Disney Trip Report, Day 1

I'm finally starting our trip report! Here is the pre-report and the first day! Enjoy :)

The Cast:

ME: Sarah, 27, been to WDW too many times to count, Love Pirates, my Min Pin, and the lamb shawarma platter in Morocco.

DH: Joey, 26, To the naked eye, looks like he would want nothing to do with Mickey, but he’s a total WDW fan whose favorite park is EPCOT.  He loves going on all the thrill rides and often makes me tag along.

The Dates: Thursday September 1-Tuesday September 6

The Place:  Port Orleans, Riverside. More specifically, Magnolia Bend at Acadian House.

The plan:

Thu: Arrival and EPCOT

FRI: Magic Kingdom and Pirates League!

SAT: Hollywood Studios/Pool

SUN: Animal Kingdom/Downtown Disney

MON: EPCOT/Drinking Around the World!

TUE: Magic Kingdom/Departure

The FUN:

I decided to “take notes” for my trip report in a public arena.  I also felt bad for my Disney loving Mom and I wanted her to be able to “participate” in our trip. So  I made up a twitter account and tweeted my way through Disney World. It’s cool because now we have a tweet-by-tweet account of our trip to remember.  So my trip report will consist of the tweets and the stories behind them. I hope you enjoy them!

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DAY 1

6:30am “Up and at ‘em, Pals!”

OK Truthfully we were already up and at ‘em. We were actually in the car on the way to the airport when I sent this.  Joey and I really like to take the earliest flight possible so we can have as full of a first day as we can!

8:20am “You can fly! You can fly! You can fly!”

This was the last message I sent before powering off my phone. No complaints on this flight.  We sat next to a family who was also clearly going to WDW, and the little girl threw a huge fit right at the end of the flight.  Her parents were completely mortified, but it honestly didn’t bother us.  We know what we are getting into when we board a plane bound for Orlando!

11:05am “Feeling magical on the Magical Express!”

After we landed, I stopped at Seattle’s Best for a vanilla latte and a snack to hold me over until we arrived at Epcot.  Then we headed down the concourse to the Magical Express (free bus ride to the resort!)

12:07pm “We got Anniversary buttons!”

We arrived at Port Orleans Riverside (first stop!), hopped out, and headed straight to Online Registration, where we were the first in line.  We began to be helped by a Cast Member, but then we were interrupted when a guest who was most definitely a rookie and also didn’t speak English very well , interrupted us and asked her for help.  She did end up helping him, which isn’t really that big of a deal. As she put it, “Hey, we were all first-timers once!”

We were given our room keys but no specific room yet, and told we’d get a text when our room was ready. We were going to be in Acadian house though, which is super exciting!  We told her we were celebrating our anniversary but it wasn’t for another month.  But we got buttons anyway! Woohoo! Then she gave us a really long spiel about the resort, all the amenities, etc. and we were nodding politely but really thinking “hurry up! We need to get to Epcot!”.  Finally, we thanked her, dropped off my carry-on at the luggage area, and went to the bus stop.  Oh, but not before I thought out loud, “I wonder if I should bring the ponchos?”.  I wasn’t planning on it, but Joey said I better throw them in my backpack just in case.  He’s a keeper, that one.

12:45pm “First fast pass collected (Soarin’)! Now to get lunch before Joey’s stomach “eats itself”…”

I remember writing this as we walked out of The Land Pavilion.  Joey hadn’t elected to get a snack at the airport so he was a little starving. Plus is it me, or does the Land always smell like bacon?!  We took a leisurely stroll across the park to the World Showcase for lunch.  We  decided that this trip we are going to SLOW DOWN.  We are going to take our time and not rush everywhere and if we miss the bus there will be another one and if we don’t get as many rides in, well, we’ll be back in February…  Funny thing is we managed to do MORE things when we were being relaxed. Someone explain THAT!

1:05pm “Lamb Shawarma!”

Um… this one speaks for itself! This is one of my favorite meals in the World.

1:07pm “PS: Where IS everybody?!”

Epcot was a ghost town. It was almost creepy walking around the World Showcase. You never realize how wide those walkways are until nobody else is on them but you.  There were a few people here and there, but the park was very, very empty.  We were obviously okay with this!

1:34pm “Picked a 7mm white pearl from an ugly, hairy oyster!”

This is so fun!  It's in Japan.  You pick your oyster and they make a big scene and make you bow to it and then they cut it open and bang on the drums and give you your pearl! I have never picked a pearl, and I thought it would be a fun way to start our trip! 

 

1:47pm “Maelstrom!!! No, really! It’s raining! (And we are going on Maelstrom).”

As we left Morocco and headed back towards Nemo, we felt little rain drops.  As we got closer to Norway, the rain drops intensified.  Just as we reached Akershus, the sky opened up.  “MAELSTROM!!”, we yelled! And RAN towards the queue for the ride!

2:21pm “Don’t be shy, explorers! It’s time to come out of those shells!”

When we came out of Maelstrom, the rain had pretty much stopped.  Great timing!  So we headed towards Nemo.  The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a classic ride. Plus how can you not love those seagulls?!

2:33pm “Joey’s embarrassed I’m making him ride Green Mission Space”

Sorry kids, I’m not big into thrill rides.  But somehow I always find myself being persuaded into riding them.  On our last trip (January 2011) the four of us rode the Orange MS.  Yikes.  That fulfilled my quota…for life. Not my idea of a good time, but that’s just me.  The Green side is much more enjoyable, still fun and you get the same experience. What is wrong with that?! My husband was annoyed with me that I didn’t want do to the “fun” one, but he piped down when a family with a hesitant child got in line next to us.  We tried explaining to her that it was fun and not scary, but when the announcement came on that “those afraid of enclosed spaces” should not ride, she was outta there.  Oh well.

3:00pm “Standing in FP line for Soarin’. It’s just as long as the regular line. Insanity!!”

I TOLD you the park was empty! When have you ever seen the Fast Pass line longer than the stand by line? Well I have.  

3:53pm “Lived with the Land. Now forcing Joey into taking pictures!”

I hadn’t been on this ride in forever, and Joey had never been. We also made it one of our goals this trip to ride things we don’t usually ride.  It was actually very cool. I took tons of boring pictures of all the plants but it was really neat to see all the things they do right there inside Epcot!

Our trip package included a photo book, so we decided to take as many photo pass pictures as possible.  Hence the “force Joey into taking pictures” comment.

4:47pm “Rode Spaceship Earth, came out to find another monsoon. Watching waterlogged people from our table at Chefs de France!”

Here’s where I try not to pass judgment on people.  It is your vacation, do what you want. But I just don’t understand why people don’t put ponchos on their little kids in the pouring rain. Or raincoats. Or….something… We had a lovely window seat at CDF, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner while drying out our ponchos. 

5:31pm “We met Remy!”

I got so excited to see Remy! This was very cute and a great act for little ones. 

7:03pm “Relaxing at POR. Relaxation is the name of the game. Trying to slow down and enjoy the trip. Big day tomorrow at MK!”

After dinner, we decided to call it a night instead of staying until Illuminations.  I’m glad we did. Minutes after I sent that Tweet I was out like a light.  We slept for nearly 12 hours that night.  Awesome!

Stay tuned for Day 2!