Has it been 30 years already? A Magical NYE Trip Report! (Complete - 1/25/18)

That New Year's cupcake looks too gorgeous to eat, but I think I'd also have to dig in for champagne soaked cherries. YUM!

Sunshine Seasons has really stepped up their cupcake game. One of the pastry chefs is on Instagram (alan_arras1988) and he posts the specialty cupcakes they’ll have there, and they all look so amazing.
 
It was awesome that you found an area, that you were comfortable with for the NYC celebration. Sometimes, others behaviors brings on stress with shoving and taking over area's of "to close for comfort".
 
Trip Report, Episode XXII: Day 4 - One day, four parks!
I'm not the type of person to make New Year's Resolutions. Instead, when a new year begins, I try and think of things I haven't before done that I'd like to do in that year. For 2018, I had one specific goal in mind, and I wanted to get it done on the very first day of the year: visit all four parks of Walt Disney World in one day.

Originally my plan was to do a character meet, an attraction and have something to eat in each of the four parks, but I was pretty wiped from the previous two long days, and it was cold and rainy on the first, so I scaled things back. I'd do the two meals I had reserved, and definitely do an attraction in each park, but I'd skip the character meets and wouldn't have anything to eat at AK or Epcot.

I woke up a little groggy, but ready to attack the day -- at least so I thought. I quickly realized how tired I was shortly after I got on the bus from Port Orleans to Magic Kingdom, and then discovered it was actually the bus to Hollywood Studios. Whoops.

If I hadn't had any morning reservations, I would've just started my day there and gone about park hopping, but I had a 9 a.m. breakfast reservation at CRT. I wasn't sure the park-to-park buses were running at that time of morning, and I figured taking a bus back to a resort then over to MK would take too long, so I grabbed a cab, which of course only took me to TTC. From there I hopped on the ferry to MK and walked up to the castle 20 minutes late for my reservation. Thankfully, they were more than happy to accommodate me, in part because I'm a "Friend of Cinderella" (literally, I've been to CRT so often that the phrase "Friend of Cinderella" is printed on the ticket I show to the hostess to get my table).

People on this board tend to downgrade the food at CRT, but I find the bacon and eggs to be just fine (again, it's REALLY hard to mess those up), and as a solo diner, I get the pastry platter that's designed for the entire table to myself -- though on this day I only had two items off the platter. I was, however, bummed that CRT didn't have ginger ale, so Sprite had to suffice as a substitute. Still, CRT isn't about the food or drink, it's about the friends I get to reconnect with.

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After CRT, I did the one MK attraction I really wanted to do but couldn't get to on the 30th -- the PeopleMover. No line, a nice relaxing journey, and a great view of the castle -- it was all I wanted to start the year.

From MK it was over to AK, where I had a FastPass for Na'vi River Journey. Well, technically I had FastPasses for multiple AK attractions, but I knew I'd punt on the later ones, since I wanted to squeeze in a visit to Epcot before I had to go back to DHS for my late lunch/early dinner reservation. NRJ was as beautiful as I remembered it from having ridden it 8 times in one day during a Pandora preview, and I was happy to see that the animatronic was in operation on this day. Pandora itself continues to blow me away. It really is like stepping into a different world.

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As I left Pandora, I stopped to get a Mo'ara Margarita and briefly considered giving the FoP test seat a go, but I figure I need to drop another 40 pounds or so to make that work, and even if I did fit, I wasn't going to put up with the 3-hour standby wait. Maybe by the time I return in February, I'll at least be willing to try the test seat to see how close I am to fitting.

While on the bus ride from AK to Epcot, the MDE app started acting up. I was able to secure an FP for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, which I hadn't done the day before, and didn't involve much walking from the front of the park.

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By the time I got to the ride, the FP system was almost completely down, but I was able to show them the screenshot on my phone to get onto the ride (not that waiting in standby would've been the end of the world -- it was a 15-minute wait). On my way out of the park, I stopped to get a hot chocolate. I considered walking all the way up to France to get my beloved frozen Grey Goose slush, but it was a little too cold for a frozen drink, and I didn't feel like doing all that walking -- even though from France I could've exited out the International Gateway and taken the boat over to DHS.

By the time I got to DHS, I thought I could squeeze in a viewing of Voyage of The Little Mermaid before lunch, but the line was packed, mostly because the entire standby queue is covered and people were looking for something to give them shelter from the rain and cold. With that out as an option, I ducked over to One Man's Dream, which was actually playing the One Man's Dream film for the first time in a while (my last few trips had come when it was promoting an upcoming movie).

Lunch/dinner at HBD was delayed a little bit, but I didn't mind, because that restaurant has by far the most comfortable waiting room seating of any Disney restaurant. They don't have enough of it -- which meant a lot of people who were waiting for tables to open up were left standing, since the outdoor seating wasn't really an option in the rain -- but I was comfy in one of those giant chairs.

The steak at HBD was really good, as was the crab cake appetizer. The dessert was just okay, but truth be told, by this point in the trip, I was desserted-out. Still, I was glad I made room for HBD on my agenda on this trip, since it was a good place to use my dining plan, and probably not a place I'd visit if I was paying out of pocket.

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While I was eating, the MDE app started working again, so I was able to grab a FastPass for Tower of Terror. I made that my second post-dinner stop, with my first being Voyage of the Little Mermaid, where -- for the second time on this trip -- I got the last seat for a show. This time I was in the very back, which I actually appreciated, as I usually sit front row for this show. Sitting in the rear of the theater finally gave me a chance to see the full laser effects. And, as I always do, I cried a little during "Part of Your World."

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By the time the show was over, it was time for my ToT FastPass, and from there it'd be off to Fantasmic. After riding ToT, I lingered for a bit outside the ride to watch the projection onto the tower as part of the Sunset Boulevard seasonal show. After a few minutes, I headed over to the Fantasmic entrance, only to discover that I had a pretty good view of the projections on the tower from that path as well.

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Approaching the Dining Package seating area for Fantasmic, I noticed the front few rows - aka the "splash zone" - were completely empty. I immediately headed there, figuring as we were already sitting in the rain, how much could it hurt to get a little more wet (spoiler: a lot). Though it was cold and wet, it ended up being the perfect view for the show, and was probably the most I ever enjoyed Fantasmic at WDW (though I still probably like the DL version a little bit more). It was definitely amusing that the loudest cheers of the night were for Maleficent's flames -- and there were even some boos when Mickey put them out, that's how cold it was out there.

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Making my way out of the park at around 7:30, I realized I still had time to re-visit MK or Epcot (which was having EMH from 9-11), but I decided to head back to my room and grab a drink or two and watch some of the college football playoff before falling asleep much earlier than I'm used to. But it turned out there was a good reason for that, and it wasn't just that I'd been in the parks past midnight the previous two nights.

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Next up: Goodbye WDW, hello cold.
 
Thankfully, they were more than happy to accommodate me, in part because I'm a "Friend of Cinderella" (literally, I've been to CRT so often that the phrase "Friend of Cinderella" is printed on the ticket I show to the hostess to get my table).
That's pretty cool!
As I left Pandora, I stopped to get a Mo'ara Margarita and briefly considered giving the FoP test seat a go, but I figure I need to drop another 40 pounds or so to make that work, and even if I did fit, I wasn't going to put up with the 3-hour standby wait. Maybe by the time I return in February, I'll at least be willing to try the test seat to see how close I am to fitting.
Fingers crossed! The ride is amazing, and it is truly unfortunate they couldn't have included some option for people that can't use the seat.
This time I was in the very back, which I actually appreciated, as I usually sit front row for this show. Sitting in the rear of the theater finally gave me a chance to see the full laser effects.
We were sitting in the front of the theater and I definitely wish we were sitting further back. Not only because some rude lady was filming with her phone light on and it kept getting into our eyes!
It was definitely amusing that the loudest cheers of the night were for Maleficent's flames -- and there were even some boos when Mickey put them out, that's how cold it was out there.
That is hilarious!
 


Trip Report, Episode XXIII: Day 5 - Goodbye WDW, hello cold
Sorry about the delay in posting this entry, but I've been pretty sick this week -- which coincidentally dovetails nicely with this entry, which starts with, obviously, getting sick.

As I mentioned in my last entry, it was pretty cold and rainy all day on Jan. 1, and I ended up getting extra wet at Fantasmic, so I wasn't too surprised when I woke up with a tickle in the back of my throat. I figured it was just a cough/sore throat, and I grabbed some cough drops at the gift shop at Boardwalk before heading to Trattoria al Forno for my Bon Voyage Breakfast. I thought about canceling, but Ariel and Rapunzel are my two favorite princesses, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a breakfast with them. The whole way there I was debating whether to get orange juice or ginger ale as my dining plan drink, but as it turned out I didn't need to choose, because the restaurant provided a carafe of orange juice for the table along with an additional drink selection. So that was a nice bonus, and I ended up having plenty of OJ to try and help feel better -- though, not to spoil the rest of this entry, it didn't really work.

The breakfast itself was pretty good. The menu selection was similar to breakfast at CRT (including the pastry platter for the table), but the food quality was definitely a step up. I appreciated that they were willing to make standard scrambled eggs for me, rather than the menu option of tomato-basil eggs with gravy. The eggs were probably the best I'd had all week, and the pastry platter had some really good options, some of which were too pretty to eat:

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(No joke, this thing is still in a container in my car's trunk.)

At first I thought it was weird that each of the four characters came around to the tables individually, rather than as couples, but it ended up making a lot of sense. You end up getting more time with each character, and it really allows the guys playing the princes to stand out a bit in their roles, whereas they'd obviously be overshadowed (and in some cases ignored) if they arrived side-by-side with their princess. I think my best interaction out of all four ended up being with Flynn/Eugene, in part because I switched T-shirts right as he got to the table, and made a joke about getting "into disguise, so I won't be recognized by the palace guard," which he totally ran with. He also appreciated my goatee, suggesting that his trend-setting style was catching on. Honestly, I don't think I had a bad character interaction all week, but that one really stood out at awesome, especially because it made me feel a little bit better when I was feeling crummy.

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After breakfast I went back to my room just to say one last goodbye to it before I officially had to check out, which, I guess technically, I didn't actually do. In fact, at no point during my entire trip did I visit the front desk at POR, which speaks to the efficiency of the online check-in/check-out system. From there I took a quick detour over to POFQ, where I finally got some beignets -- which I were surprised to discover only counted as a single snack credit for an order of three. I'm kind of glad I didn't know that from the start of the trip, otherwise I might have OD'd on beignets on Day 2.

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I hadn't planned to visit the parks at all on my departure day, and having the cough -- which was progressively getting worse throughout the day -- made it even less likely that I would do so. So instead I decided to head over to two places not everyone gets to see on a WDW trip: Cast Connection/Property Control and Company D.

If you're not familiar with it, Cast Connection and Property Control is a store specifically for castmembers that sells merchandise that has been pulled from the stores, groceries, and -- in the specific "Property Control" section -- damaged/factory second merch and even items pulled from the resorts (think old LCD TVs, pillows, chairs, etc.). I didn't end up buying too much there, since the vast majority of the non-clothing merch was RunDisney branded (seriously, I've never seen so many RunDisney pins and mugs and magnets), though in retrospect, I wish I'd stocked up on pillows, since I really do love the squishy, nearly-foldable pillows at the resorts, and they were super cheap. I did get a light-up Sorcerer Mickey hat for $2, which was pretty amazing considering I'd come close to buying one at full price on New Year's Eve at Epcot.

My trip to Company D proved much more fruitful, as I ended up buying a bunch of castmember-exclusive pins celebrating Epcot's 35th anniversary, a new castmember pin bag, and the castmember exclusive MagicBand. Honestly, I could've easily spent twice as much money there as I did, but I tried to restrain myself given that I'll be back at WDW in February, and I definitely want to take my girlfriend to these cool castmember-only places.

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I still wasn't feeling great after leaving Company D -- in fact, I was definitely feeling worse than I had been that morning -- and still had a few hours before my Artist Point dinner, so I ended up killing time by seeing a movie at Disney Springs. By the time the movie was over, I was really feeling it, so I didn't even do any shopping or browsing at DS, I just headed straight back to my car and sat there for awhile before driving over to Wilderness Lodge before dinner.

By the time I got seated at AP -- which happened quickly, since my reservation was for 5:30, right when the restaurant opens for dinner -- I was catching a second wind, and was greatly appreciative both of the fresh bread for the table and the artisinal cheese platter I ordered for my appetizer. But the real treat was the filet mignon, which was easily the best of the steaks I had on the trip. I'm not sure I'd pay $50 for it OOP, but as the last meal of my dining plan, it was perfect. The meal overall probably would've been better had I been feeling better -- by the time I was done with the steak, I was too full and too off to even consider dessert -- but I'd definitely still put Artist Point up there with the best dining experiences at WDW.

As much as I wanted to stop at Magic Kingdom one last time before leaving, I knew what had started as just a cough/sore throat was getting much worse, and I really needed to get to my parents' house as soon as possible to get to bed. I would've been more bummed about not getting one last visit to the parks, but as I said before, I'll be back at WDW in February, so I consoled myself with that fact -- and eventually comforted myself with a heavy dose of NyQuil and a warm bed, bringing an end to what had truly been a magical trip (even with the whole getting sick at the end thing).

Next Up: Day 6 and Beyond - The Aftermath
 
Trip Report, Episode XXIV: Day 6 and Beyond - The Aftermath
For those of you who've been following along on this trip report since the very beginning, we've come to the end. But don't be sad, because I'll be back at Disney World in a couple weeks, and I'm sure I'll write a fun trip report on that trip too.

Also, for those of you who've been following along from the beginning, you know my original plan was to start driving back home on January 3rd, but that plan was derailed on multiple fronts. First, the cold I picked up in the rain on New Year's Day got significantly worse in the days after arriving at my parents' house. In fact, I spend most of January 3rd and January 4th in bed, and ate a combined 1 1/2 meals over the course of those two days. But even if I'd been feeling 100%, I probably would've ended up stranded in The Villages (yes, that's the name of the town where my parents live, and yes, at times it does feel like they live in a cult compound), because of the freak ice storm that hit the East Coast. By the time I drove home on the 6th and 7th, the roads were clear, there was no traffic, and I honestly believe I could've done it in a single long driving trip had I not been dealing with the lingering effects of the cold. I ended up driving all the way from Florida to Northern Virginia on the 6th, then doing the last 6 hours of the drive on Sunday morning/afternoon.

As always with a Disney trip, I learned some things to help make my future trips better. So, before I bid you adieu, let's run some of those down (plus some other random tidbits and nonsense that didn't fit into the day-by-day of the trip report).

NYE Again? Definitely!

There are a lot of "big crowd" events I've gone to over the years that when I was finished with them, I said "I'm never doing that again." New Year's Eve at Disney World was definitely NOT one of those events. I feel like people prepared me in advance for how crazy the crowds would be, so by the time I was actually there on the 30th and 31st, none of it seemed that bad. I probably won't do NYE at Disney again for 2018/19 (of course, there's 11 months left for me to change my mind on that), but I almost certainly will do it again at some point.

Dining Plan and dining plans...

I only got the Deluxe Dining Plan for this trip because I was planning on checking off as many table service meals as I could, and I wouldn't have access to my castmember discount. Even with converting two of the meals to snack credits (a terrible exchange value), I still came out ahead costwise on the Dining Plan, but I wouldn't do it again -- even without considering my discount -- because it made me feel locked in to doing TS meals. Similarly, I can't envision ever making 3 TS reservations on a single day again -- and honestly outside of special circumstances, two might be too many. There are just so many other great food options at WDW that locking yourself into a sit-down meal multiple times a day feels like too much.

Plan less by planning more

When I set out my crazy minute-by-minute plans I knew I couldn't possibly keep up with them, but planning those out -- and then trying to follow them while I was there -- reminded me that "less is more" when it comes to planning. Or, to be more specific, when I plan future Disney trips, I'm going to make a more concerted effort to plan non-park time. On future trips, I'd like to try and spend more time at my resort and at Disney Springs, since I've done almost every attraction/show/parade/etc. at the parks. Also, looking back on this trip, there were a lot of times where I skipped trying to do something or decided something wasn't worth my time, largely because I have this February trip coming up, and because I'm doing two "late night" events at MK, which will allow me to do pretty much everything I want there. In fact, because I get free park admission (most of the time), I might focus future trips on added-value events -- that I actually have to pay for -- like MK After Hours or VIP Tours or similar things like that.

CRT dethroned? Maybe...

I've now done every Princess meal that Walt Disney World offers (plus the one at DCA, if we want to get bi-coastal here), and while there will always be a certain special feeling when actually eating in Cinderella's Castle, I'd honestly have to say if asked for a recommendation, I'd put both the Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno and Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus ahead of CRT -- though of course the only one of the three I'm doing again in this upcoming trip is CRT, because, duh... castle. Akershus offers a similar princess-meeting experience to CRT, and while the setting is definitely a downgrade, the food is an upgrade. How you feel about Bon Voyage leans heavily on where Rapunzel and Ariel sit in your personal princess rankings, but seeing as they're my two personal favorites, I'll definitely return to there at some point. The problem for me is I really only want to book one of these per trip, and the lure of eating in the castle tends to win out. Oh, and speaking of that...

#365daysofcinderellascastle

On Day 4 of this trip, I started a new daily posting on my Instagram account: a different photo of Cinderella's Castle posted each day in 2018. So far I haven't missed a day, and given that I have more than 800 photos of the castle in my photo library (with more to be added when I go back in February), it shouldn't be a problem to keep it going. So if you love the castle as much as I do, feel free to follow along: @adamreisinger on IG.

Just like a tattoo...

One of the things that happened over and over on this trip was someone would spot my tattoo, start looking at it, then see that I could see them looking at it and apologize for somehow "intruding" on me. I would tell them every time "I wouldn't have gotten a brightly-colored Disney princess tattoo covering my entire right forearm if I didn't want people to look at it." I got a ton of compliments on it, which made me feel good about how it turned out, and a bunch of people asked where I'd gotten it done, hoping that it was somewhat local to WDW so they could look into getting work done by the same artist. They were always bummed when I told them I had the work done in Bristol, CT -- well, except for the one person who was so serious about getting a really well-done Disney tattoo that she said she might consider traveling to CT to get it done. Oh, and hey, here are some updated tattoo pictures, now that it's mostly healed from the last session.

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So with this trip wrapped, what's next for me? Well, as the little counter thing in my signature says, I'll be back at WDW in less than two weeks, this time with my girlfriend (who I actually "met" in this trip report). It'll be the first time I've done a WDW trip having someone with me the entire time, so that'll be a new experience and one I'm very much looking forward to. She's going to make me eat food I normally wouldn't, I'm going to make her meet characters... it'll be a grand time.

Also, one of these days I'll actually get around to unpacking all the stuff I bought at WDW on this trip. I still have a bunch of those signature Disney shopping bags sitting on the floor of my Disney room, waiting for me to do something about them. I've been lazy about it mostly because I bought a new pin bag, which means re-organizing my pin collection, which takes FOREVER. But I gotta do it before I go on that next trip, just so I can take pictures of each pin page and make sure I don't accidentally buy one I already have (which I've done on multiple trips already). I also have to go through my pictures and share them on Facebook (since multiple friends have asked to see them), and finally buy Memory Maker so I can download all my ride and meet & greet photos.

Beyond that, I still want to work on my Disney bucket list. I'll get to check off a few more TS places and one more resort in February, and I might even be doing a Disney cruise in November. I still have a ways to go before I'll be able to fit on Flight of Passage, but I'm down another 10 pounds since getting back from this trip, and hopefully I can keep making slow and steady progress. Who knows, by the time I fit on the ride, maybe the standby wait times won't be 3+ hours every day. Then I'm targeting 2020 for my visit to Shanghai Disneyland, unless I can convince work to send me there sooner (it's not as far-fetched as it might seem - I almost got to go this past October).

Thank you all for reading all this -- or just skimming it, or looking at the pictures. I've had a lot of fun sharing this journey with you all. From my first trip in 1988 to my latest trip in 2018 to hopefully another 30 years of Disney magic, no matter how my heart is grieving, if I keep on believing, the dream that I wish will come true...
 
Adam, I have really enjoyed reading your TR. I actually found it today and was so intrigued with it that I read all of it today. I hope you share with us your upcoming trip. I will be looking forward to it. Thanks again for sharing, it looked like an amazing trip.

Sheila
 


I have very much enjoyed the posts. It's always interesting to read a TR or see comments from someone who enjoys Disney and sports with great passion. I can't wait to read and follow along your February trip.
 

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