eeyorepoohfan
12-20-2010, 01:48 PM
Me - 31 and huge Disney fan
DH - 31 and now loves Disney because of me!
Celebrating our 8th Anniversary (Dec 14th)
Friday December 10th-
We wake up at 4:45AM for our 8:15AM flight. Our airport is about an hour away. We arrive at 7:10AM, check our luggage with Southwest and receive our boarding passes. I did online check-in yesterday morning but still ended up with B44 and B45! We were scheduled to only have a 25 minute layover and I was worried about being so far back in boarding. However, we landed about 10 minutes early in Houston and found out that our next flight was delayed by 30 minutes! So we had time to breath for a bit. Bonus, neither of us had to get the body scan or pat down when leaving from El Paso or heading back home from Orlando. It seems that that randomly select people! We landed in Orlando about 30 minutes late due to the delay in Houston. It's about 3PM. We have Magical Express collecting our bags for us, so off to catch our bus! There was quite a line this year! We already have our vouchers, so we are directed to the POP Century line. We waited maybe 10 minutes and then we start boarding the bus. We stopped at Caribbean Beach then off to POP! I was unable to do online check-in, the system wasn't allowing me to. But no worries, we were first off the bus and didn't need to get anything from under the bus. We are next in line to check in! The gal checking us in wasn't too talkative. I asked her if we could get a renovated room and she said they have all been completed!! We are assigned a room in the 80s section, facing the parking lot. Room #9213, an end room. We were in an end room last year too. This time we are at an end near the stairs, last year we were near the elevator. It seems to work out well for us to get to our room, easy to find, and seems quiet to us. We go in and find our room super clean and love the updates from last year!! With no luggage to unpack yet, we reorganized our Camelbak bag to only carry what we will need for the night. We fill up the Camelbak with ice and water and off we head to the buses and it's only 4:15PM!
The Magic Kingdom closes at 7PM due to the Christmas Party. But I always like to start a trip here, even if it's only for a couple of hours. We waited maybe 5-10 minutes for a bus. By the time we got to the park, through security, and through the turnstiles, it was after 5PM. I love walking into this park!!! We stroll down Main Street to take in the sites and awe at the castle! We want to go eat at Columbia Harbour House for our first meal. But when we get there, we find out they are already closed to get ready for the party. :( So we head to Pecos Bills since it's not too far away. We are on the Quick Service Dining Plan this year (it was free). We still decided to share this meal. They no longer have double cheeseburgers, they are now just singles. We shared the bbq bacon cheeseburger. My DH loaded up a side of mushrooms (I'm not a mushroom fan) and we got a few small cups of hot cheese. This was actually a very tasty burger and the fries were hot and fresh. We shared the chocolate cake, it was yummy but could see how it can be too rich for some people.
Off to our first ride of the trip, Thunder Mountain Railroad!!! It's dark out now, and we love this ride in the dark! We get down to the CM and politely ask if it we could possibly be seated near the back. She didn't say anything but sighed and just looked to the next people in line and asked how many. She then shortly told us to go to the CM farther down the train. Not a great CM experience. I completely understand if they aren't able to seat you where you like, but she just didn't deal with it very Disney like. And it wasn't super busy either, less than a 10 minute wait to ride. Anyways, we LOVED our first ride of the trip! A great place to start!
It's getting close to 7PM, but decide to hit Jungle Cruise and Pirates on the way out. I love Jungle Cruise in the dark too! We had one of the best skippers ever!!! Sadly, I can't remember his name!
We exit Pirates at 7PM and hear the announcements that the park is closed. We make our way to Main Street. As we are walking towards the exit it starts to snow! It was neat to see that on our way out!
Now it's time to follow the crowds to the monorail, we are heading over to EPCOT since they are open until 12:30PM with EMH. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the TTC, then we hop another Monorail to EPCOT. I think we arrived through the gates by 8PM. For whatever reason, I've always entered World Showcase by Mexico. So this trip we decided to change it up and start in Canada. I thought it would be fun to take a picture in each country wearing one of their hats or holding an object from that country. Silly but fun! I have also failed to really spend time in each of the countries, so that is on our our to do list also! We didn't watch many of the movies, but did take time to walk through and see the sites! It's almost Illuminations time, so we grab a not so great spot near Germany (I think). We are set a few people back, but we can still see much of the show. It's now EMH and decide we will finish touring the rest of the countries on our next day at EPCOT. We stop in Norway for the boat ride and spotted the hidden Mickey as you board your boat! We also hit the boat ride in Mexico.
Since we traveled for most of the day, we already know we won't make it too late. And our goal of this trip is to relax more than last year and not run ourselved ragged. We strolled around a bit. Rode Test Track with a 20-30 minute wait. I had never waited in the regular queue line, so it was neat to see it all (we normally fastpass it). Soarin was a 50 minute wait and we decided to pass for tonight. We decided to head to Mission Space, green side. Last year we did Orange last year and I felt off after it. We did much better on the green side, but still felt a little funny.
We did notice the topaiaries were not at the front entrance like last year, but were spread around at different spots near the front of the park. We did take pictures tonight and said we would do it during the day.
We decided we were getting tired and wanted to head back to our room. We caught a bus to POP and were back by midnight. Our luggage was waiting in our room. I have to unpack, it's in my nature! I figure it's better to do it tonight instead of when we are trying to get ready in the morning. So I unpack and climb into bed by 1AM. For some reason my DH and I can't seem to sleep well this first night. Well who needs sleep at Disney World right?!
Up next Day 2 Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Meeting up with friends we haven't seen in nearly 4 years!!!
DH - 31 and now loves Disney because of me!
Celebrating our 8th Anniversary (Dec 14th)
Friday December 10th-
We wake up at 4:45AM for our 8:15AM flight. Our airport is about an hour away. We arrive at 7:10AM, check our luggage with Southwest and receive our boarding passes. I did online check-in yesterday morning but still ended up with B44 and B45! We were scheduled to only have a 25 minute layover and I was worried about being so far back in boarding. However, we landed about 10 minutes early in Houston and found out that our next flight was delayed by 30 minutes! So we had time to breath for a bit. Bonus, neither of us had to get the body scan or pat down when leaving from El Paso or heading back home from Orlando. It seems that that randomly select people! We landed in Orlando about 30 minutes late due to the delay in Houston. It's about 3PM. We have Magical Express collecting our bags for us, so off to catch our bus! There was quite a line this year! We already have our vouchers, so we are directed to the POP Century line. We waited maybe 10 minutes and then we start boarding the bus. We stopped at Caribbean Beach then off to POP! I was unable to do online check-in, the system wasn't allowing me to. But no worries, we were first off the bus and didn't need to get anything from under the bus. We are next in line to check in! The gal checking us in wasn't too talkative. I asked her if we could get a renovated room and she said they have all been completed!! We are assigned a room in the 80s section, facing the parking lot. Room #9213, an end room. We were in an end room last year too. This time we are at an end near the stairs, last year we were near the elevator. It seems to work out well for us to get to our room, easy to find, and seems quiet to us. We go in and find our room super clean and love the updates from last year!! With no luggage to unpack yet, we reorganized our Camelbak bag to only carry what we will need for the night. We fill up the Camelbak with ice and water and off we head to the buses and it's only 4:15PM!
The Magic Kingdom closes at 7PM due to the Christmas Party. But I always like to start a trip here, even if it's only for a couple of hours. We waited maybe 5-10 minutes for a bus. By the time we got to the park, through security, and through the turnstiles, it was after 5PM. I love walking into this park!!! We stroll down Main Street to take in the sites and awe at the castle! We want to go eat at Columbia Harbour House for our first meal. But when we get there, we find out they are already closed to get ready for the party. :( So we head to Pecos Bills since it's not too far away. We are on the Quick Service Dining Plan this year (it was free). We still decided to share this meal. They no longer have double cheeseburgers, they are now just singles. We shared the bbq bacon cheeseburger. My DH loaded up a side of mushrooms (I'm not a mushroom fan) and we got a few small cups of hot cheese. This was actually a very tasty burger and the fries were hot and fresh. We shared the chocolate cake, it was yummy but could see how it can be too rich for some people.
Off to our first ride of the trip, Thunder Mountain Railroad!!! It's dark out now, and we love this ride in the dark! We get down to the CM and politely ask if it we could possibly be seated near the back. She didn't say anything but sighed and just looked to the next people in line and asked how many. She then shortly told us to go to the CM farther down the train. Not a great CM experience. I completely understand if they aren't able to seat you where you like, but she just didn't deal with it very Disney like. And it wasn't super busy either, less than a 10 minute wait to ride. Anyways, we LOVED our first ride of the trip! A great place to start!
It's getting close to 7PM, but decide to hit Jungle Cruise and Pirates on the way out. I love Jungle Cruise in the dark too! We had one of the best skippers ever!!! Sadly, I can't remember his name!
We exit Pirates at 7PM and hear the announcements that the park is closed. We make our way to Main Street. As we are walking towards the exit it starts to snow! It was neat to see that on our way out!
Now it's time to follow the crowds to the monorail, we are heading over to EPCOT since they are open until 12:30PM with EMH. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the TTC, then we hop another Monorail to EPCOT. I think we arrived through the gates by 8PM. For whatever reason, I've always entered World Showcase by Mexico. So this trip we decided to change it up and start in Canada. I thought it would be fun to take a picture in each country wearing one of their hats or holding an object from that country. Silly but fun! I have also failed to really spend time in each of the countries, so that is on our our to do list also! We didn't watch many of the movies, but did take time to walk through and see the sites! It's almost Illuminations time, so we grab a not so great spot near Germany (I think). We are set a few people back, but we can still see much of the show. It's now EMH and decide we will finish touring the rest of the countries on our next day at EPCOT. We stop in Norway for the boat ride and spotted the hidden Mickey as you board your boat! We also hit the boat ride in Mexico.
Since we traveled for most of the day, we already know we won't make it too late. And our goal of this trip is to relax more than last year and not run ourselved ragged. We strolled around a bit. Rode Test Track with a 20-30 minute wait. I had never waited in the regular queue line, so it was neat to see it all (we normally fastpass it). Soarin was a 50 minute wait and we decided to pass for tonight. We decided to head to Mission Space, green side. Last year we did Orange last year and I felt off after it. We did much better on the green side, but still felt a little funny.
We did notice the topaiaries were not at the front entrance like last year, but were spread around at different spots near the front of the park. We did take pictures tonight and said we would do it during the day.
We decided we were getting tired and wanted to head back to our room. We caught a bus to POP and were back by midnight. Our luggage was waiting in our room. I have to unpack, it's in my nature! I figure it's better to do it tonight instead of when we are trying to get ready in the morning. So I unpack and climb into bed by 1AM. For some reason my DH and I can't seem to sleep well this first night. Well who needs sleep at Disney World right?!
Up next Day 2 Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Meeting up with friends we haven't seen in nearly 4 years!!!