our last WDW trip (this year) PTR: itinerary help! - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Hope you are feeling better and what you are doing should help! It stinks going away and being a bit ill! I was actually getting over a cold on my recent trip to USF/WDW but at least it was on its way out. It took a few days into my trip until I felt like myself. I've been generally been pretty lucky on all my annual big trips as I've felt rather well without being sick.
I remember my first big trip which was to Europe in 1995 in which I got a bad cold from day two onward and didn't get over it until I got home. This was a two week trip and wasn't a pleasant experience but still loved my first experience in Europe with Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, Paris and London.
Looking forward to your take on the Dolphin Resort as I was just there and the new remodel of the lobby area.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 10-24-2017 at 11:39 PM..
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well, i'm back. and yeah, i was sick for most of the trip. and then my husband got sick. so that was fun.
it was still a very good trip, and i hope to share some of it here asap.
BUT FIRST....
if you all know me at all, you know that i'm a liar, especially when it comes to disney. so i have an exciting thing i need to share. it relates to the title of this PTR and also to the fact that i'm a liar. any guesses?
ok. here's the shortest trip report ever, with just highlights and lowlights.
arrival day: thursday 10/26
highlights: flights were on time. uber is SUPER easy to use at the orlando airport. and check in at the dolphin was a breeze. we were upgraded to a fab 'park view' room; we were on the 11th floor facing the swan, right next to the fountain (which was off, thankfully.) dinner at phins, the new lobby bar at the dolphin, was good--we had lamb meatballs, wings, and my husband had a GINORMOUS soft pretzel. it was expensive but whatever. oh and the new quick service spot also in the lobby--fuel--sells six packs of phins and feathers, the IPA i like that you can only get at the dolphin. so we got one of those for the room for the week.
lowlights: no lowlights this day!
day 1: friday 10/27
best. day. ever.
highlights: early morning extra magic hours at MK are AWESOME! we were up at 5am and arrive at the gates by 6:40 for 7am EMH (there was a bus practically waiting for us when we arrived at the dolphin bus stop!) we decided to buck the whole 'hit the big attractions at rope drop' method, so our first ride of the day was...astro orbiter. we were the first people on, and it was super cool at dawn. also that line sucks and it's one of my husband's favorite attractions, so it was totally worth a first ride. we then did space mountain (husband did, not me), the teacups, pooh, peter pan, it's a small world, and the haunted mansion ALL BEFORE THE PARK OPENED AT 8.
and then we used our fastpasses for various things. we basically did everything we love in the MK all before like 10am. and then we continued making fastpasses until we got tired. we were back at the dolphin and in the pool by 1pm. i had two rum drinks and then went in to take a nap before....
THE SWAN AND DOLPHIN FOOD AND WINE CLASSIC. which is in caps because it was WONDERFUL and such a good decision and i will likely go every year from now on. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. i plan to write a blog post about it; i will share that when it's written. for now, if you are considering it for next year, i say GO! i'll see you there.
lowlights: none. sort of
day 2: saturday 10/28
highlights: none
lowlights: said none, sort of, for friday, because the bad part of our trip technically started around midnight. i woke up every hour beginning around then and all through saturday morning because i was SO SICK. like ears throbbing, teeth aching. coughing up a lung SICK. long story short, i ended up taking an uber to an urgent care place and spending the rest of the day in bed. i made my husband go to AK for the evening with my magic band so he could use our flights FPs (yes, i was too sick for that--it was raining, and when you are sick, the idea of being in the rain makes you recoil. it's weird and primitive, but it's a thing.)
the only good part of this day was that flights like...broke down or something...both times doug was on it. they compensated him by....giving him two more fastpasses for it. which, after a visit to guest services, he had transferred into FPs we could use on monday, our next AK day (and day during which we could not get FPs for flights.) so that was GREAT.
day 3. sunday, 10/29
highlights: ummm. hmmm. this is hard. i know i slept in this morning. maybe? oh drat, i need to look at my facebook mobile uploads to remember this day....
oh right! we had to move to the boardwalk this day! so we left the dolphin by like 10am. dropped off our stuff at the boardwalk, and continued on to epcot to brave food and wine fest on a saturday. we were there at 'rope drop' for world showcase at 11am, and so were many other people. we started in france and walked counter clockwise. it really wasn't terribly crowded. it was nice. and then we went back to the boardwalk to rest and relax. you know, because i was still sick.
other highlights include getting to see heather, who met up with us at DHS for dinner. which brings me to...
lowlights: we went to the brown derby. it was AWFUL. we sent most of it back. i ended up having microwave stauffers spaghetti from the shop at the boardwalk. i was sad.
day 4. monday, 10/30
lowlights: we arrived at AK by 8:30am to try to do flights on standby, but mom's bus was late coming from the floridian. and we were waiting for her. so by the time she arrived at 9, the standby line was 4 hours long. this made me angry.
we also had a TERRIBLE meal at sau'li canteen; i shared photos of my sad chicken and veggie bowl on facebook and everyone agreed with me that it was ridiculous.
oh, and i had to leave the boardwalk pool to be on a web call for work which ended up sharing really bad news, so that kinda ruined my evening. we stayed in, ordered delivery, and watched stranger things and did laundry.
highlights: actually finally getting to RIDE flights using doug's two bonus fastpasses (he let mom use one, since he'd done it twice already.) IT IS SO COOL. we also did an early morning safari ride, and saw ALLLLLL OF THE ANIMALS. baby ones, too.
alright. i need to hit submit on this and finish this mini TR later. stay tuned!
Sounds like you had a great trip with just a few exceptions! Interested to hear why your meal at HBD was so bad. Too bad you were quite sick on some days! Not a great experience at Sau'li Canteen either and it's not cheap for CS as I ate there on my trip, but better experience than you have.
Glad you enjoyed the Dolphins and seems like you enjoyed Phins as much as I did. Just a great bar and addition to the lobby. Fuel is great as well, but just went there for a quick breakfast each day.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Some great highlights but some bad lowlights too.
Would love to try the Swan and Dolphin Food Fest!
Sorry to hear that you had some really bad sick days.
it's funny that some of you think i'm done with the TR. yeah, so we were there for seven full days, and i'm only on day four. ha?
it was a long trip. i like long trips.
day 5. tuesday, october 31st.
highlights: we spent a WONDERFUL morning at the magic kingdom with my mom. best morning ever.
and then we took the monorail to epcot by around 1pm and did some epcot things. doug headed back to the boardwalk around 3, and heather joined me by 3:45. we food and wine fested it up.
HUGE food and wine fest tip: the best day to visit food and wine fest is halloween. there was NO ONE THERE. i've never seen fewer people in epcot EVER, never mind during the fest. there were times we were the only people at various booths. oh, and doug and i managed to get a last minute soarin' fastpass. that's how empty it was.
highlight/lowlight: near to the end of the night, i got sick. like stomach sick (i had major surgery a year and a half ago and often have issues with food; being on antibiotics didn't help the situation.) so i ran away from heather to head back to the boardwalk but only made it to the restrooms right outside of the 'back door' to epcot. i did this at like 8pm. by the time i felt well enough to continue back to my room, it was 8:20ish. and i was like...illuminations is in 40 minutes. so i went back INTO epcot, found an amazing spot against the railing, made friends with a retired couple from tampa, and watched illuminations. i didn't even try to take photos. it was magical.
and THEN i walked back to the boardwalk and mickey was taking halloween photos with people on the boardwalk lawn. i considered standing in the rather short line for this, but instead went in to try to drag doug out to do it with me, but he was asleep. which was fair and reasonable. i still kind of wish i had stood in the line alone, but it was best for me to go take care of him. at that point, i'd been in parks for 12.5 hours straight, which is near a personal record for me.
lowlights: the reason doug headed back to the boardwalk and stayed there for the rest of the night, missing the awesomeness of empty food and wine fest with heather? now HE was sick. sad face.
day 6. wednesday, november 1st.
highlights: this was a day without transportation, which is ideal. we left the boardwalk at 10am to meet mom at soarin by 10:20. after our flight over the world, we planned to do food and wine fest (ignoring the fact that i did it the night before) but my husband is all kinds of on top of the wait times app, so he discovered that the wait for frozen was...20 minutes. at 11am. so we went and got in line for frozen. i timed it, and the wait was actually 16 minutes. i so love this ride that being able to do it when i thought it was off the table for the trip was MAGICAL. also it was mom's first time on the ride, so i got to experience that with her. it rocked.
we then did food and wine fest at a really reasonable pace. it was great. the weather could not have been more perfect. i considered staying for more days (i found a flight home for two days AFTER our return flight home which was only $25. i didn't purchase it. i'm still not sure why.)
i believe we then went back to the boardwalk and hung out at (and in) the quiet pool. then doug went to sleep and i went back to epcot alone and took some photos. he met me and we enjoyed a few more booths for dinner. we left before illuminations and had a drink at hurricane hanna's at the beach club before walking the long way around back to the boardwalk.
lowlights: doug was sick.
day 7. thursday, november 2nd.
highlights: we slept in this morning. and then i went to epcot alone (because reasons explained in the lowlights section.) and then i met doug at disney springs, which was nice. and then we had the best last night ever with mom at AK. we did flights, we saw rivers of light, and we had a meal at tiffins before taking an uber back to the boardwalk. it was a wonderful evening.
lowlights: doug spent the middle of the day at urgent care. because now HE was very sick. boo.
day last. friday, november 3rd.
highlights: waking up in disney world.
lowlights: heading to the airport and flying home.
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Sounds like some great times at the F&W Festival and can't believe how empty it was on Halloween. Nice score with the FP+ for Soarin'. Too bad Doug was sick as well. It seems you had a great time overall!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Sounds like some great times at the F&W Festival and can't believe how empty it was on Halloween. Nice score with the FP+ for Soarin'. Too bad Doug was sick as well. It seems you had a great time overall!
yes--we DEFINITELY had a great time overall. would i preferred to NOT be sick? sure. but i think we made the best of it.
oh and we REALLY did f&wf! i was using the little sticker book to keep track of the booths i visited, and i think i only missed five or six. it was great! can't wait for next year!
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It stinks going away and being a bit ill! 
I was actually getting over a cold on my recent trip to USF/WDW but at least it was on its way out. It took a few days into my trip until I felt like myself. I've been generally been pretty lucky on all my annual big trips as I've felt rather well without being sick. 
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Nice score with the FP+ for Soarin'. Too bad Doug was sick as well. 
it was great! can't wait for next year!
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