Live trip report with a 2 and 4 year old

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Thursday is another slow morning for the kids. We wake up around 8AM and are able to slowly get ready since my touring plan didn’t start until 10. We leave the room shortly after 9 to grab a bus to Hollywood Studios again. At this point in the trip, the kids are still acting great without major meltdowns, but you can tell the chaos is starting to wear on them. They are tired, despite my trying to maximize our rest times. My husband is less concerned about schedules than I am, and I’ve been trying to not be so nuts about it.

It is also pretty cold this morning, thankfully my touring plan has us inside most of the day! We start with the Disney Jr Dance Party show which starts at 10:15. We had a FP but still have to wait outside for a good bit before they let us in. I had seen this show years ago but it has obviously been changed with the new tv shows. The kids were pretty “meh” about it, but we also don’t watch a ton of Disney Jr.

Next we walk over to the Little Mermaid show which is set to start at 10:45. My daughter really liked this one. Afterwards, we pop over to the Frozen Sing A Long which we have a FP for the 11:30 show. We didn’t get there early enough to get in before the standby but it doesn’t matter. I will say this show was very entertaining for me, and really funny. Again, the kids are tired though.

After the show, we are ready for lunch. ABC commissary is just around the corner so we head there. The line is absolutely bananas and it takes a while to order and get food. I find DH and the kids at a table and really enjoy the Mediterranean chicken salad I got. This would end up to be probably my favorite QS meal of the trip. Next, we head over to Toy Story Land. We get a group picture then head into Toy Story Mania to use our last FP for the day at 12:30.

Despite my kids being kind of over the day, my husband insists on snagging a FP for Rock’n Rollercoaster before we leave. He heads to do that while the in-laws and I get the kids Mickey Bars. It’s starting to warm up and be pretty nice out now. I take the kids to the bus stop shortly after 2 and see the Contemporary bus pull away just before I get there. So we end up waiting 30 minutes for the next one. This was definitely our longest wait of the trip for transportation and we have missed the window for naps. We head to the room to rest anyway. My husband and I have a 5PM ADR at the Wave for just the two of us. I honestly would’ve canceled it had it not been past the 24 hour cancellation window. We really enjoy the bread service. He ordered short ribs and I got a noodle bowl. He enjoys his food and while mine is good, it’s not outstanding. I ordered out of my usual wheelhouse though so would chalk it up to that.

Afterward, I head up to get the kids baths and into bed early. I think we managed about 7:15 sleep this night! I am so grateful as the next day is a big one and the kids’ moods need to be on point.

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Friday and our last full day in the parks!!

We get up bright and early at 6:45 and leave the room around 7:15 for the walk to MK. It’s extra magic hour at 8AM. We get in the park with the crowd and head to wait at the rope. Our first stop is Peter Pan and we walk straight through the line, since everyone else is at SDMT. Unfortunately, the ride stops as we are about to step on. This is a quick maintenance call and fixed in about 10 minutes. We hop on and enjoy the ride. Next we head across to it’s a small world and walk right into a boat.

Next on our plan is Haunted Mansion which won’t open until regularly 9AM opening. We have about 15 minutes so stand at the rope, go to the bathroom, get the kids snacks, etc. It still takes a few minutes to get into Haunted Mansion despite being right there at the rope. We get off and run over to Pirates since we are doing great on time and the wait time is nothing. We walk right on again!

We have a FP for mine train at 10AM. My BIL and his fiance take DS to Barnstormer while everyone else rides, since they have a different FP window and DS is too small to ride. As usual, we all love this ride. We break for Mickey pretzels before our 11AM FP for BTMR. My husband and I take my daughter and get ride swap. She absolutely loves this ride We swap with the others and while they ride, I get a raspberry citrus swirl float.

After that, my husband, BIL and his fiance had 12:30 FP for Space. We head over toward the hub. My daughter is tired so she stays to rest in the stroller with my in laws while the rest of us head to Peoplemover. I love this thing and would be disappointed to not do it. My son is truly pooped and I think he is going to conk on the ride. Everyone else goes to Space while I take him back to the stroller for a hopeful nap.

It’s around 12:45 at this point and nearly time for our 1:10 appointment for Bibbidee Boppidee Boutique. We head to a bathroom before checking in a few minutes early. We get a lovely introduction, go through the dressing room magic stuff, before heading across to the castle for the makeover part. My daughter is so tired she is straight faced and still throughout the whole thing. She had two fairy godmothers working on her (one hair, one nails) so it went by very quickly. Honestly, she was probably in the chair for 15 minutes. We get to take pictures at Sir Mickey’s and she is absolutely milking it, though. She has perked up after the little rest in the chair. We head back toward the hub where everyone else had been chilling and watch the castle show. We park on the curb shortly after 2 to make sure we get good parade seats.

I love Festival of Fantasy and we watch YouTube videos of it often. The kids love it. Watching my son wave at every character was adorable. The weather is turning and it’s starting to rain. We have some time before our 4:10 CRT reservation so we find a table near the Carousel to wait it out. My son had not eaten/drank much the last day or two because of the craziness so I was force feeding him Powerade.

We go into the Castle and meet Cinderella downstairs. We get up to the table and order almost immediately. Then my son overflows his diaper with pee. The excitement of the trip keeps him literally wetting through his pants. I change him quickly before our appetizers come. We all got the salad and agreed it was excellent. We all clean our plates. Next our main dishes. I got the beef and my husband got the pork. Everyone raves about the food. DS is too small to order but they gave him Mac n cheese and chicken nuggets for no charge. The guys had made friends with the waiter and he brought out another set of entrees for them! They nearly cleaned their plates twice! Dessert was next and most of us got cheesecake, but he brought an extra plate of chocolate cake for the table. Throughout the meal, the kids got time with Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine. Overall this was 10/10 experience and I would do it again, despite it being so pricey.

At this point, we have accomplished pretty much everything on our touring plan but we all have random FP to use. I take DS on Speedway (he loves it!). DH goes on Space. My MIL and DD meet Tink. Next I take my son to Town Center so my FIL can take him to meet Mickey. It’s a little after 6 at this point but the kids and I mosey down Main Street. Since we have nothing left to do I decide to snag spots for Happily Ever After. I set up camp right by the Walt/Mickey statue around 6:30. It’s a long wait before the show but goes by fairly quickly, surprisingly. My husband uses another FP for BTMR and the rest of the crew trickles in. The show begins and we follow the masses out of the park. The monorail is a bit of a wait but not terrible before we get back to Contemporary. I have to give my daughter a bath to wash off the BBB makeup (she has sensitive skin) and we try to pack up our stuff, so it’s a bit of a late night!

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Realized I never finished this report

Saturday was our final day. We woke up early to pack everything up and sent the kids to my in-laws room while my husband and I had a solo morning at AK. We dropped our luggage at the Contemporary drop-off (super quick and handy!) before grabbing a bus. It was EMH but since we had to pack up, we ended up not getting to the park until 8:45 or so with the regular crowd. Since the two of us never got to ride Dinosaur the first day we were there, we went there first. We still had probably a 15 minute wait because they only had one lane going. This ride was good but not particularly noteworthy. Next we had a FP for Everest and we got on right away. I had never ridden this before but it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it was raining this morning so going on an open coaster in the rain made it a little interesting. My husband wanted to ride this again standby (I think the posted wait was 30 minutes) but since it was raining and I was anxious to do FOP, I pressured him to go to Pandora. We had really only planned to do those 3 rides all morning so we had plenty of cushion to mosey.

We get to Pandora a few minutes before our FP, but follow the queue with a wait of just a few minutes. This was a spectacular ride and I smiled the entire time. I only wish you could block out seeing the people next to you. When we get off the ride it’s still probably only 10:30 but I’m super hungry for lunch. I had wanted to get Satuli Canteen so we waited for it to open at 11 by watching the Pandora drummers. It’s still a rainy day so most people are just trying to find cover.

Finally SC opens and I grab my mobile order. I got a chicken bowl and wow it was amazing. Highly recommend. Large quantity left me feeling full too. Then we head to the bus stop to go back to the hotel.

We get back shortly before noon and since we’ve officially checked out, we have to hang out in the arcade and lobby until our DME time. The kids have loved hanging in the arcade (even if they aren’t really playing the games they loved pushing buttons). We all take turns in the massage chairs and finally load up for DME by the Bay Lake lobby at 2:10.

It’s nice to skip the check in desk but Airport security was still a long wait. We eat McDonalds at the food court before going to the gate, where I snag my place in the family boarding line. I learned on the way there to do this early! Despite this we are still in the back half of the plane but better off than the way there. DS2 sleeps most of the way and DD is occupied. We land around 8PM. DS has a profuse bloody nose on the ride home thanks to the dry air

Overall the week was amazing and went picture perfectly. Couldn’t not have dreamed of a better week. Traveling with extra hands was the best decision we made, along with carving out some kid-free times at the parks. Happy planning, everyone!