Travel dates: December 31, 2011 January 9, 2012
Travel method: Flight/cab
Resort: Hilton in Downtown Disney
Ages Represented in Group: 3 adults (all mid-20s)
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: many years since any of us had been to WDW
Cast of characters:
Jessica (me)
Pat (my husband)
Maggie (friend)
It had been many years since any of us had been to WDW (mid to late 1990s). It had been almost 17 years since I personally had been to WDW in Florida. We were all very much due for a visit, and it was the first time any of us went as adults.
Since this was a long trip and will be a long recap, I will break our trip into several posts.
Introduction:
Maggie and I signed up for the WDW Marathon in July 2011. We ran our first half marathon in March 2011, and this was going to be our first full marathon. We figured if we were going to run a marathon, Disney would be a good one to run.
We were originally planning to spend just a few days at Disney before the marathon, but our trip quickly grew from there. What was going to be a long weekend became a five day trip when we decided we wanted to go to all four Disney parks and spend a day at Universal we couldnt make a trip to Orlando without visiting the Harry Potter world! We then realized that we were going to need three vacation days in order to make this work; if we were willing to take four vacation days, we could expand the trip to nine days, since January 2 was a paid holiday for each of us, and we would then have two full weekends to spend on this trip. And that would allow us to spend New Years Eve at WDW! So the trip quickly went from a three-day long weekend to a nine-day long vacation. I am so glad we made this decision.
To save a little money, we decided to stay at the Hilton at Downtown Disney. Although it was offsite, the hotel offered free shuttles to all Disney parks, and as far as I know, was the only offsite hotel that offered Extra Magic Hours at the parks. It was also just across the street from Downtown Disney, which we thought would be a fun location. We decided to skip on the dining plan because we wanted more flexibility to save money on food. I will also note that I am a vegetarian (and a foodie), and am very happy to say that I found plenty of delicious vegetarian food in the parks.
Day One: December 31, 2012
The Plan: Arrive in Orlando, Dinner at Biergarten, Ring in the New Year in Epcot
We flew into Orlando bright and early the morning of New Years Eve. I had read that the parks close early on NYE because they become so full of people, so we wanted to make sure we were at a park before that happened. We took a 6:20am flight to make sure we would be there in time.
We took a cab to the hotel (the Hilton in Downtown Disney), dropper our luggage off, and then took a hotel shuttle to Epcot.
As we expected, Epcot was packed, but we were able to get in. Since the park was so full, we decided we would come back another day to do some of the rides and opted to tour the World Showcase instead. On our way there, we stopped at the Coca-Cola store to try free samples of Coke products from other countries. I really like the product from Israel and the vitamin water from Japan. The watermelon flavored soda from China was interesting. Italys was just gross to me it was really bitter and left a bad taste in my mouth.
We then headed to the World Showcase. The first stop in our travels was Canada. Our original plan was to drink our way around the world, but it was a hot day, and only noon, so instead we planned to just try a few drinks and food items along our way. In Canada we watched the video, O, Canada! The videos are in what they call Circle Vision 360. You stand in around room where you are surrounded by a screen that circles the whole room. It was a really pretty way to learn about what Canada has to offer. A few countries had these videos. They felt somewhat dated, and were pretty much advertisements for the countries, but I enjoyed them. It made me want to visit countries I hadnt been to, and I got excited when I noticed landmarks I have been to before.
Next up was United Kingdom. We snapped a few pictures, and were quickly on our way to France.
One of my favorite things about the World Showcase was that the cast members in each country were actually from that country. It made the experience feel more authentic. In France we stopped at a kiosk for strawberry-filled crepes topped with sugar. They were delicious! We also watched Impressions de France, which made me want to go back there. I spent two days in Paris in high school, but it looks like I missed a lot there!
After the movie we were off to Morocco, where we stopped for lunch at the Tangierine Caf. The three of us split two Vegetarian Plates, which included hummus, couscous, falafel, lentils, tabouleh and salad greens. I also tried the Kabash Coffee coffee with hazelnut liqueur. It was good, but for about $7, it was a tiny cup. Morocco was one of my favorite countries. They didnt have any rides or vidoes, but they had a market with beautiful clothes, jewelry and other items for sale.
Japan was next. There were no rides or videos, but we walked through a few displays and took some pictures.
Next was the U.S. in what they called the American Adventure. As you may expect, we were greeted by funnel cakes. How much more American does it get? There was a long wait until the next show in the U.S., so we decided to come back later in the day.
Italy had some of my favorite scenery. We thought about stopping for gelato but the line was too long. We had dinner reservations in Germany that night, so we passed through quickly our first time there. We stopped for a refreshing drink in China, and then it was onto Norway. We waited in a long line for the Norway ride, Maelstrom. It was a boat ride with a small drop. I had braced myself for a much bigger drop, but it wasnt bad at all.
Our last stop around the world was Mexico. By this point, we were dealing with wall-to-wall people, but we made our way to the boat ride in Mexico, the Gran Fiesta Tour starring Donald Duck. The ride was definitely one for kids. It was a random boat ride through a lot of television screens, each playing snippets of Donald Duck and the Caballeros. I think it was designed to keep the attention of a three year old.
After Mexico we headed back to America, where Disney was handing out free hats and horns for New Years Eve. We waited in line for about half an hour since we were told they were only giving away supplies until they ran out. After we picked up our goodies we went to watch the American Adventure movie. You can imagine how loud it was in this building with everyone blowing their horns indoors! I wish we could say we were better behaved, but we were caught up in spirit of NYE
After the movie we walked back to Germany for dinner at Biergarten. It was a family-style buffet where we were sat with a family of five at our table. It was a couple with three girls. As the oldest of three girls, I was able to relate. The middle child was especially talkative and entertained us during the meal. She told me that Jessica is her favorite girls name!
I was impressed with the buffet. The website for the restaurant did not list many vegetarian options, but they had tons. Lots of salads (including bean salads) to choose from, cauliflower soup, pretzel bread, spaetzle and more. Not to mention all the desserts! I did not go hungry. Or thirsty ;-) The entertainment was fun too.
After dinner we went back to China to catch the only movie we had missed, Reflections of China, another circle movie theater. Im adding China to my list of places to visit! Okay, it was already on there, but the movie made me really want to go soon.
After the movie we just wandered around the World Showcase, looking for the best place to catch the fireworks at midnight. We settled in somewhere around Japan. A little before midnight they celebrated New Years for each country who had already celebrated around the world. They would announce, Germany celebrated New Years five hours ago! And then Germany lit up, they played German music and shot fireworks off near Germany. The U.S. show was awesome. They sky was completely lit up.
Since we had been up since 4:00am, we were ready to head back to our hotel right after midnight. It took forever to make it back to the buses, and then we had to fight our way onto the bus for our hotel. A cast member was threatening that people would walk home if he saw any pushing, but I definitely got elbowed by a lady who managed to get a seat on the bus! We had to stand on the hour plus bus ride home, thanks to NYE traffic. I was a little grumpy by then (my feet were KILLING me!), but all in all, it was an awesome way to ring in the New Year!
Travel method: Flight/cab
Resort: Hilton in Downtown Disney
Ages Represented in Group: 3 adults (all mid-20s)
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: many years since any of us had been to WDW
Cast of characters:
Jessica (me)
Pat (my husband)
Maggie (friend)
It had been many years since any of us had been to WDW (mid to late 1990s). It had been almost 17 years since I personally had been to WDW in Florida. We were all very much due for a visit, and it was the first time any of us went as adults.
Since this was a long trip and will be a long recap, I will break our trip into several posts.
Introduction:
Maggie and I signed up for the WDW Marathon in July 2011. We ran our first half marathon in March 2011, and this was going to be our first full marathon. We figured if we were going to run a marathon, Disney would be a good one to run.
We were originally planning to spend just a few days at Disney before the marathon, but our trip quickly grew from there. What was going to be a long weekend became a five day trip when we decided we wanted to go to all four Disney parks and spend a day at Universal we couldnt make a trip to Orlando without visiting the Harry Potter world! We then realized that we were going to need three vacation days in order to make this work; if we were willing to take four vacation days, we could expand the trip to nine days, since January 2 was a paid holiday for each of us, and we would then have two full weekends to spend on this trip. And that would allow us to spend New Years Eve at WDW! So the trip quickly went from a three-day long weekend to a nine-day long vacation. I am so glad we made this decision.
To save a little money, we decided to stay at the Hilton at Downtown Disney. Although it was offsite, the hotel offered free shuttles to all Disney parks, and as far as I know, was the only offsite hotel that offered Extra Magic Hours at the parks. It was also just across the street from Downtown Disney, which we thought would be a fun location. We decided to skip on the dining plan because we wanted more flexibility to save money on food. I will also note that I am a vegetarian (and a foodie), and am very happy to say that I found plenty of delicious vegetarian food in the parks.
Day One: December 31, 2012
The Plan: Arrive in Orlando, Dinner at Biergarten, Ring in the New Year in Epcot
We flew into Orlando bright and early the morning of New Years Eve. I had read that the parks close early on NYE because they become so full of people, so we wanted to make sure we were at a park before that happened. We took a 6:20am flight to make sure we would be there in time.
We took a cab to the hotel (the Hilton in Downtown Disney), dropper our luggage off, and then took a hotel shuttle to Epcot.
As we expected, Epcot was packed, but we were able to get in. Since the park was so full, we decided we would come back another day to do some of the rides and opted to tour the World Showcase instead. On our way there, we stopped at the Coca-Cola store to try free samples of Coke products from other countries. I really like the product from Israel and the vitamin water from Japan. The watermelon flavored soda from China was interesting. Italys was just gross to me it was really bitter and left a bad taste in my mouth.
We then headed to the World Showcase. The first stop in our travels was Canada. Our original plan was to drink our way around the world, but it was a hot day, and only noon, so instead we planned to just try a few drinks and food items along our way. In Canada we watched the video, O, Canada! The videos are in what they call Circle Vision 360. You stand in around room where you are surrounded by a screen that circles the whole room. It was a really pretty way to learn about what Canada has to offer. A few countries had these videos. They felt somewhat dated, and were pretty much advertisements for the countries, but I enjoyed them. It made me want to visit countries I hadnt been to, and I got excited when I noticed landmarks I have been to before.
Next up was United Kingdom. We snapped a few pictures, and were quickly on our way to France.
One of my favorite things about the World Showcase was that the cast members in each country were actually from that country. It made the experience feel more authentic. In France we stopped at a kiosk for strawberry-filled crepes topped with sugar. They were delicious! We also watched Impressions de France, which made me want to go back there. I spent two days in Paris in high school, but it looks like I missed a lot there!
After the movie we were off to Morocco, where we stopped for lunch at the Tangierine Caf. The three of us split two Vegetarian Plates, which included hummus, couscous, falafel, lentils, tabouleh and salad greens. I also tried the Kabash Coffee coffee with hazelnut liqueur. It was good, but for about $7, it was a tiny cup. Morocco was one of my favorite countries. They didnt have any rides or vidoes, but they had a market with beautiful clothes, jewelry and other items for sale.
Japan was next. There were no rides or videos, but we walked through a few displays and took some pictures.
Next was the U.S. in what they called the American Adventure. As you may expect, we were greeted by funnel cakes. How much more American does it get? There was a long wait until the next show in the U.S., so we decided to come back later in the day.
Italy had some of my favorite scenery. We thought about stopping for gelato but the line was too long. We had dinner reservations in Germany that night, so we passed through quickly our first time there. We stopped for a refreshing drink in China, and then it was onto Norway. We waited in a long line for the Norway ride, Maelstrom. It was a boat ride with a small drop. I had braced myself for a much bigger drop, but it wasnt bad at all.
Our last stop around the world was Mexico. By this point, we were dealing with wall-to-wall people, but we made our way to the boat ride in Mexico, the Gran Fiesta Tour starring Donald Duck. The ride was definitely one for kids. It was a random boat ride through a lot of television screens, each playing snippets of Donald Duck and the Caballeros. I think it was designed to keep the attention of a three year old.
After Mexico we headed back to America, where Disney was handing out free hats and horns for New Years Eve. We waited in line for about half an hour since we were told they were only giving away supplies until they ran out. After we picked up our goodies we went to watch the American Adventure movie. You can imagine how loud it was in this building with everyone blowing their horns indoors! I wish we could say we were better behaved, but we were caught up in spirit of NYE
After the movie we walked back to Germany for dinner at Biergarten. It was a family-style buffet where we were sat with a family of five at our table. It was a couple with three girls. As the oldest of three girls, I was able to relate. The middle child was especially talkative and entertained us during the meal. She told me that Jessica is her favorite girls name!
I was impressed with the buffet. The website for the restaurant did not list many vegetarian options, but they had tons. Lots of salads (including bean salads) to choose from, cauliflower soup, pretzel bread, spaetzle and more. Not to mention all the desserts! I did not go hungry. Or thirsty ;-) The entertainment was fun too.
After dinner we went back to China to catch the only movie we had missed, Reflections of China, another circle movie theater. Im adding China to my list of places to visit! Okay, it was already on there, but the movie made me really want to go soon.
After the movie we just wandered around the World Showcase, looking for the best place to catch the fireworks at midnight. We settled in somewhere around Japan. A little before midnight they celebrated New Years for each country who had already celebrated around the world. They would announce, Germany celebrated New Years five hours ago! And then Germany lit up, they played German music and shot fireworks off near Germany. The U.S. show was awesome. They sky was completely lit up.
Since we had been up since 4:00am, we were ready to head back to our hotel right after midnight. It took forever to make it back to the buses, and then we had to fight our way onto the bus for our hotel. A cast member was threatening that people would walk home if he saw any pushing, but I definitely got elbowed by a lady who managed to get a seat on the bus! We had to stand on the hour plus bus ride home, thanks to NYE traffic. I was a little grumpy by then (my feet were KILLING me!), but all in all, it was an awesome way to ring in the New Year!