I will neither confirm nor deny the intentionality of this pun!
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Thank you!
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DAY 5: BOMA, DISNEY SPRINGS, AND REST
Hello and welcome back to my trip report! It’s been fun sharing this with all of you!
After 4 straight park days, I was excited for a non-park day with a late start! The only fixed item on our to-do list for this day was a late breakfast (10:45) at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This was the first time for any of us visiting this resort. The restaurant has a great reputation in general but also for vegetarian dishes (Amy and Megan are vegetarians). And I knew the resort would wow the whole group. It was a quick drive via backroads from Emerald Island to AKL. They checked our IDs at the gate to make sure we had ADRs, and then we were off to the lodge!
The lobby was just as spectacular as I expected. We found Boma down a grand staircase. I braced myself when I saw many groups sitting in chairs and on the floor waiting. I was right to worry, as our bad luck with dining was to continue this morning. We checked in at the podium and awaited texts that our tables were ready. We took some group pictures, explored the animal viewing areas. shopped in the gift shop, sat by the fire, and played on our phones. All in, it was about 45 minutes again before either of our tables were seated. This was not nearly as inconvenient as the park ADRs because we were indoors and comfortable. But it still wasn’t great!
The buffet was delicious. My favorites were the POG juice, ham, tater tots, and grilled tomatoes. The atmosphere was relaxing and not too loud or crowded. There was plenty of food at all stations even though it was so late (breakfast ends at 11). We ate and ate.
I thought we might visit Winter Summerland for mini golf after this, but no one seemed excited about spending that much time in the sun. Instead, we split into two groups. My family and my dad went back to the house, and my sister’s family and my mom went to Disney Springs. This was a good representation of vacations throughout my lifetime, as Mom and Amy have always loved shopping! They stayed for several hours, and I know they visited the soccer store, the Lego store, and the Sprinkles cupcake ATM, as well as Starbucks. For our part, my group all took naps in various locations around the rental house, and I know my dad also got in the pool. I spent several hours passed out on one of the comfy leather couches in the living room. The Boma coma is no joke!
When the Disney Springs crew arrived back at the house, I volunteered to make dinner. We had basic fixings for chili as part of our grocery delivery. I quickly discovered, however, that our rental house was lacking a can opener! I had had a lazy day, so I didn’t mind setting out to find one. I first checked the store in the Emerald Island clubhouse. I saw lots of snacks and conveniences, but no can opener. Then I went to a nearby CVS. They don’t carry them. I bit the bullet and went to Wal-Mart. It was mobbed! And the kitchen gadget section was out of can openers. Finally at Target I hit paydirt. Good old Target.
Back at home, we ate dinner. The younger kids were fighting, so I offered to take them on a walk to the playground. Once all was said and done, the walk ended up being just my sister, DN8, DN10, and me, and we just went to the clubhouse instead of the playground. It was really nice! The community pool and firepit were beautiful, and the new mini golf course (9 holes, free to guests) looked cute, too. We found the rack of online rental bikes my dad had been wondering about. We found the movie room, the tiki bar, and the community room. I continue to be very impressed with Emerald Island and the value for the rental dollar! On the way back, we also spotted the entrance to the nature preserve trail. Then we realized BIL had driven down to pick up the kids and give us some “sister time,” which was terrific of him.
We got back from our walk and found her kids and my parents watching Harry Potter in the family room. I discreetly rounded up my kids for a “big kid” outing to Twistee Treat, a soft serve place shaped like an ice cream cone. I knew they would enjoy some teen time and a snack in a 'grammable setting.
My last conscious act of the evening was dropping our Hollywood and Vine and Oga’s reservations for the next day. We were going to have plenty of fun at Hollywood Studios without ever needing to wait for another table!
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Oh goodness, what a day! I can’t believe you had to wait for a table for so long again! And what a hunt for the can opener 
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Can’t believe how many long waits you had for restaurants! I am sure that only being a party of four helped, but I think that being able to say we couldn’t receive texts since we were out of country got us faster seating. We barely waited at all for any of our ADRs.
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Target and only Target from now on! The one thing I don’t like about staying offsite is how long it takes to go anywhere (let alone 3 places) on 192!
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I’m glad our experience does not seem to be the norm! We had not encountered this regularly on our previous trips (just once at VN and once at Tusker), and we were usually a table of 6 at those, too.
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DAY 6: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
ILL-
ROTR at 8 PM
LL-
SDD at 5 PM (booked at 7 AM)
TOT at 4 PM (booked at 10:30 AM)
RnRC at 4 PM (booked at 12:30 PM)
MFSR at 7 PM (booked at 2:30 PM)
MMRR at 6 PM (booked at 4:30 PM)
I spent the morning of our Hollywood Studios day stacking Lightning Lanes for the afternoon and evening. I had to wait for Slinky Dog Dash to advance when I booked it as 7. The rest were booked every two hours. Since we were offsite, I could not book ROTR until park opening.
This day, Sunday, August 7, was originally going to be another non-park day. The following day, several rides were supposed to move from Genie Plus LL back to ILL, and I had planned to go to HS that day to take advantage. I figured I would be better off buying more ILLs to leave room for more other rides as LLs. This ended up being wrong on several counts: the rides didn’t move back, I was able to still get them as regular LLs, and the availability for both regular LLs and ILL was so much better on weekends than weekdays that I even managed to get ROTR (along with everything else I wanted) by switching from Monday to Sunday.
We spent a leisurely day at the house. Lots of people exercised. My nephews built the Lego sets they had just bought. We watched the cousins’ swim team video. I opened up the door to the game room for the first time (it was amazing having an entire room the younger kids didn’t know about to surprise them with!). I swam in the pool with Josh and DN10. We ate lunch. Then at 3 PM we drove to Hollywood Studios.
This had been our most fun park in 2021, so I had high hopes. The amount of planning required to pull it off was a night and day difference between the two years, however. Liner tips on Genie Plus helped me more at HS than at any other park. Everything ended up happening just as I drew it up, with a few standby rides and a quick service dinner thrown in. I love it when a plan comes together!
We arrived a few minutes early for our first Lightning Lane at Tower of Terror, so we stopped for a group photo. A very friendly bystander actually took a bunch of great pictures for us at the Tower - thanks, dude! Since DN6 wasn’t riding, we split into two groups so that everyone could be part of a group experience riding. In group 1, my mom was not a big fan, but I’m impressed that she did it! In group 2, we all had a ball. Mom begged off of Rock n Roller Coaster and took DN6 to the Lightning McQueen show, so we got to ride RnRC as one big group. We met up in the gift shop where both Megan and I made purchases. She got a bucket hat, and I got a hot pink spirit jersey. We almost always buy souvenirs there, for some reason, and in a magical moment, when the sweet CM asked us about our hometowns, we realized she (a fellow Northern Virginian) had waited on us last year, too!
Our next LL was for Slinky Dog Dash. It would not be a stretch to say this was a turning point of the trip for DN6. He went into the day planning to ride it and he did. We all loved riding it together.
Some chaos happened next, and I don’t completely remember why. It got stormy, someone lost something (and I think BIL had to go to the lost and found?), we started a Mobile Order, and we lost some people to the Toy Story Land bathrooms. Once reunited, we joined the standby line for Toy Story Mania. My synergistic plan was to use our time in line to Mobile Order dinner at Backlot Express. We did accomplish that, but the stress of shepherding 11 people through the process on two phones was starting to get to me. It almost, but not quite, took me out of the moment at TSMM, which is one of my favorite rides. Amy and I enjoyed some friendly competition. I’m not sure any of the first timers loved this ride as much as I expected them to, but the evening wasn’t over yet!
To be continued!
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Whoa! That person did an excellent job with your ToT photos!
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DAY 6, PART 2:
Backlot Express Pro-Con List:
Pros - Large menu, Mobile Order, indoor seating, near Star Tours, we didn’t just eat there last year (ABC Commissary), food isn’t from another planet (Docking Bay), vegetarian bowl option
Cons- Last time we ate there, the chicken fingers and fries were still frozen and my salad was gross, it is decidedly not the character meal with Mickey Mouse that I had been looking forward to, nor is it an exotic space cantina
We ate dinner at Backlot. Mobile Order worked well. The salad was still gross.
We (Mike, Megan, Josh, and I) are a huge Star Wars family. Our 2016 trip (pre-Galaxy’s Edge) revolved around Star Wars, including Jedi training and the Star Wars fireworks dessert party. We love Star Tours and ride it at least twice every trip. We were surprisingly underwhelmed by SWGE in 2021. Other than pictures in front of the Falcon, we didn’t get a lot out of it. Smuggler’s Run was frustrating. Rise was cool but (other than that Stormtrooper room), couldn’t possibly live up to almost two years of hype. I think part of the problem for us was that we know the movies well, but SWGE isn’t from a movie. Walking through miniature Endor outside of Star Tours actually gives me more chills! And Rise, while cool, doesn’t have Darth Vader (clearly the coolest Star Wars character) in it. We liked Episodes 7 and 8 (not 9!), and although we like Kylo, Rey, Finn, and Poe, having them so prominent in Batuu instead of the old school characters would not have been our pick.
My parents presumably took me to my first few Star Wars movies (probably with Amy along, at least for Return of the Jedi), but it’s not something they still discuss, and my sister’s kids have not seen Star Wars. Still, my family had hyped up Star Tours, big time! We entered the standby line after dinner, said hi to C-3PO, and boarded our transport. DN6 was a bit uncertain but decided to stick it out. He was rewarded with the distinction of Rebel Spy for our flight. We saw Darth Vader. 10/10 would recommend.
We headed to another sentimental favorite, Muppetvision. Now, unlike Star Wars, my parents do still discuss the Muppets, so this was a can’t miss for them. It was great as always. We also rode Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway using a Lightning Lane. This was our favorite new ride last year and we are crazy about it, but it didn’t seem like the rest of the family was as excited as we were.
And then, we walked into Galaxy’s Edge, and my parents and my sister fell in love. Not to mix franchises, but it reminded me of Jacob imprinting on [redacted] in Twilight. My mom kept saying how much it looked like a movie. She immediately grabbed my dad for a picture (DN6 ended up in there, too!). We rode Smuggler’s Run. It was both nephews’ favorite ride of the day. We hustled over to Rise of the Resistance, with my mom looking longingly back at the Falcon. It was an hour until park close, we needed time for two groups to ride, and group 1 also needed time to buy light sabers at Tatooine Traders afterwards. I joined group 1 with Amy, my mom, Megan, DN8 and DN10. They were blown away. It was definitely my mom and sister’s favorite ride of the entire trip. I wish we had not been in such a hurry for all of Galaxy’s Edge, but especially right after Rise, where we basically grabbed DN6 from group 2 and ran to the gift shop! In retrospect, I wish I had convinced everyone to have space food for dinner (at Docking Bay 7) so we could have had more time there. But it was still a very successful day in spite of these small imperfections.
While group 2 finished the ride and group 1 finished shopping, I took off on a speed walk looking for frozen drinks. I didn’t find any, but I did enjoy some atmosphere as the projection show started. In making a plan to fit the style of our group, I had cut out two ADRs and all the live shows. It was the right call, but they were still tough cuts to make. I was happy to have these few minutes to myself, to say a more personal hello (and goodbye) from me to Hollywood Studios.
Thanks for reading!
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I know, right?!
Definitely with you philosophically on episodes 7/8 and 9 (Wah Wah).
As a Star Wars nut, I feel pressure not to build Batuu up to other people because it hits in such different ways for folks. Love that it was such a win for your mix of folks!
Awesome stacking too.
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Back to the trip report I go!
DAY 7: TYPHOON LAGOON AND DISNEY SPRINGS
Monday was the second to last full day of our trip, and another scheduled non-park day. My sister cracked me up, because throughout our trip, she had been doing different souvenir shopping tasks for different neighbors. But on this day, she remembered something she needed to get that was actually a Universal item and not a Disney one. She and DN8 were the first people to make plans for the day: drive to Universal, get the item, and of course, ride Hagrid’s. Since they always stay at the Premiere resorts, this was their first experience parking in the big garage. I think they prefer staying onsite!
Josh and I are Disney water park fans, so we were pretty sure we wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon. We’d been to Blizzard Beach twice, including in 2021, and were harboring some loyalty to that park (and especially to Summit Plummet!), but only Typhoon Lagoon is currently open. I offered to take DN10 with me, and Megan wanted to come along, too. So the four of us set off.
My parents, BIL, and DN6 walked to the Emerald Island clubhouse to try the free mini golf. They felt 9 holes was perfect for summer heat and a younger kid’s attention span. None of us used any mini golf entitlements, and only 4 of used any water park entitlements, so next time, for this large of a group, I’d probably just wait and see who wanted to go, rather than adding this extra to our park tickets.
My water park crew arrived at the park late morning and went straight to the wave pool. It was intense! We are all over five feet tall and all have been competitive swimmers at some point in our lives. We were still getting knocked around! We liked it, but it was tiring (and it took me a while to get all of the water out of my ears).
Next we decided to try some rides in case it stormed later. We were sitting near Miss Adventure Falls and Crush ‘n’ Gusher, so we tried those first. Miss Adventure Falls, the family raft ride, was fun, and I loved the conveyor belt that carried our tube up the first hill! I had two small complaints. First, and this is on me, I just assumed the four of us would fit comfortably, but it was very tight on legroom, and we should have split up two and two! Second, the ride seemed short and not quite as much fun as the family raft ride at Blizzard Beach. Crush ‘n’ Gusher was a fun ride, but carrying double tubes up a crowded, wet staircase was really hard and seemed like an accident waiting to happen! Megan and I didn’t want to do it again. The boys probably would have, but then it thundered.
We were hungry, and Megan needed something to drink, so I thought I would get ahead of the crowd by Mobile Ordering food we could eat while we took shelter. By the time we got under cover, there weren’t any tables, and I lost cell signal (maybe jammed from so many people in one spot?) so I couldn’t press “I’m here, make my food”! It was kind of a comedy of errors. Eventually I got help from the right CM, who was able to push my order through even without this step (or my order number). The rain was not over quickly, but the kids did find a table while I was getting the food. We ate a decent lunch (I know Megan liked her tofu teriyaki bowl). Then we went to find chairs again. I don’t think we were supposed to be out from under cover, but it had stopped raining and was only lightly thundering.
Megan wanted to leave, but I wanted the boys to be able to get more time if the park reopened. We set a timeframe and she went out to wait in the car. Per Murphy’s Law, as soon as she exited the park, it reopened. I told the boys to meet back at my chair in an hour and 15 minutes, and we would leave at that point. They rode most of the rest of the slides and went back in the wave pool, and I had another epic afternoon nap. As we headed to the car, it started to storm again.
Josh and I still prefer Blizzard Beach, both for Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher, which he liked better than the biggest rides at Typhoon Lagoon, and for the unique, ski resort theming. We liked the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool a lot (for a certain audience), but we think the smaller waves at Meltaway Bay and the cool Ski Patrol area give Blizzard Beach the edge, especially if you’re not bringing elite swimmers! It is also handy having a mini golf right there at Blizzard Beach.
To be continued!
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DAY 7, PART 2:
The only restaurant that my kids (especially Josh) request on every trip is Rainforest Cafe. It’s kind of adorable and it allows me to pretend they are still little, even though they are both taller than me. But they are my kids, which means they can simultaneously be 5 foot 9, and 8 years old, in my mind.
I took the same approach with Rainforest Cafe that I did with Yak and Yeti. I called for two reservations using my mom’s and my Landry’s cards. Unlike Yak and Yeti, the Disney Springs Rainforest was able to give us two reservations in the same timeslot (instead of 15 minutes apart). They were incredibly helpful and accommodating on the phone when I switched my days around. We arrived a few minutes early for our dinner reservation and checked in at the elephant podium. We shopped for less than 5 minutes and then were all seated. While they told me they could not seat more than eight people at one table, they did put our two tables (of five and six people) together in a quiet nook. They also checked with us frequently throughout the night. Our Landry’s card did seem to afford us VIP treatment at Rainforest Cafe.
The menu was good for our group. Lots of options, including a few vegetarian ones, lots of drinks, lots of kids’ meal choices. Josh ordered the kids’ mac and cheese (adorable!), and our server not only allowed him to, but brought him a refill. I added coconut shrimp on to a side salad, and I think it is really only available as an add-on to an entree, but this was also accommodated. We ate well and had attentive service.
We did a little browsing in the gift shop afterwards, and DN8 bought a hamburger Squish Mallow. Josh was starting to get frustrated that he still had not found a souvenir. He had high hopes for finding one at Disney Springs but was finding it hard to shop in such a big group. We made a brief stop at World of Disney, but he didn’t see anything he wanted there. I told him we could go in more stores later, but our next stop was Ghirardelli.
Last year, the line for Ghirardelli ice cream was one of the longest ones we waited in the whole week! We were all prepared for that, but then we only waited about five minutes to order. It was a Monday this time, versus a Thursday last time, but the same week of the year. I wonder if that made a difference. Everyone enjoyed everything they ordered at Ghirardelli.
It was around 8 PM and we had a long, early day at Magic Kingdom planned, so the majority of the group headed home. However, my immediate family stuck around to let Josh shop some more. At Once Upon a Toy, Megan purchased a stuffed Rocket from Guardians. We went into Disney Style and Marketplace Co-Op for the first time. I really liked both of those stores, but Josh didn’t find much men’s clothing he liked, except a 10,000 Leagues vintage design t-shirt. He elected not to buy it, and instead wanted to head back to Rainforest Cafe and buy an oversized mug and plush animal. Then we, too, went home to rest before our big, final park day.
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DAY 8: MAGIC KINGDOM
ILL -
7DMT at 5 PM
LL -
Splash at 9 AM
IASW at 9:30 AM
HM at 11 AM (not used, tragically)
Space at 5 PM
BTMRR at 8 PM
PP at 5 PM
TSpeedway at 7 PM
The anticipation was high! It was our last park day and our only Magic Kingdom day. My sister’s kids had never been; my parents had not been since the mid 80s! As offsite guests, we could not enter until 9 AM, but we could take the ferry and soak up Main Street (and presumably, get Starbucks) as soon as we were able to arrive. We boarded a ferry around 7:45 and were walking down Main Street by 8. After an obligatory castle photo, I positioned the non-Starbucks crew in the shade at Casey’s Corner. There was ample, shaded seating, bathroom access, close proximity to the Hub (and Starbucks), and we’d be close to Adventureland when it was time to line up for rope drop. Thanks to my dad and Mike for being willing to arrive so early! At around 8:45, we positioned ourselves near the Adventureland bridge. The crowd was just large enough to be festive, but not too crazy.
When the clock struck nine, we were released into Adventureland and walked quickly to Pirates. It was a walk-on and enjoyed by all. Next, we used our first LL on Splash Mountain, a favorite of my family. Unfortunately, the big hill (and all the screaming) proved too much for DN6, and he and BIL hopped out.
(It’s a good picture. But it would have been a great picture!)
After a brief stop at the Tangled bathrooms, we did our next LL for it’s a small world. No one seemed to mind. At this point, let’s do a Sliding Doors version of what happened next:
We ride the Little Mermaid. It’s a walk on. No one is hungry or hot. No one is preoccupied with their lack of a souvenir. We snap a quick picture at Dumbo but don’t ride. We definitely don’t ride the Barnstormer or go shopping in a circus tent. There is plenty of time and interest to walk back to Liberty Square to ride Haunted Mansion after a delicious waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow. We all go home for a rest and lunch.
Actual version:
We ride the Little Mermaid standby. The line is kind of long. We all get hungry. Prince Eric’s market is closed. I backtrack to Gaston’s. Some people use the bathroom. I buy two popcorns and we all eat that while hotly watching Seven Dwarves Mine Train go by. We persevere to Dumbo. There is no line, so we ride. They offer us 4 elephants for 11 people. Somehow both my parents end up in a Dumbo with DN8, who has very long legs. My dad has a near amputation; no one has fun. We take the (admittedly very cute) picture I’d been hoping for. Josh and I shop for hats. We all stand in an epic line for the Barnstormer in the midday sun. Once it’s over, my dad and Mike are ready to go (and it’s almost noon), but plan to meet us again at 5. Based on past experience, I strongly encourage everyone else to go home, too (except me - I am dreaming of solo MK time). No one does.
Two urgent matters to immediately attend to: lunch (we Mobile Order Pinocchio’s Village House) and parade, which Amy has always wanted to see, and honestly, having seen it recently in a video, I am pretty interested in as well. We dash down next to Sleepy Hollow, where we have some shade and a good view of the floats as they cross the bridge from Liberty Square onto Main Street. The kids (hers) are mildly interested. Maleficent breathes fire. It’s good fun. My kids have left for the Tangled restrooms. I have them meet us at Pinocchio’s at 12:15.
Pinocchio’s is pretty crowded. The food takes a while. My battery is low, because I am someone who buys a portable charger and then the effort stops there. I look at the battery-sucking, burger-flipping animated graphic on the Mobile Order screen with disdain. My kids and I finally get our food. The caprese flatbread is so darn good I can’t even be mad at the burger-flipping animation anymore. My mom reports that it is pouring outside. She prevails upon us to give up our table to some poor (unfortunate?) souls who didn’t have the foresight to order lunch before the rush/storm. We stand in a massive crowd near the Pinocchio’s entrance instead.
Stay tuned for Part 2 (with surprise Liner cameo)!
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