Don't Put Your Hand on Mickey's Hat-A Family Vacation--NEW TRIP REPORT 5/24/14

[jash08]

Welcome to my very first trip report!!! I am so excited to share my trip with all of you. Please feel free to add comments and share with your friends.

I will give you a little bit of a background/introduction before we get started. My name is Ashley. I am in my thirties and LOVE Disney. I was very fortunate to travel to Disney several times as a child and I have been able to go 6 times in the last 7 years. I am a Cajun Queen at heart . I was born and raised in New Orleans and now reside in Western Kentucky. Can we say culture shock? I make a living being a Director of Operations for an ambulance billing company. So yes, I am insane. In my spare time I enjoy reading, music (I play the clarinet and violin), and doing anything that involves Disney.

My husband is Jeremy. He is in his forties and loves Disney just as much as I do. His first trip was with me and my family. Five minutes into Epcot and he was hooked. He is from Kentucky and is a true Southern gentleman. He loves Dr. Who and all things Geek. He makes his living as a casino dealer. You know, that sounds really glamorous, but it isn't. :

Here is our picture!



Pretty snazzy, I think!

So here are the facts of the trip:

When: January 31st- February 9th (We did not get to Disney until February 1st)
Where: Port Orleans French Quarter (we fell in love with it )
Who: Jeremy and I! My father and step-mother joined us for the last day. I will introduce them later.

So please join in our fun. My first update will be about our departure day! We were driving, so you know it will be fun. Two people in a small car for at LEAST 13 hours. That should end well. Right?

 

[teekathepony]

Hello! I'm subbing!

 

[MEK]

13 hours? Sheesh! Looking forward to reading all about your trip! And I love that you play clarinet and violin. That's awesome. I play flute (fairly well) and guitar ( not so well but getting better).

Thanks for the heads up so I could sub.

 

[jash08]

Hello! I'm subbing!

Welcome!!!! I am so glad you joined! I am reading your current report and it is great! I also have to share that I am also an animal lover.

 

[jash08]

13 hours? Sheesh! Looking forward to reading all about your trip! And I love that you play clarinet and violin. That's awesome. I play flute (fairly well) and guitar ( not so well but getting better).

Thanks for the heads up so I could sub.

Welcome! So glad you could join. I am a complete music dork. I also sing alto, but only as a member of an ensemble. My husband is tone deaf so he doesn't get it. I love all kinds of music and could talk about it all the time!

 

[jash08]

Departure Day!!!!



It is the day that every vacationer looks forward to the most. All of the packing is done (hopefully), you are getting out of town for a bit (yippie), spending time with your family (bonus), and in our case, heading some place warmer during winter (oh yeah!!!). So why was I not excited? Yep, you read that right. Me, the total Disney lover, was not excited. It was freaking me out some, to be honest. But let me shed a little back story to help you understand.

Let's travel back in time about 3 months. I find out we are getting a new billing system at work that is going to be awesome. I love the system and was a huge proponent of getting it. We have our first meeting in December to make decisions about project management, etc. As Director of Operations, I was the one who gave final blessing of how we want the system to be set up before our go-live. So what was the problem, you ask since it seems all good? Go live was February 1st, the same day I was checking into Disney for 9 days. WHAT?!?!?!?! Exactly. So I was super stressed to say the least. I was working crazy hours to deal with the project as well as all of the other functions I needed to do and deal with our clients, Whew!! So Jeremy did the best he could to take care of all of the pre packing. He was really great! All I had to do was do final check as it all went in the bags. He had it all gathered on our guest bed. Love him!

So now it is time to go! We get up at 2:45 and take showers. Jeremy packs the car while I turn the heat down, unplug things, and do a basic last minute sweep. We didn't want to take our heavy winter coats, so we jus ran to the car in our hoodies. It was around 20 degrees outside so we stepped lively. We were pulling on the interstate at 4:15 am. Score! I am still not excited, but I chalk it up to being tired.

We get to Nashville around 6:00 am and did not hit rush hour. Double score! Shortly there after, Jeremy and I showed our smarty pants sides. We are heading into the mountains of Tennessee. The car is traveling faster than I would like going down hill. I look at Jeremy, who is driving, and say "you need to slow down." He looks at me and says "I have already taken my foot off the accelerator. We are just speeding up because we are going down hill. It will level out." So my response is as follows "There is another pedal down there that when pressed will actually slow the car down. Amazing, huh?"

We roll through Atlanta in early afternoon. And when I say through, I mean right through the middle. Thank you, Garmin. It wasn't too bad, but there is a bypass for a reason. We finally are getting close to the Florida border. Is that butterflies in my tummy? Pretty soon, we saw this!!





YES!!!!!!!! I am officially excited now. And that, my friends, is the only picture in this update. We stopped and got our juice and then headed on to Lake City, where we were stopping for the night. We got to the Cabot Lodge around 4:00 pm. We checked in, went to the room, Jeremy went back to the desk to get new keys while I did the pee pee dance with the luggage, and then we were in the room! We headed out shortly to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. We had Asian Dumplings, Sliders, and salad bar. Pretty good and really quick service. We then headed back to the room to watch a little tv and early to bed. The plan was to be in the lobby at 6:30 am to eat and on the road to Disney by 7:00 am. We had some place to be people!!!! But would we leave on time? Come back to find out!

 

[wiigirl]

In for this!

 

[dakjck]

Just where did you start the habit of stopping for free orange juice samples at the Florida Welcome Station?

 

[burly]

I'm In !

 

[jash08]

In for this!

Welcome! So glad you are here! Please enjoy our trip.

I'm In !

Hello there! Thanks for joining! Please enjoy the report.

 

[jash08]

Just where did you start the habit of stopping for free orange juice samples at the Florida Welcome Station?

We have some special guests, ladies and gentlemen! None other than the other two intrepid travelers who joined us for our last day (otherwise known as my parents)! My father and step mother (Dad and Jackie from here on out) are great to spend time with whenever I can. Since they are in New Orleans (which is 600 miles from me ) we enjoy even just a day together. Our last time together was when we spent a week with them at Kidani in December 2011. So I guess Disney is becoming our thing!

We always stopped for juice when I was growing up as we always drove to Disney. Last December was the first time Jeremy had ever driven to Disney as we had always flown. We drove down to New Orleans (Mandeville to be exact) and left for WDW the next day. We stopped for juice when we got to Florida. When Jeremy and I were planning this trip, he wanted to make sure that ALL welcome stations had the juice.

So without further ado, here are Dad and Jackie!!!!!




Pretty great looking couple! And I am not biased at all.

So, welcome guys! We sure are glad you decided to join us!

 

[teekathepony]

That Welcome to Florida sign would be such an exciting thing to see! I most likely won't ever see it, I don't plan to drive down!

 

[laurenvic1312959]

Subbing too

 

[pktbMouse]

Im here too

 

[jash08]

That Welcome to Florida sign would be such an exciting thing to see! I most likely won't ever see it, I don't plan to drive down!

It was a great sign to see! That is when I finally got excited! You are definitely to far to drive! I have to say, if we lived any farther away, we would probably not drive.

Subbing too

Welcome! So glad you are here! Please enjoy our story!

Im here too

Welcome! Glad to have you with us on our adventure. Please enjoy!


I am working on our next update. Of course since the work week has started, I am busy so I might not get it put up until Friday.

 

[jash08]

Hey all, I got some free time tonight so I am going to squeeze in at least one update!


Arrival Day!!!!!

So when I left off, we were going to bed in Lake City and would drive the rest of the way to Disney the next day. We got up at 5:00 am, got cleaned up, dressed, and packed up. We were in the lobby at 6:30 for breakfast. Neither one of us really felt like eating, which is strange because this is the usual time we eat breakfast at home. I think we were too excited to eat. Jeremy had some eggs, bacon, a biscuit, and some juice. I had a small scoop of eggs, a sausage link, a piece of toast, half a banana, and some juice. We ate some of it and after realizing we were just pushing food around on our plates, we gave up and went to load the car. Now, I did not mention this before, but Jeremy is an excellent car packer. He can fit everything in it and still have some room. After packing the car, we drove to the lobby to check out. There were several older couples at the hotel and they were giving us strange looks as we were wearing shorts, t-shirts, and hoodies while it was 35 degrees outside. We just smiled as we knew it would heat up nicely by mid morning and the temperature was nothing compared to what we had at home (side note: it was snowing at home!). I was in and out of the lobby in under five minutes and we were pulling onto the interstate at 7:00 am. We made it!

While driving, we got to see the sun rise. It was really beautiful. All of the soft colors slowly sharpening to brighter hues. Just amazing. A little ways down the road and we started to see Orlando billboards. Pretty soon it was the first Disney billboard for the New Fantasyland. Yep, definitely excited now! I got our roll of quarters out for the toll booths. We new from driving with my family in 2011 we would have two toll booths. We see the first one in the distance and start to do the happy dance in the car! We are that much closer. I am sure the toll takers are used to this, but I can tell you we were super pleasant, even early in the morning. Now, we are always polite as we are Southerners, but I am talking we were Zip-a-dee-do-da pleasant. Pretty sure there was a blue bird in our car.

We drive a little farther and our Garmin has us exit the highway. Huh? Wasn't there two booths last time? We figured maybe one had been removed or something and kept on going. We finally realize that we are driving through little towns and this must be Garmin taking us the shortest distance. Well, we now knew how to get to any store we needed! I look at the Garmin and see that it says we will be arriving in 15 minutes at POFQ. We are still driving past gated communities, but I figure the sign must be coming up soon. Pretty soon the Garmin tells us to turn right onto Vista Drive. Next thing I know, I see one of the Disney road signs. You know, the purple one with black Mickey ears? It was showing some offices off to the left. Jeremy and I both look at each other and I said, "are we on Disney property?" His reply, "I don't know." About a mile and a half later, Garmin says arriving at destination on left. We see a little drive. We turn left and there is a Disney guard shack with a guy in a Disney uniform. We pull up and tell him we are looking for POFQ but don't think we are in the right place. He told us we were at the back entrance to Riverside and to just pull around to the front and Welcome to Disney.

Well hello side entrance to Disney World!!!!!!

We go to the front and make a bee line to the check in. We had done online check in so the cast member grabs our packet, clicks a few buttons and then says one of the greatest phrases ever, "Your room is ready." At 9:30 am? Pixie dust! We move our car and hightail everything to our room. We were in room 4132. Literally 30 seconds from the food court and bus stop, on the first floor, and overlooking the lawn where they show the movies. Perfect! It is now a little after 10:00 am and we headed to the bus stop. We had discussed for months if we wanted to take the first park bus that came or go somewhere specific. We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. A bus had just pulled up as we got there. The 50 people in front of us all moved towards it. We got at the end of the line and a Hollywood Studios bus pulls up. We looked at each other and changed buses. We had maybe 5 other people on the bus with us. Soon we were doing this:




Can you tell we are happy?

We head to the tip board to check out times. Jeremy decides he wants to get a fast pass for ToT. That is fine with me, as I don't ride this ride. Let's just say that when it comes to me, drops on rides=grossness. He gets a fast pass with a return time of 11:35-12:35. Awesome, let's go do something.

On the way back down the road we stop for a few more pictures.







Pretty good pics, right?

We walk past TSM, just to check, and the fast passes were too late in the day to even consider coming back for (we had an ADR at 5:15) and the wait time was way longer than we wanted to wait. So we headed to the Muppet Show!

The Muppet show was so great, as always. Hi, welcome to my park.
After the Muppet show, we walk outside and see Phineas. So of course we got these:









Time for some lunch. We are now pretty hungry. We head to ABC Commissary and Jeremy has the fish and shrimp basket and chocolate mousse (we had the dining plan). I had the surf and turf burger and chocolate mousse. It was all pretty good and fast. We headed to ToT for Jeremy to ride. He comes out laughing because a big muscle bound guy had screamed like a little girl and a woman on the ride called him out on it. We decided to head to Epcot now as our ADR was there. On the way out, of course:








It was then on to Epcot. What kind of adventure will we have there? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[MEK]

Caught up and yeah you made it. Sounds like a pretty uneventful drive. Kudos to you guys for getting on the road so early. And double yeah for a nice arrival time to POFQ.

Good for you for going straight to the park. I love that magic shot - too cute. You both look absolutely thrilled to be there.

Looking forward to more.

 

[teekathepony]

I love how quickly you guys got to a park! That's making the most of it!
And had fun too! I can't do ToT either. I don't like elevators at the best of times!

 

[jash08]

Caught up and yeah you made it. Sounds like a pretty uneventful drive. Kudos to you guys for getting on the road so early. And double yeah for a nice arrival time to POFQ.

Good for you for going straight to the park. I love that magic shot - too cute. You both look absolutely thrilled to be there.

Looking forward to more.

We had such a great time! It is hard for us to get out of our work routine, which is up at 5:30 am, so we can usually get moving pretty early. I know we were an hour ahead in Florida, but hey, Disney was waiting so up and at 'em! I thought the magic shots were great too. Keep coming back because there is a lot more fun on the way!

I love how quickly you guys got to a park! That's making the most of it!
And had fun too! I can't do ToT either. I don't like elevators at the best of times!

Absolutely! That was part of the reason we got going so early. Maximize the park time The funny part is that I can spin and go upside down, but put me on a decent size drop and I am done! I am not a huge elevator fan either! I start to freak if it is crowded and I am in the back corner.

 

[jash08]

Before I start this update, I forgot to mention the cheerleaders or dancers that were everywhere at Hollywood Studios. There was some kind of competition going on at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. They were there until Monday and another group came in Wednesday. Not too bad. Made things a little busy, but not too terrible.

Onto the second park!

We left Hollywood Studios and took the Friendship boat to Epcot. We love this boat ride for a few reasons. First, it is very relaxing. If we can sit outside, we are happy! Second, it is nice to travel by a different method than by bus. Third, it is beautiful scenery. And fourth, but definitely not least, is it takes us by Sea Breeze Pointe, which is where Jeremy and I were married in 2008. We love to see the sight of our wedding. We try to go and get a picture there every trip. We had a lovely wedding with perfect weather and wonderful Disney elements. We had a bagpiper who escorted my father and I to the Gazebo and then all of us back to the hotel and Major Domo brought our rings. I can't say enough about Disney Fairytale Weddings. So wonderful to work with. Thanks Dad and Jackie for the most perfect day of my life!

We got to the International Gateway and I started to do the happy dance. Epcot is my favorite park. There is so much to do! I love International Gateway as it is never very crowded and it has my favorite bathrooms in all of Disney. They are always clean, quite, and they play music from around World Showcase! They are pretty pleasant for public restrooms. We had ADR's in World Showcase so we decided to head to the front and work our way back. So what was my first ride of the trip? Spaceship Earth of course! On our way there, we stopped for a few pictures.




Can you tell we are happy to be there?


We took a trip through history. I saw a new hidden Mickey! It is on the left hand side in the wall of scrolls. Look the next time you are there! We then went to Innoventions West and walked through. We then headed to the Epcot Character Spot. We got pictures with Mickey, Pluto, and Minnie in under 10 minutes! Unfortunately Pluto's photographer had trouble with our Photopass card and we didn't get our pictures with Pluto. Don't worry, we got pics with Pluto later. Here are our pics:








We decided to head to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. It said it had a five minute wait. It only says that because it takes you five minutes to walk to the ride! We never stopped walking until we go to our Clamshell. Soon we were off to the Big Ol' Blue! We had an awesome time in the EAC and saw some friends in the tanks. It was now time to head to my FAVORITE ride...........

Journey into Imagination with Figment! Sing it with me Imagination, Imagination, A dream a dream can be can be a dream come true with just one spark from me or you! Seriously, Figment is my favorite Disney character. If anyone from Disney parks is reading this: PLEASE BRING BACK THE DREAMFINDER!! Off my soapbox now Don't get me wrong, I like Dr. Channing, but I want the Dreamfinder. We went into the required gift shop at the end of the ride. And I saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. A Figment sock hat. WHAT?!?!?! I will be back for you my friend. We went outside and I eyeballed the fountains but didn't go over. When I was a child, I would drag my parents to the fountains so I could "catch" the water as it shot out. I could spend hours doing it. Sad thing is that I could still probably do that. By now it was almost 4:00 pm. Our ADR was at 5:15 pm. We decided to sit on a bench and take in the view for a few minutes and plot what we would do next. A couple of pics while we were there:








We decided to head to Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, or El Rio De Tiempo as I still call it! We had a good time with the crew. Now I have that song stuck in my head. We have the stars to guide us, guitars here beside us, to play as we go! We sing and we samba, we say Aye Carumba! What means Aye Carumba? Oh yes, I don't know. You are welcome




Hidden Mickey!!!!!!

We walked through the market place and decided to head to England. When we got there, we wandered through the shops. I found some earrings and a necklace I wanted so I told Jeremy we would come back and get it after dinner. It was 4:45 pm and we thought we would try to check in early. Where were we going? The Rose and Crown! We waited for about 5 minutes in the garden and they called us. We said goodbye to the bird who was entertaining us and headed inside. We had a great spot to watch all of the people. Our server was great and really welcoming. We soon had our drinks (diet coke for Jeremy and Unsweet iced tea for me) and some rolls. The rolls here are great! We both ordered the NY strip steak. It comes with a few onion rings and green beans. Jeremy got his steak plain and I had mine with the red wine and mushroom sauce that comes on it. Both steaks were amazing! Seriously one of the best steaks we have ever had. Since we had the dining plan, we also go dessert. Jeremy had the Jaffa Tarts. They were tasty, but I think mine was better. I got the cheesecake with the caramelized bananas. SO GOOD!!!!!! And now, here are some pics:




















mmmmmm that looks really good right now.

Anyway, we finished eating, said goodbye to our server and headed out. I went and picked up my items and we headed to the front. The bus stop is fairly close. We waited maybe 2 minutes and a bus pulled up with plenty of seats for everyone. Soon we were back at POFQ. We filled up our mugs and headed to the room for the night.

When we got to the room, I decided to take a shower. My legs had been itching all day and I wanted to wash off anything that might have been on them. I discovered I had a HUGE red rash all over my legs. I hopped in the shower and Jeremy headed back to the gift shop for some Benadryl. I took two and put some powder on my legs and laid under the fan. That really helped. Darn sensitive skin!

So, we are now at the end of our first day. We headed to a park shortly after 10:00 am and got back to the room a little after 7:00 pm. Not too shabby for the first day! So where are we headed tomorrow? Keep checking back to find out! And so as to not leave you hanging, one more picture for the night:





You didn't think we could pass that up, did you?