2 Celebrations in 1! 9th Birthday and 15 "ear" Anniversary Trip!

[JustMeFran]

Who: Me- 41 with 8 Trips to the World under my belt, DH (John) - 41 with 2 trips under his belt and DD (Rebekah) - 8 with 1 trip under her belt.
When: 9-17 January 2016
Where: POP Century
What Celebrating: DDs 9th birthday and DH and my 15th wedding anniversary!

I have been planning this trip since our last one in January of 2013! Officially book in August 2015.
After MANY hours of planning and an amazing Travel Agent finally we go!

Departure day has arrived! I was wide awake at 2:00am but made myself stay in bed until 2:30. Everyone else followed suit, washed, dressed (including MagicBands on!), kind of quickly fed and then out door at 3:20. My great friend drove us to the airport, so we did not have to pay the about $90 for parking!



Check-in and security went smoothly, nice and early in the morning helps!
On the plane, it was snowing/raining out so we had to de-ice. Off for take off. I will admit, for some reason I did have mild panic attack at take off, not really sure why and I was able to breath through it.




So, we land in Atlanta LATE, have to RUN to our next flight and just make it as they begin boarding!

Pretty much the theme for the flights, turbulence. It was bumpy on both flights, the second worse than the first!



Land in Orlando at 11:20 and turn my phone on and got my “Room is Ready” text, and we got a room 3 down from what we requested! Awesomeness! So we head to the Magic Express waiting area. They REALLY need better air conditioning here, I remember last trip it was hot in there and this time was NO different!




SO...Magic Express to POP (via Art of Animation) and we went right to our room! It was very odd not going to check-in and it made me concerned the first time we used our bands for the dining plan, but except for a moment of trying to remember my pin, it was no problem at all!


So the view from our room is awesome, and it I SO quiet and pretty, PERFECT!



We unpacked our carry-ons (luggage not here yet, of course), and went to the food court to eat. With the lack of layover in Atlanta and the early morning departure, we had not really eaten anything. We we HUNGRY, so we headed to the POP food court! I got the Turkey Sandwich (Fresh Roasted Breast of Turkey, fresh Mozzerella Cheese, Roasted Sweet Bell Peppers, Basil Aioli, and Lettuce tossed with Cobb Dressing on toasted Foccacia Bread ), John got the Johnny Appleseed (Pulled Pork, Tangy Slaw Salad, Grilled Granny Smith Apples, Apple Butter, Cheddar Cheese ) and Rebekah got the kids Mac-N-Cheese.






FINALLY park time! We head over to EPCOT!

At bag check, John is “randomly” chosen to go through the metal detector. Just 1 unit set up under a tent, no big deal.



First ride, OF COURSE, is Spaceship Earth!



Then we go shopping for a bit and get ears are awesome ears!




And it I time for our first FastPass, Spaceship Earth, again!




We have some time to wander a bit so we head over to the Character Spot and we go in to meet Baymax! He was very cool and puffy!




Then we hop on the Land. I always forget the first part before you get into the greenhouses.

Time for supper! So we head over to Norway for Akershus! We were seated at the same table as last trip, which is OK, but It is in a corner by the Character door and kitchen, hoe next time we will be in the main room. That aside, food was great, the princesses were cute and this time it was Aurora who was awesome.










It had started to rain when we were eating so as we were heading out we jumped in every building we could, with a stop in Mexico to ride the boat ride there...I do wonder what Mexicans think of that ride.

It was raining even harder when we go out so we head back to the room avoiding the rain and puddles as much as possible...we at least John and I did!

Steps walked: 16,176 (7.86 miles)

 

[JustMeFran]

This is the day that I knew was going to be hard energy wise. We had an early morning reservation at Chef Mickey, and after our LONG day yesterday I thought it would be hard, but it was fine! We woke up at 5:30 and were out door at 6:00 The day before I spoke with the Concierge service about how to get to the Contemporary for the 7am Chef Mickey, and they said to be out at the bus to Magic Kingdom by 6:15 and ask the driver if he can drop us off at the Contemporary. So we got to the bus, we asked the drive and he said yes! HOWEVER, when we were en-route he found out that because of the marathon being run at that time he was being detoured to the Ticket and Transportation Center! So, now, when we got to the TTC it was 7, or reservation time! We had to then hop on the monorail for a few stops and get off at the Contemporary. SO...we finally arrived at Chef Mickey's...35 min late! BUT they had prepared for people to be late, so it was (Thankfully) not a problem! Chef Mickey's was awesome, just like last time. Great buffet, great characters, just great!










Then we got a few pressed pennies and were off, on the monorail again, to the Magic Kingdom! We made it there for the opening show and zoomed right to some rides!




First we rode Peter Pan, not my favorite ride at Disney, but 1- I am not going to fast pass it and 2- the lines for it later in the day are crazy! So we rode that, then went across to It's a Small World and over to my fave, the Haunted Mansion! LOVE it!!





It was a very quiet morning at Magic Kingdom, absolutely wonderful! We wandered round checking out Frountierland then we did our FastPasses for Thunder Mountain! Love that ride, too...Rebekah is still unsure of it, but I think she really does like it, since she asked to do it again!

More wandering and enjoying te atmosphere. We got a Dole Float then headed to our next FastPass, the Mine Train! I really liked this ride, but it was WAY too short! The ride was smooth and fast, the seats were not really that comfy, but the ride was so short (and fun) that I did not really notice it.





Next Rebekah and John rode the teacups (I would of totally passed out!) and then Rebekah and I rode the carousel.





By this time we needed to do something not moving so we went in and watched Mickey's Philharmagic leaving us enough time to wander a few shops before Rebekah's Bippity Boppity Boutique!







After BBB we wandered through the shops on Main Street on our way back to our resort for lunch, homework time for Rebekah and a rest for us!





Back to Magic Kingdom! We hopped on the train and took it over to Fantasy Land and went to Belle's Enchanted Tales with our last FastPass.


With a quick stop in Gastons Tavern, we grabbed a Le Fou's Brew and headed over to Tomorrowland to ride my all time favorite ride Carousel of Progress! With a hop on the People Mover, we decided it was cold (60) and windy and headed back to POP! We had thought of maybe going to Disney Springs, but we were WAY too tired.





We had a late 8pm supper. I had the Chicken Parmesan with beans, John had the Sesame Chicken and Rebekah had Pasta Alfredo. I also majorly splurged and got the King Cupcake for dessert. It is a chocolate cupcake with banana custard filling frosted with peanut butter frosting and topped with bacon. Wow, is all I have to say, it was pretty amazing...a once per trip kind of thing!






Finally back to the room to hang out and crash!

Steps walked: 22,266 (11.29 miles)