Tiki's January 2015 Trip w/guest! *Last Page*

[JenMuse]

My girlfriend and I were discussing some ideas for when we get there, and she let me know that she wants to do a lot of her picture taking on our first day there so we don't have to lug around the camera everywhere we go. I can totally get on board with that idea so I mentioned that, then, the monorail would probably be a cool idea so you get to see a lot of WDW in a nice span of time. Maybe stroll around Saratoga across that awesome bridge and let her get a feel for the resort, too. This trip's all about her, considering it's her birthday on the 20th. Oh man, I'm pumped

Hey! you picked the best day ever to arrive in WDW. Not that I'm partial to Jan 22 for any reason...but I'll be dining at Be Our Guest with my Dad that night.

We should try to wrangle a pic with MetalFan.

[TikiTikiRoom]

My girlfriend and I were discussing some ideas for when we get there, and she let me know that she wants to do a lot of her picture taking on our first day there so we don't have to lug around the camera everywhere we go. I can totally get on board with that idea so I mentioned that, then, the monorail would probably be a cool idea so you get to see a lot of WDW in a nice span of time. Maybe stroll around Saratoga across that awesome bridge and let her get a feel for the resort, too. This trip's all about her, considering it's her birthday on the 20th. Oh man, I'm pumped

Hey! you picked the best day ever to arrive in WDW. Not that I'm partial to Jan 22 for any reason...but I'll be dining at Be Our Guest with my Dad that night.

We should try to wrangle a pic with MetalFan.

Ohh man, jealous! I loved Be Our Guest when I went last year. Maybe I'll see if we can sneak in and eat there one night when we got park hopper access. Also looked at the weather and it looks preeeeeetty mild! The 22nd is supposed to be the warmest day while we're down there, at around 75 i think, then it's supposed to rain the next morning and cool everything down to around the mid to low 60's for the rest of our stay. Brrrr, but hey, I'll take that over 15 any day! Haha

[TikiTikiRoom]

My girlfriend and I were discussing some ideas for when we get there, and she let me know that she wants to do a lot of her picture taking on our first day there so we don't have to lug around the camera everywhere we go. I can totally get on board with that idea so I mentioned that, then, the monorail would probably be a cool idea so you get to see a lot of WDW in a nice span of time. Maybe stroll around Saratoga across that awesome bridge and let her get a feel for the resort, too. This trip's all about her, considering it's her birthday on the 20th. Oh man, I'm pumped

Sounds like a plan, but I would definitely still take the camera with you, or your phone if it has a good camera. I think your girlfriend will want more pictures than she thinks, and I'm sure you will want to capture some of her joy as she rediscovers the resort.

Oh we'll definitely have both of our phones with us, so there'll still be pictures a'plenty I reckon!

[JenMuse]

Oh we'll definitely have both of our phones with us, so there'll still be pictures a'plenty I reckon!

I splurged for MemoryMaker so if we are in the same picture spot at the same time, you can hop in and I'll post it for ya.

[TikiTikiRoom]

Ok first thing's first. MAN, what perfect timing for our trip! We missed "the Blizzard of '15"! My house got 34 inches of snow while we were away. Mwahahahaha....oh wait...there's more snow coming tomorrow. Drat.

Anyways, let's get this trip report rolling shall we?

Day 1. We've arrived and are overly elated to be down in sunny Florida, away from the bitter cold! And what's this?....YES! The room is actually ready when we check in at ~11:00! Hooray! And can I just say that Saratoga is absolutely gorgeous now, not to mention our room (over at the Paddock) was unbelievably convenient! 2nd stop coming back from the parks and within casual walking distance of both the front and DTD! Boy I can not say enough great things about that resort. The last time I stayed there they were undergoing heavy construction, and one of my molars was essentially rotting out of my face. Not the best time... BUT all construction at SS was essentially done, minus the pool near our room which was undergoing maintenance, but that didn't bother us as it was a nippy ~64 degrees on average for the entire week. Anyways, yes, Day 1 was good! We trekked over to DTD, snagged a pretzel from Wetzel's Pretzels (YUM!...MEGA YUM!) and hung out at the Polynesian via monorail where we decided to grab a bite to eat at the Tambu lounge. pork nachos were in order as well as a delicious Lapu Lapu. Also got to see the new Adventureland mugs and other ceramics that were available! Good stuff. Day 1 Extremely successful and a heck of a way to kick off a great week!
Day 2. Morning at Magic Kingdom is pushed back as my girlfriend's god-father is in the area and wants to take us out grocery shopping and visit for a bit. Not a bad thing at all as this is how I stocked our resort room with two different kinds of beer and delicious bacon cheddar cheese dip. Good time visiting with relative, but priorities are priorities! TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM! Oh....yeah and character pictures. Good god did we get character pictures. I'm fairly certain we counted 30+ photos with different characters. Totally worth it though as it's completely out of my comfort zone and something new for me to experience, as I've normally ventured with family or alone in parks. Taking a 27 year old girl who hasn't been since she was six was a great idea. Anyhoo...Yeah MK always a treat. Splash mountain was down for the entirety of our trip, though. However very sour-sweet, as again...it was 64 on average during our stay. Haunted Mansion as good as always, and the new shop next to the Mansion is ALSO a very surprising treat! (I can't think of the name right now, but you can't really miss it). Copped myself a great new sweatshirt from there a few days later that includes a great Hat Box ghost rendering.

[Amy]

Sounds like you had a great start to your trip TikiTikiRoom! Glad you missed out on some of the snow anyhow ~ hope the next storm misses you a bit more than it did us though.
Did you get the Photo Pass package? That sounds like a lot of characters, your girlfriend must have really liked meeting them Bummer about Splash Mountain. I would have gone on it even at 64 degrees ~ the pool too if I was more inclined to take pool time during a WDW vacation

[TikiTikiRoom]

Day 2 etc. Rest of the day is great, as we completely missed a 10 minute deluge of Florida rain while waiting inside and thus riding Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We walk out to everything sopping wet and were pleasantly surprised. We were also dumb and just didnt partake in FP+ for the Mine Train, which maintained a 60-90 min wait time for the length of our stay. We did however manage to sneak onto Space Mountain one of the days during a 20 min. wait time. WOO! Oh yes, this was also the day we decided to reserve a spot at Sanaa over AKL. It took us about an hour and a half to get there by bus. Man, what a mess. Also for some reason our reservation did not go through so we decided to just let them know how long it took us to get there and wham-o we got ourselves a table at 8:30. Very appreciative of the customer service at WDW. Top notch every time, and Sanaa is still my hands-down favorite restaurant at WDW. The butter chicken and curry lamb is amazing.
Day 3. EPCOT!! First thing? Mission Space, to help wake us up and get all of our insides jumbled up and what not. This day we had FP+ reserved for Soarin' as well as a character meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. Good stuff as the standby line for the meet and greet was 45 minutes. To kill time for Soarin' we decided to head into the Seas which is always a blast, and then Living With The Land boat ride (which is also surprisingly interesting if you're into looking at giant melons....hahahaha....no seriously they have big melons.) Went on Soarin which is always good, then meandered over to the World Showcase. Man, that place never gets old. I think we went there....three or four times during our stay. Each time we did something new, be it a wine flight...or different delicious food!

[Amy]

That is the nice thing about Florida deluges, they are generally intense, but short. Always nice to avoid them while inside an attraction. Did you get to go on the Mine Train at all then?
One reason we haven't really tried to eat at any of the resort table service restaurants very often is that the Disney transportation isn't real efficient for getting you around like that. That is the time you wish you had a vehicle on property. Mostly I love leaving the driving to someone else, but sometimes it would be nice to just get in the car and get where you want to go in 15 minutes. Glad they were able to accommodate you even though it sounds like they had mixed up your reservation. Another good reason to always keep your ressie numbers handy with you while you are traveling.
Melons I love the Living with the Land boat ride. It really is fun to listen and see all the things in the greenhouse even if it really doesn't change up very much. Still interesting. If you have a chance, you should take the walking tour sometime (if you haven't already) Really fun way to spend an hour and a half and see some of the things more up close.
Looking forward to hearing more ~ and maybe seeing some photos?

[Polynesian Princess]

Sanaa is one of the best places on property. Glad they were able to fit you in despite the mix up. We've found the food is typically better at the resort restaurants, but the transportation can be less than ideal. We use it as a chance to park hop (start at 1 park, eat at resort, head to park 2).

Eagerly awaiting the next installment!