Trip Report: Not just WDW! August 2006, with Pictures - UPDATED 01/30!

[Kath2003]

Okay so this trip isn’t just about WDW, but about my 31-night trip around the USA last summer. Yes, I know it’s late but hey, better late that never?

Cast:

Me (21 at the time) – I’ve been to WDW before but none of the other trips we went to during our trip. Full time University student – just finished my undergraduate degree at the time of the trip.

Libby (21 at the time) – My friend from back home (we go to different universities but we went to school together for 7 years). Never been to the USA before, let alone Disney! In the middle of her undergraduate degree.

Tim (25) – My friend from university who stayed with us in Miami.

Our Itinerary:

August 1-5: Miami, Florida
August 5-14: Orlando, Florida
August 14-18: Boston, Massachusetts
August 18-23: New York, New York
August 23-27: Washington D.C.
August 27-31: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Part One: Miami

August 1st:

Our flight from Heathrow is at 9.30am so we head to the airport for 6.30am which means at 6am pick-up for Libby who lives a few minutes away from me. My dad takes us because Heathrow is on his way to work and he’s usually at work by 6.30am. We both have one suitcase and one small hand-luggage bag: travelling light since we end up hauling our suitcases around with us a lot.

Check in for our flight just fine and make it through T3 security pretty quickly given it’s airport rush-hour. Realise I have my mobile phone in my pocket even though I had meant to leave it at home because Libby was bringing her phone. Libby realises she’s forgotten her phone, so everything turns out okay! Once in the lounge I make a quick phone call to my service provider to allow for international calls and buy a charger for my phone because I didn’t pack one.

We board the plane and end up with the middle and aisle seat in a row of three next to the window. A woman with three kids boards and sits behind us. At this point we get worried: two of the kids and crying and one is clearly unwell. The mother sits down and starts going on and on about how this is going to be “ten hours of hell” and does her daughter want to get off the plane, does she think she’ll be okay for the ten hours…ugh.

Luckily I spy two seats in the middle of the plane a couple of rows back and we switch. No one wants to sit next to crying, ill children for ten hours. I end up sat next to a nice woman and her new husband on their way to Miami for their honeymoon. I make instant friends at take-off by handing out sweets!

The flight was relatively uneventful until landing. It was the worst landing I have ever had on a flight. I’m used to flying long-haul, this was maybe my 7th trip to Florida. Libby’s flown long-haul once, ten years previous. I don’t know what was going on but we were “dropping” and then rising etc. so it felt very much like being on an uncomfortable log-flume. The woman next to me was clearly uncomfortable with this and Libby and I weren’t pleased either so the three of us ended up holding hands until landing! At one point the “dropping” came in and was sustained for maybe 10 seconds: people were screaming by this point. We were VERY glad to touch the ground and there was no explanation whatsoever from the pilot as to why the landing was so poor.

We got through immigrations s-l-o-w-l-y and grabbed our bags. We caught a cab to our hotel which was on Washington and Lincoln. It was a no-frills hotel since this was a budget trip: $79/night for the room including tax. The hotel was half empty – I swear there were us, Tim and one other room filled in the hotel (it had about 40 rooms). The room was clean and simple.

(I got in the way of the photo).

At this point I should explain about Tim: Tim had a conference in Vancouver in mid-July. I persuaded him to come to Miami with us – he stayed with family in Toronto for ten days and then flew to Miami from Toronto the day before we arrived. He was staying in the same hotel as us and had emailed me the previous day to tell us his room number. So I call his room from the room phone, no answer.

Libby and I decide to go for a walk so we head up to Lincoln Road Mall for an hour to grab some water and other bits. We get back and I call Tim’s room again: he’s there and we go down the hallway to see him! His room is bigger and nicer than ours (no fair!). But the guy is a legend and has a nice bottle of $10 cava from CVS chilling in a bag of ice so we forgive him and start drinking!

That night we hit a pizza place I’d heard about in Lincoln Road Mall – costs us $6 each and it’s FAR more pizza than we could ever get through. Libby and I have been up since 5am so at 10pm Miami time (or 3am UK time) we head back to the hotel, finish the cava and hit the hay.

August 2nd:
Naturally Lib and I wake up at 7am because that’s noon in the UK! We shower and head for the beach at 10am.

We rent an umbrella and sun-bed from the Ritz Carlton but decide it’s too expensive to do every day at $20! Keen to sample local cuisine, we send Tim to Subway for lunch and he brings back sandwiches! That evening we base our restaurant selection in Lincoln Road Mall on “where looks the busiest”. Turns out to be a good choice especially since there are $8 cocktails which are so alcoholic we could barely drink them! After that we hit Lost Weekend, a dive bar not far from our hotel. Since it was ladies night, Lib and I drank for free! We played some pool and some awesome retro computer games and then head back to the hotel.

August 3rd:
Beach again but today we do the smart thing and buy our own umbrella for $13. Keeping drinks cold is a problem so we debate buying a cooler but instead go for the sensible option of buying a $2 10lb bag of ice which we place under the umbrella and lasts all day. We stock up on sodas and Lib and I fetch Subway for lunch. Today is Tim’s birthday so we’re going out for a decent meal tonight.

That night we have bookings at this *amazing* Italian restaurant but we start with another bottle of $10 cava! We hit a wine bar before the meal – choosing their cheapest bottle of wine at $50! Ouch!

(me and Lib: I'm the blonder one in the blue top).

I’m an absolute lightweight so I’m feeling very merry by this point. We get to the restaurant and they’re not ready for us but feed us gorgeous Italian cheese (covered in rose petals and olives) in the meantime. It was a family run joint and the staff were real friendly. We get more wine while we’re waiting.

The meal was *awesome*. I had some kind of pasta with scallops…okay, I don’t really remember what I had other than it was really good. I know Tim had steak. He got a free birthday tiramisu for dessert.

Lib and I paid the bill which was nearly $200 but so worth it! Tim then suggests going to a bar called “Wet Willy’s” which is down the road so we happily go. This bar is awesome – all the cocktails are frozen! They plonk me at a table and go off to get some drinks – they bring me back something red which tastes of cherries and tell me it’s called an “Attitude Improvement” – hmph!

We’re sat there talking for a little while and at about 12.30am some guys from New York come in and sit at the table next to us. We get chatting to them because, and I did not mean this in any horrible way, I said (when they sat down next to us): “Hey Lib, Tim, look! We’re not the only white people in the bar any more!” which was true but I didn’t mean it in any kind of negative way or…anyway, the New Yorkers began laughing at got talking to us. Several cocktails later I manage to make a complete tit of myself in front of the Hip New Yorkers (who were fiiiiiine) with questions such as, “Bush is republican, right?”. I think we left at around 3am and walked home via the beach: MISTAKE. Don’t do this. Miami beach is full of homeless people at night who take offense at you walking down the beach.

This is what Miami beach at night looks like after six hours of drinking

Anyway, we made it home safely and collapse into the bed.

4th August:
we surface at around 12noon and feel surprisingly okay (I think the ice in the cocktails really helped with the hydration!). We head to the beach but the others are getting a bit grumpy: Libby isn’t keen on sunbathing and is sick of being covered in sand and Tim is sunburnt. I’m a sun worshipper so I’m loving it. I think the heat had a lot to do with it – Miami was reaching record highs that week. They mainly stay under the umbrella (with 10lb bag of ice) which isn’t big enough for all three of us so I sit in the sun all day: luckily I never get burnt so I’m okay. Subway for lunch, again!

That evening we head off to Lincoln Road Mall where I introduce Tim and Libby to the delights of Johnny Rockets. Exactly our cup of tea – fries, onion rings, burgers, milkshakes! We stop off at a couple of bars on the way back but it’s a Friday night, service is slow and the bars are packed and overpriced. At just before 11pm we do the smart thing: head to CVS where we pick up a $6 bottle of Cava and another 10lb bag of ice. Head back to the hotel, drink and then head back to our rooms to pack. Tim is leaving at 5am for his flight back to Toronto where he’ll connect back to London. Lib and I have a flight to Orlando at midday.

Next: Part 2: Orlando

 

[Kath2003]

Part 2: Orlando (first 3 days)

August 5th:
Tim’s already gone so Lib and I are by ourselves for the next four weeks! We catch a cab back to Miami International and catch an AA flight to Orlando. We grab a slice of pizza before our flight: typical airport fare. The flight is okay but because we had such a bad landing on the way to Miami we are very nervous – the poor guy next to us looked at us like we were insane. Libby really did not like the fact that we had to fly very close to the ground over a lake to land! Still, we made it to Orlando safely and caught a cab to our hotel which was the Best Western Plaza on I-Drive. We paid $59/night including tax for our room which had two beds (nice after sharing for the best part of a week). The room was clean and had everything we needed; the pool was nice although it seemed to be full of children at every waking minute (I know it’s vacation but I was under the impression we might get a break from them at 10pm…guess not).

In my eternal wisdom I decide to see if we can walk to Sea World because we’re going to Discovery Cove tomorrow. After half an hour in the heat we give in and take the I-Ride trolley home! We shower and head for TGI Fridays for dinner and cocktails. Standard fare but nice when you’ve just arrived in a new city to have something you know tastes good. The cocktails were pretty good too. We went to bed at midnight because we had to be at Discovery Cove for 8.30am the following day.

August 6th: Discovery Cove day! Let me tell you, DC is AWESOME and well worth every penny. We checked in, had our photo taken and proved that we were 21 because all alcohol is included in the price! Our swim time was half past eleven so we had some time to kill before then. We petted a sloth and then took the little introductory tour. We grabbed a locker, and some towels and sunbeds (one in the shade for Lib, one in the sun for me!) in a little nook out of the way of the majority of sunbeds. I was glad we got there early so we could do this.

I was desperate to go to the aviary because I’d heard it was best first thing in the morning. We were the first people in there. Libby came too but she didn’t want the birds to land on her so she didn’t take any food that the keepers offered her. That didn’t stop some of the birds though, and they sat on her head (and pooped on it). The birds were very hungry since we were the first people through with food so they were all over us. It was really lovely. We also saw a small deer.

There was a pigeon in there, stood on the bridge. I walked past the pigeon, and it puffed its chest out and strutted. When I went away it stopped. So I went back, started strutting again. Went away, it stopped. I called Lib over, she walked past, the bird did nothing. I walked up to it, it starts strutting…I’m being hit on by a pigeon?? I guess it’s some kind of weird compliment…..

We sunbathed for most of the morning after grabbing some breakfast (pastries – you may have noticed that we don’t really do breakfast!). At 11.30 we went for a short talk about the dolphins and then went swimming with them.

I’d swam with dolphins at Key Largo the year before but Lib had never done it before. In Key Largo I’d gone for the unstructured swim, where you just grab a snorkel and jump in to a pool full of dolphins and swim with them. They don’t do tricks, and you’re not allowed to touch them (although they do come up and touch you, and swim along side you etc.). This was a totally different experience – everything was very controlled. It was cool but I think I preferred the more “natural” environment even if it meant that I didn’t get to touch the dolphins the way I did at DC. Lib loved it and bought a photo afterwards.

After that, we went for lunch. Three course meal, all included. Libby hates lettuce so she skipped the salad so I had two Caesar salads which were excellent (the croutons hadn’t gone soggy – always a good sign). I had a burger, she had the vegetable stir fry. Both were very good. I had cheesecake for dessert, Libby had strawberries. Both were excellent, but we were *stuffed*. We drank some alcopops with our meal – they were very sweet and I ended up going to get a diet coke for me and a regular coke for Libby.

After lunch I went snorkelling with the fish (Lib wouldn’t come because she didn’t like the rays) which was amazing. We swam in the lazy river and sunbathed. Lib got through about a gazillion slushies which are also free (all snacks and drinks are). Flame away but I don’t really like ice cream/slushies because they’re too cold *shrugs* I stuck to diet coke and bottles of water.

At 5pm we left and went back to the room. We watched some TV and then headed to TGI’s for cocktails. On the way home we grabbed some dinner – oh yes, we went to Subway! We had some vouchers so we managed to do “buy one get one free” so it cost us half the amount it normally would – bargain. We also went to the supermarket and grabbed some sodas and water for the room.

August 7th: We got the complimentary shuttle to the TTC from our hotel early and had to wait for the MK to open. It was dull but we got some Mickey sprinkles out of it! We had Crystal Palace booked for lunch at 2pm so I wanted to get as much done as possible before hand knowing we’d be too full to do anything afterwards! We managed, somehow, to ride Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, POTC and Space Mountain within the first hour! Lib didn’t really like Splash Mountain (nor do I, tbh) and Space Mountain really needs a revamp – the whole thing just feels *old*. Big Thunder Mountain was awesome – we stayed on and rode it twice! Pirates was good – my first time since the renovations and thought that they were very good.

We rode Stitch’s ride (really poor, nothing happened) and Buzz Lightyear and several others. We met Friar Tuck but the lines for the other characters were so long it wasn’t worth waiting.

We did hit Aloha Isle for a dole whip (half pinapple/half vanilla for me; vanilla for Lib who doesn’t’ like pinapple). I didn’t really like the pinapple side of it – it was too sour. I was very disappointed and I didn’t eat much of it (only the vanilla and not all of that because I don’t really like cold things!).

We shopped for a while in Main Street and then headed for Crystal Palace.

As we were being seated, it started to pour with rain – great timing, exactly what I’d been hoping for with a 2pm ADR! The food was excellent and the characters were very good and tried to be attentive – sadly, we seemed to be surrounded by parents who didn’t think their children should have to wait their turn especially since we were two adults who clearly hadn’t come to Disney to enjoy seeing the characters…Kinda ruined it for us, having to shoo the two year old who momma has thrown at Eeyore out of our photos but we got some good ones in the end.

We watched the parade in the scorching heat (it had cleared up by the time we left CP at 3pm) and then took the Lynx bus back to the hotel. We weren’t especially hungry that evening so after an afternoon of sunbathing we went to…yes, Subway, and yes, TGI’s for cocktails….

 

[BostonTink85]

Sounds like blast...can't wait to hear more! Plus what you did around Boston/how'd you like it....my home town

 

[Belladonna]

looks like you had a really great time ^-^

DFi and I are trying to decide if we want to do DC.. Do they only let you in if you're over 21? I am, but DFi wont be turning 21 until *after* our vacation

 

[Disney owl]

Great report plus photos

 

[Kath2003]

looks like you had a really great time ^-^

DFi and I are trying to decide if we want to do DC.. Do they only let you in if you're over 21? I am, but DFi wont be turning 21 until *after* our vacation

Nah Discovery Cove is a family thing: the 21 thing is that you have to prove you're 21 or over to get a "21" printed on your ID card which allows you to get any of the alcoholic beverages. Obviously this adds a lot of "value" to your pass since alcoholic beverages are more expensive than sodas. Everything at DC is included in the price but obviously you may only drink alcohol if you are 21 or over.

In the UK, we can drink at 18 so being IDd all the time was very strange for us.

 

[Kath2003]

8th August –

Today I had a surprise for Libby: I was taking her to ‘Ohana for breakfast! Libby loves Stitch and was desperate to meet him so I made an ADR for ‘Ohana at 8.30am. I booked a car to take us there at 7.20am although this turned out to be WAY too early.

Forgot to mention: the previous day, on the monorail back to the TTC, we passed the Poly. They do that little speech over the PA system in the monorail which tells you a little about the resort so obviously she heard it was a Polynesian resort. She turned to me and said, “Do you think Stitch would be there?” so I made out like I didn’t know what “Polynesian” meant and that it had nothing to do with Hawaii…I study Geography at University so she just kinda shrugged and accepted my judgement! He he he!

So anyway, we pull up to the Poly and she asks what we’re doing. We go up to ‘Ohana where we’re told that the characters today are Lilo, Stitch, Pluto and Mickey. She looks at me and it all twigged and then she said, “but I thought you didn’t think Polynesian had anything I do with Hawaii…”. I was like, seriously, give me *some* credit, I’m not as dumb as I look!

Breakfast was great, Libby really enjoyed it and so did I. We arrived 45 minutes before our reservation but it was worth it because we got loads of attention from the characters.

After that we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. Libby really enjoyed it: I’m not a big fan of AK but I admit it’s getting better. We rode Dinosaur, took the safari, watched shows and walked the trails. We got fast passes for EE which we rode later that afternoon: it was AWESOME!

At 2pm we decided we were hungry so we split a pepperoni pizza at Pizzafari, and then we wandered the trails some more.

I have a little thing about llamas (it’s a long story) so while in Asia I asked a CM if there were any llamas. She told me no, AK didn’t have any llamas because they don’t represent South America. Fair enough.

We go off to Rafiki’s planet watch where we meet Rafiki himself and also see the Recycling Push bin having a chat with some kids at the petting zoo which was cool. Whilst at the zoo, we find a llama! The women in Asia lied – AK DOES have a llama!

We headed back up to I-Drive for dinner where we went to Olive Garden which was excellent value. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and some cocktails and so much pasta! We were absolutely stuffed and slightly tipsy.

Back at our hotel, people were drying laundry outside their rooms on the walkways using the suitcase stands. NB: only British people do this. When we got into the room I slapped on a tonne of lipstick, kissed a piece of notebook paper to leave a mark and wrote a note:

“Lovin’ the sexy pants!
Pant Fairy xxx”

I crept back outside with Libby giggling like a loon from the doorway and stuck the note under the boxers drying on the suitcase rack of a room a few doors down

9th August

Today we had a lie-in until midday.
We decided to go to the internet café next door for a while. On our way there, we saw that the note from the Pant Fairy had gone and replaced with another which said,

“Thanks, Pant Fairy!
Sexy Sam xxx”

We eventually decided to go to Epcot. I wanted to see Wishes later that night and we had nothing to do until then. We had never planned to go but since we had free time, we thought why not?

I went to Epcot in 1997 and hated it. I thought it was concrete, fake and lacked atmosphere. It wasn’t fun, it was boring, educational and dull. It was, and I’m sorry to report this, just to American for me. And for the other 10 people I visited with. Anyway…I figured ten years later, it would have improved.

Nope. Epcot still sucks.

We first rode Spaceship Earth. As we got off, I said to Libby, “So, describe that in one word.” Both our words were “dull”. Seriously, that ride needs updating.

After that we grabbed Fast Passes for test track and wandered round Innovations. We saw Living with the Land, the Living Seas, the Circle of Life film…at this point Libby asked, “Is there anything GOOD here?”. Sadly there was some problem with Sourin’ so we couldn’t ride.

Our ticket for Test Track wasn’t for several hours so we wandered the world showcase. We went to the UK first and got chips to share (with salt and vinegar, of course). We saw a rabbit whilst we were eating them. We decided we weren’t homesick enough to pay $3 for some British candy. After that, we headed to France.

The France bakery is far and away the best thing about Epcot. Libby cheered up immensely. By this time it was 5pm so we were hungry having not eaten lunch and only half a tray of chips all day. I grabbed a crème brulee; Libby grabbed a strawberry mousse and a chocolate croissant. We ate these quietly in the shade and they were DELICIOUS. Definitely worth going back for and well worth the money.

We wandered the world showcase some more, and ran as fast as we could from Italy once we heard they were about to start Shakespeare (Shakespeare is massively overdone in UK schools and most Brits are sick of it). We rode the log flume ride in Norway which was mediocre and escaped without watching a film on Norway (we live in Europe!).

I wanted nachos so we went to the nacho place in Mexico. Lib had had two desserts at France so just wanted a pink lemonade (I was just sticking to water fountains – notice this was the first time we bought a soda in the parks!). We were second in the line behind three girls who were about our age. MAN. I have never seen anything be so, so complicated.

Two of the girls wanted kids meals. Fine. But they wanted iced tea with it. Clearly, iced tea is not an option with a kids meal. It then took them 5-6 minutes to choose a soda. Seriously. Then the third girl had to decide what she wanted. Did she want Nachos, did she want a taco…? What came on the Nachos? What came in the taco…? After about another 3-4 minutes she chose the taco. Then one of the other girls wants to get a churro. Fine. Within a flash, two kids meals, three drinks and a churro are on a tray in front of them.

But oh no, this ordeal isn’t over. They have to pay. So they have to work out who wanted what. They’re all pulling out $10s and $20 bills from their purses so CLEARLY they had enough to pay and square up later but it HAD to be done in the line. 4-5 minutes later they’re finally sorted – oh but wait, there’s the churro for $1.77. Who wanted the churro? After much squabbling and lots of “uh-uh, that ain’t MY churro!” they come to a conclusion: they want to put the remaining $1.77 on VISA. Despite the fact that they clearly have enough change. At this point, the people working in setting up the food are asking what’s going on and the guy behind me is yelling at them to get a move on.

19 minutes later, they leave: three drinks, 2 kids meals, a taco and a churro. Ugh.

I order nachos and a drink. I pay, despite the fact that Libby’s drink was $2!! Oh no, she’ll never be able to pay me that back and I’ll be chasing her for it forever and ever….kidding. I’m out of there within a minute.

The nachos weren’t worth it.
Test Track was excellent, although nowhere near as fast as I thought. I suspect it’s much more fun if you can’t drive or have never driven a car with good acceleration. Sadly, I’ve done both. It was worth getting a Fast Pass for, though.

At this point we decided to sit down, get a margarita and watch illuminations. Short of spilling half my margarita down myself by accident, it was a good evening. Illuminations was awesome and my margarita was delightfully cold.

After leaving the park in an usually fast manner (at least ten times the speed of everyone else), we hopped on the monorail and raced to Magic Kingdom. We arrived and picked out a spot just outside the Plaza restaurant for Wishes. Wishes was awesome – they make me feel like a princess! Well, a princess stood in a crowd, but a princess.

Sadly our coach home to the hotel was leaving half an hour after Wishes finished so we had to make a quick dash back to the TTC. This is the only problem with relying on public transport: on a day when MK closes at 11pm, the last bus to I-Drive using Lynx is at 10.28pm. Where’s the logic? Luckily there’s only two of us so we’re able to dodge the crowds easily (we carried one small shoulder bag between the two of us so we didn’t have to negotiate anything but ourselves around) and make it back to the TTC with ten minutes to spare. And home to bed…but first, the Pant Fairy strikes again! The people living in the room had removed their boxers and were now drying t-shirts. The Pant Fairy expressed her disgust at this change in attire:

“What, no pants for me tonight?
Pant Fairy xxx”