Archive for Trip Reports

Reunion 2011: Human Guinea Pig, DISDad meetup, Park Hopping, Osborne Lights

March 16, 2012 / AJRitz / 4 comments

Saturday is when being on a solo trip really paid off. My day started bright and early, meeting at the Magic Kingdom at 7:30 a.m. before an 8:00 a.m. rope drop. I was among a group of about 50 die-hards who volunteered to experience just a piece of what TouringPlans.com employees do to test the efficacy of various touring plans before they’re published, and to collect raw data regarding wait times. (If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can probably find me standing in about the third row, just left of center). We were dividing into groups of 3 to 5 people each, and given a list of attractions to visit. We were to walk at our normal pace (it’s not a race, it’s data collection) to an attraction. Note the time we got in line on the chart provided and note the time we actually boarded the attraction. We enjoyed 7 attractions in the 2 hours allotted for the test, including headliners like Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, and a couple of notoriously slow-loaders (Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight). Ultimately, it was worth the early wake-up after a late night. I had fun with my group, and I gained some interesting insight into a product that I swear by when planning Walt Disney World vacations.

The touring plan testing wrapped up at 10:00 a.m. near Carousel of Progress – just as Reunion attendees were gathering for one of the most-anticipated Reunion events of the year – Carousel of Progress (The Rocky Horror Edit). Len and Laurel from TouringPlans.com wrote a complete script, with parts distributed as meet participants gathered for the shows (yes, showS – the group filled two Carousel of Progress theaters). We shouted out our lines, based on cues in the show’s dialogue. To get a better idea of how it went, check out the re-enactment done on the WDW Today Podcast. Suffice to say, it was hilarious, loads of fun, and best of all, I got to meet fellow DISDad and sometimes DISDads Podcast Panelist CJ Fragola at the meet. (Edited to add the picture that CJ had taken).
Read more

Category: Trip Reports, WDW Dining /

Reunion 2011: Babycakes, La Cava, Testabombing, Cape May & Illuminations

March 14, 2012 / AJRitz / One comment

I’ll admit, Reunion started a little slowly for me. It was odd adjusting to being at Walt Disney World without the kids. And it took some time for me to feel comfortable among a big group of people who I only knew from their podcasts, blog posts and tweets. But Friday is when this trip really hit its stride for me. I had actually started off for Epcot on my own when I got a text message asking for a ride – and suggesting we stop at Babycakes NYC for breakfast first. I had a terrific allergen-free waffle with agave, and a donut too for good measure (as well as decent coffee from Fresh!, in the same building. MUCH better than the nasty stuff on Disney property). Instead of hitting Epcot at rope drop, we arrived an hour or so later, and headed for the first Reunion Meet of the day at Sum of All Thrills.

I’d skipped Sum of All Thrills when Mikaela wanted to ride it back in September. She actually did it herself. But I succumbed to peer pressure and decided to go ahead and ride this time. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my Bonine before a Sum of All Thrills ride that included three inversions and a corkscrew loop. The ride itself was fun, but afterwards, I really wasn’t feeling well. I was about to head back to the resort to lie down until my stomach recovered when Todd Perlmutter prevailed on me to come with him to join the TouringPlans.com crew at La Cave del Tequila. I never realized that tequila could be such a restorative from vertigo, but after Todd and I had finished our Scorpion Flights, I felt MUCH better.
Read more

Category: Disney Travel Tips, Trip Reports, WDW Dining /

Reunion 2011: Solo Touring, Group Rides and a Tweet-up Dinner

March 7, 2012 / AJRitz / No comments

Wow, has it really been two months since I updated this trip report? Yikes! Sorry about that. With our Disney Cruise trip coming up in just two weeks, and with the MANLAW requiring that this trip’s report must be completed before I can take the next trip, I guess I’d better get cracking!

Thursday morning started bright and early, waiting at the turnstiles at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. My plan for the morning was pretty simple – no Toy Story Midway Mania rush. In fact, no rushing at all. Take it slow, enjoy the low crowd level, remember to look up and down and take in all of the detail, and take lots of pictures. I did walk to the front of the crowd, waiting for rope drop, so I could get that amazingly unobstructed picture of the Hat (which I still think is an abomination that ruins the view of what should be the REAL icon of Hollywood Studios, the Great Movie Ride/Chinese Theater). But when the crowd dashed for Pixar Place, I instead headed back down Hollywood Boulevard. I was hoping to get some pictures of the Citizens of Hollywood street performers, but no such luck. I don’t know whether it was the low crowd level or the cold weather, but the Citizens were nowhere to be found.
Read more

Category: Disney Travel Tips, Trip Reports, WDW Dining /

Reunion 2011: A verrrrrry long travel day

January 10, 2012 / AJRitz / 4 comments

True to form, it was Tuesday night and, despite my best intentions, I was still packing for the early flight on Wednesday morning. Part of the problem was my own procrastination, but the other part was early December weather in Orlando. One of the things I discovered about packing for a December trip is that the predicted temperatures for a five day trip ranged from the lower 80s to upper 40s. So I essentially had to pack for every possible weather condition, especially since I had plans that ran the gamut, from 7 a.m. through 1 a.m.

I finally got all of the clothes packed by about 10:30 p.m., and was in the midst of packing the electronics when Jonathan came downstairs saying that he’d had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep. (This will come back to haunt me in another 18 hours or so). I took him back upstairs, tucked him into bed, and cuddled with him a bit, until he could calm down and get back to sleep. I finally finished packing at around midnight. With a 6:00 a.m. flight and the prospect of icy roads, the alarm had me awake and moving by 3:30 a.m. The roads ended up not being too bad, and I pulled in to the long-term parking lot by 4:30 a.m. A couple of minor delays at the Kansas City airport, and I was on my way in plenty of time to catch my connecting flight in Nashville.

And thus began the interminable wait. This was the downside of booking an award flight. If I wanted to arrive in Orlando before 7:00 p.m., I had to put up with a four-hour layover in Nashville. Never was I so glad that I’d added the tethering to my AT&T iPhone plan. Turns out the Nashville airport (at least in the Southwest Airlines terminal) has no WiFi. So I sat in a comfy chair with a my computer plugged in to the convenient electrical outlet and followed #2011_Reunion on Twitter – watching people take off after me and arrive in Orlando before me.
Read more

Category: Disney Travel Tips, Trip Reports /

Reunion 2011: A Solo Trip to WDW

January 3, 2012 / AJRitz / 3 comments

Yes, I was just at Walt Disney World in September. How is it I managed a Solo return trip less than three months later? Well, it goes a little something like this:

While in the process of trying to track down why my Rapid Rewards credits on Southwest Airlines hadn’t updated after our September trip, I discovered that I had earned a free ticket. Not only had I earned a free ticket, but that ticket was going to expire (something to do with the AirTran merger and the merger of the frequent flyer programs). I had been hearing discussion of the WDW Today Reunion for weeks already while listening to the WDW Today podcast. So I mentioned – really mostly jokingly – that maybe I could use my free ticket to go to Reunion. My wonderful wife immediately said, “Sure. That sounds like a great idea.”

Once I’d picked my jaw up off of the floor, I immediately started making the arrangements to attend Reunion. This was to be an economy trip, but was also an opportunity to collect new experiences/ideas/photos and build friendships and contacts in the Disney online-community. While there was plenty of room for fun, this was a business trip.
Read more

Category: Disney Travel Tips, Trip Reports /

To the World in 80 Days: Epcot, Fine Dining & DELuminations

December 6, 2011 / AJRitz / 2 comments

Our last day at Walt Disney World started with rope drop at Epcot. The original plan was to focus on the East (left) side of the park on this day, but that got sort of blown away by the lack of lines during Miriam and the kids’ first day at Epcot. They happily criss-crossed all over the park, so instead this return trip became about hitting a few highlights and trying a few new experiences. We started off using the original plan, hitting Test Track and Mission: Space first. Mikaela and Jon rode Mission:Space (Orange) by themselves this time, while Miriam and I waited for them at the exit. After Mission:Space, we continued to World Showcase, where we hadn’t ridden any of the World Showcase attractions yet. We rode both Grand Fiesta Tour and Maelstrom, after which we grabbed lunch at Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe – love their sandwiches, and they’re always generous about not requiring kids on the dining plan to order from the kids’ menu.

After lunch, we headed back to Future World for one more new Epcot experience – Mikaela REALLY wanted to try Sum of All Thrills. Jonathan and Miriam explored the rest of Innoventions while I waited with Mikaela at Sum of All Thrills. The line wasn’t particularly long when we arrived, but we seemed to have arrived in the line just after a large, extended family, with limited English skills. The line move VERY slowly at that point. We almost gave up waiting after over 25 minutes in line, but just then Mikaela’s group was brought into the “briefing room,” so we decided to let her go. She designed a quite aggressive roller coaster for herself, and loved the experience. By the time she got off, Jon was near meltdown and it was time to get back to the resort. While the kids napped and Miriam got a good chunk of our packing completed, I went to return our rental car. We’d rented from the Car Care Center, and were leaving waaaaay to early in the morning to return it before getting on Magical Express.
Read more

Category: Trip Reports /
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee
Sharing Buttons by Linksku