Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising LIVE TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 3/8 - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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I wasn't expecting to see Highland cows in today's update, but I don't mind at all as I think they might be the cutest cows around. We did the math with Memory Maker, too, and I loved getting to download them immediately.
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Pre-trip report – part fourteen: wow, that’s going to be a long day!
Saturday 24 January
Today I thought I’d better look and check on those pesky park hours, and sure enough, quite a few of them had changed again, with hours added. The longest is the first Saturday we’re there. All I can say is thank goodness we’ll be jetlagged and up early, because not only is the Magic Kingdom now open at 7:00am, but it closes at 1:00am!
The Disney website also has some details of show times up there, so I’ve made a note of the ones we might be interested in, and that’s now on our itinerary. I can tell that first day at the Magic Kingdom will be insane, as they’ve got the parade at midday, as well as at 3:00pm. I just wish the other parks would start putting some details up, as there’s nothing yet for Busch Gardens, and more importantly, given the prominence of shows there, SeaWorld.
I’ve also put the order in for our new American cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy (don’t ask me which one… ) and that should be with us either on Monday or Tuesday. Once we have it, we can keep it for life, and don’t have to make a minimum number of calls, which was the issue with Tracfone, as it has to be used once every 365 days – great if we’re going every year, but if not, then we have to get the phone back to an American friend. The other problem with Tracfone was you needed an American bank account to top it up, and of course we don’t have that, so hopefully this will work a lot better for us.
Sunday 25 January
We went out for another of our walks today. Mark did offer to take me back over to Cobham Woods, but sweet as the offer was, I didn’t want to go back through the mud. We both had to put our jeans in the wash as soon as we got back, as they were caked in mud, and it took me about 10 minutes to get rid of the mud off the boots I was wearing. Instead, we went for a walk around the area we live. Mark had a few problems with the back of his left calf almost from the offset, and I quickly realised that the state of his trainers (tennis shoes) wouldn’t be helping him. They’re the last pair he’s got, and he’s massively overdue for a new pair, which got me thinking…
We really need to get him some new trainers as early on in the holiday as we can. As soon as we got home, I had a look at our plans to try and fit in a visit to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores, which has a Reebok store. Much as I’d love to go there on the Friday night we arrive, I know it’s just not going to be an option, as we’ll be exhausted. It will have to be the Saturday, so I had another look at our plans.
With the insane hours at the Magic Kingdom that day, they’ve got an additional parade on at midday, so I figured we could plan to see that one, rather than the 3:00pm one we have Fastpasses for, so I sacrificed that Fastpass. I asked Mark what to put in its place, and we agreed on Splash Mountain. I had to do a bit of moving things around, as I wanted Splash late in the morning, when it might be a bit warmer – I didn’t want to do it first thing, in case it was still a bit cold. By the time I’d finished, I’d got that, and changed the times, so that all our Fastpass times are now in the morning. Hopefully then, as soon as we’ve had lunch at the Crystal Palace, we can head back to Bay Lake Tower and pick up the car, and drive over to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores and get what we need.
Then in the afternoon, we watched Frozen for only the second time, I know we’re way behind, as I’m sure most people (especially those with kids ) have seen it about 20 times, but I figure we’d better give it another watch, as no doubt we’ll be seeing plenty of things from it while we’re in Disney. I have to be honest, it’s better than I remember it, and I remembered it being pretty darned good. I’d totally forgotten about the entire troll sequence in it, and Olaf is just so darned cute!
Tuesday 27 January
We have our new American cell phone and, while we obviously can’t test it until we get to the other side of the pond, so far, we’re very impressed with it. It comes with a travel adaptor that offers a myriad of choices, and means that we can charge it at home, which is a big improvement on the Tracfone. For obvious reasons, we only ever had an American charger for that.
Wednesday 28 January
This week’s All Ears newsletter contained some more information about this year’s Flower and Garden Festival. I’m sure the Ana and Elsa topiaries will be mobbed, but I’m going to be fascinated to see them, as from the flowers they’re going to be using, like delphinium, and alyssum, will have some really interesting silver and white tones to them.
There was a bit more information about the Outdoor Kitchen, and as a food lover, I was really excited to learn more about these. The Bonitas Botanico one, which will be between France and Morocco, and I like the sound of the Cachapas with Farmer’s cheese, a sweet yellow corn pancake and Seafood Ceviche, with shrimp, scallops and grouper with mango and avocado.
I didn’t realise there was a garden passport to get stamped as well – that sounds like fun, so maybe we’ll do that… It’s just a shame that the special weekend festivities they’ve got don’t coincide with our trip.
The Shakespeare Garden in the UK sounds interesting, particularly as it’s going to be using roses to represent Romeo and Juliet, along with rosemary from Hamlet, lavender from the Winter’s Tale and other flowers such as honeysuckle, lilies and poppies. It should look beautiful.
Thursday 29 January
I’ve received my order of blank CDs, and that’s what I use to back up my photos. I know, I know, so old fashioned, and why not use a cloud account or a hard drive back-up? Well, you know, I could, but I’m happy with what I use, so why change? I’m sure one day I will, but not right now. Anyway, I have about another 50 of them put in paper cases (doesn’t take up that much space or weigh too much ) ready to go.
I also double checked with the company we bought the American cell phone from, as it came with what appeared to be a rental note, which worried me, given we’d purchased the phone. The woman I spoke to confirmed we had bought the phone, but as I suspected, they use a standard form, as they started out only doing rentals, and still sell very few phones. Phew – at least that means it’s all good to go.
When I got home, I saw that Jennifer had posted that she’d be visiting Universal before our cruise (I say that, as we’re on the same one ) and I did wonder whether her plans would coincide with ours…
Friday 30 January
Sadly Jennifer won’t be at Universal on the day we are but as she said, at least we’ve got the cruise to enjoy together. It also turns out that Marie (CRCrazy) will be in Florida from 21-28 February, which I’ve only just found out, and it would be lovely to see her again, if our plans tie up.
I’ve now messaged everyone we’re meeting up with on this vacation, along with a few other American friends, with details of the new cell phone number, so that we can get in touch with people. I just hope it works! I’m sure it will, but of course, we can’t check it does until we touch down in the States, and there’s always that little bit of me that worries that it might not work. It’s probably just me being silly – at least I hope so anyway!
I have to say, after I messaged people, as soon as the States woke up (last morning our time) my phone kept going nuts with messages on Facebook, along with some messages on the boards for those who haven’t joined Facebook. I think I now have a fairly comprehensive list of my friends’ numbers, so all I need to do is install them in my phone…
I was also messaging Laurie during the evening, and at one point, she said to me that our trip wasn’t too far away, and I replied saying it was three weeks today – then I realised that at that time, in three weeks’ time, we’d be about an hour and a half out of Orlando!
I agree with you about "Frozen". All the hype and constant "Let it Go" mania had made me dislike it, but I saw it again and it's a very good movie! Nice to have something so popular be so good! Your plans are really taking shape and as usual, you've got so much packed in to each day I'm amazed. Sea days on cruises must be the only days you two really just relax!
I agree with you about "Frozen". All the hype and constant "Let it Go" mania had made me dislike it, but I saw it again and it's a very good movie! Nice to have something so popular be so good!
Well said.
Quote:
Your plans are really taking shape and as usual, you've got so much packed in to each day I'm amazed. Sea days on cruises must be the only days you two really just relax!
pretty much! You know me, I like to make the best of our time away. After all you never know when you'll get back again. We haven't been to Universal since 2007, I think 2009 was the last time we were in Busch Gardens and it was at least that long since I went to Kennedy. Isn't it scary how the time flies?
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Very cool that you have a "real" phone now for your US trips. I'm sure it will work just fine and that's one less thing to worry about!
That first day at MK sounds like it'll be crazy busy. Good idea to get there early, and then get out after lunch!
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Very cool that you have a "real" phone now for your US trips. I'm sure it will work just fine and that's one less thing to worry about!
That first day at MK sounds like it'll be crazy busy. Good idea to get there early, and then get out after lunch!
What I still can't work is why it will be crazy busy - I know it's marathon weekend, but it's not a holiday weekend, is it? I think President's Day is this coming Monday, rather than the next weekend? Is it a spring break thing?
Magic Kingdom is not recommended with the long hours of operation, both nighttime spectaculars, and morning Extra Magic Hour. While it’s true we’ve enjoyed long hours and both nighttime spectaculars nightly over the last week, we’re headed back to the abbreviated entertainment schedule and non-peak operating hours. Beginning tomorrow, Main Street Electrical Parade will only be scheduled on a limited number of nights and the operating hours will be shortened. This makes today’s long hours and Main Street Electrical Parade more appealing to those who are just arriving for the Marathon and others arriving later this week. We have a big Marathon event tomorrow and a lot of those participants will only be in Disney World for a short time. Because Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park in the world, particularly with Disney World running aficionados, we can expect it to be significantly busier than recommended days. You can have success if you arrive by 6:20am to take advantage of the morning Extra Magic Hour and low morning wait times, but it will be extremely busy from 11am-9pm. The late night is also a good time to tour with short waits and diminishing crowds after 10pm. This coming Tuesday and (particularly) Wednesday will be significantly less crowded and yesterday also would have been a better day to visit.
So there's a few reasons why it'll be busy, I guess. But you should be Ok with the early morning arrival!
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Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Just catching up on all the trip preparations. Glad you got the FP+ that you wanted and that process wasn't that stressful. Everything sounds like it is coming together. Loved seeing the pictures of the Highland cows!
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Wow, the crowd level on that first day looks huge. Glad to read the marathon description posted. I guess that makes sense to give the participants time to get into the park regardless of their travel plans. I love Frozen and Olaf is my favorite. I picked up an Olaf cover for my phone on my last trip.
Magic Kingdom is not recommended with the long hours of operation, both nighttime spectaculars, and morning Extra Magic Hour. While it’s true we’ve enjoyed long hours and both nighttime spectaculars nightly over the last week, we’re headed back to the abbreviated entertainment schedule and non-peak operating hours. Beginning tomorrow, Main Street Electrical Parade will only be scheduled on a limited number of nights and the operating hours will be shortened. This makes today’s long hours and Main Street Electrical Parade more appealing to those who are just arriving for the Marathon and others arriving later this week. We have a big Marathon event tomorrow and a lot of those participants will only be in Disney World for a short time. Because Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park in the world, particularly with Disney World running aficionados, we can expect it to be significantly busier than recommended days. You can have success if you arrive by 6:20am to take advantage of the morning Extra Magic Hour and low morning wait times, but it will be extremely busy from 11am-9pm. The late night is also a good time to tour with short waits and diminishing crowds after 10pm. This coming Tuesday and (particularly) Wednesday will be significantly less crowded and yesterday also would have been a better day to visit.
So there's a few reasons why it'll be busy, I guess. But you should be Ok with the early morning arrival!
Ok.... Hopefully it won't be too bad - we do have Fastpass+ reservations from 9:00am onwards, so we should get a few things done without too much of a wait before then... fingers crossed!
Wow, the crowd level on that first day looks huge. Glad to read the marathon description posted. I guess that makes sense to give the participants time to get into the park regardless of their travel plans. I love Frozen and Olaf is my favorite. I picked up an Olaf cover for my phone on my last trip.
I would so much rather meet Olaf than Anna or Elsa, if I'm being honest.
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We did the math with Memory Maker, too, and I loved getting to download them immediately.
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I have never seen cows like that!! They are awesome!!
They're one of the most beautiful breeds of cows - and even Mark really likes seeing them, which says something. 
They’re the last pair he’s got, and he’s massively overdue for a new pair, which got me thinking… 
The woman I spoke to confirmed we had bought the phone, but as I suspected, they use a standard form, as they started out only doing rentals, and still sell very few phones. Phew – at least that means it’s all good to go. 
I’m sure it will, but of course, we can’t check it does until we touch down in the States, and there’s always that little bit of me that worries that it might not work. It’s probably just me being silly – at least I hope so anyway! 
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