DisneyDarling1
For the love of Disney
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2013
"I Can Show You The World!"
The mother daughter trip of a lifetime!
February 9-16 2013
*WARNING* This trip report includes intense friendship, unexpected romantic surprises, and birthday wishes coming true. Reader discretion is advised
The mother daughter trip of a lifetime!
February 9-16 2013
*WARNING* This trip report includes intense friendship, unexpected romantic surprises, and birthday wishes coming true. Reader discretion is advised
So here I am, writing my very first trip report! I am pretty excited and hopefully you are excited to read it! I do have to warn you, it took me quite a bit of time to sit down write this report (I won't admit how long) but I'm ready to recall the most amazing trip to Disney I have ever experienced!
It all started in history class with my newly made best friend Marissa. This girl is basically me, just a bit sportier. We both have an undying love for Disney, as well as scuba dive for fun. A match made in heaven! She had shown me some videos on YouTube of three good friends who visited Walt Disney World together. They took their trip Frump Style (I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about We immediately decided to plan a trip of our own. Marissa was in class with Jenny, the third member of our gang. Jenny had saved up a lot of money the year before and couldn't imagine a better way to spend her money then Disney with her friends. We originally wanted to go by ourselves, but being 17 (one person about to turn 18) we sort of needed our moms. So then it began; the mother daughter trip of the century! So let us start with our amazing cast of characters...
Introducing!
Courtney (me)
Courtney (me)
As you know, my name is Courtney. I am currently in college in Mississippi and plan on hopefully attending the Disney College Program next Spring. I have always loved Disney, but one year everything intensified. I suddenly became obsessed with all things Disney. I have a nice library of disney books and take great pride in my knowledge of Disney Parks facts.
My mother is Robyn
She's quirky, fun, and loves the haunted mansion. She is a wonderful mother and I was so happy to be able to go to our favorite place together.Marissa and Denise
A I said before, Marissa is just like me. I could not have had as much fun on this trip if I would not have gone with her. And as you will see further along in the report, she is so much fun! she loves Cinderella, soccer, and the Tower of Terror.
Her mother is Denise. Denise an outgoing mommy with tons of personality. She is not the biggest fan of rides, but enjoys spending time with her family in Disney. She was a wonderful addition to our gang.
Jenny and Sherry
Jenny is also one of my best friends. She is on the quiet side sometimes, but don't let that fool you. She has a fantastic personality. Once you get her giggling sometimes she doesn't stop, and she made our trip so much fun! This trip brought me so close to her, and she was so much fun to be with in the parks. I miss her already!
Her mother, Sherry, was the super mom of the trip. Being a mother of four girls, she was always prepared. She had a bag filled with random necessary things from band aids to mints. She came to the rescue many a time. She also made us pillow cases for the trip!
Phew!! Thats all of us
The Pre-Planning
So it all started almost a year before we left. Every person paid for themselves. I worked all year at Sonic as a carhop raising money for our trip, and that made me appreciate everything all the more. Jenny's mom had her AAA Travel Planner book the trip for us. We picked the suites at Disney's Art of Animation resort. We originally wanted to stay in the Finding Nemo suite ("mine,mine,mine!"). The travel agent called us a couple months before our trip however, and we saved $200 per person by switching to the Cars suite, so naturally, we switched.
We decided to drive in order to save money. We are all from southeast Louisiana, so the 9 hour drive didn't seem so bad. I enjoy road trips (that are Disney bound at least). Our road trip proved to be a lot of fun (stay tuned!). We had two meetings over the summer to discuss our plans, and the trip was officially a go.
Marissa's birthday is February 11, so we were able to celebrate her birthday while on the trip. Also Jenny's birthday is February 20, so we celebrated hers as well! My birthday is May 14, so I was a bit left out. I had my very own surprise waiting for me however!
Travel Day! February 9
The day had arrived. FINALLY. I remember waking up at 5, with the sun still sleeping, and looking in the mirror. My minnie mouse sweatshirt was a lovely reminder of what magic was still to come. I brought all my bags to the front door waiting for MArissa to come pick my mom and I up. I saw her headlights come into the yard and ran to open the door. I opened the door, stared at her with wide eyes for about 3 seconds, then we both screamed "We're going to Disney World!!!". We hugged, and rushed to pack up our things. Thanks to the kindness of my boyfriend and his family, we borrowed their cartop luggage holder, a.k.a. the canoe. Three people could comfortably sit in said canoe and paddle upstream. Thank goodness it was large because with six women in a car, we needed the space!
My mom and I waved goodbye to my dad and whisked off to Jenny's house. We picked her and her mother up, took that lovely picture above, and off to Disney!!
The car ride was a riot. We stopped at Chik Fil A in the morning to get chicken minis, then at Moe's to get burritos for lunch.Marissa and I sat in the very back seat and the others rotated.
We had our pillows and my DVD players so it wasn't too bad of a ride. At one point I believe I fell off the seat while sleeping...
It's all a blur. But after not too long, we saw the pearly gates of heaven on earth... Walt Disney World! Not long after that we were at The Art of Animation Resort.
Arrival
We checked into our hotel, Cars building 2, third floor.
Room Description: We had six adults in the one suite, and it was very doable. When you walk into the room there is a main living space. There is a table on you left (in our room) when you walk in that folds down into a bed. This was my favorite part of the whole room. There was a mural of mater sleeping and a light behind the bed. On the right across from this bed was the bathroom. There was a sink and large lighted mirror small area, and a toilet and shower room area. Each had a door. The living room area had a couch that folded out into a bed, a T.V. , and small kitchen area. The couch was so cute; it looked like the seats of an old car. There was a door on the left that led to a large master bedroom. The bed and bathroom were very big. The shower was a walk-in, and above the sink read "carwash". The theme was so cute, and even though it wasn't the room we originally wanted, we loved it!
We did not stay long at the resort before rushing to our reservations at The Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.
Marissa's aunt had brought Marissa's cousin Samantha to WDW for the weekend and didn't tell Samantha that Marissa would be there too. We successfully surprised her at the restaurant and ate our first meal in WDW!
After the meal we went shopping around. We stopped at the pin store and bought some pins for our collection. Marissa found the limited edition Mardi Gras Pin. Then she wanted to get a custom rice krispie treat at Goofy's, so we went there next (just saying, it sat in the mini fridge the whole trip; she was "saving" it).
After a night at Downtown Disney we went back to the resort. While the mothers got settled in the room, us girls explored carsland. There are life-size replicas of all the cars from the movie(s). There were fun lights everywhere, too.
We took our mugs and walked over to the main building to fill them up. We were in the last building of the resort, and the walk was not bad at all. We got to walk through Carsland as well as through the Nemo area and pool. I stayed in the Caribbean beach resort previously and the walk from Jamaica to the main building was a tough one. The first tour group was encountered here. We later found out that the week we chose to go was not only Mardi Gras, but also a cheer camp, dance camp, quinceanera group trip, and the convention of tour groups. We were not happy.
We went back to the room, unpacked, and had sweet dreams of the wonderful week to come...
We made some YouTube Videos of our trip, and HERE is the one for travel day!! Check it out