January 2017 Disney World Trip Report

As I mentioned before in my Disney planning post earlier this week, my mom and I just got back from our annual girls' trip to Walt Disney World for my 31st birthday. It was a different trip this time around since I wasn't just leaving Brad behind, but I was also leaving my 8 month old baby behind. I was surprised at how well I handled leaving her since this was literally my first time away from her. I have never not spent a day with her. But thanks to technology, I was still able to see her everyday and chat with her too. Anyhow, I wanted to give a quick trip report from our visit to Disney. It was a jam packed 4 days, but we accomplished a lot and now we are super exhausted! Check out all the fun details below!

Thursday, January 19

So our plane left Huntsville Airport at 8 a.m. So we arrived around 6:30 a.m. just to be safe. Our airport is rarely crowded, but you never know. I wanted to make make sure I had plenty of time to say my goodbyes without being rushed. I said my final goodbyes before going through security around 7:15 a.m. Melody loves to smile for the camera, and she was unaware she wouldn't be held by mommy again for 3 whole days!

We were boarded and headed to Orlando right on time. We had a layover in Atlanta. It was scheduled to be around 50 minutes, but it was almost 90 minutes due to how quickly we made it. It is only a 30 minute flight from Huntsville to Atlanta. We decided to grab breakfast at the airport in our terminal. Unfortunately not many places were still serving breakfast since it was after 10 a.m. in Atlanta. We found the Food Network Kitchen, and it was still serving! We both got ham biscuits. It was really good, but way too much ham for me.

So after landing in Atlanta, I also received this text message from Disney alerting me that our room was already ready! Since I did my online check in, provided a credit card for charges, and we had our Magic Bands, I didn't have to go to the front desk when we arrived at the hotel. Instead, they sent this text with our room and a map.

We landed in Orlando around 12:15 p.m. We were in line for the Magical Express by 12:30 or so. We joke that this was the longest line we really waited in the entire trip (around 20 minutes or so). We were on the bus around 1 p.m. and headed to the most magical place on earth! Our bus had three stops to make, but we were the first! We sat in the second row, so I was able to snag this photo as we approached the entrance to Disney.

We were at our hotel (All Star Sports Resort) around 45 minutes later, and we decided to eat lunch right away. We had dinner reservations that evening around 8 p.m., so we didn't want to wait too much longer for lunch! So we went for the food court at the hotel. It wasn't crowded at all, but then again it was a pretty late lunch. We purchased the refillable mugs, and I had the monster slice of cheese pizza and a breadstick.

The picture below was not my first slice of pizza. When checking out at the food court, the cashier asked me if I thought the pizza looked good. Honestly, it looked just fine to me. It looked like a food court style pizza slice. Well she thought it looked too dry. So as I was filling up my drink, the manager found me and brought me a fresh slice of pizza and apologized. He really didn't have to do that, but that is the Disney way. The pizza and breadstick were both really good. Below are pictures of our view and all the empty seats!

After lunch, we decided to run to the room and drop off a few things. Primarily our mugs and wallets but we also wanted to make sure our Magic Bands worked. Last year, our Magic Bands did not work for our room. So we didn't want to deal with that late at night. Here are a couple of pictures:

Our agenda today was Magic Kingdom! We waited about 15 minutes for a bus, then we were at Magic Kingdom around 15 minutes later!

Since we purchased annual passes, we had to go to Guest Services and activate them. They gave us a card and a booklet with all of our discounts. Most places did ask for this card when we asked to use the discounts. We also had a special line to enter the parks (the picture below is the passholder line at Hollywood Studios)!

First up was Space Mountain. We didn't have a Fastpass for it, and the wait time was posted at 50 minutes. We decided to brave it and see how long the line really was. By the time we got to the end of the line, we thought "no way is this 50 minutes", and we were right! It only took about 20 minutes at most. Then we went to do Carousel of Progress (one of my favorites). Then we used our Fastpass for the Mine Train. All 3 rides took us about an hour to accomplish.

Around 4:30, we really needed a coke. Space Mountain made us a little nauseous, and that feeling was still there a little. We found a popcorn stand next to Bonjour! Village Gifts (across from Gaston's Tavern). They had the refillable popcorn buckets that are good for your length of stay. The initial cost is $10, but they can be refilled at any park and Disney Springs for only $1.50. I love popcorn at Disney, so we decided to go ahead and do it. We refilled it numerous times! It was well worth the cost for us.

Here was the rest of our afternoon/early evening:

Journey of the Little Mermaid (posted 15 minutes, walk on)
PhilharMagic (posted 15 minutes, walk on)
Peter Pan Fastpass (5:30 p.m.)
Haunted Mansion (posted 15 minutes, walk on)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fastpass (6:15 p.m.)

While in line for BTMR, we booked a 4th Fastpass on my phone for Jungle Cruise.

Pirates of the Caribbean (5 minute posted and wait)
Jungle Cruise Fastpass (6:55 p.m.)

At this point, we didn't think we would have time for any other rides and make it to our reservation. We had to get to the other side of the park and people were already gathering for the fireworks. We visited Bonjour! Village Gifts then went to dinner. We checked in early at 7:30 p.m., but they were able to seat us in around 10 minutes. Here is my review from this trip, and here is a review from a previous trip.

Below are some cute Chip cups I found. I think I will have to get Melody one to match mine! The second picture is my suggestion for firework viewing. There was no one back here (Gaston's Tavern), and so many available seats. This was taken 30 minutes before the Fireworks. The four pictures after that is the empty park after our dinner reservations.

We got our popcorn bucket refilled before leaving the parks so that we could have a snack in the room. We were on a bus back to the room by 9:00 p.m., and we were in our room by 9:25. I FaceTimed Brad and Melody, showered, then went to bed around 11:30 p.m.

I think our first day was a major success. We accomplished all the rides we wanted with the exception of two (Buzz Lightyear and People Mover). Buzz had a super long wait and People Mover was closed when we were in Tomorrowland. However, we did do 10 rides in around 4 hours. It also helped that we were able to utilize a 4th Fastpass. I highly recommend doing that if you can!

Friday, January 20

We woke up bright and early (7:30) and got ready. We ended up skipping breakfast so that we could make it to Animal Kingdom at rope drop. This wasn't a huge deal to us since we aren't big breakfast eaters. I usually don't eat breakfast until almost 10 a.m. when I am home (that is 11 a.m. in Orlando). We were in line for the bus by 8:30 a.m., and we were at Animal Kingdom by 8:45 a.m. Animal Kingdom is the shortest drive from the All Star resorts.

We were in the park around 8:50 a.m. They let you in the park prior to the 9 a.m. opening, but you cannot go beyond the Tree of Life. They promptly open the park at 9 a.m., and we headed for Expedition Everest first. We were in line within minutes, and we had no wait. If you love this ride, this is the best time to ride it back to back to back to back, etc. My husband and best friend's husband loves doing this. I have too weak of a stomach for that.

After Expedition Everest, we were in need of a coke, and we were going to look for somewhere that had a pastry. We got lucky because when you exit Expedition Everest and go immediately right, there is a snack bar. At first glance it looks like just a bar (which isn't open that early). But at second glance, I noticed they had popcorn and what looked like pastries. So we went back and looked. It is called Thirsty River Bar & Trek Snacks. We got the chocolate twist to split (although I almost wished we would have each gotten our own because it was amazing!). We also each got a coke, and we refilled our popcorn bucket. See how yummy that looks?!? I want one now!

After our snack, we went and rode Kilimanjaro Safari. We didn't have Fastpasses for Animal Kingdom, so we had to wait in line. It was about a 25 minute wait which is what was posted. Below is a picture of me using the fun fan Brad bought me for Christmas. It connects directly into your iPhone using the lightning port. It was pretty warm, so I had to break it out!

After the safari we headed to It's Tough to be a Bug. We were finished around 11:00 a.m., and we headed to Epcot. It took us about 15 minutes to get to Epcot from Animal Kingdom.

Security to get into Epcot was crazy. This was the worst day of all the days we were there. It took us much longer to get through than it should have simply because people were not following instructions. Then after finally getting through, we went to use our Fastpass at Spaceship Earth, but apparently we were 2 minutes too early. So we literally had to wait 2 minutes before going back to try. It was a little frustrating to say the least, but we finally go to ride it. It took us about 8 minutes or so of waiting in line though. They looked pretty backed up for some reason.

After Spaceship Earth, we made our way to Japan for our lunch reservations. We were a little early so we decided to do some shopping Mitsukoshi. Below are some of the pictures I took for Brad.

Our lunch reservation was at 1 p.m. at Teppan Edo., but we decided to check in 10 minutes early. Luckily they were able to go ahead and seat us. Nothing has really changed there since my last review, so I have included a few pictures below of the yummy food. It was delicious as always, and we were done after about an hour.

Now that we finally have real food in our stomach, we decided to stop in France for a drink. It was a frozen Grey Goose drink of some sort. Not sure what exactly it was called, but it was strong and yummy.

Below was the rest of our afternoon:

Living with the Land (5 minute wait)
Rest at Sunshine Seasons until our Fastpass for Soarin was ready
Soarin Fastpass (3:10 p.m.)
Popcorn refill and break

Since we had already used Soarin, I was able to get our The Seas with Nemo & Friends Fastpass moved to an earlier time by logging into the app and modifying it. We used it around 4:15 p.m. I think I was able to move it about 15 minutes earlier than I originally planned.

After the Nemo Fastpass was used, I was able to log into the app and book a 4th Fastpass. I got super lucky and found one for Frozen Ever After about 30 minutes before dinner.

We decided to do some shopping around Future World, and then I found a bench and was able to FaceTime Melody!

We went and used our Frozen Ever After Fastpass at 6:40. We had to wait in line for about 10 minutes or so though. I really love this ride. It is extremely cute and nicely done.

We then went to dinner in Mexico at San Angel Inn at 7:15 p.m. Dinner took about an hour or so. After dinner, we decided to get a few snacks before going back to the room. We got a croissant doughnut from The Refreshment Port, a popcorn refill, and white chocolate Mickey puzzle from E = AT^2. The doughnut was amazing, and the puzzle was neat. I didn't think through the traveling aspect of the puzzle back to the room, but I managed.

We were on a bus leaving Epcot around 8:50 and back to our room 20 minutes later. I showered and got ready for bed before talking with Brad and Melody. Mom went and refilled our drinks as well. We snacked some before calling it quits around 10:30.

We accomplished pretty much everything we intended for the day. There were a few rides we missed, but we will always be back!

Saturday, January 21

We decided to skip breakfast again this morning and eat pastries in the park. I had heard that Starring Rolls Cafe was really good, and we wanted to give it a try. So we made it to Hollywood Studios around 8:50 a.m.. We used the fancy passholder entrance, and we were inside before rope drop. Just like Animal Kingdom, they let everyone in, but you could not go beyond Hollywood Boulevard.

We went straight to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Out of the tier 1 Fastpasses, we booked Toy Story Mania, so we had to accomplish this first before the lines got too long. We waited about 10 minutes or so before taking a ride! We used a Fastpass for Tower of Terror around 9:20 a.m. It wasn't really needed, but I honestly feel like most tier 2 Fastpasses at Hollywood Studios are not needed.

A snapped a quick photo outside of Tower of Terror!

After all the crazy thrill rides, we decided to get breakfast at Starring Rolls Cafe (which recently closed!). Mom and I both got cokes and chocolate croissants. They were extremely delicious. They were not as good as the chocolate twists at Animal Kingdom or the ones you can find at Be Our Guest breakfast, but they were still really good. Below are some of the pictures I took while inside and seated outside. I highly recommend!

Mom and I did a little browsing in the shops then headed to use our Fastpass at Toy Story Mania. This was around 10:30 a.m. While in line to use our Fastpass, I was able to get on the app on the phone and move up our MuppetVision 3D Fastpass. I highly recommend doing this when you can. This option won't always be available, but we did it a few times. This allows you to "overlap" Fastpasses in theory. We did MuppetVision at 11 a.m. then called it quits for Hollywood Studios.

Nowadays, you can catch a bus from parks to Disney Springs after 4 p.m. Since it was only 11:45 a.m., we could not go directly to Disney Springs. Instead, we caught a bus to Saratoga Springs. We then got off at Congress Park, then took the walking path over to Disney Springs. (A few more ways to get to Disney Springs during the day can be found here.)

We were at Saratoga Springs by noon, and we took the 10 minute walk to Wolfgang Puck Express. We didn't try anything new here. I have included the pictures of our food, but you can read more about them here.

While finishing our lunch, we looked at different Fastpass options at Epcot. We didn't have any evening plans, but we were looking at getting dinner reservations there, so we wanted to see what kind of options there were. Since we had already used our 3, we could now get one more. Below are some screenshots of how to do this. We actually were never able to find ones that worked, so we skipped the Fastpass. However, we did go ahead and make dining reservations at The Garden Grill at 6:05 p.m.

We strolled through Disney Springs and looked at all the new stores and such. We got the Mickey Mousse from Amorette's Patisserie. We didn't have it until dessert later that night, but it was yummy.

Disney Springs has changed a LOT! The bus stops have now moved, and I also feel like it is more like a mall and not Disney. But it is still a nice place to go if you don't have a park ticket. Anyways, after we roamed through Disney Springs, we decided to head back to the room for a bit. We caught a bus around 3 p.m., and we were back to our room around 3:30 p.m. I actually took a nap, and mom worked some.

We left for Epcot around 5, and we were through security by 5:30 p.m. We checked into our reservation at The Garden Grill around 5:40 p.m., and we were seated within 10 minutes. Here is a review of our visit. I will tell you, the menu has changed since the last visit Brad and I had there.

We finished dinner around 7, and we decided to go ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Then we went to get a refill on our popcorn and head back to the room. We were back to our room around 8:15 p.m. I showered, then packed up since we were leaving the next day. Mom went and got us a refill on our drinks, and I FaceTimed Brad and Melody before finally going to bed.

Sunday, January 22

Today was a bittersweet day. I hated to leave Disney World, but I also was ready to see Brad and Melody! So we got up, got ready, and finished packing. We left our room around 8:15 a.m. and went to check our bags at the airline check-in stand. We were on a bus to Magic Kingdom by 8:30 a.m. We were in the park by 9:00 a.m. and waiting for rope drop.

I rearranged our FastPasses earlier this morning to make things slightly easier. I didn't want us to feel rushed, so I moved our Space Mountain FastPass to 11:30 a.m., and I moved our Pirates of the Caribbean Fastpass to 12:30 p.m. This worked out much better as we went throughout the day.

We went straight to Buzz Lightyear since we did not get to ride it Thursday, and it fills up fast throughout the day. We were able to practically walk right on. When we got off, we had about 35 minutes until our breakfast reservation. Space Mountain only had a 10 minute wait, so we decided to try and see if we could fit it in before breakfast. We were on within 10 minutes, so it worked out perfectly.

We made it to our breakfast reservation around 9:40 a.m. We were inside almost immediately. We ordered within 5 minutes of checking in. Our MagicBands were being fickle, so they did have to give us a "rose" to take to our table. In the past, mom and I usually ate breakfast in the West Wing. This time we decided to try out the Rose Gallery. It was really pretty and there were plenty of seats available. We sat down around 9:45, and we had our food by 10 a.m. Here is a review of our experience this trip. However, you can check out my past reviews here and here.

We left Be Our Guest around 10:20 a.m. and embarked on our busy morning. Check out what we accomplished below:

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Fastpass (10:30 a.m.)
PeopleMover
Carousel of Progress
Space Mountain Fastpass (11:40 a.m.)
Splash Mountain (one of my favorites so my mom caved and rode with me)
Pirates of the Caribbean Fastpass (12:40 p.m.)

We had to be at the Magical Express bus stop by 4:25 p.m. While we still had about 2.5 hours, we hated for something odd to happen and we not make it back in time. Plus I wanted to do a little shopping at the resort, and we were wanting a snack of some sort. We of course had a popcorn refill before leaving the parks too! We were on a bus back to our resort around 2:15 p.m. and at our hotel at 2:40 p.m.

We hung out until around 3:45 p.m. in the food court. We refilled our mugs and mom got us some french fries and a small veggie tray for us to snack on. Oh, and we snacked on some of the popcorn of course! I looked around the hotel shop for something to bring back to Melody and Brad. I got Melody a cute Mickey Mouse toy, and I got both Brad and me pens.

The Magical Express bus picked us up promptly at 4:25 p.m. We made two additional stops before heading to the airport (the other two All Star Resorts). On our way to the airport, we received a text from Delta that our flight had been delayed due to weather and that we could find a new flight. We were able to get seats on a flight before ours that had also been delayed but would be leaving at the same time as our old flight was originally supposed to leave. We would not be sitting together, but that would be ok. I had planned to nap anyhow.

We still arrived at the airport on time, and we went to the Delta machines to print our new boarding passes. We had TSA Precheck, so we were through security really quick. We found our gate, then found food nearby. We ate at Burger King and charged our phones. About 30 minutes after getting back to our gate, they decided to move gates. Our plane was delayed so many times. At one point, the plane was on its way to Orlando, but Orlando weather was so bad (see radar screenshot below), they could not land. They had to go to a nearby airport and refuel. Our flight was delayed so much, there was no way we would make our connecting flight. We contacted Delta, and they were able to get us on the first flight out of Atlanta the next morning, but that would mean staying the night in the Atlanta airport. They said they could get us a hotel voucher after we landed in Atlanta. I felt awful for Brad, but I knew he could handle Melody one more night.

Our flight kept getting delayed and delayed. I am honestly surprised it was never cancelled. We ended up finally boarding around 2:10 a.m.! The flight was fairly empty because most people gave up so mom and I were able to sit together. It took a while before we departed, but we were at least boarded and could nap. We landed in Atlanta around 4:15 a.m. Since it was so early, nothing was open for breakfast yet. AND, it didn't make sense for us to get a hotel. So we found our gate and I napped. Mom stayed awake in fear we would miss our flight, but she knew I needed to nap since I would be keeping Melody all day with little sleep. We boarded our plane in Atlanta around 8:15 a.m. and we left on time around 8:45 a.m.

I smelled awful and was starving, but I was so happy to be in Huntsville and see my family. Our trip was so much fun and so different too. It was my first time being away from Melody, and I didn't cry one time. Well I almost cried after we landed in Huntsville because I was so happy and exhausted. I cannot wait to go back now and take Melody with me!