danimaroo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
Holy crap. It's now been.. well, I think it's easily been over a year since I last wrote a trip report (at least one about Disney World) but I am excited to be back on here writing one.
And I realize in my long bout of absence from the DISboards, a lot of you probably have no idea who I am, so I'm guessing an intro is necessary.
My name is Danielle, but most people around here call me Dani (if you like Danielle, that works, too). This right here is a photo of me (hanging out with Oswald during a solo trip to Disneyland last October) so.. you know, you can put a face to the name.
I live in Seattle (though I grew up and lived in Boston for 20 years before I moved out here - and yes, my accent is still kind of there). I have been to Disney World 8 times (6 times since our honeymoon in 2011), and Disneyland 5 times since our first trip in 2012.
I have a ridiculously goofy sense of humor, because laughing and making other people laugh is one of my favorite things - I'm basically a giant goober.
I have a serious love for Dole Whips, the PeopleMover, Epcot's Future World music loop, Beach Club, and a newfound love for Trader Sam's Grog Grotto (which you will get a full review of in this trip report).
But really... Half of the fun of going to Disney is going with my husband Matt.
Matt grew up going to Disney World every year of his childhood until he was 18, so he's now been to Disney World somewhere around 26 times or so. He's definitely the more introverted one out of the two of us, while I'd consider myself the extrovert.
He is a huge fan of Epcot and loves reminiscing about old school Epcot. He is happiest when he is riding the Haunted Mansion and his love for Disney is a huge reason why I fell in love with the parks as much as I did.
Okay, so now that you know who is writing this trip report (and an idea of who Matt is), I realized that maybe some of you guys would like to check out my previous TRs that I've written on here:
Disney World September 2013: Touring the Tower of Terror and other Ghoulish Delights!
Disney World January 2013: I’M JUST SHOWBOATIN’ AROUND THE WORLD! & getting pooped on.
Disneyland November 2012: The Wettest, Merriest, and Happiest Birthday/First Visit Trip Report
I also have made YouTube videos of 3 of our trips (and there will be a video for this very trip report that you are about to read, so stay tuned for a link to that because yes, it is on like Donkey Kong). If you feel like seeing us in action, here are links to those previous videos:
September 2014: Walt Disney World Vacation – September 2014
September 2013: “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”
January 2013: “Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”
I'd like to also mention that during this trip, a few other people who I absolutely adore will be popping up. You'll get a little intro of them, as well, when I get to those parts of the trip... but needless to say, a ridiculous amount of fun was had.
So, let's get down to the deets of this trip:
When: May 2nd - May 10th, 2015
Where: Old Key West... This was a little weird for us since we've stayed at Beach Club Villas for the majority of our previous 4 trips, but we decided to give our home resort OKW some love to save some extra points for our next trip.
Why: We decided to skip September this year (that September heat ain't nothing to mess with, for real, especially for 2 weeks), but we realized if we skipped September, we wouldn't be back to WDW at all in 2015. Obviously didn't want to let that happen since we had Premier APs burning a hole in our pockets. So I brought up the suggestion of giving May a shot, since we'd never been during that time and it wouldn't be too horribly busy yet for Star Wars Weekends... So May it was.
For those of you who have read my previous trip reports, this one will be I guess kind of different? Mainly in the photo area. You guys know that I'm a huge fan of photography and taking video of our trips, while also balancing having a good time and not worrying about fumbling around with a camera 24/7.
So that being said, I tried to keep a better balance than I have in the past, and that results in less photos in this report. I'm excited to post what I do have, though, and I think it will make my writing even better than it has been in the past... or at least, I hope so anyway. We're just gonna roll with it and see where this TR takes us.
I think I've covered all of the info you may be curious about, and with that, I hope my intro has interested you enough to follow along with our adventures and a bunch of new firsts for us! With Flower and Garden Festival and a little Star Wars action (including celebrating May the 4th), I think you guys are in for a pretty fun trip report.
Feel free to let me know you're following along, I REALLY love hearing from people. I've run into quite a few DISers during my trips because of the comments you guys leave, and it has been an absolute blast. So yeah, definitely feel free to comment... or don't! If lurking is more your style, continue to get your lurk on, too.
Either way, let's do this.
In a galaxy far, far away...
And I realize in my long bout of absence from the DISboards, a lot of you probably have no idea who I am, so I'm guessing an intro is necessary.
My name is Danielle, but most people around here call me Dani (if you like Danielle, that works, too). This right here is a photo of me (hanging out with Oswald during a solo trip to Disneyland last October) so.. you know, you can put a face to the name.
I live in Seattle (though I grew up and lived in Boston for 20 years before I moved out here - and yes, my accent is still kind of there). I have been to Disney World 8 times (6 times since our honeymoon in 2011), and Disneyland 5 times since our first trip in 2012.
I have a ridiculously goofy sense of humor, because laughing and making other people laugh is one of my favorite things - I'm basically a giant goober.
I have a serious love for Dole Whips, the PeopleMover, Epcot's Future World music loop, Beach Club, and a newfound love for Trader Sam's Grog Grotto (which you will get a full review of in this trip report).
But really... Half of the fun of going to Disney is going with my husband Matt.
Matt grew up going to Disney World every year of his childhood until he was 18, so he's now been to Disney World somewhere around 26 times or so. He's definitely the more introverted one out of the two of us, while I'd consider myself the extrovert.
He is a huge fan of Epcot and loves reminiscing about old school Epcot. He is happiest when he is riding the Haunted Mansion and his love for Disney is a huge reason why I fell in love with the parks as much as I did.
Okay, so now that you know who is writing this trip report (and an idea of who Matt is), I realized that maybe some of you guys would like to check out my previous TRs that I've written on here:
Disney World September 2013: Touring the Tower of Terror and other Ghoulish Delights!
Disney World January 2013: I’M JUST SHOWBOATIN’ AROUND THE WORLD! & getting pooped on.
Disneyland November 2012: The Wettest, Merriest, and Happiest Birthday/First Visit Trip Report
I also have made YouTube videos of 3 of our trips (and there will be a video for this very trip report that you are about to read, so stay tuned for a link to that because yes, it is on like Donkey Kong). If you feel like seeing us in action, here are links to those previous videos:
September 2014: Walt Disney World Vacation – September 2014
September 2013: “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”
January 2013: “Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”
I'd like to also mention that during this trip, a few other people who I absolutely adore will be popping up. You'll get a little intro of them, as well, when I get to those parts of the trip... but needless to say, a ridiculous amount of fun was had.
So, let's get down to the deets of this trip:
When: May 2nd - May 10th, 2015
Where: Old Key West... This was a little weird for us since we've stayed at Beach Club Villas for the majority of our previous 4 trips, but we decided to give our home resort OKW some love to save some extra points for our next trip.
Why: We decided to skip September this year (that September heat ain't nothing to mess with, for real, especially for 2 weeks), but we realized if we skipped September, we wouldn't be back to WDW at all in 2015. Obviously didn't want to let that happen since we had Premier APs burning a hole in our pockets. So I brought up the suggestion of giving May a shot, since we'd never been during that time and it wouldn't be too horribly busy yet for Star Wars Weekends... So May it was.
For those of you who have read my previous trip reports, this one will be I guess kind of different? Mainly in the photo area. You guys know that I'm a huge fan of photography and taking video of our trips, while also balancing having a good time and not worrying about fumbling around with a camera 24/7.
So that being said, I tried to keep a better balance than I have in the past, and that results in less photos in this report. I'm excited to post what I do have, though, and I think it will make my writing even better than it has been in the past... or at least, I hope so anyway. We're just gonna roll with it and see where this TR takes us.
I think I've covered all of the info you may be curious about, and with that, I hope my intro has interested you enough to follow along with our adventures and a bunch of new firsts for us! With Flower and Garden Festival and a little Star Wars action (including celebrating May the 4th), I think you guys are in for a pretty fun trip report.
Feel free to let me know you're following along, I REALLY love hearing from people. I've run into quite a few DISers during my trips because of the comments you guys leave, and it has been an absolute blast. So yeah, definitely feel free to comment... or don't! If lurking is more your style, continue to get your lurk on, too.
Either way, let's do this.
In a galaxy far, far away...
Last edited:
HI! Welcome Back!!!!
