Zip-ah-de-doo-da, Zip-ah-dee-EH! Two Canadians Visit WDW for the 1st Time - COMPLETE!

[fallonkendra]

Day Two - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - Part Two

After dropping off our goodies from the race Expo, it was time to head to our first park of the trip! We headed out to the front of our hotel and had to wait..... one minute until the bus was pulling up. We were killing it at Disney transportation so far!

After a bus ride which took around 25 minutes, we were pulling up to Magic Kingdom! We had picked this to be our park of the day based on our supper reservation, and it just seemed like the perfect one to start with! And the Christmas decorations were still up, which I didn't think they would be so I was excited about that!

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As soon as I entered the park, I stopped to get a birthday pin (my birthday was the following Wednesday, so I figured it was ok to wear one since it was within a week). As soon as we got to Main Street the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Parade was starting, so of course we stopped to watch our first WDW parade.

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While watching the parade I actually got a little choked up, after months of planning and reading other trip reports on this website, I was finally standing in Magic Kingdom! The parade itself was nothing special, but it was cute and had some great characters. After the parade, we walked down Main Street (where I was again a little choked up at the sight of Cinderella's castle - it's so big and beautiful!). We didn't really have a ton of time to admire it though, we had to get to our first Fastpass selection of our trip! FP+ #1 - Splash Mountain! Once we hopped into the fastpass line, it took about 5 minutes before we were boarding our log. I also prefer the logs here compared to Disneyland - sitting side by side is so much better! It's so easy to plan ahead for a funny photo on this ride, so here's our first ride photo of the trip:

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By the time we finished our visit with Briar Rabbit and Briar Bear, it was after 1pm and I hadn't ate since breakfast, but we were both getting hungry. We knew we wanted a quick service option, since all of our table service credits on our dining plan were spoken for with reservations, so we decided on Peco's Bills! We figured we'd be fine splitting an entree, since we did have a supper reservation for later and we knew we'd have a fairly large meal there. We chose the steak fajita platter with a coke and churros with chocolate sauce as the dessert included with a quick service credit. If we had paid out of pocket, it would have cost us $24.69. After loading up at the fixin's bar, we headed out and found ourselves a table.

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It ended up being more than enough food for us to share and hold us over until supper. While we were eating, I noticed a crane walking around. I'm actually terrified of birds, and this guy walked right up to us with no shame, and stole a mouthful of steak off our tray before we even realized what had happened. I had my phone out just to take a picture of him, he was a couple feet away from us when I started raising my phone up for a picture - this guy was fast!

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A cast member actually saw the entire thing and came over to ask if we wanted anything else (since we weren't offering food to him, he just took it upon himself to steal it). We were fine, but it was so nice that they offered! I guess it's a fairly common occurrence there, the CM started telling us stories about other people having food stolen and some of them were pretty funny stories!

We finished up and went to the Christmas store in Magic Kingdom. I've been trying to buy a new ornament on every trip we go on, so eventually I can decorate an entire Christmas tree just with ornaments that remind us of trips we've taken together. I decided on this one, I knew I wanted something that had the year on it, and also said Walt Disney World (which this one has on the side).

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I was scared of breaking it if I had to carry it around with me all day, so I had it shipped to our hotel for pickup the next day - I love this feature of staying on site!

I'm going to stop this post here before it gets too long, but stay tuned for part three of this day!

 

[A State Of Autumn]

Love the Christmas ornament!

 

[ariane37]

My sister is terrified of birds, so whenever we're in Disney (or Universal, happened there, too) I send her pictures of the birds real close to us when we're eating lol. Older DS doesn't like them so close either so he'll start walking away with his food but of course they follow him Took him a couple attempts to realize this!

 

[Kiren]

-waves- Hello fellow Canadian! My husband and I are going to WDW in May. I have to ask: How was your Delta experience? How long was your connection in Detroit? Is the airport difficult to navigate? We have a tight layover there and I want to make sure we are going to be alright.

 

[SarahDisney]

I love your Splash Mountain picture!!

One of my biggest fears when eating outside is that a bird will come help itself to my food. When I went to Sea World San Diego a few years ago, they actually warned us that the birds tend to take people's food ... I think I scarfed down my entire lunch in like 10 minutes because I was so terrified of a bird eating it. So I definitely understand your fear of the bird.

Also, that ornament you got is really pretty!

 

[fallonkendra]

Love the Christmas ornament!

Thanks! You'll see later it was not the only one we ended up buying...

My sister is terrified of birds, so whenever we're in Disney (or Universal, happened there, too) I send her pictures of the birds real close to us when we're eating lol. Older DS doesn't like them so close either so he'll start walking away with his food but of course they follow him Took him a couple attempts to realize this!

I was a little scared eating outside for the rest of the trip after that happened... but at least it wasn't a Canadian Goose! Those things are vicious! When I was 12, we went on a school trip to Toronto and went to the zoo, where a Canadian goose chased down one of my friends while she was eating a bag of Doritos. I think that really helped solidify my fear of birds...

-waves- Hello fellow Canadian! My husband and I are going to WDW in May. I have to ask: How was your Delta experience? How long was your connection in Detroit? Is the airport difficult to navigate? We have a tight layover there and I want to make sure we are going to be alright.

Of all the American-based airlines I've flown (Delta, United, Continental, American, Alaskan, and there was one more which I forget...), I'd have to say Delta was my favourite. Alaska Airlines was a close second, but they dropped down after a flight attendant spilled red wine all over a brand new white sweater I was wearing. Delta seemed to own the terminal we landed in at the Detroit airport. It was really long, but they did have a mono-rail type thing that just continuously went from one end to the other - I think it would take ~25 minutes to walk from one end to the other, but only 7-8 (with wait times) on the mono-rail thingy. I think our layover in Detroit was just slightly over an hour, and we were more than fine.

I love your Splash Mountain picture!!

One of my biggest fears when eating outside is that a bird will come help itself to my food. When I went to Sea World San Diego a few years ago, they actually warned us that the birds tend to take people's food ... I think I scarfed down my entire lunch in like 10 minutes because I was so terrified of a bird eating it. So I definitely understand your fear of the bird.

Also, that ornament you got is really pretty!

We had a lot of fun with the ride photos on this trip! I'm so glad we bought Memory Maker (or Photopass +, or whatever they are calling it these days).

I actually grew up in a small rural community, where there was a lot of wildlife around all the time, so it seems strange for me to be so scared of birds. Even when I go to a pet store, I get really jumpy around the caged birds...

Thanks! It won't take me long before I have enough Disney Parks ornaments for a full tree haha! That was just the first one we bought on this trip, and we bought two more on our quick Disneyland trip 9 days ago...I might have an addiction...

 

[fallonkendra]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to updating this trip report! One of our kitties got sick last week, so we had to basically follow her around the house and take note of everything she ate, drank, every time she went to the bathroom, etc - on vet's orders. After $700 in vet bills, she's doing much better now, so back to writing my Disney trip report!

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

 

[fallonkendra]

Day Two - Part Three

After making a purchase (which I didn't have to carry with me for the rest of the day - score!) it was time to head to our second fastpass of the day (and our second ride of the trip!) We basically had to walk from one side of the park to the other, but that was okay, we had lots of time. Luke snapped this picture of me in front of the castle while we were walking to Tomorrowland: (and yes, I had a different Disney outfit to wear every single day we were there haha)

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We stopped for our first Photopass pictures of our trip along the way too! We were both really hesitant about buying Photopass before we left, especially with our terrible exchange rate, but my mom decided to give us money towards the cost as part of my birthday present. So, I prepaid the $150US for it - which ended up being $211 Canadian dollars, ugh.

Anyways, I was determined to make it worth it! So here's a few from our first stop at a photographer (as well as the picture from the first post of this trip report):

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From there, we headed over to Space Mountain. The Fastpass line was huge, and I was a little worried we might be in for a long wait time, but it ended up moving pretty well, and we were at the front of the line in about 20 minutes. The star effect isn't nearly as good as it is at Disneyland, and I wasn't a huge fan of the single file seats. Also, 7 weeks after this, we were at Disneyland again and got to experience the Hyperspace Mountain overlay - and nothing can compare to that. It was phenomenal! I still enjoyed Space Mountain at WDW, but I definitely enjoy this ride more at Disneyland. That being said, here is our on-ride photo (our Space Mountain pics were among my least favourite of the trip sadly):

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After this, we decided to head to Fantasyland. Mad Tea Party had a really short lineup, the sign said the queue was 15 minutes but it was actually only about 5 minutes.

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As we were exiting the ride, Pooh and Tigger walked past us, so we decided to follow them to their meet and greet area. There were only a few people in line already, and I love those characters so we hopped in line for our first character meet of our trip!

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Continued in next post...

 

[fallonkendra]

Day Two - Part Four

After meeting Pooh and Tigger, it was time for our third fastpass of the day - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It was a cute ride for sure, but way too quick and I can't imagine waiting in line for over an hour for it. I also realized way too late that I didn't get my on-ride picture and video

Since we had now used up our three pre-selected Fastpasses, we headed to a kiosk to pick out a 4th one. We ended up in line behind people who were completely clueless, and had no idea what they were doing or what they wanted to select. The Cast Member was very patient, but you could tell they were getting a little frustrated too, since the people were looking at their phone, and would say they wanted a fastpass for a ride that wasn't even in Magic Kingdom. Eventually we made it to the front and selected a 4th fastpass for Pirates of the Caribbean.

We checked wait times on the Disney app, and decided to head to Ariel's Undersea Adventure. The wait time said 25 minutes, and it was pretty much exact.

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The ride itself is basically the exact same as the one at Disney California Adventure, but the exterior is really impressive at WDW. I loved how it looked like you were entering a cave while waiting in the queue line. I also apologize for continuously comparing the rides in Florida and California, but I had been to Disneyland first..

We walked over to the Storybook Circus area to check on the wait for Dumbo - only 15 minutes so into another line we get!

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From there, we hopped on the Railroad - with zero wait time. We rode it all the way around to Frontierland. We still had time to kill before our FP+ window opened for POTC, so off to the Enchanted Tiki Room! We didn't have time to check it out when we were in California (either time as it so happens). We got into line and as we walked through the queue line the doors opened up - perfect timing once again! I have to say - seeing that once is enough. Our FP window was open by the time we left the Tiki Room; in less than 5 minutes we were on a boat off to see some Pirates. Once again, another ride which is way better at Disneyland. The ride ended, and Luke and I just looked at each other and said "that was it?!". It's way too short at WDW.

When we checked the time, we realized we needed to hurry to get to our supper reservation - which was of course on the other side of the park...

 

[CdnCarrie]

Any trip report with someone wearing a Jets hat count me in! Go JETS GO!!

I love reading TRs with first timers and hearing about their first expressions.

 

[fallonkendra]

Any trip report with someone wearing a Jets hat count me in! Go JETS GO!!

I love reading TRs with first timers and hearing about their first expressions.

Thanks for reading along! Other people's trip reports were so much help to me in the planning stages of this trip, so I knew I wanted to write one of my own!

Haha, my boyfriend is a HUGE Jets fan, our love of the Disney parks is actually directly related to the Jets. We flew down to Anaheim last year to see the Jets vs. Ducks in the first round of the playoffs, and decided since we were there, we might as well go check out Disneyland. It was love at first sight.

Myself, I was born and raised a Leafs fan, and the Oilers are my Western Conference team since I now live in Edmonton (and you'll find Luke decked out in Oilers gear at every game except when the Jets are in town). We're really hoping to be able to get tickets to the outdoor game in Winnipeg next October!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Excited to read more!!!!!

 

[cajunfan]

I am enjoying your report! Thanks for sharing!

I was amused by the title.

Would that one meal at Pecos Bill's been $24? For one person? The critters at WDW are something else! You have got to watch the squirrels there too...the ducks like to get in on the action also.

Love the Dumbo pictures!

And I had to go look up what a Degu was.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like a fun day at MK!
I totally agree on the exterior & queue for the Little Mermaid ride - the one at MK is so detailed and interesting, and in California it's just a building.

I really love the picture of you in the Dumbo - so cute!

 

[fallonkendra]

Excited to read more!!!!!

Thanks for reading along!

I am enjoying your report! Thanks for sharing!

I was amused by the title.

Would that one meal at Pecos Bill's been $24? For one person? The critters at WDW are something else! You have got to watch the squirrels there too...the ducks like to get in on the action also.

Love the Dumbo pictures!

And I had to go look up what a Degu was.

Yes, our meal at Peco's Bills was $24 for a single meal, We did spilt it, it was quite a bit of food after we went to the topping station. I didn't write down the exact cost breakdown, but I want to say it was $15 for the steak fajita platter (which comes with rice, beans, steak, veggies- onions and green peppers, and 3 soft flour tortillas), $5 for the order of churros - served with chocolate sauce (which counts as your dessert item if you are on the dining plan) and another couple of dollars for the pop (or soda for you Americans haha). When we said we were using a quick service dining credit, the guy handed us the largest cup available though, we were expecting a regular, not a large. It was a nice surprise since we were splitting the meal.

We had so much fun with pictures on this trip, which you'll see if you keep reading It's usually difficult to get Luke to pose for photos, but he loves Disney so much that he put up with me asking to stop at pretty much every Photopass person we saw!

Most people don't know what degus are, and certain places actually have laws against owning them as pets (I know California for sure, and Newfoundland here in Canada). They make amazing little pets though! They are full of personality and can live to be 6-8 years old (which is one of the big reasons I wanted them, I knew I wouldn't be able to handle losing hamsters or gerbils who only live ~2 years). Here's a picture of some of my boys, these five are actually brothers from the same litter who I adopted from a local humane society when they were only 6 weeks old. This picture was taken shortly after that, they are fully grown now (I'd say 2 of them could fit in that dish now) and just celebrated their second birthday last month!

Sounds like a fun day at MK!
I totally agree on the exterior & queue for the Little Mermaid ride - the one at MK is so detailed and interesting, and in California it's just a building.

I really love the picture of you in the Dumbo - so cute!

It was a great first full day at Disney! I'm curious to see if we were ever in the same park on the same day!

Have you thought about future Disney races you might participate in?

 

[SarahDisney]

Have you thought about future Disney races you might participate in?

I've been thinking about it ... but I'm really not sure. I'd like to do a half marathon at Disneyland within the next year, but it's hard for me to get out to California. I definitely want to do more races, but I'm trying to figure out when I can make it work.

 

[fallonkendra]

Day Two - Part Five

Picking up where I left off...we were hurrying across the park to make it to our supper reservation on time. We were going to Be Our Guest! We checked in, and within 5 minutes we were being led into the Beast's castle. I was so excited! When we actually booked our trip, we were already within our 180 day window for making dining reservations, so I was originally unable to get a single supper time BOG reservation. I kept checking over the next few weeks when suddenly this 6:20 spot opened up. By that point I had already booked most of our ADR's so I actually had to juggle my plans to make BOG fit in - but I was determined and it ended up working!

We were led to a table at the back of the main room, right beside the Christmas tree! Sorry this picture is kind of blurry, the room was really dark and I hadn't quite figured out my new camera yet...

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I loved the red napkins at each place setting, rolled into a rose:

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I went a little crazy in the planning stages of my trip, and had read all of the menus posted online for the restaurants we knew we'd be visiting, so I knew exactly what I wanted before I even sat down - the grilled strip steak (cooked well done of course!) with green beans and fries. After reading over the menu, Luke decided to get the same thing, only with his steak cooked medium (gross!). I ordered a glass of water and a glass of root beer to go with my meal. I thought about a glass of wine, but I knew we weren't finished going on rides for the night, and with my Crohn's I really have to be careful of alcohol. Luke ordered a glass of water, a coffee and a bottle of Kronenberg beer (he's not a huge drinker, but you have to take advantage of being in the only licensed area of Magic Kingdom!).

I wish I could remember our waiter's name - he was excellent! Very attentive, friendly and personable without being too intrusive. Our meals came out perfect - my steak was actually cooked well done properly (which a lot of places seem to struggle with). It was cooked fully, but still juicy. And the beans - Oh. My. God. Those beans. According to the menu, they were cooked in truffle oil (which I had never had before - I'm an extremely fussy eater so we don't usually go to very many fancy restaurants), and I couldn't get enough of them. I ate every last one, while picking out the onions and red peppers which came mixed in with them and shoving them onto Luke's plate haha. Like I said, I'm really fussy. Here's a picture of my amazing meal:

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I ended up eating only a few of my fries. I was not a fan of the sauce they were served with, and I prefer shoestring-style fries to thick cut ones like these. It was fine though, the beans and the steak were so fantastic I didn't mind not eating everything on my plate - plus it was more than enough food for me. The steak was huge - I think the menu said it was 10ounces? I typically struggle just to finish an 8 ounce steak at a restaurant, but I was impressed by how much I was able to eat. Luke of course finished all of his, because he's a man.

We knew we would be using credits from the dining plan on this meal, so dessert was included. I already knew what I wanted - I had to try the grey stuff! Luke ordered the orange eclair. Here are our desserts in all their glory:

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The grey stuff was a grey coloured mousse that tasted like cookies n' cream tucked inside a chocolate tart. The tart was harder than I was expecting, but it was still really good! Luke also declared his eclair as being "great!"

Our amazing waiter had actually noticed my birthday pin stuck to my backpack, and brought me a Happy Birthday card signed by Belle and the Beast, and a plate of grey stuff mousse sprinkled with Mickey sprinkles and a candle stuck in it. I thought this was such a nice little touch - some really great Disney magic!

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The cost of our meal: $35/each for our steaks, $5 for each dessert, $3.50 for my root beer, $3 for Luke's coffee and $13 for two beer. We swiped our Magic Bands and used 2 table service credits, leaving us with a bill for $13 for the beer, plus tip (and we tipped well - we loved that waiter!).

We stopped to meet the Beast on our way out. I don't know why Luke was cut out of this picture...

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The Beast noticed my birthday pin, and tried to ask me how old I was, except he kept throwing his hands up in the air and Luke and I thought he was trying to "raise the roof", so we joined in. He thought we were crazy...

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The cast member standing by started laughing, and explained the Beast was trying to ask "how many" while pointing to me birthday pin. We all had a good laugh about that, and then ended up getting these pictures:

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[GALLERY=]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=880683193303&l=dce9fdcf35[/GALLERY]

By the time we left the restaurant, it was already after 8. We had heard the fireworks going off while we were eating our dessert, so that threw a wrench in my plans to see the MK fireworks that night. Spoiler alert - we actually didn't end up seeing them at any point during our vacation, so I guess that'll need to become a priority for when we go back At some point while we were at supper, it had rained which cleared the park out a bit. The park was open until 9 that night, but there were extra magic hours until 11pm and we planned on taking advantage of that!

Over the next two hours, we managed to get so many rides in, all with minimal wait times. Of course we went to the Haunted Mansion (which we both LOVE!), Stitch's Escape (which I thought had so much potential, but fell so flat), Big Thunder Mountain (one of my favourite Disney rides!), Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (which I lost terribly at). Here's our picture from that one, we were taking our mission of defeating Emperor Zurg very seriously...

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I hate to do it again with comparing the parks, but the Buzz Lightyear ride is so much better at Disneyland! It's so much easier to shoot accurately when you can lift the gun up.

We finished our night off at the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, which I actually enjoyed. It's super lame humour, but I laughed like an idiot most of the way through. As we were leaving the park for the night, I stopped to snap these pictures:

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There was a line of Photopass photographers extending down Main Street away from the castle, so we walked until we saw one with a short line before stopping for a bunch of these pictures:

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As we were walking down Main Street, we heard music and actually got to see Tink fly over the castle to signal the park was closed for the night. When we got to our bus stop, we had to wait an agonizing 3 minutes for a bus to show up! Haha, I was so impressed by the Disney transportation service! After ~20-25 minutes, we were back at All Star Music and headed straight to bed (it was midnight by this point...). We needed to get some sleep, I had another busy day planned for us tomorrow (although the day had other plans for us...)

 

[fallonkendra]

I've been thinking about it ... but I'm really not sure. I'd like to do a half marathon at Disneyland within the next year, but it's hard for me to get out to California. I definitely want to do more races, but I'm trying to figure out when I can make it work.

Luke is determined to do the half marathon at Disneyland next January, he keeps talking about it. He ran a half a few years ago, shortly after we started dating, but scaled back to 5km and 10km races after that, but has recently decided to pick up longer distances again. I'll use any excuse to get back to Disney again!

 

[cajunfan]

Thanks for reading along!

Yes, our meal at Peco's Bills was $24 for a single meal, We did spilt it, it was quite a bit of food after we went to the topping station. I didn't write down the exact cost breakdown, but I want to say it was $15 for the steak fajita platter (which comes with rice, beans, steak, veggies- onions and green peppers, and 3 soft flour tortillas), $5 for the order of churros - served with chocolate sauce (which counts as your dessert item if you are on the dining plan) and another couple of dollars for the pop (or soda for you Americans haha). When we said we were using a quick service dining credit, the guy handed us the largest cup available though, we were expecting a regular, not a large. It was a nice surprise since we were splitting the meal.2343 by fallon Vickers, on Flickr[/GALLERY]

I will definitely continue reading!

And this makes sense when you break down the cost...I missed the churros and the soda...I can deal with $15 for the fajita platter, lol.

Most people don't know what degus are, and certain places actually have laws against owning them as pets (I know California for sure, and Newfoundland here in Canada). They make amazing little pets though! They are full of personality and can live to be 6-8 years old (which is one of the big reasons I wanted them, I knew I wouldn't be able to handle losing hamsters or gerbils who only live ~2 years). Here's a picture of some of my boys, these five are actually brothers from the same litter who I adopted from a local humane society when they were only 6 weeks old. This picture was taken shortly after that, they are fully grown now (I'd say 2 of them could fit in that dish now) and just celebrated their second birthday last month!

[GALLERY=]IMG_2343 by fallon Vickers, on Flickr[/GALLERY]

These guys are ADORABLE!!! You need to do a comparison photo and see if they will hop in the dish for you...when I looked up the pictures, they reminded me of tiny chinchillas. My sister has (had?) a chinchilla...he was cute but he was definitely nocturnal...he kept us awake the week we stayed at her house a few years ago.