Ringin' in the New Year the Disney Way! A NYE TR (Updated 2/11)

[abidale]

Countdown to Trip Report... 3... 2... 1!!!

Happy New Year's everyone and welcome aboard this TR! You are all welcome to follow along this journey and leave comments whenever you like!

This trip entails a couple of days at WDW and a seven night Eastern Caribbean NYE cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy! It was full of forgotten luggage, stormy seas, and some downright weird moments, and it was overall a great vacation.

Cast and crew:

Me, Abigail! I'm the most Disney obsessed person you will ever meet. From my huge collection of t shirts to my closet door to my phone wallpaper, I basically surround myself in Disney and I love it. My favorite theme park is a three way tie between MK, AK, and DHS, Tower of Terror is my home away from home, and I really can't eat enough Dole whips. I promise I do have a life outside of Disney though- I dance about 20 hours a week give or take and I'm also on yearbook staff at school because I love love love photography.

My sister Jessica: she's in grad school studying to be an English teacher with a degree in Psychology! So she can tell what you're really thinking AND correct your grammar. She loves all things running and fitness and health and has a husky mix named Nala. She loves Pirates of the Caribbean and the couscous at Boma.

My parents: My dad works really hard and is the reason we get to go to Disney so often and loves anything and everything to do with Alabama football (so do I), cars, and fixing stuff, and my mom is the planner behind the vacations and is the reason our family is so obsessed with Disney! She's also the one taking pictures 24/7 saying "If we don't take the pictures, we won't have them."

So if you're ready for a trip report that literally takes place over two years, please fill in all the available seats in front of you, and no eating, drinking, smoking, or flash photography. ​

 

[abidale]

Reserved for Table of Contents

1. 12-27-2013
2. 12-28-2013 Part 1

 

[Melisa1]

Yay!!! I am happy that you are doing this!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[abidale]

Yay!!! I am happy that you are doing this!

Following along!

Thanks, great to have you guys!

 

[pixiemel]

I'm in!!

 

[JessM]

I'm in! A Disney cruise is on my bucket list!

 

[abidale]

I'm in!!

I'm in! A Disney cruise is on my bucket list!

Thanks, glad you're here!

 

[abidale]

12-27-2013

Finally Disney day was here! I was so excited. I woke up around 6. We left the house right before 8 and arrived in Disney around 3:30. The traffic was overall pretty good!

We drove straight to the Art of Animation after getting completely lost off property! Why we even follow our GPS, I have no idea.

Such a cute lobby/CHRISTMAS TREE

We had done online check in so we just made sure our Magic Bands were activated and then got our room number. We drove to our Little Mermaid room and none of our bands would work on the door!

My sister and I walked back to the lobby and had a Lion King photoshoot on the way. For a value resort, Art of Animation was so cute!

We went to concierge and they fixed them no problem. Apparently all of our bands were connected to the wrong room? Meanwhile, my dad had been walking up and down the sides of the first floor scanning his band on every door to see if he could open one.

We got back and our parents were already in the room! A Cast Member had also fixed their bands while we were gone. So, all the walking was pointless but oh well.

We unpacked a tiny bit and went to Epcot as fast as we could because we were all starving to death, basically.

We didn’t have ADRs or anything so we just grabbed a bite at Electric Umbrella.

I loved the Christmas cups!

We decided to wander World Showcase and let’s just say the people there were very entertaining… lots of couples fighting, actually, and a random woman yelling at this other woman about how she’s always right and doesn’t care what she thinks. Okay well.

We finally got to Norway for our first FP+, Maelstrom! All our bands were fine going in which was a good sign.

Hidden Mickey!

The people in front of us on the boat were literally freaking out the entire time because they were worried it was going to start going really fast. I was trying not to start laughing.

Afterwards we went to the Three Caballeros ride in the Mexico pavilion!

Honestly the best part of that entire pavilion is the smell of the San Angel Inn food. In my opinion.

On our way out of World Showcase we stopped to take pictures by the tree.

We had a few minutes before our Test Track FP+ rolled around so we just walked around in Mouse Gear until that time.

Test Track had a 110 minute wait! It’s times like these I appreciate FP+.

Here was me and my mom's car

And Dad and Jessica's

I still prefer the old Test Track WAY more. The new one doesn’t really connect or make sense and the old one just was way more interesting.

I was dying of thirst so we went to Club Cool so we could try the new flavors! I LOVE THEM. I was sad about my Mezzo Mix leaving, but these new ones are so good. I think my favorite is the Melon Frosty Fanta.

Figment was, as usual, zero wait (please PLEASE, any Disney newbies, don’t use your FPs on this ride) so we hopped on. I actually found someone’s iPhone on the seat so I turned it in and hopefully that person got their phone back!

Then we had a problem: we had been in the park for three hours and I hadn’t had a Mickey bar. So I solved that problem and then showed my sister where the coffee stand at the front of the park was so she could stay awake.

The Mickey bar was actually really dry I guess from being in the freezer all day! Oh well.

We finished up Future World (except Captain EO because why) with Spaceship Earth and Nemo.

We rode Living with the Land and another family on the boat was terrified that there was going to be a drop! I don’t know what was with these people tonight but my gosh Living with the Land can’t be THAT scary.

THESE GINGERBREAD THINGIES

Then it was time for Soarin’. We got super lucky and were put in Section B row 1! And I was in the very center of the hangglider thing and so I was pretty proud of myself.

After that, we went back to Art of Animation because WE HADN’T EVEN WATCHED STACEY YET.

To be continued
​

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Following along!

Absolutely LOVE the Christmas Tree in the Mexico Pavilion...you're so lucky to be at WDW for the holidays!

 

[abidale]

Following along!

Absolutely LOVE the Christmas Tree in the Mexico Pavilion...you're so lucky to be at WDW for the holidays!

Thanks, it was so amazing to be there this time of year!

 

[JessM]

What a fun first day at Epcot! I made our FP+ reservations before the tiers too, it was wonderful!

I completely agree on the new TT, just not for me

 

[abidale]

What a fun first day at Epcot! I made our FP+ reservations before the tiers too, it was wonderful!

I completely agree on the new TT, just not for me

I'm really glad we booked them before tiers, and I'm actually kinda worried about what we'll do next time now that we can't avoid them! And I really do miss the old version.

 

[abidale]

12-28-2013 Part 1

We woke up bright and early (and by that I mean about six in the morning) and took our time getting showers and also exploring the resort.

I put my Nikon to use and walked around the Little Mermaid section. ART OF ANIMATION IS SO GREAT and I wished I could spend more than one day there.

Prince Eric and Max painting

I loved the decorations

So what they got a lot of sand, we got a hot crustacean band!

Conga line

You poor unfortunate souls!

Best statue EVER.

And the prince himself

While I was getting ready and making sure all my stuff was packed, I realized that I couldn’t find my flip flops. I know, I know, it’s no big deal, but I was already planning to wear them on all of the islands because they’re really comfortable, and I was also going to wear them embarkation day and to the parks afterwards. So that was a bummer. I made it work, though!

We left AoA around 8:45 since we were lucky enough to reserve early boarding.

At 10, we drove up to Port Canaveral and saw this beautiful sight!

We were going to park in the priority parking lot but saw that we could go in earlier if we just went in the parking deck. I’d heard terrible things about parking there, but if you get there early on embarkation day and disembark on the last day as soon as possible, you won’t have a problem.

We got all our luggage out of the car and headed on over to get our passports checked. There was literally a party of 60 traveling together and all wearing matching shirts. They’d keep walking by and asking “Have you seen the rest of us?” and we’d be like “Oh y’all are that way.” Shoutout to the people in the matching t-shirts, if you’re reading this!

The luggage guy took our stuff and went down to send it to the ship. He may or may not have accidentally tipped the luggage cart over, but everything was fine!

While we were waiting a nice family took our picture

Finally we got to the terminal, checked in, and got our fancy little Castaway Club lanyards.

THE TERMINAL WAS SO CUTE AND CHRISTMASY

We got in line to meet Mickey, but right at the last minute he went on break and so we ended up meeting Minnie instead.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw none other than OLAF. It turned out to be a statue but hey we had to get our picture taken with the love expert himself either way.

Finally around 11:30 we boarded the ship in group 6.

We beelined straight to Cabanas! If I’m being honest it wasn’t the best meal we ate all week (I don’t even have pictures) but that’s mostly because there was a lot of seafood and pasta at the buffet and I don’t really like either of those (shocker, I know.) They did have normal things like cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, fries, etc. though.

Afterward we decided to tour the ship! We took a free tour of the Senses spa, which none of us even actually went to.

Satellite Falls (shh... I'm not 18, don't tell)

The atrium from deck 4

Wandering around

The room still wasn’t done yet and it was around 1, so we just grabbed some chairs on the pool deck and people watched since we hadn’t brought our bathing suits in our carry ons. I recommend doing that if you know you’re going to have early boarding.

After about half an hour I was getting a little bored so me and Mom wandered down to deck 8 to wait for them to open up the rooms. They did within about 15 minutes. Finally!

Our luggage was in our room waiting for us and there was a sticker on it saying that it was inspected by the drug dogs. We still have no idea why…

The first thing we did was decorate our door.

I miss room 8584 already…

I loved these lamps because all the Disney theme parks around the world were marked on them.

To be continued
​

 

[Melisa1]

Yay!!!!

 

[lulucornbread]

did you ever finish this trip report?