From Disneyland to WDW: The Laffites take Florida.. and Epcot Rocks!(Update 7/3)

[Laffites Landing]

Introduction​

Hello there and welcome to my trip report! My name is Laffite’s Landing. Why Laffite’s Landing? I gave myself that name due to the sign hanging from the load zone on the Pirates of Caribbean in Disneyland. “Pirates of the Caribbean” has always been my favorite ride and thus I wanted a name to distinguish that point about me. Here is a picture of that sign:


003 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

In early 2011, my family made the faithful decision to leave the friendly confines of California and travel across the country to visit the other theme park in Orlando, Florida. I managed to get two weeks in a row off from my job and we made the choice to go to Walt Disney World in June of 2012!
This was going to be the first trip for my wife (whom I will call Mrs. Laffite or DW) and I since an off-site trip back in 1998 when we were just barely married. This trip was going to be taken in part to celebrate what was now our 15th wedding anniversary.

This also was going to be the very first time our two children (one boy who we will call Laffite Junior or DS and one girl who we will call Princess Laffite or DD) were to see the Orlando parks after dozens of day trips to Disneyland.
Here are the cast of characters:

Laffite’s Landing:​

Me at Citrico's by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

Hello there. I am Laffite. I am a 42 year man living in Southern California. I work for a major communications company and have my held my job for many years. I am currently in school and pursuing a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. I was born in Southern California and went to Disneyland many times as a child. I moved to Illinois and lived there for about 8 years while I grew up. I became a fan of sports teams like the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears and then returned to Southern California. I attended Disneyland a dozen or so times during the 80’s and all through the 90’s. In 2007, my family and I decided to get annual passes for Disneyland and it was at this time that we became far more passionate about the place. In the next 5 years, we went to Disneyland well over 50 times and became very familiar and passionate about the park. I really love going to Disneyland and I love the way it makes my kids feel. We are postponing our next trip to Disneyland until spring of 2013 but can’t wait to see Carsland, Buena Vista street and all the other changes that have occurred at the parks.

Mrs. Laffite:​

Wife enjoying a cocktail at Teppan Edo by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


This is my beautiful wife. She puts up with my sometimes expensive “hobbies” which often involve Disney. Mrs. Laffite enjoys downtime and spending time at the beach and the pool. She is also a huge fan of Space Mountain and Star Wars (and thus Star Tours!). In 1998, we went to Disney World together. We didn’t “plan” the trip but rather we winged it. We ended up having a pretty great time but I assured her that we could do better. I think that she now agrees!

Laffite Junior:​

Son with Beach Donald by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

This is our 11 year old son! Laffite jr loves everything about space and villains. In fact, he loves villains so much that we had a hard time getting him to embrace posing with non-villain characters in Disneyworld! We always have the same problem at Disneyland. Anyway, he also loves Donald Duck and has the Duck’s personality. He’s very intelligent (as you will see by his Sum of All Thrills creation) but has Asperger’s Syndrome which makes him socially awkward at times. Overall, Laffite Jr handled most of the challenges presented by a first WDW vacation very well. He probably could have lived without so many signature restaurants, but overall, he especially enjoyed Epcot. To him and to the rest of us, Epcot presented a park that was nothing like anything we have here in either the Disneyland resort or surrounding parks. We ended up staying in an Epcot resort which meant several trips to Epcot were in order!

Princess Laffite:​

Daughter before Cinderella's Royal Table by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

This is our seven year old angel! Princess Laffite doesn’t look it but she is a big time thrill seeker. We only rode Rock N Roller Coaster one time but she still says it was her favorite ride in the whole resort! She is a big time lover of Princesses and even though we did manage numerous meetings with Princesses, I think she would like more. There were a couple of things we did wrong on this trip. One of them may have been how long the trip was. By the end of the trip, it was too much for Princess Laffite as she was beset with fever and stomach issues by the end of the trip. As gung ho as any of us, Princess Laffite tried her best to make a go of it and did a good job sucking it up for our final evening in the resort.

Well, now that we have introduced everyone, it’s time for me to start the trip report. We’ll see if I can add as many pictures as possible (although there were times when taking pictures was a challenge). I am looking forward to sharing this all with you.

Prologue

Day 1
Arrival Day
Lunch at Coral Reef

 

[Belle83]

Greetings from one Disneyland fan to another! Can't wait to read about your trip.

 

[natebenma]

I am so in!!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Great start. I loved the introduction to your family.

Dee

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I'm in!

So great to put a face to the names!

 

[cindydare]

I'm in! Enjoyed your live updates and can't wait to read your trip report!

 

[Laffites Landing]

Prologue:​

This part is not really about Disneyworld. This part is about GETTING TO Disneyworld. See, while planning might be half the fun, getting there really isn’t so there isn’t much I want to say here and don’t consider this part of the story. Well, here goes.

In early 2011, we decided 2012 was the year we would take the plunge and go to Disneyworld. Since then the following happened:

1) My father died unexpectedly in March 2011
2) My job moved another 40 miles or so away from where we live
3) We decided to move closer to where I work

With all these distractions in hand, we had made a decision to postpone our trip to the World. This decision came after months of planning on my part. The thing was, we could still get our initial deposit back and could still postpone the trip. Our kids had been looking forward to the trip for over a year but we had to tell them it was a no go.

In the end, we decided to go anyway. Even though there was a lot going on, we felt it was a good time for a once in a lifetime trip. Our goal was to go without telling the kids until the last minute that we changed our minds.

Things were going well and we were going to tell the kids we were going to Walt Disney World on Saturday the 16th of June…. but my wife couldn’t wait!!!!! On Wednesday the 13th of June, my lovely sainted wife spilled the beans to my kids (grrrrrr) and the surprise was spoiled. I can assure everyone that we will not be trying to keep a secret like that again!

Anyway, here was our traveling plan:

1) Our first night in our resort was Monday June 18th but we are coming all the way from California so if we traveled on June 18th, we couldn’t get to our resort until around 6 PM. Our decision was to instead travel on June 17th and stay close to the airport that evening. We decided to fly Virgin America because it seemed like a cool airline and it was a non-stop flight to Orlando. Our flight was leaving at 8 AM on June 17th.

2) Because the flight left at 8AM, we had to be at LAX at 6AM to check in and go through TSA and all that. We live approx. 90+ minutes away from LAX and would have had to leave our house about 4AM to get there in time. Our solution? Stay at a hotel near LAX that offered “Park N Fly” services and would allow you to park your car for up to two weeks and give you a ride to the airport.

So we packed up and left on June 16th:


143 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

After a nice leisurely trip down to LAX (much better than what would have happened if we had tried to leave on June 17th at 4AM!), we arrived at our hotel, the Hacienda Hotel. The Hacienda Hotel is functional as a place to leave your car and we really had no complaints about them…. except the room kind of sucks. I took NO PICTURES of this place so forgive me. They got us to LAX on time and once we got settled, we waited a while for the airplane to call us inside:


146 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr
Laffite Jr


147 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr
Princess Laffite (and Mrs. Laffite)


148 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr
Laffite


149 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr
Our Plane


151 by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr
Virgin America Entrance

The trip was uneventful and soon we were on the MCO mini-monorail heading to our airport hotel, the Orlando Hilton was nice:


Daughter on MCO mini-monorail by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Orlando Hilton Room by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Oralndo Hilton Pool by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Orlando Hilton Microwave by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

We had a nice meal in their onsite restaurant, went swimming in their nice little pool and then got to sleep early. Afterall, we were now on East Coast time and had arranged a 6:30 AM pickup (3:30 west coast time, yowzers!) to get us back to the airport for a ride on the Magical Express. I really wanted my family and me to experience the Magical Express. It wasn’t that big of a deal though and we ended up NOT taking it back to the airport (because I am an imbecile, we’ll get to that later) so I wouldn’t go out of your way to take it. However, it is a nice enough service. Anyway, that’s enough for the prologue. Almost time for Day 1.

 

[Laffites Landing]

Greetings from one Disneyland fan to another! Can't wait to read about your trip.

Belle! I am going to try to present my point of view of especially the cloned rides we rode (we basically avoided most of them). There was some dissention in the ranks on some of the rides/attractions, though!

I am so in!!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Great start. I loved the introduction to your family.

Dee

Thanks Dee and (it feels so nice to say that to you of all people, you ran the welcome wagon when I first came to the DIS!)

I'm in!

So great to put a face to the names!

Yes Robyn. to my report. Nice to have you here!

I'm in! Enjoyed your live updates and can't wait to read your trip report!

Hi Cindydare and some of my friends from the resort board coming over.

 

[Ninja Mom]

HI!!!!!!! I am SO looking forward to your trip report!!!!

You are off to a great start!
~NM

 

[MickeyT]

Might as well get the whole crew over here. Looking forward to your 'tails'!

 

[Lucille1963]

Great start!

 

[wishinon3stars]

Hi I'm over from the BC thread too! Enjoyed your introduction and start of your trip!

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Laffites Landing]

Day 1: Arrival Day!​

Ok, so after getting to the airport after the lady at the Hilton picked up a few more passengers, I think they were very surprised that when they asked “What airline”, I responded, take me to the Disney Magical Express. I sort of understand why now. It’s a nice service and I’m glad they have it but it isn’t really anything special. It’s just a nice service that transports you from the airport to the resort. Still, I’d do it again if the opportunity arises, especially on the day we arrived at the airport (and we weren’t spending the night offsite).

Aw well, here are some pictures of Magical Express in the early morning and our ride into Disney world:


Early Morning Magical Express Counter by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Magical Express TV by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


My Son and I on Magical Express by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Wife and Daughter on Magical Express by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Ah yes, and the obligatory poor Walt Disney World sign picture from the Magical Express:


Obligatory Walt Disney World Sign by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

Soon we were at the YACHT CLUB! Now prior to going to Walt Disney World, we did some research. We wanted this to be a trip of a lifetime and we wanted to be close to Epcot. Our decision was to stay at the Yacht Club and concierge level for our trip. This was the correct decision in so many ways, not the least of which was that the Yacht Club was very much in the style of my family’s tastes and the closeness to Epcot turned out be a true blessing as that was our favorite park BY FAR. It was also good that we were so close to Hollywood Studios, which turned out to be my daughter’s favorite park.

Once we got to the resort, we were greeted in the lobby and taken right up to the fifth floor for check in. For some reason, I didn’t take pictures of this portion of our trip. Not sure why. A few minutes later, we were armed with our Keys to the World and had the bags stowed and headed off to have a little chow in the club lounge and then it was time for our first park:


First trip to the Yacht Club Club Lounge by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Entrance to Hollywood Studios by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

Yep, we went to Hollywood Studios. We entered the park about 30 minutes after rope drop and we decided to get a photopass +. As of the writing of this, I do not have my photopass+ CD that comes with it so I might not be able to post all relevant photos until I do. I checked my ap and it said that my choice for our first ride was down. Rock N Roller Coaster. I should have just believed the ap but instead we walked to Rock N Roller Coaster and it was down (just like the ap said), they were offering fastpasses but they didn’t come due until when we were going to be out of the park. On the way, we took a photpass picture in front of what would become one of our favorite attractions:


The family in front of the tower of terror by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

We got a fastpass to Tower of Terror and then we headed to what would be our first ride. My wife and I had done this back in 1998 and I remember loving it so here goes. The wait was one of the shortest at just 20 minutes. Yeah, it was a little busy that day!

“Stand Aside Martin!” “No You Don’t Ethan!”

Yep, so we got our picture taken in front of the big hat and headed to the Great Movie Ride:


Whole Family in front of the DHS "hat" by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


The Great Movie Ride in Disney Hollywood Studios by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


My Family prepares to enter the Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Gene Kelly in the Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


John Wayne in the Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Jane in the Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


I have to say it, this is an awesome ride! I think it gets short shrift from some Disneyworld veterans because they may have seen it so many times but this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for when we traveled to Orlando. Apparently, from my research, there are two possible scenes that the cast member/tour guide could act out for us. We ended up going twice and got the gangster both times. My son especially loved the fight portion and shooting that went into that scene and he requested that we go again a little later in the week.

There do seem to be nets up now over the Chorus Line(?) scene at the very beginning of the ride and the Casablanca scene. I don’t think that was there when we went 14 years ago. Who knows, but the Wizard of Oz scene was especially cool.


Munchkin in Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Munchkin (2) in Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Wicked Witch of the East in Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Dorothy and Friends in Great Movie Ride by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr



After the Great Movie Ride we went back to Sunset Blvd. and back to Rock N Roller Coaster. 90… minute…. wait (!!!)

Instead we just went to Tower of Terror and used our fastpass.


A loooonnnggg game in TOT (Orlando) by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Cobwebs in lobby of Tower of Terror (Orlando) by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


My Wife seems happy to be boarding the elevator of death by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr


Here is our ride photo


Tower of Terror Ride Photo for June 18th by LaffitesLnding, on Flickr

This ride was AWESOME! My wife and I did this back in 1998 but after riding the California version of it (which has its charms) we had completely forgotten about this ride. But WOW! That fifth dimension completely blew us away. Tack on to that the fact that I never had any idea what was going to happen on the ride. It just was well beyond the California Adventure version. This was a unanimous opinion amongst our entire group.

After the tower of terror, we went to our final attraction that day in Hollywood Studios. It was time to see if there was much more in this Provincial Life…. (continued on next post....)

 

[Laffites Landing]

HI!!!!!!! I am SO looking forward to your trip report!!!!

You are off to a great start!
~NM

Thanks Ninja Mom and to my report! I look forward to your comments

Might as well get the whole crew over here. Looking forward to your 'tails'!

Hello Mike and to you. You were there around the same time. Were you affected by the rain or did you get out before it before it started pouring?

Great start!

Lucille!

Hi I'm over from the BC thread too! Enjoyed your introduction and start of your trip!

Looking forward to hearing more!

to the thread wishin! I hope to keep this going!

 

[georgiasmom]

Followed you over from the BC/YC thread. Great report so far! Surprised no Toy Story Mania!

 

[meanpc]

Nice report so far - good intros and photos. You used to play at PP?

 

[momjeeps]

I'm in for this report! DH and I also grew up in So CA and are DL fans. We are planning our first WDW vaca in Sept 2013. So I'm very interested in a fellow DL lovers point of view.

 

[Pinkgirl]

Hi, I'm checking in from the Yacht and Beach thread too

 

[natebenma]

Nice start!!! Isn't it great how soon after arrival you can actually make it to a park? Did you take the boat over to HS?

Love your pictures from the Great Movie Ride and Tower of Terror!

We enjoy the GMR. I don't know how many times I have been on this. Maybe 10-12? I have only seen the cowboy scene once. And it was awesome!

Great mix of expressions in the ToT ride photo.

 

[LovintheLodge]

I am a little late in getting on board here! Great start to your report...loved the family introductions and the background to your DIS 'name'. I am heading to DLR for the first time in August. You had replied when I posted that on the Y&BC thread. I will probably PM you and pixarmom for some much needed DLR advice.

Looking forward to more!!

Kerry

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Laffites Landing]

Followed you over from the BC/YC thread. Great report so far! Surprised no Toy Story Mania!

The reason we did not do Toy Story Mania (or Soarin' Over California.... sorry, just Soarin') on this trip was because they are extremely popular rides that need to be planned for and they are, from what I've read, basically just clones of the same rides we've ridden a couple of dozen of times in California Adventure... I figured I'd need to explain that. I enjoy Toy Story Midway Mania but it's really not that close to the top of the list of favorite rides for our family so we just figured we'd go on it if we got a chance that we weren't going to tie ourselves in knots to do it... if that makes sense (and we never got on the ride, btw)

Nice report so far - good intros and photos. You used to play at PP?

and thanks for the kind words. What's PP? I think maybe I must have confused you with my writing somehow! I apologize for that, I'm not always coherent.

I'm in for this report! DH and I also grew up in So CA and are DL fans. We are planning our first WDW vaca in Sept 2013. So I'm very interested in a fellow DL lovers point of view.

and yeah, there's going to be a lot of comparisons in this trip report. Depending on what you think of some of the Disneyland rides. In my first installment I pointed out some of the differences in Tower of Terror. We were blown away by the Hollywood Studios version. In fact, I think on our next trip, we will try to ride that at least five times! It was that cool! I love our ToT but the one in Disney World is way better in my opinion and very different.

Hi, I'm checking in from the Yacht and Beach thread too

Pinkgirl!