Trip Report 08/25-8/28 (Mommy-Daughter trip)

This is a VERY delayed trip report, and also my first so please humor me :slight_smile:

Back story:
My Mom, who I also consider my best friend, found out she was getting to do a training program with Disney Institute almost immediately after my Daddy-Daughter trip in March and naturally I jumped on the opportunity to go to Disney twice in a year. The program was at Grand Floridian and she could book extra nights on the front or back side of the trip for the same lower price she was getting during her training period. Sadly, my DF (is that correct? Darling Father) @BenF12400 (he is the one who told me about TP) could not go with us, and neither could my DB due to school having just started, so it was to be a gals trip. I am 28 and my DM has been 45 for about 10 years, give or take a few. My DF and I are tried and true Disney type A planners, my DM is not, so this trip was a bit more low key than the one in March: both were just as fun. I was only there for 3 days of touring (2 half days and 2 full days), which is fine because my DF and I were there for near 7 (still not enough) in March.

Day 1: August 25th, Arrival and MK Day.
We had a flight out of DCA at 7:44am through American, set to land at 10:00am and I gave us a few hours of padding knowing a. We were flying American and there is always something that goes wrong b. I wasn’t sure what stop GF is on the DME and c. My DM’s speed walking isn’t as great as mine. Sure enough…we get on the plane and sit for…1 hour…they cancel the flight and we all get on the next flight that was at 10am. I am 99.9% sure it was because both our flight and the flight after were not full and they would save money combining us. Needless to say, I was in full panic mode because that really messed up my planning even with the padding. As soon as we landed I called Disney, in a more or less hysterical state because we were going to miss our 1-2pm FPP window for SM, and I did all this planning to make it all perfect…all the while laughing and making fun of myself for being a 28 year old independent woman on the verge of tears talking to the CM. He laughed it off with me and we got an all day FPP to use.

We arrived to GF around 2pm. None of us have stayed there since the late 90s, maybe early 00s, having since become YC/BC fanatics. I felt like I was doing something naughty…cheating on YC, but as soon as the friendly CMs greeted us in their Victorian attire, handed us both roses, allowed us to take ridiculous selfies, then whisked us away in the golf cart to Conch Key, I totally forgot about YC. We had a lake view on the 1st floor.

I hurried up my DM, actually, can I change this to MD as in, Mommy Dearest? …and we hopped on the monorail to MK. We had an issue with at the turnstile because MD had registered her name twice in MDE by accident. We had a quick chat with guest relations (all of the other reports I have read mentioned very long lines…we got lucky) and we were on our way: arriving around 2:45pm. We did our Fast Passes for Splash, Space and SDMT and also rode POTC, HM, VOTLM, COP, and my favorite, The People Mover. We danced with the Incredibles and the DJ called my name out and I was completely in shock. “OHMYGOSH HOW DOES HE KNOW MY NAME, MOM DID YOU TELL HIM? IT’S DISNEY MAGIC!” Nope, it’s because I made us cute shirts with Minnie and our names on them…that’s how he knew your name you dingbat. By then it was near 6pm and we had planned on doing an easy dinner, monorail bar hopping and maybe ending at MK.

We went to Mizners around 7 for a dinner of flatbread and pasta accompanied with a delicious glass or two of vino. Then we headed over to Poly because I wanted to go to Trader Sam’s and get a Lapu Lapu. Trader Sam’s wasn’t crowded but it was freezing so we decided to sit outside at the Tiki Terrace. They don’t have the Lapu Lapu on that menu so I went upstairs to Tambu Lounge to get one and brought it down to Tiki Terrace. My Lapu Lapu was not strong at all, but I helped my MD polish off her overpriced fruit themed beverage (I can’t remember what she got) and everyone was happy. It was a beautiful evening, I requested Over the Rainbow twice, and we met the nicest couple who were staying at Poly for a few days with their kids before heading out on a Cruise. We ended up talking with them for hours, and decided to nix monorail bar hopping to The Contemporary and going back to MK for the evening. We watched Wishes from The Tiki Terrace-it was a fine view, then we walked back to GF-very easy walk. The day started in a semi disastrous manner and ended in pure perfection.

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Enjoying your report and looking forward to reading more!

Day 2: August 26th, Magic Kingdom and Epcot

Day 2 allowed me to use my type A Disney nut planning skills, since I wanted to get to MK’s EMH for RD. I made sure to tell MD every day for a month prior that we will be arriving at MK at 7:30am on the 26th. Sure enough I got a bit of moaning when the alarm went off, but I scooted her out to Gasparillas for a coffee and to-go pastry and onto the monorail we went. Is this what getting kids ready for school is like? We arrived at 7:30am, watched the Welcome show and headed immediately to PPF. We did PPF, Pooh, Dumbo (I rode it by myself, only person on the ride), Barnstormer, BLSRS, COP, HM, POTC, JC and Monsters Inc. all before 10:45am, walked down Main Street to look at the Halloween gifts and got on the boat back to GF.

I had a delicious Idaho hot dog from Gasparillas, then we sat out by the pool and napped. We headed over to Epcot around 2:30pm. We did SE, Figment, The Land (my favorite), Nemo, I got a Mickey pretzel, which is a must for me, then headed over to World Showcase. It started pouring so we popped into Mexico and got on the Grand Fiesta Tour. Then we grabbed margaritas from La Cava del Tequila: I got a regular one which was way too sweet for me to finish and MD got an avocado which was delicious. We perused the market, took selfies with gigantic sombreros then headed outside where it had stopped raining. We walked around WS, stopped for a beer in Germany and Sake in Japan, a photo in France then did FEA with our FPP. We LOVED FEA. We had an ADR at Spice Road for 8:10pm, which I recommend based on food and the view of Illuminations. We got the hummus and olives appetizer and split the Mix Grill skewers. By the time we were ready for the check, Illuminations had begun.

This is the point where I REALLY missed YC. Had we been staying there we could have just popped right out and called it an early night. Instead, we made our way to the monorail, only to be told it was down and that buses would take us to the TTC. We waited 50min+ for a bus to TTC; there were so many people and it was the most inefficient process I have ever seen at Disney. It was basically the same as dealing with the Metro here in DC. We eventually got back to GF, watched the Electrical Water Pageant then called it a night.

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Here are some photos from Day 1

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What happened to the rest of the trip, DD?

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