I’ve never had any real burning desire to stay there, even though it’s the only DVC resort I’ve never stayed in… it just happened to be available for my extra days this trip, so I’ll get to see what you mean.
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Ya I mean I’ve done Caribbean once in college and otherwise we are Pop loyalists, but I think in terms of deluxes my order for dream stays are : Grand Floridian, Beach or Yacht Club, Contemporary, Boardwalk, Wilderness, then Poly.
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Day 5 I think lol… AK/MK split
Despite our transportation issues, the break day did all of us good. In the past we’ve done half break days, and I think a full no parks day worked well for us. So we headed back to Animal Kingdom, basically to do a repeat of everything we’d done. We love the AK line up so it’s worth doing twice for us.
We started the morning again at Dinosaur and Katie asked ever so sweetly if she could try the flying dinos. Luckily with no line, it was an easy request to accommodate. Then we headed to Africa and did the Safari. We had another great Safari and it’s a whole family crowd pleaser. From there we headed to Asia to do KRR and Everest. Mom and I got drenched on Kali Rapids, and thinking ahead I brought a change of clothes. I don’t mind getting soaked, I just mind staying that way all day. Then we couldn’t decide who would do Everest twice, so I suggested everyone do it twice. So whoever didn’t ride twice from RS just did the single rider line with no wait. On SR, I was next to someone who had never done and their reactions were priceless. More effects worked this time, but still not everything. I found Katie a cute 50th sweatshirt in the gift shop too. Then we headed over to Avatar.
We did Navi River and FOP. Katie is in love with Navi River and I love boat rides. I have a strange love for the bromide smells on them and Navi River doesn’t disappoint. While J waited with the girls when the first group did FOP, Katie saw a girl with a dragon toy that she really wanted. He said he didn’t get it, and usually I’m the strong one, but I was weak and said why not. So he took her in and it was some dragon in an egg that when you pet it it reacts to you—it was pretty neat. We then had lunch at Satuli and even though I liked the bowls there before I remember the shrimp being more spicy than I wanted so I opted for a kids cheese quesadilla. It came with really good chips and was plenty of food for an adult. At this point in the trip I can say we were pretty relaxed as we had done so much already and we’re just kind of soaking it all in. After lunch we planned to head over to MK but it was still too early to hop, so we stopped in to see Mickey and Minnie for the girls. This worked out great and we headed out to MK just in time for some Joffreys and to leave in time to hop. I had stacked some rides for the afternoon there, but our main focus was the parade and fireworks.
On our way to MK we put the girls in their princess dresses as we felt half a day in dresses towards evening was more logical in August. Katie was really excited about it. We had an LL for Jungle Cruise so went and did that quickly and the updates were okay I guess. I think they might have gone a little to wild with look monkeys are messing up the camp. Then we went to Frontierland and immediately found a great spot for the parade like ten minutes before. The one downside is that some woman taking up the space of 3 people wouldn’t let Katie get in next to her because she wanted to make a perfect video. I thought of a perfect response, which I of course kept to myself 
The parade was delayed because of thunder, but then seemed to start as soon as the thunder got louder…But it was the best. Katie was screaming to all the characters. Emma was waving in her Snow White dress and Dopey saw her, grabbed Snow White and they both ran up to talk to her and give her kisses. It was the absolute best!
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We then used LLs to do some of our favorites. Haunted Mansion, then Splash. We were going to eat at Pecos Bill but weren’t hungry and decided we’d eat in Tomorrowland instead. We got in Peter Pan, Pooh, PhillarMagic and then went to Cosmic Rays. Emma took the most epic nap maybe any baby has taken in the waiting room for PhillarMagic.
Cosmic Rays was just okay, but I loved the nostalgia—we always ate there as kids. It was tough for mom though. We then hit up Buzz and got on PeopleMover just as the lights came on. It was so nice to get in an evening, relaxing ride with the kids. After, we took the back path to the front of the train station for fireworks. I looked around to get icecream but there was nothing down there. While we had an awesome day, enchantment is such a bummer. I want to cry and feel those Disney emotions, and instead I was googling does Tinker Bell not fly anymore. Once she finally did, I was ready to go. Such a disappointment. Bring back anything and it would be an improvement, but still a magical day.
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My son was 4 when we went and I have the best pictures of Mickey playing peekaboo with him at the Ohana breakfast. this was by far the best character interaction we had as Mickey got him to laugh and smile. He was not a fan of characters (still isn’t actually) and knew even then that it was people in costumes.
Crazy that he knew so young! Both of my girls liked characters instantly.
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I’m moving slow here, but here goes Epcot Day. With the exception of the previous night at MK and this day we called it fairly early most days (6-7pm). But because of the Halloween parties we couldn’t avoid night shows back to back. We had already gone to Epcot and done the nature area, but this day we got everything done. I did have a major liner fail and did not get a BG for Guardians. During my preparations this summer, I gave Ingrid the job of learning Joel’s site. She didn’t log on early enough and we got locked out. Next time I promise to learn it. So we bit the bullet and bought ILL. The skyliner to Epcot was easy but we were a little later than usual and probably got to the gateway just as the early hour started. We went straight to Ratatouille, which feels like an odd spot because of being in the back of France, but waited minimally. I don’t really have an opinion on it as we only did it the one time. This was basically the only ride in all of DW Emma didn’t like, and Katie wasn’t all that excited about it either. I think the placement in WS works and I hope they’ll make more small rides in the countries, so that this gets treated like a simple ride as opposed to an E ticket. I checked to see if the France bakery was open, but it wasn’t. So we headed to Frozen. WS is very quiet in the morning, which is nice, but you almost wish there was an monorail between there and Future World. I feel like starting at WS meant much more backtracking. We got some nice pictures in Morocco and stopped at Joffreys.
Once we got to Frozen, Katie had a mini meltdown refusing to ride. Apparently she just wouldn’t do the drops, so we ended up swapping, which felt silly. We then went to Sommerhaus to meet Anna and Elsa. This and Pooh were the only times we waited a long time. We must have sat in the living room area forever. My guess is they only had 1 room going, but the girls were happy.
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Then we headed to Test Track. We had a DAS but in true Epcot fashion, the ride malfunctioned so it took forever. The girls had fun in the waiting area though, and I love this part of Epcot. At this point we were probably 2 hours late for our Guardians ILL. I wasn’t really worried because it said starts at 9:30 but didn’t say an end time. Given that we were fading a bit, I bought a few Mickey pretzels and drinks to share. I figured it’d also be good for our stomachs before the ride. I got to be the rider who goes twice and am so glad I did. We loved this! Mom felt queasy after and would definitely only do once a trip. I got a bit woozy after two rides. I liked this better than Rise. It’s just so fun. I was bummed by the songs I got (Conga and One Way or Another)—really wanted September. I do think Disney’s new rides are going overboard with the pre shows, but overall this ride just makes you smile, it’s super fun. After, we did Spaceship Earth again, which both girls love. At this point we were later than I thought. Epcot is already a big park so the two new rides and that wait for the princesses made it harder to get stuff done quick. That was okay though and we went to Sunshine Seasons for lunch. I have to say this QS is just so consistent. I always get the Ceasar salad and it’s always good. After, we did Soarin and before leaving I put on my puppy eyes and guilted everyone into doing Living with the Land again.
After we headed to the seas to do Nemo and try Turtle Talk again. Katie was really excited to try to ask Crush a question again. We got lucky and Crush picked on her to talk to and asked who brought her there, to which she replied I don’t know. Laugher ensued and so he talked to me and asked me about if our kids were the same. Then Katie got to ask a question and she goes “Why do you talk so funny?”. The whole room exploded laughing and she pretty much stumped Crush. He was laughing and said I don’t know have you ever talked to a turtle, we just do. Katie was over the moon about him talking to her, and overall we did great in Future World so we then headed out to World Showcase.
We started in Canada which is our new thing. I got a beer and we walked around a little. In the UK, we popped in the shops, but didn’t see much. In France, we got a sampling of desserts which were amazing and Emma started her nap around the world. We kept looking for characters but had no luck, it was too late. We walked through Germany and Morocco, but were disappointed in the shopping. I was so sad to see the Germany store closed. I was really hoping to find something special around the countries for a decoration, but didn’t find anything unique. Even the store in Japan was lacking and didn’t have the pearl station. Katie had fun collecting the postcards though so we got to poke in every country. By the time we hit Mexico, we stopped to eat. I was happy with the kids meal and everyone likes this QS. It’s been awhile since we’ve been there because we had DDP before, but it was good. Emma managed to spill a full cup of drink on her and I was out of clothes. So I ran to the main WS shops and could find nothing in baby sizes. I ended up buying a kids Minnie XS shirt that was so overpriced it was obnoxious. We squeezed in a ride of 3 cabs and then decided we’d find a spot for Harmonious close to the SL. So we went to the UK. We had a hard time finding an adult beverage that wasn’t coffee based and I ended up getting Joffreys to make spiked frozen lemonade. We put fairy lights on the stroller and gave out glow sticks to the kids and some other kiddos nearby. Right before the show started, a CM told us we’d see the show better by the bridge with the SL so we last minute switched to that spot. While the kiddos were tired and we made the amateur move of taking Emma out of the stroller, we still saw most of the show. Much better than Enchantment! Can’t live up to Illuminations but we enjoyed it, and we’re able to slip out and get right on the SL. Just missed seeing the sparkling sidewalks near Spaceship Earth. Overall, a crazy productive day considering we were nearing the end of the trip.
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This trip report has taken forever! But our last day in the parks we headed back to MK. This was also a party day, but we weren’t worried about the limited hours as we really had already gotten everything done here.
We started in Tomorrowland for the first time, we’ve never started here before! Went to Space Mountain and did RS. The waiting adult got to get Joffreys while waiting with the kids. We must have been in Tomorrowland the first 90 minutes of the day and it was empty. It was cool to basically have the area to ourselves, hearing TTA echo all over. We rode PeopleMover, just walking on, then walked onto Buzz. We had already done COP, so had to wait for MILF to open. Because literally no one else was around, we walked onto Buzz again while we waited the few minutes for MILF to open. Ours was the first MILF show and enough people for maybe half the theater to be full. I got picked on for the pick a number thing and so Katie got to see herself up on the screen.
Then we walked leisurely to Adventureland for Pirates. We also rode Magic Carpets, which was easy to get on, except they did one cycle with just one family on it, which seemed obnoxious. We also brought the girls to Katie freaked out when getting on the boat (big parenting embarrassing moment), but J chilled her out and she was fine after that first small hill. I really hope the freak out over hills is not a long phase…. Ingrid got Katie a bubble wand in the gift shop and I found a really cool pirate play set that I got for the girls. It was pretty fairly priced too which is unusual.
Then we headed over to do Splash and Big Thunder and swapped with both. My dream of riding original Splash with Katie never happened, but I got over it. Splash continued to look in rough shape. Then we did a mobile order for Harbor House, and caught the parade on the way over. We were wearing our family shirts and each of us had our favorite character on it. Peter Pan saw my shirt from the parade, which was fun!
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At Harbor House, I did the chowder bread bowl, and was surprised that the chowder wasn’t too bad. Being from NE, chowder expectations are high. After lunch, we did Haunted Mansion and then poked in the Christmas shoppe while Emma napped. I got the hitchhiking ghosts ornament to put in my Halloween village. Rather than wake up Emma, we took turns hanging with her while we did some Fantasyland rides. Ingrid stayed with Emma while we did Peter Pan, and mom stayed while we did Small World. I brought Katie on the carousel as promised. Then we went towards Under the Sea and had a drink outside of Gaston’s. The CMs were surprisingly rude about us asking for iced water, which was disappointing. Having seen here that enchanted tales was closed but that Belle meets there, I told my family let’s go check the cottage. They thought I was genius, as we literally just walked in and there Belle was! Then Emma finally woke up so we did Mermaid and Dumbo —no waits in the middle of the day! Even though Katie skipped it, we did Mine Train one more time. I was the person who rode twice and finally figured out how to make it comfortable—can’t bring a bag to put under and leave it locked a few inches above what you think would be locked in. This was the only way not to be totally scrunched. We did PhillarMagic one more time, and finished with Pooh. Rather than force ourselves to do more, we headed to the Emporium to do some shopping before dinner. I couldn’t decide on a spirit jersey so didn’t get it, but got a shirt for J and some small toys for Christmas.
We then checked in for Plaza reservation. Despite doing pre check in and having a reservation we had to wait about 40 minutes, which was tough because it being the last day everyone was a bit drained. But we lucked into seeing the adventure cavalcade while waiting, which I had been bummed that we never caught before. Plaza was great, but ended up being tough on mom as dad really liked that place. Food was delicious and I insisted everyone end the day with sundaes. It was awesome people watching as people were coming in for the Halloween party—although I couldn’t get over the person in the wool poncho as Bruno!! Katie asked if we could go to the party and I felt bad but now I know we can actually do one in a few years. So we headed back and swam at the hotel. An awesome final full day!
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Departure Day. As mentioned way in the beginning we had a late flight. So we slept in, packed up, and went down to the lobby. We had some lunch, and then walked over to Art of Animation, as I had decided to get the spirit jersey. The lady in the Pop gift shop broke the only one they had when I tried to purchase one, and luckily AoA had much better supplies. We can’t get over that AoA is a carbon copy of Pop considering the price difference. We also took a Skyliner to Riviera, which was very unimpressive.
After, we hung in the Pop lounge before getting our Mears bus. Being later (5pm ish) security wasn’t bad. The flight home was horrible—bad turbulence and a drop that had people screaming. So my must fly in the morning rule now extends to leach Florida. But by the end of the flight the girls were sleeping and holding hands—so we made it! Best trip ever!!!—of course until the next one!
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That is so precious! Looks like y’all had a great trip!
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