

we both waited for that surprise at the end...which never happened

A nice little treat happened as we played! It was a Sunday, therefore, Fantasmic was going on right next door in DHS. The fireworks looked amazing from where we stood and we really got a kick of all that! We reluctantly played our last hole and wanted some grub? We decided to head to International drive and grab some chilis. Too bad chilis closed at 11 and it was now 11:05. What now? While the grownups decided our next move, I shot a picture of these nearby attractions:

NEVER would I do that!!! MAYBE the swings, lol, but thats it!!!

We opted to go to TGI Fridays down the street. Whoa! What a great restaurant! It had a bit of a theming going on and it was great! Our waitress was a bit rude but I imagined it could be a rough day for anyone working in Orlando on a late Sunday night. I opted for a Black Angus Burger with some Mozarella sticks and a Vanilla Bean cheesecake. TON of food! Too much for me in fact, but hey, live a little! Here are more pics:

an excellent cheesecake! so good!

us, after, that food! we just couldnt do it! lol

It was getting to be around 1am by now and we knew we had an early morning, so we TRIED to go to bed. Instead, we arrived out their father's house and it was a big reunion! We managed to talk Mel into buying an annual pass, with which we succeeded, but to our dismay, their PC was not working. Eh, we'll worry about it tomorrow! Our bedtime? 3 am. Great right? Not really....lol

 

[Disneyfreak616]

I'm here and I'm subbing! I love Fantasia Gardens it's so fun! You and your friends are adorable! Love that pic of you acting out the Lion King! I literally just did that like 20 minutes ago (but with a flower pot...Simba was nowhere to be found... ) and my mom was dyinggg.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Sounds like you had a great time! I'm here for the rest of the journey.

I would love to play Fantasia Gardens! I only did it once before, and my dad wanted to play the green side, not the fun side.

Love Fridays! Great food and great atmosphere all the time.

 

[brdlyleon]

Sounds like you had a great time! I'm here for the rest of the journey.

I would love to play Fantasia Gardens! I only did it once before, and my dad wanted to play the green side, not the fun side.

Love Fridays! Great food and great atmosphere all the time.

welcome and thank you!

awe lol yeah that side looks less than thrilling haha

yeah it was pretty good! it was my first time ever so I liked it lol

I'm here and I'm subbing! I love Fantasia Gardens it's so fun! You and your friends are adorable! Love that pic of you acting out the Lion King! I literally just did that like 20 minutes ago (but with a flower pot...Simba was nowhere to be found... ) and my mom was dyinggg.

welcome!! and yeah it is! lol thanks ))
haha are you there now or did you just do it at home? its an awesome scene to act i cannot lie....lol

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the Fantasia pics!

Sounds like you had a great first day and that cheesecake looks so yummy!

 

[KellyNTink]

Yayyy...Brad's Trip Report! Subbing!!!!

 

[brdlyleon]

Monday, March 14th - So monday was my first park day. If you followed my PTR, you would see that I would be checking into POP around 11, eating at Rainforest at 12, and going to AK for the rest of the day. Here's what really happened...
I woke up at around 8 am. As far as I knew I was the only one up so I explored the house - it was my first time at their new house – and decided to wake up Lili. She took awhile to wake up so I just decided to go back to bed. Big Problem. She woke up and came to look for me and told me we were about to leave. WHAT!? I wasn't ready! She almost slapped me. She told me I had 10 minutes and to hurry because we were already late. Of course we were. I took a shower at the speed of light and didnt even have time to finish getting ready. We were in the car and ready to go by like 9:30. We rushed over to her job. Now if I didn't mention earlier, Lili is a nanny. She likes to call herself Mary Poppins (as if) and she takes care of two beautiful little girls named Alexandra and...oh geez I can't remember the other one's name...something like mickey or idk haha. Anyways we got to their house to pick them up to daycare and preschool. It was around 10:40 by the time we got all that done. We still needed to find somewhere that offered free wifi so we could buy Melanie's AP since I didn't work last night. We opted for McDonalds. I got all of her info and got the pass done. Lili bought herself a drink and off we went to POP, where we would meet up with Melanie. Here are pictures of our route and sights. Of course, I had to drive, again.

obligatory photo of the gateway into our heaven

OUR decade...of course we spent a good time on this one ))

We arrived at POP with about an hour until our 12:15 reservations at Rainforest. Too bad it wasn't more; oh boy did we fall in love! We loved EVERYTHING about POP! The atmosphere, the smells, the sights, it was all amazing!!
We headed over the check-in...nope. The line seemed like a 3 hour long wait. I decided to wait after AK to check in. We explored some more, including the gift shop and the cafe. I searched for the vinylmation I was looking for but no luck. I'll have to keep my eye out the entire week. I bought a new autograph pen while Lili bought a pen and an autograph book. It was getting to be around that time. Mel was a little frustrated with getting to the park and being late so we told her we would pick her up at DD. I quickly headed over to buy my refillable mug, filled it up, and off we went. We were running late...

I had to sit in a childseat in the back...unsafe, I know, but when you're reduced to being the youngest in the group you cant win them all

Now here's something I feel you need to know about me and my family: We've never been on time. To anything. In our lives!! This week was no exception. I don't think I made any reservation on time. We arrived at Rainforest Cafe about an hour later then my scheduled ADR and tried to save what we could with our mere late reservation. We were able to get a table and be sat down after about 30 mins. Lili had to leave at about 4 and it was just now like 1:30. Time to start freaking out a little. AK is by far my least favorite park and I think overall I could spend about 4 hours there, and thats only because of the wait of rides. We shall see what happens...

NEXT: RC review and were we able to salvage a day at AK?

 

[ChattaAlley]

Haha yall are too funny. There is no way I could handle being late. I think I would freak out...LOL. Well, hopefully not but I am always early. Why did Lili have to leave? I would hate to have such time restraints.

 

[brdlyleon]

Love the Fantasia pics!

Sounds like you had a great first day and that cheesecake looks so yummy!

hehe I really wanted to try out my photography skills on this trip but as you'll see it didnt go so well hehe and thanks! it was great

Yayyy...Brad's Trip Report! Subbing!!!!

haha yayyy! lol welcome!!! cant wait to read yours!

Haha yall are too funny. There is no way I could handle being late. I think I would freak out...LOL. Well, hopefully not but I am always early. Why did Lili have to leave? I would hate to have such time restraints.

haha thank ya!!! We like to laugh Oh believe me, I was totally freaking out! The worst part, they just told me to relax! EXCUSE MEEEE haha and she had work :/ yeah it wasnt great but I didn't want to freak since I just wanted to relax...you'll see how THAT went lol

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oh no, late to reservations? That's like my nightmare!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay - more Pop pictures! Can't wait to see it for myself.

at arriving late for reservations!! That's one of the things I'm worried about as want to make sure I arrive on time for all of them. Will wait and see what happens

 

[brdlyleon]

Hi Guys! Sorry its been so long!!! School and work and overall life is just so hectic!! Only 8 more school days left so hopefully I can get this done!!!
So when we last left off, me and my crew were being seated at Rainforest Cafe after being more than half an hour late! We ordered and I opted for the quesadillas (you will soon notice my memory is HORRIBLE) or so I think...I may have ordered something else but whether that's true or not I'm not sure, I was just so hungry! Either way, it was excellent!!! So far, best meal of the trip :lmao

Anyways, we ate, had an awesome time with the whole environment, and tried to hurry to at least enjoy some of AK. We finished lunch at about 2:30 PM, so we headed to the ticket window, got Melanie's pass, and headed inside. We headed straight to Finding Nemo since we knew it was a must! Instead of heading straight there, of course, I manage to get us lost and taking a walk ALL AROUND AK. It's a big park, so I wasn't too happy about this.

ANYWHOOOOO, we managed to arrive to the 3:15 show, and it was awesome! Really loved it! Wasn't a big fan of the vocals but overall great show! I did fall asleep somewhere in the middle but I was just so exhausted! We left the show at about 3:45 and decided to try out DINOSAUR. Our luck was not having it today; it had a 60 minute wait!!! How unfortunate! We snapped some pics and opted for a potty brake.

While waiting for Melanie, me and Lili figured out that it would be best if we just left now so she could make it to work on time. She wanted to avoid the 5 o'clock traffic and leaving at 4 seemed ideal. Hesitantly, we left with one activity under our belt. I wasn't too upset since AK is my least favorite, but I wanted to at least ride Dino :/ Lili dropped us off at Mel's car in DD, and from there we headed over to POP to check in. I had done the online check-in, and lets just say, I was not impressed. While I waited for about 45 minutes to check in, the regular check in line went by even quicker. I was shocked, especially after I reached the desk. I gave her my info, and I was good to go! Maybe they had other details to take care of, but honestly I didn't think I'd wait that long! In anyway, I was out of there by 5 minutes and found that my room was in an 80s building.

here's my room after since I couldnt wait to get into that bed!

window display! had to have those mickey heads of course!

Like I said earlier, I loved the whole theming of the hotel and esp. the fact that my stairs were rubiks cubes! We hung out or a little and then Mel decided to go on home. I unpacked, decorated my window, and relaxed for a little. I was off to DHS tonight for EMH. (Continued on next post...)

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on being able to eat at RC and having an incredible meal!!

Lol at getting lost but am loving the photos you took whilst roaming AK! Am glad you managed to catch Finding Nemo and again lol at falling asleep!! Am sure having fun reading your updates!

Enjoy the school break in 8 days! It's a shame you didn't get to ride dinosaur and at the online check in - have heard quite a lot of disappointing reviews of checking in this way.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Great start to your TR. Can't wait to see what time you get up on your next day!

 

[britt_ji]

Just caught up with your TR! I love all of your pictures Can't wait to see what else happened...