In search of Magic....

[shoppie]

Finally recovered from 9 days at Disney…

We relied 100% on Disney Transportation (except one Cab ride – but it save me from killing my husband and MIL). I walked the world in my Nike Flipflops… Best decision ever. No sweaty feet, didn’t mind getting wet… They were perfect!!

We were on the Disney Dining plan and we totally got our money’s worth!!! (except MIL – more on that later…)

Our package included Memory Maker… I had a goal of 500 PP pictures… we left with 723!!! We received many magic shots!

DD (7) and I did selfies on every ride/ attraction on my iPhone… It started with our flight to Orlando and ended with our flight to Buffalo. We had a blast doing them. I think I’m going to make a book of our selfies….just for fun!

Magic Bands were flawless!!! It captured every ride photo. We didn’t have any issue charging to our room. Love the magic bands…no more hunting for a card to get on rides, in my room or to charge purchases!!!!

 

[shoppie]

We landed at MCO at 10:30am. We took the ME for the first time ever! I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! We were to Coronado Springs by 11:30. Very convenient and definitely will travel with them again! We checked into our room and luck us! It was ready! We were in the Cabanas Room 8120 (Building 8A). We were right next to bus stop 4, the dig site and a short walk to El Centro. The walk wasn’t bad. Bell services were awesome! They gave us rides to our room upon request, we had drivers stop and offer us rides when we were walking. The staff was amazing!!!

First stop on our Disney tour was Downtown Disney or Disney Springs. We had a fantastic lunch at Wolfgang Pucks! We did a little shopping and recreated this picture of DD & Me.

Next stop was 1900 Park Fare for dinner. Let’s start by saying the food was ok. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. The highlight of the dinner was Anastasia, Drizilla and Lady Tremaine. These ladies were always on point. Drizilla tried to sell DD Anastasia. Lady Tremaine invited MIL to an afterhour’s club at DHS. Prince Charming and Cinderella were sweet, DD favorite! They each took their time at our table, no one was hurried. This well made up for the ok food.

Final stop of the day, The Dig site…. OMG!!!! This was the best pool I have ever been to!!! The waterslide is out of this world! DD and I were on it constantly!!

Enjoyed the Frozen Fireworks at DHS from outside the door to our room… Our neighbors said they were nicer from the resort than in DHS.

 

[shoppie]

We started our day at Animal Kingdom. We had a blast! We arrived for rope drop and took our time getting to EE. The park was quiet, we rode EE 3 times!!! We rode everything we wanted in the morning and had a few character interactions. Lunch was at the Flametree BBQ. It was delicious!!!! Who knew, we would travel 1200 miles to run into people from our club back home. We left the park around 3PM.

Magic Shots: Balloons, Tinkerbell standing, Tinkerbell sitting, Single butterfly on the hand, Multiple butterflies

Characters met: Mickey, Minnie, Pocahontas, Dug, Russell

Stop 2 – Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village
We stayed here 4 years ago. I wanted to recreate a photo from the past. It's amazing how time flies....

Stop 3 – DHS and Villains Unleashed

Here’s where my sadness begins….. I was soooo looking forward to this…. To my disappointment, the park was wall to wall people… It took 45 minutes for get a drink. The lines to meet the characters were HOURS long…..We left an hour into the show… very disappointed in how this show was run. We did not receive autograph cards or goody bags upon exit. I sent my first complaint to Disney because of how poorly this even was run.

 

[shoppie]

We headed off to the Magic Kindgom for rope drop. The park was busy but we still rode a bunch of rides.. sorry we didn’t keep count. We had dinner at the Crystal Palace. The food was good. Our waiter Hassan was excellent! MIL scooter died after dinner. DH had to push her back to the resort. DD & I continued touring MK.

Characters met: Tinkerbell, Anna, Elsa, Belle, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Alice, White Rabbit, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Merida

Magic Shots: Dancing Olaf, Tinkerbell

Headed over to the Contemporary for Pirates & Pals Fireworks Voyage. DH made it just in time for the start of the party. MIL stayed at the resort (room).

I somehow managed to keep this a secret from DD. They had plenty of snacks including Cake, popsicles, Mickey Bars, Mickey ice cream, Italian ice, popcorn, chips, candy, etc. As we walked down to the boats, I turn around and there is DD holding Mr Smee’s hand. He held her hand from the point we left the building until she boarded the boat.

We were assigned to the Mr Smee boat, 5th row. It was a perfect seat except right after we start the voyage; it begins raining…sideways… Yep we were soaked…. The rain stopped after 15 minutes. All the rain did not put a damper on the voyage! We had Patch as our guide. He was hysterical. There was a guy on our boat from the UK who was consistently answering Patches questions with “C” or “Sea” answers instead of the usual pirate “Argh”. Patch couldn’t stop laughing… just when he thought he would stop the guy… the guy came back with a “C” answer… Pirate’s favorite state was “Tennessee” – not “Arkansas”. Very funny!!! I’ve not laughed that hard in a long time!


Top off the night…. (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) Peter Pan!!!! He was funny. He picked on anyone he could find. It seems Peter likes to pick on men with facial hair…

 

[sdomino11]

I love the photo re-dos! That would make for a great photo album, along with all those selfies!

 

[shoppie]

Arrived for rope drop and had breakfast at Hollywood & Vine

We toured Hollywood Studios for a half day. MIL not feeling well from the heat so we took her back to the resort. We didn’t get to see any of the Frozen events that day. DD loved the Tower of Terror. I asked a Cast Member about the video and he looked at me like I was green. Thankfully it just magically appeared!!!

Spent the rest of the day at the pool. Had dinner at the Maya Grill. It was awesome!!! If you go there ask for Sal (from White Plains, NY) - He was an amazing waiter!

Characters Met: Phineas & Ferb, Mater & Lightning, Vanellope Von Schweetz, Scorcerer Mickey, Doc McStuffins, Jake, Princess Sophia, Handy Manny

Magic Shots: Sven, Anna & Elsa, Olaf
Tower of Terror Video
Aurasma Shots: Olaf, The Trolls & Sven

 

[shoppie]

We arrived at rope drop (EMH) and we right for Mission Space, Figment, Character spot then headed for the countries. DD did the Kidcot passport….I did the Wine Passport.. Fair trade right?? We toured the countries rode Maelstrom for the first timer. DD loved it! Sorry to see it go!

We had dinner at Teppan Edo – The food was good the show was ok… sorry for Hibachi I want both.

MIL & DH went back to the resort while DD & I continued to tour…. Do you see a theme developing…

DD & went left before Illuminations to do a little night swimming…

Characters Met: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Duffy
Magic Shots: Butterflies, Pictures in front of Spaceship Earth without anyone behind us…. This one is truly magic!

 

[shoppie]

Back to the MK for rope drop. Today we rode 22 rides & had 9 Character experiences

Splash Mountain x3
Big Thunder Mountain RR x2
Flying Carpets x2
Space Mountain x2
Buzz Lightyear x1
Goofy barnstormer x1
Dumbo x1
Small World x 1
Carrousel x 1
Monsters Laugh floor x1
Pirates x2
Jungle Cruise x1
Haunted Mansion x2
Under the Sea x 1
Winne the pooh x1

Characters Met: Jessie, Aladdin, Jasmine, Cinderella, Beast, Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Snow White

Magic Shots: Pascal

We had lunch at BOG – No ADR just walked up and got right in!
We had dinner at CRT – Sara received her crown and her cake. It was the best cake I’ve ever had!!! DH & MIL joined us for dinner.

Late night snack at BOG (we met Beast)!!!!

 

[sullymom]

I've never thought to re-do pictures from then to now. I'm going to for sure do this the next time we go. Thank you for sharing.

 

[shoppie]

On Wednesday, we saw Mariah Carey at MK...

She was way over dressed in long pants, a hoodie and hooker shoes... Both of her kids were in long pants. Same for her assistant and bodyguard. She needed a stroller for her purse...

Every child who approached her, she ignored and walked past them like they weren't there. She went to Peter Pan walked right in, rode the ride and was out in minutes.

Sad that she gets to jump lines, ignore the people who buy her albums and make her poor kids sweat in 95 degree heat in long pants..