But wait, who's driving the boat?! An August 2017 Trip Report

What a great start to your report! I was there at the exact same time as you (Aug 21-28) and had a ball. Your girls are precious! Not easy travelling with littles in the heat though.
 
We are letting Morgan "decide" when to tell Gwen. I wish Gwen knew at this point. It would make things easier but Morgan wants to wait till that day! We need to leave for the airport around noon, I think. So we will have to get the girls out of school early. And Morgan wants to tell Gwen that we are dropping DH off at the airport for another work trip. And then just want to see how long it takes her to figure it out. We will see if that works!

SO your girls know already? Lucky! Are they excited?

They are! It's fun talking about what we want to do.


I had kind of thought, it was probably just ice cream. It looks like good ice cream but maybe not a special trip just for it. I kind of think the same thing of Beaches and Cream...

Beaches and Cream was similar for me. It was good but it was a hot fudge sundae. It's not going to be bad! And you can probably get something very similar at any ice cream shop back home.

Ha! Gwen said something to the same effect. She just kept saying that Mickey could NOT be in all those places at that quickly! It was very funny. They would get along, I think!


How was the Moscato?
It was decent. I think the pina colava was better. Next trip I want to try the wine slush at Amorettes.


Talking Mickey is on my must do this trip. We haven't done it yet.

I just read today that they may be doing away with it.


Love the ears! Are they the interchangeable ones?

No, I got them from an etsy shop. It's actually one of my former student's mom. I had a hard time choosing which ones to get.


I agree, it looks a little messy...



She looks so happy! We are doing BBB this trip for the first time ever. I need to find them dresses. Morgan doesn't want to wear an actual Princess dress, so my goal today is to find dresses that are fancy enough! Suggestions on where to go?!?! I am kind of at a lost.

Have you tried Mom Approved Costumes? They are not so much tulle and glitter.
 
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom/Epcot

I had scheduled a late start for this day since we had had such a long day. We went to Animal Kingdom around lunchtime and immediately went to see Pocohontas. Despite the line not being long, it was very slow moving. It was a nice meet though.
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Right after this we went to our ADR at Yak and Yeti. I had been dying to try the ahi tuna nachos and they did not disappoint. I think they were the best thing I had all trip.

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We also had some Yak Attacks which were good. MH got the burger and requeted it to be well done. It came out pretty rare so he asked for them to cook it a little more. It came out completely burnt and inedible. I orderd the pineapple wontons for dessert and thought they were just ok. MH and S settled the bill and V & I ran over to Kali River Rapids, as it is one of her favorites. I wound up getting SOAKED, as you can see in this picture.

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It made the rest of the afternoon rather uncomfortable.

One of the things that V really wanted to do was to see the Lion King show. Her favorite part is the tumble monkeys. I love this show too, so I was excited. We headed over to the show and as the show progressed, I started to get nervous. Sure enough, there were no tumble monkeys. V was really bummed. I had been reading about CM's going the extra mile, so I figured it couldn't hurt to at least ask. I waited until the arena emptied and I approached a CM. I told her my daughter had been really excited to see the tumble monkeys and asked if they still performed at all. She called backstage and said that they were going to be performing again at 2:00 and asked if we could come back. I had FP in Pandora, so it didn't really work. She then asked if we could come at 3:00. She asked for our names and told us where to go when we came back.

We went over to Pandora and rode Navi river. It was ok. Nothing great. Pandora was cool and it was fun to look around. The pongo lumpia was good but I wasn't a huge fan of the Night Blossom. I love Boba so I requested both flavors and I think it was just too much. It was so hot and I was thirsty and tired of chewing my drink. We walked around Pandora a bit and then went back to the Lion King. We gave our names and they led us to front row seats. We thought that was cool enough but during the show, they chose our girls to represent our section and say the animal sound. It would've been cool but the girls totally panicked and refused to speak. They also refused to dance at the end. Oh well. We had really amazing seats and got to see our favorite part.

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It was nice of the CM to do that for us, as she definitely didn't have to.

The weather was starting to get nasty and we had plans to return to AK so we decided to leave. MH pin traded a bit and as he did the girls found ears they HAD to have. We had given them each some money for the trip and they wanted these ears. I tried to dissuade them but I am sure you know how that ended.

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I think they wore the ears for a total of 10 minutes because they complained they were uncomfortable. You will see them in future pics because I at least wanted to get my money's worth for pictures!
 

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That evening we decided to go to Epcot. I have to have fish and chips every time so the plan for dinner was just to snack around the world. The girls met Elsa and Anna while I got some snacks at the bakery in Norway. I wanted to get an avocado margarita so we went back to Mexico. I waited in line forever at La Cava. I thought the way they did the line was weird. I wasn't a fan of the place, but the margarita was good. We wanted to go on the 3 Caballeros ride but I couldn't go on with my drink. We took some pics while we waited.

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They had colored the Duffy bears while I was getting my margarita and the poor bears did not make it to any other countries.

S and MH, the picky eaters, ate at the America QS. V got two snack credits worth of sushi in Japan. We wondered World Showcase a little and then did Pick a Pearl. I thought it was cute and reasonably priced. V even picked the biggest pearl of the day.

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I brought pearl cages from home to put them in. I bought them on Amazon.

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On the way out of World Showcase I got my fish and chips and we listened to some music. Then I got my favorite snack, the cronut. Since it was a snack credit either way, I got it with ice cream this time.

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MH got a dragon berry refresher. I think he had three during the course of the trip. He really liked them.

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I made everyone stop and get out of the stroller for a photo op. And of course I made them put the stupid ears on. They were none too happy about any of it, but I am glad we did it because I like the picture.

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We got the girls ice cream bars that melted faster than they could eat them and then headed back to Pop.

 
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Day 6 - MK
At this point, it was getting obvious that we needed a bit of a rest.

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I originally planned on this being a rest day, but then we decided to do the Halloween party, so we basically had an extra day of tickets. So I scheduled the latest possible 'Ohana breakfast. We checked in and had a decent sized wait. We met Stitch and finally got a seat with a nice view of the castle. Everything about this meal was ok. Nothing crazy good, nothing bad. Standard breakfast food and character interaction. It will be a one and done for us.

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We went over to MK and did the carousel and IASW. I thought it was really cool how it showed our names at the end. We watched Festival of Fantasy from Frontierland. Love this parade. Then we went to Country Bear Jamboree. I had fond memories of this show from when I was a child. When it was over this time, the guy in front of me said, "Wow. That was terrible." And I have to agree. It was largely inappropriate and just boring. I don't know why I remember liking it so much. Next up was another childhood favorite, the Jungle Cruise. You can tell from V's hair that we were really hot and sweaty at this point.

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This is probably an unpopular opinion but I am not a big Dole Whip fan. But now that they had a vanilla swirl variety, I wanted to try it. So the girls and I got in line for the Magic Carpets and I asked MH to get me a vanilla Dole Whip. I ate it in line and kept wondering why I didn't taste any citrus. I wound up asking on Facebook and realized that a vanilla Dole Whip is just plain vanilla ice cream. What's up with that? Why do they call it a Dole Whip then? Since I had snack credits to spare, I got a vanilla pineapple swirl or whatever the heck the proper name is and it was much better.

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After a couple of spins on the Magic Carpets, we went over to the Tomorrowland Speedway. V loved it. I did not love the resulting whiplash from driving with her.

Since we never stop eating, a got a frozen coke, a frozen Fanta, and a cream cheese pretzel. The drinks were refreshing, but I honestly think the cream cheese pretzel at Wawa is better. There was not enough cream cheese. Now naturally the girls didn't want the pretzel, they wanted ice cream bars. And I wonder how I blew threw alllll of my snack credits.

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We took a ride on the teacups and then the girls wanted to go to the play area of Dumbo. I happen to hate the play area but they love it, so we made a plan. I was trying to be more adventurous so I wanted to try Splash Mountain. So MH ditched the stroller outside of Dumbo and took the girls to the play area. I decided to go alllll the way across the entire park to go to Splash Mountain and use my anytime FP. I finally arrived and I saw several logs going down empty. Hmm. Weird. I get in the FP line and it is ridiculously long. Strange. I go on the Touring Plans app to see whats up and I notice it says Dumbo is closed for weather. I am thoroughly confused. I text MH and ask if Dumbo is closed. He says he doesn't think so but he will check. As it turns out, it was. We are both questioning why both are closed for weather when all of the sudden, the skies open up into a full Florida summer rain. Now I knew this was bound to happen on our trip and I was prepared with ponchos, extra clothes, stroller cover, umbrella. And all of those things were a ten minute walk away at the Dumbo ride. And we had never covered the stroller. MH ran out to cover it and they decided to hunker down at Dumbo. There was really nothing I could do. We also had ADR's at 1900 PF soon after. I wound up going on Haunted Mansion to get out of the rain. I used my anytime FP on that instead. But after the ride the CM's were getting annoyed and telling people they couldn't block the exit. I eventually said to hell with it and began to walk to the exit. I was the only person stupid enough to not be seeking shelter. It was a ridiculously long walk/swim to the exit/monorail and I was soaked to the bone. I finally got to the Grand Floridian and I sat in the lobby, literally shivering. A CM offered me a towel. I was so cold. MH and the girls eventually arrived like this:

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When we woke them up, they were cranky and wet. We all tried to get changed in the bathroom but even our extra clothes were wet. Dinner was rather miserable because of this. It was still a nice time though. I loved 1900 PF for breakfast so I was really excited to try it for dinner. Prince Charming came around and S still didn't want to take a picture with a man. He offered to dance with her and she declined. Bummer. Cinderella came out and the girls were excited to show her they had a Cinderella pin.

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At this point there were no other characters and I got a little nervous that they stepmother and stepsisters were not going to be there. They were the ones I really wanted to meet. Then they announced the stepmother. She was hilarous. V was too scared to get a picture with her but this was her telling MH to get his life together. lol.

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We had a really fun moment with the stepsisters too when V told Drizella that she was prettier than Anastasia. Drizella yelled across the whole restaurant that this girl thought she was the pretty one. Then the sisters started bickering. It was hilarious. V was afraid to run into Anastasia for the rest of the trip because she didn't want her to yell at her.

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I had wanted to try to see the fireworks after dinner but we were so tired and wet that we decided to just go back to Pop.
 
Day 7 - Disney Springs/AK
There were a lot of foods I wanted to try at Disney Springs. Today we tried Blaze. It was good. I want to try a different kind next time. There were just too many choices and I panicked. They had good drink selections too.

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The other thing I really wanted to try was the Smore. At the Ganachery. It did not disappoint. It was absolutely fabulous. I know they sometimes have them but not always, so I would recommend trying to get one while you are there.

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I would love to say that we did more at DS this time than just eat, but it was so outrageously hot that we didn't want to be outside anymore. We had checked out of Pop that morning so we decided to see if our new room was ready at AKL.

After our last trip, I learned about renting DVC. I decided right away that I wanted to rent a savnannah view room at AKL. It was too expensive to do for a full trip, so we wound up doing it for three nights at the end of our trip. We took the bus from Disney Springs to AKL and we were lucky enough that our room was ready.

We spent some time walking around and checking out the scenery. We also let the girls get their faces painted, as it was a free activity going on by The Mara.
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While they were there, we met a really nice mother with her one grown, one young daughter. The older daugher was a CM so we spent a lot of time just talking to her and picking her brain. I told her we were going to Tiffins that night and she said we HAD to try the cauliflower. We spent some more time checking out our room and the grounds and then we headed out to AK. The girls fell asleep on the way there so we spent some time walking the trails and getting some MM photos.

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When we were planning this trip, I decided to splurge on a Tiffins RoL dining package for me and V. I wanted to fancy date night for the two of us. MH and S would never eat any of that food, so it was lost on them. They went to Tusker House.

V is my adventurous eater so I was excited to do this with her. We got seated and she tells me she's not hungry, she just wants soup. OF COURSE. After I was paying for the package. Oh well. I was still going to enjoy the meal.

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I had heard that the bread was an aquired taste, but we did not like it AT ALL. It was super bitter. I was stupid this whole meal because I chose things off of what I heard other people rave about. So I got the octopus. And I sort of hated it lol. It smelled really fishy to the point V did not want to eat her soup. It was really chewy and just...not what I expected. It wasn't awful or anything, just out of my comfort zone.

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For my meal I got the waygu and short rib and I thought it was great, although a little too rare for me.

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But the highlight of the meal...I know it sounds crazy. But the cauliflower. OMG. It was so good. I am so glad I took her recommendation and got it. I dream about it. I want to go back to Tiffins soley for the cauliflower.

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At this point, I think the massive amount of food consumption this trip was catching up to me because I was so full. Still, I hvae never, ever turned down dessert and I was not going to start now. Again, I took the recommendation of what other people liked and got the key lime cheesecake. I am much more of a chocolate person so I should've tried something else. V's chocolate dessert was really good.

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After we rolled out of Tiffins, I had to go to my very important FP at FOP. I thought my shirt was appropriate here.

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This ride took forever. It broke down while I was in the tunnel. Then you do a preride video. Then you do ANOTHER preride video. It seemed a little excessive, especially since people are waiting like 4 hours to get on. I liked the ride, but as I said I'm not really a ride person. So once was enough for me. Afterwards we went on the safari and it was good as always. Then we went to ROL. I have to be honest, I was underwhelmed. That was also a one and done for me. We also had an interesting experience here. There was a teenager girl sitting directly behind us. She was with her parents. I am guessing she had Tourette's or something similar because before the show started, she kept loudly screaming, "F YOU!!" But the real word. Over and over and over. We weren't really sure what to do. Luckily she stopped when the show started.

After the show, MH was going to use his Rider Swap for FoP. I was not hungry AT ALL but I wanted to try those cheeseburger pods and we had to use all of our remaining meal credits by midnight that night. So I got them just to take a bite and as luck would have it, they also included three free cupcakes because it was the end of the night. I was not a fan of the cheeseburger pods. But I was so full I only took one bite.

We took some pics at the Tree of Life and watched the little show on it. Then we went back to AKL and drank some wine on the balcony while listening to the animals.



 
I just read today that they may be doing away with it.
I know!!! It is on my ABSOLUTE Must do now!! We haven't done it, so I want to say we did it at least once...

Have you tried Mom Approved Costumes? They are not so much tulle and glitter.
I will have to look! Thanks for the recommendation. I went to Kohls this weekend with no luck.

We went to Animal Kingdom around lunchtime and immediately went to see Pocohontas. Despite the line not being long, it was very slow moving.
Pocohontas's line takes FOREVER!!!! She was one of the last princesses we needed to meet and we waited a long time.

Right after this we went to our ADR at Yak and Yeti. I had been dying to try the ahi tuna nachos and they did not disappoint. I think they were the best thing I had all trip.

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If you are ever near a Yard House (there is one in Morristown by us) they have an ahi tuna nacho app... SOOOOOOO good. I dream of getting it.

I orderd the pineapple wontons for dessert and thought they were just ok.
I thought the same, I actually wanted the cream cheese inside to be just a little sweeter. The sauce and strawberries is really good.

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It was nice of the CM to do that for us, as she definitely didn't have to.
So awesome!

On the way out of World Showcase I got my fish and chips and we listened to some music.
Hmmm. Fish & Chips, I might need to get that the we are there!!! Yum.

I originally planned on this being a rest day, but then we decided to do the Halloween party
I am terrible at keeping our rest days rest days...

I love all forms of the Dole Whip. I have my eye of the Citrus Float this coming trip!

Prince Charming came around and S still didn't want to take a picture with a man. He offered to dance with her and she declined. Bummer.
Our girls are the same way! No boys... No Villans.... But we loved this dinner! Andy totally embarrassed the girls in front of the prince.

She was hilarous. V was too scared to get a picture with her but this was her telling MH to get his life together. lol.

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I feel like they can be so funny! They have so much more to work with.

V was afraid to run into Anastasia for the rest of the trip because she didn't want her to yell at her.
Too Funny!

There were just too many choices and I panicked
I totally did that too. I get some over whelmed with too many choices and trying to not hold up the line.

Love it!

Cute. I love it. A little girl time!

This ride took forever. It broke down while I was in the tunnel. Then you do a preride video. Then you do ANOTHER preride video. It seemed a little excessive, especially since people are waiting like 4 hours to get on.
I think they only do the second video when the wait is really long. We didn't have the second one when we did. Or maybe because we were just lucky, maybe..

Then we went to ROL. I have to be honest, I was underwhelmed. That was also a one and done for me
Yup. Totally agree.

So I got them just to take a bite and as luck would have it, they also included three free cupcakes because it was the end of the night. I was not a fan of the cheeseburger pods. But I was so full I only took one bite.
I want to try the cheeseburger pods as well.
 


Hi! I want to get some more done because we leave in exactly one week! I am excited but nervous with all of these germs going around. S just got diagnosed with walking pnumonia again and the flu is everywhere. I just want to blink and be there with everyone healthy. Are you almost ready @StarWarsMomofGirls! ? I was going to start packing today not that the 10 day forecast has started showing up but I wound up bringing S to the doctor instead. At least it looks like the weather will be warm when we are there.

Day 8 - Resort Day

Since we were staying at a Deluxe for the first time, I really wanted a chance to explore it. We spent some time in the pool and the girls loved the slide. We happened to run into the people we met the day before and the sweet girl played with my girls a ton. Since I was on a dining bucket list trip, we then headed over to lunch at Beaches and Cream. It was sort of a pain to get to and then we couldn't find it, but then we were quickly seated. We had a really amaing waiter. I wrote his name down somewhere but I can't find it right now. He really made the experience fun.

I got the patty melt with the loaded fries.

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MH got the grilled cheese and the girls got mac and cheese. For dessert I had to get the No Way Jose because I love peanut butter and chocolate. In fact, as soon as I'm done with this report I am going to have some chocolate peanut butter Enlightened because I still want ice cream but I'm trying to lose a few pounds before we go crazy eating again!

Anyway, here is the No Way Jose:

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and here is the cute little kids sundae.

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MH got some Oreo sundae and he wound up being jealous of mine. Honestly, Beaches and Cream reminds me of a slightly better Friendly's. The Kitchen Sink is the big draw and everything else is just basic diner food. I am glad we did it and got to see someone go for the Kitchen Sink, but we won't go back.

Since it was such a pain to get there, I decided to try a Minnie Van on the way back. It was really cool! They were there in less than 10 minutes and then the CM had to install the carseats. It was a little tight once the seats were installed. The CM was really friendly and she explained how much she loved this position. We also saw a piece of Slinky Dog Dash being driven by, which was cool. It was a nice quick trip back to AKL. Don't mind S, she scratched her arm on the carseat so she was in meltdown mode.

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When we got back we explored the resort. In fact, we may have done the swimming now, I don't really remember the order. But we also had fun checking out the animals on our balcony and around the resort.

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My planning was rather flawed because we now had an ADR at Sanaa and I was SO not hungry. I was able to go onto the app and push it back a little. We took the short walk over and asked if we could wait for a window seat. We were told they were all taken. Okay then. Once we were seated and we asked the waitress if MH could get pizza, it was sort of downhill from there. We were willing to pay an adult price for it, he just is super picky and wouldn't eat anything else. But our waitress gave us major attitude. She was from Jersey so maybe that explains it :P

Of course I had to get the bread service. I wasn't able to order anything as an entree because I still was not really hungry, but I enjoyed the bread service. None of the sauces totally blew me away, but I enjoyed it and would like to try it again.

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It was a really cool environment to eat in. There was a bird with crazy feathers that was pecking on the window, trying to get someone's food. V still talks about the restaurant with the bird.

The kids dessert was really cute.

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I got the candy bar at the waitress' recommendation and I really enjoyed it.

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Overall, I enjoyed Sanaa and I would like to go back and experience it again.

When we left, we happened to walk by a door that said "activity center." I had no idea that something like this existed. There were games, crafts, coloring pages, etc. Since the weather wasn't great, we spent some time in there making beaded jewelry.

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Once it stopped raining, we walked back to Jambo House because we really wanted to utlize the night vision goggles. They were only available for a small, specific time period. We went to the specified location at the specified time and the CM told us he wasn't sure what was going to happen because of the weather. Then he told us they moved the location but didn't know where it was. Then he told us the wrong location. The whole experience was frustrating and it seemed like it was the first day they had ever done this. When it was FINALLY all figured out, the goggles were not even very good and you could hardly see through them. I wouldn't waste my time again.

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I am excited but nervous with all of these germs going around. S just got diagnosed with walking pnumonia again and the flu is everywhere.
Oh no!!! I have been so paranoid about any of us getting the flu! My sister and husband had it and I have been staying away from them, in fear. I hope S is feeling better soon! At least you have a week for her to recuperate.

Are you almost ready @StarWarsMomofGirls! ?
No!!! I haven't even started packing! Since Gwen STILL doesn't know, I have to pack in secret which equates to me not even starting.

But our waitress gave us major attitude. She was from Jersey so maybe that explains it :P
Ha. We do have attitude from time to time...

Overall, I enjoyed Sanaa and I would like to go back and experience it again.
You def need to try it when you aren't stuffed.
 
I had some computer trouble and had to post, so may as well start a new post since I was running out of picture space.

I don't really remember how the idea came about, but I realized I had an AP and could still go to a park. Unfortunately there were no EMH and all of the parks closed at 10. Since I was at AKL, AK was really the only option. I left MH and the girls and ran down to the busstop. I was excited to go to the park by myself and not have to slow down with a stroller or whining kids. So I got down to the busstop and it said the bus would be there in 10 minutes. And then 15. And then 20. It was so frustrating because the opportunity was slipping through my fingers. I finally got through security at 9:30. I realized I would only get to do one thing, so I made the decision to try the safari at night. I hightailed it over there and walked right on.

The safari is actually rather creepy at night. There is obviously very little light and there's lots of sounds. It was hard to see anything though. When we got to the lion, the CM mentioned he was acting sort of weird. He said we would go around to get a better look. All of the sudden the lion looked up at us and he had an entire bird in his mouth! The Cm def sped up the tour after that. Once I got off, I tried to head over to check out Pandora at night, but they were herding people out. There was really nothing else to do, so I went back to the busses. Oddly enough, I waited in line for the bus with one of my former students. It IS a small world after all.

Day 9 - MNSSHP

I knew this was going to be a looonng day so I started off with a nutritious breakfast:

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Everyone else was still sleeping, so I decided to spend some time in paradise.

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I forgot how disgusting I was because then we went to Boma for a late breakfast lol. So much food! Anyway, Boma lived up to the hype. My favorites were the goat cheese eggs, bread pudding, sticky bun, yogurt bar...I could go on. It was relatively cheap too.
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After relaxing for a bit, we decided to get changed into most of our costumes. Mine would be revealed later because I was NOT wearing it the whole time and you aren't supposed to be in costume until after 4 anyway.

We headed over to AK and the girls loved the Little Mermaid ride. They had not gone on it the previous year because Frozen had scarred them lol. It was super hot out so we stopped into Gaston's Tavern to get a Lefou's Brew and the CM told us it was on Mickey, so that was a nice bit of pixie dust. We met with Gaston and it was just okay. We had such an amazing meet with him last year that it was impossible to be as good. We also met with Merida and it was the same scenario. Better meet the year before. They also got rid of the archery station at her meet, which was a bummer.

The weather for the evening was not looking good and I was so nervous the party would be cancelled. We went back over to Tomorrowland Speedway and once we got off the ride, it started pouring. We ran into Tomorrowland Terrace and watched the god-awful Sonny Eclipse while the rain came down. MH and the girls got food, but I didn't, if you can believe it. Eventually the sun came out and I was cautiously optimistic.

I had three goals for the party: 1) Meet Moana 2) see the parade 3) see the fireworks.

The first was going to be the hardest. It was only the second party but I had done a lot of research so I was prepared to meet Moana. I asked several CM's ahead of time and no one had any idea where she would be. As soon as it hit 4:00, I went to Tortuga Tavern to get our wristbands. Unfortunately you had to have your whole party with you, which I didn't know so we had to get back in line. At about 4:10 I saw two people lined up by Jungle Cruise and I knew this was it. We set up shop. MH did some pin trading and we just kept switching off. I got a nutella and fruit waffle at Sleepy Hallow and ate it in line. It was amazing. The party did not officially start until 7:00, but Moana came out around 5:40. It wasn't a super great meet, but when my girls walked up to Moana and were singing her song with her, I got a little choked up.

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Now that my hardest goal had been accomplished, it was time to party. I went into the bathroom and got changed into my costume and then we took this fabulous pic.

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Hopefully you and most people can "get" my costume. After some photo ops, we particpated in the Move It, Shake it Parade and then went to dance with Mike and Sully in Tomorrowland.

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We rode Buzz Lightyear and Tomorrowland Speedway with minimal waits. There wasn't much more we wanted to do and it was getting dark, so we went to Casey's Corner to stake out a spot for the parade. While S and MH waited, V and I went exploring and took every possible photo pass shot.

I am having more computer trouble and I need to survive tomorrow at work, so I will continue this tomorrow.
 
When we got to the lion, the CM mentioned he was acting sort of weird. He said we would go around to get a better look. All of the sudden the lion looked up at us and he had an entire bird in his mouth! The Cm def sped up the tour after that.
That would be sooo cool!
 
There is obviously very little light and there's lots of sounds. It was hard to see anything though. When we got to the lion, the CM mentioned he was acting sort of weird. He said we would go around to get a better look. All of the sudden the lion looked up at us and he had an entire bird in his mouth! The Cm def sped up the tour after that.
Well, that is a memorable moment! Good thing you didn't have the girls with you!

We also met with Merida and it was the same scenario. Better meet the year before. They also got rid of the archery station at her meet, which was a bummer.
Oh no! Morgan and Gwen wanted to meet Merida this trip, mostly to do the archery... Bummer.

I got a nutella and fruit waffle at Sleepy Hallow and ate it in line. It was amazing.
So, good, isn't it? I want to try the chicken & waffle sandwich this trip!


Have you seen the weather forecast? it is going to be 63 on Saturday! And 65 on Sunday! Maybe it will keep the locals away over the weekend!
 
So I think my computer is cooperating tonight, but now that I'm looking at my last post, my pics aren't showing up for some reason. Can anyone see them? I will be bummed if I don't get to show this off lol

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So when I left off, V and I were running around hitting up photo pass spots.

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We also went to see talking Mickey again. And he said the same EXACT thing he said when we saw him a few days prior. Bummer. We went back to our spot on the curb and MH had given a portion of it away because he is not as pushy as I am when it comes to holding a spot.

Eventually the parade started. I had been nervous that the Headless Horseman would not ride because of the rain early, but he did and I was so happy because I really wanted to see it. Not a great picture but it's the best I could do.

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The parade was just as good as everyone says it is. This smelled amazingly like candy

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and it was so cool to see villians.


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When the parade was over, we did what any normal person would do. Got more food.
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The ice cream from the Plaza waws nothing special. I got an ice cream sandwich and I didn't even want to finish it by that point.

The fireworks were nice

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After the fireworks, S was totally out so we just pushed her around as we tried to do meet and greets. They got in line for Jasmine/Aladdin/Genie/Abu and I went on Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadn't been on since I was a little girl and I was a little nervous for the HUGE drop I remembered lol. When I was done, I got in line for Jafar so we could be villians together.

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MH and the kids had bailed on the Aladdin line because it was not moving so we took turns taking V on the Magic Carpets. I had heard that Jack Sparro was a cool meet so I wanted to try to get that in as well. I don't remember what he went to do, but MH went to go ride something. V kept saying she wanted to go on the carousel one last time. I kept glancing at my watch as we waited in line. We finally got to the meet a few minutes before 12. It was okay but V had no idea who he was so it didn't really go anywhere. He tried though.

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At this point it was almost midnight. I took the stroller and basically ran to the carousel. We got there at exactly midnight as the CM was locking the gate to start the last ride. I basically begged and he was kind enough to let us on. I had to pick S up and woke her up in the process. So we got to end our trip together with one last ride on the carousel.

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continued in next post.

 
We were all exhausted and S refused to participate but we still had to do this

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Both kids passed out on the way back to AKL and we just put them straight in their beds. It was time to leave the next day.

DEPARTURE DAY -

This is what I call a Disney hangover.

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V and I went down to the pool for one last swim and a few spins on the slide. We had a late flight so we had planned to go to Disney Springs and eat at T-Rex but now that we had annual passes, we decided to go to AK for a little bit.

I reaaaaly wanted to get the ahi tuna nachos again, so we went back to Yak and Yeti. I got the wok fried string beans and they were just meh. The waitress suggested a get the chips on the side so I could eat them like a salad if I wanted and the chips would not get soggy. Pro tip!

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MH tried the burger again and again it was super rare. He didn't eat it and said something to the waitress. They sent a manager over who apologized and then they still charged us for it. MH talks about Yak and Yeti being his least favorite restaurant.

It was around this point that I was getting a migraine. We were expecting some important news about my FIL's diagnosis and MH got the call at the end of the meal and stepped outside. I was in a super panic, like literally shaking because I was so nervous. We went outside to meet MH and found that the news was relatively good. But I think the beginning of a migraine + all the stress just made it worse, not to mention the heat. My head was POUNDING.

We had never been to Dinoland so we headed over there for a bit. The girls played in the Boneyard while I sat down because I was feeling progressively sicker. We went on Triceratops spin as our last ride of the trip.

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MH and the girls did some shopping and I went to Restaurantasaurus and literally just sat in the air and put my head on the table.

We went back to AKL and I tried to buy something for my head. I took some Excedrin Migraine but it barely touched it. I was miserable, as if waiting for the Magical Express back to the airport wasn't miserable enough. When we got to the airport I wore my sunglasses the whole time and bought a neck pillow to try and help. It didn't help me, but someone liked it.

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The plane ride back was AAAWWWFFUULL. We had annoying kids in front of us, babies screaming and my migraine so it was completely brutal. I have never been so happy to be home. We arrived home around midnight and then I got to go back to work the next day after having the whole summer off. It was a brutal end to an otherwise awesome trip.

In summary:
Favorite meal: ahi tuna nachos
Favorite snack: ice cream macaron
Favorite drink: I never remember the names of any drinks, but Tiffins had a good one
Favorite ride: Toy Story Midway Mania

Favorite experience: Happily Ever After dessert party with garden view
Favorite meet and greet: Evil stepsisters

And that's a wrap! Just in time to leave Tuesday night for the next one.

@StarWarsMomofGirls! I hope you have an absolutely fabulous time. Can't wait to hear all about it! Maybe we will even run into each other! :)

Thanks for reading!

 
I am still torn on what to pack. I have earmuffs and bathing suits lol
I am pretty cure I am packing both! The weather looks a little warmer this morning when I checked. But I feel like it can change on a dime.

Can anyone see them?
Sadly, no....


Awesome Picture! PJ Masks!

When I was done, I got in line for Jafar so we could be villians together.

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Villains need to stick together. My girls flat our refuse to meet villains. They won't even meet Gaston!

I went on Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadn't been on since I was a little girl and I was a little nervous for the HUGE drop I remembered lol.
Ha! I love how things seemed bigger as kids!

I basically begged and he was kind enough to let us on. I had to pick S up and woke her up in the process. So we got to end our trip together with one last ride on the carousel.
Glad the CM let you on. I know how heart breaking that would have been for V. Morgan would have talked about it for days!

Cute. They look tired!!! But I think those super late rides are sometimes the most memorable!

This is what I call a Disney hangover.

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I love Disney hangover... I love that she is eating a brownie with m&m's on it for breakfast. It's the complete Disney Hangover picture.

The waitress suggested a get the chips on the side so I could eat them like a salad if I wanted and the chips would not get soggy. Pro tip!

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Now that looks AMAZING!!!! I want that!

MH talks about Yak and Yeti being his least favorite restaurant.
I have to agree with MH, we were not impressed. It reminded me of just going to TJ Fridays or something... But those Ahi Nachos may call me back one trip!

@StarWarsMomofGirls! I hope you have an absolutely fabulous time. Can't wait to hear all about it! Maybe we will even run into each other! :)
Do you know what parks you will be in? You can find me on facebook Ariella Saucier or send me a PM on here.

We are going to Magic Kingdom on Thursday, Animal Kingdom on Friday, Magic Kingdom on Saturday and Hollywood Studios on Sunday. Maybe we will cross paths!

If not, have a great trip!
 

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