Welcome to my second trip report! You can find my first trip report here. After my first trip early last year I was definitely ready to go back. My daughter and I definitely have a love for Walt Disney World. My travel agent (different than for the first trip) picked the dates based on my only two requirements- include a Christmas party date and lowest crowds possible in November. I decided to make this trip a surprise for my daughter. It was so hard to keep it a secret, and almost fell apart right before we left but I made it.
Who: Me (40) and DD (6)
Where: Art of Animation
When: November 16-20, 2019
Tickets: Three-day base tickets plus Very Merry Christmas Party Tickets
I am Kia. The 40 year old. I did not have much interest in Disney as a kid but really wanted to go most of my adult life. I just knew it would be my happy place. I made that dream come true in 2018 and was absolutely right about WDW being my happy place. Here are a few of my favorites:
Characters: Figment, Mary Poppins, and Moana Ride: Journey into Imagination with Figment Restaurant: Tusker House Park: Animal Kingdom
DD, the 6 year old (going on 40), was indoctrinated to love Disney. She is a real-life princess in her head, and loves all princesses, thrill rides, and anything sweet (only at Disney though). Her favorites are:
Characters: Rapunzel and Ariel Rides: Tower of Terror (this was her answer before ever riding it) and Space Mountain Restaurant: Akershus Park: Magic Kingdom
As I mentioned, my daughter did not know we were going to Disney. I had spent the last two weeks sneak packing a little at a time and hiding Disney goodies when they arrived. Our flight left out of NYC at 6 am, which meant we had to leave the house by 2 am to get to the airport at the recommended time.
DD is not a morning person and was not too happy with me for waking her up in the middle of the night. She actually wouldn’t sit up in bed until I showed her the countdown app that said “0 days to Disney”. That definitely got her moving. Before I knew it, we were in the car driving to NYC. Every once in a while she would ask me if we were really going to Disney. She just couldn’t believe it.
Travel to NYC and the flight were uneventful and before we knew it were at Walt Disney World.
Once again, we had minimum wait for Disney’s Magical Express and we were on the bus to Animal Kingdom by 10:15 am.
Originally, my TA and I had scheduled everything for 1 p.m. or later in case things went awry for travel. But since the travel gods were on our side, here I was at Animal Kingdom with nothing scheduled for over two hours.
Upon entering the park we met some penguins. I am not exactly sure what this was but DD enjoyed it.
First thing I did was hop on the app and see if we could change our Tusker House reservation to an earlier time. After a couple of tries, I was able to get an 11:15 reservation. We still had about 20 minutes to wait so we watched the Tamu Tamu drummers near the entrance. We checked in a couple of minutes early and the CM warned it would be a bit of a wait. We waited about 15 minutes past our reservation time before we were called in to eat.
We were in the zone in which both breakfast and lunch were available. DD went for breakfast and began her love affair with Mickey waffles. I went for lunch. Everything I tried was delicious. The pork was the stand out for me. We also met Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Daisy. All within a timely manner.
I also tried to reschedule all of our FP+ but was having very little luck. There was literally nothing but shows available but not at any times that worked for our schedule.
I had read that seeing the safari would be a different experience so I had booked a FP+ for what I thought would be dusk. Clearly I do not understand what dusk was because it became real clear it would be very dark during our FP+ time. I tried to get an earlier time, and nothing was available. My daughter was not really into the safari last time so I asked if she wanted to do it this time. It was a strong no so I canceled the FP+.
Following brunch we headed to the Wildlife Express to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.
We had not made it to this section last time and it was a top priority. If the lack of FP+ availability and crowds near Tusker House did not scream “very busy park day”, the crowd when we arrived at Rafiki’s made it clear. The crowd waiting to board the train was crazy. I am pretty sure everyone waiting did not make it on the train back.
My daughter probably could have stayed in the Affection Session all day. She loved touching and brushing the animals.
We also went inside and looked at the displays. And then headed out.
It was now about 2:00 p.m. I had a few food and drinks I wanted to try in Animal Kingdom. First stop, Pandora. On our way there we stopped for a Mickey bar for DD. I was finally able to try the night blossom.
The Pandora Ranger was doing a show while we waited for our order. I was so excited about getting to try the drink, I walked directly into his exit path.
The night blossom was really tasty but I knew immediately that I could not drink that whole drink. I have a very strong sweet tooth but felt it was too sweet to drink a ton of it.
Next, on the schedule was Dinoland. I had hoped we could get on Dinosaur but my daughter wanted to go into the Boneyard. I suspect the standby wait time was high anyways. We hung out in the Boneyard until it was time for our Expedition Everest FP+.
Expedition Everest was closed with no expected reopening time. DD was so disappointed. She had wanted to ride this for almost two years. She was finally tall enough and it was down. She was so upset she didn’t even want to wait for our next FP+, Kali River Rapids. I was grateful because it was in the high 50s this day. I was not looking forward to getting wet.
At this point we had been up since 2 am and my phone was dying (I left my portable charger with bell services). It was time to exit. But first we had stop to buy a baby Simba. Even though the rule is only one “big” souvenir per trip, DD was adamant that she didn’t want to wait to see if she liked something better. She is 6, so this is not surprising. Of course, I broke this rule later in the trip when I realized I accidentally budgeted extra money for souvenirs. Since the money was on a gift card, I spent it.
It was after 4 p.m. and I still had not gotten a “room ready” text or email. We headed to the check-in counter after getting our carry-on luggage from bell services. There were two separate lines but no signs to indicate which was for what. I ended up picking the longer line (which turned out to be the one for check-in). While we waited a family that was checking out gave DD a purple Mickey balloon since they could not take it with them. She was so happy.
I assumed we would go back to Animal Kingdom to ride Everest when it came back up but by as far as I know, it never came back up that day.
It took us a while to get out luggage. It definitely did not arrive until 7:15 pm.
While I loved getting to Disney so early, and maybe on a less busy day it would have been fine, I am not sure I will do a park on arrival day. Especially since we have to leave NY so early to make it worth it. We did not meet any characters except Kevin. I also wanted to try Satuli Canteen but I knew DD would not have made it back to Pandora and back easily. When we got back to AOA, she did not even want to stop in Landscape of Flavors for dinner on the way to room.
On day two, we had an 8:20 am reservation at Akershus. I had been advised to always show up like you have an 8:00 am reservation for PPOs as they will likely seat you early.
We made it to the bus around 7:15ish. I am so glad I did not wait for the next bus because as we were riding to EPCOT, the next bus arriving at AOA was getting later and later. We would have been very late for our reservation.
DD was so excited to be eating in a castle. On this day we were both wearing our birthday buttons as that was the reason for the trip. (I think I forgot to mention that. My birthday was at the end of the week and DD’s was a couple of weeks prior.)
This was such a wonderful way to start the day. DD led the princess parade with Snow White. We met Aurora, Ariel, and Cinderella as well. The CMs surprised us with two birthday cupcakes at the end of our meal. DD immediately began eating her cupcake as if she knew I was going to try to convince her to wait until later given it was barely 9:00 am. Her sugar intake this morning was definitely high.
There was a delay in meeting the last two princesses so we ended up not leaving Akershus until after 9:00 am. The side benefit of the breakfast reservation was to be able to ride FEA standby without a really long wait. I believe we waited about 20 minutes to ride FEA. I am pretty sure we were on line by 9:05 so, every minute definitely counts! This is a favorite for both us so it was nice to start the touring part of the day this way.
I was determined to meet more characters this time as we only met a handful last time. We met Ralph and Vanellope with less than a 10 minute wait. We rode my favorite ride since we were over there- Journey into the Imagination with Figment.
I wanted to meet Baymax, Joy and Sadness but DD didn’t really care about the characters. We met Joy (Sadness was not there). When I tried to get DD to stand in line to meet Baymax, she told me we already met Baymax last time (this turned out to not be true). She really wanted to just go on Test Track- a ride we missed last visit. .
We headed toward Test Track as it was our first FP+ of the day. As I have seen and read a lot in trip reports, Test Track was down. This was our second headliner to be down during our FP+ time on this trip. I said a secret prayer that it would be back up late and thought we should head back to The Land. We rode Living with the Land. There was a 20 minute wait but DD likes this ride so much she chose it over Turtle Talk which had a shorter posted wait time.
Next, we took our first ride on Mission Space. We did green, of course. DD was the navigator and I was the pilot. After the ride, we hung out in the Advance Training Lab for a bit.
I realized they didn’t scan out FP+ when we rode Mission Space (there was no line) so we used our FP+ to ride again.
As we were leaving Mission Space, I could hear test track cars moving and noticed a line forming. We hopped on line and finally were able to ride Test Track. We loved it. Although DD felt like it was entirely too short. Here was her creation:
Next, we used our Spaceship Earth FP+. The line was much longer than expected but still much shorter than standby. I want to say it was about 20 minutes. I was able to snag a Soarin’ FP+ for later while we waited though. All the EPCOT headliners in a single day! I was excited!
Then it was food time. Since it was F & W, I had planned to eat at the booths for lunch. I wasn’t sure if DD would eat anything so I planned to take her to Landscape of Flavors when we took or midday break. I tried the baked scallop and shrimp scampi from Coastal Eats and jerk-spiced chicken at Islands of Caribbean. They were so good. DD ate most of the scallops and cheese but did not like chicken.
DD decided she needed a donut so we headed to Donut Box and ordered strawberry-dusted yeast donut holes. The cashier CM ordered a smoothie as a birthday surprise for DD. Except DD is allergic to almonds, and the smoothie was made with almond milk. They felt so bad that one of the CMs brought us to Test Track Cool Wash and DD got a Coca-Cola and cherry slushy with pop rocks… on Mickey. DD was pleased and I was grateful. There is pixie dust everywhere at Disney.
I was ready for a break so off to the resort on the bus. We watched the end of Home Alone and beginning of Home Alone 2 while resting.
We took the Skyliner back to Epcot. There was no line at AOA and short line when we transferred at Caribbean beach (I am sure this will be different now that Disney reduced the bus schedule at the Skyliner resorts). We were alone for the first leg of our trip and shared the second leg with three other people.
For dinner, I really wanted to try the beef filet mignon from the Canada kiosk. I also was interested in trying the Barbecue Bloody Mary from Refreshment Port. It was $17!! I did not want to spend that kind of money on a drink so I just ordered regular poutine for DD. Three bites in, DD says she really has to go potty.
Thanks to the app, I was able to quickly identify the closest bathroom. It wasn’t very close, but we made it.
By the time we were done, it was time for our Soarin’ FP+. This time we ended up in the third row. Unlike our first ride last year in the first row, we could clearly see that it was a screen. The feet dangling from the above did not help.
While waiting to board, Soarin’ I found a FP+ for Finding Nemo. We popped over there. I am not a fan of this ride, and DD complained it was too short. Although this may have been because she was getting tired.
I had hoped to catch EPCOT Forever, but DD was not going to make it. The reviews weren’t awesome so I was okay with missing it.
On our way out, we made four stops: Mickey pretzel with cheese for DD, teriyaki SPAM hash at the Hawaii kiosk for me, and a ride on Gran Fiesta Tours Starring the Three Caballeros.
This was our first time in the Mexico pavilion. So beautiful. Now that ride….quite terrible in my opinion. But I also don’t like Winnie the Pooh so maybe I’m not a good judge.
DD wanted to take the Skyliner back to the resort instead of the bus. We made the long walk back to the International Gateway. At this point I decided that I was willing to pay $17 for a single drink. I mean, we’re at Disney! We went all the way back to Refreshment Port for the Barbecue Bloody Mary.
It was okay but I did not like it enough to finish it.
We had no wait at the Skyliner. DD fell asleep on the ride back. The Skyliner was such a nice ride at the end of the long day. I decided on this ride, it was my favorite of all the forms of transportation at Disney.
Historically, (last year) DD refuses to wake up the morning following a full day in the parks. She was exhausted so I wasn’t sure how the next day was going to go.
Will she be ready to rope drop her purported favorite ride, TOT,tomorrow?
The promise of finally riding her favorite ride, had DD up early and ready to go to Hollywood Studios. We arrived at Hollywood Studios about an hour before opening. Once they let us in, we were the second group to arrive at the holding point. First, they held us just pass The Trolley Car Café on Sunset Boulevard. As the crowd grew they moved us up to Sunset Market Ranch.
About 10 minutes before opening, they slowly walked us with a line of cast members toward the split between Rock n Roller coaster and Tower of Terror. We then split to wait in the individual lines. We ended up about 10th line. DD was so excited as we stood in line for the ride. She was not spooked by the look of the hotel or the pre-show.
During that initial ride she held on to me so tightly. I was surprised by how scared she seemed to be. After we got off the ride I asked how was it. She said it was okay. We could not see her in the ride photo. The wait times were still low so I asked if she wanted to ride again. She said yes. So again, we road standby. We switched seats, but again she was not in the ride photo. Did she want to ride a third time? Yes, yes she did. This time we used our FP+ and ended up in the last row. This felt way more intense than the previous rides. DD was finally in the ride photo. Did she want to ride again? Finally, DD was satisfied and ready to ride something else.
Honestly, we probably spent too much time over because it was past 10 am at this point, and the park was definitely full.
DD really wanted a donut. A CM directed us to the Joffrey’s by Toy Story Land. Looking back, we probably should have gotten it at the TOT exit as there was no line there, and we were online for over 20 minutes at the Joffrey’s by Toy Story Land. Although I am not positive they had any. DD loved the donut. Absolutely did not want to share it either. DD is serious about not sharing food she likes.
Mr. Incredible was out wandering but not really taking photos. We then met Edna Mode with a fairly short wait. Next up, Mike and Scully. You should know that you are NOT allowed to bring donuts in there. As stated by the cast member repeatedly. Lol.
When we entered the area, which is inside of Walt Disney Presents, the CM said the wait time was really 20 minutes. In reality, we waited for at least 40 minutes. It was such a fun and cute meet. The interaction is good enough that the wait felt almost worth it. Almost.
I had so much on my to-do list for this morning but alas it was time to leave the park. We had a special date on the Boardwalk.
As we exited the park, we could see a boat already at the dock. People ahead of us were running. I was scared it would leave and we would be late for our reservation. So I thought we should run too. Of course, we ran for no reason. It did not leave the dock for another 10 minutes or so.
We had some time before our Bon Voyage Breakfast reservation when we got to the Boardwalk so DD frolicked a little on the lawn. Here is the beautiful Christmas tree:
The weather had warmed up immensely. DD will get to wear shorts after all.
I wasn’t really excited about meeting princes but Prince Eric and Flynn Rider were fantastic. Ariel and Rapunzel are DD’s top two princesses so she was in heaven. The food was okay but we had a snack before going so we didn’t eat a ton of food. The pastry that is star-shaped was very good.
After breakfast, it was time for a break in the room. My hope was that if we rested, we could make it through the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam that night and tolerate the long wait to get back to the hotel.
We took the boat to the International Gateway and the Skyliner back to the resort. There were lots kids in the pool in the mermaid section so we spent an hour there. The pool was tolerable as long as the sun was shining. Let a cloud a move in, and I wanted out!
DD took a nap and then we were off to Hollywood Studios. We had the whole bus to ourselves. We watched the tail end of the Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away. The posted wait time for Star Tours was 10 minutes so we headed over there. DD and my brother loved this ride on our last visit.
At some point around breakfast, I picked up a fourth FP+ for Toy Story Mania so we headed there.
How did I picked up a fourth FP+ even though I only mentioned using one FP+? During this time, you may recall that the FP+ tiers were made so that all the rides but Star Tours were in tier one. I couldn’t get a Star Tours FP+ in the morning, and because of the timing of our breakfast reservation couldn’t fit in any shows. So I decided to make two throw away FP+ that would expire while we were at breakfast and on a break. I had read that you have to use all three initial FP+ before you would be allowed to book a fourth which could be for any rides in tier one. So that is what I did.
Right after we scanned our magic bands for Slinky Dog Dash, DD had to go to the bathroom. As we walked out, I asked the CM what we could do. He said we could go to the bathroom and he would let us back in upon return. I was so thankful. And we did just that.
Even though we were allowed back into the FP+ line for Toy Story Mania, there was a bit of a wait to actually get on. I booked at fifth FP+ for Alien Swirling Saucers while we waited.
After riding Alien Swirling Saucers, DD was begging to go on Slinky Dog Dash. The wait was posted as 70 minutes. I agreed on the condition that DD would go the bathroom first. I was not going to do any portion of that wait and have to get out of line for the potty! The actual wait turned out to be 45 minutes. Yes, I set a timer just so I could report that.
DD loved that ride. I enjoyed it too. And it is definitely not a “baby” coaster. I am not sure I would have wanted DD to ride if she was younger.
I don’t have notes, but I know at some point while we were in Toy Story Land we got food for DD at Woody’s Lunchbox. She had a grilled cheese and enjoyed it.
After riding all the rides in Toy Story Land, we headed towards Batuu. As we passed the Millennium Falcon, DD asked to go on that ride. The wait time was 30 minutes so we got in line. As we are waiting I realized I probably wasn’t going to see Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam after all. Now I have an excuse to go back round Christmas (possibly without the ride fanatic ).
We waited less than 20 minutes to get on the ride and both were engineers. DD was too short to hit some of the buttons but we did not crash too hard. There was one adult and one child pilot. This ride was okay but the pilots get the best experience.
It was 8:51 pm and I had been wanting a PB and Jelly milkshake since I heard it existed. We popped into Tune In Lounge and ordered milkshakes, strawberry for DD. As we were waiting for our milkshakes, I could hear and see some of the fireworks.
We picked up our shakes and headed towards Hollywood Boulevard. We watched a few minutes of the show and then decided to head to the bus ahead of the crowds. We could still see all the fireworks. Honestly, I am not sure I care for projection heavy night shows since it is so hard to see the whole thing. DD doesn’t seem to care for fireworks period. She just wants to ride rides. And if she is tired, go to the hotel.
We were the first ones at the bus stop and made it home by a decent hour. We were both tired and looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. We were finally going to have a late start because it was MVMCP day tomorrow!
Day 4- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party/ Magic Kingdom
I had the alarm set for 8 am. DD woke up at 7:30 and was ready to go. But there no need to rush. We had a 10:30 breakfast reservation at O’hana’s. And I had already decided to take a Lyft there.
This was my first time ever using Lyft, and I have to say I understand why people prefer it to the free transportation. It was so much easier than taking the bus to MK and then monorail to Polynesian. One of the sites I follow recommends allotting 90 minutes for the trip. Lyft took 17 minutes and they do pickup in The Little Mermaid section of AOA. I ended up waiting on the wrong side but the driver kindly came over to me.
We checked into our reservation a little early. And were called within a minute. Because of DDs food allergies we did not immediately get pineapple-coconut bread. The chef had to come out and speak to us first. This is the only restaurant where they made us talk to the chef, although we were offered a chef every time at a table service. We discussed DD’s allergies and we agreed she could have it. Both of us really enjoyed it. This was our fourth character breakfast, and I do not think I will do so many breakfasts in the same trip. While each had special options, the basics were all the same.
We had a view of the castle and pool from our seat. I took a picture but it is quite terrible. The pool within our view looked like it would be a great time. DD added the Polynesian hotel to her list of places she wants to stay.
DD participated in a parade and we met Lilo fairly soon after.
We were seated next to a very large party celebrating a little girl’s first birthday. This normally wouldn’t be a problem except that they used Mickey’s visit to the table as a private family photo shoot. Mickey spent more than 15 minutes with them. It delayed Stitch and Mickey visiting us. I get trying to make a child’s birthday special (I’m known for going overboard myself) but I think this was disrespectful to the other guests and kids in particular. They also did a beautiful tablescape (own tablecloths, figurines) with a gorgeous three-tiered custom princess cake. I wanted to hire the grandmother for my party.
After we finished meeting Mickey and Stitch in the restaurant and took a picture with Goofy in the lobby, we decided to explore the resort a little more.
DD wanted to the pool close up. I always knew that I wanted to stay at the Polynesian, this short visit confirmed it. I definitely would schedule more down time on that trip to take advantage of the resort.
Next, we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian. I really wanted to see the gingerbread house and pick up a treat. As we entered, the first thing that caught my eye was the Christmas tree was. It was impressive. I did not expect it to be so large.
DD did not believe it was real. Especially because there are people inside it. The line was very short so we hopped in and bought a couple of gingerbread cookies. They were delicious.
There was a photopass photographer taking pictures on the second level with a backdrop. DD and I decided to get in on the action and took a couple of pictures. I wish I had known that was there, I would have used it as an opportunity to do Christmas portraits as the family in front did.
There was also another photo backdrop near the gingerbread house. A nice CM took our photo together.
It was after 1 p.m. by now and I really wanted a little downtime before it was time to head to Magic Kingdom. We took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then a bus back to AOA. The trip isn’t bad at all as long as you are not in a rush. It also did not take 90 minutes.
After about an hour of downtime it was time to get ready for the party. Although the party starts at 7:00 p.m. you can enter MK at 4 p.m. I bought custom shirts from Etsy. They turned out well. This is what my shirt looked like.
We headed to the bus stop around 3:00 p.m. so that we could maximize our time. I scheduled three FP+, and the first one expired at 4:30 pm so I wanted to be sure to get there no later than 4:00 pm.
Check-in was easy and there wasn’t a huge wait for security. For parties, you go down a separate walkway. There was three photopass photographers and we stopped at all of them. Before we were done with the third picture. A fourth photographer came, and we took that photo too!
I remember there also being one or two souvenir carts with the party map.
We rode Space Mountain first. The CM asked if she wanted to ride in the front or back, and without hesitation she picked the front. I was so worried she would be too scared since she was in front of me instead of next to me. DD LOVED this ride. It immediately joined her list of favorite rides.
I wanted to try some of the Christmas time/party specific options so we went off to Auntie Gravity’s Galactic Goodies for the Christmas cookie butter sundae. I wanted the shake but I had snack credits to spend, and the shakes were not included in snack credits.
Next up, we rode SDMT. It was such a good ride. I love it just as much as DD. Once done with that, we had a little time left before our next FP+ so we finally got to ride It’s a Small World. This ride is so beautiful. I really enjoyed the whole vibe. It was a bit of wait so we went directly for our next FP+.
Splash Mountain was our final FP+ of the night. At first, it didn’t dawn on me we should wear ponchos, but I saw some people ahead in line with them on and I thought it was a good idea. Our ponchos, having been unused the entire trip up until now, was at the bottom of my backpack. I only had time to get DD's poncho out before it was our turn to ride. I really didn’t want to risk DD getting soaked given the temperatures we had been experiencing there. The poncho didn’t matter for DD as the seat was already wet so we did a wardrobe change for her. We were going to need to put pants on anyway as the temperature started dropping as the sun was going down anyway.
We rode BTMRR and Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait times for these rides was surprisingly low. The party hadn’t started and the non-party goers should have still been the park but it wasn’t crowded. I really, really wanted to ride Jingle Cruise but DD had no interest. Jingle Cruise had a 30-minute wait so we rode Magic Carpets instead. Turns out that 30-minute wait for Jingle Cruise would be shortest wait we saw all night.
Next up, new to us Haunted Mansion. There was barely a wait for the ride. It wasn’t too scary for DD. Looking at the ride photo, I sincerely wished I knew where all the ride cameras are. LOL.
We had yet to have any of the included party snacks so we headed to Pinocchio Village House. The line was very long, but as many have mentioned, it moved very quickly. I believe this was hot chocolate and snickerdoodle cookies. A kid became separated from her family in there. They were announcing her name and you could see her sister and a CM looking for her. Thank goodness the sister found her outside the restaurant.
I really wanted to watch the party-specific shows. We went to the hub to watch the stage show, there was really no good spot to see the show at this point. I had to hold DD, and eventually I decided we should go find a spot to watch the parade. I found a spot that we could squeeze into near the corner close to Casey's Corner. We couldn’t really see the Holiday Wish but heard it all. DD was completely uninterested. She sat on the ground watching PBS kids on my phone.
Before the parade started DD had a good view because the adults on the curb were sitting. I assumed since they were in the front they would remain seated. But they stood up for the parade, so I had to pick DD up for her to see. As previously stated DD, only wants to ride rides. She was completely unimpressed by the parade and was asking to do rides again before it was over.
After seeing Santa, we headed towards Space Mountain for another ride. The line was extra-long so I talked DD into riding Barnstormer. We took three rides in a row. There was no line so we did not even get off for the second ride.
I wanted to buy the Christmas party ornament so we headed to the Big Top Souvenir Shop. I read the other stores on Main Street are usually really crowded and this option would have no line. That proved to be true. There was plenty of stock and maybe two other families in there.
We went to Gaston’s for the cheese dip with breadstick antlers. For whatever reason, I was worried about giving DD something that had beer in it so I got her a cinnamon roll. The cheese dip was good. I wished it came with more breadsticks. It wasn’t very satisfying but I am pretty sure we hadn’t really eaten anything since our late breakfast besides cookies and ice cream.
Next we rode Peter Pan. While on the ride, I realized we were missing a special friend- Baby Simba. We went back to Gaston’s and luckily it was there. DD was relieved and the CM was so kind. She could tell she had been crying and tried to give her a treat but DD just wanted Baby Simba.
At this point SDMT had a 30-minute wait. DD loved this one so we got back in line. It was a good time as usual!
Around this time, we stopped at Cosmic Ray’s for the carved turkey sandwich and watched Club Tinsel. DD was not hungry and did not want to join in on the dance party. She just wanted to ride rides. She hadn't eaten a real meal since breakfast but still wasn't hungry.
I wanted to go for Jingle Cruise but the second parade had already started at this point and we could not get over there. We walked back towards Space Mountain but it was closed. DD was so disappointed. I really wished we had skipped the first parade and shows to ride more rides as recommended by some of the blogs. I actually didn't think we would make it to the second parade energy wise but we were hanging in there. The Peoplemover (another first for us) would be our final ride of the night.
The parade was over by then so we were making our way towards Main Street. I really wanted a picture in front of the iced castle before we left. Within a minute of getting in line, the photopass photographer announced a break for the final stage show.
DD was definitely tired so we decided to leave after getting my favorite mickey shaped snack- chocolate and peanut butter crispy treat with peanuts. I don't eat crispy treats in normal life ever, but this, this I love. I think we left early enough that there wasn’t a huge line for the buses. It may have been basically empty because we had just missed a fully loaded bus. DD was asleep on the bus within seconds of sitting down.
After arriving at AOA, we made the long track back to our room. This was the first time I really wanted to complain about the walk from the bus stop to the Little Mermaid rooms. We were done. Which is okay because this was our final full day at WDW. We would be heading home tomorrow.
The next day had lots lessons built into it. And of course, just like last trip report I have no notes, so I will be typing it all from memory!
I love how your DD loves rides so much! I always wanted to ride all the roller coasters when I was little and didn't understand why my sister didn't lol.
The first time we went to WDW, we had a morning departure. In an attempt to maximize our time at WDW, I booked an evening flight. After such an exhausting day, we wanted to maximize our time in the room, so we had a very slow start in the morning. I think we ate snacks that were in the room for breakfast and then right at checkout time, made the trek to resort airline check-in. We still had the balloon that was given to DD when we checked-in so we searched for someone to pass it on to. After a couple of failed attempts, we found a family to take it. The little girl was excited. Those balloons certainly seem to last.
There were about five families ahead of us with lots of luggage, so we waited about an hour to check our bags and get boarding passes. The process was very simple. Next, we dropped the carry-on luggage to the bell services. Before heading to the bus stop, we had to go buy some socks. I do not remember why but DD did not have any socks to wear. There were no toddler size socks, so we made do with big kid mickey socks.
At this point, we had four quick service credits left to use. First stop was lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Ever since I read/heard another trip report, I was interested in the bacon-wrapped meatloaf sandwich. It was soooo good. And also, soooo filling. I could not finish it. DD had cheese pizza that she seemed to enjoy. Attendees from a conference arrived soon after us. The restaurant went from fairly empty to full in a very short time.
It was definitely time to walk off all the food. DD remembered that we went Sprinkles on our last visit and she was ready for dessert. We used the atm last time, but I wanted to see the inside and figure out if I could possibly use snack credits. I wanted to try something different, but at the end of the day, I ordered my favorite- red velvet cupcake. DD had one with sprinkles. I could not use snack credits for at least one of them. I had a gift card with money left so I just used that to pay.
I was worried about getting back in time for our MDE ride to the airport, so we headed towards the bus stops. At some point we stopped outside of the Lego store so DD could play a little. She built some type of car to race down a ramp.
Once back at AOA, I was on a mission to use our remaining snack credits. The two remaining quick service credits became six snack credits. Originally my goal was to maximize the value but eventually I just focused on what will travel well in the carry-on luggage or could be eaten right then. We landed on ice cream, mickey shaped cookies, cotton candy, goofy candy and cheese crackers.
After indulging in the ice cream (less than hour after eating cupcakes), it was time to head to the MDE waiting area. The bus was a little late but loading and departing was easy.
The trip to the airport was uneventful. Security, thanks to TSA-precheck, was smooth. We ate dinner at Chick-fil-a. I LOVE Chick-fil-a and never pass up an opportunity to eat it. I was happy to find it this time.
I broke DD’s Harry Potter water bottle, so we went looking for a replacement. She was not happy with me but settled for Minnie Mouse cup as replacement. (As I type this, I think I promised a new Harry Potter water bottle when we got home. She seems to have forgotten, so I will keep that to myself. Lol)
Our flight was full, and the kids (and parents) were MISERABLE. Lots of infants crying including a set of twins right behind us. The kids in our row were intermittently fighting with each other or whining the entire three-hour flight. All I could do was laugh really. I had read that kids are miserable leaving WDW and other parks but did not experience that on our first trip. It could have been a coincidence, but I am never taking an evening flight out of Orlando again if I can help it.
And so, we have come to the end of this trip. During this trip we used every mode of transportation except the Minnie Vans to get around. It became an unoffical goal once I realized it was possible. I enjoyed the Skyliner so much I am thinking of only staying at resorts it serves for our next trip tentatively schedule for 2023. I am not sure I can wait that long though. There is a Disneyland Paris trip planned for next year, we will see if that happens though.
Thank you for sticking with me during the long breaks. We are currently on day of 16 of social distancing. I hope everyone is staying as safe and healthy as possible!
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That definitely got her moving. Before I knew it, we were in the car driving to NYC. Every once in a while she would ask me if we were really going to Disney. She just couldn’t believe it.
But I also don’t like Winnie the Pooh so maybe I’m not a good judge. 
This time we used our FP+ and ended up in the last row. This felt way more intense than the previous rides. DD was finally in the ride photo. Did she want to ride again? Finally, DD was satisfied and ready to ride something else. 
).
