I’m excited to hear more about your adventures! Thanks for sharing!
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The location was wonderful. It wasn’t as modern as a lot that I saw, but it was extremely well priced and so close.
Well - I did tell the girls we didn’t have to make our beds over vacation. There are perks to hotels, but I find sleeping difficult enough in a whole house, if I put 4-5 people in a room I don’t sleep at all. I tolerate it for cruises, but if I could find a wore around there, I’d do it, as well. 
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I wish I’d heard of Traveling Homeschoolers years ago. She does do some trips to other places over summers, etc. I don’t know if I will be able to utilize her trips otherwise, but I will pay attention to the emails. DH wasn’t able to go with us, nor my sons who are in college. It was a girls trip this time.
Thanks for the encouragement @DumboRunner @BoilerMomPharmD! I think I will get one more posted before I have to make dinner!
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I must admit that when we had 4 at Hard Rock this year, I did find it more difficult to get to sleep. It was a smaller room than POFQ though.
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Did you have many people who recognized your Disney bounding? Were you Rabbit?
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Commando Day 2-Hollywood Studios
We were on the road a little after 7AM with a quick stop at Walmart which was conveniently located between our house and WDW.
We cleared security by 7:49AM
We were about a dozen people back from the tapstiles at 7:57AM.
I had the stroller and was about the fourth “row” back from the rope, with the rest of my party at the front of the rope or just behind them in the second “row.”
Each girl was invited out to welcome the crowd. DD6 went first, but I only recorded hers as a video.
Behind us was an amazing sea of human beings.
I tried to take a photo or two as we were walked to Toy Story Land at 8:53AM
I started to get pushed further and further back and then had to park my stroller, no less.
My family was all separated and I started to wonder if I would even try for the ride through.
In the end, the girls ended up riding in the third train out, and Dmom and Dsis in the fourth and me in the sixth.
It was an amazing ride. I was off by 9:11 AM.
DD6 spotted Jessie, whom she was dressed as, so we queued in her line. DD9, DD15, Dmom, Dsis rode Alien Swirling Saucers.
I took some photos as DD13 waited in line with DD6 - Jessie had gone to check on Bullseye.
Today DD15 bounded as Snow White and DD13 as Bolt. The family actually got off the line before we met Jessie.
It was finally time to meet Jessie.
We headed over to use our first FPP for Rock N Roller Coaster. Everyone but Dmom went on. We tapped her band to dismiss it, though.
Then DD15 and Dsis went to Tower of Terror and the rest of us went to watch Lightning McQueen Racing Academy and Beauty and the Beast. While in there, I got a text from DS17 at home that he’d just been advised that the class for spring semester he was on the wait list for now had room. I missed part of the show registering him… LOL. Reminders that real life was continuing without us.
TOT wait was long and DD15 and Dsis missed their chance to tap into Beauty and Beast and therefore didn’t discharge their FPP. I had to visit a Guest Experience Team Kiosk to get it off. It only took a minute. I didn’t want to wait to see if it fell off, because I wanted to grab some same day FPP at the 12:01PM drop.
We ate lunch while watching the Star Wars stage show and tapped in to our FPP for Frozen Sing-a-Long 6 minutes early. Dsis’s phone worked better than mine, so we poised ourselves to grab FPP at 12:01PM and got a set of Toy Story Midway Mania for later. Then we sat back and enjoyed the sing along. It had a slightly holiday-tweaked theme that made it a lot of fun.
From there we enjoyed Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and then Muppets. It was only 66F. Temps just kept dropping through Sunday at this point. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that the weather forecast started tanking just after we got to Florida…
We headed back to Toy Story Land for our Fast Pass.
We were off the ride by 2:40PM so I picked up another set for later. I could have had FPP for Slinky Dog again for three of us, but try as I might I couldn’t get all seven of us back on.
From there we went to explore Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. DSIs had a reservation for Oga’s Cantina (no way we could get one for all of us) at 3:55PM.
While she visited the Cantina we went and met Olaf.
She texted us when she was done and some of them rode Star Tours while Dmom and I shopped a little.
We then had an early dinner. It’s an unpopular restaurant, but we’ve enjoyed Backlot Express in the past. I like they have refills on the pop so we ate there again.
It was delicious. DD13 started to order kids’ meals, because she just doesn’t eat enough for a whole meal.
After dinner we decided we’d wait the 50 minutes to ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. We boarded around 6:05PM. It was the Best Decision. We had a blast!! I think it helps a lot that our family filled the capsule and we loved cheering and yelling to one another. Even the little two who have never seen a movie were totally into it.
When we were done the park had been plunged into darkness. We headed back to Toy Story Land to start our hunt for treats and ride Toy Story Midway Mania again. It is such a great ride.
Dsis bought DD6 a refillable popcorn bucket. DD9 and I found treats at Starbucks.
My carrot cake “cookie” was every bit as amazing as I’d been advised and was honestly too big for me to finish myself.
This was my second day in a row enjoying a Venti Cafe Mocha.
DD6 and I rode Alien Swirling Saucers that we’d missed in the AM. Nan waited and the others went to ST again.
At 8:31PM we went to enjoy some projections. The park was wonderfully uncrowded. There was lots of room as people continued to arrive right up until the fireworks started. I didn’t even know there were projections to look forward to!
Guests remained seated for the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam which started at 9. Dmom walked up just then. There was tons of room everywhere.
This show blew us away. So many lesser known Disney movies were included in the show. It was exceptional, in our opinions.
It was getting so cold, but we had such a great day.
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Chances are the GF rooms are wonderfully large, but it helped me park any envy that might be starting up. 
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Everyone recognized DD. She ended up bounding another day as Pooh, as well. Hers was the best and I think it helped everyone figure out who we were. I was Rabbit. The handlers for Pooh and Tigger were so excited to see us. Pooh and Tigger left for a break when we had just lined up. Tigger recognized DD13 as Tigger and went wild for her as he was leaving.
When they came back and we’d been waiting a while we heard that they were leaving again for another break. (It was a LONG long.) Thankfully, we got to be the last family before they took that next break and they took an extended time with us. They knew who we were, for sure.
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I’m posting on my last day in my trip report today or tomorrow, but I was there with my son and we did a 4 park challenge. We had t-shirts made for the event, and the characters were amazing at noticing our shirts. I can’t wait to read more of your trip report.
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I will be reading yours soon.
I stopped looking at reports during the period with the amazingly long hours. I was super sad that we didn’t get those long hours. We have no trouble getting up early and I could have made those hours work out really well for us.
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I’m reading too. 
The villa looks lovely. We usually rent a 3-4 bedroom when we travel, it is so nice to have all that space. Except at Disney, then we all cram into 1 room to be onsite. But everywhere else, love having all the space.
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following and enjoying
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I’m reading and enjoying it!!
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Thanks for reading @betsyrina2 @Wahoohokie @goofygal315 and @Figment20 !
DD just reminded me we rode IASW the first MK day… oops. I guess not taking a photo was my mistake! LOL.
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MVMCP day!
WOOO HOOOOO
Finally – the day of all days. This is the day for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!
And I was feeling TERRIBLE.
Back track — I haven’t slept more than 4-5 broken hours since 11/4 and now it is 11/14. I was so sleep deprived, so at bedtime last night I took a half of a Benadryl, and hoped I’d sleep. And I didn’t. This wonderful day that I have been looking forward to for months and I was dragging. I reached out to a few praying friends and pressed on.
We made chicken salad in the morning and packed up a beautiful lunch. At 10:15AM we were entering Orlando Vineyard Premium Outlets and found the Character Warehouse store, hoping for some wonderful finds. As soon as we got there I grabbed a spot in line. There were close to 40 people ahead of me. The rest of the family took time shopping and after a while DD15 came and took my spot so I could shop. I didn’t really find anything I wanted, but Dmom and Dsis each found a few things. From there we headed over to Disney Springs.
Disney Springs is much different than it used to be in terms of parking. OY. We parked our van, got out, and realized we weren’t in the Marketplace side. We ventured on a little and I was rewarded with this beauty.
Kids took turns trying on a gauntlet – two picked Thanos and two picked Ironman.
There’s a lot you could read into that…
Me dropping into work for a bit.
We found a map to determine how far we were from the Christmas Tree Trail and I said something like, “As if,” and we went back to the van and drove over.
Somewhere about this point I sat on a wall and started to cry. Here it was this day I’d looked forward to and paid dearly for and I felt terrible. I usually roll with fatigue, but today it was daunting. I dusted myself off and we proceeded.
Disney Springs was so nicely decorated.
Christmas Tree Trail did not disappoint. It was beautiful. And there was a roving PhotoPass photographer who helped me with the app a little, too.
We went back to the van and pulled out our lunch and something wonderful happened. I started to feel GREAT. This is 1:36PM.
We went back to the house for some people to change and for me to snap a photo of my fabulous touring plan.
I wonder now if it was a Benadryl hangover…
AT 3:26PM we were on the ferry on the way to Magic Kingdom. As we were waiting for the park to start admitting party guests my sister realized she’d left her phone in the car at the TTC. If you’ve ever been to MK you know there is no quick “run to the car.” She and DMom headed back to get her phone. It took them almost 45 minutes.
We were in at 3:40PM and got our bracelets. We had FPP for Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
We got our first treats as we used the bypass sidewalk behind main street. We stopped for a few PhotoPass photos, too.
We were keeping tabs with DMom and Dsis as they made their route. We rode Peter Pan and watched Philharmagic and rode the Carrousel.
We regrouped in time to watch Belle together.
DD15 left us at 5:50 to go queue to meet Jack Skellington and Sally Ragdoll.
The rest of us went to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and DD13 changed her outfit. We found three treat stations and had a PhotoPass taken.
Next thing you know, DD15 was catching up with us to ride Space Mountain with the Christmas overlay.
We hurried to see Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration arriving just as it started. The four kids hurried to the front of the stage, while the three adults stayed back.
Then off to more treats.
We hurried to Tomorrowland for the Christmas show. It was SO SHORT!
We went to the Speedway at 8:45PM with the Christmas overlay. And I scooted to buy myself a shirt.
We were off by 8:55PM
We did the Monsters Christmas show at 9:40PM which was essentially the same show with minor changes to the script.
Then the 10PM fireworks. We walked right up to the hub. I would say about 5-10% of my visibility was obscured because I didn’t queue earlier. It was worth it to do more. We were all EXTREMELY delighted by the show. It was MUCH longer than we expected (maybe because the MMMC and TTCS were so short). It was elegant and festive and so excellent.
When the show was over it was raining lightly. There really wasn’t much left to do. We moved over to Frontierland for where we wanted to watch the parade. On the way we saw Mary Poppins and Bert.
We found a planter Dmom could sit on and just waited for the parade. We’d really done everything and we were getting tired.
The parade was excellent. It was so pretty and fun.
Imagine my horror the next day when I realized the settings on my camera were hosed up. Honestly – I am way over camera issues (Grand Canyon 2018 – I’m looking at you).
We hurried over to 7DMT after the parade and had gotten almost to the front of the line when the stupid ride went down AGAIN. Grrrrr. So we hurried over to Peter Pan and everyone but I rode it.
It was after midnight before we got on the monorail.
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Glad you felt better as the day went on!! Your DS pictures are making me think we need to add a stop there on our next trip. The trees are adorable!
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Slower Day - in the BEST kind of way!
Oh the weather outside….
Rainy, but thankfully warmish.
Dsis and I were up by 7AM so I could have her out the door early. I dropped her at 8:40AM at Animal Kingdom. I stopped at Walmart to buy some more lunch meat and protein bars and Coca~Cola. We’d be enjoying our treats so much we decided we’d pack a lunch every day.
DD15 did her apologetics homework.
DD6 and DD13 both took luxurious baths in the giant master bathtub.
Then three of them went for a swim. It wasn’t hot-hot, but it was muggy and the pool came with free heat!
Around 3:30PM we headed over to Animal Kingdom to pick up Kelly and we headed over to Wilderness Lodge for our dinner at Artist Point.
I didn’t tell the girls until a few hours before; I didn’t know if we were going to keep it until the night before.
The dinner was everything we hoped it would be.
The food was delicious and the characters were delightful!!
When we lined up to meet the Evil Queen we met a CM with the same name as DD9. She pronounces her name the same way, and they were both wearing purple glasses and had their hair up in buns. Both of them beamed!
The queen was excellent. She was somewhat scary, to be honest!
DD6 asked her why she used an apple to poison Snow White and she said she didn’t know what DD6 was talking about, and that she’d never do such a thing. How she stays in character is unbelievable!
Dessert was amazing.
I ate the purple one first imagining it would be nasty-sweet. It was not. It was scrumptious. The little green one is Gooseberry Pie – like in the movie. The little apple is a truffle. And it was all so good. Everyone got one of each.
We had enough Disney reward dollars to pay for this. If we hadn’t gone here, we could have five or six lunches in the parks, but it was worth the fun experience.
We poked around Wilderness Lodge more, yet they didn’t have much out yet for decorations.
From there we headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge, but they had no decorations out yet. We did visit with a docent (?) preparing to hold a teaching session.
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Just here for the pictures…
Loving your report.
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I wish I’d taken better photos of the trees. They were beautiful in their level of detail. I was feeling very badly at that point and just wanted to lie on the pavement and sleep.
My girls loved the nuances on each tree.
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