May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 5

Day 5 – 5/25 - Magic Kingdom & PhotoPass Phun

After staying out late the night before watching fireworks,we slept in a little this morning, got ready in a leisurely fashion and arrivedat the Magic Kingdom around 10:00. We grabbed someFastPasses to see Mickey Mouse at the Town Hall, and headed straight forFrontierland to see what kind of waits were in store at Big Thunder MountainRailroad.

We grabbed a FastPass for Splash Mountainand hopped on BTMRR. This time DD was much better about holding the ‘big arms”a little longer…

…but not too much longer.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 4

Day 4 – 5/24 – Magic Kingdom& Wishes

The morning started with more homework before we left forthe parks.

There’s some debate about whether its faster to drive to theMagic Kingdom, park at the Ticket & Transportation Center, then take amonorail or ferry to the turnstiles, or simply take a bus from your resortdirectly to the MK, bypassing the T&TC altogether. Whenever we’ve had arental car, we’ve driven. It’s usually 25 minutes or so from the time we getinto our car in the AKL parking lot until we get to the turnstiles.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 3

Day 3 – 5/23 – LeCellier

After a late night at Hyperspace Hoopla, we decided to takeit easy and sleep in a little bit. Since we had pulled DD out of school for theweek, her teacher was kind enough to prepare an assignment for her to do eachday. It was a travel journal with questions to answer about each day, and aplace for drawing a picture.

After homework was done and we were up and at ‘em, we headedover to Epcot. After grabbing some FastPasses for Soarin, we rode the Seas withNemo and Friends, and headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. In the queue areaare a couple of tanks with some rays and fish. This puffer fish kept comingover to DD and it seemed like it was looking right at her.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 2

Day 2 - 5/22 - Star Wars Weekend

About a year before our trip, DD started getting into StarWars. I don’t remember how it started, but over that period of time we watchedthe original trilogy together, she watched most of the first season of Clone Wars,as well as the Clone Wars movie, and I found some old Star Wars toys on ebaythat she enjoyed playing with. Santa even brought her a lightsaber and someStar Wars books.

When I told her that Star Wars Weekends would be happeningwhen we were at Walt Disney World, she had no idea what I was talking about.After I explained what Star Wars Weekends were, she got crazy excited.  If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a fantastic sitethat will have all the details: http://sww.studioscentral.com/main/.

In preparation for our trip, we made a couple of StarWars-themed shirts for DD.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 1

Day 1 – 5/21 - Departure Day & Epcot

After visiting Walt Disney World in late August/earlySeptember a few times, we wanted to mix things up a little bit, so we scheduleda May trip. On our last trip we had renewed our annual passes, and since theywere running a special 15-month renewal, we figured we would be able to use ourDVC points for a value studio at Animal Kingdom Villas at Jambo House, and usethe remaining Southwest Rapid Rewards tickets that were due to expire later in2011. That would enable us to go in May and October, with the onlyout-of-pocket expenses being for food!

We woke up early and were out the door a little before6:00am.  We live about an hour and 15minutes east of Buffalo,which is the closest city that Southwest flies to. It was a little foggy aroundour house, but when we hit the NYS Thruway, the fog really got thick.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 8 & 9

9/5 & 9/6 – Last Days and Trip Wrap-up

We slept in a little after being out late the night before. My mother drove up from Tampa in the morning. We spent some time swimming and participating in some of the activities around the resort. 

In the evening we ate dinner at LeCellier, which was excellent (as always). DD loves steak and mushrooms (what 7-year-old likes mushrooms – weird kid), so we split a side order of mushrooms, which is way too much for one person, two people and probably three. The mushroom filet and mushroom risotto completed my mushroom trifecta. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel to start packing things up. We had an 11:20am flight the following morning. The morning was uneventful and, despite the ridiculous backup at security at the airport (when is that NOT a madhouse?) our travel home went very smoothly.

On the way back home DW and I talked a little about the trip, and we agreed that with all of the special experiences that we had, the fantastic (albeit hot) weather and the nonexistent crowds, there would be no way to top this trip – it simply, and literally, couldn’t get any better. But we’ll certainly give it a try – we’ve got vacations planned for May and October 2011 to get the biggest bang for our Annual Pass buck!

Thanks for reading! I promise to get our next trip report in a lot more timely fashion...

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 7

9/3 MK

Unlike our last trip to Magic Kingdom a couple of days prior, we arrived around 8:30 to grab a good viewing spot for the Welcome show. If you get there early enough, cast members will set out hula hoops to amuse the kids (and parents). It looks like DD is a great hula hooper, but trust me when I tell you that this picture captures the split second between her letting go and the thing hitting the ground…