Eeyore's WDW & Disney Cruise Trip Report*Complete!

Ok..Here we go!

Day 1 - Wednesday, May 8th

We left for the airport around 5:30AM. Our flight departed at 7:50AM from Charlotte. We had a direct flight to MCO and it was only about 58 minutes from take off to landing. The airport was crowded for a Wed. morning, but we managed to get through security ok with all FOUR suitcases. I hate to see how much we pack when we have kids! haha

I took some pics of the flight and here they are:

Of course the "fake o rail"...haha I was trying to carry luggage and snap pics!

Once we landed, we went down to the Disney transport area. This was my first time flying to MCO so I was excited to be on the magical express!

The flight going down was smooth and quick! We were so excited to get there and check in!

Once on the magical express, the bus had to make four stops. The first stop was Art of Animation, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, then Caribbean Beach. We were getting off at the Boardwalk and this was our first time staying here. We rented a points to stay in the vacation club. Once we got off the magical express, (we were stop #3), we were immediately greeted at the bus by a cast member. She had an iPad and began checking us in as we walked into the lobby. I was in awe of the beauty of the Boardwalk. She asked us to sit down on one of the couches and she grabbed our welcome packet. We finished checking in and it was around 10:15AM. She handed us our key to the world card and said our room was ready!! I couldn't believe it!

I was thrilled our room was ready. I was actually in awe of the service we received as well. I've stayed at the value and moderate resorts and I've never been treated as well as I was while staying at the Boardwalk. It was an entire different level of Disney butt kissing. Anyway.....

We dropped off our carry on bags at the room and headed down to the new Boardwalk Bakery to grab our drink mugs and a snack before heading to the parks!

So, here is my opinion of the room. We stayed in a studio villa with pool view/garden view. I requested to have a room next to the elevators and close to the lobby. They honored my request, but I feel like we got screwed another way. Our room was literally the second room as you step off the elevator. We LOVED that! The downside to this is we had a huge tree blocking our view to the pool AND our balcony was enclosed. It was not a traditional open balcony like the rest of the rooms. Now, this isn't a huge deal and since we were only staying there for 3 nights, I didn't say anything. If this would've been a week long vacation, I probably would've asked to be moved. The room was great. It was large and spacious. I do feel that the room needs a little refurbishment. There was a huge chunk missing off the tub where someone dropped something heavy on it. The carpet looked a little dingy. I just feel it needs a facelift. I did LOVE it though. It's better than any value or moderate resort I've stayed at. Also, we loved being able to walk to Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. My husband said he will never stay out of the EPCOT resort area because of this. We both loved it.

Here are a few pics:

After this we ventured over to Animal Kingdom!!!

Thanks everyone! The Boardwalk is amazing and I could go on and on!

Day 1 Continued...

After resting and getting some cool beverages, we headed over to animal kingdom.....

Now, here comes a complaint about the Boardwalk.... The BUS SITUATION!!! So, I am assuming during really busy times, the Boardwalk has its own buses that only stop at the Boardwalk. Well, I guess it wasn't busy because we were sharing with B&Y Club and Swan and Dolphin. It also seemed we were always the last stop and last pick up. We waited around 30 minutes for a bus...that was such a disappointment considering buses are constantly rolling through the All Star Resorts. I understand that more people are probably staying there, but dang! If I am spending almost $300 per night, I kind of expected to have better service. Maybe that is just me being snotty. I kid you not, one evening we went to Downtown Disney and two buses rolled through that were completely full (and I mean people were standing) from just picking up the other resorts. We finally got on the third bus. My husband was and disappointed. He said that was his one and only complaint. HOWEVER, Disney did make up for it because we could walk to two other parks.

Anyway...continuing on...we got to AK and activated our military tickets. We had 4 day park hopper tickets and they were only $164 isn? Great prices! Thank you husband for serving for my Disney tickets! We arrived around 11AM and I headed for the Flame Tree BBQ and hubby headed to grab Everest FP's. We had a wonderful quick service lunch. (We were on dining plan!) After that we headed to Everest! Man, that ride is so awesome. We got lucky and got front row seats...which I am convinced is far more scarier! Here is a pic of us there!

Since so many people are interested, here is more pics of our room:

OUR VIEW:

We left AK around 4:30ish. We rode most of the bigger attractions while there. We headed back to the Boardwalk for a quick change and headed to Hollywood Studios for dinner! We had ADR's at 50's Prime Time Cafe at 6:00PM. We headed into the park and just browsed shops until it was our time. This was my second time eating there and my husband's first. Sadly, I don't have any pictures. Why? It WASN'T that great. Don't get me wrong, the food never disappoints, but everyone on this forum knows the server either makes it or breaks it for you. Our server wasn't terrible, but she wasn't great either. She tried to play along, but it wasn't anything like the first time I went. We were both disappointed and decided we won't make that restaurant a frequent visit. My husband said he still likes the Sci-Fi Drive in Theater better. He thought atmosphere and food was better there. Next time we want to try the brown derby.

After that we made our way to Fantasmic! Believe it or not, as many times as I've visited WDW I've never seen the show... I know...

Well, it is by far my most favorite show/fireworks/parade, etc. It literally has everything in it and it's amazing. It was totally worth seeing and I understand why it is usually standing room only. It was so great I forgot to video or take pictures!!!! If you've never seen it...it's amazing. I did get the chance to film part of it from our room the following evening, but I'll save that for the next post!

We happily walked back to the Boardwalk and snuggled in for the night!

It actually might be quicker!! haha

Day 2, Thursday May 9th

So, we got up this morning and headed to Magic Kingdom. We did not have to wait long for a bus today..thank God!

So, during our trip it was not terribly crowded. Our longest wait for any ride was 25 minutes. Magic Kingdom seemed overly crowded with little people and foreigners. Love me some foreign people until they are rude. Hence the French. They would seriously bump in to you and look at you as if it were your fault. Then, they would yell in French. Of course since tons of little people were in MK, strollers were all over the place. My heels were run over a few times.

We got FP for splash mountain and only waited 10 to ride space mountain. It was an overall nice day until my master plan fell apart. I had planned to eat at BOG for lunch because it would only count as a QS lunch. Well, I guess I was not the only genius because it seemed the entire park had that idea too. We walked into FL and saw the long....HUGE....line. It was a 2 hour wait for lunch!!! It literally wrapped around the FL. Of course, my husband is like yea, we aren't waiting for that. It can be dinner on the next trip. I was sad, but I also didn't want to wait that long. We walked away and ate lunch in tomorrowland. It was a good lunch. We finished touring FL, which wasn't that impressive by the way. I was expecting to be taken away and I wasn't. It is a nice area and maybe the mine train ride will be pretty decent. I felt the little mermaid ride was like Nemo...

I didn't take a lot of pics here because mainly it was crowded...lol

I took one and here it is:

We left MK around 4 and headed back to the BWV. We ran up and changed for dinner. We had ADR's at San Angel Inn in EPCOT. We walked to Mexico and it was a lovely walk. We had a wonderful dinner there. Again, no pictures because well they never turn out correctly in that place because it is dark! The limited time magic for our week at Disney was celebration of Cinco de Mayo. They had a special menu that week for the restaurant so we indulged in that. It was really really great! That place is always a winner!

Afterwards, we walked back to Hollywood Studios to check out Sid's. It's the store on the left when you first walk in. They have special celebrity pictures that are signed. We always buy one when we visit. It was closed. We walked around HS for a while then walked back to the Boardwalk. We basically called it a night. It was around 9ish. Went back to the room and look what I saw from our balcony! Repeat!

It is blurry at first, but my iPad focused after 2 seconds

After this we walked out of the room and watched a magician on the Boardwalk, then sat by the pool, then turned in for the evening.

Stay tuned for: Friday, last day before the Disney Fantasy!

We showed up at 11 exactly. I asked the lady working the line and she said people were in line around 9 in the morning. I don't know if I would wait that early. I will just wait until our next trip and maybe we will just do dinner instead. I hope you're able to get in!

Day 3, Friday, May 10th

We woke up this morning and had breakfast at Kouzzina by Cat Cora. It was delightful! It was not badly priced either. Afterwards we walked to EPCOT. Wow, that is so nice! It was a beautiful day and it never rained while we were in WDW. We headed straight towards Soarin' to get FP, then headed to Test Track. FP distribution was already at 1:30PM when we got them. It pretty much sells out by noon and there are no more. We walked up to Test Track and only waited about 18 minutes, which is pretty good for a new ride! I did not think I would like the new ride, but I loved it. I am a fan of the old version too, but I like the choosing your own car and testing it! Our car won too!

Here are some pics!

Of course we stopped by club cool and tried all the drinks! We love that place!

For lunch, I am starting to realize that EPCOT does not offer many great quick service lunches except for Mexico. Since we had Mexican the night before we wanted something different. We decided to have fish and chips from the UK. It was terrible. There was so much grease on the fish! My husband did have a beer though and he really liked it!!! Fast forward to our cruise server who was from the UK and used to be a bartender at Rose and Crown...he said the fish and chips there are nasty!!!

After lunch we spent time walking around the world showcase and hitting up the other attractions. We rode mission space orange and it never fails that we always get trapped inside with people who immediately hit up the puke bags...lol

We had ADR's at The Garden Grill, which I have not eaten at since I was a child. I was looking forward to it and didn't tell my DH that it was a character dinner. lol. We actually made the journey back to the room to change/freshen up and decided to go see if Sid's was open at HS. We walked all the way over there and it was closed!!! We walked all the way back to EPCOT and made it to The Garden Grill. I have read good and bad reviews about this restaurant, but we absolutely loved it!! The food was awesome, the characters were wonderful, and the service/view was great. We plan to hit this place up again too. If you are looking for a character dinner that is somewhat different, try this out! It will not disappoint. They even brought us a special dessert for our anniversary AND our waiter sang us a song for like 5 minutes...lol Here are the pics:

After dinner, we went BACK to HS to see if this store was open. Again, it was closed. I walked over to Guest Services and asked about the store and the CM told us they are a renter and have their own hours when they want to. We were bummed and told him we saw a picture of the rat pack that we wanted to purchase. He told us to hold on and I heard him call the operations manager on the radio. About 5 minutes later a woman showed up and they were talking. She came over and asked us if we were going to make a purchase and we told her yes. She said she would open the shop for us. We couldn't believe it. She opened the doors and got on her phone and made a call to security saying she opened the shop for a guest. We picked out that picture AND a picture of the original Darth Vader. It took us about 20 minutes and we had them shipped to our house. She was soooo friendly and nice!!! Other guests came up to the door, but she told them they were closed. She had a college student come in and ring us up. We graciously thanked her and walked away knowing this is what sets Disney apart. This is why we keep coming back. It was awesome. Of course, we dropped some $, but still we were taken care of so well. Soooo, here is what we purchased:

After that we just went back and hung out at the boardwalk for a while and the pool. I talked to my family a little bit on the phone, then we went to bed. We had to pack our bags and have them ready for pick up by Disney Cruise Line at 8AM.

This was us at the pool:

My hubby always tries to mess up my pics with his faces!!! haha

Stay tuned for embarking on the Fantasy!!!

We also purchased this at Magic Kingdom for our office: