First off, this trip would not at all have been possible without all that I learned from you all on this board! I hope you enjoy hearing how our trip played out.
Backstory: The trip was originally to occur April 25-May 1 after a year and a half of planning and learning to Disney like a regular. This would be a first-time trip for all the kids and a first-time-since-being-kids trip for most of the adults. When covid diverted those plans, we rebooked for Sep thinking there is no way we would still be concerned with covid by then. Wow, how naĂŻve that thought was. But as Sep approached, we weighed our options and decided to give it a shot. This wouldnât be the vacation we originally planned, but this would be a once in a lifetime change to visit the parks at such low crowds and spend time seeing things that we would have bypassed otherwise. We hoped the âmagicâ would still be there. Both boys (DS2 and DNephew2) will be 3 by the end of 2020, so we just managed to get them in to the parks for free.
Group: Me, DH, DD5, DS2, DMom, DBIL, DSIL, DNiece6, & DNephew2. Yes, thatâs 9 of us.
Plan: Sat fly in, Sun AK, Mon MK, Tue DS, Wed HS, Thur EP, Fri fly out.
Hotel: We booked AoA Little Mermaid (3 rooms). But since it was not open yet, they moved us to CBR preferred rooms. My room request (through TP) was for 1st floor, nearest skyliner, and all 3 rooms near each other with 2 connecting. We were placed in Barbados, and all of our room requests were fulfilled (thanks TP)! While all 3 rooms came with the extra 5th person fold-out sleeper, we did not use it. My BIL & SIL did though to give each kid their own bed (no kicking).
Goal: Find enough âMagicâ to convince DH to take our family again in 2 years.
. But the rain got heavy, so we pondered whatever was indoors. We jumped in line for Itâs Tough to be a Bug, only to find ourselves standing out in the rain, lol. But we got into the show and scared the kiddos, of course. From there, we grabbed Flame Tree BBQ, rode TriceroTop Spin twice, and headed to Dinosaur. Much to my surprise, DD5 decided to âbe braveâ and ride, while DNiece6 decided it was too scary for her. This is a huge role reversal, so I was nearly trying to talk DD5 out of it while we were in line. Although she did NOT like it, she said she knew she was safe because DH roared back at all the dinosaurs. We caught up with DM, DS2, SIL, DNiece6, and DNephew2 and went to Kali River Rapids. This was our first attempt at Rider Swap and got scolded for having 4 ppl in our 2nd group. We learned we needed to show that we were 2 different families both rider switching. The moms and girls rode first, then the dads and girls rode second; all while the boys napped. Everest was next, although we found that DNiece6 was just barely too short, while DD5 was tall enough. This made for an unhappy niece, but she was happy to hang out at Rivers of Light and watch characters. The non-riders saw the drummers, the classic characters, and Pocahontas. Meanwhile, I sat with DD5 and had the soccer-mom-hold on her on Everest. I love coasters but as I (eh hem) age, my motion sickness gets worse. Even with the prescription patches, I felt quite disoriented. In the dark, I yelled to my daughter, are you ok? She answered back with an excited âYeah!â Who knew I had a thrill seeker?!?! Her arms were up for a good portion of the ride (like DH had taught her)! After that, we were running short on time and headed to Pandora. Wow, amazing to see in person, although I wish I would have watched the movie again just before coming. We all rode NRJ together, which was a nice ride for the whole group even if we werenât all Avatar fans. From there, half of the group jumped in line for FoP just before park closing, but again found DNiece6 was just a tad short. The nice castmember gave her a pass to skip the line when she is tall enough and comes back. So only DH and DD5 rode. I opted not to go due to the motion sickness, which tends to be worse with screens for me, even with some nice strangers trying to convince me I should go. To my surprise, DH came off saying it was the best ride heâs ever ridden! A little sad I missed out, I knew Soarinâ would be another opportunity for me to see if I was able to handle the screen rides. By that point, it was after 6. We had been surprised to find out the extended the park hours by an hour that day. Back to CBR we headed to figure out dinner plans. With limited options, we ate at CBRâs quick service, but werenât real impressed with the food or selection. Off to bed for our MK day Monday!
