October 2011 Disney World Trip Report, Pt I
Even though we take multiple trips per year, this trip was a long time coming. The anticipation it it actually began 4 years ago, way back in 2007, when Epcot (or EPCOT Center, more appropriately) celebrated its 25th anniversary.
In retrospect, I’d like to say we were on the fence about attending that event. However, that’s probably more wishful thinking than anything else. We had just visited Walt Disney World for the second time together that August, and we were just starting to really sink our teeth into the Disney community. I had been reading WDWMagic.com daily, had just started listening to WDW Today and WDW Radio, and my Figment collection was just starting to get out of hand. Neither of us had ever taken more than one trip in a year (that streak would soon end, when we took our November 2007 “Engagement” trip). Heck, the only camera I even owned at that time was a $100 point and shoot. Ahh, the good ole days. Still, even though it was an unlikely proposition, I remember desperately wanting to go, to be part of something special in the fan community, even if Disney wouldn’t be doing much.
The event occurred without us, and the sun rose on October 2nd. So it seemed as if all was well. Then, reports started trickling in of what an amazing time it was, how there was a sense of excitement and true camaraderie in the air. We listened to podcast recaps, and we were really disappointed that we weren’t there. Really disappointed.
Then, shortly after that date, I read of other fans discussing Walt Disney World’s 40th anniversary, and what might happen for it. I instantly latched onto that, as something to anticipate, rather than be disappointed by our absence from Epcot’s 25th. Here and there, I would engage in other discussions of what “might happen” for the 40th, always excited to read these discussions, even if they were vague potentialities that really had no chance of ever happening. Honestly, I didn’t expect a whole lot, it was more the idea of being there for the day, rather than the substance of the day itself.
In a flash, October 1, 2011 was quickly approaching. This became very apparent in May 2011 when we attended Destination D at Walt Disney World, which arguably was the event for the most fervent Walt Disney World fans to celebrate 40 years of the Vacation Kingdom of the World. Once that passed, and the rest of the summer went with it, and we began counting down the days in September, the exciting anniversary was even more prominent in our minds.
Finally, on September 28th, we left for Walt Disney World. As the trend has been since entering the “real world” workforce, we left after work one afternoon.
Arriving at the airport is always a fun experience, but this one promised to be slightly more drama-filled than normal, as I had left my wallet in Chicago at a friend’s house the previous weekend, and was using a temporary (piece of paper) version the BMV had issued me the day prior. The TSA’s website indicated that this would suffice, but the TSA isn’t exactly a pillar of consistency.
Before we got through security, though, we had the obligatory stop at McDonald’s. As I had learned a couple of days before, McDonald’s would be starting its Monopoly promotion the day we flew out. Talk about great timing!
This promotion was especially exciting for me, as I always win at Monopoly. Unfortunately for me, the McDonald’s version of Monopoly has little to do with skill, so my exceptional board game prowess paid off in no way. Luckily, for me, though, the Monopoly pieces I received also came with two Big Macs, and those were tasty as always. Rather than once again going to great lengths to defend my love for McDonald’s, I will just say this: you’re either pro-McDonald’s, or you’re terrorist. There is no middle ground. Worth mentioning here is that rather than getting McDonald’s, Sarah ordered a taco or something. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
Next up was security. Dun dun dun. Luckily, the temporary piece of paper-thing that the BMV issued to me did, in fact, work just fine. With that, we were through security and off to our gate.
As usual, and entirely not be my choosing, we were at our gate over an hour before our flight. Some ridiculous TSA bulletin says you should arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before a domestic flight. Someone in our party likes to play it safe and arrive around two and a half hours before our flights. If it were up to me, we’d arrive 35 minutes before our flights. The airport is a cool place, but sitting around for hours watching people walk around with luggage doesn’t do a whole lot for me.
Once again, in a move that’s becoming increasingly more common, we were flying AirTran instead of Southwest. Even with the bag fees, AirTran’s prices recently have consistently been better than Southwest’s, plus the flight we need is always direct on AirTran and never direct on Southwest. I am a huge proponent of direct flights.
Luckily, the time passed quickly, and we were soon boarding our plan. Unfortunately, there was no window where there should have been a window, so I couldn’t see outside, or more importantly, take pictures of the gorgeous sunset as we flew. I apologize on behalf of AirTran Airways for this oversight.
Even without the window, the flight passed quickly, possibly in large part because I slept during most of it. We arrived in Orlando 10 minutes ahead of schedule, which was fairly exciting…for all of about 30 seconds, at which point we were informed that we couldn’t taxi to our gate because of lightning. It was supposed to be clear and sunny every day of our trip. So much for that!
After about 30 minutes of sitting around, we finally started moving. The worst part of all this was that I had nothing better to do than watch my Twitter feed while we were sitting there, and I kept seeing photos from other Disney fan-photographers who were using the lightning to their advantage. Dangit, no one should “encourage” the lightning–it was preventing us from having fun!
After an eternity (or 30 minutes), we finally exited the plane. We quickly headed down to Disney’s Magical Express, where we immediately boarded the bus. We were really excited. Until we noticed that all of the buses were idling with people on them and there were no lines inside. Normally once the buses started loading (in our experience, at least), they depart right away. We figured we were in for a long wait.
Luckily, that was not the case. Our bus departed only a few minutes after we boarded, and we were off to Caribbean Beach Resort!
If you’ve read our other trip reports, you’ve probably read numerous times that I love Disney’s Magical Express. Not because I think it’s more convenient than a rental car or other shuttle service (it’s not), but because it’s the perfect preface to a Disney vacation. One of my favorite aspects of the ride is the video they play.
Oddly, about 5 minutes into the ride, the video had yet to start. I wasn’t too worried, as sometimes it doesn’t start right away. I’m still not completely sure if it starts automatically when the vehicle hits a certain point, or if the driver initiates it. I’m leaning towards the latter, as we’ve had our return-to-the-airport video not play once. Given that experience, I was worried that the same would happen here. Luckily, disaster was averted when the video started! It’s these small victories that I really savor!
The video was great (Goofy voice: “I’ll say it was!”), as always, and we were to Walt Disney World in no time. In a shocking change, we were the first stop the bus made. When the driver announced this when we departed the airport, I pinched Sarah, saying we must be dreaming. We’re almost always the very last stop. I guess the law of probability dictated that this had to happen eventually!
We exited the bus at Caribbean Beach Resort and headed for the Custom House to check-in. Along the way we met up with our friend, Nick. When we got to check-in we experienced another victory: no line! It was shaping up to be a great night. I requested a room in Jamaica, which was full, but luckily, Aruba was open. Based upon my research, this was the optimum location without paying an additional preferred room fee. We’re both awesome at walking, but more importantly, cheap, so we weren’t about to pay this nightly fee for a room a little closer to Old Port Royale.
As we were leaving the Custom House, as some of you may have read on my Twitter account, I noticed one of my photos of Spaceship Earth being displayed on the video “tip board” that provides operational hours and other information….
There are multiple pages in this Walt Disney World trip report installment. Navigate to the next page below!
Hi Tom and Sarah,
I’m from London and just love reading your various Disney trip reports and seeing all your beautiful photographs. I especially loved your Disney Paris report and seeing the park from the perspective of people who are regulars at the American parks!
I’m off to Disney World for the first time next year and am staying at Caribbean Beach. I’m a little worried that it is such a big resort. I noticed on the first page that you requested a room in the Aruba area. Is this a common thing to do? Where do you recommend is the best area of the hotel to stay? I guess we’d want to be fairly near a bus stop so we can get to the parks as quickly as possible!
Once again, so glad I found this awesome blog!
Sam
Really enjoying re-reading this trip report in anticipation of my first halloween party/food & wine festival trip 🙂
Great! I highly recommend everyone re-read these trip reports about once per week! 😉
Tom
Where is this?
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Okay I am not sure how I missed this report…I’m totally out of order! lol! Great report!! Loved the night shots of SSE…I’m with Sarah in that the castle comes first for me but still a huge fan of SSE…I think I’d pick that as my ‘first ride’ at Epcot:) I have to say it was odd not to see Sarah in a dress! Is this the first time she’s worn jeans?
On to read part 2!
Tom,
I like the list you brought up for the best first ride to experience Epcot. I will admit that I might swap out Impressions de France for Ellen’s Energy adventure. Given my druthers (is that even a word?) I’d do either Spaceship Earth or Maelstrom first.
What I’d very much like to hear are more details behind your list. For me, I have never had a problem with Ellen’s Energy Adventure, but obviously the length of the attraction (old and older) has always been an issue. Even with the update it still contains the original spirit of Epcot, like SSE and Livin’ with the Land do. I can’t really think of anything else in Future World that still does.
TIA,
Dave
Fabulous trip report thus far- you’ve got me feeling like I am totally there! And I agree- old Listen to the Land song, but recorded narration. 😉
I am sure someone has asked, but what camera/lens are you using? I love the look of the photos. They don’t look too fisheye. Will be checking back often.
Hi Tom, you got into WDW the day we got home (tear-drops) looks like your trip is going to be a great one!
I adore your photos, you have a real talent! The colours in them are just gorgeous!
This sentence:
“The anticipation it it actually began 4 years ago, way back in 2007, when Epcot (or EPCOT Center, more appropriately) celebrated its 25th anniversary”
Makes me feel rather old, Epcot and I are the same age (give or take a few weeks!)
Looking forward to part 2!
Amy
As always beautiful pictures, but you really are a great writer as well. You content is always really well written and with a great amount of humor.
Can’t wait for part two x
sigh… Tom, you sure know how to leave a fella with an inferiority complex. As always, those are *startling* images. Great work. I’d love to hang out for an afternoon when you return!
Great start to the report! I love all of your pictures of Spaceship Earth. It is just so beautiful at night.
Awesome first trip report! I was also going to comment on the Test Track pictures. Some of those are quite unbelievable. I just can’t believe you held the camera that steady with how bumpy the outside track is!
Can’t wait to see the star trail shots. I’ve been experimenting around home lately and have that on my list of things to try on the next trip.
Unfortunately, you did see the star trails photos. It’s the last one. That was the best one. You can see the trail a lot better in the larger size (no help to you, I know), but with a single exposure (I don’t like the layered star trail shots) and no ND filter, that’s the best I could do. Next time!
I thought I could see them a little bit there, but wasn’t sure if you would be do a layered compilation. It’s one of those situations where keeping it natural would be ideal, but the circumstances make it almost impossible.
Great post. And I love the photos!
Wow! First live trip tweets and now this awesome trip report… You’re spoiling us Tom!
I too was approached by security at Epcot (the after hours herding out of the park) MK (same thing but very patient and let me linger as long as I wanted) and at the Beach Club Hotel (Late at night, demanding to know why I was taking pictures and then backing off when I proved I was a guest)
I wonder if security is making an increased effort to check up on photographers or if it’s always been like this and we are seeing it more because we are in the parks shooting later. Any thoughts?
~Joanie
Security has always been that way. Maybe you’re misunderstanding me–I was praising Walt Disney World security. They’re generally very polite and reasonable. Disneyland is a totally different ballgame, and you can have some really bad experiences (but also good ones) with security there. Security runs the place like the wild west, and there are some security guards out there with serious egos or complexes.
Great trip report! Although I do have to say I can’t believe Electric Umbrella won out over Sunshine Seasons. What better way to start a WDW vacation than some key lime pie?!
We assumed, as has been the case in the past, that Sunshine Seasons would be closed during EMH. We later learned that isn’t always the case. I don’t even want to know now whether it was open!
Fantastic! I love reading your trip reports, and look forward to reading about the rest of this trip.
Your photos on Test Track make me feel like I’m on the ride. I particularly like the long-exposure outside shot.
Happy to see that Livin’ with the Land is on your list of “truly special” attractions. I love that ride. I love it more than I love Soarin’. Easily one of my favorite things at WDW. My wife thinks I’m crazy.
Great post with lots of awesome photos. Thanks!
Okay, Jon, as a fellow LWTL fan, I have a question for you: do you prefer live narrators for the boats, or the recorded narration? I’ve stated my reasons why (consistency, a voice I can “remember” when we’re away from the World, and I think it’s a higher quality experience this way), but I think I’m in the minority who prefers the recording. Thoughts?
I think I slightly preferred the narrators to the recording, but what I really miss is the song (“Listen to the Land”)….
I like the recorded version. The CMs varied too much. I’d rather be 75% happy with the narration all the time than get a good cast member only 25% and the other 75% be monotonous and boring (Great Movie Ride take note!).
Count me among the group who prefers recorded narration. But I’d also like the theme song to return. The combination of those two would be perfection!
I like the recorded narration better as well. I remember many rides where the live narrator was… less than enthusiastic, for sure. One thing I’m curious about, though… are the greenhouses more static since the recorded spiel? I mean, you can’t just go and rip out the 9-pound lemon or banana or tomato trees without changing the recording now. There have been many changes in the greenhouses, particularly the dome and the hydroponic scene, but that middle greenhouse seems to have been the same for many years now.
As a fellow LWTL fan, I don’t really have a preference for live or recorded narration, but I DO feel strongly in favor of the old “Listen to the Land” song on the soundtrack 🙂
I also am in favor of the canned narration versus live. But the really need to bring the song back as well. The live narration should be a great touch but too many CM’s just weren’t able to deliver the info in a satisfactory way.
Ok, so what I really would like is to allow for CM commentary but let the narration carry the bulk of the ride.