Taking A First Timer To Walt Disney World! Dec. 29, 2017-Jan. 6, 2018! *COMPLETED 4/8/18*

[rteetz]

It was great seeing you again and I really enjoyed doing the Star Wars VR experi MDE. Looks like you had a successful day. I never went to see the tree trail after all so I liked seeing your photos of it.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

It was great seeing you again and I really enjoyed doing the Star Wars VR experi MDE. Looks like you had a successful day. I never went to see the tree trail after all so I liked seeing your photos of it.

It was a successful day, but a very tiring day.

Thanks. I was happy I was able to see the trail this year.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 9: Final Day At Walt Disney World!​

Welcome to our final day at Walt Disney World.

We would begin this day by taking our bags to Bell Services before heading to our final park of the trip. The only thing I find interesting about this is Bell Services has to come and pick you up when staying at Caribbean Beach. That is due to the check-in building being really far away from any of the resort buildings which I would find really annoying. More on that when I give my overview of Caribbean Beach.

So, we would finally drop our bags off, and we would go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom one more time before heading to the airport.

Our day in Animal Kingdom would begin by heading to Pandora.



We would have the chance to get a picture with the floating mountains, as well as, the banshee magic shot!





We would then use a fastpass for Flight of Passage. That attraction continues to amaze me to this day!

Our 2nd fastpass of the day was for Dinosaur. I really like this attraction, but not as much as the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland which is the same ride system.



We would then take the long way to our next destination, but we would get a nice view of Expedition Everest. We wouldn’t ride this attraction yet.



We were on our way to see Festival of the Lion King for the final time on this trip.



We ended up being really high up in the Lion Section. I don’t remember sitting this high up ever, but it was a very unique view of the show.



We would then make our way back towards Asia where we would pass by my favorite spot to take a picture of the Tree of Life.



It was time for our 3rd and final fastpass which was for Expedition Everest.





So, my friend and I kept talking about how good the chicken was at Satuli Canteen on this trip. We would also smell it every time we walked by the restaurant. So, that is where we went for lunch!



Satuli Canteen has turned into my favorite quick service restaurant on Walt Disney World property.

We would then make our way to Gorilla Falls where we would get to see some animals.



A bunch of Timons!!!





It was finally warm enough for the gorillas to come out so it was nice to see them.





My friend and I would then make our way to Asia to see the baby tiger cubs one final time. They are so cute!!!







At this point, it was time to head back to our resort to catch Disney’s Magical Express. We would end up taking a Lyft back to our resort, because we barely missed a bus back to Caribbean Beach. The option to take a Lyft was nice, because it could drop us off at the check-in location. The Theme Park busses don't drop off at the check-in building so we would have had to wait for an internal resort bus to take us to the check-in building after we got to Caribbean Beach.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 9: Traveling Home!​

Well, it was sadly that time. It was time to take Disney’s Magical Express to Orlando International Airport.





My friend and I would make our way to the airport, and we would arrive in plenty of time.

Security was very easy at MCO unlike on one of my trips where I almost missed my flight.

We would arrive at our terminal where MCO had the Chiefs Playoff Game on T.V. Both my friend and I want to forget that game. However, my favorite NFL team would end up winning the Super Bowl this year. GO EAGLES!

I would get dinner at Chipotle. I really like the food options at MCO a lot. They definitely have some great options, and I don’t find the prices to be overpriced like at some airports. At least when it comes to Chipotle.

We would then board our flight back home. This is when our flight would mostly be disappointed, because the Chiefs would lose the game while we were on the plane.



After a very long trip to Walt Disney World, we were finally home!!!



This will conclude my updates from what happened each day while we were at Walt Disney World.

Thank you everyone for following along on this trip report. I will have some more updates coming out soon with my reviews of the resorts we stayed at. Stay tuned for those updates.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you have a great day with friends and/or family!

I will have more updates from this Trip Report tomorrow.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

All-Star Music Overview!​

Here is my overview of one of the resorts we stayed at for this trip which was All-Star Music. All-Star Music is my favorite All-Star Resort with the main reason being that I’m a musician. For that reason, I will say that I really enjoy the theming of this resort.



Our room:

We would have a standard room with two double beds.



Here is the table and chairs in the room:



There are two lamps above each bed. There is also an end table between both beds.



I love this picture from Fantasia in the room!



There was a T.V. in the room, three good size drawers, and a refrigerator.



The wallpaper that lined the ceiling of the room. I really liked it with all of the music symbols.



There was a clothes hanger in the room.



The restroom was decently sized with a bathtub and a shower.



There was a decent sized sink area with a mirror. This also acted as a closet. There is also a safe in this area.



Resort Area:

We would stay in the Broadway Section of All-Star Music which I was ecstatic about since I love Broadway shows! Disney really advertised all of their shows in this section by showing all of the posters for their shows and they also played the music from the shows. They also made you feel like you were in New York City in a way with little touches.



















Rest of the Resort Theming:

The Western section is themed really well.







There is a nice Rock N’ Roll Section.



In the Jazz section, I really like this theme since I’m a saxophone player.





There was a nice fountain that split the two Jazz Sections.



This is the biggest drum set I have ever seen!



The other end of the Jazz Section had a trumpet player.



Here is the Tropical themed area of the resort.





I really liked how they designed this area that looked like a marimba.



Here is the main pool:



Overall, we enjoyed All-Star Music. I would choose this resort over any of the others, but I haven’t stayed at All-Star Movies yet. So, I might give that one a try if I ever get a chance. If I was to choose between Sports and Music, I would definitely choose All-Star Music.

(Caribbean Beach update will be posted tomorrow.)

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Caribbean Beach Overview!​

Here is an overview of the other resort that my friend and I stayed at on this trip. That resort was Caribbean Beach Resort.

OUR ROOM:

This room was really nice, and I enjoyed the small Caribbean touches that the room had a lot.

The room had two double beds with an end table separating the two beds.



There was a table with two chairs.



There was a mirror above the table.



There was a nice dresser, a nice sized T.V, and a nice picture on the wall. Another feature about this room that we really liked was the sliding doors going into the restroom area.



The bathroom had double sinks which was very helpful for us in the morning.



I am pretty sure that the shower/tub and the toilet were in a smaller room than at All-Star Music. It just felt very tight if you shut the door.



Overall, the room was very nice. It isn’t my favorite resort room that I have stayed in on property, but it was our favorite room on this trip.

RESORT AREA:

We stayed at the resort during the massive construction phase that Caribbean Beach is going though. That is mostly around the Port Royal area, but they are also building the Riviera Resort on the property of where old Caribbean Beach Resort rooms used to be.

Due to the Riviera Resort being built where it is, it has left the check-in building for Caribbean Beach to be in the middle of no where. Since we transferred resorts here and did online check-in, we didn’t have to go to the check-in building at the start of our stay. This became an issue when we checked out. That is due to bell services still being at the check-in building, and the only way to get there is for bell services to come pick you up or wait for a designated resort bus. There is no path to the check-in building to my knowledge, but it would be at least a 6-7 minute walk from the closest rooms at Caribbean Beach just to get to the check-in building. I find that insane and very inconvenient. This was pretty much my only negative of the entire stay at Caribbean Beach. I didn’t find the construction to be much of an issue outside of this.

So, the check-in building is very nice despite the location of the building.







The flagpoles outside the check-in building.



MORE ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE AT THE RESORT:

When my friend and I got to the check-in building, we also went to the airline check-in to check our bags in for our flight at the end of the day. This took way to long, because they couldn't find my flight reservation. However, they could find my friends reservation at all. We stood at the airline check-in for 25 minutes before they could finally find both of our reservations. It was weird to the point that if they found my friends reservation, they couldn’t find mine and if they found my reservation, they couldn’t find my friends reservation. This was another issue about this resort that we had, but it was probably a one time situation.

I did check out one of the “rooms made into a shop.” That is due to all of the construction, each building area has a designated room that Disney transformed into selling food and other things that you might need on your trip. This actually took me a while to find in our building. I knew what number the room was, but for some reason I couldn’t find it. After I found it, there was one Cast Member in the small store, and that was it. I would talk to her for a few minutes and gather what she thought about everything. She didn’t like how they were put into these small rooms, but she thinks that she will really enjoy the resort once the construction is over.

The construction actually didn't bother me to much, and our room was right next to where the construction area "began." Like, I could see construction workers working when I would come out of our room each morning. That's how close we were.

The bus system wasn’t that bad. We never waited long for any of the busses we had. Our building was also the first stop to pick-up and drop-off so that was nice.

We did receive a gift in our room. Due to the construction, Disney gave us a card that had 3 pins on it. I took this, because I collect pins. My friend didn’t really seem to want it.





Overall, Caribbean Beach is a nice resort. If you can get past the construction, you will enjoy your stay here. Do I think there are better options? Yes I do. I would stay at the other moderates before staying at Caribbean Beach. I would also consider staying at any of the value resorts than staying at Caribbean Beach. That is until the construction is over. I’m sure this resort will be beautiful when the construction is all done, but I hope they change the check-in location for the resort.

Stay tuned for my conclusion of this trip report!

 

[rteetz]

Nice review of CBR! I am considering it for January when some of the construction will be finished.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Nice review of CBR! I am considering it for January when some of the construction will be finished.

Honestly, it is a nice resort. I forgot to mention that the construction didn't really bother me even if our room was right next to where the construction was "beginning."

Have you heard anything if the check-in building will move to Port Royal? Honestly, that is going to make the most sense than keeping it where it is.

 

[rteetz]

Honestly, it is a nice resort. I forgot to mention that the construction didn't really bother me even if our room was right next to where the construction was "beginning."

Have you heard anything if the check-in building will move to Port Royal? Honestly, that is going to make the most sense than keeping it where it is.

I haven't heard anything definitive.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Conclusion!​

Hello everyone and welcome to the Conclusion of this trip report.

Even though this trip now seems like it has been a long time ago, it is still very much in my mind. That is because I got to experience one of my favorite places with one of my best friends. I also learned a lot during this process that will be used for the next time I take a first timer to Walt Disney World.

MUTUAL HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TRIP:

One of the biggest highlights of this trip was spending New Years Eve at Walt Disney World. We were able to see the New Years Eve Fireworks Shows at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.





Another highlight was experiencing the Wild Africa Trek in freezing cold temperatures. It was really cool that we got to have a private experience though.



One of the things that my friend and I were looking forward to was the Void (Star Wars VR Experience). This did not disappoint even with the wait that we had.



Another highlight of this trip was experiencing miniature golf for the first time at Walt Disney World. We played at Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course.



MY FRIEND’S HIGHLIGHTS:

My friend definitely had a couple of highlights from this trip.

My friend's favorite ride on this trip was Space Mountain.



My friend's favorite meal of the trip was definitely Ohana. I think he will forever remember how good the shrimp was that he had.



I will say that another highlight of this trip was my friends first picture with Mickey Mouse. That is always a highlight of someone’s first trip to a Disney Park (at least I think so ).



MY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP:

Everything mentioned already was a highlight of the trip for me, but the trip wouldn’t be complete for me without seeing the Voices of Liberty many times.



MY FRIEND’S THOUGHTS:

So I’m sure all of you are wondering what my friend thought of Walt Disney World.

Overall, my friend enjoyed Walt Disney World. He wouldn’t necessarily want to pay to go back. That is completely fine, because every person has different interests. He really wanted to go to the beach on this trip, but with how cold it was, I feel like we wouldn’t have gone anyways.

He doesn’t like rides that are mostly “looking.” He is mostly a thrill type of person. Even though he enjoyed a lot of the theming, I think amusement parks are more his type.

WHAT I LEARNED TAKING A FIRST TIMER:

The major thing that I can think of is I think I didn’t prepare him enough for all of the walking. I told him it would be a lot, but I didn't realize that it is probably something people might just have to experience. Walking around Walt Disney World is definitely hard to describe especially when people have most likely never experienced that much walking before.

I did come up with a schedule for our whole trip with many days going from start to finish, but I did have several late morning starts. About 3 days into our trip, I knew many of remaining days would turn into late morning days. That was due to my friend saying that he probably couldn’t go like that for the whole trip. Also, New Years Eve really messed with us getting up early and staying up late 2 days in a row.

My friend gave me a lot of the choices for food and different places, but I did make him decide on a couple of our locations. I did also ask my friend to come up with some must-do rides. His must-do attractions were Toy Story Mania and Space Mountain. If you are ever planning a trip with a first timer, make sure you know your friends interests. It is also a great way to get them involved in the process.

CONCLUSION:

So, this will now conclude this trip report. I want to thank all of you for following along. It means a lot to have dedicated readers following along, and I hope that I have been a big help with planning any of your future trips to Walt Disney World.



If you have any questions about this trip, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and Aulani, feel free to message me at any time. I would be glad to answer any questions that you might have.



So, in the words of Mickey Mouse…”See Ya’ Real Soon!!!”

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

If you would like to follow along on one of my other trip reports, I currently have updates going on my trip report…

A Solo Trip: Is It Spring Or Winter?

I hope to see many of you following along on that trip report. Also, keep your eye out for another trip report announcement coming up in a couple weeks!

 

[rteetz]

Loved following along! It was great to see you on this trip as well. Great report as always!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Loved following along! It was great to see you on this trip as well. Great report as always!

Thanks! It was great seeing you again as well. Hopefully our trips will cross paths again in the future or possibly see each other at another DIS Meet. I'm enjoying your trip report right now!