Okay, Yay! I actually have separation anxiety with all the awesome trips going on right now. Anxiety is gone knowing you have more time. Ready to grab blanket and snack for next installment.
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My family really enjoyed most parts of Universal. There are some areas that just can’t compare to WDW but HP is so amazing if you are a fan (we are huge HP fans). Also we stayed at Hardrock and loved EP and walking everywhere.
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That’s very helpful. I know nothing about Universal
There is a whole section on the forum that is so helpful. Basically there are 3 hotels (Hardrock, Portfino Bay, Royal Pacific) that give you express pass and are close enough to walk to the two parks (Universal and Island of Adventure). If you stay at them you get an express pass (kind of like a FP for every ride).
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Thank you, I will look it up.
Day#3 Magic Kingdom (7/11) (part III) 2:00 pm - 11:00 pm
- Topics covered:
Afternoon rides, wait times drop after 6, the walking dead, cannot trust Lines app wait times
=> 2:00 pm: Walk with DH and DD8 to Main Street for a family photo
=> 2:05 pm: Calvacade
=> DH and DD8 decide to go back to the hotel. I am not a big fan of solo touring, and was happy that DD11 wanted to stay as well.
(We are now a party of 2)
2:20 pm: Ride #8 (10 min wait): Country Bear
Accuweather predicts a thunderstorm soon; I predict that 7DMT, Splash Mountain and BTMR will shut down and 70 min x 3 worth of people will flock to Space Mountain
2:50 pm: Ride #9: Space Mountain
Lines expected time: 25 min
MDE posted time: 55 min
Actual time: 60 min 
right foot hurts (why? I am wearing my most comfortable shoes!)
4:10 pm: Ride #10 (15 min wait): Barnstormer
right foot hurts more, convince DD to do Carousel of Progress to rest
4:35 pm Ride #11 (5 min wait): Carousel of progress
I love this ride, it’s a classic!
5:00 pm: Break in Tomorrow Land: right foot hurts too much, blisters and swollen right ankle, can’t walk. Think of WWI Trench foot. Is there a “Disney foot”? Googled “ foot blisters what happens if I keep walking”. Nothing useful comes up.
Realized phone charger isn’t working and battery is critically low, stop checking Liners forum or googling useless stuff, switch phone to airplane mode to save battery, start memorizing map of MK, googles where to charge phone at MK, notify DH of critical situation, MO from Casey’s and take a screenshot
5:14 pm: Find electric outlet in the gift shop next to Space Mountain, charged phone to 20%
5:45 pm: Ride #12 (10 min): Buzz lightyear’s
This was a must-do, lines had been >30 min since 10 am, suddenly wait is 10 min!
We see wait for Haunted Mansion (another must-do) had dropped to 30 min
6:16 pm In line for Haunted Mansion: wait suddenly changed from 30 min to 60 min. Why?
We leave the queue.
Limping through Fantasy Land, slow and painful scavenger hunt for an outlet to charge my phone. Can’t find it. Text DH, meet at Casey’s Corner at 7.
6:29 pm: Ride #13 (15 min wait) : It’s a small world
DD11 can’t stand this ride, I secretly like it (it’s a classic!)
(Reunited with DH and DD8, back to being a party of 4)
=> 7:05 pm: Dinner at Casey’s corner
There is an outlet there!
7:50 pm: Ride#14 (30 min wait): Haunted mansion
Success: DD8 goes, but says she will never do it again
8:35 pm: Ride#15 (25 min wait) BTMRR
9:10 on: Ride#16 (10 min wait) Splash Mountain
=> 9:30pm: Watch part of HEA from Frontierland
9:40 pm: Ride#17 (<5 min wait) Pirates of the Caribbean
=> 10:00pm: Shopping near PotC; park closes
Me: a walking dead body limping all the way to the bus stop, dreaming about a wheel chair
=> Long line at the bus stop; we go on the second bus
=> Ridiculous traffic to the BW, bus goes bumper-to-bumper; a very cranky baby cries next to me the entire time
Me: a zombie lumbering from the BW to the Dolphin
=> 11:40 pm: Back at the Dolphin
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MK Part III - Pictures
Before DH and DD8 went back to the hotel, we stopped for a family photo
And there she is
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In 2020 we got autographs from all the princesses at CRT. It was nice to see them again all together
Tiana is DD8’s favorite and Belle is DD11’s
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The apocalypse:
We rushed to Tomorrowland before other rides closed and all the crowds flocked to Space Mountain, a ride we hadn’t done in a long time and a priority on this trip.
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Lesson learned: when posted time is 55 min, but expected time is 25 min, your actual wait will be anywhere between 25 and 70 min
.The Lines app tended to underestimate the actual wait time, while MDE was consistently more accurate.
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We went in the last car and whoof, it was a rough ride! Every turn in the dark made me wonder if I would be able to keep my head attached to my body. DD11 had a blast!
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My most comfortable shoes, not enough to prevent blisters and a swollen ankle after so much walking.
It’s a strange feeling when your brain wants to keep going, but your body says “no”.
Waits for most rides were still long and we decided to rest and wait….
Until I realized my charger wasn’t working. Let the search for an outlet begin! Google helped find one charging location - pretty close, near Space Mountain.
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Dragged DD11 to “It’s a small world”. Like Carousel of Progress, a classic attraction I truly enjoy. She doesn’t. At some point she goes: “If it’s a small world, why does it take so long?” Lol
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Nice seeing DH and DD8 again before my phone was completely dead. FYI: there is an outlet in Casey’s corner!
After eating, we went to Haunted Mansion. I called it “The Mansion”, so not to scare DD8 - There were so many little kids in line for this ride, how bad could it be?
While we were in line, DD8 turns to me: “Mom, is this mansion haunted?”
Me: “Maybe, but we will have to ride to find out!”
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She did great! I told her it was like Hotel Transylvania, they are creepy, but friendly.
I look like a ghost, a zombie (boy, was I tired?)
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The view of BTMR with reasonable waits after 7 pm.
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At 9:00 ish Splash Mountain had a very short wait, and we got to see the fireworks from Frontierland afterwards!
I was happy, but trying to figure out how to survive the walk to the bus.
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Unless they have a totally different one for the allergy menu, not nut-based as it is listed as safe for peanut/tree nut allergies.
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Look at that sky toward Tomorrowland. 
I don’t ride Space anymore. Tweaked my back on it a few years ago. Going around a curve my bottom slid to the side, but my top stayed in place.
Great pics, btw. Could you hear the music to HEA in Frontierland?
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I was afraid the same would happen to my neck. I wish it had those bars over your shoulder and neck support like RnR.
Yes, but we couldn’t see the projections.
Not to mix up story lines, but I hope all of you had your towels. 
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They might have needed a pangalacticgarbleblaster after all that.
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Don’t know how I missed you TR!! Just more than half-way so far.
Loving following along.
Great photos!!
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Hey I know this place!! They also have it at Red’s Dairy Freeze in South Portland. They rotate between different flavors so not always pineapple
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A WDW purist being a WDW purist.
Just sulking because @Flavita made you wait so long to see your tree. 
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My very first visit was in 1981 with my family…mom, dad, and three kids. Back then Space’s cars held four people in two “seats.” Each seat had the first person sit w/ their legs straight out and the second person would sit in between the first person’s legs. If I remember correctly (it was a long time ago and I was only 12yo!) there was only one seat belt that was wrapped around both passengers in each “seat.” There was a HUGE amount of sliding around in that seat!
As the eldest of the three children I was nominated to ride by myself in the car behind the rest of the family. My dad rode w/ my brother and mom rode w/ my sister.
Mom was NOT a fan of any kind of ride that left the ground. In fact she was so petrified of the Skyway that she made us sit perfectly still with our hands in our laps and was freaking out that kids in other cars that were looking over the edges.
You can imagine that Space was not going to be her favorite WDW attraction! 
As we are enjoying our turn on Space I hear my then 10yo sister, “Mommy, help me, help me!” …and my mom replies, “Help you? Who is going to help me?”
That was one of our favorite family stories from that trip.
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Nooooo, that sounds awful! What were they thinking? I was uncomfortable in this kind of seat going on AstroOrbiter.
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It was 1981, safety precautions have come a very long way since then!
I remember riding in the Cyclone in Coney Island back in the late 80’s and that was a loose seat belt at the time. Kind of difficult to enjoy a coaster when you are being tossed back and forth in the car!
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