"There Can't be a Rainbow Without a Little Rain" A July '17 TR! *Complete*

SaraSpringsIsHome

Too excited to sleep!
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Hello, and :welcome: to my trip report: "There Can't be a Rainbow Without a Little Rain!" In the case of this trip... a little rain meant a daily deluge, but I'm getting ahead of myself. If you had been following along in the pre-trip report, you already know that this trip was a ‘last hurrah’ before DH heads back to grad school in the fall. (And if you hadn’t been following along, you, too, now know that this trip was a last hurrah before DH heads back to school in the fall!)

For the introductions:

35325383853_9e2d2cd3d2_z_d.jpg
I’m Ali. I’m 32 and an actor/singer/dancer at a regional dinner theatre in Virginia. I love all things Disney, but especially Walt Disney World! I am a proud DVC member and hope to be an AP holder again in the future, depending on where life takes us. I also love Harry Potter, LoTR, Game of Thrones, etc.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Dark Ride: Haunted Mansion
Favorite E-Ticket Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite Restaurant: Biergarten
Favorite Character: Chip and Dale
Favorite Resort: Boardwalk
Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Pixar Movie: Up


35999932811_9de51129c9_z_d.jpg
DH is Donnie. He is heading in to a 3 year Masters program to get his MFA in Arts Leadership. Previously, he owned his own Videography company and also was the sound designer/sound mixer at the dinner theatre where we worked together. He is a lover of all things Disney, especially old Disney movies/cartoons. He loves movies, video games, Batman, HP, LoTR, and Game of Thrones.

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios

Favorite Dark Ride: Great Movie Ride (We are in mourning) :sad:
Favorite E-Ticket Ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite Restaurant: 50’s Prime Time Cafe
Favorite Character: Scrooge McDuck
Favorite Resort: Boardwalk
Favorite Disney Movie: Aladdin
Favorite Pixar Movie: Toy Story

A Super quick recap before we begin!
WHO: Ali and Donnie
WHAT: Celebration trip before school starts; possibly our last Disney vacation until 2020 o_O
WHEN: July 16-22
WHERE: Boardwalk Resort, 1 bedroom standard view villa
HOW: Driving!

Now that we have some introductions, it’s on with the show!

 
Last edited:
July 16, 2017
Travel Day! (part 1)


The alarm was set for 4:00 a.m., and I was up after hitting snooze only once! The bags were packed a few days prior, so we only had a few minor things to throw in the last suitcase before departing (last suitcase not shown- just a smaller version of the black one).


36144225645_4c8ebab7b3_m_d.jpg

The plan was to hit the road at 5:00. I wanted to make sure everything ran smoothly, so I even had our to-go cups prepped and ready the night before!

36144113965_e1c685bdd6_m_d.jpg

With the bags tucked neatly into the Jeep, we were headed out the door with coffee in hand at 4:59. We literally backed out of the driveway at 5:00, so I was pretty darn proud of us!

Traffic was basically non-existent at 5:00 on a Sunday morning, but there was a decent amount of fog as we rolled in to North Carolina-- there is always fog in Fancy Gap! It’s sort of nice at the beginning of the trip, since we aren’t in VA very long before we start passing in to other states. We were crossing the NC border around 5:45, and continued on for a bit until it was time for... more coffee! We spotted a Starbucks around 7, so off we went. I had been hoarding stars for awhile, so we each scored a free Venti latte of our choosing. Free always tastes better!


giphy.gif

We were back on the road very quickly and passed in to South Carolina around 8:15. At some point in SC we stopped for gas and then kept trucking along, passing into Georgia at 10. We’re already halfway there! (Isn’t this thrilling?!)

Look at this beautiful sight! Not quite noon, and we made it to Florida!

35377577913_7a977fa8cc_z_d.jpg

We didn’t really hit any traffic until we neared Orlando, so we super grateful for that.

Pretty soon we were approaching this beauty!


35990912142_05c659c34e_z_d.jpg


Closer...

36144227085_d8dbb765e9_z_d.jpg


Closer...

36025826781_20ae546625_z_d.jpg

We made it!!!

35752953070_dcbdfdf480_z_d.jpg

We pulled up to the Boardwalk entrance around 2:45, and promptly missed the turn. :rotfl2: I had been stalking MDE and my texts, hoping for the “Your room is ready” message, but hadn’t seen anything yet. I was kind of bummed, since I really wanted to get unpacked before our dinner ressie.


Wouldn’t you know it, in the few minutes it took us to turn around, I got the message! Our room, 3105, was ready at 2:49! Woohoo! No need to be bummed, and we even managed to score an awesome front row parking spot. We had just enough bags that we could manage ourselves, so we hauled our luggage out and up to our villa. Success!

36010716241_aaf182223a_z_d.jpg

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the Boardwalk Villas and am SO glad we were able to get a 1 bedroom standard for all 6 nights, despite booking only 2.5 months prior to our trip.

The location wasn’t too bad; I had requested close to the elevators/lobby. We were a decent walk, but not nearly as far away as you can be at BWV! Our room was gorgeous!
Quick Photo Tour of our room: 3105!
36159374995_3857c9bf3d_z_d.jpg

Living Room

36144143355_1510c5c31e_z_d.jpg

Couch/Pull out Bed in Living Room

36144077685_4929491fc1_z_d.jpg

Kitchen

35976586022_90235deacd_z_d.jpg

King Sized Bed in Master bedroom

35325626243_86d211899c_z_d.jpg

Jacuzzi tub looking into Master bedroom

CON'T in next post!
 
Travel Day (part 2)

We also got a special surprise upon walking in to our villa. There was an adorable Disney reusable cold bag filled with goodies on our table! I was so confused, as I hadn’t ordered anything. I thought it had to be a mistake. We sort of poked at the contents, until we found a card inside with our names on it. We are friends with a couple who both drive for the Safari (We’ll call them M & D), and they had put together a bag of goodies for us! What an amazing surprise! Seriously, I was floored by their thoughtfulness. We got 2 Star Wars Mugs, a Star Wars magnet, a bottle of Korbel, individual bags of popcorn, chocolate covered almonds and cashews, and a Darth Vader zippered case with ponchos inside. Thank you M & D!!!

35389833044_550359689d_z_d.jpg

With the shock of the gift subsiding, I quickly began unpacking. I love to completely unpack on vacation; it make it feel like home. Soon we were all settled in, so we headed over to our dinner ressie a bit early. We were both starving and were super excited to eat dinner at Beaches and Cream! We arrived around 4:10, and were seated right on time for our 4:30 ressie.

We were so hungry, so I took no pictures of anything! We started off with the best Vanilla and Cherry Cokes ever! Seriously, they are so delicious here! I had the Reuben with fruit (watermelon) and Donnie got the Patty Melt with fries- we shared the fruit and fries. Unfortunately, we had waited so long to eat and inhaled our sandwiches so fast, that by the time we we finished, we were both way to full for ice cream! I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. I was so looking forward to a No Way Jose, but there was no way we could manage it tonight! We settled up our bill (thanks for the to-go cups of extra soda- he was a lovely server, but i don’t recall his name) and headed over to the bus stop at the Beach Club.


As we were walking over, the Disney Springs bus was just pulling away. It’s always such a bummer when that happens. Lucky for us, however, another bus was scheduled to arrive in about 5 minutes according to the sign. 4 minutes later, we were on our way to Disney Springs. Woohoo!

We shopped our way around and made some good day one purchases. We hadn’t even been to the parks yet, and already saving 20% with my DVC member card! At World of Disney, I found an adorable Jessie shirt (Not Woody in disguise @Raeven ), and we replaced our Buzz Lightyear antenna topper that had come off about a month prior to our trip. At D-tech, Donnie got an awesome Rocketeer case for his iPhone! It’s really cool, and you never can find anything with the Rocketeer on it! We wandered some more, and ended up stopping at Uniqlo, where it was a mad house! We each found a cute shirt, but couldn’t wait to get out of there! (Mine was Dumbo, his Mr. Potato head which will be featured later in this trip report).


Disney Springs was having “Christmas in July,” so we enjoyed a little Christmas music. They also had Christmas treats available for purchase (lots of gingerbread flavored goodies) and you could meet Santa on vacation.

35963194782_bc3aea306e_z_d.jpg

By then it was nearing 8:00, so we headed back to the bus stop for our return trip to the Boardwalk. With some bus magic on our side, we walked up to our stop, and a BW bus arrived moments later!

We were in for another surprise upon entering our room--

Look at these tasty treats! Chocolate covered strawberries and a white chocolate Mickey Mouse. (We later found out this was also set up by our friends M & D).

35976537822_0a867f5675_z_d.jpg

I had brought some “fancy cheese” from home, so I got our snacks together for our Season premier party for Game of Thrones. Wine, bubbles, cheese, crackers, chocolate strawberries-- this is the life! We seriously felt sooo spoiled and fancy!

36078683096_a1d3bb4f77_z_d.jpg

Bubbles and Wine!

35344825504_04cfc4e71b_z_d.jpg

GoT Season Premiere Munchies!

36134875495_db86a283d1_z_d.jpg

Watching Ducktails prior to GoT- Seriously, this is the life!!!


(Side note: DH had brought our Amazon fire stick and hooked it up to the TV. We really enjoyed being able to watch GoT on the “big TV” vs. a laptop and used the fire stick a lot during the week, especially while enjoying coffee in the morning and during our afternoon "rests" while it rained.)

After the episode, we were both exhausted and ready for bed. We had been up since 4:00 a.m., so it was lights out at 10:15, and I’m sure we were fast asleep shortly thereafter!
 




Wow, that room is gorgeous!
Isn't it, though? We are so spoiled staying at BWV!

I also love your husbands Mr. Potato Head shirt!
He got it at Uniqlo at Disney Springs- you can also get it on their website. Bonus- their Disney T-shirts are basically all $14.90!
Following along!:wave:
Yay! Welcome!

We recently got one and I didn't even think of that.

We use our Amazon Prime all the time at home, so it was great to have on vacation, too!
 
Joining in! So excited to hear all about it!

giphy.gif


How lucky that you barely ran into any traffic on your way down to Orlando. What a way to start a trip and then your room being ready right as you pull into park. So lucky and how nice of your friends for getting you all those things! I totally wish I had done something like that for my family when they came to visit. Your room is SO gorj too, love the BoardWalk.

Omg, I can't imagine going to Beaches N Cream and NOT getting ice cream! Totally understand, especially when you eat a full meal quickly.

Oooo, I can't wait to see all the shirts you got. I'm guessing the Mr. Potato Head shirt is the one used in your intros eh eh Why you no go see Santa in his Christmas in July attire tho?

What a great, relaxed way to start your vacation! I cannot wait to hear about your first full day in the parks!

tumblr_n47d7f7uFv1rt5pgzo1_400.gif
 
Following along! Love the report so far!
Thanks, and welcome!

Your room is SO gorj too, love the BoardWalk.
Obessed. It's my favorite :) We are so spoiled with the 1 bedrooms!

Omg, I can't imagine going to Beaches N Cream and NOT getting ice cream!
It's felt wrong. So, so wrong.

I can't wait to see all the shirts you got.
36184675306_a2b26cd595_z_d.jpg

Donnie's shirts
35392779354_294db852cc_z_d.jpg

My shirts

Why you no go see Santa in his Christmas in July attire tho?
Spoiler... we hardly met anyone this trip, with the exception of Star Wars friends at the dessert party. Not even Mickey!

Wow what an amazing first day! I am jealous of your GoT snacking!
It was a wonderful first day. We felt so spoiled with out GoT goodies and noshing in bed!
 
Your friends seem like lovely people. Very thoughtful of them. Am I the only person on earth who hasn't ever watched Game of Thrones?
 
Your friends seem like lovely people. Very thoughtful of them. Am I the only person on earth who hasn't ever watched Game of Thrones?
SO thoughtful :) We were able to spend time with them later in the week, and their thoughtfulness continued!

We have quite a few friends who don't watch the show-- DH and I read the books before the show even came out, so we are *those* kind of fans :D
 
July 17, 2017
Epcot
Time for fun today- for today is Epcot Day! (And our first day in the parks!)

We were both up bright and early at 6:45, before the alarm had a chance to go off and the coffee started auto dripping. We actually sat in bed drinking coffee and watching The Today Show since we had so much extra time. It was soo nice having a relaxing morning after a day full of traveling. Eventually we managed to get showered and give ourselves a sunblock bath before heading out the door at 8:30.

giphy.gif


We had a leisurely stroll over to International Gateway and didn’t have to wait too long before they were letting us into the park, just a little before 9:00. Our first stop was Test Track! We were hoping to rope drop TT, then boogie over to ride Soarin’ standby before beginning to use our fastpasses. We made it to TT... and it was closed. First thing in the morning. What a way to start the day!

No worries, we’ll just head over to Soarin’ and hope to get a FP to ride it later.

35337037453_90d11dcfb7_z_d.jpg

Epcot is so lovely in the morning

We were in line for Soarin’ at 9:10 (It takes a minute to criss cross Epcot!) and waited about 20 minutes before boarding. Not too shabby! I really enjoy the updated film, but, like so many others, wish the distortion could be reduced. It’s always funny to see the Eiffel Tower so curved! While we were waiting in line for Soarin’, I also changed our FP return time for Living With the Land. I had originally budgeted two hours to ride both TT and Soarin’, so with TT out of the picture, we were going to be off Soarin’ around 9:30.

After Living With the Land, we grabbed a quick second breakfast to tide us over until lunch, since our ressie wasn’t until 1:30 and we had breakfast around 7. Apple slices and a chocolate croissant- we are going for balance this trip (haha!)

giphy.gif


I did a terrible job taking pictures this morning, but we were bouncing from attraction to attraction and having so much fun, I kind of forgot to get out my phone. AH, here is the place to note that we decided against bringing our DSLR on this trip. We decided to go super light and only use our phones for photos, so all the pictures in this report were taken on my iPhone 6. Also, we didn't feel like asking anyone to snap a picture of us, so be prepared for many selfies!

36140456355_292280282b_z_d.jpg

Oh, what a beautiful morning in Epcot!

We rode the Nemo ride, Journey into Imagination, visited the DVC lounge for a quick Coke Freestyle pick me up, watched the Pixar Short Film Festival (which we had not done before- very cute!), and headed over to ride Spaceship Earth around 11:30 with our 2nd FP of the day. We were really grateful we had it! Standby was 50 minutes, and we ended up waiting about 10 minutes with our FP. We were also graced with standing behind a young man who smelled as though his last shower was 3 days prior and deodorant was not an option. YIKES! We were also blessed to be sharing a ride vehicle with Mr. Ripe... DH has a sensitive nose so here is our future!

36143999415_ffe63274da_z_d.jpg

This future stinks!
36000482941_79ab5dd41a_z_d.jpg


After enduring the longest ride on Spaceship Earth ever, we started in to World Showcase. Our first stop was on one of DH’s favorites, and the only ride we went on twice in Epcot- The Gran Fiesta Tour!

36007555431_a60cfee758_z_d.jpg

Donnie and Onald Duck

35300694604_473aca461f_z_d.jpg

Donald Piñata! Poor Donald...

We wandered Mexico a bit, and soon is was time for our 3rd FP at Frozen Ever After.

We arrived to FEA... and it was down. Boo, Frozen, Boo. BUT, this meant we could now use our FP on Test Track! We checked the MDE app, and it was down, too. Hmph. What to do, what to do. Will we even get to ride Test Track this trip? We hemmed and hawed for a minute, and decided to go see the Circlevision in China and make a better plan afterward.

We enjoyed Reflections of China, and after browsing through the shops for a minute, rechecked to see if Frozen was up. Thank the maker, it was! So we backtracked to Norway and tapped in to Frozen. And waited. And waited. We thought for sure the ride was going to go down again. (During this wait I was able to refresh and score a FP for TT for the evening. Woohoo!) After a 25 minute wait, we finally journeyed through Arendelle! I do really like this ride, so I’m glad we were able to experience it. It sure was looking rough there for a minute!

Since our plans were a bit delayed due to FEA, we boogied on over to Italy for our 1:30 lunch ressie at Via Napoli! We arrived at 1:35, were seated at 1:45. Our waitress was lovely, but seemed exceptionally busy. Right after we were seated, a large Brazilian family was seated next to us (12 people). So they took quite a bit of her time. Anyway, our large pepperoni pizza eventually arrived and we demolished it! No pics, too hungry! We settled up (Saving a few $ thanks to DVC) and were on our way out around 2:50.


What do you do while waiting for pizza? You have a photo shoot!

35748742850_3402fc54a1_z_d.jpg

Gimme your best Blue Steel

At this point we were stuffed and it was still sunny out, so we decided to head back to the Boardwalk for an afternoon swim. We strolled back and were suited up with more sunblock by 3:30. It’s amazing to me how fast the time goes by when you’re splashing in a pool! We both went down the Keister Coaster (aka Scary Clown Slide) at some point and just enjoyed floating around until about 4:30. It was back to the room for showers, and around 5:00 the skies opened up and just started pouring rain. Buckets and buckets. And thunder and lightening.

We hung out in bed watching Ducktails, glancing out every so often to see if the rain had subsided enough to venture back to Epcot. We still had a Test Track FP (8:00-9:00) to use and hadn’t really explored the countries much.

Around 6:45, we decided it had let up enough to walk back to Epcot for the evening. It was still sprinkling a bit, but not enough to warrant ponchos, although we did have them tucked in my purse just in case. We didn’t have any major plans, just wander World Showcase and hopefully get to ride Test Track.

We were going to see Impressions de France, but just missed the showing, so we looked at the shops and continued on. In Japan, we decided we were ready for some dinner, so popped in to Katsura Grill for a bite. We each had a kids meal with beef, rice, broccoli, and cookie. It was pretty tasty, albeit a tad salty.

When we made it to the American Adventure, the rain was picking up bit, and lucky for us, the show was about 2 minutes away from starting! Hooray! I really like AA, and am always amazed at what must be going on beneath the stage and off stage during the show.

35333163013_66ec581112_z_d.jpg

Thus, the title of the trip report! Beautiful rainbow over Germany!

We eventually ended up back in Mexico for our second ride with Donald and friends :donald:

35333004343_08e008fc0f_z_d.jpg

The Three Caballeros!
35299489204_1bf5520991_z_d.jpg

Happy husband!

The rain had basically died off at this point, and Test Track was still not open. Do we just ride Soarin’ again using our TT FP? So much uncertainty! We decided to walk over to TT anyways, and by the time we made it over there, it was apparent they were testing the vehicles with nobody riding and really were trying to get it up and running. There was a VERY long line of people waiting to tap in with their FP’s, so we browsed through Mouse Gears still debating on what to do. We decided if it wasn’t up and running by 8:50, we’d head over and re-ride Soarin’.

Finally at 8:45, they reopened Test Track, and WE GOT TO RIDE IT! Yay!

35332893223_9036401a4f_z_d.jpg

Proof! Terrible post Test Track selfie.

We were off the ride at 9:15 and, like salmon swimming up stream, made our way back to International Gateway.

By 10:00 we were entering our room, and at 10:10 each had a glass of wine in hand. We watched a little of “The Pixar Story” on Amazon, and drifted off to sleep shortly after.

We had such a great first day, despite the minor mishaps with the rides. We basically checked off everything on our “Want To Do” list and even got to swim and rest in the afternoon. We lucked out on missing the worst of the storms, too, since we were already back at the hotel. Hard to believe that day one of our vacation was already at a close.
 
Last edited:
Yay for first full day at Epcot! I don't even know how you can call a day where you wake up before an alarm as an easy day. Bless you. I wish I had that kind of mentality about mornings.

I agree that the distortion on Soarin' now is awful, but omg if it isn't still the best ride in the park for me. I don't know, the California scenery was just never as awe-inspiring (although it's the next state I hope to visit one day).

That's so rough about your FPs. Props to you for even managing to move around your TT FP so much and still getting to ride. I'd have given up, partly because I hate the new TT, but it still would not have been worth all that hassle for me. At least Frozen Ever After wasn't as difficult.

OMG VIA NAPOLI!!! Bless you for not actually showing any food pics because I really was not ready to clean up drool off my keyboard. I'm glad to hear it was eaten to much delight.

Do you not go into the American Adventure and also see Voices of Liberty? The lack of VoL photos or vids is unnerving and I need assurance lol

Glad your crazy day, storms and FP issues included, was successful! I cannot wait to hear about your adventures in the other parks. :thumbsup2
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top