"Was I Supposed to Turn There?" Mardi Gras 2010 Trip Report with Pics-Day 1: Epcot

[courtneymarieclare]

Where should I begin? I’m finally around to writing a review for my February 2010 Disney World Trip. Before I begin, let me introduce you to the travelers and give our basic travel information.

Me (Courtney), 25: I’m an 11th and 12th grade English teacher. Before this trip, I’d only ever been to Disney once and only to the Magic Kingdom. I’m a princess lover, prone to motion sickness, and a picky eater.

Tom (DBF), 26: Tom and I have been together for four years. He’s been to Disney numerous times, loves thrill rides, and is an adventurous eater.

Here are a couple of pics of us:

As you can tell from the pics, he likes hats and I like big sunglasses. =)

Trip Details: This trip came to be by Tom saying, “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to go to Disney?” We (meaning I) did a lot of research (most on the DIS) and decided to go the week between Christmas and New Year’s 2009. We bought our tickets and booked our hotel, the Hilton at DTD. We elected to drive, as we’re from New Orleans and driving was so much cheaper.

We then rescheduled our trip for February 2010 after a family emergency just before Christmas. We re-booked at a different hotel (the first was completely refundable, but more expensive during February). We elected to stay at the Omni at ChampionsGate. We got a great deal (101/night!) through Expedia. The rate was so great that we chose to stay an extra day. We would be in Orlando from Sat., Feb. 13-Sat., Feb. 20. We rebooked dining reservations and were good to go!

Up next…Day 1-“How long have I been asleep?” and Epcot!

 

[courtneymarieclare]

Day 1-Travel & Epcot

Our trip was during my school’s weeklong Mardi Gras break. I worked the Friday before we left and tried to fall asleep early since we were planning to leave Saturday morning at 4 a.m. I fell asleep watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics around 9. Tom elected to stay up. All night. This would come in to play later. For the time being, when the alarm went off at 3 a.m., I was grumpy and he was chipper. We loaded everything into the car and left New Orleans at 4 a.m.

I wanted each of us to drive five hours straight (it would take us about 10 hours to get to Orlando). Tom wanted to switch every two hours. At about six, we stopped in Mobile, Alabama for Burger King breakfast. When we got back on the road, I was driving. About an hour later, Tom fell asleep. Now, remember that his bright idea was to stay up. All night. Even though he told me to wake him up a few hours later, we were planning on hitting the parks when we got there and I didn’t want him to be tired then and not want to go to the parks. So I drove the rest of the way. For 8 hours. Straight. Yep.

Needless to say, I was very happy when we arrived at the hotel. We only made a couple of stops, made great time, and got to the Omni around 3:00.

The Omni was beautiful and check-in was seamless. I had signed up for their free rewards program, which gave us a few perks like a complimentary water bottle and nightly turn down service. The only complaint was that our room was far from the elevators, so we took the stairs going down, which didn’t bother me since I hate elevators (more on that later).

We settled in a bit and then headed out to Epcot. We had originally planned to take the hotel’s free shuttle, but ended up just driving to the parks every day, which really worked much better for us. We never had to wait around and we could always just walk to the car when we were ready to leave the park. Of course that meant paying for parking, but we were okay with that.

The drive to Epcot only took about 10-15 minutes. We paid our $14 for parking and soon we were walking toward the big golf ball!

Before we went in, we added two days to our tickets (remember, we had decided to stay an extra day because of the great hotel rate, and we had only bought five day tickets because we also planned on visiting Universal). I think it was about $6.00 each to add two extra days. We then entered the bag check, went through the turnstiles, and headed for SpaceShip Earth! The posted wait time was 20 minutes, and that was exactly how long it was before we were on our slow moving journey through time.

Now, remember that previously I had only been to MK, so this was essentially my first visit. I loved SpaceShip Earth, and it’s probably my favorite Epcot ride. Tom let me choose our future, and I tried to snap a few pics.

**Memo-All pics were taken on my iPhone. My camera charger was nowhere to be found before we left. Overall, most of the pictures came out okay, especially in natural light. The iPhone camera has no flash, so some pics are not that great, but still okay.

Since it was about 4:30 or so, we didn’t even try to attempt Soarin’ or Test Track. In fact, we didn’t even walk over in that direction. We decided to go on a world tour of World Showcase before our reservations at Chefs de France. Before that though, there was a stop in Club Cool. Being the good DIS-er that I am, I told Tom to try Beverly. I did warn him though, but he will try anything. We both agreed that it was truly awful. On the not-so-awful list was something that tasted like watermelon. Next up was our grand World Showcase Tour!

Up next: World Showcase-A-Palooza and dinner at Les Chefs de France!

 

[shelbys mommy]

I am in! I am love the TR so far! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[courtneymarieclare]

I am in! I am love the TR so far! Can't wait to read more!!!

Thanks! I've been reading your trip report too! Your family is so cute!

Anyone else out there? C'mon in and let me know!

 

[shelbys mommy]

Thanks! I've been reading your trip report too! Your family is so cute!

Anyone else out there? C'mon in and let me know!

Thanks! I am glad you are enjoying it!