AK is our favorite park, too!
Love those faces!
More reason to rest up and plan another Disney trip! Plan a cruise, swing by WDW to use up some of your waterpark tickets with a couple of days of WDW tickets…
Thank you for sharing a detailed trip report and all the lovely pictures. I enjoyed following along! 
The pants are adorable and would look great paired with a cute sweater or top for Christmas (or whichever winter holiday you celebrate). I had a similar pair of Isaac Mizrahi for Target pants but in black years ago and DH referred to them as my band pants. Whatever DH - they were awesome.
Not totally caught up yet but I’d love to know your overall opinion on staying offsite. I too dislike cramming everyone in one room. I even have a hard time with some rentals as there just isn’t enough sound dampening to get proper rest.
I’m a die-hard house renter since 2002.
I’ve lost track of how many places I’ve rented across dozens of websites. (Way before Airbnb was a thing.) I’ve never had a terrible experience.
I’ve never stayed on property at WDW so I don’t know any different. I know that I actually felt myself relax when I went into Walmart after days of nothing but “bubble” and rental.
We’ve stayed in a few different communities now, but this one was my favorite for location. And the owner was really good at communication too. It wasn’t super modern, but it was clean and comfortable. The gas station and Walmart were en route and there were tons of restaurants we could have visited in the vicinity. (Black Agnus is usually a dinner we take in.)
I DID rent the campsite to have FPP and it also covers daily parking and fast passes.
I hope to do my last entry and a cost breakdown today, too, but the day is flying away from me?
And they are elastic waisted!!
Well then the pants are perfect!
And just like that …. It’s the end of the trip!
We spent the morning packing up and sorting out whose suitcase would carry what for the way home.
We had the private party at Animal Kingdom to look forward to at 8PM. While I wasn’t completely sure what to expect, I did know we were having chicken tenders, a build-your-own-tater-tot bar, mini cheesecake bites, and pop. We were also told there would be games and music and that Triceratops Spin and Expedition Everest would be open for us to ride. Originally the special add on was to be a Dessert Party for Epcot Forever one of two nights, however our group had grown so large Disney approached the director with this other plan. In any case, I didn’t pay anything above our park tickets, so it was “free” in my mind.
In the meantime Dmom still had about $80 on her Disney gift cards and offered us lunch at Disney Springs. I asked for suggestions here on the board I visit and decided Wolfgang Puck Express was the way to go. Thank you @PrincipalTinker!
We headed over around 11:00 AM. Just as I was crossing the pedestrian bridge I got a text from my clinical leader asking if I could come in 3P-7:30P. I took great delight in sending her this shot!
And NOW the sun comes out!
We had fun letting the girls browse. DD15 found a smorgasbord of Nightmare Before Christmas items in the Christmas store; it took her a while to find just the perfect mug.
We narrowly beat the lunch crowd.
I had the BBQ chicken salad.
Dmom went for the chicken Caesar.
Hmmmm – look who got mac and cheese.
As I am documenting this, DD9 is standing over my shoulder commenting on how Wolfgang Puck’s was the best meal of her vacation.
DD15 had the BBQ chicken pizza.
And DD13 had the Spinach and Mushroom.
Everyone had leftovers for dinner except for me.
We bought a little, and headed back to the house to relax; the girls swam for a little while.
And at 7:02PM DD9 reported to me that DD6 had fallen asleep.
We were supposed to check in for our party at 7:45PM.
It was only a 15 minute drive to AK, so I let her sleep til 7:25PM. It was HARD to wake her.
When we arrived, there were no CMs monitoring the parking lot, so parking was free. It was easy to find our group leader and as we waited for her to hand out our wrist bands I noticed this sign. I wondered why they closed the area before our party arrived.
Our group was probably around 500 or so… (I could be total off). We went quickly through security and were then led through the tapstiles just being asked to show our bands.
CMs led us past the Tree of Life over to Dinoland USA.
I wish I had taken better photos. It blew my minds. Somewhere around 70 tables were set up along the edges of the whole land. Table after table, with black tablecloths and candles.
The nugget and tater tot bar was actually very cool.
While I didn’t try the gravy, the chili was spicy and beanless, and the cheese tasted volumes better than I expected.
The D.J. in the “Jambo Jeep” was cheerful and had guests on their feet dancing.
DD15, and DD13 headed off to Everest.
We took a spin on Triceratops Spin
Then Dmom, DD9, DD6 and I tried our hands at a few games.
All the CMs were so great. They interacted with the kids and were so friendly and chatty.
The whole experience was incredible.
I won this game. Just sayin’. It doesn’t really matter that everyone else playing was 10 or younger, does it?
We headed over to where the big girls were. I wanted to walk around AK while it was almost empty.
Walk-on doesn’t begin to describe it. DD15 and DD13’s first ride through it was just them and one other passenger. They didn’t have their Magic Bands with them, so they didn’t get to keep that image.
I decided to go for it myself, even though it was so rough yesterday. DD9 had a surge of bravado as well, and we went for it.
We immediately boarded. There was no waiting to see how full they could make the cars. They just sent them out and then loaded another partial train with the folks still walking up.
This would have been a great photo… grrrrr.
We stopped for a little dancing, but were sore they put the food away.
It was only 9:48PM!
We decided to leave at 10PM. We had a full day of travel in the morning and a good night’s sleep would do us all good.
It took 11 minutes to drive back to our house.
And – just like that – it was over.
Me too!!
I think it was our trip in 2016 where my mom (4’11”) opened a can of what-have-you on a guy who let his kid squeeze up between my kids and stepped on my daughter. When he seemingly didn’t understand (???) she marched over to a poor (young) CM and dragged him over to correct the situation. My kids were open mouth shocked.
I am so glad you liked WPE!
That AK event looks like it was a lot of fun!
We all did. I didn’t have any expectations other than wanting a big salad and it was a great meal and we didn’t even use her old gift card!
Such a fun event and a great way to end your trip! I love how you spaced out the 5 day ticket!
Yup. But at least the sun is up longer there, not much consolation!
I think people whoo travel from cold places (like you and me) overestimate how nice subtropical places are in the winter, partly because of the humidity. I did not know. what mildew was until I went to college, honestly had NEVER seen it before, and asked my college roommate what that was on the shower curtain, lol.
Hah, what a cute way to describe pigtails!
Love that line, although it signified impending doom. Do you write professionally?
Do they have Gina Torres (from Firefly) doing the briefing on the Green Side? If not, there’s a reason to stick to Orange. I loved Gary SInise but she’s pretty cool.
Another thing we. northern denizens forget. Ask if the pool is heated- in warmer climes, often they aren’t.
Isn’t there some kind of way to bypass all that scanning, briefing and avataring? Maybe during special events. I look at that part like an interactive queue on steroids- makes you feel like you’re on the ride when you’re not.
Hah. Must not have ever been on it before.
No kidding! It may be the roughest ride in the park, even worse than the older rollercoasters. I never go on it anymore.
Same. I used to be able to ride it a few times, this time once was enough. Or maybe my neck is just that much worse, lol.
So worth it. I didn’t even stay for all of ROL when I really. had nothing else to do. The seats you have do matter, and mine are never good because I don’t like to show up early.
Agnus is Latin for lamb. The Montanan in me must point out that Angus is the cow.
Black and Gus
I had a granny go to bat for me in an airport once, when I was bringing my unfortunate premature vacation baby home on a day when air traffic control was offline in SLC. A total stranger, she would not stand for me waiting in line with the little tiny kiddo, trying to rebook a flight. She marched off and brought back a Delta rep who got me on the next flight out. We were the only passengers.
There are (tough) angels among us.
I loved the pictures of the kiddos with their faces painted! Glad your trip ended on an amazing note!
Saddest phrase ever!
That video made me LOL early this morning. Thank you.
Hi Qwerty6!
I am loving reading your blog. My husband and I were there from the 10th -15th. So its like reliving the trip. Lines were short and we only waited for the safari. Thanks for this narrative. Loving it. Gotta go now but I’ll continue tomorrow.
Fantastic report! Thanks so much for sharing! You have a beautiful family! 
I finished reading the blog this morning. So glad I did!
I think your blog has convinced me to consider renting a place next time. House looked great! And your kids look like such sweet girls! Glad you shared.
Hahaha, I hear you. And agree and we’re usually house/condo renters too, though there have been some hotel room exceptions I liked quite a bit. It’s one of the things that’s made me averse to trying a cruise, because isn’t it just even tinier hotel rooms?
I enjoyed following your trip on Instagram but reading about it (and getting tile detail shots, etc.) was even better. All of you are adorable and I’m so glad you had a great trip. And you got to Characterpalooza! I’m sorry about the sleep deprivation and cold weather and missing HEA and that very rude dad at the MK parade. You are indeed wise.
If we go again ever (there’s a small chance we’ll go to DLR in March, but the timing of DH’s work projects are likely going to prevent a March break trip) I’m definitely packing lunches and possibly some dinners. I’m glad that worked so well for you all!
Your Epcot day was the opposite of ours, weather-wise, but the same sort of vibe. I really should get back to my trip report – I’m planning to print an album and since I have all the text for Universal and day 1 of MK I should really finish it even though it will be irrelevant to pretty much all Liners at this point.
For the camp site, did you have to go check in there to activate your free parking?
Thank you for writing up your report and for all the photos!
I just realized we’ve spent almost zero time in Dinoland. We even spend more time in Storybook Circus and my “kids” are all their 20’s. Something about the aesthetics of DInoland turns me off- I know the vibe they’re going for- a western roadside attraction a la Reptile Gardens. But it doesn’t fit well with the rest of AK, IMHO.
But Reptile Gardens is not nearly as cheesy as one might think, either. it’s actually pretty awesome. After looking at your pics of DInoland, I guess we should give it a chance, too.
Do you ever sleep? Aren’t you on MST?
I need to get back tot his thread and reply as appropriate.
DinoLand is jarring. Though it bothers me less now than it did at first. On this particular evening it was the only place we were visiting and felt less peculiar.
The BoneYard was special to my kids back in 2005. Sadly my Little’s have spent very little time in there.