Flying in the Winter always terrifies me. Delays and cancellations are around every corner thanks to unfavorable conditions from multiple locations around the country. What few people think about is that planes come from all over the country, let alone the world. So even if your flight is from LAX to SEA, the aircraft could be coming from LGA or your crew stuck in MSN. There are so many variables that can lead to delays in a schedule. So even if I have a two hour layover, it could easily turn into a misconnect. Miserable for paying passengers, yes. Standby passengers with no rights? It's borderline suicide.
With that being said, I was happy to take vacation time during one of the most hectic times of the year. Now, flying was another story. I hear horror stories of people flying standby and get stranded for DAYS in a city not their own, sleeping on the floor of the airport and living in the same clothes for days. Only one thing could motivate me to get on a plane at the risk of being stranded. So I packed all of my Disney swag and we hopped on a plane to Orlando.
I would like to preface this series of Walt Disney World posts with my predisposition to Disneyland. Most of my childhood memories revolve around Disney. I've been to that park more times than I can remember. That being said, every time I go to a Disney park, I immediately compare it in my mind to Disneyland. So many of these Disney-related posts will have some of my Disney notes. Ok, carry-on.
Bye bye snow!
Yes, I took my Goofy tsumtsum with me
Yes flying stand by is scary, but we made it. We had to pull a Home Alone and run to the gate and were the last ones on the plane, but we made it. After a couple of short flights, most of which I spent sleeping, and a long shuttle ride, we finally got to our hotel across the street from Downtown Disney.
WDW observation #1: this place is gigantic. Growing up with Disneyland, or California equivalent of the Magic Kingdom, is drastically different. California Adventure didn't exist until I was a young adult, so the idea of there being 5 different parks in WDW that can only be accessed by bus, train, or car is insane. The fact that Downtown Disney is no where near the other parks is funny to me, seeing that Downtown Disney in California straddles both of the parks and all are walking distance from each other. Work with what you got I guess.
Since we are in Disney in February, many things were under refurbishment, which is a little disappointing but it helps that the sun was shining and there were smaller crowds. We got to Downtown Disney and it was like a crazy combination of restaurants, alcohol and sugar, sugar, sugar. After dealing with travel hunger pains, we ended up at Raglan Road for some Irish Pub food.
Watching some river dancing at Raglan Road
Shepard's Pie and Fish n Chips
Beautiful candy apple confections
Sky writing
Notice my Disney hairpiece?
It was kind of nice taking some time to walk around and just enjoy the day instead of rushing to the parks for an extra half day of Disney. We continued to explore the shops and notice the little Disney details while taking in the Florida sun.
Fist bump
Hi Ho
Lego Prince Phillip and Maleficent
Basically lunch
Nob Hill Chill- Chocolate shake with hot fudge and chocolate chips
Thanks Edna
WDW observation #2: The park didn't have a variety of classic merchandise. I remember going to Disneyland and seeing an entire wall of character ears for purchase. WDW had probably a dozen that I noticed and the same ones at each store that each park. I don't know if it was because we came during down season, but I was a little heartbroken. Turns out most of the merchandise was geared toards tech, like iPhone cases and Magic band decor. I was planning on dropping a lot of money on some WDW merch and ended up buying zero souvenirs because I didn't want the same ears as every other girl at the park. Insert sad face here.
Slushie in a squeeze bottle from Splitsville
Blue Buffalo Pizza, beer and slushie
WDW observation #3: restaurants galore. Some of my most vivid memories of Disney were not actually at the parks. When we were on vacation as kids, we ate McDonald's religiously, but every once in a while we went to a diner. Eating a full sized hamburger, or chicken strips on a real plate and ending the meal with an ala mode pie made me feel like a grown up. But those restaurants were never on property.
Disneyland is full of rides. There's no room for a restaurant every twenty feet. In WDW there are snack stops, quick service places, table service restaurants. And every place has a theme. I guess this is what happens when the parks are so far apart and isolated from any other venues. I kind of regret not staying at a Disney hotel with the meal plan so we could eat that these places more, but alas, I didn't want to spend $200 a night on a room we barely inhabited. Next time.
So far my impressions of the grounds were decent. Still weird to me to leave the parks and see basically swamps as opposed to desert. There were no ears that I wanted and no tsum tsums, but I could still feel the Disney magic. The next day the real Disney magic would wash over me as we went to the Magic Kingdom. Besides I had to get a full night of sleep and the raspberry banana daquiri I was sipping would help with that.
-Akemi-chan
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