The Pre-Trip/ Trip Report Starts NOW!

Thank you!

Boy am I sad to be home in this cold cold cold NY weather. We had a PHENOMENAL time in WDW! I did not want to leave. Anyway, I have not been home for 24 hours and I have had so much to do and no time to decompress/ relax. Glad I have more vacation time to recoup! I will start my full detail report tomorrow! (day by day) If you don't like detail, perhaps you should skip my posts! It was very hard to try to post from my phone while we were away and frankly we were so so so so exhausted we fell asleep very quickly each night! So, I will leave you with some suspense and try to figure out how to post pictures too!

Failed with a trip report update but that was due to a minor trip to the ER for a leg issue that I have been having. Guess all that walking in disney and my workout schedule re-tore my tendon in my foot and damaged my bone spur more. Anyway Happy Holiday's. Once this craziness dies down a full trip report

Well the only good part about us changing our trip from this week to last week is that not only am I dealing with the torn tendon/ bone spur, I have been out of commission due to a nasty virus for the past day and a half! I am finally starting to feel better and taking up a new series on TV.. however... TRIP REPORT TIME!!!

Sunday December 16, 2012!!!

We never went to sleep! We were so afraid that we were not going to wake up for our flight. By 3:30AM we drove to my dads and he took us to the airport for 4:00AM. Security was fine and our flight was on time! We took off at 6:00AM and with a beyond smooth flight and landing we arrived at MCO at 8:30 (earlier then expected)! By 9:00 we were on the Magical Express to the POP CENTURY resort! There was only 5 of us on the ME and the other stop was Art of Animation (right next door). I had already checked in online so once we arrived to POP I went to the express line. Our room was not ready, however they were going to accommodate our requests: King Size Bed, 50's section, NO 1st Floor! We stored our luggage and went directly to Hollywood Studios!

The bus came right as we stepped onto the line for HS! (I was beyond thrilled as NOTHING ever goes as I plan it)! The security line for bags was a bit rough but no big deal! Once through we raced to TSM and our fast pass was for 6:05-7:05 which was going to be a problem as we planned to see Fantasmic at 6:30 and had ADR at 7:50. While discussing what we would do we went right to ToT (my favorite ride) which said 20 minutes, however we walked right on it not once but twice! We moved along to Rockin' Roller Coaster which we waited 30 minutes for. Next we walked over to the time board and there I met Les from Honolulu (a wonderful cast member who made our day). We told Les bout our TSM fast pass situation and how it conflicted with our plans. Les gave us each 2 fast passes (we traded in our 6:05 ones) to ride the ride TWICE (because he saw our anniversary pin) and it was for any time! I took a picture with him and told him he made my day and he said I made his haha! TSM was phenomenal and we got to go on twice thanks to Les! After TSM we were starving so we went to eat right by the backlot tour and boy was that an amazing turkey sandwich and a gingerbread cupcake. Hubby got the same except he got a cheesecake dessert! We were thrilled to get apple slices (we made a rule-- no fries during lunch and one bite of the dessert). I wanted to polish that cupcake but we stuck to the rule! Next we caught Lights Motors Action which my husband never saw! He thought it was awesome! We proceeded to the Back Lot Tour and got chosen to participate (hubby got soaked even in the gear they made us wear) and hubby was a big trouper! We continued to get star tours fast pass and went to the great movie ride. Keep in mind the lines were NOT BAD AT ALL! Crazy amazing! While chatting on line walking through the great movie ride entrance area, a wonderful couple gave us their star tours fast pass because they did not want to go again. Yet again, another ride we rode twice. Right before Star tours we got frozen bananas and my EMT hubby overheard a cast member say there was a lady having trouble breathing. He ran to her with the cast member and assisted until medics from disney came! Thanks to him we each got 2 more fast passes good for any day, any ride! Pays to help out! We figured we would save it for the next day at MK. Anyway we caught American Idol (not impressed), Legends of Jack Sparrow (not impressed) and ended our night before fantasmic with another round of Rockin Rollercoaster and ToT. Fantasmic was beautiful as always. Annoying screaming kid behind us. Finally his mother took him out after he cried every time the water came on "no AGUA!" After Fantasmic we had dinner at 50's Primetime Cafe. Food = Excellent , Server= not so excellent. I am not sure what his deal was but he was not in character at all. It took away from the experience. I was playing with my phone, arms on table and NOTHING. I was a bit bummed. However, the chef was amazing discussing the foods my husband could / could not eat. He ended up with the fried chicken and fries and I chose the pot roast (EXCELLENT to both). We ended the night with the smores and gluten free/soy free brownie sundae which was OUT OF THIS WORLD! The chef gave us a small tip saying that the Gluten Free/ Soy Free/ Dairy Free options usually taste a lot better More on that later but it definitely came in handy and we are glad we noted his soy allergy! Ah..

Almost done...

After dinner a quick trip to the Osborne light show and then we decided to leave as we were wiped out beyond belief and hit everything we wanted to in HS. We never took advantage of the magic hours but we were thrilled that the bus was RIGHT THERE as we walked into the line. We could not have asked for a more perfect day-timing wise and weather wise at HS!

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apology for the sideways pictures. not sure how to change on here!

Semi Back in Commission... Almost Human again! This cold has had me sleeping and sleeping!

Anyway where was I day 2! It feels so long ago already!

Tuesday December 17, 2012...

We decided not to go to Magic Kingdom for opening as it opened at 8AM and we were wiped out. However we felt that 9:30AM was respectable time! After a lovely breakfast at POP Century... Egg White Omelets with Veggies, we once again walked right to the bus stop as the bus was pulling in! Score!

Our game plan for MK was to start with Space Mountain as it usually breaks / has issues and the line grows! We took our magical entrance pictures and with the castle and went to space mountain where we walked on twice. We went to the right once and left the second time and felt the left was a bit wilder! After that we raced right to adventure land hit up all the rides there minus the jungle cruise, then to frontierland, liberty square, back to tomorrow land to finish it up and then into fantasyland! We did the "old section" first got our fast pass for Under the Sea (recommend a fast pass as it was not worth the 80 minute wait).

At some point we at at Cosmic Rays which was delicious! Another amazing turkey sandwich! We tried to get into Be Our Guest, however the line was 2 hours long and we were not waiting! We basically "finished MK" by 1pm... As we decided to stroll around again, we realized one of the parades was about to start... standing in the middle of the street right by tomorrowland exit I spotted by friend of all people! We got to spend time with him and his partner watching the parade and said we would try to meet up for the electric light parade and wishes! The parade was so cute and I am thrilled we saw it. After we were a bit hungry and I remembered everyone recommending the DOLE WHIP! The line was not that bad and of course my hubby ordered it wrong, I almost had a fit but the wonderful cast member gave us the correct item and let him keep just the ice cream as well (he ordered it without the pineapple juice at the bottom). We decided on a FP for the jungle cruise (50 minute wait) as the fast pass time was only 15 min after we got it! We went back to do the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and get one more FP for Space Mountain!

Our ADR was for The Plaza Restaurant at 7pm and we were so hungry (so much walking around) we checked in at 6:30. They sat us at 7 PM. Our dinner was disrupted by very annoying/ terribly behaved children. Our waitress was very slow but thankfully the chef was bringing out my husbands food so it made our food move a bit quicker then the people around us. Lots of complaints but as wonderful as Disney is, they gave people fast passes. We did not complain as we felt it was slow but enjoyed not rushing! The food was PHENOMENAL! We split a hummus sandwich and a strawberry chicken salad! Split a banana split sundae for dessert and took my cheesecake to go for the parade... Sadly it ended in the trash as it got warm and we were stuffed. It was a bit chilly but time to get a nice spot for the parade so we got some magical disney coffee (SO AMAZING THEIR COFFEE!!!) and planted ourselves down! Once again my friend from college literally ran right into us so we caught up for a while until the show started!

WHAT A SHOW! The light parade was sensational but even better was the picture projections they do on the castle into Wishes! It was beautiful. Prettier and better then I have ever remembered! The had either the light parade or wishes one more time that evening (extra magic hours) however we went right on the people mover with my friend to let the crowd clear out a bit! Great move on our part because after that we made our way out of MK to the bus stop to POP and guess what THE BUS WAS THERE AGAIN!!! Not 1 bus, 2 buses! We said our goodbyes as my friend was spending their last full day (Tuesday) at the pool and then the xmas party at MK... we were destined to bed (slept like a baby) and then off to Epcot for Tuesday!.

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I am back! I appologize for my late reports!

Day 3: EPCOT 12/18/2012!

We decided to utilize magic hours and woke up quite early. I went downstairs to get breakfast (Oatmeal & Banana for me... Egg White Wrap for Hubby) and some Disney Magical Coffee and brought it back to the room so hubby could sleep a little late! We hopped on the bus at 7:30 (yet again the bus was right there as we walked out) and got to Epcot soon after! We decided we would go to Test Track first, if the line was short, ride it, fast pass it and go right to Soarin'. Our plan was interrupted as Test Track was broken! Really?!?! Did you not just re-open? I was very disappointed so we decided to grab our fast pass for later and run right over to Soarin'. The line said 5 minutes... but it was 30 minutes as Soarin' was experiencing technical difficulties. So much for Magic Hours. Many were very upset. However, I was not going to let this ruin the day! What worked out nicely: as we got off of Soarin' our Test Track FP was ready and it was open and running! In addition, we were able to snag a Soarin' FP for later as well! We went to Test Track and opted out of designing the car. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED in the ride. For the time they took it out of commission, they really did not do much to make it different. Either way, I like the speed at the end so I wanted to ride again singly. My husband and I figured 10 minutes for a single rider was a good time so we walked back on the line. As we got up to the front (was not 10 minutes... literally walked up to the front)... the ride broke again! Thankfully 10 minutes later, husband and I were put in the SAME CAR and we were back in business! The rest of the day was a blur as we hit up all of the attraction, tasted the cokes around the world-- Love CHINA's WATERMELON one-- ate an amazingggggg lunch at the LAND, and visited the character spot for Pluto, Mickey, Minnie for our Minnie obsessed niece (she was thrilled to see her aunt (she could careless about her uncle haha) with Minnie! About 2pm we started our tour around the world. Hubby tried to drink beers around the world. I think he tapped out at 5. We definitely got a bit buzzed with some beer and wine. We really took our time around the world, grab amazing nachos and Churros Mexico, Pretzel in Germany, Crepe in France.. we were stuffed. We had ADR at San Angel Inn which was phenomenal. We both had amazing Margs, hubby had amazing Mole Poblano and I opted for a shrimp dish Caramones a la diabla yum!. We passed on the chips as the hubs was allergic and we ate so much during the day! Dessert I cannot remember! It was amazing and we ate one there and one to go! After, we scouted for our illuminations spot! We felt we got an amazing spot. Right after Mexico right at the railing but close enough to the pathway to jet out after. I had a rude encounter with a young Spanish girl as she tried to take my husbands spot... I put something down while he went to get us coffee (so cold). However she played as if she could not speak English and then went over to her parents and started speaking English. As she tried to push into the spot again, I firmly told her that I know she understands what I said and that she was being entirely obnoxious. Luckily when my husband got back his broad shoulders made enough room! Illuminations was STUNNNNNNING! My husbands favorite. Once it was over, we RAN out of Epcot. We were pouring sweat but guess what we made... THE FIRST BUS BACK!!!

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After Our dinner at San Angel Inn I thanked the manager for our waitress Maria who was fabulous! Such a great experience there!