10 days, 5 parks...
It only took mere hours after telling my family and friends I got accepted to my DCP for the plans to visit to start forming. Within days my family decided they were coming down for Thanksgiving and before we knew it we were getting everyone plane tickets and booked our reservation at Tusker House for Thanksgiving dinner. I was beyond excited when all of this started coming together and I was planning the days with my family out in my head for months.
Next was friends, and one of my best friends knew she was not gonna not find a way to visit me no matter the cost. All summer she kept asking around for people to come with her so they could split a hotel room together and she managed to find two friends and before we knew it, it was time to book a room. Once I got to Disney and could book discounted rooms, I gave them the call and made sure we were all set and it all started coming together.
It was set, my friends were coming from November 20th to the 25th and my family from the 25th to the 29th. 10 straight days of fun and as you can imagine my immediate concern was getting the days off from work, so I put in the requests to work and prayed.
It was set, my friends were coming from November 20th to the 25th and my family from the 25th to the 29th. 10 straight days of fun and as you can imagine my immediate concern was getting the days off from work, so I put in the requests to work and prayed.
A few days prior during a training class at Disney University during one of our breaks I went on over to Company D to purchase all the passes for my family and friends. 12 in total, a mix of park hoppers and single park passes, all for a variety of different days and then linked everything to My Disney Experience account to book everyone's Fastpasses. Contrary to popular belief, getting Fastpasses for most rides on short notice isn't that difficult, the only rides you will struggle for are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Toy Story Midway Mania and Soarin. Other than those three rides I was usually all set for most other rides, whether it was for myself or in this case my friends and family.
My schedules came out for the days of everyone visiting. I got scheduled for a few days during that time, but managed to switch shifts around with fellow cast members to only need to work twice throughout their visit and it worked out perfectly. So I was all set, they'd be arriving soon and my excitement just kept growing and growing.
My friends and I were staying at Coronado Springs for the duration of their visit, so they were able to take the Disney Magical Express (DME) bus from the airport to the resort. They were arriving late at night so I was able to prepare for their arrival all day and meet them at Coronado as they got off the bus. I couldn't have been happier to see familiar faces from back home, as much as I love all my friends I was living with at Disney, seeing those who matter from home and being able to share the Disney experience with them is the best feeling in the world. I brought them back to the room and called it a night, the following day we had no plans of going the parks.
After spending most of the day relaxing by the pool allowing them to recuperate from a long day of flying the day prior, we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and to walk around. We were downtown for probably 3 hours having dinner then going through all the stores letting them get immersed in everything Disney and get them all jazzed up for the days to come. It was nice to finally have the opportunity to share what I've been enjoying for the past two and a half months with the people who haven't had the same privilege as me and watching them enjoy it so much was awesome. The next day we were starting the marathon of getting little sleep and going hard at the parks, so we got back to Coronado reasonably early in the evening so we could all get a decent nights sleep before going to Universal the next day.
I slept back at my apartment that evening so I could pack a bag with all the clothes I need for the next couple days to stay at Coronado, grabbed coffee on my way to pick them up and we were off. I couldn't wait to see how they'd react to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and they were just as excited. We only got the one park pass to Universal for financial reasons and general lack of energy/interest to do both parks. Once we got in the park we hit the ground running with the Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It, moved on to The Return of The Mummy and Transformers before ending up at The Simpsons Ride. At this point we had made it to the back of the park near Diagon Alley, we rode Men in Black and then finally made it to Diagon Alley and it was great to see the look on their faces. We spent plenty of time exploring the various stores they have, grabbed some Butterbeer and eventually went to ride Escape from Gringotts.
By now we were all feeling pretty burnt out and hangry. So we finally departed Diagon Alley and headed back toward the entrance of the park to grab something to eat. Now that we were satisfied and feeling slightly re-energized we walked to ET for an easy, relaxing ride to keep us going then finished off our day with Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. This was hands down the longest, fullest day I had ever done at Universal, we left with the sun down, physically drained but ready for day 2 which would be even longer...Magic Kingdom.
We all basically passed out once returning to Coronado, I woke up extra early to go out and grab coffee for us all, returning to everyone getting ready to head out for the day. We left Coronado as early as was humanly possible for everyone to wake up and be fully functioning since we knew MK would be packed...and it was. We got there about 30 min after opening and just the lines for the bag check were unreal, but regardless we made it in and I immediately let them know just pick what ya wanna ride and regardless of what it is we are probably gonna have to wait a decent line. Throughout their time with me I kept telling them it's your vacation I'm here to do whatever you guys want, I can do it all whenever I want.
We immediately started with our castle Photopass picture with our ears and moved over to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain Fastpass, rode The People Mover and did Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We moved on to Journey Under the Sea with The Little Mermaid and Mickey's Philharmagic then moved over to Haunted Mansion, we unintentionally timed it perfectly to catch the Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3 while eating turkey legs for lunch. We watched the whole parade from the nearby Hall of Presidents and by this point it was time for our Splash Mountain Fastpass. We hit that and then headed out to go back to Coronado to recuperate before heading to Hollywood Studios at night.
After an hour or so at the room, we went to Studios so they could see the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights, since all three of them LOVE Christmas and I can say I'm no different. But seeing the look on people's face when they saw these lights for the first time was the best, just pure joy and awe...I remember the first time I saw them and felt the same way. They are so overwhelming in the best way.
That was all we did at Studios though since wait times for everything were so long and I wanted to make sure we caught Wishes. As we were parking at MK walking toward the TTC I heard fireworks begin going off, it was only 9 pm and couldn't figure out why. But it was Wishes going off an hour earlier than I was accustom to, so rather than watch them on Main Street we saw them from the TTC which was just as magical for them having never seen them before. Once they wrapped up though we took the monorail back into MK to catch some more rides before they closed and all passed out from exhaustion. We managed to ride Buzz Lightyear, Big Thunder Mountain Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of the Caribbean before calling it a night. All of us were ready to pass out by the time we finally made it back to Coronado. Everyone passed out once we got back and the next day we had Animal Kingdom and EPCOT to attack.
I woke up extra early again to get coffee for all of us, returning to the room with all them just about ready to leave. Once we were ready to go we headed to Animal Kingdom arriving just after park open and having a great day ahead with Fastpasses for the major attractions. We started off big with Expedition Everest, one of my favorites, and then went straight to Dinosaur hitting them back to back. We moved on from Dinoland, trekking across the park to Africa to watch The Festival of the Lion King and then ride Kiliminjaro Safaris. We had hit everything major at this point and we were ready to head out, but snapped some obligatory pics in front of The Tree of Life first.
This was a crazier day for me than the others since I was spending the first half with my friends, then dropping them at EPCOT so I could meet up with my family who landed that morning and then I had to work that night from 3:30 to midnight. I was up at 6 and in bed at 1, needless to say it was a long day for me but well worth it.
The next morning my friends were taking the DME from Coronado back to the airport at 7 AM, so I woke up early again to get them coffee for their ride back as well as see them off. I gave them all a hug and told them how great a time I had with them during their visit, and went straight from Coronado to Magic Kingdom where I would be meeting my family. The park opened at 8 and I got to the main entrance just before they opened and FINALLY got to see the opening ceremony before entering the park. My family wasn't arriving for another hour or so, therefore I had a decent amount of time to myself to catch a few rides, as well as just have some alone time which was much needed. And by happenstance a previous co-worker and DCP alum was at Disney for Thanksgiving as well with her family, so I planned on meeting up with her at MK too. Being at MK so early I was able to ride Space Mountain twice in a row and then Buzz Lightyear once before walking back to the main entrance to stand atop The Main Street Train Station watching for them to enter. Just standing up there getting to look out over Main Street and see everyone entering was awesome, and finally my family came in and we were ready to get the day started. We kicked off with Buzz Lightyear, still had a short wait time as it was still early and as we got off I met up with my friend who I hadn't seen in over a year.
It was a much needed break in the day and a great time for my family to ask me all about my time doing the program so far. I mainly had to explain what Magic Bands were and how they worked to them since I had mine on, and also got my cousin hooked on pin trading which was great. When we finished eating it was time for our Splash Mountain Fastpass and we managed to pull of a killer ride photo. Following this we watched The Hall of Presidents where I promptly took a much needed nap and then got positioned for the Festival of Fantasy Parade. Once the parade ended we hustled across the park to Space Mountain for our last Fastpasses of the day. On our way out we stopped for some pictures in front of the castle and finally departed for EPCOT to have dinner and round out the day.
As we got to EPCOT we took some more photos and went directly to Mouse Gear so everyone could do a little shopping. Once everyone was geared up we headed to World Showcase for dinner, we decided on Morocco since it is my favorite place to eat in EPCOT and no one argued against it. I got my usual plate of lamb schwarma and devoured it as fast as I could. Once I finished eating I had to leave to pick up my cousin and his girlfriend from he airport since they were flying in that evening. I left my family to enjoy EPCOT the remainder of the evening and would meet them back at the hotel.
The next day was Thanksgiving and we were doing Animal Kingdom...all day. Another early rise as we were getting to AK right around park open. A nice advantage to AK is it was much less crowded than the other parks on the holiday, so although wait times were long, none were astronomical and we had Fastpasses for the big rides. We kicked off the day with Killiminjaro Safaris and afterwards did the Pangani Forest Trail. Our grandparents were arriving a little later than us, so we headed to the entrance to meet them before going to ride Everest. Next up was Festival of the Lion King, followed by It's Tough to be a Bug and then Dinosaur. At this point we still had a few hours until our dinner reservations at Tusker House, so after we saw Finding Nemo The Musical some of us did Everest again while others went to watch Flights of Wonder. We eventually met up again at the Maharaja Jungle Trek before going to Tusker House to eat.
Once dinner ended we made it back to the front of the park for everyone to browse some of the shops and make a few more purchases. And, since this was the final year for the Osborne Lights and no one in my family had ever seen them before, we chose to end our day at Studios. Upon arrival we immediately went to the lights and took them in, enjoying the sights and sounds. Since it wasn't too too late, we had time to catch some rides so we went and rode Tower of Terror twice and then ended with Star Tours. At this point everyone was pretty wiped out and ready to head back to the hotel. I, on the other hand, would be going to MK to meet with my friend again since I have no issue losing sleep to hit the parks. So I drove over, met my friend and managed to hit some rides; Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jingle Cruise and at this point we were both dead and needed sleep. We walked back out of the park, said our farewells and returned to our respective places of sleep.
So I finally got back to my apartment, got a few hours of sleep and the next day was Universal with my family. We arrived shortly after park open, got the two park passes since we are all major Harry Potter fans and got to having fun. We started with Rip Ride Rock Rt, moved over to Transformers then headed to Springfield so I could fan girl over it with my brother while we also grabbed a bite to eat. Unfortunately the wait for The Simpsons Ride was super long so we skipped it and just made a few merchandise purchases. Then we finally dove into Diagon Alley and I just sat back and allowed them all to explore. We checked out Ollivanders, hit Escape from Gringotts and then took the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. We arrived and started with Dragon Challenge, afterwards grabbed the obligatory Butterbeer and our final ride was The Forbidden Journey. We exited the park around mid afternoon and it was much needed since I got back to the hotel and took a MUCH needed nap before dinner.
That night was my farewell to most of my family except my one cousin and his girlfriend who arrived a day after everyone else. Therefore, they were going to EPCOT and then Magic Kingdom and I met them at MK when I was finished with work at 5. I changed and drove straight over and met up with them and we had dinner at Casey's Corner, each taking down a pulled pork hot dog. Then we finished off their evening with Mickey's Philharmagic, Splash Mountain and Wishes, concluding their vacation and mine. I brought them back to the hotel, finally returned to my apartment and with a day off the next day, I happily slept and recovered from the marathon of fun I just endured.
At the end of all of that, it was some of the best time I had during my DCP. It was one thing getting to experience it all, day in and day out with your friends who are doing the DCP with you, but getting to see the joy and happiness it brings those who are not as fortunate is amazing. I loved having the opportunity to share it with the people who mattered most to me and had the time of my life with them!
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