An Introduction: A Great, Big, Beautiful Trip Report
Hey, hi, hello and welcome to my 4th trip report!
If this is your first rodeo on my trip reports, the exit is that way.
I’m sure you’ll be wanting to use it in the near future. If this isn’t your first time reading my trip reports, hi! Welcome back! Glad to see ya, glad to see ya. Also questioning your sanity for coming back, but that’s neither here nor there.
Should we cut the pleasantries and just get started?
Ok, here we gooooooo:
The who:
Me.
You’re welcome and I’m sorry all at once.
My name is Courtney and I’m a 31 year old who works in Human Resources for a large retailer and lives in New Jersey. I’m a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, What We Do in the Shadows, and anything weird, spooky, or horror related. I love trying new and interesting foods and with that being said, I am usually the food planner of all trips. I book the dining reservations and am usually always “in the know” of what new and unique snacks and foods Disney is dishing out.
Favorite Ride: Haunted Mansion (WDW)//POTC (DLR)//Big Thunder (both WDW and DLR)
Favorite Restaurant: Via Napoli (Epcot)
Favorite Disfood: Fish n Chips (Epcot)// 3 Cheese Monte Cristo (DLR)
Favorite Night Show: Fantasmic (WDW, NOT DLR. I will die on this hill)
Favorite Movie: Coco//Moana//Frozen 2
Favorite Character: Aladdin//Ariel//Tamatoa (he is not a villain, he did nothing wrong)
Favorite Villain: Hades//Gaston//Cruella
My co-star for this trip:
Well, the co-star for all my trips.
My best friend, Smee:
Jk jk, my best friend Mel:
She's the one on the right, by the way
Mel has been my best friend for the past 13 years. She is a 31 year old loan supervisor (and employee babysitter) for a bank in Philadelphia. She loves her dog Ellie, Starbucks, Broadway shows, and being the funniest person I’ve ever met. Mel is the true planner of all of our trips- she is our own travel agent and always manages to be able to work whatever we want to do into our budget.
She specifically told me that her answers will be different each trip. She also refuses to accept that she loved Space Mountain in DLR as much as she did.
Carrying on:
Favorite Ride: Guardian
Favorite Restaurant: Kona (Poly) (but Via Napoli truly)
Favorite Disfood: Am I allowed to say a whole stinking pizza? Because Via Napoli Margherita then (Epcot)
Favorite Night Show: Fantasmic (MK)…hit me in the feels. Hallowishes (RIP) (MK) has been dethroned
Favorite Movie: Moana
Favorite Character: Donald Duck
Favorite Villain: Ursula
This trip marked our 9th trip to WDW together since we started going in 2015. We’ve also been to DLR and UH once and UO twice.
When?
We flew down mid afternoon on Sunday, January 22nd and flew home a week later on Sunday, January 28th.
Where?
Antarctica
Jk. We stayed on property for the first time since November 2018. We usually stay at Pop Century when we are staying on property but Mel got us a great deal at Saratoga Springs that we couldn’t pass up. We’ve stayed at Saratoga a few times in the past, so it was nice to revisit the resort.
What?
A whirlwind week away from the normal, everyday life to enjoy the sun and fun that WDW had to offer us.
Why?
Because it was almost a year since our last visit. And a year is far, far too long.
We walked a lot (according to my calculations, I walked over 60 miles this week), we ate a lot, we laughed...a lot. As usual. This was a much needed vacation, and I'm glad I am lucky enough to get to experience it all with my best friend.
Let's get on to the good part!
Day 1
January 22, 2023
"I Wanted Him To Know I Wasn't Confused By My Own Name"
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Actually, it was bright o’clock (7am) on a crisp New Jersey morning.
But this day hit just a little bit differently.
It was travel day!
Mel had traveled up from Philly the afternoon before, ironically enough while I was in the middle of a 4 mile walk through my local park.
Lately, I’ve been trying to get a little bit healthier so I don’t feel as guilty when I eat my weight in buffalo wings and gummy worms. I switched from regular sodas to diet (usually, I opt for sugar free drinks but you’ll notice I threw that aside this trip) and go for a 4 mile walk a few times a week when I get out of work.
Anyway, like I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself, Mel had graced me with her presence around 4pm the day before. We spent the evening eating diner foods, sipping strawberry soup (a la 1900 Park Fare, that I had found a reciep for a few weeks ago), and making sure every last pair of undies is triple packed.
I ordered the Greek Salad: "Mixed Greens, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Crumbled Feta, Red Onions, Kalamata Olives, Grape Leaves & Pepperoncini, with Our House Dressing" $13.95
Mel ordered the Chicken Caesar Wrap: "Marinated Grilled Chicken with Romaine Lettuce, Shredded Romano & Caesar Dressing" $15.95
Home-made strawberry soup, made by yours truly.
But today? Oh, it was go time baby!
I rolled out of bed and started getting ready around 7:15.
Mel, on the other hand?
Our goal was to be ready to head to the airport at 9:15, which is when my dad would be coming to give us a ride to the LaGuardia Airport.
Believe it or not, Mel was actually ready to go about 15 minutes before me.
Please, please calm your applause! She gave herself enough pats on the back for a lifetime.
By about 9:10, we were off and on our way. Getting to the airport was relatively drama free since there was absolutely no traffic.
LA traffic pterodactyl screeches off in the distance.
We were stop, drop, and rolling out of my dad’s Camry about 30 minutes later. Baggage check was a walkup and as my notes say, “Guy didn’t care about no one’s nothing. Glanced at ID and said ‘scram.’”
So it seems that Baggage check not only was a walkup, but also hassle-free.
A true kiss on the forehead from Southwest.
The regular security line boasted a whopping 2 minute wait, but thanks to pre-check Mel and I were allowed to wait even longer. It was only 4 minutes, but still. Ever since Mel and I got pre-check a few years ago, regular security line waits have been absolutely non-existent. I just want, for once, a horrible 3 hour long security line and Mel and I get to breeze right on by on the precheck line.
Just once.
Anyway, security was simple. Mel was only pepper sprayed and detained briefly and before long, we were shuffling to Dunkin’ Donuts for a little coffee.
Mel got a medium iced Caramel Craze with whipped cream ($5.99), while I opted for a medium iced latte ($5.49).
It had taken us a lot less time than anticipated to get to the airport so we had a bit of time to wait until our flight (which was scheduled to take off at 12:35), so we sat and sipped our coffee and watched the LaGuardia water show.
The water show started literally 5 minutes after this, I just have no patience.
Which, I can only assume, is right up there with the Bellagio Fountain Show in Las Vegas.
We both decided to pick up Green Leaf’s lunch to eat on the plane and watched in slight horror as our flight time changed from 12:35 to 12:40.
Mel ordered the Chicken Caesar bowl, and I decided on the Buffalo Chicken bowl.
Chicken Caesar Bowl: “romaine, grilled chicken, parmesan cheese, croutons, Caesar dressing” $11.40
We both opted to have the bowls with quinoa and let me tell you, Mel raved. Absolutely raved. About her bowl. I thought my bowl was good- I had it before on a flight to Las Vegas- but I think I liked it better the first time. Oh well.
We still had some time to kill until pre board so we checked out some of the shops, heckled some of the low budget stuffies, and got a couple of snacks that we absolutely did not need on this roughly 3 hour flight.
You ok, bud?
But we still got some.
Mel got a water, some cheese ritz bites, and plain kettle chips while I decided to pick up a watermelon seltzer and honey pineapple habanero sesame chips (which were fantastic, I absolutely recommend them).
We finally decided to plop down by our gate, charge our phones a little, and wait to board.
“We’ll begin pre board at 12:15”, the lying Southwest employee bellowed into their little gate microphone.
12:15 came, and wouldn’t you know it, our plane wasn’t even there yet.
Luckily, our plane could sense my displeasure. They instantly pulled up, kicked every passenger off the plane whether they were meaning to get off or not, and let us board a mere 15 minutes later.
The rest of the boarding was relatively calm and uneventful, and at 1:11 we were cleared for takeoff and I was cleared for nap time.
I was also cleared for lunch time, and watching Chopped time.
We landed around 3:45 and waddled over to the faux monorail, where I shoved small children and old ladies out of the way for my front seat.
I actually will usually automatically wait for the next monorail if I see a lot of people waiting so that I can get my front seat and not have to elbow anyone out of the way.
My one goal (I have many ‘one goal’) in Florida has always been to see a wild alligator, and I never, ever have.
“Keep an eye out for any gators,” I jokingly told Mel as we began our harrowing, nail biting, monorail ride.
“There’s one right there,” Mel casually told me.
It finally happened.
8 years after Mel and I started coming to Orlando, we finally saw a wild alligator.
It finally happened.
We could go home now. Everything we ever needed was complete. Bucket list over.
But we had non-refundable park tickets to enjoy and a hotel room to muck up, so going home would have to wait a week.
Day 1, Part 2
January 22, 2023
"I Wanted Him To Know I Wasn't Confused By My Own Name"
Feeling like the gator-spotting champion of the world, Mel and I stopped to take a quick look around the Universal Store and Sea World Store quickly before we headed down to Baggage Claim.
As a big Harry Potter fan, I needed to sneak a peak to see if there was anything new and interesting in the store before we filled our week to the top of our little eyeballs with Disney.
There wasn’t. Just things that cost way too much money.
This was $75 and 3 bear pelts.
As usual.
We stopped at the Starbucks that was close to Baggage Claim and ordered a couple of drinks to sip on while we waited for Southwest to hand us back our undies.
I opted for an Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade and Mel stuck with her classic, an Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte with whipped cream and an extra shot.
The extra shot was for having to deal with me for an entire week.
But really, she’s welcome.
The Starbucks line moved painstakingly slow and our plan to sip our drinks while we waited for our bags was dashed when we finally mozzied on up to the Carousel of Now Broken Luggage and our bags were already out.
We had briefly thought about using Sunshine Flyer but instead opted for ol’ reliable, Lyft.
Juan Carlos scooped us up in his golden chariot a mere 7 minutes later and we were on our way. Juan Carlos, unlike previous Lyft drivers (I’m lookin’ at you Alfredo and John!), had a perfectly clean car, bought his car air freshener from somewhere other than Glade (Yankee Candle car jar, perhaps?), and was on the ver’ handsome side of life.
I didn’t even mind when Juan Carlos took us to Saratoga through the less interesting, kind of sketchy, back way.
Juan Carlos threw us out of his car right in front of our building and we were quickly able to find our room.
None of those were our room.
Room 8114. A nice little first floor corner pocket. I liked her.
Mel and I opted for a 1 bedroom villa, which comes with a king bed, a queen-size pull down bed, and a twin-size pull down bed.
Now that I said that, I actually have no idea where the twin pull down bed was. Maybe 8114 doesn’t come with one. Who knows.
A full size-fridge for us to promptly fill up with snacks and leftovers that would promptly go uneaten.
We freshened up quickly and headed to the bus stop that was nearly right outside our door.
We had a small list of first night Disney Spring Must-Do’s we needed to get out of the way.
Mel and I haven’t used the Disney Bus system since about April of 2018 and we weren’t planning on starting now, but figured for nostalgia’s sake, we would give ‘er a chance.
And Disney said no.
The board said that the next bus wouldn’t come for about 20 minutes (not counting the multiple internal stops we would have to make before even leaving SS), and that seemed like too long of a wait. So what did we try to do?
Well, we said “Hey, Saratoga Springs is literally just a boat ride away from Disney Springs. We can walk to the boat and take that instead.”
SS Bus Karma laughed in the distance.
I knew Saratoga is a large resort and is incredibly spread out, but maaaaaan, they hide that boat dock. The maps are really confusing and the physically posted signs are few and far between. We got so turned around, we were walking across parking lots and making U-Turns at Cast Member Only signs.
Well, Mel got herself completely turned around. I have no sense of direction and get lost regularly, so I was turned around the moment we left the room.
Eventually, we found the walking path that connects Saratoga with Disney Springs and decided to walk to Disney Springs. We were more than halfway there at this point anyway.
Mel was displeased but knew there were not many other options that made sense.
Eyes peeled for a round 2
We made it to security at about 6- so probably about the time we would’ve made it if we had just waited for the stinking bus, but I didn’t mind the walk.
Mel was still displeased.
On the bright side, Mel didn’t get her usual pat down and interrogation from security. A true, belated, Christmas Miracle.
She would not be able to say this any other time this trip. I hope she thoroughly enjoyed it while she could.
Our first stop was Gideon’s to see if we could get on the virtual queue.
“3 hours, 40 minutes,” the Gideon’s henchman snarled.
“Cool, put us on.”
We had expected a long wait time, so didn’t even bat an eye at the nearly 4 hour quoted wait.
We skipped away from Gideon’s to our next matter of business.
Mel and I both were itching to get one of the new Magic Band +, even if most people have said they aren’t worth it. But if Disney invents a new way for me to literally throw my money at them, I’m all for it.
And where would you go to check for a Magic Band in Disney Springs?
World of Disney, did you say?
You are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
We, too, made such a foolish decision, and after looking all over the entire menagerie that is WoD, we finally asked a cast member.
“Oh, you poor unfortunate fools, you need to check Pin Traders!”
I’m still not sure why Pin Traders is the keeper of all things Magic Band (+ or otherwise), but they are.
So off to Pin Traders we went. And lo and behold, the Magic Bands were front row and center. We spent a couple of minutes checking out all of the options before we ultimately settled on:
Mine, obviously Haunted Mansion. $44.99
Mel’s, Fireworks. $44.99
We parked ourselves at a nearby bench to check out our new purchases afterwards and Mel instantly got to using hers.
Mine? Well, it came with a dead battery so I was forced to wait until I was able to get back to the hotel and charge it first. Like a peasant.
Once we used the Magic Bands more throughout the week, I thought the upgrade was fun but I’m not necessarily sure I need to spend another $45 or so on another. The way they interact with things throughout the parks are cool, but unless you're constantly paying attention to your wrist, you’ll probably miss most of it.
But if it’s something that you find yourself interested in, I say go for it! But maybe only buy 1 to start.
New Magic Bands acquired, we took a brief look around the Co-Op and checked out a couple of things we wanted but didn’t need and a couple of things we could never afford.
$51,210 isn't enough for you??
How about $250,000? That better??
***Coming up: I promise you travel day is almost over!***
Thanks! I literally texted almost every single person I know the moment we saw the gator and everyone had the reaction you had! I was the only one like,
Day 1, Part 3
January 22, 2023
"I Wanted Him To Know I Wasn't Confused By My Own Name"
The Kraken
Once we kicked ourselves out of the Glass Shop before my inability to keep my hands to myself got me in financial distress, we raided Basin for bath bombs and soap.
My plan for the week was to use the giant Saratoga bathtub to soak my feet each night. It was vacation and I was going to really pamper myself!
We still had a solid chunk of time until our dinner reservation, and I was growing peckish, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a snack!
And where did I decide to get this so-called snack?
The Daily Poutine.
I picked up a KBBQ poutine for Mel and I to share, a watermelon lemonade for myself, and a coke for Mel while she found us a spot to dine on a nearby planter ledge.
Korean Barbeque Poutine: “French fries, Asian barbecued pulled pork, Kimchi, and sriracha aioli.” $10.49
I thought the Watermelon Lemonade was a tasty slushy and I was happy with my choice but the poutine? Oh man, it was great. The pulled pork was tender and the dish had a prominent kimchi flavor with a slight heat. It was super tasty and I would 100% get this again in the future.
It was definitely a share-able portion too.
Errands complete, we decided to see if we could check in for our 9:15 reservation at Che Fart Smith’s Homecoming at 8:25.
Look how adorable Che Farty is!
They took us right away and seated us at a 4 top table near the water. A pretty solid table option, I do say.
And wouldn’t you know it, we got a text from Gideon’s saying we could head on over at 8:30. We shrugged it off and decided we would attempt to get in line when we finished up our dinner. If they let us, they let us. If not, well we would be at Disney Springs a couple more times during the week to give it another chance.
We placed our order shortly after. For drinks we went with water with lemon for Mel and a diet coke with lemon for me; and we opted to split some apps for our meal. We decided on the Church Lady Deviled Eggs, Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes, and Thigh High Chicken Biscuits.
Church Lady Deviled Eggs: “Southern-style deviled eggs.” $14
Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes: “Shaved ham, remoulade sauce, and dressed local greens.” $17
Thigh High Chicken Biscuits: “Three biscuits topped with Chef Art’s famous fried chicken thighs and bread and butter pickles. Drizzled with hot honey.” $19
I thought the eggs were good- very creamy and the bacon was a nice touch, but they tasted more or less like a really creamy generic deviled egg. Mel, on the other hand, described them as “deviled eggs with a beehive on top.”
I suppose beehives are like bacon, but your guess is as good as mine. I swear, she didn’t have a drop of alcohol at all this day!
The fried green tomatoes, I thought, were really disappointing and my least fave. I know so many people who rave about these bad boys but to me, these are bad, boy. Mel thought the sauce saved the dish from failure.
We’ve both had the chicken biscuits before and they were just as good as we remembered them- the hot honey really is what sets them apart!
Bill paid and cheek kisses given to Che Fart himself, Mel and I meandered on over to Gideon’s to see if we could still get on line almost an hour after we got our ready text.
Not an eye was batted as we scootched ourselves onto the line, and about 15 minutes later Gideon was demanding our heads on a silver platter inside.
We decided to play it cool, calm, and collected and not go absolutely feral. I ordered a Cookie Butter Cold Brew (yes, at almost 10pm), a banana bread chocolate chip cookie, and an original chocolate chip; while, Mel played it safe with 2 cookies and cream cookies.
Gideon took one look at us, and said “Keep ya heads, they look used.”
Trader Sam would never.
Spit back out into Disney Springs, we decided to call it a night and trudged back to the boat dock. Out the way we came.
Bippity boppity boo
A boat was loading when we walked up and at 9:55 we were setting sail on the high seas back home. They quoted the trip being “5 minutes to Saratoga, 10 to the villas.”
It was about that, maybe a minute or 2 longer.
A tragedy happened here
Once back at the room, I unpacked, showered, and icy-hotted my knees.
Mel on the other hand?
I was out like a light at 12.
***Coming up: Ronto Wrap, I've Come Back For You***
Following along
I always try to look for gators when visiting Disney and never have any luck. How lucky to see one after arriving in Orlando! Also, Saratoga Springs resort is SO confusing!!! Many years ago we got so lost there trying to find the boat to Disney Springs.
Yep, this was us our first few times Saratoga is big, even bigger when you don't have any idea where you got turned around, in the heat, trying to get to a reservation, but unable -to-find-the-boats which you know are there somewhere!
Once we found the boats things were much better. The refurb also seems well done. Love your trip reports!
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Saratoga is big, even bigger when you don't have any idea where you got turned around, in the heat, trying to get to a reservation, but unable -to-find-the-boats which you know are there somewhere!
