Two Disney Nerds go coast to coast – A June WDW & DL trip report - highs, lows and future plans

[lumosq102]

As I type this we are mere days away from our next trip. I somehow managed to eke out a 2 week trip report to almost a full year of sporadic updates – fingers crossed I’ll be a little more on top of things for the next one.

So – highs

Where do we start? This was honestly our best trip ever, full of dreams coming true.

Disneyland
Finally getting to visit was a dream come true for me, and getting to go back to place that was a second home for R growing up was a joy for her too. It was just perfect.





Walt’s apartment
Getting to tour that tiny home was amazing, and surprisingly emotional.



California weather
It was absolute heaven, no humidity, balmy nights… loved it.



Paint the Night
I have seriously missed the Main Street Electrical Parade. Paint the Night is a worthy replacement for that glorious parade



Tiki Room at Disneyland
It’s longer! Has an extra section – and a water feature!



The Polynesian
oh that view. It was absolutely the best room we have ever had, we got to watch the fireworks from our balcony, enjoy glorious sunrises over the Magic Kingdom… when can I move in?





California Grill

After a dodgy visit a few years back California Grill firmly redeemed itself. The food was fantastic, service was superb. Loved it.



Late night Magic Kingdom
Just wandering around after 1am just soaking in the details was bliss, even better with so few people getting underfoot.



Lows

Jetlag
Who would have thought that jumping into three different time zones and back again would make us feel like train wrecks?

Too little time at Disneyland
We had 5 days, there or thereabouts, but we could have done with more. We barely scratched the surface of DCA, we had no idea that park would be so fantastic. Really.

Missing Pixar Pier and Toy Story Land openings by a week
By a week! Que sera sera… but it was annoying to be so close, yet so far.

Overall though, I would happily do the whole thing over. It was a dream of a trip.

[lumosq102]

Future plans

It’s all a bit imminent! I seem to be going into another trip without doing a PTR so I’m going to use this space here to talk about what we are going to be doing very shortly indeed!

It’s a bit of a longer trip this time – 17 nights in all (18 if you include the night at the airport) We are flying back to Orlando on 15 May, staying in the good old Premier Inn at Gatwick the night before (so no prison bunks at Bloc this time around!) before we travel to MCO with Virgin in PE. Yup, back to our old pals Virgin this time who were cheaper when we booked (last September in their sale). We’ll be checking in to the Villa’s at the Grand Floridian for 2 nights before we spend 3 nights on the Disney Dream down to the Bahamas, then back to the Grand for 11 nights. We’ll then be traveling home on a Friday, 31st May. Hoping to avoid that last morning grumpiness by avoiding Magic Kingdom on a Saturday.

It’s my birthday, my 40th in fact, whilst we are out there so we have a few fun things booked with that big old number used as the excuse. This includes:

Keys to the Kingdom (on my birthday!)

After Hours at the Magic Kingdom

Caring for Giants

Brunch at California Grill

Dinner at Remy (on the Dream)

Early Morning Magic at Hollywood Studios

The plan is… well, as you would expect, we have every moment scheduled (my colleagues laughed at me when they saw I even had time set aside for swimming at the resort pool…).

We have some new-to-us activities booked in to the schedule too. As we ended up buying 21 day tickets instead of an annual pass we have access to the water parks so we will be giving Typhoon Lagoon a visit for the first time. I’m really excited for Slinky Dog, so we will be spending a little bit more time at Hollywood Studios on this trip.

We also have a few night-time trips to Epcot planned. This will be our last opportunity to see Illuminations. Illuminations was the show that got me over my fear of fireworks (yes, I was once terrified of the pretty apocalypse in the sky) and it holds a very special place in both of our hearts. We’re both looking forward to seeing what comes next, but saying goodbye to something you love is always sad.

We’re also rather excited to finally be going to a DVC Member Magic party – they have been holding events in the parks for the last couple of years and this is the first time its worked with our plans (last year they had one in Typhoon Lagoon whilst we were there, but it was the night before we flew to California. Since we had to get up at 3am, we figured staying out until after midnight would be folly). This is on 20 May, in Epcot. I’m hoping we will finally meet the Three Caballero’s, or Chip n Dale in their Rescue Rangers costumes – fingers crossed – but rare characters are a feature of these events, along with a DVC party exclusive fireworks show.

If you would like to follow along as we go we will be posting to my IG - I'm kirsty_ws_disney_fix/

Finally, I am determined to do better with my notes this year. Last year my notes stopped when we got off the plan at LAX and only managed to write this thanks to my obsessive photo taking and what is left of our memories.

If you have managed to get this far in – thank you! Thank you so much for reading along, to those of you who have left comments – thank you! It has been such a joy to get to share our madness with other people who love that place as much as we do. And yes – apologies for bombarding your wifi with so many photos. Honestly, I should have called the TR brace your wifi…

Until next time!

[MrsSilverStar]

What.a.trip! Sounds like an amazing holiday coming up. And all those Disney trips clearly agree with you, I’m genuinely shocked you’ll be turning 40, you look much younger.

Have an amazing time, I can’t wait to read all about it!

[collybird]

Your trip sounds amazing! You have so much to look forward to and I cannot wait to read all about it. Enjoy!

[lumosq102]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

What.a.trip! Sounds like an amazing holiday coming up. And all those Disney trips clearly agree with you, I’m genuinely shocked you’ll be turning 40, you look much younger.

Have an amazing time, I can’t wait to read all about it!

See more...

thank you. Disney keeps you young!

Originally Posted by collybird

Your trip sounds amazing! You have so much to look forward to and I cannot wait to read all about it. Enjoy!

See more...

Thank you so much! I can't wait. I realised earlier today that a week today we'll be waking up on the Dream this time next week and had a slight moment. After so much planning its always a bit of a surprise when the date finally comes around

[Goldia]

Lots of amazing highs and not too many lows. Thank you so much for sharing all your amazing photos with us. I've loved looking at all of them.

I'm also amazed you are turning 40. It sounds like you're going to have a blast on your birthday trip. I hope the packing is going well.

Doesn't everyone schedule in pool time? Clearly your work colleagues haven't met anyone from the dibb!

I'm sure you will have a magical time and I'm really looking forward to reading the next trip report.

[Mrs Red C]

Really enjoyed your trip reports, especially the Disneyland ones, it really is a special place!

Hope you have a a great time with the new holiday, looking forward to reading your next trip reports. 😀

[lumosq102]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Lots of amazing highs and not too many lows. Thank you so much for sharing all your amazing photos with us. I've loved looking at all of them.

I'm also amazed you are turning 40. It sounds like you're going to have a blast on your birthday trip. I hope the packing is going well.

Doesn't everyone schedule in pool time? Clearly your work colleagues haven't met anyone from the dibb!

I'm sure you will have a magical time and I'm really looking forward to reading the next trip report.

See more...

thank you!

Packing is now done, Herc is prepped and ready for another jaunt to the parks. I can't quite believe its almost time! I'd like to think I have packed more sensibly this time, but we will see...

thank you so much for reading along and all of your comments. I can't believe we started our TRs at about the same time and you finished months before me. I must do better this time!

Originally Posted by Mrs Red C

Really enjoyed your trip reports, especially the Disneyland ones, it really is a special place!

Hope you have a a great time with the new holiday, looking forward to reading your next trip reports. 😀

See more...

Thank you so much for reading along! and yes, Disneyland really is such a special place. We're hoping to get back later this year, but we will see how that goes!

We're almost there! I'm looking forward to being able to share our adventures with you all when we get back

[Palm trees]

Happy trip and happy 40th (Another one here who'd never have guessed, you really do look younger). I'll be looking forwards to reading all about it.

[Excited83]

I’ve really enjoyed your report. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Your upcoming trip sounds amazing, have a wonderful time.