Did you see a character?! - WDW Adults Only Trip w/ extras - August 2016

[unbeknownst]

Welcome to my first trip report! I've read a lot of these, but this is my first time typing one out. Crossing my fingers that you enjoy following along with me!

I just got back from Walt Disney World yesterday (8/18/16) after a quick 4 park day trip. My goal is have this trip report completed by the end of the week (if not weekend), because otherwise I'll totally forget what happened. My boyfriend's uploading all of our pictures today, so hopefully I'll manage to make my goal.

Some quick trip information to help you decide if you want to follow along:

We stayed at Pop Century for two nights before moving to Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House for three nights. We rented DVC points for the AKL stay.

We did quite a few "up-charge" events. We did the paid Early Morning Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom, I ordered a custom mini cake and chocolate slipper dessert, we did the Star Wars Dessert Party at Hollywood Studios, and the Wild Africa Trek tour at Animal Kingdom.

We had dining reservations at Be Our Guest (dinner), Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (breakfast), California Grill (dinner), Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (lunch), 1900 Park Fare (dinner), and Boma (breakfast).

I'll try my best to re-count our days and give good reviews of all the extra stuff too!

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So without further ado, here's some more information about me and my boyfriend:

I'm Steph - I'm 27 years old and I'll be your tour guide through this Disney report. I'm definitely Disney obsessed and I've taken well over 20+ disney trips - this trip was my third this year! I did all of the trip planning. My goal for this trip was to make boyfriend (who you'll meet below) fall as deeply into love with Disney as I am. You'll have to stay tuned to see if I succeeded!

This is boyfriend, also known as Patrick. He is 28 years old and he hasn't been to Disney World since he was about 9 years old (and even that trip was only about 2 days long). His family is from California though, so he is somewhat of a day-trip Disneyland veteran. Patrick loves all things spider-man and is very excited about seeing Marvel make it's way to Disney World. This picture with Spider-Man is a preview, along with the thread title, is a preview of things to come.

Patrick and I both work in Education. I work as a school counselor and he is an English teacher. We live in Virginia. We're also both huge nerds, as you can tell from the picture above.

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First up will be our arrival day!

 

[nat1234]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[ariane37]

Jumping in! DH and I are going down for our 3rd adult only trip next Sat, leaving the kids at home Looking forward to hearing what you thought of AKL (stayed for the first time in Jan. and loved it) BOG dinner (one of our faves) and SW dessert party !

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I'm in!

 

[cwiklamama]

Following along!

 

[buteraa]

I love the Harry Potter! We are doing our adult trip over Christmas week! So excited to hear about your trip and congrats on your first report!

 

[unbeknownst]

Yay! Glad to see that some people are following along - how great that other people are doing adult only trips too!! Like I said, I'll try to make sure I update it pretty regularly over the next few days so as not to drag it out too long.

Okay, so where did I leave off... that's right, arrival day!

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Saturday, August 13th

When Patrick & I went to buy our plane tickets back in June, prices for direct flights out of Richmond, VA were $$$. So, we decided to fly out of Baltimore instead. His family lives about 30 minutes away from the airport and were nice enough to offer to drop us off/pick us up on the way home. We ended up saving over $100 on each fare by doing it this way. It definitely required some additional planning on each end though to make sure we also had enough time to visit with them while there - thank goodness for summer vacation!

His family was a little nervous about getting us to the airport on time, we ended up at BWI SUPER early. I'd say we were at the terminal by 1:30pm for a 4:50 flight . No big deal though! We brought books and ipads along, so we were all set. The flight started to board right at 4 and we were seated by right around 4:30.

Like an self-respecting couple, we had to take plane selfie!

Unfortunately, our plane flight was delayed due to malfunctioning tray table, so we had to taxi back to the gate. They were able to fix it without off-loading the plane though, which was nice. We didn't take off until closer to 5:45/6:00. We had a very amusing seat mate this flight, which also kept things interesting. She was clearly slightly intoxicated getting onto the plane and continued to order more alcohol throughout the flight. She was especially interested in showing me an ad about yeast infections in her magazine . It made for an interesting flight.

We didn't land in Orlando until after 8:00 and we didn't make it to Pop Century until right around 9:00pm. I had done online check-in and we were able to get our room number before our plane took off, so we went straight to the room. We had a room in the 60s section that was close to the lake.

Our original plan had been to head to Disney Springs and eat dinner there; I had even debated making a reservation at one of the newer restaurants. Thankfully I didn't or we totally would have missed it. We still ended up at Disney Springs around 10:30 though! We had just enough time to eat at Earle of Sandwich and walk through World of Disney & Once Upon a Toy.

Patrick was quite pleased to spot some Marvel stuff:

I ended up buying him these ears, even though he never wore them once during this trip. He's proudly showed them off to everyone since getting home though haha.

He also wanted to pose with a few friends:

We headed back to Pop pretty much right at Midnight. We had to be up early the next morning for EMM at Magic Kingdom!

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Coming up, Magic Kingdom Day with Be Our Guest!

 

[KnK]

Another adults only trip veteran following along.

 

[ontdvc2015]

Following!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am looking forward to hearing about some of the add on stuff you guys did. The only "extra" type thing we have done is the Star Wars Dessert Party. Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

 

[EPCOT is a verb]

Looking forward to the rest of the story!

 

[unbeknownst]

YAY! I'm so glad people are following along.

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Sunday, August 14th

Despite staying out late the night before at Disney Springs, we got up early at 6:00am! We quickly showered and threw on clothes to make it down to the bus stop - it was time for our Extra Magic Mornings at the Magic Kingdom.

We made it to the bus stop around 6:45am and a bus pulled up a few minutes later. It was surprisingly full bus for being so early in morning! We made it to the Magic Kingdom around 7:15am. They had two turnstiles where people with breakfast reservations & EMM were lining up. Eventually, a cast member came out with an iPad and starting checking in families for both breakfast & EMM. EMM people were directed over to another cast member to receive a special wristband. They opened up a couple more turnstiles and let people move slightly into the park (a cast member was blocked people from entering underneath the train station). They didn't let people actually end to the park until 7:45am on the nose.

I wish I had thought to take some pictures while we were waiting, but unfortunately, no pictures until we got in the park.

Our first picture was a selfie...

and then we stopped at one of the photographers who was out! So sad that the crane was out.

We made our way pretty leisurely back to Fantasy Land.

Our first ride of EMM was Peter Pan! We were the only people on the ride, which was super cool. I was a little bummed because I haven't gotten to see the new Peter Pan standby queue and I thought we'd be able to walk through during EMM - no such luck. All of the EMM rides send you through the Fastpass line.

Our next ride of EMM was Winnie the Pooh. Again, we were the only people on the ride. It seemed like everyone else doing EMM had headed over too...

7 Dwarves Mine Train! As you can see, we were not the only people on this ride. We ended up riding 7 Dwarves twice in a row. We could have kept going with a very minimal wait time.

After the Mine Train, we started to head over towards breakfast (it was about 8:30), but first - we noticed the carousal was running, so we stopped for a quick ride.

We did eat breakfast after the carousal. I didn't think to take any pictures of it, but it was a pretty standard Disney breakfast buffet. The food was good, but nothing to write home about. I really like the pastry selection the best (chocolate twists!!).

We ate quickly and were out of breakfast a few minutes before 9.

So... was EMM worth it?

For us, yes. I paid for this event because Patrick hadn't been to Disney World since he was little, and I wanted his first experience at the Magic Kingdom to be as magical as possible. We truly felt like VIPs. Patrick just kept repeating "this isn't what Theme Parks are normally like" over and over, which was the vibe I was hoping to capture. I did have to keep reminding him that it wouldn't be like this the entire stay.

It created a really special memory for us and helped our trip get off to a wonderful start. I would definitely do it again.

You could also do a lot more repeat riding than we did during EMM. We focused a lot more on soaking up the atmosphere, taking pictures, etc. than riding things over and over again. One family told us at breakfast that they had ridden 7 Dwarves Mine Train about 17 times back to back. Not our cup of tea, but you could certainly do it if you wanted!

I'm going to take a break for now, but next up - the rest of our Magic Kingdom Day + Be Our Guest Dinner!

 

[frostymojo]

Joining in!

 

[sue_88]

Good reporting. I want to join.

 

[awalker1015]

Enjoying your report - love the adult only trips! I am looking forwards to reading about your breakfast experience at Akershus. We are doing this for the first time in October.

 

[ariane37]

Glad you enjoyed EMM. It doesn't sound like a good deal for us since my kids are older and wouldn't really care about multiple rides on PP or Winnie the Pooh, and only one of them likes 7DMT. But I'd never thought about it the way you described it; making someone's first visit, or first visit after many years, as magical as possible

 

[BippityBrittany]

can't wait to hear more about the trip!
love reading adult only adventures to get some ideas for future trips

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in. I hope your boyfriend drank the Disney kool-aid and loves it as much as you.

 

[unbeknownst]

Sunday, August 14th Continued

Sorry for the delay! We both started back to work this week, so things got a little more hectic than expected. Never fear though, I'm still planning on working my way through. I'm especially excited to get to our Epcot day (Monday, August 15th) - it had the most magical moment of the trip!

But, currently - I left off at the Magic Kingdom, after EMM.

We left breakfast a few minutes before 9, not realizing they had let other guests in a few minutes early... oops. By the time we made it to Tomorrowland, the line for Space Mountain was out the door. We had a fastpass from 9am - 10am, so we decided to go ride Buzz Light Year instead. We rode it twice in row - no wait at all!

Unfortunately, Patrick was not a fan of Buzz. He's super competitive and didn't losing. In fact, he even decided to cheat on the second ride:

After riding Buzz twice, the line for Space Mountain still said 10 minutes and the line that had been outside the building was gone... we decided to risk it and wait in standby to try to get two rides. It worked! We rode once on standby and then immediately went back through with our fastpass. Patrick said the Space Mountain is Disneyland was a little bit better than WDW.

After Space Mountain x2, we decided to wait in line for Astro Orbiter. I hadn't ridden it in years, but the line was short and we were right there:



Every time we used a fastpass, I immediately hopped on the app to see if I could move our next fastpass time up. So originally, our fastpasses were 9:00am-10:00am, 11:00am-12:00pm, 12:00pm-1:00pm... but we ended up being able to use fastpasses much quicker, because as soon as we used our space mountain fastpass, I moved our next fastpass up to 9:45 and so on. I hope that makes sense. I wasn't always able to do it perfectly, but it definitely speed up our fastpass usage.

So, our next stop after Astro Orbiter was a fastpass + for Enchanted Tales with Belle. I know you're thinking - "what? Enchanted Tales with two adults?" I probably would too if I was reading along. Patrick is an English teacher and totally obsessed with Belle. I booked this fastpass solely so he could try to be a Suit of Armor (and prepped him a little in advance). We were on our way over to our fastpass when I realized it was almost time for Gaston's first set...

We made it just in time! The line was cut off right behind us! After that, it was time for Enchanted Tales!

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My plan worked! And Patrick got to meet Belle for the first (of many) times

After Enchanted Tales, we decided to meet a few more princesses...

Side note, Patrick was a little disappointed that all of the princesses bee-lined towards me in all of our interactions. On following days, I learned to send him first and ask them to take a solo picture before jumping. I'm not very good at interactions, while he is quite the talker - I'm much happier with "picture then move on".

After the princesses, we headed back to New Fantasyland and rode the Little Mermaid. Then we headed off towards Dumbo. Dumbo was actually our longest wait of the day at 15 minutes.

We also met all of the characters in Storybook Circus + Chip & Dale outside - 6 characters in under 20 minutes. Here's just two pictures so I don't inundate you.

Goofy was very interested as to why Patrick hadn't put a ring on it haha. Not this trip!!

After that, Patrick was super into finding characters - so we headed over to Frontierland to meet Belle again.

We also meet Woody & Jessie while we were there and did Hall of Presidents.

Eventually, we made our way back to Tommorrowland where Patrick was determined to make ride Stitch. We stopped for a ride on the Tomorrowland Speedway first.. and then it was time:

During his family trip almost 20 years ago, he and his sister rode the alien ride and it made quite the impression. He was adamant that we had to ride Stitch so he could text his sister about it. It was actually my first time on it and it was just as terrible as I always imagined it would be. Never again!! (unless he asks nicely). We also watched the Laugh Floor while in Tomorrowland.

We were on our way to meet Mickey (I snagged a fastpass) when we saw Mary Poppins... who actually was just going backstage, but it led us to Stitch himself.

And then we met Mickey and also Tinkerbell since the line was 10 minutes.

After Mickey, it was actually almost time for our dinner at Be Our Guest - we had 4:00pm reservation, so super early. Unfortunately, on our way there - it started to downpour. We got soaked!

We still stopped off the meet some more princesses though on our way

We were excited when we finally reached Be Our Guest!

We got to sit in the West Wing. We only ordered entrees - not appetizers. We both went with the pork chop.

I preferred the pork dish they used to have, but this was still very good. Patrick was happy with his.

Then it was time for my special surprise. I ordered this cake for Patrick about two weeks before the trip as a surprise and I was super excited about it. It was a two tiered mini cake - all buttercream icing, vanilla cake with chocolate fudge inside. It cost $50 + tax.

And you can't pass up the dessert cart at Be Our Guest so we also got

Dessert was definitely a huge hit! He loved the cake and I was SUPER happy with it! I'd order cakes again most definitely.

And of course, when at Be Our Guest, you have to meet your host

It was magical first Disney dinner!

After dinner, we were (surprisingly) almost out of attractions. We rode Pirates & Jungle Cruise with some extra fastpasses I'd picked up. We headed back to Tomorrowland to ride the People Mover and Buzz Light Year again.

On our way, we stopped for a crane free castle shot.

After that, we decided to "take a break" and head back to Adventureland to do the Pirate Adventure scavenger hunts. These were a TON of fun and kept us busy for almost two hours.

Before we knew it, we heard an announcement for Wishes. I was too tired to fight the crowds for a good spot & I knew we had a reservation for California Grill tomorrow. We decided to just watch from Fantasyland.

Patrick loves selfies.

After fireworks, I was able to snag another fastpass to meet Cinderella + Aurora. I wanted redo pictures since we'd been all wet in the first ones. Patrick then decided we also needed to redo Rapunzel since he hadn't gotten an individual picture - she was actually one of our best meet and greets of the trip. So funny!

It was close to 11:30pm when Patrick finally convinced me to ride Splash Mountain... and that's how we ended our epic open - to park close Magic Kingdom Day.

Over 30,000 steps on my fitbit!!

Whew, that was a long one!!

Next Up: EPCOT DAY!! And how we managed to be the first & only people on the Frozen ride.

 

[smiley519]

I'm following along! We leave for our own adults-only trip in a little over a week.

I love all of your character photos and that Beauty and the Beast buttercream mini cake looks gorgeous and delicious!