Our Big DVC Anniversary Trip-Report September 13 *completed*

Day 16

We totally forgot it was day 8 of the DVC cycle which meant we were due to have some housekeeping... sadly this meant we didn't put the do not disturb sign on the door the night before and thus we were woken up. Our own fault though. Once we were awake, there was no going back to sleep so we got up and had some breakfast, Sy cooked the bagels while I facetimed my mum back home. It was a beautiful day out so I made sure to put loads of suncream on not making that mistake again lol

Time for a quick picture in the room, Sy insisted on it honest lol

Housekeeping came to knock again just as we were ready so we let them in and went on our way. This morning we were heading to HS! We had an ADR at lunchtime for Sci-Fi dine in. I wasn't that keen before but after a menu change we decided to try it again. Before that though, we had some rides to do First up was the Backlot tour. Oh how I yearn for the old Backlot I still do it every now and again but almost always I end up telling Sy how amazing it used to be and how I wish he could have seen it... mind you, I have a feeling it might go completely in the years to come...

It was then almost time for our ADR so we made our way over to Sci-Fi, stopping on the way to watch 'Mulch, Sweat and Shears', well thats what we are assured we were watching, but its not the Mulch, Sweat and Shears we know! Who was this woman singing? It was like an extremely poor rip off of the real band! It just didn't work with this woman at ALL, she was even using the same jokes but she couldn't quite pull them off... it was shocking.

Needless to say, we didn't stop for long and we went to Sci Fi, we had to wait a min or 2 and we were then shown to the front of a car

I already knew I was ordering the chicken lol Sy decided to have a burger.

I really liked the sauce on the chicken, it was like a chilli mayonnaise. And who doesn't love the fat fries! They are almost as good as the ones we get back home

Our server was called Britney and she was SO very perky. She was really good though

We paid our bill and made our way back outside. We didn't fancy any rides too soon after dinner so we went over to One Mans Dream This is another thing I don't think I could ever get bored of. I love hearing and seeing things about Walt Disney. I would love to visit the museum one day

We then made our way over to TSM, though we stopped on the way for Sy to get a picture with a very large green army man.

In the queue for TSM

We were a bit matchy in our colours today weren't we? Too much light pink!

Our ride experience was a bit meh, we kept stopping between games and going into 'extra' games with no points. We stopped after every single game. It did distract from the game slightly but hey ho.

Sy had the highest score of the hour though which he was very proud about

Outside it was almost time for Beauty and the Beast so we hot footed it over there

I am kicking myself that I didn't get a better picture of him but the beast was super hot today When he's a man obviously

I just love this show I would hate to see it leave, I know some people say its out of place in HS but I just love it

We made our way slowly out of the park as it looked like rain was coming in again. We hadn't been to the Florida mall yet so we wanted to head there to get some shopping in

Sadly we didn't find anything worth buying other than a few bits from the Disney store for our friend's who were cat sitting. It was a bit of a bust really ah well. I did notice there was a lot more for adults in the Disney store though, in the UK there pretty much is nothing for adults anymore its very sad Think we will probably give Florida mall a miss next trip unless our family really want to visit. We did stop by the food court for some dinner though, we shared a Chinese which was ok, nothing special but nothing bad.

We left after we had eaten, we came back to the hotel and did a bit of washing. We got in bed at 10:30pm and watched Hocus Pocus Love that film

LOL thanks, its the damned red hair I used to go beetroot red everytime I went out but I've kinda weathered my skin at bit over the years, or at least the skin that sees daylight.

Wendy's was really good as far as fast food goes, I don't eat red meat so I always have chicken, my pet hate is 'mushed up' chicken but it was proper big chicken breasts at Wendy's. Sy LOVED the burgers though. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The photopass+ is the one that includes ride photos and special meal pictures like CRT. I think that's the only difference... We hung out with our friends towards the end of the trip and they had a photopass+ with the ride pics, they were so funny (a couple will be included as they sent them to us) so i'm seriously considering it for this year

WOOHOO! get me, adding another day already

Day 17

Magic Kingdom!

We were up nice and early this morning after our early night last night. We decided to go out for breakfast this morning. By the time we had a shower and got dressed etc it wasn't so early anymore... We went to Bob Evans again. I am really impressed with the breakfasts here, we have tried Denny's and IHOP and we both agreed that Bob Evans is much nicer for an offsite breakfast option.

By the time we had breakfast and parked the car, we walked through the gates at MK at 12pm. We might have got there late but we spent a full 12 hours there to make up for it

We had skipped the traditional train ride all the way round the park on our first day so we decided to make up for it now

Next up was something I have never done before and was determined to try out this time... The Enchanted Tiki Room! I had no idea what it was or what happened inside... I just knew some people said it was a bit naff Yeah I guess some could say its naff, and I would understand it but I really liked it! I'll def do it again next time

We then went to Country Bears Jamboree, another thing I've never tried. This however was AWFUL. I've never seen the film so maybe that would have helped but I just plain didn't get it. We were falling asleep! The woman next to me was laughing so hard she was almost falling off the chair at the blood song, I didn't even get that one! I must have no sense of humour lol

It was getting on time for the parade now so we decided to grab a spot and wait. We were both a little peckish again so Sy got a corndog while I went in search of the baked potato stall in Liberty island. I love my baked potatoes, its one of my fav foods. It was talk like a Pirate week so we got a spot nice and early to watch the pirate parade before the normal parade.

It was cute to watch but I probably wouldn't bother making a special effort to see it again It was nice to see all the children involved though. They were pleased as punch to be in the parade.

It was then time for the main show...

Annoyingly there was a big south American group that came to stand right next to us and kept standing right in front of me so I didn't see things too well, also one of the men kept grabbing hold of the characters and not letting go so they were staying well away from us some people just have to ruin it for everyone else!

When the parade had finished we went over to ride the haunted mansion. I love haunted mansion, in fact the only disney dooney bag I have ever considered is the HM one but its always sold out before it even gets to the shops! I wouldn't buy it without seeing it first, not something of that value

Next was Philharmagic

Afterwards we went over to Tomorrowland to ride some of our old favourites, Monster's inc Laugh floor and the Peoplemover

We then went to watch the move it shake it parade, we got a spot by Mr Incredible, he was very funny dancing, he got all of the people who reaaaaaaalllly didn't want to dance up and made them dance around. I made sure to stay well back LOL.

It was then almost time for our ADR at the Plaza with our friends from home Nicola and Fred. Nicola and I have knows each other since planning our weddings, we were on a wedding planning forum, and she then told me about disney forums we have been friends since and we have all met up a fair few times now, they are also friends with Hayley and Gareth and Matt and they were friends with Sue before she passed away They had only arrived a day or so before so this was our first chance to meet up.

We managed to spot each other pretty quick, though it was very busy by now. In fact I'd never seen it so busy in September before! There was a bit of a scrum at the podium to check in, but we got there in the end and were given a pager. We were so busy chatting that I have no idea how long we waited for our table. Once inside our server tried to take our order right away before we had even looked at the menu, she came back 3 times a minute or so apart to see if we were ready to order, it became a bit funny in the end! We did order and once the food came she kept coming back to see if we had finished yet lol The food was good, just a shame about the weird server!

We went outside with the idea that we would go find a spot for Wishes. O.M.G it was RAMMED.. we couldn't move once we got outside. We ended up sitting on the tiny wall behind the stroller parking outside the Plaza, we had a tree in the way but there was just no where to go. CM's were yelling at people to keep moving and not block the walkway but there was no where for them to go. It was actually very scary for me as someone who isn't that keen on big crowds. What then made it worse, I needed to use the bathroom I managed to fight my way over to the ones at the bottom of the ramp to the wishes dessert party, but then I couldn't get back so I watched the fireworks from there. After the fireworks finished they opened up behind the shops to get people out. The park wasn't closing yet but a lot of people were leaving, I then struggled to get back to the others. The guys were stood up chatting, they delightfully told me why... a lady came up to them with her daughter and said she's going to be sick in the bush behind them, they never moved so quick in their lives hahaha. To be fair, when you're going to be sick and there are so many people around that you cant get to a bathroom, it was the best place to do it.

Eventually we decided to make a move from where we were and head to Tomorrowland.

We went to Monster's inc laugh floor first, we were hoping to get the new show including Buddy following a how to make people laugh tutorial but getting it hopelessly wrong. Sadly we got the usual but still very funny Buddy script. We then rode Buzz. I don't remember who won, which means it was almost definitely Sy lol

Afterwards we decided to ride Splash as we hadn't been on it since our first day! Plus Nicola and Fred had a Photopass+ so we could pull a funny pose for the camera What made it even funnier was that Fred bottled the pose at the last second! When we were queuing up we decided that us girls would go together and the boys would go together however Fred and I were first in the queue and we were directed to the first 2 rows of the boat, neither of us wanted to get soaked so we sneaked into the second row before Sy and Nicola had even realised hehehehe.

We then decided to ride BTMR, I went with Nicola this time.

Time was getting on now so we decided to make our way to the exit, we stopped on the way to get a couple of fastpass pics though

We were out at the car by 11:50pm so just shy of 12 hours in the park its surprising how quickly time goes by when you're having fun We said goodbye at the car (we were only a few rows apart weirdly!) and made our way back to AKL. We were in bed by 1:30am!

Some of you may know that I have complex health difficulties and because of them Disney are very good and offer me a GAC that I use. While we were there we were still using the old GAC but we were already aware of the new DAS that was due to come in. Now because of that I wanted to try and see how I would cope without the GAC, partly for me to see how it would be and partly for people who were worrying about it from afar. I made use of the fastpass+ and yes we did visit in September which is technically out of season however it was so busy that day I refuse to count it as a low crowd day, yet we managed to ride all of those things today without using the GAC at all! I hope that might set a few minds at ease who are worrying, it can be done with some careful planning and making use of the fastpasses.

Tomorrow, our last full day! Sob

Day 18

Our last full day :'(

We were woken up at 7am this morning by a child screaming blue murder outside our room, he was having a total paddy! Parents were ignoring him and letting him get on with it. As it happens I think that's the right way to handle a paddy but not when it impacts other people around! Anyway, it was just what we wanted... Luckily though, we did go back to sleep and the alarm woke us up at 9:30am

We were heading into Epcot to meet Nicola and Fred this morning, yay! We hopped out of bed and got ready, me yelling to Sy to get a move on cause he is always late, for everything!

We were soon ready and in the car, we were running a bit late and I wouldn't let Sy get breakfast in the room in case it made us even later, we did try to get a Mcdonalds breakfast at the drive thru on property but the queue was too long so I wouldn't let Sy wait, I'm a big meanie! (Well if he was on time getting ready...)

We met up at the front, luckily we got there at about the same time we headed straight for Soarin, we had synced up out fastpass+ so we could ride at the same time. We waited for the top in the middle

Nicola and Fred hadn't had any breakfast either so we went for an early lunch at Electric Umbrella. I had the usual chicken nuggets, Sy had the burger topped with Mac and cheese, he wasn't that keen though. My chicken nuggets were good though! lol

We chatted for ages over lunch before heading over to Test Track. I like trying to design the most hideous looking car I can lol what do you think....

We worked out our pose for the picture before we got in the queue line, we needed props
We even managed it without Fred bottling it today hahaha.

I love this picture!

We spent a while in the Chevrolet bit at the end of Test Track, taking loads of the silly pictures and emailing them to ourselves...

We decided we *needed* a slushie afterwards, it was hot! we needed a drink... Any excuse so off we went in search of some... We managed to find some towards Ellen's Adventure. We then grabbed a seat and got chatting to an American family for about an hour

Time was getting on and Nicola and Fred had places to be later in the day so we decided to head towards the exit we stopped to meet Pluto on the way out and got some fab photopass pics

We said a sad goodbye by the cars and off we went our separate ways... Sniff sniff

Our original plan was to head to AK as I love the rapids and yet we hadn't managed to ride them this trip yet.... But as the weather was nice as thought we would go back to the hotel and take it easy and go for a leisurely swim...

We stopped on the way for me to get the picture I'd been after all trip, on the bridge

We quickly got changed and headed down to the pool. I was making the most of having my new underwater camera so I was driving Sy round the bend taking pictures of him lol I haven't included them all, there was about 40 on them lol

I ended up not staying in the water for that long as I was starting to feel a bit dodgy, I often get a bit of a butterfly tummy when it's getting close to us coming home so we left and came back up to the room.

After a shower and quick change we headed back to Epcot to meet up with Ray and his wife. It was about 6:30 when we got there. We were meeting in the UK pavilion so that's where we headed first. We stopped on the way to get a pineapple fritter.

When we got to the UK we could hear the band playing and guessed that would be where we would meet our friends, we headed round that way and we were right There they were soaking up the atmosphere. We managed to remember to get a picture of us all together this time so here it is, thanks to Ray for remembering and asking someone passing to take the picture...

We grabbed a drink and made our way round to watch Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at the American pavilion. We sat in the disabled area as I had the scooter with me this evening unfortunately we sat behind the only family in the whole place who stood up for the whole show they did know we were behind them but I guess them being stood up was more important than the disabled people behind who couldn't see... It was a bit mean. I felt bad though cause we were sat there because of me Starship were good from what we could see and hear

Afterwards we went in search of somewhere to watch illuminations. We stopped on the way for Sy to get something from one of the food and wine booths, it was a ham and cheese pasta thing, it was ok but nothing special. Ray went to get a funnel cake and shared it with us, my first funnel cake! OMG it was SO GOOD! Why have I never had one of these before?! We had such a lovely evening chatting with Ray and his wife, about family, Disney, life in general. We carried on chatting after Illuminations while the park emptied, it was a bit weird being there with only the CMs.

We said goodbye at the back exit as they were staying at the beach club while we had our car to pick up... I'm always going to wait for the masses to exit in future

Back at the hotel we did most of the packing while trying not to cry! :'( we were in bed by 1am feeling very sorry for ourselves

I've added some pics to day 15 that i'd missed out if you wanna have a nosey of us at Blizzard beach, but then again if you wanted to see whales you'd go to SeaWorld....

Day 19

Home time

I must apologise, as always our last day is light on pictures, I think I'm too miserable to take pics lol

We made sure to leave the do not disturb sign on the day before we went to bed, we didn't want to be woken up by housekeeping early. We were awake at about 9am, we pottered round doing the last of the packing, having a weird combination of breakfast items that we were trying to eat up, we showered and got dressed and then called bell services to help with our many bags. We popped out to the balcony to say goodbye to the animals before leaving the room, with a sad heart We already knew it was going to be over a year till we got here again. We were trying to keep up a brave face and enjoy our last day, but I think we might have looked more like this...

We tried to compose ourselves and hopped in the car heading to MK, where else could we go to try and feel better? Gotta say goodbye to the castle! We decided to head to the Poly first as I wanted to get a Dole Whip without having to queue for half an hour lol (top tip for people who wait aaaages at ahola isle).

We got the boat over to MK from the poly, while we were waiting we were talking to a guy on his own, talking about our trip next year and that we were visiting Key West, well it turns out that was where he was from, he gave us loads of tips and things to do I wrote them all down on my phone as I knew I would forget right away otherwise. When we got to MK we thanked him for his help and made our way down main street. We didn't have any must do rides, we just wanted to be there. We went on the Peoplemover twice On the way we ran into this guy...

and erm, this one... LOL

not that they were connected or anything

Then it was time for the Move It Shake It parade so we headed to get a spot at the hub. I threw caution to the wind today and actually danced! Sy refuses so I never usually do it as I don't like to do it on my own Sy took a few pics of me.

We also got a couple of pictures of this AWESOME lady, we kept seeing her when the parades were on, she was *amazing*. She was getting so into the music while still doing her job, high fiving the kids on her way, just totally summing up Disney for me I've since seen her talked about for being so amazing so glad its not just us who realised!

After the parade we needed to head back to the car really *sob* so we followed the parade down main street. There was one place I wanted to try one last time though... As I said before, reports were coming online that Mickey was feeling very 'talkative' in the meet Mickey theatre so I wanted to give it one last try...

Sadly Mickey was mute! But we still had a fab meet and greet, Mickey was very sad that we were going home today

We said goodbye to Mickey and promised to come see him again soon and made our way over to the boat back to the Poly. There was still time for my Dole Whip thankfully so off we went to Captain Cook's

Yum!

We shared it, and by that I mean I ate 90% and let Sy eat about 10% Pahahaha!

It was then time to pick up the car from the valet and go back to AKL and pick up the cases

It was a quiet journey to the airport, I think we were too sad to talk. Even though we knew we were coming back (heck, we have DVC now, we are always coming back!), it didn't take away the sadness at leaving like I thought it would. The butterflies in my tummy were amping up now too. We arrived at the airport and handed back the car, we managed to fight off the guys trying to 'help' us with our cases and went to check in. We had booked an extra case yesterday as its so much cheaper to pre book than just turn up with an extra bag... knew that shopping was going to come back and bite us on the bum hehe. We then went to queue up for an eternity for security. We had to go through the special assistance queue and they only had 1 security belt open whereas all the other queues had 2 belts so it took aaaaaaaages, and then just as we got to the front they held up back and let a load of staff through before us with empty wheelchairs, about 5 staff with about 30 wheelchairs between them, I'm not even exaggerating! I was a bit peeved but I wasn't about to say anything, always best not to annoy the security guys lol

We got through in the end and as usual I set the alarm off... I have no idea what I do that sets it off but it goes off almost every time.

Once we were through we had time for a quick dinner at Outback as is the tradition, partly cause well, Outback is awesome and partly cause the food SUCKS on the plane on the way home. We grabbed some dinner and then took it in turns to head to the bathroom to get changed into our travel clothes (it was cold back in the UK by now). The butterflies in my tummy were then going totally crazy but it was time to board so I pushed them down and tried to focus on other things.

When we got on the flight we noticed that our seats had been moved from what I requested, we were given bulkhead seats! Upside, lots of leg room, downside, people kept trying to walk in front of us. Also we had to stow our TV's during take off and landing whereas in the headrest you can watch them right away and until you get off the plane.

The flight was uneventful, I managed to get a bit of sleep which is pretty unusual for me cause given its a night flight it usually leaves me like this....

I watched a few movies and then a lot of Big Bang Theory while I slept, mostly the same episode over and over as I kept missing bits dozing off lol

I didn't eat anything on board, Sy tried but gave up with his food. I don't know why the food has to be so bad on the journey home. Our flight landed back in the UK at about 9am local time and I was now STARVING. We got our bags and then went to wait outside for Sy's dad to meet us, Sy and his dad were both working from home today, yep the day we got home Sy was working! But he had no choice, he was out of holiday leave. His dad was working from home so that he could come pick us up He very kindly stopped at the McDonalds drive through on the way home so I could have some food asap. It was about a 20 min drive back to Sy's parents house. Sy went into the dining room to work with his dad and I curled up on the sofa to catch up on a bit of sleep as I would be doing the hour drive to our house later that day, I did have company in this little man though...

Ain't he so cute?!

Before long sleep came and I went to sleep dreaming of our next trip to the mouse, which couldn't come soon enough...

The end

So here we find ourselves at the end of my trip report. I always feel sad when it comes to an end but this time its not quite as bad... That's because I have broken my rule of not starting the next trip report until the last is finished. I'm in the early stages of writing for our trip later this year when we visit with all the family again It isn't up anywhere yet but I have already started making copious notes and intend to have it up on here in the not too distant future! But first I have a few other writing projects to get on with (honest Kristen, I'm working on them I promise! Lol).

What can you expect from the next one? Probably something not too far from the last one We are getting to the stage where we know what we like and don't like, what we want to do and what we feel has been done and not need to be repeated. We aren't going to bother with Universal, even with the new Harry Potter expansion, it just doesn't hold the same magic for us. We LOVED Animal Kingdom Lodge so we are staying there again, along with our first stay in our new DVC purchase, the Grand Floridian.

So thank you for reading along with me, I hope I've made you laugh more times than cry or cringe I really get a huge amount of satisfaction writing about our trips, and all the lovely comments make me feel all warm and squidgy inside I love writing for myself but also for the people who love Disney as much as I do. I'm sure I drive some of my other friends who don't 'get' Disney round the bend with my endless Disney chatter but here, we all share the same love

See ya real soon folks!

LOL

Thanks Ken I'm very photo crazy lol

We go again in October Let the planning commence! (who am I kidding, planning is already well on its way!)

Yep, I like to be on time, its been drummed into me since I was a child... however ALL of Sy's family are late goers, drives me INSANE! (but hey, i'm doing pretty well if that's the worst I can say about my in laws)

I cant believe I've never had funnel cake either, I would give my right arm for one right now...

OMG YES! I couldn't remember her name at all, Barbra she was brilliant

Thanks Jan xxxx

Awwwww but at least that's only next year now.... our worst gap was when we have almost 2 years between trips, it hurt like hell

Awww Thanks Alice! I've been enjoying yours too

You need to get that ticker running, even if its for aaaages away, least then it will be in the pipeline... Thanks re the photos, I love taking pics