May the Force Be With Us: A Family Trip Report Summer 2021

You should give everyone on this thread your Disney Login for Friday. We can all try and snag you that BG! :rofl:

Enjoy VB!

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Yes it is a long time. Hard for anyone to get away while in peace that has on going job responsibilities! Especially a dependable employee like you!

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That would be very fitting! :joy::joy::joy: I would be honored to have everyone’s help. But I think with four of us trying we should hopefully be covered. :crossed_fingers: We’re ready!

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Naa…Jeff is a self made expert, just like me :joy:

Don’t worry, he knows The Way!

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When DS6 was 3, his favorite movies were the Jurassic Park movies! For his 4th birthday, the second Jurassic World movie had just opened in theaters, and that’s what he picked to do. No trauma here :joy:

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:rofl:
My brother traumatized me at age 7 by taking me to Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I could not sleep for a week!! He also had a pair of windup fake teeth that he kept freaking me out with.

He then followed it up the next year with Alien. I remember covering my eyes and trying not see or hear anything…because “in space, they can’t hear you scream”.

My DS and DD are big Jurrasic Park Fans as well. We had a long discussion before they watched them about make believe and reality. They consumed them all and love every minute of it. My little ones had an affinity for the dinosaurs of Universal Pictures over those from Disney.

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Me too! I check my work email a few times a day when I’m on vacation to keep up. Otherwise, it takes to long to catch up and keep on moving!

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Sounds like everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves today!

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My DH is a hufflepuff!

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My niece is a Hufflepuff. I definitely think Hagrid’s is better than anything else at WDW or UOR.

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See? This is why my plan two weeks ago to quit my job and not start my new one until after I got home was so brilliant. Four stars. Highly recommend.

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Up and Atom! #RadioactiveMan

Today is Volcano Bay day, so updates will be sparse for obvious reasons. I’m hoping we are able to take some pics though.

I seriously considered this at one point! :joy: But ultimately decided to stay with my job for at least another year.

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My view right now:

I will love Volcano Bay more the further removed we are from this morning. Quite the hassle getting in which was exacerbated by the two younger DDs being in a MOOD. But now everyone is happy and we’re just waiting for the food I ordered to be delivered to our premium seating.

Details:

We arrived at the bus stop before 9, just in time for a short wait and arrival at the security checkpoint at 9:15. There might have been an earlier bus and if so we should have gotten on it cause everything else spiraled because of it. The security line was quite long and DD4 was scream crying because she “had an itch on her head.” :upside_down_face: She is the one with the most unpredictable tantrums, but the only thing to do with her is wait it out.

We made it through the tapstiles and entered the park for Early Entry. Then we had to wait in line for Concierge to get our Express Passes linked to our Tapu Tapu bands and also to get our premium seating. This line was WAY too long. I’ve heard there are other concierge desks in the park but I was told this was the only one that was open (could have been a lie). In any case, the line was nowhere near as long as it took for them to link our bands. Apparently since I bought my tix separately from Express Pass, it wasn’t linked automatically. That was unpreventable for me due to the pandemic, but in the future I would definitely buy direct to save that hassle.

Then we had to wait again to be assigned our seats. At this point, DD2 was also having a good cry for no reason (she has had crowd anxiety this whole trip - that’s what happens when you live your formative years in lockdown and no crowds!).

So it was almost 11 before we were finally able to do anything. I find that whole situation unacceptable. They are selling too many tickets and / or don’t have enough staff to handle concierge in the morning. You completely miss out on the “no wait” period in the morning. I would almost recommend going straight to the regular seating, ride some rides, and THEN go to concierge later to claim premium seating.

Anyway, thankfully we have Express Passes so we don’t have to worry about Tapu Tapu availability. With four kids, two of whom can’t ride any rides, it would be impossible to do everything otherwise with having to scan for a wait time then come back later. Even as it is the adults have to take turns riding so we can watch the kids.

We have only done one ride so far (Ika Moana). The older kids liked it but they were very scared on their way up! The stairs are intimidating.

The kids love the reefs. I think this will be their favorite day after they forget all the waiting this morning. Me too.

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Holy cow that stinks!

Agreed, completely not okay.

May it be fully in your rearview momentarily. Perhaps a beverage? :wink:

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I don’t drink but a chocolate shake is on its way! :joy: If I was going to start drinking, this morning at about 10:30 would have been the time. Lol

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My DW’s favorite alcoholic drink of our entire WDW/UOR trip was at VB. I think it was at the boat bar.

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There’s a short cut for an easy fix for that.

Select your first unread email in your inbox. Then press Ctrl+A then Del.

And tada…done.

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confused-fresh-prince

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Pizza was very good - they were flatbread style. We got Pepperoni, cheese, and Hawaiian. The Hawaiian had diced jalapeño or some other spicy green pepper. The shakes were frosty-style, just like at Mel’s Diner last night. Service took a while but just sitting at my seat was better than standing in a line!

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Did you bring the Lucky Charms with limited availability pebbles from yesterday to tide you all over?

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