My First WDW Trip Report-Feb 2014

[ImagineerWannabe]

So here goes. I've enjoyed reading all the other trip reports and am now attempting to post one of my own.

I haven't posted a photo before, so this first one is a test. If it's not visible please say so It was taken T minus 14 days when I was in a baking mood. They tasted pretty good (just a basic sugar cookie), but this was the best looking of the batch. The rolls needed to be tighter than I made them

[Amy]

Cute Mickey cookie! Looks like you are good to go on adding photos

[ImagineerWannabe]

Greetings, and welcome to my trip report
Who: myself, my mom, and my dad
Where: WDW for 5 fun filled days, where we stayed at Pop Century for the first time

Day 0:
At work I have a countdown knick knack I bring out for Christmas. This year I didn't put it away but started another countdown to vacation! This is how I set it before leaving the last day.


Day 1:
We checked into Pop Century and, after some small kerfuffle, got our magic bands. My dad doesn't even wear a watch, so I knew he'd never wear a band. When I first got access online to customize them the fine print said that a card could be requested at check in and you just didn't have to customize the band. However, I was playing around and making them pretty colours but then couldn't un-customize it. At check in when I requested cards as well, I was told they were only using bands and I couldn't get one. So I had to explain the whole situation and did the whole "the website said..." thing. He finally agreed to deactivate my dad's band and printed him a card, but didn't seem to happy about it. At least he gave us the magic band as a souvenir without me asking to keep it. Not exactly smooth, but we got it worked out. Here's the pretty colours I picked (blue for me, pink for my mom, and yellow for my dad because they looked nice together )


Next stop, Animal Kingdom! In planning this trip I'd created a "Must Do" list of things I'd never done before. That started right away with Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. Honestly, I don't recall going to DinoLand before. Mom and I had so much fun on Primeval Whirl we rode twice Dinosaur was pretty cool too. The ride photo was hilarious! Unfortunately I didn't take a picture, so this one will have to do.


Snapped this one on the way to Expedition Everest. It's my desktop at work at the moment. I giggled when I crossed the bridge and heard that often hated EE loop


I also saw the Yeti in the mountain for the first time. It went by so quickly I'm not sure it was moving, but at least it was lit. I think it must have been in the dark when I was there 3 years ago, because I was looking for this Yeti I'd heard about, and never saw it.

We also walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek for the first time. I'd always assumed bats rested with their wings all curled around them, but it would appear not.


I liked the various layers in this one, especially the gorgeous blue sky peaking through and the green! So wonderful to escape winter!


May I have some please?


We finished with Kilimanjaro Safaris which I was glad I'd arranged a fastpass+ for, as the standby line was huge! I learned the difference between an alligator and a crocodile which I still remember and can apply, these are crocodiles


This guy was posing beautifully.


I got the email our room was ready just as we were finishing at AK, so we went back to the hotel, had an early dinner offsite and then headed to the Magic Kingdom.

Walking to the main gate from the bus stop I took this one. It's probably hard to see, but the moon is a perfect Cheshire Cat grin.


We grabbed a spot in front of the Diamond Horseshoe for the Electrical Parade, and Alice from atop her toadstool even commented on the moon
This trip I wanted to get photos of/with some of the, hopefully handsome, princes. Unfortunately the Princesses seem to leave them at home when they do meet and greets. The first prince I captured was Charming. Not a perfect shot but I was glad I'd found a setting on my point and shoot camera that gave me better images than I'd managed before.


Another one, just because I was glad they were turning out


We flew on Dumbo after the parade and were able to pretty much walk on.


We lasted for 2 of the extra magic hours that went until midnight. I got to ride Thunder Mountain 3 times in less than an hour and in the dark, which is one of my favourite things.

And because one can never have too many pictures of the Castle, I'll include this one with a nice reflection as well.


One of the best parts of the day was being comfortable in a T-shirt at midnight! 3 years ago when I was there in January, Florida was in a cold snap and it was just above freezing for 4 of our 5 days. This time I packed shirts I could easily layer to 4 deep, a toque, gloves, a scarf, and didn't need any of it!

[boilerbabe]

I am really enjoying your TR so far! You got some very nice shots, I especially like the Castle with it's reflection! And I love the "Cheshire" moon!!! Hubby and I were there the year of the cold snap, it truly made it difficult to enjoy! Glad you had good weather!!!

[Arvorenn]

Those are some nice shots! AK pics with animals, while not being fundamentally Disney except for the attention to detail with the surroundings, are always great.

Snapped this one on the way to Expedition Everest. It's my desktop at work at the moment. I giggled when I crossed the bridge and heard that often hated EE loop

It's not that bad in the parks. You don't have to live through the whole of it there

[Amy]

Great start to your trip report! I love all your photos Your magic band colors look a bit like Easter ~ they did look nice together.
I like the Cheshire Cat grin moon ~ very cool!

[ImagineerWannabe]

Awww, thanks for the comments everyone!
@Arvorenn - very true about the EE loop, I noticed it momentarily and then it faded.
@Amy - You're right, those are Easter colours! *Sigh* Easter, that means spring, and it's super late this year so winter shall have to continue. But perhaps I'm just bitter at having to get up early to shovel out yet again this morning.

Photos for Day 2 uploading now, although the report might not make it up tonight. Stay tuned.

[ImagineerWannabe]

Day 2:

We were up and out the door around 8am, and headed for Hollywood Studios (which I still refer to as MGM from time to time). We got there before the park opening and hung around until almost 9 when they let us in early. I had a fastpass scheduled for Toy Story at 10am, which gave us time to check out the queue in Tower of Terror and take the chicken exit (I don't enjoy drop rides, but wanted to see what it was like inside). The detail everywhere was really cool!

I'd never been on Rock n' Roller Coaster either, but wanted to try that this time. My mom came with me, which I didn't expect, she's more adventurous than I give her credit for I'll admit I was pretty nervous waiting in line, but knew there couldn't be any huge drops, so I kept telling myself I could handle it! The launch was exhilarating, and I liked that there were a few places I could see the track a tiny bit to get some bearings. Coming out of one of the loops completely in the dark and feeling the negative G's was one of the scarier moments. I remember nothing of the music, but was glad for the padded headrests. I thought about going again but never got back to it.

We checked out One Man's Dream while waiting for our fastpass time, and I found a gem of model from the 1954 Disneyland version of Peter Pan's Flight! It's one of my favourite rides and it was really neat to see how the whole track and the scenes all fit together from a birds eye view. It even includes where the track splits allowing for the boats to fly behind the scenes for storage or repair.


Seeing Walt's desk, I wondered which one ended up being the stonecutters quill?


This picture, of a model of the Tree of Life, was behind glass and I figured would have weird reflections like the ones I tried to take of the artifacts from Horizons and Kitchen Kabaret, but I was really impressed with how the colours turned out.


It was time for Toy Story which I was excited for because it was also new to us. On previous trips the line has always been super long when we went by and not being a huge Toy Story I felt skipping it would be no big deal. Now I know differently! It was awesome! I'm not very good with the laser guns in Buzz Lightyear, never being able to tell which red dot is mine, but in Toy Story being able to see the ammunition from launch to impact (the joy of 3D) worked for me! And the best part, I beat my Dad who always wins in Buzz. I thought the beaver was kind of fitting too.


We checked out the Animation Academy, where our animator (Mark I think his name was) gave us the choice of who to draw. The first option was the Genie, which elicited some "oh that's too hard" mumblings. They got somewhat louder at the next one, which was a character I didn't know, then there was Snow White, and Donald Duck. Mark let us vote, and Donald won with 17 (which included mine, so I was happy ). I was quite surprised with my result, it actually resembled Donald.


We ate our brown bag lunches while watching Beauty and the Beast. I'd forgotten how much they really did condense the story, but it works. We didn't have much of a wait, but I do miss the Sound Check guys preshow (apparently they were actually called Four for a Dollar. There's some nice clips on youtube of their part that take me back). We headed over to Indiana Jones, which was well done as always. I tried to take a few pictures, but most were blurry. I did like how this one caught the action.


The attraction tiering for the new fastpass+ system irritated me the most at DHS. Because of the tight time between the ending of Indy and Lights, Motors, Action, I thought a fastpass might be a good idea. I was expecting a dedicated seating area so while we didn't really need to use the FP+, as there was no one standing in any line, we did. We were funnelled past all the full sections, and all the way to the far end, no special seating here. It didn't really matter since there wasn't anything else I would have wanted and been allowed to switch it to anyway. Fantasmic! was my next top choice but it's tiered with Toy Story, so I couldn't switch anything to it.

We stopped by MuppetVision 3D, also a first. These fastpasses I didn't use since there was no wait. It's cute, but it seems a bit dated. I prefer Mickey's Philharmagic, but Star Tours in 3D was fun.

Dinner was at the Backlot Express. The veggie sandwich there is pretty good.

On our way back across the park for Fantasmic we dropped back in at the Art of Animation to see if Sorcerer Mickey was greeting guests. He was the one character I really wanted a picture with and he was the first to notice my shirt The T-shirt idea came before I needed a subsonic screen name, but it works for both.


We got to Fantasmic about 45 mins early to discover that the HUGE group of 15 year old girls from Argentina was also in attendance. We'd seen them on and off, often trying to cross main thoroughfares following a guy with a flag, and causing annoyance among people trying to swim upstream. I think it might have been better if they'd split into smaller groups. Fantasmic now has a preshow, if that's what you'd call the cast members having a "finish that tune" competition between sections of the audience. It did help pass the time. The show was good as always and I was able to get some ok pictures even.


Another prince (does Snow White's prince have a name? All that's coming to mind in Charming, but that's Cinderella's)


Bert was fantastic on the boat at the end! He had the mannerisms down to a tee.


We exited Fantasmic slowly (by requirement with the large crowd being sent down a single pathway), which wasn't too much of a hardship given the loveliness of the evening. I like to leave the park humming the exit loop or remembering the Fantasmic fanfare in this case. Unfortunately, we arrived at the bus stop at the same time as the aforementioned group of girls. They easily could fill one bus, and maybe even more than that. Suddenly the evening got a little less lovely and then their cheering and chanting started. I'm all for people having a good time, but it totally broke any spell I was still enjoying.

We managed to get onto a bus that had some space left and was taking individuals not part of the group, which was really nice. Back at Pop Century we took the long way around to our room, and walked by Hour Glass Lake which was so smooth. Art of Animation looked really pretty.


Well I don't know what's going on with our power tonight but it keeps flicking on and off, so I'm going to post this before I get kicked offline yet again.

[Amy]

What a nice day 2! I love that model of Peter Pan's Flight too ~ always fun to see the models of the attractions and get an overview of what they look like
Your Donald is very impressive ~ I love how following the steps can turn out a very nice drawing!
I noticed your shirt too ~ very cool. Did you make it yourself?
Ah, the dreaded BTG ~ Brazilian Tour Group ~ yes, it is nice that they are so happy, but it really becomes too much after awhile with all the chanting and clapping and being so loud
Loving all your photos so far...looking forward to more
Hope your power stayed on!

[ImagineerWannabe]

It seems that as soon as I went to bed, the power was fine (at least there was no indication of any other clocks flashing when I woke up).

I did make the shirt, it was my first foray into iron on transfers. I made two others as well: a white one with a smaller "Imagineer Wannabe" tag and the quote "It's kind of fun doing the impossible", and a gray with monorail yellow and "Please Stand Clear of the Doors" in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, it was impossible to read because I'd also made the text yellow and it faded right into the shirt. That was the second monorail attempt. The first one was on a dark purple and I was just using the transfers for light colours. Now I know why there are two kinds. It went blotchy and then I tried to fix it which made it worse. Oh well, I got a new gym shirt out of the deal and learned some things about transfers. The designs looked great on the computer, just some failure in execution of the plan.

What I love about Disney trips is that they let me pull out all my clothing and accessories with characters and wear them shamelessly with no strange looks. Opportunities to wear my Minnie Mouse hair scrunchie don't show up very often, but Minnie herself noticed it right away

Is there a common time of year for the South American groups?

[Amy]

It seems that as soon as I went to bed, the power was fine (at least there was no indication of any other clocks flashing when I woke up).

I did make the shirt, it was my first foray into iron on transfers. I made two others as well: a white one with a smaller "Imagineer Wannabe" tag and the quote "It's kind of fun doing the impossible", and a gray with monorail yellow and "Please Stand Clear of the Doors" in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, it was impossible to read because I'd also made the text yellow and it faded right into the shirt. That was the second monorail attempt. The first one was on a dark purple and I was just using the transfers for light colours. Now I know why there are two kinds. It went blotchy and then I tried to fix it which made it worse. Oh well, I got a new gym shirt out of the deal and learned some things about transfers. The designs looked great on the computer, just some failure in execution of the plan.

What I love about Disney trips is that they let me pull out all my clothing and accessories with characters and wear them shamelessly with no strange looks. Opportunities to wear my Minnie Mouse hair scrunchie don't show up very often, but Minnie herself noticed it right away

Is there a common time of year for the South American groups?

I've only tried to make tye-dye shirts for our trips ~ with varying degrees of success. Transfers sound a bit beyond my limited capabilities I wear my Disney stuff all the time, but it is more fun to wear at the parks. People that know me just sort of roll their eyes when they see me wearing hair accessories that are probably more for children.
I'm thinking the tour groups are December/January, but when I looked a bit online it mentioned January and July as the months they are there. We have had some very nice conversation with the girls from the groups on the tour bus, but that was on a small scale. When the groups are all together they just get to be a bit too much

[ImagineerWannabe]

I've only tried to make tye-dye shirts for our trips ~ with varying degrees of success. Transfers sound a bit beyond my limited capabilities I wear my Disney stuff all the time, but it is more fun to wear at the parks. People that know me just sort of roll their eyes when they see me wearing hair accessories that are probably more for children.
I'm thinking the tour groups are December/January, but when I looked a bit online it mentioned January and July as the months they are there. We have had some very nice conversation with the girls from the groups on the tour bus, but that was on a small scale. When the groups are all together they just get to be a bit too much

The only tie-dying I've tried was once in grade 10 science on a pair of socks. They were my lucky socks for exams for the rest of high school. The tie-dye shirts I've seen in your trip reports look really good! I'm sure you could handle transfers, the only tricky part is the actual ironing, otherwise it's just making a design.

[boilerbabe]

Really enjoying your TR and pictures!!!! I totally agree, so much fun to wear Disney stuff all the time but even more so at the parks!!! We got to tie-dye Mickey shirts one year at the BW quiet pool! Bdude and I were totally stoked! He sports his every trip!

Your Donald drawing turned out awesome!!!

And like Amy said, the months that tend to have the Brazlian Tours is typically Dec./Jan. We have run into that too If Mousekedude is ever back on the boards...ask him how he feels about that.

Excellent day 2, looking forward to the rest!!!

[horizons1]

Great night shots, and I especially like the sunset pic with the Cheshire moon.

[ImagineerWannabe]

Day 3:

Today we went back to the Magic Kingdom to do a proper tour. I wanted to see the morning welcome show, so we were again up and out early and boarding the slinky bus to MK.

The first stop, after a couple pictures of the castle with an almost deserted area in front, was Peter Pan. We rode once and then again using the fastpasses. The next fastpass I had planned was Thunder Mountain, but we had some time, so explored what they let you of the Be Our Guest restaurant. It was another lovely day, and the Beast's castle turret gives the impression of grandeur even though so little of the castle exterior has really been created.


Love the ballroom ceiling. Early pictures I saw when they were promoting the restaurant before it opened showed the out the window view being able to change to stars and snow. It just looked black when I saw it, but it would be cool to see if they enhance it for lunch/dinner.


There's such a change in greenery between the coniferous trees in "France" and then the palm trees of the Caribbean for The Little Mermaid.


I also took a lot of pictures of The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe they might be doing trials or something that involved real guests when we were there, but it really isn't ready for that. There were guys working on it though. I'm anxiously awaiting the first reports from visitors after it opens.


We still had some time, so stopped off at the Haunted Mansion where I took this photo of my favourite mountain from the queue.


I'd never actually looked at the outside of the Mansion before but on our way to Frontierland there was a nice photo spot.


One of the books I'd taken on the trip was "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the Magic Kingdom", and I really learned a lot about about the Haunted Mansion theming and the journey through the house. The author put forth the idea that the backwards segment is us falling out the attic window to our deaths where perhaps we've become ghosts and that's why the grounds keeper is shaking in his boots when we meet him in the garden. I'd never looked back before at the backwards part from the graveyard scene but this time noticed that indeed it does look like the house.

Then we sang along with the country bears. Everyone together now "born on a mountain top in Tennessee..."


I got two more rides in on Thunder Mountain bringing the total to five.

In Adventureland we hit Pirates of the Caribbean, skipped the Jungle Cruise (once was enough, and we'd experienced the pun filled ride after the Electrical Parade on Day 1), and went to where the birds sing words and the flowers croon. This photo is for all those who like the bird of paradise. Although I think the plastic version is lacking when compared to the real thing.


The Hall of President's was, and probably still is, one of my dad's favourites. I'm not sure why he likes it, but I remember finding it incredibly boring as a kid and never wanting to do it. Now I find it interesting and don't mind. We stopped there next. I suppose it will be getting a refirb soon when there's a new President to add. I remember reading that one of the first things a new one does is record his address. I guess Disney's pretty important.

My mom especially always enjoys the show in front of the castle, so I made sure we were headed there in time for the show. I was able to add Prince Phillip to my list of photographed princes.


We stopped by Mickey's Philharmagic where I noticed the posters in the waiting area for the first time. I particularly liked this one.


Off to Tomorrowland for our first ever visit to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I'm guessing there are comics providing the voices for the monsters in real time? A lady a few seats down from us was spotlighted for a segment. I was glad it wasn't me! Next was the Peoplemover and Carousel of Progress. I love the Peoplemover. For years when I was too scared to go on Space Mountain that was how I was able to check out what was inside that funny looking building. This time though I couldn't see the queue or any rockets zooming around. It was super dark, so I'm thinking that they blacked out the windows that used to over look the final queue section. I'd worked up the guts to go on Space Mountain by now (my experience last time wasn't too pleasant, and time had made me more nervous, so I was psyching myself up for it) so that was my next stop. This time I got in the front which I liked a lot better. I forgot to check the two times I rode if they'd also changed the paint job on the rockets to remove the glow in the dark stripes down the sides that I used to be able see from the Peoplemover.

For dinner we went to Captain Cook's at the Polynesian. I'd never been there before and wow, walking into the main building was just incredible. We had dinner first and ate outside since it was such a nice evening. I did notice there was no music in the area we ate. My mom showed off her ice cream swirling skills to create our Dole Whip! I first learned about it from this site and was excited to try it. We got two, one pineapple and one swirl, and shared . Both were really good! I'm a new Dole Whip fan


We explored the resort a bit and checked out the volcano pool which is really cool looking. We walked down by the lake and found they even had a marshmallow roasting pit. The Contemporary and Grand Floridian were so pretty all lit up and we could see the castle in the distance. The monorail was running again (the resort and express loops were down for service in the middle of the day, so we'd taken a bus over) so we took it back to the Magic Kingdom and got a spot at the flag pole for the 3D projection show and Wishes. I let the parents hold the spot and went to finish my first round of Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom. It was fun, but I only did that one round.

The 3D projections we hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them all this time either. About 5 minutes in they announced there were technical difficulties and the show was over. I did capture the following image which was one of the better photos.


Thankfully the fireworks show was still on schedule, so about 7 minutes later we were watching Tinkerbell make her flight. Wishes isn't on the same scale as Fantasmic but the size of the fireworks is spectacular, and the castle is a beautiful backdrop.


I particularly liked this lucky shot.


We got back to the hotel about 10pm, and just missed the tour group of girls behind us, phew!