10 years of friendship is a good excuse...wait who needs an excuse for Disney!? A December TR

[krc99080]

Welcome and thank you for joining me on my first ever trip report. I had such fun reading TR’s while waiting in anticipation for my 2015 Disney trip to arrive.

This was the second Girls Trip with one of my best friends, Tristin. Tristin and I had went to Walt Disney World in 2014 on the basis of her wanting to ride the new Mine Train ride and I wanted to eat at Be Our Guest. We were there during the change over from Halloween/fall and Christmas in 2014. The teasing glimpses of Christmas were the inspiration for our Christmas Disney trip.

(Photo taken while waiting to hop on a bus to our first park of the trip)
Who: Kim (me) and Tristin
Where: Pop Century Resort
When: December 2-8


A few of our favorites:

Me-
Character: Mickey
Princess: Belle and Ariel
Park: Magic Kingdom
Ride: Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan
Movie: Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid

Tristin-
Character: Simba and Tinkerbell
Princess: Cinderella and Aurora
Park: Magic Kingdom
Ride: Haunted Mansion and Small World
Movie: Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast

Please join me as I relive our adventures in Disney World. It's always so thrilling to arrive and sad to leave. Plus there's never time to get everything in at Walt Disney World. It's part of the magic that keeps us returning!

 

[krc99080]

Second post saved for table of contents

 

[krc99080]

December 2 - Making a Run for It!

The day is finally here! We get to head to Disney World. After a slightly early wake up Tristin’s dad whisks us off to the airport. Turns out both of us had gotten next to no sleep the night before so we both began the trip a little sleepy.

Upon arrival at the airport we get inside and see a horrendously long line to get through security… This is not a good sign. Winding through the queue we are anxiously watching the time and seeing our boarding time get closer and closer…next a little old lady takes a spill in line so that stops everything for 10 minutes…

Finally we get up to the security line, our flight has already started boarding and we are dangerously close to takeoff time. Just as I step into the body scanner I hear the final call for the flight so panic mode sets in. I hurriedly shoved my shoes on, grab my stuff and run off to the far end of the terminal in the great race to not miss my flight. Luckily I get to the terminal and someone is still there waiting (conveniently a connecting flight was late which might have been what saved us) I point out my travel buddy Tristin and we make the flight. Now we are flying Southwest since it was cheaper, we could check 2 bags each for free and it was a direct flight but this means we are sitting pretty far apart on the plane. The flight was slightly turbulent but we soon land in Orlando and can feel the heat and humidity immediately after leaving the plan. It was something like 87 our first day in Disney.

Tristin and I had already agreed to grab lunch at the airport before catching the Magical Express since that was something we neglected last year and we were starving. So after grabbing our luggage from baggage claim we head to a food court area and basically pick the choice with the shortest line; a sandwich from Quiznos it is. This wasn’t a bad sandwich by any means just nothing spectacular. Something I could get anywhere – not exactly what the rest of the trip food would be. It did what I wanted though and kept me from completely starving that afternoon.

After finishing our sandwiches it was time to go catch the Magical Express and really be on our way to Disney World (the Disney store in the airport doesn’t count).

Upon our arrival at the Magical Express section of the airport we get to immediately board a bus and are soon on the way to our home for the next 6 nights: Pop Century.

We check in and are given a room on the top floor of the 60s section relatively close to the elevators, so a pretty good room placement. Our only complaint was that it had a connecting door which made it slightly less soundproof and we could occasionally hear the neighbors on that side. On the way to the room we stop and pick up our mugs since we are doing the dining plan and get a quick beverage.

Edited to add photos.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along. Our trips overlapped a bit, will be interesting to see what you guys got up to and compare.

Your travel day sounds as stressful as mine! No fun at all.

 

[KathyM2]

I'm here to follow along! That's crazy that you barely made your flight!! Ugh!! But you did! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[krc99080]

Following along. Our trips overlapped a bit, will be interesting to see what you guys got up to and compare.

Your travel day sounds as stressful as mine! No fun at all.

The flight was stressful but we made it.

I'm here to follow along! That's crazy that you barely made your flight!! Ugh!! But you did! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

The worst part was not expecting it! That terminal is never busy... Don't worry our adventures get much better.

 

[krc99080]

December 2 – Arrival at First Park

Now that we were at the resort it was time to get changed and ready to head to the parks. Since it was upper 80’s and humid at Disney the jeans and jackets we started the day out with were keeping us a bit too warm so it was time for the shorts and capris to come out. I only wear shorts if it is crazy hot (like 90s with heat indexes well into the 100s so I put on capris, Tristin opted for shorts). I applied some sunblock and we were ready to head to the parks…

We had a dinner ADR that evening at Chefs de France so it was time to catch a bus to Epcot to explore a bit before dinner. After getting through our first bag check line of many we stopped at the first PhotoPass photographer we saw and got a couple pictures taken (since Tristin’s husband insisted we needed Memory Maker we took full advantage).

After getting past the first photographers we saw that the line for Spaceship Earth was only 5 minutes so we hopped in line. Spaceship Earth is that classic, can’t miss Epcot ride. We both love it and enjoyed seeing all of our favorite parts. A trip to Epcot is not complete without a tour from the past.

We soon returned from our journey through the past and decided to go even further back and hit Ellen’s Energy Adventure. This ride was neglected in 2014 and Tristin had never been on so I said it was something she had to experience once. While this is not a must ride multiple times a trip it is interesting. Since our true Epcot day was full this was the best time to get Ellen in. Upon our exit from the ride we noticed it was lightly raining. The rain wasn’t too hard, just enough to be annoying. Tristin and I started toward the World Showcase to explore until it was closer to our dinner ADR. Then it started to rain harder so we started walking quicker and decided to head on to Chefs de France and see if we could go ahead and check in. That way we could sit under the awning out of the rain.

My damp selfie after getting seated at Chefs. I did have someone compliment my hair in the bathroom since other than the bangs it still looked pretty good after getting wet.

Join me next time for details about the meal.

 

[KathyM2]

I couldn't agree more that SE is a big part of Epcot and should not be missed!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Love Spaceship Earth. I even enjoy the games that you can play once you get off the ride.