Disney World May 2015 Trip Report
As you may have read in my previous planning post, Brad and I just returned from Walt Disney World. We went back to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, this is probably our last time visiting for a little while, so we tried to make the most of the time we had. Hence all the planning that was involved. I also wanted this trip to be semi-laid back. We did not follow my touring plans at all. Generally, I knew where I wanted us to be each time of day, and I kept track of our Fastpasses and dining reservations, but other than that, we made decisions on the go. Below is a breakdown of each day of our trips. Later this week, I plan to have reviews of both our hotel and our dining locations. I will link those within this post as they are published, so be on the lookout for those!
Saturday, May 9 - Arrival Day
Our plane left Birmingham, AL around 6:15 am, so we were in Orlando around 8:45 am. Since we left so early, we did not really eat anything. So as soon as we landed, we headed to the food court. Brad had McDonald's, and I originally planned to have Chick-fil-A. They didn't have what I normally order, so I headed over to Dunkin' Donuts instead. Brad and I both grabbed large iced coffees (hey, we were working on about 4-5 hours of sleep!), and we headed downstairs to the Magical Express. We checked in and got in our line. It was really perfect timing because we waited 10 minutes before boarding the bus and heading to Walt Disney World!!
We had to make one stop at Old Key West before we arrived at our hotel, Saratoga Springs (review). We arrived around 9:45 am, and I received both a text and email that our room was ready. The text only stated the room and its location. The email also included a map of the resort. Once Brad and I got our bearings, we were off to find our room! It was only about a 5-7 minute walk from the Magical Express drop off. We dropped of our things and headed to Downtown Disney for the rest of the morning.
We only planned two stops at Downtown Disney this trip, so we wanted to use this morning to see everything and just browse. We took the pedestrian bridge from Saratoga Springs to Downtown Disney. This takes you directly to the Marketplace. We walked through the shops there and looked around until around 12:45. At this point we were both getting hungry, so we started looking at our food options. We already had plans to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner another night, so we wanted to try something else. My original plan was to eat at one of the Food Trucks, but we were still a pretty good hike from there and we were both hungry and hot! We walked by Earl of Sandwich, but the line was WAY TOO long. At this point, we decided just to walk back to our resort and eat there.
Walking back was a really good choice because the wait at Artist's Palette was pretty much non-existent. We grabbed lunch (review) and also purchased our Rapid Refill mugs since we knew we would be having breakfast here most mornings. After our lunch, we headed back to the room and dropped off everything, freshened up, and headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Hollywood Studios!
We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 3 pm. We rarely ever go through the gifts shops here, so we decided to take the opportunity to do so. It was extremely hot, and we were both really tired. After doing some browsing and taking a few PhotoPass pictures, we headed to Tower of Terror for our first Fastpass. We followed this up with Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, then we used our second Fastpass for Toy Story Mania. To make things interesting, we placed a bet on this ride. The winner got to take the first shower that evening. Of course, I lost!
We started to head towards Star Tours when a DVC employee stopped us. His name was Frank and he was really nice. We probably talked to him for half an hour or so. He wanted us to schedule a tour for one of the mornings there. The tour would last 90 minutes and we should see the Villas at Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, and I think Animal Kingdom. We would also be treated to a continental style breakfast. After the tour, a van would drop us off at the park of our choosing and we would get both a $50 gift card and 3 VIP Fastpasses. This sounded really great, and we are actually interested in the DVC (not as much right now, but in a few years after we have kids). The problem was we did not have room for this in our schedule. Brad and I talked it over, and it wasn't worth giving up our morning at a park for this. We politely told him no, but he offered us an open invitation in case we changed our mind. After reading, those 3 VIP Fastpasses can't be used at Soarin', Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or Toy Story Mania...boo!
At this point we went and used our Fastpass at Star Tours. I did some browsing there hoping to find a cute women's Star Wars shirt to match the black skirt I was wearing, but I didn't have any luck! I was hoping that Brad and I would both get to wear Star Wars shirts for our Jedi Mickey dinner. I just wore my plain blue shirt instead. We made our way to Hollywood and Vine for the Jedi Mickey dinner around 6 (review). We were seated by 6:15 and we finished up around 7.
After dinner, we literally just walked around some and took things easy. Brad had never been to the ABC Commissary, so we went in and looked around and decided to just sit for awhile. We watched some clips from America's Funniest Home Videos and just relaxed in the air conditioning. I had been in there many times, but on trips with Brad, we have never just had quick service dining at Hollywood Studios. They had some props from The Goldbergs, so that was neat to look at since we watch that show.
We wanted a good seat at Fantasmic, so we headed over that way around 8:15 pm. The show started at 9. I wanted to try the Express Order app, but after looking into it, you had to pay with cash or credit card (or Apply Pay which I do not have). We did not carry any of those things since we have our MagicBand, so we did not get to use that service. I was kind of bummed about that, but oh well! I wasn't hungry anyhow. After the always amazing show, we made our way back to the bus and went back to our room and called it a night!
Sunday, May 10
Because we had such an early flight and got very little sleep, we decided to sleep in this morning. I cancelled our lunch reservations at Rose and Crown the day before to avoid a charge. We were up and ready around lunch time, and we decided to just head straight for the Magic Kingdom. Brad had been wanting to try the fries at Casey's Corner. We both LOVED the fries at Pollo Campero, but it closed down after our honeymoon. Back in September we noticed the fries at Casey's Corner looked similar. As soon as we arrived, we went straight there (review). Unfortunately they are not the same fries, but it was still a nice lunch. We were lucky enough to sit inside too! Our first Fastpass was still a good while away, so we decided to do some browsing in the shops down Main Street.
Something we have been wanting to try for awhile was the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game. This was finally our opportunity to do so. The first destination sent us to Adventureland. Brad and I didn't really "get" the game. Our third stop within Adventureland had us at Aloha Isle. There was a Disney employee who looked like he worked maintenance that talked to us a bit during our turn. He tried to explain things to us, and while I understood what I needed to do, I didn't understand the purpose. I mean does it really matter what card I use, and is this all I am going to do is put a card up to a screen and it send me to different places? At least with Agent P's World Showcase Adventure magical things happened that were neat. It got too hot (and I get pretty grumpy when I get hot), so we just decided to call it quits, and we could pick back up later if we wanted to. To cool off, we headed to The Hall of Presidents. The only other time we saw this show was on our honeymoon. I was so exhausted on that trip I fell asleep, so it was nice to finally see the entire show!
It was time for our first Fastpass, so we went and road Space Mountain. We followed that with the PeopleMover, Brad's favorite ride, and, my favorite, Carousel of Progress. Brad was wanting a snack, and that sounded good to me, so we took the path behind Space Mountain to Big Top Souvenirs. I got a candy covered Rice Krispie treat shaped like Cinderella's carriage and Brad got a sugar cookie shaped like Mickey Mouse (review). We went and sat at Gaston's Tavern and ate both of our treats. After our snacks, we went and rode Journey of the Little Mermaid then Seven Dwarfs Mine Train using our Fastpass. It was definitely more fun than the first time now that we better know what to expect. Our last adventure for the day was meeting Ariel with our last Fastpass.
At this point in the day it was around 5:30, and we both wanted to visit the monorail resorts before dinner at the Contemporary. We first went to the Grand Floridian. We browsed the gift shops and used our Rapid Refill mugs at their food court. We literally just sat in their food court and relaxed for about half an hour or so. We skipped The Polynesian due to time constraints because we wanted a lot of time at The Contemporary. We shopped around before going to our dinner reservation at California Grill (review). After dinner we took some pictures before heading back to the hotel. We originally planned to wait for the fireworks, but we had two hours to kill, and we were just too tired!
Monday, May 11
We got up early so that we could be at Animal Kingdom before park opening at 9 am. We had breakfast at the Artist's Palette (review) before catching a bus. We arrived around 8:30 am at Animal Kingdom. On our way in, we noticed the tree person (see picture below). He was kind of interesting. We continued onto Asia. We rode Expedition Everest three times between park opening and 9:30 am. We headed to Dinosaur next and rode it two times while also getting some good on-ride photos (we always love to take fun pictures!) and photos around the Dinosaur area. On our way to use our Fastpass at Kilimanjaro Safari, we stopped and watched It's a Bug's Life.
After the safari, we decided to get lunch before the lunch rush. It was around 11:30 am. Our favorite quick service restaurant at Animal Kingdom is Pizzafari (review). We usually can split something and save money. After lunch, we used our second Fastpass to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse in their safari gear. We then found some Photopass photographers around and took some pictures in Asia. Our last Fastpass was used at Expedition Everest. We rode it two more times before leaving the park around 1:45.
We headed back to our hotel to shower and change for dinner at Epcot. This day was our actual anniversary, so we wanted to spend the evening in the most relaxing park, Epcot. We got to Epcot around 5:30. We took some Photopass pictures along the way to Soarin. There was only about a 35 minute wait luckily. After Soarin, headed to dinner at Le Cellier (review). We were finished with dinner around 7:45, took a few more pictures, and then strolled through the World Showcase. It was really, really pretty since the Flower and Garden Festival was still going on. Brad even got a really nice shot while we were in France. It is of the International Gateway area below. The sunset was just amazing in that picture. It was also the perfect weather that night!
Our original plan was to eat a dessert in Paris, but we were just too full for a pastry. Instead, I stopped in Japan and got Frushi, and Brad stopped and got a cherry shaved ice (review). We found a spot in America across from the funnel cake booth and waited for Illuminations. It was probably our favorite spot yet to watch the show. There were very few people around us, and the backdrop of the Epcot ball behind the fireworks was perfect. Afterwards, we strolled back through the World Showcase and did some browsing in Mousegears. We took a few pictures then made our to the bus stop. At this point, it was around 10 pm, which was perfect timing! We were literally the only people on the bus and we were able to skip all of the bus stops within Saratoga Springs. Brad claims he set that up just for our anniversary!
Tuesday, May 12
We got up early again to try and be at Hollywood Studios at park opening. We ate breakfast at Artist's Palette (review) before catching our bus. We first headed to Toy Story Mania, but it already had a 45 minute wait, so we headed to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster instead. We then used our Fastpass at Tower of Terror. Afterwards, we headed to do Star Tours, followed by seeing the band Mulch, Sweat, and Shears, and then MuppetVision. The band was actually a surprise. As we were walking to MuppetVision, we heard all this loud music. That is when we discovered that they were playing. We only watched for about 5 minutes, but it was a nice break. We had lunch at The Hollywood Brown Derby (review) at noon. After lunch we went and did The Great Movie Ride and used our Fastpass at Toy Story Mania (same bet, and I lost). We waited about 45 minutes for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and we had a 10 minute wait at Tower of Terror. Our last ride of the day was Star Tours.
We headed back to our hotel to change and head to Downtown Disney to meet Brad's grandparents for dinner. I took a quick shower then we took the pedestrian bridge over to Wolfgang Puck Express (review) for dinner. After dinner, we all went and had ice cream at Ghirardelli and sat by the water for awhile and just caught up with each other. A rain shower started to appear, so we all walked into the World of Disney store and looked around. Brad's grandparents decided to leave before the rain got too bad, and we did some last minute browsing at the Lego Store before walking back to our hotel for the night. I was able to just sit on our balcony this night and we were able to go to sleep fairly early.
Wednesday, May 13
We had an 8:05 am breakfast reservation at the Magic Kingdom so we arrived around 7:30 am. They put everyone with an early tour or breakfast reservation in a separate line from general admission, and they let us in around 7:45 am. We took a few pictures, and then went to check in at Be Our Guest (review). We finished breakfast around 8:40, and then we went and took a few more pictures in the empty park. We found a really nice lady behind the castle that took some unique pictures of us that Brad asked for (walking towards the castle). Our first ride for the day was Space Mountain a few minutes before 9. There was literally no one riding it, and we walked on each time. We rode it 3 times before moving onto to Buzz Lightyear. Just like at Toy Story Mania, we made the shower bet and...I WON!!! We went and rode Space Mountain one more time, then we headed out of Tomorrowland and went to ride the Haunted Mansion. Big Thunder Mountain had a 10 minute wait, so we went and rode that before taking a break at the Columbia Harbour House. We did not eat since we had such a large breakfast, but we did get drinks and people watch from upstairs (review). It was really nice and relaxing.
After about an hour or so break, we decided to head back outside and ride It's a Small World. We had about 30 minutes to kill before our Fastpass time at Peter Pan's Flight, so that seemed appropriate. Afterwards, we went straight to Peter Pan's Flight. I really love this ride, but it always has such long waits. I mean it was a 60 minute wait at 1:30. That's just crazy to me for a constantly moving ride! Next we did PhilharMagic then Journey of the Little Mermaid. We decided to catch the train and ride around the park from the Fantasyland station. We did one entire loop then exited at Main Street to do some shopping. The train is a really nice ride, but I think it would be more relaxing without all of the narrating. We got lucky at our timing because the parade was about to start so the train was going to be stopped at that station for 20 minutes or so.
Once we finished shopping, we scurried past the parade and went to Tomorrowland. I was really surprised to see the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant opened. In all of my visits over the last two years, it has always been closed (with the exception of MVMCP when they had cookies and hot chocolate). We did the PeopleMover and Carousel of Progress again. We decided to do Buzz Lightyear (same bet but for Thursday night, and I lost) and Space Mountain one last time before dinner. We checked in at Be Our Guest (review) at 5:20 and we were finished up around 6:30.
We went and rode Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, then used our Jungle Cruise Fastpass. It wasn't quite dark enough on the Jungle Cruise, but the wait was almost an hour, so we made due. I felt really bad for our skipper because the boats were backed up when it was time to exit so we had to wait about 5-10 minutes on the boat. I think she used every joke she had ever heard/knew and even started asking everyone about where they were from to kill time. For instance, she asked Brad and I where we were from. Our response was "Alabama". She said something like "Home of the 'Roll Tide', 'War Eagle', and 'Ole Miss'..." (Brad had on an Ole Miss hat). She quickly corrected herself and said "No, Ole Miss is in Mississippi". After Jungle Cruise we decided to change our last Fastpass. We had one for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but neither of us wanted to trek over there during the time we were allotted, so I gave it up for Splash Mountain. We didn't need it for Splash Mountain, but I didn't want to hold such a coveted Fastpass back from someone else! We rode Splash Mountain three times before heading to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both of those rides are so much nicer at night. Splash Mountain is neat at night with the castle view that you get! After riding BTMR twice, we headed to Tomorrowland to watch Wishes from the PeopleMover. We made it just after the fireworks started, so we got some really nice views. In an attempt to avoid the crowds, we decided to get popcorn and drinks and hangout in Cosmic Rays (review). Brad loves this place and we never got a chance to eat there the entire trip. We left around 10:45 for the bus stops. We still had to wait on two buses because of the long lines, but we eventually made it back to the hotel!
Thursday, May 14
Because of our late Magic Kingdom night, we did not get up as early as we had hoped for on our last park day. We made it to breakfast at the Artist's Palette (review) around 8:30. We ate pretty quickly and headed for the bus stop. Apparently the Epcot buses were having issues. We arrived after the meltdowns, but it sounded like a few buses had to pass by our bus stop because they were too full and one bus just outright skipped our stop. So one of the castmembers called in a special bus just for our bus stop. In the meantime he played some trivia games, which Brad and I each answered 2 of the 3 questions he asked. Unfortunately all we got was a bus safety tip card!
We made it to Epcot around 9:30 and went straight to Test Track since we did not have a Fastpass for it. We had a 30 minute wait, unfortunately. Another bummer is that we found out when we got home that our on-ride photo was not saved. Instead it saved another family's photo. I submitted a lost photo claim and within 6 hours, they had my photos on their website! Next we did Sum of All Thrills. It too had a 30 minute wait, but we timed it perfectly. It was really neat, but did make me slightly nauseated. I always hate virtual games and 3D rides because of that simple reason. As we left, the wait was 60 minutes! It was around 11:15 so we decided to make our way to Japan since we had lunch reservations at 12. We took some pictures and shopped some before having lunch at Teppan Edo (review).
After lunch, we went and saw the 1:30 showing of American Adventure. I still like The Hall of Presidents more. Brad had to use the restroom when the show ended, so I walked over to the concert venue and watched the American Music Machine. It was really neat and Brad joined me to finish the show. The singers did a really good job and all the music was music everyone knew and could sing along to.
We made our way back to Future World for our Fastpass at Soarin. We then rode Living with the Land, watched the Tomorrowland preview, and used our Fastpass at Figment. The Tomorrowland preview was really great and made me want to see the movie even more. My only complaint was when waiting to enter the theater, the Disney castmember was inconsistent and kind of rude. When we walked in, everyone was just sitting on the ground because we had about a 12 minute wait until the next showing. So we sat too. Well then he started making people stand, but not everyone. He would pick and choose who he asked. Either way, we made it into the theater and watched!
After Figment, I was really starting to get bummed out. I knew we were fixing to ride Living with the Land for the LAST time, and Brad and I love that ride. When we have entered The Land pavilion, we have made it to Disney World. So it was such a bummer to leave it. We extended our time some by grabbing iced coffee at Sunshine Seasons before riding Living with the Land (review). I am not going to lie, I did cry. I always hate the last day of a Disney vacation! After the ride, we started making our way back to France for dinner at Chefs de France (review).
Once dinner was over, we did our final souvenir shopping. We bought some things in Japan, took some pictures in Italy, Brad got his sad Maelstrom picture in, and we stopped at Mousegears to purchase the rest of our things. We ended our time at Epcot with Spaceship Earth. We made it to the bus stop right at 9 and got to our hotel shortly after. We literally got in, showered, packed, and went straight to bed because we looked at our Magical Express paperwork, and we had to be at the bus stop at 3:30 am!!
Friday, May 15 - Departure Day
We got up at 2 am to get ready and complete our packing. We left our room at 3 am and made our way to the Magical Express bus stop. Our bus arrived right at 3:30. Since it was so early, Disney would not check in our luggage there. We had to check our luggage at the airport. Luckily there were so many people, we did not have to go to any other resorts and went straight to the airport. I got lucky and had TSA Precheck along with Brad. It was a breeze and we went straight through to our gate. We got a small breakfast at McDonald's then flew to Birmingham to drive to Destin, FL for our cousin's wedding!
Overall
Disney as usual was amazing and so much fun. I really hated to leave. We always have such a great time. Since our honeymoon, I have been six times. Each time I have went it has not always been with the same group of people. It is amazing that you can go to the same place so many times, but since you are with different people you have such a different experience each time. I love having people in my life who love Disney like I do. It makes these trips happen a lot more often and make them tons of fun!
With the good comes the bad however. In the six times I have been in the last two years, the constructions walls have literally taken over. For me personally, I am not directly impacted. Why, you ask? Well I know I am going to go back again. So even though on this trip the Walt and Mickey statue were covered in front of Cinderella's Castle, I know I will be back again and get to take pictures there. I also know I got to see it 6 months ago when I went. What saddens me is that some people don't have the luxury that I do. They save up for years for what may be a once in a lifetime trip and now their pictures will have nothing but construction walls in the background. Below is a rough idea of the construction walls we encountered this trip:
Magic Kingdom
- Hub construction walls near the castle
- Construction walls covering Walt and Mickey Mouse at the castle
- Construction walls along Main Street
Epcot
- Construction walls throughout Innovations East and West
- Construction walls throughout Norway
Animal Kingdom
- Construction walls down the path to get to the Tree of Life from "Oasis"
- Construction Walls surround Discover River
- Construction Walls surrounding parts of the outside of Expedition Everest
Hollywood Studios
- Construction Walls around parts of The Hollywood Brown Derby
- There are tons of rides/exhibits that are closed. So while you do not have the eyesore of the walls, you just see closed doors.
Downtown Disney
- They seem to be everywhere still with the Disney Springs expansion, but they have gotten better on the Marketplace side since September.
- The parking/driving situation is awful. There are a lot of lane/road closures for locals.
Strollers have also taken over the parks. And before you get mad at me for that comment, please continue reading. I am in NO way saying you should not bring a stroller. I guarantee that when I bring my kids, I will have a stroller. So that is not the point. My point is the excessive amount of outdoor stroller parking. Maybe I was young and oblivious to my surroundings, but growing up and coming to Disney World, I don't remember ever seeing so many strollers "parked" outside of attractions. I am not sure what Disney used to do to hide this, but I feel like over the last 5 years, the amount of stroller parking has grew tremendously. While that is probably great for people with strollers, it is so annoying that your favorite ride is covered up by all the strollers parked just outside of it. It doesn't make for a pretty picture at all. (Side note: I have a feeling the destruction of Toontown is what caused the stroller problem. I would rarely walk into Toontown, so I bet that is where the strollers have been parking the whole time!)
Now that I can come off my soap box, I did have a wonderful time. It might have been unseasonably warm and full of construction walls and strollers, but I would not trade this trip for anything. It was just a nice getaway for Brad and me just celebrating our anniversary at our favorite spot. I can't wait to one day bring our future kids here and experience the joy and excitement through their eyes. It's just like I tell Brad, I may not remember all the trips we took to Disney World as a kid, but I love looking through the old photos and seeing everything that has changed. It is just so neat. Again, look for a review of Saratoga Springs as well as reviews of all of the restaurants we ate at in the next few weeks.
