Disney...you tried your best, but it was still the best trip yet! UPDATE 5/3!!

[NPRinLA]

Why hello there! Welcome to my first everyTrip Report! If you read my PTR, thank you for following me along! If not, thank you for giving my Trip Report a shot!

I got back just over a month ago from an AMAZING trip to Disney World. Like most vacations, this one came with its fair share of hiccups, but all in all I had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back. So let's start with the basics...



This is me...I go by Allie and love all things Disney! I have a career in politics (please don't judge too harshly), and spend my free time watching sports (specifically college football and hockey), crafting and visiting Disneyland (I live 20 min away, so I visit very often). This trip was my 5th trip across the country to see the World, and even after months of planning, there were tons of changes along the way. After not having any time off from work for about two years, it was finally time to go on a proper vacation! And what better way to that than a trip to Disney on my Birthday!! So I booked a trip from January 30th, 2016 to February 7th.



After months of planning, life decided to really mess with me. I was offered a big job promotion, which meant that I had to move and change jobs right before I left for my trip, which left me extremely stressed before my trip. Then tragedy struck, I had a death in my family to a very close beloved family member. I was at a pretty low time in my life. Stressed and depressed. It wasn't pretty. Now, originally I had started planning a solo trip (because honestly the last two times I've gone with others, they kinda complained the whole time), but my best friend (whose birthday is 4 days before mine) decided to join me on my trip along with two other friends because they knew how sad and stressed I was with my life at that point. Have I mentioned that I have some of the best friends in the world... because i do.

So what does this Trip Report include? LOTS of Deluxe Dining, drinking around the world, partying with some villains, a meetup and even a trip to Celebration's finest hospital (I really hope you all never have to go there...but it really is a gorgeous hospital)! Lots of Disneying to come! I hope you'll join me!
​

 

[NPRinLA]

Day 1 Part 1: Arrival Day - "Welcome to the Yacht Club! Would you like a breakfast champagne?" .... Why yes, Yes I would!

Day 1 Part 2: But I don't want to leave the pool...
Day 2 Part 1: I'm Epcotting!!!

 

[ariane37]

Following along! Your title grabbed me because it reminded me of our November trip, but after reading your intro I think your hiccups - and definitely all the stress you experienced before you even left - will top ours. I'm very sorry for your loss, I hope to hear that the trip took away the pain at least for a little while.

And congrats on the job promotion! And yay to good friends and having them along Looking forward to reading more!

 

[nimbuscat]

Following along and looking forward to more!

 

[captaindavidhook]

Clearly I am totally excited about this new thread!!!

 

[EmmyL258]

following!

 

[DisneyGateway]

Following

 

[dlavender]

Following

 

[NPRinLA]

Following along! Your title grabbed me because it reminded me of our November trip, but after reading your intro I think your hiccups - and definitely all the stress you experienced before you even left - will top ours. I'm very sorry for your loss, I hope to hear that the trip took away the pain at least for a little while.

And congrats on the job promotion! And yay to good friends and having them along Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you! I'm looking forward to sharing it!

Following along and looking forward to more!

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Clearly I am totally excited about this new thread!!!

Stay tuned for a special cameo!

following!

Thanks for joining!

Following

Thank you! Excited to have you here!

Following

Yay! I hope it doesn't disappoint!

 

[NPRinLA]

"Welcome to the Yacht Club! Would you like a breakfast champagne?" .... Why yes, Yes I would!

Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's get on with the show!

The morning of my trip I had to get up really early to get some work done. Not an ideal way to start my vacation, but I couldn't get out of it. I got back to my apartment after a full day of work (and running to Target for some last minute essentials) and rushed to get my things together before going to the airport. After throwing my last minute items into my luggage my friend and I were ready to head to our flight.

My friend's brother helped us by taking us to the airport. Two of us were leaving on a redeye flight, and the other two were on a different flight the next day. I opted for the redeye. I am terrible at flying and I have anxiety over the thought of it. So, I always try to take some nyquil before my flight and take redeyes so that I can sleep.

We had arrived at LAX two hours before the flight, and completely overestimated security. After checking our luggage and going through security we still had an hour before our flight boarded. So what's the first thing we did with all of our free time?



Que celebratory vacation cocktail! After a long day at work, it was a great way to ring in my vacation and calm my flying nerves. Soon we were boarded and on our way to Florida!

I am pretty sure it was an uneventful flight. I slept through the whole thing, so of course I could be wrong. Flight landed just before 6 am. I was exhausted, but none of that mattered because....

I was at DISNEY WORLD!!!

We picked up our rental car and were headed out for some errands! I couldn't wait to get onto property, but our rooms were not ready yet, so I settled for heading to Publix and Target to pick up some snacks and toiletries that I forgot to pack. Soon we were back on the road and soon I was doing this happy dance...



You know the dance.... the one that comes along involuntarily, only after you've seen this glorious sight:



Yeah... you know the dance!


Anyhow... a few minutes later and were were greeted outside by a greeter who escorted us up the elevator to check us in. Five minutes through the door and concierge was checking us in with this...



How could we say no to Strawberry Champagne at 9am? We were so excited! This was everyone else's first trip to Disney World, so I was anxious to get everyone to the parks and make them not regret going!

But since our friends weren't going to be in for hours, we had planned on exploring the resort and a trip to Disney Springs. But we did have some business to attend to first. We took a walk over to the International Gateway to pick up my...Annual Pass!! It was like a dream come true! I have been an Annual Passholder at DL for years, but this was my first time as a WDW Passholder. I was so giddy!

We headed back to the hotel and people were starting to hit the pool. It was still too chilly out for me to do that, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and stared at this amazing hotel



After resting a bit, we hopped back into the car, because we had some lunch reservations to get to!

Disney Springs was our destination. I really wanted to do some shopping, but my spending would have to take a backseat to my feeding time! We had 12:30 reservations at Raglan Road! It was my first time eating here and it was highly recommended by all of the Disney Facebook groups I'm in. So here's what was on the menu:

I started off with the Dalkey Duo.



I was a bit hesitant to try this, but our server suggested them, and I was glad I took the chance. They were DELICIOUS! The cocktail sausages were tender and flavorful, and the breading was light and crisp. But I think what made it was the dipping mustard that came with it. It was the perfect compliment! I could have just ordered one of these for myself and called it a day. Now I'll know what to do for the next time.

For my entre I went with the Fish and Chips.



Fish and Chips are one of those items that I seem to always order when they're on a menu. And although my favorite fish & chips is still at an Irish Pub here in LA, this was pretty good! It was the small portion but it was HUGE. I couldn't even come close to finishing this. But I'd definitely order this again for sure! The fish was flaky and the batter was crips and light. It was delicious.

I did decide on a flight of beers. It was pretty standard. I think they were Kilkenny, Guinness, Smithwicks and Harp. Pretty standard.



I really REALLY wanted to try the bread pudding. I've seen so many pictures of it (and even though I'm not a fan of bread pudding normally) and wanted to say I tried it... but I was so full, and there was no way I was going to be able to stomach any dessert. Next time I guess.

While we were eating, I got a text that our room was ready. So we headed back to the hotel to check out our room and rest a bit before our big night at the parks. ​

 

[nimbuscat]

Raglan Road is my favorite restaurant in all of Disney! Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[dvc at last !]

Reading along ......

sorry for your loss.

 

[chasingthtdream08]

Following along! Love Raglan Road!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Following along! One day I will try Raglan Road, but I definitely think I'll have to split my meal with someone so we can get the bread pudding! The fish & chips look great, as does the appetizer. Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Magnolia85]

Following Along!!

 

[Lori77]

Awesome start! Can't wait to read more!

 

[abarriger]

I'm so sorry for your loss-- and can't imagine a better place to recoup from a painful time than Disney.

That said...MMMM! I love fish and chips and Raglan Road looks yummy! I always order those when they're on a menu too... I'm following along!

 

[ariane37]

I'm glad you liked Raglan Road, it does get many excellent reviews. We've been twice for lunch and enjoyed our meals, but for some reason when we went for dinner last Aug. we weren't that impressed. I did have the Dalkey Duo that time though, and I liked it a lot!!

 

[NPRinLA]

Raglan Road is my favorite restaurant in all of Disney! Glad you enjoyed it!

I was in heaven! One of my favorites so far!

Reading along ......

sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I'm happy to have you here

Following along! Love Raglan Road!

I'm drooling thinking about it now. It was the first thing added to my next trip!

Following along! One day I will try Raglan Road, but I definitely think I'll have to split my meal with someone so we can get the bread pudding! The fish & chips look great, as does the appetizer. Glad you enjoyed it!

Try it! I'm sure you'll love it!

Following Along!!

Thank you for coming along!

Awesome start! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! New update coming soon!

I'm so sorry for your loss-- and can't imagine a better place to recoup from a painful time than Disney.

That said...MMMM! I love fish and chips and Raglan Road looks yummy! I always order those when they're on a menu too... I'm following along!

Thank you. Lots of great food coming up! Although Raglan Road was probably my favorite!

I'm glad you liked Raglan Road, it does get many excellent reviews. We've been twice for lunch and enjoyed our meals, but for some reason when we went for dinner last Aug. we weren't that impressed. I did have the Dalkey Duo that time though, and I liked it a lot!!

I have heard that too actually. Maybe it's the dish? Or maybe it was my Disney high. Everything to me tastes better at Disney World!

 

[NPRinLA]

Day 1 Part 2
Sorry it's been a while. It's been busy with work. But no excuses! Totally my fault and poor time management.
While we were at lunch we received the texts with our room numbers. I had initially wanted to wander around and do some shopping, but I was getting pretty tired and needed a nap, so we headed back to the resort to check out our digs for the next week! Surprisingly it was pretty easy to get out of the parking garage and back to the hotel. Made it back there in about 10 minutes. My text was sending me to Room 5240, so we parked the car and headed up.

Now I hadn't made any room requests, so not surprisingly I was assigned to the farthest room on our floor. LITERALLY, the LAST room from the elevator. Initially I thought "Oh, this will be a nice stroll, walking is nice." Oh how naive I was. After long days at the park, or even a short stop over at the concierge lounge, the long walk was not as great as I once thought. A few times I had forgotten things in the room and had to run back, and there just wasn't an easy way around it. You live you learn. Next time I'm requesting closer to the elevator.

This is a pic of the room pulled from the Disney website.

I kept saying that I was going to take pictures of my room, but I never really got around to it. But it's exactly like the one I stayed in. Actually it may be the exact room I was in. Even though it had frosted glass and you couldn't see outside that side window, I can see a small portion of the roof of the convention center, which was pretty much the only view I had. It wasn't the best view, but it was very quiet. The room itself was pretty large and had a nice King size bed. It was very spacious and very clean. And I loved the nautical theme! It was perfect!

After taking some time out to jump on the bed, my nap was soon forgotten. I couldn't possibly sleep just yet, so I changed into my bathing suit and headed out to the pool.

It wasn't really "hot" out that time of year, but it was warm enough to get some sun. The sun kept coming out from the clouds and then retreating again. But it was still wonderful! It was so relaxing just laying out and reading a book. Plus the sand bottom pool and lazy river made me feel like I was in a water park. It took a lot of nagging from friends to get out of the pool. It was just so relaxing. It's like that feeling when you've had a really long and stressful day at work and you get home late, but as soon as you lie down it feels like your whole body just let go of all the weight of the world. That's how I felt at that pool every time I went out there. I never wanted to leave! (Sorry, I had other pics of the pool to post, but they're uploading upside down and I can't get them to rotate)


After a relaxing afternoon by the pool, we took a small walk over for our ADR at Flying Fish. I had only been to Flying Fish once before and I remember it being one of my favorite restaurants. When I heard that they were about to go down for refurbishment, I scooped up a reservation for the last night they were going to be open before their closure. I was so excited to see if it was as good as I remembered.

I started off the night with Yellowfin Tuna Tartare and Crispy Tempura Tuna Vegetable Sushi Roll. This was AhhhhMazing!! It was so so delicious!


My friend decided to go with the Crab Cakes. I had a small taste and they were pretty good too. I'm not the biggest crab cake fan, but they were really tasty. For our main course I had the potato-wrapped snapper and filet combo. Mmmmm....So yummy. Yup, still as good as I remembered it! My friend Bob ended up having a steak topped with lobster. He claims it was the best meal he had at WDW.





We ordered dessert, but to be honest I only had one bite. It was a lot of food. I had the banana napoleon and he had the fresh berries with cream. I'm not quite sure why I went with the napoleon, to be honest I really dislike bananas. But, the server suggested it, so I figured it was probably good. It wasn't terrible... and I'm sure people love it, but I just can't get behind this whole banana fad.





After dinner we headed out to catch the bus over to MK. A half hour later I was standing in front of this glorious site. I really should have taken a pic when I walked down Main Street, but I was just too excited to remember taking a picture.

Initially we hadn't planned on going to a park that night, but a few days before our trip they extended the hours, so I was able to snag some FP+ reservations that I hadn't been able to before. First up was a meeting with Anna & Elsa (I initially had Space Mountain first, but didn't make it in time)! After performing some stealth moves to get past wishes and parade crowds, I made it to Fantasyland for my first character meet of the day!

After A&E, I had a bit of time before my FP for Peter Pan, so I headed to the grotto to meet this lady:

I have to say, she was probably my favorite character meet of the trip. I couldn't stop raving about her. She had her character down to a T, and I think looked pretty convincing as Ariel! I thought A&E would be the highlight of the night, but I was wrong. A&E wasn't terrible, but the conversation didn't flow as well. Can't win 'em all. Also-on another note, I had to matte my face up a bit. I don't know how everyone does it! Even in the winter, the humidity just wreaked havoc on my hair and makeup! Hot mess express coming through. I need to check out some makeup and hair products that combats the humidity. Suggestions? This greasy frizzy mess needs to be tamed.

After Ariel, we headed straight to Peter Pan, which was pretty much exactly like Disneyland. Except for the queue, which I didn't get a great view of since I FP'd it. But I've heard great things. Crowds are pretty thin this time of year, but it was getting late, so the crowds were really starting to thin out. We walked on to Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo and Haunted Mansion before deciding to call it day. I was exhausted and I we had an early morning. Next up... Our first FULL DAY!!​