Fall / Winter 2014-2015 Disney Daily Blog

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - December 2014 - January 2015

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - November 2014

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - October 2014



December 2014 - January 2015

12/30/14

Today, we arrived in Orlando, and checked into Caribbean Beach Resort.  We were excited to be staying there because it had been almost 12 years since the last time we stayed there!  We were able to stay in the awesome Pirates of the Caribbean themed rooms, and the beds even looked like pirate ships.  We boarded a Disney bus, and headed to Epcot.  We ate at our favorite restaurant, Via Napoli, for a late lunch.  After lunch, we got to se our favorite Vacation Planner, Courtney, in her booth selling park tickets and helping guests with questions.  We went back to our resort to get settled and get our luggage. We chilled in room and Courtney met us at the resort when she finished work.

We all headed to Magic Kingdom for the night.  We ate at Cosmic Ray's and then watched the amazing 360* fireworks.  Magic Kingdom does their New Year's Eve fireworks the night before, too, so we took advantage of being able to see them with not as many crowds.  After a long day of travel and fun at Epcot AND Magic Kingdom, we headed home to Caribbean Beach.  Tomorrow morning, we are headed back to Magic Kingdom.

12/31/14

We started our day off at Magic Kingdom, and Courtney had to work today. This is the busiest day of the year, and she was moved back and forth between Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Once we got to Magic Kingdom, we saw the Marblestone family.  Bonnie knows them from school, and they were Neil's first Disney clients now that he is a Disney Travel Agent.  They happened to be going to Disney, the same time we were. The 3 of us headed to go eat breakfast at Gaston's Tavern We rode the train from Fantasyland to Main Street.  We had a great spot and we watched the Once Upon A Christmas parade. After the parade, we had an ice cream treatNeil and Megan rode Space Mountain and then we headed back to the resort.

We ate  lunch at Old Port Royale, the counter service restaurant at Caribbean Beach, and then chilled for a bit.  We met Courtney at Epcot when she finished her shift.  Courtney shopped at The Art of Disney and then we watched Holiday Illuminations. The four of us took some pictures with our New Years Eve hats and horns, that Disney gives out. We headed out of Epcot, and took the monorail to the Grand FloridianAfter walking around the beautiful lobby, we ate dinner at Gasparilla's GrillAfter dinner, we headed to Downtown DisneyWe shopped for new Disney cell phone cases at D Tech.  Neil, Courtney, and Megan had ice cream treats from Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. Tomorrow morning, we are headed to Animal Kingdom.  It was great to welcome in the new year, in our favorite place - Walt Disney World!

1/1/15

Happy New Year!  We decided to sleep in, and have a late start today. Once we got moving, we headed to Animal Kingdom. Courtney was still working, so the 3 of us ate lunch at Yak n Yeti Local Food CafeNeil and Megan rode Expedition Everest, while Bonnie took pictures of them coming down the mountain. We headed back to the resort to meet CourtneyThe four of us headed to Fort Wilderness to eat dinner at the delicious buffet at Trail's End.  This restaurant has quickly become a favorite of ours!

We did some shopping in the gift shops at The Contemporary Resort, and then watched Wishes Fireworks from Bay Lake Tower, at the Top of the World lounge.  We love being DVC Members because we can watch the fireworks from the rooftop of Bay Lake Tower, even when we aren't staying there! We then went to Magic Kingdom and walked around a little, before heading back to our resort for the night. 

1/2/15

This morning, we woke up and headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  Bonnie and Neil rode Toy Story Mania while Megan rode her favorite, Rock n Roller Coaster.  Enjoying our Park Hopper, after having a quick trip to Hollywood Studios, we headed to Magic Kingdom.  We watched the Fantasy of Festival parade.  We ate lunch at Tortuga Tavern and had our favorite taco salads and nachos.  We went to go see Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress attraction.  During the busy holiday season, Courtney was working at Magic Kingdom taking part in a Vacation Planning pilot test with ticket sales.  It was great that we were able to see her selling park tickets on the iPad, which has really helped their department become more efficient.

After Courtney finished her shift, we went to Cast Connections, the special Cast Member store, for one last time to do a little shopping.  We then headed to Courtney's apartment to help her pack some things up, since her Disney College Program was ending in just a few days.  The four of us headed to Hollywood Studios for the evening.  We rode the Great Movie Ride and had Tess (Courtney's roommate) as our wonderful tour guide.  Afterwards, we went to see the Comedy Warehouse Holiday Special.  We ate dinner at Backlot Express and then went to go see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.  During the holiday season, the Streets of America have over 5 million lights of many colors.  These lights periodically "dance" by blinking in time to music that fills the area, and are quite a beautiful sight to see during the holiday season.  We went to go to the Frozen play area for a few pictures, and then headed to Walt Disney - One Man's Dream.  It was a busy day!  Tomorrow, we are going to Magic Kingdom!  

1/3/15

Today, we headed to Magic Kingdom and got to see Courtney at work again.  As we were walking down Main Street, we saw Mayor Weaver, one of our favorite Main Street Citizens to see.  After talking with him, we found out he has been working at Magic Kingdom for 26 years now!  We stopped by the DVC booth to see our favorite DVC Cast Member, Nichole.  We rode The Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Peter Pan's Flight.  After riding these attractions, we stopped to have lunch at Columbia Harbour House where we enjoyed fried fish.  The three of us rode the Peoplemover and went to go see Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.  Afterwards, we headed back to the resort to pack up.  We enjoyed dinner at Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort, and took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom.  We rode Haunted Mansion and walked around a bit.  Tomorrow, we're heading back to Magic Kingdom!

1/4/15

We woke up this morning and headed to Magic Kingdom.  Courtney was spending the day with her friends, as it was their last day in the parks together.  Neil and Megan rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain two times. Afterwards, we all rode Astro Orbiter.  Megan needed a little Pixie dust so we visited a fairy godmother in Fantasyland. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of salads, meatball sliders, and homemade chips at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. We stopped for a quick picture with Mickey Mouse on our way back to the resort.  We got back to the resort where we took the Magical Express transportation.

Bonnie and Megan are flew back to Houston, and Neil and Courtney drove back, since she has had her car here on her program.  Courtney is finishing her awesome Disney College Program.  We hope you have read her blog at www.courtneydcp.com.  She had an amazing experience and can't wait to see what her future with Disney will be!  Stay tuned for our next Disney blog posts, in March, when Megan's dance team, the Bellaire Belles will be performing in Disney World!


November 2014

11/25/14

Bonnie, Neil, and Megan arrived at All Star Music where we met Courtney.  Courtney has a few days off from her Disney College Program, while we are here for Thanksgiving, so we are looking forward to a mini family vacation together in our favorite place to be.  We first went shopping at Cast Connection and found new matching shirts.  We then headed to Magic Kingdom.  We ate dinner at Harbour House and from Sleepy Hollow.  Then, we headed to do a little shopping at The Emporium.   We went and boarded the Jingle Cruise, and enjoyed their holiday humor.  We went back to All Star Music early, since it was raining so much.  We wanted to be ready for an early morning, at Animal Kingdom. 

11/26/14

Staying on property, gives you the advantage of extra magic hours.  Animal Kingdom opened an hour early, to Disney resort guests.  Courtney, Neil, and Megan went on Expedition Everest.  Then, we ate breakfast at Pizzafari.  We went and took some pictures with some characters – Pluto, Santa Goofy, Donald, who were greeting in Dinoland.  After saying hi to our pals, we headed to one of our favorite Animal Kingdom shows to watch, The Festival of the Lion King.  After the show, we ate lunch at Yak n Yeti Local Food Café. 

The four of us then took a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch to say hi to some character friends, Flik, Princess Atta, Chip and Dale. After we left Rafiki’s Planet Watch, we then headed to Magic Kingdom. Stopping on Main Street to say “Hi” to the Mayor was next on our agenda.  Then, we went into Megan’s favorite place, The Confectionery.  Megan had a magical moment!  She was invited to make whatever she wanted, from the dessert case.  She chose to make a Minnie Mouse caramel apple!!

We watched The Festival of Fantasy parade and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for the night.  We headed to Epcot, where we boarded The Friendship boat from Mexico to Germany.  We walked over to the next pavilion, to Italy, where we headed to our favorite restaurant, Via Napoli.  We enjoyed a delicious meal!  After dinner, we headed to Hollywood Studios to meet the 4 parks in a day challenge and enjoyed The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, such a beautiful sight to see and hear!  It’s an annual event, that takes place along the Streets of America.  Millions of dancing lights and animated displays are synchronized to high-energy holiday tunes. 

11/27/14

The Suchart family headed to Magic Kingdom for the day, starting off the day by eating breakfast from Starbucks.  After breakfast, the 4 of us rode Buzz Lightyear and Courtney scored a score of 999,999!  We went to see one of our favorites - Carousel of Progress, and then went to go ride a “doom buggy” on Haunted Mansion.  Then, we headed to have lunch at Tortuga Tavern, our favorite taco salad and nachos! We love the edible shells, as well as the taco salad bar of toppings.

After lunch, we watched The Festival of Fantasy Parade.  Courtney, Neil, and Megan rode Space Mountain.  Then, we all watched A Frozen Holiday Wish show, where Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf light up Cinderella's Castle!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and then watched the Celebrations castle pre show and Wishes Fireworks before heading back to our hotel for the night!  This was our first Thanksgiving in Walt Disney World, and it was quite a special one!  We hope to be here again some year, for Thanksgiving! After dinner we finished off the night watching the awesome castle show and fireworks extravaganza before heading back to the hotel.

11/28/14

This morning, the four of us headed to Hollywood Studios where Courtney and Megan rode Rock n Roller coaster.  Afterwards, we headed to eat breakfast at Starring Rolls where we enjoyed bagels and cinnamon rolls.  After breakfast we went to the Frozen Sing-along Celebration, where we followed the Karaoke words on the screen to Frozen favorites such as “Let It Go”, “For The First Time in Forever,” and “In Summer.” After the sing-along, we headed to Downtown Disney. 

We were happy to visit with Adam and hear about how his new job is going.  The four of us were so happy to see that the pin trading board was opened at The Pin Trading Store, and found some new pins.  Then we enjoyed lunch at Earl of Sandwich and shopping at World of Disney.  Courtney, Neil, and Megan had ice cream treats at Ghiradelli's Soda Fountain.  After leaving Downtown Disney, we stopped by to see Andrew at the DVC Preview Center. 

We headed to Epcot to use our fastpass and ride Soarin’, Bonnie’s favorite ride of all of the parks.  We headed back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.  We have been looking forward to going to  Pioneer Hall at Fort Wilderness to see the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, a family fun event of Wild West dancing, singing, zany vaudeville comedy, and a delicious family style dinner of fried chicken, pork ribs, and more!  We loved it!!!  Even though we have heard of the Hoop Dee Doo Revue for years, this was the first time our family has been to this show! 

11/29/14

After packing in our hotel room, we headed to Magic Kingdom where we ate lunch at Tony's Restaurant.  Four salads and plates of meat ball sandwich trios was what we enjoyed eating for lunch.  We did a little last minute shopping around the Confectionery.  We headed to Courtney's apartment to pack some things. and began our drive home to Houston.

We look forward to our next visit to Disney!!  Stay tuned!


October 2014

10/3/14

This is a first for the Suchart family -- with Courtney in Disney for the College Program and with our Annual Pass membership that we bought this summer, planned a weekend getaway to Orlando!  Bonnie, Neil and Megan flew in to Orlando.  We met  Courtney at Art of Animation Resort.  This is our first time to stay here.   We have eaten in the food court and walked around before.

We checked in, ate lunch in the food court and then our room was ready!  Afterwards, we headed to Magic Kingdom in our Halloween costumes.  When we activated our new Annual Passes, the cast member gave us Fast Passes because he liked that we were dressed up as Fast Passes for MIckey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We rode Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Seven Dwarves Mine Train.  The party didn't start until 7 00, so we had time (with our fast passes).   We took pictures with so many characters - Seven Dwarves, The Hag, Pooh Eeyore.  Piglet and Tigger.      We enjoyed watching "Mickey's Boo To you Halloween Parade."  After the parade, we had time to see more characters:  Jack Sparrow, Mickey, Daisy, Minnie, Goofy and Donald.

We did lots of trick or treating along the candy trails throughout Magic Kingdom.  We watched the Celebrate The Magic preshow in front of Cinderella's castle. Hallowishes fireworks were awesome to see!  After a fun filled day, we headed back to resort.   Tomorrow, we head to Epcot!


10/4/14

We slept in and then headed to Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival!!  With our fast passes, we rode Soarin!  Then we headed to Canada, and started off our day of eating with 4 filet mignons, topped with a delicious truffle butter sauce and sautéed mushrooms.  Next, we headed to England for traditional Fish and chips.  We then went to France, where we tasted Boeuf Bourguignon, which is a fancy name for braised short ribs in Cabernet with mashed potatoes.  By now, we were ready for dessert, so we headed to Belgium for a Belgian Waffle with warm chocolate ganache.

We stopped in to Via Napoli to say hi to our friends.  Next, we boarded the Friendship Boat to go across the World Showcase Lagoon.  Mickey's pal, Duffy the Bear was in his pumpkin outfit, waiting to say hi to us.  We headed to our reservation of a culinary demonstration with Chef John Hui Maelstrom.  We went to go ride Maelstrom, in Norway before it closes forever.  This was the last weekend, that you could ever go on Maelstrom, as they are now starting to renovate it, to become a Frozen attraction, still with a boat.  We decided we could still eat some more, so we headed to Japan for Salad with Miso dressing and some white rice.  We decided to eat just a little more, so stopped back in Canada, for some more filet mignons!

We went to go explore the Ghiradelli exhibit and then headed to Magic Kingdom.  We walked around a bit, and then watched Disney's Electrical Parade  and Celebrate the Magic.  We ended the night, watching Wishes Fireworks, before heading back to Art of Animation.


10/5/14

Day 3 of our mini October trip, we slept late and then went to Epcot for a short bit.  Of course, since we needed to eat lunch, we headed to where else - Canada, to eat some delicious filet mignon.   We headed to Patagonia, where we ate Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree, and a Beef empanada.  Afterwards, we headed to Italy, to taste the Ravioli alla Caprese (a cheese ravioli) and a Cannoli al Cioccolato, a chocolate covered cannoli. 

Since we were quite full, we headed back to the resort to chill for a little while.  Then we headed to Magic Kingdom where we rode the refurbished Peoplemover.  Of course, we stopped in to our favorite place, the Confectionery.  Luckily, we saw our good friend, Elizabeth.  Who else should we see in the Confectionery, but our other friend, Lou Mongello!  We headed to Fort Wilderness where we ate one of our favorite buffet dinners, at Trails End.  After dinner, we took a short boat ride to The Contemporary and then to Bay Lake Tower to see Hallowishes fireworks from the rooftop.  Tomorrow morning, we will be headed home to Houston, while Courtney continues her Disney College Program! 

But - stay tuned, as we will be coming back, the end of November, to spend Thanksgiving with Courtney in our favorite place!


Email us with questions or comments.

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - November 2014

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - October 2014

 
 Have any comments, questions, or need some help with Walt Disney World?
 
Courtney@DisneyWorldLive.com Megan@DisneyWorldLive.com