Two Trips for 2023! (PTR + Dec TR)-Completed 12/22

[Raeven]

For those of you who haven't read one of my trip reports before...






My name is Raeven! I'm a theme park fan, who equally loves Disney & Universal. And I'm also a big fan of Harry Potter, Halloween, delicious food, movies, and planning.

I have a couple trips coming up this year that I can't wait to share with you!

This year Josh and I are going on a 10 day trip for HHN/our 10 year anniversary. Plus Kayleigh and I have decided to make our Christmas trip to Universal and Disney an annual thing. (I'm also going on a trip to Charleston with Kayleigh in April for a long weekend which I'll talk about a little in this trip report).

Now onto my trip partners! This is Josh:



Josh is my boyfriend of 9.5 years. We started taking trips to Disney/Universal in 2015, and have gone just about every year since. His favorite trips are for HHN because we both love haunted houses. He also enjoys thrill rides, stand up comedy, boxing, delicious food, and Halloween.



My second trip partner this year is Kayleigh.



Kayleigh and I have been friends since 2020. We started talking because at the time we both made youtube videos, and realized we had a lot in common. Even after we both stopped making videos we kept talking, and eventually decided we needed to plan a trip so we could meet in person. We ended up deciding it would be fun to go to Disney/Universal during the holiday season last year. We had such a great trip, and although we did a lot there were still so many things we didn't get to, so we decided to make it an annual thing! Kayleigh is also a Slytherin and if you saw our last trip you'd know we share a love of themed outfits.



Currently: We're at about 6 months until our first Disney/Universal trip! (And about a month from the Charleston trip). I'll share everything I've booked for our trips this year in the next post.



Initial Plans
HHN Dates, Hotel Changes, & Charleston Plans
Final Charleston Plans

Trip Updates & First Night in Charleston
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 & Shopping in Downtown Charleston
Our Day In Savannah
Last Day In SC
The Journey Home + December Flights Booked!

HHN House Announcement & Christmas Trip Tickets
Jollywood Nights & MVMCP Tickets
Rush of Fear Passes & Stranger Things
Christmas Trip Plans
2 Weeks!
We Leave Tomorrow!

Christmas Trip
1st Trip to the Rainforest Cafe
Christmas Tribute Store
Orlando Informer Event Pt 1
Orlando Informer Event Pt 2
Animal Kingdom Pt 1
Animal Kingdom Pt 2 & Crazy Crowds
Ale & Compass/All Star Movies Review
MVMCP
Epcot
Jollywood Nights
Trip Wrap Up
​

 

[schumigirl]

So good to see you back Raeven……weirdly Tom mentioned you today about how coincidental our second meet in Strong Water was with us sitting at the same tables as before!

Sounds like some lovely trips ahead with Josh and Kayleigh….

Look forward to reading about them……..

 

[macraven]

Looking forward to your trip review!

 

[Raeven]

So good to see you back Raeven……weirdly Tom mentioned you today about how coincidental our second meet in Strong Water was with us sitting at the same tables as before!​

Thank you, haha what a coincidence! ​

Sounds like some lovely trips ahead with Josh and Kayleigh….​

I'm so excited!​

Look forward to reading about them……..​

I look forward to reading about yours too!​

Looking forward to your trip review!​

Thank you! ​

 

[KathyM2]

Glad I found your next PTR. Will be fun to see what you have in store!!

 

[Raeven]

Glad I found your next PTR. Will be fun to see what you have in store!!​

Thanks for following along!​

 

[Raeven]

Charleston Trip-33 days
HHN Trip-26 weeks
Xmas Trip-38 weeks

Here are the trip plans I have so far!



Charleston Trip

Everything is basically planned for Charleston because we're going next month, and unlike the parks it doesn't need to have as many things reserved. I'm flying in and Kayleigh is driving there so we'll have a car. We're staying at Folly Beach, and spending time there, around downtown Charleston, and at a few other locations around the area. Very few of the restaurants we're looking at take reservations so there's not much more planning I have to do for this one.

HHN Trip

We bought our flights recently for this trip too, and I have the hotel booked where we'll spend the first weekend (Aventura). I'm waiting to see what the Disney discounts will be for the 2 days we'll be over there, and I'll probably book a suite at Dockside for the 2 remaining nights. For this trip I'll probably get us MNSSHP tickets and a 1 day ticket for F&W at Epcot, and then Rush of Fear passes with EP whenever they go on sale. We are mostly planning on relaxing and going to HHN this trip so we didn't renew our Universal AP's.

Xmas Trip

I do actually have a hotel booked for this one already because we didn't have as many choices left last year by the time we booked. I booked us at the Swan for the Disney portion of our trip (4 days), and we'll probably do Aventura again for the other 2, but I'm waiting to see what the discounts look like through the Orlando Informer website since we'll be attending the event again. Southwest flights open in early May for this time period so I'm hoping to get a good one since the times for Sep were better than last year. For this trip we will get the Orlando Informer tickets when they come out, MVMCP tickets, and 2 day Disney tickets so we can go to AK and Epcot.


​

 

[amalone1013]

I need to come back in like, 2 weeks right? Bc I always show up right before the first trip

 

[Raeven]

I need to come back in like, 2 weeks right? Bc I always show up right before the first trip ​

Yes we're a little over 2 weeks out from the first trip ​

 

[Raeven]

Charleston Trip-20 days
HHN Trip-24 weeks
Xmas Trip-36 weeks



Charleston Trip

I was able to switch my flight to an earlier time! Originally when we booked this trip I booked a night flight because I didn't want Kayleigh to have to drive in the middle of the night, but a few weeks ago she decided to visit a friend that lives in SC right before our trip so that she'd already be there. Ever since I've been looking at earlier flights, but the one I wanted was +$150 than the one I'd already booked. Last week I noticed the 5 am flight was the same price as my current flight so I booked that. Now we get to spend an extra day there!

I also sent Kayleigh our itinerary this week and it looks like this:

Thurs-We're going to explore Folly Beach (where our hotel is), and shop on King St. We're going to Poe's Tavern for dinner on Sullivan's Island.

Fri-Because we have a car we're thinking of taking a trip to Myrtle Beach this day to see all the cheesy, touristy attractions. If we decide not to go we'll probably just go to the beach and do Top Golf in Charleston instead.

Sat-We're going to tour some local attractions and dinner is at an Italian place called Wild Olive that looked really good.

Sun-We're going to do more shopping and go to the aquarium.

Mon-We'll be leaving right after breakfast.

HHN Trip

We finally have dates for HHN! And this year it looks like both Wednesdays we're there will be event dates (usually one of our Wednesdays is not). So we could be going to HHN up to 7 nights!



Since we'll be at HHN most of the nights I decided it would be easiest to just stay at Aventura the whole time so I extended our booking. I think we'll be fine to just Uber around when/where we need to. ​

 

[christophfam]

I live near Wild Olive and it is amazing although a bit far out from Folly and downtown. You will definitely need reservations. They are released exactly two weeks out on Resy and will book up fast. I’ve also found most of the better downtown restaurants require reservations and are fully booked a couple of weeks out.

Looking forward to your Charleston part of the trip report if you share it! When you live somewhere for ages, you forget about all the the touristy things to do.

 

[schumigirl]

Good to see you back Raeven.

I`m looking forward to your Charleston trip as I know very little of that area except for a little of the history.

And Coronado Springs looks beautiful too!!

 

[KathyM2]

Fri-Because we have a car we're thinking of taking a trip to Myrtle Beach this day to see all the cheesy, touristy attractions.

Funny I've always wanted to see that area too. I've driven to and from south Florida many times and somehow never made it there. One day!! If you go I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Top Golf in Charleston instead.

I love Top Golf. It's so much fun. And I hate actual golf. Have you been to one before, I can't remember?

churro waffles

Yummmmm!! That sounds delicious!

 

[Raeven]

I live near Wild Olive and it is amazing although a bit far out from Folly and downtown. You will definitely need reservations. They are released exactly two weeks out on Resy and will book up fast. I’ve also found most of the better downtown restaurants require reservations and are fully booked a couple of weeks out.​

I know it’s a ways out, but we were looking for a good Italian place and when I saw a video about Wild Olive I was like that’s the one! We do have a car though and a backup idea.

We’re not at 2 weeks yet but will be soon so I’m just waiting to make them. Most the places we’re going don’t seem to have reservations, (I think the only other one we have reservations for is Halls Chophouse).
​

Looking forward to your Charleston part of the trip report if you share it! When you live somewhere for ages, you forget about all the the touristy things to do.​

Yes I’ll definitely share it in here! ​

Good to see you back Raeven.

I`m looking forward to your Charleston trip as I know very little of that area except for a little of the history.

And Coronado Springs looks beautiful too!!​

I’m excited too! I’ve never been.

It’s such a pretty hotel. I love the tower. ​

Funny I've always wanted to see that area too. I've driven to and from south Florida many times and somehow never made it there. One day!! If you go I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.​

I’ll do a little report in here if we do go. ​

I love Top Golf. It's so much fun. And I hate actual golf. Have you been to one before, I can't remember?​

Yes! I went to one in Denver. ​

Yummmmm!! That sounds delicious!​

They do!​

 

[Raeven]

Charleston Trip-5 days!
HHN Trip-22 weeks
Xmas Trip-34 weeks

& Happy (early) Easter!



We're very close to the first trip of the year! I'm almost fully packed too, and only need to add a few more things.

Charleston Trip

Right after I told you guys I switched to a 5 am flight we ran into a bit of a snag. Since Kayleigh is driving the plan was for her to already be there visiting another friend but when she went to confirm that, the other friend told her she'd been unable to get the time off and they'd have to do it another time. So now she will be driving to Charleston the day I'm arriving, and when the 9 am flight went down in price we decided it was best to change to that because I didn't want her to have to drive all night if it could be avoided. The only real difference is I have a longer layover on this one, and get in a few hours later but it's still earlier than the original flight.

We've also changed/refined our plans a little for the trip. The first day we still plan to spend time at Folly Beach and go to Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island so I don't think that's changed much.

But we ended up changing our day trip to Myrtle Beach and deciding we'd like to go to Savannah instead which is about the same distance away. I think we're going to take one of the hop on/hop off trolley tours so we have parking, and so we can get off see whatever we want and then hop on and go to other areas. I'm excited because Savannah looks gorgeous and there's so many cool things to see there.

Then with the remaining two days we're going to spend time shopping on King St and see sights around there, go to the aquarium, and tour some historical places/homes. We have reservations at Poogan's Porch, Wild Olive, and Oak Steakhouse.


​

 

[KathyM2]

I think we're going to take one of the hop on/hop off trolley tours so we have parking, and so we can get off see whatever we want and then hop on and go to other areas. I'm excited because Savannah looks gorgeous and there's so many cool things to see there.

I absolutely love Savannah and that trolley tour is so much fun. Also...it's the most dog friendly place I've ever been - they even let dogs on the trolley tour!

 

[Raeven]

HHN Trip-18 weeks
Xmas Trip-30 weeks

I'm back from Charleston! (Well I've been back a couple of weeks I just hadn't been back on the boards yet). I'm going to write a little trip report (starting with the first day in this post) but I did want to include some future trip news first.

The biggest thing is we decided to cancel our short trip in June. I had a lot of trouble with air travel on this last trip (including the worst airport experience of my life) so I'm not eager to travel again so soon especially when every flight seems to be getting delayed or canceled lately. I think it makes more sense to just do most of the things we talked about for June during our September trip. The only thing I actually bought that couldn't be refunded were Orlando Informer tickets, but I was able to get a one time credit with them that I can use towards the meetup in December.

Speaking of September, I bought MNSSHP tickets today & there's a lot of speculation saying Stranger Things is coming to HHN which I would be very excited about!



But here's our first day in Charleston!

My flight left around 9 am, and I had a long layover at BWI. I did get a row to myself on the first flight though.

Since Kayleigh was driving for 9 hours we tried to chat whenever I was in the airport. I also witnessed a lady lay down with a pillow and blanket and try to sleep on the floor of the airport. Each flight was short, so it was a little annoying to have so much waiting in between but there hadn't been a direct flight from my airport.

Finally I'd arrived, and Kayleigh met me at the airport!

(If anyone's been to this area of SC before we weren't actually staying in Charleston, but in Folly Beach. Folly Beach is not a very big area. It was mostly beach/our hotel and then restaurants and gift shops on a street. The area was about 50 minutes from the airport, and required some driving to most of the things we had planned which is why it was a good thing Kayleigh decided to bring her car).

We were at Tides Folly Beach, and here was our room:





We really liked staying here, and thought the room was nice. It also had an amazing view. The only two things we didn't like was the flooring almost seemed always damp/sticky (we think because we were near the ocean and water seemed to pool on the balcony), and the water pressure in the shower was extremely hard and could not be turned down. But everything was really clean, and the view and access to the beach were perfect.

Although the day we arrived we were getting remnants from a major storm that had affected parts of Florida, so the view was a little gray.



It was actually pretty chilly this night, and on the way to the car we basically had to fight the rain/wind. My umbrella turned inside out and I ended up using it as a shield on the way to the car.



Due to people trying to get out of the bad weather most the places that were close to our hotel had long waits so we drove over to a place we'd looked at while planning called The Glass Onion.
We loved the name because we both love the movie Glass Onion (and the movie is named after a bar/restaurant the characters go to) this restaurant was no relation to the movie, but we thought it was funny.

They also served Southern food, and we thought it only appropriate we try some.
I got a fried chicken sandwich and smashed potatoes:



Honestly I thought this was as good as the chicken sandwiches at Homecomin', it was delicious! It reminded me of really good homemade food.
And for dessert we split a delicious bread pudding:



One thing we were really close to was a movie theater and since the weather wasn't great we decided to go see a movie.
This little theater was the coolest one I've ever seen!



It was kind of an old school theater with a lot of snacks, decor, and signed posters for all kinds of movies.





If I had a theater like this nearby I'd go there all the time!

We went to see Air, and we both liked it. I'm not too interested in sports, but it was more about Nike as a business, and how they became known for their basketball shoes.

Next up

We go shopping in Charleston!

​

 

[Raeven]

HHN Trip-17 weeks
Xmas Trip-29 weeks

Last weekend Josh and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. We saw it in 3D IMAX, and it was so good! (Of course I had to get the popcorn bucket and cup ).



I would definitely recommend seeing it. It was the perfect end to the trilogy, and I loved the ending for all the characters'. I'm so happy to read so many good reviews of it too since I'm a big fan of James Gunn's work. Out of all the Marvel movies, I've always felt like the Guardians movies were the most meaningful and had the best story/characters.

Onto the next day of our Charleston trip!


By the morning the rain had passed and we woke up to this view:



Today's plans were going to downtown Charleston.

Downtown is where most the shopping, restaurants, and historical sites are, and ideally this is probably where you'd want to stay if you were coming to Charleston (especially if you didn't have a car). I did look at hotels in this area originally, but found most of them seemed to be priced higher just because of this location even if the rooms weren't that nice, and most only had one bed instead of two. Since we did also plan to have a car, I started to look at the surrounding areas, and found some good hotels with free parking in Mt Pleasant which wasn't far. But when I looked a little further out I found the hotel on Folly Beach we ended up staying at. It was a bit of a drive from place to place, but we didn't mind. And for cheaper than any of the downtown hotels we were able to stay at a hotel with an ocean view which I think gave us the best of both worlds. We were able to have a vacation where stayed on the beach, but also could visit downtown.

Our first stop was at Another Broken Egg.



I've been to Another Broken Egg in Florida (although the last time was years ago) and loved it. So I figured this would be a nice place to brunch that probably wouldn't have long lines. We each got a mimosa (mine was strawberry and so good!) Kayleigh got a traditional breakfast, and I got the Huevos Rancheros. This was slightly different than the Huevos Rancheros dish I'd had at the other location, but it was still really good. The potatoes are also delicious here, they're really crisp and have the perfect amount of salt.

We had a bit of walking to do to get to King St, so on our way we took some pictures. This is the French Huguenot Church (also known as the pink church). There were a lot of gorgeous churches and historic buildings in Charleston and Savannah, but I love the color of this one.



I will say a lot of the shops on King St were more than a little outside our price range. (It was a lot of designer shops). But there were still more than enough stores to keep us shopping for hours.



Plus we had snacks along the way! This was Off Track Ice Cream:



Our favorite of this flight was the strawberry. All the ice cream was made there, and although we thought the chocolate would be our favorite, the strawberry had the best flavor.

We also found this dog treat bakery that had the most adorable dog treats.



This shop made me wish I had a dog, but I did buy some for my brother's dog and Josh's moms dog. Kayleigh has three dogs of her own, and was very excited to spoil them. She also bought a bowtie for her cat.

Some french pastries at the Hotel Bennett's Patisserie:



Our favorite was the chocolate raspberry mousse cake.
We had a great time shopping, and I was actually shocked with myself because I didn't purchase any clothes. Truthfully, the clothes in Charleston all seemed to have a certain style that was pretty, but isn't really for me. (A lot of pastel/florals and dresses with those prints that usually had pouffy sleeves and a tad fancier than what I'd wear).

Overall we had walked about 1.5 miles from where we started so we headed back that way.

And finally we were headed back to Folly Beach!

We were just in time to watch the sunset over the pier while we got ready for our dinner plans.



Due to our plans the first night changing, we ended up changing a lot of our other plans around during the trip. (It had looked like there might be rain on our Savannah day so we decided to change that day too). Luckily, we were able to move our dinner reservations around, and I think it only rained once for a short while the rest of the trip.

Tonight we were going to Wild Olive!

I was looking for a good Italian place to go, and saw this one on Tiktok and the food looked delicious. When we were planning to stay in Mt Pleasant it was going to be a bit of a drive, but from our location in Folly Beach it was super close.

We both got Chicken Parm and some Truffle Potatoes to share which were delicious.



Usually with Chicken Parm I feel like the pasta it comes with is an after thought, but this pasta was so good that Kayleigh preferred it to the chicken.

However we did have the loudest man ever at the table in back of us having some very weird discussions the whole time with his group, but at least he provided us with some entertainment while we were eating.

Next Up
We go to Savannah!​

 

[KathyM2]

there's a lot of speculation saying Stranger Things is coming to HHN which I would be very excited about!

This is really exciting...Stranger things at HHN would be super cool!

We loved the name because we both love the movie Glass Onion

I loved that movie too! Too bad the restaurant didn't have anything to do with it!

We went to see Air, and we both liked it.

Agreed. I went because I really felt like seeing a movie and there was nothing good playing...but was glad I did!

Last weekend Josh and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. We saw it in 3D IMAX, and it was so good! (Of course I had to get the popcorn bucket and cup ).

Haven't seen this yet but looking forward to it!

Downtown is where most the shopping, restaurants, and historical sites are, and ideally this is probably where you'd want to stay if you were coming to Charleston (especially if you didn't have a car).

Yeah when I was in Charleston I wished we were staying downtown where you could walk to things.

Our favorite of this flight was the strawberry. All the ice cream was made there, and although we thought the chocolate would be our favorite, the strawberry had the best flavor.

What could be better than an ice cream flight??? YUM

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I’m sorry I didn’t see this trip report sooner! So good to see you back on the boards!