Good Morning, we have been back from our trip for a week now, so it felt like the right time to start a trip report. Our last trip was the summer of 2019 and we went back this year with one more addition to our party. Our touring crew was me-Kayla, my husband Josias, my mom Roberta, stepdaughter Ingrid (18), DD Katie (4), and DD Emma (1). We were celebrating Ingrid’s graduation, Emma’s first trip, and our anniversary. After a tough few years—teaching while pregnant during a pandemic, losing my dad to cancer, moving, etc. this trip was a nice focus on memories and magic!
Take Off Day—When I booked our flights, I booked right before the huge gas increase and found great times 10am nonstop going and 3pm nonstop returning. Well a few weeks later, we got notified by Southwest that those flights no longer existed and to choose new ones. The only round trip flights we could take were 5am leaving and 8pm coming back. And they tried to charge us for worse flights! Needless to say, we were up at 1:30 to head to Providence Airport from central Ma. The kids were confused and the adults barely slept, but it was smooth. We paid to park the car for the week and it was a deal (80 dollars). The tram brought us to the airport and the SW kiosk wasn’t even open yet. Once they did open and we checked bags, we waited again for them to open security. Having taken all that time, we only waited about 40 minutes before boarding. It was the smoothest flight we’ve ever taken. After our last trip I vowed never to fly into Florida at night again (storms) and this was definitely a great move!
We opted for Mears as we were big fans of DME and it was the same deal without the Disney flair, we really missed that flair though! We were the first drop off and waited about ten minutes for the bus to leave. We were not in a rush either, as we only planned to do Disney Springs.
We arrived at POP—and it was like being home! I’m not sure if I ever noticed the smell before but noticed it this time. We dropped off our bags and asked about our room (not ready or assigned) and asked about how to use DAS as we needed it for my mom. The CM had no idea how to even use the WDW app so we figured we’d find someone else. After dropping off our bags, we got some snacks and mugs and then headed to Disney Springs. The bus ride was easy and we were all riding some adrenaline. At Springs, it was very quiet. We went in the central Disney store and didn’t buy anything, I was looking for a Dooney as I had been gifted money towards it for Christmas. We found it in the co-op. We mostly had fun taking pics of the girls and letting them play in the fountains. A surreal experience as that was our first Disney moment as kids and we have an old video of my brother and I playing in them. The girls were loving taking pictures with all the Disney figures. And my 4 year old pointed out every palm tree for me knowing I loved them.
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Then we headed to our lunch reservation at Rainforest Cafe. We went once to the AK one as kids, but we actually had one up here in MA that we used to take Ingrid to for her birthday, and then one day it randomly closed. I used to call it a taste of Disney in Ma. So we decided to do the Springs one. The person at the stand put our stroller inside because it was going to rain and then we had lunch. The atmosphere was fun and it wasn’t busy at all, but the service was crazy slow and we were all starting to hit a wall. I did have fun walking around with my 4 year old who was fascinated by the decorations. When we went to leave it was downpouring so we got out our ponchos, then we found that someone had stuck our stroller out in the downpour. I was so frustrated as they told us to park it inside. The manager came over and tried to dry it and gave us few towels, but luckily we were done touring for the day. Leaving, we walked by the water and saw areas we hadn’t seen before and all the restaurants I read about in the guide. At lunch I also called Pop because they had assigned us a room that was so far and not adjoining moms. Luckily they changed it so we got room in building 3 of the 50s— easy access to Main hall and skyliner.
Once we were finally in our rooms, we put one tired baby down for a nap and put away groceries. I unpacked and then we all went in one room and left the baby in the other. Hitting a wall, we all fell asleep for like 2 hours. This catch up made us feel more human so we headed to the food court to share a pizza. We then decided to take a joy ride on the skyliner. I was worried about using it as I’m not a fan of slow heights like stopping on a Ferris wheel. It totally exceeded my expectations though and was so smooth and relaxing. We ended the night with a quick dip in the pool, and all got to bed by about 9pm. Getting in early and to bed early before our first park day made a world of difference from our last trip when we got in at night. So day 1 in the books. Will update over the next few days to continue sharing the journey.
