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Disney, Travel

Walt Disney World – January 5-12, 2016

January 5, 2016
Day One – Part One – Airports! 
Day One – Part Two – We’ve Arrived! 

January 6, 2016
Day Two – Part One – RaceExpo 
Day Two – Part Two – We Step into a Park!
Day Two – Part Three – Magic Kingdom
Day Two – Part Four – More MK

January 7, 2016
Day Three – Part One – Animal Kingdom
Day Three – Part Two – An Early End to the Day

January 8, 2016
Day Four – Part One – Luke’s 10km Race
Day Four – Part Two – Hollywood Studios
Day Four – Part Three – More Hollywood Studios

January 9, 2016
Day Five – Part One – A Hollywood Studios Morning
Day Five – Part Two – A Boat Ride and Disney Springs

January 10, 2016
Day 6 – Part One – We finally visit Epcot!
Day 6 – Part Two – More Epcot

January 11, 2016
Day Seven – Part One – A PPO Breakfast!
Day Seven – Part Two – So Many Rides!
Day Seven – Part Three – MK, and MSEP

January 12, 2016
Day Eight – Part One – Our Last Disney Day 🙁
Day Eight – Part Two – Goodbye Animal Kingdom

Disney, Travel

January 6, 2016 – RunDisney Expo

January 6, 2016 – Part One

We woke up on our first day at Disney around 8am. I know from reading a lot of trip reports that this is “sleeping in”, but I am not a morning person, and we had a late night the night before with our luggage not showing up to our room until after midnight. We got ready and headed to Intermission Food Court at our hotel (All-Star Music) for breakfast. That review is here.

After eating, we stopped to take this picture:

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and then we headed outside to catch a bus to the race Expo. It opened at 10am that morning, and we wanted to be there as close to that time as possible. We walked outside the hotel to a coach bus sitting there waiting, so we walked on and were off to the race Expo! This was our first Disney transportation (excluding Magical Express) and our wait time is currently zero minutes – I was so worried we were going to waste so much time waiting for busses…

Before long the bus dropped us off, we had a short walk and then we were seeing this:

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I apologize, I didn’t write notes or pay attention to the buildings we went into here. The entire thing was quite overwhelming, and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It also started raining shortly after we arrived, so I left my camera in my bookbag to keep it dry, and any pictures I did take here were with my phone (and I didn’t take very many).

Luke went and picked up his race pack in one building, and then we had to go into another building to pick up his race shirt. He also bought himself a Disney marathon weekend tshirt, and we looked around at some of the expo vendors. I loved the Ariel NewBalance shoes, but I couldn’t justify the cost when it’s not the brand of sneaker I wear (I love my Asics). I did end up buying Luke a Disney themed medal display, as it was something I had looked at ordering online, but the shipping cost to Canada was a little ridiculous. So when I saw the exact one I was going to order there, and I could take it home with me that day, I was sold! I don’t have a picture of it, but it’s this one in sparkly black: http://www.heavymedalz.com/Product/10OnceUponBlack.php Now to fill it I guess we’ll just have to plan on more RunDisney events (which are already in our plans…).

We didn’t spend too much time at the Expo, we had FastPasses to get to! We did see what we wanted to, and Luke had more than enough time to look at the official RunDisney merch, so we decided to head back to our hotel to drop off our purchases. But first, I made Luke pose for this picture:

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We walked over to the bus pickup spot, and there was a bus sitting there waiting! Two for two today! We went back to All Star Music, dropped off our race Expo purchases and then headed back out to catch our first bus to one of the WDW parks! I might have been a little bit excited at this point…

Next: Our First Park!

Disney, Travel

Day One – Part Two – We’ve Arrived!

January 5, 2016 – Part Two

After snapping a picture of the airport Disney store, we set off to check in with Magical Express. We didn’t have our Magic Bands yet, as they won’t ship them to Canada, but I had my booklet from Disney with all of our confirmation information. It went very smoothly, and we joined the line for the All-Star Resorts. While standing in line, I remembered that I had forgotten to do online check-in, so that’s when I did it. We stood in line for less than 10 minutes before we were directed onto a bus! We ended up sitting on the Magical Express bus for about 15 minutes waiting for more passengers before we started driving to Disney. We used this time to take our first selfie on our Disney trip :)

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We were staying at the All-Star Music Resort, so we were the third stop out of four (Coronado Springs guests were also on our bus). We had used the yellow luggage tags and I had checked in online from the airport, so after walking off the bus we were at the counter getting our Magic Bands and room number within 2 minutes. After receiving a map of the hotel with the location of our room, we decided to stop at the Intermission Food Court. We hadn’t ate much all day as I really try to limit myself to what I eat on travel days (I have Crohn’s Disease, so flare-ups on an airplane are not fun for anyone). It was late by this point, so the menu was limited but we didn’t care. We activated our refillable mugs – I chose blue and Luke grabbed a green one for himself. Click here for the review of our meal 🙂

After eating, we set off to find our room. It really surprised us how large All-Star Music was! We were in the 7th building, Broadway themed. We found our room and tested both of our Magic Bands to make sure they worked. No issues there, so we settled in to wait for our luggage to arrive. It ended up being a pretty late night, our bags didn’t arrive in our room until 12:20, but we were asleep within 20 minutes of it arriving.

I also forgot to take pictures of our room when I first got there, and didn’t actually take these pictures until the morning we were checking out…oh well! Here’s our room!

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Next: Race Expo
Disney, Travel

Day One, Part One – Airports

Day 1 – January 5th, 2016 – Travel Day Part One!

The day before we left, we woke up extra early to drop our dogs off at the kennel before going to work for the day. We take them to one that is about a half hour drive away, and they are only open during certain hours, so we knew there wouldn’t be time after work while we were trying to finish packing, and our flight left early the next morning so no time then either. I’m always sad saying goodbye to them, but I was just so excited that I was going to be in Disney by the next day!

On our travel day, our alarm went at 4am. I am NOT a morning person, but that morning I had no problem getting out of bed – we were going to WDW! We had most of our packing complete the night before, so we were on the road by 5, and had a very quick and easy drive to the airport. Traveling can sometimes be a bit of a risk in January, but lucky for us there were no storms in the forecast! We checked our car in at our preferred parking lot by 5:30, and waited less than two minutes before a shuttle bus to the terminal had pulled up. We had decided to splurge and reserve valet parking, so it’s the last stop and the bus was full by the time we got on, so we had to stand. We were the only ones on the bus going to the US Terminal of the airport, so we were the last ones off the bus. Luke had checked us in online, so we used the kiosk to print off our baggage tags, went to the desk to get our boarding passes, and off to customs! Security was really quiet, we were the only people in our line. Once we got to customs there was only one other person using the electronic kiosks, so we walked right up to one. Once it printed off our receipt, we took it up to an extremely friendly customs agent who made a few jokes with me about my hair colour, and then we were through! While we were looking around the duty free store, I remembered that I had forgot my headphones at home, boo! So I had to go to the tech store and spend my first $20 of the trip. Oh well, such is life.

We decided to grab some Quiznos for breakfast – turkey, swiss and ranch on white bread for me and a honey chicken club on whole wheat for Luke. Sorry, no pictures of that meal. By the time we finished eating it was still only 6:30 – our flight didn’t leave until 8. We were expecting security and customs to take a bit longer…but better to be early than risk missing the flight. While we were waiting, Luke went to Starbucks with a gift card we had found on the weekend to get himself a coffee and a Very Berry Hibiscus for me.

Our flight to Minneapolis/St.Paul left on time, even with de-icing. The flight offered free Wi-Fi and had a decent selection of free movies to watch, so we watched the original Jurassic Park (which I had never seen…).

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We ended up landing early in Minneapolis, so we had plenty of time to get to our next gate (we were originally worried we might be cutting it close). Our next flight was to Detroit, and it was packed. It left a few minutes late, but made up the time in the air and ended up landing early as well. We had trouble getting the Wi-Fi to work on this plane, so we just played games on Luke’s iPad. I was really impressed by the Delta Terminal at the Detroit airport, I thought it was really nice! I was way too entertained by watching the mini-monorail thing inside the terminal…

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Our flight from there to Orlando was close to full, but not 100%. There were actually less children on it then I thought there would be. The flight left on time, and arrived in Orlando on time. We spent our time on that flight getting into the Disney mood by watching Brave (we’re big Pixar fans).

After our quick ride on the fake monorail, we saw our first sign of Disney – the Disney Store in the airport!

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Disney, Food Review

Sunshine Seasons – Lunch

Sunshine Seasons – January 10th, 2016 – Lunch​

After spending the morning going on a few rides and watching the marathon runners go through Epcot, we decided we were hungry for some lunch. We knew we wanted a quick service option, so we went to Sunshine Seasons. This place is great! The menu was much larger than I thought it was going to be, and we had no trouble finding things that sounded great! It also was not busy at all – and we were there right at lunch time (around 12:30)

I opted for the pork chop, served with BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. I also grabbed a bottle of water and a coconut macaroon for dessert. I loved everything about this meal! The BBQ sauce was great, the pork was cooked well (but still juicy!) and the mashed potatoes were fantastic. I didn’t eat all of the corn, I love it but it’s a food that does not love me back (I have trouble digesting it with my Crohn’s disease). And that coconut macaroon – OMG. Amazing. I kind of wish I had have picked up another one to go, just to eat the next morning or something. It was one of my favourite quick service desserts of the entire trip!

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Luke went for some kind of pressed sandwich (a Cuban maybe?), served with potato salad and he also grabbed a bottle of water and a key lime tart. He really enjoyed his meal as well, but didn’t have much detail to say about it. He’s pretty easy to please when it comes to food, and I think he came close to finishing everything.

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We used 2 quick service credits for this meal, and it covered everything pictured. If paying out of pocket, the cost would have been $12.99 (pork), $13.49 (sandwich), $5 (2 water), $3.49 (macaroon), $4.29 (tart) = $39.26 + tax. Once again, I was impressed by the quality of Disney quick service food!

Disney, Travel

What to Expect?

Prior to leaving for your trip, there is some planning involved. 180 days ahead of time, your window will open to make dining reservations. I strongly suggest making these as close to the 180 day mark as possible – popular restaurants fill up extremely quickly. I’ve heard many people turned away at Disney restaurants for trying to walk up and get a table on the day of.

If you are staying in a Disney owned hotel, your Fastpass window will open at 60 days out. You will be able to select 3 rides for each day that you wish to by-pass the regular stand-by line and get onto quicker. All 3 rides you choose for Fastpass MUST be in the same theme park. On the day of, you are able to get a 4th, 5th, etc once you’ve used up your initial 3 choices.

If staying offsite, your Fastpass window does not open until 30 days out. There will be some rides that have zero FP availability by this date – one of the many perks of staying onsite.

If staying onsite at a Disney-owned hotel, you should receive bright yellow baggage tags in the mail a few weeks before you leave. They look like the normal white baggage tags the airline attaches to your checked baggage. Attach these yellow tags to your checked bag, and say goodbye to it – you won’t see it again until you get to your hotel. If you choose not to use the yellow tags, you will need to collect your own bags upon arrival at the airport in Orlando.

Upon arriving at Orlando International Airport (MCO), make your way to the mini-monorail to get to the main terminal. From there, head to the Disney Magical Express check-in area (located on Level One B of the airport – it’s very well signed). After checking in with a cast member, they will direct you to enter a row based on which resort you will be travelling to. Another cast member will then direct you onto the proper bus. These are large, Greyhound-style buses clearly marked with Disney images. There are TV screens on each one, and they will play classic Disney cartoons while you wait. Once you leave, the bus driver will turn on the Welcome video.

About 25-30 minutes later, you will enter Disney property! Depending on which resort you are staying at, your bus might make a few stops before letting you off (Old Key West was sharing a DME bus with Saratoga Springs and Port Orleans on one of our trips, but we lucked out and OKW was the first stop). Collect your bags from under the bus if need be, tip your driver and go check in to your hotel! If you used the yellow tags, your bags will be delivered directly to your room within a few hours by bell services.

US citizens can opt into receiving their room # in a text message, and can skip the normal check-in line. However, Disney is unable to mail out Magicbands to Canadian addresses, so you will need to go to the main lobby. You will receive your Magicband – put it on and don’t take it off. It is a silicon bracelet with an RFID chip in it – it will be used as your room key, your entrance ticket to the parks, your FP+, your dining confirmations, etc. You can link up a credit card to it as well, and avoid carrying a wallet with you – you just need to scan your Magicband and enter your personal pin code (which you set yourself) to make purchases from Disney.

If you are in Disney Springs or one of the theme parks and purchase some souvenirs, you do not need to carry them with you all day! You simply let the cast member ringing you through know that you are staying in a Disney hotel, they will give you a small form to fill out (basically just name, hotel, room number) and it will be delivered to your resort! You will just need to pick it up in the main gift shop of your resort the next day – much easier than trying to figure out what to do with your purchases while riding roller coasters 🙂

Disney, Food Review, Show Review

Hoop dee doo Musical Revue

Hoop dee Doo Musical Revue – January 9th, 2016 – Supper​

After spending a few hours with my cousin, she eventually had to get on the road to drive the few hours back to her home. Luke and I spent the next few hours dodging the rain by doing some retail therapy in Disney Springs, and stopping for a snack at Ghiradellii (again, something else I do not have pictures of, sorry). Eventually, it was time for us to start making our way to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop-dee-doo Musical Revue. I recommend giving yourselves a lot of time to get there, that resort is huge! Our bus driver was Disney Springs was so friendly, and she explained exactly which internal bus to get on when she dropped us off.

We made it there with plenty of time to spare. Eventually, we were let inside and led to our seats. It was the 8:30pm show, so it wasn’t even close to being sold out and the majority of people in attendance were adults. We were in category 2, and they were great seats!

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As soon as we walked in, there was already a loaf of corn bread and a tossed salad sitting on our table. Our waiter quickly came over and introduced himself, and asked for our drink order. There was a selection of soft drinks, beer, sangria or wine to choose from. I asked for a glass of white wine, and Luke ordered a beer (a Yuengling I believe). My wine was Chardonnay, and I ended up not liking it at all. The waiter realized this right away, so I asked for a glass of root beer. I guess he didn’t hear me properly, because he brought me a glass of sweet tea – which is so gross! America, you need to learn what proper ice tea is! Our waiter was awesome though, realized his mistake and brought me my root beer without me even mentioning it to him.

The show started soon after, and after the first act they brought out all of the food – chicken, ribs, corn, mashed potatoes and baked beans.

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There was so much food, and it was all so good! I don’t like baked beans, so I didn’t try those, but I had a sample of everything else and it was awesome! We barely put a dent in our food though, there was so much for just the two of us. The show continued on, and then during the next break they brought out the strawberry shortcake. Oh. My. God. You guys. This was incredible. I want their recipe! I didn’t even get a picture of it because I was too busy shoving it into my mouth…

Towards the end of the show, they passed out instruments for audience members to play. Luke took his job of playing washerboard very seriously. Also – you can kind of see the strawberry shortcake in the bottom of that picture…​

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The show itself was really silly, but we had read about it beforehand so we knew what to expect. I enjoyed it, and would definitely go to it again, although I don’t think it’s something I need to go to every year.

We used 2 table service credits each for this, which would have cost $67 each if paying out of pocket. It wasn’t the best use of dining plan credits, but I’m glad we went!​

Disney, Food Review

Morimoto Asia – Lunch

Morimoto Asia – January 9, 2016 – Lunch​

I apologize now, I have no pictures of my own from this meal either :(

After we finished our not-so-great pretzel snack, it was time to head out of the park. We took the boat to the Yacht Club (I just really wanted to go on a Disney boat) and then caught a bus from there to Disney Springs. Once we arrived at Disney Springs we headed straight to Morimoto Asia to meet up with my cousin and her boyfriend, who live in southern Florida. I probably would have never put this restaurant on my must-eat list, but I let my cousin decide since she’s been a strict vegan for almost 20 years and had limited options. There really was not too many items on the menu that appealed to me since I don’t eat fish of any kind, but I decided to go with the orange chicken ($20). It was a huge order, I barely ate half of it. It was pretty good too! It was basically just chicken fingers in a sweet orange sauce, but it is something I would order again (and remember – I’m picky!)

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*Photo credit once again to Disney Food Blog*

Luke went for a bento-box style meal (looking at the menu, I believe it was the “Morimoto Lunch Set”). He seemed to enjoy it, he ate almost all of it. This is the description of it – Morimoto Lunch Set – includes miso soup and house salad. Choice of California Roll with white or brown rice. Choice or orange chicken, kung pao chicken, braised black cod or vegetable tofu medley accompanied by dumplings and pickled seasoned vegetables. $26. I want to say he ordered the cod, but I can’t really remember now…

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*Photo credit to Yelp, found using a google search*

We took our time eating and talking and catching up since I hadn’t seen this cousin in a few years. I had originally invited her to come to Disney with us for a few days, but she wasn’t able to make it work – her and her boyfriend had already planned a night away for the night before somewhere north of Orlando to swim with manatees. She messaged me as soon as she realized how close she was to Orlando, and we made the plans for this lunch meetup. We lucked out and this was meant to be our Disney Springs day anyway, so we didn’t even need to rearrange any of our plans!

I can’t remember exactly what my cousin and her boyfriend ordered – my cousin had something vegan, and I think her boyfriend had a couple different kinds of sushi? My cousin also insisted on paying for our meals, which was so sweet of her!

Would we go back to Morimoto Asia? Maybe, but there is a huge list of other places I’d want to try first.

Disney, Food Review

HS Snacks – Pretzels

Snacks – January 9, 2016 – Hollywood Studios​

We spent the morning back at Hollywood Studios doing a few rides and walking around. After using our last Fastpass of the day, we realized we were starting to get a little hungry, since we had just snacked on the things in our room for breakfast (cookies, muffins, chips, etc – thank you Amazon!).

Luke really wanted to try the jalapeno pretzel, he loves anything spicy, but of course as he gets to the front of the line after 10+ minutes, they announce they are sold out. He opted for the cream cheese ($5.50) one instead, and I went for the classic Mickey pretzel with cheese sauce ($6). We each used one snack credit to pay. I once again failed at taking my own pictures of these…

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*Photo credit to the Disney Food Blog*

Also – the cream cheese pretzel was not Mickey shaped, it just looked like a standard soft pretzel.

We found a little ledge to sit on close to the exit of the Great Movie Ride so we could enjoy our pretzel snack – unfortunately we did not enjoy them. At all. I found my pretzel dry, and I remembered after my first bite that I don’t really like processed cheese. I was hungry, so I did end up finishing almost all of it, but it is definitely something I can live without, and will not be buying another one anytime soon. Luke’s was ok, but neither one of us loved it either.

That said, I would have been sad if we hadn’t tried such a classic snack at Disney!

Disney, Food Review

Intermission Food Court – Late Night

Intermission Food Court – January 8th, 2016 – Late Night Snack​

After watching the Star Wars fireworks and the 2nd showing of Fantasmic, we finally made our way back to our hotel. I realized while sitting on the bus that I was actually hungry, seeing as I had barely ate anything for supper. We stopped in at the trusty food court at All Star Music (we ate here way more often then I thought we would!) so I could grab a snack.

I decided I actually wanted a slice of their greasy pepperoni pizza after seeing a few other people going with it. Luke decided he wanted a salad, so he ate the side salad my pizza came with. I also picked up a muffin to eat in the morning and a bottle of a pre-packaged Strawberry Banana Smoothie (which Luke drank a few days later). Sorry for no pictures, but it looked like a standard greasy slice of pizza (that tasted great).

I used one quick serve credit which covered the $9.69 for the pizza, $2.99 for a muffin and $4.79 for the smoothie.

I ate fairly quickly for me, and then we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow…